10 Ready-to-Borrow Project Ideas. If you're planning to give project-based learning a try during the coming school year, you may hope a spark of inspiration will strike during the summer months that will lead to a memorable PBL experience. And maybe that's just the excuse that hard-working teachers need to take a hike or daydream by a pool. But here's another surefire strategy for PBL planning: borrow project ideas from your colleagues and adapt or remix to fit your context. Here are ten project ideas that I've gathered from a busy season of summer conferences and professional development events (including ISTE 2015 and PBL World, an annual event hosted by the Buck Institute for Education). By sharing their thinking at this early draft stage, teachers invite feedback from peers. That's another strategy for effective project planning.
Let's Dig In! Which of these driving questions might frame a meaningful inquiry experience for your students? What's your story? How can we, as ecologists, solve the wild horse problem? New Poll: Prestigious Colleges Won’t Make You Happier In Life Or Work. Harvard University/Wikimedia There’s plenty of anxiety in the U.S. over getting into a top college. But a new Gallup poll suggests that, later in life, it doesn’t matter nearly as much as we think. In fact, when you ask college graduates whether they’re “engaged” with their work or “thriving” in all aspects of their lives, their responses don’t vary one bit whether they went to a prestigious college or not. The surprising findings come in a survey of 29,650 college graduates of all ages by Gallup pollsters working with researchers at Purdue University.
The poll asked graduates a range of questions designed to measure how well they are doing in life across factors such as income and “engagement” in their jobs and careers. The survey set a high bar. It found that 39 percent of college grads overall say they’re “engaged” at work (which is 10 points higher than the population at large). And here’s the kicker. For Gallup, “well-being” and “engagement” aren’t squishy. Copyright 2014 NPR. Related. Great Interactive Tutorials to Raise Search Savvy Students. June 19, 2014 Search literacy is an important element of the 21st century learning. The web is teeming with all kinds of information and part of this information is nothing but junk. To let our students and kids surf this ocean of information without equipping them with the necessary gear is analogous to canoeing through turbulent waves, chances of staying afloat are next to impossible. Howard Rheingold, a renowned academic scholar and author of "Net Smart: How to Thrive Online ", refers to this phenomenon as crap detection.
In an article he posted a couple of years ago entitled Crap Detection 101, Howard talked about the different techniques to help learners and Internet users sift the good information from the bad. Here is an excerpt from it: The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception. 1- Research It Right! 2- Searching with Success! Augmented Reality Simply Explained for Students. June 18, 2014 The integration of Augmented Reality technology into learning is growing by leaps and bounds. The potential of this technology in education is uncontestedly huge and several classes now are using it to teach key literacy and mathematical concepts to students.
This series of videos is an example of how students in primary are using augmented reality in their learning. Augmented reality should not be confused with virtual reality, for the boundaries of each concept are clearly demarcated. While virtual reality denotes a reality that exists only in the virtual world (online), augmented reality, on the other hand, keeps the real world but only adds a digital layer to it. or amplifies it. I have already shared some interesting resources on augmented reality tips, tools, and apps to use in your class with students. I am also adding this awesome video explanation from Commoncraft on what augmented reality is all about.
Teachers Professional Development Guide: Must Have Tools and Resources. What Does the Next-Generation School Library Look Like? 3D printers like this one can be found at Monticello High School’s new library/WikiCommons At a time when public libraries are starting to offer everything from community gardening plots to opportunities to check out humans for conversations, some school libraries are similarly re-evaluating their roles and expanding their offerings.
Case in point: Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. When librarian Joan Ackroyd arrived there four years ago, she found an environment very different from the “engaging, creative, fun” elementary and middle school libraries to which she was accustomed. “Its library was none of those things,” she recalls. “It was a traditional, quiet research space.” Ackroyd decided this wasn’t optimal. As her first step, she and her co-librarian at the time (music teacher Dave Glover), converted a storeroom into a technology lab. Teachers balked because the library was no longer quiet, but students liked it, and many at-risk students became frequent visitors. 3 Good Resources for History Teachers. June 18, 2014 Below are three good websites for history teachers. These websites provide a range of resources and materials related to history teaching. Check out this post for more similar web resources for teaching history. 1- School History School History is a website that provides a wide variety of teaching materials for history teachers.These materials are arranged into different categories such as online history lessons, interactivities, interactive games, and interactive quizzes.
This site also provides over 600 free downloadable worksheets and PowerPoint presentations. There is also a History Help Forum where teachers post tips an pieces of advice on everything related to the teaching of history. 2- History on The Net History On The Net is a website that provides free resources and materials for history teachers.These resources cover a range of historical topics such as : Ancient History, Middle Ages, American History, and General History. 3- History Mad. New Wonderful Twitter Guide for Teachers and Educators. June 18, 2014 As I have repeatedly stated in several instances here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, online social networking remains one of the powerful routes to any effective and sustained teacher professional development plans. Social networks open up a whole new horizon of promising opportunities for on-the-go and at-any-time learning. One of the preeminent social networking site in this regard is the microblogging platform Twitter.
The power of Twitter resides in the kind of connections and networks it allows you to make.Twitter is by far the social networking platform that teachers and educators populate the most. As such, creating a personal/professional learning network comprising kindred others is as easy as participating in the weekly educational chats organized on Twitter (#edchat as an example).
These meet-ups enable you to meet and connect with teachers from all around the globe. This visual is created by UKEdChat. 26 Tips to Help Students Become Better Learners. Before the Digital Gap Splits Further, Now is the Time for Computer Literacy. Learning computational thinking and its language, various forms of computer code, needs to be elevated to the same level of importance as reading as writing, lest we risk perpetuating inequality in public education, argues Tasneem Raja in her Mother Jones article.Raja writes: “In other words, computational thinking opens doors. For while it may seem premature to claim that today every kid needs to code, it’s clear that they’re increasingly surrounded by opportunities to code—opportunities that the children of the privileged are already seizing. The parents of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg got him a private computer tutor when he was in middle school. Last year, 13,000 people chipped in more than $600,000 via Kickstarter for their own limited-edition copy of Robot Turtles, a board game that teaches programming basics to kids as young as three.
Related. Guide to the Best Homeschooling and Unschooling Resources. Getty Overwhelming. That’s the word you hear when you ask homeschooling parents about the resources available to them today. The homeschooling and unschooling movements, along with the open-education resource movement, have led to a wealth of free or low-cost and high-quality material available, especially online.
The tough part is finding the time to wade through and evaluate it all. Lisa Nalbone, a “self-directed education” proponent and former schoolteacher in California, helped her son, UnCollege guru Dale J. Nalbone suggests that when it comes to finding resources, unschooling parents should find a community – a support group of like-minded folk who can help – and, as early as possible, involve your child in the process of finding resources.
“Without helping your child learn that underlying skill, you’re missing out,” says Nalbone. It must be noted that unschoolers do distinguish themselves from homeschoolers. These are some of the top sites recommended by home educators. Related. A Handy Google Image Tip for Teachers and Students. June 17, 2014 One of the essential features of Google Image, but overlooked by most students, is to search for images using images instead of text. This is especially important when searching for information around a certain image. For instance, in a field trip with class to the local zoo, students came a cross a little bug that they did not know. To learn more about this bug they can use their smart phones to take a picture of it and upload it to Google Image.
If the first page of search results did not turn out accurate results they can add some text to the image ( like for example its colour, how many legs it has...etc). Searching Google Image using images is also ideal when looking for more information about a picture you come across online. You might want to know the author of the picture, or you might want to cite the picture and need some information about it. Here is how you can search Google Image using images : Head over to Google Image and click on the camera icon.
A Must Have Resource of TED Talks for Your Class. June 17, 2014 TED is a a great video resource I have often recommended and featured in several of my posts here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. TED talks are both informative and inspirational and there are a variety of ways to integrate them in your teaching. For instance, you can use them with your students to enhance their oral and communicational skills through sparking discussions around particular topics. They are also a good way for students to practice their self-expression abilities and learn how to craft cogent arguments and express their opinions. TED talks can also be used for writing practice. TED has over 1000 recorded talks spanning various themes and topics and to look for videos to use in class from this huge pile will be a time consuming task.
Also, some of the playlists are based on talks curated by popular figures and authors such as Dan Pink list, David Blaine list, or Ken Robinson list to mention but a few. A New Great Digital Citizenship Poster for Your Class. Can 12 Minutes of Exercise Help Close the Achievement Gap? A New Excellent Google Drive Guide for Teachers and Students.
Going All In: How to Make Competency-Based Learning Work. Getty Images New Hampshire is the first state to change its education policies to credit high school students — and soon elementary and middle school students, too — for progressing based on what they’ve mastered, not the number of hours they spend in school. Known as a competency-based system, the idea is to define the core skills and concepts students should master and only move them forward once they’ve achieved mastery of every competency rather than their “seat time.” In traditional schools, students progress if their average grade is high enough, which may leave room for holes in their understanding of concepts they’ll need in future classes. In the most alternative application of a competency-based system, age-based grade levels would disappear and students would move through concepts at their own pace, regardless of age or grade.
“What we saw really lacking was the core concept that students would be advancing upon mastery,” Freeland said. iPad Bingo Card with Great iPad Apps and Activities to Use in Class. 20 Great Rubrics for Integrating Bloom's Digital Taxonomy in Your Teaching. June 15, 2014 I have always been inspired by the great work of Andrew Church. This guy has been one of my authority sources for everything related to Bloom's digital taxonomy. Andrew provided a detailed account of how teachers can align the thinking levels of Bloom's original taxonomy with the different digital tools. I have already shared here several examples of web tools and mobile apps that can be used to promote Bloom's digital thinking skills; but today I am sharing with you some wonderful rubrics to help you integrate Bloom's digital taxonomy into your teaching.
These rubrics are designed by Andrew Church and are available for free download from this page. Each of these rubrics is related to a tinkling stage of Bloom's taxonomy. Here is a quick round-up of all the Bloom's digital taxonomy rubrics created by Andrew: Remembering: Awesome Visual On The Use of Google Glass in Education. June 15, 2014 Although it is sill in its infancy stage, Google Glass has already began making a huge buzz around its potential uses in the education area. It is true there are now some raising voices that oppose the use of this technology and view it as a serious threat to individual privacy and a source of unsolicited distraction.
But a look back at the circumstances surrounding each great invention in history proves that such voices have always been around. All kinds of technology have negative and positive sides and if we dwell on only the negative part, I am afraid we might be seeing the forest for the trees. That being said, some educational entities have already started conceptualizing ways to integrate this wearable technology in education.
One example of this is the visual below which outlines the different uses of Google Glass in education. Here is a brief round-up of some of the main points from it: Uses of Google Glass in Grade School and High School. How Much Sleep Do Creative Geniuses Need? Great Resources to Help Teachers Craft Beautiful Slide Presentations. June 15, 2014 Preparing slides that are both meaningful and visually appealing has gotten a lot easier thanks to technology. Whether it is for your classroom, a departmental talk, or a conference presentation, here are resources to help craft beautiful slides. Slidebean Web presentation software that lets you create beautiful slide design in seconds.
When you are ready to start filling in your slides, this image search service helps you find royalty-free stock photos. For professionally-designed icons, this resource has thousands of icons for thousands of nouns. Put images and icons you've found into a collage with this mobile app for ideation or your presentation. Or turn those images and icons into a slideshow with narration or music to liven up your presentation a notch. Before starting, you need a solid outline. This collection is curated by instructional technology facilitator Kristy Rocquin. 4 Great iPad Apps for Creating Educational Comic Apps to Use in Class.
With iPads, a New World of Music for Kids With Learning Challenges. Good Tools to Collect Anonymous Feedback from Your Students. How Small Words Make a Big Impact on Girls. A Must See Chart on SAMR Model and iPad Teaching. Benefits of Gaming: What Research Shows. Visualize Internet in Reali Time. Handy Resources and Checklists for Implementing 1:1 in Your School. 12 Ways Google Drive Can Redefine Learning Activities. Are Classroom Decorations Too Distracting For Young Students? Can Parents Protect Their Kids’ School-Collected Data? The Top 3 iPad Apps for Learning A New Language. Khan Academy. Quicko: An innovative search engine. The News Literacy Project. Nik's QuickShout: Multiple Media Search. MediaCore - Award-winning video platform for education. Lessons Worth Sharing | TED-Ed.
Curriculet. Menco Platform // Lifelong learning. Shared. Easy Portfolio | e-Portfolio Tool for Students & Teachers. Portfoliogen - Create Your Teacher Portfolio Website in Minutes! Socrative | Student Response System | Audience Response Systems | Clicker | Clickers | Student Clickers | ARS | Mobile Clicker | Software Clicker. Books - Advances in Technology Enhanced Learning by Fridolin Wild, Paul Lefrere & Peter Scott. DropTask - Visual Task Management - A simple and fluid way to get things done. Learner Journey - ePortfolio. mGooru. Language Cloud. Learning Ace. Learner Journey - ePortfolio. 5 Excellent Free Interactive Tools to Boost Students Learning. Social Learning Analytics applied in a MOOC-environment. New: Google Launched Google Educator Groups (Great Learning Platform for Teachers)
A Wonderful Copyright Flowchart for Your Class. Apps That Rise to the Top: Tested and Approved By Teachers. A Wonderful TED Ed Video Lesson for Music Teachers. The Best 50 Free iPad Apps for Preschoolers. 15 Essential Netiquette Guidelines to Share with Your Students. What Teachers Need to Know about 1:1 Vs BYOD. 8 End-of-Year Questions To Ask Students About iPads. What’s the Danger of Flagging ‘At-Risk’ Kids Early On? 5 Effective Ways Teachers Can Use Twitter for Professional Development. Teacher's Visual Guide to Creating Twitter Lists. Must Have Microsoft Web Based Apps for Teachers. Surprising Insights: How Teachers Use Games in the Classroom. Why Aren’t More Schools Using Free, Open Tools? A Chart Featuring Some of The Best iPad Apps for Early Literacy Learners. A Good Free Web Tool to Create Classroom Posters. The 7 Characteristics of A Digitally Savvy Teacher. New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “How languages evolve”
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: The 5 Benefits of Learning A New Language. Understanding Innovation. A Powerful Rubric for Evaluating Web Content for Teachers, Parents, and Students. 8 New Educational Web Tools for Teachers. 40 Useful Maps to Teach Students about The History of Internet. What Students Will Learn In The Future. Students Explain Engaging Assignments. 9 Steps To Scaffold Learning For Improved Understanding.