FREE PD
I was actually going to write about a couple of the really good sessions of the Untamed Learning Conference I attended on Saturday and am happy to say- now you can attend any of them- and I can catch the ones I couldn't attend. My favorites, so far - Digital Tools for STEM with Eric Cross and Mari Venturino, and the Student Engagement for Primary Learners (TK-2) with Jennifer Dean and Ben Cogswell. I only got to one of Jennifer and Ben's and plan to catch the other 3. Note: Click on the image or the link below it to register for free access... scroll all the way down to the bottom of their page til you see "Are You Ready?" "Get your free ticket". It's way further down the page than you would expect. What I liked about the sessions I attended... these are educators, who are in the classrooms, either directly teaching or directly supporting teachers. The ideas they present are not theoretical, nor do they generally require paid apps, fancy equipment, etc. You can actually do these with your students.
We've opened up our live, virtual conference - Untamed Learning for FREE to all educators! We want this to be a day of learning that supports educators where they are now and in preparation of moving into the Next Normal. So, at Untamed Learning you'll get:
Google Updates
Trying to keep up with Google updates has always been kind of like herding cats, but this last month or so... pretty close to impossible. I depend on the Google Edu pages and try to catch the folks from Fried.Tech every week. Below is today's slide deck- just click on the image and the recording on Youtube.
What really stood out today: 1. Originality reports. This is rolling out for the next school year, and the free version only gets 5 reports, but paid is unlimited (I think). The part that I liked- it is not just for teachers to say "gotcha!" If the teacher has enabled it, the students can check their work before turning it in. It is meant to be a learning experience, not just a way to catch cheaters. The other part that will be rolling out is a way to check student/student work. Not really sure how this will work- but essentially is meant to prevent kids from last year's class just passing along their papers to a new class. But- no work is shared outside of your district... unlike turnitin, etc. This will use your data, in your accounts to check. 2. Rubrics There was a lot of good info shared, and they did a demo of how to create a rubric, but the cool piece, you and your department can create a shell class- no students- and work together to create rubrics, which you can then access and attach to your assignments/edit as needed.
Micro:bit PD
I attended this virtual training last week and thought it was one of the best Micro:bit trainings I have seen so far. Excellent ideas, great pacing. Whether you are new to Micro:bit or if you have some experience-check out the slides and the great opportunities from Project Invent. This is theslide deck, therecording, and a link to thepadlet with all the referenced links.
Ideas to Share
BreakoutEdu
I love this quick little puzzle you can play with your students. It a perfect 5 minute do now or as something for students to work on while waiting for the Zoom or Meet to begin. If you want to do the digital version, it's quick and easy to assign (HES- we have a subscription) or try the kit version- way more setup and probably not something we can do right now... Adam says they will be putting one of these out every week.
UnboundEd
Having conversations in your school about race and equity? This bias toolkit may help. Or check out the resources on the Wakelet below, shared recently by Terri Eicholz.
You can download the free bias toolkit from Unbounded.org. Click the image below to find out more.
Jamboard Version History
Alice Keeler, as well as Richard Byrne and others wrote about the new version history for Google Jamboard. This is rolling out over the next couple weeks. One thing that is different about jamboard version history, compared to docs, is that it will not show you who did what- only who was on the document, as well as allowing you to restore to a previous version.
Wordtune
Richard Byrne recently wrote about this chrome extension, one that I have not tried. It is called Wordtune and can help students revise their writing. Check out his post and the video below.
LightSpace is an app which came out a couple years ago, but that I had never heard of until I read this blog post from @MerrillsEDU. Check it out.
Here's the short version: " LightSpace is an AR (augmented reality) iOS app that allows you to turn your surroundings into a canvas. Using LightSpace’s tools, you can record a video and add things like drawings, shapes and various effects right into the shot. The best part is if you walk away from your drawing, LightSpace maps the room. So, if you walk back towards your drawing, it will reappear! This is a great way to capture engagement and build interACTIVE activities."
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Last week I tuned in to watch the announcements about upcoming changes in Google for Education. Little did I know that it was going to be a 90 minute deluge of changes. Everything from the name officially becoming Google Workspace to new pricing tiers, new features and more. I just sat thru yet another 30 minute webinar on these changes. It is simply overwhelming.
If you don't want to deal with these changes right now, scroll on down to a few other Ideas to Share. Here's something I hope will help. John Sowash made up these graphics below and said it was OK to share them. As you can see- lots of changes. I will also link in Eric Curt's post as well as the video update from today and their slide decks. And don't worry if it's too much at once. This link from Google Edu breaks out what is offered in each tier. It will be coming out all year, in phases and you can just concentrate on what you need/care about. I like screen recording on chromebooks, revision history on jamboard, multiple Meet moderators and pre-scheduling breakout rooms. But remember, not everything is in the free version. Check out the video below for more info about that.
Click on the individual images in the gallery below to see each one in detail.
Here's a couple of slide decks... The first one goes with the video above and the second was a link given out in the presentation.
Here is a summary blog post from Eric Curts. Yes, there are more than 50 new or changed features.
Dive in, find out what changes affect you, and can help your students. Ideas to Share
Kiss the Ground
Learning about climate change, environmental issues? I think that this may hit home for some of our farm families who deal with sustaining the soil every day. This excellent movie is now available to show in schools. Kiss the Ground, explores how this crisis can be reversed, explaining that when we regenerate the world’s soils we can stabilize the Earth’s climate, restore local ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. Check it out.
Tutorial on Actively Learn
This is an excellent tutorial from Sam Kary's New EdTech Classroom for a great tool that can really help all students engage. Adding more interactivity and feedback really makes a difference. Haven't tried Actively Learn? Worth your time to investigate it.
Build your own FlipGrid Frame
Check out the screencastify video below for step by step directions from Kristina Uihlein Holzweiss https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYlQDsNLWU
Embed a Google Drawing in a Doc
This is from Sarah Kiefer's post, where she said, "I can see some of you scratching your head on this post ... but if you are using a Google doc for your students and want an "interactive" portion, you can! It just takes a little bit of thinking to ensure you keep the interactive part available." Google Changes BrandingJust when we are finally used to calling Google Apps GSuite, now it's changing to Google Workspace with all new logos. Exam Net Lindsey sent me this link last Tuesday. Although I know that it has been shared at HA, others may not have heard about this one. It was new to me. Thanks Lindsey! "I’m not sure if you’ve told people about exam.net before, but it’s an amazing website for giving assessments. You can just download a pdf of your assessment and the website will create a test code. Students can then go to the website and type in the code to access the test. The cool thing about it is it will create a browser block on all devices and if students exit the browser, their test will stop and you will be notified. It literally takes me a minute or two to make one if I have an existing test. " Here's more about it: Excerpts from the web site.
Whiteboard.chat & Whiteboard LimnuHere's a step by step guide for Whiteboard.chat. There will be a webinar Thursday evening to learn more about how to use WhiteboardChat for remote learning. Click here to register.
LimnuAnother option is Limnu. This whiteboard has been around since about 2016. It is free for educators. What I really like about Limnu is the built in video call. You can have a small group, I think up to 8 people, working on a board together, without Zoom or Meet- just using Limnu- you can see them, hear them, share the work. Great for tutors, ESPs, other small groups. Ideas to ShareDonnie Piercey always shares cool stuff, but I really like his work on Google Tour Creator. Check out his step by step tutorials and give it a try with your class.
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AuthorMaureen Tumenas Archives
June 2021
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