Training and Using ICT – An Educator’s Journey

Last time, I wrote, I spoke about bringing the ‘Communication’ back into ICT.

This week, I want to bring up the issue of Training and Use of ICT

Whatever you think you know about ICT in education, throw it out the window. Chances are, if you are a career teacher, you are probably not trained properly in it. Now am I saying all teachers are not trained? Of course not! In my line, I have met plenty of well-trained teachers in using ICT for their lessons but there are many more who are not.

Today I am going to give you my reasons why. Some may agree and there will be those who will not. But I too will give you my solution for the educator who wants to improve him or herself in using ICT in their classes.

Generally speaking, teachers in all countries would go for teacher training, such as a centralized academy or through a course during tertiary studies. During training, trainee teachers would be drilled in their field of teaching, academics, classroom management, etc…

Now, modern day teachers are expected to use some form of ICT in their lessons. So during training, they may be using some ICT themselves, such as Laptops, Projectors, SMART Boards as well. And during training they may be taught on some approaches to using ICT in their lessons or examples done by others before them, but that’s pretty much it. Very little follow-up on training or updating themselves on new methods and approaches to using ICT in the classroom.

I remembering spending a good amount of time, sitting down with teachers, guiding them with their lesson plans on how to implement an ICT lesson, and I realized how lacking they are in terms of knowledge of what can be done and what shouldn’t be done.

Let me give you a general (Not Exhaustive) overview of what your lesson plan needs if you want to incorporate an ICT element into the lesson:

1)     What are your lesson objectives and goals

2)     How many periods are you willing to spend in this ICT exercise

3)     Is this a Individual or Collaborative exercise

4)     What medium are you going to use to conduct this exercise

5)     How are the students going to be evaluated

6)     And How are they going to submit their work

Many teachers also tend to not rehearse what they intend to do. So when they bring their class to the computer lab, for example, and things go wrong, they get lost and lose heart in the lesson. It is always good for a teacher to rehearse the lesson out to know what are potential problems, wouldn’t it be effective, will there be classroom management, etc.

Lastly and my most important point. Teachers MUST READ OFTEN.

This is a common issue in any industry. Teachers must read and be updated themselves on the latest innovations and techniques in Teaching and Learning with IT. But the fact is that many don’t. I did a yearly teacher’s survey in the school I was working at and almost 80% of respondents all said it is the responsibility of the school to update them on new ICT developments.

So unless you constantly update yourself, try it out yourself and refine your technique, then you will never be really trained.

So the challenge for this week? Make it a habit to update yourself, try it out and improve yourself.

Good websites to begin with are:

• http://www.teachthought.com/
• http://www.edudemic.com/
• http://nextvista.org/resources/
• http://ed.ted.com/

Hardware Review – External Storage

I had a friend who called me last week and asked me about what brand of external haddrive to buy, because both were on sale and that is what inspired this week’s review.

I realized that a lot of people tend to use their external devices wrongly or the get the wrong types for the wrong reasons. So today, I am going to give you a brief summary of the different types of storage devices available today, their strengths and weaknesses as well what is it suitable for.

Name	Storage Sizes	Suitable for	Explanation
2.5inch External Hard-disk/Hard-drive/Portable USB drive	320GB to 2TB	Everyone who has a lot of large files to keep as backup	2.5inch drives are not becoming the more porpular choice. Generally very cheap storage in a portable form factor. Uses the USB Port to power the drive. Works with most computers. Not suitable for working your files off from. Can be fragile and prone to failure if you constantly move it around. Once crashed, it will be very difficult to retrieve the data from the crashed drive, thus best to be used as a backup option.
3.5inch External Hard-disk/Hard-drive/ Desktop USB Drive	500GB to 6TB	If you are a media junkie or your workstation does not have enough storage	3.5inch drives were never popular among users mainly due to the fact it requires a separate power source. But fact is, this is probably the most reliable, large storage medium you can get at the moment. The cost of Gb to $ is probably the cheapest and the hard drives tend to spin pretty fast for quick storage. The probable only down side is that they are heavier, not meant for portability and needs a separate power source compared to its smaller cousin, the 2.5inch drive.
Thumb drive/Flash-Drive/Flash-Storage	2GB to 128GB	For moving and sharing small files from computer to computer	Thumb drives are small, cheap and fast to use for moving small files and working off. With no moving parts, it is ideal for carrying information around with you and working off for documents, watching videos and viewing media. But here is my personal opinion about flash drives. Use them with caution! Flash drives have a use life. Meaning there is only so many times you can actually use them before they fail. This is the reason why there are different brands of thumb drives at different prices. So use them sparingly and not overly reply on them.
DVD/CDs	700mb to 4.2GB	For archiving old data	CDs and DVDs have been on the decline for years. They hold minimal storage as compared to other mediums and can only be used effectively once. But their biggest strength is that, in theory, they have a life span of 99years, assuming you store them well. But in today’s context, CDs and DVDs will soon go extinct.
Cloud Storage	2GB to 2TB	For any use for anyone	The new ‘In-Thing’ is cloud storage. Cheap and effective, this is an excellent way to store, share and work from storage. Starting free space usually starts around 2GB to 5GB. Personally, pay monthly for additional storage, which is about SGD$4 additional for 200GB a month. The nice thing about cloud storage is that they usually come with a desktop programme that will sync your files from your desktop and online. But the only back draw about this service is that you need to be connected to the internet to sync or access your files through the web browser. But there is always a synced copy on your desktop based on your last sync.

Personally, pay monthly for additional storage, which is about SGD$4 additional for 200GB a month.

The nice thing about cloud storage is that they usually come with a desktop programme that will sync your files from your desktop and online.

But the only back draw about this service is that you need to be connected to the internet to sync or access your files through the web browser. But there is always a synced copy on your desktop based on your last sync. 

I hope this helps you better decide on what kind of storage is best for yourself and maybe consider different mediums instead of the usual.

My final tip for this week, do not let price dictate what you buy. When comparing which brand to purchase, do not always allow the price to be the factor. Sometimes, the cheaper the item, the worst the quality of the item.

The safest is to quickly go online and see if there are any reviews on them. If there are none, then the safest would be go for the more reputable brand.

Acer H226HQL Monitor Review

This week, I am going to review the Acer H226HQL Monitor.

Now before I go into the details about this monitor, lets talk about why and how to choose a good monitor for your desktop or as a 2nd display for your laptop.

Some people out there may think that just buying a big monitor is all the matters, but today I want to explain why this is not true.

Here are 3 reasons why:

1)     You spend the most time looking at the display. So the better the quality of the display, the better for your eyes.

2)     Size is not everything. You could have a nice large screen but lousy screen resolution (that determines how sharp your picture is).  Having a good resolution means that you can have more windows open on your desktop than a lower resolution.

3)     Your usage matters. Some people use their display for their XboX or PlayStation 3, some for gaming, some for work. So knowing what you are going to use it for, determines what kind of ports you need. Like a HDMI port, VGA, Mini-Display, etc, thus equating to cost savings by buying the right monitor.

Now back to the Acer H226HQL. When I read about this monitor, I was quite skeptical at first. It is a 21.5inch Monitor, with VGA, DVI and HDMI ports and a audio out slot as well. Not to mention, it has a beautiful design with edge-to-edge glass and very, very small bezel.

Now you must be thinking, based on what I have described, it should cost quite a hefty sum doesn’t it? The surprising thing is that, it is only less than USD$200. In Singapore, it costs somewhere between SGD$180 to $250, depending on where you get it from.

For an excellent looking display, with plenty of connection ports, good viewing angles thanks to a IPS display (same display used for the iPhone) and with a beautiful design to boot, you can not go wrong with this display.

Personally, I have ordered one for myself after reviewing this monitor and will order 2 more if I find it up to scratch.  I will update this post if I find that it lives up to its promises.

Now from an educational point of view, this monitor is cost effective, looks good, easy to install and secure and more importantly, good for the eyes due to the size and resolution.

To find out more about the technical specifications about this display, check it out at Acer’s Website: http://goo.gl/XZ0yDf

Putting the ‘C’ back into ‘ICT’

Being an ICT Educator, I often start my teacher training sessions reminding teachers about 3 things:

1. Doesn’t mean that when you are a user, you are also an expert.
2. What you think you know about teaching with IT, throw it out the window. Chances are, you were not properly trained.
3. Learn to communicate with your students.

Today I want to talk about point number 3, Communication.

I often remind and correct teachers that the term ‘IT’ is no more valid and they should be using ‘ICT’ instead. Why is adding ‘Communication’ important? It is important in today’s context because as we continue to live in greater interconnected world than ever before, with ready access to the Internet via mobile phones, tablets and computers, communication is a key area students MUST learn to navigate and survive.

Today, no one is a loner. No man is an island; no matter how hard you try. As much as you try to disconnect, we somehow end up being part of a online community that is always there 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Teachers today do not seem to engage their students much online, maybe due to a heavier workload in school, fear of loss of privacy among other reasons, but I like to challenge the teachers out there, “If you are not talking to your students outside the classroom, how do you teach them about how to communicate online?”

Now before you jump to any conclusions, my point today is what kind of communication culture do you have with your students? I always joked that the scariest question a student could ask me is, ‘Teacher, Can we have your mobile number? We want to add you to the class whatsapp group.”. Now that’s a scary thought isn’t it?

There are more ways other than just giving them an email address, facebook account or using whatsapp/messaging system.  How about a class blog? Use that to start building a online culture within your class. How about a message board? A place where students can post questions for the next day’s lesson? So there are ways you can still communicate online with your class and yet maintain your privacy.

Consider the fact that social media and the Internet has played a larger role in recent societal life. Spreading of information, exchanging of ideas and always-on access. How ready are your students to handle all of that?

So if you have not tried, maybe make a conscious effort to do so this year. Start with baby steps and don’t be afraid to fail. Give it a shot and never be afraid to ask another teacher for help too.

Its time we start putting the ‘C’ back into ‘ICT’.

Boogie Boards Review

“What the heck is a Boogie Board?!”, You must be wondering aren’t you?

Well, I won’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of it. I too haven’t heard of it until one day I stumbled into a Popular Book Store (a chain stationary store in Singapore and Malaysia) that I first set eyes on one and tried it out myself.

Now in a world filled with tablets, how does the Boogie Board stand apart from an iPad or Android Tablets? To put it in one nubby sentence: “It does 1 thing only and does it well”

The Boogie Board is a thin plastic slate/tablet that will remind us of the Magic Slates from our childhood, especially for those who grew up in the 80s and 90s. Remember the magic drawing board, the one with the 2 knobs to draw on the screen? (As shown below)

When you wanted to make a new drawing, you would just shake it or swipe a handle across to erase the ‘screen’. The Boogie Board has taken that concept and modernized it.

Now you may ask, can’t other tablets do the same thing if not better and more? Well for some people, simplicity is key. The Boogie Board is not affected by sunlight, does not need to be charged and for some people, being able to writing notes like a shopping list, or for illustration purposes, that is enough. It is as simple as writing on regular paper.

So lets talk about Pros and Cons.

Pros

• Simple to use
• Not affected but sunlight illegibility
• Does not need charging, Battery lasts a few years
• Fairly durable
• Ideal for all age groups, including adults
• Comes in different sizes

Cons

• Technically, a bit expensive for its limited functions.
• No native way to save writing elsewhere. (Read final thoughts for more info)
• Able to only support roughly 50,000 to 60,000 erases before the board is useless.
• Battery is non-replaceable. (Read final thoughts for more info)

My only 2 gripes about the Boogie Board were that you couldn’t save what you wrote on it and the battery was non-replaceable. Well I am pleased to announce that the makers of the Boogie Board has heard our cries and have released newer models that has Bluetooth support, so whatever you write can be saved to your mobile phone or computer and some newer models are battery rechargeable or replaceable.

From an educational standpoint, who would want to use this device? I recommend those in the Kindergarten to Primary level (5-12yrs old).  The Boogie Board is eyesight friendly, since it does not have a backlight, simple to use, and no other distractions compared to an iPad or Android Tablet.

Teachers can make use of this for students to give feedback in class, practicing writing or jotting notes or observations during activities. And because it doesn’t need to be charged, you will never face the issue of running out of power.

To find out more about the Boogie Boards and the different models available, you can head down to http://www.improvelectronics.com/ and check it out!

5 Areas to Consider When Buying a Laptop

Today we are going to talk about laptops!

Why start with laptops you might be wondering? Why not tablets or mobile phones?

Well, PCs have been taking a beating due to the easy and cheap access to tablets like Apple’s iPad and all the 3rd party Android tablets, which basically cover your basic needs of web surfing, mail and entertainment.

In June 2008, during a live interview, Steve Jobs compared tablets and PCs to cars and trucks, saying "[PCs are] still going to be around. They’re still going to have a lot of value. But they’re going to be used by like one out of x people.”

True enough, today we can see that laptops and desktops are being over taken by tablet sales.

But how are laptops still relevant to education? And how do I select the right type of laptop for me as a user?

It will not matter if you are a teacher or parent. I am going to reveal and un-bunk myths of what kind of laptop is generally suitable for you and give you 5 areas for you to think about when deciding your next laptop purchase.

Lets begin!

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1) What platform should I get?

Before looking at specifications, you need to ask what platform should I get.
Obviously your 2 main choices are Microsoft Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X.
If you are just the general user, stick with Windows. But if you want a higher premium product, go for Mac OS X.

Frankly, it will depend on how adventurous you are. But here is a suggestion, you may want to give Mac OS X a try, if your budget allows. The one big advantage for getting a Mac, is that it can also run Windows, so you have the best of both worlds, on a very good performing machine.

There is a 3rd option, which is the Google Chromebook.
To be honest this is not for everyone, but if you like using Google services and are familiar with their capabilities and are always in a Wifi location, this might not be a bad choice for you. But take note you won’t be able to install your traditional software on it because it runs everything from the ‘Cloud’ (Online services).

So if you are weary on trying something new and want to stick with the familiar, Windows is for you.

2) Screen Size

Here is a common problem when deciding on a laptop, you need to ask yourself what screen size you want. Smaller may not always be better and larger may not always mean better either.

Here I have a comparison of 3 laptops using the generally accepted sized screens for a laptop.

Now before I continue, there are 2 things you need to know about screens, the size and their resolution. Size is obviously the physical size of the display and resolution is how sharp the display will be and ultimately how sharp pictures and text will appear on the screen.

The smaller the size of the screen, the more portable the laptop would be, but then it also means the laptop is also more likely be weaker in processing power and hard to look at the screen. The best Laptops I have seen at the 11inch size is really the Macbook Air 11inch and the Yoga 11.

The larger the size of the screen, the heavier and bigger the laptop would be. You would only consider these kind of laptops if you want higher end specs for gaming or for media creation.

Now something to take note: in this day and age, graphics card DO NOT MATTER anymore UNLESS you are planning to play games on your machine.

3) Know your Specs

If you are a general user, it really doesn’t matter that much on what specs your laptop will have, because it will be able to do all the basic things you want to do. But how do you differiate what is a good and bad laptop then?

Here are some components to look out for:

CPU: Go for an Intel i5 and above, they will last you longer over the years
RAM: Your minimum should be 4GB, I suggest 8GB to last you longer

Hard Drive: If you are a casual user, stick with what they give you, normally it would be about 500GB or more. If you are a road warrior and is constantly on the road, look out for a laptop that comes with SSD, it is faster and has no moving parts so you won’t need to worry about it every crashing.

Display: The more pixels you have, the more content you can fit on-screen, and the sharper it will look. Most budget and mainstream notebooks come with 1366 x 768-pixel resolutions. However, if you have the option, choose a laptop with a higher pixel count 1600 x 900 or 1920 x 1080 —always go for the highest res you can get.

Touch Screen: If you are going for a Windows Laptop, most of them will be running Windows 8. To best experience Windows 8, go for a laptop with a touch screen.

Graphics Chip: For the most part, an integrated graphics chip (one that shares system memory) will be fine for basic tasks, including surfing the Web, watching video and even playing some mainstream games. But a discrete graphics processor from AMD or Nvidia (which has dedicated video memory) will provide better performance when it comes to the most-demanding games.

DVD/Blu-ray Drives: Fewer and fewer laptops these days come with optical drives. Most videos can be streamed online and if you really need to, use an external drive. It allows you to have a laptop that is more portable and less prone to damage as there are lesser moving parts. Very few people watch DVDs on the go anymore.

4) Battery Life

Even if you only plan to move your laptop from the desk to the couch and the bed or from your cubicle to the conference room, battery life matters. Nobody wants to be chained to a power outlet, even if there’s a socket within reach. If you’re buying a 15-inch notebook, look for at least 4 hours of endurance. Those who plan to be fairly mobile should shop for notebooks that offer more than 5 hours of battery life, with 6-plus hours being ideal.

Now with the latest release of the Hanswell Chips from Intel, your laptop battery life should give you a minimum of 6hrs.

5) Brand does matter!

Your laptop is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Accurate and timely technical support is paramount.

Understandably, price can be a concern for some, but sometimes coming out with the extra $50 might save you a lot of other issues in the future. We call this ‘Cost of Ownership’.

Brands like Apple and Sony, charge a premium for their machines, because they use the best parts and don’t break down easily. And even when they do, their support is excellent. So do take note of where the service centres and the brand’s track record too.

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So I hope these tips will be helpful to you and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and we will try to address them in next week’s article.

How do I plan an ICT Lesson - 5 Basic Steps

Alright, here is a common question many educators ask me, how do I plan an ICT Lesson?

It is a valid and important question. Let me give 5 basic steps to help you get started.

Remember, these are just 5 basic steps. There are definitely many more steps and considerations to note and follow.

That being said, please do not feel demoralised or deterred from creating your ICT lesson for your class. Practice is important, and after a few rounds, many of these steps would become second nature to you, just like how you create your lesson plans or Scheme of Work for your regular lessons.

Here are my 5 steps to help you plan an ICT Lesson:

Step 1 - What is your lesson objective?

Most teachers get the wrong idea that for every ICT lesson, I must be able to teach and cover many topics in one lesson. We often call that the 'Shotgun' mentality, hard, fast and wide.

The truth is, you need to determine, what is your lesson objective first, before you can decide what topics or how you want to approach the lesson.

Let me give you a simple example:
Before you leave your house some questions you often ask yourself, am I going to exercise? or am I going out to party? or am I going to a wedding? Basically, why am I going out for?

From there, you know what kind of clothing to wear, isn't it?

Likewise, you need to ask yourself, I am going to conduct an ICT lesson, am I introducing a new topic? or am I going to reinforce an existing lesson? am I doing revision of past topics? am I getting my students to learn in a self-directed manner or collaborative? etc...

So first, define the objective of the lesson and then you will be able to scope your lesson accordingly. Shotgun mentality will not be effective compared to a 'sniper' mentality.

Step 2 - How many periods/How much time am I willing to commit to an ICT Lesson?

I commonly meet educators who thought that they only need to bring the class into the lab or special room once and conduct the lesson and everything will go fine. This is a very COMMON and SILLY mistake!

I bet you are wondering why I highlighted certain words in RED. This is because, it is a common and silly mistake.

Here is my reasoning:
Anyone can tell you, when planning for any event, don't you plan for contingency? No one plans that everything will go off perfectly. We should always plan contingency.

So now, how does that apply to my lesson planning?  Bringing your students directly to the lab to conduct your lesson on the day itself is too risky. Your risk wasting valuable periods if anything were to go wrong.

You need to ask yourself when doing your planning, how much time am I willing to commit to this ICT lesson?

What I recommend is that, you allocate a 1:3 ratio. 1 ICT Lesson to 3 sessions. Why so? Isn't that a waste of precious teaching time?

What I suggest is that you should have 1 session to get your students or yourself familiar with the teaching environment if you are not familiar with it. Meaning bringing your class there, conduct your lesson as an introduction lesson.

This has several benefits. Your get yourself or your class familiar with the tools before the actual lesson, thus not wasting precious time on the day of the actual lesson or activity. Additionally, it helps you identify issues or potential issues before it arises on the actual day. This will help you better adjust your lesson for the actual run.

After having your first session as an introduction lesson. and you have cleared any issues that arose (if any), you can conduct your lesson straight away. And because your students have been familiarised with the tools and/or environment, your lesson should go pretty smoothly.

The 3rd session is actually more for a spare lesson in the event that your students may need additional time to complete the task, or you may expand the scope due to the student's speed on completing the original activity.

So remember, you need to be willing to commit enough time to complete your ICT lesson. My recommendation? 1:3 Ratio.

Step 3: What resources do I have available to me?

Generally speaking, many ICT teachers thought that bringing their class to a computer lab is counted as an ICT lesson. This is a common misinterpretation of what an ICT lesson is. ICT lessons is not about using ICT in the lesson, it is about INFUSION of ICT into the lesson. I will speak more about the difference of this at a later post.

So how does using and infusion affect the way I plan my lesson? Resources are important because it affects your lesson outcomes. Sometimes using a PC is insufficient. So as you plan your ICT lesson, you have to ask your school or company, what resources do I have to make my lesson more effective or interesting? Mobile Phones, Tablets, Cameras, special learning facilities, are just some examples of resources that could help in your ICT lesson.

Let me give you one example of a lesson I once created. I was planning an outdoor lesson where students would go and take pictures of nature and come back and share with the class about what they have found, in a group setting.

Now in this scenario, using a traditional computer lab setting may not be the most suitable because of the way the computers could be laid out. Additionally, you may have trouble having everyone transfer all their photos to the computer. This would take a lot of time, which could be better used for other group activities.

So what did I do? I got a room that is setup for a group discussion setup. Every group would have a round table each. This would allow students to sit comfortably as a group. And I got the students to use iPads to take the pictures with, rather than cameras, this allow better sharing, ability to zoom in and I do not need the students to transfer the photos anywhere.

Try to be imaginative on using resources available to you. ICT lessons of course would require ICT tools, but there are non-ICT tools that affect your lessons too, such as seating arrangements and even venue.

Step 4: Know Thy Students!

Every educator should know the demographic or the type of students you are planning your lesson for.

Knowing the kind of students, will allow you to better plan the kind of ICT lesson best suited for them.

Factors to consider are:
- Age
- Learning ability (Fast Learner, Slow Learner)
- Discipline issues (if any)
- Financial Issues (If any)
- Learning disabilities (ADHD, Dyslexia etc)
- Others

Why do we consider these factors? You cannot expect students who are ADHD to read a wikipedia entry nor can you expect high ability learners to play basic games. You need to tailor your lessons to fit the ability of the learners.

Let me give you an example of this:
I taught a school in Singapore which had 3 class who are streamed as similar ability classes. All 3 classes may have been in the same stream, but their learning ability was different. So to best suit the ability, I came out with a standard ICT lesson, where I scaled the lesson based on the class ability. For the middle class, I conducted the regular lesson, for the higher ability class, I gave them slightly more to do, but still the same activity, and for the weaker class, I did the regular lesson but slowed it down for all of them to catch up.

Knowing your students will help especially when you are planning for lessons that introduce new topics or outdoor ICT lessons, just to cite a few examples. So... Know Thy Students!

Step 5: Plan realistic deliverables 

Some educators think that all students are very ICT savvy and can give them the moon, stars and sky.  The truth of the matter is that there are students who are extremely ICT Weak. I have even met a 13 year old student who didn't know how to create a new folder!

So when planning your lesson, don't assume your students know how to give you your deliverables with high expectation, unless you are very sure they are competent in the software/website/skills. Plan realistic deliverables because deliverables are the main cause for teachers exceeding their planned lesson time.
What you could do is set a tiered deliverable. Set a minimum target that you want your students to achieve and submit to you. But DO NOT tell them what the minimum is, that is for your own knowledge.

Rather, get the students to achieve the normal target that you will set for them. If for some reason they are unable to hit, then you can adjust your lesson accordingly and get them to submit the minimum target. Also do plan for a higher target deliverable, especially for classes that can do more, just as what I suggested in Step 4.

This is especially important when you are teaching skills. In the past, when I taught students photo editing using Adobe Photoshop, I used to set a target goal of 5 skills to teach the students during every lesson. But if I feel that the class cannot meet the 5 skills, I would teach at least a minimum of 3 skills for that lesson. For classes that could pick up the skills faster, I would add on 2 more skills. Ultimately this would affect the deliverables of the students.

So remember, your deliverables obviously are important, as they are proof that your lesson was conducted and it was effective. But you need to set realistic goals to go along with your deliverables. Set your expectations right so that you will not feel that your students have fallen short during your lesson.

I hope these steps and explanation helps you in your planning!

Originally posted at LeeAhLong.com on 11/06/2013

Mega Update! Galaxy Series Review

Check out Cikgu Lee's videos below for all the reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Series Devices!





Originally Posted at LeeAhLong.com

Chromebook 10 Days Challenge

I am not going to do a review on the Samsung Google ChromeBook because you probably can find dozens of those on youtube. Instead I am going to do a 10 Day Google ChromeBook Challenge and use this machine as my main work machine for 10 Days. I am going to use it to surf, blog, email and test some Chrome OS apps, and I will document my experience here on a daily basis.

This is to round up my 10 days challenge:

1) The Google ChromeBook is nice as a concept idea.

Education is definitely a sector that will be open to using this device. My only issue with it is its price at the moment. Abit too high for what it does, and delivers too little in terms of giving back to the user. Frankly I would have gotten a Nexus 7 Tablets or some other brand for the same price. Infact Acer W3 is out and price wise is super close to the ChromeBook. Additionally, there many other android tablets you could get at the same price and does more.

So education use, in classroom is ok. But for personal device... I have my doubts.

2) Web apps are cooler and cooler each day

Now I am a progressive person. I appreciate the idea of using web apps, even though you need a persistent internet connection for it. The ChromBook takes it to the next level. I am impressed by how the Chrome Webstore links you up with all those websites and services. But ultimately you can still do the same thing using a the Windows/Mac version of Google Chrome. So not much advantage of using the machine itself.

When I tested the ChromeBook using other kind of web services such as office 365, it worked fairly well. But the ChromeBook was not able to keep up with more powerful kinds of web apps like the iCloud's iWork Suite.

But in general, I could do most things easily using online apps but will take some adjustment time too.

3) Would I use this as my primary device?

Probably not. but like I said in point 1, using this for education is good. There are natural forms of control that the students will not be get out of. Work will be focused and teaching can be done but only with properly trained teachers.

So thats concludes my short 10 day challenge with the ChromeBook.

Articles about Cikgu Lee's Chromebook 10 Day Challenge on LeeAhLong.com:

Google Chromebook 10 Day Challenge!
Google ChromeBook Challenge - Day 1 (General Use)
Google ChromeBook Challenge - Day 2-3 (Media Use)
Google ChromeBook Challenge - Day 5 (Video Walkthrough/Review)
Chromebook Lesson 102 - Web Apps (Socrative.com)

Educator's Review of Samsung Devices - Galaxy S4, Galaxy Tab 3 and Galaxy Note 8.0

Cikgu Lee's Educator's Review of Samsung Devices - Galaxy S4, Galaxy Tab 3 and Galaxy Note 8.0. Check out the video embedded.


Originally posted on LeeAhLong.com

Why Asian Parents are obsessed with Academics?

I was having lunch over the weekend with some friends of mine who have children who are from 3 to 18 years old.

And one of them was discussing how worried she was about her daughter getting into a good secondary (high) school through a special 6 year programme that will lead her straight to Junior college. She was worried that her daughter might not have done enough through extra curriculum activities, or was not talented enough to enter those kinds of schools. She felt that she had brought up her daughter well, of good character and attitude but there was a nagging doubt in her mind that her daughter was just not good enough.

Then this morning, I woke up to notice a new video to a youtube channel I subscribe to. Here is the clip

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FityXzwPBSI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I sat in my office today and wondered... why are parents so obsessed about their children having to get into schools of 'Special' stature and why the pressure for them to conform to the World's view of intelligence or success?

Sure we could say that we want what is best for our children. Agreed. No parent should or would want the worst for their child. But I was reminded of this article that I saved a while back that was featured on Yahoo! News. I hope this will help all those teachers and parents out there understand, even if you are unaware, why we are so tough on our children. And maybe... just maybe we can learn to love them more by knowing our flaws.

The original article can be found here:

Originally posted at LeeAhLong.com

Learning Objectives? Why is it important?

Honestly, whenever I talk about this particular topic, sometimes I forget why is this important. So this is a good reminder for myself too.

How do you write good learning objectives?

Lets start by asking, WHY is writing good learning objectives important in the first place?

Alright, most of you are probably wondering what the heck are learning objectives? Man... this is getting complicated isn't it? So many questions to answer!

Lets start at the beginning.

Every teacher is taught how to draft a lesson plan.

In general, most lesson plans talk about what they intend to cover, how they are going to teach it, time allocated for teaching and additional information regarding the lesson. And like the saying goes: 'Always have the end in mind'

So teachers always have to think about what are the lesson objectives before they teach a lesson so that they know if they have met their lesson objective or not.

Now, clear lesson objectives make a difference. How? By being clear and accurate, we stay on track as we plan, think and execute.

Now, if you are a parent, what does this have to do with me? Well, I always felt that parents should understand this area because how you speak to your child, the language used, the syntax of the question helps form the way your child process the question and how he gives his answer.

Common mistake made by both teachers and parents are to give simple questions, that require only simple answers. but thats not enough! That does not stretch or test the child's thinking capacity.

Ok so lets get back to the original thread. We have touched on the 'Why'. Now lets talk about the 'How'.

Lesson objectives are not only confined to the classroom. It can also be the questions you ask your child or student.
The way we ask questions affect what kind of skill you are testing.

This comes from the commonly used concept of Bloom's Taxonomy. (You can read more about it here)

Bloom's separates the different levels of learning of the child into 6 broad categories.

By understanding these 6 categories, a teacher or parent will be able to test or plan what kind of information you want for the child.

The lowest level of learning is remembering.

So for example, we often ask children, 'Do you remember what colour was the car?'

How many of us are guilty of that? Now, not that the question is wrong. But it could be phrased better.

It could have been phrased as, 'Recall the colour of the car'.

Now you may say, that doesn't seem much of a difference, but you know, the more you continue giving simple syntax questions, the worst it becomes for the child in the future. This is something we all are guilty of.

So even when writing a lesson objective or a test, Bloom's Taxonomy is a good way to help you phrase things the right way.

So the verbs are important when crafting your questions.

Now, to be honest, I cannot claim myself to be an expert in this. But as a former ICT trainer and teacher, I can share with you simplified ideas on this topic.

We have to talked on the 'Why' and the 'How'. Let me introduce to you now how ICT and Bloom's Taxonomy links.

We have Smart Devices like iPhones, Samsung Galaxy or tablets like the iPad.

Now even though it says for iPad, majority of these apps will be available for Android, and Windows also.
You could always substitute them with a close equivalent also.
These apps, will help your child or student to achieve those learning levels that you plan for. But of course all this requires planning and thought. So TAKE YOUR TIME!

The worst thing you can do as a parent or teacher is to jump right in and throw the iPad to the child and expect them to use those apps without guidance. It doesn't work that way!

So I shall leave you here for today, but go check out the web link that I included earlier on Bloom's Taxonomy.

Perspective Thinking

Perspective.

We all have one.
Just like how it is illustrated in the graphic beside this paragraph, depending on where we are, perspective decides on how we form opinions of the World around us.

Let me give you one example.

When the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, apologised for causing problems to Singapore and Malaysia for the Indonesian Haze, depending on one's perspective, one could think that he was being generous and honest or he could be perceived as weak and bowing to its neighbors.

Perspective is about knowing where our ideas or views came from and being open to different or other views.

Now why am I writing about this? So often, we hear about people complaining and airing their grievances, and yes, to that person, those grievances could be very valid.

But consider this idea, before airing those grievances, take a step back and think, does it really matter? Is your problem or issue really that large to be made an issue? How does one learn to tell the difference?

Simple Answer: Education at home and school

I spoke to some teachers over the weekend and the general consensus was that students/youths of today, are not taught enough about Perspective Taking. Why that particular skill? It is because as they grow up, they are going to start forming and sticking to certain thinking and mindset on particular opinions. Such as what is their political affiliation or acceptance, their preference in work style and even the type of holidays they go on. Perspective Taking is important to help youths learn to explore all views and not just their own.

I am going to avoid talking about Socratic Questioning in this post, but Perspective Taking is something that is closely linked with that. Youths are very moldable at their current age. Easily influenced and can swing to extremes in terms of support or opposition because they tend to face tunnel vision fairly quickly.

Here is 4 basic steps on how to execute Perspective Taking:

1. When you come into my space, I have a little thought about you and you have a little thought about me.
2. I wonder “why are you near me?,” “what is your purpose for being near me?” “Is it because you are just sharing the space, do you intend to talk to me or do you intend to harm me?” I have to consider all these things in order to keep me safe around people as well as to predict what will happen next.
3. Since we have thoughts about each other, I wonder what you are thinking about me. 
4. To keep you thinking about me the way I would like you to think about me, I monitor and possibly modify my behavior to keep you thinking about me the way I want you to think about me.

Why is this relevant to education? Why must I, as a parent or teacher teach my child/student this skill?

In countries such as the US, where different areas of the country have different ideology, and many a times they may not understand each other's views. So often we have heard about elections, swing votes, etc... what does it all mean? Why does it matter?

Perspective Taking takes us back to the underestimated skill of teaching us on how we should be open to new views all the time. By teaching the young, we are preparing the next generation skills to not look inwardly, but in a global perspective. As the world continues to shrink due to the Internet and we are more and more interconnected through trade, politics and religion, it is important that we do not fall into the complacency that my view is the only view, as often accused by many countries to each other. Rather we should continue to strive for open conversation and debate.

To all parents and teachers:

• Question your child/students.
• Make them think about cause and effect.
• Challenge them to make a better world even if the world says No.

Remember, education is not just about imparting knowledge, it is also teaching them how to gain knowledge. School systems have been guilty of this mistake for many years. Parents have been guilty of leaving it up to schools to equip their children with everything. For too long we teach and educate based on a single set of knowledge, but have we taught how to gain new knowledge? How will they be creative or challenge the status quo? Have we become so cynical of change that we will not teach those skills and letting the child come to his or her conclusion?

I want to give a special mention of my secondary school History teacher of mine.
Yes, I know. History is a humanities subject and involves Perspective Taking but that is not the point. I remember her telling me something which till this day I value. She told me, never accept anything at face value until you have determined it to be so.

Perspective taking is just that. We should never accept one's views wholesale, even when it comes from yourself or from a credible source. Being human, we are prone to mistakes and tunnel vision. Let us go back to the point where we enjoy learning and challenging all views brought to us.

Remember, teaching selectively is not teaching at all.

Don't expect to just teach facts, but teach skills to confirm those facts.

Only then will we be properly adding foundations for our children for the future.