#educampAKL 2017

On Saturday 29th July #educampAKL for 2017 was held at Papakura High School in South Auckland.

This is the link to the Google Smackdown: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mZONDq79n4LlcXrpTp8GAws2WaaGvYVtsvpQE6EW0HE/edit#slide=id.g22e30cf367_0_74

I went to learn about Drive Slides.  Drive Slides is an extension on Google Chrome.  We were asked to make a Drive Slide.  Below are the steps.

1. First of all we had to add Drive Slides as an extension to Google Chrome.
2. Then we added Save to Google Drive as an extension to Google Chrome.
3. Then we went to Google images and choose three pictures.  To save the pictures we right clicked on the pictures and hovered over Save to Google Drive and then clicked on Save image to Google Drive.
4. Once we had three pictures in our Google Drive, we went to Recent and then held down the Shift button and clicked on our three images and saved them in a new folder.  
5. After this we clicked on the Drive Slides extension up in the extension line.

Here is my practice of doing Drive Slides:

I also learnt about Extensity, which enables you to turn extensions in Google Chrome on and off so you can improve the speed of your computer.

I then went to a workshop about using Voice Dictation on devices led by Jason, who showed us how he can write a text by voice, including punctuation.  I knew that Google Search and Docs and the like respond to voice.... but I learnt how to write a text message on my Samsung Galaxy 6 which will be helpful.

This then morphed into Jason showing us his Swivl robot, which he uses to record his teaching.  A Swivl can be bought from Si-Tech (who has the NZ licence) for approximately $750.  You put your phone/tablet on the Swivl and wear a bluetooth device on a lanyard.  This allows you to voice activate the device to record your teaching and the Swivl will follow you around the class as you move.  A Swivl account is free and will upload the video automatically to the cloud.  You can then share a link or embed it into your blog or website for students to access. 


Jason uses his swivel to 'flip' his classroom so his students can refer back to lessons if they need to remember something and absent students can use the videos to catch up.  Jason said that it is also a useful way to record yourself for appraisal or to help you reflect on your teaching.

EducampTheTron 15 August 2015

EducampTheTron was this year hosted by Tamahere Model Country School.  A bonus was it was also the Tamahere Market day over at the Tamahere Church, so we had time to wander the market at lunchtime and choose some food and look at the wares.  I have to admit, despite living just over the river and around the corner for half my life, I've never been to the Tamahere Markets before!

Many teachers and educators filled the Tamahere School Library and Steve had problem solved the lack of projector and his fragile voice (winter ills and ails) to ensure that the Smackdown could proceed.  We later broke into three breakouts over three sessions to share some learning.

We were very grateful for the water provided by @OnepurenzPure and the snacks from @N4LNZ.

The Smackdown always happens first after the intros and housekeeping at an Educamp, and you can view the Smackdown by clicking here. 


Five Card Flickr and Pechaflickr @robeanne
These are picture tools that you could use to enhance student engagement, creativity, language and communication and would be great for story telling.  There are links from the slide on the Smackdown.

Mobizen @davein2it
http://mobizen.com screen mirror to PC and Screen record for android devices - very handy to project one's phone presentation to the big screen.

Scratch @zaanacooper
This is all about coding meets the ethos of Lego.  Sign up is free.  Give coding a go.  There are beginner tutorials where the kids teach themselves.  I've had a big play with this myself and would love the opportunity to work with a group of kids on this.  https://scratch.mit.edu/

N4L The Pond  @steve_trotter
The Pond is not by TKI, but is by teachers for teachers.  The slide has some links to get your journey with The Pond going.  http://www.n4l.co.nz/pond/

Notability @tracy_dillner
This looks like a fabulous tool for i-pad and i-phone users.  Tracy talked about using it for recording annotations (written and verbal), creating assessments, demonstrating learning....  http://www.gingerlabs.com/

Quadblogging @barb1
If you want to have a nationwide audience for your class blogs, contact Barb and she will match you up.  For more details:  http://www.vln.school.nz/groups/profile/806819/quadblogging-aotearoa

Crowd Sourced Presentations @barbs1
Barb discussed how you can create and/or use a document that is crowd sourced in the classroom.  You can create a document and then share it for others to contribute to.  Links to examples of the Smackdown Slide.

Google Educator Group NZ @barbs1
Google+ is another place where NZ teachers are networking.  A place for questions.  Uses Hangouts to find share with/observe with others.  Click here for more information:  https://sites.google.com/site/gegnewzealand/events

Recordable Whiteboards @jkellow
Jan-Maree demonstrated the following online recordable whiteboards for us:

• Educration  -  can get the app from the Apple App Store  -  https://www.educreations.com/
• Show Me  -  can get the app from the Apple App Store  -  http://www.showme.com/
• Explain Everything  -  Explain Everything is now a Chromebook extension.  Free for Android (really?), but there is a cost from the Apple App Store and Google Play for devices  -  http://explaineverything.com/
• We Video  -  cloud based video editing app  -  https://www.wevideo.com/
• Move Note  -  a video presentation tool you can use with your mobile device and access from anywhere  -  https://www.movenote.com/

Comic Life @AbbyCMorgan
I loved playing with this programme in the workshop later in the afternoon.  There is a free month after downloading the software to your computer, and after that you need to pay a licence per device.  Once you own the licence you have access to more content.  I can see the potential for story telling by the students and creating content for your class.  Abby and her colleagues were using this to record a summary of what their learning class were doing daily for parents to access, but she is using this for not only teaching, but to also document her PTCs  -  one can insert it into their reflection blog or other documents where they are recording evidence for PTC.  http://comiclife.com/

Google Cardboard @nzleeangela
Great for creating virtual worlds around the school or visiting the worlds created by others.  In the workshop later on I experienced using this.  It was a lot of fun.  Apparently you are not supposed to walk around as you do it (but I would recommend sitting on a backless stool at least), but I did and it was a challenge not to bump into the furniture.  I actually felt woozy on the rollercoaster and got a little closer to dinosaurs than I would like to normally!  https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/

Student Reflection @MaryStGeorge
Mary shared her experiences of guiding student reflection.  There is no app or website.  This has grown out of experience of distance learning, as demonstrated in this blog post: https://creatingcurriculum.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/guiding-student-reflection-the-journey-so-far/.

Young Engineers - STEM  @reshmaph
Reshma discussed how this is accessible for all learners, and great for giving all learners success, especially children with dyslexia and similar learning challenges.  Here is an example of a group in Hamilton:  http://www.youngengineers.nz/

EdIgnite Hautapu  -  Sarah Moorhouse
Great to see that EdIgnite is coming back after a wee hiatus in the Waikato!!  Hautapu School on Thursday 3 September 6:00pm.

OneTab @carobush
This is for Google Chrome and Firefox so you don't have 50 million tabs left open.  It makes it easy to save and doesn't run down your battery.  https://www.one-tab.com/

EducampInvers is also on today!!  Encouraging interaction.

Split Screen
A Chrome app that allows you to have two windows open at once.  Like a website and a task.

Saving infographics on Twitter
Twitter > Pocket > Evernote

Google Calendar
Showed us how to find a mutual meeting time for each person required using "Find a time".

There is also way more on the Smackdown that I didn't get a chance to record.  The fabulous thing I love about attending Educamps is reconnecting with people I have met previously, meeting new people, the networking, and the inspiration that other share with everyone.

Sadly, Storify has deleted itself from the Social Media scene, so all my Storify stories have gone.  😭😭😭😭😭

Educamp BOP 8 August 2015

The Bay of Plenty hosted their first Educamp for a couple of years at the weekend.  It was hosted by Tahatai Coast School in Papamoa, a school built in the mid 90s which was a showcase school for using ICT has teaching tools.  Sadly, it also became synonymous with being a leaky building school, and has had to have all its teaching spaces rebuilt in the last few years.

We were lucky enough to be taken on a tour by the principal, Ian Leckie, through all the teaching spaces.  Ian discussed the differences between the two blocks and the learning achieved through teaching in these spaces - not only pedagogical, but the practicalities of what materials achieve the best sound control on the walls and the floors and the ceilings, where walls should and shouldn't be and furniture.

Before that though we had the Smackdown, which you can view slide by slide here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r49wBcXNXyFZLc6wP3wu6oW_UDrrZfZzUddIQsMfMa4/edit#slide=id.p

Kahoot
@shonapoppe is passionate about the use of Kahoot in her class.  It is all about quizzes which can be child made or teacher made.  She uses it as part of her assessment tool kit.  There is no social media so all good for students under 16.  It can be curriculum based (because you choose the quiz topic) and is very versatile.  https://getkahoot.com/

Connected Learning Advisory (Te Ara Whitiki)

Dave Merton explained that this is a free advisory service for all schools and “geek based” – it really about helping teachers with the learning side of connectivity.  Phone based  -  0800 700 400 – goes to Wellington and then re-directed to more local people.  Mostly dealing with Google apps, Microsoft 365 and Snup issues currently.  Also deployment of i-Pads.  Behind these people are others with even more knowledge.  They don’t tell you “how” to do it, but give you advice and options for you to choose from.  Could be over phone, Skype, f2f, Google Doc…. 

Google Cardboard
The lovely @mrs_hyde has spent her leave playing with her new toy, Google Cardboard.  It is a low cost virtual reality platform designed to be used with your mobile phone to explore other places and worlds.  Annemarie saw this as an opportunity for students to create their own virtual worlds as part of their learning.

https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/

Google Classroom

@kirbyme explained why she is using Google Classroom and the benefits her class has gotten using this for learning and organisation.  It goes across platforms, so you can use it with I-pads and chrome books, etc.  She explained it is similar to Harpara.  Google logins are needed for each kid, but you can block the email part of it so you don't have to worry about them creating Facebook accounts and the like.  The children are leading it and demanding more tasks.  They are asking lots of questions and children are answering the questions in return, so that the teacher doesn't have to do all the work.

Explain Everything

@bekwhyte explained how she uses Explain Everything in her class.  She says it is great for assessment as a teacher and it is up to the children how they present with it.  You can use it as a teaching tool to help model a particular skill.  You can attach videos, pictures, draw...  This teacher uses it to teach one problem solving question a week.  http://explaineverything.com/ 

Google Slides

@marykjam demonstrated how you can use Google Slides to make posters because it is way easier there than in Google Docs apparently.  Good tip.

Powtoon

@TopKat76 shared Powtoon with us.  She said that it has high engagement and is great for presentations. Powtoon is a Google App with a free Edu version.  You can connect to it through your Google Drive (go to new, connect to apps and search it so you can access it).

Mystery Skype

@TopKat76 also talked about making your class a truly global class by using #MysterySkype.  She said it was fine for time zones in the US Canada when it is daylight savings time, not so when it is not.  Can access authors (but mostly US based).  The "Mystery" part is not to say where you are from, but to get people to guess.

Google Educator Group NZ

@FionaGrant talked to us about another forum for NZ teachers.  In other countries it is being done by city, but here in NZ it was decided to go nationwide (it was considered that it would be a bit snobby if they established it city by city here).  Members communicate using Google Hangouts, Google+.... and they are looking to do local events for teachers f2f driven by local teachers.

https://sites.google.com/site/gegnewzealand/events

Google Drawing

@FionaGrant also discussed how using Google Drawing is a great way to get kids (and teachers) to start in Google Apps.

ACET

Janette Murphy discussed how the teachers applying for ACET have had little to go on and their need for support.  Through VLN there has been a group set up for those who are applying for ACET and those who have been through it already to support each other.

Quadblogging

@TopKat76 has been set up by Barb Reid with three other classrooms (Bombay, Christchurch, other SI school) to do Quadblogging.  Each child in @TopKat76's class has their own blog.  They have developed relationships with other classes who comment on each other's blog.  You do not have to be Blogger based either.

Leadership

@jaminlietze shared about someone who inspires him: LeadershipFreak is a good guy to follow on leadership and change and a person who inspires others.  I have to agree.  I have read some of his stuff.  He is 'real'.

Padlet

Jo Brown shared about Padlet.  She uses it to get children thinking and for assessment.  It is great for brainstorming with a class or collecting ideas.

Later on in the day @FionaGrant also introduced a small group of us to Periscope, an app attached to Twitter, which allows you to do a mini video podcast of something.  Apparently it does not stick around forever, so is for short term viewing.  Well I hope that is right because I looked down right scary in our little video we created!!  We also concluded this was more a tool for teacher communication than for students to use. https://www.periscope.tv/

Anne Robertson, a new Core Connected Advisor, came to her first Educamp and this blog post, Educamp BOP - a challenge to secondary school teachers!, is her reflection on the day and a challenge to her secondary colleagues.  Anne also compiled the Storify below, which saved me from doing one, so cheers Anne!!

Sadly, Storify has deleted itself from the Social Media scene, so all my Storify stories have gone.  😭😭😭😭😭