Group items tagged

A site that is promoting coding in schools. Resources and testimonials on why this is a skill that should be taught in our schools, and where this knowledge will take our students.

I stumbled upon this website while working on an assignment for another class. The site is self-described as "A comprehensive website and online community that increases knowledge, sharing, and adoption of what works in K-12 education. We emphasize core strategies: project-based learning, comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, social and emotional learning, educational leadership and teacher development, and technology integration." If you click on "Topics," they have some especially interesting material. Earlier I researched classroom management strategies, but there is everything from cross-curricular teaching to apps you might integrate into a classroom setting.

Digital literacy blog about using google advanced search as a way to teach kids to use the basic google search tool. A valuable brief for anyone who uses the internet.

For our Principles of Education course, we were given a reading on digital literacy by Alan November. In it, this blog is referenced. The reading and this blog really opened my eyes to the way that search engines work. I realized that in order to teach students to be digitally literate, I need to become much more digitally literate myself. A very insightful read.

As more educators turn to gamification to teach core curriculum and engage students, how can we ensure that these games have real educational value and are not just entertainment? This is a collection of stories and resources to help answer that question.

A short article with a great reference list. Overview of using twitter in the classroom Fox, K. (2013). Twitter in the classroom. New Chalk Talk. 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.aucegypt.edu/llt/clt/ChalkTalk/Documents/Volume%2013/Chalktalk%20Vol13_Issue%201.pdf

Reference: Freeman, W. & Tremblay, T. (2013). Design Considerations for Supporting the Reluctant Adoption of Blended Learning. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 80-88. This paper presents a case study where an online course was redesigned as a blended course without involving instructor participation. It examines how the instructors struggled with this new format and offers suggestions to course designers on how to successfully design and implement blended programs.

This article examines the potential of synchronous communication in online education by analyzing the newest tools and platforms that facilitate real-time group communication, and the pedagogy associated with implementing synchronous communication tools into asynchronous learning environments.

Terry Heike from TeachThought has compiled this wonderful list of apps, resources, graphs, charts, and more to help project-based learning be successful for your class.

Some basic advice from a middle school science teacher who uses 3D printing to help students learn design and produce 3D objects in a grade 7 classroom.

After seeing Avi's grade 9 class website I got excited and curious about starting my own. For someone who has never managed a web page before it can seem a little overwhelming. This page offers some helpful step-by-step information as well as some resources to get you started on creating a class web page.

Google is amazing...instead of a virtual get-together on Skype, try Google Hangouts and for teachers, you could "hold virtual meetings, hosting guest speakers, or creating a video podcast." Also--it is a free service!

A great visual demonstration to help you become more adept at using Diigo, especially if you are new to it.

Remind is a tool used to sent students or parents quick updates or reminders to their cell-phones via text (or to email). It allows teachers/facilitators to organize their classes into groups, and send messages without either party ever having to share their phone numbers with the other, therefore limiting privacy concerns. Instructors are able to have different classes or groups, which allows specific communication with individual groups, or even parent groups. Facilitators can also schedule reminders/messages to send on a future date and time, which allows seamless flexibility in when you want to send your reminders. It's a tool use regularly with my f2f classes, and the feedback is extreamly positive.

"How can we use digital media so that they help us become empowered participants rather than passive consumers? In his book Net Smart, Howard Rheingold shows how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully."

Edutopia offers a wealth of resources to help you facilitate blended learning.

"This course provides teachers with the foundation for understanding the movement towards virtual instruction. It introduces fundamental knowledge needed by teachers to succeed in a technology-dependent, instructional environment."

I just found this nice little collection of resources while looking for project ideas. The site is Canadian and has resources for grades K-12. The subjects are also broken down into science, english, social studies and math (and it's further broken down within each of these). There are a number of activities and lesson plans available for teachers and the topics covered are all very current and I'm sure they would engage today's student. One of the especially nice things on this site is that they also have resources for parents and students. I think this is key, as so much learning takes place outside of the classroom.

Cursive writing has been all but eliminated from the classroom. Good thing or bad? Well... according to this piece in the Economist... not so good.