The Google Art Project “is an initiative to provide thousands of high quality, high resolution images from museums across the globe in one place, making art’s history, meaning and beauty available in ways never possible before.” Two creative ways to leverage this in the classroom: zoom reaaaaaallly far in, and “walk” through a museum (think Google Street View).

So, that’s the Google Art Project. Let’s talk Common Core. The Common Core was made for project-based learning. Here’s a description of Common Core for Math:

require students to experiment with tools and processes, apply abstract reasoning and critical thinking, and persevere in problem solving in complex mathematical tasks. Student must be able to combine skills and processes to solve multi-step processes, and solve word and modeling problems that may have many appropriate representations and approaches.

This project idea addresses the new Common Core Math standards and uses the Google Art Project. It can easily be scaffolded for grades 3-8, it aligns with the third and eighth grade standards, and fits developmentally well with fifth grade-ish.

Take a moment and look at A Sunday on La Grande Jatte on the Google Art Project. (Don’t just look below–play with the image in the Google Art Project!)

We don’t know how many dots are in this painting. (Read: there is no correct answer.) Here are the steps I would go through with my class. You can do this in one class period, or stretch it out over a week.

1. Look at image.
2. Estimate how many dots there are in the entire painting (whole class).
3. Zoom in.
4. Zoom waaaay in.
5. Estimate how many dots there are in the zoomed-in section (whole class).
6. Break into teams of four. Devise a strategy for figuring out how many dots this painting has.
7. As a team, estimate how many dots there are in the entire painting.
8. Share your strategy and results with the class.
9. As a class, compare estimating strategies.
10. Round two: revise your strategy. Estimate again as a group.
11. Share your results again.
12. As a class, decide what your final answer is.

Collaborate with other classes. Merge this into a Mystery Skype conversation, or connect with other classes in the Flat Classroom Project. There are so many options for integrating art from the Google Art Project into math lessons. The DIY section of the site has other eduawesome lesson ideas. Finally, if you’re loving these ideas, join the Google Art Project Community over at Google+.

I’ve been blending my courses at both University of La Verne at at Azusa Pacific University for a while. At first, my videos were created from necessity. At ULV, we meet weekly for five hours. That’s a long time. My lectures were dense with information, and had little interaction. So, I flipped my courses whenever I had a long lecture–students watch my lecture at home and take notes, and then we spend more time in class on activities and discussion. This is a much better use of class time. Students appreciate the flexibility, and I appreciate more discussion and less lecturing.

At APU, summer courses have a strange schedule: we have five hour classes twice each week. Again, that’s a lot of class time. Born out of this impacted schedule, I flipped my class again. One of the meetings had lectures and activities online, and the other was entirely face-to-face. I already had a sequence for this course, so the flipped sessions ended up being arbitrary at first. Student feedback has slowly transformed this process.

As it turns out, blended learning already has a taxonomy. The Innosight Institute has published a whitepaper on blended learning trends and practices. They identify four blended learning models: Rotation model, Flex model, Self-Blend model, and Enriched/Virtual model. My attempts at blended learning fall into the Flex model. My videos can be used as enrichment or to reteach.

I didn’t know what I was doing when I began blending my courses. After reading the whitepaper, I realized that I need to support student learning in a blended environment. Next quarter, my APU students will join a Google+ Community, where they can connect, share resources and ideas, and support each other. The combination of my course website and a place for online discussions will hopefully make students feel more connected.

A significant component of a blended course is student control over path. I could definitely leverage some online video tools to allow for more student choice. My goal is to transform, rather than sustain, the traditional classroom model.

Hey Bill, do you think you’ll be able to join us in Dubai tonight?

My response: sure! I live in Los Angeles and don’t own a time machine, so I decided to join the Dubai cohort via Google Hangout. Thus began my experience in the Leading Edge Certification program. (Bonus points for using the word “thus.”)

If you’re not familiar with Leading Edge Certification, here’s the official explanation:

Leading Edge Certification (LEC) is a national certification program in educational technology and curriculum innovation. Created by an Alliance of nonprofits, universities and educational agencies, LEC is the first national certification program of its kind, and is platform and vendor neutral. There are five areas of certification offered by LEC: Online and Blended Teacher, Administrator, Digital Educator, Teacher Librarian, and Leading Educator.

Most of my classmates live in Dubai, which is arguably the perfect backdrop for a course on blended teaching. Despite living 8000 miles away, I feel surprisingly connected–weekly discussions, reflections, and activities definitely help create that connectedness.

I love that I’m learning to teach these skills in a forum where I’m experiencing these same skills. In other words, I’m learning how to teach online, and I’m learning it online. EduAwesome! On a larger scale, this is the same reason I love teaching teachers. I not only teach them, I also model how to teach them. I often stop mid-lesson to punctuate the point: “Do you see what I’m doing here? You can do this with your students!” It’s a subtle, but significant difference from teaching elementary students.

In the next eight weeks of the Online and Blended Teacher certification, we will be focusing on online learning, online pedagogy, building community, online accessibility, assessment and evaluation, policies, and online closure. As a teacher, I tend to spend most of my time teaching. It’s so important for us as teachers to continue to learn. I thought I had this area of professional development covered–I regularly attend conferences, and educators on Twitter are constantly teaching me things. Being enrolled in a formal program, however, is a whole other beast. Being responsible for weekly posts and being assessed on my work is stressful. It’s a good reminder for how my students feel when I assign a project or give an assessment. It’s intimidating, and I had forgotten what that felt like. Since this is an online course about teaching online courses, I’m looking forward to seeing how this experience is facilitated. I’m not as concerned with the content (aka web 2.0 tools) as much as how it’s delivered and how I’m engaged. As I continue through Leading Edge Certification, I’ll be blogging about new tools, and my experience in the program.

As it turns out, I’m a pretty busy guy, and I’m guessing that you are pretty busy, too. (On a side note, thanks for taking the time to read this blog post. You’re EduAwesome.) That said, I think the blogging is essential for a 21st-century educator, but most teachers I know don’t have the time to blog. I make the time the blog, and it’s genuinely changed my career, my classroom and hopefully my PLN.

I’ve found that most of my good ideas pop into my head while I am driving, as I reflect on what I’ve taught that day. I do actually take the time to reflect upon my teaching (which is something I didn’t do for a long time). So, as I’m thinking about my teaching practices, I get inspired for some reason. I rarely have time to actually sit down and write out my thoughts when I arrive at my destination. Even if I did have time, those thoughts usually leave my head pretty quickly.

Now I use Siri to transcribe my thoughts while driving. I can rant and brainstorm without focusing too much on what I’m saying. I don’t need to worry about it being polished, since I’m not recording audio for a podcast, and I can aggressively edit it later. Once I decide to sit down and work on a blog post, I already have a good rough draft.

This blog post was originally “written” with Siri. I sat down to write today, and found this draft waiting for me in WordPress. As Ted from HIMYM would say, “Thanks, past Bill.”

A video is created three times: when you write it, when you shoot it, and when you edit it. There are several formats that can be used to write a script for the classroom: a google doc, a dedicated app (ex: Storyboards), a google form, or a production organization document. Whichever format is used, emphasis should be placed on how it will be used in the classroom, and what the goal of the video is.

When recording, it is important to incorporate basic rules of composition, such as the rule of thirds, into your video. Being aware of the environment (basic concepts like lighting and room tone) makes it easier to edit. According to current best practices, teachers can rely on fair use and download videos using iCab Mobile to incorporate current events into their videos and lessons. Finally, in-camera tricks such as forced perspective will be explored to add a big-budget feel to videos.

iMovie contains movie trailer templates and themes that allow for quick, professional-looking videos. iMovie is a non-linear editor, so sequences can be filmed out of order. Participants will film and edit a short video collaboratively using YouTube’s mobile upload, and iCab Mobile’s video download feature. Projects in iMovie can easily add graphics and soundtracks to create a polished product.

iMovie projects can be published directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and CNN iReport. Use AirPlay to stream video to your HDTV using an Apple TV. Embed videos into classroom websites, or video channels on websites such as SchoolTube. Leverage teacher-created videos with the flipped classroom model to maximize class time.

1. Writing

• How video will be used in the classroom
• Storyboard apps: Storyboards, Idea Boards, Index Card
• Google form example: http://bit.ly/Kxpdsv
• production organization document: http://bit.ly/LFvO89

2. Recording

• Rules of Composition
• Shooting to Edit
• Lighting basics and demonstration
• Room tone and sound tips
• Incorporating other videos–download YouTube videos
• Special effects: forced perspective, time effects

3. Editing

• Non-Linear editing
• Foley sounds, Sound effects, Soundtracks
• Graphics, custom titles
• Moovie trailer and themes

4. Distributing

• Collaborative filming
• YouTube mobile uploading
• Display via AirPlay with Apple TV
• Streaming video
• Sharing: SchoolTube, YouTube

1. Movie trailers: anticipatory set of photos set to music
2. Integrate YouTube videos into lessons
3. YouTube Edu
4. YouTube.com/teachers 
5. TED-Ed
6. Lighting basics to add professionalism to teacher-created videos
7. How to find web-based video to enhance lessons
8. Discovery Education
9. SchoolTube
10. Download YouTube videos
11. Software to quickly film, edit, and present video
12. Record to YouTube
13. iPad apps
14. Screencast-o-Matic
15. iPads, and iPhones, and iPod Touches, Oh My! Filming and editing with iOS devices
16. Include a soundtrack and sound effects: YouTube Audio Swap, Vimeo Music Store, Soungle sound effects, SoundFX Now, Podcast Music CD
17. Add opening titles and themes
18. Export to YouTube/Vimeo
19. Add videos to Keynote/PowerPoint presentations: show, don’t tell

Click here to edit the backchannel notes during the CUE 13 presentation.

It was easy enough to install the operating system and migrate my user data (aka documents). After some geeky advice, I decided to manually install every application. This gave me the rare opportunity to look at what applications I actually use. And I decided:

Microsoft Office will not be on my laptop.

I use Google Drive for most of my basic word processing and spreadsheeting, and I use Pages (Apple’s iWork) for more involved documents. I don’t need Word or Excel any longer. You might be thinking I forgot to mention PowerPoint. I didn’t.

If someone emails me a .docx file, I can import it and convert it into a Google Doc. If they insist, I can export it as a .docx. I’m thinking that if we are emailing back and forth, we should just be using a Google Doc anyway.

I’ll let you know how it goes. For the record, I’m not anti-Office. I honestly believe I just don’t need it anymore. I’ll be keeping track of how often I think I need Office or iWork. I have a feeling the answer will be not too often.