Tuesday, September 30, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/30/2014

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

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Monday, September 29, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/29/2014

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Sunday, September 28, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/28/2014

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Saturday, September 27, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/27/2014

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Friday, September 26, 2014

Formative Assessment: To grade or not to grade?


I recently participated in our district's "Standards Implementation" workshop with the high school implementation teams.  The main focus of the day was formative assessment.

Our district presented their definition and some of the defining characteristics of formative assessment.  Below is what I took away from our district definition and characteristics.

Formative assessment is the assessment of learning that takes place while the student is developing understanding of desired learning.  Formative assessment is tied to the standard and should occur in your classes frequently in order to inform instruction, provide evidence of learning and give timely specific feedback to the students.  Formative assessment is done individually or in groups, and it should be safe with no negative consequences, not used as a behavioral consequence and should not be graded.  

 One of the sticky points for teachers about formative assessment is the idea of not grading the work. Many teachers believe students will not do their best effort if there is not a grade attached to the assignment.  

 So my questions:
Should formative assessment be graded?  
Should it only be used to inform instruction and provide feedback to students?  
Will students put forth their best effort for work not graded?  

 Share your thoughts in the comments.
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#EdTech Resources 09/26/2014

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

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Thursday, September 25, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/25/2014

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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/24/2014

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Resources: Project Based Learning


Here's the list of PBL resources I have curated over the last couple of months.  Feel free to share.

PBL Resources 
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#EdTech Resources 09/23/2014

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

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Monday, September 22, 2014

Accessing Google Drive Offline

One of the first questions I always get from people when asking about Chromebooks " What happens when I don't have Internet access?" When Chromebooks first came out options were limited, but things are much better now.

Accessing your Google Drive offline is easy.  In fact, it's a default setting for Drive to be available offline if you are using the "New" Google Drive.  But to you may want to check to be sure.  Offline access is device specific.  If you have multiple devices you will need to do this on each device.


Steps to check Offline access for the New Google Drive:

1.  Access Google Drive click on the gear and then settings.











2.  Check to make sure Offline is checked and click done.


3.  Your documents will now be available offline.  You can edit and create while offline.  As soon as you access drive with a WiFi connection, your Drive will sync.

Steps for  setting up Classic Drive for offline.  (Why is anyone still using Classic Drive?)

1.  Access Drive.  On the left side select More.


2.  Then select offline.  You will need to have the Chrome Web App for offline access to work.  Download app if necessary and then enable offline access.  



















From Google:


  • Set up offline access in Google Drive. As soon as you do, all of your Google documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings will be available for offline viewing and editing. Because of space limitations, Drive stores at most 4,000 items or 5 GB of data offline.
  • Use Chrome. Offline access is not available in other browsers, but if you haven't already, give Chrome a try! Offline access is also available on Chrome devices. If you want to enable offline access on both your laptop and desktop computer, you'll need to set it up twice — once on each computer.
  • Use one account per Chrome profile. Multiple accounts can use Drive offline on the same computer, but each account will need to log in with a different Chrome profile.

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#EdTech Resources 09/22/2014

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

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/21/2014

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Saturday, September 20, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/20/2014

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Friday, September 19, 2014

Resources: Blended Learning

My collection of resources related to blended learning.

Blended Learning
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#EdTech Resources 09/19/2014

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

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Thursday, September 18, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/18/2014

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Wednesday, September 17, 2014

#EdTech Resources 09/17/2014

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

4 Ways Technology is Changing How People Learn

I came across this infographic on twitter and liked the simplicity.  As more and more districts move to 1:1 and BYOD teachers are going to be able to see these 4 shifts, but only if they allow change to occur in their classrooms.  My take on the shifts.

1.  Technology can naturally create an environment of collaboration.  Outside of classrooms people are collaborating with technology and don't even think about doing so.  In the classroom we still have a tendency to want to control the movement and interactions of students.  Teachers need to work towards allowing natural collaboration to occur in their classrooms with technology.  

2.  Technology allows students to be engaged in their learning with active, engaging activities.  No more is it necessary for students to sit and listen to a teacher provide them with information.  They can research and use a wide range of resources to learn while they create to demonstrate their learning.

3.  Without technology differentiation is extremely difficult to accomplish in a classroom.  Resources are more difficult to curate without the aid of technology.  Technology allows students the opportunity to control the pace, path,  and even the types of content resources they use.  Technology in the classroom allows teachers the opportunity to provide more formative assessments and remediate  for those who need remediation.  

4. Multitasking?  Can students really multitask?  There is lots of research suggesting that they can't do it or they can't do it well.   Time will tell.  But I do know that students are attempting to do more at once.
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