Category: Ed Tech

By beck@hamlin.org

We’re 3/4 of the way through the first trimester in 2D Digital Art, and we’ve been working on a number of projects including:

• Drawing/tracing in photoshop
• Photo retouching
• Face swap (taking one person’s face and seamlessly merging it with another person’s face)
• Cinemagraphs
• My Favorite Things (iMovie video)
• Recovering the classics contest

Many of the projects require 7-8 45 minute classes to complete, including at least one session of in-class instruction and ongoing support. This semester, on average, each project took 5-6 classes to complete. Over 80% of the students had little to no experience using Photoshop before this class. How is it that learning was able to be sped up while accounting for the various levels of expertise? By using blended learning!

How it works in the 2D Digital Art Classroom:

• The assignment is posted on the 2D Digital Art online class page (HamliNet)
• The assignment includes at least one tutorial video, and the rubric:

• As students begin completing the project, a new project is added, so those students can move ahead in their work.
• Teacher time in the classroom is mainly spent checking in with students 1:1 or in small groups, reviewing how the project is going, troubleshooting, brainstorming, and providing feedback.

The post Blended Learning in the 2D Digital Art Classroom appeared first on Education Technology Blog |.

Source:: Liz Beck – Hamlin Ed Tech Blog

By picketts@hamlin.org

Rachel Davis, Middle School Science Teacher and iPad Coordinator, Maggie Jo Feldman, MS Art Teacher, and Alison Trujillo, MS Spanish Teacher, teamed up for a fabulous Earth Day project! Along with the Grade 6 students, they released the Pacific Chorus Frog at Mountain Lake, making it the second native species reintroduced as part of our efforts to restore the ecosystem at the lake.

Here is a brief interview with the team recapping the experience:

Q: What grade level were you working with?
A: Grade 6

Q: What were your goals going into the project?
A: To raise awareness for the students so they could understand the human impacts on Mountain Lake. As they learned about it, they wanted to inform the public about these issues and the ways that people could help to restore the lake. Another goal we was to collaborate between subjects: Science, Art and Spanish.

Q: How did you roll out the project?
A: Leading up to Earth Day, we took a half-day where students designed beautiful and informative images that are on painted wood panels. During that time, they also created Spanish and English movies to explain the issues the images represented. Visitors to the National Park can scan QR codes attached to the panels to view the videos.

Q: If you were to do the project again what (if anything) would you change?
A: The time line was really tough. Next time, we’d like more time to connect with the park for planning purposes. This project would also benefit from more preparation time given to the students for cutting and designing the wooden boards. Looking ahead, we think we’ll also put more of an emphasis on teaching about the history of public art.

View photos on the Precido’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.979761525370337.1073741865.128693360477162&type=1

View photos on Shutterfly: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcuGzhy3ZuGTDAA

The post Citizen Science @ Mountain Lake appeared first on Education Technology Blog |.

Source:: Liz Beck – Hamlin Ed Tech Blog

By beck@hamlin.org

When I read about Ed Tech solutions for the classroom I often get the impression that the concepts are only applicable to older students. Lower School students sometimes get left out, and the more interesting Ed Tech work is integrated in the upper school levels.

This is partially because many lessons are designed to integrate multiple basic concepts, which are taught in the younger grades. But, there are lots of tech tasks that younger students are capable of managing if given the ability. For example, even the youngest students can use an iPad to record a video. However, posting that video for private classroom display is a challenge – most media sharing apps (YouTube, Vimeo, etc…) will only allow users 13+ years to register. This means that either the teacher needs to make an account, which she then shares with the students, or the teacher collects all the videos and posts them herself…not an ideal solution.

We’ve come up with a pretty nifty solution here at Hamlin! WordPress + the Jetpack plugin + VideoPress upgrade.

Hamlin’s WordPress.org Set-Up

• Our Learning Management System (LMS), Blackbaud K-12 (aka Whipple Hill), offers a version of WordPress.org called SchoolPress.
• SchoolPress allows the school to create blogs and assign the Author role based on the class rosters. In other words, if I create a blog for the Grade 2 class, I can simply import the Grade 2 class roster and easily make each student a blog editor (and the teacher the blog admin).
• The blog is also tied to our LMS, so if the blog is password protected (which all our classroom blogs are), there is a single sign on feature – the students must log into our LMS before taken to the blog.

WordPress.org Integration via the Jetpack plugin – VideoPress

• The Jetpack plugin is available to all WordPress.org sites (i.e.: a self-hosted WordPress site).
• Jetpack requires that you have a WordPress.com login. Once this is created, you can connect your .org site to your .com account, and get access to several features and upgrades available through WordPress.com.
• Enabling Jetpack, allows you to purchase and upgraded version of Jetpack that includes VideoPress.
• VideoPress allows anyone with an Author, Editor, or Admin role to post videos to their blog from their computer, tablet or mobile device. Since students (no matter what age) can be assigned any role, students can independently post their work to the class blog!

Note: you can attach your WordPress.com account (upgrade and all!) to multiple .org sites. This is a HUGE money saver!

Success story from the classroom, written by Ms. Andrews (Grade 2 teacher)

Background: The girls started their Family Field Trips around San Francisco. For this project, the girls create a presentation using PowerPoint/Keynote/Google Slides etc…, which they present to the class.

After A. presented her slides to the class, she went home and: took a screenshot of each slide to input the images into the Book Creator app, cropped each photo in Photos prior to putting it into Book Creator, and made a new book in Book Creator of her slide images. She used the sound recording tool to record herself reading her slides saved her project as a video. Then, she uploaded the recorded version as a video to the Blog and wrote a description about her work…all on her own!

A. said she did this because, “I wanted to be able to share it with my grandparents and other people who live far away, and with people that came over to my house. The steps just seemed to make sense to me, so I did it and it worked.”

I love how confident she felt to problem solve and explore these tech tools in order to create a project that fit her needs for communication, despite it not being a requirement of the project. She shows ownership of her learning and pride in the work she has done on this project!

The ability for the girls to connect school to home and home to school via the Blog, is so exciting and gives me ideas about future projects/uses! To see the girls take what we have done in class and use it independently to communicate their work highlights the value of this tool and why I love having a Class Blog!

The post WordPress for Education – A Solution for Younger Students appeared first on Education Technology Blog |.

Source:: Liz Beck – Hamlin Ed Tech Blog

By beck@hamlin.org

An interview with Middle School Technology Integration Specialist, Jim Lengel and Rachel Davis, Middle School Science Teacher and Integration Specialist:

Q: What were your goals going into Hour of Code?
A: (Rachel) – I wanted the girls to get more comfortable with coding and feel like it’s something they can tackle or try in the future.
(Jim) – I wanted to show the girls that coding can be fun! Like Rachel, I think if the students have a chance to experience coding they find find out that they love it.

Q: How did you think you were successful in meeting these goals?
A: (Rachel) – I’m so glad that most of the Middle School students attempted coding. Some students even told Jim and I that after their Hour of Code activities at school, they went home and coded that night!

(Jim) – It was amazing to look over and find a sea of girls in 5th and 6th Grades coding. We really had an enormous amount of Hamlin girls coding.

light bot; one of many coding apps used

Q: If you could do it again, how would you change the Hour of Code week at Hamlin?
A: (Rachel) – I think an hour dedicated for each grade to code during the week would be great so that even those who felt like they were not good at coding would at least give it a try.
(Jim) – I’d like to develop an integrated project that would then be taught via scheduled classes during the week. I’d also like to have more time to teach girls coding in general.

Leah Busque from Task Rabbit encourages the girls to build their dreams

Q: How did you celebrate the Hour of Code in your life?
A: (Rachel) – I really enjoyed watching the girls code and was impressed with their critical thinking skills. I Wish I had had the same opportunity when I was in Middle School. I was really inspired hearing Leah Busque from Task Rabbit speak on Tuesday, I thought she was incredibly inspiring.
(Jim) – I took a coding course “code school“, it will allow the technology team explore any only courses until the spring. I’m excited to integrate the lessons I am learning into my classes at Hamlin.

T-shirts to award successful completion of an hour of code!

Q: Can you share two highlights that particularly stick out in your mind?
A: (Rachel) – Wow, there are so many – picking two is a challenge. Watching Ms. Helm code with the girls was a real highlight for me. Seeing the excitement in a student who was able to light up a tree in Alaska, and how proud the 7?s and 8?s were when they received their hour of coding certificates.
(Jim) – One morning I walked around the corner to virtually the entire 6th grade class coding together. They were excited and really into it – I felt like I had reached the masses! When we gave the girls their T-shirts as a reward for completing the hour of code it was a fantastic wrap up to the project.

The post Hour of Code Recap – Middle School Edition appeared first on Education Technology Blog |.

Source:: Liz Beck – Hamlin Ed Tech Blog

By beck@hamlin.org

When the Tech Team first landed on the SAMR model, it resonated with us. We had already launched 1:1 iPad and laptop initiatives, but searched for common language to discuss our ed tech vision. SAMR seemed like a perfect fit!

Except for one thing. We don’t view the integration and use of technology in the classroom as hierarchical. We view iPads, laptops, apps, 3D printers, etc., as tools. Just as you wouldn’t choose a jigsaw to hang a painting, you wouldn’t choose Microsoft Word as a programming app. There is a time and place for each tool and the key is to know how to choose the best tool and why it’s the best tool for the task at hand.

Since it’s creation by Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura, the SAMR model has been discussed alongside various images, like flow charts, ladders and scales. Another popular SAMR metaphor is attributed to a 2013 blog post by Tim Holt as well Jonathan Brubaker‘s subsequent post, comparing each SAMR category to various types of coffee.

As you move through our presentation you will notice a new image created by the Hamlin Tech Team, where the infinity symbol is used to describe the flow as teachers mindfully select technology and its uses within the classroom. This is also meant to symbolize our decision not to weigh one SAMR category over another, but rather to raise teacher awareness and the capacity to make informed technological choices in the classroom. For example, Word (substitution phase) can make perfect sense for some projects and be the right tool for the task, whereas a blog (modification or redefinition) may be the right choice for other tasks.

Guiding teachers to discover new technology, be mindful of the pedagogical reasons for selecting one tool over another, as well as creating a safe space for openness, risk taking, and creative thinking, are more important to our team than striving for redefinition above all other categories.

We hope you enjoy our take on the SAMR model, originally presented to Hamlin faculty on May 12, 2014.

The post What does infinity have to do with the SAMR model? It’s all about mindfulness in the classroom. appeared first on Education Technology Blog |.

Source:: Liz Beck – Hamlin Ed Tech Blog

It’s hard to even know where to begin when it’s been so long. A quick summary of events to catch you all up:

• I left my job as an art therapist at Redwood Place and transitioned my career to web design (Liz Beck Designs) about four years ago
• A little over three years ago, I gave birth to twin boys
• Working for myself was great in that I could work from home and spend time with my boys during their first year of life (with help from a mother’s helper). But, hustling for clients and establishing a business is really hard to do when you’re a new mom. I began a job hunt and landed a webmaster job at The Hamlin School in San Francisco
• Two redesigns later (of their website and then their Learning Management System), my daily work moved from a more communications and fundraising focus to educational technology

The past four years been extremely dynamic, and for the past two I’ve been neglecting to write. I still have lots to say, much of which has been brewing for quite some time.

I’m now writing again, but this time as a part of The Hamlin School’s Technology Department (yes…I am again subject to awful school photos of myself. reminiscent of my self-conscious teen years), and I am automatically migrating my posts from our Ed Tech Blog over to lizbeck.net. I will also sprinkle in a few posts related to art therapy and other things of interest here as well.

Thanks for keeping in touch even though I’ve been silent for so long. I’m glad to be back in action!