Australia, Day 2

We headed out to Blackwattle Bay school, a high school right on the water, where its principal, Lee Wright, gave an overview of the Australian K-12 education system with its history, achievements and challenges.  The last few weeks and months have brought new challenges -- the federal government has decided that it no longer funds education but that the states need to do this, and such initiatives as every school pupil, from 9th grade on, has a laptop, have been discontinued.  So, the problems faced here are very similar to the ones in Alabama.

View from Blackwattle Bay School Conference Room

After this school visit we took the ferry to Manly, past the gap -- having a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean,

and then took the bus to Stewart House (http://www.stewarthouse.org.au/), a beautifully situated sanatorium/school, founded in the 1930s with the explicit purpose of providing health care to sick children.  Today, the focus is on providing care of various types to children in difficult, problematic or dangerous home situations.  They come for 2 weeks from all over the state, and Australian teachers are for a large part responsible for making this happen as they generously subsidize the government funding.

Stewart House

We were very fortunate not only to have a great tour guide, Chris, but also meeting a former attendant, Dennie, who happened to stop by while we were there.  He had attended in 1947 and was very excited and moved to have the opportunity to visit the house by joining our group.

View from Stuart House

And yes, the evening was rounded out with a friendly soccer match, Australia vs. South Africa, in the Olympic Park Stadium.   A memorable day all around.

Missing:  one passport, remedied by emergency trip back to hotel

Australia, Day 1

After a rather long flight, we arrived in Sydney at 6:30 in the morning -- and that meant staying awake for the rest of the day at all costs.
The hotel we are staying at is the Adina, in Surry Hills, a bit of a walk from the actual downtown center, and that is what we did -- walk.  According to one pedometric technology, at least 8 miles this first day.

Now, because of the limit on Internet use, I will only post a couple of pictures each day, but there will be more later.

The tour took us through Hyde Park, past and into the Anzac Monument, through some of the shopping areas and Sunday markets on the Rock, next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past Central Station with all the ferries, the opera house, through the Botanical Gardens and back to the hotel.

Tree in Botanical Garden

Later, we went back to the water (which you cannot miss, no matter which way to go) for a dinner-- some folks had 'roo, but its rareness did not entice me.  And after a light show in the harbor, we headed back home.

Missing:  One passport (magically appearing in LA)

New video: EASL vs. Traditional Classroom

Thanks to the work of Scott Simkins, his students and Roland Dewitt, here is a new video about the EASL room:

Student Exhibit Result of EASL space

Students in an Art History class worked in the Haley EASl classroom on creating an exhibit that focuses on the image of women in American art.  Yesterday, the students showed off their designs with an exhibit of their ideas and concepts, and they allowed me to take some pictures for the blog.

So, here photos that give you some idea what students can accomplish in the EASL space.  Not that they could not have done this in a different learning space, because the key is of course the fabulous faculty member, Emily Burns, but they did all agree that the space with its tables made it easier to work, the chairs made it easier to be comfortable, the tools made it easier to collaborate effectively, and the colors made it easier to be cheerful about the project.  As one student said, she never missed a day in this class because she wanted to work in this space.

Here the photos.

First Room

explanation of images

Second Room

explanation of images

Third Room

explanation of images

EASl in the College News

Just a quick note that the EASL room in Haley Center has made it into the College of Liberal Arts electronic newsletter.

http://www.cla.auburn.edu/perspectives/articles/a-new-approach-to-learning/

for more information

Videos from Auburn University's iTeach with ipads event

March 7, Auburn University had its 6th annual iTeach event, with a focus on ipads.  Almost all of the speakers allowed to be recorded, so please enjoy their presentations.

The opening remarks were delivered by Associate Provost Emmett Winn who was setting up the context for this iTeach in regard to Auburn University's strategic plan:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=99728841-cc3d-46d3-a72b-1c6da8d7a6e4

The keynote speaker of the event, Dr. Robert Blaine from Jackson State University, Mississippi, gave two presentations.  The first one covered the organizational framework for Jackson State's move to provide all faculty and students with an ipad and how it changed the way students learn:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=6a8b0b1a-aefe-4217-a203-9c8430229aaf
The second presentation focused on how he has implemented ipads and other technologies for his Orchestra classes:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=f127fb48-5920-4504-ac41-1425896e9afd

Vicky Cardullo, Assistant Professor in Curriculum and Teaching, laid out a pedagogical framework for what to consider when teaching with ipads:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=3dd5ef5c-f097-4e9b-bcb6-edc62ab62f4c

Steve Kempf, Associate Professor in Biological Sciences, talked about his experiences with creating and using ibooks in his Biology courses:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=1372e478-ac3b-41c2-9688-5177da2e907d

Sally Ann Cruikshanks, Assistant Professor in Communication and Journalism with a focus on Broadcasting, talked about her student projects where students develop digital magazines using ibooks Author.  She also showed everyone how to use ibooks Author:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=016f1ed2-cbc4-4b46-aa4b-7d53964d71a8

Jamie Harrison and Vicky Cardullo, Assistant Professors in Curriculum and Teaching,  talked about using ipads to connect online students to in class collaborations:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=153d756f-be2b-4c6c-911b-104b4cf7f3bd

Tristan Hobbs, a major in Building Science and student worker in the Instructional Multimedia Lab, talked about a couple of different apps and web-based tools that work for collaboration on the ipad:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=92c0983a-487b-480e-baa9-7182f0c54aee

Jamey Hammock, a senior in Biological Sciences, showed off how he and his fellow students use the app Notability in some of hiscourses:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=c4250308-b296-480e-8f69-0b0e24f39062

Greg Parmer, IT Manager in the Agricultural Extension Services at Auburn University, discussed what it takes to build an app:  http://aces.panopto.auburn.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=a3842cb6-3913-458a-874d-95965befd552

In addition, Giovanna Summerfield and Melanie Landerfelt talked about their experiences with all students having ipads in their class.

6th Annual iTeach at Auburn University

Last week's 6th Annual iTeach at Auburn University had a great turnout with over 50 faculty and 20 support staff attenting.  The presentations ranged from a pedagogical framework to consider when teaching with ipads over how to use ipads in a class where all students have them to specific apps and how they benefit faculty and students.  A couple of faculty showcased their ibook for course materials and what students had created in ibooks.

We had lively discussions both off and online, but the definite highlight of the day was Dr. Robert Blaine's two presentations.
Jackson State University started giving out ipads to their incoming freshmen class two years ago, and they have developed an impressive system that allows faculty to develop their own textbooks and receive potentially credit for these text towards tenure and promotion.  Faculty lay out at the beginning of the term how they are planning on using technology to achieve goals of content creation by students and authentic learning -- it does not matter what technology and at what level, but that plan is used in their annual evaluations.

Robert Blaine in action

Seeing all of this in action in the later session really brought the concept of using a mobile platform for teaching and learning to life.  Dr. Blaine took us into his itunesU course, showed us the content he had added, the assignments students needed to work on, the methods they could use to get assignments back to him with evidence (in his case, student concerts) of the hard work the students were able to do on their own.  This, I think, is the concept that cannot be emphasized enough -- give students the tools to learn, the guidance to learn, the time to learn, and they will do it on their own, most likely surprising you how far they will go.