This blog is dedicated to assisting teachers in integrating Information Communication Technology, or eLearning tools into their classrooms. Here you will find sample lessons, uses for eLearning tools, bookmarks to different tools, video tutorials and classroom management tips.
Both teachers and students can benefit from the Hemingway App.
Teachers can use it to ensure that their texts are clear and easy to understand. The readability score indicates the minimum reading level needed to understand the text. This can help teachers write at the correct level.
Students can use the Hemingway App to check the style of their work. Highlighting the hard to read sentences assists students in getting their message across. Encouraging boldness and clarity will enhance any persuasive text.
The Hemingway App is one of the easiest eLearning Tools to use. Go to www.hemingwayapp.com, delete the place-holder text, and paste in your own. The app will analyse and highlight your text.
Hovering over the highlights provides suggested remedies for passive voice, and complicated phrases.
The panel on the right provides a readability score, some simple analysis. There you will also find controls to turn different highlights on and off.
Tricider's three of features suggest different classroom activities.
The ideas posting allows for easy brain storming. Not only can students quickly add ideas, but there is ample space to write a detailed explanation of their ideas. Ideas can also contain pictures and URL links.
The pros and cons section allows students to argue the idea's merits. The students are required to designate their statement as a pro or a con, which eliminates fence sitting. Students can put forward a number of arguments.
Finally the voting section allows students to put their support behind an idea. The more popular ideas will move to the front.
In addition, Tricider allows you to ask multiple questions within one Tricision (yes, that's what they are called). Here is an example of a Tricision using multiple questions.
If you want to see a lesson which uses this tool, then check out this post.
Getting Started
To get started, go to the Tricider website. You can create an account using your Goolge login. You don't have to create an account, although having an account makes it easier to manage your different Tricisions.
The video below gives you a simple overview of how Tricider works.
It is around this time every term where you can see teachers disappear under piles of drafts. Over the years I have developed an approach which reduces the amount of time I spend of drafts.
The process aids students in correcting their own grammatical errors. This allows me to focus on the content of the documents. There are many ICT tools which can support this process, and I've included them below.
The Drafting Process
Step 1 - Spell and Grammar and style check
The student must spell and grammar check the document. If I get a document with red or blue lines under the words, I give it straight back to the. Students are also encouraged to use readability tools to check the style of their writing.
Step 2 - Text to Speech Recital
Using a text to speech tool (depends on the type of document), the student must listen to their entire document read back to them. In doing this they will hear what they have actually written, not what they think they have written.
Step 3 - Peer Review
They have to share their document with another student, who reads it and leaves comment. These comments are evidence that their peer has read the document.
Step 4 - Submit for draft check
After completing the three prior steps, the student can now submit their draft for checking.
The ICT Tools
There are many ICT tools which can support this process. Which tools you use will depend upon how the student created the document.
Below is the presentation that I show my students when I explain my draft process. I have slides for both Word and Google Docs. Feel free to copy this presentation and adjust it for your needs.
With PowerPoint you can record within the program. The video below shows you how.
Prezi
Prezi is a little more complicated. First you need to record the audio and get it onto your computer.
Here's a couple of ways you can do this:
Most phones come with a simple audio recording app, or you can add one. You can then email the recording from you phone to your computer.
All Windows computers have a sound recorded installed (just type "sound recorder" into the search box). You need to make sure that you have a microphone (most laptops have them built in).
The video below will show you how to add the voice over.
There are so many classroom applications for Diigo, mostly because it has so many features and these features can be used to create a myriad of classroom experiences.
Bookmarking
The core feature of Diigo is it's ability to bookmark websites and centralise these in the cloud. This means that your bookmarks are available from any device with Internet access. Put simply, Diigo is the best way to gather and organise your online resources. All the sites you have bookmarked are added to your Diigo Account, along with a description and any tags you add. The description and tags are used for searching in your account.
Diigo goes beyond merely bookmarking a site. Diigo, also enables you to highlight web pages, and comment on them. These highlights and comments are also collated into you account where you can view them. This way you can view all the notes you have collected from each website.
Groups
Groups are a powerful organising and collaboration tool. Groups can be private or public to allow for many users to collaboratively build a library of online resources. There are different levels of collaboration, allowing you to decide the level of participation for different group members.
Lists
Lists are Diigo's tool for displaying your bookmarks. You can send bookmarks to a list that you can then share to different platforms. Lists are only only for display purposes, but are a simple way to embed an up-datable sources of bookmarks.
Educators Account
Diigo also offers a free educator account. This account gives you access to a teacher console where you can create accounts for your students and allocated them to groups.
Mobile Apps
Finally Diigo has apps for both Android and iOS. This means that you, or students can use Diigo's features on your phones or tablets.
Getting Started
To get started with Diigo, go to the website an create an account. You can use Google, Facebook, Twitter or Yahoo accounts, or create an account using your email address. Once you have created your account, then it is time to start bookmarking.
The easiest way to bookmark in Diigo is to install either Diigolet, or the Diigo Extension in your browser. The tools can be found here. There is a tool available for every browser.
Feedly's ability to bring timely information to the user, and allowing them to save it, open a host of possible uses.
The most obvious use is professional development. With a range of news feeds it is easy to stay up-to-date, and with the capacity to add blogs from fellow educators, you can continue to develop your pedagogy.
In the classroom, Feedly can provide the latest information in your subject area. It can be a source of articles for your students to analyse. Encourage students to create their feeds.
Finding sources
Feedly already has connections to many great sources. Just click on add content.
If you're looking for education sources, TeachThough (itself a blog), has a list of 31 top education blogs. Check it out here.
If you are on a site with this symbol. It means that you can subscribe to updates from it. Just click on the symbol and copy the URL into Feedly's search and you should be able to add that feed.
Getting started
To start, go to http://feedly.com and sign in using your Google account.
You will want to find some sources, so subscribe to some things that might interest you. A word of warning from my personal experience, don't go overboard. Your feed should now populate.
Feedly has both Android, and iOS apps. There are also many other apps which can display your Feedly feeds, on a number of devices. The full list can be found here.
Finally, the video below will give you more of a detailed introduction.
Flash Cards are a tried and tested method to help remember things. Students have probably been using these since the days of papaya, so it is not surprise that there are digital options.
Cram is a simple site which allows the user to make flash cards. That is all it does, and it does it well.
The interface is nice, clean and easy to use. The cards can allow for inclusion of images, and the user can create three sided cards (the third side is for hints).
In addition to creating your own flash cards, there is a whole collection of card sets created and shared by other users.
The cards can be viewed on the web, or via iOS and Android apps. If you really want to be old school, you can print the cards out as well.
You can log in using Google, Facebook or Twitter accounts, or you can create you own account with email.
Video Ant's annotation can be used a number of ways in class. The teacher can identify important points in a video, or students can analyse a video an mark important findings.
The collaboration feature works on two levels. Firstly, it enables students to work together annotating the same video. In addition, it allows people to comment on others' annotations.
Video Ant works with Youtube, HTML 5 and Flash videos, which covers most videos found on the web.
Below is an example of a Video Ant which is analysing emotive language in a news report.
ThingLink has many uses in class. I have already written about it's use as an interactive infographic tool. If you, or your students analyse images in anyway, then ThingLink can be used. Below is a ThingLink where I have analysed a graphic design using the CARP principles.
This was the final lesson preparing students to write an article on their chosen hero. The students had been researching their chosen hero, and were aware that they would be role playing as their hero during the lesson.
Prior to the lesson, I had created four chat rooms. using Neat Chat!. Neat Chat is a simple website where you can make temporary Chat-rooms. Each chat-room was to be a virtual 'dinner-table' where the heroes would converse.
I used tab.bz in Chrome to packed these rooms and email them to the students (although you could use any LMS, or site, or blog for this). I had also prepared questions to ask my dinner guests.
The students entered, were allocated a chat-room, and then the conversations started. I've included some extract from the conversations below.
Initially the guests explained why they have been invited to the heroes dinner.
On Australian Indigenous health
On removing national parks protection
On raising children
Follow Up
The following lesson the students were writing about their hero's life. Hopeful, with a deeper insight into who they were.
For my colleagues, the College has a Google domain. If you're not sure of your account details, then speak to IT services.
For everyone else, or if you want a private account, Google accounts are free. Just go to Google and in the top right-hand corner is where you will find your Google account details, and / or sign-up.
Google accounts can also be used to access many more Google services and many third-party services.
Using Google Drive in class
I will be posting about the use of Google drive throughout this year, but if you want some ideas now, I would suggest checking out some of the thinks below:
Collaborative research allows the class to assist each other in finding sources. It also make life a little easier on the teacher, as you now have 30 people scouring the web looking for resources instead of one. Not that this makes you redundant. Students will still need to be show the best way to search, and how to critique their sources. Here I have included a number of eLearning tools which can facilitate collaborative research.
Diigo
Diigo is the first tool I turn to for collaborative research. It is one of the kings of social book-marking and offers some fantastic features. Diigo can be accessed using Google, Facebook, Twitter or Yahoo accounts, or you can create you own Diigo account. It also offers free educators accounts, which allow you to automatically set up student accounts and classes.
When I use Diigo, I create a Library for that topic and then add my students to that library (made easier by the education accounts). Students then research the topic and add bookmarks to the library.
Diigo also allows for students to highlight text on a website, and add annotations. These highlights and annotations are also added to the library. All members of the library can access the bookmarks, highlights and annotations. In addition they can add comments, and 'like' bookmarks. The highlighter is especially useful as it supports note-taking methods.
Diigo offers browser tools that make this process almost painless. It also offers many other features such as tag clouds, library searches, screen captures, read-it-later services, and web-based notes.
I love Diigo, but the amount of time needed for set-up and familiarisation means that it is best suited for long reseach tasks.
Pros: Many features; extensive collaboration; highlighting supports note taking techniques, tagging Cons: A bit of set-up is required; students require accounts; familiarisation required
Pearltrees
Pearltrees is an interesting take on social book-marking. When you bookmark in Pearltrees you place those bookmarks in within a tree diagram. This allows you to categorise your bookmarks as you go along.
The nature of Pearltrees puts it somewhere between brainstorming and researching. These features, combined with it's collaboration ability, provides many classroom opportunities. For example, a new pearl could be created and shared with the class for a brainstorming storming session. Students can then assess the brainstorming results to distil a group of topics to research. Then the students can then research the topics adding the bookmarks to the Pearltree.
You can access Pearltrees with a Google, Facebook, or Twitter account, or you can create a Pearltrees account. Pearltrees has a browser tool (Pearler) that makes it easier to add pearls to your tree. Pearls are really easy to move around and copy.
Peartrees looks great and really helps students visualise relationships. It could work well for general research and for tasks where categorising is important.
Pros: Visually appealing; collaborative; categorising Cons: A bit of set-up is required; students require accounts; familiarisation required; no highlighting
Padlet
Padlet (formerly Wallwisher) may be the least powerful of these tools, but it makes up for that in it's ease of use and speed of set-up. Padlet is essentially an online post-it board where people can add virtual post-it notes.
It is brilliant for a quick brainstorm, but it's ability to post URLs (web links) to it means that it can also be used to research. When you add a URL to the wall, Padlet embeds the relevant info from that page and adds it to the post-it.
Padlet doesn't have any of the more powerful features, and the wall can get quite crowded, so it's really not suited for any serious research. Never-the-less, you can go from having nothing to have student collaboratively posting research on-line in less than an minute. Just go to padlet, click create wall, type a title, and give the students the URL for the page.
Padlet doesn't require you to have an account to create or use walls, although having an account makes sure you never loose your walls. Log in using your Google account, or create a Padlet account. The best thing is, students will not need an account, you just give them the URL.
Padlet is a gem for quick research, or to expand on that 'techable moment'. Pros: Realtime collaborative; quick; no accounts required Cons: Few features; gets crowded
Subject: Religion and Ethics Grade: 11 Tools: Diigo Focus Question: What are some examples of sacred stories?
The Lesson
The class is ready to prepare for their assessment. The students will be rewriting a sacred story into a modern day equivalent. The first step of that process is finding a story to rewrite, and that is the purpose of this lesson.
Previously we have used Diigo, so all the students have an account. If you haven't used Diigo, students can sign in using Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Yahoo accounts, or just create a stand alone Diigo account. Diigo also offers teacher accounts which assist in managing your class groups.
I created a Diigo group called Sacred Stories and provided the students with the URL. Once I approved their application the students then started book marking examples of sacred stories they found on the web.
Some of the sites bookmarked were a little off the mark. These sites were analysing sacred stories, or talking about the importance of sacred stories, rather than the stories themselves. To address this, I 'liked' all the stories that would be appropriate for the assignment.
Follow Up
The students now have to choose a story from all the 'liked' bookmarks to rewrite.
Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends. Inforgraphics can be especially useful for topics which have a great deal of data.
Below is a selection of three tools you and your students can use to make infographics.
Easel.ly
Easel.ly is very aptly named, as it is a simple way to create infographics. It is more focused on graphic design than it is on data analysis. It is the perfect tool for students to create the equivalent of an on-line poster. There is a wide range shapes, objects and themes, as well as the capacity to upload your own images.
Students will require and account, so you will need to allocate some time to set these up.
Using easel.y is equivalent to drawing on a piece of paper. It won't generate anything for you. If you want to put a graph in, then you will have to draw the graph yourself. You can produce quite impressive inforgraphics, but you have to do every bit yourself.
When you are finished you can share the link or embed the infographic in a website.
Easel.ly is a nice easy way to introduce infographics into your class and is especially useful if you don't have to do any number crunching.
Pros: Easy to use, sharing and embedding, templates
Cons: No graph creation, students need accounts
Venngage
Venngage is like the big brother of easlel.ly. The interface is a little more complex, but this site is really about crunching numbers. The emphasis on data is evident in their slogan "Data meets design".
Venngage offers the usual range of shapes, objects, backgrounds and you can upload images, or import from the web. There is limited pre-created themes, although the user can save their own designs as themes. There are a limited number of maps you can use (although, not if you're in Tasmania).
The big place that Venngage stands out is in it's presentation of data. It has two features to express data; pictographs and charts.
The pictographs allows you to easily click and drag the image you want repeated. Then you merely need to double click and choose the number of row, number of columns, and how many units are full.
The chart feature has a wide range of options, from the trusty bar and pie charts through to bullet and tree charts. There is a wide range of them, The best part about the charts is the ease of getting data into them. Upload an excel sheet, choose the worksheet and then drag and drop the data onto the chart.
This tool is powerful enough to provide a wide range of analysis on pretty much any topic. If you have data, you will be able to create an infographic to express it. Pros: Can represent any data, charts, pictographs Cons: Limited templates, students need accounts, slightly complex interface
Thinglink
Thinglink is not actually an infographic creation tool, but it's capacity to turn static infographics into interactive ones rates it a mention here.
Basically,Thinglink allows you to place markers on an image. The viewer then interacts with these markers by hovering their mouse over them. The markers can contain text, or can be web links. The web links options allows the image to become very media rich indeed.
Thinglink is very simple to use and produces an interactive image that you can link to, or embed. Students will have to sign-up to create images. Images can be set so they can be modified by anyone, which allows for collaboration, but you can restrict access.
Thinglink allows students to create media rich, interactive infographics, which could be a nice change to PowerPoint for multi-modal presentations. Pros: Simple, interactive, media rich, collaborative Cons: Can't restrict collaboration, students need accounts.
Android
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Note 3
Samsung Note 2
HTC One
HTC One X
HTC One Max
HTC One Mini
HTC Desire 601
Motorola Moto X
Motorola RAZR M
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
Sony Xperia Z1
Sony Xperia Z
LG G2
LG Optimus F5
Windows
Nokia Lumia 1020
Nokia Lumia 925
Nokia Lumia 625
For years I have worked in a computer room that our head of IT services designed with classroom management in mind. There are two distinct design elements he used.
Firstly, where I sit behind all the students and we all face the projector. This may seem a bit weird, but it gives me a very important advantage, I can see all of their screens from my desk. The second designed element is that the computer room has two separate electrical circuits. One of those circuits is for the monitors and is fitted to the kill switch, so at a press of a button, all the monitors go blank.
While these two designs may not be possible in a normal classroom, but they do highlight a very important classroom management concept - having control over the screen. So how can this be applied to the normal classroom?
Viewing the screen
Ok, so talking to the back of your students' heads, or having them turn around to face you, may not be a practice, you wish to use. It is not a big issue for me, as most of my courses are designed with minimal 'face time' from me.
In practice, viewing a student's screen isn't for when you are in front of the class. Viewing their screens is for when the students are engaged in their task. The time when a teacher traditionally moves around the class observing students' work. During this time it is really helpful to have students arranged so that you can easily see their screens. I even go as far as to state it explicitly "Please turn your laptop so I can see it.".
How you arrange this will be dependent upon your room, it may be easier to mover yourself rather than all the students.
Remove temptation
There are times when you are addressing the class and the students do not need to use the laptop. During these times make it easier for them to focus by removing temptation.
I remember my teachers saying "pens down", so why not use the digital equivalent? The most commonly used phrase is "Screens at 45 degrees". This means that students tilt their screens down enough that they can't see them, but not far enough to put the laptop to sleep. A colleague of mine has a different take, he tells the students to turn the laptops around to face him.
Conclusion
Remember, focusing on work is one of the skills that we have to foster in students. Both of these methods will assist you in preventing the students from "digitally wandering off", but, in the end, especially with younger grades, some students will need assistance to focus on their work.
The lesson started watching Beaker's Ballard on YouTube.
We then used AnswerGarden to garner students' experience about inappropriate behaviour on the web.
The concept of Netiquette was introduced by introduce by Will (he's a high school junior) via Youtube. This was expanded on by "The Core Rules of Netiquette" provided by Albion.
The class was then challenged to collaboratively summarise this into a "Netiquette 10 Commandments". Originally this was done using typewith.me, but now I would choose to create a Google Document.
Finally, the video "How to Follow Proper Netiquette Rules" showed the students how generalised 'commandments' can be distilled down to very specific rules. The students were then asked to create specific rules and post them to tricider.
Follow up
For homework students were asked to check over the rules that had been posted on tricider, and vote on them.
The Hemingway App is one of the easiest eLearning Tools to use. Go to www.hemingwayapp.com, delete the place-holder text, and paste in your own. The app will analyse and highlight your text.
