Using Dropbox in the Classroom When I mention Dropbox to friends and colleagues, I usually get one of two responses – a knowing smile and nod, or a puzzled and quizzical look. Whether you know what the program is, you have likely heard the name. But really, what is Dropbox? Dropbox is many things — a multifaceted tool that’s so powerful, you’ll continue to discover new ways to use it. How Dropbox works So, how can you use Dropbox as an educator? Additionally, many applications that you likely use (Evernote, Things, 1Password, Elements, to name a few) have a Dropbox sync option. Using Dropbox with students In addition to making your life a lot easier, Dropbox can be a great teaching/learning tool – and this is why I introduce it to my students. You can call this folder anything. Next step: Put your mouse over the folder and click on the arrow to the right – a drop-down menu will appear. Next, you will get the window shown below. Once you have invited students, this becomes a “Shared Folder.” Students catch on quickly
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: Teachers Easy Guide to The Most Important Web Tools in Education When it comes to using web resources with our students, time plays a decisive role.It is next to impossible for a busy teacher restricted by curriculum constraints, day to day lesson preparations, assignment corrections, to mention but a few of his chores, to effectively search the web and find the adequate resources to share with his/ her students. Most people just do not have the time to learn all these technologies and some educators pick just one or two websites of interest and start exploring them. This is definitely not the right thing to do particularly if you want to leverage the huge potential of technology into your classroom.There is, however, a simple roudabout to this problem. Look for educational technology blogs ( such as the one you are reading now ) and subscribe to their feeds to stay updated about the latest web tools to use in your instruction. 1- A List of The Best Video Editing Tools for Teachers 2- A List of The Best Digital Story Telling Tools for Teachers
5 Ways You Should Integrate Digital Citizenship Into Your Classes Recently, I was told by a teacher that she doesn’t have time to teach digital citizenship because she has to cover too many other content-specific standards. I get it... the Common Core-state tests-AP/IB/SAT/ACT madness eats up so much of our time. Still, there is no excuse for allowing students to enter into the digital world without a toolkit for not only safety but also success. Beyond that, there is such a wide range of options for truly integrating digital citizenship objectives that the argument given by teachers who claim a lack of time is simply unfounded. Here are a few ways we all can bring digital citizenship to our classrooms seamlessly. Digital Teaching Tip 1: Use an LMS Edmodo and Schoology are free learning management systems which provide teachers with platforms for discussions, resource sharing, grading, messaging and networking. Helping students develop their technology in the classroom Internet search... Here's how to motivate students by giving them choices.
Using @Evernoteschools for Lesson Planning Since I started this Experiment to use Evernote in every aspect of my classroom, I wasn't really sure what I was going to discover. I was sure there would be some way that Evernote was not going to meet my needs and I would be forced to add another tool to my chest while I continue the experiment for the school year. One way I was weary of was lesson planning. I have used the the traditional planner book for years and it has always been very good to me. I could easily flip back and see what I what I did the year before as I planned the upcoming school year. I'm not a big fan of trying to fix things that are not broken, but I figured I needed to give it a try in the name of the Experiment. Here is a shot of my desktop version of Evernote. Within the notebooks for the specific classes, I have scanned and uploaded various assignments I had in paper form only and added them to new notes. I have also created notebooks that contain notes on tech tips for using the various tools.
22 Top Blogging Tools Loved by the Pros Do you blog? Looking for exciting new tools to simplify the blogging experience? If so, keep reading. We decided to get the scoop on today’s hottest blogging tools. We asked 22 pros to share their favorite new finds. #1: InboxQ Mitt Ray @MittRay A great blogging tool I discovered a few months ago is InboxQ. InboxQ lets you create campaigns with different keywords. You can work on these questions and come up with better blog topics in your area of specialty. When people type in questions with these keywords, I get an update. Use InboxQ to find the questions people are asking on Twitter. Mitt Ray, founder of Social Marketing Writing, author. #2: Content Idea Generator Rich Brooks @TheRichBrooks The Content Idea Generator (v2) is a Google Doc that will automatically find news and related stories for your blog from a variety of sources… everything from Google News to Reddit, from tweets to public Facebook updates and more. You can get started here. Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media. #3: Diigo
The 35 Best Web 2.0 Classroom Tools Chosen By You 100 Web 2.0 Tools Every Teacher Should Know About 44.24K Views 0 Likes We're always trying to figure out the best tools for teachers, trends in the education technology industry, and generally doing our darnedest to bring you new and exciting ways to enhance the classroom. 20 Free and Fun Ways To Curate Web Content 23.98K Views 0 Likes What's the best way to organize it all into at least some reasonable manner? It’s Time To Crowdsource Your School’s Social Media Policy 12.53K Views 0 Likes Every school has a different policy when it comes to social media. 14 Edtech Integration Tips & 20+ Resources for the School Year 4th post in a new series: PLN Tips 4 Teachers and Goal 17: Integrate Technology Effectively of The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators “Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” ~ Bill Gates I have been integrating technology with students since 1997. I remember some of the first technologies I used with students were a TV/VCR, cassette recorders, cameras, polaroids, large video cameras, large desktop computers, microscopes, telescopes, the Internet, a transparency projector, and a video projector. Now I use iPads, mobile phones, iPods, digital cameras, and still the Internet. Maybe you’re new to integrating technology or just need a few pointers. More Tips & 20+ Resources Beyond the first tip of connecting online and learning from other educators, I offer the following tips from my PLN, which are in no particular order: Tip: Assess if you need to use the technology. Tip: Get ideas from other teachers.
Tips for Augmenting Whole-Class Discussions with Collaborize Technology can enhance academic conversations, says Anna Des Roches, a community development officer for Collaborize Classroom. The American Association of School Librarians (AALS) agrees, naming Collaborize one of the "Top 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning in 2012." Blake Wiggs, a history and language arts teacher in North Carolina, often uses Collaborize to efficiently "organize classroom participants and sort their contribution to the discussion." He likes that he can integrate audio or video clips and widgets into the discussion pages. Nico Saldana, a high school world history teacher, uses Collaborize to increase student participation: "Nobody can check out of a conversation because everyone is writing." Collaborize: The Basics The free online Collaborize Classroom platform allows teachers to create password-protected multi-media discussion prompts in a couple minutes and has iPad and iPhone apps available. Four Discussion Types on Collaborize Credit: Collaborize Classroom
Moving to the cloud: how wrong can you be? Three years ago, in my first term after moving to a new school, I was told by an administrator that cloud computing would fail. Another administrator mentioned at a parent meeting that he didn't believe in a 1:1 programme because there was no evidence that technology enhanced learning. Alarm bells started to ring. Two years ago, after becoming a Google Certified Teacher I wanted to introduce Google Apps for Education at the school. One year ago, in the first month of school, I announced on social media that I was looking for a new job. How wrong can some people, some schools be? Here's an interesting infographic about going to the cloud from Online Colleges. From: OnlineColleges.net Photo Credit: Bowl of Clouds by Kevin Dooley, 2008
50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom Many critics of Twitter believe that the 140-character microblog offered by the ubiquitous social network can do little for the education industry. They are wrong. K-12 teachers have taken advantage of Twitter’s format to keep their classes engaged and up-to-date on the latest technologies. The following projects provide you and your students with 50 ways to Twitter in the classroom to create important and lasting lessons. 1. One of the simplest ways that teachers can use Twitter in the classroom involves setting up a feed dedicated exclusively to due dates, tests or quizzes. 2. Subscribe to different mainstream and independent news feeds with different biases as a way to compare and contrast how different perspectives interpret current events and issues. 3. Set up an interesting assignment requesting that students set up Twitter for education lists following feeds relevant to their career goals and keep a daily journal on any trends that crop up along the way. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Lights, Camera, Learn: SchoolTube Strives to Be YouTube for K-12 Education Can sharing facts you learn in class be as fun as sharing the latest “Call Me Maybe” parody on YouTube? That’s what SchoolTube says. The free website claims to be “the nation’s largest teacher-moderated K-12 video-sharing website” — think of it as YouTube for the education set. Since father and son Carl Arizpe, 53, and Andrew Arizpe, 27, established the St. (MORE: Schools Test ‘Bring Your Own Technology’ Programs) YouTube boasts an entire section of educational videos called YouTube EDU — but some schools block the video-sharing tool because of the explicit content on other parts of the site. The site has also worked with the Red Cross and the NFL to challenge students to produce online videos about various safety and exercise topics. One history video that is going viral by SchoolTube standards (3,200+ views) is “A Rap About France,” made by students at South Buffalo Charter School (Buffalo, N.Y.). (MORE: Schools Embrace Mobile Phones) The school’s Enrichment teacher Steven R. Joseph B.