I was fortunate to be able to present at ULearn this month and really enjoyed the experience. As I am currently in Edinburgh this required additional organisation and communication with the organisers of the Conference. I have just completed my Presenters Survey providing feedback to the ULearn organisers and uploaded my Presenters Materials which finishes the process for me for 2010 and I am happy to say that the entire thing was a complete delight from start to finish.
The process began with my submission to present at the Conference on behalf of my school, Shelly Park, and the Eastnet Cluster we are part of. I was very happy when my submission was accepted and prepared my presentation with the idea of presenting in person in Christchurch. That changed when I had to return to Scotland but as I was still very keen to present I contacted the organisers and asked if it might be possible to still present via skype. Sherry Crisp was very helpful and supportive and assured me that this was very possible. I decided to first present at the Eastnet Cluster Expo to share my findings with other professionals in our Cluster and also as part of my preparation for ULearn.
Presenting at the Eastnet Expo (click here for the link to relevant post) allowed me to prepare for potential technical difficulties at ULearn. I attempted to avoid these by giving my co-presenter, Ruth Aw, a copy of my Powerpoint Presentation along with the video clips I wanted to include and the handout for the attendees so that she had that with her in Christchurch. We practised skyping several times and I successfully shared my screen and maintained effective audio and video contact throughout. However, when it came to presenting the workshop the share the screen facility dropped off. Despite re-starting and logging out of skype I couldn't correct the problem. I continued with the audio and talked Ruth through the slideshow by asking her to click onto the next slide or advance the animations to accompany what I was saying. This must have been a bit distracting for the audience. I think it would have been helpful to have given Ruth my presenter's notes with the slides numbered beside each paragraph and then she would have been able to progress the slides without me. Something for me to consider next time!
I found the audience absolutely fantastic and was thrilled that they had several questions for me at the end. I hope that some will be interested in continuing the conversation either by commenting on this blog or in the Discussion section of the wiki. The feedback about the workshop was very positive and some people said they were inspired to trial something similar within their own school which was encouraging. It would be great to hear how they are getting on and I am happy to answer any questions or queries anyone has about the process.
I was fortunate to present at the Eastnet Expo last Wednesday. View the slideshow and supporting materials below. Despite some technical hiccups I thoroughly enjoyed presenting using skype and the share your screen facility. The idea behind my workshop was to share my recent journey into Action Research with other professionals.
In organising this workshop I reflected upon my experience from last year's workshop eLearning for Little People at the 2009 Eastnet Cluster Expo and tried to progress from that experience. I took a different approach when preparing my slideshow this year where I incorporated some aspects of Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds and also video examples to share with the audience. The workshop began smoothly with the setting the scene clip Piano Stairs from http://thefuntheory.com/ :
The idea behind this being that when learning is fun, children are engaged. Shortly afterwards the audio started fluctating on skype which was disappointing. Possibly it was a bit ambitious to expect to be able to share my screen and talk for 50 minutes without any problems. So we quickly went to plan B: I rang the classroom that the workshop was being held in at Elm Park School and spoke on speakerphone. Once we'd turned down the volume on both my laptop and Belinda's, who was helping me at the NZ end, from this end it there was a bit of an echo but not at the other end which is a relief! Fortunately this didn't mean I ended up running over time and I was pleased I didn't get flustered, probably because I'd already thought through all the possible problems and was prepared! There's a lot to be said for practise and preparation before presenting.
I hope the attendees at the workshop found it worthwhile. I am excited to see if anyone adds to the Discussion section of my wiki and have created a How to sheet to support them to do this.
I downloaded and used the XMind tool to help me plan out how to structure my presentation for the Eastnet Cluster Expo and hopefully ULearn 2010. I am sure other things will occur to me as I go through the process but I am happy to have a plan.
I was thrilled with the number of parents/family members who attended the feedback session by the Digikidz. I found the session highly beneficial for a number of reasons. The Digikidz delighted in demonstrating their skills with confidence and enthusiasm. The parents were able to ask questions, some of were not anticipated and sparked interesting discussion, such as: How were the Digikidz chosen? With the Action Research project finishing at the end of the Term will the Digikidz group continue? What do you see as the benefits to this?
I was able to answer the first question fairly easily - for lots of different reasons! Having taught a lot of the children I consulted with each class teacher and made some suggestions so together we chose 2 children from each class. The boy/girl ratio is quite equal with 9 boys and 7 girls in the group. The children needed to fit certain criteria - be kind, helpful, quick to pick up new skills and not too controlling. It was not necessary to be hugely skilled in ICT but I didn't choose anyone who finds ICT very challenging. Some children were chosen to participate as a way of extending them as they were achieving well above expectation for their age across the Curriculum, others because we thought it might benefit their self-esteem because they struggle in the core Curricular areas, some shy and quiet children were chosen to encourage them to build their confidence and others simply because we thought their personality suited the role and they were friendly with the other Digikid in their class.
With regard to the Digikidz continuing next Term. The children have been successfully upskilled in: using the easi-speak; digital camera to take photos (Year 1 and 2); digital camera to record video (Year 2 only); microphone headsets; voicethread; photostory; kid pix to draw pictures and record sound, to create slideshows and animations; blogging; accessing class and year level areas on KnowledgeNET; sounds great and smart phonics programs. So they don't really need to do anything else! If it is possible to continue re-visiting these programs and using the different tools to help the children retain their learning that would be beneficial. However, if the class teachers increase their integration of ICTs into their everyday practice the Digikidz should maintain their current levels of expertise. Plus if the Digikidz are working in different classes to support other children with their eLearning that will also help keep their skills sharp.
At the beginning of this project I guessed that there would be benefits to implementing Digikidz, however, I didn't realise exactly how successful it would be nor did I realise all the benefits which I have observed. All the quiet and shy children have benefitted as have the children who struggle in other areas of the Curriculum. They show increased confidence, independence, initiative, leadership and willingness to take a risk because they know they are really good at being a Digikid and they have teachers and their peers praising them and regularly seeking their expertise. All the children have developed their interpersonal skills and are able to assist others without dominating the situation. The Digikidz were constantly challenged and asked to step out of their comfort zone, with support from me, so they expect this now and are very keen to learn. But the biggest benefit for me is that I didn't quite appreciate the huge power of effective peer support. I have always used buddies to support others within my class and done peer assessment using success criteria. But this was generally reciprocal where one child would support their friend and then they would swap. Because the Digikidz job is to work with their peer to support them in their achievement of the success criteria for the entire lesson the focused talk about achieving the Learning Intention is unbelievable. The children constantly refer back to the WILF and the Digikid keeps asking their peer to extend their work throughout. This resulted in hugely more detailed and higher quality work than the children who were working alone even although those children were on-task, motivated and following the WILF too. The idea that two heads are better than one really applies here. I could worry that the Digikid is missing out on something by doing this role but they are gaining so many other skills by being a responsible citizen and helping someone. I am interested in exploring peer support further in the classroom perhaps by allocating more time to the process so that it can be a higher quality experience. I did ask a few parents whether they were concerned about their child going out of the classroom for upskilling or to work in other rooms to support others but everyone I spoke to was very positive about the experience and had seen marked changes in their child.
The sharing session was very enjoyable for me and next time I organise something like that I would let the rest of the school know so the other teachers can have a chance to come and see what the Digikidz have been learning too. I overlooked the fact that they might be interested and only invited my team, Associate Principal and Principal. Belinda told me she would have liked to be invited as well to celebrate the childrens' success. I will definately have to keep that in mind for the future and not assume people are too busy or that they wouldn't be interested! Let's face it, it's always nice to be invited to a party isn't it?
Here are some photos and comments from the session (images and audio by the Digikidz):
On a final note I was just visiting the At the Teacher's Desk blog and found a great post about a collaborative project between an NZ and a US school where the American children watched a video of two experts in the NZ school using the rakau sticks. Here is the link. The children then practised and made their own video in response. The idea of children as experts with children learning from one another is so amazing. What a wonderful way to learn!
As my Action Research project draws to a close I am looking back and reflecting on the project goals and considering the extent to which these have been achieved. I am excited to find that everything the children and were working on together has been achieved plus after observations were completed by Belinda Johnston, Eastnet Cluster Facilitator and discussions took place amongst the Junior school teachers, additional benefits are also evident.
I wrote part of the Final Report for the project this afternoon and I am reasonably pleased with it! I am sure I will have more to add after next Wednesday when the children are running a feedback session for their parents to showcase their learning and promote conversation about the project. I am really interested to gain the parents' perspectives and even more interested to find out if they have noticed any positive changes in their child's feelings about eLearning specifically or in their general attitude/confidence/self-esteem etc.
During discussions with teachers all noted significant changes in the Digikidz. The children are more confident, regularly demonstrate initiative and leadership in the classroom, will take a risk, are more responsible, willing to try new things and respected by their peers.
I was optimistic at the beginning of the project that the results would be favourable but I am very pleased that this has indeed proven to be the case. The children rose to the challenge and have exceeded my expectations in every way.
I would like to acknowledge all the Junior school teachers at Shelly Park School for supporting me and the children and the Digikidz for all their hard work.
I was very fortunate to work in a Year 2 class yesterday alongside Belinda Johnston who was doing some observations on the effect of Digikid support on children's confidence and engagement in their learning.
The WALT was: create a Kiwiana picture in Kid Pix. I was working with the class Digikidz, GV and KCS, and four other children. We co-constructed the WILF together: one Kiwiana item, correct colours, one or two colours for the background, large picture and while working we added typed label and the child's name. I re-visited the Kid Pix rules with the group and I was pleased they remembered that they only use the large eraser/dynamite stick once and that when creating our own content we don't use the pre-prepared backgrounds, stickers or stamps. They were easily prompted to use the fill bucket correctly and I reinforced the need to stick to plain colours so they could be easily changed.
Of the four children, two were paired with a Digikid for one-to-one support and two were working independently. The idea behind the observation session was to see if the children with support would show increased confidence or engagement or both in their learning.
The results showed that the children with Digikid support were continually conferencing with each other and were very focused on their learning. The children who were working independently were on-task for the first five out of ten minutes. However, in the last five minutes there were many more instances of off-task behaviours. The full observation can be viewed at - http:fairvresearch.wikispaces.com/ under Project Findings. I would definately like to repeat this observation using the same children to see if the results are consistent. Belinda and I discussed that next time she would wait five minutes and then begin the observation and see if there is any difference.
I would like to acknowledge and thank Jo Lynn the teacher and the room 5 children for allowing us to work together.
http://www.wiki-how.com/Main-Page excellent to learn and share how tos! I have just Googled How to create a stop motion animation after losing my paper notes for this and found a great wiki with loads of helpful how to articles. I am considering uploading all the How to... sheets I have made to support staff using various software programs and web 2.0 tools - Photostory, Kid Pix, Voisethread etc. And there is a wikiHow app for iPhones and iPod touches too.
It was very helpful working with the Year 1 Elm Park School Lead Teacher, Veronica Afreddy, and discussing my progress with my Action Research project. It was interesting to see what she has been doing and she recommended the British Council website which has helpful information about Action Research. We also talked about the possible format that the final report would take.
I think at this point I would like to review the impact of the Digikidz in classes with a Google Form and then demonstrate how they can be used more deliberately when I am providing in-class support.
I have figured out, with a little help from my friend Belinda, how to address the problem I've been having with recording audio onto slides in Kid Pix. What you can do is to draw your picture then copy it several times calling it e.g leaf, leaf1, leaf2, leaf3 etc then record one sentence on each slide. Pay attention to the audio indicator as you are recording to keep track of how much time you have left before reaching the maximum size allowed per slide. Then import the slides one after the other without transitions and it will look like one slide but with longer audio. I am going to try this out with the Digikidz next week when I am working in classes. I still haven't solved my problem exporting slideshows to Quicktime but am hoping that if I send the file to Belinda and it works that will mean it's a SPS network error and Quicktime needs to be re-installed to fix the problem. I would really like to get some of the children's fabulous work onto the Digikidz blog and into my wikispace as evidence for my Action Research project.
I have put together a wiki to hold all the data and examples of children's work I am rapidly gathering together at the moment! It can be viewed at: http://fairvresearch.wikispaces.com/ and I would welcome any feedback you might have as this is my first experience with action research. I am currently struggling with a couple of things: the first is how to export Kid Pix slideshows, photostories etc into Quicktime or YouTube to allow me to embed them in my wiki. Photostory is really simple to add to a blog but I have not found Kid Pix slideshows as easy. Hopefully I will solve this problem soon so I can add some of the super work the children have been doing and this will show the progression as they have opportunities to explore the software. The second problem I have encountered is that I can't record long sentences on Kid Pix slides. The Pod 2 Digkidz I am working with did a great job of finding out information about a chosen native tree. They drew a leaf from their tree in Kid Pix then we recorded the audio but I noticed that the program stopped before they had finished speaking and when I played the file it only had recorded part of what they said. BJ said this might be a memory problem. I have looked in the Teacher's Notes and the Help and Settings and can't figure it out. I am now going to Google so watch this space and I'll report back if I have success. Otherwise any Elm Park teachers who are Kid Pix experts I'd appreciate your advice!
I am embarking on an action research project and am so excited to be at a Lead Teacher workshop at Elm Park School and Belinda is sharing some examples of where to check out some examples so I can get a bit of an idea of projects from beginning to end. I have begun a Digikidz blog to share and catelogue our journey. Come and see what we're doing at http://digikidzsps2010.blogspot.com/
