What Would You Do?

So I ask you, what would you do if all of your students had the internet in their hands?

We crossed the threshold this week. Each and every student, 28 in all, was able to have an iPod Touch in their hand. Quite a remarkable site. With a combination of school provided and bring your own devices we have reached that magic 1:1.

Now what?

The wireless network at our school is robust. With a simple active directory authentication the devices are good to go for all things internet related. So here's what we've done so far. And my hope is that if you're reading this you will have some terrific suggestions for us.

We started with some basics. You know the ones, safe surfing, digital footprint and the like. We moved on to what I would call educational apps like Dragon Dictation, PS Express, the mobile Encyclopedia Britannica, WordPress. If you've been reading along with me the last few years I'm really interested in having students create, remix, and repurpose digital content. So I guess that means iMovie, Voice Recorder, and GarageBand.

But I'd really appreciate your input on how to harness the power of these devices. It is quite a site to see 28 students smiling, tapping, and discussing as they use the devices. There is an excitement and anticipation when all have a device.

So I ask you, if you had the opportunity that I have here with each student having the internet in her or his hand... What would you do?

Thanks in advance for any and all ideas.

He Made My Day

So I'm standing there in the last session at the end of the day yesterday and a teacher walks up to me and says,

"You know, I've been wondering how to do this for 5 years, and thanks to your session I can now do this with my students." <~ Humbled

He showed me the animation (not the one above) his students had created all those years ago. It was fabulous. He was so proud of it. He had it on his NetBook and has kept it all these years.

You see, 5 years ago he had a school excursion to the National Film Board in Toronto where his students were treated to the art of claymation. A hands on experience. After all, we Canadians have won international awards for our animated shorts. Well, five years ago it was very difficult to go back to your classroom and do claymation animation.

Enter Frames 4 software from Tech4Learning. This software is Ministry Licensed for each and every public school computer in our province. Yesterday, teachers attended the learning session with their NetBooks in hand. They were offered the experience of creating a stop motion animation using characters, a camera and software.

I could relate to what the gentleman said to me. I remember back in 1998 that it took me 4 months to learn how to embed music on a website. But 5 years! Boy that must be satisfying.

Claymation: "Shark Attack" - Circa 2007