Group items tagged

"Gamification - the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications - promises much: an engaging, dynamic, memorable and rewarding learning experience. But it can be very difficult to know where to start. Most of us know and enjoy games, but how do those experiences relate to the elearning course that you're working on right now? I'm a developer at Saffron with a background in games and app design, and so to help, I've compiled a list of my top five gamified elements that can help to improve 'traditional' elearning."

"There are a lot of Copyright myths and misunderstandings - particularly when it comes to Internet Copyright Infringement. The Myths and Facts about Copyright Infringement Infographic explains how to avoid breaching Copyright and how to protect teachers and students from Copyright Infringement online."

"Published on 25 Sep 2013 Henry Sibley High School believes in educating students now for the digital realm of the future. This means being aware of the implications that today's online interaction can have down the road. This 15 minute video walks students through how to protect themselves online, and how to create and manage a positive digital footprint. Special Thanks to Azul 7, the University of Minnesota, and the Mendota Heights Police Department."

"As I shared last week, Photos for Class is now available as an Edmodo app. With Photos for Class installed in your Edmodo group your students can search for Creative Commons licensed images and download them with citations attached to them. In the video embedded below I provide a demonstration of how to install Photos for Class. The second half of the video demonstrates a students' perspective of using Photos for Class within Edmodo."

"So you're trying to "do the right thing" and not run afoul of how to properly use a photo you found online. Rather than trying to determine is it legal to use something found on the internet, you head over to a Creative Commons community and start searching for what you need. One problem, you're not sure what those licenses mean."

"The purpose of this site is to introduce the concept of Personal Learning Networks (PLN) and its key principles. The site is divided into several sections that are represented in the navigation menu. The first section-What is a PLN?-provides background information about PLN and a definition of this concept. Tools to construct a PLN is a section that describes the main categories-namely format, function, and application-in the PLN Tool Browser. In the Build your PLN section, we address the topics of privacy and licensing, including Creative Commons. How to optimize a PLN by adding a social dimension is the focus of the Making It Social section. The PLN Examples contain student testimonials that illustrate the uses of a PLN. Finally, if you want to explore tools that can be used to construct your own personal learning network, please check our PLN Tool Browser."

"Blogging is an excellent way of motivating students to develop a lifelong love of learning. Writing is a process, and when they learn this they will be able to apply the skills to other aspects of their schooling. It also teaches children critical thinking skills which will help them as they progress through school. Along with the development of critical thinking skills, students will learn how to conduct research. This is particularly important both in school and in the workplace they will one day take part in."

I have been trying to write this post for weeks now. I love edmodo. In fact I would have to say using edmodo is becoming an absolutely essential tool in our year 5 classrooms. I want to try and explain some of the ways we are using edmodo in year 5 and to try and explain why I am so excited about how our students are using it. I have to admit though that edmodo being a secure online forum means I feel I cannot show you any examples. Thus making my task a hard one and one I have kept procrastinating about finishing!

"During its education event in January, Apple unveiled its plans to revolutionize the K-12 classroom with the iPad, electronic textbooks, a revamped version of iTunes U that supports content for K-12 schools as well as higher education, and tools for educators to create their own digital content using iBooks Author and iTunes U. In the intervening months, schools and districts around the country have made significant investments in iPads, including the San Diego Unified School District, which invested $15 million in 26,000 iPads for its students. Those sales created a record quarter for Apple in the K-12 education market. With the back to school season upon us, it's clear that the massive iPad deployments will give Apple the opportunity to disrupt the classroom in the ways it has whole industries and, in many ways, that's a good thing."

"As the movement to get moving continues, look for more students asking for innovative ways to deliver presentations, share their thoughts, or just create. If your students are about to present or share in front of the class, they may want to try out a few of these sound recording / song creation tools. Best of all, you only need a standard computer. No fancy iPad or smartphones required.In the meantime, try out these tools and let us know how it goes. My personal favorite is Incredibox but Jamstudio is also quite great."

"I was in a meeting with a prospective PhD candidate today and the conversation inevitably led to learning. He pointed out that in his lterature reviews he had uncovered a bewildering number of different, and often opposing learning theories. He was clearly impressed if not a little phased by the huge array of concepts and ideas that theorists had developed to try to explain what it means when we learn something. My response was that this was to be expected, because asking someone how they learn is similar to asking them what their favourite food is. "

One of the features I have always liked about Edmodo that provides students with a way to organize their cornucopia of uploaded digital goodness (i.e. files and links attached to assignments and posts) is the Edmodo library.  If you're already an Edmodo user, you know how fabulous the library is, with its ability to upload all types of files to it, shareable folders (for teachers), Google Docs integration, and sorting by anything attached to posts. 

A read through most online privacy policies is enough to make your stomach acid curdle. And social media companies have more access to personal data than most. Some collect information you expressly give them, like your credit card and telephone numbers. Others gather data based on how and where you use their services. This might include anything from device and browser information to location intel. And some of it gets really specific - think about your last search query or ad click. It's probably all "fair" game. Depending on the type gathered, social networks use data to enhance location services and target advertising (now you know why that sunglasses website you visited three months ago follows you all over the web). A few social sites even share certain information with marketers and/or third-party partners - in that case, you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with those other companies' policies as they apply to you and your information.

Evernote is designed to work the way your brain does and a few months ago, a neuroscientist named Maureen Ritchey came by our offices to explain exactly why that's the case. We didn't want to keep the fascinating information to ourselves, so we asked Maureen to stop by our blog and share some of her knowledge with our users. Thanks, Maureen!

Many is the blog post which highlights the ways in which Twitter is the best staffroom in the world but I've not seen too many that highlight the ways in which we can use Twitter in the classroom. Many teachers love to use Twitter as a resource to share, explore, discuss and 'magpie' ideas from other teachers and as a vehicle to help develop their own ideas and their own practice too. It's great for that… no, it's absolutely brilliant for that! So how can we capitalise on the 140 character legendary social media king to help learning in the classroom? Here are some do's and don'ts to help get you going.

"If for any reasons you do not want to upload your classroom videos to YouTube and are looking for another free hosting video that can allow you to upload and share your videos Google Drive is one of your best options. Only few Google Drive users know that there is a functionality in Google Drive that enables anyone with a Google Drive account to instantly upload their videos and after the upload you can get an embed code to integrate your video anywhere on the web. Here is how you can do it."

"Wikipedia can be a nightmare for a teacher, or it can be their best friend. For those teachers that have papers handed to them by students that are clearly copied from another source, Wikipedia tends to turn up early in the search and show that the students have indeed, been checking out what Wikipedia has to say. It's no wonder that teachers often have questions about what is good about the tool and how it might benefit their students. Today, we're taking a look at some more general facts and figures about one of the world's largest free, collaboratively written encyclopedia. Which is a pretty awesome concept, if you ask us. The handy infographic below will let you in on some interesting facts that you probably weren't privy to - and some of the numbers are pretty staggering! Keep reading to learn more!"

"If you're embarking on a video project, perhaps an explainer video, podcast, school project or video presentation, using the right production music can be the key to successfully drawing your viewers in; but finding the perfect song to use beneath a voice over actor's recording can seem a daunting task. Of course you could commission a track to be composed especially for you, but that can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Luckily, there are plenty of places available for you to find free music for your video project, but where can you get it from and how do you know if you have the legal right to use it for your project?"

"Did you know that the fastest and easiest way to add new features to your blog is by adding widgets into the sidebar?  Widgets are also a great way to personalize your blog and help it stand out from all of the others. Here is a list of the 42 most popular and most useful widgets used on class blogs, student blogs and personal educator blogs. We've set up a Widget Demo blog so you can check out most of these widgets in one handy location to see how they look in action!"

"The biggest risk, then, may be that the sockpuppet affair gets too much attention - and that the focus on internal police work ends up distracting from the deeper problems of quality, vibrancy and diversity that the MIT Tech Review story explored. Wikipedia may not be in decline, but it will be hard-pressed to significantly improve until it can figure out how to attract more talented and dedicated editors with different interests and backgrounds from around the world. In the end, it's conceivable that will require more paid editing, not less. The question is, who will do the paying, and how can Wikipedia make sure they put the site's interests - and those of the public at large - above their own?"