Teaching Twitter, Connecting with Families During the Summer, and Learning from Student Evaluations... in Education Today

If you are interested in these topics--teaching Twitter, connecting to families, and/or learning from student evaluations of your teaching--then you will find useful ideas in these blog posts.

The Art of Twitter / mkhmarketing / CC BY 2.0

Online Teaching and Twitter: Beyond the Basics
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/online-teaching-and-twitter-beyond-the-basics/

Melissa A. Venable, PhD
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/about/

Venable shares great ideas for introducing Twitter to educators. These strategies can be modified for other students, also.

Connect / http://www.gotcredit.com/ / CC BY 2.0

8 Digital Resources To Stay Connected to Families This Summer
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2015/05/8-digital-resources-to-stay-connected.html

Lisa Nielsen
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html

Nielsen recommends using social media tools to stay connected with families this summer. She provides many good examples. Which tool will work best for you?

Amazing Teachers / Bunches and Bits (Karina) / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Here Are Forms Students Will Be Using To Evaluate The Class & Me
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2015/05/16/here-are-forms-students-will-be-using-to-evaluate-the-class-me/

Larry Ferlazzo
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/about/

I have always learned so much from the evaluation forms I ask my students to complete at the end of a course. It is interesting--and instructive--to read Ferlazzo's reactions to his students' evaluations and to see an example of an evaluation form he designed and used.

Being Paperless, Using Skype, and Creating Videos... in Education Today

Some interesting blog posts I have read recently about being paperless, using Skype, and creating videos...

Going Green / State Farm / CC BY 2.0

PAPERLESS Classroom Hacks: Teacher Efficiency
http://www.hotlunchtray.com/paperless-classroom-hacks-teacher-efficiency/

Penny Christensen
http://www.hotlunchtray.com/about/
http://www.hotlunchtray.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Personal-Bio-Plate.pdf

Penny Christensen initially asks us to "identify what you want." If we choose what we want to accomplish by going paperless, we can decide how to begin our journey. She provides good advice for the beginning steps... and then shares practical suggestions for software, hardware, and structure appropriate to use to meet our goals. Christensen's recommendations are very good for folks interested in developing a paperless classroom.

Skype Classroom - Sharks / Laurie Sullivan / CC BY 2.0

6 Creative Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
http://www.edudemic.com/skype-in-classroom/

Kristen Hicks
http://www.edudemic.com/author/kristenhicks/

Skype--a free service for calls--has been used by friends, families, and businesses for many years. It is now also becoming more popular in classrooms.

• Skype is the modern penpal for students when it is used for collaboration with other classrooms.
• Experts can visit your classroom virtually more readily than they can in person.
• Teachers can communicate with students and their parents who are too ill or otherwise unavailable to be in class.
• Educators and/or volunteers can be available to students for tutoring outside the classroom.
• Classrooms can host virtual career exploration days with parents as the experts for the students.
• Teachers can facilitate group meetings for projects and extracurricular activities.

After explaining and providing useful ideas for these creative suggestions Kristen Hicks then suggests tools that will help teachers to implement these ideas successfully. Hicks' suggestions are practical and useful for beginners and also for those teachers who have already used Skype.

Technology Use / Denise Krebs / CC BY 2.0

Seven Steps for Creating Videos in Your Classroom
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/05/seven-steps-for-creating-videos-in-your.html#.VVAAVuf4mPV

Richard Byrne
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/about-richard-byrne-and-free-technology.html#.VVAAgOf4mPU

For many years we have taught students and their teachers to plan projects before they actually create anything. Is that what you actually do? I find that I must do some creating before I understand what it is that I need to plan.
 
Richard Byrne has re-visited the creation process and changed his approach to one that--I believe--is useful, practical, and relevant for students. Plus--I think--it works. Read his explanation and his revised creation process for short classroom videos to see if you agree.

Instructional Design and Digital Curriculum in Education Today... Black-and-White Photos and Photo Storage in Photography Today

Some interesting blog posts I have read recently about online courses (and blended learning) and photography...
 

"Addie-design" by Dave Braunschweig - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Addie-design.png#/media/File:Addie-design.png

Instructional Design...

Handy Checklist for Instructional Designers
KomiReddy Deepika
http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/checklist-for-instructional-designers

Do you use lists to help you organize your time and efforts? A list can help you to be efficient when you design online courses, too. Deepika's checklist has six parameters (with specific suggestions for each) to check when designing a course. The parameters include:

• learning objectives
• flow of content
• instructional strategy
• presentation
• assessments and feedback
• accessibility and navigation.

These are good reminders of what you should include when you create a course.

_________________________

Tips on Accelerating a Digital Curriculum in Your School Infographic
http://elearninginfographics.com/tips-accelerating-digital-curriculum-school-infographic/

The infographic in this article lists some best practices for implementing online programs. The basic ideas include:

• set goals for your digital curriculum
• bridge the "digital divide" with planning
• use digital content to shift students to active learning
• make your digital content easy for teachers to use and share
• use your digital curriculum to make time for the activities you value.

Each best practice lists specific ideas for that step. These suggestions work well for individual teachers as well as for schools and districts.


Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

_________________________

B&W Trees / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Photography...
Video Series: Black and White
http://www.picmonkey.com/blog/black-and-white-effects/
 
Black-and-white photos are not just... well... black and white when you use PicMonkey for photo-editing. You can use a color picker with the black-and-white setting to filter color. The daguerreotype setting allows you to work with black-and-white or sepia or what looks like a dark sepia. And a color picker is available there, too, for filtering colors. Plus both these options have fade controls.

PicMonkey provides short video tutorials for these effects and they are creating additional videos for other black-and-white effects.

_________________________

Olde Time / Jeff Hitchcock / CC BY 2.0

All-Time Greatest Album: the best way to manage your photos online in 2015
Casey Newton
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/29/8467289/cloud-photo-storage-comparison-dropbox-icloud-flickr-onedrive-free

Casey Newton describes--and then charts the features of--eight photo storage services. He recommends which services work best for different types of photographers (average users and power users). He describes pros and cons for storage, auto-uploading, power, ease of use, value, and costs. The many comments at the end of this article discuss additional issues and provide useful insight.

Updating an Augmented Reality Workshop Unit

I'm updating my workshop unit on using augmented reality in the classroom. These Internet resources look helpful for the workshop participants.

Girl from Ipanema / SNDRV /  CC BY 2.0

Augmented Reality Articles…

Apps…

• Image Recognition That Triggers Augmented Reality
• http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_mills_image_recognition_that_triggers_augmented_reality?language=en 
• 201206

• 15 Best Augmented Reality Apps
• http://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/657-best-augmented-reality-apps.html
• 201502

• 40 Best Augmented Reality iPhone Apps
• http://www.iphoneness.com/iphone-apps/best-augmented-reality-iphone-applications/
• date?

• 5 Top Augmented Reality Apps for Education
• http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/augmented-reality-apps-for-education/
• date?

Blog…

• Augmented Blog
• http://blog.metaio.com/
• 201504

AR in Education…

• How to Bring Augmented Reality to Your School's Art Show
• https://www.edsurge.com/n/2015-04-26-how-to-bring-augmented-reality-to-your-school-s-art-show
• 201504

• How to Use Augmented Reality in the Classroom
• http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1210-how-to-use-augmented-reality-in-the-classroom
• 201405

• Augmented Reality: Good for Schools?
• http://ltd.edc.org/augmented-reality-good-schools
• 201406

• Augmented Reality Applied to Education
• http://infinitespider.com/augmented-reality-education/
• 201501

• Augmented Reality for Special Education
• http://wildcataz.wikispaces.com/Augmented+Reality+for+Special+Education
• 2015?

• Meetup: Augmented Reality in Education
• https://medium.com/emerge-edtech-insights/meetup-augmented-reality-in-education-e78039fdf80b
• date?

Possible Uses…

• The World is Not Enough: Google and the Future of Augmented Reality
• http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/the-world-is-not-enough-google-and-the-future-of-augmented-reality/264059/
• 201210

• How Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Will Generate $150 Billion in Revenue by 2020
• http://fortune.com/2015/04/25/augmented-reality-virtual-reality/
• 201504

• How Augmented Reality Gets to Work--And Gets Past the "Glassholes"
• http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/25/augmented-reality-gets-to-work-and-gets-past-the-glassholes/
• 201503

• An Education in Augmented Reality: 8 Tips for Getting Started 
• http://www.information-age.com/technology/applications-and-development/123458747/education-augmented-reality-8-tips-getting-started
• 201412

Designing How We Teach Adults, Keeping Data Secure, and Removing Flash Drives... in Education Today

More of my favorite recent blog posts... Enjoy!

Adult Learners Resource Center / Penn State / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Learners are Learning Differently; Are You Changing the Way You Train and Support Them?
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/2015/03/26/learners-are-learning-differently-are-you-changing-the-way-you-train-them/
Jane Hart (http://janehart.com/)
March 26, 2015

Our use of the Internet has changed the way we learn. Jane Hart draws some interesting and useful conclusions about how we learn based on her analysis of the Top 100 Tools for Learning surveys of the last 8 years. She argues that we should consider the changes in learning behavior brought about by our use of the Internet as we design the training we provide.

Security / Dave Bleasdale / CC BY 2.0

Five Ways to Ensure Your Personal Data Remains Secure
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/five-ways-ensure-personal-data-remains-secure/
Christian Cawley (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/author/ccawley/)
April 17, 2015

What are you doing to keep your data secure? Christian Cawley provides specific recommendations for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. His list includes the following:

• backing up,
• encrypting,
• securely deleting,
• deleting from the cloud, and
• disabling sharing.

My USB Flash Drives / Honou / CC BY 2.0

Do You Really Need to Eject Your Flash Drive (or Device) Before Removing It?
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/really-need-eject-flash-drive-device-removing/
Andy Betts (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/author/andy/)
March 24, 2015

Do you remember to eject your USB flash drives before you remove them? Do you need to do so? What about external hard drives? Does it matter if you are using a Windows or a Mac operating system? Of course, it depends... Sometimes you should eject first and sometimes, not. Andy Betts explains when it matters and why.

Poetry, Google, Gamifying Learning, Rubrics, Writing, StumbleUpon, and Word Clouds... in Education Today

Reading education blogs is like attending a never-ending conference that is designed just for you with sessions shared by outstanding educators. These are some of my favorite recent finds.

Flower Poem / David Goehring / CC BY 2.0

The Power of Poetry in Primary Classrooms
Matthew James Friday
http://www.edutopia.org//blog/power-of-poetry-primary-classrooms-matthew-friday
a fresh look at teaching poetry

Google Pen / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Google for Educators: The Best Features for Busy Teachers
Kyle Pace
http://www.edutopia.org//google-for-educators
a short list of useful classroom tools from Google (www.google.com/), some oft-used and some newer ones

VLAB Gamify Everything Program / Photologue_NP / CC BY 2.0

Epic Fail or Win? Gamifying Learning in My Classroom
Liz Kolb
http://www.edutopia.org//blog/epic-fail-win-gamifying-learning-liz-kolb
helpful information for those interested in beginning to gamify… step-by-step instructions, what worked and what did not work in the author’s classroom

Rubric Used Sign / Clker.com

4 Easy Tips and Tricks for Creating Visually Engaging Rubrics
Cait Camarata
http://www.edutopia.org//blog/tips-for-creating-visually-engaging-rubrics-cait-camarata
templates—with design suggestions--for creating your own rubrics

Maths / Michael Pollak / CC BY 2.0

4 Tips for Writing in the Math Classroom
Heather Wolpert-Gawron
http://www.edutopia.org//blog/four-tips-writing-math-classroom-heather-wolpert-gawron
suggestions for incorporating writing in the mathematics classroom

Logo of StumbleUpon / Bernard Goldbach / CC BY 2.0

5 Ways to Use StumbleUpon in Education
Siobhan Tumelty
http://www.edudemic.com/5-ways-teachers-can-use-stumbleupon/
suggestions for using StumbleUpon (https://www.stumbleupon.com/) to help with lesson plans, teaching, expert insight, social connection, and inspiration

Assessment / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

5 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom
Siobhan Tumelty
http://www.edudemic.com/5-ways-use-word-cloud-generators-classroom/ideas for using word clouds for vocabulary, assessments, building knowledge, and getting to know you

Happy Easter!

Orange Sunrise / Wyncliffe / CC BY 2.0

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed!

Happy Easter, my friends!