Information Technology Education

For the past five days, I have been participating in a professional development to bring Exploring Computer Science (ECS) to my district.  One of the tasks was to create an elevator speech about what ECS encompasses, so here it is: Exploring Computer Science is designed to bring rich experiences to high school students by providing them with opportunities to create, design, analyze, problem solve and engage with data.  These computational practices make computer science tangible, authentic and engaging to them, with many of the lessons accessible without a computer at all.  Throughout the course, students are led through tasks that ignite problem-solving, curiosity, and reflection in a way that transfers deep understanding of a wide range of computer science concepts.  The three strands of equity, inquiry and computer science concepts are woven seamlessly into the curriculum to ensure that all students, regardless of background, have access to a field that has tradi...

My students have been working on the National STEM Video Game Challenge in pairs and it's been great, but I really wanted them to have access to experts beyond the classroom.  To this end, I invited guests from a Women in Computing organization from a local university to visit.  Wow!  What an incredible time.  We talked about the internet of things, women in CS pioneers, and much more. Here's a video of our time: Following their talk with the class, they went around and worked with groups of students.  The conversations were amazing as they guided my students through thinking about their game creation.  They really led them to reflect more deeply on the player and how they would experience the game.  Would a player find this interesting? Challenging?  How can you add more challenge? Look forward to future collaboration with this amazing group.

It's time to MYOVideoGame (make-you-own-video-game).  I was inspired by the National STEM video game challenge. More about that here : The best part about this project is the opportunity to integrate so many skills and practices across the curriculum.  First off, came the two-pronged approach to brainstorming.  Since there are two aspects to this project, it required thinking along two tracks.  One was the STEM content where I had students identify and research a topic on the central theme of explorers/exploration.  There was some useful information on National Geographic on this topic.  The other track was that of the video game design itself.  They had to plan out how the game would run and how the player would experience their game.  These two tracks were then put together into their game design document.  I provided an authentic game design document example from a team of video game developers for them to reference.  Based on the Nat...

My students have been working on a project-based learning module based on Shark Tank.  It's provided an unparalleled opportunity for them to integrate so many skills and concepts that span the academic and interpersonal spheres.  Each company had to sign a group contract and submit individual "applications" for positions within their company - pitch perfecter, CEO, tech guru, designer.  Here are some of the highlights that show integration of purposeful and relevant use of technology alongside standards for teaching and learning: Each company is creating a website for their business that displays their original logo, designed using Google draw or another graphic design tool of their choice. Each company was required to do market research prior to selecting their product to prototype.  How did they do this?  By pitching their top three ideas in a Youtube video which they then put into a Google form.  After this, they shared the link to their video with me an...

Chrome Music Lab is a fun, hands-on way to explore rhythm, music, art and more.  The most fascinating thing to me about it was the story behind its creation - a collaboration of programmers and musicians paired with the unparalleled accessibility of both the actual music lab and code so that more creating can take place. So, here it is, my middle school students exploring and experimenting with the lab. Here's an experimental band... Here's the oscillator feature... Now that they had time to experiment, I began to think about next steps.  The music lab reminded me in many ways of things that I have students do in Scratch, so I created a studio in Scratch where they can put in their own music lab creations...random colors while notes play and so on.  They can create their own Kadinsky or Picasso music lab for that matter! I was also reminded of Ted-Ed Lessons and the many interactive and informative lessons there.  Here are a few that go right along with the music la...

This week's video on America's Greatest Makers available  her e showcased three makers who are revolutionizing basketball, music and art. 1)   ShotTracker  allows basketball players to track their own shot/score stats from anywhere in the court.  Players use the bluetooth and sensor enabled app-integrated innovation to collect valuable real-time data. Before I even played the first part of this week's video to my students, we started with a class talk about how they track their basketball data.  They all said that their coaches or parents do it by tracking their shots and successful shots with paper and pencil on a clipboard. I then asked them to brainstorm answers to the following questions: What could you invent to track your basketball shots?  How could you integrate technology to come up with a way to track your basketball shooting data? It was amazing to hear their responses! As a class, they came up with the same idea as the ShotTracker.  One stu...

Virtual reality (VR) is on the verge of gaining a foothold in schools thanks to affordable viewers like Google Cardboard . And with more VR apps appearing every day, it’s likely that immersive VR expeditions will eventually become an engaging way for students to explore everything from historical landmarks, distant planets, oceanic locations to the human body. But VR can go beyond passive viewing. One way to take VR to the next level is to give students the opportunity to curate, produce and create their own expeditions. By doing so, students create primary source artifacts in the form of 360-degree views they can share with the world. After an amazing day of traveling all over the universe with Google Expeditions , I wanted my students to be able to do more than have these experiences. I wanted them to create these types of expeditions for themselves and others. Now, using the Google Street View app, they can create their own 360-degree panoramas of any location. 5 steps to creating a...