Category: Web 2.0

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Twitter Visualization: What are the Key Words being Tweeted at ASCD Conference 2010

I was excited to receive a media invite from ASCD to be a “guest blogger” at their upcoming conference in San Antonio TX (March 6-8, 2010).  To get started, I’ve posted this Twitter StreamGraphs visualization that displays a flowing graph of the words most frequently used in the latest 1000 tweets marked with the hashtag #ascd10. 

Note: Since the conference closed I’ve updated the graph to show tweets using #ascd.  Click here for full screen graph.  Twitter StreamGraphs is designed @JeffClark

Check out my other Twitter visualizer – a Wiffiti screen which gathers Tweets marked with the hashtag #ascd10. It’s a great way to read the latest comments about the conference. Check back at my blog for my ASCD posts and follow me at Twitter / edteck. And see you at #ASCD10.

 

 

Navigation tips:

 

 Scroll to right for the latest keywords. Scroll down to see the full Tweet.

If you see a large spike in one time period that hides the detail in all the other periods, click in the area to the left of the y-axis to change the vertical scale.

 

 

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Capture Group Feedback with iPhone Dragon Dictation

Iphone-dragon-dictationThis week I've been leading small group sessions with high school teachers focused on "Looking at Student Work." (I'll report back in a blog post later this week). Along the way I've been gathering teacher feedback in written form with the goal of adding some of their comments to the blog post.

Today, during a break between sessions,  I decided to use my iPhone Dragon Dictation program to save me typing out the feedback. I read some teachers' written comments into the program. Within 10 seconds the program turned them into text. I then copied and pasted the text into an iPhone memo. I emailed the memo home to review and edit later. 

Not bad for a free program! 

Already I'm thinking of many other ways to integrate this into instruction and staff development.

Note: The sentence I read to produce the text in screen shot above was "I just used my iPhone "Dragon" dictation program to capture teacher feedback in small group session and convert to text and it worked." Very accurate transcription!

PS. Tomorrow  I plan to let them dictate directly into the iPhone. Saves a step, but I have the feeling it might feel a bit intimidating. I'll let you know.

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Treading Water in a Swelling Sea of Information

Digital Nation

You are awash in information. Its marginal cost of production is approaching zero. As costs of goods drop, you naturally consume more.  It’s easy to deal with the other cheap stuff you bought and no longer want. (Just look at all those T-shirts in the back of your closet). Consuming information is different. It competes for your limited attention, and your ability to critically filter out unwanted “informational noise” is emerging as an important new literacy.  

PBS: FRONTLINE’s Digital_Nation explores the implications of living in a world consumed by digital media and the impact that this constant connectivity may have on future generations. Broadcast on Feb 2, 2010

I hope you find the time to watch the show. If you don’t have 90 minutes to spare, you can spend 4 and enjoy this trailer. 

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Picturing the Story – An Interdisciplinary Approach to Culture, Environment, Language, and Learning

Fox and the Heron I’m pleased to served as an advisor to a new interactive resource for teachers and students. “Picturing the Story: Narrative Arts and the Stories They Tell” uses world art from the permanent collection of the Memorial Art Gallery dating from 1500 BCE to the 20th Century. Each work has a story to tell, either visually through imagery and symbol, or indirectly through custom and ritual. The stories reflect sacred beliefs, folk traditions, common human experiences, or unique cultural practices. 

Each work of art includes downloadable resources – the story that inspired it, the culture where it originated, the techniques used to produce it, as well as extensive lesson plans, activity suggestions, and recommendations for further reading. The lessons and stories are designed to be used at a variety of grade levels. 

Downloads resources include: 

  • Classroom Copy – Printable, condensed version of online materials, copy-ready for classroom use. 
  • Curriculum Connections – Organized by subject area:  Social Studies, ELA, Science, Art/Art History. Lesson extensions, children’s book recommendations, and activity suggestions, most with accompanying activity sheets.  
  • Learning Skill-based Activity Sheets:  Printable, copy-ready sheets that address specific learning skills, for classroom use with online materials or printed classroom copy. Includes skills such as constructing comparison, identifying context, recognizing sequence and many more.

Detail - Rama Sita and Lakshmana Return Every work of art has a story to tell. These stories can explain the unexplainable, teach a life lesson, or celebrate our common human experiences. Each work in this collection is approached from three different perspectives: 

1. Picturing the Story: Viewing a work of art while reading/hearing/seeing its associated story. The story is available as on-screen text, as an audio file voiced by a professional storyteller, in ASL video interpretation, or printable pdf version. In addition, an audio “guided-looking tour” of the work of art by a museum educator helps focus attention on important details and promote visual and verbal looking skills. 

2. Reading the Art:  Understanding the symbolism and references used in this work of narrative art. High-quality images of works of art, with zoom-able details, comparison or supporting images, and interpretive information connect elements of the work of art to its associated story.   

3. Connecting the Culture:  Exploring the cultural and functional context of this work of art. Historical and cultural context information, including maps, supporting photos, and other images, connect the work of art and the story to the cultural background, promoting document-based and inquiry-based learning.  Information addressing purpose or function of work, biographical information on artist (as available), geographical and environmental issues, and process and tools of creation allows the objects’ significance to extend into a variety of curriculum areas.

Details from: 
 “The Fox and the Heron”  Flemish, Frans Snyders ca. 1630-1640 
 “Rama, Sita and Lakshmana Return to Ayodhya”  Indian, Rajasthan, Rajput School ca. 1850-1900

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Harness Twitter and Your Audience Backchannel with Wiffiti

Recently I posted about trying out Wiffiti in my professional development sessions. "Use Wiffiti to Engage Your Audience." Since then I've used it a few more times with great success. I thought I'd share a live Wiffiti screen with my readers. This is from my most recent training session at Pomperaug High School in Southbury CT.

Wiffiti accounts are free and it's very easy to use. I created a new Wiffti screen using the school logo and set it to gather the tag #R88. The evening before the presentation (and again that morning), I posted a Tweet asking for greetings – “Say hi to Monday's teacher workshop at Pomperaug HS. (Southbury CT) Go Panthers! Tell us where you're from & why you Tweet. Add tag #R88”  As participants arrived in the workshop, they were greeted on the big screen with encouraging words from all over the world. 

During breakouts I switched back to projecting the Wiffiti screen and invited workshop participant to text message into the screen. They had fun with shoutouts to their friends and comments about the workshop.  Pretty impressive when you're talking about the impact of technology on teaching and learning!

Many thanks to my Twitter PLN who took the time to send us a greeting. You made this possible!