Inserting links into a part of an image

Today, I revised the skill of inserting a link into a part of an image using Google.  I have been unable to insert the image with the link into Google blogger but it does work well embedding into a Google site, and is updated as you make any changes to the original drawing.

 I used "Google Draw" polyline to draw a shape around myself, make it transparent, and then inserted a link to my Google+ profile.  This image can then be "published to the web" to be placed in your site.  This could be useful at schools so that students could just click on parts of images to take them to another website that you wish them to work with. For example, a picture of a number of books with each book spearately linked. Here is a screencast of how to do this.

Managing Change In Your School - What is Missing?

I am sharing an image with you which reflects five essential elements of change: - vision, skills, incentives, resources and action plan. If you look at the descriptors at the top of the image, it reflects what many teachers are feeling right now.  Confusion, anxiety, resistance, frustration and treadmill feelings.  This is because all five elements of change need to be in place at any one time.  Take any one of them away and you can see the result.

So it is very important to make sure that all five elements are clearly communicated to all on your team.  It may be that some of the elements are a work in progress, but if you outline all elements to your teachers, and make them part of the process in developing the elements and making them their own school-wide property, you will get change.  It is called ownership, but means a lot more than just that - it is a way of being.
Image Source: The Managing Complex Change Model is credited to Dr. Mary Lippit: http://tinyurl.com/c974qdw

Here is also a super slideshow which can help everyone understand the need to change.

Learning How To Learn: Let's talk about LEARNING, not technology! from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

Green screening

I made this little youtube clip about one way of using Google to flip your class for a specific purpose, but the reason I want to tell you about it, was that it was my first attempt at green screening. The green blob behind my head is in fact the shadow cast from the light in the lounge. The shadow was slightly different green to the green that I removed. However, it generally came out better than I had hoped otherwise. I whipped down to the lake and took a short video of the lake and superimposed myself on top of that after I removed the green background. I might try to experiment a bit more on this. I read somewhere that blue screening works just as well. Has anyone tried that?  Would love to hear more.

Kumara

This presentation was based on a Maori whakatauki "Kaore te kumara e korero mo tona mangaro" which basically means the kumara (sweet potato) does not talk of its own sweetness. It is considered inappropriate to speak of your own achievements. So in this context, how could Maori students allow an eportfolio to speak for them? My idea was that someone else could write an eportfolio about your achievements that you could share when going for a job. I am not sure how successful this concept is but the participants in the workshop had fun. It was one way of trying to be culturally responsive. Tell me what you think.

Google Sites - a great tool for learning

This one is about using Google Sites - lot of text to begin with but you can see where it goes....

On collecting evidence for mathematics...

And the next presentation on why, how, and what to collect for mathematics evidence, or indeed for your own registered teacher criteria evidence.  Have a look (and interact with) this presentation, recently given at Gisborne and Napier Mathematics Symposia.

Presentations to share

As I make a lot of presentations on Google, it seems sensible to share some of them in my blog. I am trying to embed a lot of them in my site so that they are available to everyone. I know they won't suit all but hope they will be able to suit some educators, so please do make your own copies if they suit you. I will start with one I did on the 6 Future Focus Themes identified by Bolstad, Gilbert et al in 2012.

I live to revisit these often as it makes a lot of sense to me why we should be learning to learn using digital technologies, because each of these themes are "doable" simply because of digital technologies.  And, not only are they doable, but they are transforming the way that we learn.