Riddle me this.

How do we overcome the resistance to students bringing their own technology into the classroom?
From parents, administrators and teachers.

Not what I needed.

So day three of conference and my laptop power converter died.
Just the little eepc box but the only one I brought in today.  There goes my "bring your own laptop" session.

ISTE day 2 end

Wow my feet hurt.

So I didn't make many of my workshops today in favor of seriously hitting the expo. I think I visited every stand and played with every interactive whiteboard solution there. Thoughts and views coming in a larger blog post which is in progress and will be completed when my brain works.

Interactive whiteboard options

So one of my goals of the conference was to compare a range of interactive whiteboard products. Let's consider the options I have seen so far:

The one we all want but will never get: Promethean 500 model. This is Promothean's entry to the touch sensitive world. Like most of the entries in this field it works on camera's mounted around the edge rather than relying on pressure sensors. It is a beautiful toy, allows multiple users at once and is a very solid bit of kit. Price tag is extremely high, although maybe not unsurprising as it only comes in the 87" and 95". CDW have them for just over $4k including the projector.

The one that felt it could have been just a little more exciting: Polyvision have a reasonable interactive set up. The board is designed to still function as a traditional whiteboard. Price tag is apparently around$15k (plus projector.) The board has a small texturing and the stylus has a built in camera that registers your location on the screen. Very much tied to the stylus sadly which I feel is a real limit on several of these options. The really clever bit with Polyvision was the magnetic control strip that can be relocated anywhere and as with most of the pen-based boards this year the pen works from about 30' away as a pointer. It also had a very nice chunky mini-slate to walk around with that was designed to attach to the board by magnets. Oh by the way, the board is metal and can have magnets put on it, just as an added kicker.

The surprise star: Hitachi's offering is the Starboard FX TRIO. This allows finger-touch control as well as a stylus and multi-user like most of its competitors. It also has two features that really sold it to me, the first is the gesture recognition: when you use one finger it take that as the mouse/pen, when you use two fingers it erases. I felt this was a very nice touch. Secondly the inteli-pen is a clever mode that not only corrects your drawings to geometric shapes and your writing to text. But it allows google searches based on what you have written, along with a range of other interesting functions. I also liked the relative ease with which it integrated with other windows running, dragging an image from google straight into the presentation and so on. Just visable and of special interest to most educators is their claim of a $999 price-tag, making it by far the most affordable of the newest range of boards.

The big letdown: A disappointing note was the relative lack of anything new from Smart-tech. They seemed to just be presenting the same tech with shinier accessories. Now while I love their accessories it felt like they were falling behind a little in the game.

The extreme overhype: Teamboard seemed interesting but it felt like they were mostly be plugging the software, the actual boards doing nothing the other available options did not. With one interesting exception. The latest board they pushing allows for levels of touch. So it senses how hard you are pressing on it. This allows for hovering which; especially for mac users, could be a really interesting option.

The basic: For sheer value QOMO take the prize, their IR boards seemed sturdy and effective with touch capability. A little over-simple and lacking in bells and whistles but very capable. Definetly worth checking out.


Ok, that's me for the night, tomorrow I will try and maintain my sanity long enough to talk about the myriad interactive projectors I have seen today.

So many techies

Some poor engineer just came to replace the led circuit that should make this glass table light up. Suddenly he had five tech bloggers mesmerized.

ISTE day 2

Ok I have made it to the monday of ISTE. Now for some more cogent thoughts on this thing.

When I said in a slightly panicked manner last night that this thing was huge, it's really big. I am sat in the bloggers lounge just inside the front doors of the center and the hum of people and noise is deafening. I am absolutely surrounded by people, I can guarantee each of them is carrying at least two wireless enabled bits of technology (as you can imagine, the bandwidth here is straining and heaving.) There is an almost electric hum about this place.

I have never seen so many interactive whiteboards, that may sound silly but it's such a sign of where we are. Every presenting booth has one donated by one company or another. They're new and shiny and beautiful. (I know, my love of them may be a little unhealthy.)

My little Eeepc couldn't handle the strain. It's bios is way out of date and the wifi couldn't cope with the network here, it wheezed and strained its way through yesterday but I have had to lug the heavy duty laptop to the conference with me today.

I've left myself this morning to check out some booths and go stare at whiteboards. Let's see how I do.

Ok this is a big conference.

Just stunningly big, and many people are not in the keynote speaker's talk yet.

Fascinating keynote.

Not necessarily for what he has said but how he said it. I am interested by someone throwing a challenge in our faces.

Question and answer is more interesting.

Preparing for ISTE

I have arrived in Philadelphia. All ready for the ISTE 2011 conference. Checked into my wonderfully eccentric bed and breakfast in the University City district. More universities should be in this kind of area.
Took the picture on my way to the trolly into town. Not my b&b but a good example of the architecture.

Preparatory plans. What am I here for?
- I want to get a good plan for our interactive tech going forward. So am going to hit up all the IWB and interactive projector booths to be found.

- Get ten great things to present to my faculty.  Anything shiny to justify sending me.

- Come back with recommendations for a more developed cyber-safety/bullying campaign. Our symposium needs building on and this is the place to find the tools.

- Not get totally overwhelmed. Take in things but don't try to take in everything.

Top 3 bits of tech - part 2: Google sites

While I am willing to agree that there are several options out there for simple, functional and effective website construction, I don't believe there is one with as many possibilities as Google sites.

Even at its most basic it affords you the teacher a hassle free way to create your own website, hosting links, homework assignments and anything else you can think of. I have a page on mine for each online lesson the students will engage in, that way rather than having to give them a long web address to visit (or even worse a collection of them) I can just direct them to my website.

But the great joy of google sites comes when you get the students to build their own pages online. Because of the collaborative nature of google sites not only can they easily and quickly create their own pages and sites really quickly (my 7th graders effectively built a large multi-page website in a couple of days) but they can then peer review and comment on each others work on the site. They can even edit each others work if you give them permissions.
For me that last bit is the final icing on the cake of google sites. The editing history option not only shows you who has edited what, but allows you to revert back to a previous version of a page if you are unhappy with the edits.

Some areas of the google site interface seem a little counter-intuitive (frustrating in a system that is so logically put together) so it is worth playing around with it. Google's own "how to" is pretty good but there are lots more out there.

Top 3 bits of tech - part 1: IWB software

A friend and colleague just contacted me with a conundrum. She is looking to expand her toolbox of technological skills and has time over the summer to teach herself to use some applications. Her question is, given the chance what three applications (beyond basic office) should she teach herself to use?

I'll confess my first response was "ask me after ISTE!" as I am sure I will come back from that with 100 great ideas and fully intend to blog my way around the conference to my hearts content. However, for now let me give my initial thoughts.

1 - Master an interactive whiteboard (IWB) software.
All of these essentially work like powerpoint, and if you are familiar with powerpoint prepare to be frustrated as they are no-way as nice and intuitive. But they have built in a range of fantastic interactive features that fantastic.

If you've not been convinced by the research showing how cool these are for kids learning, I will not attempt to make the case right now. Instead I will throw this idea into the mix: These are an incredibly simple way to impress kids with some tech skills. Because unless they've gone out and looked into IWB technology they genuinely will not be sure how you do some of the things you do. Having the students believe you're even close to their own technological world is a great step towards earning their respect.

But which to choose?
There are two bits of software that seem to be competing for the crown right now, and it doesn't really matter what type of smartboard you have. You should try both and decide which one you prefer. For both of them there are vast amounts of resources already created free to download.

Smart tech's "smartnotebook" is the first option. It is a widely used system, but for my mind a bit awkward to use with several niggling annoyances (like difficulty resizing animated objects, etc.) To download you will need to code from a smartboard you will be using at some time (even if it is a colleagues that you use occasionally) Obviously contact your friendly neighborhood tech-coordinator for that one.

Pros: Massive resources of lessons already out there, not just at their own "smart exchange" but on many other sites. Smart tech got into the interactive whiteboard game first here in the US and they've got a lot of followers.

Cons: Clunky interface that can be infuriating. Can't load activinspire files. Cannot embed videos.

The other option if Promethean's "activinspire." Designed to go with their range of interactive whiteboards. There are many who say this is a far more user friendly system and several teachers I know are switching to this from smart notebook. It still has a great range of interactive objects and doesn't have as many annoying bugs. However, unlike smart notebook which you get for free if you have access to a smartboard, activinspire is available as a free basic version to anyone, but you have to pay for the bells and whistles full version.

Pros: Many available resources, including Promethean's own site "Promethean planet." While they were slow to get moving in the US, Promethean are the leading supplier in the UK and much of Europe, so they have a big following.
The biggest pro of activinspire is it allows you to import Smart-notebook files into it and converts them, effectively doubling the amount of available pre-made lessons and tools.

Cons: You have to pay for the full version. I don't know yet how much stuff you don't get in the free version (I am using the free trial) but I am sure I will weigh that up later.

Online learning.
Whichever software you fall for the internet is filled with ways to learn your way around it. Check out the manufacturers own site, but then look around for the broad range of user submitted guides. You'll just keep finding cool stuff to do with the whiteboard and I promise you'll never look back.

Beginning this blog

I work as a technology coordinator and middle school teacher in a small independent school. This blog exists as a way for me to draw together ideas and information, reflect on practice and discuss pedagogy. I will also be using it as a way to chart my achievements and failures in this field during my first year.