Edtech Co-Op Show 21: Multimedia Essays in Language Arts

Essential Question: How can technology and visual literacy connect with key ideas in writing while engaging students with 21st century skills?

Guest: Kerri Mahoney of the College of William and Mary

Tips of the Week:

David- Knowmia is a clearinghouse of tutorials across all disciplines for high school students. Like Khan Academy and doing a search on YouTube, it offers support and enrichment opportunities for self-directed students. Students just need to use their information and media literacies to compare and evaluate the sources they draw from.

Mark- I’m a big proponent of project-based learning (PBL), but have always struggled with the assessment piece. I came across a great article from Edutopia called Practical PBL: The Ongoing Challenge of Assessment. The author, Katie Piper raises some good issues and provides some good ideas to think about. Get more information about Kerri’s multimedia essays at the site she created. Kerri's site on Multimedia Essays- not only see examples of student essays but get further information on how to implement this instructional strategy in your classroom.

Next Show- Mark shares about using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in one’s teaching and how he helps his pre-service teachers use it in their lesson design work.

Edtech Co-Op Show 20: Using Evernote for Class Notetaking & Reflections from the Flipped Classroom Conference

Essential Question: How can digital note taking tools support learning in and out of the classroom?

Guest: Chris Ros of Alexandria Country Day School

Tips of the Week:
 
Chris- How to get things done by using Walt Disney’s 3 phase creativity strategy to come up with out of the box thinking. Three stages: Dreamer- think big; Critic -analyze the ideas; Realist - practical - how to make it happen.
 
David- To help students stay focused doing one task at a time, be efficient, help to be more productive and not try to multitask, look to use the Pomodoro Technique of working in 25 minute intervals with short breaks using a timer.

Mark- Paperless - great iBook from David Sparks that shares different workflows for eliminating or at least reducing our reliance on paper. It’s also a great example of some of the potential of iBooks as a platform for ebooks on the iPad.

Links:

Flip Your Classroom by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams


Next Show- Kerri Mahoney, high school English teacher and W&M Curriculum and Ed Tech doctoral student.

Edtech Co-Op Show 19: Piloting a 1:1 Tablet Program and Writing Your Own Textbook

Show 19: Piloting a 1:1 Tablet Program and Writing Your Own Textbook
   
Essential Question: How can writing one’s own textbook help support a 1:1 program?

 

 

Guest: Chris Ros of Alexandria Country Day School


Tips of the Week:

Chris- Books to add to your reading list:

The World Without Fish, The Nature Principle, Lifetime of Observations... Coach Wooden

Mark- Mightybell Spaces - great way to share collections of materials - Web pages, images, videos, etc.

David- Challenge-based learning from Apple site and the Challenge-based Learning website for examples. Project and inquiry-oriented with very real world practicality. Follows the normal research process of choosing a topic area to then do a little research, question creation followed by choosing a problem (the challenge) that needs solving. Push to use research skills and contact with members of the community to gather data and develop answers to the essential questions. Apple Distinguised Edcuators work in teams to create a challenge-based unit when they go through their initial training.  The Learning Mag for online textbook creation.

Next Show- We interview Chris a second time to discuss using Evernote for class note taking & hear his reflections from attending the Flipped Classroom Conference over the summer.

Edtech Co-Op Show 18: Preservice Teacher Preparation (Season 2)

Essential Question: What should preservice teachers know and be able to do to effectively integrate technology in their teaching?


In this show Mark shares the different tracks students can follow at the College of William & Mary's School of Education to be prepared to become teachers. David offers a few ideas on what he looks for in teachers in terms of the importance of colloboration and willingness to take risks. Mark makes a direct connection by sharing some aspects of the classes students take and how his class on technology integration gives students experience in using technology to support learning.

 

Tips of the Week:

Mark- This week I came across a nice article by Lisa Michelle Dabbs on Edutopia on Five Tips for New Teachers to Become Connected Educators. These are great ideas not just for new teachers but all teachers who want to connect with others as the new year begins.
 
David- Diane Rehm's show on universities providing more online learning course with emphasis on MOOCs. Excellent panel discussion.

Blog posts on being a 21st Century Educator:

Ed Tech Co-Op Show 17: Year in Review

Essential Question: What are some of the highlights from our discussions from this past year of podcasting that we can follow up upon?

In this show, David and Mark discuss some of the highlights from shows through the school year including, efolios, the ACDS iPad initiative, digital textbook creation, and mobile devices. We'll be taking a hiatus for the summer. We'll be back and better than ever in August! Happy summer.

A few of the sites mentioned in the show:
Tips of the Week
David: It is so important to show students quality student created videos to inspire and help guide them. Here are a few:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psi-vid/2012/05/02/meet-science-film-phenom-sophia-pink/ 
 
 
Mark: Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning is a great book by media literacy guru Renee Hobbs. It takes a more positive approach to copyright and fair use and emphasizes what teachers and students are permitted to do with Fair Use rather than focusing on a myriad of restrictions.  It’s very readible and interesting with good clear advice for teachers, school library media specialists and administrators. It’s great on my $79 Kindle.

Ed Tech Co-Op Show 16: Student-Created Virtual Exhibits

Essential Questions: How to challenge students to design and implement their virtual exhibits and along the way to put students into the roles of researchers, designers and creators to publish virtual exhibits?


In this show David and Mark introduce the idea of student-created virtual exhibits as a means to both engage students in powerful ITL skills as well as to meet content standards. This is the first discussion in a series in which both David and Mark will follow up on how teachers leverage this approach in the classroom.

Tips of the Week:

Mark: Gapminder is an amazing data visualization site that brings together mathematics, science and social studies in ways that I’ve never seen on another site before. With their visually stunning interactive tools, students can visually explore hundreds of data sets around a crazy variety of topics. There is also a new section on the site for teachers that offers featured resources and examples for classroom teachers. There are also some amazing videos developed by Gapminder creator, Hans Rosling. A second site connecting to online exhibits is the BBC-Your Paintings. The site lets you curate your own collection among other provided functions.
 
David: The Edreach podcast with Sylvia Martinez of GenYES offer both a great podcast and some posts on constructivist learning of math and Khan Academy.  

Ed Tech Co-Op Show 15: eFolios for Students and Educators Part 1

Essential Question: How to use efolios for student learning and assessment? How to use efolios for teacher reflection and communicating one’s professional profile?


In this show, David and Mark begin a conversation about eFolios for both students and educators. In this part one, we focus on eFolios in teacher preparation and for professional efolios for experienced teachers.

Tips of the Week>

Mark: Wikispaces is a wonderful wiki service for teachers. Wikspaces provides a low threshold means for teachers to collaborate, publishing and share student work online with a high ceiling. They offer free upgraded individual accounts for teachers as well as excellent private label service for schools.

David: Andrea Smith’s eFolio is a great example of a professional efolio.

 

Shifted Practice>

David shares a WebQuest he did with Second Graders at Alexandria Country Day School.

 

Next Show> Virtual Exhibits

ePorfolio Sites:
  • Framework for Developing ePortfolios
  • Rubric for Assessing Student Portfolios
  • Electronic Portfolios by Dr. Helen Barrett (PD provider)
  • Reflection for Learning
  • Framework for Developing ePortfolios by Dr. Barrett
  • K-12 Framework by Dr. Barrett
  • ePortfolio Academy (interesting flowchart)
  • Googlios (using Google for portfolios)
  • California School System PD for ePortfolios
  • Blog Post by a Fifth Grade Teacher on Her Use of ePortfolios
  • Blog Post on the Value of Students Blogging and Using ePortfolios
  • Carbonmade (e-Portfolios by adults for design ideas)
  • Teacher Example (offers examples of work that help students meet standards that one could do around Essential Questions)
  • eFolio Site for W & M Students Building Portfolios
  • School and District Examples of Student Portfolios
  • Creating the Structure of eFolios
  • 5th Grade Example
  • Video eFolios
  • Value of Online Branding of Oneself

Ed Tech Co-Op Podcast Show 14 - ACDS iPad Pilot Program Part 2

Essential Question: How have the video and audio recording tools in the iPad as well as the apps enhanced learning? What were the lessons learned?

 Mark and David discuss the second segment of David’s interview with the two fifth grade teachers who are piloting the iPads at Alexandria Country Day School. Michelle Cook and Margi Weaver share their insights on how the iPads and the focus on project-based learning are affecting learning at ACDS

Tip of the Week>

Mark: App Learning Tasks is a great Google Spreadsheet created by Brad Wilson at www.21innovate.com is a great resource for apps categorized according to content area, kind of learning action (e.g., calculate, teach, locate, deduce) and whether is free/pay.  It would be a great place for a teacher to start in combing through apps available for the classroom.

David: Another helpful approach to reviewing and developing one’s curriculum is using Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT system. Take a look at the About Learning website which provides a great deal of information about using 4MAT in your curriculum work.

Shifted Practice> Lily Bentley of Alexandria Country Day School

Next Show> Chris Ros, Science Teacher and Administrator at Alexandria Country Day School

Ed Tech Co-Op Podcast Show 13 - ACDS iPad Pilot Program Part 1

Essential Question: How are the iPads, project-based learning and online collaborative tools impacting learning at ACDS?  

In this show, Mark and David discuss the first segment of David’s interview with the two fifth grade teachers piloted the iPads at David’s school. Michelle Cook and Margi Weaver share their insights on how the iPads and the focus on project-based learning are affecting learning at ACDS.
 
 
Tips of the Week:

Mark: Evernote is a very flexible tool to capture your notes, ideas, and help to organize your life. In the Web, PC, iPhone, iPad, and/or Android app, users can create notes including text, images, and audio, organize them into folders, and share them with other users. The data is synced automatically across all devices. The tagline is "remember everything" - something that can be incredibly helpful for teachers and students alike. Evernote Essentials is a really detailed and helpful ebook to get you started. Here is a great blog post on 10 ways to use evernote in the classroom.

David: Laura Carew, First Grade Teacher at ACDS shared the Teachers Pay Teachers curriculum site. It is a marketplace for teachers to sell their lessons, unit plans, etc. The National Association of Independent Schools publishes a free downloadable “Stories of Excellence: Case Studies of Exemplary Teaching and Learning with Technology”. They are gearing up for new entries so interested teachers at independent schools might want to look into sharing their lessons/units of study.

Shifted Practices:

Michelle Cook


Next Show: Segment 2 of the interview

Ed Tech Co-Op Podcast Show 12 - Shifting Practices in Higher Education

Essential Question: Where are we with teaching and learning in higher education - Shifting or Stagnating?

David and Mark are joined this week by Jeff Nugent from the . We also introduce a new segment called Shifted Practices where educators share an example from their classroom on ways they are using technology to enhance the teaching and learning experience. This week Elizabeth Lockwood, librarian at Alexandria Country Day School, shares a wonderful example of her shifted practice.

In this show, David, Jeff, and Mark discuss ways in which technology plays out in higher education. In a wide-ranging discussion, we explore ways in which we see technology enabling more student-centered approaches to teaching in higher education.

Tips of the Week:

Jeff- Udacity is a very interesting start-up company developed by former Stanford Professor Sebastian Thrun. Udacity was founded by three roboticists who believed much of the educational value of their university classes could be offered online. A few weeks later, over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled in our first class, "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence." This may be a really interesting vision to where higher education is going.
 
Mark- Thanks to David, I’ve rediscovered the Bit by Bit Seedlings podcast. They were on my podcast list for a few years, but for whatever reason, the fell off my radar. They have some really insightful conversations about technology integration.  In the last couple of shows (Show 126 and 127) they’ve had particularly interesting conversations with Mike Muir from Projects4Me and Multiple Pathways.  Great, substantive conversations about shifted practices and new ways of thinking about education. Give them a listen.
 
David- I am really enjoying the podcasts from the EdReach Network. The assistant head of school at ACDS, Nishant Mehta, heard of my hope that future iBooks will have the function of being able to type in notes, draw/script notes, diagrams, etc. and be able to imbed audio recordings. He shared that the Notability app can do all three functions. Another wish from my blog post on iPad was that one could switch screens without going to the home button. One of our students showed us that with “gestures” turned on, you can use your whole hand to swipe to another app that you previously opened. Thus one can be reading an iBook and swipe to Notability to take notes in the format of your choice.