IEASC Certification

Paperless Lab Reports

My students in forensic science just completed an extensive lab on blood spatter analysis.  During part of the lab they simulated different blood spatter patterns.  I encouraged them to use their phones to take pictures of their data, with the idea that they could just insert the pictures into the final lab report.  As the lab came to an end, I outlined the requirements of the lab report.  I decided that they should submit their labs to me electronically.  I also encouraged them to try Google docs.  I have been sharing with them some of the great features of Google docs.  With limited access to computers, I am unable to teach them to use Google, all I can do is show them, and encourage them to try it.  Fortunately they are seniors and have some experience using word processing programs, so they transition is relatively easy to make.  Those who did try it for their lab reports found it very easy to use and to share with me.  Ideally, I would like students to work collaboratively with their lab partner to create one shared document.

The students who submitted their labs using Google docs, I just corrected directly in Google docs,  adding comments to the lab as I assessed it.  I then shared with them the comments and a highlighted rubric with their score.  For the other students, I thought about uploading their labs to Google docs, but decided instead to use the comment feature in word and add highlighted comments directly to the lab.  I then attached the assessed lab in an email to the student, along with the graded rubric.   I offer to print the lab report for any student who wishes to have a hard copy or use it as a portfolio piece.

I found the process to be somewhat time consuming, but I think it was well worth the effort.  In retrospect, having all the students submit their labs using google docs would definitely save me some time, as would collaborative lab reports.   I look forward to student feedback when I return to school on Monday.

Here is a sample of some of the work submitted by students:

New Literacy for the 21st Century

The read/write web has changed the landscape of education. Today's students need to learn a new digital,visual, and informational literacy, that includes new terms like blog, wiki, rss feed, Google doc, podcast, and screencast.  They need to learn how to create Prezi's, Wordles, Avatars, and Animoto videos.  Most importantly, the need to learn to communicate and collaborate with their peers to create content, store information, and retrieve that information when they need it.  Last but certainly not least, they must learn to be both consumers and editors of web content.  So how do we as educators ensure that our students have those skills?  The first step is to change the way we do things.  Teachers need to change from feeders of content to coaches of learning.  We need to have conversations with other teachers, share content, and master the new tools of the read/write web.  Gone are the days of teaching from the textbook, it is time to create our curriculum around the standards and find the web 2.0 tools that will engage students as they master the content.
 
 It will not be easy. The greatest barrier is the inequity in technology.  Some school districts have 1:1 technology, while others have very limited technology.  Using any technology requires thoughtful planning and meaningful professional development.   The dilema for all educators, all students no matter where they live or what school they attend, need the same 21st century skills to be successful productive and contributing citizens.

Web 2.0 Tools

This course and the IEASC program has introduced me to numerous web 2.0 tools.  There are so many of them that I have used in my classroom, however, the tool that has made the biggest impact on my classroom is Google drive.  I learned how to create Google docs and upload files from my computer.  I organized my drive into folders for the courses I teach, the courses I take, and all the documents, assessments, portfolio tasks, and classroom management plans for the courses in my department.  My department folders are divided into subfolders by course, and I share documents with the respective teachers. I have just conducted a Google drive tutorial with the other department chairs in the school, now they use Google drive for all their department documents and we all share them with the principal, so he has access to all our unit plans and assessments.

I am in the process of teaching members of my department to utilize Google more often, but am finding it is difficult to get the all of adults to change.  On the other hand, many of my students are embracing Google and all it has to offer. My forensics class just submitted lab reports for a lab they did on blood spatter, some of them used google drive and then shared their document with me.  I was then able to make comments and send them a graded rubric.  There were even students who made corrections, which I was more than happy to give them credit for.  I am sure I could get even more students to use Google if the school had more technology available for all students to use in their classes.  Unfortunately we are limited to one computer lab for 900 students.  So the best I can do is model the uses of Google and hope that the students will be able to use it at home.  They tease me sometimes, telling me I should get commission from Google for my sales pitches.  I am just happy to be teaching them to use the free tools.  I recently purchased a Google chromebook.  My plan is to become great at using it, so that I can persuade the district and the principal to purchase Chromebooks for the school.

Remind101 is another web 2.0 tool that I feel has dramatically changed my classroom.  The school has a new three day rotating schedule this year.   Classes meet two out of three days.  With weekends, holidays and snow days, that can create big instructional gaps.  With Remind101 I am able to contact my students and remind them of what and when assignments are due.  While I don't have any data yet, I feel it has made a tremendous difference in the percentage of homework and other assignments completed.  Best of all, the student response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Finally, I really like Blogger.  I would like to have my students begin blogging, just like I have.  I think it will be an experience and a skill that they can take with them to college.  My plan is to try it this year with my Advanced Forensics class.  They will be reading a book after vacation.  I am going require them to use a blog for their reading reflections.  I am hoping their experiences will be as positive as mine.  Using Google drive to create collaborative documents and presentations and Blogger to reflect on their reading and provide comments on the blogs of their classmates.  The use of these web 2.0 tools meets the NETS-S standard 1, Creativity and Innovation, Standard 2, Communication and Collaboration, and Standard 6, Technology Operations and Concepts.
 

Podcasting

I really like podcasts, I think they are great for the auditory learner.  I have actually listened to podcasts in the car on my way home from school.  I only wish I had more time in the day or made more of an effort to listen to more and different podcasts.  The podcasts I have listened to have all been through itunes.  I never really thought too much about looking elsewhere for different podcasts.  So the research completed in this module expanded my knowledge on the different types of podcasts available on the web.

Podcasts can be a powerful educational tool for today's learners.  Students are always plugged into their ipods or their phones, listening to music.  Why not have them listen to a short podcast related to the topic they are learning.  I think the key is short or brief podcast.  I imagine the students would get bored quickly and lose focus if it is too long.  I like the podcasts that have images or video, I think that is a way to keep the student interested and engaged.

I created a podcast for the upcoming fingerprint unit in my forensics class.  I created a short script to read and used soundcloud to record my podcast, which was very easy to use.  I then copied the html and embedded the podcast into my school website and this blog.  The podcast I created was on the technique to use when fingerprinting.  I plan to assign students the podcast for homework along with a short google form that I will use to collect feedback from the students. I started flipping my forensic class a few months ago, so the students are very familiar with accessing lessons on my website and completing google forms.  I will use the feedback to decide the next direction I take with creating and using podcasts in the classroom.  I think it would be great to have the students create a short podcast as part of their next class presentation.  Using podcasts meets the NETS-S standards 2, Communication and Collaboration and Standard 6, Technology Application and Concepts.

Podcast

Photo-sharing

I have used photo-sharing in the past with my students.  Every year the final project for my forensics class is a mock crime in which a faculty member has been "murdered". The students must first observe, record and document the crime scene, then collect and analyze all the evidence, interview suspects, and hopefully solve the case.  Taking pictures of every little detail at the scene, including location of the victim, and all the evidence is one of the most important requirements of documenting the crime scene.  In the past I have used Picasa to post the photos from each crime scene team. photos. This has allowed the groups to share pictures for their final presentations.

This is my first time using Flickr.  I really liked how easy it was to use and the different levels of organization that can be used to organize and share pictures.  I posted some pictures from a recent blood spatter lab completed by my two forensics classes.  I put them in a group and set the privacy settings.    Ideally, in the future I will take pictures from labs completed by the students, as well as require them to take pictures of their results, post them using Flickr and require students to include at least one picture into their lab report or reflection. The use of this web 2.0 tool in this manner meets the NETS - S standard 1, Creativity and Innovation and NETS - S standard 2, Communication and Collaboration.

My Flickr

Brady in the Blizzard

Brady in the Blizzard, a photo by forensics2013 on Flickr.

Social Bookmarking

I was first introduced to social bookmarking while taking the online Cloud Computing course.  I was required to set up an account and begin bookmarking. I chose Diigo as my bookmarking site and I have loved it every since.  In the past I would bookmark sites in whatever browser I am using which up until very recently was Safari.   However, when I am in school I have to use Mozilla to access the attendance and grading program.  If I am looking for a bookmark, I have to open another browser and then look through my bookmarks to find what I am looking for.  With Diigo, the bookmarks are no longer saved in the browser and are now accessible from any browser.

For this course, I did set up a Delicious account, but I am already comfortable using Diigo.  I thought perhaps I could use Diigo for my personal bookmarks, and Delicious for bookmarks I want to share with students or colleagues.  I think the best way for me to use Delicious with my students would be to bookmark sites where I would like them to do their research.  This requires some extra time on my part, but keeps students from spending too much time "Googling" information, some of which might not be reliable.  Another use, might be for students to share the sites they have bookmarked with their fellow classmates as well as with me.   They could do this as part of a collaborative class project.  This would meet:  NETS - S standard 2, Communication and Collaboration, as wells as standard 3, Research and Information Fluency.
My Diigo Account

  

Chromebook

 Today is a good day I am very excited, I just got my first Chromebook.  As part of the IEASC program, I learned about all the great tools that Google has available for educators.  I downloaded Google Drive to my laptop and started creating documents, presentations, and forms.  I then created folders for all my documents and began organizing my drive.  I have folders for everything, the IEASC program, the electives, the classes that I teach, school and department documents.  I have virtually stopped using all microsoft products.  My hope is to eventually get chromebooks for my students, even if it is just a set for my department.  That means I need to know everything there is to know about the Chromebook.  So let the adventure begin...

RSS Feeds

This is my first experience using a reader to organize RSS feeds. My only experience with RSS feeds in the past was when I added a news in forensics feed to my Weebly website and to my iGoogle page.   Once I completed my reading and explored the tools provided in the module, I was ready to set up my reader.  I chose Google reader, which was very easy.  I am learning that Google makes everything easy.  A perfect example, I have been using Safari as my web browser for the past few years.  After completing a workshop on using Google and Youtube, I decided I would start using Google Chrome as my browser.  I downloaded Google Chrome, imported my bookmarks from Safari, but I still have been primarily using Safari.  Why, because that is what I am most comfortable using.  When I started searching for RSS feeds, I found it was very easy to add the feeds to my reader using Chrome.  I didn't have to copy URL's, Chrome would just add the feed.  It was kind of my ah ha moment. 

When I started searching for feeds, I went first to news feeds,  New York Times, CNN, and PBS. Next I added blog feeds of blogs I had already been following along with feeds I found interesting in my search for RSS feeds. I have feeds on news, education, technology, science and forensics.  I found it very easy to both subscribe and unsubscribe to RSS feeds.

Can or will I use RSS reader in the classroom?  One way I could use them would be to have students set up their own feeds, monitor them, and choose something they want to share with the class, maybe once a week.   In an online classroom, students could set up blogs and use Google reader to follow each other's RSS feeds from their blogs.  They could them be required to respond to blog posts.  This type of activity would meet NETS-S standard 1: Creativity and Innovation, and standard 2: Communication and Collaboration. 

    

Wiki

Technology Blog Assignment - Wiki

In this module I learned all about wikis.  I spent time exploring different wiki sites and creating my first wiki.  Wikis are great web 2.0 tools for collaboration. The flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com is a perfect example of the potential wikis have in education. This wiki has amassed numerous contributors and collaborators that share their thoughts and ideas using multiple sources of media.  It is such an elaborate project that I found myself overwhelmed and distracted as I explored the many facets of the wiki.
While I really like the tremendous potential of the wiki,I am a little apprehensive about using them in my classroom, or should I say with my younger students.  

As part of the IEASC program, we created a PBWiki where we posted a flipped teaching unit that we created for our students.  We addressed how we would get our students to explore and then apply what they learned in the flipped lesson. The experience demonstrated how easy it is to use a PBworks wiki. PBworks is a safe place for teachers and students to collaborate on lessons or projects. 

I chose to use wikispace to create my wiki.  As I was developing my wiki, I created it with my senior forensic students in mind.  The course requires that they complete numerous collaborative lab activities.  My wiki space can be used as a place where they can share their results, reflections, any media they record, develop or collect, as well as posting their collaborative lab reports.  Using a wiki space in this manner will meet the NETS-S standard 2, communication and collaboration. I created the wiki, tolmanforensics, and set up a page for the blood spatter lab they recently completed.

My wikispace

Blogger

Technology Blog Assignment: Blogger

My enrollment  in the IEASC program has introduced me to so many different technology tools.  This is my first experience with creating a blog.  I did not realize that I have happened upon blogs all the time while searching the internet for classroom resources. To me, blogs were created as a forum for people to just ramble on about different experiences in their life.  As I explored blogs created by other educators, I realized that blogs can be a very useful tool for educators both in and out of the classroom.  I found blogs on education reform, technology tools to use in the classroom, resources for different subject areas, different age groups, just to name a few.  As a new Twitter user, I often come across blogs with resources I can use and share with those within my professional learning network. 

 At this time I do not know if I will use blogs with my students.  My school has very few technology resources, so I am always cautious about making technology mandatory as part of my course.  I am also new to blogging, so I need to spend time blogging, so I can be comfortable with the process before I can use it in my classroom.  Other members of the IEASC cohort are using blogs, and have provided some insight into the process, so I am hopeful that blogging can become part of my future curriculum.  If I were to use blogs, I would probably use them as a place for students to work collaboratively and post results of lab activities or experiments and to reflect on their experience.


I think the greatest challenge for teachers and districts who want to use blogs is in controlling the blog posts made by students.  Students need to be taught NET-S Digital Citizenship Standard.  They must understand the human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.  They must also be held accountable for any inappropriate behavior.  Monitoring that behavior can be a daunting task for the teacher and the district administration.


A blog assignment I could give to my forensic science students would require them to create a collaborative blog for a 7 day lab activity that the students complete on blood spatter pattern analysis.  The students complete a variety of activities that range from simulating different blood spatter patterns to investigating and reporting the events that occurred at a mock crime scene based on the blood spatter pattern evidence.  The blog could be used to document each section of the lab, including pictures, results and reflection.  This blog assignment would meet the NET-S Communication and Collaboration Standard.

A New Semester

A New Semester:     

The second semester started on Wednesday.  I am teaching two forensic science classes, one advanced forensics class and one biology class.  This year we have a new schedule, classes meet twice every three days.  It has been difficult getting used to not seeing the classes daily.  The biggest challenge is trying to cover the same amount of material that I was able to cover when classes met daily.  It requires some creativity.  I have been pretty successful with my senior forensics and advanced forensics classes.  
 
I am currently enrolled in the IEASC certification program offered by Fresno Pacific University.  I have learned so much about technology in a short period of time.  Some of my success with the forensics classes is the direct result of my applying the technology skills I have learned.  First I built a Weebly website www.msconnorswebsite.com and started to post assignments for each of my classes.  Next I set up a Remind101 account and allowed my students to use their cellphones in class to register to get reminders.  The only issue I had was that a few students did not have cellphones.  Some would not admit it, and I didn't want to embarrass them, so I had to speak to them individually and show them how to register their email account so they could also receive the assignments.  I have had huge success with Remind101.  The students really like getting the reminders and number of students completing their homework consistently has improved exponentially.

My First Post

This is my first blog.  I consider myself to be a private person, one of the few people without a Facebook account.  So this will definitely be out of my comfort zone. Despite my reservations, my plan is to embrace blogging. I expect this to be a learning experience for me, one that I hope to use in my classroom.  

I teach high school science at an urban high school in Rhode Island.  This year I am teaching one sophomore biology class, 2 forensic science classes, and one advanced forensics class.  I also serve as the science department chair.  The mural pictured above was created last year by a graduating senior.  I held a contest in which students were to create and design a new mural to replace the old outdated mural from the early eighties.  There were six submissions, and this was far the best.  The young man who created the design also spent countless hours transferring his drawing from paper to the wall and then painting the drawing.  It was no small feat, from a talented, dedicated student. I am proud of his accomplishments.