Unification will save you a lot of time - worksheets and interactive presentations done in one shot

Let me be quite frank here. I am suffering from a bug that is called perfection. So when I am making my own worksheets, I want them to have a cool layout, challenging tasks for my students and of course at the end of their work I want to make sure that they have achieved the "right" solution. Preferably I want to check that with the whole class to have a final discussion and comparison of results.

So now let us face the music together:

• I have to design my own worksheet - usually I did this in Word.
• I have to setup a presentation to share the "right" results with my students.

Unnecessary double work in my eyes - but I will come to this in a bit.

Right now I am teaching single lessons of 45 minutes and it's not rocket science - the lesson is over before we can finish our result check in class. Especially if I am asking students to present their results at the front of the classroom.

So how to reduce work and enable students to check their solutions even after lesson time is over.

Powerpoint is the key!

What I am doing is that my usual worksheets are right now are produced with Powerpoint in landscape orientation. 

Basically they will also be my end of lesson presentation.

So my students are working on e.g. clozes. The gaps are covered with simple shapes (rectangular) and so if the PPT is printed, the solutions are covered and students will grind their teeth while filling them with correct solutions.

For the use with the projector I have modified the shapes with an animation - they will disappear when clicked on. A faeature that is available in Powerpoint - albeit just in its windows version (i.e. my reason to work with Parallels on my MacBook Pro).

Anyhow - the printed worksheet has gaps for the students to fill in. The Powerpoint projection has the same gaps and they can be filled in at an interactive whiteboard.

And if time is getting too short, the emailed version of the Powerpoint will provide a beautiful opportunity to the students to look up themselves if their results do match the expected outcome. This can be done as homework once I have shared the presentation after the lesson via Moodle, email, ... .

Take a look at this sample - in German language, but I reckon you will get the hang of it. 

Any questions or suggestions? Comment, please!

Die Ester - Kondensationsprodukte aus Säuren und Alkoholen

Die Stoffklasse der Ester und ihre funktionelle Gruppe
Die Bildung der Ester durch eine Kondensationsreaktion aus Alkohol und Säure
Ester in der Natur: Fruchtester, Fette, fette Öle und Wachse

Turn your iPad into a low budget document camera a.k.a. visualizer

Well - low budget is quite a euphemism, if we factor in the cost of an iPad. Anyhow a lot of teachers seem to have one and use it recording their marks, taking notes and other stuff.

So why not using it as a document camera as well. Problem is the proper mount. Here is an easy solution to the problem.

It is all DIY and should be a real cheap solution.

http://www.technologytailgate.com/2013/03/turn-your-ipad-into-document-camera.html

Well done colleagues! :)

And here is my contribution to make the setup more "mobile! The publishers of this blog use a traditional wired connection to bring the camera on the projector screen.

I am referring to myself and an article of this blog. Why not using the wireless solution?

http://thetechnicalteacher.blogspot.sg/2014/01/document-camera-aka-visualizer-vs-some.html

1. the Apple TV solution: Should you be blessed with an Apple TV connected to your beamer/ projector then just use airplay and display mirror on your iPhone.  WIRELESS!

2. the Reflector solution: Should you have a Macbook or PC laptop connected to the beamer anyhow, then just get the software called reflector. It is available and will give you the possibility to mirror your iPhones display on your laptop. WIRELESS!

Simulations - Great support to enhance students' understanding

This is the first post in my blog for quite some time. A possible reason is that the oncoming move back to Germany is already casting its shadow on my spare time.

But one of my students granted me the address of a webpage that is a resource for simulations not to be missed. The subjects covered are of the STEM group. For all students and teachers this is an equal treasure to implement in learning and lessons.

http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/new

A big thank you to Colorado from my side.

Arbeitsmaterialien erstellen - Wie kann ich durch das Internet Zeit sparen?

Ich verbringe einen großen Teil meiner Vorbereitung mit der Erstellung digitaler Arbeitsmaterialien und Klausuren für meine Schüler.

Aus Erfahrung und Teamarbeit in meinem Kollegium weiss ich, dass auch andere Kollegen diese Leidenschaft teilen und auch unter diesem "Zeitfresser" leiden.

Was jedoch, wenn meine Fachschaft so klein ist, dass ich keinen Austausch im eigenen Kollegium betreiben kann?

Was tun, wenn die Zeit drängt und die rechten Fragen für die Klausur einem nicht einfallen?

Die Lösung ist wie immer vor meiner Nase gewesen - das Internet: www.schulportal.de

Es handelt sich um eine gut organisierte Internet Austauschplattform für Unterrichtsmaterialien aller Art und für alle Fächer.

Die Inhalte sind übersichtlich nach Fächern, Bundesländern, Jahrgangsstufen und Themen geordnet.

Der Austausch ist kostenlos und nach der Registrierung kann man sofort loslegen.

Grundprinzip ist: Mit dem Hochladen von Materialien kann man sich Punkte verdienen, die man dann zum Download von Materialien nutzen kann.

Da alle Materialien in digitaler Form vorliegen, können auch noch schnell letzte Anpassungen vorgenommen werden.

Eine Seite also, die in keinem Bookmarks Folder eines Internetbrowsers für Lehrer fehlen sollte:

http://www.schulportal.de


Die Materialien werden übrigens geprüft, bevor sie eingestellt werden. Das sichert eine gewisse Qualität.

Learning Cards - a very good old wine in a new skin - QUIZLET

Learning cards have proven for decades to be an effectful learning tool. I used cards myself to get french vocab into my head as well my beloved chemical formula. The use for some students is evident and I always kind of envied my language teaching colleagues for having such a great tool to recommend to their students.

And so I was asking myself how to make use of cards for my biology and chemistry classes. My idea was to have those cards available for all my students all the time and have all the crucial vocabulary (e.g. formula and technical terminology) ready for them to study on their own, prepare themselves in advance and of course for myself to set up vocabulary tests for myself.

I found my partner in crime with

www.quizlet.com

I signed up for the free version and just 24 hours later bought the commercial login with will cost you a yearly fee.

So what is in there? How do I use it?

I set up specific classes, e.g. grade 9 chemistry. For each unit I will then create a cardset with the important vocab ( I am able to spice it up with pictures as well. Could there be anything greater than link a new name of a lab glassware to a picture of it or put the lewis formula of a chemical compound on the backside of its name).

Each cardset will then be linked with my moodle course.

And this is how it works in the context of the flipped classroom concept:

Homework:

• Students will access the cardset that I created and prepare the vocabulary. Well, this has cut down the number of missing homework by almost 100%. Because who is not able to learn 10 new cards of vocab. :)

Start of the lesson:

• I will check on the students being able to recall the new vocab they have learnt at home. Possible options are using quizlet itself during this phase, test it with a paper test or check the items by means of a moodle test.

Work phase - extension:

• My students will do experiments, solve past exam questions and work on other task which demand the knowledge of the new vocab and sometimes the definition of the technical term on the backside of the quizlet card as well.

After the lesson:

• Every single crucial piece of technical terminology is available for the students to revise and linked to the respective topic it was introduced with.
• Ideal for exam preparation.
• Ideal to catch up for students that join a class/ course at a later point of time than others.
• The reading function of the cards itself will give the students a pretty good idea of how to pronounce a word.

The stunner: 

There are quizlet apps available on almost any mobile platform from iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire and third party apps as well for e.g. Nook.

Actually students seem to enjoy learning with their high tech gadgets.

You are also able to embed the quizlets into your homepages, moodle courses and of course blogs.

The effect is maximum compared to the costs.

Furthermore there are thousands of ready to use cardsets for almost every subject.

Here is an example - albeit in German and chemistry.

Document camera (a.k.a. visualizer) vs. some DIY and iPhone

During my years at German European School Singapore I learnt to appreciate the document cameras I equipped the biology and chemistry rooms with. How to reach that standard or keep it up, if your school does not provide you with the budget to buy them - coughing up 850 Euros for an AVervision V300AF+ out of your own wallet is surely not an option - I reckon.


I took the V300AF+ as a reference because of my very good experience over the last 4 years with that brand and the model itself.

It looks well engineered, seems to be robust and gives me a 3.2MP camera to use for projecting objects and worksheets and other documents on a whiteboard for result checks, common correction or marking of students work during my lessons. Do not get my wrong - I love those document cameras.

But hey, my iPhone 5 has an 8MP camera and autofocus as well, even a LED flash is available.
So why not using my iPhone as a document camera? I am sure other smartphones will even give you a better pixel count.

With this thought in my mind I went for some shopping and found this great gooseneck universal smartphone mount - it has a length of a good 60 cm and a clip at its end. The brand is "CHINA" so you probably have to source for something similar.

Here are the pictures of the unwrapping.

So this gooseneck will provide a sure mount for my iPhone atop of any desk. See below:

Almost there now - last challenge to be solved is the connection of my makeshift document camera.
There are three possibilities.

1. the hardware solution: Use a lightning to VGA/ Digital AV Adapter - available from Apple store.

2. the Apple TV solution: Should you be blessed with an Apple TV connected to your beamer/ projector then just use airplay and display mirror on your iPhone.  WIRELESS!

3. the Reflector solution: Should you have a Macbook or PC laptop connected to the beamer anyhow, then just get the software called reflector. It is available and will give you the possibility to mirror your iPhones display on your laptop. WIRELESS!

There you go - cost breakdown for the most expensive case 2. Even buying an Apple TV plus the 20 Euro for the gooseneck mount I am roughly at a fifth of the costs of a document camera.

Here is the final result of 10 minutes of work, writing this post is included. I used combination 3 for now.

A wireless document camera for small bucks. Have fun trying it out yourself and feel free to post your experience as comments and add more ideas. By the way, there are similar iPad mounts available as well.

The Apps and Software I used most during 2013 - a completely subjective wrap-up

Happy new year of the horse - 2013 is over but the 365 days of it left an experience that I want to share. Especially when it comes to software and apps that I used in the past year and of course the experience - my completely subjective opinion. So feel free to read, play around with the same toys and have completely different results. I will order the pieces of software in order of how often I have used them plus the operating system - this sometimes creates a big difference.

Teachertool - I used it every single day of school on my iPad

Objectives:

Keep track and record my students' attendance every lesson, record the content of the lessons, monitor homework, check lists for payments (etc.), seating charts with pictures of my students, recording achieved marks and calculate end results, exchange data with homeroom teachers - as long as they use teachertool as well, secure my recordings and observations.

Cons:

No sync possibility with your windows pc or your mac.

Pros:

All my data are safe because of the integrated backup functionality, plus of course the iCloud backup.

Udo Hilwerling is the developer and he will answer emails and is thankful for feedback and suggestions. 

Recommendation:

Buy it and start to work with it for one whole school year - I bet you will find it very handy. The 24,99€ are more than worth it.

Download it here from the German iTunes store

Alternative for German teachers that is worth a try:
Notenbox für iPad - because it supports all platforms and sync via internet.
http://www.awin.de

Powerpoint - I use it every singe lesson on my windows PC

Objectives:

Creating presentations for my in lesson lectures. Since the classes I teach are mainly laptop classes and the introduction of iPads is a future plan, I also use it to create my worksheets nowadays. 

Creating presentations for students' laptops that offer additional support mechanisms when it comes to language of instruction, individualised learning speed and support.

Cons:

The versions that are available for windows and mac will give you different functionality especially when it comes to the biggest PRO. See below.

Powerpoints will lose the animations when watched with an iPad - unless the Office 365 is available.

Pros:

Based on my experience you want to use the windows version of Powerpoint. Why? Because it offers the possibility to use shapes and other objects as trigger for further animations. i.e. I am able to prepare additional support items (word lists, media, word-fields, etc.) that can be individually called up by students according to their competence level.

Recommendation:

Use Powerpoint to create your own presentation, develop your worksheets using powerpoint as well. Right now, I introduce lesson goals and task at the start of the lesson. The students will get access to the powerpoint as well - or the printed work sheets based on the Powerpoint.

After some time we will come together to fill in the results. Every student is able to activate further support mechanisms within the powerpoint.

Give it a try - I measured it! Creating the presentation and the linked worksheets for one 45 minute lesson took me no longer than 18 minutes.

Alternative:

Keynote on mac and iPad - surely is an alternative. When it comes to looks and intuitive setup keynote pulls it off surely. Additional features like mentioned above are a big zilch though.

Conclusion: Powerpoint for lesson creation by teacher - keynote is ideal for students work.

Evernote - at the end of every lesson - at least (on iPhone, iPad, windows and mac)

Objectives:

Keeping track of written excuses by parents, record parent-teacher-meetings, record the lesson results by taking a snapshot of the white- or blackboard, record audio notes, store web clippings, archive documents, ...

How could I live without it?

Pros:

All your notes are available on all of your devices. Hand written notes can be scanned or just added by taking a snapshot with the smartphone or the tablet. All notes can be searched and organised in notebooks and with tags.

Megapro:

Notes or notebooks (folders) can be shared with public or with selected individuals (no need for them to even install Evernote).

Cons:

The NSA might probably scour through all your notes. Are you surprised? Me, I don't care.

You will probably upgrade to paid version. :)

Monthly fees.

Alternative:

I can't even think of looking for one.

Conclusion:

A great tool to keep track of the outcome of me lessons, regardless if it is posters, worksheets, whiteboard drawings, etc. - could it be done easier than clicking a pic?

At the same time you are able to share the whole records with your students - no need to hand them copies, just share with them to bring them up to speed.

Dropbox - all day long - to secure my lesson preparation and to access it from everywhere (all operating systems).

Objectives:

Keeping my lesson preparations and work materials accessible from every machine and possible workplace for me.

Never worry about a hard-drive crash or using an new computer.

Pros:

Wherever I am - I am able to access all my work. Moving to a new computer has never been easier. Sharing worksheets and exam papers with other teachers across the whole planet has saved me so much work. Available on every single platform I am able to think of and work on.

Cons:

Monthly fees depending on the size of online storage.

Alternatives:

Skydrive, Googledrive, ....

Conclusion:

Once hooked you will stick to it. Although I am fancying my own Synology diskstation at home.

Knowmia teach - I use it at least twice a week

Objectives:

This little app really had a huge impact on my lesson planning. With it I am able to create lectures that my students are able to watch at home or during my lessons at their own speed and time.

I am using this app to effectively flip my lessons - "flipped classroom concept".

Cons:

I have not managed to include videos within the lectures that I create.

Pros:

Easy creation of online lectures based on already existing Powerpoint presentations (PDF import) on my iPad. The platform and the app are free. There are no commercials and ads like on youtube. There is no inappropriate content available on www.knowmia.com but thousands of really good lectures.

Students are able to follow my lectures at home, at their own speed and are able to replay them as well.

Ideal for exam preparation and students joining in at a later point of the class.

Recommendation:

You just need to give it a shot. Students seem to absorb the content better than through real life lectures - funny that is, but it works.

Alternative:

There are other apps out there. Some are free as well (www.showme.com).

I reckon that Explain Everything is a serious competitor offering more functionality - try it out, the 2,99€ seem to be worth the investment and you are free to host your videos on different platforms.

i-Nigma - a free QR code scanner for iPad and iPhone - once a week.

Objectives:

Link additional content to my printed worksheets.

Why not putting QR codes on print worksheets so my students are able to access videos, supporting information, audio files, etc. with it. 

Cons:

Students need tables or smartphones with headphones to access whatever is hidden within a QR code.

Pros:

Linking a video of a dangerous experiment to a worksheet, connect a behavioural study to an according youtube video, hide a result check within a QR code, present additional help on demand, ... .

The possibilities are amazing

Recommendation:

Just pep up one of your worksheets with QR codes and see what will happen if your students will have to use their smartphones to work during a lesson instead of being able to use them for distraction. :)