https://thelittlememory.com/
http://www.jeopardy.rocks/
http://www.typeform.com/
Looking forward to discussing the pros and cons of each! Until we dine again....
Greetings fellow educators! I wanted to share with you the upcoming tech snacks for this week:
https://thelittlememory.com/ http://www.jeopardy.rocks/ http://www.typeform.com/ Looking forward to discussing the pros and cons of each! Until we dine again....
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Welcome fellow educators, to the new and improved Tech Snacks blog. All content that was posted in my original blog found at this url: http://sp.rpcs.org/faculty/TorresW/techsnacks/default.aspx has been transferred to this site. I have kept my original blog site up for archiving purposes, but will no longer be posting content there. Now onwards and upwards to our latest tech snack… Take a moment to look at the comic above. The comic is referring to the fact that ipads and similar tablets do not play content that runs/uses Adobe flash. Adobe flash is a web-based software that makes websites interactive and also allows for viewing/listening of many videos/audio files. Often times, websites that run flash, will require ipad/tablet users to download an app to run the content on those devices. These apps may or may not be free to download. The reason this can present a problem for educators is that many educational websites use Adobe flash on their sites. If only there was a way to view websites that use flash on an ipad or similar tablet…..oh wait there is! For today’s tech snack I would like to share a tool that allows you to view flash content on an ipad/similar tablet. Today’s tech snack may be found at the following url: https://www.puffinbrowser.com/index.php What is it? Puffin is a web browser specifically designed to be used on tablet devices. You have to download it on your device as it is an app, but it once you download you can use puffin to surf the web and access any site that uses flash. **Full Disclosure: depending on how a particular website has been set up, some of the flash components may not fully work on puffin. (for example, dragging items from an interactive site). So before you use this with your students, make sure you test out the site you want them to access to make sure everything works as it should. I have found most sites work just fine with puffin, but there are a few that don’t. Now, it is important to know that Puffin has a free version and a paid version. The only difference between the free and paid version is that with the free version only allows you to view flash content from 6am to 6pm. With the paid version, you can view content anytime. Regardless of which version of the app you download, it is a valuable tool for any educator. No longer are flash based websites inaccessible to your students when they are using tablets/ipads in the classroom. Additionally, puffin also has a companion app called Puffin Academy. This app is free and was designed specifically for K-12 students as you can only access web sites designed for K-12 e-learning. You can look up content on the home page using keywords and once you find something that interests you, you can “install” that site on your device. Puffin Academy calls this “installing” an app, but what it is really doing is just making a short cut to that site for easy access. So, you can see this tech snack is all about accessibility. If you work in an environment that is BYOD, puffin is an essential app to have. Useful, free and simple. I like it! Until we meet again at the café!
Videos are powerful, useful tools for teachers. They provide visual, audio, and textual context for our students. While not all videos are created equally, they have one thing in common-they require an audience to watch them and therefore require a passive involvement from your audience. For today’s tech snack, I would like to share with you two tools that allow you to use online videos in a way that encourages the active participation of your students. Today’s tech snacks can be found at the following urls: http://ed.ted.com/ and http://www.educanon.com/. What are these tools? Normally, I would only write about one particular tool in a post, but both these tools are similar in their function, so I thought it would be helpful to have a side by side comparison. Both of these tools allow you to take online videos and add content via different response questions. While similar in function, each tool has things that are exclusive to them and have different look and feel for their interfaces.Look at the graphic below to see some of the similarities and differences: To learn more about how these tools operate click on the video links below: The first thing that stands out as a critical difference is that Ted-ed is 100% free, whereas to get more features you have to pay a subscription to educannon. Also, full disclosure: educannon works better in Internet browsers like google chrome, firefox or safari. Ted-ed works on any browser. So which one should you use with your students? Well, the truth is, that's really a matter of preference and you don't have to exclusively use one or the other. You could use both tools depending on the situation, the nature of questions you want to use and the content of the videos you are sharing. Even if you prefer one tool over the other, it is always good have options. After web 2.0 tools are constantly evolving. There's no gurantee that the tool you used before is going to be around years later, so it is always good to know what is out there if you need to make a change.
Classroom implications Regardless of which tools you use, they both web-based tools that can be accessed and used at any time of day, it is a perfect tool for creating a flipped, or blended learning environment. Using these tools, students can go through the content at their own pace and review content as needed. Also, you can have students view content at home and then you don't have to take time in class to go over it. Until next time at the café.....stay warm! Greetings fellow educators! If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that I am a big fan of blended/personalized learning. I am also a big fan of re-creating curriculum content in a stimulating/engaging manner. For today’s tech snack, I would like to share with you a tool that can be used for both purposes. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://nearpod.com What is it and how can I use it with my students? Nearpod is a free response system that allows you to gather feedback from students using your multimedia presentations and it works on any Internet-enabled device including tablets, laptops and smart phones. You may recall an earlier blog post where I discussed other response systems called Socrative, and Everyslide. (With both, participants can provide feedback via instant polls or question responses. With Socrative, you get text questions, whereas with Everyslide, you upload your powerpoint presentations and receive instant feedback as you present.) Well, with nearpod, participants can provide feedback via drawings, polls, and quiz questions as well as watch embedded content like websites and videos. Why should I use this with my students? To begin using this site, you have to create a free account. Once you create your account, you will be taken to a premade presentation that shows you how to use all the features of nearpod. Once you have gone through this presentation, you are able to start creating your own nearpod lessons. Lessons are comprised of teacher-created slides that can include text, video, images, websites, questions, quizzes, polls, and assignments. You can use the premade templates on the site or you can upload your own existing powerpoints and then add to them. Students are able to follow the lesson on their own devices at their own pace or teachers can lead a synchronized session where students can follow the lesson in real-time. If you are doing a real-time presentation, you control the pace of the lesson, and students are not able to move to the next screen until you advance the slide on your device. Students access the presentation by going to the site or the device app and putting in the pin number assigned to the particular presentation you want them to see. **Students do not need a username or password/account to access the presentation in real-time. They just need the pin number**. **Another note: you can run a nearpod presentation without downloading the app on an ipad, though I found occassionally it can be a little tempermental if you use that method. Also, if you are including an interactive website in your nearpod that uses flash and you are using an android tablet or ipad, you have to run your nearpod presentation using the puffin brower. Puffin will run any website using flash. Click here to download it. Every student uses their own student app to follow the screens and answer the questions. This provides immediate feedback about every student. If you create a presentation that you want students to access on their home so they can move at their own pace, the feedback can be emailed to you for later review.Additionally, Nearpod has data analytics embedded into the presentations, which allows teachers to address individual problems on assignments and assess students in real time. Reports can be accessed for both an individual student and the class as a whole. **Note: This tool and app are free but additional features require payment. See below for more specifics about what is included within each plan: Classroom implications and benefits of use
Regardless of which plan you use, this is an excellent tool to use with your students. It makes your presentations more engaging and requires active participation from your students. Gone are the days of you simply showing a powerpoint presentation and hoping that students are actually getting the information you want them to learn. There's no passive listening when you are using this tool. To learn about how use this tool, click on the video link below: http://player.vimeo.com/video/39006989?autoplay=1&api=1
Ah, lesson plans-often necessary but sometimes the bane of teacher existence. Welcome back to the Tech Snack Café! As you may have gathered by the above comic, today’s tech snack is about a lesson planning tool.
Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://www.commoncurriculum.com/ What is it and how can this help me in the classroom? Common curriculum is a free lesson planning tool that allows you to create lesson plans online. The thing that makes this tool different from other lesson planning tools is that it allows you to input information quickly via templates, and a click and drag interface. With this tool, you don’t have to worry about locating lesson standards as all you have to do is click on the state/national standards you want and then they are automatically put into your lesson template. The drag and drop interface allows teachers to adapt lessons on the fly, and the various weekly, monthly and yearly templates let teachers save what works so they don’t have to start from scratch every unit. You can also collaborate with other teachers, as well as add files to your templates. Your files can be uploaded from google, dropbox or your personal device. This tool will work on any Internet enabled device including smart phones and tablets.To see how this tool works click on the videos below:
****Note: The creators of common curriculum seem to have a sister site (or a new beta site) that can be found at the following url: http://commonteaching.com/ . This site works the same way as common curriculum but the interface looks slightly different. Also, with this site there are additional features, like adding parts of your lesson templates and files to a personal teacher website that common curriculum auto generates for you! For example, if I wanted my students to access their homework for the entire week or month, I could add the files from my lesson to the website and they can access it by simply having the url. Other features from this site include step by step video tutorials and the ability to export lesson plans to Microsoft Word.
Benefits of using either tool:
Since both sites offer the same product, it really is a matter of preference which site you prefer to use. Both sites allow you the ability to plan and organize your lesson plans and have them in one location. This is very useful because it gives you the ability to change, reuse and adjust lesson plans as needed. No more copying and pasting content into Microsoft word. These tools also allow you to have a running record of what was done in class through the year making portfolio/curriculum mapping a piece of cake. Hmm….cake….now I am hungry! Until we meet again at the café! The 21st century has certainly provided teachers with a pleather of visual and video resources. While these resources are wonderful (and needed), having the ability to be an active listener is also a critical skill that students need to develop. Unfortunately, it seems this skill is starting to become a lost art form. For today’s tech snack, I want to share a tool that encourages active listening and participation. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://listencurrent.com What is it? Listen current is a website that has gathered thousands of public radio broadcasts and organized them by different subject matters like current events, English, language arts, social studies, and science. With each broadcast, you also get listening comprehension questions, printable graphic organizers, as well as online codes for premade socrative quizzes. **Note: In order to use the quizzes on socrative, you have to make an account and import the quiz to your account by typing in the test quiz code that is provided. In order to start using listen current, you have to create a free account. With a free account you have access to thousands of broadcasts, each with the perks listed in the above paragraph. With a paid account you get more features like the ability to assign broadcasts to students, as well as, access to lesson plans that are tied to state/Common Core standards. To see a comparison of what each plan offers see the chart below: Regardless, of which plan you choose, listen current has some great classroom implications. You could share the broadcasts with your class using your laptop and classroom speakers and then as students listen have them fill out the graphic organizers. You can also pause the broadcasts at certain points to gauge understanding and get feedback. In addition, this tool can be used to help students understand different points of views and perspectives. Since this tool uses no visuals, it will encourage active listening and may cause students to step out of their comfort zone—which isn’t a bad thing. Active listening skills enable students to use their time more wisely. They don’t have to spend as much time asking questions, clarifying information or fixing mistakes made as a result of passive listening. We as teachers are always looking for ways to help our students stretch beyond what is comfortable, so why not use a tasty tech snack to help them along the way?
Full disclosure: this tech snack is primarily for elementary school teachers. As teachers, we know that our students come to us, from a variety of situations that may or may not be conducive for learning. Yet, despite this challenge, we come up with ways to get our students focused and attentive to the task at hand. No small feat to be sure! For today’s tech snack, I want to share an easy to use tool that can increase your students focus and energy so that they may be ready to tackle the many demands that are put on them throughout the day. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://gonoodle.com What is it and how can I use it in my class? GoNoodle provides short videos that encourage bursts of deskside physical activity or “brain breaks” for kids. These brain breaks are designed to be used by the entire class simultaneously, using a projector or an interactive whiteboard. These activities promote health and fitness and are based on cutting edge brain research. These engaging games and activities provide short bursts of movement leading to improved focus and energy within the classroom. To start using gonoodle, you need to create a free teacher account. Then pick a class mascot( cartoon characters on the screen). The class mascot will “grow” as you do different brain breaks. Once the mascot has maxed out his growth, you can pick a different mascot to “grow” with. After you pick your mascot, you can select from a number of different videos to share with your students. If you click on tags, you can see the different kinds of videos available. They are calming, energizing, dance, yoga/stretching, sport/exercise, Common Core aligned, and game activities. You can even add your own videos from youtube! None of the games takes longer than five minutes. While most of these are physical tasks, a few are mental/logic activities. Time required for the activity is shown with each option. What are the benefits of using this tool? All brain break activities are based on science and brain research that indicates that movement helps increase focus and mental capacitiy. See below for a graphic provided by gonoodle to see the benefits: Share these short activities on your projector or interactive whiteboard for your entire class to view together. Use brain breaks as a before class (or before the bell) activity ( Great for super cold days when kids can't go outside!) . These would be great activities as you head into high stakes tests. When your class needs to refocus, use GoNoodle as a short brain break. Use GoNoodle to motivate and reward class accomplishments. Share with learning support teachers (or emotional or autistic support) for use in motivating and reinforcing behaviors with their students.
Ah delicious! Time for a brain break to help with the cabin fever my son is feeling during this crazy winter...........until next time at the café. ***As of October 2016 this web 2.0 tool is being put out to pasture. Such is the fate for some Web 2.0 tools. If they don't get enough of audience they soon cease to exist.*** The use of visuals or graphics in the classroom are an important element for teachers. In fact, “Our brain is more likely to see visuals rather than text. The brain processes images all at once, while it processes text in a linear manner.” Using graphics with our students makes content easier to understand and remember. (Quote taken from a larger infographic located at the following url:http://www.visualistan.com/2013/08/why-our-brain-love-visual-data.html ). So, I guess by now you have figured out that today's tech snack has something to do with visuals. You guessed correctly! Today's tech snack can be found at the following url: http://www.thematic.co/ What is it? In a nutshell, this is a free site that lets you upload up to twenty pictures at a time to make a digital picture book. ( You can have multiple books of 20 or less pictures) The site is completely free and very easy to use. You create a free account then you cancreate a story using your own pictures. Choose photos from your computer (simply drag and drop) or a Dropbox file. You can also add text to each picture. Enter the text and description to each photo and change the font color, if desired. Click the lock below the last picture to change your story from public to private (or back again). Click done to finish the story. You can share your stories using your lcd projector or you can give your students the url to the story and they can access it ( even if it is private.) Students do not need accounts to access your stories. (They do need accounts if you want them to create their own stories). This could be a fun, easy way to share pictures and do some create story telling. Want to see an example of a thematic story? Click on the link below: https://www.thematic.co/stories/8lf-at-rpcs# Ideas for classroom use Now, that's my kind of tech snack: easy to use, free and can be used in different creative ways.
Being an educator in the 21st century is an amazing challenge. No other time in our history have we had access to such an abundance of information/resources. With so much content available, it would be nice if there was an easy way to organize and share it. Well, you are in luck! For today’s tech snack, I want to share a tool that does just that! Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://www.pearltrees.com/ What is pearltrees? Pearltrees is a site that lets you store and collect all your content in one place. If have been a regular reader of this blog, you may have heard of similar tools like blendspace, lino, tizmos and symbaloo. Unlike tizmos and symbaloo-that let you put multiple websites on one page- pearltrees allows you put websites, files and text on one page (like lino and blendspace). To begin using pearltrees, you have to create a free account. After you create your account, you can start adding content to your canvas. A canvas is called a collection. A collection can contain files, websites, text, photos as well as link to other collections. You can create as many collections as you want, though with a free version you have only a gb of storage. (That actually is a whole lot!!!) With a premium edition, you get more storage space( and other features). Once you create a collection, you can share it via a url link . Students DO NOT need a username or password to access your collection. They only need the url link. If you want them to add to your collection, then a username and password would be needed. The interface is very easy to use and understand. This tool is also available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and as iOS app. Note: with a free account, all collections are public. Private collections are a premium feature. To see more of how to use this tool check out the video link below: Want to see an example of a pearltree? You know you do! Check out one of my pearltrees collection: http://www.pearltrees.com/hoodmarine Classroom implications Pearltrees could be used to store links for classes that you are teaching or taking. It can also be used for brainstorming or collaboration projects. You could use this tool to help create a blended learning environment because students could access your collections at home and then discuss the content in class. Collections can be used as electronic portfolios to showcase your students' work. You can can also make collections to share classroom news, announcements or make a digital bulletin board of what your class is doing. Now this is my kind of Tech Snack....free, easy and useful! Forget the seconds, I want thirds!
Being an educator in the 21 century is filled with many challenges. One of the challenges teachers face is the fact that their students are “digital natives”. The term digital natives refers to people who were born during or after the general introduction of digital technologies. These people have had exposure to digital technology from an early age, and tend to have a greater comfort level using digital tools. In other words, digital natives are people who have basically “grown up” with technology. So as teachers, we have to find ways to make content relevant to these digital natives. For today’s tech snack, I wanted to share tool that helps makes math content relevant by appealing to the comfort level of K-6 digital natives. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: https://www.matific.com/ What is it? Matific is an online site that uses hands-on, interactive mini-games, called episodes, to teach K-6 math skills. It can work on any web browser, as well as android and ipads( the apps are free.) Based on my initial testing, you don’t have to have the app on your device to use the site if your device has an Internet browser. The app has a nicer appearance, but the functionality is the same. Most of the activities include a teacher’s guide that provides background information, other activities, and discussion questions as well interactive worksheets. You can assign episodes or worksheets by grade level, by curriculum and by book. The two curriculums available on Matific are aligned to the Common Core and TEKS( from Texas) standards. In terms of books, Matific has activities that correlate with the Evision Math and Everyday Math textbooks. How does it work? As a teacher you sign up for a free account. Then you can create student accounts and assign content for your students. Creating accounts for your students does not require that your students have email accounts and you can choose the username/password or just have Matific create them. If you have younger students and don’t want them to have individual username and passwords, you can create one class account and then the students would log in using the same username and password. From my testing, you can be logged into multiple devices using the same login information. Creating individual student accounts allows you as the teacher to get progress reports for each student. After you create your student accounts, you can assign content. The way it works is you can “lock” all content and “unlock” only the content you want your students to have access to. By default, they will be able to see all the content but only unlocked content can be played. However, you can set it that they only see the unlocked content when they go to a specific grade level. Classroom implications If you have an lcd projector, you can show the episodes as part as a whole class instruction. You can create a link to activities on classroom computers for students. Students can do the activities in small groups or individually. This is an excellent site that allows for differentiation for all levels present in your classroom. Ah a yummy tech snack suitable for K-6 Math teachers! Delicious!
Hello Fellow Super Heroes! I apoligize for my relative silence these past couple of weeks. It is certainly not because of a lack of tech snacks! Tis that time of year when we are all engrossed in report card grades and end of quarter comments! Fear not, I can assure you that at least two new tech snack entries will be added this week.
Today, my fifth graders hosted a cyber bullying fair where they got to share their completed cyber bullying projects with the rest of the Lower School. We had different stations set up where the students traveled to see the projects but also participated in some hands on activities about cyber bullying. It was a great opportunity for our fifth graders to act as student leaders. Some of our students even commented that they had more appreciation for their teachers afterwards. Some of them stated, "Man, teaching is hard! We never realized how much work is involved when you are in charge of other kids!" A challenge we as educators know all to well! (See I told you teachers were Super Heroes!) To see the fifth graders completed projects, please click on the link below: http://cybervideos.weebly.com/ Enjoy the creativity and check back in later for our latest tech snacks! If you are in the education field, then you probably know something about PowerPoint. In fact, PowerPoint seems to be the go to presentation software many educators use. While PowerPoint is a wonderful tool to use, it has become a tool that gets overused and does have some limitations. For example, PowerPoint requires that the software to be installed on your device. PowerPoint also does not work on every mobile device and can be a bit overwhelming to new users or younger students. For today’s tech snack, I want to share an online presentation tool that can be used as an alternative to PowerPoint. Today's tech snack can be found at the following url: https://www.emaze.com/ What is it and how can I use it in my classroom? Emaze is an online presentation tool. It requires no software to be installed on your computer/personal device, though it does require you to create a username and password to use the service. In order to create a username, an e-mail address must be provided. The tool uses html 5 which means it can be accessed and used on any device that is Internet Enabled included tablets, iPads, laptops and smartphones. Also, all presentations are saved on the cloud (which is just a techie word for saying that the presentations are saved online), so they do not take up space/memory on your personal device. There is a free version of this tool as well as a paid version, though for this blog entry, I will concentrate on the free version. With the free version, you can create presentations from existing templates and when you save your work, it is public to all. You can also import slides from existing PowerPoints you have created! You are able to add and remove your own content and you can share your presentation via a URL link. Usernames and passwords ARE NOT required to watch the presentations. Features like being able to download your presentation and having multiple collaborators are paid features. The interface is pretty simple to use and doesn’t have all the commands and functions that can seem overwhelming in PowerPoint. Look at the screen shot below to see how to use the interface. Classroom implications/advantages of use Using this tool, you could create a slideshow for any classroom presentation and you can share the presentation either using a LCD projector or simply sharing the URL with your students. Since you need an email address to create an account, consider creating a class account for younger students to use. If your students are older and are allowed to set up personal accounts, have students create and collaborate on their own presentations. Have students use this online tool as they would any presentation tool. Be sure to demonstrate HOW to use this tool on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Also, be aware that you can add online content like online videos, websites, and online audio files. If such content is normally blocked by your school's Internet filter, it will also be blocked using this tool. This tool provides an easy way to share content with your students without having to rely on having a projector. You could flip your classroom and schedule presentations for students to view from home. A student who is homebound could also follow along in class, by simply having the link and following along from home. **Please note this tool is in beta form-which means that the occasional bug may appear when you are using it. I have not encountered any bugs during my test of this tool, but in the interest of full disclosures, I wanted to at least make you aware that that is a possibility. Simple, free, and professional looking. This tech snack has potential! Until next time in the café!
The use of smart boards and/or interactive projectors in the classroom have created dynamic and engaging learning environments. While smart boards and/or interactive projectors are great tools, let's be honest, they are not always practical. Schools may not have the space or the money needed to provide such nice projectors in every classroom. If only there was a way to harness the engaging aspect of these projectors, without having to physically have one in your classroom.....oh wait there is--sort of... For today's tech snack, I want to talk about how you can use the Smartboard software to create engaging, interactive activities without an interactive projector. The software is web based and can be found at the following url: http://express.smarttech.com/# . The resources that you can use with this software can be found at the following url:http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0 What is this tool and how can I use it in class? Smart Notebook Express is a software that was created by the SMART company for use with their various projectors amd interactive equipment. There are several versions of this software that only work when used concurrently with SMART equipment. The web based version( from the link above), however can be used by anyone without having any additional gear. This web based software allows you to share interactive slides that you can use to help reinforce classroom concepts. Since the software is web based it can be accessed on any device that is Internet enabled and uses Flash technology. Flash is used by many interactive websites, but does not work on many tablets like Ipads and Kindles. ***However, if you use the puffin browser( free app available on itunes and google play), you can access such sites. Using puffin, I have had my students open up notebooks and do the activities on ipads. By itself, Smart Notebook Express is not very useful since you can only add drawings and text to it and you can't add interactive elements. This is when the resources site becomes very useful. On the resources site: http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0, you can find hundreds of ready made lessons created by teachers. The lessons have the interactive components in them and can be downloaded to your personal computer/laptop. Also, you CAN edit any of these ready made lesson to meet your needs in the classroom. When you edit the lesson, you can save it to your computer. Full disclosure: Not all lessons work properly and I have found that most work better using Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Also only Notebook files work using the web based software. Not all files in the exchage are notebook files. They may be files for other SMART tools like the SMART table. So make sure you test out the lesson before you do it with your students ( The exchange website will tell what type of file it is.) Now, that I have gotten the disclosures out of the way, lets talk about the classroom implications for using these tools. If you have access to a regular lcd projector, you could download lessons and share them with your class. If you have access to laptops or the computer lab, you could download a notebook file to a network/computer folder and then have your students do the activity with you as a whole class activity or as an independent activity. So, as you can see these tools when used together are excellent for reinforcing content even without having access to an interactive projector. They can also be used to differentiate instruction, assess student learning and promote understanding. Happy Snacking!
The rise of the social networking movement has completely changed how we receive and convey information. In fact, it is a little scary how much information we readily give out about ourselves or find out about others through social media sites. To see the latest statistics on this, check out the following infographics http://visual.ly/social-media-day. Very frightening stuff….. Why do I bring this up, you ask? Well, it got me thinking about how we teachers share information about what is going on in our classroom with others. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc are nice platforms for sharing information, but given privacy and student safety concerns, may not be the best tool for individual teachers to use with their classrooms. Plus, many of these social networking sites are blocked by many school districts. For today’s tech snack, I want to talk about an easy to use tool that gives teachers a social platform that is safe, secure and private. Today’s tech tool can be found at the following url: https://gethomeroom.com/ What is it and how can I use it? Homeroom is a free online tool and mobile app that allows you to share your class photos privately with parents, students, and others. To begin using homeroom, you must first create an account. To create an account click on the link below: https://cluster.co/register/?original_domain=gethomeroom.com After you create an account, you can an album. An album is just a collection of pictures from a given day/event. To create an album, you click on click an album, name the album then decide if you want to create a note( just text) or photos. You can upload multiple pictures at one time. Once you get all your photos uploaded, you can go back to your album and viola, you have created an album! You can add multiple albums and add and delete content from any album you create. An album post has the look and feel of a facebook post. Unlike facebook, no one has access to any of your albums unless you personally invite them to a member of your group. In order to be invited in the group, you have to input their email address. They will receive an email invitation and will become members if they accept your invitation. If they accept your invitation, they have to create their own username and password to become a member of your group. Once members they will be able to see your album, add content and add comments. You will be alerted whenever new content is added. Albums cannot be tagged so there is no danger of anyone reposting your content on other social network sites so that other people who are not members of the group can see it. Also, you have to log in to see any content on an album. If you simply copy and paste the url of an album and try to send it along as email link, when the person clicks on the link, they will be asked to login to access the content. **Please note: Homeroom does allow members to download copies of the any photos posted in any album. So teachers need to make sure that the content posted is helpful and respectful to all. Make sure you check your school's policy on posting images of students online. Classroom implications You could use this tool to create albums of specific events such as field trips, service projects, hands-on activities, field experiences, class speakers, and more. This tool obviously would be useful anywhere photos can be used to showcase achievement. Who needs a class newsletter when you can make posts to your personal, private network. While the basis of this review is primarily geared to how this tool could be used to communicate with parents, you could use it with your students for projects. Using this tool students can snap a picture anywhere, with any device, and upload to the web to use in class or cooperative groups for discussions/reflections. Until we meet agan at the tech café! Screencasts and videos are powerful tools to help teachers create educational content. In previous blog posts, I spoke to you about various video creation tools including, wideo, powtoon and screen-cast-o-matic. Why am I referring to these blog entries, you ask? Well, the reason is simple: I have another video creation tool to share with you. It is always good to see what the different tools are so you can determine which one is the best pedagogically appropriate tool to use in your classroom. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://www.movenote.com/ Movenote is an online tool that allows you to import your pictures, pdfs, word documents, and other files into an online video. To start using movenote, you have to create a free account. You can create a unique username or password or if you have a gmail account, you can use your gmail account information to log into the site. Once you have logged into the site, you will see a screen that looks likes similar to the image below: So how does it work? When you log into movenote, you are asked to add slides and you are asked to let movenote access your device’s camera and microphone. Slides can be any type of file including pictures, word documents, pdfs and more. As you click through the "slides", you are able to record your voice and image so you are creating an instructional step by step video. Once you have completed your video, you are given a link to access your video. You can also embed the video into a website/blog as well as download the video to your computer. Classroom implications Movenote is a great tool to provide and create your own instructional videos. It is also a good way that students could also create their own videos for project based assessments. **Full Disclosure: While Movenote is easy to use, it is not a tool I would recommend for younger students. This would be appropriate tool to use with Middle school students and up. ( Grades 5 and up). Also, since the software accesses your device's internal camera and microphone, you need to make sure that you are clear on your school's policy on student privacy. Since these videos can be accessed via the Internet( as well as downloaded), you would need to assure that student's rights are not violated while they use the tool.( If your device has a built in camera, you could place a small piece of paper over the lens, so that students' faces are not shown in the video if this is a concern). Also, movenote will work on any browser, but I did run into a few bugs while using it on Internet Explorer. ** Okay, now that I have done all the disclosures, lets get into how this tool can be used in the classroom. As a teacher, I am firm believer of not re-inventing the wheel, so the below text is from teachersfirst.com. They did an excellent review, critque of this tool so below is their feedback: "Encourage your students to use this tool for projects and reports. Use this tool for analysis of a lab report, the culminating project for literature circles, book reviews, explaining a math problem, or a digital portfolio for artwork or music. Have students record their authentic language (reading a Spanish or French paragraph or ESL/ELLs reading English) to listen to their pronunciation. Students can take pictures on a field trip and share them via Movenote to show their parents what they learned. Students could illustrate a short story they wrote, using the audio to record the story as the illustrations slide past. Use this program when you have to be away from the classroom instead of writing out all the directions for a sub. Use it for absent students to stay on top of what has been discussed, assigned, or completed in class. Use it to explain how to solve a math problem and post it on the class website for students to refer to at home. Use it as a screencast for giving feedback for student writing. This tool would be useful for blended or flipped learning, giving students time to absorb information about content, leaving class time for individualized learning." Until we meet again at the Tech Snack Café! Happy Snacking! Web 2.0 tools have definitely had an impact on the way we educate our students. According to Hall Davidson of the Discovery Learning Network, brains deal with images differently than with print, and visual media raises student achievement.( Powerpoint presentation, May 2, 2008) For today’s tech snack, I want to talk to you about an interactive tool that is both visually stimulating and engaging. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards_2/ It is a web-based tool, but it is also available as an app for Ipad and Android devices! Click on the link to download the app: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/mobile-apps/trading-cards-30922.html What is it and how does it work? This tool is an interactive graphic organizer with a twist. Instead of being a generic organizer that has simple shapes, this tool is a graphic organizer that is designed as a trading card. This tool provides students with a nice alternative way to demonstrate their literacy knowledge and skill. This interactive allows students to create their own trading card about a real or fictional person, place, object, event, or abstract concept. When you first get to the site, you are asked to type in your name. Then you are taken to the next screen which looks like the picture below: You will be asked to type in the topic of your trading card. Then you have to click on the type of card you want to make. Different card types come with different questions/prompts. The prompts help expand students’ thinking and help students make a personal connection with the content. If you do not like the question selection given, you can have students choose the “create your own” selection. With this option, students provide the labels, questions and the answers. Once you have selected the type of card you want, you will type in the answers to the prompts you are given. Your typed answers show up on the left side of your card. .Note: For your typed answers you are limited to 120 characters.See screen shots below for more explanation: In addition to typing in your answers to the prompts, you can also add an image or picture to your trading card, which gives the trading card more of personal/relevant feel to it. When you click on the add image box that is on the card, your computer will open up to where you keep your files and will ask you where to find the image. Students will need to know how to locate files in order to do this step. Once you select your image, you will be asked to size your picture and once you click ok, your image will be included in your trading card. See screen shots below: This interactive is easy to use. If students need more time to complete their work than is allocated during class time, students can save their work. When cards are saved, they are saved as a .rwt file. Students will have to know how to save work and how to retrieve work once it is saved to use this tool. Cards can be bundled into a single, small collection (8 card maximum) so that students have a way of sort and grouping similar topics in one file. When you have finished creating all your cards, you click on finish. Then you will have several options. You could print out your cards, save them as a pdf file, send your trading cards to other people via e-mail or save a draft copy of your trading cards in case you want to work on them later. Want to see an example? Of course you do! Click on the pdf file below to see a trading card I made using my daughter as the example: sample.pdf Classroom implications: This tool has boundless possibilities for the classroom as it can be used by multiple students for multiple subject matters. Since it is web based and is an app, students could do some of the work at home and then come in to class to present their work. You could have students make a game using their trading cards or have them rank their cards by order of importance, or significance. To get more lesson plan ideas, click on the link that is below. Once you get to the link, scroll down on the page to get to the lesson plans. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/trading-card-creator-30056.html?tab=1#tabs Until we meet again at the café! Happy snacking! *** Davison, Hall (2008). Thinking big as the world gets smaller. In Powerpoint Presentation [Web]. Discovery Learning Network. Retrieved May 2,2008, from Thinking big as the world gets smaller Greetings fellow educators! I hope you all are enjoying your summer break. I am here in beautiful Puerto Rico where classes have already begun for school kids and it is only the beginning of August! So in light of the fact that our summer days are fleeting, I wanted to tell you about the latest tech snack in the Café, which can be used as a great technology integration and blended learning tool. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: https://getkahoot.com/ What is it? Kahoot is a free game based classroom response system that allows you to gather feedback from students through any Internet-connected device including tablets, laptops and smart phones. So, let us get into the nitty gritty, shall we? In a nutshell, kahoot allows you to create game based activities such as discussions, quizzes and polls for your students. These game based activities provide real-time results and data in a fun and engaging manner for your students. This tool is intended to be used with a device that is connected to an lcd projector. Students do not need an account to access the activity. They simply need to go to their web browser on their personal device( laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc) , go to the url kahoot.it and type in the pin number they are given. The pin number gives the students access to the game questions. **There is no limit on the number of students who can access the activity at one time, but someone needs to be the one who launches the game. (game master.) The game master (teacher or student leading activity) can be launched from any device. Once a game is launched, the site will wait for at least one person to access the activity through his/her device. Once at least one person has accessed the game, then the game can begin. An account is needed to launch activities. ** Creating an account on kahoot is simple and free. You can create your kahoot(activity) by simply following the directions on the screen after you log in. Kahoot uses a simple click and drag interface. In addition to text, you can also add videos and pictures to your kahoots. When you create a kahoot, you have the option to keep the kahoot private or public. ***Note: any student can play a kahoot whether it is private or public if they have the pin number for the specific game. If you make a kahoot public that means that other teachers can access it, duplicate it and then edit it to meet their content needs. *** Classroom implications Kahoot is an easy tool that can be used to engage and motivate your students. Now, let me clarify something, the creators of this tool state that it is a great tool to use for blended learning. Please understand something, using this tool as an interactive way to engage students is a wonderful use of technology and is definitely a great way to integrate technology into your classroom. However, using the tool in the classroom as a way to engage your students is not blended learning. In order for it to be considered a blended learning activity, students must have some control over the: time, pace, or path of learning while using this tool. So, using this tool as a fun, engaging way to assess your students and get instant feedback is a wonderful example of technology integration. Allowing students to create their own kahoots and share them with the class as part of a unit, or project based assessment is a good example of blended learning. Check out the video below that shows an excellent example of how you can use this tool to create a blended learning environment using this tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apbkkC5qDek For more ideas check out the following link: http://blog.getkahoot.com/tagged/stories Ah, a tech snack that is great for technology integration and blended learning! Now that’s what I call an appetizer with the works! Until we meet again at the café!
Personalization is about many ideas. It is about…
• Discovering students’ prior knowledge and experience of the content they are about to learn and meeting them where they are; • Guiding students to make healthy academic decisions; • Developing learning communities that celebrate the individuality and contributions of each student; and • Consolidating forms of student learning data so that they are useful for planning for personalized instruction. One of the elements of personalized learning is that learning requires the active, constructive involvement of the learner. Tools that allow for brainstorming, sharing and collaboration are excellent for achieving this element of personalized learning. For today’s tech snack, I want to talk to you about a tool call lino. http://en.linoit.com/ What is Lino? Lino is a free web based service that allows you to create digital corkboards where you can“stick” post it notes. With lino, you can add post it notes, along with pictures, videos, files and multimedia presentations on a digital “cork board”. So at first glance, it appears to be a nice site to share multiple resources from one location. Lino, however, is much more than just a content sharing site. It provides teachers with a great way to engage students in brainstorming and collaboration activities online. For example, teachers can provide a topic and allow students to generate ideas and/or ask questions before they begin prewriting. If the teacher chooses to, she can create a corkboard that students can post comments, images, and videos to. Teachers also have the ability to can create groups and make canvases (corkboards) private or public. So how does it work? Lino uses a simple click and drag interface. To start using lino, you first create and account and then start creating your “corkboard”.
Once you have added the content you want to share, you can choose the privacy settings. As the owner of the account, you can decide if others can view your corkboard and add content. To do this, simply click on the i icon on the post it area. This will give you the url for the board as well as get you to the preferences menu where you can select your privacy settings.
This is what the preferences menu will look like when you access it:
**Note: If you make the canvas public, students do not need a login to access the information. Students would be able to access all the content. They would just need the website url(website address) to access the canvas.
**The only thing I noticed with this option is that if you add a file like a powerpoint or a word document, it will give you an option to download the file, however, when you click on the option it does ask you to login to download the file. All the other content(videos, post it notes, texts and pictures) work without a login. If you are going to add files to your corkboard that you want others to access, you might want to create a generic student login that students can use to download the files. (this is more for younger students. Older students can create their own logins)
Ideas for use in the classroom:
For more information on how this tool works, click on the video tutorial below:
Wow, this snack is easy to use and has multiple applications for the classroom! Now that's a healthy snack worth chewing on!
The use of interactive review games in the classroom, has always been a favorite of both teachers and students. Let's face it, games provide a way to differentiate instruction, help reluctant students participate, are engaging and FUN! For today's tech snack, I want to share an easy to use online tool that will soon become a classroom favorite! Today's tech snack can be found at the following url: http://flipquiz.me/ What is it and how can I use it with my students? Flipquiz is an online review game creation tool. With Flipquiz, teachers can make jeopardy style game boards that are sleek and easy to use. To begin using Flipquiz, you must create a free account. After you have created your free account you can start making your game boards. When you create your game board you will see a screen that looks similar to the screen below: On your board you are given five categories and five questions per category. For both your questions and answers you can add text, hyperlinks and online video files. **Note: With the free version of this tool, your picture files are limited to 1MB. While you have five categories, you don't have to use all the five categories. Only the categories and questions that you add show up in your game. When you finish creating your board, you click on save. Then click on "presentation view" and you will get the url for the game. You do not have to be logged in to access the game nor do your students. You only need the url to play the game. This tool will also work on most Internet enabled devices including smartphones and tablets. See below for an sample game I created. You will see that I only included two categories and 10 questions. Within the questions, I included url and video links so you can see how it would look on the game. **Please note if youtube is blocked at your school, they will also be blocked on the game while you are on campus. **
http://flipquiz.me/quiz/15009 Classroom implications This is an excellent tool that you can use to review and reinforce classroom content. You can also have groups of students create a quiz to share with the class or with other groups. Games can be shared on a class website or wiki page so that students can access the content from home. Since you can add online content such as websites and videos, you could also use this site to create interactive study guides for upcoming quizzes/tests. It would be alot more engaging then the plain old paper study guides we are more familiar with. Delicious, easy, free and fun! Happy Snacking!
Originally posted on 12/26/2014 from old blog:
Greetings fellow educators! Hopefully, during this Holiday season, you all have had some time to refresh and enjoy time with your families. Normally, I would be writing an entry about a delicious Tech Snack tool that you can use to help enhance your instruction. Today's entry, however, will be a little different. As I sit here in my living room reflecting on a day full of gift giving and memories, I find myself wondering how many children were recipients of some sort of Internet enabled electronic device. No doubt, there were many ( my daughter being one of them. I think I can still hear her shrieking this morning!) While technology has allowed us to access and share content like never before, it also brings with it some concerns about privacy and safety. Due to these concerns, I wanted to pass along a resource I created for fellow parents. The title of the presentation is called Cyber Concerns 101 for Parents. This presentation is a brief resource that outlines some of the dangers that parents should be aware of when allowing their children online. Click on the link below to access the presentation( just click on the link then click on continue) https://activetextbook.com/active_textbooks/3856#page1 In addition, please see the below chart for some additional resources that can help you and your child navigate the waves safely while online.
This has been a public service announcement...we now return you to your regularly scheduled Tech Snacks! (New entry coming this week!) Happy Holidays! Educators have been using graphic organziers for years. In a previous blog entry, I spoke about the benefits of using graphic organizers in the classroom and introduced you to some nice, interactive online organizers that you could use with your students. For today's tech snack, I want to show another online tool that lets you make interactive, graphic organizers. Today's tech snack can be found at the following url: https://www.tuzzit.com/brainstorming_tool# What is it and how does it work? Tuzzit is a free, web-based graphic organizer that allows you to put different items in it-including online videos, and urls. Tuzzit creates a “canvas” where you can put the items that you want in the organizer. A username and password is not needed to create a canvas, though an email account is needed to save and share organizers. Canvases are shared via url and can be edited by others for collaboration, but can also be password protected to protect content. In addition, canvases can be saved as picture files that can be printed out and distributed to others. Click on the link below to see an example canvas I created about the advantages of using graphic organizers: http://tinyurl.com/np8a7gd More nitty,gitty about this program This tool uses a click and drag interface, where students can simply click and drag items to their canvas. The tool will work on any desktop/laptop browser like Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome. **Full Disclosure: This tool doesn’t seem to work on mobile devices. I tried it on an ipad and could access the website but could not create a canvas. On my blackberry phone, I was able to see the site and click to create a canvas. However, when I tried to add content to the canvas, I was unable to drag the elements onto the canvas. On my blackberry, I was able to access a canvas I created but was not able to add content. The canvas would not open up at all on the ipad. I also tried on android devices and did not have success. So before you use this tool, make sure it will work on the device you want your students to use. ** Now, that I have gotten the disclosure out of the way, let us dive into how this tool works. When you first start using the program you are asked to pick a canvas template that you want to use. (If you don’t like the templates provided, you could click on the brainstorming template which is a blank canvas.—If you want to upload your own template, then you have to use the pro version which costs money). After you select the template you want, you can start adding content by clicking and dragging items to your canvas. You can add post it notes, checklists, online pictures from Flickr, online videos from Youtube, urls to certain sites, google maps, and stickers(icons) on your canvas. **Note: not all website urls will work when you use the url feature. If this happens, you can add the url to a post it note like I did for my sample canvas above. Classroom implications/ideas While this tool is a great one for visual learners, this would not be a tool that I would recommend for Early Elemenatry School students. ( K-3). This tool, however, could be used with students in grades 4th through 12th, with more guidance being given to the younger students-of course. An individual canvas can be as long as a person makes it with no limitation to the content that you add to it. There are a number of different ways this tool could be used in the classroom, but I have outlined a few ideas in the graphic below: Yummy! This snack provides a creative way for students to personalize their learning. Yes, I would like seconds!
Hello fellow educators/super heroes! No doubt you have been super busy these past few weeks with school starting. I know I have felt like I am going in twenty different places at once, hence the delay in getting new posts up! Well, school is back in session, and the Tech Snack Café is open for business! Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://education.weebly.com. What is it and what are the benefits of using it? Weebly is an online web site creation tool. Unlike other website creation tools, weebly has a specific section for educators which allows teachers to add students to their accounts. What this means is that when you create an educator account with weebly, you can add up to 40 students to one account! (So, 40 students can create their own websites without them having to create their own individual accounts. Due to this feature, the teacher can review content, delete sites, and create/delete student accounts.) This also means that teachers create the username and passwords for their students, they can decide if the student webpages are private or public and they can also edit content as well. Okay, so you are probably wondering why would this be a good tool to use with students? By allowing students to create their own websites, you enable them to demonstrate their learning and understanding in a creative way. It also provides teachers with a way to have students create authentic curriculum or project based assessments. So how does it work? To begin creating websites on weebly, you must first create a free account. Then you will be able to start creating your website using a simple click and drag interface. (You click and drag elements to the page.) You can select what type of website template you would like to use and then you can customize it to fit your needs. More nitty gritty As you saw from the video, weebly is an extremely useful and easy tool to use. I use it with my Fifth graders as part of their end of year project. I bet you are wondering what the catch is, huh? Is it really free? The answer to that question is yes. Weebly is free to use, through there is a pro version that exists as well. With the pro version, you get a bit more features, but regardless or which version you use, if you make an educator account you still get 40 sub students accounts. (You can add more if you need to). It really is a matter of preference as to which kind of account you want to have. The account you have really depends on how you want/planning to use the site. For educational purposes, often the free account is sufficient. Check out the chart below to see the specifics of what is available with each version: Some points of clarification: a website is an online space that contains various pages. So for example, with a free account, you get two sites. Those sites would have their own pages. Also, student sub accounts reflect the kind of account you have. ( So if you have a free account, then students would only have access to the features that come with the free account. If you have a pro account, students would have access to all the features that come with that subscription. ) A pro account is 39.99 per year. **Note: After the subscription ends, your websites are not deleted or lost! Your account is just converted back to a free account until you choose to renew it.
Classroom implications: Even though Weebly is very easy to use, it is important that our students realize that the content they are putting online has quality to it. Therefore, prior to having students create their own sites, you need to set the standards and expectations beforehand. Having a rubric is a valuable way to help students with this. Also, have students type their content first in word so that they can go through the editing process prior to cutting and pasting their content unto their weebly site. Students can type their content directly into their sites, but this makes the editing process more difficult for the teacher. If they type their information in word, they can print out their work and make as many revisions as they need to. This would assure that what they are putting online has been checked and reviewed. You can use weebly to start a classroom website/blog. Students can use weebly to create portfolios of their work as well as presenting learned content. What to see some examples? Of course you do! The links below are all websites made by my Fifth graders. Click on them and check them out! You will be impressed! http://cyberbullyinghelpforkids.weebly.com/ http://civilrightsandgreatmigration.weebly.com/ Ah, this is a loaded Tech Snack! I think I will be full for days! Until our next snack break... Auditory learners do best in classes where listening is a main concern. These learners prefer verbal lectures and discussions. Students who have difficulty retaining information from written text may also benefit from being able to hear information orally. Luckily, technology can help us reach different kind of learners, at different levels. For today’s tech snack, I would like to share with you an easy to use web 2.0 tool that will allow you to reach auditory learners as well as those learners who have difficulty retaining information from printed text. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://online-voice-recorder.com/ What is it and how does it work? The online voice recorder tool is a web based program that allows you to record your voice and then lets you save your file as an audio mp3 for free. There is no software to install, and it does not require a user name or password to use it. You can save up to 7 minutes at a time per recording, though you can make as many recordings as you’d like. All you have to do is click on the start recording button and the program may ask you for access to your microphone. If the program asks this, click on yes and then simply start speaking. Click on the stop button when you are done recording. When you have completed your recording you can trim your audio clip by clicking and dragging on the beginning and end points of the recording. Then you click on save. ** Note: First the program will save the recording online. You must click on save again to save the file to your computer. Classroom implications All you need to start using this tool is a microphone, computer and the url. (**Note: Won't work on ipads and some tablets that do not use flash.) Due to this fact it is a tool that can easily be used by any teacher of any grade and subject. Students can then send their files to you via email or other file sharing tools like dropbox, or jumpshare. Check out some of suggestions/ideas for use on the charts below: Ah, now that's a tasty Tech Snack! See you again soon! Hope you are hungry for more!
According to Scott Benson, Program Officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, there are 4 attributes of personalized instruction. One of the attributes is a flexible learning environment. A flexible learning environment allows for the use of multiple approaches for the delivery of instructional content. These multiple appropaches must make consistent use of available resources to support student learning. So in other words, a flexible learning environment is one that lends itself to multiple types of learners. For today’s tech snack, I would like to share with you a tool that will allow teachers to create a flexible learning environment, as well as provide the students a way to achieve individual mastery of content. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: https://www.activetextbook.com/ What is it and how can I use it in my classroom? Activetextbook is an online tool that allows you upload any pdf file and make it interactive. When you upload a pdf, you can add items to individual pages called overlays. There are several different types of overlays you can add. You can add quizzes, text, pictures, videos, embedded items, hyperlinks, and music. You can add as many overlays on a page as you want. When you are done adding content to your pdf, you can share the "textbook" with your students via a url. (no registrations required by the students) In addition to making active "textbooks", you can create online courses. Courses consist of 2 or more activetextbooks you have created. Students can access your course via url but need to registrar by creating a username and password in order to track progress and see quiz results. After you have uploaded your pdf, you can start adding your elements. In addition to adding overlays, you can add comments thread, add a table of contents, search for terms within the pdf, draw on the pdf, and bookmark pages within your pdf. Any content you add can be seen by anyone who has the url to your "textbook" or "course". To add an overlay onto a page, youc click the overlay icon, then click and drag where you want the overlay to show up on your page. All "textbooks"/"courses" by default are public and can be accessed by anyone with the url. If you want to make your "textbooks"/"courses" private, then you would have to get a paid account with activetextbook. With a free account, you can store up to 50MB of data and your "textbooks" can have up to 500 pages. With a paid account you get 1000MB of storage, textbooks can have up to 5000 pages along with some extra social media features. A full year subscription of activetextbook is $40. How does it work? To begin using activetextbook as a teacher, you have to create a free account which requires you to create a username and password. After that, you will be see your home interface screen which will allow you to add a "textbook" or "course". All you need to create a "textbook" or "course" is any PDF file. If you have any word document or powerpoint you can easily save them as pdfs to use this tool. Classroom implications
Activetextbook will work on most mobile devices and Internet Browsers. Due to this fact, it is a great tool for creating a flexible learning environment. It also is a tool that leads itself for a blended learning classroom because students can access content at home and are not restricted to the brick and mortar classroom to try to master the content. This tool makes it easy to share content without having to deal with creating separate websites for different units/lessons. You could also collaborate with other teachers for assignments and more using this site. You could insert your own questions to the documents and then have students provide their responses. You could also encourage your students, to add their own questions about passages of text they do not understand. You could also use this tool for peer reviews, and collaborative authoring. Click here to see an example of an activetextbook I created from one of my powerpoints that I converted to pdf. Oh the deliciousness! This tech snack is a full meal! Until next time..... Morning fellow tech snack enthusiasts! The above picture may look familiar… it is from the second blog entry I wrote for Tech Snacks! I used it when I wrote about the tech snack : tinyurl.com. Why am I bringing it up now, you ask? Simple, I have another url shortening link to pass along to you. Today’s tech snack can be found at the following url: http://goo.gl/?authed=1&pli=1 What is it and how is it useful? This tools is Google’s version of a url shortener, and what it allows you to do is make long website addresses into short ones. The shorten url will work on any page on the Internet on any device. The url created never expires. This makes it so much easier for students to type in web addresses you want them to go to and helps eliminate the students typing wrong information. How does it work? When you get url, you will see the shorten url interface. Type or copy and paste the url link you want shortened into the text box. Then click on the I am not a robot icon. You will be given a number or letter combination that you have to type in. Then click on shorten url button. Your shorten url will appear on the screen along with a thumbnail of the site. All you have to do then, is pass the url to your students or copy and paste into your school website or blog. It's that simple! Quick, easy, efficient, now those are the characteristics of a yummy snack!
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About the AuthorWendy Torres has been teaching for over 21 years and has a BA in Special Education and a Masters of Educational Leadership in Instructional Technology. She has taught at all levels from Kindergarten to Higher Ed. She is currently the Senior Instructional Technologist and Adjunct Instructor for Coppin State University. Archives
January 2021
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