Check out our latest blog posts
iLearn is Powerful: A Stellar Review
No, literally. It’s a review about stars. And Nuclear energy. In the midst of the black hole of late-May learner attention spans.
This is just one of the many ways teachers are using iLearn (Moodle) to create learning opportunities and make learning more effective and efficient for students with the use of technology.
A Conversation with Ms. Chelsea Manning, Stout Social Studies Teacher
Over the last couple years, Amy and I have been engaged in close working relationships with teachers across the district as we seek to partner with them to help infuse technology into the learning environments they facilitate. We call these collaborative efforts Technology Integration Partnerships (TIPs). I recently followed up with one of the phenomenal teachers I’ve worked with over the last year or so, Ms. Chelsea Manning, 8th grade social studies teacher at Stout Middle School. We spent a little time reflecting on our experience working through a unit this spring.
Have a listen:
Tech Tip Tuesday: Copyright Infringement
The Dreaded Email As a Tech Coach, one of the most dreaded emails that always sends a slight wave of panic through me begins with the subject line: DMCA Violation Notice. In a nutshell, someone, somewhere has violated copyright on their blog, and the post must be...
Students Should Be the Ones Making the Case that They’re Proficient
What students should be doing at the end of our classes is making the case that they are proficient in the standards they were required to be proficient in by the end of our classes. And they should be supporting their case with evidence. [Read time: 2 min]
The Highly-Versatile, Differentiable, Embedded Assessment-Capable, Student-Paced Moodle Lesson Module
[Read time: 2 min] Lessons using the Moodle Lesson module can range from a very simple, linear progression of pages, to a more complex, branched pathway in which students can opt for different pathways, like the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books of yore. Lessons are self-paced and student-driven. Pages can deliver content (textual, audio, video, or a combination), or they can present students with a question that must be answered. Furthermore, students can be directed to specific pages (such as back to the previous page to look for the answer in the case of an incorrect response) based on the answer given. And, they’re easy to create.
Tech Tip Tuesday: YouTube Speed Adjustment
Did you know that you can adjust the speed of how quickly you watch YouTube videos? You can speed up or slow down a video, depending on your preference. Check out how...
Tech Tip Tuesday: Last Tab
Have you ever been working away diligently only to accidentally close a tab you didn't mean to close? Ever been circulating the room and notice someone feverishly closing tabs as you are heading their way? There is a keyboard shortcut that will help you recover the...
Tech Tip Tuesday: Undo Send in Gmail
Have you ever typed up an email and pushed the Send button, only to realize you really weren't ready to send it? Did you know that you can undo a sent email in Gmail? Let us show you how. . . In your settings, there is an "Undo send" feature. You can set the amount...
Peer Assessment of the Video Kind
As we’ve posed many times before, the Workshop is one of the best ways to allow students to peer assess with some accountability. Now, Ms. Cheryl Airgood, American Sign Language teacher at Dearborn High, has taken the Workshop to a new level with video. [Read time: 1 min]
Tech Tip Tuesday: Going Split-Screen on a Chromebook
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]
Tech Tip Tuesday: Build in Feedback (Teach While you Test)
One thing that is contributing to the sense of despair students feel in the midst of all the testing is the fact that they are on to us: they know that most of the testing they’re doing just allows us to gather data on them without having much immediate impact on their lives. [Read time: 1.5 min]
Supporting Students in Learning Vocabulary
Supporting students in their acquisition of new vocabulary is one of the most critical components of our teaching. Teachers who use Moodle (iLearn) have an advantage in this sense. Creating a glossary and setting it to auto-link vocabulary allows a teacher to enter...
Tech Tip Tuesday: The Many Uses of Screencasting
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....
Tech Tip Tuesday- Locking the Background in Google Slides
Oftentimes, teachers ask if they can lock the background on a Google Slide. Fortunately, not only is the answer yes, but there are a few different options for locking things down in Google Slides. One option is to set the background of the slide to the image you want...
Tech Tip Tuesday: Fun With Version Histories on Google Docs
Google Docs’ Version History feature can empower students to engage in rich conversation about their writing [Read time: 2 minutes]
Multiple-Misconceptions
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]
What’s Your (Instructional) Problem?
The key to meaningful technology integration in our classrooms [Read time: 1 min, 36 sec]
Tech Tip Tuesday: Have students create interactive timelines
There’s a great and relatively simple way for students to create interactive digital timelines using a Google Sheet template and a couple easy steps [Read time: 2 min]
DuVall Students Visit Antarctica (Virtually, Of Course!)
This Monday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to Kelly Cibasek’s third grade classroom at DuVall Elementary, where her class and Liz Morrison’s class took part in an internet Skype interview with a real, live field biologist. Jean Pennycook is currently stationed in Cape Royds, Antarctica, where she studies Adelie penguins. She follows them through their daily lives in the frozen tundra, observing and recording their behaviors such as feeding, breeding and child-rearing.
Students Seeking and Evaluating Feedback
What happens before and after a Moodle Workshop is just as valuable as what happens during.
Reminder: Free May Not Always Be Free
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.
How do I ...?
Meet the Tech Coaches
Teacher Perspectives
Dearborn Teachers discuss their experiences with using the Moodle Workshop module in their instrution.
Early Childhood / Preschool
Use technology in beneficial ways with your child
Google Apps
Help, tips, and hints for using Google Apps for Education (G Suite)
ePortfolios
Help students collect and curate artifacts of their work, set goals and develop plans.
Moodle
Transform the way students learn in your classroom with iLearn
iBlog
Form a working partnership with parents and students by communicating effectively
Accessibility
Everyone has a right to information. Learn how to make your materials accessible to all.
Technology for Lifelong Learning
As technology increases exponentially, learners in the 21st century have the opportunity to go far beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom. The available technology provided by the Dearborn Schools allows students to interact in the digital community, collaborate with peers, and engage with the world from their seats in our classrooms. The possibilities for learning know no boundaries online. Learn how to help students become lifelong learners in the digital community.Our Goal
The goal of instructional technology coaches is to help teachers become effective at using technology to provide the most technology-rich, positive learning environments possible. To this end, we believe effective teachers…- Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
- Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments.
- Model digital age work and learning.
- Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.
- Engage in professional growth and leadership.
from Standards for Teachers.
