An Updated Digital Differentiation Model
Ten months ago I published a Digital Differentiation model on this blog. I've been using the model to guide the work I do each day and I've been sharing it via webinars and hands-on training sessions.Of course, ten months is a long time in the world of edtech, and I've added some new tools and resources to my personal teaching toolkit, so I decided it was time to update the model and tweak it just a bit. The original article and interactive graphic can still be found on this blog. Here is the new post: Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills, an idea supported by the Common Core.
COMICS IN THE CLASSROOM: How one Wissahickon teacher uses comic books to connect with his students - Ambler Gazette
By Dutch Godshalkdgodshalk@21st-centurymedia.com@DutchGodshalk on Twitter Wissahickon High School social studies teacher Tim Smyth uses comic books in his class lessons. BOB RAINES -- DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA LOWER GWYNEDD >> A few years ago, Wissahickon High School social studies teacher Tim Smyth, a by-the-book AP instructor who had earned himself a reputation among students for being “very challenging,” did something unexpected. He started handing out comic books in his classes — lots of comic books.
Five Essential Steps for Gamifying Education
Whether you are considering gamifying a single lesson, an entire curriculum, or a whole school, it can be a daunting and confusing process. Those who try their hand at integrating game mechanics into the classroom setting may meet with less than stellar results and give up after just one attempt. But effective gamification is a complex undertaking that requires both the motivation to work harder at making learning engaging for students and the dedication to experience, accept, and learn from failures when doing so. I have spent the past year gamifying my college-level composition courses and, while I am still by no means an expert at gamifying education, I have, in the process, learned a few things from my own failures. In reviewing these lessons while preparing the next iterations of two of my classes, I realized that they can be categorized into five distinct processes that will make the task of gamifying learning less daunting and will lead to more effective results. 1.
Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement
A while back, I was asked, "What engages students?" Sure, I could respond, sharing anecdotes about what I believed to be engaging, but I thought it would be so much better to lob that question to my own eighth graders. The responses I received from all 220 of them seemed to fall under 10 categories, representing reoccuring themes that appeared again and again. So, from the mouths of babes, here are my students' answers to the question: "What engages students?" 1.
Will Wright on Gamifying the World: From SimCity to the Future
Will Wright Shares His Experience on Gamifying Systems and Simulations One of the most phenomenal experiences of GSummit SF 2013 happened with Will Wright’s keynote talk. As the creator of SimCity and countless other games and simulations, Wright’s talk goes deeply into games’ and their effect on us as humans in society and what that means for gamification in the grand scheme of things. He touches on the lessons can we take from games — and decades of experience designing for fun — to create engagement for large audiences with complex models and issues? How can we make simple everyday interactions more compelling and use them as teachable moments to energize society?
Engagement Vs. Compliance
The “Rule of Two Feet” I recently attended a conference that asked attendees to follow the “rule of two feet”. Throughout the conference day, if you found yourself in a session that didn’t apply or interest you, it was fine to pick up and move to another session. The presenter would not be offended, but would realize that the session was not a good match for that particular person. The probing question that came up throughout the day was “If students could utilize the ‘rule of two feet’, would they choose to stay in our classroom, or move on?”
Playing games for employment: Defining the mission
Young people dig into the problems they face when looking for jobs. Photo: Emerson College In one of our previous blog posts, we showed why we want to tackle the problem of youth unemployment in Moldova by playing games. We want to share some of our first steps of defining the game – together with our partners from Emerson College and the National Youth Council of Moldova. Step 1: Meet CommunityPlanIt For the purpose of our project, we decided to adapt the CommunityPlanIt platform, successfully run by Emerson College in the US.
Awaken the Learner, Tips
Awaken the Learner To effectively prepare learners for success, teachers can emphasize cognitive skills in addition to content in their classrooms. Teaching knowledge has always been an essential component of the American school system, but recent instructional standards have also highlighted the importance of teaching cognitive skills. Cognitive skills, such as generating conclusions, problem solving, experimenting, and decision making, are thinking processes that promote a deeper comprehension of complex ideas. Teachers can directly teach cognitive skills to assist students in challenging, refining, and repurposing their understanding of lesson content.
Gamification increases engagement and retention levels
Gamification is on the rise and has become one of business’ recent buzzwords. But what are we talking about? Defined as the use of game design mechanisms in non-gaming contexts, the term gamification was first introduced in 2002 by computer programmer Nick Pelling.
20 Questions To Guide Inquiry-Based Learning
20 Questions To Guide Inquiry-Based Learning Recently we took at look at the phases of inquiry-based learning through a framework, and even apps that were conducive to inquiry-based learning on the iPad. During our research for the phases framework, we stumbled across the following breakdown of the inquiry process for learning on 21stcenturyhsie.weebly.com (who offer the references that appear below the graphic). Most helpfully, it offers 20 questions that can guide student research at any stage, including: What do I want to know about this topic?
20 Ways to Keep Your Students' Attention
As the end of the year approaches, it can be more and more challenging to keep your students' attention. Brain Breaks are important, but there are plenty of things you can do within a lesson to keep kids from day dreaming...or worse yet, nodding off. Here are some ideas:Desk Switch: Students have ten seconds (count down from ten) to find another desk to sit in that is in a different part of the room than his or her normal desk. Students stay in that desk for the rest of the lesson.
