I have also started testing out Audio Boo on my iPod Touch. It is a free application for the iPod or iPhone that allows recording and posting to a web site. I think it is an interesting concept and wonder how teachers might use it with their Moodle courses. There could be an RSS of audio recorded by the teacher showing up in their Moodle course. Check mine out at DigitalKarl

3 Words – Durham Academy from Andrew Herington on Vimeo.

As this creative project came to a close, students in Sr. Glass and Sra. Harrell’s 6th grade Spanish classes learned about one of Spain’s most famous poets and playwrights, Federico García Lorca. The culmination of the unit was for the students to create a podcast on his poem, “Canción del jinete”. In the podcast, they recite and illustrate the poem with images that they believe capture the poem’s essence.

This week, Mrs. Hall’s 5th grade students finished their 20th Century History Podcasts which began 3 weeks ago in the Library with Mrs. Longee. Students worked in teams to research and write scripts (reports) to record. Images were used to illustrate their reports along with proper citation.

These projects represent a wonderful illustration of the digital learning that can happen with the software and hardware tools we have available today. As I told the students in each class though, without a script or report, all you have is dead air. Research, writing, recording, illustrating, citing, and preparing products that will live outside of Durham Academy are central to providing a 21st Century learning experience. The critical element of engagement was present in all students as they worked to create their masterpiece. Bravo to all!

All projects and many others are available at http://web.me.com/damiddleschool/MS_08_09/Home.html

Technorati Tags: learning

We used all of the “shelf technology” plus some last minute software tools that solved a need we discovered we had.

ID Poems: Check them out at our Digital Locker
Write a poem that communicates who you are and how you have transformed as Pi transforms.

* What’s in your name? You may look up the origin of your name http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/ to add to this activity.
* What does your name mean to you?
* What power do names hold?

Construct your poem as follows:
I am _____________
I am Favorite Animal
I am Favorite Candy
I am Favorite Color
I am Favorite Season
I am Favorite Clothing
I am like Pi….
My Favorite Quote
Name Meaning

Vox Pops: Check them out at our Digital Locker
Collectively the groups came up with at least 3 questions about one of the themes in the book. They then took turns recording each member’s response to the question. These are recorded, edited, and uploaded. In addition to audio Vox Pops, students documented the process with video cameras.

Themes for Vox Pops

* Storytelling
* Find Self
* Man vs. Nature
* Human Relationships
* God/Religion
* Man’s Inherent Nature
* Man’s will to live
* Good vs. Evil
* Rebirth

I am a proud and grateful teacher and happy that we had the shelves stocked.

Technorati Tags: class2.0, devices, learning

This photo shows the case and the dock.

This photo shows the dock with 15 iPod Nanos.

This photo shows iTunes and the 15 iPods connected.

This photo shows the connector in the bottom of the dock.

This lab will use the Raybook lessons that we purchased last year in addition to iTunes U.

From my post last October 2007.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mark Williams from Modality Learning and discuss a product his company has been working on called Raybook.
Now the tag line for Modality is “Making Small Screens Smarter”. The concept is simple enough, work with publishers to adapt their content to a small screen much like iTunes has adapted music to an mp3 player. We know where we are now with the iPod and other players. I know of schools, Durham Academy included that has purchased iPods with the Belkin Tune Talk to record podcasts for publishing on the Internet. We hoped to perhaps create audio books by having a parent narrate a book we own or even work with Audible Education to load content onto the iPods. Both of these methods could work, but the issue was one was just an input device for recording while the other had the issue of getting just the right content onto the device.

Technorati Tags: learning

This article appeared in our News and Notes earlier in the year:

Durham Academy has purchased a site license for Raybook Math Facts to outfit first and second grade students with Math Facts: Addition and Subtraction and third and fourth grade students with Math Facts: Multiplication and Division. The programs provide simple flash cards and study guides to help students learn fundamental math skills. In addition to having them in the classroom, students and parents will be able to download these Raybooks for home use.

The Raybooks were recently tested in the Lower School’s second and third grades. “The students were highly motivated to practice with them,” said math coordinator Bonnie Boaz. “They looked forward to practicing with the iPods and didn’t view it as a drill.” Second and third graders worked in pairs with one student operating the iPod and the other answering the questions. Their scores on subsequent tests tended to be higher than when using traditional methods to practice math facts.

Modality, Inc. is the maker of Raybook, which combines text, images and audio into portable learning and reference resources for the iPod. Originally designed for college anatomy students, founder and DA parent Mark Williams saw that this simple repetition would have application for all levels of students. He was recently named one of 10 Apple Science Innovators for 2008, recognizing individuals who demonstrate excellence in the integration of new technology in research and education.

After we purchased the site license for Math Facts Raybooks we mailed each Lower School parent the key codes for their very own copy. We hoped they would download and use the Raybooks as we believe the iPod can be a much stronger learning tool then it has been seen as a device to leave in their bookbag.

One parent, really liked our idea and left Michele Gutierrez some feedback. How many school technology teachers would like to get this feedback?
Parent Raybook Feedback

To get there, Open iTunes – Click on iTunes Store – Look for University of South Florida – College of Education on iTunes. You will then see Lit2Go as well as many other resources. The stories are listed by grade level. What a great assignment for students to load up their iPod with Literature!

Technorati Tags: class2.0, learning

Now comes Raybook with titles from Brain Quest, CliffNotes, and other publishers. Now we have content that we can download onto the device that is appropriate for young learners. Doesn’t every student need to learn the multiplication tables, spelling of life time words, geography facts, math facts, history facts to only mention a few. What would happen if the fact learning was done with an iPod while coming to school, at a friends house, or at a center in the classroom? Imagine that the teacher could have the student take a quiz using the same questions from the iPod content. This is possible and could be done if Modality Learning keeps working on their products. I hope to have the LS Digikids test their products to see if we should work with the company.

In the interest of full disclosure Mark Williams is a parent and husband of a colleague and students here at Durham Academy. In addition, the company is just down the street right here in Durham so this is a no brainer as far as I am concerned.

To find out how Raybook works, check out how it works. It reminds me of Look Up Above ” Is it a plane, is it a bird… No it is super learning….

Ok, so I am not a marketing genius but I think this is a company and product to watch as schools purchase these little devices or students purchase them and bring them to school. What if instead of banning them, we added content to it?

The University of Adelaide’s Center for Learning and Professional Development’s Allan Carrington has designed a learning module in going from Podcasting to Learncasting. This is a free learning cast that can help anyone learn how and why we should think about including these resources into our teaching. While the focus may seem to be higher education, it is no less applicable to k-12 schools. Allan shares his Del.ici.ous bookmarks for module 1. They are using Articulate to create the lessons. While it is Windows only software it is pretty cool how it creates Flash lessons with embedded audio, images, etc..

Podagogy is a site that is connected to Allan although it is the work of Randy Meredith at Spring Arbor University in Michigan.

I plan to spend more time investigating this site and the many resources linked from here.