Favorite Finds from TCEA

Guest post by Randy Stuart, Executive Director of Technology

Favorite Ideas:
I think there is always a struggle to either do things the way that they have always been done or to move toward a new, lesser known path. One of the presenters, Kristen Swanson (@kristenswanson), shared with campus leaders three points that I think are essential in moving education forward toward continuous improvement. (More info)

1. Education is fundamentally different in a networked world. If you have spent much time in education you know that it can be a trendy group, and changes fly in and out regularly. Sometimes we are prone to just say “this too shall pass.” However, technology in education is not a passing fad, and it will affect all of what we do. With the availability of apps that solve math equations and show the answer, we must focus more on the learning than on the answer. With the ease of accessing information, we must shift from teachers being the source of all knowledge, to teachers being the facilitator, helping students wrestle and learn from the abundance of information that is available and to do so safely.
2. Effective professional development in a networked world is about relationships. Learning in the classroom is more about relationships than information, and this is even more important in working with adult learners. Adult learners are busy and need to have learning more tailored to their practice for it to be most effective. Those who are stepping out into the tech unknown need to share their experiences with others. Improving our instructional technology practices will happen best as the cloud of relationships we have works together to learn and grow.
3. Learning is messy, but it has a pattern. Gone are the days of silent students in rows reading, and a teacher with a ruler at the ready waiting to strike the student that makes a peep. Learning is best when we are engaged and excited about the material. The framework Mrs. Swanson presented was:
1. Curation - Where we group and organize information.
2. Contribution - Where we share and collaborate our learning.
3. Reflection - Where we synthesize and make connections with prior learning. 

Click here to englarge.

Favorite Tool

Learning Management Systems (LMS) – The vendor area was full of LMS, and many of the sessions at TCEA this year were dealing with LMS. While LMS have been around for a long time, it seems like this latest generation has finally gotten its act together and is ready for the mainstream classroom. Today’s LMS makes it so easy for students to collaborate, receive assignments, and turn in projects from any device. It also makes it super easy for teachers to grade materials and to provide video or audio comments about the student’s work. This is going to make a huge impact on education.

Favorite Tech Gadgetry 
Microprocessors - Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black, Arduino…Though these have crazy names, the opportunity for learning with these powerful little devices is amazing. Combine the influx of microprocessors along with a mixture of great programming environments like M.I.T.’s Scratch (simple enough for even early elementary programmers), and you get awesome STEM learning in real world ways. Robotics was also a big part of this year’s conference, with Lego’s latest Microprocessor, the EV3, which gives students the ability to program and test their program on real life animated robots (which can also be programmed by Scratch!). Not to mention the interworking of MakerBot’s 3D printing of Minecraft objects, my mind is exploding with creative ideas!

Twitter Chat

Give a Chat a Chance...that is a Twitter Chat!

What is a hashtag?
It is a keyword or phrase that is preceded by the # symbol.  Hashtags help connect people with similar interests. Some popular education-related hashtags can be found at this website:   http://www.teachthought.com/twitter-hashtags-for-teacher/  Many hashtags have scheduled meeting times each week.  This creates a Twitter Chat.

What’s a Twitter Chat?
It is usually a weekly event where many users participate in a discussion via tweets on a specific topic, usually using a predetermined hashtag at a designated time. Larger chats can involve hundreds of participants and thousands of tweets.  If that is overwhelming to you as a newbie you can just follow the chat without tweeting until you are comfortable with the format.  Some of the chats like #edchat discuss broad educational issues while others are based on topic, content area, grade level, job type, or geographical region.  A few examples:

#enghat:  This chat for English teachers happens every Monday at 7pm ET
#mathchat:  This UK-based chat for math teachers and students happens twice a week at 8pm ET on most Thursday nights and 8:30 pm on Mondays ET
#cpchat:  The cp stands for Connected Principals.  It happens every Wednesday at 5pm PT/8pm ET 
#mschat:  Middle school topics for MS teachers happens Thursdays 8pm ET

Here is a list of more education-related chats.  http://bit.ly/officialchatlist

Why Chat?
There are many reasons to join a chat including resource sharing, networking, and contributing to the profession.  Chats give a voice to teachers who may not otherwise have the opportunity.  Chats are immediate and concise.  They provide an opportunity to connect with educators across the globe.  Chats have become the new Professional Development format.  Like a webinar, you do not have to leave your home. There are more than 150 free online PD workshops/chats a week in the twitter world.

Tips
Many times chat moderators will number their questions  with Q1 and Q2 so participants can respond with their answers as A1 and A2.  Also, free services such as TweetDeck or HootSuite can be used to link to your Twitter account  and allow you to manage tweets and chats. 

Other Resources
http://www.teachhub.com/twitter-chats-educators

http://blogs.techsmith.com/for-educators/twitter-chats-in-education/

Infuse Learning: A Virtual Student Response System

 I am excited to share with you InfuseLearning.  Move over Socrative, PollEverywhere, and other student response systems.  It just got easier.  InfuseLearning is the newest virtual tool for this job in the classroom.  It is empowering yet simple to use.  The online tool allows you to push questions, pictures, prompts, and quizzes to each student device.  School districts that are lucky enough to have classroom sets of mobile devices, laptops, or have a successful BYOD program set up are able to use this tool easily.  It provides a platform that allows teachers to engage every student on any device. It is not limited by location or device.  Real-time student feedback, enhanced interest, differentiation, and effective questioning are all part of this tool.

• Quick Assessment, sometimes called on- the- fly questioning, can come in the form of Draw Response, True/False, Multiple Choice, Sort in Order, Open Ended Text Answer, Numeric, and Likert Scale.
• The ability to send a weblink or a math problem to every student device is part of the Interactive tools.
• Quizzes can be created ahead of time and then pushed to the student devices.
• Quiz Results can be downloaded to a spreadsheet and saved.
• The teacher has the ability to see each student response, including how they solved the problem you pushed to them.

Teachers go to:   http://www.infuselearning.com/ to register for free.

Teachers go to:   http://teacher.infuselearning.com/ to set up quizzes and receive your student room number.

Students go to:  http://student.infuselearning.com/ and wait for quizzes and questions to be pushed down to them.

 

One side note:  It must be used with browsers other than Internet Explorer.  You can use Chrome or Firefox with no problem.  You will get an error with IE.

 

 

 

Mobile Learning: It's About the Learning, not the App

My colleague Kristie Johnson and I had the opportunity to attend the iPad Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. This conference was not about the iPad, however. It was about student learning and and using new methodologies with mobile tools to develop new ways of teaching. It totally changed my way of thinking and understanding about the use of mobile technology in the classroom. If you are already using mobile technology in your classroom or if you are a new adopter, rethinking and redesigning lesson plans and strategies to promote creation, collaboration, communication and critical thinking can ensure students in achieve their learning goals.

It's not about the apps 

Too often teachers find an app they love and then try to design a lesson around the app. A successful lesson design will first set clear intentions, outcomes, and objectives with appropriate tools in mind.  The iPad is just one of many tools available. Start here first: What should the students know and be able to do? How will that be assessed? Once the plan is in place, then determine the apps that will fit the needs of your students. EdTech Teacher's resource, The iPad As A... provides a list of apps based on specific learning objectives

It's about the learning

The SAMR Model

Successful technology integration is achieved when it is used without a second thought. The SAMR Model is a system which you can use to design  your lessons, moving from using technology as a mere enhancement to allowing the technological tools to transform the lesson.  

Substitution is the first and lowest level. Technology is used as a direct tool which substitutes for something previously used. For example, having students use a computer for word processing instead of writing out the assignment is just direct substitution for paper and pen. 

Augmentation is the second level. The main difference between augmentation and substitution is that the same tool has functional improvements. For example, grammar and spell check functions in word processing or the cutting pasting of text or images allows for enhancement. This stage allows the learner to perform at a much higher level of productivity. 

Modification is the third level. This level allows for significant redesign but doesn't necessarily change the task but incorporates additional tools to change the assignment to meet the learning goals. For example, the word processed document could be redesigned into a brochure or made into an infographic. This could be posted on a website or emailed. Once again, productivity is increased. 

Redefinition involves looking beyond the lesson and redesigning it to include using technology tools for tasks that would not be possible without them. For example, a students could collaborate and design a project online through the use of  Google apps.  The project could include photographs, graphics, even video, added from many different devices to the shared document. Learning is the top priority. The technology is the invisible tool that makes the tasks, the collaboration and critical thinking happen. 

To find out more about the SAMR model,visit www.hippasus.com to find out more. 

Tip of the Week: Download YouTube Videos

Looking for a quick, easy way to download YouTube Videos? Here are two sites that are easy to use and will allow conversion of YouTube Videos into most formats. Just remember to abide by copyright and fair use laws. Not sure about copyright as it applies to schools? Find out more here: 

Keep-Tube

Clip-Converter