This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the hopes of improving my craft. Synopsis: Kindergarten students explored a definition of technology that rocked their world; First graders continued working on their PowerPoint projects in our PC lab, strengthening their skills with Microsoft Office; Second graders re-visited the idea of technology as "anything man-made that solves a problem" and enjoyed a scavenger hunt throughout the school; Third graders worked with Learning.com’s EasyTech service; and Fourth graders created their own Goniometers and used them to record measurements of knee flexion as part of our Engineering is Elementary STEM unit, "Designing Knee Braces." Week ending 10/25/13 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: We warmed up with a fun game of ABC Order to work on our letter recognition and fine motor mousing skills. Then it was off to the cubes in front of the SMART Board for a quick discussion of  "What is Technology?" We introduced the students to a definition of "technology" that is both new to them and critical to our work with engineering (the "E" in STEM). Our Engineering is Elementary curriculum defines technology as "Anything made by man that solves a problem." So, in effect, anything NATURAL is by definition NOT considered a technology. Using the SMART Board, students took turns coming up and identifying items that were or were not technology. Some of these were intentionally vague or tricky because I wanted the students to really THINK and sure enough we tripped some kids up. We followed this up with an activity called "What do ENGINEERS make?" which involved students using a SMART Notebook I built with the "erase to reveal" technique hiding pictures underneath. Students then went to their tables where we had arranged "mystery technology bags" with different examples of technology which the students had to identify and draw pictures of. What I observed / inferred / connected: This is always a fun lesson because you can literally see kids’ minds expanding when you explain that ‘technology’ is not necessarily something that plugs in. This concept is central to our curriculum because we want kids to know anything they can design - anything they can engineer - is a ‘technology.’ We want them to understand that THEY are designers and engineers! Most students are still working on their letter forming and drawing skills so the worksheets they completed were pretty interesting! What students can do at home: Ask your child to identify technologies around your house and the problems they solve. Ask them if they have any ideas about technologies they’d like to create. Check out the healthy food activities on the Kindergarten Symbaloo. Play together! Explore and play any of the keyboarding activities on the Kindergarten Symbaloo as well. First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We continued working on our PowerPoint projects. Students had to log on with their network IDs, traverse the network folder/file structure to locate and open their projects and then add images and additional text. Finally they had to save their work. (We will be printing these next week.) What I observed / inferred / connected: Kids really seemed to enjoy this activity, which is important because they need solid independent skills working in the lab. Virtually all were able to log on successfully without assistance; those that still need help will get additional practice. As important as it is for kids to be able to use our PC lab and Microsoft Office products, I have to say I prefer the simplicity of Google Apps in general and Google Presentations in specific. The interface is WAY SIMPLER and focuses on what MATTERS MOST. Happy that we are getting kids experienced with both in the elementary school. What students can do at home: Right now, literacy trumps pretty much everything for these kids, and technology can support that. The First Grade Symbaloo has a host of activities that can help. As far as keyboarding, we’re focusing at this age on awareness, not technique, so, any of the ‘easier’ and ‘fun’ keyboarding activities are best. Second Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We revisited the concept of "technology" with a range of activities including some I neglected to photograph (I kept reminding myself and forgetting.) We started with a discussion of "technology" (which these students learned last year for the first time) and some SMART Board activities similar to those we used in Kindergarten. The worksheet shown above was done in one of my classes, the other four got it as "homework." The highlight of the lesson however was dividing the class into teams for a technology "Scavenger Hunt" throughout the school. We each took 10 minutes to identify as much technology as we could and then compared our answers in a group review. It was kinesthetic fun at its finest and it drove home the point of the day that technology is anything made by man that solves a problem - and that our students are all designers and engineers. What I observed / inferred / connected: Some of the best conversations this week came from kids whose parents are engineers - some I knew personally, some I did not. We talked about engineer moms and dads in software engineering, surveying, construction and more. As the folks at EiE point out, most kids don’t understand what it means to have a career in engineering. Some students whose moms & dads worked in engineering were literally bursting to tell us about their work, but, many kids thought engineers were people who drive trains. This is a common misconception, and one we are working hard to rectify, explicitly through instruction and hands-on activities in my lab. Kids are born engineers. They are constantly building and creating. School time is precious; we know that literacy (and numeracy) are the focus in elementary school but I am glad we have the opportunity in my program to convey and reinforce concepts that will serve them into middle school and beyond. As clear-cut as one might think the definition of technology is, if you look closely at the picture of the student’s worksheet, it’s clear we still have some work to do. (That’s okay, I’m up for the challenge.) What students can do at home: Let your kids tinker, take things apart, better yet, join them in the process. How do things work? What parts make them up? How are things combined to perform a task? What can they design, invent or discover? Don’t let this magical developmental time go to waste - encourage them to wonder, foster their creativity, whatever it takes. There are some excellent "brain teaser" / engineering activities on the Second Grade Symbaloo, check them out. Third Grade What we learned / did / explored together: Students completed more EasyTech tutorials in preparation for this week’s lesson in which we’ll be sorting "virtual" bags of Halloween candy (images of candy bars I printed out and put randomly into paper bags) and creating a spreadsheet with a partner. What I learned / observed / inferred: Kids continued to sail through these tutorials. It will be interesting to see how well the instruction kids got via this service will prepare them for the upcoming task. I’m expecting/planning to re-teach several key concepts. What students can do at home: Work on EasyTech! It’s the ideal app for home use. I have provided the login information for Learning.com before but if you need it, let me know. The Third Grade Symbaloo page has a lot of great learning activities to explore. Keyboarding is key! Fourth Grade What we covered / did / explored: Students learned about Goniometry and Goniometers by working with a partner to create their own device and use it to record measurements as directed by a worksheet provided by EiE.  We referred to videos on YouTube and EiE’s own channel for instructions. Students also watched a demonstration of how to create a "wet footprint" they will be using in my next class to measure and analyze foot dimensions including arch height, as an excercise in biomedical engineering (and spreadsheets - they’ll be using Google Docs to tabulate data.) What I observed / inferred / connected: This was the first time through this lesson and it was FUN! The video I started with provided real-world context that made the lesson more meaningful. Kids enjoyed creating their Goniometers and using them to measure each other’s knee joints. The data collection went really well! What students can do at home: Kids interested in medicine or physical therapy may want to explore these concepts in greater detail; if interested, let me know, and I’ll provide some ideas! The Fourth Grade Symbaloo is always worth checking out!

If there was ever any doubt that we are in the midst of a new dot.com boom for education, that doubt was removed at this week's SXSWEDU. The event brought entrepreneurs and educators to Austin, Texas for four days of panels and a competition for education start-ups. I had the great fun of participating in a panel discussion on "Are Courses a Commodity?" with Myk Garn, Mickey Revenaugh and Michael Horn. Vanessa Dennen and I helped Curt Bonk rehearse his "cage match" answers while sharing beers and ribs at one of the Cengage social events. I enjoyed hearing Bill Gates speak to the crowd about his vision for a transformed education system. It was definitely an interesting mix of energies. Gotta say, not all of it felt all that good. This morning's Chronicle of Higher Education led with a headline that explicitly named the tensions between entrepreneurs and educators. You can read the Chronicle report here. While I was there, I kept hearing that THIS dot.com is different because it's about education, and because the tech is better and data will inform us and investors are smarter and the market is ready, and there are business plans and people aren't just throwing exuberant ideas at the wall and hoping that something sticks.  Really?  I have to say that the confident assurances that this educational technology boom is different just didn't make me feel any less skeptical. Because in the same way that there are some who really DO believes that MOOCs are the birth of online learning, it is clear that there is an entire generation of investors and entrepreneurs who really DO seem to believe that the ideas thrown against the wall of the 1990s are somehow less legitimate than some of the ideas that are currently being thrown against the wall today. So let me tell you why this particular new EDU.dot.com isn't as different as visonaries and investors would have you believe. Ready? It's because no matter how new your tech is or how great the idea is, or how impressive the possibilities are, or the circumstances or the bandwidth or the platform or the operating system we won't figure out how to crack the code on transformation until we change the most important part of the equation. And that is the human factor. Eventually it comes down to people being ready to embrace the change. The ability to ride out the hype cycle and get oneself to a true plateau of productivty will all come down to the degree we can induce people to change their ways, completely rethink their practices, and help them figure out how to use new tools toys, apps and the like deliver on their promises. The excitement around innovative technology futures for teaching and learning has energized educational researchers to think broadly and deeply about the possibilities they represent.  The venture capital communities’ recognition that education may be ready for its "Internet moment" has also generated massive interest in developing promising ideas for products with commercial consideration. Between these two exciting arenas of exploration live equally important opportunities for transformation that come from practice-focused solutions contributing to demonstrable improvements in student engagement, faculty performance, and institutional accountability.  People. We've got to get ready, too. [1]     

Not sure how to get through the analysis phase? Here's how.Post from: The eLearning CoachAnalysis For eLearning Projects

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the hopes of improving my craft. Synopsis: Kidnergarten students learned about drawing and painting tools while they created some original digital art; First Graders finished their PowerPoint projects and printed them to take home; Second Graders got their first taste of Google Apps and created a basic document; Third Graders used a Google Spreadsheet to anaylze bags of "virtual" Halloween candy; and Fourth Graders analyzed their footprints (made last week for homework) and entered the data into a shared Google Spreadsheet. Week ending 11/01/13 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: This week’s lesson was about digital art. We started with a conversation about the kinds of art we like to create and whether or not doing art on a computer is ‘better’ than by hand. Students said computer based art has several things going for it: unlimited supplies, no mess, you can usually fix errors easily, and it can be faster. Working by hand was said to be better because it’s easier than using a mouse, the textures and smells are great, and, it’s fun making a mess! For the warmup, I introduced the kids to four different websites (on the Symbaloo, naturally) used to create art (there are several more, these were the most effective for what I wanted the kids to experience: the Jackson Pollack Simlator, Crayola Digi-Color, the oddly-named "Bomomo," and Art.com’s Artpad. At this stage of a child’s development, most don’t have the ability to interpret a complex user interface (UI) so simplicity is key; and these apps were perfect and engaged them immediately. After a warmup that lasted a bit longer than usual, we came back to the cubes on the SMART Board for a quick lesson on how to use Learning.com’s EasyTech, the "computer teacher in the computer." I’d logged in all the accounts so everything was ready to go. Didn’t take long to show the kids how to interact with the tutorial, then, they were off. Students completed two tutorials, "Brushes and Lines" and "Shapes and Fills." All were ultimately successful despite many of them being non-readers. What I observed / inferred / connected: We love EasyTech. Each child learns at their own pace. The program has a very gentle learning curve and actually prompts kids with clues if they guess incorrectly and ultimately reminds them of the proper steps to complete a task if they can’t accomplish it on their own. The audio narration is excellent. It’s just a terrific way for kids to get individually-oriented instruction on technology topics, especially at home. (Need the login info? Email me!) We continue to struggle with students incorrectly closing browser tabs. We ask the kids not to be "an X-er outer" - many seem to want to close all the open browser tabs! We are working on it! What students can do at home: Work with EasyTech, I can provide the login info for anyone who wants it. Spend some time exploring the Kindergarten Symbaloo. First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We spent a third (and final!) day in the Elementary School Computer Lab #1 finishing and printing our PowerPoint projects, which should all have come home this week. Students traversed network shares, located and opened their personal files (we only had one instance of a student opening/editing the wrong file, which is pretty impressive), made final edits and (with assistance) printed their work. We (most classes) learned where the printers were in the media center and the proper way (quietly!) to retrieve output. What I observed / inferred / connected: After three weeks in the lab, and based on the work we saw, kids have gotten these skills. Time to move on and raise the bar! We need more work on picking up out output! We also need a better system for storing completed print jobs prior to being picked up. What students can do at home: If you have a computer with Microsoft PowerPoint installed, by all means, explore the software with your child, let them show you what they know! Check out the First Grade Symbaloo for fun learning activities. Second Grade What we learned / did / explored together: For the first time, students accessed their Chromebooks with their Google Apps for Education username (a correctly formatted but non-functional email address) and their password. Students then created a basic Google Doc, renamed it, added text and shared it with me. What I observed / inferred / connected: WE. HATE. GOOGLE. CAPTCHAS! I was SO RELIEVED to learn Google recently abandoned these RIDICULOUS distorted text captchas. I wish the changeover was instantaneous; these security codes (see above) are EXTREMELY frustrating, especially for kids. I can’t wait until they are gone forever. The kids did very well with the simple document exercise and had no problem completing the tasks. What students can do at home: Ask your child if they remember their Google Apps login; if so, click here: http://docs.google.com/a/ncs-tech.org - please note this is a different login page from what we use at school and only the username is entered in the top box; the domain "ncs-tech.org" is already provided. Then, explore Google Apps together! Check out the Second Grade Symbaloo for fun learning activities, especially keyboarding! Third Grade What we learned / did / explored together: Thanks to an idea shared by our Middle School principal Glenn Robbins, and the Halloween holiday, I had the perfect context for a lesson on spreadsheets - sorting candy! It was a little tedious cutting out literally hundreds of candy images (I think there were over a thousand) but I needed enough for each pair of students to have a "realistic" amount of candy. Working with a partner, they first divided up the candy among themselves, then they decided how much candy they would "keep" or "trade," then they divided the candy into groups I’d already defined. Once they did this data collection, they worked with their partner to enter the information into a Google Spreadsheet I’d shared with them and create some simple math formulas. What I learned / observed / inferred: This was a blast! I really need to cut down on the candy (just like in real life.) The kids needed too much time to count the ‘virtual’ loot. I went a little overboard with the variety and number of candies represented. Printing off the spreadsheet in advance allowed students to quickly enter data into their spreadsheets and build the necessary formulas. I was able to share the spreadsheet template with the entire class quickly and easily using the gClassFolders Google Apps Script. It’s a little on the techie side, but, it’s worth figuring out because it saves a lot of time and makes everyone’s life easier. It’s a free (and more basic) alternative to the powerful Hapara service, which is worth considering also. I was pleased with the students’ ability to get their data tabulated and entered into the spreadsheets during the short time we had in class! What students can do at home: Ask your child if they remember their Google Apps login; if so, click here: http://docs.google.com/a/ncs-tech.org - please note this is a different login page from what we use at school and only the username is entered in the top box; the domain "ncs-tech.org" is already provided. Then explore Google Apps together! Heck, they could even create their own spreadsheet with "real" information about their actual candy haul! Check out the fun learning activities on the Third Grade Symbaloo. Fourth Grade What we covered / did / explored: Using the footprints they created last week for homework, students took various measurements and entered the resulting data into a shared Google doc that we are using to tabulate data for the entire fourth grade. We discussed metric vs. imperial units and the conversion between centimeters and millimeters. This lesson was part of the Engineering is Elementary unit we are doing called "Designing Knee Braces." I added the spreadsheet component because the kids need that experience and I knew it would be a snap with Google Apps. What I observed / inferred / connected: Kids loved this activity and so did I. Though simplistic (intentionally), it effectively allowed us to experience collaborative spreadsheet use as well as demonstrate the need for "healthy skepticism" when working with spreadsheet data. In almost every class we discovered data entry errors and fixed them, along the way exploring why some of the errors were so hard to spot. This was pretty basic. Our next lesson will involve additional data analysis and formula creation. What students can do at home: Ask your child if they remember their Google Apps login; if so, click here: http://docs.google.com/a/ncs-tech.org - please note this is a different login page from what we use at school and only the username is entered in the top box; the domain "ncs-tech.org" is already provided. Then explore Google Apps together! Check out the fun learning activities on the Fourth Grade Symbaloo.

In a few hours I’ll be heading into Atlantic City for the first of my two days working and learning at the NJEA Convention. I’ve gone every year for as long as I can remember (I even went as a guest in 2002, the year before I started teaching, when I was just beginning my search for a teaching position.) Once again, I’ll be presenting in High Tech Hall with many friends and colleagues. Here’s my schedule, which, in comparison to years past, is fairly light: Thursday 11/7 9:00 - 10:00 | Teacher to Teacher Learning Lab | Engineering is Elementary: Transforming "Computer Lab" into a STEM Course (My presentation is not online but you can click here for my ‘resources’ page) 11:00 - 1:00 | Technology Integration Showcase | Engineering is Elementary: Transforming "Computer Lab" into a STEM Course (My presentation is not online but you can click here for my ‘resources’ page) 1:00 - 4:oo | The "Brainiac Bar" - an instructional "helpdesk," if you will, where I and several of my colleagues will be ready to answer ANY instructional question or problem you may have! Yes, really! It’s located in High Tech Hall, you can’t miss it. Friday 11/8 11:30 - 12:30 | Keynote by Chris Lehmann, Founding Principal, Science Leadership Academy 1:00 - 3:oo | The "Brainiac Bar" I shied away from a heavier presentation load this year because I wanted to invest in my own learning for a change. Any time not listed above will be spent roaming the halls in search of interesting sessions on STEM, Technology Literacy Education, Classroom Management, and whatever else I find interesting. I’ll close with a photo of my daughter Holly and a friend at the NJEA Convention in 2007. She doesn’t come with me anymore. We presented together in 2009. They grow up too quickly … and all of a sudden hitting the Convention with your dad isn’t the fun it once was. Oh well! It was great while it lasted! Have a great Convention, everyone! See you in Atlantic City! -kj

If you're having trouble maintaining your focus at work, check out these tips. They're bound to help.Post from: The eLearning Coach12 Tips To Improve Your Focus

In January 2013 I  participated in a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation to help establish a 10 year vision to reconceptualize postsecondary learning. This past week our co-convenors, Chris Dede, Harvard University and Eric Grimson, MIT, released the 47 page report that captured the results of that meeting. Entitled New Technology-based Models for Postsecondary Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Research Agendas, this is a comprehensive overview of promises, opportunities and challenges that will keep all of we post-secondary learning stakeholders on our toes for the next decade. You can download the working draft of this paper here. The basic premises addressed include the following: Advances in technology and in knowledge about expertise, learning, and assessment have the potential to reshape the many forms of education and training past matriculation from high school. In the next decade, higher education, military and workplace training, and professional development must all transform to exploit the opportunities of a new era, leveraging emerging technology-based models that can make learning more efficient and possibly improve student support, all at lower cost for a broader range of learners.  Potential risks must be managed, including those arising from the disruption of established delivery economics in our current learning institutions, the variable quality of learning outcomes these new models offer today, and the technical and conceptual challenges of better understanding how to design, develop, and implement innovative capabilities in ways that reliably deliver on their promise. Workshop participants developed a framework for understanding this sea change and sketched steps towards a research agenda for realizing its benefits while avoiding pitfalls. Contributors to this report include Daniel E. Atkins, W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information, and Professor of Information and Computer Science, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Lori Breslow, Director, Teaching and Learning Laboratory, MIT. John Cherniavsky, Senior Advisor, Division of Research on Learning, NSF. J.D. Fletcher, Senior Research Staff Member, Institute for Defense Analyses. Diana Oblinger, President and CEO, EDUCAUSE. Roy Pea, David Jacks Professor of Education and Learning Sciences, Stanford University. James W. Pellegrino, Distinguished Professor and Co-Director, Learning Sciences Research Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago. Bror Saxberg, Chief Learning Officer, Kaplan, Inc. James H. Shelton III, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement,U.S. Department of Education. Russell Shilling, CAPT, MSC, USN, Program Manager, DARPA. Greg Tobin, President, English, Math, and Student Success, Pearson Higher Education and yours truly, Ellen Wagner, Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Cooperative for Educational Technologies. Arthur Josephson, Harvard Graduate School of Education, was our researcher.

No need to fit a square peg in a round hole. There are lots of options for instructional designers and developers.Post from: The eLearning CoachFinding Your Place In Instructional Design

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the hopes of improving my craft. Synopsis: Kindergarten students enjoyed a design challenge involving Dixie cups, cardstock and a Beanie Baby named "Crabby McCrabbypants"; First Graders worked on their word processing skills with Learning.com’s EasyTech in advance of a lesson we’ll be doing next week in the PC lab; Second Graders "did the impossible" by designing a structure strong enough to hold a ream of paper off the table using only ten 1″ strips of paper; Third and Fourth Graders continued working with Google Spreadsheets, specifically, with graphs and formulas, respectively. Week ending 11/15/13 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: "What do Engineers do?" It’s certainly not a question asked of most Kindergarten students, but WE ask it, because we teach Kinders about engineering! (Our working definition: "engineers are people who use what they know about math and science, plus their creativity, to design technologies that solve problems.") Today’s lesson was a design challenge based on the Engineering is Elementary activity, "Tower Power Returns." (We did the original "Tower Power" last year with 3×5 index cards.) Pairs of students were given 10 Dixie cups, two sheets of cardstock, scissors and some tape and were told they had to design a structure to hold "Crabby McCrabbypants" (a Ty Teenie Beanie Baby) as high as possible out of the water to protect him from predators. Then we (the adults) got out of the way. What I observed / inferred / connected: The record, a 10-cup stack (shown above) was in Mr. Battistini’s class on Friday. Judicious use of masking tape and cardstock made the towering structure possible and JUST stable enough to support the weight of "Crabby McCrabbypants" (trust me, the skill required to gently place him on top was substantial.) Cheers literally erupted after every successful "Crabby Test" of a structure. Myriad designs were evident including features we’d never seen before … waterslides, diving boards, steps (to make it easier for Crabby to climb up), landscaping (seascaping?), and even one creative team that decided to shove Crabby into a Dixie Cup for his own protection! Teamwork was the hardest part of the lesson, as expected. Kindergarten students don’t collaborate a lot so most kids needed some time to adjust. Many insisted on creating their own towers at first until we made it clear they had to combine each into a single design. Fortunately there were no major personality clashes and everything proceeded normally/successfully throughout the entire lesson. Everyone was successful; every design could be improved; everyone had a terrific time. Students finished by drawing a picture of their successful design. What students can do at home: Plastic or paper cups make excellent stacking tools and so this lesson can easily be re-created at home. Introducing additional materials like paper and tape spark creativity and imagination. The Engineering Design Process is simple, logical and fun to explain and review. Challenge your child to IMPROVE his or her design and explain how they did! First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: Students used the Learning.com EasyTech service to brush up on their word processing skills. After a warmup on uppercase and lowercase letter matching, they completed two or three lessons (depending on how much time we had) that helped them master the basics of working with a word processor. (Note the outstanding hand position shown above!) This lesson laid the groundwork for what we’ll be doing next week. What I observed / inferred / connected: We love EasyTech, it’s wonderfully designed and easy to use, kids take to it immediately, the learning curve is gentle, they learn at their own pace … it can’t be beat. I tell the students that it’s "a computer teacher in the computer." They get it! What students can do at home: Use EasyTech! I’ve provided the logon information before, if you don’t have it, contact me! Second Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We have that Walt Disney quote on the wall in my classroom for a reason: I really, really, REALLY want it to sink in. (Wonder and possibility are central themes in my classroom.) I start by welcoming the students and telling them that today they will do the impossible … and then explain that they are to, working with a partner, using only ten 1″ strips of paper, design a structure strong enough to support AT LEAST one ream of paper off the desk. Audible gasps can be heard and when I ask if anyone thinks it’s impossible to raise their hand, everyone does. I then show them a picture of a huge stack from last year. They’re instantly hooked. We talk about the Engineering Design Process phases and they brainstorm with their partner for the first minute. I give them about ten minutes to try some designs (some discover the "winning" solution right away) and then I call everyone over to the SMART Board to watch the youtube video above. We talk about material engineering and cement columns in particular in the context of the new bridge into Ocean City. We explain that engineers use this kind of testing all the time to determine which concrete mixture to use for a given application. We then talk about the shape of the column and its inherent strength before sending the students back to their tables to continue working. It’s not long before everyone realizes the cylinders are the best way to go and all have successful designs. We "compete" by having teams come up with designs that use the fewest amount of strips and hold the most reams of paper. The record set this week: 16 reams stacked on just 8 strips of paper! What I observed / inferred / connected: It’s chaotic at times but the learning and teamwork is evident from the start. Their designs get progressively simpler as they realize all they need to do is make cylinders. Eventually all figure this out and the race is on! By the end of class it’s virtually impossible to hear because they are all outdoing each other - on a task they all thought was impossible just moments before. What students can do at home: This project can be replicated at home but must be done so safely and with objects that can’t be damaged. Books can be used to create the stack as long as they are not too heavy and there are enough of them. The strips of paper should be 1″ wide. A time limit could also be imposed. Third Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We continued our "virtual" Halloween Candy analysis by investigating "virtual" data compiled for the entire third grade. I wanted students to be comfortable reading tables and locating information based on cell addresses. We’d built formulas the week before (and will be re-visiting them next week). Google Spreadsheets makes graphing easy (too easy, in fact) but progress is progress and we’ve got to keep working with modern tools. Anyway, once we showed the students how to create the graphs, we turned them loose, and they finished in no time, generating and customizing the charts. What I learned / observed / inferred: This went better towards the end of the week as my teaching improved; the chart features were new to me as well and it took some time to adjust. Overall this lesson was a winner and I could tell the kids felt they’d accomplished a lot. What students can do at home: Google Spreadsheets can be accessed at home, just go to the Google Apps login page: https://docs.google.com and sign in. If you have any problems, contact me! Fourth Grade What we covered / did / explored: Fourth grade also continued working with spreadsheets, this time, with formulas. I aggregated the data the students entered last week and presented it to the students. We discussed what trends or information would be interesting to analyze and how that could be done electronically. I demonstrated proper formula syntax and cell selection as well as techniques for copying and pasting. Most importantly we talked about the need for "healthy skepticsm" when working with spreadsheet data. I intentionally buried some errors for the kids to find, numbers that didn’t look right. They didn’t disappoint; we located and corrected them. Some students also "outed" themselves when we did the final copying of the formulas - some had simply entered the numbers they saw on my screen into the cells where they were supposed to enter formulas. Naturally, the totals copied across - not formulas! Many "light bulbs" went off over heads as they realized what had happened and why spreadsheets can be so tricky to work with. What I observed / inferred / connected: Students are going to need a lot more exposure to spreadsheets for this to stick. What students can do at home: Google Spreadsheets can be accessed at home, just go to the Google Apps login page: https://docs.google.com and sign in. If you have any problems, contact me!

If you post the term "Big Data" in your Google search window today, more than 2 billion google search results will appear. If you perform a similar search on Bing, you will see that more than 1,790,000 Big Data links have been added to the Internet in the past 24 hours alone. Clearly, there is big interest in big data. This graphic by Matt Turck and Shivon Zilis is an exceedingly helpful image for understanding the breadth and complexity of the Big Data landscape. Matt Turck's blogpost  also provides great information for understanding some of where this emerging market is taking us.      For those of us working in post-secondary education circles, the emergent interests in big data, analytics, learning analytics and related evidence-based decision-making endeavors have been inspired by possibilities of better experiences, more personalization and better behavioral targeting. Still most education stakeholders who are giving learning analytics some consideration may be surprised to see the depth, breath and sophistication of the big data world.  While WCET's work on the PAR Framework has certainly contributed to a growing awareness on the power of predictive analytics for academic risk identification and the value of collaborative, multi-institutional data mining to improve student success, we are mindful that our student success focus touches a relatively narrow, targeted part of the Big Data picture. This graphic offers a more complete picture of the total ecosystem.

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the hopes of improving my craft. Synopsis: Kindergarteners created images of things they are thankful for, using a great free painting application called PaintGO; First Graders also worked on the "Thankful For" theme, but created a word processing document using the PCs in our Elementary Lab #1 and Stationery Studio software; Second Graders built and programmed LEGO robots; Third and Fourth graders worked with Google Spreadsheets, the Third Graders learning about formulas and the Fourth Graders learning about graphs (histograms, in specific.) Week ending 11/22/13 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: Students warmed up with some Alphabet and Pattern Matching activities to work on their visual and mousing skills (the latter still need work!) before we moved on to the main lesson involving ABCYa.com’s excellent PaintGO application. We first had a conversation on the "cubes" about things we’re thankful for (no shortage of suggestions!) and then we reviewed the components of the drawing app - drawing area, tool box, color box, etc. - and then the students demonstrated on the SMART Board how to create their various illustrations (people, the Earth, houses, pets, etc.) Once they finished, we saved the files for later printing (I’ll be getting them to the students this week.) What I observed / inferred / connected: I was amazed at how well kids recalled this program’s user interface. They correctly identified the critical user interface components and were instantly productive. It’s amazing what they retained only having done the lesson on digital artwork no long ago. What students can do at home: Check out ABCYa’s  PaintGO and the other great educational applications on the Kindergarten Symbaloo. Challenge your child to create something magical! First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We just finished learning recently about Word Processing and so a "Thankful for" project was a natural context choice this past week. Students used Stationery Studio to create simple documents, adding text at levels they were comfortable with, while applying/reviewing the concepts we’d just learned: cursor, spacing, capitalization, etc. These were printed in color and will either be going home or used for other projects in the classroom. Students also practiced their log on / log off skills; they still need work but are getting better every week. What I observed / inferred / connected: Stationery Studio is a terrific application, ideal for early writers. It’s not perfect, it can be difficult to navigate multiple pages, but it’s pretty intuitive and the output looks amazing. It’s one of our favorite programs when using the PCs in the Elementary Computer Lab #1. What students can do at home: Stationery Studio is not a web-based ppl Check out the First Grade Symbaloo for fun and helpful learning activities! Second Grade What we learned / did / explored together: ROBOTS!!! These LEGO WeDo robotics kits, provided by the NCS PTO, were FANTASTIC this week. We definitely had to work hard to finish the model in the time we had, and only half the class could work this past week (the rest will finish this coming week), but, most teams were successful at building and many were successful at programming the finished model too. The result: this video! http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/10963430366/. Programming is a focus area for us in Second Grade this year and we will be utilizing many tools and applications to do so.  We will explore Scratch, Google Blockly and many other similar programs designed to help the kids learn the basics of programming. Some will be adept at it, others won’t, all will have the opportunity to learn! What I observed / inferred / connected: "Less Us, More Them." It’s hard sometimes not to intervene when you see a team "going into the weeds," but, it’s really important to do exactly that. The best progress, overall, were those teams who worked out their problems on their own. What students can do at home: Scratch and Google Blockly are two great tools to learn programming. Another, called Light-Bot, is on my Second Grade Symbaloo page. Think about checking out a LEGO WeDo set for your budding computer programmer. Third Grade What we learned / did / explored together: After a warmup with Typing Pal, students spent another week working with Google Spreadsheets, this time, learning about formula structure as well as how to correctly copy formulas. We used the formulas to point out and understand trends in the data. What I learned / observed / inferred: Despite my best efforts to make this "realistic," in the end, it was a little on the abstract side for our third graders. In the end, however, they were all successful! What students can do at home: Typing Pal is always a great choice for work at home, it helps tremendously and is a focus area for students in third grade. Google Spreadsheets can be accessed at home, just go to the Google Apps login page: https://docs.google.com and sign in. If you have any problems, contact me! Fourth Grade What we covered / did / explored: After a warmup with Typing Pal, students spent another week working with Google Spreadsheets, this time, learning about histograms and normal distributions. We used the spreadsheet data in our footprint measurements database to create histograms and analyze trends. What I observed / inferred / connected: Students quickly grasped the technical aspects of both the normal distribution and creating the histograms. Fortunately, Google Spreadsheets makes it easy! What students can do at home: Typing Pal is always a great choice for work at home, it helps tremendously and is a critical skill for students in fourth grade. Google Spreadsheets can be accessed at home, just go to the Google Apps login page: https://docs.google.com and sign in. If you have any problems, contact me!

On May 9, 2013 I will have the pleasure of joining the crew at #Lrnchat for a session on the topic of learning analytics. You will find us on Twitter, Thursday, 8:30 pm ET/5:30 PT. Look for us at #lrnchat, follow along at @lrnchat.  #Lrnchat is a regularly scheduled event that takes place every Thursday evening.  Participants using any number of tweeting tools (such as Tweetdeck and Tweedgrid) to keep track of the messages that fly around among the session participants. It is hosted and facilitated by a number of learning and development social media experts who shall remain nameless until I get their permission to drop their names. Questions get asked, responses get posted, conversations get started, friendships get launched. It's amazing how much one can pack into 140 characters!  The name of this particular post, in anticipation of tomorrow's #Lrnchat, comes from one of my favorite analytics parables. In March of 2009, the lead designer from Google resigned in protest to what he described as an engineering culture that was obsessed by numbers. Douglas Bowman offered his reasons for resigning  in a blogpost entitled "Goodbye Google". In his explanation he gave the following examples of how data-obsessed Google had become: "Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle." In closing, he wrote that "I’ll miss working with the incredibly smart and talented people I got to know there. But I won’t miss a design philosophy that lives or dies strictly by the sword of data." I remember being struck by that phrase as the perfect way to describe the double-edged benefits and risks that analytics bring to discussions of learning, achievement, progress, success. I offer this as something that each of us should keep in mind as we gravitate toward a greater use of enterprise data in our decision-making.  I know we will have 90 minutes to talk about this. In anticpation of the conversation can I just offer this observation - It helps to have an idea about the problem you are trying to solve before you dive into an analytics campaign. And once you DO know, you need to be prepared to respond. Problem identification, without taking action, is almost worse than not knowing at all. Here are a few references that I hope you will find to be useful. Happy reading! See you on Twitter. Background References Goodbye, Google The blogpost written by designer Douglas Bowman when he resigned from Google in protest to the data culture around decisionmaking. http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html The Gawker story that picked up the story of event leading to Bowman’s resignation from Google http://gawker.com/5177144/googles-data-fetish-drives-away-its-top-designer Articles I've written on learning analytics: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/data-changes-everything-delivering-promise-learning-analytics-higher-education http://www.astd.org/Publications/Magazines/TD/TD-Archive/2012/08/8-Realities-Learning-Professionals-Need-to-Know-About-Analytics Recent tweets on Big Data -related topics by @edwsonoma The Big Data Landscape http://bit.ly/12KXpvA  11 Big Data myths http://bit.ly/15CD26B  The Surprising Predictive Power of Analytics http://lnkd.in/M2VS9j  The Rising Costs Of Misunderstanding Big Data http://lnkd.in/fBGWVP  Ten things you need to know about Big Data http://tinyurl.com/cabxeam  What's the skillset of a talented #BigData Scientist? http://ow.ly/kNKw7   

Yes, you may have heard, it’s true - the NCS K4STEMLAB is getting a 3D printer! At NO COST to the district! Makerbot Replicator 2 - image © Makerbot Industries Makerbot Industries and Donor’s Choose have teamed up to create the Makerbot Academy, an initiative designed "to put a MakerBot Desktop 3D Printer in every school in the United States of America." I don’t recall where or when I saw the announcement, but I applied, the project was approved, and within hours, we’d received the funding - a combination of contributions from the Mozitis and Syed families of Northfield, and, the Makerbot people themselves. The retail value of this "Makerbot Bundle?" Around $2,600! It even includes the materials we’ll need and a warranty! I’m so excited I could spit! If you don’t know what a Makerbot Replicator 2 is, watch this three minute video: Yes but what will we DO with this ridiculously awesome piece of technology? My answer: unleashing student creativity, 100 microns at a time. The printer will come with everything we need to use it right away - software, supplies, everything - all we need is a place to put it (I’ve already got two options in mind) and a PC to connect it to (already have one of those, too.) Then there’s the learning curve - I’m all over that - I expect to spend much of the upcoming Winter Break learning all there is to know about this device and its capabilities, the software that can be used to create models (like Tinkercad and 123D). But wait, there’s more! You can even use MINECRAFT to make and print designs! I kid you not! How incredibly, unbelievably cool. 3D printers are taking the world by storm. Read here about a Dad who used a 3d printer to create a prosthetic robot arm for his son. But let’s be honest, there is more than a bit of hype here. Clarence Fisher’s excellent blog post, "Are 3D printers trendy?" raises some very valid points. The key, to me, is how much my students will be in control of this device, and how effectively it can be used in my classroom to inspire, to inform, and to teach. That last part’s on me. We like to say that my classroom is about two things: WONDER and POSSIBILITY. (It’s about a lot more than that obviously but work with me here.) I can’t think of a device better suited to the task. And we’re getting it at no cost to the school. I’m off to start dreaming up some contexts lesson plans design challenges discussions about this device, to see what the kids can come up with. Gotta run! -kj-

Stop spinning your wheels. Check out a review of Essential Articulate Studio 09 instead.Post from: The eLearning CoachLearning Articulate From A Book

Learning anaytics are catalyzing transformative conversations about completion and retention, competencies and ethics, pathways and profiles, micro-credentials and modalities. They are going to have tremendous impact on just about everything that learning technology professionals do. More to the point, they are going to define much of what we do and how we do it.  You might be wondering what this has to do with elearning. One of the little secrets about predictive analytics is that predictions are useful if one takes actions to address whatever weakeness or opportunities that predictions reveal. Going forward, the real action will not be around predictions, per se, but on taking action to address the risks and opportunities that predictive analytics reveal. These days this has a lot to do with what "big tent" elearning offers, at least the kind of elearning that delivers on the promise to personlize and motivate and pace, featuring learning technologies from interactive pdfs to wearable apps to immersive environments and adaptive pathways and everything in between. And with that, we are back on the Road Trip.

Very special thanks to the Mozitis and Syed families of Northfield, The Makerbot Academy and Donor’s Choose! The idea of getting this powerful piece of technology at NO COST TO THE DISTRICT is truly mind-blowing. We’ll be setting it all up tomorrow, December 3rd, just in time for Parent Conferences! Can’t wait to show people what this wondrous piece of hardware can do for kids’ creations! I’ll close with this thought: Image credit: http://www.thequotefactory.com/ LET’S GET BUSY!

What are you doing about the picture superiority effect?Post from: The eLearning CoachUsing Graphics To Improve Learning

Now that predictive analytics are hotter than ever in higher education, it's probably a good idea to review a few fundamentals for those who are just starting to sip from the cup of possibilities. WHY PREDICTIVES? Predictive analytics have been used in a wide variety of settings, including higher education, to manage finances, inventory, operations, assets and resources. Increasingly, higher ed institutions are turning to business intelligence for enrollment management and student recruitment. The next great wave for predictive analytics adoption in higher education is focusing on institutional performance outcomes and individualized student success.  WHY COLLEGES NEED TO CARE: The more that colleges and universities are being held accountable for achieving specific performance outcomes (e.g., improved student retention, better completion rates for college students), the more predictive analytics will be touted as a solution for anticipating risks likely to be encountered while trying to achieve those outcomes.  SIMPLY KNOWING WHO IS AT RISK ISN'T ENOUGH. Knowing how to mitigate risks and how different students can be better served with targeted interventions and support makes predictions actionable. Predictions without action don't really matter very much to anyone. BEWARE THE BRIGHT AND SHINY: It's going to be a little bit like the early days of the first dot.com out there, with lots of  solutions available and even more promises about all the great things that those interventions and solutions can do (!!!). How will you know who to believe? How will you know what's right for you? You owe it to yourself to be informed. THERE IS NO SINGLE "RIGHT WAY" TO CONDUCT PREDICTIVE ANALYSES. There are many techniques used to conduct predictive analyses. Typically one chooses the technique or techniques likely to yield results for the kinds of predictions one wants to make. For example, if you are interested in predicting a discrete attribute you might be likely to use techniques including Logistic Regression, Decision Trees (CHAID, CART, Random Forest), Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine, Survival Analysis or Neural Networks. If you were more interested in predicting a continuous attribute, you'd look toward techniques such as Multiple Linear Regression, Time series or Decision Trees (CHAID, CART, Random Forest). If you were most interested in common groups, you might consider Hierarchical k-nearest neighbors, Neural Networks or Decision Trees (CHAID, CART, Random Forest). Selecting the right techniques used for conducting predictive analyses have a lot to do with knowing the questions that the predictions will help answer, or the performance problems that are likely to be solved. Speaking of which... START WITH A PROBLEM TO SOLVE: Sorry to burst your bubble but predictive analytics don't work quite like Magic 8-Ball. Not even Hadoop technologies do that. Answers simply do not emerge fully formed from the mists of your analytic techniques.  It's easier to focus on solving a problem (e.g. what causes students to drop out? Are these causes common in all settings?) or finding a new opportunity (e.g. what motivates students to complete courses faster?). Your problem statements and queries will help you focus on finding data sources and selecting techniques for analyses that are likely to reveal the patterns you seek.

We’re giddy with excitement (and the kids are too) … spending some time getting to know this device, its capabilities, and potential … we’re blown away so far! Click here for a video of the printer at work.

There are lots of creative ways to use mind maps for analysis, design, planning and communicating. Post from: The eLearning CoachDesigning With Mind Maps

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the hopes of improving my craft. Synopsis: This was a c-r-a-z-y week, with three "early dismissal" days (two of which were followed by Parent Conferences that ran until 8:30 pm that night) and as a result I had to make lots of adjustments in my lessons. (The arrival of our 3D printer also whipped everyone into a frenzy.) Kindergarten students completed a SMART Notebook activity involving dressing for the weather; First Graders Kerpoof.com to illustrate a "vacation destination" drawn at random from a "grab bag" in class; Second Graders finished working with and programming LEGO WeDo robots; Third Graders began reading the Engineering is Elementary storybook, "Leif Catches the Wind;" Fourth Graders constructed model knees that will be used when they design knee braces. Week ending 12/06/13 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: After a quick conversation about the weather (and there was plenty to talk about) we "warmed up" (sorry, bad pun) with "Weather Wheel" featuring Gerald from Sid the Science Kid. We then had students use their Chromebooks to complete a similar activity I designed using SMART Notebook Express software (shown above). Students also learned how to use the text and pen tools to add their names to the projects (often with delightfully creative results). They "dressed" two different bears, one for a cold day and another for a rainy day. These were saved (when it worked) and kept for later printing. What I observed / inferred / connected: This lesson was easy, fun and a good review of the fine motor skills needed to navigate Chromeboolks effectively. Kids quickly got the hang of the software, even correcting me when I made a mistake by using the wrong tool (it happens from time to time.) The SMART Notebook Express software is simple and easy to use, but unfortunately has issues saving work for reasons we’ve not been able to identify. (We’re still working on it.) What students can do at home: Check out the "Weather Wheel" activity or explore the Kindergarten Symbaloo page that has some winter-themed surprises in store! First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We started with a bit of geography centering around vacation spots and a discussion of some of our favorite places to go on vacation. I’d anticipated most of the answers and prepared slips of paper with different destinations for the kids to choose randomly and then illustrate using our favorite multimedia creation tool, Kerpoof.com. Kids gleefully reached into the brown paper bag and shouted with excitement as they discovered their destinations. They raced over to the Chromebooks and started working. When finished, students printed their creations. What I observed / inferred / connected: I was surprised how excited the kids were by this lesson. Maybe it was the conversation we had beforehand that activated their memories of recent vacations, or, the trading that ensued (they asked and I said it was okay) allowing kids to get the location they most wanted. In any event, the results were predictably awesome, given how easy Kerpoof.com is to use. What students can do at home: Check out Kerpoof.com - we did the "Make a Picture" activity (yellow square) but the site is full of engaging and creative activities! The First Grade Symbaloo is also loaded with fun and challenging activities, many of which we haven’t explored yet in class. Go crazy! Second Grade What we learned / did / explored together: Our second week with the LEGO WeDo kits was even more productive than the first with every class experiencing success with the robot assembly/build process AND the programming activity. As evidenced above, excitement levels were high! What I observed / inferred / connected: Kids were great about sharing but some still need to get the experience so we will be incorporating the LEGO WeDo robots as an option in the lessons I’m planning for Computer Science Education Week (December 9-13.) What students can do at home: The LEGO WeDo software is not available online but there are many alternatives available to explore programming at home, including Scratch and Tynker. The Second Grade Symbaloo is always worth checking out!   Image credit: Museum of Science in Boston Image credit: Museum of Science in Boston Image credit: Museum of Science in Boston Third Grade What we learned / did / explored together: We began a new EiE STEM unit called "Catching the Wind: Designing Windmills" by reading the first half of the storybook, "Leif Catches the Wind." The main character, Leif, corresponds electronically with his friend Dana, who has left Copenhagen and moved to Aalberg, another town in Denmark. They share an interest in weather, building things, and problem solving. Dana’s pet fish are having problems getting enough oxygen so she and Leif set out to rectify the situation. The first half of the story ends as they begin designing a windmill that will be used to aerate the pond where the fish live. What I learned / observed / inferred: Reading the storybook is always the hardest part of these units. The third graders were great listeners and very patient. What students can do at home: Ask your child about the story - the characters, the plot, the science behind it all - see what they tell you! Check out the Third Grade Symbaloo for fun learning activities! Fourth Grade What we covered / did / explored: The EiE STEM unit "No Bones About it: Designing Knee Braces" requires kids to develop a knee brace and this week we made the model knees they will use to test their designs. It was a fairly involved process, as shown in the video above. (Note: we did not have students cut holes in the cardboard mailing tubes; all components were pre-cut in advance.) What I observed / inferred / connected: This was a lot harder than it looks in the video! The steps in the assembly process are clear but getting everything to fit right was a challenge. We got them done, though! What students can do at home: Talk to your child about bones and knee structure in specific. See what they recall from science class as well as our project. Check out the Fourth Grade Symbaloo, too!

I've always wanted to write a headline like that.   If you are like me, any link suggesting that learning analytics can be easy is worth a quick look. Even if only to sneer at the temerity of whoever would say that. So, thank you for being curious enough to click. Now that I have your attention... Getting started with a learning analytics initiatve doesn't need to be hard. What's hard is sustaining a learning analytics initiative IF one is only doing something, anything, as a pet project, an exploration, or a trial run because someone gave you free software.  To paraphrase the incomparable Tina Turner, we're gonna start this learning anaytics conversation nice and easy (don't worry, no dancing required). Here we go. Five quick easy steps to get started: (1) Start with a real problem to solve. Scope your problem statement so that you maximize your probabiities of  success. Do you have market conditions to address, sneaking suspicions that there might be trouble in River City that you'd better find out about before someone else does? Maybe places where you are pretty sure you can do a better job? You might want to think of something that will help you test the waters of change without putting yourself at risk of total humiliation if it doesn't work. (2) Figure out who needs to be involved in creating the business case to get this problem solved. How much of a priority is solving the problem you identified going to be for others in your organization? Who need to be engaged and on-board to get this done?  (3) Determine what you need to answer questions related to solving this problem. What information do you need? Who owns it? Where does it live? How are you going to secure it? How will it be analyzed? Who can see it, work with it, publish it? How will results be used? How long will the results live, and who will have access? (4) Determine the necessary project talent to make sure you can get the work done. It's not just about having access to people who understand how to work with data. It's about having the right team in place across the board who can execute to plan and deliver results, and making sure that you have planned for enough of their time to be effective. How will you find them? What will you need to attract their attention and keep them engaged? (5) Develop a bottom-up budget to see if you can afford to do what you want to do. Odds are, you will need more money than you have on hand. (Well... odds are that you will end up needing more money than you think you do, too, but that's a conversation for a later time). So, where might you find the funding to do what you want to do? Who else might be interested in getting involved in your great adventure? Obviously each one of these steps can take on a life of its own once you get going, but as a place to begin these are a great way to get your arms around your big idea and see if its possible to move ahead.

Don't lose sleep over how to combine multimedia elements. Read these guidelines instead.Post from: The eLearning CoachHow To Integrate Multimedia For Effective Learning

PLEASE NOTE: WHEN YOU WORK WITH A 3D DESIGN PROGRAM THE FINAL RESULT IS A FILE WITH AN .STL EXTENSION WHICH ON A WINDOWS COMPUTER WILL BE REFERRED TO AS A ‘CERTIFICATE TRUST LIST’.  THIS IS NORMAL. THE FILE CANNOT BE READ OR OPENED BY YOUR COMPUTER. JUST SAVE THE FILE AND SEND IT TO ME (OR PUT IT ON A FLASH DRIVE AND GIVE IT TO YOUR STUDENT TO BRING TO SCHOOL) FOR PRINTING! Of all the 3D design apps I plan to blog about, Printcraft is easily the most exciting: it is the ONE design tool I *KNOW* a majority of my students can use immediately and masterfully. It’s only fitting that it’s the first one I profile here. So, NCS students, listen up! What is Printcraft? It’s a FREE, public Minecraft server on which anyone can build in a designated plot and then export their design to a file that our 3D printer can print. Watch this video for a 50 second overview. What do I need to use it? A Minecraft account / login (you need to have purchased the game) A computer (not sure if iPad or XBox apps will work, try and let me know) How do I use it? (everything you need to know is in this video) Or, follow these text instructions: Start Minecraft Click Multiplayer, add us1.printcraft.org to your server list and log in. Once you spawn, check out the cool, massive castle  (another pic) and instructional signs (walk forward, you’ll see them on the left). Walk through any of the glowing blue portals, look for an open plot, find the control panel and right-click the button to claim it. Build your masterpiece! You can return to the spawn point by typing /spawn and find your claimed lot by entering /home. When ready, right-click the PRINT button on the control panel. Follow the link that appears in text chat ("Click here to get your model,") a website will appear, download the file, bring it with you to school or have your parents send it to kjarrett@ncs-nj.org. Please keep in mind this is an OPEN PUBLIC SERVER. You can handle yourself … but if anyone says or does anything that makes you uncomfortable, TELL YOUR PARENTS OR A TRUSTED ADULT. Oh, and one last thing: STAY FROSTY. Now, GET BUSY.  Can’t wait to see what you design! Mr. Jarrett