Sunday, November 25, 2012

iBooks Author

Last time I looked at iBooks Author it was a big load of useless.  No equation editor and only worked on an iPad.  It couldn't be used for making a math textbook by a teacher in any reasonable length of time.

The last update has changed things a little.  It's still mainly of use on an iPad.  Text and images can be exported to pdf, but the interactive components are lost.   The equation editor is still missing, but iBooks Author now accepts latex and MathML so there are readily available applications that can format math text and then the symbolic logic can be quickly imported.

I wrote an iBook/ebook today that covers index laws up to a year 10 level.  It was 15 pages and was written in a day including interactive quizzes.  Given a bit more time, I'll add screencasts, Australian Curriculum links and CAS calculator usage for each section and upload it to iTunes.  I doubt I'll sell many, but it's a great point for distributing to my iPad year 8 class next year.  I know now that my flipped year 8 classes are possible.

It's a better solution than Prezi, which was my fallback if I couldn't get iBooks to work.

Update (25/11): Well my first ebook has been submitted to iTunes.  Let's see what happens next.

Update (25/11): To charge for an iBook you need to have a US tax account.  How the hell do I get one of those?

Update (27/11): Still waiting for iTunes approval to publish the free textbook.

Update (5/12): Published. yay! Find it here.

Update (31/12): Someone downloaded it! From Spain!

iBooks Author

I don't know if anyone noticed but the October 23, 2012 update of iBooks Author included a latex/mathml editor.

Good News!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Teacher well being vs Student benefit

I have argued on occasion that teacher well being is as important as student benefit.  There are times that putting teachers first maintains teaching standards.

Many schools are considering moving the school year start to term three to overcome the issues caused by moving the ATAR exams closer to the term 3 boundary.  Couple this with many classes in year 11/12 being combined, it's an idea that has merit.

When it was floated at our school, I was very much against the idea - to the point that I raised concerns of teachers at school council (I was a council member at the time).  I was concerned that teachers that were tired after getting kids through ATAR exams would not have time to prepare courses in time for the early start and that reporting deadlines would become more onerous.  There was some concern that load was being shifted to senior school staff as year 8 classes would not run until the new year.

In the end, it was not an issue for the mathematics department.
a) The early start reduced the pressure on teachers delivering combined 11/12 courses by adding 8 weeks to the year long course (typically combined 11/12 courses with ATAR exams finish early).
b) The early finish provided extra time for students in year 11 that required re-tests or for collecting late assignments providing extra time for preparing reports (typically stage 1 students).
c) It did prompt us to start programming earlier.
d) It reduced delivery pressure on year 11 courses in other learning areas that were not combined (as they were able to run their exams later in the usually year 11 exam slot week 6 if they with reduced pressure on students as they had completed math exams).
e) Students appreciated the extra time for completing year 12 courses.
f) It reduced behavioural issues typically found in the final weeks of the year and increased attendance.

We finished the year 11/12 courses in term 4 week two this year and started new courses.  This was time typically lost to learning where students were sent home after exams. One stage 3 course is already over half way through the text leaving time for deeper exploration of topics.

This year the majority of teachers are strongly resistant to finishing early and starting the 2013 timetable in 2012.  There are issues with it:

a) Teachers that are joining the school only do so at the start of 2013 (thus classes have temporary teachers).
b) There is insufficient time to plan 2013 courses (it would normally be done in the holidays)
c) Small groups are not operating until 2013 (resulting in difficulties running assessment in 2012)
d) Teachers are tired.
e) It doesn't work for VET subjects (the preferred option is to send them home) because there is only make-do work available.
f) Puts considerable stress on administration to prepare timetables and complete course counselling.
g) Budgets are not accessible for resources required for 2013 programmes of work.

I suppose the only issue I have with the counter arguments is that none of them relate to issues of low student performance or raising attendance.  Many of the issues relate to a lack of planning and preparation time during the year.  I noticed a few teachers had booked planning time (and asked to be kept off the relief time) which seemed a sensible idea.

I doubt the school will continue with the early finish, but mathematics will continue finishing math courses week 2, term 4 if at all possible.  If that can be done without affecting other learning areas that would be great.  If it is deemed that the effect on other learning area and timetabling is too great that will be very unfortunate.

Since mathematics started finishing yr 11 in week 2, year 12 courses have been completed on time, with revision time available (something we had not achieved prior) and results have improved despite an increase in combined courses.  I maintain that we need to find creative ways to provide teaching time to students that typically mature academically later than in higher socio-economic schools and have lower levels of home support.  The earlier year end is something that clearly has made a difference to our mathematics teaching programme.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Screencasts and Prezi

During the year I have created a whole heap of screencasts for my students.  I put them on edmodo and it has become an important part of my teaching method.

I have wanted a way to organise them so that students can easily find the one that they want as scrolling back through the year is not very practical..  One of the science teachers at the school showed me prezi and I thought it might be useful as a graphic organiser.

If the loading process wasn't so prone to failure, I'd say it was a great product.  It's come a long way since I last used it, but ready for mission critical work I'd say not.  It's a frustrating tool to say the least.

A couple of things I learned during my prezi journey.

1. Be prepared to reload the edit page 10-15 times before the prezi loads successfully in edit mode.
2. Keep the prezi size down and don't overuse the zoom function (make things too small or too big)
3. It only works with IOS 5 on an iPad (and to update to IOS 5 requires a rebuild of the iPad resulting in data loss when the restore fails due to antivirus being overzealous.. grr..)
4. The save to file function in prezi is a lifesaver.  Any time that you want to display a prezi in front of people (eg in front of a class), save it to a file - don't rely on it online, it will fail on you every time - even if it worked perfectly when you tested it two minutes before.
5. Get your login validated as an education user.  It's worth the extra functionality.

Anyhow.. the important bit. It's nearing christmas so I thought I'd share my prezi of screencasts created during 2012 for 3AB MAT and 3AB MAS.

http://prezi.com/9irnyg-v83ul/screencasts/

Be prepared to reload the page up to 10 times before the prezi loads successfully (it may repeatedly error - don't worry there's probably nothing wrong).  It's annoying but worth the wait to see how we could present information in the future.

Please remember that each screencast was created in about 5 minutes each in response to student questions - they are not meant to be a comprehensive examination of each topic.  In many cases they are not sequential with the Saddler text.  They are only meant to supplement class teaching (and are a part of my reflecting on my own teaching practices).

I know at least one of the screencasts in particular is full of mistakes (I must have been asleep that day!).  A great part of the screencasts is when students find errors or query against their understanding - it's a real indication they are watching for context rather than just accepting everything in front of them and a part of why I believe they have been successful.

The sound volume is low because I'm doing these when the little ones are asleep at night.  If anyone is interested in how to do a screencast (it's stupidly easy), reply below and I'll write a little tutorial.

Friday, November 9, 2012

IOTY Award

Each year an IOTY is given to someone that has done something rather silly in education.  This year there were a few candidates.  My personal favourite is the one most recent.

Currently (as reported in the West) education (teaching) staff are being declined travel requests.  The interesting thing is that (on my reading) the travel requests as reported in the West are only related to airline travel.

Not so!

Recent requests for support from head office have been declined because support staff are not allowed to use government vehicles to come to schools.  This means that critical support required to examine statistical data and perform professional development within schools prior to the 2013 year is being denied for a few dollars of petrol.  These supports onsite are important as they bring together school staff with neutral advisors that can drive critical change and provide confidence to make courageous decisions.

To the person that decided that this is a good idea and changed a good idea (reducing travel where benefits cannot be clearly justified) to a poor idea (trying to save a few dollars and in so doing reducing the effectiveness of teaching programs) deserves the IOTY for 2013.

To the mystery person poorly implementing a good idea... the IOTY goes to you!