Powerful simulations

Creating engaging online simulations that give students agency is challenging. I've come across a few that are very powerful (through a course I'm taking).  Here are four that I'd recommend highly:

Spent  (from the Urban Ministries of Durham NC) puts you in the shoes of someone trying to make ends meet with limited resources.  What job should you do?  Where will you live?  What do you do when your car breaks down?  As you make choices, the balance of your savings is shown on the upper left. 

Rebuilding Haiti was created after the 2010 earthquake.  Students learn about the challenges and decisions that government officials, NGOs, and others face and how their choices play out in the future.

Journey to the End of Coal is a web documentary about the coal industry in China in which the viewer plays an active role.

Pirate Fishing puts students in the role of a junior researcher gathering evidence about illegal fishing.

What are other simulations that you use in class? 

Measuring Direct Distances in Google Maps

This could be helpful when using Google Maps in the classroom...

To measure direct distances ("as the crow flies"):

• Click the X in the search box to clear it
• Right-click the starting point
• Choose "Measure Distance"
• Click the end point

Distance will be shown in miles and km.  You can add/edit additional points, as shown here.

 *here's an obvious math question-- what's the area of the land enclosed in the triangle shown?

Google Maps how-to

Here's a nice, simple "cheat sheet" for  doing more with Google Maps, including ideas for using Maps in your class.  Thanks to Jennifer Judkins for the share.

https://docs.google.com/a/cvuhs.org/document/d/10YLdGjwJk9ufYrvvzorrrMCQPqrU1Bh-nzhXIfNdWWQ/edit

Using Google Maps/Earth in the classroom

There are lots of great applications for Google Maps/Earth in the classroom.  Science classes can plan out natural areas (check out the CVU example below), English classes can go on "lit trips" (seeing the actual places described in a novel), math classes can explore the geometry of the "real world," etc.
Richard Byrne-- the author of the amazing Free Technology for Teachers blog-- has posted several helpful resources in a recent post.

Vermont Fest 2013

As always, the Vermont Fest educational technology conference had a lot to offer this year and I've come away with some great ideas to share.

Some take-aways:

• Q: How can we share students' digital work like we do physical artifacts (posters, 3-D objects, etc.)?  A:  Make a poster with a QR code on it.  Scanning the QR code with a smart phone brings up the digital work.  Great idea for parent-teacher conference time-- let parents see what their kids are doing in the digital realm!
• Lots of schools going 1-to-1 in some form or another.  Wifi is key.  Some schools are also looking at BYOD ("bring your own device") models.
• Video is powerful.  Give kids a decent-quality camera and ask them to tell a story or learn about and report on their community.  Students who may not love writing can surprise you when given the chance to show learning in a different way. 
• It's not the tool-- it's the learning.  We know that, of course.  But it always helps to be reminded.

Interested in what you missed? Most presenters (including yours truly) shared their resources here.

 I did a presentation entitled "How not to ruin a presentation with technology" (with help from the art deparment!) that I'd love to come into your classes and present.

OK, my notes (I'd be happy to share more if these are too cryptic.  Use the link above to see the actual resources):

REEL History

Matt Henchen

Civics teacher, Harwood Union

Kids need to be media savvy

Two Stories

Tanner’s story—his 10-year old son.  Hates to write. Tech honors multiple intelligences.

Use of voxpop = ask a diverse set of people the same question.

Kids speak through media.

Powerful video of students interviewing a homeless man.

Power of the media to bring people together who wouldn’t otherwise.

Place-based learning.   What are local places you could use?

iPhone 5s has slow-motion camera; use earbuds as unidirectrional mics

Augmented Reality

Tarrant Institute
Similar to putting up QR codes, but the "code" is the object itself.

Aurasma-- iOS app for creating augmented reality experiences. Recognizes the image and displays resources overlayed.

Science Fair idea-- physical object with additional digital components.

Tech tips top 40

Common Sense media has added Graphite for searching.

A Fair(y) Use Tail-  uses Disney clips.

Get Creative.

BYOD
Gregory Connors- Rutland City Schools
Students bring their own devices and register them.
Complements 1-to-1. Not an expectation.
Info here.

Chrome Ninja

Jean Campbell, MMU HS

Showed extensions and apps

Nice extensions-

Send by Gmail

ScreenCapture

Diigo, etc.

Nice apps-

Loupe photo collage

WeVideo

LucidChart are all added to their Google Drive.

picMonkey

App development
Lucie Delabriere

Creativisy is not enough—need grit!

Make it social.

Programmer vs programmed-- kids should be "makers."

Buzztouch demo (tool for creating mobile apps-- iOS and Android)

Xcode for mac

Eclipse for android

When 1-2-1 and BYOD Merge

Luis Bango—Woodstock MS and HS

385 students in HS

Many devices on the network

350 school-issued netbooks on campus

iPad labs (20 in world languages)

6 technology interns

Spent a year “doing HW” to prepare for 1-2-1.

MS teachers helped the HS teachers get ready when 1-2-1 came to 9th grade.

Machines don’t go home.  Charge them during lunch.  Gets through the day.

Why don’t they go home? Couldn’t pay warranty.  Wanted to be sure they were there every day.  Didn’t want them in kids’ backpacks (sports teams).

Used Digital Wish chart for planning 1-2-1.

Mystery Skype

Have you heard of Mystery Skype?  In their own words, "Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. It's suitable for all age groups and can be used to teach subjects like geography, history, languages, mathematics and science."

I took a look at classrooms that have signed up in the high school age range and was impressed that there are quite a few!

Check it out here.

Infographics

In an earlier post, I mentioned students creating infographics.  In case that's an unfamiliar term, or you're not sure what students might do with infographics, here are some wonderful examples from Stan & Emily's sophomores.  They were charged with creating infographics about the impact of cotton on the early US.  Caitlin's is shown below and here are some more.

LED Web site created by CVU student

CVU senior Julien Vandal has created an excellent web site (using Weebly) to promote LED usage in Shelburne.  He states, "I'm doing this project for a class Money, Energy, and Power, but I hope to continue my impact on the community after the class ends this semester. I'm really passionate about LEDs, and I have already installed some in my room and around the house."  Thanks to Glenn Fay for sharing.
Check it out:

 http://ledshelburne.weebly.com/index.html

Technology Integration Showcase 02

Here are two more recent examples of students using technology to demonstrate their learning:

Tupper's Glogster digital poster about The Troops of WWI-- from Lezlee Sprenger's class:

---

A screencast of a presentation on Galicia from Seth Jensen's Spanish class (Laura used Screen-cast-o-matic for this).

Classroom Scenarios

(Originally posted 3/7/11)

Need some inspiration/ideas on how to integrate technology and 21st century skills in the classroom? Take a look at these "Classroom Scenarios" that were developed around the new Vermont state technology GE's. They are broken out by grade level- use the links to look at the 9-12 examples. Some of these are units that have actually been done in area classrooms. I'd love to team with people who might want to put something like these in place in their classes.

National Geographic Education and Google Map Maker

(originally posted 5/10/11)

National Geographic has just unveiled its new education site (in beta), which promises lots of resources for teachers and students. One of these is a nice map-making tool, where students can add features to maps, then download the image files.

Speaking of maps, Google Map Maker is a tool that lets anyone add details to maps. Google may then incorporate the information into Google Maps. Students could add placemarkers and routes for the local area, for instance.

Students can also use Google Maps to create their own private or shared maps.

Free technology for teachers

What's a good resource for free, web-based resources for my class?

My favorite site is Free Technology for Teachers. It's a blog, written by a middle school teacher, that has quick reviews of lots of tools for all curricular areas. In addition to visiting the site, you can subscribe via RSS or follow on Twitter.

If you happen on something that looks promising and would like me to check it out or support your use of it, please let me know.

(Originally posted 10/10/11)

Timeline tools

Here are four tools for creating timelines:
TimeRime. Like other timeline tools, TimeRime "does the math" of creating an appropriate scale, so if that's the skill you're looking to practice, this is not the tool. However, if you're looking for a way for students to create text descriptions of events and add photos and videos, this is worth a look.
Here's an actual student example. Note that "M" signifies an event with multimedia attached (follow the link for this to work).


TimeToast:


xtimeline

tiki-toki

Please let me know if I can help!
(originally posted 10/31/11)

GooRu

GOORU
There's a new site that looks promising for classroom resources called GooRu. You can get to it through Google Apps, by opening your GMail, then choosing Gooru under "More." I'd love to know what people think- are these useful resources? 
(originally posted 2/10/12)