iPhone or iPad
Christian Neff | Mar 11, 2010
Reporting around the iPad has interested some of my students and we talked about it in the sequel. A klasseninterne survey found that half of the students and pupils iPad would prefer over the iPhone if they could vote for. It was an interesting discussion on the pros and cons of the two devices. Here is a list of most frequently mentioned points:
iPad supporters
- it has larger keyboard
- It is so sparsely
- Photos can be done with the camera and load the connector onto iPad
- all apps (except phone and SMS) running on the iPad also
- Although it would take more, but that would be worth it
- you can better read e-mails and texts
- you can view larger photos
- it has a bigger screen
- It replaces the iPhone and the laptop to bear - you have no heavy laptop and still has a large screen
- you can play the big games
- if you lose it, you can easily find it again
- You can read books on it
- it is faster
iPhone Supporters
- The iPad is too big
- You can not make calls with the iPad
- on the desk that would have no place iPad
- you need to transport a suitcase or backpack
- the iPad has no camera
- iPhone can take a simple home
- in an emergency so I could get help
The interesting thing about the discussion, I found that the iPad supporters tend emphasized the benefits of the new device and the iPhone in favor of the disadvantages of the iPad over "their iPhone." But we came to the conclusion that it was very difficult to choose one or the other device. I would also so, because on both sides, I can make all the pros and cons for teaching. From the gut at the moment I would give the iPhone because of its compact size more like a priority.
Topics: Infrastructure, iPhone | 6 Comments »
Pedigree
Christian Neff | Feb 26, 2010
Family Tree
This app is free (currently not in the App Store)
In French, we take the Relatives. In the workbook, the children are to complete a family tree with pictures and names. The targets of this ancestral tree probably barely fit to many families ...
So far I have this with familyone.de, geni.com or ancestry.fr solved. This required a relatively long time for declaration, registration and expression.
With FamilyTree it is possible to plot the relationship links of their own contacts from the iPhone.
You will see something like this:
or something as zooming:
The development did not cost a lot of time and we were more for the oral presentation (in French) among all families, which was very interesting and each other once again brought a little closer.
There are a variety of pedigree programs, much more powerful and even with Web 2.0 sites are connected (eg Ancestry App Store link). Some students deepen their volunteer work now even with those apps and how I might be surprised a few years ago, as many relatives together in common.
Topics: apps / Applications, iPhone | 2 Comments »
Interview on the iPhone project
By Beat Döbeli Honegger | Feb 15, 2010
In the margins of Web 2.0 in the political education, I was interviewed by Melanie Unknown to the iPhone project. Anyone who reads this blog probably learn nothing new, for others it is a 12-minute portrait of the project and the underlying considerations.
Beat Honegger Döbeli reports on the iPhone project in Goldau from Melanie Unknown on Vimeo.
Topics: iPhone | 1 Comment »
iPhone training for employees PH
By Beat Döbeli Honegger | Feb 11, 2010
Also at the Pedagogical University in Goldau always have more employees an iPhone. Since the idea was not far to offer an appropriate training and with the greatest experts on the topic in the area: The students of the iPhone class. The (Christian Neff last posting mentioned) German-made short presentations about the win-win situation completely: The staff in the PHZ Schwyz receive competent training and the iPhone class can practice with a real audience.
So last week, a training was held with the roles reversed: Expectant adults sat in the conference room and played with their iPhones, while the fifth-graders and first Fünftklässlerinnen tips & tricks around the iPhone in minutes, and then individual lectures presented individual and group counseling offered.
The staff valued the expert training and advice, even experienced iPhone users were surprised that the children were able to show them everything.
Both staff and students of the iPhone project class were interested in continuing this exchange.
(Press coverage: Messenger of the historic Switzerland, Rigipost)
Topics: school, classroom, iphone | 6 Comments »
Tips and Tricks
Christian Neff | February 9, 2010
In the German educational material we are working at the moment of minutes of talks. Students must learn speak on a subject one minutes and play it in public. By default, this is done through an allotted object (eg, pocket knife, oscillating brush, teddy bear, etc.). I have further worked with the students and they make matters worse for a certain trick or tip in terms of iPhone can prepare a short sequence. This was then taken up during the weekly lesson plan with the iPhone and posted on Youtube. Here's an example:
These short lectures the students have also argued against "real" audience attending a training of teachers at the Pedagogical University.
Other examples can be found on Youtube with the tag "iphone professionals" or directly via the link. It is also intended to create more of these short videos to.
The idea of publishing on Youtube under "iPhone professionals" films with tricks and tips of the students had Jonas in September and the youtube account this was his. Finally, we were able to implement his idea.
Topics: Education, iPhone | 1 Comment »
Dictation without stress
Christian Neff | Jan 28, 2010
Since the launch of the iPhone project, I have several times created a podcast with the current dictation and leave in the weekly planning so that pupils learn. It was primarily for foreign children a great advantage that they have been so often and correctly dictate how they wanted. End of week I dictated the text and let the students write. That was a huge stress for some, for others may be rather boring (who himself does not remember that?).
Today I went a step further: Each student was allowed to write the dictation with his iPhone alone.
I had at that time only make sure that everything goes right about here too - I was much better than dictating the text!
Feedback from students:
-They have no stress with time.
-I want to always do so.
-You can press pause and listen to a passage even further.
-You can hear it two or three times if you are unsure.
The disadvantage is that some have much longer.
Except in the final vote of the exercise was therefore considered a success. Those who had more, were certainly very pleased, and the results also show that the slower ones could show more of what they mastered in spelling. The average was 2.2 errors, 40% write errors! So that the students but still in the "under stress, write" are trained, I will carry to and from the dictates of even the traditional way. Because they have even after the 6th Class three more years in school, where they are making little dictations as podcasts.
Topics: Education, iPhone | 2 Comments »
As the WHO study, a lesson in critical media consumption
By Beat Döbeli Honegger | Jan 18, 2010
End October 2009 I have in the article tells us what the WHO study? Comment on whether and how our iPhone project is affected by the announced end of the year in the WHO study on the harmfulness of mobile phone radiation. While I was doing in this post about the question of the vulnerability of children by mobile phone use, the story turned out to be more and more come as an exciting lesson on "critical media consumption":
Although the study was still not publicly available, was the Daily Telegraph in an article on 24 October 2009 already anticipated results of the study:
This message spread rapidly thereafter in the electronic and non-electronic media in the world. Thus, a Swiss free newspaper reported in its edition dated 27.10.2009 on the front page of the WHO study:
While the article in the Daily Telegraph was also pointed out that the study was not published yet, and mobile phones may be able to have an association with cancer ( "may be linked to cancer"), it is described in the article by 20 minutes as an incontrovertible fact ( " are a cancer risk ") and it was missing on the front page of the statement that the study is not yet available.
This article was the topic of conversation, because 20 minutes is read. Because of the arid location information it was easy for me not answering any questions and concerns. "Without having seen the study itself, there is little to say" and "More I know not yet" sounds actually not very reassuring. Accordingly, the waves were high in many places.
Not until the evening of the same 27th October 2009, I joined in the Tages Anzeiger on the article as a British newspaper stoking fear against cell phone radiation:
This article was read that the alleged new results are already known for two years, and both the facts of the situation and the interpretation are not so simple. For short-term use of mobile phones had been no correlation with brain tumors detectable in long-term study, the data situation is poor and has a causal relationship has to be due to lack of memory of the study participants difficult. Two of the interviewed scientists believe the end of the article, a powerful carcinogenic effect in long-term use is unlikely because it can observe, especially among young, a lot of mobile telephoning people, no increase in brain tumors. (This statement is supported by a recent article in the Danish journal Journal of the National Cancer Institute (vol. 101, p. 1721) that have found in northern European countries in recent years, the disease does not increase rate in brain tumors, but that is why it is in not) this paper go.
A day later, on 28 NZZ Online in October 2009 also attacked the issue on under the title of fear through ignorance. Again, the debate triggering the Daily Telegraph article is taken as an opportunity to report on the inadequate data available regarding long-term effects of cell phone use. In particular, it warned to expect the publication of the final report of the Interphone study, a definitive result.
Well, since then it has the Interphone study is no longer on the front pages of newspapers managed without in-depth research is not any certainty, whether in fact new research findings have been published. But why should it not go in this post too.
Conclusion of this research: Not only the students of the class of projects are likely to have learned by this example, that the reality is more complex than they are trying to persuade a newspaper headlines. I have learned above all how much effort could lead to such headlines as consuming it can be to communicate a differentiated approach to.
Topics: experience, media education, iPhone | 5 Comments »
Spectacularly unspectacular
By Beat Döbeli Honegger | Jan 18, 2010
Last week I was in the iPhone class to school made no special occasion. I did not always have the class only to see if something special, but also experienced times the normal school day. So it was as well: All of the normal school day. The children came into the classroom after the lunch break: I have noticed not a single iPhone. A cheerful, noisy crowd of children, as everywhere.
Throughout the afternoon there was the iPhone almost never an issue. There was one tool among many, used by some not by others. "Do short notes, either on paper or on the iPhone": Some take paper, other iPhone. Hold short presentations: Some show real objects, other pictures on paper and some pictures on the iPhone, a child has created his lecture notes on the iPhone and now reads them. During the weekly lesson plan book and sit a few children from notebook, some discuss with others in front of a laptop and work with educational software and some also use the iPhone.
Also as regards the handling of the iPhone, the class is a colorful mix. Some are very bright, others need to ask the neighbors to get out of the notes app back to the main menu. In certain applications, I see a clear added value, while others use occasions I think (and) also the class teacher: "With paper and pencil, but he would do a lot easier."
During this visit is - unlike in previous visits - no longer a child came to me and gave me the latest App, or the funniest video shown. My visit was not particularly interested.
The iPhone has arrived at the school.
Topics: education, iPhone | No Comments »
100 school days - a conclusion
Christian Neff | Dec 22, 2009
Four months ago, distributed I consider the new students the iPhone and really had no idea what was in store for me. Because the news magazine 10vor10 to the start of the project sent one post, the iPhone project was bang on the case nationally known and was sometimes violent debate. I was subsequently confronted with all sorts of accusations of not being able to respond. The report by 10vor10 suggested, perhaps something on purpose, that the children can consume an uncontrolled sites and must constantly make calls. These two main complaints of critics, I can now refute. On the one hand a phone call is not during lessons and outside of teaching very little (see blog entry), I can attest to the other result of the checks to the children that they are exemplary of the scheme "I am looking for is not pornographic, sexual and violent sides. If I happened to attain such a page, I leave it immediately and report it to the teacher. Keep.
Contract
Very often I had to hear that the children are already finding ways and opportunities to minors to consume content. With such a suspicious attitude toward adolescent children could even be true. Since I teach, I try to treat the student as an equal counterpart to what wants to behave properly and be happy always learn something. In this way we need support from time to time and also the memory of certain guiding principles, then it works very well. A child needs the confidence of adults, not a fundamental distrust. The mutual trust we have developed one contract and this had a lot of time. Probably there are a lot more suspicious of adults who do not trust the children's compliance with the rules - after two months of the contract, I can say that there has been no serious violation against it. I do not trust the kids in the future compliance with the contract.
Education
We are, despite temporal overhead for the contract and the media-education (for example, mobile professionals) in the curriculum on track. I've gone through all the content as with previous classes, and the performance tests are good to very good failed. The iPhone has, as expected in the run also, to a further teaching materials and is used prudently. The students practice the 1 × 1, cramming Franz and English vocabulary, practice dictations via podcast to learn on the Internet and check the spelling in the dictionary. These things make way, many students volunteered at home. In addition, many other programs and activities have been carried out with the iPhone, a few examples: iMotion, school trip, Animoto (post to follow). Viewed as I'm concerned, the students in the range 1 × 1 and in the pronunciation of French much better than previous classes. This subjective impression, I will discuss in a later blog posting.
Communications
I have to the current class is a very good relationship and more diverse contacts. After five months I have received twice as many e-mails as in previous classes in two years! The students leave me and their classmates to share their life and that I find valuable to our relations with each other. We exchange often via chat or messages about Whatsapp. If something has not worked out smoothly, I inform the parents a lot faster because I can be easily reached via the iPhone the child's parents. And to all the critics: yes, we also talk frequently with each other normally and without an iPhone - even more, because thanks to the chat contacts, Whatsappmeldungen and e-mails have more points of contact, which we'll discuss each even verbally.
Board
An association called "Gigaherz has" brought under the 10vor10 report against our project a complaint with the Education Committee, on which, however, did not happen was. The association raises before us, that we have violated children intentionally negligent. Paradoxically know my students above average on adverse health aspects of mobile telephony and one can protect against this - that does not make mobile phone users the same age probably. The handling of this complaint and the pressure on me as a teacher, but also to the students and their parents was very stressful. I am glad that the school, the school board, the Municipal Education Committee and the support our project. I wish more critics of the dialogue instead of confrontation.
Equal Opportunities
One aspect of the iPhone project that I did not expect in advance, is the increased opportunity. Children who can count on less support at home, thanks to the iPhone have better opportunities. Thus, it has been difficult for a foreign-language child to practice dictation, because it could not read to their parents. With the iPhone, they have constant access to the latest podcast. The same applies to foreign languages English and French - have not all parents who speak those languages.
Conclusion
Short and sweet: I would start the project again and look forward to the coming months.
Topics: experience, iPhone | 9 Comments »
WhatsApp Messenger
Christian Neff | Dec 21, 2009
WhatsApp
This app was free, it costs 1.10 New Ms (App Store link)
By the autumn I had the children, the program ping! to install what should replace the SMS service by iPhone users almost. Initially, it was often pinged, but after some time a student came and showed me WhatsApp (it was still free and) not in the top ten. The program was the ping! clearly superior and it all installed. In WhatsApp automatically appear WhatsApp all other users in a kind of extra phonebook and even their status (they were initially kept very current). In addition, you can text, audio and image files to send.
For me, teaching mainly the broadcast message a big advantage. It lets me send a message to all students and also see whether it has arrived, or even whether it was read. The good old telephone chain, I will probably not need more.
Topics: Apps / Programs | No Comments »
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