Reflection on ICT

  Throughout the course, there is one aspect of infusion of ICT in the classroom that became glaringly evident. This aspect is the overwhelming amount of tools that are out there that can be incorporated into the classroom. For instance, within my blog post I have identified Khan Academy, Desmos, Nat-Geo Education, Classcraft, Socrative Teacher, Prezi, and Nova from PBS. These examples are only a drop of water in an ocean. All of these tools (and many others) can certainly enhance any lesson but require an extra effort for a teacher to learn. This can create a confusion and frustrating experience that can cause an aversion to educational technology. With any confusion on the educator’s part easily trickles down to the students so it is imperative that we as educators masters our tech! The solution I have decided to use to remedy this feeling is to pick a “core set” of apps, websites, etc. to master and share. To showcase my core set the website I prefer to use (introduced within this course) is Symbaloo. Symbaloo allows for a quick, image based, at-a-glance organizer that can easily be shared and navigated with students in the classroom.

   The inclusion of tech in the classroom is my opinion inevitable! One of the ideas Mr.Nantais shared within the class was that using tech needs to become second nature just like using a remote control, graphic organizer in notes, a new pen, etc. It’s shouldn’t be an event to use something like a Prezi presentation in class, it is just a different way to organize the information. I feel like the only way for an educator to be able to use tech fluently, they must use it in their everyday life, not just for the classroom. The world has changed and using tech is normal now so we, as educators, have a social responsibility to stay on the forefront and embrace new apps, websites, devices, etc.

   One of the largest changes that I have been noticed is due to Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. With one idea, Mark Zuckerberg had completely changed how the majority of the world interacts socially, all with a piece of tech! His creation has made a vessel for the private lives of people and to be made public to the entire world! Lots of people do not think twice about posting some of their most private moments on Facebook but this is just the norm now. I have seen a social revolution through social media! Social media websites are how people get to you know someone now so it is so important to become a digitally literate citizen. It’s an obvious statement that students look up to teachers as an “all-knowing being” and digital citizenship needs to be one of those aspects of life that teachers need to know all about.

Nova from PBS

Nova Website

The Nova website is an incredible site for teachers of science and math.The website is an extensions of PBS. On the website there is a massive collection of videos, activities, labs, and so much more. The website is constantly being updated as well to include to most recent science behind world events. The entire website is student friendly as well. The language is manageable and the navigation is very easy to do.

Not only is the science behind world events/issues included but there is an entire section for educational purposes. The education section of the website has an entire breakdown of lessons and notes for teachers on how to include these lessons into their classrooms including necessary handouts, all for free! The lesson also indicates appropriate grade levels. 

The topics that NOVA covers is endless. I have spent quite a bit of time exploring this site and there is no high school science class, in my opinion, that wouldn't benefit from this site. 

Prezi

Prezi: Presentation Software

Prezi is an very impressive way to present information. In my opinion, it is power point taken to the next level. The "slides" can easily all be embedded into the same single image. The story plays out in a way where the focus is constantly being moved around and zoomed in on different parts of the image. These presentations are very attractive and engaging.

I would not use these presentations everyday but they could be used as an interesting way to bring your student back to a concept or introduce it new. Even better they could be used as a way for students to present an assessment piece of their own. Some of the old platforms are getting quite linear with they information flow and Prezi is a good way to bring in a modern twist. The creation of the the "prezis" takes some getting used to (as is with any new piece of tech) but is quite user friendly. I personally have created 2-3 or these presentations and honestly, it has been more fun than work. Organizing information can often be cumbersome but Prezi changes that for me.

If one commits to taking the plunge into a subscription, there are a lot of very cool add-ons. One of the major add-ons that are quite appealing is the use of charts and diagrams. The editor allows for an interactive display of these items!  There is also a extensive public library of prezis on many concepts that are free for use. Take a look at one the more impressive creations linked below!

Canal Presentation

Socrative Teacher

Socrative

The Socrative website allows teachers to easily engage and assess your class through quick formative assessments. The assessments can take the form of quizzes, polls, exit slips and space races. The set-up takes very little time and are very reliable so there is little technical downtime. The quizzes also allow for open-ended questions to be asked and students can vote on which response they think is best. This is definitely a quick way to determine where student understanding is before, during, or after any lesson, all while engaging students through technology.

All assessments can be accessed through the website from any device or using the free downloadable app. There are separate apps for teachers and students. the teacher app allows for real-time visual results for the assessments and the questions are automatically graded!!!! This a feature any educator can appreciate.

Pricing for Socrative is moderate. There is a free option, but this free option only allows for 1 public room though per session. This means that the room can be used for each classroom but can get agitation when sorting the results. Upgrading to the Pro edition will run $29.99 a year. The Pro edition allows for up to 10 rooms that can be set to be either private or public. there is a higher capacity for each room boosted from 50 students for the free edition to 150 students per room with the Pro upgrade.

I personally like the idea of allowing smart devices in the classroom for applications such as Socrative. This provides an opportunity for responsible device use instead of a strict ban. Most students have a strong connection to their devices and Socrative is another app that can allow perspective of their devices to be academic tools.

Classcraft

https://www.classcraft.com/

I have been looking into a way to "gamify" my future classroom and I feel like this is the program that I would like to use to do so (with school permission first of course). Classcraft mirrors the hugely popular MMO game Warcraft, but designed for the classroom. The website allows students to select and build a character of their interest with certain powers and abilities specific to each. The character can gain points, XP, and even gold pieces by accomplishing task within the classroom such as answering questions in class or handing in homework on time. As more XP is earned students level their character up. Levelling up unlocks new privileges like listening to ipods or bringing food to class. on the flipside, they can lose points for negative behaviours thus losing privileges. This system I believe would make classroom management a breeze. Parents can join in too!

Also, if you upgrade to the premium, there are extra options that sound incredibly useful like online discussion panels and ability to upload resources. By uploading resources, students can work together to complete "as" and "for" assessments in the form of a "Boss Battle" to gain huge rewards. In a world where most students are playing games daily that provide instantaneous reinforcement, Classcraft seems like a good way to bring that into the classroom. The premium upgrades I think are worth the modest 8$ a month fee (free to teachers if the school decides they want to subscribe).

The Classcraft support is very helpful and thorough. There are weekly training webinars, community forums, and online support too. 

I'd be very interested to hear of possible negative feedback on using this application or negative feedback on classroom gamification in general.

National Geographic Education

http://nationalgeographic.org/education/

Upon some investigation into a Science Methods assignment that required a Manitoba curriculum aligned resource, made by a third party outside of Manitoba that is freely distributed, I stumbled upon this beautiful page. For those of you who haven't seen the Nat-Geo Education resource, it is unbelievable. The page consists of a inspiring ideas, activities, guides, games, lessons, and even full units, all of which a free to download. The resources range in their audience from kindergarten all the way up through to grade 12 as well. The website is consistently being updated as well to stay relevant with current issues in the world.

The resource from this page my assignment partner and I decided on for our report revolves around a Deep Sea Adventure embarked upon by the great director James Cameron. The inspiring director had made the decision to dive to the deepest part of Marianas' Trench off the coast of Guam; a mission that compares in difficulty to landing on the Moon. The lesson involves investigating properties of submersible vessels that can withstand incredible pressures. The lessons are so well laid that even activation questions are outlined along with expected responses. There are also online videos and interactives to work with as well. This lesson, (among many others) seem like a great way to take students on a field trip that would not be possible without an unlimited budget. (and unlimited liability).

I will definitely be incorporating many of these lessons into my future classroom!

Desmos - Online Graphing Calculator

https://www.desmos.com/calculator

Desmos is an online graphing calculator that can easily be accessed for free. It's a great way to show students a visual representation of different functions and what changes when you change certain parameters. There is also a free app that is downloadable on multiple smartphone platforms. Students could even use this app instead of purchasing a TI-83. The major downfall for this approach in the classroom would be that students cannot save any graphs/files without paying for the full version.

An actual assessment application of this website could be the following. Students need to learn behaviours of graphs when parameters change within a certain function.(i.e. odd,even,end behaviour, maximums, zeros, etc.) Students could be given a assignment where they need to draw a picture using different functions. A list of certain types of functions could be mandatory for students to include and screen shot of image and functions could be used for submission. This assessment could be a great way to include technology in the classroom, differentiate instruction using an artistic approach, and teach students a useful way their phone can be used for learning.

Khan Academy

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics

Unbelievable website for so many disciplines! There is a wide range of topics that are covered by this website. The majority of which are a series of videos that are intuitively explained. This is a great resource to recommend to students for additional help at home. The best part that I found is the ability to create a classroom community. One can simply add their students via email, track there video progress, suggest and post certain topics and videos, and keep connected constantly with your students.

The website and topics are outlined in a clean, appealing, and organized way which allows students to easily find the topic of interest. In certain disciplines, following the video, there are practice problems as well. The author has chosen to "gamify" the entire site as well so students receive instant positive reinforcement for their efforts.

5 out of 5 on this one Sal!

Hello all! Please let me know what you think of these resources as well. This place has been designed for a teachers to gain insight from other teachers about the online resources out there.