CBC Alberta @ Noon’s Donna McElligott had University of Calgary professor Patrick Finn taking calls on the new way students are using social media and technology in the classroom. It was a great conversation. Callers had a wide range of opinions on the matter. Here is the podcast: calgwildrose.xml

If it doesn’t open for you, here is the direct link: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/calgwildrose_20110412_96303.mp3

What do you think?

We are all familiar with both Facebook and Twitter, which can lead to some pretty heated debates on their appropriateness in education. There are also social bookmarking applications such as Diigo and Delicious and social video websites such as Youtube and Vimeo. Even search engines such as Blekko that are using social networking strategies that allow users to share information and build their networks in different ways. Our politicians are using social networking to reach a larger audience which proved to be a particularly useful strategy in the recent Calgary election with Mayor Naheed Nenshi who used Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to get his platform out there. With the Canadian election campaigns in full swing, you can find all the candidates contributing to many of these networking platforms.

The following Rick Mercer rant sparked a huge movement with student voters across Canada who are now using social networking and social media to get their message out there. They are posting videos on Youtube and organizing themselves on Facebook and Twitter. The video posted on Youtube by University of Victoria students already has over 12,000 views and it was only posted on April 7th. Mount Royal University students in Calgary have taken a different approach by urging students ‘not to vote’. Read CBC article http://tinyurl.com/3mp4m7v

Rick Mercer Student Rant

University of Victoria students voting strategy

University of

So what can education take away from this? I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Connective Learning

We just recently presented at the District Learning Day in Lethbridge to an amazing group of educators. The presentation Connective Learning, (http://tinyurl.com/connecteet) touched on the theories of Stephen Downes, George Siemens, Will Richardson and Alec Couros who all write and teach about the idea of connective and networked learning.

If you are interested in finding out more about Connective and Networked Learning, check their blogs and websites:

PLE’s

Here are some great videos on Personal Learning Environments (PLEs), for both Teachers and Students. The student one is by Wendy Drexler, a k-12 teacher in Florida. She also has some excellent resources on her own personal blog (http://teachweb2.blogspot.com/). The second video is by Skip Via and shows the importance of getting to know your own PLEs as educators. If you check out his Youtube page, you will find several other fantastic resources including one on using Twitter in education. In fact, both Skip and Drexler have several videos that are worth checking out on Youtube. Here are two to start you off.

Welcome to my PLE by teacher Wendy Drexler

PLEs for educators

This presentation ( http://portal.sliderocket.com/APUUV/teachweb2-0) was created by myself (Jackie Doherty) and Chris Aitken. We are both instructional designers from the Educational Enhancement Team at the Lethbridge College and were asked to present on Web 2.0 tools at the District Learning Days for Lethbridge School Disctrict No.51. The presentation is a compilation of our favorite Web 2.0 tools for education.

The presentation itself was created in Slide Rocket. The theme was inspired by Slide Rocket’s “Top Ten Slide Rocket Presentations” in their “Get Inspired Section which includes several professionally designed presentations.

As an extension of this, we have also created a Wiki on PB Works (http://educonnections.pbworks.com/w/page/37888319/FrontPage ). It is in its initial stages but we encourage anyone who has an interest in educational technology to contribute.

Written by The iPhone Mom

The Pirates of SI. turns your child into a puppeteer. Captain Snow is a monkey pirate who also happens to be the star of a puppet play. Your child can use their fingers on the screen to move Captain Snow around while tapping on other things in the play’s scenes. Their goal is to find an object for each letter of the alphabet but some will be trickier to find than others. The puppet scenes will change when certain objects are tapped and it’s up to your child to figure out what to move around. Each scene will reveal new objects from the alphabet. If your child finds themselves stuck trying to find an object then they can tap on one of the letters at the bottom of the screen. This will show them the object that begins with the letter, it’s what they should be looking for.

Fun piratey music adds to the experience and I enjoyed seeing the different scenes Captain Snow found himself in. I think my favorite was probably the underwater location. Overall this is a fun exploration app for children and the developer has included a guide that parents can use for additional learning activities. They’ll see suggestions for questions that working in counting, colors, spatial relations and relational concepts.

There are two separate versions of Pirates of Snow Island, one is for the iPhone/iPod Touch and the other is for the iPad. I tried out the iPhone app and I had a little bit of trouble with the alphabet letters, information and extra activities buttons. They were a smidge small and not always responsive right away when I tapped on them. I don’t think this would be an issue on the iPad screen.

The Pirates of Snow Island graphics are gorgeous, they really do have the look and feel of paper puppets and props. Captain Snow moves like a marionette with his arms and legs bending this way and that. The overall effect looks like fun for children and adults.

I think you should do your best and discover all the letters and my advice is to look under the water too – the ocean is a mysterious place and who knows what one might find there?

In the end, if you think you are prepared, go to the island and check that chest. What does it contain? I don’t know…

This app for iPad is making the learning process of the alphabet a funny and exciting experience. Once touched, each letter is pronounced and also the object that is associated with it. You can play a lot of educational games with your kid and the app is helping you do that by touching the top right icon. Explore its settings and you will get new ideas about using this app and help your kid with learning the letters.

And if you liked the app make sure you rate it. App creators need your feedback to improve their products and our kids’ life

http://kids-apps.mobi

The Snow Island Paper Theatre series presents the learner with amusing and engaging scenes and characters designed to appear like a two-dimensional paper theatre production.  Learners interact with each scene (and with special features of the mobile device such as tilt) by manipulating the objects on the stage which prompt new animations and narratives designed to focus on different educational skills and learning processes.

The fun and fluid nature of Snow Island applications fosters the development of creative thinking skills while nurturing the young learner’s ability to identify, select and use information (such as combinations of sounds, images, and/or written language) to solve problems.  Snow Island apps are further designed with tips and suggestions for parents to maximize the learning possibilities included in each scene.

Jaclyn Doherty,
Teacher, Instructional Designer and mom

Pirates of Snow Island Preschool Educational Apps

Your child is the puppeteer! Their goal is to help Captain Snow find words to represent each letter in the alphabet. Words will magically appear as certain objects are clicked on in each scene and the corresponding letter will be highlighted at the bottom of the stage.   Try to find all the letters of the alphabet!
Stuck? Try clicking on one of the letters at the bottom of the screen. Letter clues and pictures of the objects you are looking for will help you get back on track.

•    Make Captain Snow dance, swim or jump up and down by dragging him to different areas on the stage.
•    Change the weather by dragging the clouds around. What happens when you drag a cloud over the sun?
•    Find the hidden key to open the treasure chest.
•    Make music under the sea.
•    Meet some different creatures that live under the sea. What can you make them do?

Learning Activities
Additional learning activities for you and your child to do while playing this game can be found by clicking on the parent icon
on the right side of the stage. These activities focus on different skills such as such as spatial relations, relational concepts, counting and colours.

Spatial Relations
Encourage your child to describe what they see in the picture by using prepositional phrases such as:
•    The whale is in the water.
•    The whale is beside the ship.
•    The pirate is on the ship.
•    The treasure chest is below the tree.

Have your child follow your instructions. Then ask them to describe what happens.
•    Drag the pirate into the water. What do you see?
•    Drag the cloud over the sun. What is the weather like now?
•    Click on the sun. What time of day is it? How do you know?

Relational Concepts
Ask your child to look around each scene to find:
•    Which is bigger – the ship or the whale?
•    Which is taller – the tree or the umbrella?
•    Which fish is smaller than all of the rest?
•    Which fish is different than all of the rest?

Colours:
Play “I spy with my little eye” to find certain objects in each scene.
•    I spy with my little eye, something that is yellow. Once your child finds the object you were thinking of, switch roles.

Counting
Ask your child questions that encourage them to count items that are similar on the screen. For example:
•    Can you find four things that are blue?
•    How many clouds are in the sky?