Great session at RNH - many iPad questions!!

We had a terrific session down at the Reservoir Neighbourhood House the other week (21 April).

Four teachers, 4 iPads, 1 windows laptop and one projector.

Here are the questions & topics we started with. So many questions, some still unanswered.

PD register on the google drive, and other forms

• People were having trouble with the PD register, but we found out that Peter has put iPad-friendly link on the intranet. Thanks Peter!! *

The TV and the iPad 

Yes, we do need the appleTV to broadcast to the TV. We're not sure if people at the RNH will have access to an appleTV. So, what are the alternatives?

• A long HDMi cable and an iPad-to-Hdmi adaptor
• or plug the iPad into a data projector using this cable / adaptor option
• Let's find out more about the appleTV option.. Fraser? 

Looking for some teaching suggestions for very low level language and literacy

Pairing remote control with classroom television

Recently teachers at PRACE have relied more and more on the big classroom televisions to broadcast what's on their iPad or laptop screen.

Unfortunately we've had a weird situation at Spring St where the remote control for the TV doesn't work. Last week I visited Jan down at the new campus, and this was one of the issues arising.

So we called Fraser and discovered the solution. 





Here's what you need to do if this happens to you:

1. Find the small USB dongle marked "RF" - attached to a cable - hanging off the back of the TV
2. Unplug it from the cable
3. On your remote control, find the RF button on the back (the horizontal keyboard side)
4. Push that RF button on the remote, and watch the red light on the remote
5. When the red light stops flashing, and goes constant red, plug in the USB dongle where it came from. 

If it doesn't stop flashing, you may need to power off/on the remote control first. 

Let us know how you go, in the comments below. Did this work for you? 

BTW, Fraser is also looking into ways to make sure this doesn't happen. 

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Photo by User:FA2010 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

What's the deal with copyright photos?

..or: "learning to love the Creative Commons license".

Photos can be so useful in class - images get people talking and writing, and can help to find common ground quickly.

These days, teachers are expected to reference and cite every image, especially if used in an assessment task.

However, photos on the internet are copyright the photographer - unless otherwise marked. Probably.


To use an image legally, you either need to

• get permission from the photographer or author (if "All Rights Reserved"), or
• find an image that is licensed under "Creative Commons"(you must credit the author), or
• find an image that is in the Public Domain (totally free, no need to cite source - usually very old works)
• find images from a place like Morgue File, where photographers have donated photos from previous projects (copyright-free!!).

You can search several places for creative commons licensed images: for example:

Students and teachers embrace the new iPad experiment

This year has been full of technological excitement at PRACE, as teachers and students have embraced the new iPad gadgets.

VCAL students began the experiment, being the most likely to explore new things. They are now sharing files via a combination of google drive and showbie, submitting their work via airdrop, and more. Teachers broadcast polls and surveys straight to the big screen wirelessly, and any student can also share their work with others via the big screen.

Thanks to the heart-warming success of the initial iPad explorations in the VCAL classroom, ESL and literacy teachers have also begun to explore new territory.

• Yvonne pushed the innovation at one teacher moderation session, when she shared documents for validation via the airdrop technology (files travel directly from one iPad to the others, in the air). 
• Barb has been making stop-motion animation videos with her "Making Connections" group, as they work with images and vocabulary relating to food - particularly pizza. She has also found that her students respond much more positively to the challenge of taking photos on excursion, when an iPad is involved. 
• Rohan has been challenging students to discover apps that would suit their interests and working lives. 

What have you been doing with your iPad in the classroom? Leave a comment and let us know, thanks. 

Video interview with Sia Gazis

Fiona introduced Sia and Michael, and suggested they create an interview-style promotion together for the introductory massage course. Using some footage and photography shot by Lauren, Michael shot and edited 15-20 minutes of additional footage down to 4 minutes.

The editing was done in a free, professional-grade software called Lightworks (free for a mildly limited version). There’s a learning curve, of course, but michael would definitely recommend this software to anyone who doesn’t have access to iMovie.

If you have iMovie.. use that instead. 

Future suggestions:

Any teachers who are interested in creating video with their students, to suit any kind of language or literacy learning activity, please come and talk with Michael.

“I would love to work with teachers & students to make video,” he says. This could suit genres such as explanation, instruction, personal narrative or recount, or even conversation. 

Have fun with photos at photofunia

I found this "photofunia" site via Vivian, one of the teachers at Glenroy Neighbourhood Learning Centre. She uses the site for students when they first join a class there. The idea is that students upload a photo of themselves and do something fun with it, for example turn themselves into the Mona Lisa, or a design on top of a cappuccino.

It's kind of an ice-breaker, but people are also learning basic skills in web browsing and file management (upload, download files, remember where you saved it etc).

At first, I was talking with Barb about using the site with her students in the Making Connections class. However for that group, this would be extremely challenging. They're still learning about files and folders on the student drive.. Barb said she might re-visit the idea next year.

In the meantime, Tina said that her level 3 ESL students might be open to it, so I finished building this help file. Latest update: they might use it as an end-of-year activity.

Otherwise, the help file is still there if you'd like to use it. Let me know how you go, in the comments below.


Links:

1. photofunia dot com
2. the help file (in pdf format - stored in google drive)

By Michael Chalk

Looking back: the last 12 months at PRACE

People often ask, “Why e-learning?” 

For me, it’s about providing a strong balance of flexibility and access. Ideally learners (and teachers) can connect with their peers and explore the learning materials outside of set class times and independently of location, in ways that are simple and straightforward. Wherever you are, at a time that suits you. 

At PRACE, people continue to explore these themes of flexibility and access in more and more practical ways.

Here's the quick overview of what's happened at PRACE in the last year. Please tell us in the comments... which of these stories below would you like to hear more about?

1. Online forums with "Moodle"
   In 2012, people working on their Advanced Diploma of Community Sector Management stayed in touch with each other and with the learning resources using “moodle” - a web-based system for conversation and sharing. Our Committee of Management members began using the same system to improve ways of working together between face-to-face meetings.
   
2. Shared files in "wikispaces"
   People in the VCAL program continued their investigations into wiki technology (wikispaces) for the young mums program. This extended at the end of the year into a new wiki for the main VCAL group. (A wiki is a web page you can edit in the web browser.) Also both groups have been experimenting with the use of facebook as a discussion method.
   
   We also put some audio interviews with teachers and learners on our "Learn at PRACE" wiki.. from one of the popular Morning Tea events last year. Have a listen and tell us what you think. There's also a music playlist on that page - songs relating to employment.
   
3. Blogs & email
   The e-learning co-ordinator continued working with teachers to support classroom strategies. ESL teachers supported their to develop skills in basic email, both at the Reservoir Neighbourhood House and at Merrilands. Some ESL and literacy teachers also began using blog technology to engage their learners, with video listening and web-based conversation.
   
4. Strategic conversations
   Across the organisation, we have begun a more in-depth conversation about strategy, inviting several co-ordinators and teachers to form a small committee examining how technology is affecting PRACE at all levels. One discussion focussed on cloud-based document sharing, leading to a comparison of Dropbox and Google Drive applications.
   
5. Google Apps for education
   We continued to improve and expand our organisation-wide use of Google Apps. Now we have a range of ways to share and communicate information between different locations, including spreadsheets for booking equipment, online documents for reporting to the IT support crew, shared calendars for events, and internet folders for sharing documents.
   
6. Websites with Wordpress
   We've also continued to improve the PRACE website, as well as building websites for Branch Out and West Preston FC, as part of our web of strategic partnerships. These sites are built with the sophisticated  content management system known as “Wordpress”.
   
7. Like our new Facebook and Google+ pages
   We are still working on the strategy here, but we've set up our store-front in both Facebook and Google Plus. Social media is said to be a great way of connecting with customers, students and potential audiences.. however we need to make sure we have the best approach.