Ryan Collins

🕹️ Do Something Great! 😄

Author: ryan

  • My notes from Beaver Local #bltlap and Learn 21 Conference #l21conf

    Here is a list of links and sites I have collected from the Beaver
    Local Teach Like a Pirate Waiver Day and the Learn 21 Conference. In the
    near future I’m hoping to have time to elaborate on these resources and
    how they may be used.

    Personalized Yearbooks

    TreeRing | Create Personalized Yearbooks

    This is what the 21st century is all about. Students order their
    yearbooks, but can also customize their yearbook with their own
    pictures.

    Student created eBooks

    Class eBooks

    Face it. You’ll never be as entertaining as a video game. Now what? #L21Conf

    • Video games follow Dan Pink’s Drive (what motivates us). Master, autonomy, and purpose
    • Richard Bartle, Bartle’s player types 1996
    • Achiever (grades, extra credit, points) easiest to teach to. Dangle the carrot. ♦️
    • Explorer (what to learn, first to discover, know something others don’t know) Don’t care about grades. ♣️
    • Socializer (want to be everybody’s friend, organizer, interaction) ♥️
    • Renamed to Dominator (wants to win, beat everyone around them. Grades aren’t important. Competitive). ♣️
    • Candy Crush Education
    • Gamification in Khan Academy. More than just videos.
    • Kahoot polling with any device.
    • mathtrain.tv Student created math tutorials.
    • Bartle’s test (need to watch out in school because of the name of the Dominator type.
    • “The gamification of Learning and Instruction” and “Don’t bother me mom — I’m learning!”
    • Presentation link
    • Similar to Khan, higher quality videos

    l21conf Keynote

    • Maturana’s school, half the grade was based in the quality of questions he asked.
    • Brittany Wenger
    • “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out…” Randy Pausch
    • “No consequences, being an enabler. Take ownership of your learning.”
    • Eesha Khare creates super capacitor

    Infohio coding event on April 5th.

    Web apps & Extensions for Schools with @ericcurts

    Yes, you can blend

    Show me the evidence: Applying web based resources to the OTES model

    Follow Saturday from #l21conf

  • Follow Saturday from #l21conf

    Here is a list of great people to follow from Learn 21 Conference March 12, 2014:

    @bob05 Bob Green Technology coordinator, hockey player, coach and referee. Homepage
    @chamady Chris Hamady PhD candidate (ABD) at the Univ. of Toledo in Curr. & Instruction, Dir. of Technology Anthony Wayne schools, ADE, Ed. Tech, Musician, Lifelong Learner, Runner Homepage
    @CherylLKemper Cheryl Kemper High School Media Specialist / Digital Learning Specialist Homepage
    @dtymitz Danielle Tymitz Wife, Mom of 2, Teacher, Technology addict, Runner, Fan of the 80s
    @educanon123 eduCanon Embed questions into your video instruction. Your free tool to unleash the power of video and flip the classroom. Homepage
    @EmingerITC Chelsey Eminger Instructional/ Technology Coach, Mentor Public Schools
    @ericcurts Eric Curts Family man, Technology Director, Podcaster, Writer, Google Apps Certified Trainer, Geek Homepage
    @FellowsEdu Rob Fellows Assistant Principal Homepage
    @Fouss Kristen Fouss I’m a (new) Digital Learning Specialist and former hs math teacher, mom, wife, sports fan, and runner. Rhymes with mouse. Homepage
    @geogebra GeoGebra Dynamic Mathematics for Everyone Homepage
    @GetKahoot Kahoot! Easy-to-use, game-based, blended learning & classroom response system. For schools, universities & businesses. Use with any device. Get FREE instant access now! Homepage
    @hammanmath Christina Hamman Technology Integration Coach Medina City Schools – HS Math Teacher – Mathematics graduate student – #flipclass #BlendedLearning #PBL #edchat #edtech #mathchat Homepage
    @isteconnects ISTE ISTE advances excellence in learning and teaching. Tweets coming from @HeidiEllis and @BritniHartford. Homepage
    @juliethorp Julie Thorp I am an Elementary Educator looking for ways to use networking and technology to soak up information and share with others.
    @KentPolen Kent Polen Superintendent of Beaver Local Schools
    @Kuhlins1to1byod Mr. Kuhlins History and Technology teacher, Masters Instructional Technology, Parent, Technology Enthusiast , Apple, Harley, John Deere, and beef. Homepage
    @Learn21Team Learn21 Non-Profit. Mission: To empower schools with 21st century technology and instruction by leverage shared serices. Managed by @kghantous @dtymitz @williamdfritz Homepage
    @littlebuck17 Kolt Buchenroth Is that in the Helpdesk? #TeamMac #TeamiOS #Freshman17 #KHS #Tech #kcstech #DUBSTEP #BeatsArmy #4H #Music #FFA @KTmenssoccer cameraman. I sled.
    @mathtrain Eric Marcos Student-Created Screencasts, Tablet PC & iPad. Double-flipping. I’m a public middle school mathematics teacher. Santa Monica, CA. Google Certified Teacher. Homepage
    @mdroush Michael Roush Techie, specializing in access for people with disabilities, universal design for learning, instructional and assistive technology. Hockey fan, gamer. Homepage
    @MissShuganah Debbie Married @ddenizen 2 daughters. Older 1 severe CP Can’t talk. I am SpEd advocate & I network weave http://t.co/KwHknyHRyE & gerry.http://t.co/KwHknyHRyE Homepage
    @mr_cthrush Chad Thrush Kenton High School Asst. Principal. Passionate about faith, family, and education.
    @mr_rcollins Ryan Collins Director of Technology for Kenton City Schools Homepage
    @MrGrifftastic Eric Griffith Director of IT for the Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District in Ohio, Tech Presenter, Co-host of the State of Tech Podcast, & occasionally a funny guy. Homepage
    @NORT2H NORT2H The Northern Ohio Research, Training & Technology Hub is a consortium of school districts in Northeast Ohio. Homepage
    @NREVSDTechWolf Steve Wolf Tech Department for New Richmond School District
    @ProfessorMike1 Mike Pennington Tech integration trainer for NORT2H. Effecting real change and helping create blended learning experiences for teachers and students. Homepage
    @robletcher Rob Letcher Online instruction leader, Ed Tech geek, father of two alpha-male toddlers and a lovely little girl, and husband to a beautiful – if not exasperated – wife. Homepage
    @seankaiser Sean Kaiser Dad, husband, tech geek, weather geek, system/network administrator for a K12 school in OH, information over-collector, and most recently, a runner in training. Homepage
    @StacyHaw Stacy Hawthorne Creativity & Innovation Strategist, Bb VIP Blogger & Catalyst Award Winner, Cyclist, UGA Alumnus, Google Glass Explorer Homepage
    @stevecrumbacher Steve Crumbacher Northern Ohio’s Educational Technology Consultant with the Ohio Department of Education. Homepage
    @theipodteacher Jon Smith Husband, father, TRT, Communicate Institute Instructor, former spec ed teacher, Apple freak, scratch golfer. Also tweet from @alliancecsd and @ahsipadproject Homepage

  • Teach Like a Hacker presentation at #l21conf

    Here is my presentation from the Learn 21 Conference today!

  • Title: Dear Google, You Should Have Talked to Me First [Link]

    Dear Google, You Should Have Talked to Me First writes:

    It’s a sad commentary on the state of education in the U.S. when a move like this is praised.

    To say I’m disappointed that Google views education through such a narrow lens is an understatement. For a company that has been built on innovation to invest millions into a program that levels books, awards points for low-level knowledge and comprehension, and creates bad data is a travesty.

    And you call this personalized learning? What’s personalized about letting a computer system match kids with books?

    You’re missing the point about what reading instruction should be, and you are helping to systematically destroy the joy in books.

  • Beaver Local waiver day #bltlap

    On Wednesday I had the distinct pleasure of
    attending Beaver Local’s professional development waiver day. It was a
    twofer for me, I not only got a chance to see how they ran their waiver
    day PD, but I also had the
    chance to present and converse with the staff in the district. This was
    invaluable to me, and I was very appreciative to have the chance to
    attend.

    Since the Ohio eTech Conference I’ve been trying to screencast everytime
    I teach or present. Here are the 5 presentions from Wednesday:

    My apologizes for all the recycled jokes throughout the day. 🙂

    p.s. Picture courtesy of Eric Lowe

  • Gamification in education research

    How to effectively use Civ IV in higher education | Ars Technica writes:

    Lots of games, from dedicated educational titles to adult brain-teasers, make claims about how they can improve someone’s mental performance in various ways. But there’s often little evidence available to back up these claims and, in many cases, the evidence itself is ambiguous. Can playing games actually help in the classroom?

  • IRC for teachers #tlah

    Since the website at talk.eduk8.me just isn’t up to everyone’s standards on using IRC for group chats I’ve put together a brief tutorial on installing a Chrome app that works a lot better than the website. It is also prettier. 🙂 (I also stumbled acrossed Tiny Tiny IRC tonight, but the install is a little more involved, so this will be a later project.)

    For this tutorial, you’ll be using Google Chrome. There is a Chatzilla add on for Firefox, and if there is a demand, I’ll put together a tutorial for Firefox users (although you’ll probably be able to use this one to get started with Chatzilla). In Chrome, go to the Chrome Apps store and search for CIRC (or click the link). Install the app, and then launch it.

    CIRC

    You’ll be created with a nice chat box, but you’re not connected to any servers yet. Before you connect to a server, you’ll need to set a nickname. In the message box, type /nick NICKNAME where NICKNAME is the nickname you want to use.

    Set Nickname

    Now you are ready to connect. In the message box, type /server talk.eduk8.me (If you haven’t noticed, all of the IRC commands start with a slash (/)). CIRC will connect you to the server.

    Join Server

    Once on the server, you need to connect to a room. Type /join #tlah to join the Teach Like a Hacker. Rooms are created and destroyed on the fly. If you join a room that doesn’t exists, a room will be created. And as soon as the last person leaves a room, the room is destroyed.

    Join #tlah

    Now that you’re in the room, start typing! On the left you will see a list of members of the current room along with a list of connected servers and channels. Anything typed in the box that doesn’t begin with a slash will be sent to everyone in the room.

    Start Chatting

    Want to go native? Or mobile? Here are some other clients to check out:

    (This is just a list to get you started, there are a plethora of clients available for the modern operating systems!)

  • In honor of The Lego Movie I present Ohio Dan and the Silver Brick of Doom

    Back in 1999, my brother and I put together a Lego stop motion movie.
    Ohio Dan and the Silver Brick of Doom. I had to laugh at the
    beginning of The Lego Movie since the beginning scene and a couple of the
    lines reminded me of Ohio Dan.

    The pictures were taken with a Sony Mavica floppy disk camera at a
    whopping 640×480 resolution, with us pretty much making up the story as we went
    along. I can’t remember what software we used though. The credits said
    Made with Macintosh, so in 1999 that would be the Avid movie software
    that Apple was bundling with Macs at the time (iMovie wasn’t until
    October of that year). I had just learned that there are pickles called
    sweet gherkins, which I thought was hilarious, so that had to be the
    name of the villain. Our protagonist was a parody of Indiana Jones.

    The resultant movie still makes me chuckle. 🙂

    Stopmotion is such a neat storytelling format, and it’s relatively easy
    to do. Especially with all the software and digital cameras that are
    available now. In ’99 we had to juggle floppy disks. Sometimes the disk
    would go bad and we would have to redo the shots. There was no frame of
    reference on what the previous shot was (no onion skinning) so you just
    kind of guessed. An old iPhone or iPod touch is enough to get started.

    Maybe someday we’ll complete the story.

  • How does water instantly freeze in a water bottle?

    In our garage we have some bottled water. With the colder weather I’ve
    witnessed an interesting phenomenon. When I bring a water bottle into
    the house, it is entirely liquid, but as soon as I shake it, it fills
    with slush.

    Apparently, it’s a process called
    supercooling    .
    The water temperature is brought below the freezing point, and all it
    takes is a little shake to freeze the water. Pretty cool!

  • Open a new laptop like an animal

    The best part of the terrible story done by NBC was learning how to
    unbox a new MacBook Air.