Making Ed Tech Accessible Since 2007
Posts tagged iwb
Best of the BETT – Part 1
02 weeks ago
by Seth
in Educational Technology
The BETT 2012 Educational Technology Show just came to a close last weekend. It was four days packed full of back-to-back training opportunities, dazzling technology demonstrations, a thousand and one machine-gun sales pitches and teachers, thousands upon thousands of them. I’ve wanted to go there for years; ever since the late, great, David Eastment told me about it. Well, this year I was lucky enough to go there myself. What’s more, I brought a little bit of BETT 2012 back for you guys, too!
The picture above doesn’t do the show justice at all. There are two halls this size and two levels to each hall. It’s just enormous! The Show is absolutely mind-blowing, as you might imagine with so many exhibitors there. I quite literally spent the first 6 hours I was there in a daze wandering around from one amazing stand’s software, to another incredible stand’s hardware. To be honest I should have planned my first day much better, but I now know for next time and will do a better job! As might have guessed then, I really enjoyed BETT and I’ll definitely be going back there again next year.
For all those of you who weren’t able to make it this year however, I had a brainwave on the final day. I had spoken to almost everyone I wanted to about matters for Digitalang, so to bring BETT to you, I did a series of short interviews with five of the exhibitors who I found most interesting. And I actually was very lucky to get some really interesting people to speak on camera. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting and interview per day, starting off tomorrow, with Chris Klein, the Education Consultant and Macintosh Specialist for SMART Technologies, probably the world’s largest Interactive White Board (IWB) Manufacturer.
My Students’ Social Science Video
02 years ago
This video is the fruit of a long project my 4th year students have been working on this year. The video is called: “A vision of Italian Students today - Our Thoughts.”
The video was entirely produced by my students. We posted this as a reply to Prof. Mike Wesch’s video “A Vision Of Students Today,” which you can see at the bottom of this post.
Prof. Wesch’s video discusses the old-fashioned methods many teachers still use in class. If you are an educator and you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. My students have explored the same theme in this video.
Everything you see in this video was written, organised, filmed and publicised (at our school) by the students of our class. This includes the writing of questions, posting them to an online survey host. The statistics quoted in the second part of the video are based on the online questionnaire written entirely by the class. We then turned all the data into the script for our video. Oh, and English is our second language too!
Seeing as the results of our survey showed that by far the most popular means of communication in the school is via SMS, we did an experiment and organised the creation of our Flash Cards via SMS. This is why you’ll see some of the flash cards more than once!
The whole school was invited to reply to our survey, which asked what our schoolmates attitudes are to the Italian education system. I think you’ll agree, the results are surprising in more ways than one.
Here’s the (fantastic) video produced by my students:
And here is Prof. Wesch’s Original:
Interactive White Boards – An Intro
02 years ago
by Seth
in Uncategorized
This year I have organised a series of ICT and Web 2.0 training semninars for the Office of Foreign Languages and Bi-lingualism in Alto Adige (Italy.) They run 2 language libraries, the MediaTeca in Merano and the Multilanguage Centre in Bolzano. This is a short introduction to IWBs, or Interactive White Boards that I will be presenting today.
The presentation is in 4 parts; A quick look at research intro IWB use in language teaching; some Do’s and Don’ts when using IWBs, written by myself, a great film from www.teachers.tv plus, best of all, some practical ideas from my friends and colleagues on Twitter. The presentation also looks at websites suitable for IWB use, as well as pointing out some of the types of IWB software available for language teaching.
Hope that it can be useful to you too!
What Shall We Do With An IWB?
View more presentations from Seth Dickens.
Video Comparison: €3000 IWB v €50 IWB
02 years ago
by Seth
in 50 Euro IWB
I stumbled across this handy, home-made video comparison of the €3000+ Smart Interactive White Board and the €50 or so Wiimote Whiteboard the other day. As it’s done from the perspective of teachers I think it’s findings, both positive and negative, about the Wiimote board are really interesting.
Best,
Seth
€50 Interactive White Board – Back In Action?
02 years ago
Last summer I wrote a post about a n IWB that costs just €50 that the technology guru / geek Johnny Lee had invented using an infra-red pen and a Wii remote. I was really excited about it thinking that maybe this could help many more schools get IWB technology into the class.
I made myself the €50 IWB, I tried it out a few times last summer and I must admit the results were not all that encouraging. I didn’t think much more of it until recently when I “met” a guy called Chris Hill (thanks to my friend Enza via Twitter). Chris is a big evangelist of the Wii remote IWB. This started getting me interested again in the project. I’ve been looking again at my Wii console think “Should I drag you back to the classroom? The answer now, I think is, yes, I will.
My desire to try out the Wiimote IWB again is because Chris has written a handy and comprehensive FAQ on the Wii IWB drawing on his experiences and sharing solutions to the niggly little problems teachers might find when trying to set up their own Wii IWB. Here’s a quick snippet of his post:
How much does it cost? / Is it really only $50?
The controller for the Nintendo Wii is for sale throughout the United States for $40. [It costs about €50 in Europe - Seth] You can build an infrared pen for $5-6. The software is free to download. The cost of the computer, projector, and Bluetooth adapter (if your computer does not have built-in Bluetooth) are not included in the $50.I can’t make my own infrared pen. Can I buy one?
Absolutely. Do a Google search and you will find several options starting as low as $6.Do I have to modify the Wiimote? / Can I still use it with my Wii?
No / Yes. The Wiimote connects to the computer via Bluetooth, the same way it connects to the Wii. You don’t have to open the Wiimote, break it, or reprogram it. So, if you (or your kids) have a Wii, you can use the equipment you already have for both purposes.How do I get started?
Download the free software (Mac version or PC version), build an infrared pen (see my demo) or buy one online, connect to the Wiimote via Bluetooth (open your Bluetooth devices, push the 1 and 2 buttons on the Wiimote, add the device) , run the software, calibrate it (push the “calibrate button,” click on the targets), and you are done.
And Chris has loads of other great advice in his post as well as elsewhere in his blog. Definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in trying out the Wiimote white board!
All the best,
Seth
Wiimote Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yerahg/551627536/
Improve your PowerPoints in 45 minutes
02 years ago
I saw a fantastic video by Alvin Trusty recently where he talks about how to create high-quality PowerPoint presentations. There are many great ideas in his video, among the ones that I really liked were the use of Flickr Creative Commons photos, the excellent Flickr photo search tool Compfight (which also finds creative Commons photos for you) and Alvin’s move and grow Powerpoint animation (watch the video to find out how this works!) I used the advice in this video to write the Philosophically Speaking PowerPoint lesson I recently posted here. It’s good advice!
Although this video is 45 minutes long, I think you’ll agree that it’s 45 minutes that are VERY well spent! Enjoy!
How to Create a Great PowerPoint – Take 2.0 from Alvin Trusty on Vimeo.
WARNING! This video will seriously damage your contentedness with previous PowerPoints you’ve made! I am now re-doing several of my favourite PowerPoint lessons!
Best,
Seth.
Recent Comments