Collisions and conundrums

I’ve been at it again; dabbling and dreaming.  This time I found a way to use click (well highlight really) and drag.  Using a Word document saved to a Rich Text File (.rtf) and then merging the .rtf file with a new Easitech document,  I could then highlight an item from a list and drag it into a blank space.  The result worked but it was a bit messy.  I won’t go into details, but I probably wouldn’t use it regularly with class.

I also discovered that Easiteach does not merge text that is in a text box – yes .rtf documents do support text boxes and other reasonably advanced formatting.  Merging documents into Eastiteach loses all but simple formating (paragraphs, text size and formatting and so on).

I am working my way through the ‘Getting Started Guide’ and experimenting as I go.  Like all of us, I can make available only small bits of time to do this – sigh.  The ‘Glass Mode’ look interesting, but you need to have the activity as an Easiteach file to use it – again!  I’ll write a post about it when I have had time to explore.

The other thing that annoys me is that Easiteach is not an easy program to create text documents in.  Most of us create a variety of resources and Easiteach requires quite a bit of adjustment to be able to draft and work with text easily.

Rob

Stepping into effective use of IWB in the classroom has not been easy and after the initial ‘wow’, finding or making activities to use and getting them to work has been an uphill struggle.  With the pressures of ongoing teaching and our ELI course cycles, there has been very little time to explore this technology and I have been unable to link up with any support linking practical skills with the IWB pedagogical usage within the VU community.

As time has passed, posts have become less frequent and discussion of the IWB and its use in class has dropped off.  What I have heard has increasingly reported frustration.

I have done some searching on the web for IWB in ESL classrooms and not found much yet – there are still many avenues and searches to explore.   Has anyone else found some useful or interesting ‘things’ on the web (or anywhere else for that matter)?

I still believ that the IWB has alot to offer for ESL classes, but it looks like it will take a fair bit more time and focussed effort to get it working in our teaching and for students’ learning.

Rob

Rob

1 December 2008

I’ve been chipping away at getting work I type up in Word into Easiteach and I’m getting somewhere. I tried a little worksheet with a table. The idea was for students to write their answers in the empty cells after a listening activity using the hand-writing recognition tool. After a previous experiment, I typed the document, then saved it in Rich Text Format (the one that ends in .rtf).

To get it into Easiteach was quite easy. I went to file in the bottom tools bar and selected ‘merge’. After locating the file it loaded as a table and was well formatted. I could resize the cells by dragging on the cell borders – good so far.

I got students to ‘write’ on the board with hand-writing recognition on. The first attempt created roman numerals (at least that’s what it looked like), but the student had clearly written 42. Change the recognition settings (there is a little toolbox to do this) and the program reads it correctly. However, the generated number is not in the cell, but the hand-written number sat nicely in the cell until it was recognised.

We fiddled around for a few minutes trying to drag the number into the cell and trying to write it again to go into the cell, but no success. During the process, we started getting uncontrolled cell selection and things started to move or disappear. Five minutes of fiddling after getting correct recognition but wrong placement, I dropped the idea and got students to write onto the whiteboard with markers.

Another win for the system.

But, I feel that I got a step closer to the goal. Next time, eh.

Rob

Yesterday I had students up writing complex sentences on the IWB – using their fingers – and others coming up and correcting them. After a lot of initial interest, the focus waned somewhat, but having a group activity like that WAS novel and something worth doing again.

I’ve also worked out how to copy and paste Word documents into Easiteach, BUT …. these documents lose their formatting! So, for example, little boxes placed around words in Word disappear in Easiteach. Thus, like last week, I had to call up documents on the computer screen and exploit them that way.

Richard

Well… we had fun exploring the new IWB at ELI earlier this week.  We used it firstly to navigate through useful pages on the uni’s international and P/T employment help pages.  I asked several students to come up to the front and do the action part… This went well and we had lots of interest and it provoke positive discussion and ideas. Later we watched a short video on international student stories on the uni website.  This was used as a listening, discussion and summarising session.   

This is going to be a bit of a backgrounding post.  I don’t really have much on my mind to talk about my experiences using the IWB in class.   Oh yes,  I’ve used it , but other points seem to be at the forefront.  In our short history with the IWB, we’ve encountered some difficulties, from pure failure to operate, unfamiliarity with the software and hardware to timetabling.  So I thought this post could address some of that. Skim through to find what interests you.

Some technical backgrounding

Since installation, there have been two times when the IWB simply would not function with any interactivity.  The first time I negotiated a work around with staff at VU College, which worked fine for a few days.  Then it failed again.  This time support just happened to be dropping by and after some time a more permanent fix was put in place.  I have since learned that we are guinea pigs with this particular configuration of equipment ad software; amoung one of the first to have it installed.  Without getting into the depths, our networks system and the IWB need to work together.  They decided not to and so … no interactivity.  We have yet to see if the fix is indeed a fix.  Where there’s hope, there is life (as the Khmer say).

Out of all this comes a couple of operational points.

The white button in the centre of the top of the whiteboard frame is a recalibrate button.  Although this is not difficult to do, it needs to be done precisely.  According to our installers, once set, we should not need to recalibrate.

This is fine provided the Interactive part of the system doesn’t forget itself.  When this happens, we have needed  technical support after which the IWB does need recalibrating.  There is a bank of powerpoints and cabling points on the bottom left corner.  All the switched and cables on this bank should be left alone.  In particular, the button at the top of the bank is a reset button and should not be pressed by anyone at any time except under the guidance of the supporting VU College staff.

Hopefully there will not be any more of these technical problems.

Back round to using the IWB

A number of queries have come up from people’s efforts use the IWB.

But first a brief outline of the system.

• The board.  This is a standard whiteboard, but it has cameras in the frame which detect objects very close to or touching the board.
• The computer.  This is a standard VU set-up for all lecterns and has the usual VU software and Internet and VU network access.
• Software to enable interactivity.  This is installed in the computer and is set-up by the installers.  It’s requirements need to comply with VU network settings.  This was the source of the failures with interactivity. We should not have to deal with this.
• Software built to make use of the interactivity for teaching purposes.  There are two packages.  I have only looked at Easiteach and cannot name the second.  One is enough for me to get my head around just now.
  Easiteach provides a lot of controls to enable a range of interactions including, clicking and dragging, drawing, zooming, handwriting recognition and text-to-speech (quite impressive – ask Jackie).  It also includes resources: word bank and image bank.

So that’s the system.  It’s quite easy to get many of these features working.  It has been a little more difficult to use them with materials we want to use.

Loading files teachers have made into the ‘Easiteach’ software. I have found one way to do this for MSWord documents.

• First you need to save the file in the Rich Text Format.  If you need help leave a comment and ask.
• Save the file onto USB, into your X drive or Y drive (I have set-up an IWB folder in ELI).
• At the IWB, start Easiteach.
• Open Files and click on Merge.
• Browse to your file and double click on it to load it.

I have tried this with a table and you can select and drag the contents of each cell to other cells.  Good for sorting and matching activities.

The other issue I want to address here is finding out more about it.  I sent an email with two documents from the Easiteach tutorials.  These are helpful.  I will set-up a folder with a copy of these.  These two documents are:

• An overview of the Easitech screen and the controls and tools you can use
• The literacy module.  This has a number of functions and resources that seem to be useful for ESL teaching

Not all of our group have been timetabled for the IWB. Very limited time is also an issue.  I am negotiating to improve that.  Despite the tightness of rooms, there are some opportunities, so here’s hoping.

The last thing:  I have changed authority for all of you registered for this blog.   You now have author rights.  I think that means you can write your post and publish it directly to the blog without me reviewing it.  This was my original intention, but I wasn’t sure what the different levels gave you authority to do, so I opted for the lowest level.

That’s done me for now.  Hope you find it useful.  Let me know what you think.

Rob

I’ve now tried unsuccessfully to use the IWB three times in class.

The first time I tried to write with it, nothing was happening, there was no response to me touching the board. Back to whiteboard marker.

The second time I used it I wanted to cut and paste a table from a MSWord. I was able to do so but the formatting of the first cell in the table was corrupted (the rest of the table formatting was fine) so that the word ‘international’ was split in three parts and superimposed over the cells below. Despite re-copying and pasting, closing and re-opening Easiteach I had no luck. I had aimed to use a table of words with definitions mixed up so Advanced level students (UP2) could match words and their meanings. Back to cardboard tile matching on desks.

The third time I tried to move the mouse when I first turned on the IWB. Sometimes it was reacting to my touch and other times it wasn’t. By coincidence the IT fellow who had installed the software happened to be watching me through the door (he’d come to work on it). He pointed out that the butcher’s paper that was affixed to the board by magnets was blocking the line of sight of the cameras, which are located in each corner of the IWB. So after removing the students’ work and putting it on the wall with blue tack I was finally able to use Easiteach. My students had done group work note-taking from set readings for a research essay. I was displaying their notes on the left hand side of the board outside the projected area. The aim being that the class could read their notes and then in the touch-screen part of the board I would write the main points and get students to categorise and move these main points into categories. When it was finally working sometimes when I wrote strange lines (about 20cms) were appearing on the board. Problem? Too much bling, my solid and shiny bangle was reflecting light into the cameras.

So the lesson is, don’t put anything like magnets or blutac on the board as they obstruct the cameras. Be careful of jewellery, including watchfaces, reflecting light into the cameras. They don’t need to touch the screen for a line to be made. Also watch hanging clothing, especially sleeve cuffs, touching the screen.

Melissa

I used the IWB for the first time yesterday. I tried to copy and paste a document into Easiteach but wasn’t able to, so had to settle for simply calling it up on the computer screen and using it that way. It was a match-vocab-item-to-its-definition activity, the items on the left and the definitions on the right. One of the students came up and moved the items around with his finger so they matched. The IWB provoked a lot of interest, and they were all very focussed, but I feel a lot more could have been done.

Richard

I used the IWB for an error analysis activity. First, I looked at each student’s timed writing from day 1 and identified a number of errors in their writing. i only considered errors that each student made semi-regularly and not on a one off basis. Then, I wrote down one sentence from each student that highlighted one particular error (there may have been 2 or 3 examples of that type of error in the one sentence). In pairs, the students tried to locate the error, write the correction code the teacher would use, and fix the error. Each student would have the chance to then do this on the IWB.

Two small problems happened. The first was I had some difficulty getting my original word document into the software programme so the students could work on it. It turned out to be a copy and paste job using icons on the Easiteach page. The second difficulty was in some of the writing.  We used the handwriting recognition and experienced problems with some letters like ‘t’ and ‘e’.

Overall the students enjoyed it I think.

Warwick

I’ve been on quite a journey with the IWB this week. Monday it worked and Tuesday afternoon it didn’t. After some time, phone calls, and fiddling, I got it working by getting the computer to literally talk to itself. This is only a temporary workaround until a more permanent fix is found. So please notice the USB cord running out of the desk and into the front of the computer – don’t unplug it.

I have also finally managed to get good calibration so that where you touch the screen is detected accurately. It’s amazing how much easier it use to use now.

I’ve tried a couple of activities with my students – one using Easiteach the other a web game.

I collected maps of the world and regions of the world covering the regions my students are from. Students then located and circled their countries and named them. We tried hand-writing recognition with mixed success. Students were hesitant and they needed to learn how to touch the board (or write) with one finger pointing, the others curled back and well clear of the board. These three factors resulted in a marginal experience – lots of interest from the students, but uncertainty about it and only partly satisfaction.

However, I learnt a bit about using Easitech but I will leave that for another time.

The second activity was a great success. I wanted a playful way to review and extend vocabulary naming boy parts. I used the interactive unscramble words game from this weblink.

I divided the class into two teams and each team took turns to unscramble the words. I gave each team 15 seconds from the time they clicked ‘Next puzzle’. They simply have to drag the letters into order and their team members can shout directions/corrections/etc. If they didn’t get, it the other team could try and then had their turn if they succeeded – one point for each correct answer. Very simple and it took off. We tumbled through the hesitance and they became intensely engaged. Lots of noise, lots of spelling, lots of vocabulary review (with new words for some students).

So that’s it for this post.

Yes I am working on inviting you (the team) but I’m a bit slow with this blogging.

Rob