Making the Most of Windows 8 Touch in the Classroom

Love it or hate it, Touch has now become part of the Windows experience. It’s heavily integrated into Windows 8, and has been refined and rationalized in Windows 8.1. Teachers and other education professionals who have access to Windows 8 Touch devices for their students can take great advantage of it to enhance the overall educational technology experience.

One huge difference between Touch in earlier Windows versions – mostly notably Windows Vista and Windows 7 – and newer versions (which include both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, currently out in Preview form as a free download) is that the Windows 8 versions require very little tweaking or tuning to make Touch work properly. Older devices may not support enough so-called “touch points” (the number of individual points of contact the display can recognize simultaneously) to meet Windows 8’s requirements for a minimum of five (most older touch displays and devices support only two), but they will still work. And aside from failing to support certain Windows 8 gestures, they will work fine for screen based navigation and interaction. Newer devices labeled “Windows 8 Touch” or designated as “Windows 8 Touch Ready” should work seamlessly with all modern Windows Touch applications and the Windows 8 interface itself.

Even so, there are a few things that teachers or system administrators can do to improve the Windows 8 Touch experience, especially for younger students still mastering hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Because so many education applications run inside a Web browser window, one can magnify the view to increase the size of radio buttons, check boxes, text buttons, etc. to make them easier to see and touch accurately. In working with TeacherWeb, for example, increasing the browser zoom to 125 percent will make the native interface much more touch friendly.Windows 8 screen resolution can be reduced to make objects (and by extension, touch controls) visibly larger. One need only right-click (or press-and-hold on a touch-only display) the desktop background, then pick “screen resolution” on the resulting pop-up menu to manage resolution.Windows 8 offers numerous controls over screen appearance and layout. In the Modern UI, app tiles can be resized at will, and on the desktop icons may be displayed in large, medium or small sizes. The display item in the control panel includes a slide controller that permits alteration of all items on the screen or alteration only for text sizes.

Figure 1: In the Display item, you can manage the size of all on-screen objects, or simply manage text size separately.

Judicious use of built-in controls can help to deliver a better Windows 8 Touch experience for students and professionals alike. Don’t overlook the additional controls built into many Windows 8 apps, either, because they will also enable additional controls over specific user interface elements as well.

To make the most of the Windows 8 experience, it helps to obtain and use native tile-based Windows 8 apps built specifically for educational use. Fortunately, there are a great many of them (many of which are free for educational use, with friendly licenses, so they may be used in the classroom and at home with equal ease and facility). Some particularly useful items in this collection include:

How Stuff Works: A famous site for curious minds, which explains how systems and objects work and behave.Khan Academy Viewer: Video player for Khan Academy’s educational videos, developed by Joel Martinez as a Coding4Fun Community Project.Mathrathon: A mathematics game in displays two operands and a plus or minus sign, to which the player must respond. Great arithmetic training, lots of fun.M8!: Mind mapping applications great for organizing thoughts and ideas, taking notes, organizing studies and projects or tasks.Periodic Table: A visually-oriented tool for exploring the elements through the periodic table, including properties, appearance, chemical behavior, and more.
Physamajig: Sketch an object or model to turn it into realistic physical objects, with properties for elasticity, friction, joints, and so forth.QuickMath: Presents two randomly chosen numbers from 0 to 99 which player must multiply; apps provides immediate feedback on calculation.SAS Flash Cards: Flash card app generates cards on the fly, or by uploading a spreadsheet; Quiz mode supports auto-emailing of results to a designated recipient.Wikipedia: A widely-used online information source, this version is Touch-friendly, and also supports semantic zoom features.Wordament: A word game where contestants compete against each other to extract as many words from the letters in the matrix as possible in a two-minute long tournament.

This is just a smattering of the hundreds of thousands of high-quality education apps already available for Windows 8, and optimized for Touch use.

Generally speaking, either standalone tablets (devices designed to function well without attaching a keyboard or a mouse), laptops or convertible notebook PCs are best for classroom use. Below are some specific makes and models to take a look at for classroom use.

18.4” 1080p screen is large, bright, and kid-friendly.12.5” 1080p screen flips over for tablet or laptop use. Surprisingly sturdy.18.4” 1080p screen is large, bright, includes external keyboard and mouse.10.1 1366×768 display does not support full HD video. Great little unit.

Though school boards may not be ready to buy the Touch devices in a big way, loaner units or one-off purchases can bring them to school sooner rather than later. If you do get access to one (or more) for classroom use, they could make a useful addition to your teaching toolkit.

The Australian Education Blog: Windows 8 Education Apps“Collaborative Learning with Windows 8 Multi-Touch Apps…” Ray FlemingWindows 8 For Education (Microsoft in Education)Top Windows 8 Apps for Education (Microsoft clearinghouse: a searchable database)10 of the Best Free Windows 8 Apps for Teachers and StudentsFree tools for Educators (Microsoft Partners in Learning)Windows 8 Tablets In K-12 Education

So, are you using  Windows 8 in the classroom yet? Please leave a comment and tell us about it.

Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
5 Ways Google Glass Can Be Used in Education
5 Great Tools for Creating Your Own Educational Infographics
Exciting Developments in Uses of 3D Printing in Education

Ed Tittel has been working around IT for over 30 years, and with Microsoft Windows since the early 1990s. He’s the author of numerous computing books, including HTML For Dummies, whose 14th edition will appear in September 2013. To learn more about Ed, visit his website at www.edtittel.com.

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The Growing Use of Collaborative Classroom Spaces in Higher Education

An evolving movement in education is the design of classroom spaces that offer students the opportunity to collaborate on various activities, adding more depth to their educational experience. Colleges and universities are increasingly turning away from the traditional style of lecture focused classroom set up in favor of designs which are better equipped to allow a more interactive style of teaching.

These collaborative learning spaces frequently embrace advances in educational technology. There are a number of ways that technology is being leveraged in order to maximize student interaction and collaboration.

Let’s take a look at some of these collaborative classrooms efforts in higher education.

University of Florida
Tawnya Means, Director for Teaching Learning, and Assessment at U of F, and Jason Meneely, Associate Professor in the Department of Interior Design, recently discussed their work with Collaborative Classrooms at the UB Tech 2013 conference. Their breakout session, “Extending the Active Learning Environment – From Physical to Virtual and the Spaces in Between“, is available for viewing (you need to make a free UB Tech account to view this and all of the recorded sessions).

In discussing the reasons for moving towards more collaborative learning spaces, Means and Meneely discuss the need to facilitate Active Learning Models, enabling more hands-on activities, collaboration, team based learning, etc. These spaces go hand in hand with the transition we are seeing from a ‘knowledge’ era (where what you know is pivotal) to a ‘creative’ era, where we need to know how to use the information at our disposal to work in a creative manner. Additionally, good collaborative spaces remove barriers and encourage comfort and mobility.

U of F recently designed several different collaborative classroom spaces, with tables where students can face each other, and pop-up hubs for connectivity. One of the room layouts has 4 projectors and 8 screens, which can display computers connected to the hubs. Students bring their own devices to connect (there are no computers in the classroom to start with). Teacher stands in the middle of the classroom or sit at a table, so they have to be a direct integrated part of the teaching and learning process. No room for the “sage on the stage” here!

Another learning space the University has designed is the ‘Active Learning Space’. This is a slightly simpler layout, with multiple round tables, each with hubs and monitors, and some with computers in them. This chapter from an online Learning Spaces publication from EDUCAUSE elaborates on these learning environments further.

It can take a while for teachers to get used to teaching in these types of spaces, but many adapt quickly and enjoy it so much that they prefer it to the traditional classroom layout.

Ohio State University
Earlier this year, Ohio State University’s Foreign Language Center introduces ‘The Space’ which is their own take on a digital collaborative classroom. The idea behind the bold design is that learning will be student focused. This is achieved through the use of a wide range of technology, for example, The Space uses a speaker system which allows for the viewing of HDMI not only on the main class screen, but also on smaller screens situated around the five group workstations. Students can connect their group screen with the main class board in order to share group projects with the rest of the class.

San Jose State University
The dedicated 10,000 square foot Academic Success Center at San Jose State University is taking collaborative classroom space to the next level. The classrooms in the center are set up to allow teaching staff to get creative with their teaching methods and encourage students to interact with their education.

One of the major innovations is the Incubator Classroom – a learning space which is designed for flexible learning enhanced by technology. Some of the resources available include a range of software specifically designed to allow collaboration. This includes the RealVNC Screen Sharing, Classroom Presenter which allows for 2 way communication between students and teachers using annotations and Collanos Desktop to allow shared workspaces. All of these tools allow for collaboration in their own unique way.

Hallmarks of a Successful Collaborative Space

These represent just a small selection of the ways in which collaborative classrooms are being utilized in real world situations, but they do not represent the only uses of technology in these spaces. Other things to look for in the most successful collaborative classrooms could include:

 Multiple electronic displays including flat screens, projectors and group monitors. Generous provision of writing surfaces including white boards, magnetic areas and pinboards. Lightweight furniture that is easily moved into different combinations. Wireless connectivity including high speed broadband. Speaker systems and video capability. Smart lighting, heating and air-con to provide comfort.

As advances in educational technology continue to march onwards we can expect more education facilities to become more proactive in creating classroom spaces that are conducive to a more modern approach to learning. Designing a collaborative classroom is particularly challenging, but the key element is versatility. Through the use of new technologies it is becoming easier to create engaging educational opportunities that will encourage students to grow, and make teaching more enjoyable and engaging.

Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
6 Free Online Collaborative Interactive White Boards – 2012 Update
Applications to Facilitate Synchronous Remote Classroom Participation
Preparing Students for the Global Workplace with Collaborative Online International Learning

 Print This Post Tagged as: designing creative collaboration spaces for teaching and learning, designing optimized learning spaces in education, different approaches to collaborative learning environments, optimizing learning spaces

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Announcing the Summer 2013 Flipped Classroom Online Workshop from EmergingEdTech – Register Today

Read about other teacher’s uses of the flipped classroom – learn what works, what doesn’t, best practices, and lessons learned from some of today’s leading flipped instruction teacher-advocates, and from other teachers much like yourselfGet hands-on and flip some of your own contentTry out some free screencasting tools, and learn techniques for creating high quality, engaging screencastsLearn about other approaches to creating and delivering flipped class contentUnderstand the considerations you need to be aware of when you flip the classroom, including how to use class time, and techniques to help ensure that students consume the flipped materialsDevelop your plan to incorporate flipped instruction techniques into your teachingShare your ideas and insights, interact with other educators, and learn from each otherDiscover resources available to continue learning about the flip

The workshop will be 4 weeks long, running from July 8 through August 5. An extra week or two will be provided following the completion of the formal 4 week course, so everyone has time to complete the work (since many people take some vacation during this stretch of time).

Each week will start with a video and reading assignments, followed by specific exercises to undertake and write about. There will be required participation in discussion forums, where you will share your learning experience, ask questions, and interact with fellow workshop participants.

We will also hold a couple optional synchronous video meetings online (one at the start of the course and one at the end) to allow participants to talk with each other and discuss questions.

All participants will receive a free copy of the new “Flipped Classroom Workshop-in-a-Book” eBook (we’ll be using excerpts from the book throughout the workshop)!

The cost for the workshop is $100. Everyone who completes their assignments and participates in the discussions will be provided a Certificate of Completion upon completion of the workshop.

Within 24 hours of paying, you will receive an email welcoming you to the workshop.

IF YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLE PAYING (sometimes the PayPal link seems to behave inconsistently), just drop me a line via the Contact Form and I’ll send an invoice, which should make it easy to pay. Thanks!

- “My head is spinning with all of the great ideas that I gained from this workshop — and especially from our discussions. I am going to try to get on the agenda for an upcoming all-school meeting to share some of the ideas from this workshop. I am even leaning toward flipping my “new prep” classes if I can feel comfortable with staying ahead of the students in content creation. Our classes are structured to be two hours of lecture and two hours of lab per week. That translates into an hour of lecture followed by an hour of lab two days a week. By flipping my classes, I feel that the students who now struggle with homework will excel due to the reality that the homework they are assigned is laying the groundwork for what they do in class. Now, I’m just looking for a sure way to get and keep them motivated to access the flipped content for their homework. But, I think that problem might just take care of itself — we’ll see!”

- “I definitely look forward to experimenting with the flipped classroom. I’ve been working on screencasts using iPad apps such as educreations and explain everything. I think they are easy tools to use and interested in seeing how the students take to it. I’m also looking Into experimenting with TedEd also. Having an archive of lessons will prove beneficial. Students will be able to access lessons for review and if they want to go ahead. All in all, I envision this will free up more time for students to practice what they are learning. Whether its playing review games, answering practice problems, or even making their own screencasts, I think the learning process will be a positive one for the students.”

- “I am revved up to create more of my own original videos, but also think I will depend on other videos. Our fourth graders don’t have much homework, but I look forward to trying to incorporate this into science and math. At this point, I think I’d like to try creating new ones for math, and use the Dr. Edventure, BrainPop, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and others for Science. I also have a class website, so have to figure out how to use this and balance it with the new skills I will be learning with wikis and google websites. Our district will be assigning google emails this fall to every elementary student, so while I have a general knowledge of google, it will be fun to explore these concepts and how they can all fit together.”

- “My original idea for the flipped classroom was to use the flipped classroom as a way to have students watch classroom material at home, freeing up class time for more meaningful instruction. I continue to believe that this will be my plan; however, I also plan to create learning stations in my classroom which utilizes the videos that I make. Students will have the opportunity to rotate into a learning station which requires them to view a flipped classroom video in order to receive a portion of our daily instruction. While one group is completing this portion of the lesson, other groups will be composing their response to literature that we are reading while another group will be conferencing with me regarding what they are reading and writing in class.

- “In addition, I see a great value in developing these flipped videos as a great source of tutorial material for students. I want to be able to reference these videos so that students can constantly revisit any of them that they feel will help them become more successful in my classroom. For this reason, the content of the flipped videos will most likely focus on mini skills that students need in order to be successful in an English language arts classroom. I have already started building these lessons to include such topics as: the importance of setting, types of conflict found in literature, types of characters found in literature, the importance of developing a character for a reader, the use of symbolism in a work of fiction, etc.”

- “I am excited about the lessons that I will be creating this year, and I look forward to continuing to grow as an educator in my craft as a teacher. Thanks for everyone’s expertise in this workshop. I have learned a great deal from the responses that I have read by each of you.”

Kelly Walsh is CIO at The College of Westchester in White Plains, NY and is the founder and author of EmergingEdTech.com. As an education technology advocate, he frequently delivers presentations on a variety of related topics at schools and conferences across the U.S. Walsh is also an author and online educator, who runs regular Flipped Class Workshops online. His latest eBook, "iPads in Education: Implementations, Apps, & Insights" is available for sale in the iBookstore. In his spare time, he records and performs original and cover songs (look for "K. Walsh" on iTunes or Amazon.com or check out his original song videos on here on YouTube ).

 Print This Post Tagged as: get started with flipped instruction with this online workshop, hands on instruction in flipped teaching techniques, how can i learn how to flip my classroom, how do i learn about flipping the classroom, learn about flipped teaching, online flipped classroom workshop, register for online flipped classroom teaching workshop, summer online workshop from emergingedtech

View the original article here

Announcing the Summer 2013 Flipped Classroom Online Workshop from EmergingEdTech – Register Today

Read about other teacher’s uses of the flipped classroom – learn what works, what doesn’t, best practices, and lessons learned from some of today’s leading flipped instruction teacher-advocates, and from other teachers much like yourselfGet hands-on and flip some of your own contentTry out some free screencasting tools, and learn techniques for creating high quality, engaging screencastsLearn about other approaches to creating and delivering flipped class contentUnderstand the considerations you need to be aware of when you flip the classroom, including how to use class time, and techniques to help ensure that students consume the flipped materialsDevelop your plan to incorporate flipped instruction techniques into your teachingShare your ideas and insights, interact with other educators, and learn from each otherDiscover resources available to continue learning about the flip

The workshop will be 4 weeks long, running from July 8 through August 5. An extra week or two will be provided following the completion of the formal 4 week course, so everyone has time to complete the work (since many people take some vacation during this stretch of time).

Each week will start with a video and reading assignments, followed by specific exercises to undertake and write about. There will be required participation in discussion forums, where you will share your learning experience, ask questions, and interact with fellow workshop participants.

We will also hold a couple optional synchronous video meetings online (one at the start of the course and one at the end) to allow participants to talk with each other and discuss questions.

All participants will receive a free copy of the new “Flipped Classroom Workshop-in-a-Book” eBook (we’ll be using excerpts from the book throughout the workshop)!

The cost for the workshop is $100. Everyone who completes their assignments and participates in the discussions will be provided a Certificate of Completion upon completion of the workshop.

Within 24 hours of paying, you will receive an email welcoming you to the workshop.

IF YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLE PAYING (sometimes the PayPal link seems to behave inconsistently), just drop me a line via the Contact Form and I’ll send an invoice, which should make it easy to pay. Thanks!

- “My head is spinning with all of the great ideas that I gained from this workshop — and especially from our discussions. I am going to try to get on the agenda for an upcoming all-school meeting to share some of the ideas from this workshop. I am even leaning toward flipping my “new prep” classes if I can feel comfortable with staying ahead of the students in content creation. Our classes are structured to be two hours of lecture and two hours of lab per week. That translates into an hour of lecture followed by an hour of lab two days a week. By flipping my classes, I feel that the students who now struggle with homework will excel due to the reality that the homework they are assigned is laying the groundwork for what they do in class. Now, I’m just looking for a sure way to get and keep them motivated to access the flipped content for their homework. But, I think that problem might just take care of itself — we’ll see!”

- “I definitely look forward to experimenting with the flipped classroom. I’ve been working on screencasts using iPad apps such as educreations and explain everything. I think they are easy tools to use and interested in seeing how the students take to it. I’m also looking Into experimenting with TedEd also. Having an archive of lessons will prove beneficial. Students will be able to access lessons for review and if they want to go ahead. All in all, I envision this will free up more time for students to practice what they are learning. Whether its playing review games, answering practice problems, or even making their own screencasts, I think the learning process will be a positive one for the students.”

- “I am revved up to create more of my own original videos, but also think I will depend on other videos. Our fourth graders don’t have much homework, but I look forward to trying to incorporate this into science and math. At this point, I think I’d like to try creating new ones for math, and use the Dr. Edventure, BrainPop, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and others for Science. I also have a class website, so have to figure out how to use this and balance it with the new skills I will be learning with wikis and google websites. Our district will be assigning google emails this fall to every elementary student, so while I have a general knowledge of google, it will be fun to explore these concepts and how they can all fit together.”

- “My original idea for the flipped classroom was to use the flipped classroom as a way to have students watch classroom material at home, freeing up class time for more meaningful instruction. I continue to believe that this will be my plan; however, I also plan to create learning stations in my classroom which utilizes the videos that I make. Students will have the opportunity to rotate into a learning station which requires them to view a flipped classroom video in order to receive a portion of our daily instruction. While one group is completing this portion of the lesson, other groups will be composing their response to literature that we are reading while another group will be conferencing with me regarding what they are reading and writing in class.

- “In addition, I see a great value in developing these flipped videos as a great source of tutorial material for students. I want to be able to reference these videos so that students can constantly revisit any of them that they feel will help them become more successful in my classroom. For this reason, the content of the flipped videos will most likely focus on mini skills that students need in order to be successful in an English language arts classroom. I have already started building these lessons to include such topics as: the importance of setting, types of conflict found in literature, types of characters found in literature, the importance of developing a character for a reader, the use of symbolism in a work of fiction, etc.”

- “I am excited about the lessons that I will be creating this year, and I look forward to continuing to grow as an educator in my craft as a teacher. Thanks for everyone’s expertise in this workshop. I have learned a great deal from the responses that I have read by each of you.”

Kelly Walsh is CIO at The College of Westchester in White Plains, NY and is the founder and author of EmergingEdTech.com. As an education technology advocate, he frequently delivers presentations on a variety of related topics at schools and conferences across the U.S. Walsh is also an author and online educator, who runs regular Flipped Class Workshops online. His latest eBook, "iPads in Education: Implementations, Apps, & Insights" is available for sale in the iBookstore. In his spare time, he records and performs original and cover songs (look for "K. Walsh" on iTunes or Amazon.com or check out his original song videos on here on YouTube ).

 Print This Post Tagged as: get started with flipped instruction with this online workshop, hands on instruction in flipped teaching techniques, how can i learn how to flip my classroom, how do i learn about flipping the classroom, learn about flipped teaching, online flipped classroom workshop, register for online flipped classroom teaching workshop, summer online workshop from emergingedtech

View the original article here