Sunday 22 December 2013

Teacher Training at Colegio Humboldt, San José, Costa Rica - Introduction of 500 iPads for the next academic school year - December 17 to 19 2013

When the Colegio Humboldt approached me to conduct a teacher training for their staff, little did I know about the extend of the project they are about to take on coming academic year - means January 2014.

They will turn grades 5 to 12 into iPad classes effective from January 2014 onwards.
I was happy to accept the challenge to empower their teachers to face the following challenges:


  • What are the ways for teachers to apply an iPad during lesson time and at home to create a modern and efficient teaching style.
  • What are the ways for students to apply an iPad during lessons and homework to experience a modern and effective learning environment.
  • Facing around 40 staff members of different experience level and different language background (German, Spanish and English).
  • Setting up an implementation plan for the iPad with the school management and IT team.
Paramount for the planning was the requirement to create time with the individual trainee.

Solution:

  1. Setting up a bilingual moodle interactive training course in Englisch and German.
  2. A goal oriented training approach was picked to make the teachers achieve the knowledge about how to use the respective apps during creating the expected outcome. This enables them to pass expectations as well as expertise on to their students.
  3. Setting up a draft for a iPad curriculum with the management team. 

Contents
  • Using QR codes to enhance worksheets - use of the student iPad as individual media server and as a source for differentiation and individualisation in learning.
  • Creating worksheets for the iPad with a combination of keynote/ pages and type on pdf - creating paperless worksheets.
  • Use of interactive flash elements from the internet on the iPad - Puffin as alternative browser
  • Using knowmia teach app to create online lectures for flipped classroom concept
  • Application of Evernote for documentation of lesson results.
  • Application of Aurasma to create augmented reality content (students and teachers).
  • Creating keynote presentations for lessons on the iPad.
  • Creating crossword puzzles for knowledge testing.
The combination of the existing moodle platform, the teachers' ipads and the picked tasks and applications, made it possible for me to attend to every participant during the 12 hours of training.
I have learnt from the feedback that the teachers' of the Colegio Humboldt have learnt how to make use of the iPad themselves as well as received ideas of how to make students work with the iPad on their own by putting out an effective combination of task and app.

I am also happy to support the Colegio Humboldt during the oncoming challenges of their iPad program.

In the wake of this training I will create not just manuals of how to use applications but also how to embed them into concrete task and lesson plans. So stay put for online manuals and lesson concepts to come.





Tuesday 19 November 2013

Wow - An amazing software! EyeScream - Free visual field test

I remember those times when we had to use huge discs we had to press against our foreheads to be able to determine the visual field of our eyes during biology lessons. Usually the small number of those devices causes rather a disruption than an collaborative learning atmosphere.

What about this little free software that I just found 5 minutes ago.

Take a look, there is also a German version available for download.

http://www.eyesage.org/

Monday 18 November 2013

Flash - the kind of stuff that adds extra value for my students to my lessons


What extra values do learning and teaching resources have to offer to make a remarkable difference to my students' progress? I want to create a win-win situation during in my lessons for me and my students.

Therefore the following points are vital to me:


  • Will the resource cut down my workload, because the students are able to make use of it independently?
  • Will the resource be able to feedback to my students and create a space for learning by try and error for them?
  • Does the resource reduce safety risks? e.g. student experiments.
  • Will it give my student the possibility to explore and repeat till he is able to understand?
  • Does it combine different learning channels like sound, movies, animations, etc.
Well, flash animations (SWF) can do that for me and my students. 
Don't panic - I will not tell you to create them yourself. I am merely pointing out that there is a universe of free teaching flash animations out there, that just wait for you to find them and give your lessons a boost and fascinating possibilities.

I discovered recently that just googling the desired keyword e.g. photosynthesis plus the abbreviation swf will grant me with a lot of links to interesting flash animations that have been created by helpful people out there in the teachiverse.

So "photosynthesis swf" delivered those two links:


http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forestbiology/photosynthesis.swf

or

http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/animations/photosynthesis/photosynthesis.swf


For geography googling "continents swf":

http://www.missmaggie.org/geospy_files/geospy.swf

or

http://www.softschools.com/social_studies/continents/map2.swf

That should already make your fingers twiddle on the keyboard. Just spend 5 minutes to do the same for the keywords of your next topic and the swf abbreviation. There is a ton of english flashes waiting to do some magic for your students.

To make it more "hands on" you are able to combine the touchscreen of students' ipads with the interactive flash content. I am referring to one of my older posts that deals with enabling flash on the ipad by using the browser puffin.



Download the puffin browser right here from itunes - be assured it is worth the few bucks investment. 

Sunday 17 November 2013

Flash Animationen - Was müssen Lehr- und Lernmittel leisten, damit sich ein Einsatz für meine Schüler lohnt.

Was müssen Lehr- und Lernmittel leisten, damit sich ein Einsatz für meine Schüler lohnt.
Ich möchte eine Win-Win Situation für mich und meine Schüler herstellen und außerdem sind für mich noch folgende Punkte wichtig:


  • Kann ein Medium mir Arbeit abnehmen, indem es den Schülern Rückmeldung über ihren Lernfortschritt und die Richtigkeit ihrer Ansaätze gibt?
  • Gibt es Raum für Lernen durch Versuch und Irrtum?
  • Ermöglicht das Medium den Schülern Dinge zu tun, die ohne das Medium nicht möglich wären? (besondere Experimente, gefährliche Situationen vermeiden, Experimente daheim durchführen)
  • Kann der Schüler damit Experimente und Versuche wiederholen.
  • Sind unterschiedliche Darstellungsmöglichkeiten kombiniert um verschiedene Sinne zu aktivieren?
    z.B. Schrift, Film, Bild, Grafiken, Modelle, etc.
Daher sind Flash-Animationen definitiv eine Bereicherung meines Unterrichts - sowohl aus meiner als auch aus der Sicht der Schüler.


Hier ein Beispiel für eine Flash Animation zum Thema Aggregatzustände:
http://www.ltam.lu/chimie/AggregatCD.html

Ein einfaches Googlen nach dem gesuchten Fachbegriff und dem Kürzel "SWF" (Shockwave Flash Animation) fördert meist Schätze zutage, die einfach verlinkt an die Schüler weitergegeben werden können.

Gesammelte Flashes zur Chemie:
http://www.ltam.lu/chimie/Auswahl.swf

Hier Flashes zum Thema Photosynthese:
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forestbiology/photosynthesis.swf

http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/animations/photosynthesis/photosynthesis.swf

Für Geographen: "kontinentaldrift swf" lieferte beim Googlen:
http://www.3sat.de/nano/diverses/kontinentaldrift/kontinentaldrift.swf

Für Physik "astronomie und swf":
http://astro.unl.edu/naap/pos/animations/kepler.swf

Vielleicht investieren Sie einmal 5 Minuten für eine Stichwortsuche aus dem Fachbegriff des kommenden Themengebiets und dem Kürzel SWF. Wenn Sie für englischsprachige Medien offen sind, dann lohnt es sich auf jeden Fall.

Die Kombination von Flash mit der Fingerbedienung auf dem iPad ist dabei unschlagbar. Hier noch einmal ein Verweis auf einen alten Post von mir, welcher das mit dem Browser Puffin auf dem iPad ermöglicht.



Den Puffinbrowser gleich hier bei iTunes downloaden - er ist das kleine Geld wert. 









Wednesday 6 November 2013

Die Chemie der glycosidischen Bindung

Eine neue Knowmia Lesson.

Thema - Die glycosidische Bindung

Vom Monosaccharid zu Disacchariden -Als Download mit dabei eine PPT mit Übungsaufgaben.

http://www.knowmia.com/watch/lesson/22239



Sunday 3 November 2013

Chemische Reaktionsgleichungen - Eigentlich sind es nur Kochrezepte, oder?

Ich stosse seit Jahren auf Verständnisprobleme bei chemischen Gleichungen:


  • Wieso Formeln?
  • Was bedeuten die Koeffizienten?
  • Wieso muss ich Koeffizientenausgleich können?
Hier ein humorvoller Perspektivwechsel. Ich bin an Rückmeldungen sehr interessiert.


Thursday 31 October 2013

Getting feedback for my lessons right at the end

How did my lesson actually go today? What is my students' perception of it?
Feedback is the key to improvement - so why not getting it now at the end of my lesson by just passing around my iPad for an easy - klick the smiley and rate me - feedback session?

Here is how: This application is all you need for it.

Snaprating - getting feedback about your work in a minute after you finished it. I am using it for lessons, parents teacher talks right now.

SNAPRATING - GET FEEDBACK. :) JUST ONE iPAD PER CLASS IS ENOUGH!

Just find out at the end of the lesson how my students experienced their lesson.








Die Molekülstruktur von Stoffen und ihre Löslichkeit


Die Abhängigkeit der Lösungseigenschaften von Stoffen von ihrem Aufbau auf Ebene der Moleküle. Teilchenebene-Stoffebene.

http://www.knowmia.com/watch/lesson/21623


Friday 25 October 2013

Collaborative Learning - Be a MindMeister

Collaborative learning is a key priority for me as a teacher.
If I want to engage my students in learning processes I have to make the do things and possibly be a teacher and a source of inspiration to each other as well.

I think that all students can capitalise on thoughts and organisational skills of other students within their learning group.

Hey - brainstorming and organisation at once? This sounds like a think that has been around for ages.

The MINDMAP!

How about adding a new flavour to this home cooked dish?
What about replacing the sheet of paper and the pen by a laptop, table or even a smartphone?
What about replacing individual mind-maps by collaborative ones?
What about putting mind-maps together as a homework instead of during the lesson time?

MindMeister is the answer. This short clip will show you how it works in a nutshell.

And of course it is a German company! :)

How to use it during your lessons is for you to find out. :) I am using it in this example to get students to collaborate for a scientific project.


Best thing is MindMeister is available on literally every platform. If you are a risk taker, just click on the logo to start with the cost free basic account. Or what the short little introduction video on how to set up an account, make some annotations and share with students or colleagues.

Brainstorming has never been faster, project progress has never been easier updated.



An introduction to mindmeister



Tuesday 22 October 2013

How to turn your student's results into a quiz for the start of your next lesson

Okay,

I will not get into details too much here. Because the way of how will will be able to do this depends on the software that you are using. Here is what I did.

I asked my students to prepare a presentation about a topic with the following requirements within 20 minutes:


  • a maximum of 2 minutes of speech
  • a whiteboard with a supporting chart and pictures (fixed with magnets and bluetack)
The results were then filmed with a camera - I used my swivl to make it even more exciting for the students.

Result: 1 min 50 seconds of a audio-video recorded presentation. Great result to rate the students on - but how to make even more use of it?

Well then I took the video and extracted some screenshots ( I used the snapshot option of the VLC player), I put those pictures in a powerpoint and used some text boxes to cover certain areas. 
With these pictures I was able to repeat the topic at the start of the next lesson by interviewing my students.

A nice way to appreciate the work of my students and turn them into a useful media to start out my next lesson.


Here we go:

1. Student doing his presentation:


2. Two snapshots from the presentation video plus cover-ups done with the text-field function of PowerPoint. 





Monday 21 October 2013

Eine Einführung in die IUPAC Nomenklatur

Ein geniales Leitprogramm der Eidgenössisch Technischen Hochschule Zürich:

IUPAC Nomeklatur selber lernen:

http://www.educ.ethz.ch/unt/um

Zur Ergänzung habe ich einen Lehrervortrag erstellt, welcher von den Schülern zuhause gesehen werden kann.

http://www.knowmia.com/watch/lesson/21215

Die IUPAC Nomenklatur kann im Anschluss mit Hilfe des Leitprogramms der EDTH erarbeitet werden.

http://www.educ.ethz.ch/unt/um/che/voc/kw_nomenklatur/index


Geniale Arbeitsersparnis und verblüffend gute Resultate.






Friday 20 September 2013

Individualised lesson materials for students

I am feeling like I am a fence sitter sometimes. On the one hand there is the expectation of my supervisors and parents to educate students fulfilling the following requirements:

  • keep teacher focussed lecturing and phases of instruction short
  • provide working materials for my students which challenge and also support them on an individualised base
  • create or use teaching materials which satisfy today's possibilities (digital publishing)
  • work sheets and instructions are providing an individually fine-tuned amount of support, possibilities of further studies, etc.

On the other hand there is my life and the fact that there is a 24h day and I want to spend a decent amount of time with my family and my own little son.

Well, let me say that some things fell into place for me combining those expectations with tools that I have been using for years now. Overall time from thinking about all the point in having created a PowerPoint that can be used as a presentation during lessons, a base for an online lecture, to create 3 differentiated worksheets and for a debrief at the end of the lesson....

20 minutes - and let me add that I chose to do it in English as well - and you will be able to see and hear that it is not my first language. At the end of it all there is still the possibility to create a flash from this as well.

From picking a topic till saving the endproduct 20 minutes, i.e. the time it took my son to drink 8 ounces of formula milk.

You can do this as well - let me teach you how to - by hiring me for a workshop at your school.
:)

It is too easy for you to miss out ...


Saturday 10 August 2013

Schülerexperiment - Neutralisationstitration

Schülerexperiment - Neutralisationstitration


Flipping bedeutet die Umkehr des normalen Unterrichts.
Die theoretischen Voraussetzungen werden durch einen kurzen Lehrervortrag geschaffen - wie bisher. Allerdings findet der Lehrervortrag zuhause in einer vorbereitenden Hausaufgabe statt.
Das spart Zeit, denn die Unterrichsstunde wird effektiv für die Durchführung des Experiments genutzt. Die gewonnene Unterrichtszeit dient dazu an den konkreten Problemen der Schüler mit dem Stoff und dem Verständnis zu arbeiten.


Thema der Stunde:  Neutralisationstitration

Lernziele:

  • Wie führe ich eine Titration durch (Fachvokabular und Praktikum)
  • Durchführung der Titration in Dreiergruppen
  • pH-Wert Messung, Datenaufzeichnung, Erstellen eines Graphen in Excel
  • Neutralisationskurven - typische Form und Ursachen
Jahrgangsstufe(n) Klasse 10/11/12 Gymnasium - je nach Landeslehrplan

Fach: Chemie

Link zum Einführungsvideo http://youtu.be/33gg06moMSw  - dieses Video wird von den Schülern zuhause gesehen und schafft die Grundlagen für den experimentellen Aufbau und das Fachvokabular zu diesem Themengebiet.

Aktivitäten:

  • Aufbau einer Neutralisationstitration
  • Kontrolle des Aufbaus durch den Lehrer bzw. die Mitschüler
  • Durchführung der Titration in Dreiergruppen (je ein Schüler titriert, einer liest das Volumen und den pH-Wert ab, der dritte Schüler zeichnet die Daten in Excel auf (Volumenzugabe/ pH-Wert Diagramm)
  • Link zum Arbeitsblatt mit QR code zum Lehrervortrag (youtube)
  • Erstellen des Graphen in Excel
  • Diskussion und Ergebnissicherung mit dieser  Powerpoint

Title of Lesson: Acidimetric titration – German language lesson materials

Student lab: Acidimetric titration - Flipped classroom

Flipping of labs is extremely time saving by outsourcing the instruction in homework by an instructional video recorded by the teacher which explains setting up the experiment and introducing the vocabulary


Title of Lesson:  Acidimetric titration – German language lesson materials

Lesson Objects:

  • How to set up a titration (vocabulary and use of lab ware)
  • Perform an acidimetric titration in groups of 3 students
  • Measuring pH during titration
  • Plot a neutralisation graph using excel
  • Explain the shape of a neutralisation graph and its characteristics
Appropriate Greade Levels: Grade 10/11/12 of the German High School system

Subject: Chemistry

Student video link: preparational homework http://youtu.be/33gg06moMSw  - has to be done by students at home as preparation of the lab

Activities:

  • Setting up the lab ware for titration to start out (groups of three)
  • Group discussion on names and function of lab ware
  • checking of the setup by the teacher
  • Titration in groups of three (one student for titration, data collection (pH/ Volume) and data recording (excel)
    Link to the instructional worksheet including a QR code to video
  • Plotting the graph
  • Discussion and comparison with sample graph (using powerpoint) - Powerpoint

Unfortunately the powerpoint presentation looses some of its functionality in slideshare (in actual PPT the rectangles disappear by clicking on them revealing the solution).

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Hot Potatoes and Moodle - eine kraftvolle Kombination

In Moodle können zwar Quizzes (Tests) erstellt werden, doch der Moodle interne Editor ist recht umständlich zu handhaben. Es kostet Zeit!

Hot Potatoes - eine kostenlose Softeware ermöglicht die schnelle Herstellung von Kreuzworträtseln, Lückentexten, Schüttelsätzen, Frage-Antwort Aufgaben und Zuordnungsübungen.

Download Hotpotatoes


Diese Aufgaben können dann in Moodle importiert werden und dort zur Lernstandskontrolle dienen.


Verwendung von QR Codes in Arbeitsblättern

Die 2 dimensionalen QR Codes sind weit verbreitete Werbemittel geworden. Welche Möglichkeiten diese schwarz-weißen Quadrate für einen Lehrer bereit halten zeigt dieser 4 minütige Videoclip.

Gedruckte Arbeitsblätter werden plötzlich interaktiv und multimedial.


Saturday 27 July 2013

Teacher Tool - Notenverwaltung leicht gemacht - Sommerzeit - Zeit zum Umsteigen

Als Lehrer möchte ich immer besser organisiert sein als meine Schüler. Doch ehrlich gesagt bin ich vom Ordnung halten mindestens genauso genervt wie meine Schüler. Folgende Fragen machen mich wahnsinnig:

  • Wer hat schon die Klassenfahrt bezahlt?
  • Wer hatte in der letzten Stunde die Hausaufgabe nicht und muss diese heute vorlegen?
  • Der neue Schüler hinten links... Wie heißt der nochmal? Er kam ja erst in der letzten Woche in die Klasse.
  • Wer hat in der letzten Stunden gefehlt? Bei wem fehlt noch die Entschuldigung?
  • Wer hat Arbeitsmaterialien vergessen?
  • An welchem Tag hatte ich Hänschen Klein abgefragt?
  • etc. ...
Natürlich sind diese Angelegenheiten auch mit einem Notizbuch zu regeln. Aber ehrlich gesagt, wer hat noch kein iPhone oder iPad? Außerdem springt mir mein Notizbuch nicht am Stundenanfang ins Gesicht und erinnert mich an die anstehenden Kontrollen.

Für eine Investition von 25 Euro bekomme ich eine App auf dem iPhone/iPad, die es in sich hat. 
  1. Notenverwaltung
  2. Sitzpläne mit Photo
  3. Notenberechnung nach eigenen Verrechnungvorgaben
  4. Stundenplan
  5. Sicherung der Daten

Von Udo Hilwerling programmiert in der Version 4.0.5 und in den Jahren 2011 und 2012 von Apple zu den 5 besten Apps aus dem Bereich "Schule" gekürt. Die Testberichte sprechen Bände und ständige Updates verbessern diese App kontinuierlich. Mittlerweile ist sogar Notenaustausch zwischen Lehrern über das WLan möglich.

Sommerzeit - Ferienzeit - Zeit umzusteigen, bevor die neuen Klassenlisten kommen. 
Mit einem einfachen Klick kaufen und sofort loslegen.

Hier die flexible Version mit zusätzlichen in-App Zusatzmodulkauf


Die volle Version mit allen Modulen zur Schüler- und Notenverwaltung





Friday 26 July 2013

A sophisticated way to use PowerPoint during lessons

I think of PowerPoint as a universal media tool. Everything can be set up in advance. Short texts, pictures, diagrammes and even movies.

Those possibilities make it easy to create great lectures, albeit the slides will have to happen in a given order. I will turn to this problem in a later post.

Another challenge I was facing is: How to make PowerPoints interactive in a sense that my students are able to contribute in securing the results during a lecture and bring in knowledge they already know.
At the same time I want to make sure, that they will get a perfect "script" with all necessary information once we are done.

How to achieve that? This video will show you how to create a PowerPoint that provides "cloze" functionality, leaves space for student contributions and provides the right answers on demand.

Sounds great? Here comes the fly in the ointment - the special feature I am using is just available in PowerPoint for Windows - it see it missing so far in PowerPoint for Mac OS. It might be my eyes, so if you find it comment on this post - I would be happy to wave another little goodbye to the Windows part of my split user personality.





Wednesday 24 July 2013

Producing online lectures with iOS, Mac or PC - What do I need to start within half an hour?

Why I produce online lectures?

Creating online lectures is rated to be very effective by my students. They say they are able to learn content at their own speed. Replaying parts of the lecture the are struggling with and of course access all the content when they are preparing for written exams. What is in for me as a teacher?
I am able to shift lectures into homework time. So students come to my lessons with the knowledge I taught them at home, get tested at the start of the lesson and so I am creating time for exercises, working on problems and of course in science - lab time.

So it's worth producing online lectures - question is of course: How to do it in a time efficient way? What hardware and software to use for it?

This post will give you the possibilities for 4 different platforms you can use to create your online lectures.

The most time-efficient ways I found for it.

Using an iPad and the knowmia teach app:

A great way to create online lectures for me is to reuse powerpoint presentations I have already created for use during my usual lessons.
I tend to convert them into PDF format and then add spoken explanations and sometimes with a little video of myself.

Take a look at this sample - it is in German though.

How to produce an online lecture with knowmia in under 10 minutes?

Here is how to start out with knowmia - just click for free setup and use of a knowmia account


You want additional support? Welcome to the knowmia support blog

This pen will give you additional sensitivity and resolution on your iPad - almost turning it into a drawing tablet.



Using a Windows PC (Powerpoint and the free software Camstudio is needed)

A very powerful combination indeed. Also falling back on powerpoint presentations that I have already created, this is a very efficient way of producing online lessons. It is also possible to bring in a little video window of yourself talking and making all those wild hand gestures we teachers love to do. This is possible just by choosing: tools - video annotation when you are recording a lesson using camstudio.
In my case the webcam of my windows laptop does not work - so I was not able to add it here.

How to create a online lecture using camstudio - take a look:











Using a Mac OS machine (Powerpoint/ Keynote and Ink2Go)


Albeit costing 17,99 € Ink2Go will add some real value to your work.
Ink2Go is actually a kind of whiteboard software that gives you the functions of creating screencasts, adding a video of yourself talking as little window, making annotations, ... .
I never regretted the money I spent for this little piece of software.





Sunday 21 July 2013

Moodle: Wie erstelle ich Quizzes mit Multimedia Inhalten?

Lohnt es sich wirklich Tests in Moodle zu erstellen?

Ich meine NEIN und JA.

Wenn es nur um gewöhnliche Tests geht, dann sicherlich nein. Ich denke Kurztests auf einem Blatt Papier bieten schon sehr viele Möglichkeiten, den Lernstand von Schülern festzustellen.

Was ist jedoch, wenn ich multimediale Inhalte in einen Test integrieren möchte?
So ist es möglich, dass Schüler Hörverständnis trainieren (Sprachen), Inhalte von Reden analysieren (Geschichte) oder aber in Chemie Beobachtungen bei Experimenten machen, die für die Schule zu gefährlich sind.

Hier ein Beispiel:


Thursday 18 July 2013

Was können Schüler mit dem iPad tun? - Arbeitsblätter auf dem iPad bearbeiten

Ich liebe mein iPad hinsichtlich der Möglichkeiten, die es mir als Lehrer gibt.
Es eignet sich hervorragend um Lehrervorträge aufzuzeichnen oder als leichter Rechner um Präsentationen (Keynote) etc. im Unterricht ohne viel Kabelsalat vorzuführen.

Doch was können Schüler damit arbeiten?

Es hat mich sehr viel Zeit und Überlegungen gekostet. Nun meine ich eine Einsatzmöglichkeit gefunden zu haben.

Arbeitsblätter können von Schülern einfach auf dem iPad ausgefüllt werden.

Was sind die nötigen Schritte?


  1. Erstellen eines Arbeitsblatts.
  2. Erstellen einer PDF Version.
  3. Installation der iApp "type on pdf" aus dem iTunes store auf dem iPad - der Preis liegt unter 5 Euro.


Die Schüler können jetzt direkt auf dem PDF tippen bzw. zeichnen und das iPad rückt für die Schüler von Konsumgerät in Richtung Arbeitsmittel.

Hier ein Demovideo auf Youtube:


Friday 14 June 2013

Geschichten erzählen ....

Tyler Dewitt - ein Meister des flipped classroom und online Lesson Guru empfiehlt Lehrern Geschichten zu erzählen, damit die Schüler interessiert zuhören anstatt durch fachliche Exaktheit geprägte Vorträge zu halten, die zwar wissenschaftlich korrekt sind, jedoch die Schüler abschrecken. Also warum nicht probieren - hier meine chemische Interpretation.

Die alte Frage der didaktischen Reduktion: "Begeisterung schüren oder 100% Exaktheit fordern?"
Steht der Lernzuwachs des Schülers bei mir im Vordergrund oder die Liebe zu meinen Fächern? Was ist, wenn ich erst eines schaffen muss, damit das andere vom Schüler angestrebt wird?

Zitat: 'Hey science teachers, make it fun!' http://www.ted.com/talks/tyler_dewitt_hey_science_teachers_make_it_fun.html


Hier natürlich auch die Seite von Tyler, auf der es einen faszinierenden Aufbau zur Aufnahme von Lehrervorträgen abzugucken gibt.

http://vespr.org/


 

Saturday 18 May 2013

The next step - Self grading quizzes in google docs (google drive)

Once I played around with google forms a little bit, I found the collaboration with the students working,  I was asking myself how I could benefit even more - well... how about tests that do the marking for you by themselves.

One thing I know is that I am far too impatient to set up things like that myself. Thing two is that teachers are always short in time - how can that be? :)


So I used the possibilities of google to find this potential use of google forms cum google drive:




Problem is that google docs does not exist anymore. But its ressources are still available somewhere in the depths of the www. Don't ask me where, but I found this side, that will give you all possible templates you could have dreamt of till today. https://drive.google.com/templates?q=self+grading&category=7&sort=hottest&view=public# So have as much fun as I had checking out what is possible for my lessons with this. I would love to get some feedback from you out there on this.

Friday 17 May 2013

The power of gmail - tests made of questions set up by your students - easy marks for you

You want your students to work collaboratively? You want useful results? You want to create even more possibilities with them?


How about students setting up a test for you about for example a movie you asked them to watch? You will be able to rate them on the quality of their questions - plus you are able to reuse them as a test in another learning group having watched the same movie.

This is how it goes - I stumbled over the extended new google drive functionalities.

Clicking on the forms button - see below:




Will open up a google form - you can use it to create questions - but also there is the possibilities to add collaborators like this:




Now you just invite your students via their email addresses and then they are able to add questions they find important to ask and being answered.

What a great way to create a quiz / test. Once they are finished you can send out the form to another group of learners and use their answers to rate their learning progress.

Should be quite easy to mark, if you get a spreadsheet filled with their answers, right?
Especially if you ask your students to create multiple choice questions.

Tried, worked and I will surely reuse it. Possibly those questions can be somehow imported into moodle quizzes - but not there yet.



Tuesday 14 May 2013

Hooray - I am inspirational

This is how it started, my godchild Finja in Germany asking me to explain the ecosystem of a "hedge" to her.

How to do this being in Singapore, with her being in Germany?
Knowmia was my solution.

And here is how starting new stuff will reap you surprising results.

I made it to Knowmia's inspirational corner.





Thank you Finja for inspiring me to start this! :D




Thursday 9 May 2013

Making lessons available online

A new little toy added some extra possibilities to my lessons.

If I prepare powerpoints for my lessons anyhow, can't I use them to create online lectures as well?
Sure I did so by reusing them in knowmia. But this took me still additional time, hence I had to prepare those lectures once again.

With a new spectacular toy I am able to create lectures out of my lessons straight.

Some advantages that are based on student feedback:

  • lectures are available online for preparation of exams.
  • absent students can easily catch up.
  • students love to contribute to those "online products

How does it work?

You put your iPhone in the SWIVL, you wear the SWIVL remote (marker) on your collar and you are able to start recording the lecture parts out of your own lessons.


This is the short overview:

 

And this is an example - actually the first lesson, that I recorded with it (chemistry lesson conducted in German):


Wednesday 1 May 2013

Die Oxidation von Alkoholen am Beispiel von Ethanol und Essigsäure

Eine 90 Minuten Unterrichtseinheit:

Einstieg mit Youtube Video zur Herstellung von Sherryessig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqS2gZmgYoc


Dann Lehrervortrag bzw. knowmia lesson - Die Arbeitsblätter sind als material zur Knowmia Lesson hinzugefügt.



Anschließend Arbeitsblätter zur Übung - Ermitteln von Oxidationszahlen. Am Ende Lernzielkontrolle

Monday 29 April 2013

Eine Seite, die ich sofort weiterempfehlen muss 123chemie

Liebe Chemielehrer,

diese Seite ist so sensationell, dass ich sofort weiterempfehlen muss. Ohne Stellungnahme!

Es handelt sich um interaktive Lernprogramme, die frei zur Verfügung stehen - zumindest teilweise.

http://www.123chemie.de/demo.html

Meine Bestellung für die Vollversion ist schon rausgeschickt.





Friday 26 April 2013

Checking the knowledge of my students is important feedback - but the marking is a ...

From my point of view it is really important to check the knowledge of students in order to get information about their work attitude, their academic advance, their preparation for exams and of course to get feedback for my own teaching.

One core question for me is: Am I making clear what I want my students to be able to learn and do?
Only way to check all those parameters are frequent checks by tests, oral exams, ... .

Problem is: The marking in order to create feedback back to my students will eat up my time.

So what to do?


  • an oral questioning at the start of every lesson will just give me one student's preparation level
  • written tests will give me a profile of the whole class - but will kill my free time in order to mark it
  • moodle tests are great for that purpose - although setting them up will kill your free time - at least one time.

There must be a way - it just had to be found.

WYSIWYG generation of tests with a free editor called quedoc. It will give you the test straight plus it can be imported via XML into moodle and then used internally in you moodle system.



more soon to come...



Tuesday 16 April 2013

Short Assignments with Hot Potatoes

When your flipping the classroom, when you're using a moodle course in a laptop class, sometimes you want to provide your students with a short assignment about some facts and figures they should remember.

One very easy way is using Hot Potatoes.


You could choose between JCloze, JQuiz, JMatch, JCross and JMix.

With JQuiz you could create a test using multiple choice or short answers. JMatch helps you to build mix-and-match tasks for your students.

JCross allows you to create crosswords.

You are a tech-lover as we are? Great! You can import the final product in your moodle course.
You prefer offline activities? Also great! Print your final product and hand it out to your students.

JCloze creates - of course- clozes. I prefer to use them, because they are so easy to create and so effective to use.


Just write your text, mark the gaps - and that's it!
The final product can be exported to word for those who wish to print and copy.
But again moodle is waiting for you.
 Put it in your moodle course, try out some settings and booom - you will get students grades as easy as ABC!

I like that, it's a very easy way to make students learn some facts and figures. And as well to grade them easily.

Flash nutzen - auch auf dem iPad / tolle Animationen einsetzen ohne Einschränkung

Lieber Leser,

wenn Sie diesen Blog verfolgen, dann haben Sie vielleicht schon einmal gedacht " Gute Güte, dieser Lehrer übertreibt es manchmal ein bisschen beim Einsatz von iPad, tablets und anderen technischen Spielereien!".

Sie haben Recht, dabei ist es jedoch um so frustrierender für mich, wenn diese technischen Spielzeuge mich im Gebrauch attraktiver Medien in meinem Unterricht einschränken.

Ich verstehe bis heute noch nicht, wieso Apple die Entscheidung getroffen hat auf seinen mobilen Geräten kein "flash" zu unterstützen. Gerade weil an unserer Schule jetzt Klassensätze an iPads vorhanden sind, die einfach dazu gemacht wurden als "individuelle Medienserver" für meine Schüler genutzt zu werden - d.h. wenn diese Medien nicht im flash Format vorliegen.

Betrachten Sie kurz den Ausschnitt aus einem meiner Arbeitsblätter.

Meine Schüler werden über sogenannte QR Codes direkt zu Medien weitergeleitet, welche ihnen bei der Bearbeitung des Arbeitsblattes helfen oder ihnen weitere Informationen und Hilfestellungen geben.


Es ist allerdings schlecht, wenn diese tollen Animationen nicht auf einem Gerät auftauchen für das man 500 Euro bezahlt hat, nur weil jemand SEINE Ansicht durchsetzen muss.

Glücklicherweise kann uns ein kleiner Vogel helfen unsere Freiheit zurückzugewinnen.

The Puffin Browser

Wenn Sie diese kostenlose Software installiert haben, dann können Sie mit einem Bookmark/ Lesezeichen in Safari erreichen, dass Webseiten, die flash enthalten in diesem Browser geöffnet werden.

Es ist kein Jailbreaking nötig, damit wäre ich bei Schuleigentum und hinsichtlich der Garantie auch sehr zurückhaltend.



Hier ist der einfache Trick und angehängt der direkte Link - leider in Englisch, doch es wird sich lohnen.

http://www.puffinbrowser.com/help/safari?javascript:window.location='puffin://'+location.href.substring(7)




Sunday 14 April 2013

Sometimes I was lacking FLASH on my iPad dearly - NOT ANY LONGER!

Dear reader,

if you follow this blog, then you might have thought already "God, this guy gets sometimes a little carried away by the possibilities of iPads, tablets and smartphones!".

You are right, the more frustrating it is, if those gadgets restrict your use of media and cut down your possibilities of using some really exciting media.

Well, I still don't understand why Apple made the decision to not support flash on their mobile products. Especially since we have class sets of iPads at our school, which are just born "individual media servers" for my students - unless the media are in flash format.

Take a look at this snippet of a worksheet of mine - although written in German you will get the hang of it.

Students are referred to different flash clips, that will enable them to check their solutions or support them in finding solutions or giving further information.

Bad if the content does not show up on a 1000 Singapore Dollar device just because somebody had to have it his way.


Well fortunately a little bird gives us back our freedom.

The Puffin Browser

Once you installed this free software, you can add a little bookmark and you will get what you want - freedom of media use, without jailbreaking, which is definitely an issue when it comes to school property and the linked warranty.

So here is the supershort trick:

Plus the direct link:
http://www.puffinbrowser.com/help/safari?javascript:window.location='puffin://'+location.href.substring(7)




Thursday 11 April 2013

Prezi - an alternative way to create presentations




Are you a little tired of Powerpoint? Bored by one slide after the other? Prezi is an alternative way to create presentations.
Prezi allows you to create presentations online - and those presentations have some great features up their sleeve.

The following Prezi is in German - but maths teachers will get the hang of it anyhow.



This Prezi is used by my grade 9 maths course as overview, learning aid and compilation of important formulas.

Different from Powerpoint Prezi is not based on a succession of slides, but offers a kind of network - similar to a mind map for a certain topic.

You are able to stick with a mind map like template - but you are also able to choose different setups. 

Text, pictures, diagrams, structures, youtube clips, Powerpoints can be distributed on a wide area. The Prezi itself will just zoom in on those objects and will move cross this landscape.


Of course there is a vast collection of templates that will give you a basic structure. The whole software is easy to operate because of the intuitive controls. On top there is a very good tutorial helping you with the start.

Objekt can't just be placed, they can be linked with a so called path, that will bring them into order, if needed. This will grant a kind of guidance through the Prezi - but it can be ignored and own decisions can be made to see other objects first.

Prezi is ideal to show links between topics, it will help you to visualize the facts and offers you a very condensed yet clear structure.

Torsten Traub


Prezi in der Schule



Genug von Powerpoint? Keine Lust mehr auf Folien über Folien? Dann ist Prezi eine Alternative.
Mit Prezi können Präsentationen online erstellt werden – und diese Präsentationen haben es  in sich.


Diese Prezi nutzt meine Mathe-Kurs 9 als Überblick, Lernhilfe, Formelsammlung.

Anders als Powerpoint setzt Prezi nicht auf eine lineare Abfolge der Präsentation, sondern ermöglicht eine vernetzte Ansicht – ein Thema dargestellt als „Mental Map“.

Die Darstellung kann einem Mindmap ähneln, muss sie aber nicht.
Text, Bilder, Grafiken, Strukturen, youtube-Clips, Powerpoint-Folien etc. können beliebig auf einer freien Fläche verteilt werden. Bei der Präsentation wird dann die auf die jeweiligen Objekte gezoomt.
Natürlich kann man auch auf Vorlagen zurückgreifen, die eine Grundstruktur anbieten. Die Bedienung ist dabei sehr intuitiv, zudem hilft ein Tutorial durch die Anfangsmühen.
Objekte können nicht nur platziert werden, sie können auch mit einem sog. Path in eine Präsentationsreihenfolge gebracht werden. Diese hilft bei der Präsentation, bei Bedarf lässt sich aber auch jedes beliebige Element anklicken.
Ideal um Zusammenhänge zu verdeutlichen, Lernstoff kompakt darzustellen und zu visualisieren.