If all classes were transparent, students would not miss a beat

As the citizens of Philadelphia brace themselves for what could be a long public transportation strike, students who usually take public transportation to get to and from school are finding alternate ways to get to class and the alternatives don't involve buses, trains or trolleys.

I snapped the above photo while driving to work this morning. I did the caption in Bubblesnaps.
While I was driving this morning, I got to thinking how cool it would be if every classroom were transparent... and what if students didn't need to be present in the physical school building (everyday) to stay current with their classwork?

The transparent classroom is no dream. It can be any teacher's piece of the rock, but there are obstacles, for example, every classroom is not equipped with a computer for every student.and most schools don't allow cell phones in the building.  Cell phones are just as powerful as desktop computers, but it takes time and effort to teach students how to use electronic devices responsibly - something many teachers and administrators are not willing to do. And of course, many teachers would rather have their students sitting in front of them, everyday, for 50 minutes, for any number of different reasons - handouts, worksheets, lectures, high stakes tests.

Fortunately for me, I've got a computer for every student. My students are able to work at home, or in the car, or on the beach, or while sitting in the park. They can access my work anywhere they have an Internet connection. They don't need to sit in front of me everyday to stay current with their classwork. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to do that either. My classes are a totally paperless - I've not used paper in class in four years. All the tools and resources my students need to access, publish and save work exists in the cloud. They don't need me every single day for every little thing.  The real work, however, is getting them to believe and understand that.

H Songhai
11/4/09

The Nigerians have the right idea

The Nigerians have the right idea

I came across this on my Twitter wire. Hat tip to Robert W. Hughes for
this timely proverb.

How to Avoid Malware on Facebook and Twitter: 8 Best Practices

Good information here from the folks at ReadWriteWeb. Be smart, be safe and know what to avoid on Twitter and FaceBook.

How to Avoid Malware on Facebook and Twitter: 8 Best Practices

Apple MacBook Touch coming soon

The MacBook Touch looks like an awesome device.  Rumor has it the "Touch" will debut in January and ship sometime around June of 2010.  The video below comes on the heels of the debut of the Nook eReader by Barnes and Noble.  The Nook continues to get  high marks from eReader observers, especially because of its color touchscreen. It's also expandable up to 16 gigabytes and runs on the Google Android operating system. The Nook has WiFi and 3G capabilities and Barnes and Noble together with Google will offer hundreds of thousands of books, newspapers, and magazines for eReaders to choose from.

As for the MacBook Touch, well, I'll have to see one and touch one first before investing somewhere between five and eight hundred dollars for a device that will, after all do everything you want a laptop or desktop computer to do. That's a big decision. On the other hand, I'd like to know how the "Touch" handles USB devices like external hard drives and USB hubs and if it is robust enough to handle detailed Final Cut editing, screen capturing and video capture devices like Dazzle and Canopus? Can I import video from a camcorder? Firewire? I have a few questions.   From watching the video alone, the MacBook Touch really looks it could be the standard for Tablet Computers.  In the meantime, I'm holding on  to my aging black MacBook.  I add another two gigs of memory and she'll be just like new again.   




H Songhai
10/24/09

Twitter works in the classroom

Twitter is more advanced than e-mail, just as powerful as text
messaging, comparable to blogging, encourages concise and focused
writing, promotes safe digital social networking and functions as a
powerful web search tool. Why then are there so few school leaders
and teachers using it to supplement classroom learning?

We need three outs. How long is that flight back to LA?

Change your reading ways

This new eReader by Barnes & Noble is going to change the way we buy and read books, change they way we read and browse through magazines and change the way we buy and read newspapers.  The Nook and other eReaders like Kindle, Cool-er and Sony will change the way students study and take notes, even change the way we read and present publicly.

H Songhai
10/21/09

Nook: Barnes & Noble eReader

Bill Cosby on USTREAM

The Cos and Company (Cosnarsti) were right on the money tonight
with their virtual town meeting streamed live over Ustream.
I tuned in late and only participated in about 30 minutes of the 90
minute virtual meeting but what I witnessed and participated in was
impressive.
Hat tip to The Cos for extending the conversation and especially for
doing it in cyberspace.
Find out more about Bill Cosby's virtual town meeting and his new
group, Cosnarati at billcosby.com

H Songhai
1/19/09

Twitter-delphia - How news events of the past would play out on present-day devices

My Media Literacy class is about to take on a project called Twitter-delphia - for a second time.  The project  comes from radio host Michael Smerconish.  Smerconish's Twitter-delphia first appeared in the Philadelphia Sunday Inquirer, June 28, 2009.  The thought behind Twitter-delphia is meant to show how news events of the past would play out on present-day devices.

The Smerconish article reads and looks like this

I think this will be a good project for my students because it requires them to multitask in an organized way while using a number of Web 2.0 tools. They will research their home town, find and imagine quotes by legendary and not so legendary Philadelphians,  use social bookmarking tools, use twitter to conduct research, add hyperlinks to their writing, use image editing software and possibly do some audio and video editing.

To begin the project, the students will create a storyboard (24 slides) in either ZOHO Show or Google Presentation.  Slides should be one color, border less and no designs or graphics.  Each slide (frame) must contain a newsworthy observation or quote by a noted Philadelphian.

The observation must be about Philadelphia - Philadelphia's history, politics, people, the environment, sports, transportation, crime, art, religion, music, philanthropy and more, so long as there is a Philadelphia angle and the action took place between 1920 and 2010.  The observations must be historically accurate and spoken or imagined by an actual player or witness to the event being described.  All observations must be written in 140 characters or less.

The students will practice surfing the web intelligently using smart keywords and phrases.
The students will learn how to use Diigo to bookmark, highlight and annotate web pages.     
I'm requiring them to compile and arrange all of their web findings for this project inside of Diigo.
They will use the free and web based Aviary Image Editing software to create original layered images  to add to their individual slides.

We will use the PrintScreen key over the course of the project to capture important screen shots.
Slides can be saved as jpeg image files and imported into Movie Maker. 
We will use Aviary Audio Editor to create an original music and narration track.
Export movie sequence to local computer and upload to student's educational blog.

Deadline to be determined.

H Songhai
10/15/09

eReaders here to stay.

Barnes & Noble to roll out new eReader by end of the month.


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