Five Free Web 2.0 Tools to Support Lesson Planning "Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought or an event." -- Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Educational Consultant, Curriculum Designers, Inc. Web 2.0 tools are online software programs that allow users to do a number of different things. They can be used to teach curriculum content, store data, create or edit video, edit photos, collaborate and so much more. These programs are often free and are used by teachers, students and sometimes parents, both in and out of the classroom, on a pretty regular basis. The question then becomes: are educators prepared to use these tools? Are educators, especially new ones, ready to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their classroom? Embracing the use of Web 2.0 tools in lesson planning may still be new to many educators. As we talk about Web 2.0 tools, here's one point I want to stress. 1. If you've not heard of Pinterest, what rock have you been hiding under? 2. 3. 4. 5.
6 YouTube lessons for building better instructional videos With the rise of the blended learning model of education, video is becoming an increasingly important medium for instruction. The essential components of blended learning - such as flipped classrooms, MOOCs and “Bring Your Own Device” programs - are facilitated by video instruction to ensure the personalization and flexibility of a digitized education system. Over the last few years, a wave of YouTube channels has emerged to deliver high quality educational content in an accessible, engaging format. Here are six takeaways from these channels: 1. Sometimes, the most compelling videos are short and to the point. 2. Eye-catching graphics play an important role in making videos both accessible and entertaining. 3. If the introduction of a video piques curiosity, the viewer will be more likely to follow through with the entire presentation. 4. The success of educational YouTube channels owes a lot to the charisma of their hosts. 5. 6.
Class Hacker: 3 Tools To Help You Begin Learning Outside of the Classroom This article is written by Top Hat’s student blogger, Josh Birdwell. In this post, Josh goes over three tools that will help you become a better lifelong learner or begin learning outside of the classroom. These are tools that have helped him! Today, I want to share three resources that helped me become a better life long learner. 1. Degreed is a tool that allows users to track every video you watch, article you find, and book you read. 2. Interest in MOOCs has been growing really fast lately. 3. Lastly, Trello is an organizing tool like sticky notes on the web. Explore. Comment on how you are already learning outside of school / are learning after your degree or planning to start. Image courtesy of www.evolllution.com The following two tabs change content below. Futurist, Learner and Doer these are attributes that I have chosen to live out.
Google Drive: A Better Method for Giving Students Feedback Last year Google Docs was upgraded to become Google Drive. Like its predecessor, Google Drive allows you to create and share documents with ease. The enhanced Google Drive format has given the program some wonderful additional features that I encourage you to explore. Google Drive is entirely free and works within any browser, although to enjoy all of its features, you do need to use Google’s Chrome Browser. Using Google Drive with student writers With Google Drive students can create a variety of content, but here we are going to focus on word processing documents. The Google Drive word processor is less feature-packed than Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages — which actually makes it easier to use. Students will need a Google account to create and share documents; this is the way Google assures that document access can be controlled by the creator. What makes Google Drive different is the ability to share documents with others. The share/feedback feature is a really powerful teaching tool.
Teach with Your iPhone: Apps to Use in the Classroom You don't need a class set of netbooks or iPads to integrate technology into your daily instruction. There are some fantastic, free iPhone apps that are perfect for teachers who are looking to change up their daily routine. These apps can make everyday tasks easier, simplify what you're already doing, and maybe just inspire others to make an investment in technology at your school. Common Core MasteryConnect has designed a wonderful app to keep the Common Core State Standards at your fingertips. Pick a Student It's important that all students are held accountable during class discussions and everyone has a chance to speak his or her mind. Timer, Sand Timer and Traffic Light Whether you're preparing your students for state exams or feel that they need to practice their pacing and stamina, use the timer on your iPhone to keep them on task. BookLeveler If you're organizing a classroom library or helping a student find a "just right" book, the BookLeveler app will definitely come in handy.
What if Your Child is in a Flipped Classroom? - Turning Learning On Its Head In the past few years, many teachers from around the world have started to use a new method called the flipped We send students home with the hard stuff classroom. Some parents are curious, others skeptical, and a few hostile. But first: What IS the Flipped Classroom? For too many years we have been “doing” school backwards. Here are my top five reasons why you should be thrilled your child’s teacher is flipping his/her class. 1. There is something I fundamentally believe about good teaching – it is about developing good relationships between the teacher and the student. 2. How many times has your child come home with homework they were unable to understand? 3. I have three children and we have had times where our kids came home with homework and they were stressed. 4. In one of the early years of the flipped classroom, my daughter Kaitie was watching a video of me in my living room basedrumsnaredrum.com 5. I want to hear from you Like this: Like Loading...
Create Flashcards from Google Spreadsheets If you browse through the Google Docs Template Gallery you will find a bunch of templates for creating flashcards in Google Spreadsheets. There is also a flashcard script available in the script gallery (open the insert menu in a spreadsheet to search for the script). None of those templates nor the script is as easy to use as Flippity. Flippity is a free tool for creating flashcards from data in a Google Spreadsheet. Flippity provides clear directions for the simple steps to take to create your flashcards. Applications for Education Flippity is a good tool that you and or your students can use to create flashcards for any number of topics.
10 Important Things for Students to Be Good Digital CIitizens Online netiquette, digital citizenship, and good digital manners are all components of the same internet safety kit every student and teacher should know about. Being able to plug in and browse through the digital world is one important step in becoming a global, independent learner, however, more important is the respectful and responsible use of the net. Today's students learn in what Howard Rheingold called social mobs. These are people who met online, most often through social media, to co-learn and peer instruct each other. Be it a learner in a social mob or a learner in any kind of technology-mediated setting, manners always matter.
Creation Apps Used On The iPad My technology integration specialist asked me to provide a list of creative apps that we have used in our classroom. All the apps are in our tool box, have been used, or will be used. I have included some of the many videos that show students actually using the apps. I have also included the original post if you would like to read the details surrounding the use of the app. Important! I have two folders with creative apps on my iPad. ShowMe (Free) One of the free apps that allow for students to verbalize about a concept. SonicPics (2.99) Photography effects PhotoComic (1.99) Creating comic strips from our own photos. Whiteboard (Free) Original Post Allows for a white blank screen for writing and for importing photos. Pic Collage (Free) Original Post Original Post Combine multiple photos onto one screen.Pottery HD (4.99) Original Post Create pottery and sell it! Scribble Press (Free) Write a digital book complete with print and pictures. Sock Puppets (Free) Create your own lip-synced videos.
Why Teachers Should Be Preparing For A Multi-Screen Classroom You don’t need an infographic to tell you that your students (and probably most of your friends, colleagues, and family members) have their nose pointed towards a screen more often than not. While I’m definitely not above chastising my dinner mates for getting too cosy with their phone instead of interacting with everyone at the table, I wouldn’t necessarily transfer that same open shaming technique to a classroom. Studies show that so much of our daily media interactions are screen based – 90%, in fact. So while your inclination may be to have students focusing on one thing at a time to make sure they’re getting all they need to out of an activity, maybe you should think again. Google has put together this little graphic (below) that shows that most of us are quite adept at functioning in what they call a ‘multi-screen world’. Something to keep in mind as you’re planning classroom activities, for sure. A Multi Screen World A Multi Screen Classroom
10 Apps for Documenting Learning One of the things that really excites me about the iPad is the ability of the students to show their learning. I am not talking about the end product here, I am talking about the act of learning that can be shown by students recording their processes. It is often about the student putting the information they have learnt into a context. It is this contextualisation that helps the students create meaning. Here is a perfect example from a young 1st grade student who talks us through his investigation into transport. This is where we really see the mechanics of a student's learning and how this can be individual for each student and in the case of a tool like the iPad, individualised for each student. Here are a couple of apps that give students the opportunity to showcase, share and then reflect on their learning. ShowMe: FREETurn your iPad into your personal interactive whiteboard! Educreations: FREEEducreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard.
46 Tools To Make Infographics In The Classroom Infographics are interesting–a mash of (hopefully) easily-consumed visuals (so, symbols, shapes, and images) and added relevant character-based data (so, numbers, words, and brief sentences). The learning application for them is clear, with many academic standards–including the Common Core standards–requiring teachers to use a variety of media forms, charts, and other data for both information reading as well as general fluency. It’s curious they haven’t really “caught on” in schools considering how well they bridge both the old-form textbook habit of cramming tons of information into a small space, while also neatly overlapping with the dynamic and digital world. So if you want to try to make infographics–or better yet have students make them–where do you start? Ed note: The original list has somehow become corrupted, so we’ve substituted the following list–only 36 tools, but the best of the bunch–visually, pikotchart, easely, etc.
Haiku Deck, a super easy and cool way to create presentations on your iPad! « Blog Picture courtesy of NASA Godard Space Flight Center Are you sick of crappy, text-heavy presentations? Are you sick of giving a presentation where your audience just silently stares back at you? Want to present your ideas in a more creative way than the next guy? Haiku Deck is very easy to use and fast. The beauty of Haiku Deck is that it shifts the focus of your presentation from words to pictures. Notice that some of pictures have dollar signs; these are the ones you have to pay for as an in-purchase. In addition to slides with great, context-appropriate pictures, Haiku allows for multiple sharing opportunities including posting to a blog, facebook or email. Maybe I never noticed this before in Pages for the iPad, but Haiku has some simple chart creation capabilities. Haiku Deck makes it easy to organize your slides according to the information you need to present without wasting time futzing with formatting. Have you tried Haiku?
6 Brilliant EdTech Tools for Student Projects One of the most exciting applications of education technology is its potential to turn the long, one-dimensional, wordy school projects of yesteryear into multimedia-filled, action-packed, graphic-illustrated masterpieces! With all the tools available to students online, what once had to be a vast handwritten tome can now metamorphose into a video diary or a blog project, an animation or a slideshow presentation. And it doesn’t have to mean giving up all text either – here are 6 fantastic tools for adding to and enhancing student presentations… 1. Add an animation… Thanks to the simplicity of brilliant, easy-to-use online animation websites, the moving image can replace the old-fashioned diagram or hand drawing in school projects with relative ease. 2. Now that great programs like Scribus are available online, students can turn their projects into seriously snazzy looking finished products. 3. 4. A mind map is a fantastic illustration for complex ideas and interconnected concepts. 5. 6.