Category Archives: Devices

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A Season of Challenges and Successes

FLL Core Value Gears

https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll/core-values

I have meant to write about our 3 First Lego League Teams (FLL) for a few weeks as we have finished up competing in the Regional Tournaments. Out of the 3 DA teams, 2 have advanced to the State Tournament on January 18th, 2020. The competition was more intense this year with more teams and drastic changes to how the robot mission runs are scored. I want to thank all of the students and parents who support the massive undertaking by coaching, supporting, encouraging, or driving to practices and tournaments. FLL meets after school and on weekends to get ready for the tournaments.

This year’s theme was City Shaper. https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll

For the Innovation Project, teams had to:

• Identify a problem with a building or public space in your community.
• Design a solution.

• Share your solution with others and then refine it.

For the Robot Game, teams had to:
• Identify Missions to solve.
• Design, build and program a LEGO Robot to complete the Missions.
• Test and refine your program and design.

Team Robots have to navigate, capture, transport, activate, or deliver objects. Teams only have 21⁄2 minutes to complete as many Missions as possible.

Throughout the season, teams develop and are guided by the FIRST ® Core Values We express the FIRST ® philosophies of Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® through our FIRST Core Values.
The teams are:
DA Cav Squad  #17134 (Advancing to State)

Andrew Ye

Shreya Rao
Sachin Aggarwal
Anneke Schmidt
Lexie Chen
Rushil Reddy
Young Adult Mentor – Hutch Castelao
Coaches – Ramana Reddy & Gautam Aggarwal
Robonators #31861 (Advancing to State)

Anand Jayashankar

Kent Lee
Kwame Mensah-Boone
William Brown
Gil Mebane
Young Adult Mentor – Charith Fernando
Coaches – Jay Swaminathan and David Harpole
Neo Dragons #25598 (Narrowly missed advancing to State)

Matthew Guo

Chris Hu
Phin Brown
Ansh Desai
Andy Sun
Atakan Sevik
Asher Fields

Coaches – Mehmet Gokhan Sevik, Fabrice Fortin

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Are We Helping Or Hurdling?

This post has been rumbling around in my brain for awhile. I have even told a few people about the idea so thought I should actually start to write it. As the title implies, I think we need to ask ourselves this question. Is what we do helping our hurdling our learning and the learners we learn with? Those of you who know me can figure out what I believe.

Helping is when we provide powerful devices and resources for our learners and lead learners. Hurdling is when we only use them to fill out digital versions of worksheets. The cost associated with “digitizing” the process is embarrassing when so many schools do without textbooks, heat, desks, and qualified teachers in the world.

Helping is when lead learners use the devices and resources to change (As Alan November says) “Who owns the learning?”  Hurdling is when thelead learners pretends nothing has changed in 5 years with respect to how learners can learn with out us.

Helping is when lead learners help our learners to connect with authentic audiences. Hurdling is when we have to unblock sites so learners can connect and share ideas with fellow learners. Sure, the sites can be unblocked, but the fact it was blocked is a hurdle that will stop all but the most persistent lead learners.

Helping is when we think deeply about how to manage the internet so that our learners are not susceptible to the worst that the internet can offer. Hurdling is when the filtering is so restrictive that learners find ways around the management in order to complete work or learn something they are interested in.

Helping is when lead learners give ownership to learners to work on projects that interest and challenge them. Hurdling is when the learner needs to use another learners cellphone as a hot spot so they can watch the YouTube video on how to program their Raspberry Pi project. Real story for a real grade 5 learner.

Helping is when we pay for the full features of Nearpod with complete lessons including the latest in VR curated resources. Hurdling is when we then block the included YouTube videos from those crazy NASA folks that are curated and embedded in the lesson. This is when the horrible learning statement of “You can not do this at school, so do it at home.”, or see how learners learn to bypass the filters as above in order to keep learning. Why do we not trust learners and help them use these resources? What percentage of our learners would cause problems if we opened up resources? I believe this is a small percentage, yet the fear of what this percentage would do, prevents the majority of learners to benefit.  I think there is a large degree of making sure they did not see it at school if they end up seeing the underbelly of the internet. I suppose we only take them to the good parts of town as well. Maybe we should take a field trip to the nastiest part of town and let them off the bus without any adults since that is what we do when we say “watch it later at home.”

We need to be aware of how our best intentions of Helping do not turn into a growth in Hurdling for our learners. Over the years, I have seen younger learners having to solve the Hurdling obstacles put in front of the learning we seek to instill.

My focus remains on helping the lead learners and learners to reach their potential by having open access to the incredible resources our learning system is undergoing. Anything less is professional malpractice in my opinion. More Helping and less Hurdling.

 

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The Power of Off

Another day, another story about distractions caused by devices. Why do none of these articles and studies discuss the power of the off button? I wrote about my culpability in a post as I own that I have distraction on my hands.

How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds – Nicolas Carr who also wrote the book The Shallows which told us what the internet is doing to our minds. I do not completely buy his argument although I get the point. I imagine there were articles about how the printing press was damaging to the eyes or memory of the humans when it was introduced. Check out Marshal McLuhan’s The Gutenberg Galaxy, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change by Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, or The Rand Corporation’s article on the Information Age, Looking Backward to Look Forward Try this do a Google search for distractions and learning distractions and you will find a plethora (About 31,400,000 in 0.64 seconds, according to Google’s humble brag) of information about the damage being done.

Do a Google search for mobile devices and learning  and you will find an abundance, (About 111,000,000 results 0.71 seconds, again a humble brag) according to Google’s humble brag) of information about how the same devices can be used to increase the learning with adaptions and conscious use. That is about 79,600,00 more although to be honest I did not read them all to make sure if they were pro or con.

I get it and agree, but until there is no longer an off button on the devices, we are still the overlord of the devices we put in our lives. I for one do not want to go back to the day when digital learning happened when you went to the computer lab. For fun, I did a Google search for how to turn off my iPhone? I did not see this number coming (About 16,900,000 results (0.55 seconds)). If there are that many resources on how to turn off an iPhone we might need an intervention.

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Confessions of a Dismayed Apple Fan

I need to come clean about my love of Apple products as I feel both extreme pleasure and a sense of responsibility for what we, as a society, have allowed to happen. I played a part in this since I have visited the Apple Campus to learn how to bring devices to our school. I attended the MacWorld Expo in January 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. These were glorious times with so much promise for the future. We would be able to move computer use from a destination room to being available when needed. Why then did we end up where we are today? Web filters, apps to monitor usage and destinations, apps to turn off other apps, and the list grows each day. We are on the cusp of great advances with machine learning allowing us to talk to our devices to get answers to on the spot questions. Information is no longer scarce and yet many classes and schools act as if it is.  Our schools should be different with all of the devices we have added to them. For the most part we have underutilized the power of the devices but instead worked hard at restricting what they could bring to our learning. I am a participant in this movement and want to own my share of responsibility, but not more than my share.

I gave a talk to the sixth grade yesterday about making wise choices with the devices we give them. I write a book that is on all of the devices to support what I think is important for our learning community. I start with the usual acceptable use and what to do and what not to do. I dislike this part of my role but do it as I must to get to the next part of my role. That is to be a role model for how to balance the devices in our lives. Granted, today I turn 61 so I am long past the age of my students, but I think I remain relevant. The students are amazed that I do not own one of the smartphones that I saw introduced in 2007. I do not like talking on the phone and frankly think the costs of the device and the contracts for service are too high. I have a burner phone for those I love to contact me if needed. My school supplies me with all sorts of devices so I have everything that I need. I live on a farm so I now have 3.5Mbps DSL which is fast enough to do most things but not all things. I have watched as my children and grandchildren have been overtaken by the devices they bring to the farm when they visit. The woods on the farm does not call them like it used to when we looked for the fairy village as the iPad or TV has more draw. So with this in mind I wanted to shake up my presentation to the students which is why I asked these questions and shared these resources. Maybe you will find them useful.

Question: How many of you have an Instagram account?

Response: That is amazing since none of you are 13. I do know that you are all capable of lying to get what you want since everyone has to be 13 to use the good stuff on the internet. I discuss a bit about COPPA.

Advice: If the first thing you have to do to get something you want is to lie, you probably should reconsider if you really want it more then your integrity.

This allows us to discuss how humans will do many things to get what they want and lying is sometimes the least problematic action.

I then shared these resources so they could understand why they “wanted” and were willing to lie to get it as I think this is important information so they do not internalize that they are bad people.

FOMO https://www.wired.com/2017/08/fomo

I did not know this existed. Behavior Design Course http://captology.stanford.edu/projects/behaviordesign.html and Behavior Model Triggers http://www.behaviormodel.org/triggers.html
I love Tristan’s TED talk and showed the first 17 minutes.
I also like the work done by Time Well Spent.
I left them with the chance to “Be Internet Awesome” by Google Education https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/
Update 9/18/17 Adjusted the title as an is not an a and a is not an an issue. I also think the title could have been, “In The Battle for Your Attention, I Was a Foot Soldier”
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Getting Ready for State FLL x3

Robosharks

Robosharks

Robo Dragons

Robo Dragons

Cav Squad

Cav Squad

August 25th feels like along time ago when 19 students, 6 coaches. and 2 coordinators met to form teams and begin the process of developing First Lego League teams. We met each Thursday and most Saturdays since then and have achieved great success as all 3 teams have qualified for state! In fact each team won awards; Robosharks won the Research Award, Cav Squad won the Presentation Award while the Robo Dragons won the Innovative Solution Award.

The State Championships are on January 14th and 15th in Greensboro  http://www.ncfllandftc.com/2016—2017-state-championship.html

The NC First Lego League Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/northcarolinafirstlegoleague#

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Creativity, Storytelling, and Graphic Novel Creation

EsmeEmmaBookCovers

This post has been a long time coming as something always seemed to get in the way. This past year, I had the pleasure to work with our grade 8 language arts teachers on a graphic novel project. Students investigated graphic novels in class in preparation for writing their own. Using the awesome Book Creator App on our student iPads they were charged with creating their own graphic novel. We used the comic book template and this Google Slide Presentation to get started. Using Sketchbook Express (iTunes link) or other drawing apps on the iPad, students created images to go with their story. Many students combined their 8 years of art to create amazing images to support the story. Esme (Havoc) created her novel with images she drew in a style that creates a darkness. Esme told Mr. Michelman that she worked the hardest she has ever worked on any project on her novel. She told him that it was not ready as she wanted a little more time to perfect some element. As the school year came to a close we got this message from Esme:

From: Esme
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2016 2:55 PM
To: Ben Michelman
Subject: What Will Become of Havoc?
Hello Mr. Michelman,
Sorry for interrupting Memorial Day, and I know this is terrible timing, but I was wondering what will happen to the graphic novel I made. What should I do with it? Because I want to be able to still edit over the summer, but I don’t know how I’ll be able to do that.
Sorry,
Esme

How many times as that happened in your teaching? The assignment is over, student has graduated, and they want to still work on a project you assigned? This is the definition of engaged and highlights what can happen with student agency.

Emma took a different approach and used models for her drawings. Using her sister and family dog, she posed them and took images. Using the same Sketchbook Express app, she brought the image in on a layer and then used more layers to trace her characters. Once done, she removed the first layer. Her story and images are also well developed and support the happy ending in her story. I submitted her book to the Book Creator contest where she was one of the top ten finalists. She also started creating another book on Romeo and Juliet in order to help students understand it better.

I think both of these students have a future in book writing or whatever they choose to do. The only aspect I would hope they would include next time in their books, is a Creative Commons license so their work can be tied to them as a creator.

A challenge for their future teachers would be to connect to this passion and continue to bring it out. If you would like to read the ePubs you can access them in the shared Evernote note.

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Helping to Make Learning More Active with an Educanon

I Learned it on YouTube

Image from: aisletwentytwo

Going into our fourth year of our student and teacher iPad learning program I want to invigorate the use of videos. Teachers will often play a video in class while the students passively watch it. Since YouTube is blocked at school teachers will share a link for the students to watch when they are off-campus. Of course, once the student is on YouTube how long will they stay watching the video the teacher wanted them to watch? How long would you stay? Me, probably not long especially if the related videos showed up and if I did not really know why I was watching the video. What are the main points that the students is to learn? I have watched as vendors figured out ways to make videos active and not passive. I decided this year to invest in PlayPosit (fka Educanon) after comparing all three of the leading contenders; PlayPosit, EdPuzzle, and Zaption. While all had similar options PlayPosit had the best overall solution and a real business model. They are easy to work with and are founded by teachers so they understand the pedagogy and technology. The service is affordable and they do offer a free version although I prefer to pay a vendor so I can count on them being there for more then a couple rounds of financing. I am just starting to create the training materials and recruiting the early adopters.

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First Lego League – Update from Tournament

PiranhasTournamentScoresmall

 

What a day!! The ups and downs of any competition is filled with “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” as the saying goes. All 3 teams had strong showings but only the Programming Piranhas advanced to the state tournament on January 23, 2016 in Greensboro, NC. More information at http://ncfll.wildapricot.org/state The image above shows them standing in front of the scores being posted. Their last robot run was wonderful and earned the high score of 337 which had them in 9th place. The Robosharks were in 5th place at this time with the Cav Squad being in 14th. As the final scores were posted the teams moved a bit in the rankings. It was only after the judging was added in for Core Values and Innovative Project that the Programming Piranhas secured their spot while the other teams were left wondering where they could improve for next year. The robot competition is only 1/3 of the competition so teams that showed any weakness in the other areas had a hard time making it to the state tournament.

I am very proud of all the teams who worked hard over the last 3+ months. Go Programming Piranhas!

 

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First Lego League – A Grand Experiment

Image from: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

Our school had our first ever First Lego League team last year when parent, Greg Brown, lead a team called The Robosharks. He worked tirelessly to get the program started and the team went to the state tournament and won The Strategy and Innovation Award for their solution and robot design. A great showing for a new team. Mr. Brown approached the administration of our school and myself after the tournament with the idea of offering an after-school class for students and parents in an attempt to field more teams. After much work by him, we ended up with 25 students and 3 teams. The Robosharks,  Cav Squad, and Programming Piranhas have worked hard since August to get ready for the qualifying tournament on Saturday. The teams have worked hard each Thursday and most Saturdays to solve the missions but also develop their team project and bond as a team. This does not include the countless hours that the parents and teams put in coordinating and supporting their team. I was hesitant to take on the First Lego League teams years ago due to the need for it to be a student run and parent supported structure and not an instructor lead event. I am happy to say that while we have had our ups and downs we have 3 strong teams going into the competition. The team of Programming Piranhas in particular have really risen to the challenge. I am sharing a couple images and a practice movie I have of this team below as I think they show what is possible when you put students in charge. In addition to the teamwork, they have developed an impressive Toy Exchange project that has gained much attention. Read more about that at their Facebook page.

ProgrammingPiranhasphotosmall

Programming PiranhassmallPiranhas-First-Mission-1dhzmqz.MOV

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NPR Interviews Sherry Turkle on Face to Face Conversation

11984559914

 

I liked this interview as I listened to it in my car one Saturday morning on the way to the dump, which is a weekly ritual for a person who lives in the country. As it ended, I wrote down the information on my notepad and wanted to make sure I wrote about it as I believe this topic is important to all of us. I do completely agree that we can not have empathy unless we are face to face, but I do believe we need to start there in order to develop empathy.

Turkle, a professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, is interested in how all sorts of new technologies — not just iPhones — are changing our conversations. Her new book is called Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. She is also the author of the books The Second Self and Alone Together.

Listen below or read at http://www.npr.org/2015/09/26/443480452/making-the-case-for-face-to-face-in-an-era-of-digital-conversation

 

An earlier interview from 2012.