Connections: Technology and Education: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

ED Tech Resources 02/28/2014

Quill

Interactive grammar lessons.

tags: education grammar english
A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey: Crash Course Literature 201 - YouTube

Part of the Crash Course Collection.

tags: education literature youtube
11 tips and tricks for the Chromebook | ZDNet

tags: education chromebooks
20 collaborative Google Apps activities for schools | Ditch That Textbook

Some good collaborative ideas in this post.

tags: education collaboration googleapps
LearnZillion

tags: education CCSS CommonCore
9 Awesome Resources for Integrating PBL in Your School ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

tags: education pbl
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Technology | Daily Edventures

tags: education technology
10 new tips, tricks and tweaks for Chromebooks and Chromeboxes — Tech News and Analysis

tags: education chromebooks
DocsTeach

tags: education history primary sources

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

A Couple of Great US History Sites for Primary Source Documents and Activities

I attended a PD session this week, "Research Tools: Cure for the Common Core" presented by +Amy Whitfield and +Crystal Smith. They shared a number of great resources from Discus. It's always a "Why didn't I know that" kind of moment when people share the resources from Discus. There are just so many great resources available in Discus.

One resource they shared which was really interesting to me was DocsTeach from the National Archives. DocsTeach has access to thousands of primary source documents from the National Archives as well as tools and activities for teaching these documents in your class. One of my favorite parts of site is the "Activities" section. This section is loaded with interactive activities students can use to explore documents. You also have the option to create your own interactive activities with the documents.

The DocsTeach site got me thinking about another great resource for primary source documents and activities. This one from the Stanford History Group Education Group. This website provides some of the same types of documents but the focus is a little different. Not only does the Stanford Group have US History Documents they also have lessons for World History. It also feels to me like the Stanford site goes a little deeper with its content.

Under the Curriculum section of the website you can access Historical Thinking Matters, a site that works to get students to think historically. The other link under Curriculum is Reading Like a Historian, this "curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues. They learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence." If your looking to challenge your students then be sure to explore Beyond the Bubble. This part of the site allows you to assess 21st century skills with historical documents from the Library of Congress.

Take some time to explore these two sites. Both of these sites can provide you with resources to challenge your students and to encourage them to think like a historian. There is definitely a ton of information and resources available that can be used to help with close reading and other skills necessary for CCSS.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

ED Tech Resources 02/27/2014

50 Top Sources Of Free eLearning Courses

tags: education courses elearning
14 Excellent YouTube Math Channels for Teachers and Students ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

tags: education math tutorials
Eliminate Tech from the Education Discussion | My Island View

Interesting read with some excellent points.

tags: education tech
- skills that we as educators are charged to teach our kids will be used in a technology-driven society. The skills remain the same, but their application has drastically changed over the last decades.
- It should be a tool for curating data, collaborating, communicating, and creating. This requires an application of their learned skills to produce and create stuff in a format that society recognizes as relevant.
- technology needs not to be in discussions of education, but rather in how will the education of any kid be applied in an ever-evolving, technology-driven world in which tour kids will be required to live.
- Educators need to be digitally literate and that doesn’t happen on its own. It takes effort. The excuse of “too much on the plate already” doesn’t hold up against the argument of professional responsibility. The argument of education for the sake of education and the hell with technology doesn’t hold up in light of the technological world in which these kids will live. Yes, we need to do more, and it isn’t always easy. If we are to better educate our children, we need to better educate our educators.
Flippity.net: Easily Turn Google Spreadsheets into Online Flashcards

tags: education flashcards googledocs
- The place where you can easily convert a Google™ Spreadsheet into a set of online flashcards,
surprise.ly

Watch a YouTube video, without any of the clutter you normally see on a YouTube video. Input the URL, and the video is played against a black background.

tags: education youtube
That's What Everyone Says: 5 Free Tools For Effective Online Surveys

Some are free and some are much better if you pay.

tags: education tools
21st Century Educational Technology Classroom Infographic | e-Learning Infographics

tags: education
Another Study Demonstrates The Ineffectiveness Of Extrinsic Motivation, But Also Something More…. | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

tags: education motivation
Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: 3 Things We Need To Remember For Every Professional Development

tags: education professional development PD
- There
- are lots of ideas out there as to why teachers don't want to engage in PD. Many times the PD, when it is required, isn't meaningful.
- at the district level, teachers rarely got to choose the direction of the PD. Now, I understand, working at the district level there are just some things that we need to do PD on for one reason or another. But what has seemed to work well for us are buffet offerings. Several of our divisions like Title I, Social Studies and others have taken whole days and run them like a mini conference. There are sessions to choose from and the only requirement is that you attend a minimum amount of sessions for the day. Even better, teachers are the ones in charge of decided what will be presented and there are some really great offerings.
- Ideally the solution is on-demand, anytime PD.
- K.I.S.S
- Reflect. Reflect. Reflect.
- Play.
Multi-State, Quasi-Experimental Study of the Impact of Internet-Based, On-Demand Professional Learning on Student Performance | Shaha | International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE)

tags: education PD
Nik's Learning Technology Blog: Managing behaviour in the digital age

tags: education behaviour
- ClassCharts is a digital management tool which can help you, your students and their parents to track and improve student behaviour across the whole school.
Kaizena · Give Great Feedback

tags: education googledocs google assessment
Student Digital Portfolios: Redefining Assessment with iPads & Google Apps | Indiana Jen

tags: education portfolios googleapps assessment

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

How to Destroy Productivity.

So I came across this infographic the other day from Makeuseof, and it got me thinking about how technology is supposed to make our lives easier and more efficient. Jokes on us!

I'm guilty to some extent of all of these time killers. Numbers 3, 6 and 7...not so much (although I am the one that usually does the "bugging" with conversation). I am already starting to pay attention to what I am doing during the day to try to eliminate some of these time killers. How many are you guilty of? If there are some, you may want to try and change.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Let Them Explore and Problem Solve!

How much knowledge should a teacher have of a technology tool before they can start to use it in their classrooms?

Evidently everything! I talk to so many teachers who say they can't use a tool or resource in their classroom with their students because they, the teacher, don't know how to use the resource. I really believe it is time for teachers to let go and allow the students time to explore and figure somethings out for themselves. Isn't one of the key skills for a 21st century learner problem solving? How can students learn problem solving skills if we never allow them the opportunity?

My suggestions:

Build time into the learning that will give the students time to explore.
If students have questions about a technology resource, have them ask the other students for help.
Show them where the help feature is located. Technology resources typically have excellent help resources.