5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback In recent years, research has confirmed what most teachers already knew: providing students with meaningful feedback can greatly enhance learning and improve student achievement. Professor James Pennebaker from the University of Texas at Austin has been researching the benefits of frequent testing and the feedback it leads to. He explains that in the history of the study of learning, the role of feedback has always been central. When people are trying to learn new skills, they must get some information that tells them whether or not they are doing the right thing. Learning in the classroom is no exception. Both the mastery of content and, more importantly, the mastery of how to think require trial-and-error learning. The downside, of course, is that not all feedback is equally effective, and it can even be counterproductive, especially if it's presented in a solely negative or corrective way. So what exactly are the most effective ways to use feedback in educational settings? 1. 2. 3. 4.
6 Powerful Tools Teachers And Students Should Try Out By 2018 the market for education technology is all set to reach a mammoth $60 billion. Our need for ‘smarter’ classrooms is the reason behind our increasing reliance on technology to make learning more interactive and engaging for students. New tools that help improve the learning environment are being released regularly, and while some of them are really good, there are others that don’t quite make the cut. In this article, we are focusing on tools that are of great help to both students and teachers and go a considerable way in improving the learning environment at different levels. So, let’s take a look at six such tools. Skitch Visual Communication For Everyone Evernote’s Skitch is a visual communication tool that helps leverage the immense potential of BYOD classrooms. This tool can also be used to improve collaboration between students who can mark-up existing images with their thoughts, and pass it on amongst themselves to understand a particular project/subject better. Basecamp
10 Excellent Social Bookmarking Tools for Teachers February, 2014 Social bookmarking is a new concept that has seen the light with the emergence of bookmarking services like the ones I cited below.Semantically speaking, ' social bookmarking' is made up of the the term " social " which is related to society and general interactions between people, and the verb " to bookmark " (used here as a gerund ending in ing) which has to do with recording and/or saving content for both later use and quick access. Weaving the semantic reference of the two words results in social bookmarking as we know it today : a collaborative and collective saving and sharing of web content.' Below are some of the best social bookmarking websites I would recommend to teachers and students. Have a look and let us know what you think of them on our Facebook page. 1- Diigo This is my favourite tool for socialbookmarking. 2- Livebinders This is another powerful tool for saving and organizing your bookmarks. 3- Scoop.it 4- Pinterest 5- Edshelf 7- Educlipper
Two Case Studies: How Connected Educators Can Transform Schools Figuring out which new teaching practices or pieces of technology might work in a classroom can feel like a full-time job. Lots of educators spend their free time researching new ideas and connecting with other educators, but there are plenty more that find the process confusing and overwhelming. How much easier would it be to have a dedicated staff person whose job is to bring new ideas into the district, support teachers and smooth the way with administrators? That’s what Kris Hupp does for Cornell School District, a tiny district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hupp’s official title is 21st Century Teaching and Learning Coach, a job that started out as part of a state grant and has been incorporated into the regular budget. “Our teachers want to learn and try new technologies, but if they try something and it blows up in their faces no one is going to be upset.” Hupp was uniquely positioned for the job since he’d worked as both a social studies teacher in the district.
43 Apps, Games, and Websites Transforming This Year's Classrooms In the middle of October, we invited educators to tell us about the "apps, games, and websites that are helping to tranform their classrooms this year." We asked that you submit your responses in the form of Field Notes and we received more than 700 submissions! 43 products emerged with several votes and strong, detailed Field Notes to explain just how they are being used effectively at school. So here is our (albeit unscientific) list of apps, games, and websites transforming classrooms this Fall. We are also pleased to announce the winner of the $250 Amazon gift card. To qualify for the drawing, educators had to submit more than one qualifying Field Note during this campaign. What apps, games, and websites are transforming your classroom? Related Posts: 5 Easy Steps to Writing a Great Field Note
50 Little-Known Ways Google Docs Can Help In Education Google Docs is such an incredible tool for college students, offering collaboration, portability, ease of use, and widespread acceptance. But there are so many options, both hidden and obvious, that there’s a good chance you’re not using Google Docs to its fullest capability. We’ve discovered 50+ great tips for getting the most out of Google Docs as a student , with awesome ideas and tricks for collaboration, sharing, and staying productive. Access your documents from anywhere : Whether you’re in your dorm room or the school library, you can access your Google Docs. Take advantage of this to make it easy to do your work on-the-go. Work on documents all at the same time : Google Docs allows users to simultaneously work on a single master document, so you can come together with other team members and professors to work on a document at the same time.
Teaching Empathy Through Digital Game Play Digital Tools Quandary The playful approach to learning a new concept that kids usually take when playing a video game can be just the right jumping-off point for diving deeply into a topic. Games can’t do all the teaching, but can engage kids to start thinking. Quandary approaches the broad topic of ethics by helping students understand how to take a different perspective and learn how to empathize. “We see games as an organized space for playful exploration and through the process people encounter and form new ideas and concepts, they begin to construct knowledge.” The game currently has three episodes that follow a similar pattern. “Every time I play a fact, the value of each drops down, so I can only play them a limited number of times,” explained Peter Stidwill, executive producer of the Learning Games Network in an BrainPOP Educators webinar. [RELATED: Empathy: They Key to Social and Emotional Learning] Osterweil is careful to say the game doesn’t teach ethics, per se. Related
11 Essential Tools For Better Project-Based Learning by Katre Laan from myhistro.com The rise of technology used in classrooms has made learning much more interactive. The emergence of iPads to browser-based tools in project-based learning, take teaching to a new level in the 21st century. Even the current trends in education include the use of new technology, from collaborative projects to blending traditional textbook teaching with innovative tools. For students, the core aim of project-based learning is to put theory into practice and gain new skills throughout the process. A major advantage of digital tools used is better engagement in the classroom. Browser-based tools and several apps used in education are especially useful for researching, storytelling and collaborative video making. Handy mobile devices allow students to be inspired when outside classroom by creating and sharing ideas and creations instantly. Here is a mini guide to some of the project based learning tools. 1) Mindmeister 2) Glogster 3) Myhistro 4) Pixton 5) Animoto
The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction My colleague Katie Hull-Sypnieski is leading a February 1st Education Week Webinar on differentiating instruction, and I would strongly encourage people to participate. Katie’s the best teacher I’ve ever seen…. In addition, Katie and I have co-authored a piece for Education Week Teacher on the topic that will be appearing there soon (it’s appeared: The Five By Five Approach To Differentiation Success), and an upcoming post in my blog there will be talking about it, too (that two part series has also appeared). I also did a second two-part series in Ed Week on differentiation. Also, check out The Best “Fair Isn’t Equal” Visualizations. Given all that, a “The Best…” post was inevitable, and here it is. Here are my choices for The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction: The Best Places To Get The “Same” Text Written For Different “Levels” Busting Myths about Differentiated Instruction is by Rick Wormeli. Reconcilable Differences? Deciding to Teach Them All is by Carol Ann Tomlinson.