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Google Classroom -What does Google have in store for teachers?

5/7/2014

I have been using Google apps and products in my classroom for some time now. I waited impatiently as they unveiled Google Drive which changed how I manage my classroom. I use Google Forms to create quizzes and embed them onto my classroom website; I do the same with Google Presentations. There is an ad on script called Flubaroo that is used to grade those quizzes and email them back to the students. The Calendar that Google offers is also easily embedded onto my site, this way my kids can always look back to see what they had missed or look ahead as to when an assignment is due. I can create videos then store them on my Drive and share them with my students either directly via Drive or by embedding them on to my site. The list goes on and on of all the free things Google has to offer besides its list of growing educational apps. This is all good if your a bit on the geek side and am able to figure out how to use it. That is were Google Classroom comes into play.

Preview video found at http://www.google.com/edu/classroom/

What is Google Classroom? Well it is hard to say as of today as they have kept things pretty tight lipped but here is what we probably have in store. Google realized it was losing a lot of business to both Schoology and Edmodo so I think it is going to be safe bet that they will be adding a Learning Management System (LMS) to their apps. As I said above I used a lot of Google products but managing them was tricky and probably overwhelming to teachers that have not kept up with how Google Drive works. It looks like teachers would be able to set up their class list and the app would automatically connect with that students Drive to allow for seamless sharing of documents in both directions. This is possible now but you have to be on top of your file management game to have it work. Teachers would be able to push out homework, view it in real time, and make comments on it, without ever actually taking it from the student. Quizzes and test are also likely to be an addition, this is rather self-explanatory but in a nut shell teachers would give an assessment in the Drive and it would be graded and then returned via email. Basically they are making a user interface with what they already have, this will tie it all together. I for one welcome this as it is much needed.

I knew something was coming a few weeks ago as I was in a conference with some of the top figures in the Google Apps for Education division and they seemed excited as to what was coming but couldn't talk about it. A trial by invitation has been launched in the last few days; Google will select who gets to try it in BETA. The public version is slated to be released for next school year. I for one am excited and signed up for the trial and hope to be picked.

Corey Szyikowski
TechEd LLC

www.techedlearning.com

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Choosing a Robotic Platform for Middle School

3/30/2014

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Over the last couple of weeks I did an extensive search on to what robotic platform would be the best for my middle school. Back when I was in school in the 90’s I dabbled with Fishertechnik in my tech class. We only used them for two weeks or so, but in that short time it had opened a new world to me. I think that is what made me decide to go to school for Mechanical Engineering. I did however decide to be a Technology Teacher and ran across the Lego Mindstorms which are pretty cool too. I have been in the middle school for some time and never had the resources to purchase any of the kits for my class. Recently there has been some talk about some grants that could possibly help me out and finally get some robotics into my curriculum. I pushed out a couple of emails to others who were working with the robotics and some other college professors. I received different perspectives for many but one brand seems to be taking the lead in popularity. From what I gathered Fishertechnik which was once popular with Project Lead the Way had fallen off the radar. Lego has a great product but durability seems to be an issue when it comes to intense use. The one brand that had been given the best reviews was VEX Robotics. I was intimidated by the programming language that they used and was scared that it wouldn’t work for my middle school students until I ran across Modkit. Modkit is a language developed for easy programming similar to how the LEGO Mindstorms are programed. It uses drag and drop programming which students can easily see and comprehend in comparison to RobotC programing language. Not to say that it is bad, because it isn’t. It is just a bit too advanced to be implemented at the middle school level in my opinion. Modkit does allow the user to use and read the actual code if you so choose to do so. I was already familiar with how it works because I have my students participate in an Hour of Code developed in part by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckererg. If you haven’t checked that out you should at CODE.org as my students loved it.

I ended up pursuing the VEX IQ series which is appropriate for middle school based on a couple of factors. First the design / reliability of the parts seem to be at the same level as LEGO. Most of the parts are plastic which makes it more affordable than any of their metal kits. That leads be to my second point. You get a big bang for your buck when it comes to the VEX IQ when compared to LEGO MIndstorms, Fishertechnik, or even the metal units from VEX. My third factor for choosing was a big one; I needed something that was user friendly for middle school. I have every last student that our small school has and the programming language needed to be simple enough so all my students could enjoy it. The recent addition of Modkit programming provides the simplicity that I was looking for and best of all it is free. I do believe that the LEGO Mindstorms software possibly would be easier to use but it does not transition well into an industry standard that our students would need in the future.

I have nothing against LEGO or Fishertechnik as they both offer really good robotics. I was actually leaning towards both of them prior to my research. Now off to the next battle of searching and applying for funding.

*********UPDATE***********

Well it came time to pull the trigger to purchase our robotics for our classroom, and to my surprise I purchased the EV3 core sets with expansion sets. So what was it that tipped the scales from VEX to EV3. There were a few factors that pushed me from VEX to EV3, first the build time of a VEX robot is typically much longer then that of an EV3. Secondly I was able to mess around with some EV3 units at the Oswego Technology Conference. They were much more durable then I predicted. One actually fell of a table and it didn't even phase it. Not a single piece came off. Finally I spoke with the Lego rep for at least two hours. He and a couple other tech teachers that were currently using the EV3 units provided me with so much information and ideas of what projects I could do with the kids. Talking to teachers that were using the units was probably the best information I could get. They advised me of what extra parts I would probably need, and the do's and don'ts as well. So there you have it, decision
If you have anything to add please comment below as I and others would love to hear opinions and reasoning behind other robotic platforms.

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A different approach to Education

3/18/2014

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Have you ever noticed that some students perform better in your class then others? Of course you have you would have to be practically dead not too. It is a fact that some students just about ace the pre-test for a course while others barely make it out of the single digits. As a teacher isn't your job to challenge all of your students the entire time that they are in my course, by providing differentiated instruction tailored to each student. Right know you are thinking to yourself "I can't possibly do teach to each student at one time, I am only one person." You are absolutely right, it would be nearly impossible to educate all your students at different rates, right. Maybe not. Think about it this way, looking back how many times have you taught the same lesson over and over? Can you imagine how many times the same lesson has been taught in your state in one year, or how about the entire country? Unfortunately you are the only one in your class and if your teaching the entire class by standing in front of them you have just wasted your time by teaching some students what they already knew the content and were speaking gibberish to those who were not ready to learn that particular lesson. We need to stop teaching our classes as if all the students are at the same level, it just wasting valuable educational seat time. We all know that it would take a massive overhaul of the traditional education system for this to change, and most likely wouldn't happen with all the educational and political red-tape. However you are the master of your classroom and do have the ability to take action to provide your students with the most you have to offer. After all isn't that why you became a teacher in the first place. So how can a teacher teach multiple lessons at the same time without running ragged? The integration of technology into the classroom allows for this to happen it just takes some initiative by the teacher. Think about how many times you have gone to the internet to find out how to do something or further education yourself. For example I was never taught how to build a website but was able to figure it out using the internet, mostly by watching YouTube videos that others have posted.

Over the past two years I have recorded my lessons mostly using screencast technology as I do not like seeing myself in my videos. I also use my cell phone camera to capture the hands on projects. My students watch the lesson when they reach that point in the course. This reduces the down time for the accelerated students and allows them to move ahead in the course without hounding me with questions. This also allows me to help the students who need and deserve help. I do ask that the students collaborate with each other in moving forward which is an important skill. So did I create all the lessons that I use in class, absolutely not. I just provided the platform that the student can easily follow. For the most part I use this site and I my classroom site. Both built using Weebly, but many teachers are using Schoology for managing this approach.

If you're thinking it is going to be a lot of work on your end to get this going your are absolutely right, and I understand your concern of spending so much time changing your teaching style. I will testify that spending the time to create the videos for my class and creating my class websites has been one of the best things I have done as an educator. I have experienced so many benefits from this approach it is sickening that I wasted years educating my students the traditional way. My students are performing better than ever before when looking at testing data, they are more alert and responsible for their own education, my accelerated students are doing activities that I never had time to teach before, classroom disruptions are at an all-time low, and getting students caught up with missed work do to absences is no longer an issue. There are many more benefits not listed but you get the point.

The downfall of this approach is that you must have the technology resources to pull it off. I am fortunate enough to have a computer lab built into my technology lab. Most school districts have been upping their game when it comes to increasing the amount of technology in their districts. The cost of devices capable of supporting this approach has decreased significantly over the last few years. Lower end tablets and Chromebooks seem to be the most popular for doing this. If you don't have the resources ask for them, as many districts acknowledge that using technology in the classroom does work and are looking for teacher willing to use it.

If you have any questions of comments please post below.

TechEd LLC

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Technology Teacher Shortage

3/1/2014

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I am writing this with great concern to our profession. While attending the Oswego Technology Conference last fall it became apparent that the enrollment was down compared to when I was there in the early 2000's. After talking with a few students my suspicions were confirmed. The enrollment was about 50% of what it used to be when I was there. I know that NYS schools have been reducing faculty with all the budgetary constraints that they have been under. My school has seen a roughly 20% reduction of staff over the last 5 years and I am sure that is true for other NYS schools. Fortunately most of those positions were absorbed by retirements. Many schools are now at the point that they can no longer cut teaching staff and need to replace those that retire. So what does this all mean, a big technology teacher shortage is on the way. The current graduation rate of certified technology teachers cannot meet the job openings that schools need to fill. This is great for those graduating but could be detrimental to us all.

Let me explain my thoughts. If schools continually cannot fill technology positions and not offer tech classes the state could relax or remove the mandate for technology completely. Ending the era of technology education and replacing it with who know what. The writing is on the wall and some of the damage has already begun. However we can reverse some of this damage by standing up for the T in STEM, being a member of your states technology association (NYSTEEA), taking the time to publicize your students work and how important technology education is, encouraging your students to become technology teachers. You can simple say to a student "I think you would make a great technology teacher, if you want to know more we can sit down and talk." You can have them visit both Buffalo State and Oswego State online and possibly take a select few on a field trip to the college. If every tech teacher encouraged a couple of students to look into becoming a tech teacher and only a small percentage of those actually fallow through with it, this shortage could be avoided. Please do your part.

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Technology Education Project

3/1/2014

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Technology Education Project

The F1 Race car has been one of my favorite technology projects over the years and cost under $2.00 each. It has evolved several times over the years, in fact it started out as a solar powered car. The solar car was fun but being downwind from Lake Ontario caused to many issues and planning problems. To overcome the battles of lake effect clouds I started using batteries instead of the panels. At first I tried having the students making their own battery packs, let's just say that is not advised. So after 8 years of changes this is what the refined product is (not painted in this picture). I must say it's pretty easy to build and the kids love the instructional videos as it allows them to work at their own pace. It is great for the teacher too because you don't have to reteach the same lesson over, when kids are out sick or missed your class for whatever reason. Best of all the videos free you up to help when needed and keep a better eye on the machinery. This project is great for tech class because it uses basic machines like the drill press and the scroll saw. The F1 race car project also teaches soldering, basic circuitry, and many other useful skills.

Once the cars are built the students need to problem solve in order to make their car do well in the final class competition. The students will need to align their cars, adjust the tension of the rubber band, check for any wiring problems, and reduce friction as much as possible. I do have the students take the cars home to be painted and decal-ed if they choose to do so. Once the cars are running good I have them run a double elimination tournament. You could use a digital timer or just run them side by side. I have five classes so at the end I take the top two out of each class and run a final competition in the technology lab along with a pizza party.

This tech project takes about 5 weeks to complete, and my end of the year class survey says it is the favorite project that we do in class. One of the advantages of the F1 car in comparison to the CO2 Dragsters, and MagLev is that the students can take them home and use them because you don't need a specialized track to run on. Plus they are less expensive.

On the www.techedlearning.com site there are step by step video instructions on how to build the car, you can see them here. The F1 webpage will continue to grow and improve over the next year as more educational items are added to it. If you have anything to add please comment. I will be adding some more information on the jigs used to make the wheels.

Below is a video that our class made. As you can see this is an older car with the handmade battery packs. The updated design cars are much more reliable, easier to build, and faster too.

If you have anything to add or have questions please comment below. Please don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Thanks

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Google Classroom -What does Google have in store for teachers?

Choosing a Robotic Platform for Middle School

A different approach to Education

Technology Teacher Shortage

Technology Education Project

C. Szyikowski

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