Closing doors and opening doors...

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons License

Hello visitors!

Today I'm not going to say anything, I leave this space to my teacher friend Alex, who is going to reflect on the super learning process during this ICT journey. Here's the tweet with the link to the presentation.

HELLO!! This is the summary of what I've learned during this ICT journey!! I hope you find it useful. https://t.co/nLnseoY2xl #ictclil_urjc My blog https://t.co/981tR6Vcwl

— Alex M (@Alextchr) 3 de mayo de 2018

And here you can see my final digital artifact summarizing the process:

And this is what I've learned in 14 steps...


STEP 1:

Create a learning journal. Here you can write your reflection on educational matters. It can contain thoughts and questions that come to your mind, inspection on how you have achieved your goals or show your experiences. This learning journal was made using Blogger, that I strongly recommend to create your blog in a snap, but there are other digital tools like Tumblr or Wordpress.

STEP 2:

Use an avatar. An avatar is in charge of catching your attention and be your digital identity. My avatar was created using Bitmoji after some experiments with other tools like Voki but here’s the final result. You can choose between different body features and outfits, it’s really funny. There are also other apps like Tellagami, Doppel me, Portrait avatar maker or Rawshorts where you can create your own. Finally I created a video presentation of my avatar on Powtoon, that was challenging because every slide only allowed 20 seconds of audio, so I had to rush to fit the time available. Exhausting!

STEP 3:

Be careful with the use of contents that are not yours, you have to credit the author, that’s called attribution. Make a responsible use of the contents, and when using your own’s it is advisable that you use a free licensing tool like CreativeCommons to define how your work can be used. Get a CC License on your learning journal and select the license that fit your needs. In my journal you can see that I’ve got my CC license, too.

STEP 4:

When you search for content you need to filter the information, organise it and once you’ve got what you need, compile your favourite sites into one visual interface. I have learned that this process is called Content curation. Gain access to your selected information in a very fast way. I have used Symbaloo, with just one look you can have all the content you need. You can do the same with other tools like Pinterest, Pearltrees or List.ly. Here’s my Symbaloo ICT webmix about this learning process. I’ve been using Symbaloo for years and I will continue using it in the future.

STEP 5:

Use slideshows in your lessons to catch your students’ attention and add some motivation to develop their imagination and creativity. I have created a slideshow to motivate my students to write their own stories, mixing music and visuals. There’s also a video showing the activity. And here’s one of my favourite digital tools: Genial.ly. This was my first time creating a slideshow with this tool, and after that, I have created more for different subjects, even this one as a final activity. You can choose between different online tools like Googleslides, Prezi, Powtoon or Biteslide.

STEP 6:

Use comics to help students express themselves. It’s an engaging and powerful tool and in some activities are more meaningful than just reading a long and boring text. Your students can create their own stories and share them through digital tools like Storyboardthat, which I used for my creation, Pixton, or Creaza. They can help develop creativity and use the features the tool offers to picture different situations. I chose Storyboardthat because of its great variety of  characters, landscapes and props available, but the main problem is that after the free trial period of 15 days, you have to pay for it.

STEP 7:

Use mind maps to create a visually appealing presentation of a project. Mine was designed using Creately, where you can quickly connect the different shapes to create your mind map. My topic was Japanese culture so I could manage to deal with the different features to create this project but it can be tricky for the students. I think I will try other tools like Coggle, Mindmeister, Mind42, SpiderScribe or Bubbl.us for my next mind map.     

STEP 8:

Infographics. They are graphic visual representations of information and present them in a quick and clear way. My infographic was made using Piktochart, which I find it very easy to use and offers lots of preset templates and different elements to place in your infographic. My creation was about some UK facts. Other tools to create infographics are Easel.ly, Canva, Smore, Mural or Padlet. But definitely, Piktochart is one of the tools I’m going to use again.

STEP 9:

Use Podcasts in the classroom to create projects that go beyond its walls. It’s a great tool if you want to start a radio project, and podcasts allow your children to express themselves and improve their oral skills. Play with the sounds, work on intonation and pronunciation, add audio effects and enjoy the result. My podcast activity was part of a bigger project about theatre and I used tools like Audacity, to record and edit the podcast and then Soundcloud to upload it and share it. I’m a great fan of these tools and of course, I will use them in the future. Other useful services for audio storage are Ivoox, Podomatic, and an alternative to Soundcloud is Spreaker.

STEP 10:

Use storyboarding to plan an educational video. In this case the project was about a flipped classroom video about Climate Change and Global Warming, but first we planned the storyboard on Google Docs and Storyboardthat, to design step by step the different scenes that appear in the video and writing the script. After recording the scenes using a chroma in the Ministry of Education, our group met using Skype video conference where we could share the creation process all together. That was the first time I knew about the possibility of sharing my laptop screen and my system audio signal with my classmates while we were using VegasPro, a video editing software. We could share the process of creating the video in real time and was very helpful, besides we had a lot of fun, and of course I will take advantage of this feature very soon. It was really challenging to deal with Vegas Pro, but finally we could manage to produce our video. I think I will edit more videos using this software, there are so many features that perhaps I need to follow a tutorial.

STEP 11:

Attend live webinars. If you want to be good ICT teacher you should attend webinars, where you can learn about mobile learning and digital competence for education as we did in a webinar carried out by Maria Jesús García San Martín, our teacher. We were told about the different online learning tools offered by the Ministry of Education through the Aprende Intef website. A must if you want to acquire, develop and improve your digital competence as a teacher. Time for getting down to work has come!!

STEP 12:

Participate in educational collaborative projects. We were told to participate in a twima project to share our personal stories through video contribution. It was a rewarding activity where we could learn about other classmates experiences and share them worldwide. I recorded my video and uploaded to Flipgrid, a video discussion platform used both by students and teachers around the world.

STEP 13:

Share it with the world. Using Twitter to spread the word about your projects, your learning process or your interests. I must say that some time ago I signed up but I quit because I didn’t like it. Then our teacher told us to create a Twitter account and tweet a tiny story. That was fun but I must confess that Twitter is still one of my unresolved matters. I don’t know if I will make peace with Twitter sometime. By the way, this is my Twitter account: @Alextchr

STEP 14:

Do your best!! If you want to be a good digital teacher keep trying and you’ll see the results!! You can do it and remember to stay updated!!

It's been a very challenging experience. While it is true that my intention is keep using some of the digital tools we have seen during this term, there are some others that for different reasons haven't meet my expectations. But the most exciting part is that I'm already thinking about the many projects in which I will apply the knowledge of some of these tools. Another pending task I'm planning for the near future is to improve my digital competence and enroll in the online courses offered by Aprende Intef. My backpack is empty and needs to be filled up with badges 😅😅. Oops, I forgot to say that I will try to use my Twitter more than I'm doing now.
I'd like to thank my classmates for their patience and my teacher Maria Jesús García for all the knowledge and the resources provided and also for having opened the doors of the Ministry of Education to us.

See you here very soon!!

Tell us your story...

Hello visitors!

As you already know, I love sharing my stories with you. They are really important to me and I want to show you how I am. I'm preparing my personal video about how I became a secret agent. But in the meantime, my teacher friend has already posted his video in an educational collaborative project worldwide called  "The World is My Audience" and specifically on  #twima 8 - We All Have A Story! where you can find the video contributions.

The videos are uploaded to Flipgrid, a video discussion platform used both by students and educators around the world. Usually teachers post topics to start the conversation and students respond. In this project the topic is "What is your story?", so every teacher with a story to share has the chance to post a video and share it with the world. It is really useful to watch the different experiences your colleagues are sharing and learn from them. If you're planning to use this platform with your students, this is how it works:

First you have to create a discussion board and share the link with your class. Then your students must record their videos to reply to one another and to take the discussion a step further.

There are several ways to use this platform, so your students can use it to debate or reflect on a topic, to give some advice, to reflect on their learning process, to practice oral skills in the Language class, or simply use it as a brainstorming activity (ask your students how can they use Flipgrid and the answers might surprise you). In some cases you only have to think about the question you want to ask your students and let their answers flow and become rewarding for your class.

There are some issues that must be taken into account when planning an activity using Flipgrid: some children can be reluctant to share their stories just because they are not fluent enough or they are shy. To avoid this problem it is important to offer support and if they're not able to build a fluent speech, there are some 'tricks' like using this software called Autocue's free online teleprompter where they can read while they speak, and then encourage them to try a short speech later without it. For the language teachers is a great tool to improve students'oral skills so in one way or another they are improving their speech. If the activity is carried out in the ICT classroom, you need to make sure that you have the required equipment (laptops, webcams or video cameras) because usually in most ICT classrooms there are only PCs. Remember also that Flipgrid offers the chance to upload your own video recorded out of the platform (only MP4, MOV and WEBM files) with a maximum file size of 250 Mb, just in case you don't have a webcam and you want to record it with your video camera.


And now my friend is really excited about sharing his first experience as a Secondary Education teacher, so here is his video.

And here is the grid where you can find all the video contributions of his classmates.

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons License

And here's the tweet to spread the word...

Now sharing personal experiences and discovering others’ through #twima8. Come on and share yours!! #ictclil_urjc

Take a look! https://t.co/e8rw0mAspu pic.twitter.com/WaCyDDdSX5

— Alex M (@Alextchr) 1 de mayo de 2018

And....Action!

Hello visitors! In the previous post I told you about the use of storyboarding in the video creation process. In this particular case, some teachers have decided to create an educational video about Global Warming and Climate change. The video is planned for 5th graders in the Natural Science subject as a recreation of the different changes caused mainly by pollution and the consequences in the weather conditions. The video features a TV station broadcasting a documentary from different world locations in which an interviewer asks locals about their situation and exposing the issues. It was recorded with some sense of humour to catch students' attention but also to make them reflect about these environmental issues and start a research on them. 

To create the video they have used Vegas Pro 15.0 (formerly known as Sony Vegas), a pay-for-use video editing software. The software was firstly released by Sonyc Foundry, then by Sony Creative Software and now by Magix. Vegas can be used to create customized film-like videos or outstanding slideshows. 

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons License

When opening the software, the workspace is divided in two main areas, as you can see in the image. On top you have several useful windows, such as the effects list, the samples list and the video preview. At the bottom you have the project timeline, which is where you are going to work and manage the video. It has an intuitive user interface and it features real-time multitrack video and audio editing, special effects and compositing tools, but it's not an easy tool for beginners, so if you're planning to use it in the classroom, you'd better prepare a good tutorial for your students, and focus on the main features you want to teach them. You can add to the project a wide range of video and audio file formats, as well as pictures.

For this project, the following media files have been used:

Video: MTS files

Pictures: JPEG and GIF files (CC0 Creative Commons License)

Audio: MP3 and WAV files, stored in Soundcloud. Here you can listen both audio files.

To start working, the first thing is to import all the needed files (drag & drop) to the project media window or directly to the timeline. You can quickly add or remove files from the project just by right-clicking on the track. After that, you need to think about the order of the different files in the timeline, just as you want them to appear. In this video they wanted to apply a chroma effect on the video file, changing the green background previously recorded and using a picture instead, so the picture needs to be aligned with the video file and clicking on the fx icon to apply. Then the transitions between the video files are placed using a picture and adding the music to the project. Finally the credit roll is placed to finish the video.

Here's the final result, the GREEN TV clip:

Storyboarding

Hello visitors!

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons License

When we plan to make an educational video, as I usually do with my spy apprentices, it is important to think about the structure and the goals we want to achieve by using this resource. For this purpose we need to create a storyboard before recording the video. It consists of a graphic organiser in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of  previsualizing the video project, where each frame represents one of the scenes of the video. In addition, other details such as dialogues, music, or scenery can be part of the storyboard. Did you know that the storyboarding process as it is known today, was firstly developed at Walt Disney Productions during the early 1930s?

My dear teacher friend is starting a flipped classroom video project with some of his classmates, which aims at encouraging their students to start a research about Climate Change and Global Warming. The main educational objectives are:

- To introduce children to Climate Change and Global Warming.
- To make them think about which are the causes of these changes.
- To raise awareness about the impact in our planet of both phenomenons.
- To figure out how things could be done to mitigate this negative impact.

The video is going to show some examples of how Climate Change and Global Warming are changing weather in different places of our planet and encourage children to discover by themselves the causes and effects of this issue.

They have used Storyboardthat, a digital tool which was already mentioned in one of my previous posts.
In this creation they have represented the different scenes that are going to be recorded. They have also created a Google Doc to draft the script of the video project. It was not possible to add the link to the Storyboardthat creation as the license has already expired but the screenshot is included in the document.
Here you can see both the draft and the Storyboardthat creation:

Mobile learning and digital competence for education webinar

Hello visitors!

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons License.

As I told you in my previous post, I like online learning and I normally make use of it in my career as a secret agent. You can adapt your available time to learn using your electronic devices: mobiles, tablets, laptops, PC's...

Last Tuesday I attended a webinar carried out by Maria Jesús García San Martín called Mobile Learning and Digital Competence for Education, where I could learn about the different online training courses for teachers that are offered by the Ministry of Education through the INTEF (Instituto Nacional de Tecnologías Educativas y Formación del Profesorado) website, called 'Aprende INTEF', and its Portfolio of the Digital Competence for Education. The Portfolio's main purpose is to promote acquisition, development and improvement of the teachers' digital competence through continuous self-evaluation and the updatable record of teaching, learning and training experiences. There are 6 levels of Digital Competence (A1-A2-B1-B2-C1-C2).
It's a longlife learning through the 5 areas of the Common Framework of Digital Competence Teaching ( Information and data literacy, Communication and collaboration, Digital content creation, Safety and Problem solving). To reach this goal, Aprende INTEF offers different online digital training resources.

EDU PILLS. Mobile phone and tablet oriented, it is a micro-learning app aimed at enabling teachers to acquire and develop digital competencies and skills in a short period of time (5-7 minutes). It is based on the descriptors of each competency levels and categorized according to the Areas of the Common Framework of Digital Competence for Education. It is possible to share your achievements on the social networks as well as bookmark your self-training pills on the topics of your interest.

NOOC INTEF. Collaborative nano learning and open free online courses. They are open for 10 days but the materials remain available for later use. Focused on the development of digital teaching competencies but require more time than Edu pills. In approximately three-hour sessions it is possible to reach an objective working on a competency level from the Common Framework and evidence your progress through a digital production. You are then granted with digital open badges, recognising your progress. Facilitators and Facebook groups are provided for support and interaction between teachers.

MOOC INTEF. Collaborative open learning. 3-5 week courses. Focused on active methodologies, emergent pedagogy, peer learning, professional learning communities...
Many of the courses are linked to non-profit-making association projects or other educational associations. The materials also remain available. Some of the most popular were reconverted into NOOC. Depending on the different learning styles, some teachers prefer MOOC while others choose NOOC. There are also digital badges for your progress.

SPOOC INTEF. Learning experiences at your own pace. Self-learning online and open courses. Once they are open you can access whenever you want, they are not closed activities. There's no specific support but there's an internal helping space with a Facebook group. You can get your digital badges once the objectives are achieved.

The idea of the Portfolio is encourage reflection on the level of digital competence and providing the possibility of receiving certification and follow a recommended upgrade path.
I think the different possibilities adapted to your own learning pace and your own interests are the best advantages. The projects you are using at school can be the evidence to support your progress and achieve the different competences. Including digital resources to your everyday teaching practice will certainly help in the same direction. It will be very uplifting to see your progress and at the same time feel more confident when applying what you have learned.

The next step is the chance to obtain a certain level of digital competence when finishing master's degrees or other degrees as well as training courses.
We'll hear about it!

Follow the yellow brick podcast!!

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons.

Hello my dear visitors!!

Today I'm at home listening to a podcast about Criminology. Learning through podcasts is more convenient to me, I can use my mp3 player or just visit a website anytime.

I'm sure that teachers can take advantage of such a powerful tool. As I told you before, one of the great advantages is the portability. Podcasts can be downloaded to a mobile device, allowing students to access anywhere 24 hours a day. Your students will find them encouraging, because it is better listening to a podcast than spending a long time reading an article, for instance.

My teacher friend also wants to share with you his drama project about "The Wizard of Oz":
'I'm preparing a drama workshop in my school including a final performance of this musical. At first I wanted to focus on improving my students' oral skills, but then it turned into a rush of ideas involving different curricular areas. Using podcasts was one of them. Students can use podcasts preparing a dramatic reading as a previous practice before the performance in front of the audience, mainly focusing on pronunciation and intonation and developing their oral skills. It is also a great opportunity to teach them how to use some audio tools. I've chosen Audacity to record and edit the podcast and then Soundcloud to upload their work and share it. Audacity is an intuitive tool, although they are not supposed to learn all the features, just selecting some effects (Adding reverb, change pitch, volume or tempo, fade in/out,...) they will learn to 'play' with the voice and music.
Soundcloud offers a space in the cloud to upload their audio productions and share them with their classmates and teachers, as well as embedding the sound files in your Facebook & Twitter posts.
It supports AIFF, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, OGG, MP2, MP3, AAC, AMR, and WMA files. Although it is not a tool specifically designed for education, is quite useful and meets our needs. It allows to create your own playlists selecting tracks from other users,

Here's my project on Google Docs:


You can listen here the welcome to my students:



Here's the Creative Commons License...

For this audio file I have recorded my personal piano version of 'Somewhere over the rainbow' and 'Follow the yellow brick road' and then applying some sound effects using Audacity (changing the tempo for the music as well as the pitch and reverb for the voice) and then add some free audio files from Freesound (effects), a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps...released under Creative Commons Licenses that allow their reuse. You can browse the sounds using keywords and interact with fellow sound-artists.

Now I want to show you a playlist I have created from other user files in Soundcloud.


And here you can see my channel. Stay tuned!

Using digital infographics

Hello visitors!

I must confess that I'm a great fan of agent 007, so I want to pay tribute to his home country by showing you some interesting facts about the UK. You can use it in class to work the different countries that make up the United Kingdom (Geography) also adding some information about festivities or other facts. 

I'm using an infographic, which is a graphic visual representation of information to present it in a quick and clear way. It can be very useful for you as teachers to capture your students' attention on selected pieces of information. For them it can be a tool for developing their own creativity as they need to think how to select the objects, the information and present their works in an eye-catching way. It also features collaborative work, useful if you want your students work in teams.

To create this infographic I'm using Piktochart, an online tool not only to create infographics but also presentations, reports, flyers and posters.  Once you're logged in, you can choose from 3 visual formats (infographics, presentations or printables). Browse for the template layout you want to use or start with a blank one. For your students it can be hard to start from scratch, so it's strongly recommended that they use a preset template and then edit it according to their needs. Each page of the infographic is called 'block'so you can add, delete or clone blocks to fit your creation. On the left side of the page you can see a toolbar where you can select the graphics (shapes & icons, lines and photos; pro users can add animated icons and photo frames). You are allowed to upload your own images (jpg, png, gif or svg files) and change the background. Furthermore, you can change the text size and colour as well as other tools (insert charts, maps or videos). For my creation I wanted to use maps, which you can edit in terms of colour, size and, in this specific case, choose separately the different countries forming the UK.

What I enjoy most was to set the different elements and changing sizes to fit the space. It allows you to use your creativity in designing your creation and you can group the different objects making the spatial planning easier. On the other hand, I had some problems when displaying the results as in the previsualization some elements were not exactly the same size or place and I needed to edit several times to get the final result. Finally you have different options to share your outcome (you can't keep it private in the free version): you can publish it in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest or get an embed code.

Image by Alex Molina. CC0 Creative Commons

See you soon! You can also check my creation here.