Group items tagged

Helping educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create, and share

Access to free tools and tutorials

Tools to help you create innovative learning experiences

The findings of our study show that an ILS—if used appropriately—has real potential for improving student achievement. This conclusion is further supported by studies we conducted for several school districts. (Each of these studies has been funded by the school district, not the ILS vendor.) We have held focus group interviews with more than 100 teachers and principals, made more than 100 structured classroom observations to chronicle ILS use and integration with classroom curriculums, received surveys from nearly 300 ILS teachers and administrators, and obtained achievement and attitude data from nearly 5,000 students. While there is variability in all of these data, the following conclusion seems warranted: If implemented properly, ILSs do produce positive results. Indeed, they have the potential to transform the classroom into a better environment for learning.

The findings of our study show that an ILS—if used appropriately—has real potential for improving student achievement. This conclusion is further supported by studies we conducted for several school districts. (Each of these studies has been funded by the school district, not the ILS vendor.) We have held focus group interviews with more than 100 teachers and principals, made more than 100 structured classroom observations to chronicle ILS use and integration with classroom curriculums, received surveys from nearly 300 ILS teachers and administrators, and obtained achievement and attitude data from nearly 5,000 students. While there is variability in all of these data, the following conclusion seems warranted: If implemented properly, ILSs do produce positive results. Indeed, they have the potential to transform the classroom into a better environment for learning.

1. Visualize Texts

Wordle is a fun tool for playing with language and making meaning from texts. (And it’s quite safe for classroom use.) This self-described “toy” allows students to analyze word frequency in any text, from a poem to a science book chapter, by simply copying and pasting “a bunch of text” into the box on the top of this page. Click on “go” and you’ll get a snapshot of the most common words in that text as shown by size. (The most frequently appearing words appear larger.)

2. Make Content Comic

Most students are familiar with and active users of mobile technology.

By this I mean students using their smartphones (or dumbphones, for that matter) to share things they would never normally share. From inappropriate comments to sexting, it’s a dangerous minefield.

The tech solutions available to teachers now go far beyond the overhead projector. Below, a look at some tools in this burgeoning category. BetterLesson The Boston-based startup BetterLesson, founded in 2008, is a social media platform that educators can use to organize and share their curricula. Last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded BetterLesson $3.5 million. “Considering the startup allows teachers to browse a serious repository of documents, presentations, lessons and even complete units and courses, all through a simple search interface, and upload their own lessons onto a dashboard, you can see why teachers will love this kind of resource,” TechCrunch wrote in 2011. “Add the ability to share curricula directly with international educators and receive feedback, and you’ve got yourself a goddamn deal, as Dave Chappelle would say.” . ClassDojo Launched in August 2011, ClassDojo helps teachers with what many call their hardest task: classroom management. The platform, which teachers can use on a smartphone, laptop or tablet, allows them to give students points (or take them away) “in real-time, with just one click,” as the website has it. Students are notified (“Well done Josh! +1 for teamwork!”), and teachers can use the platform to generate analytics and reports to share with parents and administrators. . PowerSchool PowerSchool allows teachers to track attendance, grades, and a lot more for students and parents to view at home. According to Pearson, which sells the system, PowerSchool supports 10 million students in over 65 countries. . SMART Board An “interactive whiteboard,” SMART Board allows teachers to write class notes digitally, so they can be saved for students to access later. (Feel like building your own whiteboard? At TED in 2008, Johnny Lee showed how you can hack a Wii Remote to build a simple interactive whiteboard.) . Remind101 Started by a team of two brothers, Remind101 enables students and parents to sign up to receive teachers’ text-message reminders about assignments. It’s private—these are mass texts, and teachers can’t see students’ phone numbers. It’s also one-way, meaning that teachers can send out texts, but students can’t respond to them. . Educreations Using Educreations, teachers can produce video lessons using a “recordable interactive whiteboard” via an iPad app or the website. There’s a public directory of lessons, available for browsing by students or other teachers (or you).

Classroom

Last year Donna Baumbach created a Google Slides presentation titled 26+ Ways to Use ThingLink In the Classroom. Yesterday, I received an email from Donna in which she shared the updated version of that presentation. The presentation now contains more than 65 tips and ideas for using ThingLink in the classroom. The presentation is open to contributions from others. If you have ideas to add to the presentation, you can do so here. Big thanks to Donna for creating and sharing this excellent resource about one of my favorite web tools. By the way, ThingLink is now available as an iPad app too.