How Teachers Make Cell Phones Work in the Classroom A.P. Chemistry students use their cell phones to answer their teacher's question. When we talk about using cell phones in class, we’re not just talking about using cell phones in class. The idea of mobile learning touches on just about every subject that any technology addresses: social media, digital citizenship, content-knowledge versus skill-building, Internet filtering and safety laws, teaching techniques, bring-your-own-device policies, school budgets. At its core, the issues associated with mobile learning get to the very fundamentals of what happens in class everyday. In the most ideal class settings, mobile devices disappear into the background, like markers and whiteboards, pencil and paper – not because they’re not being used, but because they’re simply tools, a means to an end. In Ramsey Musallam’s A.P. As soon as kids walk in, Musallam sends out a text blast through Remind101, asking them a challenge question that’s related to the day’s lesson. Related
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20th Century Assessment In A 21st Century Learning Environment 20th Century Assessment In A 21st Century Learning Environment by Terry Heick Testing is a major challenge in education. Agreeing on what’s to be tested and how it’s to be administered is a matter of much debate. It’s also a big business. According to SmarterBalanced.org, the per-student cost for testing is currently around $31 per student. Recently there has been movement in this area, with a slew of organizations– among them the Smarter Balanced Consortium linked to above–developing new approaches to assessing student understanding. These efforts include adding adaptive computer-based testing to the existing assessments forms, which in many states include short-written responses. A Picture of 21st Century Learning If you can, imagine a 21st century learning environment. Learners buzz about a classroom working on a project to improve local water quality. They demonstrate a consistent pattern of reflection, deconstruction, and evolution of thought while bridging physical and digital audiences.
S.O.S. for Information Literacy 15 Tips For Facilitating Online Discussion Facilitating discussions between students is one of those things that is infinitely easier when you’re teaching in a physical classroom rather than online. When the students are all in one room, discussions happen more naturally. Facilitating the same type of productive, useful discussion when teaching online is more of a challenge. The handy infographic below from Mia MacMeekin takes a look at some tips and best practices for facilitating discussions when you’re teaching online. If you teach online and have any favorite tips and tricks, leave us a message in the comments! 15 Tips For Facilitating Online Discussion 10 Prompts to Stimulate Conversation Can you clarify?
20 Guiding Questions To Develop A Digital Literacy Plan - 16 Guiding Questions To Develop A Digital Literacy Plan by TeachThought Staff Literacy is a chief concern for both academic and professional progress. Digital literacy is emerging as a genuine concern in education as technology competes with traditional texts for student attention. There have been recent revisions in academic standards, but these should be considered insufficient to address the rapidly changing literacy needs of students. So we’ve put together some questions to help design a plan to respond on your own–and to do so based on effective and accessible data and measurement of student performance. The consistent assessment and promotion of a student’s ability to consume and produce a variety of digital and non-digital texts is at the foundation of any school’s mission. 20 Questions As A Guide The questions below are intended to act as a guide for someone setting out to create a literacy plan for a classroom, school, department, or district. 1. 2. 3. What does the research say?
Revisiting the definition of Mobile Learning 10 Ways to Optimize Your iPad for Kids With Special Needs When we think about ways the iPad has changed the world, our minds usually shoot to publishing, entertainment, or mobile communication. For the community of people living with disabilities, the iPad may have broken even more ground. The iOS device is not only cool, but provides education, therapy and, of course, entertainment. Last summer, Mashable explored ways iPads are making these changes. Noah began using his iPad when he was two and was assessed to be 12 months behind with language and cognition. SEE ALSO: 4 Ways iPads Are Changing the Lives of People With Disabilities Rahman recently released his book Getting Started: iPads for Special Needs. 1. One of the biggest differences between the iPad 2 and the new iPad is retina display, which can create an incredible visual experience. The iPad 2, however, offers a major advantage over the original iPad — cameras. When it comes to choosing the right size, Rahman says most social needs apps are not too large. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. "Really?" 7.
elearning : The Articulate Community... Weekly Recap: The Articulate Community Highlights the Best E-Learning Tips & Insights Dec92013 There’s no question about it, e-learning designers are in high demand. While that’s great news for our industry, being so busy makes it a challenge to keep up with all the new ideas and trends in e-learning. That’s why the Articulate community is so valuable. Whether you’re looking for backgrounds, storyboard templates, pre-built interactions, or more, it’s easy to find the resources you need each week in E-learning Heroes. Community tutorials Adding shortcuts to the Quick Access Toolbar in Articulate Storyline Conversations in the community New blog posts Connectivism and MOOCs: The Web We Weave | COETAIL@Online 2013-14 “Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. Despite being written in 2004, long before the advent of Twitter, Google+ (Facebook was in its infancy), the article on Connectivism presents ideas that equally transcend the past decade and absolutely apply to learning today. The movement toward open content reflects agrowing shift in the way scholars in many partsof the world are conceptualizing education to aview that is more about the process of learningthan the information conveyed. What better way to understand the implications current and future online learning has and will have on your students than to reflect on your own learning through this model? Photo by Brandon Hoover How have you adapted to learning online? Connectivism That quote can easily apply to both students and adults.
Infographics: overused, undervalued or still full of potential? Written by Karthik Subramanian When Florence Nightingale used a Coxcomb diagram to present the case for improvement in military hospitals to Queen Victoria in the 19th century, little did she know that the diagram would not only form an important part of the history of hospitals, but also the history of visual representation. Nightingale didn’t just want to present the facts about disease and mortality: her Coxcomb diagram maximises the emotional impact of those figures. In the past two years infographics have grown more commonplace. Firstly to refresh your interest, check out the striking work of David McCandless on the Information is Beautiful website and in his books. Now you’re feeling suitably inspired and ready to include an infographic in your own training material, it’s important to ask yourself three important questions before you begin: What is the purpose of the infographic? And once you’ve answered those questions, it’s helpful to keep some key rules in mind:
Four Excellent Resources for Course Designers This post features a collection of carefully selected resources specific to course design for online and blended courses. I’m in the process of building a bank of resources accessible from this blog geared to educators seeking skill development in facilitating and designing online courses. Previous posts featured resources specific to teaching online courses, and in this post I share four instructional design resources. Resources include a brief description that highlights the value of each and an icon indicating its type. 1) An excellent site created by Contact North to serve faculty and instructors of post-secondary institutions in Ontario, Canada is The Ontario Online Learning Portal. The site also hosts a series ‘Game Changers‘ which features case studies from institutions around the world that are implementing innovative methods in online education. 2) Big Dog & Little Dog’s Performance Juxtaposition site is THE mother of all instructional design sites. Related Posts: Like this: