Group items tagged

"Every day, your students are tested with each post, search, chat, text message, file download, and profile update. Do they connect with like minds or spill too much information? Do they behave creatively or borrow ideas recklessly? Do they respect relationships or inadvertently damage reputations? Join us for Digital Citizenship Week and engage students, teachers, and families in your community in thinking critically, behaving safely, and participating responsibly online. It's a great way to celebrate Connected Educator Month, so dive into the suggested activities and resources. And be sure to post what you're doing to the Connected Educator Month calendar and tag your plans as "DigitalCitizenshipWeek" to inspire others to get involved."

"Last year I taught third-grade math in a whole new way. Combining elements from the wildly popular sandbox game Minecraft, I had students thinking visually and creatively about mathematical models and theories that went way beyond a typical third-grade curriculum, transforming math class into what I like to call Mathcraft. Why Minecraft? I could say I am using Minecraft for a number of reasons, like how I find Minecraft enhances metacognition by increasing students' memory storage capacity. The game itself creates a relatable enjoyable experience that can be internalized and shared in a community of learners. The limitations on the working memory are minimized because the gameplay itself is an extension of our visual sketchpad. Working with students they always say, "I can see it," and when they see it they share it."

"Fourth and fifth grade students at Independence Elementary School in Yukon Public Schools are sharing their learning as well as excitement for library books this year in a unique, highly digital way that is not only fun, but also meets Oklahoma's new Common Core State Standards for literacy. Students are recording short, oral book reviews and posting them online using the free iPad app and webservice AudioBoo. Then students are using QR codes in the library to access and listen to each other's book reports."

"This evening I taught the sixth of seven classes for K-12 teachers in Montana on "Mapping Media to the Common Core: Part 1." I love teaching this class over H.323 videoconferencing from my house! Tonight we focused primarily on creating narrated slideshows and screencasts. Following class, I used the iPad apps Haiku Deck, Mail, Explain Everything, PhotoSync, and YouTube Capture to create and publish a seven minute narrated slideshow I titled, "MinecraftEDU Tips (Jan 2014.)" I provided some additional background about how I made this in my post tonight on our class blog."

commonsExplorer is an experimental interactive browser for the Flickr Commons. It provides a "big picture" view of these collections - a rich, single screen interface that reveals structures and patterns and encourages exploration.

"Teachers in my "Mapping Media to the Common Core: Part 2″ course this semester (offered through Montana CSPD and the University of Montana) have learned how to create enhanced eBooks on their iPads using the fantastic app, "Book Creator" by Red Jumper. In this post, I'll describe how you can share an eBook created with Book Creator via a free DropBox account and the DropBox app, along with a free KidBlog website and the KidBlog app for iPad. The KidBlog and DropBox apps are free. Book Creator has a free app which allows users to create 1 eBook, the commercial version is $5 and allows unlimited numbers of eBooks to be created. Apple Volume Purchase Plan (VPP) discounts are available for Book Creator."

Might help create a blended classroom, even when you have to share the blender.  Common sense advise for the real world of underequipped classrooms and stretched thin teachers.

"CS Unplugged is a collection of free learning activities that teach Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. The activities introduce students to Computational Thinking through concepts such as binary numbers, algorithms and data compression, separated from the distractions and technical details of having to use computers. Importantly, no programming is required to engage with these ideas! CS Unplugged is suitable for people of all ages, from elementary school to seniors, and from many countries and backgrounds. Unplugged has been used around the world for over twenty years, in classrooms, science centers, homes, and even for holiday events in a park!"

Today, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announces that all public domain images in its collection will be shared under CC0, expanding their digital collection by over 375,000 images.