Category: Learning Technologies

iPADS helping students manage distraction?

We have all read the various media reports in relation to concerns about children’s screen time, use of social media and also how technology can be distracting and negatively impact the ability for children to focus and concentrate.    I have never really signed up to these concerns, although I have always accepted that at extreme levels of screen time and use negative consequences are likely, that however can be said for most things in life, that an over indulgence will have negative results whether it is over eating, over exercising, over dieting or over use of technology.

A recent visit to a school however casts this whole subject into another light and highlighted a potential benefit I hadn’t really considered.     I was talking with students about the apps they use in school and the group of boys I was talking to where confidently and excitedly describing various apps which they used in different subjects.   It was then that one student turned his iPad so I could see it and pronounced that he used HeadSpace.     He apparently found he got stressed or distracted at times and that the HeadSpace app on his iPad allowed him to take time out and refocus.   Here we had a student using technology to help with focus and distraction.

For those that aren’t aware of HeadSpace, it is mindfulness and meditating app which, according to their website is “a personal meditation guide, right in your pocket”.   As it happens I have myself experimented with HeadSpace so when the student mentioned it, I was aware of what it was.

Technology is in my eyes a tool.   In my eyes it is a very versatile tool or even a “swiss army knife” of educational tools.    Like any tool, it is the use to which we put it that has either positive or negative results as opposed to the tool itself.    Put to the use as a tool to quiet children, keep them blindly busy or simply quiet then it will be no wonder that the outcomes will be negative, that students may find focusing difficult.   Alternatively, like with the pupil I met, it could also be used to tackle the specific negative outcomes that the above poor use might result in.   It could be used to positively support students in managing distraction and in focusing.

Would be interested in if any others are using Headspace or other apps in relation to Mindfulness in students.

BETT 2019

Am sat on the train as I write this returning home from BETT 2019.   Last year I didn’t manage to attend however this year I made an effort and decided to make my way down to the London ExCel on the Saturday.   So what were my impressions and thoughts?

Firstly, I must note it was a bit of a whistle stop tour due to a cancelled train which apparently had sustained damage to its windscreen leading to it being cancelled.   As such I had to wait for a later train and re-plan my journey.   Secondly, I was on this occasion travelling directly to the event via train, the underground and the DLR.   This was the first time I had taken this travel route to BETT and I sadly underestimated the amount of time it would take to make my way from Paddington station over to the Excel, leading to things being a bit rushed as I tried to make my way back for my return train ride home.

As to the conference itself the highlight was a discussion with people at Microsoft in relation to the Surface line of devices.    It was good to sit down and chat about the products and their potential for use in education.    The device I write this post on is my Surface Go which I continue to use as my main device in testing how it might stand up in prolonged use.   So far so good is my view but I hope to know more as we trial with a number of enthusiastic teachers as part of a pilot.    During the meeting with Microsoft I was introduced to their new stylus which is designed specifically for education, apparently being more robust as well as cheaper.    The reduction in cost when compared with the main stylus is a welcome one as it will make the overall Surface Go platform including keyboard and stylus more affordable for schools.   Personally, I think you need the full package of stylus and keyboard/case to make best use of the device.   This new stylus comes with a loop attachment at the end so it can be hung from your neck to prevent loss.   The loop means the eraser option is no longer at the back of the stylus but is now a button on the body.    I liked having erase as a button on the back of the stylus as it fitted my mental model of HB pencils with an eraser on the end, however I am unsure the children we currently teach have the same exposure to HB pencils and therefore although this worked well for me the change to a button on the body may make no difference to them.   I didn’t ask if it was still magnetic like its more expensive brother, however I suspect the answer will be no.  That said I don’t think this would be a deal breaker.     Overall it was a useful meeting to discuss thoughts around Microsoft, the surface and office 365 in particular.

It was nice upon arriving to bump briefly into Mark Anderson just outside the ExCel along with Al Kinglsey.    Due to being in a bit of rush to make my Microsoft meeting I was unable to spend any real time with Mark and Al, which is a pity given I hadn’t actually met Al previously in real life, knowing him only via twitter.    Hopefully I will have time to catch up with both of them properly in the near future.

I am going to jump once more on the number of interactive panel vendors again as again there were lots of them.   Now I know someone previously commented that BETT is an educational technology show so it should be expected to see panels on show, however given the increasing pace of technology I just keep hoping to see more new and interesting technologies and less IWBs or equivalents.     I will however acknowledge that I found myself looking at interactive panels on this occasion as we seek to review our classroom technologies, so if I was looking at IWB equivalents, others must be doing the same so there clearly is a market and therefore an opportunity for those vendors showing of interactive projectors and panels.  I will also acknowledge I continue to have a bit of an issue with IWBs and therefore I am primed and more sensitive to spotting them wherever they are.    I will this time say I did see some interesting stands, beyond IWBs however with the rushed nature of things I didn’t have sufficient time to really explore them.   Will need to bear this in mind for next year.

Cyber security was a little bit of a discussion I had with a school management system vendor which plan to move towards forcing Multi-Factor Authentication on their users.   On one hand this will be a bit of a shock for some and will be met with cries of inconvenience however on another hand I can see exactly where they are coming from.   Schools are being actively targeted due to the large amounts of student and parent data they hold, combined with the busy nature of teachers daily lives, which often lead to simple passwords.     In addition, we have breaches of the likes of Edmodo resulting in significant sets of teacher credentials being available online.   I myself tried a schools name against the HaveIBeenPwned password checker and found hundreds of instances of the use of this as a password, which was subsequently involved in a data breach.   I suspect similarly easily predicted passwords will be in use in schools the world over.

My visit to Bett also saw me visit the ANME stand and catch up with Rick who I had worked with some years ago.    It was good to catch up and I will definitely be getting my team involved in ANME.   I was particularly interested by the start up of a group focusing on the data management side of things.   This fits with our current exploration of PowerBI as a solution to making data more accessible and easily analysed and presented such that school leaders and teachers can make informed and data driven decisions.   As such we will definitely looking to get involved in discussion and sharing of ideas around data management.

I also had a brief discussion with Adobe in relation to licensing following some worried posts I picked up on an Educational IT forum.    The worries lay around a move by Adobe from device licensing towards user based licensing.   This would for some result in significant cost implications.   Thankfully the rep I spoke to told me that licensing would remain the same, but would be a shared device licensing scheme meaning login details would need to be set up for all students using the Adobe applications.    Apparently Adobe are looking at the provisioning side of this including single sign on to try and make the end user experience in this changed model work more seamlessly with this due to be addressed around April this year.   We also had some discussion as to how schools might be offered more flexibility to have some shared device licensing and some user based licensing.   This might be useful for students studying A-Level or BTec Art subjects in that the license would allow the students to install the software on home machines.

And so BETT 2019 has come and gone.    It was an early start to get to BETT by train but worthwhile.    Here’s looking forward to BETT 2020 and hopefully making it a less rushed experience.

See you all in a years time!!!

Working with a Surface Go: Week 2

Have now reached the end of my 2nd week using a MS Surface device as my main device.   Must admit the Go continues to grow on me as a device, however there are a few compromises or issues.

During the week I managed to get a Microsoft wireless display adapter.    This is a very simply little device which just plugs into a display or data projector via HDMI and then gets its power from the USB connection on the display device.   As such it was very simple to setup.   Following setup my first concern was the unit we had appeared to have very limited range, and therefore my Go didn’t pick it up despite being only a couple meters away.   I suspect if deploying to classrooms across school we would need to consider an Enterprise grade solution as opposed to these adapters, so that connection could be via the school Wi-Fi, given our Wi-Fi coverage is very good.   Once connected managing the settings of the adapter was easy.  It was simply a case of downloading the appropriate app, connecting to the adapter and then controlling it from there, including setting a password so that pupils cant simply change the setup plus also setting a pin code to stop pupils connecting across classrooms.   All very easy to do such that the adapters could be quickly and easily deployed however the range would be a concern.   Once going I really liked that while presenting via my Go device, it hid my email pop ups.   As such no GDPR issues with email details showing in pop ups which appear on displays for all pupils to see.

This week I started making greater use of inking to take notes and annotate documents.   I don’t particularly like Edge as a browser, preferring Chrome however liked I liked the ability to use Edge to display a web page then to use inking for highlighting and annotating the page before saving this to OneNote for later review or to share with pupils.   I could see real potential in the use of this functionality in lessons.

OneNote in particular has came into its own this week in being able to drop documents into a page for reference, or to drop them in as a print, for annotation.  I have also spent more time taking notes on screen using the stylus, having decided to force myself to do this.   Normally I carry a blue book around with me to write my notes, thoughts, etc, in so this week to force myself to use the Go I locked my blue book away.   It tool a little bit of time to get used to drawing on the screen and the different sensation provided when compared with writing on paper.  In addition it also took time to get used to the smaller writing surface of the Go when compared to an A4 book.  I know that a Surface Pro would provide me a bigger surface than the Go however it would also result in surfacing some of the portability and weight benefits presented by the Go, not to mention the additional cost.   Once I got use to the smaller screen size I quickly started scrolling around in OneNote to take my notes, and then zooming in and out to review or edit.    It didn’t take me long before this was working well and I could quickly take my notes as before.

I did during the week have one issue with my Go when it seemed to get stuck logging me in while I was chairing a meeting.   This was a little annoying as I needed to rely on others to remind me of the agenda given I couldn’t access it on my device while it logged in.    This continues to be a concern, in the little glitches that occur in using a windows device versus the more reliable nature of an iPad.   The flip side though to this is that the Go and Windows provide me a full desktop experience and allow me to do much more than the apps on an iPad.    This therefore is a decision of accepting which trade offs you are willing to make.   For now my trial with the Surface Go will continue, and I will make a decision further down the line once I have more time with the device under my belt.   The dreaded Windows Update also made an appearance during the week, however thankfully not at a critical point in my day.

One of my concerns with the Go has always been the overall processing power of the device so this week I decided to put some of that to the test.   I opened a couple of large spreadsheets in addition to my email, plus also tried working in PowerBI.   All in all the Go was a little slow however not significantly slow.   It actually pleasantly surprised me in its ability to handle this processing work.  I will note that a larger spreadsheet with pivot tables, etc, is likely to cause to Go to pause as it processes the data, however for the normal kind of data I would expect to see teachers using, including tracking sheets, the Go should be up to the task.

And so my second week with the Surface Go had a few issues, but it hasn’t had me reaching back for my laptop and A4 book.   I am even using the Go to type this post, sat on my couch, with the Go perched on my lap.    Onwards to week 3.

 

 

 

 

 

Surface Go: After one week of use.

Microsoft’s new Surface Go device has caught my eye in its potential to bridge the gap between a desktop and a tablet.  It is due to this I got a trial device for a week however as with any limited trial there is a massive difference between having the device for a couple of days and having to live with it for a prolonged period of time.

Following reading Kevin Sait’s (@kevin_sait) piece (you can read this here) on how he gave up their Surface Pro to try a Go I decided to do the same.   And so, it was early in the week I closed my Dell XPS laptop and picked up a Go device with the plan to use it as my sole machine for the coming weeks and months, dependent on how successful the device was.   This therefore represents my initial thoughts after just under a week of using the Go as my sole device.

My first issue with the Go was the large number of un-needed apps which cluttered up its Start screen.    Thankfully this just took a little time for me to tidy up and if deploying large number of devices we would most likely make use of inTune and Autopilot to customise the start screen, etc before devices get into the hands of users.  I would therefore not really consider this much of an issue.

On the positive side, one of the things I really liked was having the go hooked up to my docking station where it happily powered two 24” screens plus charged via a single USB-C connection.     The fact that a single connector allowed me to benefit from a proper keyboard and mouse, two screens, wired network access and also provided charge to the device was perfect.   I should note that I was originally under the impression that the Go didn’t charge via the USB-C however this is not the case; it is quite happy charging but I am led to believe you will need to make sure the dock provides more than 15watts of power.    This all means my morning just involves pulling the device from my bag and connecting the USB-C and then the end of my day is simply a case of pulling the connector out and slipping the Go back into my bag.

Another positive related to the above was Thursday morning when I had an early meeting.   Midway through doing emails and working on a couple of documents I realised I had allowed time to slip a little.    Realising I needed to get a move on to be at my meeting I quickly disconnected from the dock and went on my way.   Arriving on time to the meeting things were a little slow to get started so I was able to simply grab a couple of minutes working on emails and my documents on my Go right from where I left off.  The benefits of having a device which was my desktop and my mobile device were clear.

Having bought one of Microsoft Type Covers, the keyboard size and the usability of it when compared to a standard clamshell laptop was a concern for me.     This doesn’t seem to cause me the difficulties I had anticipated.   I am actually sat on my couch typing this on my lap and neither the keyboard size or the fact it isn’t really a proper keyboard are causing me any problems.   I am able to maintain my usual respectable typing speed.   I will admit to it not quite being as comfortable and easy to use as a standard clamshell however I suspect this is simply due to years of habit, and of using a laptop.  With time I suspect I will become much more used to the slight flexibility and less sturdy feel which the type cover provides when compared with a normal clamshell laptops keyboard.

In meetings I found myself quickly taking notes using the stylus and OneNote has been my app of choice.   In addition I have also been making use of Office Lens to capture pictures of documents ready for annotation pus I have also started making use of Microsoft Whiteboard.   Being able to easily scribbled notes, draw diagrams and also annotate documents has been very beneficial.

A second issue I did find with the Go was that when I am taking written notes or when annotating I prefer to do this with the type keyboard disconnected.    The issue I had was that I disconnected in my office before going to the meeting.   Upon arriving at the meeting I found myself having to enter my login credentials however I had one hand holding the device and therefore only one hand to type my password on the onscreen keyboard.   This was far from ideal especially as I have a reasonably long password complete with the usual mix of uppercase, lowercase and numbers.    Thankfully again Microsoft have a solution in Microsoft Hello which allows for devices to have an easier login method such as a simple passcode.    At this point we are just looking into this however it does appear as if it will be the answer to this issue.

One thing which I am still to experiment with, which will be really key, is screen mirroring.    At this point I haven’t tested this however the intention is to get a device capable of mirroring, such as Microsoft’s own HDMI and USB solution.    I will provide my thoughts and feedback after I have had a chance to try this including actually using it in a class with students.

It has only been just under a week of me working with the Surface Go as my sole device however the experience so far has been reasonably positive.  Working alongside the Microsoft suite of apps including OneDrive, Teams, Lens, etc, the surface has so far been up to the job.  In the coming weeks we will see if it can keep up this standard as I present it with more challenging work tasks.   I will of course continue to share my thoughts as my use of the device continues.

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Stream

Stream is another of the many Microsoft Office 365 apps which are available.   Stream is basically a video streaming solution designed in a similar vain to Microsoft Teams in that Groups are created and within a group, various channels can be created.

I have recently started experimenting using Stream to host our user training videos for our IT Services department.   Stream allows me to easily upload the videos and then provide a description including hashtags so that users can easily find videos when they need them.    As such users can easily find the training videos which relate to Microsoft Teams, to our management information system or to other topics based on the tagging of each video.

Another little feature of Stream is that it automatically processes the audio from uploaded videos and creates subtitles.    This makes videos accessible for those who may have a hearing impairment.  This seems like an excellent idea however in my initial tests it wasn’t sufficiently accurate to be of use and in some cases managed to create some spectacularly confusing sentences.   Thankfully you can easily download the created subtitle files, correct them and then re-upload them thereby solving this issue.   I would also suspect it may work better for those without a (mild) Glasgow accent like myself, plus I also think with time the engine which processes the audio will only get better and more accurate.

Outside of our current experimentation with Stream I wonder about using it with students where they might create a school news programme which is shared video stream or they might create vlogs as part of a project.    The walled garden of Stream makes it ideal for these kinds of uses as students can share with their peers and staff with the content limited to those within the school rather than the wider internet.

Stream, currently, is a rather basic app however in terms of allowing you to upload and share video content, often all that is needed is a simple app.   Stream therefore fits nicely.

 

 

Microsoft Teams

I have been playing more and more with Microsoft Teams for use in school over the last 6 months of so.    My focus to date has very much been on the teacher and department side of things as opposed to the pupil and classroom side of things however there are already a number of key benefits.

Discussion

One of the excellent things about MS Teams is the Conversation section.     This allows comments to be shared along with documents, links, etc very much in a similar vain to you would share things via social media.    Users can comment on the posts of others plus can “like” what they see.   As a way for teachers to share lessons thoughts and ideas along with resources, this is easy to do plus for those who use social media the format and process will seem very familiar.   For those not so engaged in social media it may take a little getting used to however not much, and as their colleagues start sharing resources and ideas they will soon be drawn in.   I also see this as a key opportunity to engage such staff in social media such as twitter given the wealth of ideas and resources bouncing around out there.

Communication

A department might decide as I have done to have a weekly briefing which is shared.    For me this is now published in Teams with team members invited to comment or action things in teams.    This in turn has allowed us to start to reduce some of our email traffic, where email had almost become the default method of communication.    As such ideas and resources might be published in teams, where I can view them when I have appropriate time as opposed to having them emailed to me as would have happened previously, where they would become just another email in amongst many emails.    If I really want I can receive notifications via email, however this is at each individual users control.

Collaboration

Teams allows collaborative working in that files can be shared.    Department staff might be invited to contribute to a joint scheme of work, with multiple staff able to concurrently access and edit a shared document.  Gone are the days of heads of department having to receive individual emails and comments from their team and then collate their responses.

Cloud Hosted

Through using Teams files are hosted in the cloud.   This allows users to access the files from any device, anywhere.   This offers a flexibility that was often achieved through the use of VPNs, remote desk or third party apps like Foldr, without the complexity.    Staff can easily download the app to their devices and then access it on an iPad, on an android device or on a desktop computer.

 Final thoughts

MS Teams is an excellent tool which ticks a lot of admin boxes in terms of sharing resources and allowing easy communications.   This is not however where I see its biggest strength.    Its biggest strength for me is in being a space for teachers to openly share thoughts, ideas and resources; An almost IntraTwitter system, internal to the school.  All the benefits of sharing ideas as in twitter but without the scale, a minor disadvantage, and without the online posturing about the “correct” way to teach or policy or educational theory, a major advantage of teams.

I haven’t as yet ventured into class teams however I am sure that will be something we will be looking at in the future and I am sure it too will bring with it benefits.

 

Future Gazing: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The phrase “future gazing” has came up recently so I thought it worth sharing some thoughts on the future of EdTech as I see them.     As such I intend to share a series of separate posts on different technologies which might have an impact on education in the years ahead.

Artificial Intelligence

This is a big topic in the wider IT world but also increasingly in education.   The challenge is that AI covers a multitude of sins plus the application of the different AIs are substantial.

The holy grail of AI, as I see it, is the general-purpose AI.   Am not going to spend any real time in this area as this is, in my opinion, some way off.    When it does become a realisation, there is great potent

ial for it to be used in education to supplement teaching staff both as a virtual teacher, a virtual classroom assistant or a virtual coach or mentor.     As I said however, this is some years off.

More specific purpose AIs are much more likely to make an appearance in the short term.   An example of this might be a Mathematics AI which students can pose questions to in natural language, and that will then either provide answers or direct students to appropriate learning materials.   This isn’t that far off and is being used already on organisations help pages.    It just hasn’t thus far been focused on education.

Another application of AI might be in its ability to recognise emotions and activities of students.   This is already in trial in China.   Basically, this involves a classroom camera and an AI which analyses the facial expressions of students along with what they are doing.   This information is then fed back to the teacher to inform learning.    The teacher will get information on the students which appear confused or upset, indicating possibly they are struggling with the materials, along with data on which pupils have been busy with the work, which have been raising their hands to ask questions or provide answers and those which have been more disengaged or not participating.    From this the teacher can then decide how to change the learning activities, target questions or revisit concepts.   I suspect this AI could also be expanded to look at teacher questioning and provide feedback and advice on the types of questions being asked, the frequency and who the questions are directed to.  It might also look at the engagement of students throughout the school day to try and identify trends and develop a structure for the school day which is more in line with the physiological and psychological needs of students.

School data analysis is one area where I think AI is very close to being usable widely in schools.    Schools already are sat on a wealth of data in terms of the student academic data, student demographic data and pastoral data among others.    AI or machine learning can easily analyse the data and identify patterns which humans may not be able to identify.     At a school level this can easily be applied to summative academic results, identifying how different student groups perform, allowing comparisons across subjects, etc, however as we gather more and more formative data these AIs will then be able to feedback to teachers in relation to areas which students do or do not understand.   It will also be able to identify whether there is a pattern across different teachers therefore suggesting a change to how a particular topic is taught, or whether it relates to a group of students or to specific related topics.

In the wider school there will also be opportunities for use of AI.   In the dining hall for example AI might be able to examine data to identify possible lunch timings to improve efficiency.    Analysis of book titles taken from the Library might help in providing a window into pupil preferences and interests.    AI may have the ability to examine parents evenings and parents meetings to try and streamline these events and ensure everyone gets to see who they need to see with a minimal period of waiting.    Machine learning may be able to examine teacher performance management data and identify opportunities for peer support and peer learning to occur, or to identify cross school professional development needs.   Facilities use might be analysed to identify when they are under-utilised and then seek to make them available to the local community.    Teacher work days might be optimised through AI recommendations resulting from an analysis of our working habits looking at when we tend to send emails, our timetable, who we commonly meet with, etc.   These are just some of the ways in which AI may makes its way into our school.

Artificial Intelligence is going to make an increasing appearance in schools.  I think this is inevitable.   In actual fact I would say to some extent AI or Machine Learning is already in schools possibly in the schools firewall or mail filtering solutions or in the network infrastructure.    Going forward however it will become much more visible as it enters more areas of school life.       Or maybe like all good technology use, may become more common yet will be transparent in its use, with users unaware of where AI is providing help, support and guidance.

I think the general-purpose AI, the Data from Star Trek TNG, or HAL for 2001: A Space Odyssey is some way off.   In the first instance AI will provide hints and tips as well as other low-level recommendations or suggestions.     It is to this, and the possible productivity and efficiency gains that may result, that we should therefore first look.

The Surface Go: An initial trial

A couple of months ago I had a Surface Pro device on loan from Microsoft to see if it might be appropriate as part of my schools future IT strategy.   I was quite impressed by the device however the one stumbling point was the price of the unit.   When Microsoft announced the release of a cheaper surface device, the Surface Go, I was therefore eager to get hold of one to try it out.

Last week I took possession of a Surface Go on loan.   This post includes my initial observations based on a couple days of use.

Unboxing

The unboxing experience for the Microsoft device was very much in line the experience you get unboxing Apple products.   Unboxing new tech item should be enjoyable; with the Surface Go, everything felt high quality and as if time had been taken in considering the design and function of each element.

Keyboard

Once I had the Surface Go out the next step was to connect the keyboard cover which had been supplied with it.   Like the bigger surface Pro this snapped happily to the magnetic connector at the bottom of the device, when held in landscape mode.    The keyboard was very much similar to that of the Surface Pro in terms of quality.    The keyboard is lifted slightly off the table you have the device on.    This gives the keyboard a slight angle which makes it more comfortable for use when compared with being rested flat on the table.   It also introduces a slight amount of play in the keyboard under typing.    I didn’t find this to be an issue with the keyboard giving a reassuring feel when typing.   The keys were slightly too small for my liking however I think this is simply to do with the fact the keyboard on my 13” Dell XPS is a fair bit larger than that on the Surface Go.    With time and repeated use, I think I would become used to the marginally smaller keyboard.    Another important point of note in relation to the keyboard is the large trackpad which it provides.   I found this easy to use and very useful.   I must admit to having spent significant time in the past on the road and therefore I am very used to having to use a trackpad as opposed to a mouse.   Having a decent size of trackpad for me therefore was a bit of a bonus.

Weight

Another positive aspect of the Go when compared to its big brother, the Surface Pro, is that the reduced size has resulted in a reduction in weight.   This makes the surface Go more comfortable to use one handed.   The Pro device is just a little bit too heavy for regular one-handed use whereas the slightly smaller go seemed to be almost designed with one handed use in mind.   This may not seem like an important factor however if you are a busy teacher on the move wanting to take quick notes then the ease of one handed operation is an important feature.     Compared to the iPad, the Go seems heavier however given it is a full desktop OS I think this is to be expected.   I also liked the bezel round the screen when using the device one handed as it clearly showed me where to put my thumb without encroaching on the available screen space.

Stylus

The stylus worked quite well as it had done in my test of the Pro device.   I will acknowledge that I don’t think it is quite as good as Apples in terms of accuracy however it was more than good enough for sketch notes, annotations and other common tasks.  I tested the ability to vary the thickness of lines in relation to the pressure exerted and this seemed to work well however am unsure how useful or if this would be sufficiently sensitive for use in creating art work.   An artist would need to try this to make this decision.   I do however continue to like the feature by which you can flip the stylus around and use the “eraser” button on the back of it.  This just seems so natural, harking back to the days of my HB pencils with an eraser on the end.

The Surface Go like the larger surface Pro allows the stylus to be magnetically connected to either of the short sides of the device.    When in landscape mode on a desk I noted that as a right-handed person I wanted to attach the stylus on the right-hand side, however this side also has the surface Go’s connection ports on it.  This is a minor issue as when in portrait mode, with the keyboard folding away to the left, the pen would end up on the bottom of the device as opposed to the top if connected on the right side.    This goes to show that there need to be some compromises when you are trying to design a device to be a tablet in portrait or landscape mode but also to serve as a laptop with keyboard operating in landscape mode;  you simply can’t have it all.

Camera

I tested the rear facing camera of the Surface Go using the Microsoft Lens app to capture a photo of my office whiteboard at an angle.    The app adjusted the image to accommodate for the angle and produced a clear image.    This seems to suggest that for basic use in the class, taking pictures of displays, student work, etc, the rear facing camera would suffice.    I then tried using the front facing camera with Skype.   Again, nothing extraordinary however it delivered a clear and usable image.   I suspect the main use of the front facing camera is likely to be for use video conferencing so this simple skype test to me seems to indicate the Go is up to the task.

Ports

The available ports on the surface were rather limited in a headphone socket, single USB-C, the charge connector and also the keyboard connector.   On reflection though I am not sure this is an issue as the iPad has but two connectors.   As we move to Office 365 there is no longer a need to have multiple USB ports on a device.   As I type on my docked laptop, I am using only a single USB-C port to serve two monitors, a full-size keyboard and mouse.    As such I can see why Microsoft went minimalist here.   During my trial I tried the Go as my source for my desktop dock equipment and it was more than happy running both screens at HD resolution which is perfect for those that have a fixed office space and would want to use a docking station.

Storage

The device I had came with a 128GB SDD.   With Windows and MS Office installed I was left with 85Gb free.   Not a massive amount of space but more than enough for the average user.

In Use

In use I found the Go simple but then again I have spent many years working on various windows platforms.    The interface is natural.   I will acknowledge that the screen size is a challenge in that the standard windows interface on the 1800 x 1200 Go screen can result in some icons being a little on the small side.   Even with the stylus some items are not easy to select and you end up having to use the trackpad.    This however is all the result of the smaller size of the unit where the benefit is lower weight and ease of use onehanded.   If you want a simpler interface for big fingers then the iPad is a better option, but your iPad will never replace your desktop; another example of being unable to have it all.     I liked the ability to use the sticky notes app and drop the teachers best friend, an electronic equivalent of a post-it note, anywhere on screen and then scribble notes on it.     Throughout use the device seemed responsive and going into the trial I was concerned that Microsoft may have cut the hardware significantly to meet the lower price point, resulting in a more sluggish and unresponsive device.   In my trial I saw no signs of this.    One little niggle I had was in how the device switched from portrait to landscape.   I found the device to switch sometimes when I didn’t want it to which was a little annoying.

Conclusion

Overall I liked the surface Go device.    The major issue of price, when looking at the Surface Pro, seems to be solved with the significantly cheaper Go device.   It is worth noting that the price is good, however the stylus and keyboard/case are extras and at extra cost, as they are with an iPad.   In relation to the lower cost, when compared with the Surface Pro, I had however expected this to result in significant deficiencies in the hardware and therefore in the experience of using the Go.   In use I didn’t see these deficiencies.    I will acknowledge that I only made use of the device for a couple of days so testing was limited and therefore issues related to the hardware may appear under more prolonged use and testing.     My niggles around the ease of use of the windows interface on a small screen are to be expected.   I get the greater flexibility of a desktop OS but this results in it being a little bit more fidgety in use.   Am I willing to accept this trade off?    Yes, as I would rather have a single device which I can dock and use with a screen and keyboard, than having to have two devices in a desktop/laptop and a separate portable tablet device.    I will also acknowledge that I don’t believe the Go will be up to any heavy lifting in very large complex spreadsheets, video or graphics related work.   It wasn’t designed for this.    The Go to me is a simple general use device, which will fit the majority of teachers and students who will be using Office 365 as their main tool.   Here the Go covers most, if not all bases.

Following my limited trial, I was positively surprised. The next step for me is to get a longer trial with the Surface Go to see how it fares in longer term use.

 

 

 

Microsoft Surface: My views

For a week or so I have had a couple of devices on loan from Microsoft, namely a Surface Pro, Surface Book and Surface Laptop.    My focus has been on some initial experimentation with the Surface Pro device.   My reasoning for focusing on the Surface Pro rather than the other options being the fact it is closer in nature to the iPad Pro devices we are currently using in school and therefore the Pro represents a clear direct alternative.   So far my overall reaction has been a positive one.

It is sometimes the little things that make all of the difference.   One of these little things in relation to the Surface Pro is the magnetic nature of the pen which means you can attach it to three out of four of the sides of the device.  The only side you can’t attach it to is the one with the power and volume buttons on it.    This should help in avoiding misplacing the pen plus means you don’t need a clunky case with a space to store the pen.

Sticking with the pen, I was surprised to find its power source is a AAAA battery.    I had expected the pen to contain a rechargeable battery however on review I think Microsoft got it right with a removable battery in that it won’t suffer from memory effect as rechargeable batteries do.   It does however add a cost consideration in that the batteries will need replaced.   That and I suspect AAAA, being not as common as AA or AAA, will not be particularly cheap however from what I have read Microsoft reckon each AAAA battery will last a decent amount of time before needing changed.

A lovely feature of the pen is the eraser.   Like a HB pencil with a rubber eraser at the rear, the Microsoft pen can simply be spun around to erase your annotations, drawings or mistakes.    This is another “little thing” however I found this process of spinning the pen around to erase mistakes so natural and therefore such an excellent feature of the device.

Along with the Pro I was supplied with one of their detachable keyboards which magnetically attaches to one side of the tablet.   The magnetic connection was easy to make as well as to separate the tablet from the keyboard.   The keyboard itself gave a reassuring feel in use on a flat surface so I suspect would be reasonable for long term use.   I also tried using it on my lap where again it seemed to work reasonably well although, as is the issue with keyboards of this type, it offered a little bit of flex making it not quite as good an experience as you would get from a conventional clamshell laptop.    All of this being said, I think I would generally only be using the keyboard as a cover, using the inking facilitate to hand write notes, etc and make annotations with only occasional use of the keyboard where longer documents require typing.

The keyboard, as a cover, can be flipped round the back of the device out of the way allowing it to be used in its tablet form.   I wasn’t too happy with this in that I didn’t like being able to feel the keys on the rear of the device, where the keyboard had been flipped to the back.   This issue is a common issue with devices with flip around keyboards.   It was a colleague who has been experimenting with the Surface Book who indicated that the keyboard could be reversed meaning that when flipped to the back of the device, the keys are then facing inwards onto the back of the device, allowing you to hold the device without feeling the keys.   This was more comfortable to use in tablet mode but means when reverting back to using the keyboard, you need to remove, flip and reconnect the keyboard before you can use.

The tablet device comes with a kickstand on the rear allowing you to make it free standing on a desk or other flat surface or to keep it upright when connected to the keyboard for typing.    This seems useful if you want to watch something on the device however I note that the tablet doesn’t have any rubber feet on its edges.   As such when without the keyboard attached and when trying to write on the tablet I found it slid away from me and therefore required I use one hand to hold it in place.   Considering the kickstand I suspect it would only see use where I was making use of the keyboard as in general operation I am more likely just to hold the device, as a tablet, in one hand while writing on it with the other.

The surface comes with both a front and rear facing camera, as is common in tablets.   A quick use showed the rear facing camera to offer a good level and quality in its digital zoom feature although I note that I haven’t so far tried it out under varied lighting conditions, etc.

Overall I found the Surface Pro good to use.   The one issue I had with it was the rather pricey cost of it meaning that it would be more expensive than the iPad pros we currently have in use.    That said, the Surface represents a full desktop computer which is something which cant quite be said for the iPad.    As a result of this one issue, it was with great interest I ready Microsoft’s announcement of the new Surface Go device, which basically will be a more affordable version of the surface, putting it much closer in price bracket to the iPad Pro device.  You can read more about this here.    I am hoping to get a trial of a Surface Go at some point during September.    I believe it may just be the missing piece in my search to identify where I see classroom tech going over the next few years.

 

 

 

Digital Literacy

A post be @trainingtoteach on twitter got me thinking about what we mean by digital literacy.    This instantly caused me problems as it covers a rather broad spectrum.   As a result I decided to write this post in the hope of gaining some insight in thinking about digital literacy and trying to type up this post.

My first thoughts on “what is” digital literacy weren’t really getting me far so I decided to take a slightly different approach.    I decided to approach it from the other side of things and what is NOT digitally literate.

Not being digitally literate would involve being unable to make use of digital technologies.   By this I don’t mean being unable to make use of specific apps but being unable to make use of technology to solve a specific need or problem.    I think the need for a problem or a task is key as we don’t just use technology, we use it for a purpose.

Giving some consideration to what the problems might be and communicating with others, research, managing ourselves and others (e.g. online calendars and productivity tools), creating content to meet a specific need and modifying or combining existing content to create new content all jump to mind.   This seems to align a little bit with the so called 21st century skills.    I suspect with more time I could arrive at more problems or better define them however the focus of this post is on what it is to be digitally literate.

When encountering a problem we first need to be able to identify that technology could help us.   Someone who isn’t digitally literate may be unable to arrive at this conclusion.   Next a non-digitally literate person, upon realising technology can help, may not know what tools to use.    A person who is not digitally literate would be unable to progress from here as they would know little of the available tools plus be unable to carry out research to identify tools that would be able to help.   They would also lack the ability to use communication and collaboration tools such as twitter, email, etc. to ask others for support.     Even if they can identify tools they may have difficult in identifying the best tool for the given situation. They would lack the knowledge, understanding and skills required in identifying what technologies tools to use as well as why a specific tool is the best option.

Assuming a person manages to get past the first phase and identifies appropriate software and hardware the next phase would be to make use of the technology to solve the issue at hand.    A person who was not digitally literate may be unable to use the tools at hand.    They would lack the skills and experience.  They would also be unable to use research tools, etc. to try and learn a new tool.   They wouldn’t be able to use trial and error or intuition and the hopefully appropriately designed user interface.    How to use the technology would present a problem.

Another area a non-digitally literate person would have difficulty with would be finding and creating resources.   They wouldn’t know where to find images or audio files for use and would also have difficulty with creating their own files.

The issue with resources brings me nicely to another area where the non-digitally literate user would have difficulty.   They wouldn’t understand the implications of using resources from other users.   They wouldn’t understand copyright or licensing including creative commons licensing.     The failure to understand implications of technology use would likely extend beyond just copyright into areas such as online safety and privacy.    They may not understand the implications of posting a personal image on Facebook with poor privacy settings.

So being non-digital literate is not knowing what do use, why to use and/or how to use it.    It is also not understanding the implications of technology use.    I cant help thinking that this isn’t any different from having the skills and experience to use any tool, technological or not.   If I am a tradesperson do I not need to know which tool to use and when.   Do I not need to have the skills to use it and an understanding of the implications of its use?     When we talk about language literacy are we not talking about using the correct terms, syntax, etc. and therefore knowing what, why and how to use the tool of language, along with the implications?

So why are discussions of digital literacy so complex?