23 Mobile Things: 15. Infographics

Do you guys play tennis? I don't. I'm not trying to knock tennis because I actually think it's really entertaining to watch, but what's with all the weird scoring? Love, then 15, then 30 (ok...so double?), then 40 (nope...no double...no add 15...just a random 40), then Game. Wait, what?

Alright, sure, it's weird. But 15 is the first point scored in tennis, and Thing 15 scores major points. I guess we'll call that a win.

Thing 15 is all about Infographics, and I'm all for nonlinguistic representations that help our students better understand the information that inundates our world.

Not familiar with Infographics? They're essentially visual summarizations of data common to a particular topic.

For example, here is an Infographic about Infographics.

Alright, so Thing 15 offers up several apps that help us build or find Infographics. These apps include Infographics Hub, Info.Graphics, i Visual Info Touch Lite, and Visualize Free. Of these 4, the only one I haven't tried is i Visual Info Touch Lite. Both Infographics Hub and Info.Graphics are nice for finding Infographics. Visualize Free is a fine app, but I don't necessarily think of it as an Infographic builder -- it's more like a media filled poster creator. You could use it to build an Infographic, but I think of it more along the lines of a simplified Glogster.

Truthfully, I've always been disappointed in the free infographic builder options available on the iPad. I've always wanted to find something like a Piktochart or Easel.ly that works well on an iOS device. For that reason, I was excited to try out i Visual Info Touch Lite.

My thoughts...

Super easy to use, but just like Visualize Free I see it a bit more as a poster builder that can be used for infographics. That said, kids would pick it up quickly, but the lack of features compared to Visualize Free are pretty disappointing. I wish there was a "duplicate" feature and a "send to back/send to front" feature, but I could survive without them. You cannot change fonts, and there is no multiline text so each line needs to be a new text box. A few other features seem to be MIA as well. The HUGE missing link, however, is you cannot import a picture saved to the camera roll. That seems a bit ridiculous to not include. There is a full version app that retails for $2.99...it's hard to say whether it's worth the investment or not based on what's available in the free version.

In about 15 minutes, I made this quick Infographic about Spring Lake Park Schools, which is the district I work for:

If you ever find a great Infographic creator for the iPad, do share! I know my teachers would love to be able to explore this type of creation.

23 Mobile Things: 14. Videos

There are 14 pounds in a stone. If you look at my weight in stone, I should be eating so much more ice cream. I should be eating so much more ice cream anyway. While I watch more videos. Ice cream and videos. I'm so in Thing 14! So in.

Alright, so Thing 14 is all about video, and if you read my posts about Thing 10 (sharing pictures), it's probably not surprising to hear that I'm all about the video too.

Seriously...I've got a Vine for everything.

Well, by everything, I mean really stupid interactions (mostly with friends), that provide 6 seconds of useless but entertaining content.

Hurray!

So again, as I mentioned during the the Thing 10 picture post, this may not be the stuff of deep thinking or learning, but it is something pervasive in my every day life, and mobile technology makes that possible.

That said, knowing this is an education blog, I certainly don't want to imply that we need to exclude video apps from the possibility of being used for deep thinking and learning. Many of the teachers I work with use it in such a capacity every day:

I see coaches and physical education teachers filming their students' form to provide feedback.
I see students creating videos to demonstrate their learning.
I see classrooms sharing videos with global classrooms to make connections.
I see kids filming their teachers or peers so they can review the content later.
I see teachers creating screencasts and tutorials for remediation, extension, and everything in between.

Video is great, isn't it? The opportunities to incorporate it into learning are endless, and it still kind of blows my mind that every student in my school has access to a video recorder and camera at all times. I remember about 5 years ago when I got a set of 10 Flip Video Cameras in my classroom and I thought it was the COOLEST THING EVER.

That was only 5 years ago, and already the technology seems silly and archaic. Wow.

Anyhow, I'd love to hear how you use video in your classroom and school to support learning. Please share. This is great stuff, people!

The "I'm a Really, Really Great Teacher" Model

You may have noticed that the education world can be a bit finicky. We have a love/hate relationship with a lot of things...

I recall a time not so long ago when SAMR was all abuzz in the EdTech community as a thoughtful way to approach technology integration. Shortly after, a whole lot of rethinking surfaced about how or if it should be used. Like this. Or this. And this.

Or how about this viral video about the equally buzzy 'grit' we need to encourage within our kids? Later, it was followed up by this commentary on being careful with how we use it.

Oh hey, and how about Bloom's Taxonomy!? That's a tried and true framework everybody can get behind, right?

Well, maybe not everybody.

Ok, ok...so I admit, it may seem like I'm pointing out inconsistencies or a lack of sustained practice in my profession. I am not! I find these differing opinions on the best way to reach our kids not only indicative of a thoughtful and intelligent population, but also a natural consequence of the industry in which we work.

The industry of kids.

Every decision we make has a direct impact on those kids in front of us. There is no middle man. There is no design team to dream up the idea, or engineering team to create the product. There is no advertising team to develop the message, or sales team to deliver the pitch. We are the design team, the engineering team, the advertising team, the sales team, and so, so much more.

I congratulate us for adjusting accordingly. When we try something, we evaluate it. When it works, we refine it. When it doesn't, we alter or scrap it. We are infinitely creative and caring individuals solely driven for the sake of our kids.

I applaud us for not sticking to a routine. Or an algorithm. Or an assembly line.

When we put our kids into a classroom, we better not put them into a box.

So I implore you to consider and learn from Bloom's Taxonomy or SAMR or the Zone of Proximal Development or TPACK or LoTi or The Access Model or Gardner's Multiple Intelligences or the Framework for 21st Century Learning or RAT or Blending or Flipping or Cognitive Theory or Habits of Mind or Marzano or Differentiation or Personalization or PBL or CBL or IBL or Domains of Teaching or inTASC Standards or ISTE Standards or Pretty Much Everything On This Page or This Page or This.

But in the end, don't forget why you began teaching in the first place.

I've got a pretty great model to consider. It's called the I'm a Really, Really Great Teacher model, and it works like this...

I am responsive to my kids' needs.
I care.
I am thoughtful about their differences.
I am cognizant of my own.
I plan each day with their needs in mind.
I have the highest expectations of them.
I do what I need to to make sure they're met.
I do it whether it comes in the form of a nicely wrapped up research model or not.
I see my students as human beings.
I know they're more than just a score.
I value their passions and interests and strengths.
I see no limits to what they can do.
I make sure they see no limits to what they can do.
I am intelligent.
I am an expert.
I am experienced and full of passion.
I do what many cannot.
I don't do it alone.
And I don't do it for myself.

I am a really, really great teacher (model)*

*Trademark pending

23 Mobile Things: 13. Presentations

You guys. 13 gets kind of a bad rap. It's generally considered unlucky, but hey, let's give it its day. Well, I guess technically we give it a day every month, but you know what I mean. Today, on March 18, we'll celebrate 13 and all of its greatness.

Or at least one of its greatnesses. Y'know, for representing Thing 13 of 23 Mobile Things.

Presentations.

Woot! Who doesn't LOOOOOOVE a presentation?

*waits for no one to raise their hand*

Right, right. We've all sat through our fair share of horrible, boring, Death by PowerPoint presentations. They're so literal and regurgitative on the part of the presenter that you lament them for not having just sent their word for word bullet points in a "read on my own time" email.

And no, that little clip art dude telling me to 'not to forget' doesn't actually help me not to forget.

Thankfully, there appears to be a pretty strong revamping of presentation utilization. This revamp seems to strongly appreciates the significance of a striking image, the importance of minimal and high impact text, and a return to the importance of the orator to reach deep levels of learning.

Not only that, but the approach turns the presentation for our students from a copy and paste animation filled exercise in regurgitation into a creative and thoughtful way to demonstrate understanding.

In other words, the presentation CAN be an amazing tool (if it's used correctly).

For that reason, I'm pretty into Thing 13. Of course, each of these apps can be used 'the right way' and 'the wrong way,' but having tools that support the right way by their very nature is a nice start.

Take Haiku Deck for example. Haiku Deck by its very design encourages minimal text and focusing on a single, maximum-impact image.

Another recommendation of Thing 13 is Deck Slideshow Presentations. I hadn't tried this one before. After giving it a shot (for all of 5 minutes), I appreciate the interface. Super simple to use, and the app itself does all the design "heavy lifting."

I'll throw in a recommendation of my own that isn't listed as well. I recently presented Flowboard to my staff, and a few of them have tried it with kids. Again, it seems to be designed for a more simplistic presentation that focuses on learning via purposeful images and maximizing the limited text that you have available to you. Frankly, the interface isn't quite as user friendly as some other presentation tools on the iPad, but the results of the finished product are quite nice.

All in all, make presentations your friend. They can be.

Insider's Tip:
If you want to get really friendly with taking a "Zen" approach to creating presentations, talk to John U-F. The man's got a way of turning the presentation into an art form, expects the same of his kids, and has done a number of sessions on it that I've had the privilege of attending. It's a mix of psychology, simplicity, impact and beauty. Ommmmmmmmmm.

23 Mobile Things: 12. Books, Books, & More Books

There are 12 months in a year, and thank goodness, we're finally moving into the ones that don't make you worry about freezing to death (which, of course, my fellow Minnesotans can relate to!).

In other positive news, we're also moving on to Thing 12 of 23 Mobile Things...Books, Books, & More Books. In other words, this one is all about books. Could you tell!?

The focus of Thing 12 is all about apps that give you access to free books and audiobooks on your mobile device. I'm a reader through and through. I've got an oversized book shelf full of hundreds of bargain bin finds and trades amongst friends. My Kindle and iBooks apps are similarly overflowing, but with a slightly less cumbersome physical consequence.

I can still very much appreciate the experience of holding a physical book, but I also love eBooks for their convenience and mobility. Either way, I love a great read.

This Thing suggests several apps that give you access to free eBooks and Audiobooks. Among these are Wattpad, Free Books, and Audiobooks. I've downloaded all at one point or another, but truthfully, find the majority of my books through Kindle and iBooks. Sometimes I pay, and other times I take a chance on something that's gone free. These work great for my individual purposes.

I'm all for access to literature and texts, and truthfully, my BIGGEST concern with the whole eBook mobile access industry is the lack of a viable, simple and affordable solution for classroom sets of books. I have lamented over the struggles our district Media Specialist, Learning Technology Coordinator, and Learning & Teaching Coordinator have gone through trying to find a simple and affordable way to get digital copies of multiple fiction and nonfiction texts to our kids who have 1:1 mobile technologt. It's so silly! What you would think would be rather evolved industry knowing the need exists, companies are admittedly rather behind the curve at this point.

I have no doubts companies will catch up, but in the mean time we do what we can to give our kids access to classroom and personal texts through their devices. I'm psyched for the time when this becomes a seamless and cumulative process, giving kids access to loads of digital books and all the accessibility features that come along with them.

Preaching to the Choir: The PLN Version

I fully recognize that by virtue of you reading this very blog post, I'm likely to be in the process of preaching to the choir.

That said, it's still worth it to me to say how appreciative I am of my PLN, and how much I encourage all educators to form a network of people with whom they can continuously learn.

For those who may be new to the terminology, a PLN is a "Professional Learning Network." Quite often that network is built and facilitated digitally, though it's not necessarily a requirement. A good chunk of my PLN affiliations occur wholly face to face, or some include a combination of face to face and digital interaction.

Let's be honest: Sometimes it's nice to talk to you, and see what your face looks like when it's not a tiny box on Twitter. Turns out, you're actually a full sized human being.

Anyhow, I just completed a great conversation with a colleague whose questions and insights consistently assist me in constructing meaning, challenging my thinking, and clarifying my next steps. I'm so thankful for those face to face conversations, and worry what I'd be doing if I didn't have access to them.

Similarly, I recently followed along with the #SXSWEdu chatter on Twitter, and was able to learn from those who attended in person from way up here in frigid Minnesota.

When I've got a question or thought unique to the type of work that I do, my first instinct is almost always to pose it to my Twitter PLN or my Google+ Community, and the results and depth of learning that can occur in these forums is game-changing.

I'm a continuous learner because of the incredible colleagues I see face to face, and the insightful professionals I learn with from afar. I sincerely thank you. I owe you so much.

I know most teachers believe that we accomplish more when we don't go it alone. I encourage all to acknowledge that our interactions can stretch globally, and the expertise and perspectives we come across can grow exponentially. Seriously you guys...the whole world cares about our kids. How lucky are we?

23 Mobile Things: 11. Library & Reference

Chapter 11 is generally synonymous with bankruptcy. That's sort of how I feel about Thing 11. There just ain't a whole lot there for me. Not its fault!

So basically, Thing 11 of 23 Things is all about mobile apps that support library and reference materials. Then, the post went on to share the the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) website is responsive. Well, gee, I hope so. Though as I write this, our school's website currently is not. Oops.

The post then goes on to share mobile apps for various local libraries as well as vendor apps that interact with books or databases that our library subscribes to.

Again, the bankruptcy aside has nothing to do with this post itself...it's great and helpful. I guess I just don't have much to say, other than databases and ELM are great resources. So use them!

Ok?


(I promise Thing 12 will knock your metaphorical socks off. Maybe.)