Social network and the over 30...

Well the school year has started. I had a discussion with another parent about social networking. Did you know that facebook now has as many subscribers are there are people in the US?

Of course, parents love to complain about how the Internet is ruining their children. It reminds me of a Dylan song... times they are a' changin'. Here's a verse:

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a' changin'!

AUGH! Online Math Classes

I'm taking an Algebra II class this semester. Doing Math online is interesting. Here is one of the error messages I got today.



I tried plotting the lines as best I could, but where do you think 1.66666666 is on the X axis? I guess I wasn't close enough!

I'm taking the class to get the full "Student Experience".  I can honestly tell them that I know what they face with the online platform.   I really do like it.  The error above is the only glitch I've found so far.

Kim

Finally an MS!

I completed my studies at Stony Brook and I have my MS degree. I think I'm one of the oldest graduates this year, but I'm glad I finally got to it. This blog was originally started when I began my studies. Now that my course work is completed, I think I'll keep the blog going.

I modified the blog's headline to reflect this change.

Cloud Computing Revolution in K-12

After spending so much time trying to bring Cloud computing to my school district, it is nice to get some positive feedback. District Administration magazine just published a front page article on how cloud computing is an education revolution! Yea, someone agrees with me.




You can click the picture above to go to the magazine's website, or click this link for the article

The Start of a Tech Revolution

The article says:

and many believe K12 education will completely embrace this technology structure in the coming years, revolutionizing how educators, students and administrators use software, hardware and the Internet. But many are unaware of the paradigm shift that they are participating in every day: it’s called “cloud computing.

A Teacher's Guide to Cloud Computing - Part6

Part 6 –Setting Up Documents and Lesson Plan

Let’s take a look at how a teacher sets up an online document in google docs.

Document Type 1 – all students edit the same document.

Set up a document. Log into the google account and set up the bones of a document. You can start with just a heading, question or outline of the project.

Share the document. Once the document is set up the teacher needs to share it to the students. The teacher clicks the share tab and types in the google accounts of each student. To make this process faster, the teacher can create a “group” that contains all the e-mail addresses of the students in her class. The one group address will add all the students at once. The teacher has the choice to add the students to the document as “readers” or collaborators. A collaborator can edit and change the document. In most cases the students need to be access to the document as a collaborator.

Let the students know. The document will appear in each student’s document list. Although it appears that each student has a copy of the document, there is actually one document. The teacher can also send an e-mail to the students to let them know a document has been shared with them.

Once the assignment is finished, the teacher can remove the student collaborators and just make them readers. That way the students can not continue to work on the assignment after it is due. There is no need for the students to print their documents. The teacher can simply access the document online. Being “Green” is an added bonus. When the teacher is grading the paper, she can simply do it online. Like the teachers of old, she can switch to red “ink” so her comments stand out. The teacher can annotate, correct and mark the document. Since the students are still shared as readers of the document, they can see that teacher’s comments and grade. There is no need to print out assignments or hand them back.

Document Type 2 – each student produces their own paper.

In this example, the teacher has a document for each student. An efficient way to do this is to require the student to create the assignment document and share it with their teacher. The teacher would give an assignment like this:

Create a document in your google documents account called “Your name - how I spend my summer vacation". The document must be shared with the teacher as soon as it is created. Go to share document and add smith@gufsd.org as a collaborator immediately.

As the students start the assignment, their documents appear in the teacher’s document list. She can tell right away who has done their homework and who hasn’t. There will be a document for each student in the class. Even though the document shows who you are sharing it with, having the student name in the title makes it even easier. Here is how a teacher’s document list will look with student docs in the mix.

The documents appear in the teacher’s list when the students create and share the document. The teacher can sort the files into a “Summer Vacation” folder to keep that assignment together. As the student work on their themes, the teacher can see how they are progressing and offer comments and help to struggling students. She is also able to see a revision history for each document. She can see how often the student accessed the file and what was added each time. For students who are struggling, this can be a valuable teaching tool.

LESSON PLANS:

Lesson plans can be adopted for use with online Docs. Here is a standard lesson plan for Middle school science:

LESSON 1 - Middle School Science

This lesson uses Google Spreadsheet to have the students pull together shared data gathering.

Hazardous Chemicals at Home

Brief Overview:

Students find potentially hazardous common household chemicals and classify them into categories.

Curriculum: Science
Standards: 6-8

Goals: Students will learn that common substances in the home are chemical compounds. Students will learn that many household substances are dangerous (poison or toxic). Students will group household chemicals into categories according to whether they are toxic, corrosive or poisons.

Lesson: Following class discussion about chemical elements and compounds and chemical families, there will be a discussion about types of hazardous chemicals and categories of such.

Students will be asked to make a chart with categories of "toxic', "corrosive", and "flammable". We will discuss the meanings of these words and give a few examples in class.

Students will be asked to go home and search the cleaning closet, basement, garage, etc. and see what kinds of "hazardous chemicals" are at their homes. Students will be encouraged to use the computer to make a chart or graph showing their results.

The teacher sets up a Google Spreadsheet Document detailing the lesson. She shares the document with the class . Each student adds a row to the spreadsheet for each chemical they find at home. Student who do not have internet access at home, will bring a written copy and enter their findings into the spreadsheet at school. Here is the spreadsheet:

The students are collaborating on the project immediately. They can see what other student have entered. Once the table is completed, it can be published as the students' "Findings".

Conclusion –

School can change the way students do their computer work by joining the cloud computing boom. In researching this paper, it seemed like there was new information on this topic coming online daily. It is an exciting time to be in education and I’m hopeful that this new trend towards cloud computing will see some very positive benefits for school districts.

Notes about the production of the paper

I started researching this topic in the fall of 2007 after learning about Google applications in a class at Stony Brook in July of 2007. Initially I did not realize that the term cloud computing applied to storing student documents online, which is were my focus was.

I presented my initial research and findings at “the Campus of Excellence”, in June of 2008. This conference was held in the Canary Islands and gave an opportunity for graduate students to present their work to experts in the field.

The feedback I received was mixed. Richard J. Roberts, 1993 Nobel prize winner for Physiology, talked about the importance for scientific information to be posted on the web for all to share. I talked to him about the student’s posting their work and he was concerned that the student papers would “dilute” the more important information posted on the Internet.

A fellow graduate student from Canada, Annemarie Lesage, felt that students were opening themselves up for ridicule if they put documents online. She felt peer review was a bad idea.

But I pressed on. My school district was very supportive of me trying out cloud computing in our district. I was give a staff development day in September of 2008 to show the staff how it all worked. I created the accounts for teachers and staff and did the training.

I wish I could say that it has been an unqualified success. The problem is the staff doesn’t want to change. They like using Microsoft Office products and so they continue on they way they have.

I decided to present my finding at another conference. The A.S.S.E.T. Conference (Association of Suffolk County Supervisors for Education Technology) on Monday, March 16th, 2009 gave me another place to present my ideas. My talk was attended by many administrators as well as teachers. That group was concerned with saving money. Economics was not a huge motivator for me when Istarted this project, but it has become a big priority. Cloud computing can definitely save a district money.

So this project just kept going and going as more information on Cloud computing seemed to be coming out every day. Today as I was finalizing this paper for e-mail to my Dean, another white paper arrived in my mailbox from e-school news “Cloud Computing: The Economic Imperative”. I had to force myself not to read it and to submit this project as is. I think I have been living in the clouds for too long!

Bibliography

Hoover, J. Nicholas. "A Stake in the Clouds." Informationweek 3 Nov. 2008: 22-26.

D'Orio, Wayne. "Working Together". EdTech November/December 2008: 33-36

Johna Till Johnson, “Are Young Workers really all that different?”, Network World Magazine, October 27, 2008, 28

Horrigan, John B., Pew Internet and American Life Project, “Data Memo, Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services”, September 2008

Oishi, Lindsay, “Working Together”, techLearning.com, 11/22/2008,

Google Apps Education Deployment Pack, 2008, Google.com

National Geographic Society, “Inventors and Discoverers” National Geographic Society, 1988

Part 5 - Collaboration, Sharing, Peer Review and Project Based Learning

Cloud Computing - Part 5

In this section, I’ll address benefits that cloud computing can provide that the traditional computer/application model does not provide, namely increased collaboration.

There is a trend in education today to move students to project-based learning. Students are put in teams to solve a task. This collaborative learning style is shown to improve student
performance. Howard Mahoney, a California high School principal says, "[Students] can't just repeat what their teacher said. They have to learn how to work cooperatively in
a group". (D'Orio, Wayne. "Working Together". EdTech November/December 2008: 35 ). Having students work together to solve a problem is as a growing trend. Cloud computing is the perfect vehicle to
facilitate this collaborative learning style.

Teachers can set up spreadsheets, documents, presentations in Google docs. These documents are shared with student teams. Each student can edit, add to and access the document, from school or home. The teacher can check the revision history for any document and see which students are contributing and which students are not. It is a perfect vehicle for managed collaboration.

Another aspect of putting document online is providing peer review. Online documents can be shared. Envision Schools is a group of four charter schools in the San Francisco area. The schools are tasked with helping their students become the first in their family to attend college. Although the four schools have different themes, the all share a technology-rich environment. This environment combines project-based learning with regular exhibitions of student work. (D'Orio, Wayne. "Working Together". EdTech November/December 2008: 34 )

This student work can be easily shared by publishing it online using Google docs. The five core values that project based learning can foster are: inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection. Google documents makes collaboration and presentation much easier than with standard computer models.

Another aspect of putting student work online is that students are more accountable with an online document tool. Their work is tracked with a document revision history. Here is a screen-print of a documents revision history.

As you can see, each time the student logs into the document it is noted. If more than one student edits a document, their names go into the revision history as well. This revision history is a valuable tool for teachers to use with their students.

Teachers can access a student documents and look at the review history. Then can see how much time the student put in to the project, what date they started, what date they finished and what editing changes were made. If a document was accessed once, and a large block of text pasted into the document, it is a red flag that the student is plagiarizing (copying) other work. If a student is required too work in an online document, the teacher can access the document and check on the student’s progress, make comments and guiding the student along. If a document is a team project, each student who is assigned to the project has their own login. The teacher can see what students accessed the document, when and what changes they made.

Sharing information with Parents – Another Benefit

Moving student documents online not only benefits students, but also their parents. Parents can see how the work is graded and see the work that the students are producing. As a parent of three teenagers, I can testify that my children rarely bring their work home for me to see. If parents are included in the access to google docs, they can see what their children are doing.

All the teacher needs is a parent’s e-mail address and the parent can be added to any document as a viewer or collaborator. I personally would be reluctant to add a parent as more than a viewer. The old problem with parent’s doing their children’s work would take on new meaning. Of course with the revision history, the teacher could see just who (parent or child) was doing
the editing.

Sharing the documents with the Online Community

Another advantage of having the students do their work is the “share” feature. After all the collaboration is done and the document is finished, it can be shared. Google docs gives teachers the option of sharing document with just members of the school community or with
anyone with Internet access. For a student, having their work compared to the work or others is a powerful motivator. This Peer Review has been proven to increase student production.

If a student submits a writing assignment using paper and pencil, the usually is little or no revision Using the model that teachers set up the assignment and share it with their students is also valuable to assignments that require Internet research. Students tend to stray off topic when web surfing. A teacher can create a hotlist with links to websites. Since the document is already online, students can click to go to the places on thw Internet that the teacher wants. Students stay on task.

Using Google docs with your students also opens up another way too communicate. Since the document sharing, e-mail is all online, students have another way to ask questions of the teacher. If a student is too shy to ask in class, they can contact the teacher through the Google e-mail platform.

The online platform does not have to be the final “resting Place” for a google document. Google give the user many choices for storing the document. A document can be downloaded as a Word Document, web page, PDF file, plain Text, rich text or Open office. If a document needs to accessed while the computer is offline or if the document needs to be attached to an e-mail, it is simple to download the file and deal with it in the traditional ways.

Online documents also is beneficial in case of a disaster. When schools were destroyed in Hurricaine Kattrina in New Orleans, those districts who had set up online communications outsourced from their districts found a great benefit.

If a district sets up Google Docs and the district building is damaged or destroyed by a disaster, they still have their documents and work. Teachers can continue to communicate with their students through the google interface. A off-site solution like google docs provides this benefit

In the Next Section, we'll look at some sample lesson plans that you can use in your classroom.

A teachers' Guide to Cloud Computing - Part 4

The steps to applying the Google Apps cloud computing model at a school district

Since Google is offering an Education edition for schools for free, there are currently few other options that can compete. As technology moves forward, I'm sure this will not always be thecase. But for the timing of this paper and blog posting, early 2009, Google is the major player. Here are the steps that I've taken to bring Google Documents to my School District.

1. Apply for an educational Account at Google. You need to prove that you are an education institution to receive benefits from Google. Advertisement will be turned off on all pages for educational organizations. Google will also provide 500 free accounts for use with Google Docs. If you district needs more than 500 accounts, they can be purchased.

To apply for the account, you need to start at Google's website:
http://www.google.com/educators/p_apps.html

You will need a web address for your school. Google will be using that web address for
the name of your google domain. My school district was currently using Greenport.k12.ny.us to point to a web server that held the district’s website. The address was also used to point to a
Microsoft Exchange server where district e-mail was sent. Both of these services were housed in the school district and supported by district staff.

When you create a google document account, you also create e-mail accounts. Google has married the services together and google docs is no available without email. I did not want to disrupt the services that we already had running at the district, so I registered a second domain to use with our new google system. Gufsd.org (Greenport Union Free School District) was registed for $10 per year. Domain name registration has become a very cost effective thing to do.

We pointed the domain name to the google services. Google has many pages of instructions to help you do that.

After the account is set up with Google, you will need to create accounts for your students and staff. I downloaded names from my student information system and created a spreadsheet. I had to provide the first and last name, desired e-mail account, and initial password. Once this
was completed, the file was uploaded to google and all the accounts were created at once. Here is a sample of what the file looks like:

If you don't provide initial passwords, google will assign them.

You can read more about creating accounts at google’s website here:
Http://mail.google.com/support/vin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=12119

Once the accounts are created, you need to train your students and staff. My district held a “google Documents training session as part of staff development day. The teachers were shown how to log in and use their accounts. They were provided with the account lists and passwords of their students, so they could show their students how to access their accounts.

Changing the climate at a district can be difficult. At my September 30^th, 2008 staff training day, I trained 35 teachers on the use of Google Apps. Teachers were given their accounts, lesson plan ideas and a day of training on how it works. Student accounts were set up for each student in grades 7 – 12. Since Microsoft word licenses exist for most machines in the district, teachers had no incentive to switch over. As of this writing in April 2009, students are still doing their work in the traditional way using the Microsoft office that is installed on each PC.

In the teacher training session, there was a bit of confusion as to how the system worked. Teachers understood how to create new documents, change fonts, spell check and traditional word-processing tasks with no problems. But when it came to learning the collaboration tools,things didn’t go as smoothly. Collaboration tools are not available in traditional word processing documents. To work together on a document, it had to physically be place in a file on a floppy disk or flash drive. The document had to be transferred from one student to another so the student could add their part of the document. This type of document sharing was called “sneaker net” as you had to walk the document from one person to another.

I had one group of four teachers who set up a collaborative document. They were each viewing it on their screens simultaneously. For the training each teacher had their own laptop computer, and were logged into their own google account. Once teacher would make a change to the
common-shared document and then say to the other “did you get the message yet”, like they were using a sort of on-line chat room. I explained that they were editing one document. When one teacher would edit anothers words, it surprised them that the changes showed on all screens, not just theirs. I left the training thinking that they didn’t quite “get it”.

Once you’ve rolled out the accounts to staff, it is important to keep training.

I have pushed into several classrooms to teach the students how to use their google docs accounts. Students have taken to the technology is a very rapid way. Once they discover they can work on their documents at home, they are interested.

Google points out on their website how Google Documents can benefit schools. The google website says:

"Students, teachers and staff can share ideas more quickly and get things done more effectively when they have access to the same powerful communication and sharing
tools. Google Apps Education Edition lets tech administrators provide email, sharable online calendars, instant messaging tools and even a dedicated website to faculty, students and staff for free. There's no hardware or software to install or maintain, since everything is delivered through a standard web browser -- anytime,
from anyplace."

The bulk of what students use google docs for will be document processing. The computers that are provided for Student Use at my district are used mainly for internet research and document processing. Students use a set of tools when they use word processing software. I was concerned
that student would feel they are losing options and functions when their switch from a full-functioning wordprocessing program like Microsoft Office to a web-based program like Google Docs.

There are fewer menu options available in Google docs then there is in Microsoft Office.

However, I feel the set of tools that Google document provides to the students is adequate.

To test my belief that google docs tool set is adequate, I surveyed students and teachers to see what features of a WordProcessing program they use. I listed several WordProcessing features and asked whether or not students use them. There is a belief that people only use a small percentage of the features that their software applications provide. My finding bear that out.

The chart below detail what features students use. It is clear that Google Documents (the online model) provides all the tools needed to produce student work.

Feature	Percentage of Survey responders who use this feature	Provided by Google Docs	Provided by Microsoft Word
Spell Check	86.8%	Yes	Yes
Printing	86.8%	Yes	Yes
Change Font	78.9%	Yes	Yes
Insert Footnote	13.2%	Yes	Yes
Insert Image	52.6%	Yes	Yes
Insert table	23.7%	Yes	Yes
Insert Headers	39.5%	Yes	Yes
Insert Footers	13.2%	Yes	Yes
Create a Table of Contents	18.4%	Yes	Yes
Text Search and Replace	21.1%	Yes	Yes
Add Watermark	2.6%	No	Yes
Use Multiple Columns	26.3%	No	Yes
Alphabetize (sort) columns of Words	18.4%	No	Yes
Mail Merge	13.2%	No	Yes

As you can see from the table above, the features provided by Google Docs are adequate for most users in a K – 12 environment.

I also asked students if they work on document from multiple locations. An overwhelming amount, 74.3% do. But asked if they collaborate on document creation, a majority (60%) said they produce documents without the help of others.

My informal survey was facilitated by the website SurveyMonkey. If you wish to take
the survey, it is still online here:
Click Here to take survey

I have stopped analyzing responses, but withe the link above, you can see how the survey was taken.

The question on the survey about multiple document authors ties in with the trend in
education toward collaborative project based learning. In my next section of this paper, I will explore the benefits of cloud computing that are not available with the old model.

A teacher's Guide to Cloud Computing - part3

Part 3 - Using Cloud computing to benefit K - 12

According to InformationWeek. "Cloud computing promises to cut operational and capital costs, and more important, let IT departments focus on strategic projects instead of keeping the data center running."

In K-12 Schools, the benefits of cloud computing can greatly enhance the way student create documents and store their work. Let's look at six potential benefits for schools when the adopting this cloud computing model.

1. Reduced Costs. Since schools do not have to maintain the computers and programs in-house, the costs are lower. Software licensing fees do not have to be paid. Staffing for server maintenance, backups can be reduced.
2. Increased Storage. Schools have to limit the storage that students can access on the school servers. There is a finite amount of space on school-based file servers. With cloud computing, more space is readily available.
3. Highly Automated. Schools must constantly update software to keep pace with changes. Older versions of software that is installed on the school computers has to be updated to newer programs. Using an Internet-based, server the updating is done automatically. School personnel area no longer responsible for keeping software current. With the "Software stored on Local PC model", when a program enhancement comes out, the school is responsible for purchaing the upgrade, and then installing it on each computer. With the applications stored on a cloud server, this software updating is done automatically for the school
   
   
   
4. Flexibility. If the school wants to change the programs they are using, they can just sign-up with another service. They don't have to re-invest in new software and install it.
   
   
   
5. More Mobility. Students and staff can work on their document from anywhere there is an internet connection.
   
   
6. IT can shift focus. IT staff doesn't have to spend resources keeping server running.
   
   
   

So if this technology has all these benefits, how can we apply them to Schools?

Since Cloud computing is Internet based, you need to use a service provided by a third party. More and more companies are jumping into cloud computing, but there are still limited
options for schools. The most obvious place to start cloud computing in your school is with document creation and management.

There are two major companies providing “online document” services, Google and Zoho. As cloud computing becomes more prevalent, I’m sure this number will grow.

Google has gone out of their way to woo the Educational customer. They have provided a free google Document account for any school. The Google documents accounts comes with 500 free accounts for schools to give to their students and staff. Google turns off advertising for these school accounts.

Zoho also provides free accounts, but only for personal use. To create a group of accounts, you must purchase a plan. There have a discount for schools, but even with accounts as low as $5 per month, they can’t compete with the free model that Google offers.

So, the cloud computing model that I am exploring is with Google Apps (Applications). This platform is sponsored by Google and is being offered to Educational Institutions at no cost.

Since the platform is free, it can be set up at any school district without incurring a lot of expense. School can evaluate how the platform works without inventing any money. Google has put together a very good set of tools: e-mail, calendar, Web messaging, word processing, spreadsheets, and slideshow presentations. These applications take the place of Microsoft
Office which costs $350 per user for a corporate license and $49 per user for an educational license. Also, there's no need to back-up or transfer files from multiple computers.

There are other benefits to using Google docs that we haven’t explored yet. Google docs does allow students to store their work in the “clouds”, but there are other benefits as well.

Google points them out on their website:

• Documents are stored online. School do not have to invest in servers with large storage capacity to store student documents.
  

• Students can collaborate in real-time. Documents can be shared and edited between students.
  

• Access to the documents is controlled.
  

• Existing documents can be uploaded into the new Google Docs accounts.
  

• Each document has a revision history
  

• It is integrated with e-mail.

The fact that student can collaborate in real-time is something that was not available in the old, "everything installed on the PC"model. Now a group of students can all be editing the same document, from different locations. If a group of students has to do a group project, they can access the files from home and contribute from there, as long as they have an internet connection.

My school district, Greenport Schools, set up a google documents account. In the next section we’ll look at the process.

A teacher's Guide to Cloud Computing - part2

Part 2 - Cloud Computing Explained

Cloud computing is Internet based use of computer technology. The word cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet. Cloud computing is also synonymous with the phrase "Software as a Service (SaaS)". With cloud computing you are using the technology without knowledge or control over the infrastructure. You don't purchase software, but instead use a service that is installed on a server computer.

To explain cloud computing using another example, we'll go back many years. When electricity was first invented, companies had to generate their own electricity. When utility companies and municipal electric service came into existence, companies now could tap into the electric that was provided and not generate their own. All they have to provide is a way to tap into this shared electric service.

Cloud computer treats computer applications and documents that same as this electric model. Companies (or schools) don't have to provide their own computer applications or places to store them. They can tap into the document storage and applications of the Internet. All they have to provide is the means to tap into the service.

Cloud computing is an emerging technology where data -- documents, messages, photographs, computer programs (word processing and spreadsheets) are stored out in the Internet and not on an individual's computer. Cloud computing simply needs an internet connection to work. If you have to install new hardware or new software then it isn’t cloud computing.

Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, is quoted as saying "We're going to look back at this era and wonder how we did without this other kind of computer in the clouds". (J.
Nicholas Hoover, A Stake in The Cloud (Informationweek, 2008) 22. ) He is working to revamp the architecture of programs at Microsoft to take advantage of cloud computing technology. Windows and office, two of Microsoft's most important programs, will change to take advantage of cloud computing. According to Information week: "the next version of Office will offer a browser-based option
so users can read and edit documents online as well as the ability for users to collaborate using Web, mobile and client version of office."

Michael Nelson, a professor at Georgetown University is quoted assaying, "Cloud computing is going to change the way we do computing and not in 10 years... but in 4 or 5. " ("Google D.C. Talks:

Cloud Computing." Google Video. Online video clip. Youtube.com
Accessed on 04 November . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVb41AVL05k )

The Pew Research Center published a Data Memo in September 2008. In the memo they cite the following statistics:

CLOUD COMPUTING ACTIVITIES

Internet users who do the following online activities (%)

Use Webmail Services such as Hotmail, gmail, or Yahoo! mail	56%
Store personal photos online	34%
Use online applications such as Google Documents or Adobe Photoshop Express	29%
Store personal videos online	7%
Pay to store computer files online	5%
Back up hard drive to an online site	5%

Source: "Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services", John B. Horrigan, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Pew Research Center, September 2008.

So cloud computing is coming... next we'll explore how it can benefit K-12 Institutions.

A Teacher's Guild to Cloud Computing - Part1

Every year there is a new buzz word.   In technology it seems to be every month, there is something new for a teacher to keep up with. If students are doing it, teachers should know about it. 

The latest buzz in technology is cloud computing. Just what is cloud computing? Can students use the technology to help in their education? What do teachers need to know. 

This teacher’s guide to cloud computing is my attempt to answer some of those questions. If you read all the information in the guide and follow some of the exercises, you’ll see how to tap into cloud computing and use it in your classroom. 

A look back on Computers in the Classroom:

Since Personal computers have found their way into schools, the same model for

student computer use has applied:

1. A computer is placed in the classroom.
2. Software programs are loaded on the computer
   
3. The student types their work into the program on the computer.
4. A file is created and the work is stored on a locally, either on a hard
   drive, floppy or flash drive.

There are several problems with this system:

First, Students can and do lose their files.   If the student is working on a different computer than yesterday, the work may be on the hard drive of yesterday’s computer. If the student stored their work on a removable storage devise (Floppy, flash drive) they can lose it.

Secondly, the files can be in the wrong format. Students bring work in from home, but their file may be saved in WordPerfect format and the classroom has Microsoft Word. Or the student works on an Apple computer at home.  The file is too difficult for the teacher to open. 

The software industry is constantly changing. They have to come out with upgrades
and new features to keep people buying their product. Each program stores their files in their own format. If a student work in Microsoft Works as home, but at school there is Microsoft Office.  Office can’t open works files. Or student are using the latest at home – Office 2007, but at school there is still Office 2000, which can’t open the newer files. The technical incompatibilities can sidetrack even the most diligent student.

This is where “cloud computing” comes into play. Instead of storing the work locally, student work goes into the “clouds”.   Programs are not stored on the local computers.  The programs
are on the Internet (up in the clouds).  Students simply need to access the Internet to run their programs and access their files.

So Cloud computing can change the way school store student work. Before we explore
cloud computing further, let’s see how we got to where we are today with computers in the classroom.

Models of computer use at schools

The personal computer got started in 1980 with the IBM PC.  School quickly adopted computers for use in education, utilizing Apple II computers.  One of the first uses of computers in education was word-processing.  This is how word-processing on a computer is done in a school: 

1. A software  program is loaded on the computer
   
2. The student types their work into the program
   
3. A file is created and the work is stored on a local storage device (hard
   drive, floppy disk, flash drive).
   
   

 

Students at home have no access to the files or applications at school.  The work is stored on the computers. In the last few years, cheap flash drives have made carrying files back and forth easier. The work is stored on the drive and can be carried from machine to machine or
home. If the flash drive is lost, or if the student leaves it home, the work is not available.

The cloud computing model is different.  Student still sit at the computer to do their word processing, but the programs are not installed on the local machine.  Student work is stored in "the cloud" of the Internet.  This model allows students to get access to their work anywhere there is an internet connection.

Students at school save their work into the Internet based applications.   Students at home can also gain access to the document.  Since the work is not housed in the school district's computer network, the documents are available from anywhere with an Internet connection. 

Now that we've seen how our student can use cloud computing, in the next blog post, we'll dig deeper in just what cloud computing is.

Asset Technology Conference

Tomorrow is the Asset technology conference on Long Island. I'm presenting "Cloud Computing for the K-12 teacher.




Here is my presentation. I'm presenting session one, so I don't have to worry about it all day. The presentation is a Google Docs presentation. I've embedded it here in my blog, but in the presentation is an embedded video. Amazingly, it all works.

I'll let you know how it goes.