Web 2.0: Enhancing Education Through Technology

Facebook in the classroom

This is a collection of movie clips in which Mathematics appears

Video solutions of math problems from Basic Mathematics, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus. Most problems have four different video solutions, each done by a different person (most of them also have one in spanish).

Shows 50 tips that your students can make use of when incorporating Google Docs into the classroom. I like using Google Docs instead of emailing attachments and create shortcuts.

"Creativity and innovation are the keys to continued advancement in business as well as education (Sharda, 2010)."  In this article, Sharda discusses how e-learning systems based on digital storytelling can enhance creativity and innovation.

A teacher explains how she uses creative inspiration and blogging technology to help students achieve better writing results.

The Amazing Mathematical Object Factory gives verbal and visual examples to help explain discrete mathematics and combinatorial objects (whatever *they* are). It offers creative scenarios and exercises to help abstract concepts become more accessible to younger learners. Includes links to various, creative, math sites.

Schools are giving students access to technology, such as Study Island, via their home internet connections. Students are able to keep up on skills, review, and continue working with education resources even when school is not in session.

Project-based learning can increase test scores, however if it is not implemented properly they can drop by half as much. This type of learning helps students reach higher order of thinking as well as critical thinking and cognitive skills through application

In this study of collaborative learning, the researchers distinguish between the effects of group study on two categories of questions. On the test administered after the study period, the scores on the "critical-thinking" questions showed a significant difference between students learning individually and students learning collaboratively. The scores on "drill-and practice" items (factual information) did not.

Studying together pays!

A lot of TI Graphing Calculator activities, both user submitted and created by TI

Brandt discusses how schools in the U.S. are starting to use social media as a means to communicate effectively with the families and community.  She also discusses the regulations and policies that schools are implementing as a result.

Over the past two years, Forsyth County Schools in Cumming, Ga., has slowly allowed some of its 34,000 students to bring their own notebooks, iPhones or other computing tools to school and connect them to the district network. By allowing students to bring these devices into school they are allowing students to be creative in the classroom by giving the opportunity. So many districts have students "shut down" when they come into the building, and using mobile devices is what students know best, we need to embrace their knowledge, creativity and abilities in the classroom.

This articled details the efforts being made by New York's DOE to limit inappropriate online communication between teachers and students, while still allowing for constructive and appropriate use of social media in schools. It offers examples of teachers and students who had inappropriate interactions via social media such as facebook but also notes that students need to be taught to use such tools appropriately.

I really appreciated that this article acknowledged the efforts being made by educators and administrators to adapt the process of teaching in response to the communication revolution that technology has created. It is much more involved than simply giving students computers or iPads. And though the buildings and classrooms may look similar to how they have looked for 100 years, what is happening inside in terms of learning and multimedia communication is quite different!

This article looks at online communication from a district's point of view. Using tools such as websites, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, online surveys, YouTube, and Pinterest, school districts are getting information out to a variety of constituents, not just parents and students. They are building a connection to the community.

In order to give and receive information, it is essential to be aware of your openness to communication. Understanding the others in your "conversation" is the first step towards choosing media that will keep them engaged. A true-false quiz is linked to the post.

With the advent of Common Core for writing skills teachers need to better learn how to communicate the expectations to students via rubrics. A new PD tool, called FineTune supports teachers in the creating of these rubrics, which align to common core.

What voicethread is?