You May Find Yourself ... In a Newspaper

Thanks to Michelle for this one ... Imagine someone reading a newspaper article and wait ... who's that in the paper? -  OMG, it's a picture of someone I know.  Yup, it is her - Why is she in the paper? Is she in trouble? Did she win something big - like Lotto 6/49?  Is she suddenly famous for something? - I'll have to read the article.

It's where imagination starts ... you finish the story

Created using Photofunia

www.photofunia.com

Courtesy of MO@NU

YouTube as a Valuable Education Tool

YouTube is a video-sharing platform that reaches people in 61 countries around the world. Over 100 hours of content is uploaded every minute, and 6 billion hours of video content is being watched every month. Although a large majority of videos uploaded to YouTube are for entertainment purposes, a large amount is also very educational and informative. 

One very important aspect of YouTube is that it is FREE. It is a tool that is available for people in both developing and developed countries who want access to educational tools but perhaps can not afford it or are not granted access. More schools and universities are integrating free video platforms like YouTube into their classrooms. One example of this use is virtual classroom sessions. Teachers will record lectures themselves via a webcam, and then upload them to YouTube where students can watch on demand. These videos can be both public or private. 

Beyond this delivery of curriculum content, YouTube can be used in a variety of other ways. This includes using YouTube for: having student-produced videos (i.e. for reflection or digital assignments), assessment and feedback, research, or watching online lectures and tutorials. An example of online lectures includes TED talks. These "talks" are free lectures from top-rated speakers on numerous topics. These speakers are experts in their fields and they use this platform to present ideas on a large range of topics to a global audience. It is educational because it provides current knowledge on ever changing subjects, including science and technology. 

As technology becomes more advanced, we see a shift from a campus-based model of education to an open one. These online platforms provide a new and flexible way of teaching and learning, allowing these to be done at any place and time, ultimately providing the most beneficial learning environment for students. 

Jenna@NU

PosterMyWall in Action

Travelling with Mara

Check out her magazine cover!

Mara@NU

The Tools are There for Obama to Be Invited

More incredibly creative pieces of work for you to see.  The tools are there for you to use and they are easy to use.  The hard part is that you need to be creative in how and why you you these tools. 

You had a formal affair for your birthday and what??? No way, is that President Obama?  He came to your party and omg, he's holding up your picture? Wow, how amazing is that?  

Thanks to CC for the pix. Wow, Obama came to your party.

Created with personal imagination and using

Ticketmaker at https://tickets.kadsoftwareusa.com/

and 

Photofunia at https://photofunia.com/

CC@NU

Generators in Action

Some pix for you to check out - Made by using with Photofunia, PosterMyWall, YourCover and Ticketmaker.  Very simple instructions and excellent creativity and styling.  You'll be seeing more of these. Thank you Cass for the work!

It must have been hard sitting there for so long while the artist painted your pictures - at least it wasn't raining and you had friends with you.

Websites used for the above creations:

https://photofunia.com/

https://tickets.kadsoftwareusa.com/

https://www.postermywall.com/index.php/l/magazine-covers#.XnOkIepKjIW

Brought to you by Cass@NU

Voice Thread

Voice Thread

It can often be challenging for teachers to get students to participate. Some students are overtly eager to participate; however, some students may be shy and don't participate at all. This is where voice thread comes into action. 

                                 

Voice thread increases classroom engagement through an online based platform that allows every student to contribute whether it be through a presentation, image or other form of media. Voice thread is essentially like any other social media platform; however, it is tailored towards academics. One of the options with this application is that it allows students to create their own voice thread and create a collaborative environment that provides an equitable platform which allows each student to participate and contribute. 

                  

The best thing about the voice thread is that it is multi-faceted, meaning that it allows students to participate in which ever fashion that they desire, such as by typing a response, using audio or recording a video. This app caters to all students, whether they are strong orally or have strong written skills. Voice thread is also beneficial for teachers because it has built in analytics that lets teacher's moderate student engagement which can also be used for assessment.

https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/cool-educational-technology-tools-for-teachers/

Michael@NU

Why Technology Can't Fix Education Alone

TED TALK (TEDxChicago)
Speaker: Mary Jo Madda

Technology is not the main thing that we need to fix our education woes - technology is a great tool, but technology can't simulate relationships.  I love technology, but it's lacking the "teacher factor".
Sure, technology is good, but teachers are the key factor - the "IT" factor.

You, the teacher, need to be the difference between success and failure. The student, the technology and the teacher need to work together to reach the end of the rainbow.  They are the strong links to learning and success in the 21st century.



Visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqjh24uq9tM

CBS@OISE

A Couple of Useful Apps for You

The particular article review that I analyzed was “30 Useful Communication Apps for your School” by Karel Jansen. In this blog post Jansen indulges in the notion that although it shouldn’t be, communication is one of the areas that could go immensely wrong; especially within schools. Thus, this blog post is extremely informative as it touches upon communication between teachers and students, teachers and parents, and school administration with fellow teachers.

The app that I found to be most productive and useful within the classroom for communication between teachers and students was “Remind.” This particular app is a classroom-friendly tool that simply sends reminders personally or to groups, without exposing any student’s personal information. Thus, whenever an educator wishes to remind their students of any upcoming events or assignments, it simply sends them a quick reminder.

                     

[Furthermore], an app that I found to be extremely intriguing for communication between educators and parents is "ParentSquare". This particular app is ideal to communicate school happenings, or events with student’s parents; ultimately opening the lines for a constant communication basis. This app was quite interesting to analyze as it has multiple other functions such as asking parents to help with school events, sending them notifications or pictures of classroom work, letting them fill out forms for fundraisers, or pay fees for supplies and school trips. Due to this app covering multiple classroom functionalities, it essentially allows the educator to communicate with parents immediately; diminishing all paper forums or classical communication methods.

Thus, as an aspiring educator it is extremely important to familiarize ourselves with these apps simply because they bring a great use to our classrooms, while essentially opening the lines for communication.

Brought to you by AlessiaZ@NU

Feb 25 at 2:08pm

Manage Discussion Entry

Fill Your Void with Virtual Reality - Fun for All Ages

Virtual Reality: The Void

The quest began once i put on the mask...I was fully immersed as I entered a new world that blew me away. To some, virtual reality is just a video game and some versions of it are just that, a more surreal video game. The Void is a virtual reality company that transport you to different worlds beyond your imagination.

You begin by putting on gear, a helmet and a mask that alters your site to make you believe you are in another dimension. This was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had. This simulation had you walk through different rooms, fight off enemies and pass by waterfalls as if you were really in the jungle. I am sharing this via the blog due to my passion for how unbelievable it was. If you are not familiar with this company you must give it a try!!

I believe this is the beginning of a new era and a more technologically advanced world. The Void provides you with different options in story mode. I chose to do the Jumanji story mode and I highly recommend it!

Here is the trailer the void released for the Jumanji Experience: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ3ZZiqX8rU&feature=emb_title

Want to know more about The Void and VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa52D-XYbkw

THE VOID uses state of the art technology, practical effects, and illusion design to create the most immersive virtual reality in the world today. This session discusses the magic that makes it all possible. Augmented World Expo (AWE) is back for its seventh year in our largest conference and expo featuring technologies giving us superpowers: augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and wearable tech.
Join over 4,000 attendees from all over the world including a mix of CEOs, CTOs, designers, developers, creative agencies, futurists, analysts, investors, and top press in a fantastic opportunity to learn, inspire, partner, and experience first hand the most exciting industry of our times.
http://www.Augmentedworldexpo.com

Brought to you by:  CM@NU

An Ever Changing World

This is a short animation looking at the technological and social changes that have happened in recent years, each change affects the way we interact not only with each other but the world in which we live... how do you survive and adapt? Click the link below to watch



Changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuKu6PZXCIY&feature=fvwrel

CBS@OISE

Get Your Mind Moving with Mathletics!

Mathletics is the most  popular platform for students to practice their math skills.  Students can learn math in the classroom and at home through interactive activities, games and challenges.  Because mathletics is an app that is widely recognized students can compete with each other and also with other students around the world.  Students will be motivated to challenge one another and strive to be the best they can be.

This app is also beneficial to educators.  Educators can view data-driven reports providing insights into how classes and individual learners are progressing.  These reports can be used to find where students are excelling, where they're being challenged, and how to shape future activities and challenges to suit all learning needs.  

   

Make homework fun!  Students will be begging for math homework.  Have your students perform a minimum amount of time on these math activities each night. This will help your students consolidate their work. The software aligns with the math curriculum making it the perfect tool to help young learners practice their math skills.

For further information visit: https://www.mathletics.com/ca/

DanielaB@NU

Make it Pop with BrainPOP!

BrainPop is an extremely informative and interactive web tool for educators to utilize and incorporate within their lessons; founded specifically to provide an aid to rather challenging subject areas for students. The website is easily accessible on any iPad, Chromebook, or tablet, and caters to all subject areas. There is an entire BrainPOP cast that narrates the varying videos or instructional activities the students will engage in, adding an engaging manner for the students. 

                              

Not only does BrainPOP have varying subject areas, but also has news categories for educators with various tips on student learning and the latest ideologies within education. Thus, this particular website can be utilized for varying purposes such as the display of a video for a rather challenging concept, or for students to complete individual tasks. If there are particular subject areas where the educator can see that their students need a technological aid, BrainPOP allows students to individually, or in partners, log onto the website and play interactive games on their own; ultimately promoting learning in an engaging manner. 

Due to the various and flexible benefits that BrainPOP provides, educators should always give this a try within their classroom! 

For further information visit:  https://www.brainpop.com/

Brought to you by: AlessiaZ@NU

PowerPoint Like You've Never Used Before

POWERPOINT GAMES... FREE!!!

Visit: https://www.rusnakcreative.com/gameshows

This is THE place for the best FREE PowerPoint game show templates, ever. The purpose of this site is to provide teachers, educators, trainers, youth directors, and anyone else with top quality games and templates. Every game here strives to be as close to the actual game show as portrayed on TV, from the look, sounds, to the actual game-play. These games are the perfect idea for reviewing or studying material, or for a great way to have a lot of fun with your students or youth group.

​

All files posted here have you, the user, in mind. They have been designed to be easy-to-use, and highly customizable to your needs. They all have easy-to-follow instructions on how to use and how to edit or modify the template. Add your own questions and answers with ease, just simply replace the text with your own. While you're in the game, the macros will take care of all the rest. Macro-enabled presentations allow for all sorts of cool things that PowerPoint can't offer on it's own. Be sure to enable macros and enable editing so your game can keep scores, customize player and team names, and other features that help make these games deliver an amazing experience.

Each file posted here has months and months of updates with thanks to the wonderful feedback provided by you, the users. If something isn't quite working out just right, check out the FAQs page, post a question on the forum, or use the contact form on the FAQs page.

​

Now what are you waiting for? Check out the games! 

            ​

Don't forget to enable macros, and enable editing when asked. Having issues with the macros? Check out this link to read more about macros and macro security.

              

These games are to be used for your personal use and are NOT for sale or resale.

​

The site includes such games like:

Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Lingo, Othello, Word Builder, Deal or No Deal, Weakest Link, Chain Reaction, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and more games … All are EASY to use, FUN to play, and EDUCATIONAL.

     

Okay, maybe the Shakespeare Insult generator isn’t educational, but it’s fun still!

               

You've got to try these with your students - use to build assessments - diagnostic, formative and even summative.  Fun = Learning = Wow!

IF you don't try these, I don't know what to say - trust me, you'll like these.

Visit and Download: https://www.rusnakcreative.com/gameshows

Brought to you by PL and CBS @ OISE

Technology's Impact on Education

Would you rather carry a knapsack weighing up to 10 kg or something lighter?

                                  Check out this video 

                                                      (click picture or link below)                                                                                                 
Visit this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFtJTKze3tc&feature=related

PL@OISE

FUN BRAIN ONLINE GAMES

Fun Brain online games 

Fun Brain is a useful website that allow students to play educational games. It is also widely available for all ages. The reason to why this website is so important is because it allows students to keep building on math, grammar, science, and spelling skills throughout the games being played. 

   

This is a useful tool for teachers in the 21 century to use because allows them to help students build upon fundamental skills that they may need to use in the far future.  For more info, go to:

https://www.funbrain.com/

Brought to you by Yasmin@NU

What is CODE.ORG?

                                     

Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Their vision is that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra. 

Code.org provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer it also organizes the annual Hour of Code campaign which has engaged 15% of all students in the world. Code.org is supported by generous donors including Amazon, Facebook, Google, the Infosys Foundation, Microsoft, and more. 

                                      

Code.org increases diversity in computer science by reaching students of all backgrounds where they are at their skill-level, in their schools, and in ways that inspire them to keep learning.  Best of all, it's FREE for Teachers and Students!

                                          
For more information, you can visit:  https://code.org    

Brought to you by Angie@NU

                                            

We're Missing the Mark and We Need to Do Better

TED TALKS ... http://www.ted.com

Diana Laufenberg (teacher) shares 3 surprising things she has learned about teaching -- including a key insight about learning from mistakes. Just memorizing a bunch of stuff for an exam or test is not how learning happens in the real world. Learning involves learning from trial and error.

When you let go of past paradigms (Check out a talk from Ken Robinson on changing paradigms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U), you'll go places where you can not even imagine. Teachers need to get comfortable with allowing kids to fail as part of the learning process - we're over-infatuated with the right answer or the correct bubble choice. Learning does not happen if it's all about the right answer.

It's not about "perfect" - Learning has to include failure because failure is instructional in the process of learning. We have to stop thinking that learning is about coming to school to get the information - we should be see learning as being more about experiential learning, embracing failure, and empowering student voice. If we don't - we're missing the mark and it's about time we do it better for our kids!

Mistakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up4hFj-jcTY



PL@OISE

“9 Tips for Using Technology to Differentiate Instructions”

"9 Tips for Using Technology to Differentiate Instructions" 

By: Sarah Layton, July 20^th, 2017 

As I was reading through the article; Layton, (2017) states "[Differentiated Instruction] means stepping away from teaching in a classroom in only one way, and incorporating different things for different learning styles, and personalities. This particular article briefly discusses the importance of acknowledging variety of learners and learning needs. Interestingly, what's fascinating about "Differentiated Instruction" is that the classroom environment are built to be highly inclusive. Through "Differentiated instruction" we allow students to work in group settings based on the following criteria skills, interests, readiness or by choice. During this process, teachers are holding students to high standards and as this is happening teachers are keeping in mind about flexible grouping while keeping the lessons goals in mind (Layton, 2017). Furthermore, there are tremendous amounts of benefits for students who are receiving "differentiated Instruction" - The process allows students to have an individualized plan, each student is taught to their own learning style, teachers have creativity, no one is left isolated or behind in their lesson and most of all it teaches both teachers and students extreme flexibility. 

                

Furthermore, in the article; "Differentiating instruction with technology in K-5 Classrooms" Smith and Throne argue "Differentiated Instruction" should be viewed from a positive attitude because it not only supports students in the long term but also impacts teachers and the way they deliver the curriculum. "Differentiated Instruction" is highly unique and it happily embraces the recognition of cultural, familial and academic differences among students. 

The following are key components of "differentiated instruction":  

§  it encourages modification of instruction to address student diversity and meeting curricular objectives. 

§  "DI" promotes comfortable yet challenging learning environment. Teachers realize that the organization and presentation of content affects students motivation to learn and their perceived ability to comprehend the content. 

§  As students all have access to "differentiated instruction" there is high level of participation through flexible grouping, simultaneous activities such as learning centres, WebQuests and more. 

§  "Differentiated Instruction" allows the classroom to have student-centred approach as constructivists strongly believe learning is extremely meaningful when topics are connected to students needs and interests, here students are given options in their learning environment and its included in decision making processes. What's astonishing is that students are all given choices to choose from rather than one size fits all approach.    
    

                      

6 Impacts of Technology and learning: 

1.    "Technology improves student performance when the application directly supports the curriculum objectives being assessed".  

2.    "Technology improves performance when the application provides opportunities for student collaboration."

3.    "Technology improves performance when the application adjusts for student ability and prior experience, and provides feedback to the student and teacher about student performance or progress with the application."

4.    "Technology improves performance when the application is integrated into the typical instructional day." 

5.    Technology improves performance when the application provides opportunities for students to design and implement projects that extend the curriculum content being assessed by a particular standardized test." 

6.    "Technology improves performance when used in environments where teachers, the school community, and school and district administrators support the use of technology." 

                                     

https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/9-tips-using-technology-differentiate-instruction

http://kidsatrisk.weebly.com/differentiated-instruction.html

https://id.iste.org/docs/excerpts/diffk5-excerpt.pdf

     

Iqura@NU

Go Guardian

Living in the 21^st century means that practically everyone has been exposed to technology in some fashion such as a computer, cell phone etc. This also means that a lot of schools have invested money in technology. New technology also means that students will have access to the internet in the classroom which can be beneficial for learning; however, it can also can become problematic since students can go off-track and visit other websites. 

This is where Go Guardian comes into effect. Go guardian is an online software that allows teachers to moderate and monitor what students are currently viewing on their screens and what they have viewed in the past. Go guardian is a useful piece of tech for teachers because it helps keep students stay on task. It is also an effective tool for classroom management. 

It's not free - but you can see and use a FREE TRIAL ... worth a look. Love to tell you how much it costs, but you'd have to request a quote on their website.  It's an easy-to-use site with lots of support.  Take a look.

  

Click the link below to check it out! 

https://www.goguardian.com/

Michael@NU