Welcome to the last episode of Tech Tuesday for season four!
This episode is not only the last episode of the season; it’s also my 50th episode overall! Hard to imagine, but exciting nonetheless that there are 50 different episodes that you can look back on and find tips and strategies as you continue your teaching!
In this episode, I’m rounding up ideas and tools that teachers around the country are using with their students in this time of remote learning. Many schools have already finished up their school year and my district finishes this week, which means Summer professional development is nearly upon us! There have been so many great ideas shared by educators around the world and since many of us have no idea what the Fall may bring, so I want to share some of these ideas and provide resources for you to get a jump start on learning and developing before the Fall. Let’s jump into it!
FLIPGRID
Flipgrid is a site where teachers create classroom grids and pose topics to facilitate video discussions. Students respond to questions or show their learning via video and can respond to each other. This is a very basic description, because there is so much more you can do with it! One of the features announced last summer was their augmented reality or AR ability. This lets teachers or students record and then download a QR code that can be scanned with a mobile device and allows the video to “pop-out” in augmented reality, making it look like the video floating in midair. I used it with our Art I class this year when they created 3D paper structures and had a gallery opening in our library. Each student recorded themselves talking about their structure and their process and guests were able to view these videos during the opening.
Educator Debbie Holman used this feature in a different way. She recorded good-bye messages to all of her students, printed out the QR codes, and mailed them to her students! I thought it was a very sweet gesture, but it also inspired me to think about other ways you could use this. Students could record messages for distant family members or elderly in the community and depending on your students’ ages, with adult help, possibly send positive messages to retirement or assisted living communities, where most people are on lockdown. Or it could be used to send messages of hope and thanks to our essential workers.
To do this with students, login to Flipgrid and create a grid and topic. Add in the necessary instructions to students. Copy and paste the Flipgrid code into an email or to an assignment in your LMS. Once students have finished recording, you can now print the QR codes. Click back into the topic and click the link labeled “PRINT QR Codes”. A new window will come up with all of the codes and you can print from there. I have also previously copied the QR codes and pasted them into a Microsoft Word document and shrinked the size of the QR code to save paper, because they are pretty large and then printed from there.
BITMOJI CLASSROOM
The biggest trend that seemed to sweep through education this spring became known as “The Bitmoji Classroom”. This is where educators used Google Slides with their added Bitmoji avatars as a one stop shop for students to access remote learning resources and make their online space look and feel more like their classrooms. Teachers got very creative doing this and I think it was a great way to welcome students to a virtual space using the slide as a banner in your LMS or the welcome page of a slide deck.
If this is something you would like to learn to create for the Fall, I think simple and to the point is better and I say this because of our ESL and Special Education students. As educators, we know the busier and “louder” something is can turn out to be a distraction for some of our students. Be cautious with adding too many links and images that may overwhelm them.
Here’s an article from We Are Teachers showing a how-to tutorial and examples of Bitmoji classrooms and I really how Colbi who goes by Simply_Spanish on Instagram set up hers. It’s warm and inviting and in this example has the learning objectives for the lesson. In some of the other examples shared on her Instagram page, there is one clear message about that day’s lesson.
I also really like John Meehan’s representation that includes his Bitmoji along with his daily schedule; it’s simple and to the point and not overwhelming.
Here’s a great video to check out if you want to learn more about creating your own Bitmoji classroom:
WAKELET
Wakelet is a content curation platform where teachers and students can save links, social media posts, videos, images and much more into collections. I’ve personally used it as a way to save resources for myself, compile resources to share out for PD, and get transcripts from Twitter Chats, but I’ve seen some very creative teachers using it as a way to share lessons too. I’ve previously shared how Bonnie Nieves creates self-paced lessons for students, using text as headers to instruct students on the next steps, but I also learned so many new things last week during Wakelet’s Community week, which was full of virtual sessions by some amazing teachers. You should definitely check out Brandi Reams, who built sections into her page for e-learning, resources for reading and math, and other areas.
You can build sections by clicking your profile picture on the left and click the “Edit Profile” button. Then click “Add a new Section” and enter a title for your section and then click “Add Section”. To add collections to a section, scroll down and hover over a collection and click “Move” when it appears. Choose the section you want to move the collection to in the drop-down menu that appears.
Educator Erin Flanagan, who came highly recommended as a user to follow during the Community week shares Mystery Clues with her students. Each individual collection is one clue that students will view/interact with to solve a mystery and can be remixed to create interactive activities or digital breakouts.
One of Wakelet’s best features is that you can follow other users. In Wakelet, click “Search” on the toolbar at the top, then type the name of the user you’re looking for. Initially, this will give you the separate collections they have put together, so click “people” to find the user. Then click on the user and this will show you what could be considered their Wakelet homepage or their profile, showing all of their collections and where you can follow them. Back on your Wakelet homepage or profile, on the upper left side, you can view who you are following and who follows you. I can click on the people I am following to quickly see their profile.
Another great feature is the ability to copy or save a collection of resources; you can do this if another educator has publicly shared the collection. In Wakelet, when you create a collection you can keep the collection private, unlisted, or make it public to be viewable by anyone. You can do this in one of two ways. When editing the collection, click on the button in the upper right corner next to “done” and select the option you wish to you. You can also enable other users to make a copy of your collection, that would go to their collection and then adapt for their use. Your collection would not be tied to theirs; it’s just like making a copy of a Google Doc. You can toggle this on at the top of the page.
The other way to change the visibility is to select the collection from your Wakelet profile page, click the 3 dots at the top of the page and select “change visibility” and select the option you want to use.
Now I share this feature because there were some Wakelet collections shared by teachers that they use in their own classrooms to teach their students about racism and the Civil Rights Movement and I want to share them as well. Edward VanDeSample created this collection that walks students step-by-step through each resource and collaborative activity. You can save this collection and add it to another collection or use it as a resource for making your own. This one is not set up to make a copy and adapt. To find collections you have saved, go back to your profile page and click on “bookmarks” from the left side navigation.
However, this collection of anti-racism resources from Melissa Adkins is open to make a copy. In the collection, click on “copy”. A new window will open, allowing you to change the collection title, if needed and then copy to your collection.
You can check out the recorded sessions from Community Week here. If you would like to find out even more about Wakelet, they have beginner webinars every Tuesday at 11am and 3pm Eastern Time. Check for your time zone before registering and and read this previous blog post I wrote about Wakelet. I would also check out Wakelet’s YouTube Channel as another good resource.
JOURNAL REFLECTIONS
Another great idea comes from Dalton Tedder, who created a journal template using Google Slides. Each slide has a different aspect of a journal that allows students to pick and choose how their journal is designed and includes tools for audio and video reflections. I thought this was very insightful to allow students to show their learning in a variety of formats.
Most of the design on the slides have been inserted as a background of the slide, which makes it easier to not accidentally select the wrong item, but makes it impossible to move or delete individual items. Students could delete certain pages or move the physical slides into a different order or you could add additional slides with your own icons and graphics that aren’t part of the slide itself. You can use The Noun Project to find copyright free icons.
If you plan to use this, I would also recommend either turning this into a template or forcing students to make a copy before giving it as an assignment. When you gain access to the slide deck, you’ll have to make a copy of it for your use and then for individual student use. By making it a template or forcing a copy, you forgo a lot of stress and requests for access from students. To start, first share the document as usual. Copy the link and paste it in a new tab and highlight the end of the URL, starting at the word “edit”. Delete this. Now, you can either make a template or force a copy. For a template, add the words “template/preview”. This will take the slide deck or any Google Doc and make it a template. Anyone can then click on “Use template”. To force a copy, instead, add the words “copy”. Students won’t be able to access the document until they click the “copy” button. In both cases, the individual student becomes the owner of the document.
TECH NEWS
Let’s talk about some summer PD opportunities!
First up, Flipgrid Live is happening on June 29th, from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM CT. This is their annual education celebration, where they’ll be giving updates, have special guests and awards, and some surprises! This is usually where they announce new features that will be launching during the Summer and early Fall.
On July 21 and 22, VSTE, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, is holding a free virtual conference. They’re calling it a playground. An interactive, community-based event that will take advantage of no- and low-cost tools to learn, share and grow together. There will be live events including keynotes, discussions, maker workshops, and virtual environment explorations. If you would like to share resources or a presentation, you are encouraged to submit online resources and content to the VSTE Virtual Showcase.
Starting June 15, VSTE will review the submissions and invite submitters to develop presentations, either pre-recorded or live, that will be part of the two-day event. But the submissions will live on as part of the virtual conference. Your submissions do not mean you will have to present.
You can register now and make sure to watch the VSTE website and Twitter for more information.
Every year, Ditch That Textbook has an online virtual conference, called Ditch Summit. It’s usually in December around the holidays. For me, it’s an incredibly busy time and I often am only able to catch a couple of sessions before it comes to an end. However, they’ve opened it back up and it appears to be open through the summer…and according to a tweet I read last week, it looks like there might be a summer Ditch Summit, as well! So keep your eyes peeled! I would definitely check out all of these amazing educators who share tips and approaches for teaching! And while you’re there, check out the FREE course they have on Elearning: An Educator’s Guide to Distance, Remote, and Elearning. You’ll receive a certificate at the end of the course to use for PD points.
Next up, the ladies behind HyperDocs have completely redesigned their website and are now offering several free courses on learning what HyperDocs are and how you can build your own, as well as a couple of other courses on transforming learning and Multimedia Text Sets. Most of these courses are shorter than Virginia’s required amount of 5 hours for PD, so in order to use these for PD points, you will have to take several to total to 5 hours and lump them together in TeachPoint. Before taking these courses, check your state’s requirements for professional development.
Finally, Canvas, the LMS used in my school district, usually has a huge conference every summer called CanvasCon, but like everything else, plans changed. This year their conference is going virtual and will be FREE to anyone! It won’t be until October, but you can register now.
Canvas has also been creating on-demand videos to help teachers learn about how to Canvas more effectively. They’ve got over 40 different sessions to choose from such as “Engaging Students While Teaching Online” and “Best Practices for Designing Virtual Learning”. Great videos to watch when you have a few extra minutes!
SEE YA IN AUGUST
Even though this is our last episode for season four, I’ve been steadily working on what will come next season and have been getting scripts together for the first few episodes. BUT, I also want to hear your ideas and what you would like for me to cover next season. Please take a minute to fill out this Google Form telling me what you enjoyed from this current season and what you would like to see going forward.
See you in August for season 5!!
Ms Priester EDU 