Digital Learning Day

Teachers and students at our school enthusiastically participated in the second annual Digital Learning Day, a nation-wide initiative to promote and celebrate the use of instructional technologies. We joined nearly 25,000 teachers and millions of students across the country in an effort to recognize successful digital learning practices. Digital learning is changing education in powerful ways, and the benefits are obvious: when given access to digital tools, our students exhibit higher levels of engagement and demonstrate the ability to access information, create, think critically and communicate globally. This collage represents just some of the digital learning happening at our school on February 6, 2013, which is not much different from the digital learning that happens here every day!

Assessment Tools for 21st Century Teaching

Finding time and efficient ways to assess students is one challenge for classroom teachers that can be eased with technology. There are numerous online assessment tools and iPad apps specifically designed to help educators meet Common Core Standards, track student progress, facilitate grading, monitor student behavior, and generate reports. Many of them are available for a free trial period, or as free basic versions (typically with a cost for upgrading to premium levels).

Mastery Connectt is a promising assessment tool available both online, and as an iPad app. Once you register for the free version, you can specify the standards you choose to track, including Common Core and any state standards. The free version provides tools for creating assessments, and for collaborating with other teachers, either in your school or with any teachers in the Mastery Connect community. The formative assessments and mastery tracking tools are easy to use, and the video tutorials and sample assessments can help you quickly get started. The ability to track skill mastery based on specific standards is impressive, and will be more so as the library of assessments is built by contributions from other teachers. While you can search for assessment to upload, you may find that you need to create your own until the Mastery Connect community becomes more active. Watch this NutShell video for an overview of Mastery Connect:

Socrative is an excellent formative assessment tool that can be used with students on iPads or any Internet-connected device. After signing up for a free teacher account,teachers can create or import quizzes (either multiple choice or short answer). Socrative generates a "room number," which students enter from the student version of the Socrative website or app. Once the teacher starts a quiz, students are able to take the assessment, and teachers can instantly see and graphically display the results. Socrative accomplishes the same results as hand-held clicker devices, such as the SMART Senteos, in a much easier and more cost-effective way.

Quia is full-featured online assessment website that provides a variety of tools, including templates for creating 16 types of assessments, tools for creating and grading quizzes, and access to millions of previously created online activities. Quia charges a subscription fee, but you can try if for free for 30 days.

Class DoJo is online behavior management software that can also be downloaded as an iPad app. The software is designed to help teachers improve student conduct and engagement by recording specific behaviors and generating awards for good behavior. Students tend to be motivated by the fun interface and immediate feedback.

iWorksheet is a free iPad app that provides a very simple way to administer multiple choice assessments. Teachers can add easily add worksheets to the app by snapping a picture of a paper worksheet with the iPad camera. Once worksheets are added they can be saved for easy retrieval. At this point iWorksheet only supports multiple-choice assessments, but I expect that features will be expanded in the future.

Blubbr is in beta, so may not be quite ready for prime time, but it looks like it might be a very engaging classroom assessment tool. The website allows you to create and play trivia games based on YouTube clips. There are now over 150 existing video-based trivia games in Blubbr's Education category, covering subjects such as the solar system, American presidents, and how to write a good essay. You can check it out (and check your musical knowledge) by playing the Peter and the Wolf Quiz. I think the best feature of Blubbr is that you can create and share your own trivia games. This is an assessment tool that you and your students can have some fun with!

What Does it Mean to Teach in the 21st Century?

This presentation compiling the big ideas of leaders in instructional technology perfectly summarizes what it means to effectively teach students today. With information a click away, the role of teachers has shifted. We have a big responsibility to engage students with digital tools, and help them learn to filter information effectively and responsibly. As the presentation suggests, teachers can start small: choose one thing to add to your next unit to better engage students with 21st century tools.

Math Live

MathLive is an educationally-sound, completely full-featured online tool that can help introduce math concepts and encourage problem-solving skills. Each video-based episode includes an animated overview of a math topic, interactive tools, teacher notes, activity sheets, and assessments. Created for educators in Alberta, MathLive is entirely free (there's no "premium" content or ads encouraging "upgrades). The videos use Flash technology, so this site isn't accessible on iPads, but it is ideal for use with classroom projectors and interactive whiteboards.

Road to Grammar

Road to Grammar Based on an online program originally intended for English Language Learners, Road to Grammar Junior provides an interactive tool for teaching and reinforcing understanding of English grammar for students ages 7 to 13, and of course, for ELL students. There are 350 quizzes on all parts of speech, although elementary students may find some a bit advanced. Click "Show only easy quizzes" to reduce the list to a more appropriate level. There is also a selection of fun games that reinforce grammar fluency. Road to Grammar is free, and includes only a minimum of advertising.

Thinglink Interactive Images

Thinglink is a very cool application for creating interactive images. Simply upload any photo or image to Thinglink, and add tags to label and embed hyperlinks. The educational possibilities are limitless. Teachers can upload and tag historical images for a social studies lesson, tag famous paintings for an art lesson, or tag a map or images related to a school (or virtual)field trip. In my example, I uploaded a photo I took of the Massachusetts State House, and added a few tags that lead to more information about the building, the architect, and the state flag. I also embedded the image below, so that you can see who easily you can view and interact with images embedded in a blog or classroom webpage. Teachers can also allow students to edit and add links to images for a more collaborative style of learning. For example, students could be asked to add tags identifying elements of a map or historic landmark. Thinglink images can be shared on blogs, wikis, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and via email. A free subscription to Thinglink allows a maximum of 50 image uploads; educators can upgrade to a discounted monthly fee-based subscription for expanded features.

Alternatives to PowerPoint

If you can use PowerPoint, you can easily learn to use any of the web-based tools for creating presentations. And you should. Online presentations are better for collaborating and sharing your presentations, and are more likely to engage your audience. Some of the advantages for educational applications include the fact that online presentations are completely mobile (no need for flash drives or emailing files), are compatible with any device, including iPads and other handhelds (Apple vs PC problems solved), and allow audience participation (perfect for peer review and student feedback). Here are a few excellent alternatives to PowerPoint:

Although geared for business, the free Lite version of SlideRocket is ideal for education. Students & teachers will find inspiration from the gallery of sample presentations and creative themes and can easily enhance their presentations with the intuitive tools for adding graphics, transitions, and music. You can easily import an existing PowerPoint to SlideRocket, and of course, view it on your computer, iPad, or iPhone.

Prezi is ideal for visual learners or anyone seeking to create a unique presentation. With its “zoomable” canvas, “zebra” editing tools, and navigational paths, Prezi is fun and easy to use, and a powerful tool for cloud-based presentations. I really like that there is an educational version, which promotes sharing and reusing presentations and provides a forum for inspiration and learning in an educationally-appropriate community. There are articles,lessons, and forums for educators and students to explore and share. I have been amazed by how creative students can be when allowed to create their own Prezis. Here’s my own Prezi (not nearly as imaginative as what a typical 6th-grader can do) about technology at Blanchard. You can view Prezis anywhere, including with the free iPad app.

Google Presentations is a great option for Google fans and any schools using Google Apps. With a library of creative themes and the ability to import slides from PowerPoint and open and edit any other types of presentations, Google offers a lot of flexibility and power. All your presentations are automatically saved and stored in Google Drive, so they can be very easily accessed and shared from anywhere, with any device. Watch my slide show below to see Google Presentation in action and learn more about its features, including the ability to embed YouTube videos:

If you are still loyal to PowerPoint but want to be mobile, you can download the SlideShark iPad app, upload PowerPoint files for free, and view and share your presentations on an iPad. Most features, including graphics, colors, and animations transfer with SlideShark, making it a must-have app for anyone using PowerPoint and an iPad.

Another option for sharing PowerPoint slides across any platform and with any device is SlideShare. While some features, including animations and transitions, may be compromised, SlideShare is a simple solution to the dilemma of students using software or devices at home that are incompatible with school computers. Simply upload files from PowerPoint, Keynote, Open Office, or even documents and videos, and your files will be in the cloud, easily accessible and available for sharing.

TED-Ed and other video resources

This article published on the Forbes website explores the challenges of accessing quality educational video content for the classroom, and cites some of the best resources for online educational videos, including the newly introduced TED-Ed Channel.

SweetSearch: A New Alternative to Google.

With several hundred million search queries each day, Google is the undisputed leader in search engines. There's a reason why "google" is widely used as a verb! But for many types of Internet searches, especially for students, Google is not always the best choice. I recommend several alternatives for students, including several which are actually customized google search engines designed for kids: www.askkids.com, www.kidrex.org, www.gogooligans.com, and www.kidsclick.org.

Now there's another promising alternative to Google. SweetSearch was created to address the reality that most students cannot effectively conduct online research. Results from a Google search are simply too overwheming, and often not educationally appropriate. SweetSearch (which is a customized version of Google) can help kids find better information more quickly, and will return only content that has been researched, evaluated, and approved by a team of researchers, teachers, and librarians. I tried searching a few topics and was impressed with the quality and organization of the results. There are several neat features, inlcuding SweetSearch Biographies, which includes profiles of over 1,000 famous people. A word of caution, however: before conducting a search lesson with young students, I strongly recommend testing the search results first. Even search engines designed for children can yield unexpected, and possibly undesirable, results!

Learning to Change-Changing to Learn

"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow."
~ John Dewey

I'm the first to admit that keeping up with and learning emerging technologies can be overwhelming, but the alternative is worse. It's the responsibility of all educators to prepare students for the future, and in the 21st century, that means providng opportunities for digital learning. This video is a helpful reminder of why we need to provide our students with a learning environment that resembles-prepares them for-the real world.

Random Name Picker: The Fruit Machine

ClassTools.net offers this neat tool for randomly selecting student names or words. It's fully editable, and plays interactively--including sound effects--so that you can use it with your interactive whiteboard. The fact that it's web-based means you don't have to download anything to your computer, and you can access it from anywhere.

SMART Notebook Express

SMART Notebook Express is a free online utility that provides a way to view, save, and interact with SMART Notebook files, even if you don't have a SMARTBoard in your classroom, or a licensed version of SMART Notebook Software. This is a great solution for school districts that have mutliple platforms for interactive whiteboards. Educators can now easily and freely share files online, or, if not freqently connected to the Internet, download a free version of SMART Notebook Express to their own computer. With just a computer and a projector teachers can display SMART Notebook files that were previously only accessible to classrooms equipped with a SMARTBoard. Best of all, SMART Notebook Express allows educators to access and download the extensive library of lessons available on SMART Exchange. While not all features of the lessons will work with Notebook Express, the ability to share SMART lessons across multiple platforms and without a significant investment in interactive whiteboard technologies is a tremendous benefit. Click here to begin opening and creating your own Notebook files.