Sunday, June 12, 2016

Digital Citizenship & Gaming: Day 5 TEAC 880

Digital Citizenship & Gaming : Day 5 

On the last day of class, we spent some time learning about resources for digital citizenship (see below) and using gaming in the classroom.  I liked the Digital Footprint video that was shared.

Resources for Digital Citizenship found at Commonmedia.org:

  • Internet Safety 
  • Privacy & Security 
  • Relationships & Communication 
  • Cyberbullying
  • Digital Footprint & Reputation
  • Self-image & Identity
  • Information Literacy
  • Creative Credit & Copyright
Student reflection: Use technology (to make it "visible"), describe what you did, describe how you did it, describe what went well, what didn't, and what you could do to make it better.

A book Laurie said was one of the best books on assessment: Assessing the Common Core: What's Gone Wrong--and How to Get Back on Track by Robert C. Calfee and Kathleen M. Wilson.
A couple apps that other students showed us:
  • "whiteboard"app and "explain everything" (more options - includes video/screen cast)
  • Vine - had students use it to show vocabulary.
  • SeeSaw - good place to have a portfolio of student work.
  • A couple easy websites are weebly.com and wix.com. Wordpress doesn't sound very easy to use!
  • Timeline app- http://www.lps.org/apps/matrix/
We talked about using games in the classroom, and how teachers will need to spend time "playing" to integrate the technology.  One game we played was https://ayiti.globalkids.org/game/.  There were also several games at BrainPop.com.

I had fun learning more about different ideas and technologies that can be used in class, and I have a good start on my class that I will teach next spring!  Thank you Laurie and Guy!


Thursday, June 9, 2016

Flipped Classroom: Day 4 TEAC 880

Flipped Classroom: Day 4 

Animated gif created to the right with http://gifmaker.me/

Twitter ideas:  Just retweet things.  Explore #nt2t and #nebedchat on Wednesday night.

Interactive TVs or SmartBoards - Both professors said that it is the thing of the past.  It was a teaching technology and not a learning technology, and therefore the dividends are not worth it. Future is mobile and one-to-one.  If you look at eLearning 4.0, it talks about what the future will be.

A quote I found when looking at Educreations today: “Our school has always tried to push the envelope in terms of technology. A couple years ago we were considering purchasing some interactive whiteboards, but my principal said, ‘I think I may have found something better. I can get you iPads and an Apple TVs, and there’s this great app called Educreations...’ That’s how I discovered the app.” 

Mobile devices - does it matter if you have a iPad, Chromebook, or Android?  iPads have a lot more teaching apps on them.  A lot of students have those devices, and you could have them bring their own devices.  This is what I think I am going to recommend to do in the technology class I teach.

I did a little thinking on how to present information to the students that take my educational technology class.  I decided it would be nice to have them watch the videos that they create at UNL https://www.youtube.com/user/TechEdge01 and try out those apps, and then search for a couple others and do a screencast of what they liked and why.  

I also talked about having the students go to the TechEdge Conferences put on by UNL.  More information can be found here: http://cehs.unl.edu/techedge/unl-tech-edge-conference-information/  and I just realized that I had already signed up for this conference! :)

We also discussed that teachers could use these apps in rotating stations if the students did not all have a device.

Did you know that if you have an iPad cart, all of the iPads will sync with each other?  Nice!  All devices should have something to take video (or screencast) with, graphic organizer, writing tools, discussion apps (look at evolution of teacher’s desk found at https://vimeo.com/107569286)

We tried out several screencast apps.  The first was Educreations, which is free, unless you want to do things such as inserting documents.  We got around that by taking a screenshot and inserting the image there.  Then we used Screencast-O-Matic which also records what is on the screen as well as a picture of yourself if you want.  One teacher has their students use Screencast-O-Matic to use as a reflection tool on the projects they have created - what they liked and disliked about their project.  I like this idea, and plan to include it in my class.  We also talked about Touchcast and Showbox.com.

Time was also spent discussing project based learning (PBL), which is a way to solve real-world problems in a collaborative setting. I would think that one of the benefits of this is that connections are being made between knowledge and real-world problems.  And it got me thinking that maybe this would have the same benefits of MindCraft.  And it made me wonder how it is different than a makerspace!

Sway sounds like a really nice way to gather video, text, and images as a presentation.



Other apps talked about: icardsort, tellagami app, flipogram, seesaw (where students can post to their portfolio).  Google classroom doesn't allow a single collection of all of students' work.

What are the best websites, twitter, blogs, magazines, etc. for teachers and technology?  
  1. http://www.readwritethink.org/
  2. Teachers Talk Tech podcast - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/teachers-talking-tech/id989652829?mt=2
  3. http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2016/06/09/index.html?cmp=eml-eb-sr-tc16-20160609
Nothing major was done with my website today.  More time was just spent on trying to figure out various apps and all of the information above! :) 

Tomorrow I would like to finish it up.  List a few apps for each that I have liked.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Assessment: Day 3 TEAC 880

Day 3 of TEAC 880

Today the focus was on assessment tools - using technology apps to assess students as well as assessing students' technology projects.

Kaizena is one way to add voice comments to Google documents.  I would like to look for an alternative because it seems like a lot of setup you need to do.

While looking at that add-in for Google docs, we noticed the other add-ins that Laurie had.  They were: charts, easybib bibleography creator, giffy diagrams, hellofax, mindmeister, pro writing aid, and speech recognition.  I would like to look into some of those in the future!

It was also noted that Google docs pulls in biblio links automatically when using the research tab, and that you can change the format from MLA to APA.

Quizlet is so cool! There are so many options - a flip card, matching tests, multiple choice tests, and even two other games (scatter and gravity).  I would like to see some printscreens of all of these options.  Maybe I will have my students make those.

Kahoot.it  (or create.kahoot.it if you are a teacher) also you to have true/false type questions.  It's good for background knowledge and it's easy to create.

Socrative.com allows for more open-ended questions.  This link shows you what it looks like and how to use it: Socrative User Guide.  It's nice to have this tab open all the time and ask questions of the students throughout the day.

The SAMR model is given below, along with how the different parts of Quizlet apply to each:

S - Substitution (teacher-led): one for one, meaning that it's the same format but it's now online.  No real advantage other than it's online.

A - Augmentation (teacher-led): lets students use the affordances (or benefits) of using technology.  So for Quizlet, it now has the additional quiz feature, students can listen to the words, they can get help with reading, etc.  The added technology gives you extra benefits.

M - Modification (student creation): students get to make a deck of card

R - Redefinition (student focus); students get to connect to the world. 



Ideal Progression of Technology:

  • teacher sees it
  • teacher created with it
  • student sees it
  • student created with it


Today I continued working on my website.  I figured out how to add a Google Calendar and have it set up specifically for the class.  I figured out how to create a twitter gadget to the site page as well.  I also talked with Laurie to figure out exactly what I would like my students to do in the class.

Tomorrow I would like to get pretty close to finishing up my website.  I will decide what topics I want to have covered, and maybe start on a rough draft of the class outline. I will be nice to have a good part of this done before the class in the Spring!


Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Digital Storytelling: Day 2 TEAC 880

Day 2 of TEAC 880

Today the focus was on digital storytelling.  One of the first things that was mentioned was that we need to make sure students know how to navigate the digital landscape using new literacy or new ways of doing things.

We watched The boy made of lightning and were each given a chance to try out digital storytelling on our own.  I used Storyboard using Shadow Puppet edu to create one that could be used if students were to go to an art museum and display pieces. http://get-puppet.com/v/qiUJ0ZIGnq8?autoplay=true 

Other examples of apps for digital storytelling are Book Creator (top estory book creator), Storyjumper.com, and iMovie trailer.

Question: Are there free ebooks on itunes? Where else?

Some other apps and websites that we talked about:

  • Animoto - free 30 seconds - an easy way to add images, and video clips 
  • Adobe Spark
  • Commonsensemedia.com
  • Graphite.com - look for four star ratings
  • Bitmoji
Final Project:
Today I worked on getting a Google site set up.  You can find the rough draft here.  I am going to use this site for when I teach the student teachers at Union College how to use technology. I got the basic shell set up.

While I would love to go through all of the apps on the lists that are provided, I think I am going to select only two to start with for each subject or topic, and have my students do some research and exploration on their own.

eLearning Media: Day 1 TEAC 880

eLearning 4.0

  1. One thing I realized was I didn't know what some words were.  But I realized from today's class that there is probably an app for that, so I googled "Chrome apps for definition" and came across Google Dictionary (by Google) and installed that.  How nice!  Definitely need to add that to the list of tools!
  2. Now I know what the definition of SCORM is!
  3. Is eLearing 2.0 the same as web 2.0?  Stupid question and I should google.
  4. I haven't got done eLearning 1.0, much less eLearning 3.0! :)
eLearning 4.0:  Will include more performance tracking and analysis, will be more mobile (look at Getting Mobile Learning Right: 6 Best Practices), will be more personalized, and will include gamification.

**Include definitions of eLearning 1, 2 and 3
The graphic above was included in the video that described the various generations with new technology in each.  Had never thought of it that way before! 

It reminded me of the YouTube that was shared in the introductory section →

"Plenty of people predicted that television would turn us into a society of slack-jawed zombies"... Interesting prediction I hadn't heard before!

A couple other interesting quotes: "Clearly, there is money to be made mining the propensities of this group."

"Yes, this generation communicates almost entirely through screens and not always with actual words (GIFs, videos and emoji also do the trick). Gen-Z’ers are less idealistic and more thrifty than millennials, having grown up in the twin shadows of the recession and student debt crisis. When it comes to privacy on social media sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr or Twitter, the survey showed that teens are far less guarded than millennials and Gen X members. Members of Gen Z think that everyone should get a smartphone at age 13 and that it is acceptable to use it basically anywhere — at a family dinner, during a religious service, even at weddings (even their own weddings, the survey shows.)"

"They are the most racially diverse generation in American history. They are extremely open-minded and fluid in the way they think about gender and sexuality. Because their digital movements are so trackable, they are prone to being data-mined and stereotyped — yet surveys show that they prize individuality over conformity."

Tech EDGE videos - this looks like a good Playlist to start with! 




  1. Tools to use for student empowerment.  Let students select technology they want to use to solve a goal.
  2. Are you ready? Is your infrastructure ready?
  3. Let people know why you are switching to iPads
  4. "Target 21st–century learning objectives. That means integrating multimedia, communication, collaboration, project-based learning, and more."

Definitely need to read! Live tweets? @HideChat or @HideTag.

Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites

Wow - what a list!  I tried creating one similar to this when my children were younger.  Will have to check his out and see how up-to-date and engaging they are!

TPACK: technological pedagogical content knowledge

Technology used to explore and create and link to other pieces of data.

SAMR 


Affordance definition.

Suggestion for class presentations - go incognito to show anything to the class, so no personalized ads pop up! :)

Monday, June 6, 2016

Overview: Day 1 TEAC 880

 Teacher teaching studentsToday was the first day of a week-long class at UNL in learning how to best use technology in the classroom.  

My goal in taking this class is to help other teachers learn how to integrate technology into their classes.  With that in mind, my final project will be a collection of resources for teachers that also includes examples of how to use the resources as well as the pedagogy behind them.

Gems from today:
  • Gen V - we have no idea what student will need to know 20 years from now!
  • Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text
  • Adding visuals aids increase learning by up to 400%
  • There are thousands of apps.  Find just 10 that you are comfortable using, and use them!  Let your students explore the apps as well!
  • Give students tools to work with and let them go!
  • The key is to give the technology to students to use.  The purpose is not solely for the teacher to use.
  • Teachers need to be comfortable to try things and willing to let students help them!
  • Let students research, ask questions, and talk about how to find sources and evaluate sources.
  • What's the benefit of Haiku Deck, etc. over Google Slides, etc.? Just another way to give students choice and to be creative.
  • May need to look more into: http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/
  • Why do we talk about maker spaces in a technology class? Look up definition of technology.
  • Having a problem you need solved? Google it for an app!  Fluency in classroom, definition of words on screen...

Apps used today:
  • Padlet - Show comments from students including videos and links  **KEEPER**
    • Use it for the beginning of class for questions
    • Make a list of comments about books
    • Place to share ideas
    • Place to show background knowledge "What do you know about dinasours?"
  • Haiku Deck
    • Have to sign in - what some teachers do is set up student dummy accounts
    • Great place to easily create a presentation
  • Shadow Puppet Edu
    • Another good place to create videos
  • Emaze - another presentation device
  • One of Laurie's favorite blogs: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
  • Flipboard.com news pages: edtech, technology, news, pedagogy, higher education, professional development
  • Grammarly - app that checks spelling and grammar no matter where you're at! **KEEPER**
  • Dragon Dictation - app that allows students to dictate
  • Popplets - Graphic Organizers
  • Educreation
  • Fluency tutor for Google.
Apps to Explore:
  • Twitter
  • Flipboard
  • Dragon Dictation
  • Audio Note
  • Google Earth
  • Haiku Deck
  • Snapguide
  • FlipOGram
  • Your World
  • Science 360
  • Smithsonian 
  • Google Slides
  • Pic Collage
  • GRID
  • Touch Cast
  • Replay
  • Bug Brained 8 Great Word Patterns
  • Fluency 2
  • News-o-Matic
  • Khan Academy
  • Todo Math
  • Google Slides
  • Prezi
  • Ziteboard
  • eMaze
  • Loupe Collage
  • Grammarly