Archive for Livescribe

Story Boards for Kids…and Adults!

May 30, 2011 education, Livescribe, Livescribe, story boards, TechFriends(Geeks), writing Comments Off on Story Boards for Kids…and Adults!

A recent trip to San Francisco connected me to some really fantastic teachers with amazing energy and enthusiasm!  Zoe is one such person.    To get to know her better, here is her website:

https://sites.google.com/site/zoebraniganpipe/

She also writes a  blog about smartpen uses:  http://livewithlivescribe.edublogs.org/*
*This site was developed as part of a joint Ministry of education and Ontario Teacher Federation funded project with a focus on teacher learning and professional development. In this project, teachers collaborate and discuss the uses of the Livescribe pen in the classroom.

Her family was lucky enough to make the trip to San Francisco with her, and her 8 year old son created this wonderful storyboard about his adventures in San Francisco using a Livescribe smartpen.  (Thank you Zoe for letting me share your son’s wonderful pencast!)

I think this is a fantastic idea for teachers to use with students who feel like they are not good writers, or don’t know how to get started!   If you have your students make pencasts, please share them with me at tech4mathed.sg@gmail.com

 

1-Subject A5 Notebook 4 p. 50 (click on this link if you cannot see the pencast below)
brought to you by Livescribe
 

Time to Connect!

May 23, 2011 Connect, education, Evernote, Facebook, Google, Google Docs, iPad applications, Livescribe, Livescribe, TechFriends(Geeks) One comment

Livescribe’s newest application CONNECT came out today: Monday May 23, 2011.   A few weeks ago I was part of a media event where Livescribe, Evernote and Google were present to help talk about the new application.

connect (click here to see the pencast on the Livescribe website)
brought to you by Livescribe

 

*click on the arrow in the upper right hand corner to make the pencast full-screen.  The pencast is best viewed with the preview turned OFF:

If the pencast above does not show up on your browser (Firefox seems to work the best) , then click on the link below to open up the actual pencast PDF:

IntroToConnectpencast

You have to click on the link and then it opens another window with only the link in it.  Click on the link again to open the actual PDF pencast.

You must have Adobe PDF Reader X (10 or higher) to see the actual pencast above completely contained in a PDF!

 

THE BIG DEAL ABOUT CONNECT:

  • I believe the most important aspect about Connect is the fact that a pencast can now be completely self-contained in a PDF.  This means that we can finally “own” our pencasts!   This will allow us to house them inside closed systems online or on DVD’s, rather than having to use a link to the actual pencast or embedding what looks like the pencast, while it is still housed on Livescribe’s servers.  This is HUGE!

 

  • I think it is amazing that I can now directly email a student from the dot paper, as soon as I connect my pen to the computer!  No more “uploading” the file and then finding it and sending it.   This will save a lot of time when answering student questions.  When the student opens the email, they will get an attached PDF, rather than a link to the Livescribe website.  The attached PDF will contain the entire pencast, sound and animation, with a play/pause/stop bar!

 

  • I also love the fact that I can directly upload a pencast PDF to GoogleDocs.   I can share a file easily with students or colleagues using GoogleDocs!   At my college, students have access to GoogleApps, so this will be a great new feature to use.

  • Sending to Evernote will be fantastic as well.  I host my ideas and notes from conferences on Evernote to keep them all in one place.   Although Livescribe was “connected” to Evernote before, the file was split into a static PDF and the sound file.   Now, with Connect, you can send the entire pencast PDF directly to Evernote when you dock your smartpen.

 

  • Connect will also send a pencast PDF directly to Facebook, which will be a great way to post your status – with sound and animation!

 

To download the FREE version of connect, go to:  http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/starthere/

To purchase Connect Premium for $14.99 go to the Livescribe store:
http://www.livescribe.com/store/20070723002/p-541.htm

 

*To quickly get the pencast from the paper to all of these new applications you will need to learn about LAUNCH LINES.     My next blog post will teach you how to use this feature of the Livescribe smartpen.

 

Summer Projects for Visual and Interactive Math

May 20, 2011 Algebra, Camtasia, education, GeoGebra, GeoGebra, HyperStudio, Interactive Projects, Livescribe, Livescribe, Math Projects, Mathematica, Photoshop, Teaching, TechFriends(Geeks), WolframAlpha 3 comments

Visual Interactive Learning
I have been sitting here staring at my computer for the past week since I got back from an amazing time with a room full of extremely innovative teachers in San Francisco as part of the Livescribe Educational Advisory Board.

I keep staring at it not being able to decide where to start!  I have so many new ideas that I want to implement for the Fall, and now I have even more resourceful people to guide me when I get stuck!

Some of the big ones on my list I have already started working with, but I want to dig deeper and create projects for my students to interact with, and also projects for them to create:

Hyperstudio5 (Roger Wagner will be at ISTE this summer, so that will be fun!)
GeoGebra
Camtasia
Livescribe (new cool stuff coming next week!!)

The newest application I want to learn:

I have been playing with WolframAlpha for the past year, but I recently purchased Mathematica and I am excited to see what I can create with it! My goal is to create visual and interactive materials for Algebra and Geometry.    I will post as soon as I start building!  I am still watching the video tutorials for now.   I want to look further into the following links as well:

Wolfram Research STEM Initiative

Wolfram Faculty Program

Lastly, I NEED to learn Photoshop.   My oldest son currently creates all of my artwork for my projects, but in a few years he will be off to college and won’t be around to help me!

Hopefully between spending time with my family and attending ISTE and HI-TEC this summer, I will be able to dig deeper and create some projects for next Fall using some of these great interactive applications!

 

Off To A Great Semester With Technology!

January 22, 2011 Algebra, education, eInstruction Interwrite Workspace, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, Mobi, Pulse smartpen, SnagIt, Student participation, Teaching, Teaching Online, TechFriends(Geeks) One comment

A new semester has begun and I have added a few new ways to help my students succeed.

  1. I borrowed my colleague’s idea to have 2 students take notes during every class using a Livescribe smartpen.  I then upload the notes to their class website, and post a link  in the calendar on the day the notes were taken.

I created a webpage to house the daily notes for each chapter, starting with our first chapter:  Chapter 9

2.  I use a Mobi (from eInstruction) to present the lesson from anywhere in the room.   An especially nice feature of the Mobi software, called Workspace, is that I can save the board notes and export them to a PDF file.  I place on link in the calendar to the board lesson on the day the lesson was given.

*to see the actual board notes, you must go to the calendar and click on “board notes”, since they are an attached PDF file, I cannot link to it here.

3.  The students use an online program to do their homework, which sends me a screen shot when they need help on a particular problem.  Instead of trying to type back a response to them, I fully explain their solution using a Livescribe smartpen.  I then send them the link to the pencast, and I also created a webpage to house all solutions to student homework questions.

*here is the link to the page that contains all the homework solutions

Here is one of the solutions I wrote to my students just today:

SimplyNegativeExponentsEx2
brought to you by Livescribe
…
This is just the first week of class, and the students have shown a positive reaction to these extra support features I have included on my website for them.   I look forward to seeing how the semester progresses!
…
*To see more of my college website go to:  Glascoe College Website .  I built the website using Dreamweaver.
…
*All screenshots were taken using TechSmith Snagit
…

 

New Opportunities for Growth

December 9, 2010 AMATYC, Bio, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mobi, Pulse smartpen, Teaching, Teaching Online, Technology, Training 3 comments

I have not blogged much about my own teaching with technology in the past couple months.  Instead, I have tried to write about others who I admire and what they are doing to help move mathematics education into the 21st century……This is because I have been on medical leave for a broken foot.  I was successful for a short while teaching with the Mobi from a stationary spot in each classroom, but I was still having to walk to three different buildings and my foot was not healing.   My doctor advised me to go on medical leave and let it heal.   I have missed my students terribly, and am disappointed not to be able to try the new online projects I had planned for the semester.  It was hard not being able to do any training this past semester as well.    I have been given a doctor’s release to go back to teaching again in the spring, and I am excited to dig my heels back into teaching and learning with technology!

I do have other exciting news to share as well (besides getting to start teaching again in the spring):  AMATYC Project ACCCESS invited me to serve as a Consulting Colleague (mentor) for the 2011-12 Project ACCCESS Fellows!   They even sent me the contact information for the Fellow I will be directly advising on her project so I can get started today!  It will be amazing to be in a cohort of established teachers who will be mentoring, along with Fellows who are new teachers wanting to learn more about the scholarship of teaching at a 2 year college.   The Fellow I am mentoring is working on a project to include technology, like the Livescribe smartpen, into her Hybrid college courses to help her students.   I feel so honored to be chosen to assist in guiding her progress, and help her to evaluate her project.

To learn more about the AMATYC ACCCESS program, go to the link: AMATYC  Project ACCCESS .
to learn more about the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges, go to:  AMATYC

I can’t wait to get started and to share the experiences I have  in working as a Consulting Colleague in this amazing program!

 

My Customer-Story Video for Livescribe

November 17, 2010 Bio, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, published articles, Teaching Online, Technology 2 comments

I was asked by Livescribe if I would give my testimonial as a college instructor using the Livescribe pen for my math classes.   I had so much fun making the video with the team!

Amazing how they can shrink 2 hours of  “discussion” (with many retakes I might add!) into a minute and a half of produced video!

They interviewed 7 people in different professions to show how each of us enhances our work with the help of our Livescribe smartpen.

To see all 7 videos, go to the Livescribe Home Page and click on my photo on the bottom of the page.  (OK, I share the photo with three other people, but I made the home page!)

I still own my original 1 GB Pulse and now the new Echo smartpen, and I am so thankful for having such great technology to teach with!  I am also finding great ways to use my smarpens in  everyday life, too!

Here is my Livescribe Story posted on YouTube:


Clip to Evernote

 

Getting Published!

November 4, 2010 Bio, CPS Clickers, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mobi, published articles, Pulse smartpen, Teaching Online, Technology Comments Off on Getting Published!

I wrote an article for Community College Week magazine about how I use technology to enhance teaching and learning both inside and outside of my classes.   I was excited to find out last week that they accepted my article and it was published recently!

To find the article online, you need to click on the Community College Week website, and then click on the green “Technology Update” image to download the PDF.   The article I wrote starts on page 13.

Community College Week’s website


Clip to Evernote

 

Students Helping Students!

October 17, 2010 Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Pulse smartpen One comment

I recently wrote an article for Livescribe’s Education blog about a how a colleague of mine in the English department uses her Livescribe Pulse and Echo smartpens for her Fundamentals of Writing  and Women in Films classes.

Read the article Here

I can’t wait to try out having my students take notes when I get back to teaching!

Clip to Evernote

 

Staying Tuned!

October 9, 2010 feedback, grading, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast Comments Off on Staying Tuned!

Last week I read an article (and podcast) on Livescribe’s educational blog (Applications in Education) that is very exciting and I believe will really transform helping students.   There were two parts to the article, the first focused on using technology in education, and the second part was more focused on the Livescribe smartpen and notetaking.

The entire article and podcast was amazing, but the part that REALLY caught my eye was at the very bottom of the article.  I have highlighted it in green below…

Are you confused as to why it would be exciting to be able to print off the special dots on the livescribe paper combined with ANY other document?   As a teacher, I see this as an amazing opportunity to give my students feedback on a whole new level!   Papers can be graded on the dot paper with the livescribe pen, and the students will be able to hear and see the feedback, rather than just read a few comments that the teacher put down to show corrections.  I am sure there will be many more applications of this incredible feature, but I need to play with it first to get more ideas.

Let’s just say I am certainly “Staying Tuned!”

*If you have read an article or have used an amazing product that helps you as a teacher, please send me information about it.   I would love to find more incredible teaching tools to use and blog about!

Clip to Evernote

 

Mobile Whiteboards, Smartpens and Bloom’s Taxonomy

October 3, 2010 Conferences, eInstruction Interwrite Workspace, Group Work, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, Mobi, Presentations, Pulse smartpen, Student participation, Technology, Training Comments Off on Mobile Whiteboards, Smartpens and Bloom’s Taxonomy

What do mobile whiteboards, smartpens and Bloom’s Taxonomy have in common?   A great all-day workshop teaching high school teachers, and their students who are in a teacher education program, how to use mobile whiteboards and smartpens through the use of a hands-on project that focused on Bloom’s Taxonomy!

We started the day learning about Hybrid versus Blended teaching models, and then I introduced the Mobi, a mobile interactive whiteboard made my eInstruction.

Next up was a discussion about Bloom’s taxonomy.

Then, to get them ready to do their first project, we played “Blooms Taxonomy According to  Pirates of the Caribbean”:

I introduced them to the Livescribe Pulse smartpen and another colleague showed them how to draw stick figures so they could create a cartoon based on the pop culture area of their choice for the Bloom’s Taxonomy level their group was in charge of.

They had a great time creating their first cartoon strip and adding sound with the Livescribe Pulse smartpen!   After lunch I gave them a lesson on using the Mobi, eInsruction’s mobile interactive whiteboard.      Each group got a Mobi to use to recreate their cartoon on the Workspace software installed on their computer.   This time they could add color and crop images for their characters and turn it into a movie.

At the end of the workshop, we shared everyone’s finished products on the different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy

We had a great time watching each other’s final projects! I had a lot of fun teaching with several of my colleagues for the ATLAST program, which stands for: Achieving Technological Literacy in Arizona Students and Teachers.

ATLAST is a project supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The performing unit is the National Center for Teacher Education (NCTE) in the Maricopa County Community College District. To learn more about the ATLAST project click here.


Clip to Evernote

 
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