Group items tagged

"A chart comparing Personalization vs Individualization vs Differentiation and a report that explained the difference between these three terms including teacher-centered vs. learner-centered approaches." (via @NancyW)

The project focuses on disseminating information, resources, and tools designed to enhance the use of an instructional decision-making model in the areas of reading, mathematics, and behavior. Web site resources address steps of RtI implementation, from conducting a campus needs assessment, developing an action plan, promoting teacher collaboration, designing differentiated intervention, to answering parents' questions.

"I talked about Google Forms in general, and gave an example of how you can create a differentiated Google Form using the "Go To Page Based on Answer" option. Many people were interested in this particular Form, so I decided to create a tutorial. Here is the video tutorial I created! Let me know how you plan to use these kinds of Forms in your own class!"

"The battle for supremacy in the K-12 whiteboard market is heating up. Companies are scrambling for new sources of revenue, making strategic moves to reinvent their products in the age of tablet computing, and sizing up their competitors to see what they can do to differentiate themselves from the pack. Who ultimately ends up on top has huge implications for educational technology leaders, who must determine which company is the best fit for their needs, and at a cost their districts can afford in still-difficult budget times. Complicating those decisions are changes in the technological landscape that are raising questions about the long-term educational relevance of interactive whiteboards. Do classrooms really need them in the age of iPads?"

I was preparing a presentation for differentiating mathematics using technology recently, and ended up editing a TED talk by Salman Khan. What struck me was Khan's idea that technology can humanise the classroom - which, as Khan acknowledges, is in some ways counterintuitive. Indeed, when I talk to teachers about technology in the classroom, they have visions of a very inhuman scenario, where students have their eyes glued to the screens, interacting with noone. I'd argue that many things that currently happen in traditional classrooms are dehumanizing; however, we don't see them this way because that's how classrooms have always been. I'd also argue that technology can humanize these experiences. Here are four things I've invested time and effort into that have humanized the classroom.

One of the perplexing things that teachers and educators encounter when trying to understand educational technology and leverage it to their classrooms is the abundance of those baffling techy terms. Blended Learning is different from Differentiated Learning, Educational Technology might not be necessarily Instructional Technology, a Virtual Classroom is different from an Electronic Classroom or Flipped Classroom; There is also asynchronous, synchronous, and personalized learning, these and many more are but some examples of the growing terminology in this field.

"We're working on creating a badge ecosystem for teacher professional development that is self-paced, differentiated and interest driven."

Mutt Susan from Digital Divide and Conquer has created a great rubric to assist students in understanding and analyzing the apps they find. The Student App Review Rubric has five criteria that students can use when assessing an app. Each of the criteria can be given a numerical number from 0 to 4 with 4 as the top grade. The 5 criteria are: 1. Looks and sound, 2. Engagement and motivation. 3. User friendly directions and instructions. 4. Performance and ease of use. 5. Differentiation in learning.

Advocates say that "flipped classrooms" help overburdened teachers differentiate their instruction to reach more learners, provide an avenue into more hands-on and student-driven learning during classtime, and shift the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" to learning coach and facilitator. Critics say it's just a fad, relies too heavily on rote instruction, and doesn't go far enough in making the needed changes for teaching and learning reform. I've rounded up this list of videos so you can learn more about the challenges and benefits of flipped classrooms.

Informative article on Flipped Classroom with links to the 'Flipping the Classroom' video playlist and Mary Beth Hertz's excellent blog post, "The Flipped Classroom: Pro & Con" 

nd now you can be the one to find it, thanks to Zooniverse, a unique citizen science website. Zooniverse volunteers, who call themselves "Zooites," are working on a project called Galaxy Zoo, classifying distant galaxies imaged by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.