Beyond Minecraft: Games That Inspire Building and Exploration
By Tanner Higgin, Graphite The success and popularity of Minecraft in and out of classrooms is no surprise. It’s one of the best examples of the potential of learning with games because it embraces exploration, discovery, creation, collaboration, and problem-solving while allowing teachers to shepherd play toward any subject area. But Minecraft is not the only game of this kind. Take a look at some of these. 1. Garry’s Mod (GMod) is a sandbox game like Minecraft but instead of building and exploring, students use a fun physics engine that simulates things like gravity and mass. 2. Kerbal Space Program has a robust physics engine too, but it’s more focused than Garry’s Mod. 3. Sound Shapes is a visually stunning platform puzzle game set to a rich musical soundscape. For creative kids who want to get their hands dirty, check out DIY, a site where students can find things to build, instructions for how to build them, and ways to share their creations with others. Related
Guide to Free Education Resources
Uncategorized The Open Education movement has been a powerful way for teachers to take content into their own hands, compiling and repackaging lessons that suit their individual classrooms and learning goals. There are lots of great Open Education Resources (OER) available online for educators to use. Check out MindShift’s list of Open Education Resources and ideas for using them too. Open Educational Resources (OER): Resource RoundupResources by Topic: OER, a part of the global open content movement, are shared teaching, learning, and research resources available under legally recognized open licenses-free for people to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Related Explore: open education resources
7 Ways Teachers Use Social Media in the Classroom
Millennials live and breathe on social media, so teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into the classroom successfully. In doing so, teachers not only encourage students to engage actively in the material, but they also provide online communities for students that might not exist for them in real life. But how are teachers infusing social media into their everyday lessons? We've highlighted several different examples and offered our own ideas on how to best engage students. 1. Encourage students to share work socially. Anna Divinsky created an iTunes U class at Penn State University called Art 10: Introduction to Visual Studies, which she then adapted into a massive open online course (MOOC) on Coursera. For each class assignment, students were responsible for evaluating each other's work. Students shared their work on a variety of platforms. @psutlt #art10psu Art in the style of Rousseau (done in pencil) pic.twitter.com/oOA9UrlX6E— Wendy S Dixson (@WendyDixson) July 16, 2013
Algunas herramientas para publicar trabajos de los alumnos
En la página e-learning industry han seleccionado una lista con 7 herramientas interesantes para publicar los trabajos de los alumnos. Se trata de herramientas de uso internacional donde se pueden encontrar contenidos en varias lenguas, entre ellas español, aunque mayoritariamente están en inglés. Flipsnack Es una herramienta gratuita que permite convertir imágenes o pdf libros digitales. Para crear el libro digital sólo tienes que introducir una URL con el destino del pdf o subirlo desde el mismo ordenador. Puedes personalizar el documento como quieras añadiendo imágenes además de diferentes widgets que te permiten dar tu propio estilo a la publicación. Y finalmente lo puedes compartir en la red de flipsnack. Wordfaire Esta herramienta es como una especie de blog que permite subir la información en tiempo real. ePubBud Esta herramienta se parece bastante a Flipsnack, permite subir imágenes para crear tu propio libro electrónico o utilizar una plantilla predeterminada.
37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest In The Classroom Teachers with Apps
37 ways teachers can use Pinterest in the classroom, now that is a novel concept! There are a lot of great technology tools out there for teachers that can make it easier to connect with other educators, get ideas for classroom activities, and find inspiration. One of the newest and best of these online tools is Pinterest, which has quickly become a favorite among educators. Using online “pinboards” teachers can save everything from photos to blog posts in one easily accessible and usable place. Pinterest is ideal for getting inspired on a wide range of topics. Get inspiration for decorating your classroom. You’ll find a wealth of lessons and ideas on Pinterest to look through. Swap lesson plans. Develop your teaching skills and connect with other professionals using these Pinterest ideas. Collaborate with other teachers and educators. Pinterest doesn’t have to be all business. Find inspiration. Terry Heick Director of Curriculum at TeachThought
Teachers EdTech Study Infographic Plus 400+ Free EdTech Tools for Teachers
Educational Technology Infographics Teacher Infographics 5 Facts That Educational Technology Is Essential! 86% of teachers think it is ‘important’ or ‘absolutely essential’ to use edtech in the classroom965 say that edtech increases student engagement in learning95% say that it enables personalized learning89% say that it improves student outcomes87% say that it helps students collaborate 4 Facts That Teachers Do Not Use Educational Technology Only 19% use subject specific content tools weeklyOnly 31% use information or reference tools weeklyOnly 24% use teacher tools weeklyOnly 14% use digital curricula weekly The Common Sense Media Survey of Educators was conducted online in the US by Harris Interactive in May 2013, among 764 public school preK-12 teachers, including 659 teachers who use edtech, 235 teachers who are high volume edtech users and 88 teachers implementing 1-to1/BYOD programs, and 205 public shool administrators. 400+ Free Educational Technology Tools for Teachers!!!
6 Online Tools That Will Help The Writing Process
Writing can be a difficult task for many students. Some have trouble getting started, others have trouble staying on task, and many struggle with both. Staying focused when you’re sitting at your computer and somewhat uninspired can be a disaster waiting to happen – there’s a lot of stuff to waste time with on The Interwebs! The Internet can be a huge distraction, but it can also be the tool that helps to make you a more efficient and better writer. Citelighter Citelighter is a great way to build your bibliography simply – so you don’t spend all of your time worrying about correctly formatting a bibliography in APA, MLA, or Chicago formatting. Write Monkey Write Monkey helps to make the writing process cleaner by providing the user with a distraction free writing environment, and by streamlining keyboard and mouse use . Focus Writer Focus Writer is a great way to keep yourself free of distractions on your screen. Omm Writer This tool is only for Mac users. WriteRoom
The 4 Apps Needed To Run A One iPad Classroom
If you don’t have the luxury of a 1:1 classroom or even a 10:1 classroom then you might want to sit down. I have some seriously shocking news that you might not be adequately ready to hear. Ready? Wait, that wasn’t even the big one. You only need four apps to run a one iPad classroom. The idea is simple. As you can see, it’s quite easy to integrate these apps into one cohesive flow. Next, start getting familiar with your newest friend, Evernote.
