Branding the Classroom: Start with "Why"

Millions of dollars are invested by commercial companies to create brands that customers follow. The advantages and goals of branding include:

• Encourage loyalty
• Create community
• Communicate values

Apple, Starbucks, and the New York Yankees are examples of brands which have engendered amazing loyalty, engagement and support.

This year I am creating a brand for my 9th grade biology classroom. I was inspired to do this by my colleague Karen Bosch who branded her 5th grade classroom as "ififth." I was also inspired by a TEDx Talk by Simon Sinek entitled "How Great Leaders Inspire Action." The answer to his question...start with "Why."

More to follow...

Immersion vs. Convenience

I recently read an interesting blog post by Clayton M. Christenson, author of Disrupting Class, who quoted Sarah Lacey of Tech Crunch who was discussing some of the perceived drawbacks of online learning:

“It’s easy to say that online education can never capture the full experience of being in a classroom, the one-on-one chats with the teacher, the face-to-face bonding with classmates, the simplicity of raising your hand when you have a question. Opening a chat window or sending an email just doesn’t compare. The question is: How much do people care about those differences? Because we heard the same argument with CDs versus MP3s, TV versus online video, reading physical books versus reading over a Kindle or iPad. Evidence has shown that in most categories a meaningful group of people will take convenience over immersive experience.” [original source]

When I tell people that I think online learning will become the dominant form of learning in the near future, I frequently hear the argument that online learning will never be as effective as face to face learning because of a loss of face to face interaction. Lacy gives a compelling argument for why this may not be the case. 

How to Find your Web Persona

I discovered an interesting and provocative tool from MIT researcher Aaron Zinman, which was shared by fellow ed. tech blogger Lisa Thumann. The tool is called "Personas" and is designed to "show how the internet sees you," mistakes, inaccuracies, and all.

It couldn't be much simpler. Type your full name in the box and Personas will scour the web for references to you and attempt to place the results into broad categories such as books, education, family, art, etc. 

The results are displayed in a colored bar graph (click to enlarge):

The purpose of the Persona project is to reveal data mining practices which we take for granted. Very few services reveal the process they use to present information to consumers. Inaccuracies and flaws in algorithms are par for the course.

When you visit the Persona project, make sure you read the FAQ section. The answers are refreshingly brief and blunt. Consider the following (click to enlarge):

Try Persona out. Were you surprised by the results? How will you incorporate this tool into your classroom?

Playing Games with Google Maps

Many of Google's products have a "Labs" option that allows you to try out experimental features before they are released to the general public. Google Labs is highly volatile-- features are added and removed without warning. Most of Google's products, Gmail, YouTube, Blogger, Docs, Maps, have a labs feature. Visiting labs can reveal some exciting new additions and give you a head start on tools and features that may become the default in the near future. 

Chris Atkinson (@chrislatkinson), recently Tweeted about a new labs feature in Google Maps-- the "Where in the World" game. I gave it a try this morning and it was fun! It needs a little refinement, but has great potential for any class which teaches geography. 

To enable "Where In The World", go to Google Maps and look for the test tube icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Scroll through the available lab features (you might find something else that looks interesting) and enable "Where In The World Game." Make sure you click "save" at the bottom of the window. 

Once the game is enabled, a new link will appear on the Google Maps home page on the right side of the screen just above the "Map, Satellite, Earth" buttons. 

Clicking on the link will start the game. You will be asked 10 multiple choice questions based on the map view that is generated. At this point, the questions will only ask you to identify countries, not capitols or states. Hopefully those features will be added at some point. Political boundaries and cities are not shown to make the game more difficult. The faster you answer, the higher your score!

One of the flaws in the game at the moment is that some of the map views that are generated give very few geographical clues as to the country. When fully zoomed in, the center of Mexico looks more or less the same as the center of Africa. When playing the game the zoom controls are disabled. 

In my first attempt at Where in the World I scored 135 points (53%). Obviously I don't teach geography. See if you can beat me! 

New Toy: iPod Touch

On Wednesday my wife and I will be celebrating our third wedding anniversary. I received an early anniversary gift from my wonderful wife, an iPod touch to replace the iPod nano that I recently lost. I've spent the last few days enjoying my new gadget. Unlike my Nano, the Touch is capable of much more than just playing music.

I'm interested in testing the touch for use in the classroom. I would love to have a set of 8-10 touches for my class, but I think I'll wait until the next generation comes out, hopefully with a built in mic and camera! For now I'll experiment with my single touch, downloading apps and looking for innovative ways to incorporate a single device into the classroom.

I've already received several helpful tips from Derek Braman (@DerekBraman) about podcasting through Posterous and a recommendation for earbuds with a built in mic. My colleague Karen Bosch (@karlyb) has also been doing some neat things with an iPhone in her 5th grade class. I'm going to borrow some of her ideas as well.

If you have an iPod touch or iPhone, I'd be interested in knowing:

1. Your favorite App(s) and how you use them.
2. Classroom applications for the iPod touch.
3. Helpful Resources for using the iPod touch in the classroom (I've already found some great ideas from the Apple Learning Interchange)

Your feedback is appreciated! Stay tuned for future reports and reflections on using the iPod touch in the classroom!