Is Technology a Tool?
Is Technology a Tool? As a former math teacher I am convinced that I could teach math with chalk, a chalkboard, and a few $0.99 calculators. I am also convinced that by the end of the semester my students would show good scores and growth on their various summative assessments. So if I can arrive ...
In Real Life (IRL) Video Interview with Kaitlin Parks
Kaitlin Parks is a LRC-II Teacher at Cougar Ridge Elementary School. I recently had the pleasure of learning a little bit about how she integrates technology into her classroom to support her students and her professional responsibilities. When I first arrived at the school there was an unexpected power outage due to the storm outside. Like ...
Human Computation, Crowdsourcing, and the brilliance of Luis von Ahn
Ever used Duolingo? I brushed up on my Spanish with it a few years ago. It was an incredible program that best of all was free. However, it is a for-profit company. How does Duolingo make money? It's business model is an extension of its brilliant co-founder, inventor, and young professor, Luis von Ahn. Von Ahn invented the captcha. You know ...
Students as Creators of Content
In 2006, Time Magazine chose "You" as its person of the year. This was in recognition of the vast number of people who were creating and sharing their own content via YouTube, Wikipedia, individual websites, print on demand publishing, eBooks, etc. The number of valuable tools and their ease of use, efficiency, and cost continues ...
Actively Learn as an Adaptive Technology
How the Use of Actively Learn Can Help Differentiate Instruction and Assist Students with Learning Disabilities Teachers are asked to differentiate their instruction to respond to the needs and differences represented by the student population in their classroom. Time constraints and large classroom sizes make the implementation of differentiated instruction very difficult, especially when considering that general education teachers are asked ...
Have You Heard of Flipgrid?
Flipgrid is a video discussion platform that has a lot of people buzzing. I have seen it in action as I have visited different schools in our district. It is a great tool for increasing student engagement, participation, and interaction. Students respond to a topic question via a 90 second or less video response. ...
Keyboarding Resources for Summer
As summer approaches, here are some free keyboarding resources you can pass along to students/families. Keyboarding Resources The following keyboarding programs are designed to introduce keyboarding and to build fluency. Students will want to spend time within the programs to learn the typing basics. Purpose: To develop typing skills https://www.typing.com/ Create a login Includes ...
Organizing Text with Labels in Actively Learn
Looking for a quick way to find relevant text in Actively Learn? This 4.13 minute video gives an overview of how to filter, pin and manage labels, saving you time. Adding Labels: Label menu Add label and choose text Create a taxonomy system for labels- grade, content area, unit- to make sharing and finding text ...
Classkick
Classkick is a free platform for iPads, laptops, and computers where students do their work–and get help right when they need it. What are some of the key benefits of this tool? Teachers create, assign and grade paperless assignments. Teachers can see students working through assignments in real time. Teachers can quickly provide feedback (written, ...
Elementary Launchpad
Many of our elementary teachers have asked for a simple way to find frequently used resources, so we created the Elementary Launchpad. When you log into Connect you see this starting page: However, what if you could customize the starting page with important resources? Follow the steps on the Educational Technology Connect Group to change your starting ...