There’s occasionally a need to view two different windows simultaneously on your computer. Whether it’s for the purpose of recording grades from Google Classroom into MiStar or taking notes on a Google Doc while watching a video on YouTube, you may have already struggled with manually orienting the windows to fit side-by-side. [Read time: 30 seconds]
What is Screencasting? Many of you are aware of a free screencasting tool available to you and your students, called Screencastify. If you aren’t, Screencastify is a user-friendly tool to record your computer screen and allows you to record voiceover as well. Students as Screencasters In above example, a third grader uses screencasting to explain…
Google Docs’ Version History feature can empower students to engage in rich conversation about their writing [Read time: 2 minutes]
Assessments, just like anything else that happens in our classrooms, are learning experiences. But the way we administer them may cause students to learn false information. [Read time: 2 min]
The key to meaningful technology integration in our classrooms [Read time: 1 min, 36 sec]
What happens before and after a Moodle Workshop is just as valuable as what happens during.
We need to invest our time and energy, and that of our students in what is sustainable: in the tools that we can build over time and that will not be swept out from under our feet too easily. But we also need to help students develop habits that can withstand change in online tools, to establish ways of doing things that acknowledge that tomorrow could be entirely different, and to be able to do things in a variety of ways.
Technology is not inherently harmful. But it does have a way of amplifying our character traits. Think about how many emails you’ve sent that you wish you hadn’t. It’s also not inherently beneficial, either. One battle we have fought in education and continue to fight is the battle of “we’re using technology, so everything must be all good.” This is far from the truth. The goal with educational technology should not simply be to use more technology.
I’d like to propose a model for a technology-infused lesson that could be modified to fit any curriculum, any topic, almost any level. Over the past several years, among other things, I’ve tried to develop a tangible, realistic way for students to engage in inquiry, harness the power of technology and learn to do the things they will need to be able to do in the real world — and for teachers to spend their time being facilitators, guides, and coaches of their students. This is where I’m at so far…
Over the past 12 years, many teachers in our district have tried using Moodle (in Dearborn, we call our Moodle site iLearn). A few absolutely took off with it. Many of those teachers are still using it, and at increasingly higher levels each year. Most, however, got started, got lost, and got out. It’s hard…
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