Educational Technology and Professional Development

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Resources and Links to Teach Kids Coding by Gary Feltman

It seems to be one of the latest trends is teaching and learning to code and game creation, with a major focus towards female and children users.

We already tried Game Star Mechanic, and we loved it!

Many of these sites and programs are created and geared towards kids. I view it as an appropriate introduction to to anybody with "zero" understanding of the coding or game creation.

During the process of brainstorming my ideas, I've compiled what I believe to be the most popular sites, programs, links, and resources. I have yet to fully explore all of them, and will probably continue to update this list during the next few months.

I welcome any comments, feedback, advice, or other resources.
Enjoy
-Gary
@garyfeltman

Coding:

Code.org is a non-profit foundation dedicated to growing computer programming education.
http://www.code.org

Site/Program to teach coding, free for educators, possibly available to parents soon.
http://www.tynker.com

Learn to Code Interactively for Free
http://www.codecademy.com

App Creation:
MIT AppInventor Beta Mode
http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/

Hakitzu: Code of the Warrior, A free iPad app that teaches to code while building robots
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hakitzu-code-of-the-warrior/id599976903?mt=8

6 Coding Apps for Kids
http://readwrite.com/2013/04/19/how-to-raise-the-next-zuck-6-coding-apps-for-kids?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+readwriteweb+(ReadWriteWeb)

Codea, iPad app for coding
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codea/id439571171?mt=8

Cargo Bot A puzzle game where you teach robot how to move crates through coding
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cargo-bot/id519690804?mt=8

Game Creation:

Game Star Mechanic, Work your way through levels while learning game-creation.
http://gamestarmechanic.com/

Scratch Game Creator
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/hastblahah/18641

Links to resources, articles and blogs about teaching and learning to code, creating games or software.

Coding for Kids: A Book to Get Them (Or You) Started
http://www.themakermom.com/2013/03/coding-for-kids-book-to-get-them-or-you.html

Code Alert: Tynker Wants to Teach Your Child to Tinker With Tech http://allthingsd.com/20130428/code-alert-tynker-wants-to-teach-you-child-to-tinker-with-tech

Can Kids Use App Inventor to Make the Next Hot Mobile App?
http://www.educationnews.org/technology/can-kids-use-appinventor-to-make-the-next-hot-mobile-app/

Computer Classes for Kids: Why Programming Is (and should be) Taught Earlier
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/computer-classes-for-kids/

Why your 8-year-old should be coding
http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/12/why-your-8-year-old-should-be-coding/

Check out this Learn to Code Platform just for kids
http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/11/tynker/

Teaching Girls to Code
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225635

GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software
http://adainitiative.org/2013/04/github-donates-private-repositories-to-women-learning-open-source-software/

Rails Girls Rocks
http://www.startacus.net/culture/rails-girls-rocks

Camp Minecraft: How Educators Use the Block Building Game to Inspire Kids to Code
http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/17/camp-minecraft-how-educators-use-the-block-building-game-to-inspire-kids-career-aspirations/

Opening a Gateway for Girls to Enter the Computer Field
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/opening-a-gateway-for-girls-to-enter-the-computer-field/?hp

Saturday, March 16, 2013

First Time Building A Computer

My Experience Building a Computer
or
How to Build Your Own Computer
by Gary Feltman

My wife and I talked about doing this for years. Our Dell finally crashed...so we did it.

I outlined our experience below. It was fun, thrilling, scary, a little nerve-racking, new, exciting, and well worth it! The finished product is awesome! The computer is super fast! Good bang for our buck! We hear it will last 10+ years. Best computer we ever had! I recommend doing this.

First we went to Microcenter. The staff assisted us in picking out all the necessary components. The parts include:

Case
Motherboard
Memory
Power
Processor
CD/DVD/Blue Ray Drive
USB/SD drives
Video Card
Hard Drive
Motherboard
Operating system disc.
Monitor.

When we got home, we found a several Youtube videos that explained step by set how to put the computer together. We mostly watched one, but researched others if necessary. We were careful to stay grounded and not zap any of the parts, because the staff and customers at the store warned us about it.
Below are pictures, videos, and some brief notes of the process.

The finished product is awesome!

Here are all the parts before we did anything.

This is the case.

Here is the motherboard.

Here is the memory.

The power.

The processor.

The CD/DVD Player/Burner.

USB, USB 2.0, SD, and other inputs.

Start with the case.

Insert the motherboard.

Insert the processor. (This was the most nerve-racking part).

Hook up the main fan.

Insert the memory.

Insert the video card.

Insert the hard drive.

Insert the DVD/CD drive.

Then the power. This is where we make sure all the cables are hooked up.

Finally, put the fans in. Then put the covers on, plug it in, install the software, and you're ready to roll.

We ran into two issues.

One issue is we didn't tuck the wires in enough, and they were blocking the fans from turning. The CPU gave us a fan error message.

The other issue was that we should've initially just used the new hard drive to boot...we tried to put both the old and new one in to save the data right away....we'll hook up the old drive later.

Here's the final product. (Oh yeah, don't forget your mouse, keyboard, speakers, wifi, and printer).

The computer is super cool.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Resources for Acceptable Use Policies and Social Media Policy and Guidelines

District 230 Acceptable Use Policy
https://district.d230.org/Shared%20Documents/Mentor%20Documents/Social%20Media/Technology%20AUP.pdf

District 230 Social Media Policy
https://district.d230.org/Shared%20Documents/Mentor%20Documents/Social%20Media/6%20235-AP3%20WORKING%20AUGUST%202012.pdf

District 230 Social Media Guidelines
https://district.d230.org/Shared%20Documents/Mentor%20Documents/Social%20Media/6%20235-E5%20WORKING%20AUGUST%202012%20(2).pdf

Collection of Acceptable Use Policies and Fair Use Policy Samples and Resources
http://cybraryman.com/aup.html

Social Media Resource Roundup
http://www.edutopia.org/social-media-education-resources

NYC Department of Education Social Media Guidelines/Policy
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/BCF47CED-604B-4FDD-B752-DC2D81504478/0/DOESocialMediaGuidelines20120430.pdf

It's Time to Create Policies to Support Student Tech Use
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/12/its-time-create-smart-policies-to-support-student-tech-use/

Some districts letting students bring smartphones, tablets, devices to class
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/some-districts-letting-students-bring-smartphones-tablets-devices-to-class-660150/#ixzz2BTQMHI9F

Monday, March 4, 2013

Teacher's Step by Step Guide to Creating a New Twitter Account by Gary Feltman

Benefits for Educators: connections, collaboration, resources and professional development opportunities

Twitter Basic Vocab:

Tweet: Message which may include link or hashtag, 140 characters or less
Hashtag: Word or phrase following "#" created/used as trend, search, discussion, or chat
Retweet: To take someone's message and tweet it
Followers: Who is following you
Following: Who you follow
Mention: Put someone's handle in a tweet
Handle: Twitter name following "@"
Favorites: Tweets marked as "favorites" for later retrieval
Lists: A feature to organize handles without following

Twitter Account: Personal, Public, and/or Both?

Public if you're okay with everyone seeing your profile, tweets, followers, and following
Public if who you follow is professional and appropriate
Public if your actions/tweets/posts are professional and appropriate
Personal (private) if you don't want public seeing profile, tweets, followers, and following
Personal if who you follow and/or their posts may offend someone
Personal if you have strong opinions and your actions/tweets/posts are not school appropriate
If you're not sure: Make account private for now
If you're unsure: Make two accounts, one professional (public) and one personal (private)

Basic Twitter Netiquette (Common sense suggestions if your account is professional & public)

If you wouldn't say it in a classroom, don't post it on Twitter
If you wouldn't post it in your classroom, don't post it on Twitter
Conversations with students should be public
Avoid following controversial people/organizations
Resource: Twitter Etiquette: 24 Guidelines http://heidicohen.com/twitter-etiquette/

Creating a Twitter Account (Adjusting Settings)

Go to www.twitter.com
Under "New to Twitter" type Name, Email, and Password & Click Sign up
For the next 6 settings updates, make sure you click "Save Changes" at the bottom.
Optional: For private account (Settings, Account) Check Box "Tweet Privacy/Protect Tweets"
Add two images: Photo (small pic) and Header (background)
Complete profile: Location (optional), Website (optional)
Complete profile: Bio (teacher, parent, movie-whiz, food expert, enjoy reading, biking...etc)
Update Email preferences: For now I suggest check "All activity related to you and tweets"
Update Email preferences: For now I suggest uncheck all in bottom two sections.

Twitter Basics & Information

Click your name "View Profile Page" to see your public profile page
To create a new Tweet: click blue box in top right corner
Click "Home" to see your feed.
The Complete Guide to Twitter: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19976874/MakeUseOfcom-The-Complete-Guide-to-Twitter

Getting Started with Your Twitter Account

Start by following 5-10 handles of interest (See Categories below)
See who they follow, and follow some more handles
Type in a hashtag of interest, click on the hashtag within a tweet, and browse the feed...
If within the hashtag search, the tweets appear of interest, click on Tweeter and follow
If you find the Tweet useful, RT (retweet) it, you'll have it on your "Tweets" for later
If you don't have time to read, but it appears interesting, "favorite" it, then find it later in "favs"
Browse, search, read, learn, apply, chat, share, and have fun!