The Road Ahead
For several months now, the administration and faculty at Ben Lippen have been engaging in a dialog regarding the idea of the Christian school of the 21st century. What does it look like? What do the students need? What should the parents expect? How is it different than what we've been doing? This video is just a taste of some of what has coalesced from these conversations.
Managing Internet Access at Home
This article was originally written for publication in the Ben Lippen School email newsletter.
Managing Internet Access in Your Home
A parent’s guide to filtering
Since the announcement of our plan to use iPads next year with our 6-12 grade students, one of the most common questions people have asked has been, “how will you monitor and/or restrict what our students have access to on the internet?” This is an important question that we are taking very seriously. Our plan to address this issue involves a combination of training, filtering, and access control on the iPads.
A related question that you (hopefully) are asking is, “How can I manage what my children are able to access on the internet connected devices that are already in my home?” Right now many of our students have access to home computers, iPods, iPads, smart phones, game consoles, and a variety of other devices that can directly access content from the web. As parents, it is important that we consider this fact and take steps to provide the appropriate levels of filtering, control, and training with our children.
At Ben Lippen, we desire to partner with parents to meet common goals for the growth and education of our students that they might become Christian Scholars. It is in that spirit that we’d like to share a few tips on how to protect your family in the digital age. Before we get into specifics, it is important to remember that no solution is perfect or 100% secure, and there is still no substitute for talking with your child about appropriate and responsible use of technology and the internet.
Communication - Your First Line of Defense
With whatever technical protections you decide to implement, the most important thing you can do is to communicate with your child. Let him or her know what the rules for technology use in your home are and why you restrict what you do. Come up with a specific plan for technology use that includes things like what types of websites are appropriate, how much time children are allowed to use technology, is there a “technology curfew,” etc. After you’ve developed this plan, sit down with your child and explain it to him or her.
Just as important as establishing a good plan is how well you follow up. Be consistent in how you enforce your guidelines. If it becomes apparent that you’ve set rules that aren’t working, re-evaluate and find guidelines that are practical. Check up on what your child is doing online. Look at his or her web history from time to time, and let him or her know that you’re doing it. The goal is not to catch them sinning, but rather to prevent them from getting to that point.
Using Parental Controls
If your child has access to an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, one of the easiest things you can do is to enable the Parental Controls on the device. Parental Controls are settings built in to the device that enable you to restrict access to a variety of content and services. You can set rating limits on what your child can view through iTunes or download from the App Store, you can prohibit in-app purchases, and you can even remove access to certain apps like YouTube or FaceTime. The video below gives a good summary of how to set up the restrictions on your devices. Please note, Parental Controls do not filter web content - they just turn off certain functions.
Home Internet Filtering
As we mentioned before, there are a multitude of internet-connected devices in our homes these days. Parental Controls are a good start, but they only apply to one device, and are Apple-specific. There are other solutions that can help protect your family when they’re using any device in your home.
There are a variety of options available to parents to help monitor and filter internet access. They range from software that is installed on individual computers to subscription services that filter your whole home’s internet access. One example of this type of solution is the service offered by OpenDNS. This company provides both corporate and home services that will allow you to filter your internet access and also increase your level of security when you go online. They offer both free and paid versions of their home service packages with simple setup and easy-to-use features that virtually any parent can use. Learn more about this solution at OpenDNS.com.
Final Thoughts
Obviously, this article only begins to scratch the surface on a very important topic. There are many more things that could and should be discussed around the subject of technology and internet use in the home. In the coming weeks we hope to bring you more ideas and information to help equip you as a parent in the 21st century. If you would like to share your thoughts or ask questions about the things presented here, please contact David McVicker at david.mcvicker@benlippen.com.
We Stopped Dreaming
Ran across this video the other day featuring clips of physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson commenting on the role of NASA in the nation's economy and innovation. Someone has taken the time to add music and video to Dr. Tyson's passionate commentary, which makes for some pretty powerful viewing. In my opinion, NASA is one of the most important engines for innovation and economic growth that our country has ever known. Take a look and tell me what you think.
"How much would you pay for the universe?"
What are the needs of the class of 2024?
My job puts me in a unique position. In the morning I teach physics to juniors and seniors. In the afternoon I am the assistant principal for the elementary school. This means on an average day I go from interacting with the oldest students in the school to interacting with the youngest. This has caused me to think some about the future. Currently, my daughter is among the younger students - she'll be in the kindergarten class this fall. After doing a little math, I realized she will graduate in the class of 2024. So the question I've begun to ask myself is this: what are the skills that will be necessary for a graduate in the class of 2024?
I think this is a very important question for an educator to ask himself. If we do not periodically evaluate what we are doing in terms of the end goal we run the risk of becoming irrelevant and, even worse, wasting our students' time.
So with that in mind, I've started a list of some of the skills I think will be essential...
- Collaboration - The ability to work in a team has always been seen as a good thing. But, for the class of '24, it will be imperative.
- Adaptability - Our environment is constantly changing and evolving. And it seems that the rate of change is accelerating. Our students must be able to adapt to this. They should be able to look for what's next without forgetting what has been done.
- Problem-solving Skills - The jobs that the graduates of the class of '24 will be applying for will require more than just knowledge. It is no longer enough to just be knowledgeable in your field, because information is now so readily available. Our students must be able to use that information to creatively solve complex problems. They will also need to know how to ask good questions.
- Technological Savvy - It seems to go without saying that technology is becoming increasingly more commonplace as time goes by. It is also true that (like everything else) technology is constantly changing. Our students must be comfortable with technology in a way that goes well beyond knowing how to use Microsoft Office. They need to have a level of comfort with technology that allows them to learn as they go, so that technology is just another tool at their disposal.
- Courage - To be successful, in school and in life, the class of '24 needs to have the courage to try new things - and to learn from their mistakes when their plans don't work. They cannot be paralyzed by a fear of failure, or they will never create anything new.
Obviously this list is just the beginning. But I think it's a good place to start. The obvious question that you should be asking now is, "how do we teach these things to our students?" I'd love to hear your thoughts on that question, as well as anything you think should be added to the list. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Drowning in Spam!
Spam!!!!
So, to help me test this out, how about going to one of the posts and entering a comment. Lets see if this works!
The “Hole in the Wall” Project
This is the video I referred to this morning during the "Developing Thinking Skills" seminar. Sugata Mitra talks about his fascinating "Hole in the Wall" Experiment. (discussion begins around 7:29 mark) Great look at kids teaching kids.
The Paperless Classroom: Part 6 – The Cloud
This is the part six in a series of posts about the idea of a "Paperless Classroom" that I am writing in preparation for some presentations I will be giving this summer. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
What is the cloud, and how do you use it in your classroom?
Maybe you've heard of this thing called "the cloud." Its one of those terms that is growing in popularity. Even Apple just announced a new service called "iCloud." If you've never heard this term, or if you have but have been too afraid to ask what it means, I'm going to help you out. Simply put, the cloud refers to services that are hosted on servers and accessed over the internet rather than running directly on your personal computer.
In this post I'm going to talk some about the cloud services that I use in my classroom. I'm also going to cheat a little bit and include some general web services. Its not a big cheat, because what is the difference between the two anyways? In a lot of ways, the cloud really is just the internet.
Pros and Cons of the Cloud
In a lot of ways, the Cloud (and web services in general) are just a throwback to the old days of computing when everyone used one server that they accessed with a dumb terminal. In this case, your personal computer becomes the terminal and it accesses the server through a slick interface over the internet. The pros of this arrangement include the fact that your personal machine doesn't have to be particularly fast or powerful. All the heavy lifting is done by the server, so the most important thing for the end user is to have a fast connection to the internet. This means the device you use to access the internet can be very inexpensive. This is the model that Google is trying to use with its Chromebook project.
Another advantage of this model is that it can be platform agnostic. In other words, it doesn't matter if you use a Mac, a Windows machine, or even one of those weird Linux things - as long as you have a browser that supports basic web standards you can access your app. This has been great for me since we are a Mac school, but a lot of my students have Windows PCs at home. If I have them all using Pages at school they won't be able to work on that document at home. If we create and edit in the cloud, that's not a problem!
A third advantage of the cloud has to do with data storage. This is not as much of an issue when each student carries his or her own machine (except for backups), but it is huge if your school is like mine and students share computers. My students might log in to two or three different computers during the course of a school day. How do we make sure their data follows them? One answer is USB drives, but these can be lost or damaged easily. We can sync accounts across our network, but our experience has been that this just slows the network to a crawl and makes it almost unusable. It also prevents students from getting to their data from home. If everything lives in the cloud, this is no longer a problem.
The cons of using the cloud are (in my opinion) few, but they are significant. The first is the reliance that is placed on internet access. If you live by the cloud, losing internet access is a killer. No internet means no work can be done. I don't know what your situation is like, but at my school we probably lose internet access once or twice a month. That kind of inconsistency can wreck havoc on your lesson plans.
The second drawback to using the cloud comes from the dependance you must have on the service provider. If I do all my work on Google Docs, I'm trusting Google that they won't a) lose all my data, b) sell or exploit my data, or c) go out of business. With a company as large and established as Google I'm not really worried about that. But, in the interest of transparency, those are possibilities that must be considered.
So, here are some cloud-type services I take advantage of in my classroom:
Google Docs
I love Google Docs! One of the best things about it is the ability for students to start working at school, and finish at home with no change in the user experience. This is no small thing in my school environment due to what I mentioned earlier about us being an Apple school. Before I started using Google Docs, my students would try to export a document out of Pages into some format they could use at home, then they would have to email it to themselves, and it was a big mess. Another awesome feature of Google Docs is the way it allows users to collaborate on a document. When my students are working in groups they can create a document and share it between them. Then, each student can see the doc and edit it. As they do, the others will see the changes as they happen! There is also the option to open a chat window to the side of the document so users can talk as they work. This level of collaboration makes group work so much easier. Our younger students love it because they can work together outside of school without having to be in the same physical location.
There are so many other great features of Google Docs. Our school has opened a free Educational Apps account for students which gives us some control over user accounts and makes sharing much easier. Even if you don't have that, I can't recommend this enough. And don't forget, its free!
Quest
Quest is a homework, quiz, and test service for math and science classes. It is hosted and developed by the University of Texas at Austin. If you live in Texas it is totally free. If you don't, the cost is about $150 a year for school-wide access. As the teacher, you log in and create assignments for your students. You do this by choosing questions and problems from the HUGE database of questions from a variety of science and math areas. The questions come from a range of textbooks and UT professors. After you choose the questions and publish the assignment, Quest will create a unique version of each question for each of your students. In other words, each student will have the same questions, but they will all have different numbers and different answers. As the students submit answers, Quest gives immediate feedback. If the answer is wrong, students can try again. (The number of tries depends on the type of question). At the end of the assignment, Quest gives a grade. Its just that easy. When you set up the assignment you also have the option to allow students to view fully worked out solutions for their problem set when the assignment is finished. I have used Quest for two years now, and it is one of the best things out there. I even use it for testing! That means no more grading for me, and my students love the immediate feedback. You can find out more about Quest at their website.
Those are the two cloud services that I use the most, but I know there's lots of other good ones out there. So, what do you use? Is there anything you can't live without in your classroom? Let's talk in the comments section below.
The Paperless Classroom: Part 5 – Software Solutions
This is the part five in a series of posts about the idea of a "Paperless Classroom" that I am writing in preparation for some presentations I will be giving this summer. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
What software do you use regularly in your classroom?
Software is an interesting concept these days. As internet access becomes more and more prevalent (and faster), the line between software installed on your physical machine and software that runs in the cloud (that is, over the internet) is becoming blurred. In this post I will focus specifically on the kind that you actually install on your computer. I will take a separate post to get into the cloud services that I would recommend.
So with that bit of clarification, here are a few pieces of software that I find indispensable...
iWeb
I have sort of a love/hate relationship with iWeb. It very much parallels the way I feel about Apple Inc. in general. On the "love" side of the equation, as long as you stay within the bounds of what almighty Steve wants you to do, iWeb is a super simple way to publish a decent-looking website. Obviously, if you want to have a paperless classroom you will need a web presence for your class. Mine is kind of a mess right now, so I'm not posting a link here... yet. But I do use iWeb to create and maintain it. The iWork '09 update gave iWeb some very important features like direct posting via FTP, which means you can really use the program with web hosts other than MobileMe (which I guess is iCloud now?). If you use other Apple software (Pages, iPhoto, iTunes, etc.) then the learning curve with iWeb is pretty easy. Plus, it came with my Mac! On the "hate" side, you definitely have to stay within the Apple sandbox with iWeb. If you want to add elements to your pages that are not "Apple approved" (flash?) then you will have to do some hands-on coding. Also, iWeb does not give you an interface for file management on your server. You will have to use another solution for this. I use the mac-centric solution Flow for this, but there are plenty to choose from.
Textbook Testing Software (your choice)
These days most textbooks come with some software package to create tests and quizzes. It would seem that this would be anti-paperless, but in fact it is just the opposite! I teach two courses with two different textbooks. One came with TestGen and the other came with ExamView. Both had excellent banks of questions, and I used both prior to going paperless. What I have discovered, though, is that each has the option to create a test and export it as an online review. It is very simple to put a review together, export the file, upload it to my web host (using FTP software due to the previously-mentioned flaw in iWeb) and create a link on the class page. The review gives my students the extra practice they're looking for, and the immediate feedback needed in a review. Its so much easier than creating my own online review for each chapter!
MindJet MindManager
I wrote about this in a previous post, but I've become a big fan of MindManager. I use it to brainstorm and organize big projects (like this website). It allows you to create mind maps with a variety of formats. The cost is a little steep, but I find it to be worthwhile. You can check out their website for more info and a free 30-day trial.
Adobe Acrobat Pro
Like I said in the last post, I got my copy of Acrobat Pro bundled with my Fujitsu scanner. The app is a bit large, but it has so many great features. I really have only begun to scratch the surface. Its primary function is to create PDF documents. It can do this by scanning a paper document or taking input from some other file or program. It also gives you the ability to edit PDF documents. You can add or take away portions, combine several PDFs into one, and even add text fields where the students can type. There are many other features to this product, but these are the primary ones I've been using so far.
Chrome Browser
I use several different browsers, but Chrome is my go-to for daily use. It is fast, simple, and intuitive. The "omni-bar" allows you to search Google directly from the address bar. It seems silly, but once you use it a few times browsers with two bars up there seem clunky and old-fashioned. And did I mention it is fast? It is soooo much faster than Firefox, Safari, or IE. (Isn't that the ultimate selling point for any web browser?) It was the first to support browser syncing - which means that Chrome on every computer I use looks exactly the same with the same extensions, saved passwords, and settings. Its tabs are independent processes, which means if one of your open tabs crashes on a page, it won't bring down the others. And, as an added bonus, it updates itself in the background, so you are always on the most current version.
VLC
This one is a little strange to include in the list. VLC is an open-source media player app. But every OS these days comes with its own media player, right? There's iTunes for Macs and Windows Media Player for Windows, right? Yes, those are true statements. The problem comes when you want to play a file that your OS player doesn't support. Want to play a .wmv file on a Mac? What about a .flv file you got from YouTube? You may have a great video clip for your class, but it won't do you any good if you can't play it. I have yet to come across a file type that VLC won't play. Even really weird stuff like .mkv and .m2ts are no problem for VLC. You can download the free app from their website.
Simplenote & Notational Velocity
One of the consequences of my gadget obsession is that I carry a lot of different devices. At any given time, I might be carrying my smartphone, iPod touch, iPad, or any of four laptops. Or I might just be sitting at my trusty old Dell. With this many devices in play, it is important for me to have a platform to synchronize notes. At work I used to carry those yellow legal pads to meetings and keep one on my desk. You've probably done that too. So you take notes about something important, but then what do you do with that pad? Do you just keep it? What happens when you use all the paper from one pad and need a new one? Simplenote is my solution to that dilemma. It is a free, web-based service that provides note syncing across all your devices. The notes are strictly text based, which makes them immensely searchable. They have apps for Android and iOS, and a web app for your browser. On my Mac, I use the Notational Velocity client, which provides local storage for all my notes, and keeps everything synced as long as I have internet access. I live by Simplenote and Notational Velocity. There is a paid version of Simplenote that gives you more features, but I haven't seen the need for it yet after a year of use.
Dropbox
Dropbox is as much a service as it is an app, but I decided to include it here. Simply put, Dropbox is a folder on your computer that is automagically synchronized across all the computers and devices you authorize. It is also accessible via a web interface from any computer. Any file you put in the dropbox will be added to the dropbox folder of all your other computers. It also gives you the ability to share a whole folder with other users, which is great for a department or other team that needs access to common files that need to be kept up-to-date. There's an Android and iOS app also, so you can access the files in your dropbox on the go. You also have the ability to create a public link to files that you can then email to anyone you want to share that file with. No more worrying about size limits on email attachments! There are lots of other cool features in Dropbox, but their website will probably explain it better than me.
So what about you? What software can you just not live without? Tell the world in the comments section below.
Next time... the Cloud!
The Paperless Classroom: Part 4 – What Hardware Are You Using?
This is the part four in a series of posts about the idea of a "Paperless Classroom" that I am writing in preparation for some presentations I will be giving this summer. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
What hardware (i.e. Gadgets) are you using to pull this off?
There are a million different devices out there that teachers can use to implement a paperless classroom. But, since I'm the one writing this blog, I'm going to tell you about mine! In the context of the Paperless Classroom series, let me first say two things. 1) The success of your paperless classroom depends on the teacher, not the devices. 2) I work at an Apple school, so most of my equipment has Apple logos on it, but that doesn't mean other manufacturers aren't making some great stuff too. This is just what my school provides for me to use.
So without further ado...
MacBook Pro (13", 4 GB ram, 2.54 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2008 model)
This is the workhorse of my tech arsenal. I use it daily for just about every part of my job. Some of my colleagues carry the white MacBook instead of the pro, and it gets the job done too. For me, I do a fair amount of video and audio work, so I put the extra horsepower of the pro to use. I think most of the utility of this or any laptop for a teacher in a paperless classroom is obvious, so I won't spend much time here. What I like about the Mac: Instant on is such a wonderful thing, Apple is a company that focuses on design, and it shows, 13" size is very portable, AppleCare is a lifesaver, iWork suite is pretty nice and very cheap compared to MS Office, etc. What I don't like: Apple is a company that focuses on design to the point of oppressive control over all hardware, documents created in iWork must be converted to other forms before they can be shared with non-apple folks, there is definitely a price premium associated with the Apple name, etc.
iPad 2 (16 GB, WiFi only model)
I got my first iPad last summer. Our IT director handed one to me to play with while we were at a conference. At the end of the conference I told him he couldn't have it back. I recently passes that iPad along to a colleague and upgraded to the iPad 2. I've told many people who ask me, "no one needs an iPad," and that is a completely true statement. But, once you have one in your hands you won't want to give it up. In the classes I teach (Honors and AP Physics), it is more useful for me as a teacher than it would be for my students. I like it because I can easily carry it around the room with me to enter grades, show things to students, etc. The limitations on creating new things makes it (in my opinion) better suited to the elementary grades as a student device. I will also say that I use it more in my administrator role than in my teacher role. I've also recently obtained a stylus to use with it and... well, the jury is still out on that.
iPod Touch (8 GB model)
I've had my iPod for a couple of years now, and I will say that it has been tricky for me to use it well in my classroom. As a teacher, I've used it as a fancy remote control during presentations, and that's about it. We have a cart with a class set of iPods that teachers can check out, but it hasn't been used well either. When I brought it to my room, my students would use the devices mainly for internet access. I tried to use the "ResponseWare" app with the Poll Anywhere platform, but I ran into one of the fundamental flaws with deploying iPods in a cart - these devices are designed to be personal, not shared. Our team was not able to find a good way to get the apps we wanted onto all the devices and get them all working. There is also no way to effectively manage the devices with multiple users. I think iPods can be useful in a classroom, but they need to be in a 1-to-1 setting where each student has his or her own device. Honestly, this is one I would love to get some feedback on from people who are using them well.
MacBook Cart
This has been the key to the new stuff I've done in my classroom this year. We have a cart with 24 white MacBooks that can be shared between the four teachers in our department. Getting computers in my students' hands in the classroom (not a computer lab) has been one of the best things that could have happened. I use them all the time for everything from homework to labs to tests and quizzes. Access to the cart has fundamentally changed my classroom. The only better option would be for each student to carry his or her own laptop to class (and home) every day.
Fujitsu ScanSnap
This is one of my favorite gadgets! As I worked toward going paperless, two things occurred to me. One, I have lots of old labs that are very good and I want to continue using them, but they're only in a paper format. Do I have to re-create all these documents (including graphics and diagrams)? Second, while I am working to be paperless, most of the people I work with aren't. They give me important information on paper all the time. How can I keep track of this stuff? The obvious solution was to purchase a scanner. So, I started doing some research and came across this beauty. As of this writing, it has 287 customer reviews on Amazon and a 4.5 star average. Its a little pricey ($400 on Amazon), but that's partly due to the fact that it comes bundled with Adobe Acrobat Pro. This sheetfed scanner is such a simple and efficient little machine! It can take a variety of paper sizes and thicknesses. It will also accept varying thicknesses. It is designed to work with the Mac, and can import your scans directly into a variety of applications. Acrobat Pro also allows you to perform OCR on text documents and create PDFs with searchable text. You can even insert text boxes into your document so that students can type right on the PDF and turn their work back in to you. If you are looking for a scanner, I can't recommend this one highly enough.
MacBook Air (11", 2 GB Ram, 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2011 model)
This is something I've been playing with for about a week now, and I really love it. It's just sooo light! It can't do some of the heavy lifting that the MacBook Pro does, but its great as a day-to-day device. It has excellent battery life, a full-sized keyboard, Solid-state hard drive (which means there are no moving parts), and did I mention it is really light? The 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo and 2 GB of RAM seem underpowered, but the speed of the SSD really goes a long way to make up for it. I'm using it right now to type this blog post! Of course, I just read a rumor that Apple is going to release a new version with upgraded processor as early as this week.... but that's the risk you run when you play in Apple's world.
So, what about you? What gadgets do you use in your classroom? I didn't even get into my projector, and I don't use a smartboard, but maybe you do? What is the one tech tool you couldn't live without? Let us know in the comments below.
Next time... software!