Issues and Trends

13 Keys to Successful Blended Learning. Utilizing technology to create an effective blended learning environment for students.

Gradual Release of Responsibility - Quick summary of the model and describes the 4 stages.

10 Education Tech Blogs - ideas and resources for integrating technology, Web 2.0 tools, and iPad apps into the classroom

7 things to consider regarding the flipped classroom, including an example, pros and cons.

The four pillars of flipped learning.

This site provides good resources for Project-based learning,

This website a list of Web 2.0 tools you can use with your students when you want them to be collaborating, communicating, creating, critical thinking, and processing information. Many of the tools come with tutorials and explanations of how teachers have incorporated the tool into their classrooms.

Wow, love the extensive lists and all of the ideas they have here. It helps to keep them all together on this site so I can remember where to look when I want to variety of ideas for something. Whenever I feel like I want to change up a lesson or add something "spicier" to it, I often turn to something-tech related, so now I can turn here. Thanks! I think this could be helpful for any teachers looking to add a little spice to their lessons. I always "pin" stuff like that, too, to keep all of my ideas collected together.

I love the part of this article that encourages educators to think of a lesson that needs some life and then to look at web 2.0 tools! Also there is a link that brings you to effective communication tools for web 2.0 that I found helpful. Definitely a great teacher tool so that they have a place to go to for ideas for sprucing up a lesson. Teachers are really starting to come around to ideas like this, and I see more integration in lessons everyday. Definitely check out the twitter handle!

This article talks about how develop good inquiries through good questioning and organization. I would use this article to remind me of good questioning for students.

Nicole, I really enjoyed watching this video as well. When I first started watching the video, there was an opening sentence that just drew my attention right away into the video. The teacher said, "I realized how much more they learn, then when I see that they take action and their applying the skills they learn in here, I feel like I have done my job as a teacher." When I start to begin my teacher's journey, I hope to feel that overwhelming joy of teaching my students, not just viable information, but also how it can be applied to the real world settings. I also was excited to hear that all the coordinator said that group based learning is all about curiosity. Which I believe is what we as future or current teachers try to accomplish everyday that we are in the classroom. I agree that the resource can be used efficiently in my own future classroom because I hope to one day teach my students how they want to be taught material, as well as how to share that material with others around them. I believe that the resource is a use for both teachers and students. The reason why is because teachers can learn from their students developing ways, as well as how the student can teach their teacher how they can best develop and comprehend the material. I am currently not aware of any other similar resources that could be considered at this time, but I am confident that as our class continues on, there will be more resources.

"Inquiry is a fancy term for curiosity". I could not agree more. This is such a motivational video to help us as educators encourage our students to dive further in exploring ideas. Curiosity leads to the ability to create strong, driving questions. I look forward to allowing my students to take charge of their learning by encouraging them to bring up real life questions that will allow them to dive into their inquiry and research. As teachers, we must learn to take a step back and allow the students to facilitate their own learning with strong question asking!

This article was very helpful in how to execute online and blended learning. It had great points that would be good to reference in the future.

Some very good points for the teacher to consider when implementing and blended learning environment. I am still researching the idea of blended learning in my higher education classes, but have saved this with some of the other articles I have. I shared an article called "7 Things You Should Know About the Flipped Classroom" It too has some good ideas.

This website has great points on blended learning. Blended learning, when done effectively, is very beneficial for the teacher and student. Teachers are able to differentiate their teaching and students are able to pause/review videos and receive extra help during the class period. Another similar resource I found was also on Edutopia. This website provides a video of how to make blended learning work in your classroom and also provides resource links. http://www.edutopia.org/practice/blended-learning-making-it-work-your-classroom

This website offers many resources for teachers. It is important, especially as a first year teachers, to know were you can go for help.

I agree that I could use this resource efficiently in my own future classroom but probably only for the first couple of years that I teach because it simply provides tips to keep in mind and resources for first year teachers. I like how the article tells teachers to keep in mind 4 key points: teaching is hard, you can't do it alone, every classroom is different, and classroom management means solving problems before they occur. This resource is definitely meant for teacher use because it is meant to help teachers as they first begin their careers, and students would not have a reason to utilize resources for first year teachers. Here is another resource that could be considered for first-year teachers entitled "10 First-Year Teacher Myths and How to Avoid Them": http://plpnetwork.com/2014/05/14/10-first-year-teacher-myths-avoid/

Having resources ready for us when we first start teaching will be nice, because after all we know it will not be the easiest thing in the world.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are high-quality, openly licensed, online educational materials that offer an extraordinary opportunity for people everywhere to share, use, and reuse knowledge. They also demonstrate great potential as a mechanism for instructional innovation as networks of teachers and learners share best practices.

The use and importance of integrating Open Education Resources into your classroom.

At this site you will find a vast and organized collection of information on 21st Century Learning.

A plethora of webinars on Google web tools.

Blog covering topics such as: Can we predict student outcomes with digital textbook analytics? Social Media in the classroom

Information on project based learning and links out to research.

STEM robotics teacher collaboration site with courses and resources

Social media in higher ed from recruitment to classroom use including a study using social media for an Italian course.

Thanks for sharing. I like the example of how the Italian teacher used Twitter to promote confidence in her students. Very cool! I think that social media is a great tool for both teachers and students, and I have been trying to use social media more in my own classroom. The tough part for me is that my students are in 6th grade, and I'm not sure that they are old enough to be using social media. Most of them have Instagram, but not Twitter or Facebook. I use Twitter and Facebook to reach out to parents who want to keep up with what's going on in my class, but my students want me to create an Instagram account! I'm trying to figure out how to make 2 Instagram accounts (one for professional use, one for personal use). I don't think I am able to do this, so I haven't reached out to my students via social media yet. Our form of "social media" has been Google Classroom.

Interesting article. I totally agree with the importance of "branding." I know our school newspaper is working right now on rebranding itself to get more recognition, and social media is a big part of that. We try to have a strong presence on our yearbook's Twitter account so that we can build followers and get more kids involved. I also think that we as educators have great things going on in our classrooms and schools daily, and that a school that embraces social media has a leg up on being able to show themselves off! Our principal always says that kids and families "vote with their feet," meaning "Are they coming to our school or going to another school in town?" When we can show off the good things about our school on social media, I think that gives us an edge. :) Thanks!

Quick description of free or cheap apps for teachers including TED and EdModo