Group items tagged

"Artificial Intelligence is the trending edtech topic of the year so far. If you haven't been asked about it yet, you will be soon. If you haven't tried an AI writing tool yet, you should try it because your students are probably trying it."

From the site: "Not the Knowing, but the Process of Inquiry. Not covering the curriculum, but 'uncovering' the curriculum. A focus in innovation and creativity… how do we model this… every day? Maureen also spoke of the 5 needs that we (students/teachers/learners) have: The need to feel confident, The need to feel like we belong, The need to be potent- feel you have made a difference, The need to feel useful, and The need to have a sense of optimism"

"At last week's iPad site visit, a student on the panel was describing her favorite iLesson: "It was in science. It is an interactive periodic table (app). We were learning about the elements. You click on an element and it gives you the history, who made it, how you use it, what it is used for. Another cool feature is you can make them. You can keep on adding neutrons, electrons, and protons as much as you like and every time you click on the plus or minus, it tells you what element you just made. The results were really amazing. We had more interest in the periodic table than we ever had before mainly because it was fun, it was interesting, we actually got to play around with it and see what we could make with it instead of just giving us a piece of paper and telling us 'research these'.""

"The internet has revolutionized information collection. The answer to virtually any question or problem is at our fingertips. Google has made this possible. While I am a great admirer of Google and an avid user of its products, in a way, Google has made my life as a teacher a LOT more difficult. Let me explain. In the "old days" (that would be pre-internet) when a teacher assigned a worksheet with a series of questions on it students had a few options to get the answers. 1. Ask mom. 2. If mom doesn't know, ask Dad. 3. If Dad doesn't know look it up in the textbook. 4. If the answer isn't in the textbook, give up."

Last year, we began a program that can best be described as "classroom modernization" across the district. Our Board of Education recognized the importance and education need for the modernization and made a commitment through its budget to support the purchase of technology to support the professionals in our classrooms. The first decision we made was to ensure all teaching staff had access to a current, mobile device. While often the focus is on ensuring all students have access to current devices (a continuing effort in our district) we realized that if we wanted classes to be engaging with digital tools, teachers needed to have access and feel comfortable with them as well."

I am a huge proponent of using hands-on, interactive learning activities to explore ill-defined problems as a way of teaching for all age groups. Given the spontaneity and uncertainty of these types of active learning environments, I believe educators should observe, reflect on, and analyze how learners interact with the materials, the content, the educator, and the other learners. This practice is in line with the teacher as ethnographer. In my role as a teacher as ethnographer, I made some initial observations during my first two weeks of teaching maker education for elementary age students. With half the kids under 7, I learned a bunch about young makers. Young makers are more capable than what people typically believe. Young makers need to be given more time, resources, strategies to learn how to solve more ambiguous and ill-defined problems (i.e., ones that don't have THE correct answer). Too many don't know how to approach such problems. If a project doesn't "work" during the first trial, they way too often say "I can't do this." They have a low tolerance for frustration; for not getting the answer quickly. Young makers often celebrate loudly and with extreme joy when making something work. Young makers like to work together but lack skills or desire to peer tutor one another. Young makers usually like to stand while working. Young makers are more capable than what people (adults) typically believe. During our maker education summer camp, the young makers made LED projects, circuit crafts, and simple robotics. Looking at the instructions for similar activities, the recommended ages were usually 8 and above. Yet, my group of 14 kids contained half under that age. The kids of all ages struggled a bit - as is common with making type activities but all were successful to some degree with all of the activities.

"Late last winter I started to organize the screencast videos that I've made over the years. I called the list Practical Ed Tech Tips. Since I started that list I've made an effort to add one or two new screencasts to it every week. The playlist now contains 135 videos. In the playlist you will find videos about tools for flipping your classroom, videos on managing workflow, social media tips, search strategies, and media production. The playlist also contains videos about tools like Remind, Duolingo, ClassDojo, Classtools, and many other popular web services for teachers and students"

"This afternoon Sue Waters and I revived a presentation on blogging that we gave together six years ago at ISTE (formerly NECC). One aspect of our presentation was to share some of the mistakes that we frequently see people make when starting classroom blogs. I made all of these mistakes myself when I started blogging with students nine years ago."

"Today the field of educational technology is literally bombarded with new ideas and devices that promise to revolutionize the way we teach. Some of these newcomers have strong potential and promise a unique learning experience. One such product is Osmo. Osmo is an innovative device that transforms an iPad into an interactive classroom accessory able to add a level of excitement that engages students in the learning process. Osmo is made of a vertical base for the iPad, and a reflective mirror that sits in front of the camera. These two unassuming accessories work together to change the physical space in front of the iPad into an area of active engagement that interact with a number of iPad apps made for Osmo."

"The Maker Movement continues to grow, and makerspaces have hit a point where they are clearly no longer just a passing fad. Academic universities are conducting research and gathering data on makerspaces' impact on learning, and dozens of books have already been published. More and more makerspaces are being created in schools, some in separate labs and some in corners of classrooms. And some makerspaces, of course, are in the library. In these last four years of speaking at conferences, chatting on Twitter and talking to colleagues, I've fielded a lot of questions from two camps. One camp is made up of hesitant librarians. They're not really sure that a makerspace belongs in the library. They're afraid of it taking over their whole program and replacing the books. Their school already has a STEM lab, so why do they need a makerspace in their library too? The other camp is made up of librarians who are ready and eager to start a makerspace, but who are meeting resistance from their administration. We already have an art studio; why do we need a makerspace in the library too? Aren't those kids just playing and messing around with LEGO® bricks? Shouldn't the library be a quiet, clean, studious environment? How would a space like this tie in with curriculum, improve test scores or create better experiences for our students? This article looks to address some of these concerns and to explain why makerspaces do belong in libraries."

"There ought to be a law limiting people to one use of the term "life-changing" to describe a life event. Had a life-changing cup of coffee this morning? Well, hope it was good because that's the one use you get! If this legislation came to pass, then I would use my allotment on my decision to write about data science. This writing has led directly to 2 data science jobs, altered my career plans, moved me across the country, and ultimately made me more satisfied than when I was a miserable mechanical engineering university student. In 2018, I made a commitment to write on data science and published at least one article per week for a total of 98 posts. It was a year of change for me: a college graduation, 4 jobs, 5 different cities, but the one constant was data science writing. As a culture, we are obsessed by streaks and convinced those who complete them must have gained profound knowledge. Unlike other infatuations, this one may make sense: to do something consistently for an extended period of time, whether that is coding, writing, or staying married, requires impressive commitment. Doing a new thing is easy because our brains crave novelty, but doing the same task over and over once the newness has worn off requires a different level of devotion. Now, to continue the grand tradition of streak completers writing about the wisdom they gained, I'll describe the lessons learned in "The Year of Data Science Writing.""

"Thankfully, there's more information on introverts out there than ever before. I tapped into my amazing personal learning network of educators and gathered a towering pile of books on my nightstand, topped by Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. In her book, Cain champions the often-overlooked talents and gifts of introverts, and offers parents and educators strategies for communication and evaluation. This year, I drew on this advice and made a number of changes to my classroom in order to improve learning opportunities for my introverted students."

When creating this website for writers, students, and their teachers, I was determined to make choice the theme that made this resource-based website different. As you explore and use WritingFix's resources, watch for the choices each resource offers young writers.

"If I had written this article two years ago, it would have been very different. Back then, I would have made (or felt like I had to make) a compelling case for why we should even consider the idea of incorporating video games into classroom instruction. Back then, I would have expected most readers to incredulously click to the next article. But today, Game-Based Learning (GBL) and Gamification are gaining some real traction in the teaching community. At the recent OETC conference, the organizers dedicated an entire wing of the convention center to the subject, and educators weren't shy about their interest. When I presented on the subject at Common Ground 14, I had the dreaded "last-presentation-of-the-day" spot, but I was very pleased at the turnout and interest."

"Editor's note: This guest post from Chris Casal started as a comment on "Filtering social media in schools because it's a 'distraction'" which appeared on Scott McCleod's Dangerously Irrelevant blog. Social media is no different than pencil and paper. I doodled a lot in the margins of my physics book. It wasn't Twitter and Facebook that made me doodle but I doodled nonetheless. Social media can serve as the new platform for distraction but not a new cause for it. Doodles, passing notes, sleeping in class, all of the "analog" forms of distraction, have just morphed into branded platforms. The difference? Sleeping in class never led to anything. On the other hand, connecting & engaging on social media might. The doodler who grew up to be a graphic designer may have been distracted in class but is now earning a living born out of that distraction. Maybe the students tweeting in class will develop the next great media platform."

"There is one simple change I made as a teacher (and a change many teachers have made around the globe), that provides more opportunity for motivation, engagement, and empowerment than anything else I've seen."

"Yes, the Flipped Classroom (Video lessons watched before class time) is a fashionable topic but whilst there's still chalk-and-talk together with standardised testing I feel I must continue to push it. And no, it's not just chalk-and-talk in disguise. It creates a whole new learning environment for the student."