Copy / Paste by Peter Pappas

The "Simpsons" Debate the Role of Social Media and Cell Phones In the Classroom

The latest episode of "The Simpsons" (Oct 5, 2009) uses two scenes to satirize the debate over the role of social media in the classroom. 

Social Media as Classroom Distraction

Social Media as Instructional Gimmick
Note: You may need to reload the page before watching the second clip

Much of the debate over the role of technology in the classroom is clouded by stereotypes of Luddites vs. Techies. What's often missed is the point that it's not about the technology, but the level thinking that technology can support. A PowerPoint can easily dumb down information into a series of shallow bullets, while a Wordle can help us to visualize text to support revealing insights.

Schools should be thoughtfully-designed learning environments where students can investigate information and be given a chance to reflect (with their peers) on what they learned and how they see themselves progressing as learners. That can be done with a variety of technologies - even pencil and paper. A social network is already sitting in the classroom that can interact with information and each other without the need to go online. But at the same time, handheld technology can support a level of investigation and teamwork that far exceeds the traditional classroom discussion group. 

I'm always looking for the cheapest, most dependable, and accessible instructional tool to get the job done - depending on the situation - chalk or Twitter may fill the bill.

Harness Twitter and Your Audience Backchannel with Wiffiti

Recently I posted about trying out Wiffiti in my professional development sessions. "Use Wiffiti to Engage Your Audience." Since then I've used it a few more times with great success. I thought I'd share a live Wiffiti screen with my readers. This is from my most recent training session at Pomperaug High School in Southbury CT.

Wiffiti accounts are free and it's very easy to use. I created a new Wiffti screen using the school logo and set it to gather the tag #R88. The evening before the presentation (and again that morning), I posted a Tweet asking for greetings - “Say hi to Monday's teacher workshop at Pomperaug HS. (Southbury CT) Go Panthers! Tell us where you're from & why you Tweet. Add tag #R88”  As participants arrived in the workshop, they were greeted on the big screen with encouraging words from all over the world. 

During breakouts I switched back to projecting the Wiffiti screen and invited workshop participant to text message into the screen. They had fun with shoutouts to their friends and comments about the workshop.  Pretty impressive when you're talking about the impact of technology on teaching and learning!

Many thanks to my Twitter PLN who took the time to send us a greeting. You made this possible!

Inspire Your Students To Tell A Story With Prezi

I've been using Prezi in my workshops and have written a few posts illustrating it's features - brainstorming with Prezi and embedding Prezi in your blog.

Enjoy "Create a Prezi" - a fine video that demonstrates the process in under 5 minutes. (No, I didn't create it!) It will inspire your students and give them a chance to break out of the lineal / PowerPoint style. (Thanks for the tip - Twitter/ashleyproud)

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Use Wiffiti to Engage Your Audience - Big Screen Live Presentation of Feeds from Twitter, Flickr and Text Messages

I'm always looking for ways to make my presentations more engaging and interactive. (A must if you're advocating more student-centered instruction.) I've been using a TurningPoint ARS for years with great results and have tried live blogs at my larger workshops. As a convert to Twitter, I thought it was the logical next step. 

I've experimented with Twitter visualizers on my blog- StreamGraph,  TwitterCloudExplorer, and most recently, Wiffiti. When I saw how good Wiffiti looked on my blog, and I realized it would be a great way to capture the backchannel at workshops. Users can interact with Wiffiti from their mobile phones or the web. It looks great on the big screen - plus it can feed from Twitter, Flickr and text messages.  

I opened a free account and gave it a trial run at my recent workshop in Moriarty-Edgewood SD, New Mexico. It was easy to create a new Wiffiti screen with custom background. (I selected a local landmark neon sign from old Rt 66 in Moriarty.)  I set up the Wiffiti screen to capture Tweets tagged with my Twitter user name @edteck.

The evening before the presentation, I posted a Tweet asking for greetings - “Say good morning to my teachers' workshop on old Rt 66 in NM. Where are you from? Why do you Twitter?”  As participants arrived in the workshop,  they were greeted on the big screen with encouraging words from all over the world. Pretty impressive when you're talking about the impact of technology on teaching and learning!  Special thanks to all that sent greetings - it was an powerful demonstration of the new landscape of information and a display of the power of Twitter / social media!

I shot a bit of video to give you and idea what it looked like.  
 (Remember, the live version of this screen no longer has Tweets relevant to the workshop.)

New Wiffiti messages are instantly displayed center screen and are easily viewable from a distance. Older messages then fade back and move as an animated cloud. Updates from both mobile and web are displayed synchronously across all screens subscribing to the same tags, encouraging the creation of a wide, cross-channel audience.

 Using Wiffiti in Breakout Sessions

I also created a second Wiffiti screen to use during break outs. This one was designed to capture text messages from participants. For those that did not have cells, we set up computer stations where they could make comments directly from the Wiffiti website.

Here's some sample comments - a nice mix of thoughtful observations, fun comments and a few critiques. (Note: I kept it real and I ran my system unmoderated, but it is possible to have someone monitor comments.) 

“School is where kids go to watch old people work really hard”

“My Brain Hurts!”

“Let's get going!”

"disequilibrium, change, and freedom”

"same old stuff, different day!"

“the table in the back rocks!!”

“English teachers and librarians rule -all others drool!”

“having a blast!”

“science is over here.”

“This is a great workshop!”

“Enjoying the presentation Peter. Especially the film clips!”

“Rigor and Relevance for the English Department: Rigor: Apply knowledge and skills in complex ways to analyze and solve real problems..."

My bottom line? Wiffiti is a great way to harness back channel workshop comments. The free version works well and paid versions offer more opportunities to customize and monitor comments. 

All Points West 09 Music and Arts Festival - APW 09 Liberty State Park, NJ

My son is on the production team at All Points West, a three-day, 60-band festival this weekend in Liberty State Park in Jersey City. APW 09 opens on Friday August 31st with Jay-Z, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend as first-night headliners, continuing with Tool, My Bloody Valentine, Gogol Bordello and Neko Case on Saturday; and Coldplay, Echo and the Bunnymen and MGMT on Sunday. Complete lineup here. 

I thought I'd test out Wiffiti, a visualizer that automatically integrates tag-based content feeds for photos and text (e.g. Twitter, Flickr). If it works well, I'll use it to gather and display user-generated backchannel at my next presentation! 

 View timeline or full screen  

 To join the dialogue,  tweet #APW or Text @wif5336 + your message to 87884

What Questions Should School Boards Be Asking about 21st Century Learning?

Next week, I'm keynoting at the New Mexico School Board Association's Leader's Retreat. I plan to take a "Socratic approach" and frame my talk around a series of themes and sample questions that I think school boards should be asking in response challenges and opportunities of 21st century learning. 

I wanted to offer readers the chance to offer their suggestions - via this blog's comment or Twitter/edteck.

I plan to address three themes and pose some reflective questions for board members to consider. 

Theme 1. Learning must engage student in rigorous thinking at higher levels of Bloom - analyzing, evaluating and creating. School boards should ask:

• Does our school community recognize the difference between higher and lower order thinking?
• Are students expected to just consume information, or are they asked to create something original that demonstrates their learning?
• Is our district a creative problem-solving organization?
Answers: We cut music and art for remedial math. (Wrong!!!)
We recognize music and art are vehicles to teach math. (That's better!) 

Theme 2. Learning is relevant when the student understands how the information or skill has some application to their life, has an opportunity to figure out their own process rather than just learn “the facts," and is given opportunities to reflect on their work and their progress as learners. School boards should ask ...

• Do our students get high grades for simply memorizing the review sheet for the test?
• Do our students “follow the recipe” or are they increasingly asked to take responsibility for their learning products, process and results?
• Is the audience for student work simply the teacher, or are students asked to share their learning with peers, family, community? 

Theme 3. The digital age has redefined literacy. To paraphrase David Warlick, Literacy now means the ability to: find information, decode it, critically evaluate it, organize it into digital libraries, and be able to share it with others. School boards should ask ...

• If we’re no longer the "information gatekeepers," are we teaching our students to critically evaluate information and use it responsibly?
• Does our technology get used mainly by the educators, or are students regularly employing it to create understanding and share their learning?
• Is our credit system based on seat time or can it be expanded beyond the school walls to any place / time virtual learning?

And finally I will wrap up the talk with an overarching perspective on accountability and assessment. I find it ironic that while schools chase NCLB “proficiency,” life has become an open book test. We need to unleash the power of assessment that targets and inspires. One-shot, high stakes tests are just autopsies. Students need regular check-ups where teachers can gauge student progress and target instruction. Ultimately the program must be designed to foster student self-assessment that gives them responsibility for monitoring their own progress. Students should be supported in on-going sell-reflection that addresses questions such as:

• How can I use this knowledge and these skills to make a difference in my life?
• How am I progressing as a learner?
• How can I communicate what I’m learning with others?
• How can I work with teachers and other students to improve my learning?

Schools will need to become places that create engaging and relevant learning experiences, provoke student reflection, and help students apply the learning to life. Authentic  accountability is reciprocal ...  leadership is responsible to provide resources for success, educators are responsible for results. Simply sorting students along the "bell curve" won't do.

... Please add a comment below or Twitter to let me know if I'm leaving anything out.

Sept 22, 2009 UPDATE: For School Board Leaders' responses to the workshop see: School Board Leaders Reflect on Essential Questions / 21st Century Learning 

Students Tell Us About “Living in a Digital World”

Congratulations to Karen Rose and her 3rd grade class from the Melissa, Texas. Selected by attendees at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) as "Best Picture" from among digital shorts produced and edited by students and teachers from across the country.

Motivating Students - A Make and Take Workshop for Teachers

This week I head back to Edison School of Engineering & Manufacturing, to conduct a two day follow up workshop.  Our previous work together identified four target areas: 

1. Motivating students
2. Making learning relevant
3. Student-centered learning strategies
4. Effective use of technology

We are going to start by modeling a "Brainstorm, Group, Label" activity (See Tool 13).  It will also  set our agenda for the "make and take activities" of the workshop. Day two begins by modeling a "Fishbowl Discussion Group" on the topic of effective next steps. We'll use the ideas generated in the fishbowl to design a Strategic Planning Grid (below) to prioritize their staff development for the fall.

Most of our time over the two days will be spent assisting teachers in designing specific lessons. I've assembled some Literacy Strategies that teachers can use as starting points for modify their existing lessons. 

“Non-readers”  for students who lack decoding skills.

“Word-callers” for students who can decode, but lack comprehension skills.

“Turned-off readers" for students who have the decoding and comprehension skills, but lack motivation or engagement.

I'll also be showcasing some web tools that are very engaging for students.

Wordle (text analysis) 

Many Eyes (data and text visualizations)

Prezi  (presentation tool) 

Dipity  (timeline builder)

Bubbl.us (brainstorming)

Flickr Tag Related Tag Browser (image tag analysis)

Follow the NECC 09 Conference on Twitter

Back in March, I used Twitter to virtually attend the ASCD conference. Unfortunately the visualizing tool I used (TwitterCloudExplorer) is now off line. Here's a new tool called StreamGraph that I'm using to visualize the  latest 1000 tweets which contain the search word "NECC." The 2009 National Educational Computing Conference is being held in Washington DC from June 28 - July 1. Sorry I have to miss it.

Since the conference has ended I have replace the live StreamGraph of NECC with this screen shot of what the graph looked like during the conference. 

Link to StreamGraph

The StreamGraph shows the usage over time for the words most highly associated with the search word. One of these series together with a time period are in a selected state and coloured red. The tweets that contain this word in the given time period are shown below the graph. You can click on another word series or time period to see different matches. In the match list you click on any word to create a different graph with tweets containing that word. You can also click on the user or comment icons and any URL to see the appropriate content in another window. If you see a large spike in one time period that hides the detail in all the other periods it will be useful to click in the area to the left of the y-axis in order to change the vertical scale.

Twitter StreamGraph was created by Jeff Clark. Check out his other great visualizations at Neoformix.

What is the Real Value of Educational Technology?

I've come to depend on the folks I follow on Twitter to keep me informed and thinking. One of my favorite contributors is Instructional Technology Coordinator, Ben Grey. This morning I followed his tweet to the post "Why Technology?" he did at the TL Advisor Blog.  Ben raised an important question, 

"Something has been happening lately in education, and the implications are a bit unsettling.  People are beginning to ask a cogent question, but I fear it's being framed for the wrong reason.  I'm hearing more and more important decision makers asking, "Why are we using technology?"

... If tomorrow you had to stand in front of your Board of Education and respond to the question, "why should we continue to use and pursue technology in our district," what would you say?"  more

I invite you to join Ben's conversation. I posted a response to his question at the TL blog. But I want to reprint it here to share with my readers. 

My response:

It's a great question and one that I've had to answer as an assistant superintendent for instruction. Here's a few elements of what I'd say to the school board.

As more information is digitized, we move from a top-down broadcast model of communications to one that fosters creativity and collaboration. The digital age devalues lower-order thinking skills but provides tools that allow us to analyze, evaluate and create. 

New technologies can put our students in charge of the information they access, store, analyze and share.  Many of our students only have access to those tools in our schools. They have the right to participate in the digital age.

Investing in technology should not be a thoughtless response. New technology does not necessarily improve the quality of instruction  (We have all sat through dull PowerPoint presentations that were as "mind-numbing" as an old filmstrip.)

We should continue to look for a ROI on our technology investments, but it may not be tracked in test scores that simply measure lower order recall of information. A better metric would ask if a technology helped us to create learning experiences that provoke student reflection in a new, more engaging and collaborative way. Such as...

• Wordle, a free Web 2.0 offering allows students to visualize and interpret text. 
• Google docs allows students to share their thinking in a way that is difficult to replicate on paper. 
• Web access and social networking allows students to collaborate beyond the confines of the classroom and school day. 

Here's an example of all three put to use in a collaboration by a self-directed international group of teachers (It was mainly coordinated / promoted via Twitter.) "Build Literacy Skills with Wordle"  

Shouldn't our students have access to the technologies that allow them to create, collaborate and share their thinking on subjects that matter to them?

Lost All Your Contacts on iPhone? Here's How to Use MobileMe to Get Them Back

I sync my iPhone, MacBook and iMac over MobileMe. I like that a change in an appointment or contact on one device shows up on the other two.  But MobileMe has a problem! Twice in the last week I have opened my iPhone to find that all my Contacts were gone. This calamity mysteriously happened on its own. (I did not make any setting changes to lose my contacts.) But here's how I got them back. 

1. On my iPhone I went to "Settings" and picked "Mail, Contacts, Calendar."

All the email accounts you have on your iPhone will be there as choices along with your MobileMe account. 

2. Under accounts I selected my MobileMe account. You get a list of all the data that MobileMe is syncing. 

3. I turned Contacts "Off." (It's the only sync I turned off.) You get this dialogue box asking you if you really want to do this. Be brave and agree to "Stop Syncing" your Contacts. 

4. I waited a few seconds then I went back to the screen in Step 2 above and turned Contacts "On."

5. I gave the iPhone some time to sync. It probably helps to be on wifi.

6. When I reopened my Contacts on my iPhone, they had all returned. Note on this last step you might have to open and close Contacts a few times to get your iPhone to force a MobileMe sync.

I have no idea why this is happening. Looks like MobileMe has some work to do!

Using Print on Demand to Publish Your Own Books

New print technologies make it very easy to publish your own books. No need for the information gatekeepers to decide what we read. I’m showcasing a few approaches that may be of interest to my readers. 

Reading recovery teacher publishes new line of early literacy book

MaryAnn and I worked together in the East Irondequoit Central School district while I was the Assistant Superintendent and she was the lead Reading Recovery teacher. I was not surprised when she recently started writing and publishing emergent texts. Although not my area of expertise, it certainly is MaryAnn’s.  She has a remarkable background in and passion for early literacy. She came to the East Irondequoit district just for the opportunity to train in and practice Reading Recovery.

MaryAnn’s Short Tale Press, features “little” books for early literacy that are based on real people and places and authentic life experiences. I can see my own grandchildren in her main character, Colin. This makes her books very appealing to modern children.  Parents and grandparents would be wise to visit her website when gift time rolls around, which we know is all the time! They are also written to be appropriate for students in Reading Recovery, ESL and classroom guided reading.   Visit her website-there is always a new text there - she is a prolific writer / publisher. 

Out of print author tired of rejections turns to self publishing

My dear friend and mentor – Abe Rothberg got tired of rejection notices for his latest works of fiction. Ironic - since his previous books were published by mainstream publishers and favorably reviewed in NY Times, Harper's, Time Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. Plus he was frustrated to see that his previous work had gone out of print. 

We decided to cut out the middleman  - team up and bring a new series of his work into publication. He supplied the manuscripts. I formatted them in Word and converted them to PDF. I designed the covers in Photoshop. We created a free account to publish the books on demand at Lulu.com - a print-on-demand publisher. For more on Abe and his books go to to his site - Abraham Rothberg

Teachers – it’s your turn to become a publisher for your students' writing

I think we need to re-think how we teach writing with a shift in focus from teacher to student.

Old approach:

• Students are asked to write only on the teacher's topics.
• Student writes for the teacher.
• Teacher grades their writing.

New approach: 

• Students can develop topics that matter to them.
• Audience and purpose for writing is identified. 
• Students are asked to reflect on their growth.

We all struggle to create authentic writing experiences for our students. Imagine if they had an opportunity to see their work in print – and we're talking about a real paperback.  Let them go through the process of writing, co-editing, illustrating and designing a book. Rigor and relevance meets motivation and self-directed study. I've gotten so excited by the results that I've done workshops to train teachers. You can see material and sample student books at my website Read > Think > Write > Publish

BTW – I’ve been following Theresa Reagan on Twitter. She’s an Elementary Principal from Michigan who is making great use of Lulu to publish student work.  See her students' books on their Lulu page 

Teaching Visual Literacy: Media Studies Before the Internet

I thought I'd share this recently rediscovered relic from my early days as a teacher. Keep in mind that when I began teaching, educational technology featured:

• Mimeo ~ remember the smell?
• Filmstrip ~ who wants to advance the slides?
• 16 mm film ~ you kids be quiet while I splice the film! 

When the Betamax arrived to my classroom I was in heaven! Back in the late 1970's I started teaching a high school "Media Studies" class. (Pittsford-Sutherland HS, Rochester NY). It was one semester, social studies elective that examined the impact of media on society (mainly TV - and all very McLuhan). 

Duane Sherwood and I were inspired by early TV pioneer, Ernie Kovacs to shoot this 1 minute video. I used it after my first few introductory lessons. That day, instead of their teacher, my students found a TV / recorder in front of the class. The sign instructed them to "watch this video." 

The shot took hours to set up. I attribute my bad acting / missed lines to sitting sideways and trying to keep a straight face. It's just too bad I wore red flannel and khakis that day....

Middle School Students Video - No Future Left Behind

Here’s a great new video, from the Suffern NY Middle School Tech Club students. Let's help these kids make sure their message is heard! Follow link to No Future Left Behind Ning page for full credits and discussion. 

Setting Free the Information (in Museums and Schools)

Museums share at least one thing in common with schools. They have traditionally functioned as repositories of information. 

Visit a museum and you can view the information (art) that a curator has selected, organized, and presented. Often its significance and meaning will be explained to you in a wall label. In the traditional school, curriculum experts select information that teachers organize and present to students. Most teachers talk a lot, so students spend much of their day being told what information is important and why. Later they sit at their desks and fill out worksheets that reinforce what they just heard.

Schools, museums and other traditional information gatekeepers (think newspapers, publishers, etc) got along fine when they were able to control information and its flow. The one who "owned the presses" decided what was important. Most of us were accustomed to this asymmetry of information production and distribution. After all, it was much easier to read a book than to write and publish one.

What is "revolutionary" about the information revolution is not all the "cool" new technologies - it's the fact that the information monopoly enjoyed by the gatekeepers has been broken. We can now control the information we access, save, alter and share.

Today's New York Times features a story about how museums are re-thinking their web presence in light of the rapidly changing information landscape. "To Ramp Up Its Web Site, MoMA Loosens Up" NY Times March 4, 2009.

The museum wants the site to transform how the public interacts with an institution that can sometimes seem forbidding and monolithic.

“The notion of opening up the museum’s singular voice is really the driving thought behind this,” said Allegra Burnette, creative director of digital media for the museum, who has been working on the redesign for a year and a half. She added, “We’re opening the doors, though not necessarily throwing them open.”

The site, which she and other MoMA officials stress is a work in progress, will now include what its designers call a “social bar” at the bottom, which when clicked will expand to show images and other information that users can “collect” and share after registering for a free account at the Web site (moma.org). A user could build a portfolio of Walker Evans photographs or Elizabeth Murray paintings and send them to friends, Ms. Burnette said. The site will also eventually make it easy for users both casual and scholarly to trace lines of interest, digging up more information about works from publications and curators, she added.

So what lessons can school learn from MoMA? 

Put aside all the social networking / Web 2.0 features MoMA is adding to its site, and it's really about giving viewers more functionality and control over how they interact with the museum's collection. MoMA and other museums realize that they will need to stop treating their audience as passive consumers of information. 

I'm not suggesting schools need to run out and build new 2.0 websites. Actually we already have an audience of students sitting in the classroom who can interact with information and each other without the need to go online. What educators need to do is rethink what teaching and learning is all about. It's no longer "teaching as talking." Nor is the purpose of school to simply dispense information to students. Schools need to function as thoughtfully designed learning environments where students can investigate information and be given a chance to reflect (with their peers) on what they learned and how they see themselves progressing as learners. That can be done with a variety of technologies including pen and paper. A social network is already sitting in the classroom.

Teaching with Historic Photographs: The Google LIFE Photo Archive

Google has posted ten million photographs from the LIFE photo archive on their online gallery of images. It's a great source of material for teachers and students who support a document-based approach to teaching history. 

While I wish that Google had done more to curate the collection with robust search tools and more specific categories, I think that teachers will find it to be an invaluable resource to enable students to "be the historian."

I've put together this quick guide to help you get started.

1.  If you are unfamiliar with the document-based approach to teaching history, you might want to start with a quick visit to my web site Teaching With Documents. There you find many resources including Document-Based Questions (DBQ) for  students grade 2 - high school. Of particular interest are these Student Analysis Guides and for more detailed analysis - my Reading a Visual Document: Guiding Questions. (55KB pdf)

2.  If you are interested in how historic documents can be used to support literacy and critical thinking, visit my sample:  Homefront America in WW II.  It shows how to improve content reading comprehension with source documents framed around essential questions that link the past and present. 

3.  Now that you have some instructional background in using historic photos - it's time to visit the LIFE photo archive hosted by Google. It's organizes images by era and subject. Once you click on an image you get a brief description and some labels (tags) that allow you to find similarly tagged images. 

For example here's one of the archive photos taken by Dorothea Lange in the Migrant Mother Series. It makes a great contrast to the iconic photo she took that day that is more commonly reproduced in textbooks. (You might ask your students which of the five photos they would choose, and why?)

The LIFE archive includes this description with the photograph: Migrant mother Florence Thompson & children photographed by Dorothea Lange.

Location: Nipomo, CA, US

Date taken: 1936

Photographer: Dorothea Lange

And LIFE archive uses these labels for this photo: Lange, Dorothea, Mothers, Fsa Photographers, Us, Tension Or Worrying, American, Poverty, Florence Thompson, Photography By, Migratory, Farmers, California, Expressions, Agriculture, 1930s

4.  If you don't already use Cooliris, I suggest you download this free browser plug in. It presents the photos in a broad panorama that  allows you to scroll through many images.  I've embedded a short clip below of Cooliris in action, so you can see how it can transform your browser when searching for images and videos on Cooliris supported websites.

5.  And remember that all Google image searches allows you to specify image size with this drop down box in the upper left of the screen. 

Why Study Algebra?

Today I listened to NPR's Scott Simon and Keith Devlin of Stanford University, answer the question: Why Do We Need to Learn Algebra? (NPR Weekend Edition Saturday~February 28, 2009). Devlin described how spreadsheets have become essential to managing everything from your finances to your fantasy football team. And of course, spreadsheet are basically collections of algebraic formulas. You can follow this link to the NPR story, comments and audio file. Teachers might use Devlin's comments as a springboard for getting students to think and discuss the application of algebraic thinking in their lives. 

 

This is essential, since algebra is emerging as an academic gate keeper. I'm not a math teacher, but I suspect it stems in part from the fact that many students lack basic computation skills. But more importantly,  students have to be able to transition from concrete lower order thinking skills (arithmetic) to higher-level and more abstract thinking (algebra and beyond).  

As Doug Reeves has noted, "The single highest failure rate in high school is Algebra I. After pregnancy, it’s the leading indicator of high school dropout. The leading indicator of success in Algebra I is English 8. The Algebra 1 test is a reading test with numbers.”  District Administrator, April ‘05

If Reeves is correct, then this is as much a literacy problem as a math problem. Teachers of all content areas can pitch in to support the higher order skills (analysis, evaluation and creating) that will help students with more advance mathematical thinking. 

How to Embed a Prezi Presentation in Your Blog

Prezi is a great new presentation software that replaces the lineal PowerPoint style with the ability to present text, videos and images in a unique zooming style. You can find out more about Prezi at my earlier post.

A few people have written me asking how to embed Prezi in their blogs. First you need to elect to share your presentation - Prezi gives you some options and for setting permissions. See screens shot below. Be sure to scroll down for more Prezi news.

 

Here's the code I used to embed the Prezi below. 

<iframe height="360" src="http://prezi.com/6272/view" width="480"></iframe>  

Update from Prezi (September  3, 2009)

After several weeks of test driving, we now ready to publish Prezi's new, shiny embed feature. The code comes along with a new nest for your prezis, the public prezi page.

Entering any prezi permalink now leads to the new public prezi page. Feel free to browse related prezis, test the new autoplay mode, share and embed more easily. Oh, and don't forget and say something nice to the author!

This development also means that the iframe code - which had been a cool workaround to embed prezis - will be unavailable in a few weeks.

The new feature will soon become the official and only way to embed a prezi.

Update from Prezi (February  15, 2009)

Showcase of all public Prezi

From Tuesday Prezi.com will showcase all the public presentations you made! There are many many amazing ones and all will be browsable even without a beta account. 

Please consider the following:

If you have a nice Prezi that others could enjoy, please consider making it public! click Share, and choose everyone under "Who can view?" Also consider making the title and description clear - just click on them to edit them.

If you set some Prezi public just to show to a client, but don't consider it public, please revise your settings!

While we try to filter out empty, 'testing' Prezi, if you have such public Prezi, you could help us by making them private again.

Download Prezi player when giving the talk

We have silently upgraded our downloadable offline player. No more security settings, works fullscreen with full keyboard support. We recommend using these for your actual talks - no network issues, no browser issues, just you and your smooth, slick Prezi. 

Wiimote Interactive IR Pen Whiteboard Solution

It's only been just over a year since Johnny Chung Lee's first posted his creative solution for turning a Wii remote into an cheap interactive whiteboard system. Watch Johnny Lee's original IWB video.   

Last week, Stan Merrell and Adam Wilcox - two of my Rochester NY tech buddies, met fellow Rochestarian - Tino Agnitti. Tino has developed a great Wii mounting bracket and IR pen that makes assembling Lee's Wii creation a snap. Tino calls his IR pen "The Groove" it's a sleekly designed, 2nd-generation IR pen that features - Hybrid Activation Tip Switch and Button, Treated LED for better tracking, Vishay TSAL6400. It runs on AAA batteries and it works great. I was especially impressed with its very intuitive interaction with writing applications. Tino also created "The Spot," a mount to connect your Wii remote to a standard tripod with a 1/4" - 20 thread.

Tino sells his Groove/Spot combo for only $39. Spend another $39 for a Wii remote (no need to use the rest of the Wii system) and you have an interactive whiteboard on any flat surface you choose to aim your  LCD. Tino showed me how to  aim the Wii at my monitor and we turned my MacBook into a tablet! 

Software? For PC, Tino recommends Smoothboard produced by Boon Jin Goh, a friend who lives in Singapore.   Tino set me up with the Mac version - Wiimote Whiteboard that I'm running. It comes out of Germany from Uwe Schmidt, a master's student at Darmstadt Technical University.  It was a quick install and it's especially easy to calibrate. For more on the growing wiimote community check out The Wiimote Project Forum  

I'm working on integrating the wiimote system into a portable whiteboard that I can use in my presentations. I'm very excited about pairing it with Prezi - its zooming capabilities will allow me to do exciting nonlinear presentations. 

My buddy Stan Merrell shot our meeting Tino

Prezi - Engage Your Audience with a Zooming, Non-Lineal Presentation

I've been having great fun with Prezi a new web-based presentation software currently in private beta mode. (You can submit a request to be included in the beta.) Prezi allows you to easily create maps of texts, images, videos, PDFs, drawings and present them in a nonlinear way. The menu for adding elements has a very unique navigational approach. (Easier to experience than describe.) Once you've added your text and graphics you can define a path through the material. But you can also click on any element in the presentation and zoom until it fits the whole screen. Likewise you can zoom out to reveal the larger presentation canvas. Here's a link to the Prezi online manual. 

Once completed the presentations can be saved on the Prezi server or downloaded to your computer as a fully functional file set for presentation. (Once downloaded to your computer the presentation is no longer editable.) Prezi will host your presentation to share with others via the web. You can set permissions open up or limit viewers. You can even collaborate by allowing group editing. 

I've been working on a brainstorming Prezi (embedded below -click arrow to play). You can click on any element to fully enlarge. For example, click on the image of Ben Stein and the video clip will play. Click on any of the bracket or circle frames and the defined area will fill the screen. Hold down the "R" key on your keyboard and the left mouse will rotate the screen. Use your mouse wheel to zoom in or out. You can explore the presentation using your mouse to pan and zoom or use the path I defined by using the arrows in the lower right. There you will also find a fill screen icon. Here's a direct link to the presentation.