It has been a while since I wrote a "day in the life" blog. So, as I enjoy my Saturday morning coffee, here is a look back at my busiest day last week.
6 - 7 am - Answer email, read and respond to a graduate student paper, organize calendar.
8 - 9: 30 am - Drop dear child off at school; Drive to work; Talk to two colleagues by phone about research projects and committees; move more stuff into new office.
9:30 - 11:30 am - Academic Workload Advisory Committee
11:30 - 12 - Squat and gobble while printing handouts, agenda and updating website
12 - 1:30 pm - Chair, Educational Studies in Language, Culture and Technology Meeting
1:30 - 3:00 pm - Graduate Programs in Education Council
4:00 pm - Music lessons with child
6:30 pm - Sound check and mingle with cool educators!
7:00 - 9:15 pm - Panelist, CRC's Digital Citizenship Symposium
9:45 pm - Fill vehicle with gas and find my way home.
Thankfully, most of my days are not this busy - most professors can and DO handle a few of these busy days a month. In fact, many of my colleagues seem busier than me - emails at all hours of the day, and slightly disheveled attire and grooming, attest to their hectic and demanding schedules! [Having fun here, friends!].
An academics' busy schedule demands that we make trade-offs - we all have to make choices about how we spend / invest our time in order to maintain an active research program, prepare articles and grant applications, offer quality teaching and graduate supervision, do journal editing and make conference presentations, engage in administrative and leadership service on dozens of committees, and cultivate a healthy and happy family life. On that note, I have to go get ready for hockey practice with my two kids. Cheers.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Are tech-savvy students better learners?
Are tech-savvy students better learners?
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/august26-2010/education
As children of all ages head back to school this fall, many of them will have the benefit of having a laptop computer all to themselves. But does having this level of access to technology guarantee the individual student will be successful in their studies? According to two University of Calgary professors, access to technology is only one part of the equation. Quality teaching matters more than ever when computers come to school....
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/august26-2010/education
As children of all ages head back to school this fall, many of them will have the benefit of having a laptop computer all to themselves. But does having this level of access to technology guarantee the individual student will be successful in their studies? According to two University of Calgary professors, access to technology is only one part of the equation. Quality teaching matters more than ever when computers come to school....
Friday, September 17, 2010
Best In Class Fund - Students Can Win 20K in Technology for Their School
Girlprof supports putting technology into the hands of children for engaged learning at home and a school, which is why I became involved as a member of the Technology Advisory Board for the Best In Class Fund (BiCF). Secondary students and teachers from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia can apply for a 20K grant and geek squad support for their innovative ideas about using technology for learning.
Get Involved to Win 20K for Your School!! Learn more: BiCF Guidelines
In brief, grade 7 to 12 students can work together with their teachers to develop an imaginative and engaging VIDEO and WRITTEN proposal to outline / demonstrate how they would like to integrate digital technology for learning in the classroom - be sure to focus on how technology will provide educational benefits in YOUR classroom. Students will work on the 2 minute video, and teachers on the 500-word written proposal, and submit both by Oct 24th.
* October 24 - Submission deadline at midnight, PST
* Week of December 13 - Announcement of program winners
* Spring 2011 - Video follow-up with grant recipients to evaluate impact in the classroom and to show how the program has come to life in the winning schools
Research on Engaged Learning With Technology
My own educational technology research focuses on quality teaching and engaged learning with technology - most recently, I have studied the learning benefits of laptop programs in junior high schools with my colleagues, Sharon Friesen and Candace Saar. Read more about this and related research:
Get Involved to Win 20K for Your School!! Learn more: BiCF Guidelines
In brief, grade 7 to 12 students can work together with their teachers to develop an imaginative and engaging VIDEO and WRITTEN proposal to outline / demonstrate how they would like to integrate digital technology for learning in the classroom - be sure to focus on how technology will provide educational benefits in YOUR classroom. Students will work on the 2 minute video, and teachers on the 500-word written proposal, and submit both by Oct 24th.
- What is your ‘big idea’ about why your school needs technology from Best Buy?
- How will having new technology impact student learning?
- Why are you passionate about technology in education?
* October 24 - Submission deadline at midnight, PST
* Week of December 13 - Announcement of program winners
* Spring 2011 - Video follow-up with grant recipients to evaluate impact in the classroom and to show how the program has come to life in the winning schools
Research on Engaged Learning With Technology
My own educational technology research focuses on quality teaching and engaged learning with technology - most recently, I have studied the learning benefits of laptop programs in junior high schools with my colleagues, Sharon Friesen and Candace Saar. Read more about this and related research:
- CBC Website: Researchers Like Laptops in Calgary Classrooms
- GlobalTV: U of C researchers probe whether tech-savvy students have an advantage
- CHQR: Researchers study computer use at SW school
- UCalgary: Are tech-savvy students better learners?
- St. Albert Gazette: Okay class, There's an App for that
- Education Canada: Teaching in a Participatory Digital World
Monday, August 16, 2010
Robert Thirsk: Open the Door to Opportunity
Enjoyed an inspirational keynote by Bob Thirsk, Canadian Astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, on Monday morning at Alberta Education's EMERGE Conference.
Powerful Ideas that Thirsk used to frame his talk that included photographs from the international space station, a video made by the crew and many, many stories about "the right stuff" for kids who are considering a career in space.
1. teachers are cool - Shirley Cole, Powell River, BC, barely remembers the day when John Glenn launched into space and she played the audio link for her grade 3 class. Most students just saw it as a passing event, but one student, Thirsk, was obviously inspired and went on to a career in space.
2. A career in space is not science fiction: Canada employs thousands of people in the Space industry
3. We learn best when we are engaged - careers in space are not desk jobs!
Get students involved in hands on activities inside the classroom and beyond via science centres, science fairs, get students involved in these fantastic learning opportunities. If you cannot get to Montreal, you can learn about these resources and use them through videoconferencing
4. A Career in Space is Challenging
Astronauts take inspiration from JF Kennedy, 'we chose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard (get rest of the quote)
- http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/We_choose_to_go_to_the_moon
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon... (interrupted by applause) we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
5. Failure is not an option – speed of events and decisions, using expensive equipment, astronauts operate on behalf of researchers who have spent years designing their experiments, just like failure is not an option for students at exam time, at high school graduation, and so on, failure is not an option.
6. We go to school to learn how to learn
The door to opportunity only opens when students acquire the needed knowledge, skills and attitudes - there are specific ksa's that scientists and astronauts need to be successful. Astronauts need to understand very complicated systems, machines, vehicles; the space station is complex on another level of magnitude.
- Willingness to undergo advanced training on an lifelong learning basis; massive amounts of information need to be acquired in a short period of time
7. You don't have to be a geek to love math and science
We do wear white lab coats, but we also wear backpacks, space suits, hiking shoes; we love going to work, and get new challenges each day, every day is different.
8. Practice makes perfect
The bulk of an astronaut’s time is spent learning and practicing for the mission, and preparing for optimal and off-optimal outcomes, unanticipated events
Simulations - practice, doing procedures over and over to get it perfect
9. Its more fun to work in a group than to work alone
Attitude - decisiveness, team work, persistence
This is the most important competency of the three - you can always learn the knowledge and skills to do the job, but not everyone can learn the attitude needed to do the job well and be successful.
10. People are more interesting than facts
Students want to learn about the people who have made a difference, the explorers and inventors, and what attitudes and skills were necessary, instead of just the events and accomplishments - kids are inspired and learn from the dispositions, the attitudes, the people themselves, who they were.
11. opportunities are built upon a strong educational foundation
the next generation of space workers are in today's classrooms - so, teachers have an awesome responsibility to inspire the next generation of explorers, inventors and astronauts.
Powerful Ideas that Thirsk used to frame his talk that included photographs from the international space station, a video made by the crew and many, many stories about "the right stuff" for kids who are considering a career in space.
1. teachers are cool - Shirley Cole, Powell River, BC, barely remembers the day when John Glenn launched into space and she played the audio link for her grade 3 class. Most students just saw it as a passing event, but one student, Thirsk, was obviously inspired and went on to a career in space.
2. A career in space is not science fiction: Canada employs thousands of people in the Space industry
3. We learn best when we are engaged - careers in space are not desk jobs!
Get students involved in hands on activities inside the classroom and beyond via science centres, science fairs, get students involved in these fantastic learning opportunities. If you cannot get to Montreal, you can learn about these resources and use them through videoconferencing
4. A Career in Space is Challenging
Astronauts take inspiration from JF Kennedy, 'we chose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard (get rest of the quote)
- http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/We_choose_to_go_to_the_moon
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon... (interrupted by applause) we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
5. Failure is not an option – speed of events and decisions, using expensive equipment, astronauts operate on behalf of researchers who have spent years designing their experiments, just like failure is not an option for students at exam time, at high school graduation, and so on, failure is not an option.
6. We go to school to learn how to learn
The door to opportunity only opens when students acquire the needed knowledge, skills and attitudes - there are specific ksa's that scientists and astronauts need to be successful. Astronauts need to understand very complicated systems, machines, vehicles; the space station is complex on another level of magnitude.
- Willingness to undergo advanced training on an lifelong learning basis; massive amounts of information need to be acquired in a short period of time
7. You don't have to be a geek to love math and science
We do wear white lab coats, but we also wear backpacks, space suits, hiking shoes; we love going to work, and get new challenges each day, every day is different.
8. Practice makes perfect
The bulk of an astronaut’s time is spent learning and practicing for the mission, and preparing for optimal and off-optimal outcomes, unanticipated events
Simulations - practice, doing procedures over and over to get it perfect
9. Its more fun to work in a group than to work alone
Attitude - decisiveness, team work, persistence
This is the most important competency of the three - you can always learn the knowledge and skills to do the job, but not everyone can learn the attitude needed to do the job well and be successful.
10. People are more interesting than facts
Students want to learn about the people who have made a difference, the explorers and inventors, and what attitudes and skills were necessary, instead of just the events and accomplishments - kids are inspired and learn from the dispositions, the attitudes, the people themselves, who they were.
11. opportunities are built upon a strong educational foundation
the next generation of space workers are in today's classrooms - so, teachers have an awesome responsibility to inspire the next generation of explorers, inventors and astronauts.
Gesture and Object Based Technology
Dr. David Merrill, co-founder and president of Sifteo, was the first keynote at Alberta Education's Emerge Conference 2010 in Banff, Alberta.
Powerful Ideas David shared:
Key idea: it can take TIME to refine and improve how we use a powerful technology.
- Computer Mouse - a great idea that lasted over 40 years, from Englebart's (1968) original mouse, to the iMac mouse (1995), and latest wireless and gesture mice. Supports a range of interactions, and is also limited.
- Theremin (1928), gesture controlled pitch and volume, to O'Modhrain (2000), Stanford, who explored haptic feedback to increase playability of the Theremin, to the Wii (2006), to the Ocarina (2010), and the iPhone that supports multi-touch.
- Videogames, Damien Lopez (2008) worked on a taxonomy of game controllers, and the types of interaction they support.
Key idea: Why our tools matter: they are objects that help us to think (Draws upon Seymour Papert's seminal work on "objects to think with"). Trying many alternatives with a minimum of effort increases our good solutions and enables us to explore problems more fully.
- Rapid prototyping, Experimentation, expression
- Access to tools matters - anytime access allows us to try more possibilities, to rethink the problems themselves
Key idea: Siftables: Play, Learn, Create
- Key advances: multiperson, more mobile, 3D spatial, 2-handed all fingers bodily interaction, tangible: cognitively beneficial
- Object-based, gesture-based interaction with computers
David Merrill's TedTalk - demonstration of Siftables.
Powerful Ideas David shared:
Key idea: it can take TIME to refine and improve how we use a powerful technology.
- Computer Mouse - a great idea that lasted over 40 years, from Englebart's (1968) original mouse, to the iMac mouse (1995), and latest wireless and gesture mice. Supports a range of interactions, and is also limited.
- Theremin (1928), gesture controlled pitch and volume, to O'Modhrain (2000), Stanford, who explored haptic feedback to increase playability of the Theremin, to the Wii (2006), to the Ocarina (2010), and the iPhone that supports multi-touch.
- Videogames, Damien Lopez (2008) worked on a taxonomy of game controllers, and the types of interaction they support.
Key idea: Why our tools matter: they are objects that help us to think (Draws upon Seymour Papert's seminal work on "objects to think with"). Trying many alternatives with a minimum of effort increases our good solutions and enables us to explore problems more fully.
- Rapid prototyping, Experimentation, expression
- Access to tools matters - anytime access allows us to try more possibilities, to rethink the problems themselves
Key idea: Siftables: Play, Learn, Create
- Key advances: multiperson, more mobile, 3D spatial, 2-handed all fingers bodily interaction, tangible: cognitively beneficial
- Object-based, gesture-based interaction with computers
David Merrill's TedTalk - demonstration of Siftables.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Latest Issue: CJLT / RCAT 35(3) - Fall 2009 - Online
Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie (CJLT / RCAT): http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt
Table of Contents
Editorial: CJLT: Changes in the World of Academic Publishing
Michele Jacobsen
Articles
Online synchronous communication in the second-language classroom
Elizabeth Murphy
Patterns d’interactions écrites asynchrones entre des classes branchées en réseau
Stéphane Allaire, Thérèse Laferrière
Using Videoconferencing to Provide Mentorship in Inquiry-Based Urban and Rural Secondary Classrooms
Qing Li, Patti Dyjur, Natalya Nicholson, Lynn Moorman
Gaming geography: Educational games and literacy development in the Grade 4 classroom
Heather Lotherington, Natalia Sinitskaya Ronda
Implementation of web-based learning in colleges of education: Barriers and enablers
Daniel W. Surry, Adrian G. Grubb, David C. Ensminger, Jenelle Ouimette
Cliquer, glisser, dactylographier ou sélectionner dans un menu déroulant : manipulations préférées des étudiants universitaires / Click, slide, type or select in a pop-up menu: Favourite manipulations of French-as-a-second-language university students
Nandini Sarma, Alysse Weinberg, Martine Peters
The effectiveness of web-delivered learning with aboriginal students: Findings from a study in coastal Labrador
David Philpott, Dennis Sharpe, Rose Neville
Use of Social Software to Address Literacy and Identity Issues in Second Language Learning
Jill Hutchinson
New Editor: Dr. Heather Kanuka, cjlt@ualberta.ca
Fall 2009 issue of the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie (CJLT / RCAT): http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Flapjack App & the Calgary Stampede
If you are from the prairies, and even if you are a professor in the ivory tower in this city, you know that a Stampede is approaching Calgary. The first half of July is the time of year that most Calgarians and Hundreds of Thousands of Visitors don cowboy hats and boots, and travel to city center to enjoy the rodeo, the chuckwagon races, agricultural exhibitions and the midway. The Stampede Parade is this Friday morning, and corporate and academic Calgary shut down offices and classrooms for the morning so that staff and students can take in the show.
Part of enjoying the Stampede Spirit and Fun is the annual quest to find free flapjacks throughout the city and surrounding area. Those of us who are used to this brand of Western hospitality do not find it curious at all to see folks line-up at 7 am for a free coffee, sausage and flapjacks. In fact, this brand of hospitality has spread beyond the Calgary Stampede and free pancake breakfasts often accompany folk festivals and other events at other times of the year.
On my drive to campus this morning, I learned about a new app for my iPhone on the CBC - the Flapjack Finder. I have written before about my enthusiasm for Apple's iPod, iPhone and iPad... In fact, just yesterday, I made my first visit to the Genius Bar -- Top Marks for Andrew and the other geniuses!! Anyhoo, back to finding flapjacks. You can bet that I have already downloaded the Flapjack Finder on my iPhone, and that I plan to slap on a straw hat, grab my kids and husband, and find some free and flat throughout the area in the next two weeks!!
Yahoo!!
Part of enjoying the Stampede Spirit and Fun is the annual quest to find free flapjacks throughout the city and surrounding area. Those of us who are used to this brand of Western hospitality do not find it curious at all to see folks line-up at 7 am for a free coffee, sausage and flapjacks. In fact, this brand of hospitality has spread beyond the Calgary Stampede and free pancake breakfasts often accompany folk festivals and other events at other times of the year.
On my drive to campus this morning, I learned about a new app for my iPhone on the CBC - the Flapjack Finder. I have written before about my enthusiasm for Apple's iPod, iPhone and iPad... In fact, just yesterday, I made my first visit to the Genius Bar -- Top Marks for Andrew and the other geniuses!! Anyhoo, back to finding flapjacks. You can bet that I have already downloaded the Flapjack Finder on my iPhone, and that I plan to slap on a straw hat, grab my kids and husband, and find some free and flat throughout the area in the next two weeks!!
Yahoo!!
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