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"Regardless of whether you think every infant needs an iPad, I think we can all agree that technology has changed education for the better. Today's learners now enjoy easier, more efficient access to information; opportunities for extended and mobile learning; the ability to give and receive immediate feedback; and greater motivation to learn and engage. We now have programs and platforms that can transform learners into globally active citizens, opening up countless avenues for communication and impact. Thousands of educational apps have been designed to enhance interest and participation. Course management systems and learning analytics have streamlined the education process and allowed for quality online delivery. But if we had to pick the top ten, most influential ways technology has transformed education, what would the list look like? The following things have been identified by educational researchers and teachers alike as the most powerful uses of technology for learning. Take a look. 1. Critical Thinking In Meaningful Learning With Technology, David H. Jonassen and his co-authors argue that students do not learn from teachers or from technologies. Rather, students learn from thinking-thinking about what they are doing or what they did, thinking about what they believe, thinking about what others have done and believe, thinking about the thinking processes they use-just thinking and reasoning. Thinking mediates learning. Learning results from thinking. So what kinds of thinking are fostered when learning with technologies? Analogical If you distill cognitive psychology into a single principle, it would be to use analogies to convey and understand new ideas. That is, understanding a new idea is best accomplished by comparing and contrasting it to an idea that is already understood. In an analogy, the properties or attributes of one idea (the analogue) are mapped or transferred to another (the source or target). Single analogies are also known as sy

"In A Story of a Young Life Turned Around by Great Teachers, Kevin Honeycutt shared, "I believe you can flip a kid on any given day in one hour." I've been thinking. Can you? Well, when something horrific happens: death in the family or other trauma - maybe not. But on most days with most kids, I think this is true. I had an upset child just yesterday. We had a private talk as she was coming into the classroom (straggling behind everyone else). And yes, she was flipped. My words and our interaction FLIPPED HER and changed her day. When I saw that happen, I realized that it is true. We can flip kids (and perhaps each other) if we pay attention and notice. Here are some ways you can flip a kid. Please share yours in the comments. Let's get this kid flipping conversation going!"

"In a flipped classroom, students typically interact with a short micro-video (flipped video) before class and then class time is transformed into an active place of engagement and learning. Some teachers think that students take to flipped learning quickly. However, since many students have been trained in how to learn passively, they need to have explicit instructions on how to learn differently in a flipped classroom. Below is a series of suggestions teachers may find helpful to hand out to students to prepare them for a flipped classroom."

"Several teachers now have already stated using the flipped classroom model in their teaching and some are still thinking about how to do it. If you are one of those who are keen on applying this learning/teaching strategy with your students then this resourceful section will provide you with all the materials, tips, ideas, and tools to flip your classroom. A flipped classroom is a model in which the ordinary teaching activities which are done in class like lecturing or demonstrations are recorded in videos and podcasts for students to access at home. The in-class time is used instead for deeper class discussions, students projects, one-one-one interventions, peer collaboration, and many more."

"3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time By Peter DeWitt on April 10, 2015 6:50 AM Faculty Meeting.png Many school leaders walk into a faculty meeting with a single idea of how they want to move forward and walk out with the same idea. That's telling... John Hattie talks a great deal about the Politics of Distraction, which means we focus on adult issues, and not enough time...if ever...on learning. That is happening around the U.S. for sure. Recently the Assembly of NY State only furthered those distractions, which you can read about here, which means that school leaders and teachers have to work harder to maintain a focus on learning. Quite frankly, well before mandates and accountability, school leaders focused on the politics of distraction and not on learning. Compliance is not new in schools. Faculty meetings were seen as a venue to get through and something that teachers were contractually obligated to attend. During these days of endless measures of compliance, principals can do a great deal to make sure they don't model the same harmful messages to staff that politicians are sending to teachers. Jim Knight calls that "Freedom within form." In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo quotes Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) when he writes, "Creativity is often misunderstood. People often think of it in terms of artistic work - unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. If you look deeper, however, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms - haikus, sonatas, religious paintings- are fraught with constraints. (p. 190)" Clearly, constraints have a wide definition. There is a clear difference between the constraints of compliance and the stupidity of the legislation just passed by the assembly in NY. As we move forward, principals still are charged...or at least should be...with the job of making sure they offer part...inspiration, part...teacher voice...and a great deal of focus on learning. There is never a more important tim

"The flipped classroom model is here to stay. This model, although not a golden bullet, puts the student firmly into the educational process. Think back over the last few years that you have been teaching or learning about teaching. What did you do when you came across a new idea? Did you investigate on your own? Did you seek others who had experiences they could share? This is what the flipped classroom is all about: Putting students in charge of their learning process and allowing them to wrestle with ideas and topics before coming back to class with their own specific questions and seek guidance from the teacher. Often (but not always) there is some sort of online activity outside of the school day that students are responsible for. This could be a video lesson, a video about a lab set up, a discussion board inside of a learning management system (LMS), or any other vehicle that communicates the topic of the lesson outside of the normal class time instruction. "

"When most people think of the flipped classroom model or reverse instruction, which ever term you like best, they automatically think videos, screencasts, and when you get down to it lecture based instruction"

"The Managing Complex Change model puts language to that which makes some schools successful while others struggle. The model looks at five components necessary to create a desired environment. These include vision, skills, incentives, resources, action plan. If any one piece is missing the model indicates results schools will experience including change, confusion, anxiety, gradual change, frustration, and a false start. When thinking of successful schools such as Science Leadership Academy, The MET, The Island School, The iSchool, you will find they have all those components in place. On the other hand, when I hear teachers lamenting about their school failures, the model brings clarity to the fact that one or more of these components are missing. Below is the chart that lays this out. Following the chart, I'll take a look at what each missing component might look like in a school environment. As you read, consider which, if any are components, are missing at your school. save image Lack of Vision = Confusion When I hear exasperated teachers spinning their wheels, working so hard to get ready for all the various mandates and requirements, but never feeling a sense of accomplishment, it is clear there is not a tangible school vision that has been communicated. In some cases this is because what is being imposed does or can not reconcile with what the school wanted for their vision. Skill Deficit = Anxiety My heart goes out to those with a skill deficit. They are required to implement a curriculum they are not trained in using or being evaluated via measures with which they are not familiar. Or…they are put into a position they were not trained for or prepared to embrace. Social media provides a great medium for helping these teachers get up to speed, but when the outreach occurs, the anxiety is abundantly clear. Lack of Incentives = Gradual Change It is not unusual for innovative educators to feel like and be perceived as misfits. Islands onto their own

"Think Tank: Flip-thinking - the new buzz word sweeping the US "

Lecture first via online video, then set the work in class. Teacher in a better position to assist and enable learning than lecturing in class and setting homework

"Innovating thinking is one of those awkward concepts in education-one that is often espoused, but isn't measured, reported on, trained around, or celebrated. It's just sort of there. Innovative thinking in students will flower when we design classrooms that absolutely can't survive without it. Same with critical thinking, self-direction, creativity, and so on. Until we reach that point, it's on the shoulders of the classroom teacher to tease it out of students through a combination of inspiration, modeling, scaffolding, and creating persistent opportunity. The following graphic by Mia MacMeekin offers 27 ways to think about this idea. As usual, some of the tips are better than others-"Flip: Start from the End" makes sense, but may or may not promote innovation. The same with "Grow: Grow with each approach.""

"Traditional teacher professional development depends on external training handed down to teachers after having identified their weaknesses as a professional. If you're not so great at teacher writing, or if assessment is becoming a bigger focus in your school or district, you fill out a growth plan of some sort, attend your training, get your certificates, and repeat until you've got your hours or your school has run out of money to send you to more training. Oftentimes these "professional growth plans" are scribbled out in 15 minute meetings with your principal, then "revisited" at the end of the year as a kind of autopsy. What would happen if we flipped this model on its head? What if instead we created a teacher-centered, always-on, and social approach to teacher improvement? One that connected them with dynamic resources and human communities that modeled new thinking and possibility, and that crucially built on their strengths?"

"While project-based learning has existed for decades, design thinking has recently entered the education lexicon, even though its history can be traced back to Herbert A. Simon's 1969 book The Sciences of the Artificial. So why the resurgence of these ideas? Lately, I have heard teachers and school leaders express a common frustration: "We are _______ years into a _______ initiative, and nothing seems to have changed." Despite redesigning learning spaces, adding technology, or even flipping instruction, they still struggle to innovate or positively change the classroom experience. Imagine innovation as a three-legged stool. Many schools have changed the environment leg, but not the other two legs: the behaviors and beliefs of the teachers, administrators, and students. Consider this conundrum: much of what we know about teaching comes from 16+ years of observation as students. In no other profession do you spend that much time watching the previous generation before being told to change everything once you take control. Without the framework or scaffolding for that change, it's truly unreasonable to tell educators, "OK, start innovating.""

"Taking a screenshot with an iPad comes in handy more than you might think as you integrate Apple's latest technology in the classroom. Whether you're walking students through the installation of an app, the configuration of a program, or simply capturing annotated screenshots for your flipped classroom, it boils down to a few simple steps. There are a variety of apps that can help here, but the simplest mechanism for turning the iPad's screen's display into a still image is to hit two little buttons."

I think this kind of tool can be really beneficial for creating flipped learning or video orientated learning as the speaker can guide learners to various learning resources on the web. They can also embed visual support for language learners such as text and images and even write over the video as though it were a whiteboard.

"Technology has not always been my strong point. In fact, for six years I was so terrified of it that when given a SMART board for my classroom I politely turned it away. Technology cannot be forced upon teachers. They have to have their A-HA moment. Mine was spring of 2013. I begrudgingly checked my Twitter account one night (did not like Twitter) and ran across a teacher named Erin Klein. She was doing something called Augmented Reality with her 2nd graders, and I was amazed. I started looking at all of the other engaging activities that teachers were doing with students via technology, and I knew that I needed to get my tail in gear. My students deserved the same type of education. The type of education that fosters life long learners. The type of education that provokes children to question and really use those deep critical thinking skills. So late that night I taught myself how to make images come to life in my classroom using Aurasma. Aurasma is an app that creates Augmented Reality. It absolutely changed my classroom. Flipped it upside down."

"I truly believe that part of being an advocate for kids is believing that all of them, no matter what, possess redeeming qualities. I know that I see kids do absolutely amazing things with talent and grit and an awareness of other people that I don't remember myself or my classmates having when I was their age. On the flip side, I know we have students who are so angry and struggling and do things that are unkind and frankly, sometimes violent. But, instead of asking why the students are so poorly behaved, I think the better question is what support did we miss as parents/educators/society and how can we bring out the goodness? My point being…no matter the child, if we don't believe that there is a place inside of them that has the potential for greatness then that is more about our shortcomings than it is about them. "