Observation and self-reflection in the classroom

SELF-REFLECTION

There are many ways teachers and administrators can self-reflect in a school setting. Janelle Cox, in a TeachHub blog post, offers a few suggestions for collecting information for self-reflection.

Self-reflective journal: After each lesson, simply jot down feelings and reactions about the lesson and also include observations about the students. This can easily be done in a paper notebook or with a journaling tool such as Penzu which is available online and for both the iOS and Android operating systems, syncing the information between the online tool and the app.

Student observation: Having students complete a simple survey with their thoughts about the lesson can provide valuable information for the teacher, too. This can be a paper survey that is handed out, or students can enter information into a Google Form or SurveyMonkey online survey. Here is one sample survey which has students evaluating teacher performance.

Peer observation: Having a peer observe a lesson can provide useful information for self-reflection. A peer observation can be one of two types — a whole lesson observation with a follow-up discussion about objectives, materials, student engagement, classroom management, and effectiveness — similar to one an administrator might complete. The second type of peer observation is one in which the two educators meet ahead of time, identify a certain component of teaching or learning for observation, and follow-up with a targeted discussion about this one component. An example of these specific components would be wait-time, mentoring, asking higher-order thinking questions, or anything else the teachers wants to work on.

Video recording: Video recording is probably the method that works best for both observation and self-reflection. Instead of having a peer review the lesson, the educator can simply video record the lesson and self-reflect and self-correct while viewing the recording.

There may be other times when a teacher is just interested in reflecting on his/her speaking and questioning skills in the classroom. An audio recording, rather than a video, can be just as useful in this case. One audio recording app that allows unlimited recording length, is the iRig Recorder app, available both for iOS and Android. The teacher can just press record and carry the smartphone around or put it in a pocket, and the entire lesson can be recorded!

Jordan Catapano, in a TeachHub blog post entitled “A technique for self-reflection: Video recording“, offers a short list of questions educators can ask themselves while viewing a recorded lesson.

1. How loudly do I speak?
2. Do I get off track at all? How often?
3. Do I do anything annoying or distracting with my voice, gestures, posture, etc.?
4. How clear are my instructions for activities?
5. How clearly do I communication the big ideas in a lesson?
6. Am I interacting with students effectively?
7. What are students doing as I am speaking?
8. Does my method of instruction seem appropriate for the content and goal I have in mind?
9. How much time do I spend talking about things that don’t need to be talked about?

One way for teachers to internalize these questions and practice self-reflection is to view other teacher-recorded lessons. These can be found on the Discovery Education in Action site, in the video section of the Teaching Channel site, and by searching on YouTube.

HOW TO CREATE A SELF-REFLECTION VIDEO

One way to record a lesson is to simply set up a camera or smartphone on a tripod and record the entire lesson from a fixed location. At first, students will be painfully conscious of the camera and either try to avoid it or “ham it up”. However, once a camera has been in a classroom for a period of time, it becomes “invisible” to the students.

One of my favorite instructional videos for learning the basics of how to successfully video a classroom lesson comes from the Teaching Channel titled Using Video to Improve Practice: Video 101. Richard Hart, a teacher and TV reporter in the area of media technology, provides tips that are applicable to any video creation. He talks about camera location, how to hold the camera and stop any shaky movement, panning and zooming, and how to effectively record audio. This great video, found on the Teaching Channel, showcases a teacher who uses this simple method to record in her classroom. For those that want additional specifics on more formal recording of video in a classroom, this working white paper by Daniel Kilburn offers additional information and a more technical overview of the process.

There are new technology devices that can provide a better classroom recording experience for reviewing by teachers and administrators. The 360° spherical panoramic cameras, like the Ricoh Theta S, can be set up on a tripod in the center of the classroom and will record everything in all directions for up to 25 minutes. Below is a 360° video I took of a BreakoutEDU session at iPadpalooza in June of this year.  Notice you can drag the video in any direction with your mouse or finger. Imagine being able to see what went on behind you while you were teaching!

The toolkit for taking these videos includes the camera, a tripod, a smartphone and, if you want to view the finished product in virtual reality mode, a Google cardboard head-mounted display.

Another new technology tool that can be used to record a classroom lesson for both observation and self-reflection is Swivl. There are two main components of Swivl– the Swivl “robot” that follows the movement of the teacher and a small, handheld, wireless device (called a “marker”) that is carried to both have the Swivl robot follow the teacher and for recording audio. Swivl is best used with a tablet versus a smartphone, and the software is available for both iOS and Android. The recordings can be saved to a cloud service to share with others, or they can  be kept private for self-reflection. There are a few options for additional accessories, like a wider view camera that attaches to the tablet and additional software for creating presentations and lessons with Swivl.

Here is a short video overview of how Swivl works.

Introducing Swivl from Swivl on Vimeo.

While viewing the recordings from Swivl, the teacher or administrator has the opportunity to leave time-stamped comments for the observation results or self-reflection thoughts. Multiple teachers can leave comments on a single recording, so Swivl would also be a nice support tool for a PLC that is focusing on improving teacher practice.

Do you have ideas and thoughts on other observation or self-reflection techniques? Do you take advantage of these methods or others to self-reflect on a regular basis? Share with us on Twitter! #kathyschrock

iOS utility apps for the classroom

As you begin another school year, I wanted to share some of my favorite iOS apps and utilities. Many of these tools can be used by you as you develop lessons and units, and by students as they utilize the resources found in the Discovery Education collection.

I do my best work in coffeeshops. Besides being a lover of good coffee, the background noise in a coffeeshop is not distracting to me. It actually acts as “white noise” and helps me concentrate on the task at hand, whether I am reading an article, grading papers, or creating a presentation.

When I cannot get to a coffeeshop, I have found an iOS, Android, and online app called Coffitivity, which provides you with the soundtrack from a morning crowd, lunchgoers, and university students at a coffeeshop. It truly is as good as the real thing! Only the latte is missing!

Students might benefit from a background noise generator, too, when they are writing, producing, or reading. White Noise Free (available for both iOS and Android) includes 40 sounds that students can combine, save that mix, and even record their own background loop and combine it with the sounds included in the app. The sounds included run the gamut from an Amazon Jungle to an air conditioner to a vacuum cleaner, and many more! The app also includes a clock so students can keep track of time.

When students are downloading image assets from Discovery Education, oftentimes they are working on a small-group project. If everyone has an iPad and the iPads are new enough to be able to AirDrop, it is easy to share these assets to the person in the group that is curating the items. There are a few other ways I like to use, too. I often create a public Padlet page for students to upload and download assets from/to one another.

There is also a great app called Flick. which is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone,  Mac, Windows, and Linux devices. This app allows users to seamlessly share photos, notes, contacts, and documents between any of these platforms. Flick. is a great solution for a BYOD initiative or a classroom with a mix of devices. Users simply put an asset on the stage and “flick” it to another device.

Students love to try out different keyboards for their iOS devices. Tom Hanks, the actor, is a huge typewriter fan. He created an iPad/iPhone app called Hanx Writer which comes complete with the clackety sounds of a traditional typewriter as well as the return key to start a new line of typing. The Hanx Writer will have them typing out essays in no time! The completed typed paper can be shared in any number of ways.

Sometimes you want to have a random choice generator in the classroom. Decide Now! allows you to customize the items on this spinner wheel. You can add student names, classroom tasks, choices for research projects, etc. The number of labels on the wheel is unlimited! You can even import labels from a list on your iPad’s clipboard. The “carnival wheel” clacking sound and choice of color schemes are included. Try Decide Now! Lite to test out the features before you buy!

Another handy item to have in the class is a count-down timer. As a teacher, you can use it to keep the class on task and students can use it when working in groups to limit discussion lengths or as a prompt when presenting. The Presentation Timer app is as simple as it comes, but includes the important component of being able to set up to three reminder bells during the time period. This would come in handy for me when I am running workshops, too, since I am always giving the time remaining for the participants’ projects!

Having Word, Powerpoint, Excel and the iWork suite on your iPad is great, but one of the limitations of the iPad versions of these tools is the limited number of fonts. I purchased the AnyFont app and am able to add almost any font to the iPad!  The fonts get added from a Mail attachment or via  iTunes file sharing. Here is a brief overview of AnyFont from the creator. As you can see in the image below, I installed several hand-written fonts to use when sketchnoting!

Ever spent time in your class looking for a coin to flip or cutting up drinking straws into different lengths to have students take a turn or decide on something? The Undecided app includes six decision-making utilities– up to 6, six-sided dies, a coin for coin flipping, a spinner, a straw pull,  the “rock, paper, scissors” option against another student or the computer, and a random number generator. You can also try out the Undecided Lite app, which includes some of full-featured utilities of the paid version, to see how it works

A useful online utility that works perfectly with the iPad is the AWW (A Web Whiteboard) tool. For no cost, it allows you to create an online whiteboard, share it and work on it collaboratively with students. The finished project can be downloaded as an image or shared via its URL. If you purchase a subscription, the boards can be saved. One other great use of this app is for creating sketchnotes from any device, but it can also be used for brainstorming, a ticket to leave, or any number of activators and summarizer activities. 

I take tons of screenshots in order to get an image into my camera roll, and the Screenshotter app is a great app for any iOS user! Every time you take a screenshot, the Screenshotter recognizes it. When you open the Screenshotter app, you are presented with the image for every screenshot you have taken. Once you select the ones you want to move, you are prompted to create a folder in iCloud (or use one that you already have created) and move the images to that folder. Or, once the items are selected in the app, you can also use the iOS share button to AirDrop the images, email them, Tweet them, and send them anywhere you have access to on your device.

One of the iOS apps I depend on is IF by IFTTT. This is one app in a suite of four available from this creator. (The others are DO Camera, DO Note, and DO Button.) IFTTT is short for “If This, Then That”. The IF app allows you to create connections (“recipes”) between popular apps you already use. Some of the apps that you can connect together are Facebook, Dropbox, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, Tumblr, Craigslist, Evernote, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, Pocket, LIFX, Square, Best Buy, eBay, Etsy, Automatic, littleBits, Scout Alarm, Misfit, UP by Jawbone, Withings, Reddit, Digg, ESPN, Pushbullet, and 190 more! There are also ways to to connect your iOS device to your Fitbit, Nest Thermostat, and Philips Hue, among other physical devices.

The IF app is very useful for students as they are collecting assets to use in a project. There are hundreds of already-created recipes they can use and they can also create their own from within the app. Some of the recipes I use include–

• When I post to Twitter, send the tweet to a Google Spreadsheet
• Email me any Tweets I favorited in the previous week as a digest at the end of that week.
• Control my WEMO lightbulb with my Amazon Echo.

When I open the IF app, I am also presented with some recommended recipes I might want to use, as seen below. Students can automate many tasks and curate information from various social media and commercial sites in a single place to make it easy for them to keep up with topics they are exploring or are personally interested in.

There are hundreds of useful utility apps and tools available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. What are your favorites? Share on Twitter! #kathyschrock

Creating a 360° image with a cell phone

I have been experimenting with different phones and apps for creating a 360° spherical panoramic image. Below are my recommendations. In addition, once your students or you create a 360° image, please ask to join my Flickr group, 360 Images for Schools, Creative Commons-license your image so others can use it, and upload the image to the Flickr group.

iOS

360 Panorama app for iOS

I have found the $1.99 360Panorama app works the best for the iOS devices. If you take your time, and make sure to move your feet carefully as you take the images you need to take, the resulting spherical panoramic image will work great with a Google Cardboard viewer or online at ThinglinkVR, Roundme.com, or Facebook. You may have to resize the image to a 2:1 resolution (i.e. 1000 pixels by 500 pixels) via an image-editing app for some hosting sites. In your image-editing app, just pick to not constrain the current resolution before resizing.

You can also use the Google Street View app on iOS and save the resulting spherical panoramic image to the iOS Camera Roll. You don’t have to put it up on a Google Map.

ANDROID

 Of course, Google Street View is a good option on the Android phones, too. Again, you can decide to save it to the Gallery on the phone and not share it on Google Maps.

The Nexus phone came out with a camera app (Google Camera) that included a spherical panoramic image as a built-in option right in the camera app itself.

Choices for the use of the Google Camera

It is possible to install this camera app on an older Android phone with at least the v.4 operating system and it will not replace the existing camera…just add an additional one. And it does not require rooting your phone!

The instructions can be found on this page, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq1Hzend_4g, underneath the video or on this page. (Do this at your own risk! However, it worked perfectly for me on both an HTC One with Android 4.4.2 and a Samsung Galaxy 5 with a newer operating system.)

Remember, if your Android phone does not have an accelerometer and gyroscope, it cannot create a photosphere. The less-expensive Android phones do not usually have these built-in hardware features, and you should check your cell phone manufacturer's full specifications to determine whether it does.

Don’t forget to share your 360° images with other educators and students via the 360 Images for Schools Flickr group! And, take the time to look at the resources on my AR/VR Web page.

Online tools and the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible Touchscreen

I was provided with a HP Pavilion x360 Convertible Touchscreen laptop to put through its paces and review. I have decided to consider its use as a student- or school-owned notebook in a 1:1 environment in a middle or high school. 

OVERVIEW OF THE LAPTOP

I am a huge fan of the 13.3" form factor in a laptop, as this HP Pavilion x360 Convertible sports. With its 1920x1080 pixel resolution and the bright screen, it has enough screen real estate to work smartly with multiple windows open. The screen is also a touchscreen, which adds to the ease of use in notebook mode. And, with its beautiful gold color, it will definitely stand out in a crowd!

I really love the convertible feature of the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible! The screen folds all the way back and becomes a Windows tablet! Windows 10 now includes an option to "turn on tablet" mode when the screen is folded back, so everything works great with a finger or stylus.

In addition to folding all the way back on itself to to become a tablet, the 360° hinge allows others ways to use the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible -- for viewing and playing. It can easily be set-up in "viewing" (stand) mode and the screen can be shared with others while viewing online content, or the student can put it in "playing" (tent) mode to use touch to navigate through online games or interactive Web sites.

With its Intel i5-6200U 2.3GHz Processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB solid state drive, the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible is virtually instant-on and off and is speedy to open programs, render videos, and surf the Web. The speakers are loud and clear and the inclusion of a wide-angle webcam, an SD slot, three USB ports (2 USB 3.0 and 1 USB 2.0), an HDMI port, an audio combo jack, a volume control on the edge of the laptop, a backlit keyboard, and an 8 hour battery life, the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible would make any student happy!


THE HP PAVILION X360 AND ONLINE CREATION TOOLS

I have a web page on my Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything site that deals specifically with online creation tools. With the ability to work, save, and access projects in the cloud, students truly can get to their assets 24x7.

The HP Pavilion x360 Convertible, because of its specs, especially the multi-angled touchscreen, the long battery life, and speedy performance, is one laptop that really shines using online tools. In addition, by being a "real" laptop with ann SSD drive, students can easily have the gathered assets they need to pull into an online tool handy.

I used the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible to create four projects, outlined below.

Online Tool 1: Canva  

Canva is an online desktop publishing tool. The number of graphics templates for a student's every need, as well as hundreds of built-in assets to use, makes Canva a perfect tool for creation of graphics for use in student projects, from blog posts to infographics. I used the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible in touchscreen tablet mode and Canva to create the image showcasing the four different modes of this laptop that you seen above.

Online Tool 2: Awwapp

A Web Whiteboard (AWW) "is a touch friendly, online whiteboard that lets you use your computer, tablet, or smartphone to easily draw sketches, collaborate with others, and share them with the world." One of my current passions is teaching educators to work with students in the area of visual note-taking, also called sketchnoting. I have resources and links on this page.

I decided to complete one of the activities I have teachers do in my sketchnoting workshop, using the touchscreen tablet mode of the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible and the online Awwapp tool. The exercise (learned from Mike Rohde's book) is to practice drawing faces, using only simple lines and dots. Below is my sketchnote. I used the Windows 10 Clipping Tool to take the screenshot.

Online Tool 3: Popplet

Popplet is available an an iPad app but is also available online. It is a mind-mapper which allows the inclusion of images and text. It can also be used as a storyboarding tool, a concept mapper, for the development of the parts of an essay, the outlining of the research cycle, character maps, and much more. I have additional information about mapping assessments and mapping tools on this page. 

Here is a Popplet I created using the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible in tablet mode.

Tool 4: Videoscribe

Although Videoscribe is not an online tool, I wanted to try out the Windows version of it. I usually use it on the Mac and it is one of my favorite tools!  I used Videoscribe on the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible to create this little promo for the laptop!

If you are looking for a reasonably-priced laptop that has many of the newest features, including a bright touchscreen, four modes of using, a great sound system, speedy performance, and a long battery life, check out the HP Pavilion x360 Convertible!

This is a sponsored post on behalf HP and Best Buy.
I received compensation for this post, however all opinions stated are my own.

Using Pokemon Go in the classroom

How can you utilize the game "Pokemon Go" in your classroom in a meaningful way? Student excitement about this game can be easily harnessed to support all kinds of fun and pedagogically-sound lessons and activities!

Before we start, and if you have not yet played the game, there are some vocabulary words you might need.

VOCABULARY

Pokemon Go: an augmented reality, GPS-based, mobile device game which uses real-world locations to gather virtual items

Pokemon: the characters in the game you seek to capture and use for other purposes

Pokeball: the item you need to capture Pokemon

Pokestop: Place you locate in the game and visit to gather Pokeballs

Pokedex: An incomplete encyclopedia given to you in the game that is populated with details of the Pokémon as you capture them

Gym: a specific place in the game where you can have your Pokemon battle for control

Journal: a time-based list of your activity in the game

Pokemon trivia: Pokemon is short for "Pocket Monsters"

APA style guide for "Pokemon Go" information.

I doubt if there are many Pokestops or Pokemon in or around your school. And I'm not suggesting playing the game in your classroom. However, after playing it myself for the past few days, I've had some thoughts on how to use the game to expand the learning and target some of the literacies we want students to attain.

Some of the following activities require students to take some extra time and gather information as they're actually playing the game. Others they can complete after they're done for the day.

VIRTUAL REALITY IMAGES

Many of the Pokestops in the game showcase a local business, attraction or historical site. Since students  already have their phone in their hands, have them use the Google Street View app to take a 360° spherical panoramic image of the Pokestop. Having these images to share with others will both promote community pride as well as allow immersion in the Pokestop via a Google Cardboard Viewer or via the Ricoh Theta S app. By taking the time to create and share the 360° images, students will become familiar with some of the cool sites in their community.

Here is a sample of a 360° image taken at a site of a Pokestop. Click and drag your mouse around the image to view it. (Direct link)

As you or students create 360° images, please consider Creative Commons-licensing them for use by others, joining my Flickr group called 360° Images for Schools and uploading them!

• Google Street View app (iOS) (Android) (Windows Phone)
• Theta S App (iOS) (Android) (Windows) (Mac)
• Google Cardboard app (iOS) (Android)
• Kathy's Katch Discovery Education blog post: Virtual reality in the classroom

DIGITAL STORYTELLING

One of the neat features of the "Pokemon Go" game is, when students find a Pokemon in the wild, they can turn on an augmented reality version of their mobile device screen which puts the virtual Pokemon into the live scene where their camera is facing.

Students can then take a screenshot of the image. By saving the screenshots to their camera roll, students will have access to them later to use in other classroom projects, such as creating a digital story about their adventures.

Don't forget- students will need access to tools for planning, preparing, and producing their digital story. Ideas and successful practices for creating digital stories can be found on my digital storytelling site.

Easy digital storytelling creation tools

• Adobe Spark Video: easy-to-use video creation tool
• Explain Everything: screen casting tool which allows students to speak, mark-up, and save as a video
• Pixntell app: One to five images with student recording behind them
• Adobe Spark Post: single image with overlaid text

DATA LITERACY

The Journal component of the game automatically records the time and date of the events as they occur -- whether it be collecting Pokeballs or capturing a Pokemon. Students can use the data to figure out the average number of events per day or to graph their allocation of items from a Pokestop. 

Using data they have collected and analyzing it will help students start to become familiar with the data literacy skills of data processing, data manipulation, data presentation, and data analysis. A great rubric for data literacy analysis by Andrew Churches can be found here.

Another treasure trove of data can be found in the Pokedex. Each Pokemon that is captured includes an information card, including height and weight (in metric). This data can be analyzed and manipulated for any number of measurement activities. (i.e. How many of which Pokemon would you need to stretch all the way across the US? What would be the total weight of all of them?) In addition, students could use Airtable (iOS app) to create their own relational database of their "Pokemon Go" data and become familiar with some of the features of a database (i.e. tagging, searching, sorting, etc.)

MAPPING

Encourage students to either gather the GPS points of their finds as they play the game or have them collect that info when they are done for the day. One site that makes this easy is http://www.gps-coordinates.net/ Students can search for a location on Google Maps from this site and then copy the GPS coordinates that show up.

Once students have this GPS data, have them locate the GPS point in Google Earth, add the screenshots for the Poketops or areas they visited in the game, and have them create a "Google Pokemon Go Trip". Students quickly become aware they are actually using real-life places in the game and can share their journeys with others. To learn how to start this process, instructions for the Google Lit Trips project will help you out!

INFOGRAPHICS

Use the data compiled from the "Pokemon Go" Journal and any additional information students collect (for instance, the number of steps they take in any one day) to have students create an infographic using one of the online tools or mobile apps. I have lists of these apps and tools both on my Guide to Everything Infographics page as well as in a previous Discovery Education Kathy's Katch blog post.

Infographics should have an eye-catching image at the top with the most important data and then include secondary and tertiary data for those want to know more. Shaelynn Farnsworth provides some solid tips about teaching the basics of infographics to students here.

I used Canva to create a health-related infographic based on the number of steps I have taken while playing the game.

SKETCHNOTES

Have students write a short piece about their personal reflection of the game. How long did it take them to learn how to play "Pokemon Go"? Have they joined any groups of people searching for rewards? What do they like best about playing? Least?

Have students exchange their writings or share a Google doc with another student. Each student should create a sketchnote from the writings of the other. Provide students with the basics of sketchnoting before you begin this project (i.e. text connectors, containers, shading, color, format) and then have them share the completed sketchnote with the author of the original piece. This can help students both practice visual notetaking, as well as learn how to pull out the most important points from a piece of writing. 

I have much more information about sketchnoting on my Guide to Everything Sketchnoting in the Classroom page.

POKÉ PODCASTS

Once students have reflected on their sketchnotes and reworked their essay on the topic, have each student create a short podcast about their experience with "Pokemon Go". Embed these podcasts in your class website and parents can enjoy the excitement that will definitely come through as each student reflects on their time with the game!

Podcasting tools

• Audioboom
• AudioPal
• iPadio
• Podomatic

Do you use Pokemon Go in the classroom? Share tips with us on Twitter! #kathyschrock

Sketchnoting revisited

Back in December of 2013, I posted a blog entry titled Sketchnoting: A Primer . I had recently been introduced to the topic of sketchnoting and this mode of visual notetaking was just starting to be talked about and tried in schools. That article provided some of the research behind why one should sketchnote, including the important work done by Paivio, Begg, and Sadoski in the development of the Dual Coding Theory. The Dual Coding Theory “was the first systematic, scientific attempt to bridge two traditions in philosophy and psychology: the imagery tradition and the verbal tradition.” (Sadoski, 2009).  The research discovered that the brain processes information using both visual and verbal cues and makes connections between them.

Since my blog post in 2013, teachers have been experimenting with sketchnoting on their own and teaching students how to take visual notes. There are many more resources to look at, learn from, and practice with today!

Kevin Thorn, on his blog, offers a great definition of sketchnoting by defining it as “a form of visual writing by expressing ideas, concepts, and important thoughts in a meaningful flow by listening, processing, and transferring what you hear by sketching either by analog or digital means.”

COMPONENTS OF SKETCHNOTING

 The UXmastery blog breaks the components of sketch noting into planning, listening, processing, and drawing.  Let’s talk about the planning process.  The first thing to do is to decide on your tools. A good notebook and a thin line marker or an iPad app and a drawing drawing stylus are the two basic choices.

 Next, they suggest you practice sketchnoting a TED talk (or a Discovery Education Streaming segment) to help you become adept at sketchnoting a presenter’s talk or content-based video.  Continue on your own to practice basic drawings for things that might pop up in your area of interest  such as basic shapes, basic objects, logos, or brand names. One well-known sketchnoter, Mike Rohde, contends you can create any sketchnote by using just a circle, a square, a triangle, a line, and a dot.

The next part of the planning process is to think ahead. Look at the conference or presentation program ahead of time and populate your sketch with the presenter’s name, the date, the title of the talk, and sign your name to the sketch. You might also want to decide what format you will use — a grid, a map, or a flowchart — and set up the structure on the page.

Brad Ovenell-Carter states that most presentations, meetings, and lectures flow in one of three ways and you should layout your page to match the presentation.

1. People speak in a narrative. First this  happened and that happened.
2. In a meeting there is usually an agenda so there might be a section on the page for each short topic.
3. If a team is brainstorming or you’re just pulling key points from a presentation, then notes usually can wind up anywhere on the page that makes sense to you.

A GOOD sketchnote captures the meaningful bits as text and drawings.  A BETTER sketchnote uses composition hierarchy to give structure to the content and brings clarity to the overall narrative of the lecture.  And the BEST sketchnotes express a unique personal style and add editorial comments on the content– these are entertaining and informative all at once.

PROCESS OF SKETCHNOTING

The actual process of creating the sketchnote takes some practice too, but there are some basic things to remember and Craighton Berman outlines these in a great article entitled “Sketchnotes 101: The Basics of Visual Note-taking”.

• Text – When recording what is being said, capture the meaningful quotes and key points in text.
• Containers – Simply putting words inside shapes brings structure to a page.
• Connectors – Your should connect ideas and pieces of stories with arrows and lines.
• Frameworks – try to use your own design structure to help you better understand your thoughts later.
• Icons – Use icons for objects and concepts to represent an idea as simply as possible
• Shading – Adding simple shading can add contrast to your sketchnote.
• Color – Use color to differentiate and distinguish information.

LESSON IDEAS

• Carol McGuire provides a great overview of how to begin the use of sketchnotes in the classroom in this strategy from the Discovery Education series “Spotlight on Strategies“. (PDF version / Vignette version)

• This teacher used a science lab setting for grade 5 students to sketchnote, using the iPad, for documenting the process and results of a science lab

• Katherine Bilsborough was inspired to have students work with sketchbooks in her high school ELA classroom, and has a nice overview of how to introduce the process of sketchnoting.
  
• Hall and Russac work with teachers and have students visual note-taking in the elementary grades. Grade 2 students sketchnoted about communities. Grade 3 students sketchnoted about the rain forest. And, in grade 5, students conducted research and drew a sketchnote from their research notes.
• And, remember, I also have much more information on my sketchnoting page on Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything!

Have you tried sketchnoting yourself? Have you had students create sketchnotes? Do you have any samples or lesson plans to share on the topic? Share on Twitter! #kathyschrock

Virtual Reality in the Classroom

This post originally appeared on my Discovery Education blog, Kathy's Kathy, in April of 2016 and is published here with permission.
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We hear a lot of talk about the use of augmented and virtual reality in the classroom to support teaching and learning. Here is a simple explanation showcasing the difference between them.

Augmented Reality

One way to experiment with and learn more about  augmented reality is with the use of the iPad and the app Quiver (previously known as colAR Mix). This app includes design pages to print out and color, and then, when viewing the page through the iPad app, the page “comes to life” and is interactive, as seen below. In addition, students can even record the interactivity as seen in the video below. 

Virtual Reality

To learn more about virtual reality, the use of Google Cardboard is a great way to start. Although the definition above of virtual reality includes the words “alternate world”, I like to describe it as immersion into another place or space.

As an early adopter of  new technologies, I have assembled and experimented with a Google Cardboard device since 2014. For those of you not familiar with the Google Cardboard technology and what it can do, it is really quite simple to get started. You need three things. First, you need a smartphone. Second, you need a Google Cardboard-certified viewer. The smartphone is housed in the viewer and the viewer includes two lenses that focus on the smartphone screen.

Some Cardboard-certified viewers I own include:

And thirdly, using an app on a smartphone, you simply load a VR image, game, or movie that shows up on the cell phone screen looking something like this. You then place the smartphone in the Google Cardboard viewer.

When you view a 360° spherical panoramic image with Cardboard viewer, you are able to move your head up and down, turn your body around, and view a 360° aspect of the image, as if you were standing where the image was taken.

To get a feel for this without Google Cardboard, there are now Web sites that allow you to use your mouse or finger to move a spherical panoramic image to interact with a 360° view. It is not as immersive as looking through a Google Cardboard device, but click on this URL and use your mouse to move the image left, right, up and down to get a tour of my geodesic dome home!

There are are also Web sites and smartphone apps that allow the viewer to both manipulate a 360° image (like above)  as well as view the same image using a Google Cardboard device for an immersive experience. Using your smartphone, download the Round.me app for iOS or Android, search on “Cape Cod Houses” and, when you see the full image of the interior of my house on your smartphone screen, you will also, for a short second, see a little Google Cardboard icon. If you miss the icon, which fades away quickly, just lightly tap your smartphone screen to make it appear again, and then tap the icon. You will see the split view of image, and can load your phone into your Cardboard viewer, and now have an immersive tour of my home!

DiscoveryVR

In addition to static images, Google Cardboard allows you to be immersed in a video, as if you were there. You can move away from the view of the camera to look around at anything you want! Discovery has begun to create virtual reality experiences and tours through their Discovery VR project. In this project, you can view videos in 360° through your computer Web browser or via the Discovery VR app for iOS,Android. In addition, using the same app, you can be immersed in the video via a Google Cardboard device or Gear VR.

I cannot show you the immersive view I see when using Cardboard to view the video, but below is a short movie shot in the the app as I moved from viewing the video in 360° and then viewing it in the way Cardboard needs to see it.

The Discovery VR site  includes many great videos and tours, which include the videos below and others in the areas of extinction, extreme sports, a visit to Austin, and more. With a Google Cardboard headset, students can experience these events as if they were there! And, without a headset, they can interact with the videos and control what items they are viewing.

Creating virtual reality tours

Virtual reality is an engaging way to experience something that you can’t do in real life because you aren’t at the site, don’t like rollercoasters in real-life, or have no desire to really swim with the sharks!

However, the exciting thing about this new technology is your students can easily create their own virtual reality tours to share with the world!  I have just started doing this in the last month, and have created 360° spherical panoramic images and and few videos that others can view with a Web browser or via a Google Cardboard headset. You can see a few of them here. I also discovered, when uploading my VR images to Google Photos, they become interactive when clicked on in a Web browser or in the Google Photos app. Check it out!

The start-up cost is under $400 (in addition to having a smartphone) and I guarantee you and your students will find it as fun and educational to create these images and videos as I do!

My VR toolkit includes:

An iPhone 6s+, the Ricoh Theta S camera, the View-Master VR Starter Pack, aSmatree tripod, and a Promaster SystemPRO TB1 tripod bag (not pictured).

The use of this technology to support teaching and learning, both by embedding videos such as those in Discovery VR to enhance the curriculum or by students creating their own VR images and videos, is starting to be used in classrooms across the world. I add links to my augmented and virtual reality page as I find new information, apps, successful practices, and tutorials, so please visit often!

Have you used Discovery VR in your classroom yet? How about Google Cardboard devices? Have your students created 360° images that others can view? Please share your experiences and ideas with the rest of us on Twitter! #kathyskatch