Web Tools Blog Series: Tools to Help Students Collaborate In previous blogs, we focused on web tools to collect and organize content and tools to help students create and present ideas. In this module, we focus on how to use web tools to foster collaboration. Randy Nelson (Pixar University) provides a brilliant definition of collaboration by using two principles of improv. First, accept every offer and second, make your partner look good. When teams collaborate on a project, they accept each others' ideas without judgment and "plus" them -- they ask, what can we do with this. I found this list of "principles" and think we can learn a lot more about collaboration from improv. Principle 4: Shut up and Listen Good improvisers are not necessarily more clever, or more quick-witted. Principle 5: Action beats inaction Don't talk about doing it, do it. Principle 8: There are no mistakes Earlier I said that we have to be willing to make mistakes. As a quick example, watch this video (caution, one bad word near the end). Example Projects Tools
5 Reasons to Incorporate Technology into Your Classroom | Capella University Blog Think that integrating technology into the classroom will only distract students and marginalize educators? Think again. Since students are already interested and engaged in technology, teachers can harness that attention for educational purposes. 1. Using a computer, tablet, or other device encourages self-directed learning and creates an active participant in the learning process, rather than the passive learners found in a lecture environment. 2. No one learns in the same way or at the same pace, but technology can level-set the classroom. 3. In a research project conducted by the U.S. 4. Technology is an integral part of how we work and live. 5. Using technologies like virtual lesson plans and internet resources can help free up time — both in developing and delivering curriculum. As an educator, integrating technology into the curriculum is key. Make sure you understand: An easy way to introduce technology is to start small. Resources to Get You Started Categories: Education
QR Codes Can Do That? There are tons of quick and easy ways to integrate technology into your instruction -- with powerful results. I've been a fan of Quick Response (QR) codes in education for years and even wrote a book all about how they can be used to promote deeper learning in your classroom. When speaking to teachers about these black-and-white squares, it's so much fun to see the "aha" moments as we explore different ways to use scannable technology in the classroom. This list of five things that you may not know about QR codes contains some simple ideas that definitely pack a punch. These tips include strategies for differentiating instruction, distributing materials, and keeping families up to date on classroom activities. 1. QR codes can talk! Another quick option is using a web tool like Vocaroo, which lets users record their voice with the microphone on their device. 2. Since a QR code is connected to a web address, you can take a scanner to any location on the internet. 3. 4. 5.
Cram.com: Create and Share Online Flashcards 48 Ultra-Cool Summer Sites for Kids and Teachers A good majority of northern hemisphere and international schools are winding down the 2011-12 school year, and doors will be closing as the students and teachers take off on their summer adventures. Here is a list of great sites for kids and teachers to keep you happily productive and learning this summer. These are in no way in any order of personal preference or coolness. Happy summer! 1) Magic Tree House If your students like The Magic Tree House series (and let's be honest, who doesn't?) 2) Toporopa Can't afford that summer vacation schlepping around Europe? 3) ReadWriteThink Printing Press ReadWriteThink creates a lot of great educational resources. 4) Spell With Flickr Spell With Flickr is a simple site that allows you to enter any word, and will then create a photo representation of that word using pictures from Flickr. 5) Freeology 6) Tagxedo Tagxedo is a Wordle-esque site that allows students to create beautiful word clouds. 7) Learn Your Tables 8) Virtual Sistine Chapel 9) Cool Math
How to Integrate Technology When technology integration in the classroom is seamless and thoughtful, students not only become more engaged, they begin to take more control over their own learning, too. Effective tech integration changes classroom dynamics, encouraging student-centered project-based learning. Think about how you are using technology with your students. Are they employing technology daily in the classroom, using a variety of tools to complete assignments and create projects that show a deep understanding of content? If your answer is "No," is it because you lack enough access to technology? This article contains the following sections: Handhelds Go to Class: Teacher Josh Barron and one of his students go through the strange-looking rite of "beaming" information to each other. Getting Started The first step in successful tech integration is recognizing the change that may need to happen inside of yourself and in your approach to teaching. Back to Top Integrating Technology Across the Access Spectrum
PBL and Culturally Responsive Instruction Cultural responsiveness in the classroom can often be written off as something patched by a quick fix, especially in an English classroom where swapping a traditional (read: Dead White Guy) text with something written by a person from an underrepresented background can take the place of more significant cultural response. Don't get me wrong, I think that putting Zora Neale Hurston, Chang Rae Lee, and Junot Diaz into "the cannon" is an important social step for our discipline, but doing this at the expense of also having substantive structural changes in the classroom is a temptation that one has to be careful of embracing. As my colleagues at Sammamish High School and I have struggled with development and implementation of a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum across disciplines, a great number of the discussions have involved a philosophical look at the place of seven key elements within our instructional framework. Inclusive Cultural Response Reactive Cultural Response
Integrating Tech: More Than Just Having Computers Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience.Today, Education World offers easy and painless ways to integrate technology into your daily routine. Included: Nineteen activities and nearly 50 Web sites. Integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority -- if not a mandate -- in most schools today. Most educational technology experts agree, however, that technology should be integrated, not as a separate subject or as a once-in-a-while project, but as a tool to promote and extend student learning on a daily basis. The challenge, of course, is in finding ways to use technology -- and to help students use it -- that don't take time away from core subjects. For many teachers, a lack of personal experience with technology presents an additional challenge. Used properly, however, technology can be a tool for teachers as well as for students. Access an online weather forecast.
Investing in Professional Development for Technology and Inquiry-Based Learning Tonya: I grew up here at Hartville. I moved here in third grade and I graduated here. We are kind of your traditional small town. We've got our square with the courthouse on it. When I first came in the classroom I was one of those traditional teachers. And then once eMINTS was brought in and I went through that training, learning how to help the students work in groups, learning how to guide them. It was amazing to see the student who was always resistant to education gradually and slowly over the school year they start getting involved with the group and never been involved before, start making friends that had never made friends before. You could see it in the student's eyes that big "aha" moment when the light bulb goes off and you can tell they finally got it. Doug: Well today we're working with catching up on some websites that you may or may not be familiar with. Monica: The biggest thing we do is help teachers learn how to be learners again. Teacher: Enhanced interaction.
5 Top Trends in Education Technology 2015 Pressure continues to increase on education budgets around the globe. Yet despite this fact, the education sector is continuing to increase its investment in technology related to learning. Ed tech funding jumped 55 percent in 2014 with no signs of slowing down, according to CB Insights. A report from Global Industry Analysts (GIA) predicts that the global e-learning market will reach $107 billion in 2015, propelled by technological advancements and demand for additional skills. With that in mind, here are five top trends in ed tech to keep on your radar screen in 2015 and beyond: Online corporate learning. In contrast to the academic Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that are still struggling to find the best path to a reliable revenue stream, businesses focused on corporate e-learning have found a business model that works--and works well. Skills measurement. Alternative learning styles. Online competency-based training. Flipped-learning tech.
'Not Worth It': Why NC College Students Are Turning Away From Teaching UNC-Chapel Hill senior Jailen Wallis has always been tempted to become a high school English teacher. She's cutting across campus on her way to her work-study at the library. A literature junkie, she loves the idea of teaching young people to enjoy reading and writing as much as she does. But Wallis will graduate in May with degrees in sociology and English—not education. "Teaching in North Carolina right now is not worth it, unless you can’t imagine doing anything other than teaching," Wallis explained. Jess Clark reports on North Carolina's diminishing number of graduates pursuing teaching. Wallis’ mother is a teacher, and Wallis knows what challenges of the job are, and what the pay is. "It’s not a job that you leave at the end of the day at 4 or 4:30 or 5 or 5:30, or whenever you finish with all your staff meetings," she said. Wallis is not the only student who feels that way about the profession. "There’s absolutely no incentive right now to go into it with your masters," Wallis said.