Week 14 - Post 19: Using video for teaching and learning

The following is a link to Lesson on the "Digital Divide". Hope you enjoy it.

http://ed.ted.com/on/HmvOQ2Gq

Ideas to use Videos for Teaching and Learning

This week was great to learn and gain some insight as to how to enhance the learning in the classroom in the classroom and beyond. The use of videos can make students learn from seeing what has been created by others and so they can design themselves. Using TedED and Youtube channels that will make the teacher’s job better. As a technology education teacher it is imperative to learn about the use of videos to enhance the classroom and to keep up with the technological advances that are out there. Not just in the computer arena, but on the mobile technology, because that is the way young students communicate and use of resources. I will now share some ideas that teachers can use in the classroom.

One idea is to use videos that show students a more fun way to teach the lesson. Utilizing the right videos can enhanced the lessons. To keep students motivated, engaged, and interested in the subject, the teacher can use visuals and entertaining that gives the students a way to keep the attention on the teacher and the subject. The use of videos allows students to get someone else perspective, than that of the teacher and it gives the teacher a break. By searching and browsing the teacher can find the right videos and using educational channels in youtube that they can subscribe to or observe some TedED Talks/lessons. The teacher can create questions, discussions and provide more resources to the students. These are better ways to utilize the technology to enhance the learning.

Creating Youtube playlist and subscribing to educational channels that are related to Technology education, will allow the student to view and share related material that goes with the lesson/subject. Some students are visual learners and learn better by watching rather than reading, so providing video alternatives to reading material will be better embraced by the students.

The Technology educational teacher can record classroom lessons or lectures and save them for future viewing. Then the teacher can create channel in Youtube and use it as a repository for saving and sharing any lectures  that can be shared with the students. Once the video is created and uploaded to Youtube, it will make it easy to send the link to any student that missed class, or keep track of the different videos you have in case you want to review them before giving the same lesson in the future.

Week 13 - Blog 18: Using Google Photos for teaching and learning

This week’s assignment was very fun and educational, because I learned how to utilize Google Photos in the classroom. Google Photos is one of the most popular and effective ways of storing and managing photos. With an existing Google account, you get access to unlimited photo storage. Even though, you can always access your photos online, Google Photos is also pre-downloaded on Android devices and is available for download on iOS devices. It is free to use, and syncs all photos and videos that you take on your phone with the online cloud storage. Google Drive includes Photos as part of its connected applications, so all Google content will be readily available, as well. A nice feature of Google Photos is the ability to search through your photos using keyword. Google Photos uses an algorithm that senses what object or people are within each image, therefore your keyword will search in your photo database for all related images. This is a fast and easy way to find the photos that you look for. Google Photos also gives you some sharing and organizational features, where you are able to create photo albums, collages, and animations, which you can share with anyone. Taking into account that all these features, which are provided in Google Photos are free, you can easily see that this application can definitely enhance the learning in-and-out of the classroom. The following are some ideas that Google Photos can be used for teaching and learning at a Computer and Technology class for 8-12 grade levels:

First of all, is that it provides the teacher and students with a tool to organize the class stream by working with topics and posts. Then the teacher and students can filter the stream for specific topics to make the classroom even easier to use. The students will be able to preview images and videos, all without leaving Classroom. Students can organize their Google Photos folder into sub folders and share those folders with the teacher and among their peers. Students can take photos or screenshots on their mobile device, have it automatically backed up to Google Photos and then they can organize those images into sub folders, based on subject, class, or projects groups for everyone to use.

Another idea, is to make good use of cloud space when using Google Photos to store all the pictures and videos that students take with either their mobile phones and/or tablets. The students must ensure that they have Auto Backup turned on, and they can remove the photos from their device as soon as it is backed up to Google Drive. The images and videos can be downloaded at any time back to the device if needed for a project or assignments that will be submitted to the teacher or share among their peers.

The last idea would be to use Google Photo in conjunction with Google Docs and Forms, which will allow the teacher to add images as part of the questions and answers. One perfect example is when students have to demonstrate their understanding of such as diagrams, graphs, flowcharts, and other subject or topic. As you can see there are many benefits that Google Photo offers for teachers and students, thus enhancing the learning environment in-and-out of the classroom.

Week 13 - Blog 17: Google Photos assignment

The following is the link to my SHARED Google Photo Album. The album shows different pictures from the different Star Wars movies from Episodes I through VII. I am a huge fan of Star Wars. I am looking forward to upcoming movie Star Wars "Rogue One", and next year Episode VIII.
I am sharing some of the pictures with you. Enjoy!

Click on the following:  Star Wars Shared Album 

Week 12 - Blog 16: Self-directed Learning using Feedly

Blog 16: Self-directed Learning using Feedly

One of the Blogs that I follow is GettingSmart and the post that I recently read was “Blended Learning Engagement: Are the Students Paying Attention?” In this post it talks about how in blended learning, the teachers combine traditional classroom and online instruction to enhance the learning. It talks about blended learning utilizing videos and interactive activities as a part of the digital curriculum. The instruction is either to the entire class or to groups of students, therefore providing a personalized learning to student, whom are more engaged with the lessons. Teachers have the challenge of ensuring that students are taking advantage of the resources that are available to them with the Web 2.0 tools. The teacher should be familiar with the many ways of studies on the effectiveness of blended learning in the classroom. Although there are many positive reviews of the methodology of study, the teacher needs to keep the students engaged with the lesson and the digital content. Student engagement may vary from student to student, but the teacher should know how to keep the motivation in every student. Some learning platforms are easier than others, but the teacher should make use of outside resources. Learning Management Systems have to be seamless in integrations, by using different avenues, such as short engaging videos, and other online activities. http://gettingsmart.com/2016/10/blended-learning-engagement-are-the-students-paying-attention/

 Another Blog that I really enjoyed reading was Edudemic’s post titled “A Teacher’s New Best Friend: Amazon Inspire”. This post talks about how education has fully embraced the digital era and how educational technology has allowed techers to create classes that are innovative, therefore giving students easier access to educational material that is readily available to them at any time. The post talks about Amazon now competing with Apple, Google, and Microsoft, which provide millions of devices to many primary and secondary schools. Amazon has created “Amazon Inspire”, which is a new platform that has a marketplace of free resources for teachers and educational institutions. This platform enables teachers to make their classroom more innovative with digital learning. Educators can upload, download, and edit digital educational materials for their classroom such as lesson plans, other teaching modules, and worksheets. Amazon Inspire will help transform learning by allowing teachers to share and discover new materials. With Amazon Inspire and its open access approach, teachers will no longer have to struggle with time and budget constraints to provide their students with high-quality education.

 

Week 12 - Blog 15: Using LiveBinders for teaching and learning

The following is the link to my LiveBinder:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=2113502

Blog 15: Livebinders

I want to start this blog by telling you all, that I am so glad that I learned about this great Web 2.0 tool. I have no doubt that LiveBinders will enhance any teacher’s classroom and the way we deliver information to our students. I learned that LiveBinders is an electronic portfolio that allows us to organize, bookmark, and share online content. This is a bookmarking tool that facilitates the organization of the information found online. So instead of saving the website links in other bookmarking services like Delicious for example, LiveBinders can organize your links into tabs accessible with just a click away.

LiveBinders uses Binders, which are urls of websites that you can share with other people online. Since teachers are always busy in their classroom creating, organizing, and storing lesson plans, they are able to use this great tool to get organized online. Teachers and students can use LiveBinders as an online resource to create a virtual binder.

LiveBinders allows teachers and students to put almost anything into the binder.  Teachers and students can link webpages and YouTube videos or just put documents, images, and videos inside their LiveBinders. They also have the option of creating different tabs and sub tabs just as you would do in a tangible binder. It is a content sharing tool that helps you go paperless and be more efficient. LiveBinders lets you collect your resources, organize them neatly, and easily present them with in the classroom. Some of the other ways that LiveBinders can be used include the following: 1) Class Notes - Students can create a notebook for every class. Notes are entered from their computers in class and can be edited from home. Students can add journal entries throughout the week, which can be turned in to the teacher for review. 2) Club Minutes - Students can organized and store minutes for different school clubs, such as the honor society, glee club, chess club, etc. Those minutes will be available for review by school officials as needed. 3) History/Science/Math Projects – As the students gather resources on their assignments for different topics, they can organize them into drafts, appendices, and final projects, thus making them readily available for the teacher to review and grade. Teachers can combine this with Jing, which is a Web 2.0 application that can be used to capture pictures and record audio and video. 4) Teacher Lesson Plans – You can collect all of the resources needed for a lesson plan, organize everything, and once saved in LiveBinders, it will be ready for presentation whenever necessary.

Week 11 - Blog 14: Final Project Idea

Week 11

Blog 14: Final Project idea

For my final project I would create a lesson plan titled “Digital Divide”, for Career and Technology 7th - 12th grade level class. In this lesson students will study the "Digital Divide" through comparison with other historical "divides" such as race, gender, and poverty. After studying and comparing a number of solutions of previous "divides," groups of students will propose and implement their solutions to the "Digital Divide." The focus of the first part of this

The lesson will begin by discussing the idea of "divides" with the students. Talking about events in history where one group of people had privileges or access to resources that were denied to other groups of people. Some starting points for students can be: 1) A Time Line of the Civil Right Movement (http://www.wmich.edu/politics/mlk/). The time line presents an overview of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, highlighting such events as the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 2) Living Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement (http://www.legacy98.org/). Students can research the time line of women's rights in the United Sates as well as a detailed history. These sites and others will be used to help frame a discussion about privilege and access, and how it relates to different groups of people based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is important to develop the idea that there is a history of divides and that they continue to affect a large number of people.

After discussing the issue of divides and whom they affect, students should begin researching a historical divide they are interested in studying. Some questions students should ask as they study previous divides, such as: 1) Who was affected by the divide? 2) Was there more than one group affected by the divide? 3) Does that divide still exist today?

Divide students into groups. Each group will be required to research a different topic of their choice. At this point in the lesson it is up to the teacher to create a divide among the students. For the research, some students should have access to computers, and some should not. Have different groups use different resources to research their selected topics, e.g., the Web, the library, communication with other experts, etc. During research, students should identify and analyze the resources they utilize. Each student should keep track of the resources they were able to locate using the Resource Chart in Organizers for Students, including the author, copyright date or last resource update, what the source of the information was, and whether or not there was sufficient information.

For this lesson, I am planning on having students use Edmodo to provide assignments and have a form secure form of communication between teacher and teachers and among themselves. I will also use Google Docs and Google Drive to provide the platform for the students to submit their work and to collaborate with the class. I will use Evernote, as I learned in this class to be a great tool to keep organized and to manage tasks effectively.

Week 11 - Blog 13: Helping a teacher use wikis

Week 11
Blog 13: Helping a teacher use wikis

First of all, I would have to say that I commend Jane for having the courage to try a new thing in her class and to ask her peers for help. I feel that Jane’s situation is classic case of “intent vs. impact”. Why? Because her intent was to provide to give her students an opportunity to use new tools in the classroom and that the same time the students will learn to collaborate with each other and accomplish the task together. However, the issues that I see in this scenario are that the students did not receive clear and specific instructions or Rubric. Also, they were not presented with the right guidance when it comes to using the web, such as internet safety, reliable sources and plagiarism. And lastly, they were not give proper guidance to collaborate with small groups and as an entire class to form a stronger team. Her intent was to allow her students to work together and learn in the process, while using the new tool of Wikis in the Web 2.0 environment, but the impact to the herself and her students was not a good result. But, at the end of the day, it is not the end of the world and Jane will learn from that experience.

The first issue of not giving her students specific and clear guidance, by providing them with a rubric to follow. The rubric would explain what exactly their goal would be, thus students will feel motivated to accomplish that goal. Besides goals, students need to know what is expected of them. Therefore, a clear rubric will create an understanding between the teacher and students and minimizes miscommunication. The rubric will guarantee consistency and fairness for all students, since some students might put more effort than others. Consequently, there may be more than one grade for any given assignment and for each student independently. Having objective-based learning assignment should enable students to know what concept areas they have mastered and where they need to improve. Since a rubric students received a specific grade, that personalized feedback can guide them to do better on the next assignment and in the course in general. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/112001/chapters/What-Are-Rubrics-and-Why-Are-They-Important%C2%A2.aspx

 

I like to describe children as curious, inquisitive, adventurous, fearless, unafraid, and trusting. Those descriptions and qualities can get children in danger in their everyday life, as well as on the Internet. Parents and teachers enjoy their children's curiosity, but also realize that curiosity assaults on the Internet, there are many new and different possibilities we may know little about.  Teachers and parents should learn to recognize, be knowledgeable, and capable to teaching their students and children safe behaviors to follow when they are using technology. I would recommend Jane to begin by harnessing the power of the Internet herself to learn more and catch up to her students. There are excellent resources to help teachers and parents learn some effective and easy-to-use strategies for online research. As a teacher, we should expect students to display different levels of responsibility at different ages. The same is true for internet safety and cyber citizenship and the risk of plagiarism. Teach them about the risks and ensure they care about keeping safe. Teach them about the need to know how to avoid hazardous online situations, how to detect a potentially dangerous situation, the importance of keeping personal information personal, and how they might respond to tricky situations. Jane will feel more comfortable when she is more knowledgeable about this new area of responsibility in teaching today. Together, parents, teachers, students, and community organizations can keep our children safe in an interconnected world. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-digital-citizenship

 

Last and very important is the learning outcomes and how groups will be organized, how student learning and group processes will be supported, and how students will be evaluated. Jane needs to consider how the process will play out in a classroom situation. How would she introduce the activity? How much time is required? How will you debrief as a group? For collaborative activities, she needs to focus on asking effective questions that engage students in the types of learning she is trying to encourage. Plan each stage of the group work over a period of time for which students will be graded. When forming groups, do not allow students to form their own groups, because it will likely result in uneven groupings. If possible, arrange groups by skills and/or backgrounds. Try to arrange students by their comfort/ability level on a number of skills (research, background knowledge of course topics, work experience, etc.) and try to arrange groups that include “experts” in different areas. To ensure that students are productive, set aside time early in the class to allow for icebreakers and team-building activities. Plan to use class time for group work to eliminate students having to organize times outside of class. Most of the work that the groups accomplish can be done collaboratively online, thus eliminating the trouble of coordination. Divide the overall assignment into smaller pieces and set several deadlines, that way students work toward reaching milestones, and include peer review in each milestone to encourage self-awareness and feedback. Connect activities from the classroom, which provide clues that assist students with the assignment. Have students share a summary of what they learn during the assignment and address any misconceptions or clarify any confusing points. Open the floor for questions. And that is it. Good luck Jane! https://www.edutopia.org/stw-collaborative-learning-resources