Surface Pro 4

I've been waiting...

Ever since I found out I had been selected to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Surface Expert, I have been very excited about getting a Surface Pro 4 to play with.

It arrived today.
I had primed our wonderful receptionist to let me know as soon as it arrived at school and she called me at lunchtime today. So excited!

Luckily I had some time this afternoon to unpack the amazing box of goodies. Not only was there my new Surface Pro 4 and stylus, but a whole lot of extras:
A useful "how to use your kit" instruction sheet - I'll be working through this!

• Digital inking display board
• Brochures, posters and information sheets on the Surface Pro, as well as Think in Ink stickers. The posters also let you advertise workshops for Surface Pro.
• A lovely sticker for my Surface that says I am an MIE Surface Expert for 2016 - very nice :)
• Wireless Display Adapter - already using one of these, so it will be great to have another in my second classroom - save moving it from one place to another all the time! (Now all I need is another in my 3rd classroom and I'm all sorted).
• USB bracelet - great idea, unfortunately it's a bit big for me - It slips on and off my hand without undoing it, so maybe it will be on my desk not my wrist :( Need small wrist size ones as this is unfortunately not adjustable)
• A nice bright red keyboard - might take me a bit to get used to the colour but it's kind of cool.
• A Brenthaven BX2 Edge case. I tried attaching the pen by the string they sent but decided against it, but good to have that option, especially for students who lose things! I notice that this case is not available on the NZ Microsoft store yet, so it's fun to trial something you can't get here! My only comment at the moment is that the pen is on the wrong side! I have to take it off with my left hand - great for the left-handers out there though.

So... I managed to get some of my school accounts sorted - got Office365 up and running, downloading the awesome free software onto my Surface Pro 4 so I can do work while offline - this is a real bonus. The one thing I noticed in even in the first few minutes of use, was the keyboard, trackpad and stylus were a lot better than the Surface Pro 3. Really looking forward to using this.

Managed to lock myself out while trying to get my kids to see if Windows Hello would recognise their faces instead of mine! Took a fair bit of stress sorting that out as it kept asking for my PIN but had no way of entering it. Finally I pressed the Power and the up volume together - with the intention of doing a forced shutdown, but as soon as I touched both a screen appeared for me to put my PIN in - whew!

Next steps are to get used to the new stylus - I'm not sure about having the eraser at the top, I'll have to see how that goes.

Must install my OneNote Learning Tools and Staffpad tonight and hopefully get the rest up and running tomorrow.

I am also going to invest in a Bluetooth mouse - I find a mouse useful in a lot of situations, but don't want to lose the USB port. Thinking about adding more memory via card as well - will wait and see what I need once I am all set to go. Most of my work is online, but video and audio files for my music teaching takes a lot of space.

Lots to do - more blogging will have to wait.

OneNote Learning Tools

My experience of these learning tools after a few weeks has been amazing. I wish I had this support for students many years ago. I can see these just getting better and better and have found the Microsoft team really proactive in replying to feedback and wanting to improve their product (no, I don't work for Microsoft...).

I was very excited when they first turned up and immediately started using them with individual students.
The first student I worked with is a visually impaired student in my class. He carries a magnifying glass with him and uses it to read documents on his laptop. I helped him to download the Learning Tools addin and showed him how to magnify the text in his OneNote for our class. He has found this to be a fantastic tool and it has meant he can read the handouts and collaborative work easily and quickly without having to magnify every word .

Another student in my class has dyslexia and uses a lot of spoken commands wherever he can. Being able to have the example and the handouts read out to him has meant a lot. He is keen to get this feature on the phone app as well. He says it would be great to scan something with OfficeLens while he is out and about, then have the OneNote Learning Tools read it for him while he follows the text. I know this is something OneNote is keen to implement - we can't wait!

Another girl I have in Year 11 (age 15) cannot read. She is now using OfficeLens and OneNote to enable her to access the work from all subjects at school. Rather than teachers having to read work to her, she now is becoming independent by scanning the handouts herself in OfficeLens and then using the Learning Tools to read for her.

I love the way it becomes full screen in the immersive reading mode so that there are no other distractions apart from the text. This is huge for many of our students.

I have been working with our Learning Support Department to start to implement these tools so they can help students. Initial feedback is excellent, with staff keen to learn to use OneNote so that in the future they can start using these tools.

Things I think need to happen before we can really roll this out over the school:
It needs to work online. Many of our students do not have their own devices and so online is their only option.
Would love it for iOS so all students can access it.
I would like dictation to work on more than just Windows10. Not everyone is up to date yet.
As students have said, they are keen to also have it on their phones, so they can use them anytime, anywhere.

Links to excellent articles/resources:
Office Blog
Technet Blog
And the most important, the Suggestion Box for OneNote. I only found this in the last week. It's  a great idea and I will be making more suggestions either through here or on the Feedback tabs in the addins.

Looking forward to using this more and more.

Future Schools Conference 2016

I attended the Future Schools conference in Sydney this year. Thanks to my school Hagley College for sending me..
This was a great opportunity to listen to speakers with ideas and tips on how to improve our teaching and our schools. I was in the" Teaching Kids to Code" conference, but did cross over to the Special Needs conference for an afternoon.
There were 2 days of full on learning and discussions which leave you feeling full and quite inspired. My mind has been racing and so many ideas come to light - now I need time to digest everything.

Here are a few notes from each session I went to, giving an overview of my days. They are just notes of the main points really for my reference. If you are interested in more information, see the links or ask me!

Demystifying Coding - Tim Bell

All digital systems are made with code.

Python and Scratch are also just programs.

You can get a Sprite fest! This is where students just get carried away with a large amount of Sprites on their page.

Coding, Programming, Computer Science are all about people,

Google developed a person finder which was launched for NZ quake - meeting human need.

Humans need to be able to pay for something with the correct amount - hence our use of barcodes We have a lot of confidence they are correct.

Doing the process away from computer first is best option. Then look at making programs in Scratch.

www.barefootcas.org.uk join! Tools here for Computational thinking.

I always find Tim an engaging and informative speaker. He makes things make sense!

How to teach Coding within the existing Curriculum - Meredith Ebbs

Spend money on infrastructure. Most important is wifi and internet access.
Creative and Service careers are on the increase. Need computers for most things
Kodu-only windows-use for English- Visual programming system. She made a game where Mario rescues a princess. This included storyboarding and a wiki on terms.

This slide has the link to her presentation and contacts

Using Scratch in math. Scratch Junior has lots of resources. Students follow pictures-really simple for someone hesitant to teach coding. There will always be someone in the class who knows more than you so don't worry.

Pencil Code useful up to high school. Create pictures using 2D shapes.

Year 5 she gets them to build a board game using Makey Makey and Scratch.

CS First Year 7 learn Scratch and create own game.

At High School they get to make their own sprites.

No girls doing coding. She thinks this is due to marketing. Another problem is that girls stop coming because the boys take over. Definitely an issue.

Computational thinking: a digital age skill for everyone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcUgSYyRPg

Discover Authentic Learning - Anita L 'Enfant

ThinkUKnow  students answering questions about the internet

This came up several times at the conference:

Authentic learning must be:

Relevant

Real world problem solving

Meaningful and useful

Makers challenge at the conference - students selected the challenges. It was great to see them working on these over the 2 days.

Robotics - Bronwyn Moreton

Teachers should go through curriculum and highlight where robotics fits.

Robocup Junior

Blue Bot for juniors-very young students

Dash and Dot-ultrasonic, infrared, bluetooth. Can play hide and seek Program Dot with Go! Program Dash with Blocky, very similar to Scratch-good for Year 7-8-9

Edison Robot-picks up barcode or program with Edware-uses variables and data containers

Pi2Go with Python -use EV3 Lego kit, program EV3 withMindstorms

Can robots inspire a passion for computing? Watch the talk by Robin Murphy -TEDtalk on importance of robotics on disasters.

It is important for students to understand how technology changes the future.

Let them get on with it - Marg Meijers 

GO! Gifted Online

"In the new economy, computer science isn't an optional skill. It's a basic skill, right along with the three Rs" Barack Obama

No guarantee they have previous experience. Some students can program apps and some never had computers. It is the equivalent of dropping students into algebra if they can't count yet!

Used gamification and at each level put skills that she wanted them to learn. Badge earned at each level. Then she had a Boss level that they had to pass to move on.

Did a scoreboard - they do this all the time at home, so it is nothing new.

Boss level - the teacher sends a challenge. Students expect to lose the first time so the Boss has to be a challenge.

Compare this with a school test and you can see the benefits.

 
I really enjoyed this session and have written another blog post about it with more detail and slides.

Coding with Drones, Droids and Robots - Brett Salakos

@MRSalakos                   #AussieEd

The law is quite strict on use of Drones. It needs to be checked before you use them.

He uses a drone in the hall with portable whiteboard for it to fly around and under and over.

Tickle app to connect with lots of devices drag and drop coding

Lunchtime coding club - set up a maze

Set up obstacle course outside

Search drone racing clips on Youtube

SPrk Lightning Lab has a plethora of ideas    https://sprk.sphero.com/

Can set up a virtual classroom environment

Hour of Code and Beyond - brendan@code.org

"The programmers of today are the wizards of the future"

You don't have to be a genius to code. Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science.

Teachers and parents can do the Hour of Code too. They all have a goal that is fun, achievable and creative.

Block and JavaScript versions.

Multiple rounds of classroom testing before they go public.

What Code. org does:

Full K-12 curriculum-free

U.S. Teacher training

International reach-different languages

A course has full lesson plans. Web-based Interaction lessons, Videos, PD in the USA.

Code Club - Annie Parker

Free resources. After school Programme where kids learn to code for free.

Most jobs in the future will be based around coding.

Computational thinking is beneficial for all jobs.

self confidence, teamwork, confidence

"Coding is like a super power. They get to create the future."

750,000 jobs in tech in-U.S.A in 10 years will be unfilled

Needs fixing Atlassian -tech start up in Aus. Need more tech start up

Scratch, html, css, python

3yrs of resources free

free teacher training

52% of participants are girls in Aus-9-Ilyr olds so not pre-conditioned

Continually adding to library

Kid and inventor day. Bring in people to inspire kids. Coding though play

learning though code helps problem solving skills

This session started us thinking about how we can set up a coding club at school, perhaps with School of Apps students being the mentors for our Year9 and 10 students.

Coding in the Junior School

https://jchild.edublogs.org/

CSER Digital Technologies Moocs - from the University of Adelaide.

http://blogs.adelaide.edu.au/cser/the-cser-digital-technologies-moocs/

 Learning coding helps in all areas of learning, not just computer science.

 She went through a huge range of resources that could be used with Junior school students. This is just a small example of them.

She started with Codeclub world and just downloaded projects. Does a lot of unplugged activity.

Group for girls to chat about what they did during the day.

Cs Unplugged resources

commonsensemedia.org

certificates and digital badges

NXT Lego Mindstorms NXT kits

Makerspace in the library - she brings in parents and grandparents to help out.

Literacy. Binary Code -Binary bracelets

Fuzz ball in kodable  https://www.kodable.com/

The official Scratch Book-really good. for Scratch Junior

Science- Use Scratch to teach Circuits

Hello Ruby -LindaLiukas A delightful way to teach kids about computers

Ada Byron Lovelace and the thinking machine. Binary games Magic binary Trick game

Usborne- Computers and coding

Uses Tickle to program BB8

Littlebits for makerspaces

Bitsbox -make on tablet then get a QR code and put on your phone. Through hour of code.

I was amazed at the huge amount of resources available for teachers. If you are keen to code, you can!

Use of Virtual Reality in Special Education - Mathieu Marunczyn 

Matieu teaches Tech in Special Ed at Jackson.

Oculus Rift with Touch

HTC VIVE

Sony ProjectMorphens for Playstation

Google Cardboard  

Hololens and Google Glass

Kinect Party xbox360 great for social interaction. Kids love it for games.

Kids are going to have this-we need to keep up

Why virtual reality and special ed?

Emerging technology, affordable, Virtual sensory spaces, learning environments

In special needs you should ask for gear from companies. They will help if you have an idea you want to try.

Challenges:

Physical space limitations, behavioural, issues, social role modelling. and engagement, funding

Ethical considerations:

Ethics approval, screen time limited, adult supervision well being checks, Oculus user guideline

We don't have research on what can happen when students use this equipment.

Titans of Space, Meditation app (sit on a beach), Positive response from students.

Observable results: Behaviour modification-calming, Language Development, Increased engagement

What is it used for?

Sensory experiences and calm spaces -somewhere to go have time out

Social modelling for kids with autism can have interactions with a character

Broader education use

Humanities and job training

Go for a walk in an area and flick a switch to another space

One example is "Clouds over Sidra" - a virtual walkthrough of  a refugee camp. A review of this is here.

Richard Attenborough -Virtual reality "First Life"

Workforce training. Kids doing training before they leave. Driving lessons and practise safely in VR.

Limitations:

Damage to real world relationships? Are we losing co-ordination?

Dependency and escapism -depression?

Cost  - Still very little educational content. Kids are coding maybe they can do it themselves?

This session really blew my mind. So much potential and so many questions. This is not just in Special Ed, but imagine what could be done in all classrooms. Where to from here?? 

Raising student achievement through technology - Robert Carter

Technology can transform lives

Access to content: Programme that can read text for Apple -Prizmo

Digital content: digital feedback enables students to revisit it

Loved this quote from Robert - "If I had asked him to write it down, he would have left the room telling me my history and my future!"

"From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents, it's the person standing at the front of the classroom... America's future depends on its teachers."

—  Barack Obama

Video interview -list of questions. Used Typorama App for text blocks. Use video compressor App and put video in SMS http://www.typorama.co/

They do video stories for SN students and put out to all students. Rather than just IEP. Gives the student a voice.

Flipped Classroom - Anita L'Enfant

Have to write 2 questions about the notes at home

Can look over and over the notes. Kids can pause and rewind. For tests and quizzes you can go back and watch him teach it again. Videos on Youtube.

How to make the best use of teacher time. Best use of time is talking with students

Need a screencasting tool and somewhere to put it. Specifically used for chalk and talk or demonstrations. Doesn't have to be you. Use Kahn academy.

Challenges:

work ethic

School culture

Not good for everything

Time for video

Technology -where-how

Parents love flipped classroom. Students often say -"Mrs x does it this way" so now they can show parents how so they can help. Good for junior high.

Start by setting up your laptop to record your instruction.

screencasting tool - Explain Everything

Verso - Got a built-in sharing system. Need password. Has questioning techniques

My Ed App - Datacom uses this. Can embed and takes to next level. Learning Pathways System.

ITunes u

Edmodo

Don't limit it to just a video

Focus on the learning. Group them in like needs for peer coaching.

Assessment. You can get students to use Explain Everything to talk though the process while 
writing answers.

Choose the best 2 Explain Everything on a topic and put into their video space.

Overall, the conference was an amazing experience. The time spent listening to inspiring teachers
and then discussing ideas with my colleagues was well spent. So may things to think about now 
that I can implement into my classroom and share with others. Hopefully this blog is just the first 
step to inspiring others.

Gamification - a talk by Marg Meijers

One of my favourite sessions at the Future Schools Conference 2016 was  Marg Meijers "Let them get on with it". She gave us some really good ideas for making learning fun through Gamification and I wanted to share those here. These slides are from her presentation and her contact details are at the bottom of this blog. She is a motivated and exciting teacher - I wish I had been fortunate enough to have a teacher like her when I was at school.

As we all know with teaching, there is no guarantee students have previous experience in your subject. Some students can program apps and some have never had computers at home. Marg likened this to being the equivalent of dropping students into algebra if they can't count yet.

To cater for this huge range of abilities, she wrote different levels of a game where students could drop into a level at the right stage of their ability.

She wanted students to be able to work at their own pace and not repeat work they had already mastered. The goal was to have students engaged and motivated as well as challenged and extended. So she made a game that covered all of these requirements.

 Each level has badges and a "SkillZ Boss" they have to beat before they can move up to the next level. I particularly like the idea of the Boss level as it covers all the work and effectively is the test. Her slide on the difference between the Boss level and a test is enlightening. I really love this. Isn't this exactly what we want to have our students do?

 She also includes Health bars where she can add health for good work and remove for off task behaviour. There are random fun elements as they go and various challenges as extras. She uses a spinner for those that can't decide which challenge to do when there is a choice.

If you are looking for reasons to gamify your class - here they are:

Marg's email is mmeijers@gmail.com
Check out these games she has made to learn coding:
Alice
Scratch

I wish all classes were like this - imagine how much fun learning would be!

OneNote class add in

This is amazing. Loving what I can do with this. I am so excited, I just had to write about it straight away.

Adding a page to all student's notebooks is such a useful tool. Instead of writing templates in the content library and getting students to copy them, I can just put the page in their sections! As well as that, I can put a whole new section in. Great for when you forget to do that on start up.

 The ability to review student work is fantastic. I can quickly go to each
student's page and see the work they have added. The + opens to show which
 student did the work.

 Being able to create a class notebook on my desktop as well as add/delete students, means that I can do everything within the app.


For the students that can't find the link to their notebook, it is great to have a quick link to all of the OneNote links to all my notebooks.

PD links are great. OneNote is really great at supplying good resources to help people use their tools well. It's great to have these links here - although I would put that tab in the main screen rather than in the OneNote class add in. It would be more accessible there.


 I will be sending feedback-you should do it too. Well done OneNote - this is the best tool for teachers. I love it.

Get it here - NOW

My Learning Space

Blog task for February:
Create a photo or video tour of your classroom/learning space. 

Why have I got things set up this way?
I love the range of working areas within the class. There are ares for groups to work together, either around the large low table for large groups, on the couches, or in smaller groups at the high tables. We have screens for presentations and also for smaller group presentations.



Students can sit comfortably on a couch, with feet up, or stand to work if they prefer. It gives room for them to move freely around the room and I have found that students do change from one area to another depending on what they are working on.

Having had this class for a year now, I don't think I would change anything! I love the possibilities within it and it seems to work well for all we do.

Have a look at our newsletter for more photos and information.
  
 

Beginning of 2016

I'm excited. After becoming a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert last year, I have now been given the title of MIE Surface Expert. I love my Surface Pro 3 and am even more excited to be getting a SurfacePro 4 as part of this programme. Looking forward to it!
Thanks to Kurt Soeser for providing the header - it is much appreciated and looks great!

The beginning of the year has been mad. I have been meaning to blog for ages, but all of the setting up and prep has meant that I have had little time to just sit and write.

Enrolment
We have 2 days of enrolling new students at our school and I really enjoy these days as an enroller. I get to meet new students and work on getting a good programme together for them.

School of Apps
We have 11 students this year and they have started the year well. Very keen and motivated, and even with all the admin in the first few days, they are writing apps already. I am also loving the OneNote Learning Tools. These are fantastic for a few of my students in here. One has some sight issues so the large print is fantastic and a couple are dyslexic. How amazing to be able to cater for them with such great tools.

Professional Development
I am really keen to help staff this year and have set up sessions to instruct and support staff on a range of topics. Carmen Kenton and Andy Gorton are great support in this and Carmen and I will enjoy our lunchtime duty in the Computer lab where we can help staff and students. For my own development I intend to spend quite a few hours each week working on increasing my knowledge of Office365 and in particular OneNote.

Year 11 Music
I am looking forward to teaching this class, as it has been a while since I had this year level. Using OneNote for all their work and looking at how I can incorporate a lot of technology in the class is the challenge. It is a large class and has a wide range of abilities. I am keen to use StaffPad for all the music notation instruction so I have work to do on this as well.

Badges
Really keen to get these up and running. Just sorting the graphics and we can get started. It will be good to get them out to students this year and see how they will work.

Along with organising Itinerant Music lessons, School of Music classes, MIE Expert info and reading, keeping up with Twitter, and my own life/work balance it will be a busy year.

Bring it on.