Repost: UPDATE: NUITEQ's Snowflake: Updated, improved, and retitled-- Snowflake MultiTeach®

I wrote a post published on October 13, 2013 about Snowflake ABC, a software suite of entertaining educational apps developed by NUITEQ®.

Fast forward to 2016, and I now work with NUITEQ® as a K-12 technology specialist, and realized that the post needed some updating.  So here's the update!

Many great improvements have been made by the NUITEQ® team since Snowflake ABC was released. Along with the changes came a new name, Snowflake MultiTeach®. 

Snowflake MultiTeach® was designed for multi-touch, multi-user displays and tables, but can be used on single-touch displays or traditional computers/laptops with a mouse. It works well for "front-of-class" presentations and has many features that support collaborative group work.



So what is new?

The Lessons app was added to the suite of applications, along with Nodes, a concept-mapping and presentation application that supports project and problem based learning, STEM, and STEAM.

The Lessons app is a powerful addition to Snowflake MultiTeach®.  Within this app,  teachers (and students) can build a variety of interactive, engaging lessons, learning games, and quizzes, with little effort. 

Snowflake MultiTeach® can support several lessons and apps running at the same time, using the Zones feature, which makes it ideal for students working in pairs or small groups.

To compliment the Lessons app, the online MultiTeach® Lessons Community  was developed to provide a way for teachers to share lessons they've created.  The lessons posted on the MultiTeach® Lessons Community can be accessed from within the Lessons home screen.  Lessons can be searched by subject and level and imported directly into the Lessons home screen.  

Lessons created with Snowflake MultiTeach® can be exported directly from the Lessons home screen to the MultiTeach® Lessons Community so they can be shared with others. Snowflake MultiTeach® and sign-up to the MultiTeach® Lessons Community is required for access.

To support teachers as they make the transition from single-touch whiteboards to multi-user displays, the MultiTeach® Pinterest site was created.  There you can find curated and regularly updated information about how to use Snowflake MultiTeach®, 21st century teaching and learning, free digital resources for the classroom, and much more.

For information about how teachers can integrate Snowflake MultiTeach® into their classrooms, take some time to read the following blog posts. Share with your peers!

Infuse Arts into STEM Projects Using Collaborative Touch Screen Technology

Collaborative STEM Education and Careers Exploration

How to MultiTeach®: Introduction to Snowflake MultiTeach® Nodes App

Differentiated instruction through Snowflake MultiTeach®

Like what you see?

If you are interested in replacing your current single-touch interactive whiteboard with a multi-touch display, contact a representative fromNUITEQ® by following the email link on the website, and you will be connected to someone in your region who can assist you. 

(Here is the old post for reference, scroll down to see information about ABC.)

Working with NUITEQ as a K-12 Tech Specialist

I'm happy to announce that I am working with NUITEQ as a K-12 Technology Specialist. NUITEQ has made a commitment to developing educational solutions to meet the needs of students and teachers in today's technology-rich classrooms.

Take a look at a recent post I wrote for the NUITEQ blog:

The 21st Century Classroom and Multi-touch Technology


You might also be interested in the new Pinterest site I created as resource for teachers who will be using NUITEQ's multi-touch software, MultiTeach. The Pinterest boards will be regularly updated:

MultiTeach Resources on Pinterest

Below are some pictures of a little guy I know and love, happily exploring what MultiTeach has to offer:

What I like about the NUITEQ team is that it aims to put users front and center at each phase of development.  For education, this means teachers and students.  

Note:  I will continue to share my interactive multimedia and emerging technology discoveries in future Interactive Multimedia Technology posts!

Part II: Websites and Apps for Teens and Education

If you plan to design/develop websites or applications that provide an element of "edutainment" or informal educational activities for teens, it might be good to think about how your site/application can fit into the requirements of an educational system. Much has changed over the past three years. 

For example, many schools have adopted a 1:1 laptop/netbook/tablet initiative. In some cases, the students no longer carry textbooks, because digital versions are installed on their devices. They access on-line digital content, such as videos and interactive learning games, and self-correcting quizzes provided by the textbook publisher. These activities are accessed by the students during and after school hours. 

Teachers do not limit their assignments to the resources provided by text-book publishers. In some classes at the high school level, students are required to work on group projects that extend over several weeks. Students use protected websites, i.e. Moodle, provided by the school district, to store digital content and collaborate on group projects. 

During the course of a group project, teachers provide students with links to approved websites. Some of these websites provide tools to assist in the creation of content related to their project. Students might work together to create an animation or video, or work individually on one component of the project to contribute to the final project. For example, one student might work on an animation to demonstrate a biological process, and another might be responsible for organizing a story board for a video that the group presents to the class.

After completion, the products generated from the students' work may be available for viewing by others on-line, and in some cases, featured on the school's website.

If you are interested in developing applications or content for use in education, it is important to know that most states have adopted the Common Core Standards. Educational applications must align with these content standards in order to support the learning and teaching goals for a particular subject. 

It is also important to have a grasp of learning and teaching theories, an understanding of child and adolescent development, and a working knowledge of applications and technologies that have been successfully used with this age group to support learning.  Consider working with a knowledgeable interdisciplinary team!

RELATED/SOMEWHAT RELATED

Nielson-Norman Group Research Reports

Children 3-12 on the Web

Teenagers (Ages 13-17) on the Web

College Students (Ages 18-24) on the Web

Pew Research Center Resources

Featured Research: Teens

Pew Research Center Trend Data (Teens)

In-store Mobile Commerce During the 2012 Holiday Shopping Season

Teens and Education Resources 

The following websites also provide resources for other age groups and related topics.

Edudemic

Edudemic Ed-Tech Tools 

Edutopia

Edutopia: 6-8 Grade Level Resources

Edutopia: 9-12 Grade Level Resources

Mind/Shift

Other Resources

National Center on Universal Design for Learning

National Education Technology Plan 2010
National Educational Technology Standards

Common Core Standards Initiative

For readers interested in learning more about educational technology and related "nuts and bolts", the following links will provide food for thought:

Virginia DOE Educational Technology Plan Executive Summary (pdf)

Digital Media and Learning: Video presentation by high schoolers, video of John Seely Brown's keynote at DML2012

This is a video of students from Morningside, Crenshaw, Rosevelt, Locke, and Manual Arts high schools in L.A. who presented a session on Education for a Digital Democracy at the recent Digital Media and Learning Conference. 

What I especially like about this presentation is the way the students highlighted the current state of technology in their urban schools, and what they have to say about their schools' policies regarding the use of personal technologies during the school day.

Digital Media and Learning Conference: Kids from Locke High from School Library JournalVimeo. on

Thanks to the School Library Journal and Scott McCloud for sharing this!

If you are interested in digital media/new media/multimedia and learning, take the time to view John Seely Brown's DML 2012 Keynote:
Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner in the 21st Century

DML2012 John Seely Brown Keynote from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

PDF transcript of John Seely Brown's keynote

RELATED

Digital Media and Learning Hub

John Seely Brown's website

Book:  A New Culture of Learning:  Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change

Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

Google in Education, Updated

Is Google is permeating the world of learning/education?  If you are a parent or educator, you might be interested in taking a look at the following links.  (I will follow this topic and include my reflections in a few future posts.)


Google in Education
Guide to Going Google (K-12 Edition,Google Apps Site)
Google in Education (Google+ Site)
Google in Education: A New and Open World for Learning (pdf)
Google Educator Resources
Example:  Google Lit Trips
North American K-12 Regional User Groups (Google Apps for Education)


Here is a good overview from the Mind/Shift website:
Google Launches Redesigned Education Site
Tina Barseghian, MindShift 1/30/12


Note:  Mind/Shift is curated by people at KQED, part of the NPR Argo Network.

Quick Link: 68 interesting ways to use an iPad in the classroom -Josh Fassbind

68 Interesting Ways to use an iPad in the Classroom

GOOGLE CHROME WEB STORE: All sorts of apps, educational and more!

 I'll have to admit, I no longer consider myself an early adopter.  I put off exploring the Google Chrome Web Store until.... today.  Most of my recent explorations have centered on discovering great apps for my iDevices, but since I'm a cross-platform, cross-device, transmedia type of person, I could not neglect the world of interactive web apps!


Here is a screen shot of the educational web apps from the Google Chrome Web Store:


























After you select a few web apps, you can access them from your Chrome browser by selecting a new tab or new window.  The screen shot below shows the apps I've currently chosen to explore:

I have an HP TouchSmart, and I found that many of the web app worked out OK with touch interaction, even 3D  "rotate and pan".  My hunch is that many of the web apps will work fine on an interactive whiteboard. 


I took a quick look at the MeeGenius! Children's Books interactive web app and was pleasantly surprised.  This web app is a talking book that highlights each word as it is spoken. A human voice is used for the narration.

I'm looking forward to getting into work early on Monday to see what web apps work well on the SMARTboard!

RELATED and SOMEWHAT RELATED
Free Education Apps from Google's New Chrome Web Store
The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education, 2/9/11
Below is a list of educational Chrome apps recommended in the above linked post:

• Planetarium –an interactive star map for kids (or adults!) interested in astronomy
• Google Books – millions of free e-books in a plethora of subjects
• 3DTin – A realistic 3D model-maker
• MathBoard – a math learning tool appropriate for elementary and kindergarten students
• MeeGenuis! Children’s Books – personalized, “enhanced” web books for younger students
• LucidChart – a collaborative diagramming tool, not unlike Inspiration or MindManager
• Picnik Photo Editor – web-based photo manipulation a la Photoshop
• 20 Things I Learned about Browsers & the Web – a great introduction to how the internet works
• Springpad – note-taking tool that can incorporate assignments, photos, to-do lists, etc.
• Bomomo – an innovative illustration and drawing tool
• A variety of flashcard-based apps which can aid memory, vocabulary, math skills and more

Plinks and Tonecraft - two music tools for Chrome
Danny Nicholson, The Whiteboard Blog  10/11/11
Dinahmoe Labs  (creators of Plink and Tonecraft)
The Whiteboard Blog

Revisiting CHI 2011: Videos of Interactive Touch, Gesture, Large Surface, and Mobile Apps with Potential for Use in Education (CHI = Computer Human Interaction)

One of my interests is how the power and potential post-WIMP interactive technologies can be harnessed for use for formal and informal education purposes, including life-long collaborative learning.  


In May, I had a chance to meet with a number of like-minded people during the CHI 2011 conference at the 2nd Workshop on UI Technologies and Impact on Educational Pedagogy.  I was impressed with the depth and breadth of the presentations at the workshop.   Since then, I've been looking through other papers and videos from CHI 2011 to find interesting applications that hold potential for use in educational settings.  


I've come across a good number of interesting applications and prototypes, so be sure to check back for future posts on this topic.  For now, here are a few applications that I'd like to share.  


Below are a few videos from Phillip Chi-Wing Fu.  (He doesn't know it yet, but I've admitted his videos into the Post-WIMP Explorers' Club.)


Interactive Multi-touch Sketching Interface for Diffusion Curves

"A novel multi-touch sketching interface enabling interactive and practical design with 2D diffusion curves is proposed; featured interaction techniques include simultaneous sketching of multiple diffusion curves and at-the-spot colors tuning."


Distinguishing Multiple Smart-Phone Interactions on a Multi-touch Wall Display using Tilt Correlation

"This paper proposes a novel matching technique, called tilt correlation, which employs the built-in tilt sensor on smart-phones to identify their concurrent contacts on a common multi-touch wall display."


WYSIWYF: Exploring and Annotating Volume Data with a Tangible Handheld Device (CHI 2011)


"Integration of a multi-touch wall display with a tangible handheld device with multi-touch and tilt sensing capabilities to provide intuitive what-you-see-is-what-you-feel visual exploration and annotation of volume data."


The following videos were uploaded by alucero:


Pass-Them-Around: Collaborative Use of Mobile Phones for Photo Sharing (CHI 2011)

"Pass-Them-Around is a phone-based application that allows a small group of collocated people to share photos using the metaphor of passing paper photos around. The prototype encourages people to share their devices and use them interchangeably while discussing photos face-to-face. The prototype supports ad-hoc photo sharing in different contexts by taking into account the spatial arrangement of users around a table, measured with sensors embedded in their mobile phones."


The next video was part of MobileHCI '10:
MindMap: Collaborative Use of Mobile Phones for Brainstorming

"Animate" Graphic Presentation: Sir Ken Robinson's RSA talk, Changing Education Paradigms -great presentation AND content

The following video is an "Animate" of a talk by creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce).  How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century, given that we can't anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of next week?

 FYI: An Animate is a video in which a talented illustrator draws images related to the content of a speaker's presentation. (It is a great way to engage visual thinkers, in my opinion.)

The video explains it all.

RELATED
The following video is the longer original presentation by Sir Ken Robinson, responding to the question about how change can happen in education, and what we might do to make it last:

Thanks to Ewan McIntosh for the link!

About the RSA:

"For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. 

- We encourage public discourse and critical debate by providing platforms for leading experts to share new ideas on contemporary issues, through our public events programme, RSA Journal and RSA Comment.

- Our projects generate new models for tackling the social challenges of today.

- Our work is supported by a 27,000 strong Fellowship - achievers and influencers from every field with a real commitment to progressive social change."

Teresa Brazen's Adaptive Path blog post: Explaining User Experience Design to High Schoolers (and other new audiences)

Teresa Brazen, from Adaptive Path, wrote a useful post about Explaining User Experience Design to High Schoolers (and other new audiences).  In the US, we have lower rates of students deciding to pursue careers in technology-related fields, and among teen girls, the numbers are quite low.  For example,

I've promised to give a little presentation to high school computer students about human-computer interaction and user experience design, with an eye on emerging technologies. I found Teresa's suggestions quite helpful.  For a 15-year-old student, these technologies will be the tools of their work, should they decide to go forward with technology-related studies after high school. For anyone thinking about speaking to a group of high school students, Teresa brings up a few good points:

"The thing about high school kids is they won’t pretend to be interested if you’ve lost them. Adults at a conference will gaze forward in your general direction, but high school kids will just put their head on the table and go to sleep. If you ever want to get a real gauge of how interesting a speaker you are (or how well you’re really communicating), I highly recommend it, humbling as it is."


Any high school teacher will confirm that this is true.

Teresa links to a post on Ben Chun's "And Yet It Moves: Adventures in Teaching and Technology" blog, which is worth reading.  Ben teaches at Galileao Academy of Science and Technology, within the Academy of Information Technology.  He also teachers AP Computer Science.  Prior to teaching technology, he taught math for two years. He has good insights to share.

SOMEWHAT RELATED:


Edutopia
Ring, S. (2007)  Tech gURLS: Closing the Technological Gender Gap

National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT)

Alvarado, C., Dodds, Z. Women in CS:  An Evaluation of Three Promising Practices. In Proceedings of SIGCSE  2010  ACM Press.

National Educational Technology Plan Draft - A must-read.

The National Educational Technology Plan 2010 was released on 3/5/10 in draft format. It is well worth reading!

The NETP is consistent with the Framework for 21st Century Learning model, calling for schools to ensure students are prepared for the skills they will need in an increasingly complex, technological society:

"The model of 21st century learning described in this plan calls for engaging and empowering learning experiences for all learners. The model asks that we focus what and how we teach to match what people need to know, how they learn, where and when they will learn, and who needs to learn. It brings state-of-the art technology into learning to enable, motivate, and inspire all students, regardless of background, languages, or disabilities, to achieve. It leverages the power of technology to provide personalized learning instead of a one-size fits-all curriculum, pace of teaching, and instructional practices."

Secretary Duncan announcing the Education Technology Plan on YouTube


Hopefully the NETP initiative will encourage teachers to consider video clips for their students to explore that are more exciting than this well-meaning gentleman's talking head!

RESOURCES
Executive Summary PDF
National Ed Tech Plan PDF
NIMAS (Large - 300dpi)
NIMAS (Normal - 72dpi)

A message to a few of my beloved colleagues:

Teachers who are still struggling with figuring out how to access e-mail attachments and the basics of Microsoft Office 2003, this plan will call for a steep learning curve! I will be by your side to help.  It is good to know that David Rose, of CAST, the father of Universal Design for Learning, was one of the members of the NETP working group.

RELATED

National Educational Technology Plan Technical Working Group:

Daniel E. Atkins, University of Michigan
John Bennett, Akron Public Schools
John Seely Brown, Deloitte Center for the Edge
Aneesh Chopra, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Chris Dede, Harvard University
Barry Fishman, University of Michigan
Louis Gomez, University of Pittsburgh
Margaret Honey, New York Hall of Science
Yasmin Kafai, University of Pennsylvania
Maribeth Luftglass, Fairfax County Public Schools
Roy Pea, Stanford University
Jim Pellegrino, University of Illinois, Chicago
David Rose, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)
Candace Thille, Carnegie Mellon University
Brenda Williams, West Virginia Department of Education

SMART Table Videos

One of the schools I serve as a school psychologist will be getting a SMARTTable. We've decided to enter the SMART Table multi-touch application contest, which means that we'll have to put our ideas into action soon, July 1st, to be exact. (We will be working on this project after work hours.)

The purpose of this post is to provide a spot to keep videos related to the SMARTTable, as well as other multi-touch tables used with students, so team members watch the table in action. (I will move this content to a special website for this project when I get a moment!)

Our school recently received about 8 SMARTBoards, and since every classroom is geared for students with severe disabilities, including autism, I thought I'd share the following video first. The students have started to work cooperatively and have begun to develop more communication skills:

SMARTBOARD AND STUDENTS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

(The teacher in this video uses theZACH browser, designed for students with autism, to help them independently navigate to interactive websites. The Zac browser can be navigated with a Wii remote controller, too.)

SMARTTable- Engaged Students from Davie County


ALIVE OR NOT ALIVE


ANIMAL NEEDS:


ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION


1MORE, 1 LESS

"In this table activity 1 More, 1 Less students work on a series of touch exercises in the tables Multiple Choice, Hot Spaces and Hot Spots applications where they can practice simple addition and subtraction."

WHAT IS REAL ABOUT PLANTS AND ANIMALS?


ALPHABET

"In this table activity Alphabet students work on a series of touch exercises in the tables Multiple Choice and Hot Spots applications where they can learn about different letters of the alphabet."


HOW-TO VIDEOS FOR THE SMART TABLE


Adding background images from SMART Notebook using Windows XP


SMARTTable Toolkit: Adding background images from SMART Notebook using MAC OSX

Online Multimedia Library from LEARN NC and UNC Chapel Hill for K-12 and higher

Learn N.C. has a wealth of on-line resources for educators, students, and parents. I particularly like the on-line multimedia library. Below are links to resources for the following topics, obtained through the "tag cloud" on the multimedia library site.

Here are the direct links:
4-H clubs Agra American Indians American Indian towns Angkor animals archaeology architecture artAsia Bali Bangkok beaches birds boat Buddhism Cambodia carvings children Colombia colonialcostumes deities demons drawings Ecuador Emerald Buddha Temple excavations families farming fishing flowers food forests geography girls grass Green 'N' Growing Hanoi Hanuman Hinduism history houses illustrations India Indonesia Jaipur Jodhpur John White Khmer kings labor
landforms landscapes maps markets men's work Mexico monkeys monuments mountains murals musicMysore national parks Nepal North Carolina Occaneechi paintings palaces performance RamaRamayana Ravana religion rice rivers rural life salt marshes sandstone Sita snakes Southeast Asiatechnology temples Thailand theaters tourism
transportation trees turkey Ubud urban life Utah Vietnam Vietnam War Virginia water women women's work

LEARN NC is led by a number of knowledgable staff and consultants.

The website is worth exploring for a while!

Take a wlook