Open data and level 3 Digital technologies

I am busy trying to work out how I can use open data within my courses. I see this being used in the digital information strand of my course.

Though I have to work out how to relational queries, or can you using open data?

There is currently an initative to open up data in New Zealand and I would like to be able to use it with my students.
http://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/opening-our-data

is anyone running a course on how to do this?

UPDATE: http://mesa.ac.nz/?page_id=1688 videos from the open data course that was held in wellington have been made available online.

makertorium through twitter

One thing that I keep wishing is that I was in Wellington somedays, if there is a school with a job vacancy...

There always seems to be some great stuff happening in Wellington, from the Te Papa gaming exhibit through to makertorium today. I have been following it through twitter #makertorium and I must say there are so many good toys I would be interested in buying. The flying fox http://www.flyingfoxcam.com/ camera has me wanting to film rugby games from the sidelines with better view for sports analysis, though it looks like it would survive a ball attack.

What a great way to introduce technology/digital technologies achievement standards to students. http://makertorium.co.nz/

One that has my attention at present is how to introduce robotics in the classroom, I know a number of schools have Lego NXT kits or VEX robotics, but they are expensive. Then there are the pixaxe robotics that were shown at the Auckland Symposium.

One that I am looking at due to todays tweets are the http://www.bristlebotics.com/ that are made by a company in Dunedin. They have developed a interesting unit plan that will work with technology levels 3-5 http://www.bristlebotics.com/files/1363122426_BUZZY%20Lesson%20plan%20concept.pdf

How are schools using robotics with junior secondary programmes?

Both the flyingfoxcamera and bristlebotics are nz made.

I am hoping that they have another makertorium soon. 

inspiration

http://webdesign-inspiration.com/

some great inspiration of website development that I would like my students to see

Is IT education in NZ screwed up

I have been intrigued with the articles that have been in the sunday papers for the past ten weeks. The editor seems to have students and writers writing about Digital Technologies in New Zealand. While I have enjoyed them, I am also becoming annoyed at the constant hit of NZ IT education must change.

It has changed, it changed big time in 2011 when Digital Technologies started at NCEA Level, it introduced Digital Information, Digital Media, Programming and Computer Science, Digital Electronics, and Digital Infrastructure. In 2012 NCEA Level 2, and now this year introduced NCEA Level 3, however looking at last weeks article I start wondering when schools will in fact use the new standards and material as well as start offering the new strands. Looking back teachers have been mostly teaching Information Management, the use of Microsoft Software and productivity tools. Now with the new Digital Technologies we can offer a range of new media and technologies.  Here is the link for the indicators of progression for digital technologies in New Zealand http://technology.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-support/Indicators-of-Progression/Learning-Objectives/Digital-Technologies

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8577142/Education-not-in-sync-with-IT-goal

Last weeks writeup is from Westlake Boys High School, where their head boys talks about the fact that IT is dull and is not preparing students. When looking at the schools curriculum guide I start to wonder. They are still doing Unit Standards at Level 2 and 3 though they have included some information standards at level 2 and 3. though no programming. This is what the student is after. The other fact that I have found out is that the school is a Cambridge school. The course on offer is A Level Cambridge 9713. Which through investigation is mainly an Information Strand course.

The school is running an applied course, not an academic one which the head boy alludes to.

So why are we being told through the article that New Zealand Education is wrong. Cambridge is run by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). Although this organisation is based in the United Kingdom, its courses are designed for the international community. Thus syllabi are designed for the needs of the countries entering the awards.

So the school runs both NCEA and the Cambridge assessments.

I hope that the editor will soon find a school that is using the new standards and created a course that is meeting the students needs.

Right onto the next part

Students grasp on to the more traditional, more highly regarded "academic subjects", as they perceive these to be better recognised by tertiary institutions.

 Information and communications technology (ICT) has been trampled by English, maths and the sciences as a subject that yields no value in progressing to the next stage of education.

Yes they do, that is because up unto two year ago there was no merit and excellence levels within the standards. The courses were Unit Standard based, or they were coupled together with Technology Achievement Standards that had no value in IT. This will change over time as students move through from juniors to seniors and the school change there programmes to assist this to happen

Nikki Kaye you have it wrong

I read with great interest the report on Inquiry into 21st Century learning environments and digital literacy when it came out, now I see that there has been a report on its progress.

http://beehive.govt.nz/release/government-responds-digital-literacy

The report and recommendations can be found here:

http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/FD34151C-744B-4B49-86F2-6FE5850123AE/256992/DBSCH_SCR_5695_Inquiryinto21stcenturylearningenvir.pdf

Which recommendations has the Government progressed so far?

There are a number of recommendations underway. Below is an update on some of these.

One of these is specificity around our area, Digital Technologies


Recommendations 22 and 23

That it consider enhancing the role of information science in the education sector.
That it better position ICT skills, knowledge and understanding as educational options that lead to high-value careers.

These are both underway. The Ministry of Education has worked with NZQA and the wider business, technology and education sectors to create Achievement Standards on the NZ Qualifications framework around information science and ICT skills.
Computer science at NCEA Level 3 was added to the NZ Qualifications Framework this year (2013).
Students studying digital technologies, including computer science, can gain top academic awards if they meet the standard expected. Specialist areas including digital information, digital infrastructure, digital media, and electronics and control technologies are also available on the NZ Qualifications framework.

Great where is programming listed. Also it is great that the MoE and NZQA are working on these, but I see no discussion around New Zealand Teachers Colleges and how they changing there coures to better prepare trained teachers in this area. Also where is the support for the teachers that are currently teaching this area. Yesterday it was announed by the University of Canterbury that they are creating a course around "Curriculum Implementation in Computer Science" that will help teachers like me to teach the computer science modules to my students. We need the same around Digital Information if we are to get students to achieve the higher grades. Don't just create something and then not support it.

As for the response:

These are both underway. The Ministry of Education has worked with NZQA and the wider business, technology and education sectors to create Achievement Standards on the NZ Qualifications framework around information science and ICT skills.

The original DTEP had a number of recommendations that were not followed through. There are still a number of changes that need to happen to make this workable in schools as well as creating the type of students that Jesse Metcalf (stuff.co.nz article 21 April 2013) wants to see. The information that the DTEP worked through is available here. Some of the recommendations include:

7. Urgent
 measures 
are 
taken
 to 
boost 
teacher 
Professional 
Development
 in 
areas 
of 
“ICT
 as 
a 
Discipline”:
7.1. With
 a 
new
 Body 
of
 Knowledge
 and 
new 
Achievement 
Standards 
being
 developed,
 priority
 should
 be
 given
 to
 teacher
 development
 to
 ensure
 ICT
 can
 be
 taught
 appropriately
 and 
competently 
and 
teachers
 have 
sufficient
 support 
to 
do 
so;
7.2. Steps
 should 
be 
taken 
to 
engage
 the 
Tertiary
 community 
to 
assist 
with 
the
 provision
 of 
professional 
development
 to 
teachers;
7.3. Other
 independent
 parties
 involved
 in
 ICT
 skills
 and
 education,
 such
 as
 NZACDITT
 (the 
new 
Subject 
Association), 
NZCS, 
NACCQ,
 and 
other 
tertiary 
providers 
should 
be
 consulted
 as
 to
 the 
most 
effective 
means 
of 
professional 
development 
for 
teachers
 in
 the 
future;
7.4. Providing
 professional
 development
 options
 in
 this 
area
 should 
be 
prioritised,
 and
 dedicated
 funding
 provided
 through
 appropriate
 channels;
7.5. Incentives
 should
 be
 provided
 to
 attract
 ICT
 experts
 into
 the
 teaching
 profession,
 either
 by
 attracting
 those
 already
 trained
 in
 the
 area,
 or
 providing
 incentives
 for
 suitable 
trainee
 teachers 
to specialise 
in 
this 
area.

8. DTEP
 notes 
that, 
based
 on 
the 
information 
available, 
the 
proposed 
generic 
Technology
 Achievement
 Standards
 are
 a
 significant
 improvement
 on
 the
 existing
 standards,
 however
 they 
still 
do
 not 
adequately 
provide 
for 
senior
 specialist 
subjects 
such 
as 
ICT.

Also that:

A
 group
 similar
 to
 the
 DTEP
 (including
 nominees
 from
 independent
 bodies
 representing
 tertiary
providers,
 ICT
 teachers,
 ICT
 professionals,
 ICT
 Industry,
 secondary
 principals
 and
 other 
relevant groups)
 meets 
on 
an
 annual 
basis 
there after 
to 
review
 the
 Body
 of 
Knowledge
 and
 wider
 issues
 and 
make
 recommendations.

So I would like you to take back the report on Recommendations 22 and 23 and actually work through them with the likes of NZACDITT, New Zealand Association for Computing, Digital and Information Technology Teachers on these recommendations and hear the frustrations from teachers about the support they are getting from the Ministry of Education.

Laughing

It has been a rocking last week for me, from getting annoyed at am in a PD group or not in one. Through to moderation, what is required to hand in and then realising that USB drives are not allowed and wondering what is going on as it impedes the learning for Digital Technologies. Through to an announcement of a new University of Canterbury course on Curriculum Implementation in Computer Science, which I need to find $1762 to do starting from July this year.

It was nice last night to have the principal say that I am doing a good job.

Things I need to work on,
- getting all of my course documentation up to scratch.
- Moderation of material
- Reports - junior I think at this stage.
- writing my presentations for ignite

nzqa and moderation

I have been thinking about some postings on the nzacditt google group. It relates to moderation. 

Digital submission of work for moderation 

Teachers are reminded that any student work that has an outcome that is not a printed Document (word or DTP) should be submitted electronically for the moderator to be able to verify the work. This includes work such as presentations, websites, videos, audio, programming, databases, and spread sheets that involve macros.

We have to be able to submit websites, this is rather strange as most of the websites that we are developing are dynamic. They are no longer static websites, they have a database running them. How can we submit the website so that the moderator can view them.

Easy, we can use XMAPP, or webserver on a USB Stick.

No...

See Preparing Digital Visual submissions for Moderation for more information.   It should be noted that NZQA updated security policy means that work cannot be accepted on USB Drives.

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/subjects/computing-digital-technologies/moderator-newsletters/february-2013/

So we can't submit our work via a USB stick. So how am I supposed to deliver my programme of new Digital Technologies standards where I am looking at php/mysql/apache or developing wordpress sites.

It seems that there is a catch 22 here. 

I hope that someone sees reason.

computers grading essays

I really want to try to get this working

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681777/a-computer-to-grade-essays-to-save-professors-time

https://www.edx.org/

https://github.com/edX/XBlock

virtual environment https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv

XBlock is a component architecture by edX.org for building courseware.

This is a pre-alpha release of the XBlock API, to gather input from potential users of the API. We like what is here, but are open to suggestions for changes. We will be implementing this shortly in the edX LMS.

This repo contains the core code for implementing XBlocks as well as a simple workbench application for running XBlocks in a small simple environment.

I wonder if this could be included in moodle and whether it could be used as a way to see if students are copying.

Wifi - creating a share box

One of the things I am finding this year is what projects will interest students. I am trying to find some projects that will get students using the raspberry pi. These are essential in developing students understanding of hardware/software. A simple computer that has the power to do so much. I came across an idea a couple of months ago where a student was creating small radio stations so he could get share information through his community.

I think I stumbled across this one through the raspberry pi website, connecting people in remote areas, and this has me thinking. Living where I am we have a possibly of a natural disaster. We need a small powered device that can connect people. Using the ideas found in www.raspberrypi.org.nz/archives/tag/piratebox has lead us to develop a shared file storage and messaging system. It uses a USB drive to provide the storage. Although it is a bit primative. We are looking at how to get the raspberry pi to interface with this to provide a better web environment through mysql/php/apache2 to allow faster web browsing.

At the moment there is a box sitting in my room, doing very little, it is more around the idea of being a repository for students to access material on there devices, as any wifi enabled device can connect to it.

Sitting plugged in my classroom.

The information I gleened form http://wiki.daviddarts.com/PirateBox_DIY, a pretty good tutorial, also using information form http://daviddarts.com/piratebox-diy-openwrt/?title=PirateBox_DIY_OpenWrt the wifi box I obtained from pricespy.co.nz http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1034742 it is a 

TP-Link TL-MR3020 which provides IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b, so it allows for almost any device to connect. the USB stick is a 2Gig ADATA, though I may replace it with a faster and bigger USB drive at some point.

Its rather interesting, I watched with some interest as the students found the box on their wifi, questions of who's is it, do you know its there came around. The part I found distributing is that the made themselves be other members of the class and posted rather poor taste messages. This is concerning.

Reflection Term 1

Wow, its been a busy term so far. New standards that I am trying to get familiar with, a new sport and Professional Development.

This year NCEA level 3 standards have been released and these mostly look at complex techniques in media, programming and information. I have two level 3 classes, one doing programming and the other focusing on media. These are two very diverse classes.

The programming class is busy working on Raspberry Pi development, How can Raspberry Pi's be used in education. There were a number of ideas that the students could choose. The interesting fact was that the students went for the supposedly easy projects. 

Minecraft

Digital Signage

MAME box

One thing that I am thinking about this class is that they are struggling with the lack of formal structure. As they are working on their projects, there is no formal lesson. It is more a facilitation role assisting students when they get stuck on their development. This is something the students have probably never hit before, or since primary school. I think the part I struggle with is that there is no exemplar or what they have to create, or develop. While this has been developed from the original technology Achievement Standard that had a lot of the technology process in it, it is now just brief development. So what does a new brief look like?

I am moving them through to python programming next term with an introduction to the computer science research required for 3.44 and 3.14. These are going to be bit research projects, I am looking for a scaffold to assist them with this and help me to assist them. I do feel sorry for them as this is the third year that they have had to be the first to do these new aligned standards. 

The other level 3 class have been working on photoshop techniques and content management systems. This has required them to install and setup three content management systems and evaluate their ease of use and features. Silverstripe, wordpress and joomla. As these are new technologies to students they have struggled to understand why they are developing and using these. I think I needed to give better context to this. Though it has been interesting that one student is using his installation to help with his Young Enterprise work. They needed a website and he has started developing a prototype through his account.

Level 2 has been busy with the information strand, we started off the year working on Microsoft Access, this was to give students an understanding of what a field, row, table and query were. Using this understanding they understood what was required when we started mysql. However getting use to the commands to INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE, DROP, ALTER has been difficult. next year I think I will get them to create a simple FAQ on how to use particular commands to do different things. mySQL has been a wonderful unit to teach. The students get an understanding of how databases work, especially when we link it to a webpage. Though I struggle to understand why it is worth 6 credits. I see this as being one of the simpler NCEA strand. The assessment context this year came from a student, I felt that the 700+ enteries of a survey last year was far too much. This year we are looking at a trading card database of pokemon generation one cards and a record by a flatmate on what cards he has and what he is missing. These will be displayed through a webpage interface to allow for the flatmate to be anywhere and have access to their collection.

We will move onto programming next, the students will learn python programming. Will be interesting to see if python is available on the chromebook. I will encourage students to develop on their own devices, all work will be available on moodle. I plan to make more use of moodle this year for this particular course. 

Level One Digital Technologies has just started its first assessment. Digital Information, already a number of students have asked if they can leave the course. Its too boring. Though as I say to them, we need to do this first and then it is done, and we can move onto other parts. The next part being webdesign, I am thinking of wether to use the codeavengers work, or carry on with the yoobee course. However I can see a mixture of the two going on.

I need to start thinking of the year 10 course and what is going to be needed in the future. Is it setting students up for a positive ncea course, or are students being turned off to the course.

I need to be able to develop a survey or feedback to get students to have their say on how the courses have gone so far. This would help the reflective nature of this. 

Code PHP Codeacademy

I have used a great resource from natcoll/yoobee for a number of years now for students to learn PHP. This year I plan something different. Codeacademy has just released there PHP course.

I plan for the students to work on this for 10 periods. I hope this will given them enough of an idea around PHP to be able to confidently use it when we start working with wordpress a bit more.
I have started the course myself to be able to gain an understanding of what challenges that they will face, the first lot of exercises is more around understanding what the syntax of php is and how it is to be used within HTML tags. For me, it was remembering that at the end of a php statement it finishes with a ";"

UPDATE: Although the interface works, it is slow and sometimes you have to wait a couple of minutes before it will show up with a success or failure. There are a number of forum posts around this, and they seem to be working on the issue, but I can see this being a barrier to the students.

There does seem to be a number of issues facing us with this environment at present, feedback is slow or non existent on a number of the submissions. There is a constant Disconnect showing in the Console. The students started off so well, are now feeling disconnected and frustrated.

This is a common comment in the forum, its not just us. It could be to do with the new interface that they have launched.