Seeing Auras, Through Aurasma, That Is!

I've been hearing a lot about augmented reality in the last few years and it's been hard for me to imagine how it could work in classrooms. Luckily, some great teachers I work with began to pave the way. My science teachers came to me to show me the app Aurasma (Lite). Aurasma lets you add augmented reality layers to any trigger image you choose. The science teachers wanted to use it to have a video play once students were finished reading an article.


It went like this.

The students read an articles on bees from a physical piece of paper. They took notes and did some great reading strategies while reading the article. When they were done, they picked up an iPad, opened the Aurasma Lite app, and hovered the camera over the photograph in the article. And then,

Abracadabra!

A video appears in place of the photograph. (Commence oohs and aahhhs) Not forgetting that the point is to have the students then learn more from the video that has been magically summoned by the technology gods, students were to record new facts about the topic (bees) that were covered in the video but not in the article.

Talk about raising student engagement.

Students that hadn't read the article, suddenly buckled down and began reading.

Students that had been FAR off task, took on leadership roles and began showing other students how the app worked (and discovered some things the science teachers and I hadn't tried yet!)

It was a great class and a fun way to use the app.

But I want more.

What if students recorded themselves doing a book talk and then used the cover of the book as the trigger image? Anyone with access to the app could scan the cover of the book and then watch the students' book talk.

Or what about once a student has completed a work of art? They could record themselves discussing what what challenging about the piece or what ideas they were trying to convey.

I'd love to hear from other educators about how they've used this app or how they envision it being used. I love the idea of a school covered with augemented realities that show off student work in a multitude of formats and media.

In the mean time, Aurasma has great tutorials and guides to get you started, check out Creating Your Own Auras on Aurasma.com

If your interested in creating a lesson like the science one described above, see my post Augment Your Own Reality.

Augment Your Own Reality

The world of augmented reality continues to amaze and astound me. Below are some directions for how you can create your own augmented reality experiences for your students. For a simpler process, see my post, "Seeing Auras, Through Aurasma, That Is." Below is a way to link trigger images (like a photograph in a book or article) with educational videos (from YouTube or elsewhere).

These instructions might seem long but the process is really quite simple and the website is very intuitive.

1. Set up a (free) account with Aurasma Studio.

• Go to http://www.aurasma.com/partners/advertiser
• Use your name for “Company” as well as for “Contact Name”
• Submit the form
• It will take 1-2 days for Aurasma to get back to you with a username and login.

2. Once you get your login information from Aurasma, go to https://studio.aurasma.com

• Accept the terms of agreement
• Watch the tutorials. They are VERY helpful
•  Here is a link to more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1yPhsqgp7o

 

To make an article with a video aura:

1. Find an article you want to use.
2. If the article already has an image in it, right click on the image and save it in a location where you can find it again.
3. Find a video you want to use.
4. Download a copy of the video by using a website like KeepVid (http://keepvid.com/) or by downloading a program like aTube Catcher (http://atube-catcher.dsnetwb.com/video/)

Creating a channel:

1. 1. Go to https://studio.aurasma.com and login
2. Click on Channels

Adding the image for the aura:

1. Go to https://studio.aurasma.com and login
2. Click on Trigger Images
3. Click on Add
4. Give the image a relevant and concise name
5. Browse for the image file
6. Click on Close

Adding the video for the aura:

1. Go to https://studio.aurasma.com and login (if you aren’t still logged in)
2. Click on Overlays
3. Click on Add
4. Give the video a relevant and concise name
5. Browse for the video file
6. Click on Close

Making the aura:

1. Go to https://studio.aurasma.com and login (if you aren’t still logged in) 
2. Click on Channels
3. Select your channel
4. Click on Add Aura
5. Click on “Aura details”
6. Give your Aura a hame
7. Select the trigger image
8. Click on Overlays
9. Select he video you want to display
10. Make necessary adjustments and click on Save

Your Aura is now accessible!

Launching a Virtual Book Club

I am giddy with excitement about the opportunity to host a Virtual Book Club discussing the fantastic book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time by Julie Lindsay and Vicki A. Davis. The book club was announced last Sunday night in my school division and I am thrilled that we already have thirteen teachers signed up! Even better, we have teachers from across our school division and from all different grade levels. It is a wonderful thing when already busy teachers find time in their lives to discuss powerful educational ideas with their peers. 

Now, I am ready to get some global participation in this book club. I can't think of a better way to brainstorm about global projects than to have teachers from across the globe in the session together. So, we are inviting all teachers, parents, students, thinkers and learners out there to join us for six live meetings to share what they think about the projects, resources, and research discussed in Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.

We will be meeting on Tuesdays at 00:30GMT (Mondays at 7:30pm EST)

(find the time in your country/time zone here)

on the following dates:

January 7th - Meet the Flat Classroom, Chapters 1 & 2

January 21st - Connection and Communication, Chapters 3 & 4

February 4th - Citizenship, Contribution and Collaboration, Chapters 5 & 6

February 18th - Choice and Creation, Chapters 7 & 8

March 4th - Celebrating, Designing, Managing a Global Project, Chapters 9 & 10

March 18th - Rock the World


Meetings will be live using Blackboard Collaborate and will last one hour. We will spend the time sharing thoughts about ideas raised in the book. It will also be a great opportunity to connect with other educators that share similar passions and beliefs about flattening our classrooms walls. We will share strategies and resources for building those 21st century skills like collaboration, communication and creativity in authentic ways.

Inspiration for this Virtual Book Club came from Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis themselves. I was lucky enough to participate in a Virtual Book Club hosted by Engaging Educators last spring. It was great because I

• actually read the book (instead of the book just staring at me from my book shelf, desperate to be read but collecting dust instead)
• met educators from across the United States and around the world
• learned about global projects that already exist that I could participate in
• was inspired to do more to help students and teachers connect and collaborate

I hope that you can take some time to read the book and join us for our discussions. If you are interested, please complete this quick form so that I know you are interested and I'll get back to you with information about our first meeting. And, please, spread the word!

If you aren't familiar with the idea of a virtual book club or with this text, here's more!

What is a Virtual Book Club?

A virtual book club is one in which readers come together to discuss a text using a web-based platform. Readers connect by logging onto a website in which they can be active learners and collaborators. The virtual room allows readers to speak, listen, chat and read about what others think about the text. All participants need is a web link, a computer with access to the Internet (and preferably a working microphone) and thoughts and ideas about the reading. It is like a book club but you can stay home and be in your pajamas!

What book will we be reading?

We will be reading the text Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis. This book is co-written by classroom teachers that have transformed learning in their classrooms by communicating and collaborating with other classrooms around the world. Learn more about how global learning provides authentic literacy experiences, gets students engaged in their learning and opens up numerous opportunities for differentiation.

Launching Digital Writing Month

So, two happy events collided today.

Today my presentation for the K12 Online Conference went live. I feel so fortunate to be selected to present and to be included with such amazing presentations as Tiana Kadkhoda's Kids Teaching Kids and powerful learning ideas as Ben Rimes Video Story Problems. If you haven't watched either of these yet, you absolutely should. Tiana makes a poignant case for why we need to turn the tools and the content over to kids more and let them lead us towards transformative instruction. You won't think about teaching math the same. In a similar spirit, Ben Rimes shows us how turning on the camera on our phone can lead to engaging story problems that students will love solving. And, that once students see a few of these, they will take off with creating their own. Both of these presentations will get you thinking more and more about where student voices are in your classroom or your school.

Authentic Voices has been a place where I have tried to help student voices be heard. In a previous post, Learn. Share. Remix. Joining the K12 Online Conference I go into more detail about my presentation, but here (ta-da!) is the link to the live video:



Today is also the beginning of Digital Writing Month. I personally have set a goal of posting something to my blog everyday for the month of November. I have no idea if that will get me to the suggested 50,000 words, but I can't wait to find out! I love this idea of folks all over, with differing interests, writing styles, opinions and ideas all just trying to get their ideas out there and published. While I wish I had prepared and gotten an English/Language Arts teacher or two to participate with me, I know that by just trying myself, I'll get some buy-in from them in the future.

So, today I got to share the inspiring work of students who have put their voice to their very personal writing and have published for the world to see. And, I start my own efforts to put my own voice out there more frequently and more openly.

A good day.

Learn. Share. Remix. Joining the K12 Online Conference

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us… Your playing small does not serve the world.”  -- Marianne Williamson

I am so excited to be a part of the K12 Online Conference this year. The theme this year is Learn, Share, Remix with four substrands: Getting Started, Visioning New Curriculum, Kicking It Up a Notch and Student Voices. I am thrilled to be sharing stories about Authentic Voices as part of the Student Voices strand.

If you haven’t participated or “attended” the K12 Online Conference before, you are in for a treat. Everyday for two weeks at 1pm (GMT) four video presentations are launched. Each video needs to be under 20 minutes and related the the conference strand. There are a number of different presenters hitting on topics as varied as Immersive Gaming, Social Media, involving parents and delivering professional development.

For my presentation, the hardest part was choosing which voices from Authentic Voices to share. For me, every post on the wikispace has a story to tell. I remember each student: how they responded to recording their work and publishing it, what was happening in their lives and how writing became a successful moment in their learning day.  But I forced myself to choose just four pieces that seem to represent the breadth of writing on the site and highlight different powerful aspects of the project. I hope my listeners enjoy the selections I play.

In addition to sharing student voices, I wanted to emphasize three themes:

1. Recording leads to revision

2. Authentic audiences help writers bloom

3. Finding collaborators is challenging but worth the effort

I believe these are the heart of this project and can be applied to a number of different kinds of projects across subject areas, ages and classrooms with differing access to technology.  If you tune in, please leave me a comment and let me know what you learned, what questions you have, and what ideas you have to improve the site.

After watching the keynote address by Kevin Honeycutt I was both inspired and completely intimidated. His video captured enthused students building an Apollo 13 museum interspersed with his poignant and passionate appeals to make education engaging, powerful and meaningful. I was scratching down quotes during the whole video and more than once rewatched a segment to make sure I captured his points. If you haven’t watched it yet, here it is, watch it. And then follow him on Twitter and get further inspired.

With the same breath that felt inspiration from Kevin Honeycutt, I felt desperation about my own presentation. I realized that my video would be posted as part of the same conference! What did I think I was doing? While I am passionate about Authentic Voices and the experience it provided for students I work with, my work is no where near the same level as what Kevin Honeycutt has done. What’s worse is that the video itself is certainly amateurish and basic (just installed Camtasia days before!). How will I hold up? Should I withdraw? Plea for another week to edit my presentation?

Then I remembered, part of Kevin’s message is that we have to keep trying. We have to keep putting ourselves out there. It is time to not just consume the ideas of others but to contribute to the movement of making educational technology part of school reform. My project might be small and my presentation might lack finesse, but keeping it to myself does not serve my students well or serve anyone well. Which brings me back to the opening quote by Marianne Williamson,

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us… Your playing small does not serve the world.”

So, I am repeating this quote to myself and breathing deeply.

I am excited to be a part of something big and not over-thinking my own contribution.

I am thankful to be included and not second guessing whether or not I’m worthy.

And I am joining the conversation.

Learn. Share. Remix.

5 Great Educational Technology Blogs

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twentysevenphotos/5437365845/

Let me start by saying I love "top" lists. I'm the first to click on "11 ways to use Twitter in the classroom" or "15 rules to live by." Now that it is time for me to try to make a top 5 list of great educational technology blogs, I am feeling very inadequate and shy. But teachers and colleagues often ask me which blogs I read and so I'm feeling like it would be a good idea to post some of my favorites here. I cover everything from tech tools, to teacher reflections to posts that challenge the status quo. I find I need all of these popping up in my Google Reader to keep me thinking about my work and working on my thinking. And really, there are so many wonderful blogs out there, this is really just a starting point:

Cool Cat Teacher - Vicki Davis's blog is everything I appreciate: current, humorous, sincere, authentic, inspiring. Her blog is filled with great resources and great tools. A first stop for teachers wanting to learn more about what technology to use, how to use it and why to use it!

Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything -  Kathy Schrock is legendary in the Ed Tech realm. She finds great tools, communicates them well, and keeps current on what is shifting and changing in education. This is a great spot to find just about anything you are looking for in terms of best practices and educational technology.

The Global Classroom Project Blog - I am partial to this blog because I have had the chance to guest blog on it (full disclosure). But what I love about it is just that, it is filled with different teachers from around the world sharing what they have tried in their classrooms, what is working, and what challenges they still face. While not strictly and educational technology blog, most of these projects that are described, use technology in some innovative way - getting students to connect, learn and work together across time zones, borders and oceans.

Free Technology for Teachers - Richard Byrne's blog is chock-full of reviews of all kinds of apps, software, web 2.0 tools and more. This is a great stop-off if you want to learn 5 new storytelling apps or the best video-editing software.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4295780055/

Okay, so maybe I'll do my top six.... *smile* These last two are my reality check blogs. These two thought leaders consider the big picture and ask what learning should really be about.

Dangerously Irrelevant - This is one of the first blogs I began subscribing to and Scott McLeod was one of the first people I began following on Twitter. His posts make me think. They challenge the traditional way of teaching and learning many of us experienced and asks powerful questions that make me reconsider what classrooms should look like. I don't always agree and sometimes it shakes my thinking too deeply, but I know I need these ideas to shape what I do and what I believe.

The Innovative Educator - It took me longer to find Lisa Nielsen but her posts serve a similar place in my professional learning and growth as do Scott McLeod's. She really pushes the envelope in terms of questioning what schooling is about and how it relates or doesn't relate to learning and education. I encourage you to check her out.

The Compulsory Why

Today I was asked the most important question of all:

Why do I do what I do?

This question came from our leader of educational technology (an inspiring woman) with just a brief introduction. We were just asked to write a bit about why we do what we do.

I love this question. I typed furiously for the whole time she allotted to us. I went from the lofty, to the practical and back again. I also loved hearing all the typing and writing in the room around me. Knowing that I was on a team with a group of other passionate educators got me writing even more. Here is what I wrote:

I do what I do because I believe in the transformative power of educational technology. I believe that when students are given the opportunity to create, share, and problem-solve using relevant, powerful digital tools, they become more engaged in their education, more confident in their abilities and more curious about the world they live in. I believe that education needs to stay relevant as the world is changing and we need to provide teachers and students with the tools and resources they need to understand the complexities of the world they live in, to communicate and collaborate with others beyond their own classroom and to solve real problems that exist in the world today. I believe that teachers have a tremendous burden to teach children, curriculum and skills and that I can help share that burden by sharing what I know about digital tools. I also believe that students that are not currently feeling successful in school can grow and benefit from exposure to digital tools and resources when given the freedom to choose and reflect on the work they do.

When we "finished" what we were writing, we were introduced to Simon Sinek's TED talk "How great leaders inspire action" If you haven't already listened to this TED talk, it focuses on change agents. What Simon Sinek argues is that what distinguishes leaders from everyone else is that they focus on the "why." Instead of explaining what they do or how they do it, they communicate why they do it. Leaders let you know what they believe and inspire you to see what you believe in, in what they believe. Leaders share their I believe statements with you, not just their plans for action. As all good TED talks do, he has great visuals and great examples. If you are interested in considering how you can be a leader that inspires action, I recommend this thought-provoking video.

So, back to me. So why were we shown this video? Why were we asked to write why we do what we do? I think that in educational technology (like many fields) it is easy to get caught up in the what and they how. Here are some examples of typical "what" and "how" types of statements.

"Here is a new, great tool!" 

"Here is where to click to make your... photostory, glog, prezi, [fill in the blank]"

"We need more laptops, iPads, headphones [fill in the blank]"

But we need to spend just as much time on the "why." So, here are some of the statements I want to make a regular part of my work with teachers and school leaders:

"I believe that asking students to publish their writing on a wiki will change how they think of themselves as writers." [More on this, see Dude, Can You Please Edit]

"I believe that if students communicate directly with students from other cultures. we will create more compassionate, caring young people." [More on this, see Teachers Teaching Teachers about Global Projects]

"I believe that by playing an immersive, multi-player math game, students will do more math and become more confident in their math skills." [More on this, see Running to get to math class]

I left our meeting today more committed to sharing my "why" with the teachers and school leaders I work with. I am passionate about what I do and I do believe in what I do. I need to make sure others see this and want to believe it too.