While people attend presentations, panels, and lectures to learn something from the people at the front of the room, there's a lot of potential for creating spaces where audience members can interact with each other and the people presenting. backchan.nl does this by providing a web-based interface for audience members to identify themselves, post questions, and vote on other people's questions.
"Between societal changes and technological breakthroughs, it's become abundantly clear that the human brain is transforming the way it processes and learns information. While there are many discussions about whether or not this is good or bad for us as a society, it's definitely a change.
As educators, it's our job to make sure that students (and adults) are learning. Part of that process isn't only about making an engaging activity or lesson, but also realizing how the modern brain learns. Teachers all over America are faced with this challenge of keeping students engaged in the classroom when their world outside of school is one of constant engagement and stimulation. Knowing the world outside of our institutional walls is only one step in addressing modern learning styles. How to act and adjust schools today is the next step in making the classroom of today ready for tomorrow."
"I take a look at four ways that teachers can add questions to a YouTube video for their students to answer when watching a video at home or on their own."
"The new Add-ons feature for Docs and Sheets makes it really easy to bring some advanced functionality, or just some missing features, to your most important Drive files."
"21st century skills are an important consideration for every educator as we are striving to prepare today's students to become prepared for the competitive global market of tomorrow. This website seeks to provide a resource that allows educators an opportunity to easily navigate educationally relevant Web 2.0 tools, resources, and examples of standards alignment."
"Google Forms is a great tool and I hope to use it more throughout this year. Take a look here for a more detailed introduction and guide to using and creating a Google Form "
"The Maker Movement, a technological and creative learning revolution underway around the globe, has exciting and vast implications for the world of education. New tools and technology, such as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, wearable computing, e-textiles, "smart" materials, and programming languages are being invented at an unprecedented pace. The Maker Movement creates affordable or even free versions of these inventions, while sharing tools and ideas online to create a vibrant, collaborative community of global problem-solvers.
Fortunately for teachers, the Maker Movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. By embracing the lessons of the Maker Movement, educators can revamp the best student-centered teaching practices to engage learners of all ages."
Our belief is that technology should empower teachers. Each student has unique learning needs and teachers don't have the tools to personalize their lessons to those needs. The eduCanon platform is a tool for teachers to build lessons with interactive timed questions and engaging video content. Already, we've been amazed by the creative and inspirational uses of eduCanon by teachers--for flipped and blended learning environments.
Field trips generally venture only as far afield as the local heritage village, where you're likely to catch pilgrim 'Ezekial' behind the butter churning hut sneaking a modern-day cigarette. Google wants to offer a more far-reaching experience, with a new Connected Classrooms initiative that lets classes take "virtual field trips" using Google+ Hangouts. So instead of learning about pioneer times from a local drama student who has to keep the goat stables clean in addition to infotaining the kids, you'll check out the Seattle Aquarium, Minnesota Zoo or the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Google says that teachers already employ its social network in classrooms, but the Connected Classrooms program is designed to make it easier for more of them to do so. It offers not only those virtual excursions mentioned above (along with a number of other destinations), but also provides teachers a chance to work together on class plans and learning experiences for use both in the classroom and out.
The Buck Institute is a national leader in Project-Based Learning. There are a number of great rubrics on the website that assess 21st Century Skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, and citizenship). As we look for projects to assess students' 21st Century Skills, this resource is a one-stop-shop for those rubrics.
"Build better video lessons, together
Find a video and make it yours"
Crop YouTube, Khan Academy videos, explain the video with your voice including audio notes for clarification, introduction, etc., and add a quiz/check for understanding at the end.
"Some of you are still probably not sure about the difference between what constitutes a copyright infringement and fair use. Well the post I have for you today might help illuminate the key differences between the two concepts. This post is based on a two days work reading a wide variety of resources pertaining to copyright and . Please check the references below to learn more about my sources."
"Doctopus is truly the educator's virtual personal assistant. This script is so many things: a virtual copy machine for your Google Drive, a customizable feedback tool and a great way to digitize differentiation. Newly upgraded with easier user interface."
"Using TED Talks to convey an important message or spark creativity might be more effective in teaching students than an individual agenda or preconceived notion of what should be said. Furthermore, TED Talks challenges educators everywhere to think differently and encourage the same in their students.
These are the best TED Talks for any educator because they make us laugh, warm our hearts, break down barriers, and always inspire us to dig a little deeper and push a little harder, challenging your educator perspective."
"This free e-book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age when everyone,and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology. A framework for making decisions about your teaching is provided, while understanding that every subject is different, and every instructor has something unique and special to bring to their teaching."
"Integrating video projects into the classroom can be as simple or complex as you want. Just grab a phone, digital camera or tablet and your students are on their way. Here are some video project ideas, divided into ideas for any classroom and ideas for specific subject areas."
"Over time we have built up a collection of 33,984 free PowerPoint templates, themes and PowerPoint Backgrounds. We have made available a wide range of these professional designs for you to download for free.
You can browse all of our PowerPoint templates or select them by category or colour or by tag. We also have a range of PowerPoint Backgrounds."
Quick Rubric is the wonderful new (beta) site for creating rubrics from the creators of Storyboard That. This is far and away the easiest site for creating a beautiful rubric where a user can add a row or a column with a tap of an arrow button. Everything inside of the rubric is customizable (i.e., from the heading to customizing points) and a user can save or print out as many rubrics as they need.