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John Hendron

Director of Innovation and Strategy

Archives for March 2011

Podcasting for Students

by John Hendron · Mar 28, 2011

Last week I led an after-school workshop on podcasting with students, and I’ve turned my portion of the presentation into a video podcast.

Thanks to my friends at VSTE, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, for hosting the podcast. This month they’ve been highlighting and focusing upon mobile devices in learning – and podcasting certainly fits the bill for putting educational content on the gadgetry teens crave.

The example I created and PDF handout is available here.

Filed Under: Learning for Teachers Tagged With: podcasting, VSTE

Mrs. Nixon’s G21

by John Hendron · Mar 25, 2011

nixon_g21

Yesterday while visiting Byrd Elementary, I saw the great work from Mrs. Nixon’s 2nd graders, who used Comic Life to create their G21 products. Great work, indeed! This project not only addressed their science SOL, but gave them real, hands-on experience in using the Macbooks to create something they could call their own.

Filed Under: General News Tagged With: g21

Backing Up

by John Hendron · Mar 24, 2011

This is a sample podcast I created for this evening’s class on podcasting. It details the the process of backing-up your computer following my “Instructional Podcast Model.”

enhanced

Download the handout materials in PDF format, and also visit our podcasting information via our Wiki.

Filed Under: Learning for Teachers Tagged With: garageband, podcast

Flubaroo for Google Apps

by John Hendron · Mar 24, 2011

In Goochland, teachers have multiple outlets for having tests and quizzes graded by computer. Back in 2000, I devised a way to do this using FileMakerPro. It was a hit on the conference circuit.

Today, we have Moodle, but did you know you can also use Google Apps? By using the Forms function, along with a free script called Flubaroo, you can create a quiz that gets automagically graded.

flubaroo

If you try it out, let me know how it goes!

Filed Under: Learning for Teachers, Resource of Interest Tagged With: flubaroo, google, grading, quiz, test

The Process of Problem-Solving

by John Hendron · Mar 24, 2011

Bea Cantor shared this article with me, which is an outstanding endorsement for using Scratch across the curriculum.

The author makes the point of where we should aim, using software like Scratch:

  • A student is doing a good job digging in to a problem.
  • A student is doing a good job deepening their investigation.
  • A student is doing a good job analyzing a situation to find new approaches.
  • A student is doing a good job upgrading their skillset.

Filed Under: Learning for Teachers Tagged With: constructionism, g21, papert, problemsolving, scratch

Spreadsheets & Data

by John Hendron · Mar 23, 2011

spreadsheets_data

Yesterday afternoon, we had a class on using spreadsheets for both calculations and for mining data with students in the classroom. The tools and techniques used are appropriate for grades 5-12.

I’ve recorded the session for teachers to view at their leisure (190MB download, 57 minutes). In the video, you’ll see several tools highlighted:

  • Google Spreadsheets and Forms
  • Inspire Data
  • Numbers (iWork ’09)

Links contained within are listed below for your convenience:

  • Google Docs Login
  • Integrating Spreadsheets
  • Almost Everything you Need
  • Everyday Spreadsheets
  • Docs and Spreadsheets in the Classroom (PDF)
  • Alice Christie’s Spreadsheets
  • Inspired Educator Community
  • Power of Google Spreadsheets (YouTube)
  • IBM Many Eyes
  • Google Chart Wizard
PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Learning for Teachers, Resource of Interest Tagged With: inspiredata, spreadsheets, video

What are Quick Response Codes?

by John Hendron · Mar 22, 2011

QR Codes are barcodes that can hold a lot of text, not just a number like those on the back of products at the grocery store. You can embed things like an entire paragraph or a weblink. I recommend the following sources for creating QR codes.

  • http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
  • http://createqrcode.appspot.com/
  • http://code.google.com/apis/chart/
  • http://2d-code.co.uk/qr-code-generators/

You can use a mobile device like a cell phone or an iPod Touch device to read these codes. They make great shortcuts for leading students to online resources. Episode #153 of TechTimes Live, available below, details more about these special barcodes that hail from Japan.

qr_blog

Filed Under: Learning for Teachers Tagged With: qr qrcode code mobile ipod

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