Using Amazon Alexa for the Science Classroom. When your school doesn’t have the budget or the space to accommodate an extensive lab, your students might feel like their science studies are lacking. Educators become frustrated by the lack of resources available to accurately teach science in a modern classroom setting. Fortunately, there are handy tools like the Amazon Alexa that can help engage students. This tiny device is inexpensive for educators to purchase, as well as extremely interesting to students of all ages. Before you plan another science activity, make sure you know these top five things that the Amazon Alexa can offer your science classroom. Science Guru Who doesn’t love having a slew of miscellaneous facts up their sleeve to show off in casual conversation?
SciGuy Alexa can help your class learn more random facts than you ever thought possible. Animal Game Elementary school children might love a good guessing game. Science Feed Reader Help students understand just how important it is to learn current events. 38 Amazing Edtech Tools for Student Creation and Innovation. Are you looking for edtech tools that will allow your students to tap into their creativity? We got you covered. In this article, we will profile 38 amazing edtech tools for student creation and innovation. Guess the Code: While this app is presented as a game, it is actually a great way for children to look at patterns and sequences, and try to figure them out. The app generates different color combinations, and it is up to the user to decipher the pattern and enter the next color.SimplePhysics: Physics can be a daunting subject, but the new way of approaching it makes physics more of a hands-on subject that gets students to engage in problem-solving actively.
Did we miss any? 20 14 ISTE Standards S PDF. A Better Way to Integrate Edtech. I’m sometimes asked, “How do you convince a teacher to embrace technology?” After years of working as a teacher, a professional development instructor, and now a researcher, I finally have a definitive answer: “You don’t.” I think we need to stop talking about technology. When technophiles like me perceive that a teacher has refused our attempts to promote a new tool or app, we often assume that the person doesn’t want to learn, but the issue is likely more complicated than that. Education researchers Allan Collins and Richard Halverson wrote in 2010 that although technologies such as textbooks and chalkboards have long been part of education, those tools reinforced existing cultural and structural norms.
Digital technology, on the other hand, fundamentally threatens the ideal on which educators base their identity: a single expert at the front of the room. Armed with mobile devices, students can learn anything, from anyone, anywhere, and at any time. 1. 2. 3. 19 Educational Websites to Enhance Students Reading Skills. Techlearning. Techlearning. Tech Tools for Leaders. TCEA's Top 20 Blog Posts. Time is a valuable commodity in today’s education world. This blog can save you a little as we highlight the top 20 blog posts from TCEA in the past year. With all of the amazing information that’s currently available to each of us on the internet, it can sometimes be very hard to find the real gems.
To assist with that, I’d like to share what tens of thousands of educational blog readers thought was most valuable via our Top 20 Blog Posts list. See if any of these resources resonate with you! For Fun and Creativity, Try a Digital Sign Generator: Looking to add a little flair to student words and presentations? Try a digital sign generator. Math Tools for Chrome: This blog will showcase some of the many powerful math tools that your students (and you!) Four Things NOT to Do on the First Day of School: The first day of school can be critical in setting the tone for the whole year. A New Type of Writing Prompt: Elementary teachers, looking for a fun way to get kids to write? Comments. Using Amazon Alexa in the Classroom. Voice-controlled devices are here to stay, and it is time for you to embrace this technology in the classroom.
With Amazon Alexa working through the inexpensive Echo Dot using Wi-Fi, you can transform your classroom into an interactive learning space where students are using voice-controlled searches in the classroom the same way they will in their future homes and vehicles. Plus, the kids love it! Here are some of the reasons why teachers are using Amazon Alexa in the classroom and loving it: Basic Classroom Management Amazon Alexa will save you time and simply your classroom management routines. By simply saying, “Alexa,” you get the device’s attention.
Reading and Writing Amazon Alexa can tell stories, which as child-friendly. Depending on the grade level you teach, you can use Amazon Alexa to help reinforce writing skills. Math Amazon Alexa can do basic calculations, such as addition and subtraction. Science History and Social Studies Fun Extras. EdTech Should Change the Way Teachers Teach. For a long time, teaching was teacher-centered: the teacher dispensed information through lecture, handouts, or presentations; the students absorbed the information by listening and taking notes. It was repetitive, could become monotonous, and left little room for student exploration or creativity. It was also detrimental to students who couldn’t keep pace with the teacher’s lessons or students who learned in way different from the teacher’s presentation The past ten years have seen a surge in student-centered learning, and the integration of technology into the classroom makes it increasingly easy to create engaging lessons that reach a variety of learners in a variety of ways.
There are many ways that technology has changed and improved teaching methods, making education more meaningful and accessible to all students. Education Doesn’t Have to Happen Only Within the Walls of a Classroom Textbooks May Be Obsolete Technology Makes it Easy to Flip Classrooms Collaboration is Increasing. 5 of The Best Rubric Making Tools for Teachers. January 16, 2018 In yesterday’s post we talked about grading and we featured a number of apps to help teachers with their grading. In today’s post we cover a closely related concept: rubrics.
These are scoring and criterion-referenced guidelines teachers create to help with, among other things, the assessment of students performance. A rubric, according to Deborah Allen and Kimberly Tanner, “denotes a type of matrix that provides scaled levels of achievement or understanding for a set of criteria or dimensions of quality for a given type of performance, for example, a paper, an oral presentation, or use of teamwork skills.” Two major functions of rubrics are: guiding and assessing. They guide students as to what is expected of them in a given activity or assignment and they also assist teachers in evaluating students performance along a pre-defined set of values, standards, and objectives. 2- Analytic rubrics An analytic rubric addresses specific areas in students performance. 5 Ways to App Smash with a Journey - Recap. Launch Your Chat with a Journey As we’ve seen, chat is a great way to develop deeper understanding of a topic as a group, to gather formative assessment data, and to help students practice discussing their own work in progress.
Some chat topics, anything based on personal experience, for example, need no introduction and participants can jump right in and start chatting within minutes. But if you are using a chat to develop deeper understanding of a topic that’s new to some or all participants, you’ll want to launch the chat with a Jounrey to give context, build a basis of understanding, or even challenge what they believe they already know about the topic. If you incorporated another tool(s) into your Journey, think about how this might guide the chat in the Recap Queue. You may want to ask some questions to get students to reflect on the web-based activity, or see what questions they had after completing an online reading or lesson. The 12 Days of Tech-Mas 2017. With the holiday season here, I am excited to share some of my favorite things in educational technology!
I will be doing this in a series of blog posts throughout the month of December that I am calling "The 12 Days of Tech-Mas". Each blog post will provide a list of useful resources corresponding to the number of that entry, from 1 through 12. See below for options on how to access each entry for "The 12 Days of Tech-Mas". You can check out each of the entries in several ways: In this post - As I release each new entry, I will add a new link to a growing list below in this postOn the blog - Each post will appear as a normal entry on the blogThrough the image below - If you click on the image below it will open an interactive Google Drawing with links for each of the 12 posts as they get released The 12 Days of Tech-Mas 2017 On the 4th day of Tech-Mas my true love gave to me...
Archived: Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. 9 Ways that Technology Boosts Student Confidence in the Classroom. Blog Inner. In this ever-changing digital learning landscape, technology is reshaping learning rapidly. There are many possibilities at learners’ fingertips, and they’re looking for someone to make sense of it all. We asked 10 top thought leaders and innovators that are shaping the future of Ed-Tech one question: Where do you see the future of digital learning heading? I’ve also added my twitter handle and my thoughts on the subject. As the Pedagogical Founder and Chief Scientist of Time to Know, (T2K) the next-generation Ed-Tech solutions company, I’ve been deeply involved in the future of education technology and innovation for decades.
It was a pleasure to hear from these great minds in the industry, each with their own expertise and experiences. Enjoy! Website: timetoknow.com Twitter: @DrDoviWeiss Website: web20classroom.org Twitter:@web20classroom He’s the co-creator of one of the most popular live Twitter chats on education #Edchat, along with another expert on our list Shelly Sanchez (see below). Create Netflix-style learning with screencasts. Netflix gives us video at our fingertips. What if we created video in class as much as we watch it on Netflix? Here’s how. (Netflix logo used under fair use.)
We have had students turn in documents, slide presentations and spreadsheets digitally for a long time. We’re comfortable with them. In the past, video has been a different story, though. Simple videos for everyday assignments just weren’t worth the hassle. Screencasts change all of that. A screencast — a video that records what’s happening on your computer screen — lets students demonstrate and create visually and with their voice. Screencast videos are often as easy to create as most anything else we do in class.
And they’re as easy to turn in as a document with Google Classroom or a learning management system like Canvas or Schoology. Netflix is like a library of videos at your fingertips. Have your students started demonstrating learning with screencasts yet? In this post, you’ll see … Top screencast tools to use: 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 22 killer keyboard shortcuts (and a challenge!) for busy educators. Keyboard shortcuts can save minutes — which add up to hours and days. If you’re looking to save time, these shortcuts can help. (Public domain image via Pixabay.com) Hunting and clicking is so slow. If you’re navigating your computer, laptop or Chromebook primarily by using your mouse or touchpad, you’re squandering valuable minutes every day.
The antidote: keyboard shortcuts. In a simple experiment, TheKeyCuts blog found that more than 10 minutes a day can be saved with keyboard shortcuts. Over a year, that can add up to more than 40 hours — an entire week! Whenever I do workshops and we talk about roadblocks to their goals, teachers almost always cite “time” as their biggest barrier. It’s time to reclaim some of that lost time! Here’s your challenge: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
If you take the challenge, take a picture of your shortcut reminder strip on your laptop/monitor and tweet it, including @jmattmiller and #DitchBook in your tweet! Now, on to the keyboard shortcuts! The basics Ctrl/Cmd + C = Copy. Create Netflix-style learning with screencasts. Updates abound: New features for Flipgrid, Google Classroom, Formative and Kahoot! Lots of teachers’ favorite tech tools get summer upgrades. See what’s new in 2017 with Flipgrid, Google Classroom, Formative and Kahoot! This year is no exception. In fact, just yesterday (the day before I publish this post), Flipgrid threw a HUGE bash at their Minneapolis headquarters to release the all new Flipgrid and a slew of new features. It’s a good time to be in education, folks. Technology makes all sorts of meaningful, engaging education accessible to kids everywhere.
Here are some of the big updates to some of my favorite tools — Flipgrid, Google Classroom, Seesaw, Formative and Kahoot! Flipgrid (flipgrid.com) I’m writing this post while wearing my Flipgrid Ambassador shirt and sipping coffee from my Flipgrid coffee mug. With a free Flipgrid One account, teachers can pose a question to students. A paid Flipgrid Classroom account lets students reply to each other’s posts with videos and unlocks advanced teacher features.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Kahoot! Related. 7 Educational Technology Concepts Every Teacher Should Know About - The Tech Edvocate. How to Push the Boundaries of School with Dynamic Learning | Shake Up Learning. Save Pinterest Does your classroom offer one-and-done types of learning activities, or does the learning grow, inspire, and evolve throughout the year and beyond? With digital tools like G Suite for Education that are available 24/7, the learning doesn’t have to stop when the bell rings at the end of class, or when the worksheet is turned in, or even when the school year ends. The learning takes on a life of its own; it becomes dynamic. This concept alone should change the way you think about learning in general and change the way you facilitate learning in the classroom. Education, just like anything else, is loaded with trends, buzzwords, and enough acronyms to create alphabet soup! We are constantly trying to find new ways to support our students and often times we are attracted to the next new thing–the next magic acronym that’s going to solve all of our problems.
Teaching isn’t that simple. Download the Dynamic Learning Infographic I’m not trying to invent the next new thing. One, 500: Internal Error - HostGator. Bell-ringer activities don’t have to be a slow start to class that students dread. Use these ideas to spice up your bell-ringers! One of the hooks from the book Teach Like a PIRATE that’s most memorable to me is the Board Message Hook.
In a book about engaging students, the idea of meeting students with something that’s eye-catching and thought-provoking — a statement or a picture or whatever — really resonated with me. Put a photo of something seemingly random on the board that eventually ties into the lesson of the day.Put a controversial or surprising statement on the board.Put a QR code on the board and see if students scan it.
The idea here is to meet students in the first moments of class with something that intrigues them and makes them want to dive deeper into the day’s work. The traditional model for bell-ringer activities — the first activities students do before starting into the substance of the class — is to do some basic, quick questions: So, so forgettable. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Essential Back-to-School Tools for Teachers | Common Sense Education.
Grouping Tools for the Classroom - TechNotes Blog - TCEA. How to easily record video of your classes online (step-by-step) 6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2017 | Cult of Pedagogy. The Tech Edvocate’s List of 50 Must-Read K-12 EdTech Blogs – The Tech Edvocate. How to Use Edtech to Get Your Learners Active and Moving. Teachers are the key to effective classroom technology. S'Cool Tools of the Week: Quizlet, Listenwise. Counting Down EdSurge’s Top Ten S’Cool Tools of 2016. Technologies That Will Define the Classroom of the Future. How You Can Take the Pain Out Of Data Driven Classrooms. Report: Tech-Savvy K–12 Teachers Will Survive the Age of Automation -- THE Journal. Top 10 Tech | 2016.
‘Rolling classrooms’ help Spartanburg County students go the distance. 12 ed-tech tools to try this term. 5 Reasons Augmented Education is Sweeping the EdTech World - AppReal. How Can Teachers Help Students See Themselves in the Curriculum? | MindShift | KQED News. Why the university of the future will have no classrooms, no lectures, and lots of tech. Teaching with Technology video series unveiled. The Trends and Challenges Shaping Technology Adoption In Schools | MindShift | KQED News.
Kids Don’t Always Love Technology. Q&A: Stephanie Shaw Creates Personalized Learning with Technology. The 8 eLearning Buzzwords You Need To Stop Using Right Now. Animating The Classroom. Finding a fit for wearable tech in education. Our goals as Instructional Tech Specialists and teachers for #edtech integration. Made using @canva ! #MIEExpert. Edsurge. Beyond the Genius Bar: Cultivating Leadership With a Student Led Tech Team. 10 Good Tools for Creating Digital Portfolios - A PDF Handout.
The Education Technology Value Chain: Implications and Policy Options -- THE Journal. The Top 10 Most Popular S'Cool Tools of 2016 So Far. When Minecraft is a calculated lesson plan. K 12 Edtech Conferences You Need To Know For 2016 2017. 5 tips for using live video in the classroom. Education Technology & Teaching Tweet Wrap, w/e 08-06-16. I'm Planning a Pokemon Go Rally for My Middle Schoolers | CTQ #CTQCollab. Professional learning key to Missouri district's 1:1 success. Leading Teachers Toward the Digital Future, Together.
The 2016 Honor Roll: EdTech’s Must-Read K-12 IT Blogs. Teachers Are Confident About Using Technology, Now More Than Ever. Librarian Approved: 30 Ed-Tech Apps to Inspire Creativity and Creation. The 2016 Honor Roll: EdTech’s Must-Read K-12 IT Blogs. 33 interesting ways to use mobile phones in th. Edsurge. Mobile phones at school? What’s Missing in Edtech? Character Development. The Easiest Ways to Create Animated Gifs. Q&A with Paperless Classroom Innovator Kerry Gallagher. 5 Tech Trends that Could Supercharge Education in 2016. 15 Uses for the Swivl. EdWeb: A professional online community for educators. 10 Favorite Educational YouTube Channels. World, meet classroom: Pine Valley Elementary holds 24-hour global Skype event | Port City Daily. The 7 pillars of today's digital leadership.
3 ways to involve students in your ed-tech PD. Better Communication, Better Learning. 200+ Practical Ed Tech Tutorial Videos. QR Codes: Pushing the Narrative on Scannables. Amazon Studios Launches Amazon Storywriter, Free Cloud Software For Screenwriters. Tips to Avoid the Race to Replace With Technology. In Successful Edtech, Pedagogy Comes First—Devices Second.
Private groups step in to show teachers how to use technology in the classroom. The Future of Education Isn’t Free. It’s Open. Periscope: Connecting Classrooms to the World. Tech Tip: How to save and share multiple browser tabs. What research says about classroom technology @ReadByExample SmartBlogs. Reading, writing, robots: A look at education technology on display at CES. Keeping Up with Ed Tech. 29% of schools now allow pupils to use their smartphone during lessons. Effects of technology on teens are not all doom and gloom. Keeping Up with Ed Tech. 21st Century Icebreakers: 10 Ways To Get To Know Your Students with Technology. Ask these questions before using technology in the classroom. Why Technology Will Never Fix Education.