Katherine's Formative Project / Blog Post

Things have been going really well so far! Learning HTML has been a  long project, but I think I’m almost at the point where I can make something that looks semi-legitimate. I say almost, because at this point I have a good grasp on a fair amount of the basic html-- but there’s still a large difference between theoretically knowing and actually doing. Sure, I can execute examples of the skills in isolated environments (check out that pointlessly elaborate nested table I created!), but I have still had very little practice in putting it all together, mainly because I don’t have a driving concept for my work. I guess I never really considered making a website, because originally I had my heart set on this whole “interactive infographic” idea, but such is the nature of an exploratory project, I guess! Unfortunately, now that I see how far off from my initial idea I am, I’ve reached a bit of a conceptual standstill. Code writer’s block, if you will. I definitely need to regroup, refocus, and re-plan, though the lack of inspiration is certainly not helping.

Until I reach a point of resolution on the creative front, I’ll continue working on learning new concepts and such from w3 schools. There’s always more to learn, and I should probably start working on external css and/or javascript soon, too. Plus, now that I’ve gotten oriented with html, I can now open up the page sources for any websites I find interesting, and use them as a learning opportunity. With every different website examined, I become aware of many more aspects of html-- yet another exciting but daunting prospect.
Though there are many variable aspects to my project right now, one thing is for certain; I definitely still have a long way to go.

Taha Vasowalla Blog Post for March

So far in Tech Team, I have been working on my project, Aquanotes. Mostly I am programming in the core functionality of the program and working to make it fully functional and ready for the web. There are many bugs that I have encountered and I haven’t fixed all of them yet. I am hoping to get a prototype done by the end of March.

My three formative projects are done and our website is also nearing completion. All I have left is writing the actual program so it looks like I should be able to meet my deadline.

Lee Lebensbaum Blog Post for March

So far on this quest, I have finished my first project. My PowerPoint has been completed, and there are two more dragons to slay: the word document and the video. Taha and I, while often working extremely hard, delve into the mystic worlds of Steam, to motivate ourselves and build our minds with valuable knowledge and experience.
The idea of using Google in education is coming together, more so than before. A few weeks ago, I was hesitant on using other features other than Google+, but then I found so many useful tools that can be (and should be) used. Google Calendars, Google Groups, Google Communities, Google Drive... the list goes on! In the word document, I shall explain all of the uses of these apps. In the video, the plan is to give a tutorial on setting up and using Google+ for teachers and students. Overall, this project is coming together well and the hope is to finish the entire project by the end of April. The sword in this epic is my brain, and wielding, it, I shall conquer this project!

Parth Blog Entry for March

Parth Valecha

Hi I am Parth Valecha. In the past couple months, I have been working on a headphones idea of mine. I have been researching different headphones and looked at what I can take from each headphone and each company to produce my product. I have been researching which tips provide the best noise isolation, which drives produce  crisp and balanced sound quality, and stuff like that. I also wrote about a page and a half on the benefits and functions that make my product so different and beneficial. I have recently started working on the product development side of my product and how it implements so many things into such a simple format and device. I hope to soon get a document out on how I would market and sell my headphones. I think Innovation Help Desk is pretty sweet. I like the independence as you can do really whatever you want. Sometimes that independence leaves me a little lost but that feeling is necessary in the business world. I feel like I can really get my thoughts out and develop and improve on them.

For phase two, I got an idea on how I’m going to present my idea. It’s going to be on a word document. It will have two parts, product development and benefits to customer. The first part will be pictures of a few headphones from other companies. Each headphone has a few bullet point on how I would like to implement it into my product. I might take the design of one headphone and the quality production of another. In the end, my product will be a mix of all the headphones. I do this to show what I have in mind and show that my product is viable. The second part will be an elevator pitch. This will focus more on the benefits and uses of my product rather than how it works.

Chrispin Wendell Blog Entry For March

For the past month, I have been at the help desk to study Java programming. The online sites 

don’t help much in helping to understand how the language fits together, but there are some 

books that are more helpful. In phase 2, I hope to start writing simple programs such as the 

traditional “Hello World” program I recently created. I think that once I know how the language 

fits together, I will learn quickly, because it happens to be closely related to another language I know. 

I am learning the language because it is one of the most popular languages in the world, and 

because that language is necessary to make applications for Android. Once I have a better 

understanding of how to program in Java, I will probably make an app that allows students to 

view homework from their phone, since no one can find it on Aspen.

The New Semester / Zachary Griffin IT/Help Desk Assistant

     It's the new semester now, which means we now have our new influx of students showing up for the Andover Help Desk. It's been quite a busy week since the new arrival of students came into the Help Desk on Monday, there isn't a block where a student isn't learning about the newest innovations about technology, and that's exactly what Mr. Downs and I are excited about! Between working on subjects such as 3D modeling, Java, and HTML, there is nothing that the Andover Innovation Lab can't support its students on. 

         Among the many ways we approach to instruct our students, the most important focus they have is to use their own judgement on how a project should and shouldn't be. If a student wanted to develop a website, for example, it would be vital for him/her to use their own judgment on how that site should be handled. It's more than just creating a site, you also need to judge the work you've done, and commit to making improvements to them based on your own evaluation. Being able to self-evaluate is something the Andover Help Desk is committed to teaching its students. 

    As a recent graduate from a Technical Institute, it's in my interest to see our students going through a college like experience, from working hands on with their projects to learning how to take in constructive criticism to advance their skills in their desired field. Many of our students are seeking a future in a technology based environment, and if we can assist in guiding them to pursue that goal, I would say the Andover Innovation Labs help extends beyond that of an normal high school curriculum. It's been a pleasure working with these technology driven students, and I look forward to seeing how our future this semester unfolds. 

Instructional Technology Update Andover High School Week of January 27-January 31 2014 -Daniel Downs

This week at the Andover Innovation Lab & Help Desk we got off to a great start with the addition of 10 new students beginning projects using technology. The student projects range from learning Java, creating websites and also developing business plans for innovative products. In the next week we will be posting blog entries from the students describing their first week at the help desk/innovation lab.

Some of these students have been able to assist teachers in their role at the Innovation Lab/Help Desk  with a variety of technology. Students have assisted in setting up wireless projectors,adding email accounts to phones and downloading the Chrome browser on the new MacBooks.

Students at the Innovation Lab are also piloting the use of district based Google Drive accounts. Students in the lab will be urged to use these tools to assist in their research,share documents,videos,images. At the end of this semester we will ask students about their use of these tools and use their opinions to help develop a list of benefits these tools can bring to the district.

Photo:Help student Viabhav Patel installs PC for Innovation Lab students at help desk.

This week I worked with Adriana Gonzalez a teacher in the Foreign language department. I assisted Mrs. Gonzalez with creating shared Google Documents which contain her course homework. These documents enable real time updates of assignments and provides a consistent and reliable link for parents and students . Using a link shortener named Bit.ly we were able to also shorten the Google Links to personalize and shorten links. These links were then placed on the X2 portal.

Teachers are also beginning to use Google Groups to create collaborative web portals for students to ask questions,post comments and share acquired knowledge. The groups enable teachers to organize a collaborative web based environment on individual emails. Students and the teachers are sharing information simultaneously and are notified whenever someone adds to the discussion. These groups are widely used in higher education for collaboration I have included the link from Brown University who uses these groups consistently.

Link To Brown University Google Tools Site

Lauren Ream Social Studies teacher has ambitiously developed a blog to host her course materials this semester. Mrs.Ream has organized her course materials and hosted a variety of web based documents using Google Drive on her Blogger blog. Over the course of the semester she will have students commenting on discussions directly in class and will also enable students to share quickly and efficiently the course assignments and homework postings.

I was able to work within Mrs. Reams classroom this week and assist her with adding existing lessons and editing them to be posted on the blog. We also added students to become readers of her blog.  Her students blog posts engaged students with not only with learning technology skills but also improved engagement with her content. At the end of the class students could scroll through student responses and view a variety of opinions related to subject matter content. These changes will enable Mrs. Reams class to continue to develop  web based lessons and ready access to assessments.

In the coming weeks I will be offering out to teachers

more technology training after school to assist in understanding their MacBooks “System Preferences” and “Commonly Used Web Apps” such as Evernote and Skitch.

Additional training opportunity will include beginning teachers with Google Drive and Documents. I want to enable to teachers to improve their adaption of tools to their existing lessons and classroom environments.

First Experience With Google Hangout's At The AHS Help Desk / Zachary Griffin / IT Assitant

     Of the many useful tools Google provides, Google Hangouts is an icing on the cake, as it not only allows you to video chat with your friends and co-workers, but it also doesn't even require an install! As Hangouts is a Google app, you simply plug it into your browser interface and you can chat with your friends in seconds. As with all of the other Google Apps, Hangouts is completely free, and so long as you have a Google account, you have complete and unlimited access to its features. 

    On Wednesday at the Andover Innovation Lab, I worked with both Eli and Dan on a Google Hangout, where Eli showed us his work on his app that he had developed during his year in the Help Desk. Dan and I watched as Eli presented his questionnaire game using Google tools and other online resources for the presentation. In order to make Google Hangouts feel authentic, we were each put into a different room in the Library apart form each other, so it truly felt like it was a real professional online session. Eli did an amazing job, and hopefully other students and faculty will get a chance to watch the session on YouTube. 

     Viabhav, being another long time student of the Help Desk, also presented his project on Thursday, using Google Hangout. Viabhav was assigned to show Mr. Downs, Eli, and myself how Minecraft, a popular crafting video game, can be utilized in schools and provide unique learning curves for students wanting to learn professional fields in software development. Viabhav went over all the need to know information for people getting familiar with Minecraft for the first time.

    Video online sessions are very useful in that they allow you to get to know someone without having to either call them or meet them in real life. Jobs in today's market are pushing towards a more virtual based environment, and the Google Apps enable a lot of the most convenient ways for people to do this. As the next semester rolls in with our new group of students; the Andover Innovation Lab can look forward to doing several more Google Hangouts in the future.

Learn more about Google Hangouts here:

http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/

Link to our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeI-NCsy5l94LAQENEhFwcw?feature=watch

The Hour of Code Experience at the Andover Innovation Lab / Help Desk / Zachary Griffin

     When I first heard about the Hour of Code, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it. I assumed many of the students would be working on something that they may find overwhelming and it would turn out to be a very uneventful week. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. The Hour of Code proved to be a much more important experience than I would have anticipated. Our first role at the help desk was to assist Mrs. Reidy with creating a shared Google Form so she could communicate with all students efficiently. We also created the bit.ly link (bit.ly/ahshourofcode) so students could access the document with friendly URL. 

     Dan Downs and I worked in the Library and several other classrooms supporting large amounts we were assigned to during the Hour of Code. Our role was to provide students with the link to the Google form and to begin students with specifically assigned activities for the Hour of Code website. When working with these students, we had our students from the Help Desk like Eli, Viabhav and John assist us in guiding students through the various tutorials. Our Innovation Lab/Help Desk students provided pointers to student on how to use the code games effectively and provided necessary support to code newbies.

     Many of the students did not quite understand HTML, Javascript or CSS, so it was generally expected that they were going to struggle a bit. However, the links to the Hour of Code website that Mrs. Reidy provided made the lessons much more entertaining for the students. Some of these videos included navigating an Angry Bird character through a field using pre-built HTML that players would move over into a drop box. Indeed, the lessons were simple, but informative enough for anyone inexperienced in code to understand.

     Overall, the Hour of Code is something anyone should take a part in. It's both a great way to learn how to code and a good way of having a little bit of fun. All the students did an excellent job in providing students in working with the tutorials chosen for the Hour Of Code. Many of the Teachers around the school did a wonderful job proving support in teaching their students during the Hour Of Code.

If you are interested in seeing the Andover High School Google Doc used for the classes, click on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z34BsGqwdS9fFEeOaXKsLEMmnWsm6vaNlbjYMIo3RaY/edit

If you would like to learn more about the Hour of Code, click here:

http://csedweek.org/

If you learn the Hour of Code, you may also even be awarded with a certificate that you can add to your portfolio!

Continued Development On An Adroid App / Eli Gukovsky

I have been spending a month here doing a lot of fun things. When I started doing this class, I expected a strict programming course, which I would smile and nod with, then go home and experiment with. Instead, I found that I could do all of my experimenting here, and I could get a feel for the technology that I wanted to learn in the same environment that I was actually learning it in. Mr. Downs and Zach have been nothing but kind and funny, with each of them having a very outgoing personality.

Early on, I decided to create a trivia game for Android, where the questions that are asked have no realistic answer that the user might know. This came as a combination of ideas from me and my friends. I love Android Design, so Android vs. iOS wasn't even a question for me. I've watched a lot of Android Design in Action (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWz5rJ2EKKc8j2B95zGMb8muZvrIy-wcF), so the design itself wasn't a problem for me. I created a design using a Google Slides designer I found online a while back, and I finished designing the app. The next stage for me is to actually code the app.

So far, I'm really enjoying this class, it's the thing I look forward most to during my day.

Coming Back After Vacation / Zach

     After two long weeks of not being at the Help Desk, I developed ways I could improve my skills in Multimedia and be able to share that information with our students. After receiving Minecraft as gift from my girlfriend, I will be in a better position to critique Viabhav's Minecraft mod project, as well as promoting Minecraft as a useful teaching tool for future students that participate in the Help Desk.

    My first week back from vacation has certainly been an eventful one, between the teacher conference after school on Monday with Dan's Google Doc's presentation and the adjusting to getting back into the School schedule, I am more than prepared for what it to come going forward at the Help Desk. I would like to approach this month with an ambition to teach our students new and innovative ways to learn critical thinking when applying themselves to modern technology. 

Learning Lua in the Andover Innovation LAB / Help Desk / John M.

Over the past month I have familiarized myself heavily with the programming language “Lua.” While it is mainly used for apps and video games, Lua can be used for a lot of other things. I go to the Help Desk multiple days a week for 45 minutes to work with Dan on understanding the world of Digital Design and computer programming. I have found some useful resources while at the Help Desk such as online compilers and tutorials. As of right now, I have 3 small projects due for the Help Desk before one big project.

            My first small project is to be completely fluent in Lua. I want to be able to read any Lua code and understand it thoroughly, as well as the ability to effectively write it. My second small project is to develop some tutorial videos (around three) to showcase what I have learned in Lua during my time at the Help Desk. My last small project I am currently deciding between making a mod for one of my favorite games “Garry’s Mod,” or create a medium sized program (more than 70 lines of code to make a game). My big project will to develop a video game of small or medium size.

            As this month was more focused on brainstorming, the next month will involve more coding and further brainstorming on projects to complete.

Preparing for Christmas Break and Things I Learned / Zach

    My second week at Andover High went even better than my first, between the progress we developed on the Wiki's for students as well a furthering our goals to push the students projects ahead of the curve, I couldn't have asked for a better week. During my second week, I was able to assist Instructor's with help on their Mac books, which is a great opportunity for them to know that I am here to help! 

    As I look forward to my third week at Andover High School; I keep an open mind in what type of work I am encouraged to do at the LAB Help Desk. During this week I have obtained several useful bits of information that would look very well on my resume, and I have no doubt I am going to be getting the most I can out of a solid internship. 

    When I entered week 3 of my time as an intern at Andover High, I was tasked with instructing students in the Library about the Hour of Code and how to effectively use coding languages like JavaScript or HTML to further their goals in an evolving technology based world.

Zach

Benefits Of Creating Video Lectures & Screencasts-Andover High School Instructional Technology

In the beginning of the school year I had a teacher who is not going to be able to attend parents night but really wanted to connect with parents who came. Our solution for this problem was to have the teacher create a video lecture which contained all the major components of what he spoke about on parents night. The video lecture also contained a link to a public Google document which contained all the necessary forms that he wanted to get out to parents to know about. We then uploaded the video to YouTube which enable to another user to a play the video for what his parents showed up over the course of the evening.

This parents night experience was an interesting way to introduce the power of video lectures to a teacher. By learning how to screen cast lectures teachers can actually increase the amount of time that they have to do other lesson planning or introduction of key concepts to students. Video lectures do need some planning and should contain all the details that you want to have included in a regular lesson lecture. It is also important to require students to take notes and be prepared for a discussion.

It makes a huge difference how much time you spend practicing and preparing for the video lecture. A video lecture which is well-prepared and timed appropriately should include all the components that they would in a regular lesson but can also include links to web based surveys,documents or videos. A video lecture can be loaded with links or assessments which students can prepare for classroom sharing and communication. Performing a few practice run throughs will also improve the quality of your voice and detail to which you can talk about things.

The best part of video lectures is that the tools to make them are free and readily available on the web. My favorite tool for creating video lectures and presentations is Screen Cast O-Matic. I started off with the free version of the software and was very impressed and allowed me to create presentations videos which were 15 minutes in length. I was able to share them and also upload them to YouTube so that I always had a place that I can link them from what I share with my students more quickly. There is also a pro version of screen cast O-Matic for $15 a year. I recommend this version if you are really into adding text, editing your videos more concisely or longer recording time. The pro version also removes of the watermark on the screen that says Screen Cast O-Matic.

If you use the iPad your courses you're definitely going to want to check out an app called Educreations. This application allows you to record on your iPad screen and import images create text and do a variety of speaking over what is projected onto your iPad screen. I recommend this application especially if you work on the elementary level and have some key lessons with you continually use over and over again. If you do a great job of planning out your lessons that you want to show on educreations they could be a great resource for you and also for other teachers you can find them available on the web.

With the development of online classrooms using the flip classroom model I think you going to see more and more teachers using screen cast or video based lectures. This type of sharing of your lectures is great to share your work as well as enable students to have access to your lessons anywhere they go. YouTube is very friendly to uploading these lectures along with allowing you to tag them and make them easily searchable on the web. This feature makes it easy to use YouTube as a homepage for all your video lectures. On Youtube you can then tag them and organize them into playlists.

At Andover high school I have had several teachers create video lectures for their classrooms. video lectures can help increase engagement for students in and out of the classroom. Just remember that isn't it is important to prepare accordingly for how long your presentations going to be what content you want to cover. Also, have a strategy for how you're going to share these with your students quickly and easily. Think about linking them to existing course management systems or even just having a YouTube page where you can find them all.

Personally I like using videos as a form of assessment for student work. I love having the ability to have students sit down and create a voiceover showing the work they've created on the web. This could be how students present a PowerPoint show a website design or even discuss a particular talk it topic using other web based presentation formats. I feel that with screencasts students can talk clearly and concisely about what they want to create and can also show their deep knowledge of what they've been working on. It's also a great opportunity to have students add their personal voice to what they've created. I have included two links to video lectures that teachers have made in my school. If you're more interested in using it as an assessment tool feel free to visit my YouTube page where I have samples of videos in which rubrics are included. There are also videos which show specific components of the rubrics and videos in which students describe the process of completing a project.

Science:

Not Tech Savvy??? Mr.Downs is Here!

A special thanks to the Warrior Weekly staff for writing up this article about my arrival in Andover.
I am here to help!


Not Tech Savvy??? Mr.Downs is Here!

Integrating Google Docs Into The French Foreign Language Classroom-Andover High School Instructional Technology

I recently had the opportunity to assist a French teacher with introducing Google Docs for creating a survey in his French classroom. Prior to me coming to his classroom and working with his students we discussed how we could use Google Docs so that students could share surveys that they create in French with each other more easily. The French teacher also wanted to streamline the process of having availability all of the surveys available on the web organized by class. This teacher was very open to the different possibilities of using Google Docs for integrating these surveys in his classroom.

Prior to me coming to his classroom the students typed up the surveys in Word document format. To assist this teacher I came into the classroom to coteach and show the students how to create a Google form and how to edit the different types of questions and explain how they had many options. Students learned how to create a form, change the name of the form as well as choose a template for the appearance. Even though I knew Google Docs to be very popular tool amongst high school students I was very surprised that many had not created a form before. The students did a great job working within the Google interface and the options for forms is very intuitive and allows them to choose the different types of questions(multiple choice,text,paragraph,checkboxes,choose from a list). Form questions also enable for adding help text to each question and also gave an options for whether or not the question was required or not.

One of the most interesting components of this lesson was teaching students how to add the accent to specific letters in the French language using the American keyboard. We used a webpage with the keyboard shortcuts on the board to assist students with what they needed to type in order to get the accent to show. Many students entered their survey questions in a very expedient way and successfully created their forms. I then was able to show them the live link in which they could then share their form with anyone. I had them copy their link and add it to a document in which I shared with them. Students enjoyed editing the document collaboratively and seeing live the addtion of each survey to the shared document. The final document had all of their surveys links and names on it. I shortened this link and made it so the French teacher could then share these surveys with another class in France to comlete so that the American students could review the responses.

The students in this class were now easily able to share their surveys with each other and were able to practice creating them using a tool which was intuitive and allowed them to create a variety of questions(multiple choice,text,paragraph,checkboxes,drop down,grid,choose from a list,scale). The sharing feature is valuable in that a variety of settings can be set once and editing by different people can be controlled. The person who created the form or anyone else can edit or not based on the settings. The form can be made available to the public or kept private. Google enables specific editing features for each document created.

The opportunity to use the language lab was a great benefit to this group of students. This lesson could be done in any computer lab or classroom which has internet access. Google Docs provides a great free way to create surveys or web-based forms in which you can collect data about a variety of subjects. It is very user-friendly and with just a few simple steps can be applied to almost any classroom. It can be used to help with assessment by creating test or quizzes or even in a flipped classroom model so that students can answer questions at home and then have a discussion about them when they get to school.