Group items tagged

Use technology to its best advantage: Online professional learning communities should be established to help rural educators share best practices and reduce isolation, and online general subject or enrichment courses should be made available to isolated rural learners.

"Let's say you have a big paper coming up, a presentation that involves some in-depth online research, or perhaps something completely pointless to look up on Google. Whatever your reason for diving into the bottomless pit that is online searching, it's important to know about the resources and guides that are out there. Lucky for you, the people basically running online searches (Google) have you hooked up. If you're a student of any age, then listen up. Check out the guides and free Google tools available at 'Search Education,' a free site filled with anything you could ever dream of … if you dream of helpful guides to Google searching."

"Katrina Schwartz's recent KQED blog post explores why trust is crucial in shaping independent learners. The article points out that in this age of preparing students to be "college and career ready," it is puzzling that schools block portions of the internet in the name of protecting students from inappropriate online behavior. Additionally, by blocking digital tools that serve a useful purpose in learning, schools effectively stop educators from teaching and modeling appropriate online behavior. And yet, younger students especially need some kind of protection online. In this article, we explore why building trust today is difficult in a traditional sense, while also remaining crucial for independent learning activities."

"A leading private school, with some of the best results in England, is publishing digital textbooks which are available to download free online. The Stephen Perse Foundation in Cambridge is publishing 12 multimedia textbooks for IGCSE biology. They are being made available on Apple's iBooks online store to use on iPad tablet computers."

"This recent tweet from Darren Kuropatwa has had me thinking about digital citizenship. As the Internet becomes an increasingly important part of all of our lives, children are spending more time online as well. And they are doing this largely without any guidance about what is responsible or appropriate online. While my six- and seven-year old students don't yet even understand the words "digital" or "citizenship," they also need direction and support as they explore online spaces. In fact, they need this instruction even more than their older counterparts."

"Do you use Google Drive to manage your digital life? Most of us do. In fact, many online students use it to submit homework and projects to their online school. So, when it comes to online learning, Google Drive and it's myriad of features are a must-try suite of tools for you. It's not easy to truly become an expert-level user of Google Drive, though. There are a ton of keyboard shortcuts and features that are tough to master. These little-known features and shortcuts are actually going to save you a boatload of time, though."

This is a comprehensive checklist of best practices for online instruction.  The resource was build by Joan Vandervelde and Jim Erbe from the Online Professional Development program at the University of Wisconsin Stout.

"October is National Bullying Prevention month. I like to focus on getting students to spread kindness and feel the benefits of being kind versus being mean to others. Many children play social games, such as Roblox and Fortnite, and experience cyberbullying much more than we did in the past. Many students have shared with me their experiences of others being mean, trash talking, or cursing at them during the games. Many of the children don't realize the impact of their reactions or words on others. To help students reflect more on how their words and actions impact others our objective this month is, "How to be kind online and offline!" Below are some resources and ideas related to this theme so you can challenge your students to choose to be kind online and offline."

"Today, students have more homework than the generations of students before them. They also have plenty of distractions in and out of the classroom like social media, social media marketers, online gaming and online streaming. With countless distractions and piling assignments, holding students' attention in the classroom can be challenging. Helping them to absorb and retain new information requires more and more creative approaches. Research shows that presenting information visually makes a huge difference. Visual content gets processed faster and remembered for longer periods of time (as opposed to plain text). That's why using visuals in the classroom is a great approach to helping your students learn effectively, and even enjoy what they're learning. So it's time to step away from traditional teaching materials, and embrace an arsenal of visual content. Equipped with the right online design tool, you can create engaging visuals easily and without any design experience at all. We'll cover 10 different kinds of visuals that can help you engage your students in the classroom: Process infographics Informational infographics List infographics Comparison infographics Research reports Lesson plans Mind maps Progress reports Charts and graphs Posters"

""More than half of 8-12 year olds are exposed to cyber-risks," according to a 2018 report. These risks can include cyber-bullying, online sexual behaviors and video game addition. The threat is easy to see. Kids today spend hours a day online on computers and phones, much of it unmonitored. To protect your students from online threats you need to raise their Digital IQ. What is Digital IQ? According to the DQ Institute, an international think tank that aims to ensure every child acquires the skills they need to be informed users of digital media, "Digital Intelligence is the sum of technical, mental and social competencies essential to digital life." It's not only skills at coding and working with technology, but also avoiding the risks that technology exposes children to."

"Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America's youth - but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, roughly half (51%) of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. This shift in teens' social media use is just one example of how the technology landscape for young people has evolved since the Center's last survey of teens and technology use in 2014-2015. Most notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teen life: 95% of teens now report they have a smartphone or access to one. These mobile connections are in turn fueling more-persistent online activities: 45% of teens now say they are online on a near-constant basis."

"Creating, remembering, using and protecting passwords. It's all part of everyday life but are you and your students managing passwords well? Poor password management can lead to minor annoyances, like someone changing your blog theme, to life changing issues, like identity theft. The divisions between your online and offline world are blurring and many of your most valuable possessions and information are now housed online. So much of what we do online is password protected, from your blog to your email, bank account, social media and more. The advice around passwords has recently been updated and while there are varying opinions, this post will help you learn about the current best practices."

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is the root of productivity for any institution. It not only saves time but also makes sure to make use of the resources effectively. A lot of institutions have switched to online ERP from an offline system. Online systems, especially school management dashboard system have picked up pace since the world has become aware of the advantages of online system over offline methods, few of them being sustainable methods that help in saving the environment.

"You learned how to Zoom, or Hangout, or Team up. You read all the quick tips about emergency remote teaching. You recorded your lectures or gathered via video call with however many students you could reach each week. You pivoted, shifted and, let's be real, maybe stumbled into a makeshift version of online education. At last, final grades-or pass/fail marks-are turned in. Congratulations, you made it through the virtual semester. Now what?"

"InfuseLearning.com is a free online assessment tool that is designed to let educators make fast and easy formative or summative assessments of their students. It is a relatively new service, but one that is gathering support quickly due to its versatility and ease of use."