Ways to Evaluate Educational Apps I am conducting a series of workshops in Florida and was asked to share a rubric to help teachers evaluate educational apps as part of the workshop. In 2010 Harry Walker developed a rubric, and I used his rubric (with some modifications by Kathy Schrock) as the basis for mine. (Read Harry Walker's paper Evaluating the Effectiveness of Apps for Mobile Devices.) I kept in mind that some apps are used to practice a discrete skill or present information just one time. My rubric also emphasizes the ability to customize content or settings and how the app encourages the use of higher order thinking skills. Here's what I chose to spotlight in my rubric: Relevance The app’s focus has a strong connection to the purpose for the app and appropriate for the student Customization App offers complete flexibility to alter content and settings to meet student needs Feedback Student is provided specific feedback Thinking Skills Engagement Student is highly motivated to use the app Sharing
The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher should Have By EdTech Team Updated on march 2, 2015 : The original list that was created in 2011 comprised 33 skills , after reviewing it we decided to do some merging and finally ended up with the 20 skills below. The 21st century teacher should be able to : 1- Create and edit digital audio Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :Free Audio Tools for Teachers 2- Use Social bookmarking to share resources with and between learners Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill : A List of Best Bookmarking Websites for Teachers 3- Use blogs and wikis to create online platforms for students Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill : Great Tools to Create Protected Blogs and Webpages for your Class 4- Exploit digital images for classroom use Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :Web Tools to Edit Pictures without Installing any softwareTools to Convert Photos into Cartoons
Using Technology Vs Technology Integration- An Excellent Chart for Teachers Are you using or integrating technology in your teaching ? At the face of it, it seems like a game of semantics but in fact it is more than that. When we talk about technology integration in the classroom we are talking about a planned and highly structured and purposeful use of technology with students whose ultimate goal is to engage students and help them develop new thinking skills. Using technology, on the other hand, is a random and sporadic process whose main goal is to instruct students on content not to engage them with content. The chart below from Teachbytes , offers a more detailed explanation of the difference between Using Technology and Integrating Technology. Have a look and, as always, share with us your feedback in the comment form below. Check out the full chart from this page.
A Printable Guide to Social Media [#Infographic] Cram a dozen educators into a conference room and ask them to name the most popular social media tools used by students, and it’s a safe bet everybody at the table could rattle off the top two: Facebook and Twitter. But those are far from the only online applications making inroads in schools. As administrators warm to engaging students through social media, the list of potential resources at their disposal grows longer by the day. Facebook and Twitter are the obvious choices. Of course, if naming the latest social media tools seems tough, learning how to use them all is harder still. As the editors at Edudemic were right to point out, the infographic, which was written with small businesses in mind, has a few glaring omissions — Pinterest, for one. Is there a social media application not listed here that you’d like to learn more about?
Bloom’s Taxonomy: The 21st Century Version So much have been written about Bloom’s taxonomy; one click in a search engine will flood your page with hundreds of articles all of which revolve around this taxonomy. Only few are those who have tried to customize it to fit in the 21st century educational paradigm. As a fan of Bloom’s pedagogy and being a classroom practitioner, I always look for new ways to improve my learning and teaching, and honestly speaking , if you are a teacher/ educator and still do not understand Bloom’s taxonomy then you are missing out on a great educational resource. The following article is a summary and a fruit of my long painstaking research in the field of Bloom’s taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy of learning as Wikipedia has put it is “ a classification of learning objectives within education proposed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom ”. 1 – The cognitive : The intellectual or knowledge based domain consisted of 6 levels . Let us now go through the different domains stated here.
Beyond Substitution: The SAMR Model | 2011 Summer Tech Institute Think technology and education end with Word documents and Google Apps? Think again. SAMR, a model designed to help educators integrate technology into teaching and learning , was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura. The model aims to enable teachers to design, develop, and integrate digital learning experiences that utilize technology to transform learning experiences to lead to high levels of achievement for students. Double click the image below to get a full size view of the image. Substitute, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition SAMR - Models for Enhancng Technology Integration 1 The four levels of the SAMR model: 1. 2. 3. 4. Find more information about SAMR in Puentedura’s podcasts at iTunes U. Like this: Like Loading...
Edtech theory….why bother? | I am currently studying my Masters in Education, specialising in Information Technologies and over the weekend completed an assignment. One part of the assignment was to look at some of the theories, models and frameworks behind using technology in the classroom, that enable teachers to do this effectively. I thought I would share some of that information here as a little reminder as sometimes I feel many teachers get so caught up in the tools and forget about the pedagogy. The theory behind effective technology integration: If you want to embrace technology effectively and in a meaningful manner in the classroom, you first need to identify your strengths and weaknesses. TechnologyPedagogyContent Imagine you are teaching a fractions lesson in mathematics, do you know the content? The TPACK framework is a great place to start to identify your professional development needs. My explanation of the SAMR model, from substitution to redefinition! SAMR Model from Rebecca Spink on Vimeo.
NTDOEMinecraftEdu MinecraftEdu Minecraft has been used with great success in education programs around the world to engage children in creative learning. MinecraftEdu is a customised modification designed for classroom use that works right on top of the original Minecraft game. It has special features accessed through in-game menus that enable teachers to control the learning environment and guide students through tasks with the inclusion of these features: * Assignments and instructions that are visible to students. * Ability to save and load worlds and activities. * Powerful world-building tools to quickly create your own lessons * Custom teacher-only blocks that can give information, create boundaries, or control where students can buil * Ability to teleport students to control where they are. * Ability to mute/unmute and freeze/unfreeze students. * An expansive tutorial world to introduce new players to the game. Educational Benefits of MinecraftEdu
NTDOEScratch What do students learn as they create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art with Scratch? For one thing, they learn mathematical and computational ideas that are built into the Scratch experience. As students create programs in Scratch, they learn core computational concepts such as iteration and conditionals. They also gain an understanding of important mathematical concepts such as coordinates, variables, and random numbers. Significantly, students learn these concepts in a meaningful and motivating context. As students work on Scratch projects, they also learn about the process of design. This project-design process combines many of the 21st century learning skills that will be critical to success in the future: thinking creatively, communicating clearly, analysing systematically, collaborating effectively, designing iteratively, learning continuously. Creating projects in Scratch also helps students develop a deeper level of fluency with digital technology.