Gaming for Learning

In this digital age it can sometimes be difficult to filter out the distractions that come with the power of technology.  Social media, viral videos, and video games can pull our attention away from more important tasks in our busy lives.  However, one innovative teacher in the Middle school is trying to take of one of those "distractions" and turn it into a powerful learning tool in his classroom.

In Mr. Gibault's grade eight Humanities class, students have been hard at work learning many concepts related to the growth of civilizations and the impact that growth has on the world at large.  Concepts such as supply and demand, and the importance of geography in the development of societies can be difficult to learn in a vacuum, so Mr. G (as his students refer to him as) turned to a video game called Sid Meier's Civilization V to provide context for these difficult ideas.

Civilization V is not your standard video game.  Students are put in charge of making all of the decisions for their developing civilization; where to expand new colonies, what new technology to develop, whether or not to make peace with other civilizations around them.  The game covers religion, economics, geography, science and technology, diplomacy and every decision the students make in the game has consequences for their fledgling civilizations.  They are constantly needing to weigh the costs and benefits of the choices they make.  But most importantly, they are seeing the concepts taught in class played out in a microcosm that they control.

That is the power in what is happening in Mr. G's room.  Students learn about key concepts by discussing and debating them in class,and then they get to experiment with them in a realistic environment.  In that way, Civilization V transcends a video game and becomes very much like what a lab is to science class: a chance to see learning in action.

If you want to know more about what has been happening with Civilization V, the students have been blogging about their experiences.  Take a moment to browse through the hard work they have done.

Star Wars Death Star has been rebuilt

Legoland has built a replica of the Death Star. See how they built it and what it can do!
You could try building it at home but you will need 500 000 bricks!

See the news story and video

Young scientists break down plastics with bacteria.

What impact can high school students make on the scientific community? Watch the TEDTalk and find out.

https://www.ted.com/talks/two_young_scientists_break_down_plastics_with_bacteria#t-273174

What kind of digital parent are you?

What approach do you use with your children when it comes to their use of digital devices and the online environment? 

Author Alexandra Samuels has taken the highlights from her article for The Atlantic magazine called "Parents: Reject Technology Shame" which has identified three distinct approaches. These trends came from a study of more than 10 000 North American parents.

To read her article: Parents: Reject Technology Shame.

Blog Post: What Kind of Digital Parent are you?

Today's Classroom

Full blog post: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3586 or bit.ly/gcouros8

Troubleshooting the Beach Ball of Doom

http://www.macworld.com/article/1151583/spinningbeachballofdeath.html

Basically what it comes down to is this:

The beachball shows that your Mac is busy. Something is hogging its processing power (whether hardware or software)

The problem could be that your computer does not have enough RAM. They come with 4 Mb of RAM and this is usually enough but sometimes more is needed. This would be the reason IT suggested turning off your computer and then turning is back on (clear the RAM). Also if you have the beachball, only using the one application (a bit of a pain - I know)

A likely reason could be, your Hard Drive is nearly full so the computer is finding it hard to place files, slowing the process down. The article suggests that you have at least 10 Gb of free space on your computers hard drive - the one that is designated the start up disk. This gives the computer space to move files around and be more efficient.

To check how much disk space you have, do the following:

• Go to Finder
• Click on Hard Drive
• Right-click the icon and select Get information  (This will tell you how much Hard drive space you have and how much is free.)
• If you don't have a lot of space free, you will need to either move files to an external source (external hard drive or to the Cloud)

They also suggest adjusting your standby mode  in the Power Saving settings. It is hard for the computer to process data while the hard drive is still waking up. You may have this setting set too low causing your hard drive to spin down frequently.

The Power Saving setting can be found under the Apple icon (top left of your screen) in the System Preferences option of the dropdown menu.

Google Summit Korea Presenters

The Summit is only 7 weeks away. This event is open to educators and parents and will be the best tech summit you will attend in 2015 - 2016! Read about some of the overseas presenters below and sign up for the "on your doorstep" event.

For SFS staff is is as simple as saying "yes" on the Google Form, with the DLC team doing the rest. (the 270 000 KRW will be deducted from your PD account in February - you won't feel a thing!)

Kimberley Hall

Melbourne, Australia

Kimberley is an enthusiastic Google Certified Teacher and authorised Google Education Trainer who recently departed her Secondary English, IT, History and Future Leaders classrooms to work for the Catholic Education Office in Melbourne. Being part of a fabulous eLearning leadership team in an Apple Distinguished School, with 1:1 iPads and laptops, ensured that Kimberley is experienced in empowering others to pursue their own learning journey to seeing technology as an essential ingredient in their teaching and learning. She was also the leading teacher for student voice, engagement and local and global connections which allowed her the chance to collaborate with students on real world projects including philanthropic work.

Kimberley has been invited to present at conferences across Australia and around the world as well as facilitating workshops for both students and parents throughout her local school community. She has also collaborated with educational publishers and departments to produce ICT based resources for schools across Australia. Kimberley believes that ICT enables transformation of practice, can be harnessed to promote higher expectations and create a community of learners.

• @kehall16
• +KimberleyHall

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Molly Schroeder

Director of Professional Development

Molly Schroeder is a Global Digital Age Learning Specialist, Google Certified Teacher and Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer. She presents nationally and internationally at conferences, workshops and conventions on how to integrate Google Apps and other emerging technologies into learning. Her background is in Elementary Education and she also holds a certificate in Educational Technology and Gifted Education.

• @followmolly
• +MollySchroeder

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Jim Sill

USA and Australia

After almost a decade in the video and television industry, Jim Sill hung up his producer hat and embarked on a career in education. Using his industry experience, he created an award winning video production program at El Diamante High School in Visalia, CA. By involving students in real world video projects, they garnered awards and recognition at the local, state, and national level. With experience producing local television and industrial videos for non-profit organizations, many of his former students now work in the industry.

As a Google Certified Teacher, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Education Trainer and Apple Certified Trainer, Jim leads professional development workshops on Google’s collaborative tools, social media, and video production.

In 2012, Jim was featured in Edutopia and their Teach2Learn series for his work in Building Career Skills in Video Production. He was also awarded The Computer Using Educator (CUE) Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009 and nominated for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Outstanding Teacher Award.

• @mistersill
• +JimSill

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Jennie Magiera

Digital Learning Coordinator

Jennie Magiera is the Digital Learning Coordinator for the [Academy for Urban School Leadership](http://auslchicago.org/), a network of 29 Chicago Public Schools, and previously taught math to 4th and 5th graders.

As an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher and Chicago Public School's 2012 Tech Innovator of the Year, Jennie has been working to redefine education through effective technology use. She explores how to leverage 1:1 devices such as Chromebooks and iPads to increase student metacognition, self-efficacy and creativity.

Aside from her students, Jennie's great loves in life are sci fi, mashed potatoes, Tabasco sauce, her dog and her husband. You can follow Jennie on Twitter at <@MsMagiera> or through her blog [TeachingLikeIt’s2999](http://www.teachinglikeits2999.com/).

• @MsMagiera

The Art Of Story Boarding

Storyboarding?!  Why do it?  What's the point?  It takes time I don't have ...

Storyboarding is an essential tool when working with any sort of movie project.  Some say it is storytelling with a pencil.  It is used primarily for planning out story, staging and timing.  A well planned storyboard will save hours of time filming and editing.  Time spent at this stage makes the rest of the process a smooth experience.

As students bounce ideas off each other, they refine their thinking, planning becomes more detailed and focused, which translates across to on-task filming and editing!  They go out with a plan, check off each shot as they capture it, eliminate mistakes in the field, and minimize time spent in the editing room.

Check out these students, hard at work on their storyboards ... you can see their thought process developing and refining as they work at their storyboard.

Students are thinking through how to best stage their shots to create maximum 

visual impact and clarity for the viewer.

What Are the Key Elements For A Storyboard?

The DLCs have a google presentation with notes to share if you would like to teach this in your class.

Story

• break the story down into the key points and arrange them into a timeline.

Staging - What camera angle and framing best tell the story?

A top down, closeup shot of a puppy.

Camera Angles
Extreme Long Shot

• also known as wide angle
• camera positioned some distance away from subject
• shows the environment the subject is in and their relationship to it
• often used to set the scene

Long Shot

• also known as full body shot
• shows character with a little space above and below head and feet

Medium Shot

• the "bread and butter" of filming
• much closer to the subject
• often cuts the character off between knees and waist

Close Up

• shows details
• may be a head and shoulders shot, or hand ... foot etc

Extreme Closeup

• moves in very close
• highlights something specific
• can be used to convey emotion (eg. eyes, white knuckles to indicate fear)

Camera Framing

• Top Down (and bird's eye view)
• Front On
• Side On
• Bottom Up

Movement
Panning

• camera moves with subject
• indicated on storyboard with a direct arrow

Zoom

• camera moves in or out on subject ("zoom in"/"zoom out") - normally from a mid to close shot
• indicated on storyboard with a final frame up and direction arrow

The DLCs have a google presentation with notes to share.  If you would like to teach this in your class, please contact a DLC for how we can best help you.

Looking for a scholarship?

Here is an app that could help find that scholarship you are looking for. See the link to their website below. This looks a useful app for high school students. We have not tested to see if it is useful for students from outside the US.
https://www.myscholly.com/

#TechTuesday Sessions Proving Popular

Tech Tuesday topics for November

These sessions are becoming very popular, with a number of faculty making this part of their weekly routine.

Although the incentive is the tech advice, the breakfast snack and coffee certainly help.

Look out for November Tech Tuesday sessions (events listed on the DLC Events calendar) and our Tech on Tap session taking place in early December.

Nate Walker ran a session on managing your Gmail inbox. 

He covered; using Google labs, labeling,  filtering emails as well as configuring the inbox.

Time Management Apps

Distracted from your work or looking at ways to become more efficient? Here are some free sites and apps that can help you to take control. This list was compiled by Randi Burns in the British School.

Self-Control (Mac) Blacklist websites for a specific amount of time

Cold Turkey (PC) Blacklist websites for a specific amount of time

Focus (Mac) Blacklist websites & apps for a specific amount of time

Time-Out Stressed out? Can't focus anymore? Reminder to take short breaks!

Trello Make lists, set reminders, share lists. Website and app (for your smartphone!) others to check out with similar functions are Wunderlist and/or Evernote

Idonethis! Compile group progress into one email. (pay if more than one person is signing up on  the account)

Below are Chrome extensions (if you use a different browser, simply google the 'firefox/safari/internet explorer' equivalent)

StayFocused (Chrome browser app )Blacklist whole websites or parts of websites for a specific amount of time

Momentum Set your daily goal then be reminded of it!

Time Tracker (Chrome browser extension) Keep track of your time on each website

Adblock Plus (Chrome browser extension) Block ads on websites (including social media like FB!)

Web of Trust (Chrome browser app) User ratings on website trustworthiness and child safety