Educational Technology from Matt Moore

NECC 2009 Reflections

2009-07-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from the NECC conference in Washinton D.C. , and I was pleasantly surprised at the array of choices for technology coordinators, teachers, and administrators. There were simply too many seminars to enjoy, learn from, and sample, and I am glad that I used the NECC planner as my guide. It kept me on track and focused as it is easy to get distracted with all the wonderful choices. As for my reflections, I am sure that there are many different perspectives from visiting ISTE members, but I decided to create a list of the top ten reasons that NECC was beneficial for me. There is no particular order.

The bag of goodies from the exhibit hall provided some motivational content for my students, the classroom bulletin board, and possible lessons for one of our history teachers back at home.

A recurring theme of how we use technology and not what technology we use was evident and a positive reminder for all educators.

This is a great place to get 2GB USB drives for free. If you did not get more than four, you really were not trying.

Alice is a very cool computer programming environment, and the teachers who presented it were very well prepared.

It was very appropriate to bring your own laptop this time. I found in the past there was not enough to do, but this time seemed highly accessible and relevant at least for me.

Toshiba and Acer laptops are worth everyone's time. Even MAC user would like them.

Open Source software is still cool, and I think I'll continue to Moodle on down the Road.

If you have not heard how to use Google's Sketchpad then you need to see the presentation notes from the BYOL session. This guy really knows how to teach.

You might run into Bernie Dodge who taught you a lot of really important teaching methods and strategies that make your life easier around technology.

Learning from what everyone else is doing really helps you with that next great task and challenge back at home. The colleagues and friends made by going to various sessions is priceless.

Well, I really am just reflecting upon a great three days in D.C.. The conference was great; there are some great books that I am ordering from ISTE's books store; brick and mortar classrooms with blended technologies still rule; and I almost got a picture with the President of the United States. Oh yeah, I do have a picture of Sen. Joe Leiberman which was taken a week later when I went back to D.C. to see the Capitol Building.

Happy St. Patrick's Day in LA

2009-03-17T18:02:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope that you have found open source software and course management systems (which we can, of course, call learning management systems) a refreshing addition to your classroom process, teaching, and student learning. I am currently approaching midterm grades for the second semester, and I have students asking me all sorts of clear and precise questions about their grades, missing assignments, and project requirements. I truly believe that this eliminates repetitive conversations with students and places responsibility back into the hands of the student. It also provides clear communiciation with the parents as I require parents to log-in with their children to see what their children are doing. Independent parent accounts just don't let them see what they really need to see, and this process puts the student in a situation where he/she has to tell the truth eventually.

Moodle has been a great resource that meets many needs, but I am still testing other systems. I plan to give you more feedback upon that at a later point in time. Perhaps I will have some feedback prior to the NECC conference this summer. Well, I wish you the best. It is a pleasure to be back in Los Angeles. I am excited about being back in such a culturally wonderful city with endless opportunities in the arts, education, and of course entertainment. I love this city, my school, and of course the LA Kings. Stay Classy San Diego! :-)

Still Moodling on Down the Road

2008-11-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I knew one day it would come to my professor's attention that I had graduated from my master's program in 2006, and that I probably should not have any more control or access to post to his game design class site. Oh well, I did enjoy that class, and it was well worth the time invested as it was in that class that I learned to create good design goals, solid outcome statements for my students, a clear plan of attack, and the ability to reevaluate a plan in need of change. But I guess since I voted for Sen. John McCain in the last election that I just simply pushed him over the edge, and he had to drop me.

Anyhoo, I have still been moodling this year with a fairly successful campaign in all my classes for my students. I am currently teaching middle and upper school students at a private day school in Los Angeles, and I am learning a new environment. Moodle has been a constant for me though, and I have to admit my students are glad to know what they have missed, what their grade is, how they can do their assignments on line, how they can communicate with me, and what the goals and objectives are and were of past assignments so they can review past skills, concepts, facts, and procedures. In fact, some of my students' schedules are so busy that they have to do some of the work on line. The parents too are appreciating the clear feedback and quick access. Perhaps I might have time to share some trials and tribulations with Moodle in the future at a conference or at your school, but of course I would need a little encouragement and feedback before I jump off that cliff.

Podcasting, Web Design, Video Creation

2008-07-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

I just finished teaching a successful three week summer camp. Each week was a separate topic (see title), and the students seemed quite pleased with their end products in pod casting, web design, and video creation. Although one week was not enough time to get through a very complex project, they did learn the various stages of setting goals, designing, developing, publishing, and evaluating these projects. We used Moodle to host the course materials, and each course used an open source or freeware software to complete the project. (Audacity for Pod casting, Sea Monkey for Web Design, and Windows Movie Maker for Video Creation). What I learned was there there is demand for these types of classes and/or camps for middle school students, high school students, and even adults so I plan to re-tailor these courses appropriately for courses in the future. If you are interested in having these courses taught to your faculty or students, we can arrange a time as long as it does not interfere with my current teaching schedule at my 7-12 independent school. Please email me or respond with your requests to matt@absolutelylearning.com. I unfortunately cannot freely show you my proprietary materials, but I would be more than happy to discuss how you will absolutely learn with my methods. Have a great summer and school year.

Small Business Web Sites

2008-05-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

I have continued to use open-source web applications as a primary platform to get my business needs up and running at Absolutely Learning; and therefore, I am using many open-source resources for my clients who are also small business owners. There are many reasons to use these applications, and I would like to promote why I have found them beneficial. First, the time to go from no web presence or little web presence to a dynamic and interactive web presence with a web store is quick (within a week to one month depending upon goals and objectives). Second, there are many choices to choose from to find the right product and template for any organization. Third, you can add, delete, and edit the modules and interfaces that you need as long as you are comfortable using a complex control panel. Fourth, with a little web application building experience using popular web languages, you can customize most of these open-source projects and web applications to meet the needs of a small business. And finally, these applications allow for the web presence and application to ebb and flow with timely information and interactions which means the web is working for you in accordance with your small business goals and objectives. You are not restricted to what a canned product is offering you, you can actually mold the application for your needs now. Well, I am always happy to discuss open-source solutions for any organization, and most recently I have been working on projects outside of education with small businesses in North County San Diego. Just remember that learning happens everywhere today, even when someone is visiting your site. In today's world we are learning absolutely or not at all. So please visit my new business site at Absolutely Learning and give me some feedback. You will be surprised at what this small business can do for you, and perhaps I can help you realize your business goals and objectives for the web.

An Open Source Solution for Moodle

2007-07-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

This summer I developed a prototype for Moodle that allows a teacher to run a more current and detailed report of a student's most recently submitted work. Since we are only using the assignments' activities at our school, the report will show all types of assignments, the names of the assignments, the class, the grade for that assignment, the overall grade for the assignments submitted, and the time of that submitted assignment. This allows our teachers, parents, staff, and students to communicate more clearly, honestly, and accurately about how a student is doing. As a charter school we are very dependent upon the success of our students for funding from the state.

The open-source design of Moodle which stores its data in a MYSQL database provided a nice platform for creating the report in PHP code. The tables are relatively arranged in Moodle and merit a little research before beginning so that the developer understands where the data is and how it relates to the keys versus the values. The developer will also have to define clear "for loops" so that the PHP code accesses all the data in the table and/or live arrays. Finally, Moodle stores its date submitted in a time stamp that needs a little translation for your user.

While we may not be using this prototype because of some poor communication from our current leadership, jealousies among the staff, and the organization's obvious lack of staying the course on goals, I would be happy to let you see this project and tailor it to fit your needs. This is a "non-Moodle approved" report that will work on any Moodle 1.6 version and possible others although I have not tried it yet. Please take a look at the link below and send me your comments and feedback. You can get a clear understanding of the results generated if you search through the sample test students whose last names are "one", "two", "three", "four", etc. I am looking forward to your feedback. The data is also test data and no students are used.

A Grade Report for Moodle

OpenOffice.org

2007-03-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

I was a beta tester for Microsoft Office 2007, and when the expiration date ran out, I decided to save some money and try the open source solution called OpenOffice.org. I have been pleasantly surprised with it thus far; and therefore, I am doing my part in promoting this software through this testimonial.

I have used the spreadsheet software and the word processing software, and I have found that it meets most of my needs as a teacher, web developer, and small business owner. It is not as sophisticated as Microsoft Office, but with a little computer knowledge and basic programming understanding, one can develop databases and spreadsheets. The word processing and presentational software are cake, but they also require a little thinking to develop more sophisticated documents and presentations. Finally, there are two programs, a math and a draw program, which I have not used yet.

As for compatibility, I can easily transfer files to and from OpenOffice.org and Microsoft products, and it works well with PDF files. Because I have been so impressed with this open source software running upon Windows XP, I have most recently downloaded the open source photo editing software called GIMP, and I'll let you know more about that later.

OpenOffice.org provides the software for free, but they would like to get their users to contribute somehow to the entire project. I chose to write this testimonial to make other educators aware of how they can save money in their school districts. I have also decided to contribute my expertise with office type programs so that educators can feel free to ask me questions about how to use it. Finally, Please visit OpenOffice.org today, and try a free and wonderful tool that could save your company and/or school district a lot of money.

Web Based Project Management Software

2007-02-08T22:23:00.000-08:00

Our school serves several learning centers in geographically disperse locations throughout Riverside County. In order to meet a variety of educational and administrative needs, we have implemented two learning management systems. We use Moodle for assignments and grades, and Breeze for live communication and specialized live teaching and training needs. Of course, we also use our web site as a resource to distribute static content and information.

Because these programs have been very successful, we are proposing to implement another web-based software to help manage our information technology and facilities projects. After researching products from the open source community, we decided to propose "dot project" which runs on the popular LAMP platform. After some tailored modifications to the code and database settings, we have a user-friendly web based project manager that provides a simple interface for administrators to view projects, add new projects, and see current states of projects. This open source software also gives us (the IT and facilities department) a complex database for creating vendor lists, budgets, calendars, reports, and tasks associated with those projects.

Once again, I am confident to report that open source freeware is stable, reliable, innovative, interactive, and highly customizable. Therefore, I will continue to research open-source software prior to buying software from commerical vendors because free is nice. I am also going to continue to support the open-source movement by directing funds to their projects whenever our budget makes that possible. The open source collaboration is everywhere, and in most fields the open source community is trying to create something of high value that can be distributed at low or no cost. These applications provide a very professional launching point for creating interactive projects that take advantage of web 2.0.

If you would like to learn more about how we will implement dot project, or have implemented Moodle and Breeze, please post a comment or email me directly.

Matt
Learning Systems Manager

Yes, I am not an expert.

Open-Source Software is a lot like a Gingerbread House Kit

2006-12-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

Three nights ago, my son and I had another learning adventure that we would like to tell you about, and while I did not record the learning moment in a podcast format, I am going to try to describe it for both Dads and educational technologists. You see, my son and I found the Gingerbread House Kit that my wife had purchased from Michael's. Being curious and craft oriented this Christmas season, we decided to start building it. In about an hour we had a pretty decent Gingerbread house, but we had run out of icing and candies.

Last night, my son and I continued our adventure by purchasing a Christmas tree, a bird house to decorate for my Mom, and more icing and candies. When we got back we made that Gingerbread house the best you have ever seen (see photo), and we were even thinking about entering it in contests. In short, we were able to take a basic kit and elaborate upon that until we found something that we both really liked.

So how does this relate to Open-Source software?

For me, it is the ability to build something quickly and tailor it for your specific needs quickly. There are tons of open-source applications that you can download for free and use on your educational web site to give it more function such as learning management systems, grade books, and blogs. Because most are also distributed so that you can edit them for more specific tasks, you can make your web site a fancy gingerbread house that everyone will like. I think this is why I like the open-source movement so much. It provides a quick platform which can be edited personally for any organization's needs.

Moodle : Top Ten Reasons to use Moodle for your Students

2006-09-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Course management systems are on-line platforms that assist teachers with managing a variety of teaching tasks via the web. Moodle, an OpenSource software module that is freely distributed by its creator for educators, is a dynamic course management system that follows an intense rapid prototyping process. Because I have been using Moodle for several years, am currently training others how to use it, develop code for it, create designs for it, and support technical questions surrounding it, I wanted to share with you some thoughts about it. The following list is simply a top ten list of why I think you should use Moodle for your students.

1. Moodle provides a very organized web-based interface so that you can provide students with content that comes in the form of links, uploaded files, easily created web pages, and content organizers. You can upload most types of files such as graphics, documents, PowerPoints, animations, or you can create links to valuable resources on the web. This common web-based delivery method allows students to access course materials anytime and anywhere.

2. Moodle automatically creates an account for each student. Within this student account, a student can manage their profile, view their own activity reports, and see graded feedback from their teachers. Teachers can view all the accounts in their gradebook and view activity reports from each student or by completed activity.

3. Moodle provides an on-line assessment tool that allows you to post grades in numerical, commented, and rubric format so that each student can see his or her individual assessments.

4. Moodle allows more than one teacher to manage a course, and it allows teachers to share course content between courses. Those courses can even be saved and exported at the end of the term for use the following term.

5. Communication in Moodle is awesome. Students can send messages via the message system, add to forums via the bulletin board system, and they can chat in safe teacher monitored and script reviewed chat rooms. Students can even have Moodle email them on individual updates to an external email account.

6. Glossaries can be created for complex course vocabularies. Students submit terms with definitions and sample contextual sentences that can be searched by everyone after the teacher reviews them for accuracy.

7. Branching stories and lessons can be created that have links to pages for review or advancement.

8. Moodle provides a quiz format that is automatically graded and automatically inserted into the course grade book. These quizzes can be declared as practice quizzes or real quizzes and have a variety of characteristics. Students can also take surveys and give feedback to the course via the feedback forms. The data features in Moodle are highly advanced and will continue to grow.

9. Teachers can comment verbally upon a student's comments so that writing, editing remarks, and other verbal assessments can be placed upon the student's work and saved for future reference when writing yearly reports.

10. A group of highly adept programmers are working to make Moodle better for you everyday. Teacher requests and designs are incorporated everyday into the next design which is published almost daily.

Moodle provides a whole host of other activities, resources, organizational possibilities, and communication methods for you and your students, and it is easy to tailor these modules in the user friendly web based authoring environment. If you would like to learn more about Moodle, I have a course at my web site that I would be more than happy to let you see. Just send me an email for the enrollment key or any other questions that you may have about Moodle

NECC 2006 : One Perspective

2006-07-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

NECC came to San Diego this year, and because I am local I had the opportunity to visit this national conference for educational technology in school environments. I was only able to visit on Thursday July 6 because of other engagements (some of which were job interviews (YAHOO!)), but I do have some general comments about the trends in educational technology that are being discussed at the national level. As usual, I will focus upon the aspects that I believe are positive for our profession.

First, it was refreshing to hear educators talk about integrating technology into the curriculum in ways that create individual learning moments and provide motivation for learning subject matter content and practicing higher level thinking skills. Project based learning that involves collaboration and constructivist work seems to work nicely for technology integration, and I saw projects that used video, photos, testimonials, authentic materials, good writing, and excellent presentation skills. Our students are very lucky to have this technology in our schools, and NECC is a great place for teachers and administrators to learn about implementing technology into their established curriculum.

In addition to good teaching with technology, I was impressed with the videoconferencing projects that I saw and the prices of the software and hardware to make that happen. There were many vendors represented, and that competition is allowing a teacher to do a lot with a few hundred dollars. There is also competition among video and audio editing software companies, and I believe that this competition will create the availability of software that allows creative teachers in a variety of subjects to create entertaining materials with educational objectives that can be shared just like lessons, tests, and quizzes are shared currently. With a clear plan educationally sound projects can be created with increasing motivation.

However, there were two particular vendors at NECC that I believe were the best part of the conference, and the price is right at their tables also. The first is our Library of Congress. Of course, we have heard it before that the materials there are an incredible resource for our students. They are the warehouse of national free realia that can be used in your classes, but every year their digital version of this realia gets better and better. It is truly worth every educator's time to visit their site and think of ways to increase learning motivation and understanding through the use of their materials. I could see many ways to incorporate their materials into subjects other than history too, and if you need ideas please feel free to write me.

Finally, I am simply sold on the idea of refurbishing older computers and installing Linux (the open software of choice) onto these computers. I am sure that there are tons of companies that would love to find an educational institution to use their old equipment, and with the availability of this free software you can do wonders on a small budget. Of course, the linux machines will not do everything that you need. However, I do believe that you could save a lot of hardware and software costs by creating labs that run these machines for the most basic of tasks such as operating systems, connecting to the Internet for research, word processing, spreadsheet creation, and basic web creation. With the money you save you could buy a few really high end machines for the more advanced features of video editing, computer programming, etc.. Budgets are always a concern in education, and this is a great way to stretch a dollar. In fact, I would even suggest that our friends from developing countries follow this same model. There are tons of computers that can be reused for these purposes; and therefore, I hestitate to agree with the building of new laptops for the third world. Why not reuse what already exists in combination with open source software?

Three Graduations : Thank You All

2006-06-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

This year I had a very unique opportunity to participate in three different graduations from three different perspectives. As most of you know, I have recently graduated from San Diego State with a master's degree in educational technology; and therefore, I walked through the traditional ceremony at Cox arena so that I could sense the end of a long journey. As most of my students and colleagues know, I also walked as part of the graduation ceremony at the Bishop's School to witness the end of a long road for some wonderful students who are embarking upon great careers in college. Lastly , as only a few know, I also participated as a proud parent when my son graduated from preschool this past Wednesday.

Needless to say, the graduation that was the most important and moving to me was the one this past Wednesday. My son sang a few songs and danced a few dances with his friends. He then received his diploma from some truly outstanding teachers at Early Explorations. Preschool is such an amazing experience for children. They grow so fast and yet have so much more to learn.

Three graduations with three totally unique experiences. I only had tears at one, but I am glad that I respectfully attended all. I don't think I will have another year like this one, but I do know that great opportunities lie ahead. I will exercise patience as those factors, opportunities, and moments in time begin to reveal themselves. Thank you San Diego State, The Bishop's School, and of course Early Explorations in Encinitas, CA.

Captivate Review

2006-04-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last few weeks working upon a project that involved Macromedia's Captivate. I was impressed with it ease of use, and its ability to capture screen movements and actions. It even added messages so that I did not have to create them myself. It has a very standard timeline that clearly highlights the objects so editing was quite simple. There are also some fancy animated texts that one can enter as well as slides from PowerPoint, some learning interactions, and extra highlight features. I am glad that I have a better understanding of this tool, and I would not hestitate to purchase it if I had a consistent need for it. The project that I completed was using the demo version for a class, and you may look at the rough prototype if you like: (Captivate Demonstration) Once again as with any mulitmedia project, good planning with a script and treatment will help the process run smoothly. As for recommendations, I think the audio system is too sensitive. Let me know what you think about Captivate or my project.

Podcasting: A Few Days Later

2006-04-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

I am still in the design phase of Adventures with Dad, and I am looking for feedback from this podcast show. It was a rapid prototype that was built upon scripted and impromptu recordings. It went through a series of editing phases, but I am now looking for feedback from others. The life of this podcast show is really dependent upon new comments and new view points. It met the requirements of the class that I took, but I have also heard from others that this my be an untapped market. What do you think? Here it is again.

ADVENTURES WITH DAD

Life as a Teacher

2006-04-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that there are many "Matt Moores" on the web and in the world; consequently, readers may be confused about who is writing this particular blog. I cannot change the commonality of my name, but I can guarantee that at this source and at this link, you will hear stories, lessons, articles, methods, products, and platforms that increase the value of education through technological usage. For those of you who do know me, you will recognize me through my links, work, responses on the blog, and responses to emails. Finally, I am not responsible for what others with my name have written or done to it. You may feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about others who share my name.

Using podcasts as an instructional platform

2006-04-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Today, I am finishing a class on podcasting at San Diego State University, and the class taught by Bernie Dodge and Karl Richter explored the theme of using audio podcasts as a platform for instruction. After a systematic design of a script, hours of audio capturing, a little music creation, and hours of digital editing, I created my first audio podcast that targets Dads who are looking for ways to create memorable and educational moments with their children. The pod cast is called Adventures with Dad, and I would appreciate feedback upon this first podcast. Your comments will influence the direction of this idea.

ADVENTURES WITH DAD

Expertise in the Business of Educational Technology

2006-03-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, so when I said "contemporary" I was stretching the truth a little bit; however, when I was discussing educational technology, I was not. I am a teacher with over fifteen years of experience in the field, I have a sincere passion for things technical, and I have a deep understanding of computer programming and hardware design. I have taught diverse subjects such as Spanish, Computer Science, and Music, and I am finishing my master's degree in educational technology this spring. Although you may not consider me an expert, I still am going to claim that what you will learn from my blog of educational technology thoughts, plans, ideas, and ponderings, and I believe that San Diego State's Master's Program in Educational Technology has prepared me to deliver these thoughts to you in a thoughtful and academically engaging way mixed with motivation.

The Beginning of the Beginning

2006-03-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

I just saw that one of my contemporaries from the eighties has his own blog (that would be the first MC known as Hammer), and I decided that it was time for this MC to get started with a blog about educational technology. I am at the end of a long road studying Educational Technology at San Diego State University, and I would think it reasonable to believe that since SDSU is granting me a Master's Degree in Educational Technology that I may have something important, interesting, and slightly motivating to say about it. Please continue with me along this journey to find the truth about educational technologies and the possibilities of a better education for everyone.