resources

Personal Learning Networks

Resource sharing has reached new levels for teachers and students.  Teaching and learning is now shaped by the collaboration of educators with colleagues and with students.  “Another way forward is to learn more about those who have already leaped into the web to teach and to follow the emerging Learning 2.0” (Alexander, 2013, Learning from Learning 2.0 section, para. 1).  With so many experts in the field, it is essential to access media, documents, and web links to remain current teaching and learning.   Web 2.0 platforms have enabled easy access and increased overall communication.  Edmodo is a current leader in social networking for education, allowing teachers to share information and learn from of diverse and specialized online groups.  As a user friendly Web 2.0 tool, Edmodo is ideal to effectively and efficiently collaborate with colleagues and students.  In the “style” of Facebook, Edmodo allows the user to post media clips, organize links, have online conversations, begin focus groups, and digitally drop assignments.

Edmodo’s ability to reach a wide variety of educators has provided a worldwide data base of colleagues.  Learning from those from different parts of the world can offer educators fresh new ideas and perspectives.  Many focused groups have emerged through the use of Edmodo.  Project based learning, and flipped classrooms are examples of groups that I belong to.  My teaching is clearly enriched by my access to media clips, discussions, and links.  Over the next school year, I would like to create my own learning group that focuses on one to one computing resources for teachers and students.  Using Edmodo to expand my Personal Learning network will give me access to current, innovative resources from educators worldwide.

In addition to web 2.0 tools such as Edmodo, Wikis can assist in the development of a positive online presence.  While serving as a powerful communication tool, Wikis focus on the contributor.  I created a district Wikispaces page as a result of a technology boot camp.  Over the course of the year, district teachers have contributed resources for all core subjects for grade levels k-8. I am in the process of updating for the upcoming school year to provide more tools for successful technology integration.  I am looking forward to also gaining resources from the contributions from teachers across the district.  Our district wiki has quickly become a multimedia resource that has fostered collaboration between district staff. The Wiki can be found at www.d158tech.wikispaces.com.  As I continue to collaborate with colleagues using a Wiki, I would like to expand this project to inviting student contributors.  Allowing students to share resources and ideas will give teachers the necessary insight into the learning styles of our 21st century learners.

 References

Alexander, B. (2013). Social Networking in Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/tower-and-cloud/social-networking-higher-education.

Motivate with Web 2.0

Media Sharing

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and und understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess.

3.3.4 Create products that apply to authentic, real-world context.

​​​​​Smore allows students to design and create professional online flyers by choosing from an array of templates. With Smore, users can embed links, audio, video, pictures and texts into flyers and newsletters and share them instantly.

Easel.ly allows users to quickly create infographics and share visual ideas online. With an expansive library of elements and visual objects, students can personalize infographics of all kinds.

Tip: Infographics are visual representations of data. Information +graphics=Infographic. For a more in depth description of infographics and how to use them in the classroom, watch this Prezi .

Digital Storytelling

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning.

4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.

Inklewriter​ is an ideal digital writing tool for writing interactive stories. Inklewriter allows students to develop multiple endings and even touches upon game development. This tool is geared towards the middle school classroom.

My histro​ provides a venue for stories displayed on maps. Users can watch and read thousands of timelines or create an interactive timeline complete with text, video, and pictures. Ideal for collaborative projects, students can easily share their work using a variety of formats. Grades 4-8

Flipsnack ​is an easy to use application used to covert PDF files into a flip book. Upload your PDF file, customize the book, and share.  The online flipbooks are designed to resemble regular print books. Final products are shareable using email or can be embedded.  Grades k-8

Manage and Organize

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful.

2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information.

3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess.

​​Biblionasium​ allows students to set up virtual bookshelf and keep track of what they have read, what they like, and what they plan to read. Students will enjoy connecting with friends to share and recommend their favorite books. Grades 4-8

Litpick​ provides free electronic books to students in grades 4-12. Students take on the role of a book critic, reading books, and developing and posting reviews anonymously.

Padlet is an easy to use virtual bulletin board. Using the idea of a blank piece of paper, you can put whatever you want on your wall by dragging and dropping documents and images from your desktop, embedding links and videos, or simply typing notes on your page. When you are finished posting things to your wall, you will be able to collaborate with others using a unique URL as well as through a variety of social networks.  Grades 4-8

Social Networking and Communications

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.

4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information.

4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.

​With the importance of formative assessments, Socrative​ is an ideal tool to assess students using a variety of different formats. By transforming multiple student devices into response systems, Socrative engages students in real time educational activities while providing immediate feedback. Results can be viewed online in a Google spreadsheet or received via email as an excel file. Grades 1-8.

​Blogging has taken on a new level of collaboration with Quadblogging. Quadblogging connects students with other schools to blog with a purpose. Over the last 12 months 100,000 students have been involved with blogging exchanges from 40 countries. Grades 3-8

Marqueed ​is an easy to use, collaborative, web based program for annotating images. Simply drag and drop images from the web or add them from your computer. Multiple students can annotate an image. Grades 3-8

Tip: Analyze a historical photograph to deepen students’ thinking about an historical event or period. Upload a poem for students to discuss or analyze photos relating to science.

Curriculum and Collaboration

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community.

3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.

3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.

4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.

​​19 pencils is an online platform for locating and sharing educational resources, assignments, and quizzes. With the use of a quality search engine, teachers can explore the 19pencils library for resources specific to their students’ needs. Teachers can also create and add their own content and customize assessments to target specific learning goals. A helpful feature for younger students is the display of each resource as a thumbnail image rather than just the URL. This is a great tool for blended learning and the flipped classroom. Grades k-8.

Icivics was founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to help young people of all ages learn about branches of governments, separation of powers, media influences on government, the budget, and the Constitution. In addition to games and web quests, icivics provides lesson plans with supporting resources for teachers. Grades 3-8

This is a favorite for all grade levels! Youngzine is a child focused website that provides articles, images, and videos about world news, science and technology, society and arts, movies, and books.  Students are encouraged to respond to the content and may submit articles, short stories and book reviews. Content is frequently updated and reviewed by Youngzine’s editors. Grades k-8

Content Resources

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information

2.4.4 Develop directions for future investigations.

3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.

Seriously Amazing is a website created by the Smithsonian and it geared towards sparking the spirit of inquiry. Students can explore the diversity of the animal kingdom, natural landscapes, technology, artistic expression, world cultures, space, and history. Grades 3-12

Science NetLinks is a website connecting k-12 teachers, students, and families to STEM resources produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This site includes lesson plans, interactives, and reviewed internet resources. The databases are searchable by grade level, themes, and content area. An afterschool connection collection offers hand on experiments, student activity sheets, online resources, and teacher resources. Grades k-8

Another favorite, TedEd​ allows educators to create and share lessons built around You Tube videos. The embedded lesson creator allows users to find video content, select a video or lesson to be customized, and flip a video by adding questions, notes and content. Grades k-8