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    Enhanced Engagement through Augmented Reality

    by Lindsey Fuller
     | Mar 05, 2014

    One of my favorite benefits of having a digital classroom is the opportunity to find creative ways to use new technology tools. Recently, I started noticing some of my fellow teacher bloggers talking about using augmented reality in the classroom with an app called Aurasma. With this app, students can create a video, animation, or other interactive material that will be linked with a particular image. When the device camera hovers over the image, the interactive material pops up.

    p: Barrett.Discovery via photopin

    I immediately wanted to know how teachers were using this app in the classroom. When I started digging deeper, I came across a post by Erin Klein, who had used the app to create an interactive word wall with her students. I loved this idea, because I have often found that word walls fall a bit flat with my older students. What a fantastic way to make it truly useful and engaging!

    The interactive word wall was going to take some time and rearranging in my classroom, so I thought it would be best to introduce that particular project next fall. However, my mind was spinning with ideas for how I could use augmented reality in my classroom right now. I was getting ready to start an in-depth study of informational text features, and felt that this app could help my students become more engaged with the content.

    For this particular project, I asked my students to work with a partner. I gave each team a different text feature to focus on. They were to learn what their text feature was, and what purpose it served. Once they had reported to me their findings, the partners found an example to use as their trigger image—most students took a picture of a textbook or other non-fiction text and used an annotation app to draw an arrow pointing out the text feature. Then, they created a short video to define and explain their text feature. The more outgoing students recorded themselves, while those who are more reserved took video of a non-fiction text as they pointed and explained. In this way, everyone could feel comfortable being part of the process.

    Once the images and videos were done, they could be combined in the Aurasma app to create "auras." I printed out the trigger images, and students then went on a treasure hunt, using the iPads at different stations to trigger auras, matching up text features with descriptions on a recording sheet. This allowed all students to become familiar with all of the text features we were studying. I also asked the teams to upload their images and videos to our shared Google Drive account. This way, I could create an Aurasma channel online and post the trigger images on a wall in the classroom, allowing my students to use this as a reference resource as needed.

    Augmented reality could be used in so many creative ways in the classroom, and I am already making a list of new ideas. I have visions of a similar project for learning the different types of figurative language, and the potential uses for creating interactive ELA content are numerous. But perhaps the most intriguing idea for me is how I can use this app to generate more enthusiasm for book clubs and independent reading. Rather than requiring traditional book reports, I love having student-created reviews and book trailers for the titles in my classroom library, and have ambitions of expanding to our school library.

    Aurasma provides an innovative platform for allowing students to share their book-based projects with each other, and having those projects stored for on-demand access. By using technology tools creatively, we can enhance the learning process in such a way that leads to a higher level of student engagement and the creation of not just lifelong learners, but lifelong readers.

    Lindsey Fuller on Reading Today OnlineLindsey Fuller is a sixth grade teacher in Decatur, Illinois. Her interests are classroom technology integration, literacy instruction, and Common Core curriculum development and implementation. You can read more from Lindsey on these topics at her blog, Tales of a 6th Grade Classroom
    One of my favorite benefits of having a digital classroom is the opportunity to find creative ways to use new technology tools. Recently, I started noticing some of my fellow teacher bloggers talking about using augmented reality in the ...Read More
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    • Teaching With Tech

    Share and Connect: Join The #WALKMYWORLD Project

    By W. Ian O'Byrne
     | Feb 28, 2014

    Have you wanted to get involved and connect with others on Twitter? Do you want to play, create, and share digital content while identifying instructional opportunities for this work?

    I’d like to invite you all to a social networking and connected education challenge that we’ve been conducting online. In this challenge, we are exploring the use of digital texts and tools as a means to connect, collaborate, and share globally. This challenge is part of a research initiative I’m conducting with a group of researchers and educators. The results of this project will be shared at the conferences for IRA, NCTE,  and the Literacy Research Association.

    Share a “walk” in your “world”

    p: gilad cc
    Welcome to the #WALKMYWORLD project. Once a week, for ten weeks, we would like you to share with us a “walk” in your “world.” There really are no rules to this challenge. The only real rule is that we ask that you share this “walk” publicly on Twitter, and include the hashtag (#WALKMYWORLD) in your post. In your post we ask that you share an image or video that captures this walk in your world once a week. In this challenge we start by sharing and connecting, and then slowly move to poetry writing and response.

    The beauty of this challenge is in what you decide to share. In terms of what you share, there are multiple options. Educators and students have been sharing photos, or content from Vine and/or Instagram. Participants have shared audio clips on Soundcloud, and reflective blog posts. There really is no limit to what you share. For more ideas and support, please visit the original blog post for the #WALKMYWORLD project by clicking here.

    Be thoughtful in your posts
    Please keep in mind that in this challenge you are openly posting information to the Internet. I believe that it is important that we educate, empower, and advocate for the use of digital texts and tools as a literacy. I also believe that teachers and students should think critically about how they create and curate their online brand. That being said, please thoughtfully and carefully select what you share online. Please do not post or share anything that you feel does not represent you in the best light. Please also do not share content of others, or photos of students that you do not have permission to share. In short…think carefully before posting content online.

    Play…and then share
    In this challenge, you are playing with, creating, and sharing digital content in online spaces. The key element here is to have fun, connect, and experiment with the digital texts and tools. Be sure to be thoughtful and protect yourself as you share online. Include the #WALKMYWORLD hashtag in your posts. Please follow the prompts for each week of the #WALKMYWORLD project by following the tag from my blog by clicking here.

    When you search Twitter for #WALKMYWORLD you will find a collection of teachers, pre-service teachers, and students that are all allowing us to take a walk in their world. On a personal note, I love the gems that Kate Booth shares from her cherubs. I’m jealous of the picturesque scenery that Alison McCandlish shares. Kevin Hodgson always pushes the boundaries of what we could/should do with digital texts and tools. Finally, Molly Shields is able to push my thinking about literacy and digital storytelling. Along with these experts from the community, there are also many others learning how to interact, learn, and share using Twitter for the first time.

    Come and join us as we connect and share together online. Enjoy!!!

    W. Ian O'Byrne on Reading Today OnlineW. Ian O'Byrne is an assistant professor in the Department of Education at the University of New Haven. You can read his blog at wiobyrne.com, follow him on Twitter (@wiobyrne), at Google+, or contact him at wiobyrne@gmail.com.

    This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

    Have you wanted to get involved and connect with others on Twitter? Do you want to play, create, and share digital content while identifying instructional opportunities for this work? I’d like to invite you all to a social networking and...Read More
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    • Plugged In

    Behind the Mask: Providing Students with a Safe Online Presence

    by Julie D. Ramsay
     | Feb 26, 2014

    In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools to focusing on supporting each student’s learning. 

    When February rolls around in Alabama, minds turn towards the big celebrations surrounding Mardi Gras. A little-known fact is that Mardi Gras actually began in Mobile, Alabama, not New Orleans, Louisiana—a fact that any Alabamian will gladly share with anyone who thinks that New Orleans is the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States.

    p: andy castro via photopin

    In spite of having been one of those who needed educating in the true origin of Mardi Gras, I find myself thinking fondly of travelling to New Orleans to attend IRA’s 59th Annual Conference. Even though Mardi Gras will be a memory for many by May, I can’t help but think of all the beads, costumes, and masks that are found year round.

    The masks are masterful works of art that disguise the wearer while still allowing him/her to actively participate in festivities. As a classroom teacher, I am immediately reminded of how that parallels with what we want for our students in their online learning; we want for them to be present and actively engage in a world of possibilities for their learning while also learning in a safe environment.

    Many ask, How can you include learning activities that include digital and social media when there are so many seemingly potential dangers lurking? The fact is that students are already engaged in these mediums with or without us. With us, they are in a safe environment where there are filters and safeguards put into place. If a student makes a poor choice, we have the opportunity to have a discussion where they can identify an unsafe practice and determine why they need to make a change. When in our classrooms, we are giving them the opportunity to build safe habits that they carry with them once those safeguards are absent, which for many of them is when they return home. It is not uncommon for students to come and express to me how unsafe they had been in their online profiles or practices and how they have immediately made changes to protect themselves.

    Because safety is a topic about which I am most often asked, I thought I would share a few of the practices that I have put into place to help students develop an understanding of the rules in this digital playground.

    Let them set expectations. Even though I teach middle level students, it surprises me how much they do not know about making good choices online. Quite often they express that no one has ever talked to them about digital choices. Sometimes learners may know not to do something, but they have no understanding as to the “why” of the discussion. I often write about the importance of students taking ownership over the practices in the classroom. They need to discover and understand how the choices they make could impact them or those around them. I do not believe in scare tactics, but I do believe that students need to have a clear understanding of the potential ramifications that something they put out in cyberspace can have, positive and negative (and yes, these need to be age appropriate).

    At the beginning of the school year, I guide my students in a discussion about the world of possibilities available to them through digital mediums. We start with a beginning activity where they work in small groups creating a list of what they know about online practices and opportunities. Then they share their list with the class. A crucial part of this conversation is having the students share the “why” behind each of their ideas. They need to begin connecting the dots between their choices and the impact that they could have.

    After a week of these conversations, my learners create a list of expectations for their online behavior; they are building their mask. Because we have discussed this over the course of several days, they have a clear understanding as to why each element is included on their list. Each year the list is a bit different because my students are different each year. You will notice that the list my students created this year includes a lot of positives. Yes, safety is addressed and each one of my students can enumerate in a very detailed explanation of each characteristic, but this is their list, not mine. They have complete ownership over this process and they hold one another to these practices.

    Let them create a safe profile. So many of the tools that students use, from Voice Thread to blogging to Google apps have users set up an online profile. Since this is a part of connecting with other people, it is important that students have the opportunity to build a profile that gives them some individuality while still providing the protection that he/she needs.

    One way that we create individuality while staying behind the mask is through various online avatar creators. Students have the ability to create an online avatar that is unique to them to use in all of their accounts. That becomes their mask where other students can identify them with just their profile photo while not putting their photo out for anyone to view.

    My learners’ favorite avatar creator is Build Your Wild Self. On this site, users have the opportunity to select a cartoon version of different boys or girls and then add fun animal parts to their avatar. It is something that can be as unique as each of your students. And who wouldn’t remember a girl with peacock feathers and octopus tentacles?

    If your students are into superheroes like many of mine are (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t like to be a superhero?) Marvel’s Create Your Own Superhero and Hero Machine are both really super options. Many of my learners are into Legos or Claymation characters. If they would like to become a Lego character, the Mini-Mizer is fun, while creating a clay version of themselves on ClayYourself (like the ones in the Hotels.com commercials) may appeal to other students.

    Whatever their interest, there is a way for them to create a safe, fun, and memorable profile “photo” that helps them to connect and build relationships with a parade of learning opportunities from around the globe.

    Let them communicate and collaborate through class accounts. When discussing social media, many teachers shy away from bringing these tools into their classrooms. There are students whose parents do not feel comfortable in having their students on social media. Once I explain that we will be using our class account where I am the only one with the login and I am the one controlling what content comes into and out of our learning environment, I have never had any students denied access to all of the learning opportunities possible through these tools.

    One tip that I would suggest is that you set up accounts separate and apart from your own accounts. For example, my Twitter name is @JulieDRamsay while the class account is @RamsaysClass. The audience needs to know that the tweets, posts, or photos are coming from students, not an adult. It changes how individuals or groups respond to content put out through different feeds.

    I’ve written in previous columns about the amazing learning opportunities that have resulted because my students are on Twitter, blogging, and Instagram, which are all done on our class iPad. An incredible amount of in-depth, real world, authentic learning would not have occurred had we not been actively involved with connecting with other students, authors, and experts through social media.

    One more idea I’d like to share is that the purpose of social media is to be, well, social. That is what appeals to today’s students. They know they have an authentic audience; someone who will be reading, commenting, and questioning their thoughts and ideas. When you create a blocked account, you are extremely limiting the individuals who can connect with your students. If you are using a class account, you are already serving as the filter. You will quickly be able to identify those trolls who will offer no learning experiences for your students. Blocking them is a matter of a couple of clicks.

    So as the Mardi Gras parades and festivities march on, let us remember that we can open up a world of possibilities for our learners through digital resources while providing them the protection they need from behind a mask of sound online practices. Until I see you in May, Laissez les bon temps rouler!

    Are you a fan of Plugged In? Come see Julie D. Ramsay present “The Global Read Aloud: One Book to Connect the World” at IRA’s 59th Annual Convention, May 9-12, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

    Julie D Ramsay on Reading Today OnlineJulie D. Ramsay is a Nationally Board Certified educator and the author of “CAN WE SKIP LUNCH AND KEEP WRITING?”: COLLABORATING IN CLASS & ONLINE, GRADES 3-8 (Stenhouse, 2011). She teaches ELA to sixth graders at Rock Quarry Middle School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She also travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog at juliedramsay.blogspot.com

    In today’s world, the topic of using technology in the classroom can be intimidating. In this monthly column, join one teacher on a quest to discover the best way to meet the needs of her digital-age learners…moving beyond the technology tools...Read More
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    eReading and eResponding: Motivating and Engaging All Learners

    by Kristin Webber
     | Feb 21, 2014

    Today’s classrooms are filled with diverse learners each with their own unique needs and learning styles. Classroom teachers are continually challenged to find ways to engage learners in meaningful instruction. I found myself in this exact dilemma when I was a classroom teacher in an alternative education program for children (Grades 4–12) identified with emotional and behavioral disorders. Traditional “pencil and paper” school was not working for us, and I turned to digital reading and responding technologies to engage my students in meaningful literacy instruction.

    students on ereaders

    photo credit: flickingerbrad via photopin cc

    eReaders come in many types and styles, such as Kindles or Nooks, and are available as apps for other mobile devices. I used the free iBook app on the iPad2. With options to change font style, size, and background color, the reader can personalize his or her reading experience. Also, ereading devices and apps offer a variety of tools, such as highlighting/underlining text and typing notes, to assist the reader in constructing meaning during reading. In our first ereading experience, six readers recorded 211 annotations and typed 80 notes while reading Tuck Everlasting in e-book form. Larson (2010) points out that by examining students’ notes and annotations, educators can gain valuable insights to students’ reading behaviors and comprehension skills.

    The Internet offers many options for creating online literature discussions with students. Wikispaces, Kidblog, and Nicenet are just a few. After each reading session, students were encouraged to post to the electronic discussion board housed at Wikispaces.com. My students posted on the discussion board 94 times, and I was able to monitor the discussion and determine the types of responses students were making—aesthetic, interpretive, cognitive, experiential, clarification, and/or off-task (Larson,  2007, Hancock, 2004). My students also favored the online discussion board because it gave them 24/7 access to the discussion. If they remembered something that night at home that they wanted to add, they could do it. They also liked that the discussion was archived. They were able to go back and reread discussion posts if they needed to. Moreover, I found the electronic discussion board an excellent tool for involving my quieter students in the conversation. They really liked that they were able to step back and think about their responses instead of being “put on the spot” in a face to face discussion.

    Alvermann (2008) argues that despite the complex digital world surrounding many of today’s students, schools still favor traditional, print-based methods of instruction. She further observes that even though digital images, audio, and video are changing the way we read certain kinds of texts, “online and offline literacies are not polar opposites” (pg. 16). Teachers need to deliberately tap into adolescents’ natural engagement with digital content and consider a wider range of learning competencies that currently go unnoticed. An estimated 64% of children ages 12-17, for example, are already using the Internet to create their own content (Lenhart, Madden, Macgill, & Smith, 2007). Perhaps when students have regular opportunities to show themselves competent learners in a medium they already enjoy, they will find schoolwork more relevant and worthwhile. To that end, teachers should also ask students for their suggestions on how digital literacies might become a part of the regular curriculum (Alvermann, 2008).

    References

    Alvermann, D. (2008). Why bother theorizing adolescents’' online literacies for classroom practice and research? The Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(1), 8-19. doi: 0.1598/JAAL.52.1.2

    Hancock, M. (2004). A celebration of literature and response: Children, books, and teachers in K-8 classrooms. Merrill.

    Larson, L. C. (2007). A case study exploring the "new literacies" during fifth-grade electronic reading workshop. (Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy). Kansas State University,

    Larson, L. C. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), 15-22. doi: 10.1598/RT.64.1.2

    Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Macgill, A.R., & Smith, A. (2007). Teens and social media. PEW American Internet & American Life Project, October 28, 2012.

    Kristin WebberKristin Webber is an assistant professor in the Early Childhood and Reading Department at Edinboro University and serves as program head for the Masters in Education Reading Program, kwebber@edinboro.edu.

    This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association's Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

    Today’s classrooms are filled with diverse learners each with their own unique needs and learning styles. Classroom teachers are continually challenged to find ways to engage learners in meaningful instruction. I found myself in this exact...Read More
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    Flip the Screencast: Video Tutorials by Students for Students

    by Nicole Timbrell
     | Feb 14, 2014

    The regular appearance of new literacies requires additional roles for teachers and students. 

    - Don Leu, et al. (2013)

    Recently, I heard a middle school teacher make this observation about what she called a “universal understanding” among her students:

    …when using technology, students are perfectly happy to let someone else help them or offer to help others, whereas, in other learning situations, these same students may reject opportunities to receive or give help.

    These words rang true as I pictured the many times I have surrendered the teaching floor to a student who possessed a more advanced technology skill set and an eagerness to share her knowledge not only with me but with her fellow students. Education Technology Specialist Alan November shared a similar sentiment in this address at URI’s Education Colloquium last year when he stated that “students prefer to learn from one another.” One reason he gave was the “curse of knowledge” phenomenon in which more knowledgeable individuals, such as teachers, find it harder to imagine a first-timer’s questions. Students who have recently grasped a concept or mastered a skill are closer to the “first-time” experience than adults, who may have learned the same concept or skill decades earlier and therefore may be able to convey information in a manner more accessible to their peers.

    With these ideas in mind, I propose we reconsider the way that screencasts are used in our classrooms. We know from the success of Khan Academy and the rise of the flipped classroom model for instruction that, whether or not they are creating their own tutorials or using existing ones, educators are adopting screencasts as part of their teaching toolkit. However, the sole use of adult-generated screencasts position the teacher as the primary source of knowledge and, as passive receivers of this instruction, the student voice is absent from this stage of the learning process.

    Screencasts for Students, by Students

    Encouraging students to identify a learning need, recognize their own expertise in that particular topic or skill area, and create a resource to share with their peers to meet that need places students at the center of their education and fosters a collaborative learning environment. Furthermore, asking students to create their own screencasts to share with their peers is a task that activates multiple types of “Twenty-first century literacies” (Brown, Bryan, and Brown, 2005) including technology literacy, information literacy, digital literacy, and visual literacy. (See definitions here).

    While teachers may wish to exercise “quality control” by checking students’ screencasts before uploading to the class wiki or an educational video sharing website, such an approach would remove additional opportunities for collaborative learning. The use of peer assessment for fact-checking the content, aligning the tone and vocabulary with the target audience, reviewing the production elements, and assessing overall usefulness as a learning resource are but some of the learner-centered activities that could follow the creation of student-generated screencasts.

    To view some examples visit Club Academia, a website that promotes “education of the students, by the students and for the students” by creating video tutorials that emphasize the student perspective.

    Getting Started

    To gauge students’ skills in screencast production, you might like to start with a simple task such as the one below that can be done individually or in small groups:

    Select your favorite educational website. Create a 90-second screencast during which you deliver a “tour” of the website’s features while you explain how it has helped you with your learning.

    Software tools for creating screencasts:

    Together with presentation software such as:

    References

    Brown, J., Bryan, J., & Brown, T. (2005). Twenty-first century literacy and technology in K-8 classrooms. Innovate, 1(3).

    Leu, D. J., Zawilinski, L., Forzani, E., & Timbrell, N. (2013) Best Practices in New Literacies and The New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension. To appear in Best Practices in Literacy Instruction. 5th Edition. Morrow, L. M., & Gambrell, L. B. (Eds) New York: Guildford Press.

    November, A. Creating a New Culture for Teaching and Learning. University of Rhode Island Fall 2013 Honors Colloquium, 8th October 2013. Accessible here: http://www.uri.edu/hc/20131008_November_VIDEO.html

    Nicole TimbrellNicole Timbrell is a high school English teacher at Loreto Kirribilli in Sydney, Australia. She has taken a year away from the classroom to complete graduate study in Cognition, Instruction and Learning Technologies at the University of Connecticut, nicole.l.timbrell@uconn.edu, @nicloutim.

    This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG)

    The regular appearance of new literacies requires additional roles for teachers and students.  - Don Leu, et al. (2013) Recently, I heard a middle school teacher make this observation about what she called a “universal understanding” among her...Read More
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