tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68755245486222231762023-11-16T13:58:08.506-05:00I Heart EdTechMrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-42113115128581436282014-07-06T21:41:00.002-04:002014-07-06T21:42:17.646-04:00This Blog has MOVED!Update your bookmarks... in my previous post I indicated a new EdTech change on the horizon - I'm headed back into the classroom and will be teaching Digital Learning and Digital Video Production in the fall! I'm super excited about the upcoming school year, and in an effort to create a one-stop-shop website that includes all of my classroom information and resources for students and parents, I've moved this blog over to my new teacher website at <a href="http://mrskarpiuk.com/">mrskarpiuk.com</a>. All of my previous posts from this site have been moved there now, and I will no longer continue to update this Blogger site. <b>All new and future posts will occur at <a href="http://mrskarpiuk.com/blog">mrskarpiuk.com/blog</a> going forward</b>.<br />
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Hope to see you at my new website! Thanks for reading and following, and don't forget to update your bookmarks.<br />
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Mrs. Karpiuk, aka @IHeartEdTechMrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-65844200690911717182014-05-28T15:03:00.001-04:002014-05-28T15:03:49.216-04:00A New EdTech Adventure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx4SY5UxBre_PGP-Nwn2xjk_fqbdBKo1nHNLjC3dGfey9UT0lVUKLcl6aIttE2EV2jnO0v5cd1wFWVNvLHWBT1wT690ERFyx8nPzWvJmYgHZDG6JbyssXFZoIamraybuCXE8cN50kJKjWB/s1600/newedtechadventure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx4SY5UxBre_PGP-Nwn2xjk_fqbdBKo1nHNLjC3dGfey9UT0lVUKLcl6aIttE2EV2jnO0v5cd1wFWVNvLHWBT1wT690ERFyx8nPzWvJmYgHZDG6JbyssXFZoIamraybuCXE8cN50kJKjWB/s1600/newedtechadventure.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Greetings! I've been MIA since my last post in February, but for good reason: I just returned from maternity leave! My daughter was born on February 20, and I returned to work yesterday after a glorious three month leave with her. Sorry it has been so quiet around here, but I'm sure you understand...<br />
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Though I was on leave, I still lurked on the #edtech and #edchat Twitter hashtags and <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/IHeartEdTech/">pinned</a> a bunch of things to save and address upon my return. And now that I've returned, a new edtech adventure is on the horizon for me; I will be teaching Digital Learning as well as Digital Video Production next school year at one of our middle schools. Though the instructional technology coaching position is going away, I am excited about the new challenges and getting to put a lot of the resources and ideas I've curated over the past four years to use in a classroom with students. Before I was an instructional technology coach I taught Computer Applications at the middle school level, so being a secondary tech teacher is familiar and something I truly enjoyed and am happy to get the opportunity to do again. Just THINK of all of the things I've learned in my current position that I now get to apply in a classroom! <br />
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It will probably be quiet again around here this summer as I enjoy time with my new baby and almost three-year-old son and start planning for next school year, but I'm looking forward to the direction this blog will go in August as I begin implementing the new digital learning curriculum. I hope to continue to share great edtech ideas for teachers, but I'll also be able to share projects that we're actually doing in class and what went well or didn't go so well. Thanks for joining me on this new adventure, and see you next school year!Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-32615083302107496202014-02-04T12:41:00.005-05:002014-02-04T12:42:57.119-05:00Creative Commons Search: Find Content You Can Share, Use and Remix<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittkf7LR-l-1yvY1dhBiiYyd3jvj6P5doignYrXjNSAzXzeEby8N4mtHYjygl_HTtjUWnk4CTjDwJJ4fnRGKE0MGCE6x_VeDUfe6uYbIWgLC5DBETyfJG1QAxJySTyJm5htJpBAWbP6Hhb/s1600/ccsearch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittkf7LR-l-1yvY1dhBiiYyd3jvj6P5doignYrXjNSAzXzeEby8N4mtHYjygl_HTtjUWnk4CTjDwJJ4fnRGKE0MGCE6x_VeDUfe6uYbIWgLC5DBETyfJG1QAxJySTyJm5htJpBAWbP6Hhb/s1600/ccsearch.png" height="88" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CreativeCommons.org</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When students need multimedia like images to use in their projects, I cringe at how quickly (and without a second thought) they do a Google Image search and pop the first thing they find right into their project and move on. While teaching students (and adults!) the importance of respecting copyright and attribution isn't a new thing, it certainly has become more of a challenge in a world where we're inundated with multimedia being shared all over the internet all the time, and the internet is such an integral part of our everyday routines.<br />
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Here's where Creative Commons comes in. Authors can choose to publish their work under a Creative Commons license to adjust copyright stipulations, which may allow the work to be shared, used, or remixed by others. From the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about" target="_blank">Creative Commons website</a>: <br />
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<i><b>What is Creative Commons?</b></i><br />
<ul>
<li><i>
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing
and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.
</i></li>
</ul>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Our free, easy-to-use <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">copyright licenses</a>
provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to
share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC
licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of
“all rights reserved” to “<a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ#What_does_.22Some_Rights_Reserved.22_mean.3F">some rights reserved</a>.”
</i></li>
</ul>
<i>
</i>
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<ul>
<li><i>
Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ#How_do_CC_licenses_operate.3F">They work alongside copyright</a> and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.
</i></li>
</ul>
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Okay, so it's good to know that some people may have images out there available for you to adapt or use in education, but how do you search among images (or other works) that fall under Creative Commons in your classroom?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcdx_SUAPgJq7kYi46C3Z2BKlIxrDGKosiKptSwVFxxHpsJiM7puXNQp8Fle3Sd5abes1vLeLGwWcyZtq429TLkd2Bdq6e-gRfFWrO-RCKbc0wi47rSrZMOxBmGwvVAvLGRiuz1PsFeME/s1600/ccsearchquery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcdx_SUAPgJq7kYi46C3Z2BKlIxrDGKosiKptSwVFxxHpsJiM7puXNQp8Fle3Sd5abes1vLeLGwWcyZtq429TLkd2Bdq6e-gRfFWrO-RCKbc0wi47rSrZMOxBmGwvVAvLGRiuz1PsFeME/s1600/ccsearchquery.png" height="50" width="400" /></a></div>
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The CC website has a <a href="http://search.creativecommons.org/" target="_blank">CreativeCommons.org search</a> feature. It links to other sites' Creative Commons search services like Flickr, Google Images, and YouTube. It's a convenient way to let you search all of those other services in one place right from the CreativeCommons website instead of going to all of these places independently and doing the same search ten times. There is a disclaimer, however:<br />
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<b>Please note that search.creativecommons.org is <i>not a search engine</i>,
but rather offers convenient access to search services provided by
other independent organizations. CC has no control over the results that
are returned. <i>Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license</i>.
You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license
by following the link. Since there is no registration to use a CC
license, CC has no way to determine what has and hasn't been placed
under the terms of a CC license. If you are in doubt you should contact
the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you
found the content. </b><br />
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Just remember to always verify the results that are returned when you search at CreativeCommons to ensure that the CC license for the work allows you to use it in the way you want to use it. (Or that it really is licensed under CC!) But this is a good starting point to find potential images that can be used safely and legally in education, and still encourages students to check ownership and correctly attribute works that they find online. It teaches the importance of not just running out and grabbing any image on Google Image search and looking closely at licenses and respecting ownership for copyrighted works.<br />
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Want to learn more about CreativeCommons? Check out their <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about">About</a> page for a video explanation, information, and the history behind the CC movement.You can also find out how YOU can publish under a CreativeCommons license as well!Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-77288141831568593382014-01-23T14:08:00.000-05:002014-01-23T14:08:45.588-05:00Quickly Accessing Resources in a BYOD Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our district is using a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) model, and just last week I worked with all five second grade classrooms at one of our buildings as they brought in their devices for the first time, which was an exciting and fairly large scale project! Their goal was to use some of the databases we provide to our students to do some research.<br />
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The first day of bringing in devices can be a little bumpy and seem a little time consuming, but that's usually just because it's the first time students have connected to the district's wireless network and they may need help (especially in the primary grades) with this step. The good news is that going forward, their device will remember and auto-connect to the school's wireless the next time they bring it to class, so this is usually only a bump on day one that you don't have to take time to address every time. <br />
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The other piece to make BYOD successful in the classroom is quick and easy access to the resources students need for the lesson. Every second of instructional time is important, and you don't want students to waste time fumbling to find a variety of sources all over the Internet. To make it more streamlined for kids, I recommend putting together a BYOD page on your classroom website with all of the curated resources they'll need for the day in one place. Chances are, your students are well versed in getting to your classroom website, and because you can edit your BYOD resources page any time, you can edit it ahead of a lesson to make the links relevant for the day on the fly. (And house commonly used resources you want kids to have quick access to!)<br />
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But even with our students well versed in finding their teacher's classroom website, there's still the steps of going out to the web browser, searching for their school, then browsing the school website with a few clicks to finally get to your classroom webpage. So to make this one step simpler for kids, take the time to teach them how to set a bookmark directly to your BYOD resource page of your website.<br />
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Adding a bookmark in your device's browser (or directly on the "desktop" of the device, which is even faster!) will vary depending on the device you're using, but the process is fairly similar. In our district I see mostly iOS devices, with Kindles coming in second and Android coming in third... so my instructions will focus on these three devices. And depending on whether it's a phone or tablet or which model, the instructions may vary a tiny bit. Don't forget you can Google or YouTube to find specific instructions to help add a bookmark to your device's "desktop" if the below doesn't help. I promise that someone out there has documented what you need already!<br />
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<u><b>iOS</b></u><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_G3TpQCf1-AmOQCQ9McFDJz2Usd8wUXWBIZDkSA7iCDIejDKuMBBwQpoZCpikKmDylwli8rdxwM61sXbpoX64rrZgiSXwt03E69ShmiLB4bbx07O-28mwJYI-mmbdJrQqkiMdFzRDPsy/s1600/ios_addtohome.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_G3TpQCf1-AmOQCQ9McFDJz2Usd8wUXWBIZDkSA7iCDIejDKuMBBwQpoZCpikKmDylwli8rdxwM61sXbpoX64rrZgiSXwt03E69ShmiLB4bbx07O-28mwJYI-mmbdJrQqkiMdFzRDPsy/s1600/ios_addtohome.png" height="153" width="320" /></a>1. Go to the specific webpage you wish to bookmark in your Safari browser.<br />
2. Click the<b> up arrow icon</b> next to the address bar.<br />
3. Select the <b>Add to Home Screen</b> option. This will place an icon on the desktop for students amongst their app icons. (They have the option to modify its name.) It can be moved around and organized on the home screen like any other app. So simple!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5zBM5JYEEdw-1XNGRUUIkoAEd4tdFrm9ui9lVkI13kMONLCcn9pPnas_DFZEgzW64vFDVnaGB1PzrEtRRVaEkcxX5MnD-D04BhBZ0nxF9Q24q_2z87kAHbWKXv5_H5Ds43EgKO5iE0FC/s1600/kindle_add.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5zBM5JYEEdw-1XNGRUUIkoAEd4tdFrm9ui9lVkI13kMONLCcn9pPnas_DFZEgzW64vFDVnaGB1PzrEtRRVaEkcxX5MnD-D04BhBZ0nxF9Q24q_2z87kAHbWKXv5_H5Ds43EgKO5iE0FC/s1600/kindle_add.png" /></a></div>
<u><b>Kindle</b></u><br />
1. Go to the specific webpage you wish to bookmark in your Silk browser.<br />
2. Tap the <b>Menu icon</b> at the bottom of the screen and select <b>Add Bookmark</b>. You can modify the name of the bookmark, then tap <b>OK</b> to save it.<br />
3. To access bookmarks quickly later, tap the <b>bookmark icon</b> at the bottom of the Silk browser screen, and bookmarks will appear for the student to choose from.<br />
<b>Note:</b> The Silk browser remembers sites you access frequently, so eventually your BYOD resource website may show up on the browser's opening screen. <br />
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<u><b>Android</b></u><br />
1. Go to the specific webpage you wish to bookmark in your Chrome Android browser.<br />
2. Tap the <b>menu button</b> and (depending on the browser) press the <b>star icon </b>to add a bookmark, or select Add to Bookmarks to do so. You can modify the name of the bookmark. Press <b>Add</b>.<br />
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3. The bookmark is now saved in your browser. To access your bookmarks, just press the menu button again and tap <b>Bookmarks</b>. <b>When you see the bookmark listed, tap and hold the bookmark</b> a bit to bring up an additional menu - then select <b>Add Shortcut to Home</b>.<br />
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I admit it will take a little time that first day or the first time you tackle helping your students bookmark your page - the first time is always that way because it may be a new process and kids may have different devices and instructions. Trust that they can help each other, too. And just think... once they've bookmarked your resources page, they will be able to access the sites they need with one or two taps in the future. In the long run this will save you so much time and totally streamline your use of devices in the classroom. It will be worth it!Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-69516037409089473402013-12-17T11:30:00.000-05:002013-12-17T11:30:33.355-05:00Drop Everything and go check out Blendspace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/aQ_Mg3lSoew/0.jpg" height="266" style="clear: right; float: right;" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/aQ_Mg3lSoew&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/aQ_Mg3lSoew&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
I mean it. Drop whatever you're doing and go check out <a href="http://blendspace.com/">Blendspace.com</a> right now. (Formerly known as EdCanvas, so don't be confused if you see EdCanvas branding in the videos!)<br />
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<b>Blendspace is a free web tool for teachers to collect resources in one place to form a bundled, interactive lesson for students or colleagues.</b> When you create a Blendspace lesson, you can pull in videos from YouTube, websites, pictures, EduCreations lessons (check out my previous post about EduCreations for more info on that!) Flickr images, or links and images from Google. You can import from Gooru, OpenEd, Dropbox, or Google Drive. AND you can always upload your own files, like PowerPoints or resources housed on your own computer. <b>Pretty much any resource you can imagine or that you would pull together to share can be embedded into a Blendspace lesson.</b> But that's not all! (Note: video above is a quick overview!)<br />
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Blendspace also gives you the ability to <b>add in multiple choice quizzes into your lessons </b>so that your lessons are more than just sharing info - it helps you <b>assess students on what they're learning right alongside the content.</b> When you create a quiz, select the correct answer (if applicable), and then Blendspace can even autograde your assessments for you, too. I see flipped classroom teachers <i>flipping</i> over the ability to put in websites or video clips and immediately follow up with questions before moving on to the next piece. And while the quiz feature of Blendspace is limited to a multiple choice question format, don't forget that since you can pull from Google Drive, that means you COULD create a Google Form with deeper, more open-ended questions and include that in your lesson as well.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/aXVi0XoL9SU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>
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If you're just curating resources for students to use, you can share the lesson with anyone using the lesson's unique URL. (Click the blue share button above the lesson!) <b>But to get the most out of Blendspace, you'll want to create a class and add your students.</b> When you set up kids in a classroom on Blendspace, students get a unique access code so that they can register for an account and automatically be connected to you. Keeping <a href="https://www.blendspace.com/terms" target="_blank">Terms of Service</a> and COPPA in mind, my elementary (and some middle school) teachers will be happy to hear that Blendspace can be used by students under 13, as long as you are creating their accounts for them, and you obtain parental consent <b>first</b>. Blendspace requires you to share their <a href="https://www.blendspace.com/terms" target="_blank">Terms of Service</a> and <a href="https://www.blendspace.com/privacy" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a> with parents when requesting permission. You can read more in the <a href="https://www.blendspace.com/terms" target="_blank">third paragraph of section 2 on Privacy in the Blendspace Terms</a>. <br />
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<b>Some of the best features of Blendspace - assessing students and tracking their progress - requires kids to have an account as part of your classroom.</b> You'll always have data on who has accessed your lessons, how they've done on your built-in assessments, and who needs help and how students feel about your lessons. If students are logged in to their account when they interact with your Blendspace lesson, they can also comment alongside the resource. For example if you embed a YouTube video, there's a place to the right of the video for comments and real-time interaction. You could provide a prompt or question that students are to complete there, to supplement the multiple-choice quiz questions and show deeper thinking and understanding. Students can even ask for help or tag portions of your lesson that they need more help with, and YOU as the teacher get detailed statistics from your entire class. Access this information by hovering on a lesson and under the More menu, select Track.<br />
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Another perk of students having a Blendspace account is that <b>students can then create Blendspace "lessons" of their own</b>. How cool would it be for students to use Blendspace to share what they've learned as a final project instead of a boring old poster or written report? Talk about authentic assessment! Let students curate and create resources to teach a topic or show their learning in a more more meaningful and engaging way with you and their peers.<br />
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<b>I can also see myself making Blendspace lessons for fellow colleagues for professional development</b> purposes. Just yesterday I shared a quick Blendspace I put together of resources for creating and using QR codes in the classroom for a fellow teacher who was interested in learning more about how he could use QR codes in his math class. It was a great way to play with Blendspace AND share both Blendspace as a resource and all of my QR code resources with this teacher. I've already received an email from him this morning that he's jumping right in with Blendspace AND QR codes. Hooray! <br />
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<b>Want to see what other teachers have made in Blendspace?</b> Check out the <a href="https://www.blendspace.com/gallery" target="_blank">Gallery</a>, accessible from your Home screen, and search lessons put together by other teachers that they have made publicly available. To share your lessons in the gallery, hover over a lesson you've created and click the Share button, then select the Privacy tab to change the visibility settings. If another teacher has shared a lesson with the gallery and allowed it, you may potentially be able to save a copy of their lesson for your own use (and edit your copy to make tweaks for your own classroom needs) if they've chosen to make that functionality available to the public. You can do this, too, to allow other teachers to benefit from your lessons. Sharing is cool, huh? <br />
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<b>Blendspace helps you truly blend your classroom.</b> Collect and organize resources in one place and share them with a single link. Measure student understanding with built-in quizzes along the way, and track student progress in a way that lets you be responsive to every student's needs. Best of all, Blendspace lessons are available anywhere with a browser! This supports our BYOD model, and means that students can access your content anytime, anywhere with internet access, no matter what kind of device they're using. It just doesn't get much better than that. Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-41867338757086081702013-12-12T11:20:00.002-05:002013-12-12T11:54:19.174-05:00LearnZillion Can Help Keep Students on Track Over Winter Break<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://learnzillion.com/">LearnZillion.com</a></td></tr>
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You all know how much I love <a href="http://www.learnzillion.com/" target="_blank">LearnZillion</a>. Its (free!) database of Common Core aligned video lessons for ELA and Math grades 2-12 are outstanding, especially when teachers take advantage of LearnZillion's features to assign and monitor student progress through targeted lessons that support differentiation.<br />
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I got an email from LearnZillion this week with some tips and tricks on how its service can help keep kids on track during the holiday break, and the ideas are too good not to share again, especially with the upcoming break almost upon us.<br />
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First, if you're not already using the <i><b>Assign</b></i> function in LearnZillion to assign video lessons to your students, I highly recommend doing so! It only takes a few minutes to add your classes/students. Then you can assign targeted video lessons to specific students based on <i>their</i> individual needs, whether they need reinforcement or a challenge on a particular concept. If you want to see how quickly you can add students (really!), check out <a href="http://youtu.be/1YwUej5HAyI" target="_blank">my LearnZillion Video Tour</a> starting around the <b>2:13</b> mark. Then watch <a href="http://youtu.be/Ldc9aEvy2Bg" target="_blank">this quick tutorial on assigning lessons</a> from LearnZillion. <br />
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<b>Prevent Winter Break Brain Drain!</b><i> </i><br />
<i>Tips and tricks from LearnZillion</i><br />
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<b>ELA:</b> Assign one fiction and one non-fiction reading set for winter break, or create a list of possible reading lesson sets with a minimum of one from each genre so students can choose. Always give students the option to do more if they want!<br />
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<b>Math:</b> Let students preview what's coming in the new year by assigning lesson sets for standards you'll be teaching in January. If a student needs targeted help, assign him or her a lesson or lesson set from the standard they're working toward.<br />
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While students may be sliding down snow-covered hills over winter break, at least you'll be confident knowing they won't also be <i>sliding</i> in reading and math, thanks to these tips straight from LearnZillion.com.<br />
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Looking for more ideas on how to use this tool effectively? I love the <a href="http://blog.learnzillion.com/" target="_blank">LearnZillion Blog</a>, where the Dream Team posts tips and tricks like these all the time. For example, the most recent post, <a href="http://blog.learnzillion.com/2013/12/11/3-tips-for-approaching-close-reading/" target="_blank">Three Tips for Approaching Close Reading,</a> is excellent!<br />
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Happy holidays! See you in 2014.Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-91720469663841757432013-12-10T13:29:00.001-05:002013-12-10T13:37:38.675-05:00Padlet in the Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm always looking for cool tools that can serve lots of purposes in the classroom. Tools that make life easier for teachers AND are more engaging for students in meaningful, educational ways are sure winners, and <a href="http://padlet.com/" target="_blank">Padlet</a> is currently one of my favorites. It's a great tool for formative assessment that also doubles as a collaborative way for students (or teachers) to connect with each other, too! Students collaborate on a shared wall space and YOU get all of the evidence you need to see if students "get it" or not. It's pretty magical!<br />
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<a href="http://padlet.com/">Padlet.com</a> is a <b>free</b> web 2.0 tool for teachers. With an account, a teacher can create unlimited shared wall spaces that are great for collaboration between students or colleagues. Create a wall and share it with students; they don't need to have an account to collaborate on the wall.<br />
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When you make a Padlet wall, you as the owner have control over how it looks and functions. Set the background, give it a title and description (the perfect space for instructions) and even give it a personalized URL. All walls have their own unique URL, which is how you share it with others.You can even password protect your wall, so you'll be confident linking to your collaborative wall on your classroom webpage for students; just be sure they know the password to access the wall. And because it's web-based, this means it can be accessed from anywhere with internet access. (A great tool for flipped classroom setups.)<br />
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To add to the wall, simply double click (or double tap, as it works perfectly in the browser of any personal device, too!) and you'll create a new post-it note. You're able to add a heading or title to your note (a great place for students to type their names to help distinguish and identify their notes from others) and text in the body of the note. Notes are re-sizable and the owner of a note can move it around on the wall. <b>The best part? You're not limited to just text on a note; you can also attach other things to your notes: add a URL to other websites or videos, upload a file (hello, assignment turn-in!) or take a photo using your computer's webcam</b>. <br />
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I love using Padlet for exit slips. For example, I presented BYOD to our secondary admin at a meeting. At the end, I directed them to a Padlet wall I had created where I wanted them to add a note and tell me what kind of support they wanted for their building, so that I knew how to follow up with them and set up future trainings. Of course, with the nature of posting "notes" to a wall, the notes were all over the wall in no particular order by the end. This is the beauty of Padlet - I collected the data from "students" and then as the owner of the wall, I can go back to it later and rearrange the notes in a meaningful way for ME so that I can analyze the data. I arranged the notes by building so that I could see what each building's needs were, and then I added a note myself underneath each building's cluster of notes to remind myself how and when I contacted those admin to arrange the follow up supports they wanted. Even 3 months later, I can go back and tell you on what date and how I followed up with those administrators.<br />
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For a practical classroom example, let's say you asked your kindergarten class to add a post-it to your wall with a word that has a long "A" sound in it. Whether students are 1:1, BYOD, or you have a "station" with the wall up on a classroom computer and students rotate through and add a post-it sometime during the day, at the end of the day YOU have a wall of notes, one per student, and now you can arrange the notes in a meaningful way to analyze who gets it and who doesn't. Over here are all the kids who got it, over here are all the ones who didn't. Now you know who needs more work with the long "A" sound. Change up the question depending on the topic, grade level, etc.<br />
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This tool isn't just for students: you can use Padlet to collaborate with your colleagues or
collect resources and images for an upcoming project with your
department or grade level team all in one place together. <br />
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I worked with a secondary art teacher who wanted to take her class on a walking field trip through the building with their devices. Students were to use their device to take pictures of various elements of art that they had been learning about - texture, space, line, etc. Her dilemma was then how to have all of those images shared back with her so she knew if they understood the concepts or not. Solution? She created a Padlet wall and shared it with the class. When students were done with the activity, they were able to access the wall right in the browser of their devices, and using the Upload File option, attach pictures right from their camera rolls onto their post-it. So Joe adds a note with his name on it and types, "This is my example of texture" and attaches the picture he took representing texture to the note. Bam. All students do it, and now all students can see each others' photos and more importantly, the teacher can tell who gets it and who doesn't. Or perhaps students can analyze the results and weigh in on whether or not they make sense. All in one place.<br />
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Padlet is great for "parking lot" or "check in to check out" activities. Imagine a gym class where the teacher asks students to share how they beat their personal best this week, or a music class where students add a post-it to the wall to share what imagery came to mind as they listened to a specific piece of music.<br />
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Students can cite evidence from text in a close reading activity using a Padlet wall. I worked with a teacher who asked students whether they had free speech or not. After accessing various articles on what free speech is, students were then asked to support their opinion on the Padlet wall, citing evidence from the text that they read. This kind of activity spans all grade levels; citing evidence and supporting your opinion is a key skill at any age.<br />
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What about a KWL chart? By using a different background on your Padlet wall, (or uploading your own) and adding headings yourself ahead of time to define the K-W-L spaces on the wall, students can then add post-its and place them under the proper category to share what they <b>K</b>now, what they <b>W</b>ant to know, or what they <b>L</b>earned. And speaking of using Padlet to categorize notes, you could also use it as a space to collaborate on a schedule or have students organize their responses in a certain way. It's important to note that the teacher is the only one with a Padlet account; and the owner of the account/wall is the only one who has control to move ALL of the notes around. Students connected to the wall can only modify, edit, or move THEIR own notes around, but not the notes put up by others. Keeping Padlet's <a href="http://jn.padlet.com/knowledgebase/articles/153268-terms-of-service" target="_blank">Terms of Use</a> in mind, accounts can only be created by those 13 and older, so in the elementary realm this would be the teacher only, but secondary students could make their own Padlet accounts and set up their own walls so that they have a collaborative space to work with peers on group projects. (To achieve a collaborative space for group projects in the elementary, the teacher could make all of the walls and share the different wall URLs with teammates.) Speaking of TOU, don't forget that teachers of students under 13 should notify parents and seek permission for students to use the service to post notes on your wall(s) before continuing. You can access that information here: <a href="http://jn.padlet.com/knowledgebase/articles/153268-terms-of-service" target="_blank">Padlet's Terms of Service</a><br />
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Here's another cool idea - you as the teacher set up a wall and link to a video news article online. Your instructions are for students to watch the video, and then post a note in response to the video on the wall. What I love is that you achieve this by inserting the URL to a YouTube video, for example, and students can watch the video embedded right on the wall instead of clicking off to another page or window. Then they can post their response right away, next to the video clip. This also works by linking to a specific news article or website; students access the link to the article or website and read it, then come back to the wall and post in response to a question you pose about what they read.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Ieq-ODmbus78kpqayQ932e9HLYO1HWrSZICM0f33RxFFgLYFa3wIbi7hsG7cxgClnWmmO9Cj6sFveR5JVvHjiA4KrF1SM2XLLpEkZoJGFfuIr1jr1TnPMnjT3lBQseGkr1C3BUuELTuv/s1600/padlet09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Ieq-ODmbus78kpqayQ932e9HLYO1HWrSZICM0f33RxFFgLYFa3wIbi7hsG7cxgClnWmmO9Cj6sFveR5JVvHjiA4KrF1SM2XLLpEkZoJGFfuIr1jr1TnPMnjT3lBQseGkr1C3BUuELTuv/s1600/padlet09.png" height="307" width="640" /></a></div>
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Another unique way to use a Padlet wall is as a communication tool for parents and students on your classroom webpage. Think of it as a forum; set up your Padlet wall so that notes post in a column layout, (this means anytime someone adds a post-it note, it goes in a column stream on the wall instead of anywhere randomly on the page) and you'll be able to see the latest notes posted at the bottom. Students could post a note ask for homework help, and anyone from class - you or another classmate - can add a note to respond and help. You can also share information with parents by posting a note, and attach any relevant files, images, or URLs they may need. This turns the Padlet wall into a stream of interactive conversation. If you password protect your wall, it only becomes accessible to your students and parents. (Just don't forget to share the password with them!)<br />
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Whew! There are tons of ways that Padlet could be used effectively in the educational space, and the list keeps growing. Padlet even has a <a href="http://padlet.com/gallery" target="_blank">gallery of ways people use it</a> that you can check out. How would YOU use Padlet in the classroom? <a href="http://padlet.com/wall/iheartedtechpadlet" target="_blank">Contribute your ideas to this public Padlet wall!</a><br />
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<br />Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-30489894442469667952013-12-05T10:56:00.000-05:002013-12-05T10:56:42.077-05:00My Biggest EdTech Pet Peeve<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQscvv-O7d9r3Dabn1BYl50c3rhdyWKwq3r0ZD-jyXa8cE89ieA5zq_tuGTDM4ZmaAbyNwloBsTosA5zrEJjupMYnClwn9OAMr8b1zVLh7Tze7clp7mZhyphenhyphen9nosDqDtNdqESpwzjjtsHhs5/s1600/iheartedtech_tougraphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQscvv-O7d9r3Dabn1BYl50c3rhdyWKwq3r0ZD-jyXa8cE89ieA5zq_tuGTDM4ZmaAbyNwloBsTosA5zrEJjupMYnClwn9OAMr8b1zVLh7Tze7clp7mZhyphenhyphen9nosDqDtNdqESpwzjjtsHhs5/s1600/iheartedtech_tougraphic.png" height="190" width="320" /></a></div>
Technology in education is constantly evolving; new digital tools and services are coming out more rapidly than we can keep up! Every time you turn around, there's another new "cool site" out there promising to be the end-all-be-all in education. The digital shift has allowed for the teacher/student roles to shift significantly: teachers are no longer the keeper of all the information, and students are encouraged and <i>empowered</i> to consume information on just about anything they could ever imagine at an extraordinary rate, and in an unlimited variety of self-driven ways. It's awesome!<br />
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I follow a lot of edtech bloggers, magazines, and online new sources, and attend a handful edtech conferences both physically and virtually each year. One trend that I keep seeing over and over again in all of these professional places is <b>my biggest edtech pet peeve:</b> <i>those who recommend online tools and services for use with students without looking at or knowing about the site's Terms of Use (TOU) and whether a site complies with federal guidelines or can even be used with students at all.</i> A lot of times I hear a presenter speak about a cool new web tool and have examples of how an elementary classroom used it, completely ignoring that <i>xyz</i> service explicitly states that children under 13 cannot use it. I don't feel like that models best practices very well, and now an entire room of other educators run off to use <i>xyz</i> with their students without even a thought to Terms of Use.<br />
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I know it sounds like a small thing, but I am shocked at how often professionals I follow, or those who present at big educational conferences on behalf of a professional organization, blatantly ignore TOU and requirements under the U.S. federal law called <a href="http://www.coppa.org/" target="_blank">COPPA - the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act</a>. It makes me crazy to see sites that have GREAT educational services and tools for kids and who advertise themselves to teachers and the education space and yet their TOU are not friendly for kids under 13. And let's face it - "children under 13" applies to a whole lot of kids in the K-12 world. I love the enthusiasm of a tech savvy teacher or colleague who finds a neat site and wants to dive right in with their students... but cringe when they've started using the site with kids under 13 without being aware of the site's legal requirements (and their requirements) when being used with students <i>first</i>.<br />
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In a nutshell, <a href="http://www.coppa.org/" target="_blank">COPPA</a> is a United States federal law that protects the confidentiality, security, and privacy of children under the age of 13 online. Commercial websites and online services directed at children (i.e. all educational web 2.0 tools!) are not allowed to collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 without disclosing their privacy policy to parents and obtaining parental consent to do so. And while this is a United States federal law, its jurisdiction applies
to foreign websites that are directed or accessible by U.S. children as
well.
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<a href="http://www.coppa.org/coppa.htm" target="_blank">COPPA</a> originally went into effect in April of 2000, but a new update that went into effect this year - on July 1, 2013 - has further stipulations on website owners and includes additional requirements for parental notice and consent, and some of the amended obligations are even more strict than they were previously.<br />
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While the exact verbiage of a site's full Terms of Use can vary from site to site, <a href="http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm" target="_blank">the basics (have to be) the same at the bare minimum with COPPA compliance in mind</a>. (And just because a site doesn't comply with COPPA doesn't make it okay, either!) Some sites do a better job than others outlining <b>exactly</b> what those under 13 who want to use their services must do, and sometimes it's harder to find the verbiage as it may not be addressed specifically in the TOU, but instead on the site's Privacy Policy page. Or instead of stating anything about COPPA or "13 and under" explicitly, some sites will more vaguely blanket statement that you must be of legal age to form a binding contract or that the service is not for someone <i>"barred from receiving services under the laws of the United States or other applicable jurisdiction."</i> Yes, it can be tricky! Beware that some sites don't want to deal with the red tape that goes along with complying and proving compliance with COPPA, so they don't allow children under 13 to use their services under <i>any</i> circumstances just to avoid the whole situation. You may need to look at both the site's Terms as well as Privacy Policy to get the full scoop.<br />
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(One example is Twitter. See how in <a href="https://twitter.com/tos" target="_blank">their TOU</a> they use a generic blanket statement but then address children specifically in their own section of <a href="https://twitter.com/privacy" target="_blank">Twitter's Privacy Policy</a>? By the way, children under 13 cannot sign up or use Twitter services. Period.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkwoPxXQNGlC5Ks4L1sYTJnH-ww4IVHgwKJnrQgWqcr0lPlxfxr7sJM3xIJMtpTZS3ykYGjZHd2zb22ff4SMlXQExywSvIksdeqQw6kfTuu3VxCKYD4-kJoZ-oV7etpHHLtTsgX3c9CZf/s1600/twitter_tou.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkwoPxXQNGlC5Ks4L1sYTJnH-ww4IVHgwKJnrQgWqcr0lPlxfxr7sJM3xIJMtpTZS3ykYGjZHd2zb22ff4SMlXQExywSvIksdeqQw6kfTuu3VxCKYD4-kJoZ-oV7etpHHLtTsgX3c9CZf/s1600/twitter_tou.png" height="64" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/tos" target="_blank">Excerpt from Twitter's TOU</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCtignb34nrJ1N2lgzwAXJN2snvkBpvkm_SIGZyhe__SSj2uRsw3zHEggTJcpIKtDPJbEgf7PSd7vt4hqf427pFYxlbVi5sZPYdXwybgx__j6_LBwOUQxkzP07kecszDZL6vNYabL8uLaD/s1600/twitter_privacy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCtignb34nrJ1N2lgzwAXJN2snvkBpvkm_SIGZyhe__SSj2uRsw3zHEggTJcpIKtDPJbEgf7PSd7vt4hqf427pFYxlbVi5sZPYdXwybgx__j6_LBwOUQxkzP07kecszDZL6vNYabL8uLaD/s1600/twitter_privacy.png" height="96" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/privacy" target="_blank">Excerpt from Twitter's Privacy Policy</a><b><br /></b></td></tr>
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<b><u>So now you're thinking... WHAT DO I DO?!</u> </b><br />
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<b>Think of it this way: if an online site, service, or tool has a sign-up requirement, children 13 and under can't use it, or at least won't be able to use it right out of the box.</b> You'll have to see if it's allowed at all under the site's terms, or if there's a way to use it if you seek parental notice and collect consent prior to use. A red flag is the requirement of an email address during the registration process, since an email address is an indicator that personal information will be collected. And just because a site <i>doesn't</i> ask for an email address during sign-up doesn't mean it's automatically okay for children under 13, though, either... you still <i>always</i> have to look at the Terms. Even if you teach kids over 13, many sites still require all minors (18 and under) to obtain parental consent before use. It all depends on how much red tape the website operator wants to deal with and be responsible for, so your mileage may vary.<br />
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Bottom line? There's a federal law in place for children under 13, which will affect whether those students can use certain sites and services or not. <b>Always read the Terms of Use for every site and service you want to use with kids <u>first</u>.</b> Chances are it will be possible, but will require some leg work ahead of time to ensure the privacy and safety of your students. But it also may not be possible at all. (Like in Twitter's case, as an example.) Remember that even in situations where you are setting up the accounts for your students - most services still have stipulations due to COPPA that involves you notifying parents of the terms and privacy policy and collecting their consent first, as your account is responsible for student accounts complying, and by signing up, you imply that you've already sought parent consent. (So you want to make sure you actually have!)<br />
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The excuse that technology moves so fast that we as educators don't have time to check the TOU of every single site or service just doesn't cut it anymore. Especially when you teach the younger crowd that is directly affected by this federal law. It has always been a teacher's professional responsibility to keep kids safe, we all know that. Before the digital shift, this seemed very black and white, but since most classrooms have some kind of online component or access these days, that responsibility has to extend to the online space as well. With a new frontier comes new rules and practices and it sure feels like a whole lot of grey area right now. The best we can do is educate ourselves and try our best to keep up with the rapidly moving pace of technology AND keep kids safe at the same time.Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-69761565091641680732013-11-25T13:31:00.000-05:002013-11-25T13:41:32.637-05:00Using PollEverywhere.com for Formative Assessment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xh3hRPrK6sE-Ohh6YW19rxIVfQ8Qprvq0FuQ2skEwc7MYXPG642psB1ea0q8MYp_soItwL4f5XrpyVNGh3FrAsYwqPKRa7-b8cilAH-sGIw6J3dnVKvy55dNKdKCrk7ueXzy2v-tH5VD/s1600/polleverywhere.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xh3hRPrK6sE-Ohh6YW19rxIVfQ8Qprvq0FuQ2skEwc7MYXPG642psB1ea0q8MYp_soItwL4f5XrpyVNGh3FrAsYwqPKRa7-b8cilAH-sGIw6J3dnVKvy55dNKdKCrk7ueXzy2v-tH5VD/s1600/polleverywhere.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
I enjoy opening a PD session with a quick poll that I made at <a href="http://polleverywhere.com/">PollEverywhere.com</a>. I often use polls as an anticipatory guide to let me gauge where my audience is before we start, or to get them excited and thinking about the upcoming lesson. The quick data that I can collect with an interactive poll helps me adjust my teaching to fit my audience's needs.<br />
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For example, if I'm holding a training session on Google Docs, I may have a poll up as people are arriving to ask them their comfort level with Google Docs at that moment, <i>before</i> the training. I can look at the results quickly before I start and tune my training accordingly based on the data; if most people have zero experience with Google Docs, I would teach differently than I would if I had a large group of people with experience. And if I have some that identify as intermediate or expert, I have some more challenging "take it to the next level" activities in my back pocket for them. Though this data is anonymous and depicts the group as a whole, it still helps me differentiate and support the full spectrum of needs thanks to a quick poll with instant, live results I can use right away.<br />
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PollEverywhere is a great formative assessment tool.You can sign up for a <b>free </b>account at <a href="http://polleverywhere.com/">PollEverywhere.com</a>. There is the option to upgrade to a <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/features/grading" target="_blank">paid, premium account</a> (which gives you the ability to enable student registration and grading), but I'm happy with the capabilities of the free account for my needs. Remember - I am just looking for quick, instant feedback to help drive my next lesson or gauge my audience on the fly.<br />
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There are two types of questions that you can create: multiple choice or open-ended.<br />
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<b>Multiple Choice Poll Questions</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zCwKEs_tg2caC5WJLn7pPg2ytOJDoOSpUMOUdaTlktwh7KkhS3CkCcC8bVjTIcN93e2AJJ66mWgBIPazDx6wckB4ufYiNwZNfn4IRAUtqGDas-pPkS-QROvLAtYWL2qgq4FM3-QG3dtC/s1600/pollev_picresponse.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zCwKEs_tg2caC5WJLn7pPg2ytOJDoOSpUMOUdaTlktwh7KkhS3CkCcC8bVjTIcN93e2AJJ66mWgBIPazDx6wckB4ufYiNwZNfn4IRAUtqGDas-pPkS-QROvLAtYWL2qgq4FM3-QG3dtC/s1600/pollev_picresponse.png" height="186" width="320" /></a></div>
When creating a multiple choice question in PollEverywhere, you can give options as text or use images to represent poll choices instead. I love using images as poll options for the primary grades! Multiple choice questions give you the ability to find out if students know or remember something you've previously shared. You can start the day with a multiple choice poll to see if students remember the take-away from the previous day's lesson. You could also ask students a question to gauge their understanding before beginning a new lesson to see how many may already know the answer. I also like using multiple choice poll questions as a "digital fist to five" as I mentioned previously, where students can tell me on a scale what their comfort level or understanding is before or after a lesson.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJ7J_fBtwpIKOeeOCw_5ewkFXSoiYsBvJbBDZ7yktveh-fwGHR43g-csUyaONc8bECrKXdZlMrDdH356kkHHGqB_KIBBX9Dkbkfud1Iloz-w98g9tNg0yXeKX_054MrqjBnDS2H90_i87/s1600/pollev_multiplechoiceYN.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJ7J_fBtwpIKOeeOCw_5ewkFXSoiYsBvJbBDZ7yktveh-fwGHR43g-csUyaONc8bECrKXdZlMrDdH356kkHHGqB_KIBBX9Dkbkfud1Iloz-w98g9tNg0yXeKX_054MrqjBnDS2H90_i87/s1600/pollev_multiplechoiceYN.png" height="143" width="320" /></a></div>
I also like asking a question at the start of a lesson, and then asking the same question (in a separate poll) at the end of a lesson, to see how responses may have changed after gaining new knowledge during the lesson, or to show student growth as a result of the lesson. As a real life example, students in a 4th grade classroom were asked at the start of a lesson whether or not they had free speech as a student. Their options were Yes or No. We displayed the results to show them what everyone thought before the lesson. Then we did a variety of close reading activities and had curated some interesting age-appropriate articles that students read and jigsawed collaboratively, and at the end of the lesson, we posed the same question - do you have free speech as a student? Based on the resources they'd read to learn more about what free speech is and real life examples that they could relate to, they voted again, Yes or No. Because we did this in two separate polls using the same question, we were able to analyze the before and after results. Imagine how powerful this could be! It's one thing to ask kids to raise their hand or do a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, but when you record results in a poll, you can take the responses to the next level and let the students analyze the visual results, too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8le0-NcxJCkqEbQXVluVY-_E0eJDciyYHL4_aIqbFasEBSlcjoK08BbMTfAZsGKqthpe2hDRv11JAPr23DLKLET2eLesEc-gYs6vnvWyP45QpWMutX8n1n94Mbd4EHfvMiMDyNDsZTbrg/s1600/pollev_beforeafter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8le0-NcxJCkqEbQXVluVY-_E0eJDciyYHL4_aIqbFasEBSlcjoK08BbMTfAZsGKqthpe2hDRv11JAPr23DLKLET2eLesEc-gYs6vnvWyP45QpWMutX8n1n94Mbd4EHfvMiMDyNDsZTbrg/s1600/pollev_beforeafter.jpg" height="116" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Analyzing results: Before (left) and After (right)</td></tr>
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<b>Open-Ended Poll Questions</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBF5rM3aNaTKqOWKDBsCv2usBlNs2z-9y_VM4LdBpPTF_vUXCzJ3PpF3Y6BH92IsIu093zuoy2hlwaCgLjVe88stU3qYCnV0J7zH0ocJskKtHw5bUhpUjqgfGT4aYtgAXInz13dQmpZgsz/s1600/pollev_openended.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBF5rM3aNaTKqOWKDBsCv2usBlNs2z-9y_VM4LdBpPTF_vUXCzJ3PpF3Y6BH92IsIu093zuoy2hlwaCgLjVe88stU3qYCnV0J7zH0ocJskKtHw5bUhpUjqgfGT4aYtgAXInz13dQmpZgsz/s1600/pollev_openended.png" height="190" width="320" /></a></div>
Open-ended polls let you ask an open-ended question that could require a phrase or varied response as opposed to a set multiple choice answer. For example I could ask, "What is one thing you already know about volcanoes?" and students could share their varying responses similar to how you might use a traditional KWL chart. (Of course I could then follow up with an open-ended poll question to ask what they <i>want</i> to know, and later on to have students tell me at least one thing they <i>learned</i>, too!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRL-9HSZ7_KD3dW2Ew3HwZA8I6b5xrKLU7L09qtoynDbCSu8J0at315bZjHLI8QJV4PuO_ictrvcC6Hm1dJ7qN80oS7uUIHzwn_6n88kjkSUOecMM-ryQII_kuuJ-GWfU8LHfO7_IedqL/s1600/pollev_ameliabed_question.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRL-9HSZ7_KD3dW2Ew3HwZA8I6b5xrKLU7L09qtoynDbCSu8J0at315bZjHLI8QJV4PuO_ictrvcC6Hm1dJ7qN80oS7uUIHzwn_6n88kjkSUOecMM-ryQII_kuuJ-GWfU8LHfO7_IedqL/s1600/pollev_ameliabed_question.png" height="155" width="320" /></a></div>
A real life example of using an open-ended poll question involves asking students to use the first word that comes to mind to describe a character in a book you've just read, or one you're currently reading. If I asked 2nd graders to describe Amelia Bedelia as an open-ended poll and chose the output method to be word cloud, then their results would appear on screen in a word cloud, meaning words that are used by lots of students will be larger so you can see the words that were used the most often to describe the character. To make this more meaningful at higher levels, if the character in a book goes through some significant character development during the story, you may want to pause and do this activity in the beginning, and then again at the end, to see how the word clouds for the characters have changed.<br />
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<b>Supporting BYOD and Technology Integration </b><br />
PollEverywhere.com is a web-based tool that can be used to support BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) models or 1:1. You're not limited to just texting in a response to a poll, though that is certainly an option I've used with adults before, but responders can use the web response form (located at <a href="http://pollev.com/">http://pollev.com</a>) in the browser of any device - laptop, smartphone, tablet, desktop computer, etc. - to answer poll questions. In the free speech example above, students in the classroom had a combination of laptops they borrowed from the school and their own devices that they brought in. I LOVE browser based tools that support technology integration regardless of tech model. If you have a limited number of devices to use, you can always have students group up and collaborate on the question, coming to a consensus and then voting as a group. You could also use the device as a "station" - by refreshing the web response page at pollev.com after submitting your response, you're free to submit another response. So one student could respond, hit refresh, and another student could then respond as well.<br />
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The possibilities seem endless, and it's such a quick way to gather informal data that you can turn around and act upon immediately. Head on over to <a href="http://polleverywhere.com/">PollEverywhere.com</a> and make an account today! Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-44651752965816043772013-09-12T14:49:00.000-04:002013-09-12T14:50:04.704-04:00Explain Everything!If you enjoyed <a href="http://iheartedtech.blogspot.com/2013/09/flipping-your-classroom-with.html" target="_blank">my last post</a> about EduCreations, a great free whiteboard app for iOS that lets you record whiteboard lessons that you can share with students, then you'll really love <b><a href="http://www.explaineverything.com/">Explain Everything</a></b>. Especially if you flip your classroom or are experimenting with the idea of flipping some lessons.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/59845203" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <a href="http://vimeo.com/59845203">Explain Everything 2.0</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/morriscooke">MorrisCooke</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Like EduCreations, <a href="http://www.explaineverything.com/" target="_blank">Explain Everything</a> is a whiteboard app. Use it to record yourself teaching a whiteboard lesson. Draw, write, annotate, and narrate your way through tough concepts and share your recorded lesson with students. These recordings are great for students who missed a day of class, who need remediation or a memory refresher before a big test to reinforce big class concepts.<br />
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I explained all of this as part of my EduCreations post, though. So how is Explain Everything different and why am I spending time with it? Explain Everything is the next level of whiteboard lesson creation. Don't get me wrong - I love EduCreations. It's simple, free, and sometimes that's all you need. However, I found myself wishing I could embed video clips, pull websites into my whiteboard lessons, or go back and edit parts of my previous recording and this wasn't possible... until I discovered Explain Everything.<br />
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With Explain Everything, your basic functionality is there, of course - different pen colors for annotating, the ability to record yourself as you work through as many slides as you need to teach a concept, inputting text from your device's keyboard, pulling in images, etc. But Explain Everything lets me pull images, <b>VIDEOS and FILES</b> from Dropbox, Google Drive (which is great for our teachers, who all have Google Apps for Edu) Evernote, WebDAV, iTunes, box, or your camera roll. You can even pull in a webpage - type in the web address and the site appears, so you can record yourself going through actions on a website, or even annotate on the website. Super slick!<br />
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A few other little added features to <a href="http://www.explaineverything.com/" target="_blank">Explain Everything</a> that are nice to have when you're recording a whiteboard lesson include the insert shapes feature. There are only a couple of shapes - an arrow, a star, a line, a circle, and a square - but having those to draw attention to key pieces of your lesson are handy. Speaking of drawing attention to something, I also love the various cursor types available. When recording a whiteboard lesson, your gestures aren't always obvious, so having a laser pointer cursor or even the recognizable hand or arrow icon used on most computer operating systems to help you point something out is useful. <br />
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One really great feature of Explain Everything is the ability to go back and edit your recorded lesson's timeline. It's simplistic, but so helpful. Say you just messed up part of your recording. Pause the recording, press the Timeline Scrubber to go into playback mode, and go back to a point in your recording before your mistake. Then just press the Record button and you can record over and replace the existing recording piece where you messed up. This was something I really wanted from EduCreations, so I'm glad to see it in Explain Everything.<br />
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Once your whiteboard lesson, with all of its added bells and whistles, is finished, it's time to share with students. Just like you have a wide variety of choices when pulling in media to your lesson, you can also share your finished lesson in several ways. You can save it as an image, or as a video file for playback by students later. Save it to your camera roll, upload the movie to YouTube, Dropbox, Evernote, Vimeo, or Google Drive. Our teachers have access to a YouTube account through our Apps for Education Google accounts, which includes Google Drive. If uploaded to YouTube or Google Drive, teachers then have access to a URL to their video they can share with students, or they can Share in Google Drive with just the specific people that need to see the video lesson.<br />
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<b>A few technical notes</b> - Explain Everything isn't free, but its $2.99 price tag isn't bad, either. Definitely worth it for the added features it has over EduCreations if you need or like the extra bells and whistles that Explain Everything provides. Both EduCreations and Explain Everything are currently iOS only, <b>HOWEVER, much to my excitement, Explain Everything is also available for Android, too.</b> This will make my BYOD teachers that have Android devices very happy!<br />
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The possibilities seem almost endless with Explain Everything, and I definitely think it's a fabulous tool. Check it out!Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-84683950526290815872013-09-10T14:56:00.000-04:002013-09-10T14:58:30.570-04:00Flipping Your Classroom with EduCreations<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjce173W_MpUol_rhxazddVljmELqwwhFi4NXBRammBD8mzhc5SPv3vE91gsJeclKkDaccEa3EJ4FdZ-JPhFbV70K1aArk_imIGA7IkDchv9OsPRIbOzbzKNebUI1a3mQ1wSCnD6m2HYxDz/s1600/educreations1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjce173W_MpUol_rhxazddVljmELqwwhFi4NXBRammBD8mzhc5SPv3vE91gsJeclKkDaccEa3EJ4FdZ-JPhFbV70K1aArk_imIGA7IkDchv9OsPRIbOzbzKNebUI1a3mQ1wSCnD6m2HYxDz/s1600/educreations1.png" height="231" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from the web version of the tool.<br />
Don't mind my poor handwriting with a mouse!</td></tr>
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A lot of our teachers have recently begun experimenting with a flipped classroom approach. While the basics of flipping at its simplest level involves lesson content being watched by students outside of the classroom (i.e. online) while follow up & class discussion about the lesson then happens in person, teachers eager to get started with such a model aren't always sure HOW to get going. What tools can help a teacher get their lessons online? Where do you post them?<br />
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There's no one right way to flip, and flipping can look different from classroom to classroom. Some teachers post video lessons they curate from other sources, while some record their own. (<a href="http://www.schrockguide.net/screencasting.html" target="_blank">Check out Kathy Schrock's awesome guide and resources for screencasting!</a>) There are 100% flipped classrooms where EVERY LESSON is online, but most teachers I work with who are flipping are just doing so <i>some</i> of the time, for very specific lessons or student needs. For example, one teacher I know will do quick recap videos of big science topics (i.e. the water cycle) and make it available for students who missed class or who want to use the video to help them study for the upcoming test. <br />
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Whether you plan to truly flip lessons or just make content available to students online for remediation, one tool that I really enjoy is <a href="http://www.educreations.com/" target="_blank"><b>EduCreations</b></a>. EduCreations is a whiteboard web tool and app that allows you to record whiteboard lessons and share with students. It's also <i>100% free</i>! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2Rmisy2Z2_aQJh49FJ7tpQxE15uwAcBiFZXpmbpHjIiyg8WgGjPbcDNi_e2lMw6om-wIqq98yC96NeBinNoLDm1CGj4YKpGqhRHdjDU47VsfKKq9VThsoFWLT8lKai8-dPYifTmYomwu/s1600/educreations2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2Rmisy2Z2_aQJh49FJ7tpQxE15uwAcBiFZXpmbpHjIiyg8WgGjPbcDNi_e2lMw6om-wIqq98yC96NeBinNoLDm1CGj4YKpGqhRHdjDU47VsfKKq9VThsoFWLT8lKai8-dPYifTmYomwu/s1600/educreations2.png" height="157" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Create a lesson via the web or create on the iOS app.<br />
Lessons created on the app will appear on the web dashboard, too.</td></tr>
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Teachers first register for an <a href="http://www.educreations.com/" target="_blank">EduCreations</a> account. To keep it simple, they can leave it at that, and just start recording some whiteboard lessons. To take it to the next level, they can set up virtual classroom spaces on the website and invite students with an access code to be members of their classroom.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Share options on your finished lessons.</td></tr>
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When a teacher creates a whiteboard lesson (either via the web tool when they're logged in or the iOS app on their device) they have a few ways to share it with kids. The most simple way is to just grab the URL for the lesson and link to it on their own classroom website, BUT if the teacher has set up a class space for students on EduCreations, they can instantly share the lesson with the class that way, too. There's even embed options if your class website or blog supports embedding HTML code. It's pretty simple!<br />
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Here is a quick demo "lesson" I made of EduCreations' tools and features that I have embedded into my blog:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://www.educreations.com/lesson/embed/10303532/" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="480"></iframe>
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On my "wish list" for EduCreations is a way to go back in and edit the whiteboard video or narration if you make mistakes. A lot of times you're probably just recording small snippets of concepts, but if you're recording a long lesson and mess up, you pretty much have to start over. Also, unless you're REALLY good with your handwriting using a mouse, or you have a digital pen/tablet set up on your computer, you'll find creating whiteboard lessons to be a bit easier on the app vs. the web tool. I also noticed that the web tool doesn't seem to have a keyboard input option for text like the app does. You can only write with the mouse. (The app lets you use your iOS device's keyboard to type in text on the screen.) Overall, though, things I can totally let slip for the luxury of being able to narrate and illustrate your way through a lesson and so easily make available for students... plus you can't beat the (FREE) price tag, right?<br />
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If teachers are just getting started with the idea of flipping their classroom or just want to make their own video lessons for students to help reinforce things they learn in class, <a href="http://www.educreations.com/" target="_blank">EduCreations</a> is a great tool to try and is very user-friendly. The URL of your lesson can be linked on your homework page or even emailed out to parents to help keep them in the loop, too. I definitely recommend giving it a try. You'll be hooked!<br />
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<br />Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-88271752129309447432013-08-02T15:34:00.001-04:002013-08-02T15:35:29.059-04:00Reflection on a Summer of eLearning<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The SAMR Model I created as part of my RUP</td></tr>
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Wow, I feel like I just wrote the post that I was starting an online eLearning summer course, and here I am writing up a reflection on how it went. The summer went by way too fast!<br />
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My biggest takeaway from the eLearning coursework this summer is the SAMR Model. Having a framework to see where I am and where I need to go when it comes to technology integration was really eye-opening. I think it's just what I need to use with my colleagues to help THEM see what meaningful technology integration looks like, too. I plan to weave this in to the things I do and the professional development I provide this upcoming school year.<br />
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Because I want to introduce the SAMR Model to my colleagues this year, my Really Useful Project was a screencast I made of myself going through an introduction of the SAMR Model, and at each level, illustrating how Google Docs relates to the framework. We use Google Docs district-wide, and most staff are at least familiar with it, and many are using it or planning on using it. I thought using Google Docs to show what each level of the SAMR Model looks like would help them better visualize how to move up towards more transformational learning opportunities for students. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/G3c0dVRzv3U?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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[Want to watch this on YouTube? <a href="http://youtu.be/G3c0dVRzv3U" target="_blank">Click the link here</a>!] What's neat about the SAMR Model to me is that I realized other aspects from the course this summer, like discussions about student engagement and motivation, really goes hand-in-hand with this framework. While it may seem like a lot of work to transform the way you integrate technology and reach the higher levels of the SAMR Model, once there you're actually doing yourself a favor and making your life easier, because when students are working that that transformational level, they're engaged AND motivated, and the teacher is no longer holding their hands every step of the way in their learning. Students are driving their own learning and are getting a better idea of what the real world is like.<br />
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I appreciated the tools section; and though I feel like I curate a lot of resources and had heard of a lot of the tools presented already, I still picked up a few new ones that I plan to look into further. Hearing how others use resources, even ones I had heard about before, was helpful. I found myself pulling from discussions and things I had learned in this summer course (especially about motivation and engagement) when I presented a BYOD workshop just this week for our staff who came in for some summer professional development. I feel like having this course under my belt helped to make me feel more confident about helping others see how important it is to embrace technology in the classroom.<br />
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I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned (and keeping some things in the back of my mind as I work with others) this upcoming school year! It's going to be a great year.Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-37964961034629015812013-07-24T22:53:00.001-04:002013-07-24T22:55:38.892-04:00Social Media in the Classroom<div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think social media in the classroom is a great way to keep kids connected in ways they are (most likely) already using. Facebook and Twitter can be useful tools when used in meaningful ways. Facebook allows teachers and students to stay connected in groups to share information, assignments, and resources. Its forum-like abilities means that students can engage in meaningful conversation and respond to each other. Twitter can help students get and share small bites of information and follow hashtags that help network them with others discussing the same topic all over the world, including following current news and world events in real time, as they unfold. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most students are already using Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on everything else going on in their lives; having access to their classmates and teacher in an environment they're already comfortable using to continue the classroom conversation, get assignment reminders and ask questions 24/7 of other classroom members helps kids feel connected and means they are more likely to be involved and engaged in their learning. Those online conversations and interactions helps students to continue thinking about class topics even when they're not in class, and encourages them to participate anytime, anywhere. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While there are a lot of pros to the idea of using social media in education, (with students 13 or older, the minimum age to create accounts on these networks) some groundwork needs to be laid in advance and expectations covered to address the "cons." Students need to be reminded that even when at home, they still must be respectful in these online spaces with their peers, as it is an extension of the classroom environment. (This can go hand-in-hand with digital citizenship lessons!) Teachers should create a separate, professional account to use in these situations as well, instead of friending students on their personal accounts. While some may think that students will use these networks inappropriately, or that allowing them to use Facebook and Twitter in class means they will spend class time using these networks for personal reasons, it's all about setting those expectations of access and use with students ahead of time, and outlining when and what is appropriate. When you integrate the use of these social networks in meaningful ways as part of their learning, you'll find that students WANT to engage in the assignments, because they're excited to be able to use the social networks they're already comfortable using in an educational way. Most students are already learning and exploring about world events and news from others through their social networks, so it'll be a natural extension that can encourage this desire to always keep exploring and learning. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When used appropriately, social networks in the classroom can provide rich and meaningful experiences that students are comfortable with and can relate to, encouraging classroom participation and conversation even when they're not in the classroom.</span></span></div>
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Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-25278132841077487192013-07-19T18:28:00.004-04:002013-07-19T18:28:55.947-04:00Future Curation Tool to Explore: My Big Campus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Though I enjoy using <a href="http://pinterest.com/IHeartEdTech" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> to curate resources, tools, professional development, and edtech articles, I have been fascinated by and interested in checking out <a href="http://mybigcampus.com/" target="_blank">My Big Campus</a> for awhile now. I attended a workshop on it last fall, and am even more convinced after looking into further how bundles would be a great way for teachers to curate digital curriculum and create "digital textbooks" from a wide variety of online sources. Even better is that they can share those bundles with each other, helping to spread good sources and curriculum bundles not only across the district, but also with other teachers in the world who may be interested in what they have curated. I like that there are bundles already created, which are good starting points for a new teacher to My Big Campus. They can use those bundles as-is, or remix them and add/remove other resources to create their own bundles unique to their classroom needs. Bundles can easily be presented to students as resources to help facilitate their learning. I know that several teachers are using Edmodo at the high school, and I'm not sure what it would take to do a district-wide My Big Campus setup, but I love the idea of curating and bundling resources to share in a variety of ways.Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-31602655333964960282013-07-10T15:45:00.002-04:002013-07-10T15:46:27.516-04:00The SAMR Model to Enhance Technology Integration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My summer of eLearning is moving right along, and this week we've been talking about authentic assessment and feedback. We know how important quality feedback is for students in order to push them to their furthest potential in the classroom, but this is true in an online environment, too. Walking hand-in-hand with this is authentic assessment. Online assessment must include more demonstrations of higher-level thinking to be truly authentic and meaningful. Online educators don't have the luxury of being in-person with students when they complete assessments, so multiple-choice assessments you may still see in the physical classroom won't work; are you assessing them on what they've learned, or if they've learned how to Google their answers? (Side note: authentic assessment and higher-level thinking should also be the goal in the physical classroom, too!)<br />
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I think this brings me to the topics that have hit the closest to home for me this summer. I really think the introduction of the <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model" target="_blank">SAMR model</a> is going to be most beneficial for me to start with. We have a lot of teachers who are trying technology in the classroom, and/or who are eager to get started this next year now that we've introduced BYOD, but I think too many are under the impression that this simply means using technology for technology's sake or substituting paper worksheets for worksheets that can be filled out on a handheld device. We need to move away from the substitution level and progress up the SAMR model ladder to the redefinition level, and I think the SAMR model has given me the framework I can work from to help teachers not only see this progressive ladder, but also start to climb it.<br />
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Have you seen this <a href="http://www.unity.net.au/allansportfolio/edublog/?p=324" target="_blank">pedagogy wheel by Allan Carrington</a>? It's been updated recently to include the SAMR model around the outer band of the wheel, which is so awesome and helpful! Read more about the update that helps you integrate technology <a href="http://www.edudemic.com/2013/05/new-padagogy-wheel-helps-you-integrate-technology-using-samr-model/" target="_blank">at Edudemic here</a>.<br />
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I think as teachers begin to climb the SAMR model ladder towards more transformational integration of technology, they'll find it's a natural progression into more authentic forms of assessment AND make technology integration in their classroom more engaging for students. Right now, I think teachers feel like just having devices in the classroom and using them to do substitution level tasks is motivation enough and is engaging for students. And at the start, sure! Kids will be excited just because they're allowed to use their devices. But it's not enough. The use of technology in this way just isn't meaningful, and "using technology" in classrooms like that will get stale quickly, which will lead to frustration for both teachers and students. It's going to be hard to convince teachers to let go and let students have freedom of choice... but if they use the SAMR model as a framework to build on, they'll get there. Authentic assessment and true student engagement will naturally follow suit.<br />
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I feel like I may be rambling a bit, <b>but I think what I've just realized is that the SAMR model is going to be the backbone of how I approach working with teachers this school year.</b> It will help teachers who have been reluctant to take their first steps have a solid starting point, and those who are ready to transition further up the ladder will see how to take their integration to the next level. The hard parts, that is, effective (and ongoing!) student engagement and authentic assessment, will naturally fall in place as the teacher works their way up to using technology in a meaningful, redefined and transformational way, because at the redefinition level students have choice, which is motivating and engaging, and their choices will make way for teachers to authentically assess them. <br />
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I'm looking forward to putting some of the things I've learned this summer into practice with staff in the fall. I can't wait to help teachers learn how to use technology in a meaningful way that will help produce students who are equipped with the skills they'll need to tackle the 21st century workplace.<br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #646464; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></span>Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-48456294650190558452013-06-21T16:18:00.000-04:002013-06-21T16:18:18.098-04:00The Technology Integration Matrix and Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWtYzJFVRreomxPhwq6REsuQU5O9VS5V927bEbqSd4KiqKx1DU3mS2QFA7VMqBDCTPzf3CEbyUR30kk3YrKeO8JwlrgIPxPoWZ0RCG08jpLl5o0bpF9ATy3Cnp39PxsuFiuvoeUYfhlYR8/s1600/TIM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWtYzJFVRreomxPhwq6REsuQU5O9VS5V927bEbqSd4KiqKx1DU3mS2QFA7VMqBDCTPzf3CEbyUR30kk3YrKeO8JwlrgIPxPoWZ0RCG08jpLl5o0bpF9ATy3Cnp39PxsuFiuvoeUYfhlYR8/s1600/TIM.png" height="200" width="199" /></a></div>
This week in our online and blended learning course we took a look at the <a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix.php" target="_blank">Technology Integration Matrix</a>. As I don't deliver content in the areas of LA, Math, Science, or Social Students to a classroom of students any longer, it's hard to pick a spot where I belong, because my job these days is working with teachers and helping them integrate technology into their own classrooms. So if I approach the matrix as a whole and look at each square's description and think about HOW I work with teachers and deliver professional development instead of focusing on a traditional teacher's subject areas, I find myself somewhere around the <i>Adaptation</i> column, wishing I was more into the <i>Infusion</i> section, but feeling like I'm working that direction. When I teach, I focus a lot on collaboration and the tools I like to use and share with teachers involves the ability to collaborate in a variety of ways or for a variety of purposes. When I read the intersection of <i>Adaptation</i> and <i>Collaborative</i>, for example, it says:<br />
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Students independently use technology tools in conventional ways for collaboration. Students are developing a conceptual understanding of the use of technology tools for working with others.</div>
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The teacher provides opportunities for students to use technology to work with others. The teacher selects and provides technology tools for students to use in collaborative ways, and encourages students to begin exploring the use of these tools.</div>
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Desks and workstations are arranged so that multiple students can access technology tools simultaneously.</div>
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In my training environment I'm often introducing a new tool or demonstrating how a tool works in context of what the group teaches, to give them some practical examples that they can actually go back and use right away. I'd like to think that the development of my professional development has evolved to this point, where there are bite-sized chunks of modeling, and then opportunities for my "students" to work with others. Because the training is on something specific, I'm often providing the tool and then encouraging them to explore them and apply them in their area.<br />
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I feel like when I started my position three years ago, I was definitely further left. More <i>Entry</i>. When I was a classroom teacher several years back the idea of 1:1 or BYOD was newish and not very mainstream or widespread, and we all used the computer lab as much as possible usually for research and typing papers for homework assignments. So yes, we were using computers, but that didn't mean it was more than just a <i>substitutional</i> use, when referring to the <a href="http://dmcarley.blogspot.com/2012/03/peunteduras-samr-model.html" target="_blank">SAMR model</a>. This makes me feel good, though, when I look at the Technology Integration Matrix, because I feel like I can see that I've come a long way. So has technology in the classroom, though! And seeing the Infusion and Transformation columns help me see where I want to be and where I need to go. I feel like I have a good grasp of these columns on paper and in my head, and I'd love to think that if I were back in a traditional classroom these days that I could say with certainty that I'd be <i>Transformational </i>all the time, but let's be honest... I also know that in my head and the reality of day-to-day are not always the same. But I'd sure be trying, and that's better than nothing.<br />
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Right now my focus is helping move other teachers who are more <i>Entry</i> or <i>Substitution</i> to move forward and progress with technology in a meaningful way. Heck, for some I'm still working on getting their feet wet. It's a daunting task some days, and I know that if it is for me, it definitely is for them, but as long as we're shifting our thinking towards embracing technology and shifting into the facilitator role and letting students drive the bus, we'll all get there eventually.Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-72447224588050742652013-06-12T14:13:00.000-04:002013-06-13T14:21:04.324-04:00A Summer of eLearning<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_Bkj9TqtLJ2a_B_B25w6Jswc96r3qFtn5OE44AFCT862ESmWO8YMSButY4_W0Ch36oq4YVaJ4OUk6-2CtFB9uoo828CehPcLFBS1zIzZMQ89O9wT5X0wvzFO684K5SfqJQrlYoPUS-1l/s1600/elearning_quizlet.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="eLearning Quizlet cards" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_Bkj9TqtLJ2a_B_B25w6Jswc96r3qFtn5OE44AFCT862ESmWO8YMSButY4_W0Ch36oq4YVaJ4OUk6-2CtFB9uoo828CehPcLFBS1zIzZMQ89O9wT5X0wvzFO684K5SfqJQrlYoPUS-1l/s1600/elearning_quizlet.png" height="109" title="eLearning Quizlet cards" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://quizlet.com/_eg4ra" target="_blank">My eLearning Quizlet Cards</a></td></tr>
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This summer I'm excited to be taking a course on online and blended instruction. In my profession as an Instructional Technology Specialist, I work closely with teachers to help integrate the meaningful use of technology to support best practices, standards, and to promote the engagement of students. This summer I'm offering around 20 different sessions of professional development at our administration building to staff members who voluntarily want to come in and learn things like Google Docs, Excel, or our online CMS, Moodle. We're also hosting a BYOD training for the first time this summer, as we are trying to communicate our newly rolled-out BYOD access across the district.<br />
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As I continue to train this summer AND take this online course about blended and online instruction, I really wish that I was able to offer some of my professional development sessions online, too. I haven't decided whether the technology PD I provide would be better suited to a weekly module arrangement or perhaps just a live, accessible way for teachers to tune in to my classes from home. The idea that I could reach so many more staff members than the physical classroom capacity allows in the summertime (or anytime, really!) gets me so excited, and at the same time disappointed that I am not prepared for that this year. <i>Yet</i>. I am really hoping that I can learn from the course I'm taking to help pitch the idea and offer future professional development in SOME way online. I think I'd be able to cover more material, a wider range of material, and give teachers more time to play, explore, and practice their new skills. <br />
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While I feel like I don't really offer PD online yet, I do realize that a step in the right direction has been made with the way we offer documentation and video screen-casts online for teachers in our staff "tech tips" area. This staff-accessible-only database that we have built over the years is mostly of PDF step-by-step documentation on software and tools that have been tailored to a teacher's perspective and needs, and screen-casts I've recorded of me walking teachers through the steps of using a piece of software or tool. (One example is <a href="http://iheartedtech.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-video-tour-of-learnzillioncoms.html" target="_blank">a recent virtual tour I recorded</a> of myself to show off the features of a tool I'm showcasing at the BYOD workshop this summer!) This database of documentation does allow for some flexibility, as teachers can reference, read, or watch bite-sized instructional chunks on their own time from home or school, but I really love the idea that having teachers virtually attend my summer professional development sessions down the road will help take this to the next level. I'm really looking forward to more ways I can make what I do better and more meaningful, to in turn help our staff do the same. Here's to a summer of eLearning! Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-77139334559153991102013-06-06T08:41:00.002-04:002013-06-06T08:41:29.564-04:00A Video Tour of LearnZillion.com's FeaturesIt's no secret based on my post a month ago, (<a href="http://iheartedtech.blogspot.com/2013/05/learn-zillion-things-at-learnzillion.html" target="_blank"><i>Learn a Zillion Things at LearnZillion!</i></a>) that I'm a big fan of <a href="http://learnzillion.com/">LearnZillion.com</a>.<br />
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As I prepare for the professional development opportunities that I'm offering to our staff this summer, I'm including a plug for LearnZillion as part of a BYOD training. It's just one of several tools that I'll be highlighting in the context of <b>b</b>ringing <b>y</b>our <b>o</b>wn <b>d</b>evice. While developing my BYOD session, I wanted to "flip" the training and offer some quick video clips to introduce the variety of tools in rotating stations for teachers so that they could explore. While I like that LearnZillion has several short video snippets to help you navigate your new account once you're logged in, I decided to record my own quick intro video tour of LearnZillion.com's features to use in training, and to introduce others who may not have an account yet to the tool.<br />
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Maybe this feature tour will get you as excited about LearnZillion as I am, and inspire you to create your own (FREE) teacher account and get started! You'll be happy to know that if you need any help along the way once you're registered, that LearnZillion has got you covered with helpful tutorial clips every step of the way. And if you're wondering what the fuss is all about, you may want to check out <a href="http://iheartedtech.blogspot.com/2013/05/learn-zillion-things-at-learnzillion.html" target="_blank">my first LearnZillion post</a> to get the additional scoop.<br />
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You're still reading? What are you waiting for?! Get started with <a href="http://www.learnzillion.com/" target="_blank">LearnZillion</a> today.Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-18234329032923001702013-05-07T10:28:00.001-04:002013-06-05T15:08:12.488-04:00Learn a Zillion Things at LearnZillion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0gNWKjWhGa1tqysrZW7KBYGlnSuUYYwGOvTZPbn40T6w0eHYyaMu2MuOkjU6JuPrSNRHpXMfUG3y_FVUZihvWaxst9TaTJfCr2Txu1cpO57XfTdArURa0QpCG2fLK0r4EuLJzsmpa-ik/s1600/learnzillion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0gNWKjWhGa1tqysrZW7KBYGlnSuUYYwGOvTZPbn40T6w0eHYyaMu2MuOkjU6JuPrSNRHpXMfUG3y_FVUZihvWaxst9TaTJfCr2Txu1cpO57XfTdArURa0QpCG2fLK0r4EuLJzsmpa-ik/s1600/learnzillion.jpg" height="106" width="320" /></a></div>
Okay, maybe a "zillion" is exaggerating a bit, but you really can learn an awful lot at <a href="http://learnzillion.com/">LearnZillion.com</a>! <b>(Updated 6-5-2013 with an introduction video to take you on a tour! See below)</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.learnzillion.com/" target="_blank">LearnZillion</a> is a database of over 2,000 high quality instructional videos for grades 3-9, all tied to and searchable by Common Core State Standards in math and language arts. Everything is 100% free for teachers, who make accounts and can search the database to find videos that support teaching the common core standards.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxY8Kz1za4FIs3M_BoWpTeJp-J7xlfmcIuZmjCcV9ES9W9opcVi5nbPsO7ajmto92xg7jcz7rIBZjtIn6SfgmZsVPCBKnJF-spP1hUQkOhD2Em65XqNLt-_EPgpsMcPSaEV5denhhb2Wez/s1600/learnzillion02.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxY8Kz1za4FIs3M_BoWpTeJp-J7xlfmcIuZmjCcV9ES9W9opcVi5nbPsO7ajmto92xg7jcz7rIBZjtIn6SfgmZsVPCBKnJF-spP1hUQkOhD2Em65XqNLt-_EPgpsMcPSaEV5denhhb2Wez/s1600/learnzillion02.png" height="151" width="400" /></a></div>
The videos are made by a huge "dream team" of qualified educators and all start with learning targets and have the same intro look and feel and high quality across the board, which I really like. Teachers can use the videos personally as inspiration to help them find new and different ways to approach teaching specific standards, OR they can take LearnZillion to the next level and assign video content to their students.<br />
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Say what?! Yup, a teacher can optionally go in and set up their class(es) in LearnZillion, too, by creating and managing student accounts for free. The beauty of this is that since the teacher is managing the account, no email address is required by students to sign-up; they simply use the unique access code generated by their teacher. LearnZillion has thorough parent letters that teachers can print and send home or link on their classroom website to help parents help their kids get connected. LearnZillion content bridges the gap between home and school - now the parents can be involved in what their child is learning and understand what's being taught in class by watching the videos with them at home. I know this would've helped soothe frustration on many nights back when I was in school and struggling with my math homework! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjucm6QhEzsI4gDuYeJocn56woVHGlQbg46JrSE-tfSv2hiVlDmUH3Mt98npMNyR7dams0HLNpxCvFEWbSm7j_AtQpQCL_hU7ht-KH_V5I2F2EUWxhC1nPRxe7I6pdSaXrTXZDV4bimC3IY/s1600/learnzillion03.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjucm6QhEzsI4gDuYeJocn56woVHGlQbg46JrSE-tfSv2hiVlDmUH3Mt98npMNyR7dams0HLNpxCvFEWbSm7j_AtQpQCL_hU7ht-KH_V5I2F2EUWxhC1nPRxe7I6pdSaXrTXZDV4bimC3IY/s1600/learnzillion03.png" height="276" width="320" /></a></div>
LearnZillion videos could be used whole group to supplement a lesson, or video content can be assigned to individual students or to support small group instruction or stations. Since you can pick and choose which videos to assign to which students, differentiation has never been easier. And every video is around 5 minutes or less, so they get to the point in perfect bite-sized chunks. <br />
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When you assign video content to a student in LearnZillion, practice activities and quizzes are available with each video that you can use to assess their understanding along the way. Students don't just watch a video and move on; they practice while they watch to reinforce the content that they're learning. And this data can be analyzed by student or by class from the teacher's dashboard in a variety of ways. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, right?!<br />
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As an instructional specialist, one thing I appreciate about LearnZillion is how there's teacher support <i>everywhere</i>, on every screen, and alongside anything you do. You'll never feel lost or wonder how to do something. The dashboard has a series of help videos to get you going with your account and getting students set up, all at less than a minute each. And when you're previewing a video, you'll find additional valuable resources along the right side of the screen, like PowerPoint slides of the lesson, (with the narration from the video typed up in the notes section of each slide!) coach's commentary, guided practice, prinable assessments, note & discussion templates, and a parent letter. ELA content includes downloadable anchor texts, too. Below the video there's even step-by-step instructions to explain how to use the lesson and the available resources to get the most out of the content.<br />
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Oh, and did I mention there's an app for that? Just recently released, LearnZillion has a cross-platform app (free) for students. While LearnZillion works perfectly in any device's browser with internet access, the student app does make assigned content cleaner and even simpler for them to access with a single tap. Teachers will still need to use the website, though.<br />
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<b>Update 6-5-2013:</b> I recorded a quick screen capture of me taking you on a tour of LearnZillion and its features. Take a look!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/1YwUej5HAyI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Want to flip your classroom? LearnZillion can help. Want help figuring out how you're going to teach that tricky, abstract standard? LearnZillion can help. Want high quality content to help support and enrich differentiation in your classroom? LearnZillion can do that, too. Is there anything LearnZillion <i>can't</i> do? Well, currently there's no content yet for high school ELA, but I hear that's coming, as well as eventually including science and social studies content, too. I can't wait to see what LearnZillion comes up with next.<br />
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How would YOU use LearnZillion in <i>your</i> classroom?<br />
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<br />Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-39836493130038606542013-04-30T10:36:00.000-04:002013-04-30T10:36:41.486-04:00Use Guided Access to Enable "Kid Mode" on your iPad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ever wished you could disable the Home button or other menu buttons in an app when your iPad is in younger hands?<br />
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I admit as a mom, the inspiration for this post came from my own personal experience of having a two year old and wanting him to start using my iPad more frequently. I had downloaded so many great educational apps for him, but let's be honest... most of his time on the iPad up until now was spent helping him <i>get back into</i> his app, because he kept accidentally (or curiously, over and over again as a two year old often does) hitting the menu button and exiting out. Not to mention I didn't really want him sending tweets or emails on my behalf then, by mistake. I wanted to hand him the iPad with confidence until he had a better idea of what he was doing, but I also didn't want to install 3rd party apps specifically designed for such a task. Isn't there something built in to my iPad OS?<br />
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It turns out there is, and it's called <i>Guided Access</i>. (Note: the following works on iOS 6+)<br />
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1. Tap to enter your <b>Settings</b> and select <b>General</b>. Find <b>Accessibility.</b><br />
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2. Press to enter <b>Accessibility</b> and scroll down to the <i>Learning</i> section; tap on <b>Guided Access</b><br />
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3. Flip the <b>Guided Access</b> switch <b>ON</b>, and tap <b>Set Passcode</b> to enter the passcode you want to use to exit out of Guided Access mode when in an app later. I recommend flipping the <b>Enable Screen Sleep</b> switch <b>ON</b> to help save battery life, too.<br />
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Now that you've configured Guided Access, you can exit Settings and open any app. To lock into the app, <b>triple press the Home button</b> to bring up the Guided Access menu for that app.<br />
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By default, you'll see that <i>Touch</i> capabilities and <i>Motion</i> capabilities are turned on. I like that you even have the ability to draw on the screen to optionally define other specific areas within the app you want to disable. For example, my son loves one of the puzzle apps I've downloaded. There's a home button to go back and pick a new puzzle, but there's another button on the screen that takes him to the app's credits. My two year old doesn't need to get stuck on the credits screen of the app, so while I'd leave the app's home menu button alone, I could draw a circle around the credits button to disable it from working while in Guided Access mode.<br />
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Now that you're ready to go, press the blue <b>Start</b> button to begin running the app in "Kid Mode." You're now locked in with the settings you defined.<br />
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<b>To exit "Kid Mode," simply triple click the Home button again</b>. You'll be required to enter the passcode you set above in step 3. <br />
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While the inspiration for this post was personal, it could have relevance in the classroom as well, especially for really young students just starting out who could use this support. Perhaps if you're using a specific app for content on a few iPads at centers in your classroom, having this trick up your sleeve will allow you to lock in to the specific app they should be using at the center so that you know they are on task during their small group rotation. It's definitely not something I'd want to use all the time, or with the more experienced student who doesn't need to be locked into an app, or a student on their own iPad, as the beauty of using a device like the iPad is having access to <i>a wide variety</i> of apps they may need or want to use to enhance their learning... but there may be a very specific time or two where you may be glad you knew you could do this. Even if it's just to disable a single button within the app that allows you to purchase something! (Ask me how I know.) :)<br />
<br /><br />Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-47745841709006501242013-04-24T08:20:00.000-04:002013-04-24T08:20:39.574-04:00Comics in the Classroom - Celebrate #ComicsOutLoud!Something very near and dear to my nerdy heart is the benefit of utilizing comics in the classroom. The excitement of creating comics can get even the most reluctant of readers and writers motivated! <br />
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Comics are familiar to most kids, and we all know students are more engaged and the work is more meaningful when we find a way to relate to their interests. Tapping in and harnessing the power of comics in the classroom might just be the carrot on a stick you've been looking for to encourage your students to approach the writing process in a new and different way. (And make it fun!)<br />
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<b>Why Comics?</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Comics are motivating </li>
<li>Comics use big words (average 53.5 rare words per thousand!)</li>
<li>Words and pictures together increase recall and problem solving</li>
<li>Comics enrich the skills of accomplished readers</li>
<li>Comics support beginning and struggling readers</li>
<li>Comics support English language learners</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Source: <a href="http://www.readingwithpictures.org/" target="_blank">Reading With Pictures'</a> <a href="https://www.z2systems.com/nps//servlet/DisplayLink?orgId=rwp434&emailId=ea728fa6e2be156557251640d1f33782em67762ea7&secureId=tZ7fHoKqr3c%3D&linkId=757&targetUrl=http://www.z2systems.com/np/viewDocument?orgId=rwp434&id=b2b81aa83dfcd878013e1ab6124f00bd" target="_blank">Comics Out Loud graphic</a></i></span><br />
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<b>Online Comic Creators</b><br />
In keeping federal internet privacy guidelines in mind and my work with elementary students and teachers, I often look for tools that do not require registration (or that registration does not require an email address, after checking the Terms of Service carefully) or an account to use, since a lot of times the students I'm working with are 13 and under. With this in mind, my current favorite comic creators are...<br />
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<a href="http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/" target="_blank"><b>Make Beliefs Comix</b></a> is a free tool that comes with many different layouts and characters to choose from, with tons of options when it comes to sizing and arranging the different elements in your layout. Kids add speech bubbles and their own text to their creations. Make Beliefs does not require an account to use, but the downfall is that you can't save your work without an account. But never fear... there are LOADS of <a href="http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/" target="_blank">educator resources,</a> including <a href="http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Lesson-Plans/" target="_blank">lesson plans</a>, <a href="http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Writing-Prompts/" target="_blank">story starters</a> and <a href="http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Printables/" target="_blank">printable templates</a>, which will help the younger crowd without an account prewrite before creating their comic so that they can finish in one sitting and print.<br />
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<a href="http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/736x/62/f0/b0/62f0b01e240e02346cf8a3db068c042c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/736x/62/f0/b0/62f0b01e240e02346cf8a3db068c042c.jpg" height="66" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://chogger.com/" target="_blank"><b>Chogger</b></a> is another free creation tool with many of the same options, but includes the added benefit of being able to free-draw images from scratch OR upload existing pictures you have on your computer or webcam. There are lots of editing options with this tool, and every frame can have its own unique look. <br />
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<a href="http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/736x/8d/7e/f8/8d7ef8389622ed31a9222b75dd1814b6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/736x/8d/7e/f8/8d7ef8389622ed31a9222b75dd1814b6.jpg" height="111" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.comicmaster.org.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Comic Master</b></a> is yet another free tool that does not require registration or an account to use. (Again, optional for 13 and up in order to save your work but not necessary.) Comic Master refers to itself as a graphic novel creator, and has a wide variety of editing and customization options as well as tons of characters, props, and special effects to choose from. Comic creation is simple with intuitive drag and drop functionality; it's super user friendly! I love that this tool's got a really immersive graphic novel feel to it as you work AND there's <a href="http://www.readmeresources.co.uk/" target="_blank">educator resources</a>, too. Comics created with Comic Master can be short and sweet, or span multiple pages. Students can download or print their creations when finished.<br />
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<b>But I'm not a good artist!</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhjVteCzgwxcBDczOSdfBO3urSq1XDtGcP5Zj83NUrqm8dbLqfq9oxVrJHfQ1KO08XeEv8b_sLja3AFx0DcUX4GMrebiZJxwEpciaEuqwgkEvCPt6NMrTgmOH8AzQWeTgpCMJP6Rdg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://writecomics.com/images/logo.gif" height="49" width="200" /></a>Some students may shy away from the comic creation process because they don't think they're very good artists. There are plenty of resources that allow students to pick from premade characters and clipart, or even upload their own photos, which takes the drawing component completely out of the picture. This is also a nice way to help students really focus more on the development of the story rather than worrying about their drawing abilities. (Or their perceived lack thereof.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.wittycomics.com/images/logo3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.wittycomics.com/images/logo3.gif" /></a>Most of the previously mentioned tools have some kind of premade art available to use, or the ability to upload images from your computer or webcam instead of drawing. Two other tools that offer this functionality include <a href="http://writecomics.com/" target="_blank"><b>WriteComics</b></a> and <a href="http://www.wittycomics.com/" target="_blank"><b>Witty Comics</b></a>, if you're looking for purely writing-centered comic creators. <br />
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<b>Using Comics in the Classroom</b><br />
There are all kinds of ways you can use comics in the classroom to support standards, engagement, and student learning. You could...<br />
<ul>
<li>Share a current news story or retell details from a current event </li>
<li>Present research material to show what you've learned</li>
<li>Create directions or steps in a process / instruction manual</li>
<li>Practice conversational foreign language words and phrases</li>
<li>Turn a well-known story into a comic format</li>
<li>Write a brand new story</li>
<li>Build a comic strip from a story starter </li>
<li>Tell a joke</li>
<li>Interview someone - either in current real life or a fictional interview of a historical figure</li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/736x/08/a1/3a/08a13a3fecae196ab4b67333e46c66e6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Reading With Pictures: The Graphic Textbook" border="0" src="http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/736x/08/a1/3a/08a13a3fecae196ab4b67333e46c66e6.jpg" height="200" title="Reading With Pictures: The Graphic Textbook" width="139" /></a></div>
<b><br />Reading With Pictures</b> <b>- Resources for Educators</b><br />
Love the idea of integrating comics, but not sure how to get started? Check out <a href="http://www.readingwithpictures.org/" target="_blank">Reading With Pictures</a>,
a hub for learning and advocating for comics in the classroom. They
provide tons of educator resources with a searchable database, all free.
Reading With Pictures is the creator of <i>The Graphic Textbook</i>, a graphic novel/comic book format textbook for schools. They. Are. AWESOME.<br />
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Do you have any other great ideas on how to incorporate comics in the classroom? Celebrate <a href="http://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/rwp434/event.jsp?event=3" target="_blank">#ComicsOutLoud today</a> by sharing this post or its resources with your fellow educators and become an advocate for comics in the classroom!<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Keep up with my favorite comic resources as I continue to build on my <a href="http://pinterest.com/IHeartEdTech/comics-in-the-classroom/" target="_blank">Pinterest board: Comics in the Classroom.</a></span></i><br />
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Our district uses Google Apps for Education. All staff and students have their own district Google Drive (formerly Google <i>Docs</i>) account. A lot of our teachers have dug right in because of Google's rich collaboration functionality, and their excitement has been spreading... every day, I see more and more staff members getting their feet wet by exploring other ways that Google Drive can enhance their classroom experience and engage students.<br />
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There's not just one way to use Google Drive in the classroom. Most who have attended my introductory professional development go on to use the basics of what Google Drive has to offer right away: collaboration on documents. But there's so much more that you can do when you think outside the box!<br />
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<b>A Shared Classroom Space on Google Drive</b><br />
I had a secondary art teacher contact me to tell me about a project she was doing where students would be taking pictures with their smartphones of various aspects of art that they found in everyday situations. See a great example of color, line, or perspective while you're at the mall? Snap a picture! Kids were given a week to take photos on their phones. But then she was stuck... she wanted a single place, accessible to all students in the class, to access all of the photos. One solution we came up with was for the teacher to create a shared folder on Google Drive, shared with all students in the class. Often we're comfortable with sharing <i>individual</i> documents and files on Google Drive because that's what we do the most, but forget that we can apply share settings to an <i>entire folder</i> as well.<br />
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Click the <b>Create</b> button and create a new <b>Folder</b>. From your dashboard, select the folder and press the <b>Share</b> button at the top of the screen. Now you can share this folder with multiple people just like you would share an individual document with multiple people. The cool thing about this is that now anything you upload to this shared folder going forward is automatically accessible to everyone that the folder has been shared with. (Also a good tip so that you only have to share something <i>one</i> time with 30+ students, instead of having to share <i>every</i> document you upload individually with 30+ students every time.)<br />
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The next step in this case was to have students install the Google Drive app (free) on their devices, from their device's respective app store. Once they had logged in to their school Google Drive account via the app, they were able to find the folder their teacher had shared with them. (Under the <i>Shared With Me</i> section; they can then select the folder and click the <i>Add to My Drive</i> button.)<br />
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Once they'd added the folder to their drive, students could upload the images from their photo roll on their device right into that shared folder. They could now also browse (and download) all of the pictures that their peers put up, too. The teacher had essentially created a database of images related to her art project in the shared folder on Google Drive. Since the teacher was the owner of the shared folder, she had complete control over monitoring the images uploaded, and was notified when new files were uploaded so that she could keep an eye to make sure the images were appropriate. (And could tell who uploaded the photo in the event of an issue.)<br />
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<b>Turning In Assignments via Google Drive</b><br />
But what if you want students to turn in a homework assignment via Google Drive? It's kind of the same idea, but from the students' side this time. The student would create a folder on their Google Drive account and title it "Ann Smith's Assignments" for example, and share that folder with just their teacher. Anything the student uploads or creates in that shared folder is automatically available to their teacher.<br />
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When the teacher logs in to their Google Drive account and looks under the <i>Shared With Me</i> section, they'll see one folder for each of their students. (I'd recommend having students use a consistent naming convention to make organizing your Google Drive easier - i.e. requiring them use their first and last name and/or class/period number, etc.) Because of the shared folder functionality, teachers will now have access to anything the student puts into their shared assignment folder going forward, making this a way for students to turn in assignments to their teacher from anywhere.<br />
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<b>One last thing...</b><br />
Don't forget that the permissions you give to a folder will be applied to everything in the folder, so if you share the folder with others giving them <i>Can Edit</i> rights, (vs. <i>Can View </i>rights) any files that you upload or create in that folder will automatically be shared with everyone on the folder with those same rights.<br />
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How do YOU use shared folders to think outside the box when it comes to using Google Drive in your classroom?Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-50336911496496508442013-04-08T13:27:00.003-04:002013-04-08T13:28:16.766-04:00Use PicMonkey to Make Digital Posters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Gone are the days when PowerPoint was your only option for presenting material. Today, there are lots of web 2.0 tools out there to make presentations fun and engaging. Popular tools like Glogster allow manipulation of images, animations, and other graphics to make digital "posters," and I feel like there's a new web-based image editing tool popping up every day. Surely one of these image editors could be harnessed to create a digital poster for free, right?<br />
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I decided to explore this for a colleague, who was looking for alternatives to Glogster. <b>My favorite web-based image editing tool right now is <a href="http://www.picmonkey.com/" target="_blank">PicMonkey</a></b>. The makers of PicMonkey were formerly developers on the popular Google Picnik editor before Picnik closed up shop last April. PicMonkey is free and does not require you to sign up for an account to use its services. This is important when you consider federal guidelines like CIPA and COPPA, and your students do not have school email addresses.<br />
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While PicMonkey is free and all of its core functionality is free, there are additional "royale" features that require a premium account. This is not required to do anything that I'm about to show you, though! Students never have to register or be logged in, and can save their creation to their computer when finished.<br />
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1. Go to <a href="http://picmonkey.com/">PicMonkey.com</a>. To make a poster, you'll start by making a collage. Click <b>Create a Collage</b>.<br />
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2. Using the menu on the left, upload the images you want to include on your poster, and pick a layout. You can select multiple images to upload at once by holding down the CTRL button on your keyboard. Drag and drop images right into your layout. You can also pick plain or patterned backgrounds to fill in some of the spaces if you don't want to use images in every space. (A good idea if you plan to add blocks of text - have at least one space or two with plain backgrounds so you can put text there later.)<br />
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3. When you're done with the collage layout, click <b>Save</b> at the top. Save this collage image to your computer in a safe place that you will remember.<br />
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4. Now refresh picmonkey.com in your browser. You'll be back at the main page. This time select Edit a Photo. Upload the collage image from your computer that you just made.<br />
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5. Now you're able to edit your collage/poster to add stickers, text, and other visual effects. Use the menu on the left to go through all of the fun things you can add to your "poster" to make it come alive. Things marked with a crown icon are for premium "royale" members, but there are tons of free options under every menu. You can still use all of the core functionality and features, though!<br />
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Here's an example of adding a text box onto one of the plain, blank spaces I talked about earlier:<br />
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In the above example I added the cat and speech bubble as stickers, and two text boxes: one text box arranged on top of one of the blank squares as well as one on top of the speech bubble sticker. Everything you add is completely customizable. For example, when I added the cat sticker I had color options (see the box on the far right) to select both the outline color (blue) and the fill color (yellow) of the sticker. Neat! (I love being able to color coordinate.)<br />
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6. When you're finished with your poster, press <b>Save</b> at the top of the page again and save the final version to your computer. The saved image can now be printed or posted onto a Google Site or to Google Docs to be shared with others.<br />
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<b>Other Uses for PicMonkey </b><br />
Of course this is just one way you can use PicMonkey in the classroom. From the Collage menu, you could select a greeting card layout and have students make postcards. How fun would it be to upload photos that students take around their community and write from the point of view of someone visiting their hometown for the first time? Or highlighting a location or culture they've been researching, "writing home" as if they had visited to share what they'd learned during their research "trip?" And that's just postcards! You can do a lot with images. Edited images will spice up anything you do in any presentation, and with PicMonkey being web-based, it's an easy way for all students to have access to free, basic image editing functionality wherever they are, as long as they are connected to the internet.<br />
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How else could YOU use PicMonkey in your classroom?<br />
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<br />Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875524548622223176.post-79964380151610523672013-04-05T12:08:00.000-04:002013-04-08T12:09:54.970-04:00I'm on Pinterest! Welcome to the IHeartEdTech Blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZYP3VZ2Gi-HYOl3zxR9EuF2DPkOZhbBekFAkpMQL4Ov_gqZRN6KZMjnT0luYYU2btn5BKqLqHEEuqmYxhwQoSzYPtsOedVbKTXclnxQ97-MlDmeyDLF_MWBZVbTkNKrd1J0CavasHQh22/s1600/edutechnerd_avatar_reasonably_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZYP3VZ2Gi-HYOl3zxR9EuF2DPkOZhbBekFAkpMQL4Ov_gqZRN6KZMjnT0luYYU2btn5BKqLqHEEuqmYxhwQoSzYPtsOedVbKTXclnxQ97-MlDmeyDLF_MWBZVbTkNKrd1J0CavasHQh22/s1600/edutechnerd_avatar_reasonably_small.jpg" /></a></div>
Whether you're an elementary gen ed classroom teacher, secondary teacher, technology specialist or administrator... and regardless of whether you're BYOD, 1:1, looking for apps or just some web 2.0 resources and inspiration... I bet I have a Pinterest board for that!<br />
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/IHeartEdTech" target="_blank">Follow me on Pinterest</a>!<br />
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Welcome to my "new" EdTech blog. I say <i>"new"</i> because I'm definitely not new to blogging or social media, but this IS a new space for me to organize ideas, inspiration, and resources that I find and use related to education. I have several different blogs that I post to for different personal facets of my life, and I felt it was time that my professional passions also had their own space.<br />
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My name is Lesley, and I'm an Instructional Technology Specialist in Indiana. I'm formerly a classroom teacher, (4th grade, kindergarten, and middle school computers) and these days I work closely with teachers to help integrate the use of technology to support best practices, standards, and the engagement of students. <br />
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Don't be shy! I'm also on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/IHeartEdTech" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, regularly following and participating on the #edtech and #edchat hashtags, where all of the gems in the online education universe seem to be found. It's a great place to connect with other educators and learn about new tools and ways that people are using technology in their classrooms.<br />
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Hopefully you'll find something useful here! Mrs. Karpiukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13938043050710469628noreply@blogger.com0