Collaboration in the Classroom with Quizlet - Start Your Game in 60 Seconds!

Want Your Students to Collaborate 

in a High-Energy, Fun Way?

Quizlet Live can create that electric atmosphere.

by Matt Miller at ditchthattextbook.com

1. It gets students the valuable repetitions they need to remember key content — the kind that will enable them to do bigger and deeper things later.
2. It’s easy on you as the teacher. You can start a game in a matter of seconds.
3. Plus, you can get unique games every time. A set as small as 20 flashcards can yield more than 125,000 12-card combinations needed for a Quizlet Live game.

Step 1: Pick a flashcard set

Step 2: Load up the game

Step 3: Students join the game

Get the details + tips & tricks from Matt HERE!

How To: Essentials of a Good Tutorial Video

by Guy Larcom on February 26, 2019

7 ESSENTIALS:

1. CLARITY

Key Question: Is the instruction clear, easy to follow, and to-the-point?

2. Flow

Key question: Do the ideas flow smoothly from one to the next?

3. Pace

Key question: Is the instruction delivered at a comfortable and appropriate pace?

4. Cognitive Load

Key question: Does the cognitive load seem appropriate for the audience?

5. Appeal

Key question: Does the content speak to a broad audience?

6. Tone

Key question: Does the content have a neutral, friendly and inviting tone?

7. Presentation

Key question: Does the final piece have quality audio, video, and sufficient polish?

View the full Article:

The 7 Essentials of a Good Tutorial Video

Free Online Video Creation Courses!

TechSmith Academy offers free online courses to assist you in the creation of videos. A few examples are: 

• Getting Through Your First Video Alive - Video Survival Course
• Basics: Setting Up to Shoot Video
• Basics: Syncing Audio and Video
• Basics: Recording Your Screen
• Basics: Writing and Using Scripts

Check out their videos HERE!

Google Docs & Grading: Instantly Add Comments with CheckMark

Brought to you by

TeachingForward:

Rapid Feedback in Google Docs with CheckMark

EdTech Team recently launched CheckMark, a Chrome extension that lets teachers instantly add frequently used comments from a built-in menu.

Check out how to use and install CheckMark here: 

https://teachingforward.net/rapid-feedback-in-google-docs-with-checkmark/

Kapwing: No Registration-No Installation-Free Online Video Editor!

Introducing Kapwing: The Video Editor for Classrooms

by

Julia Enthoven

In her post on EmergingEdTech, Julia  introduces Kapwing features, plus 7 reasons why Kapwing is great for schools. 

Check it out here: https://www.emergingedtech.com/2018/03/kapwing-video-editing-editor-for-classrooms-schools/

It's FREE! 

Chrome Extensions for Accessibility

Chrome Extensions for Accessibility

Education, Technology and Everything in Between 

presents a wonderful web page with 14 Chrome 

extensions to support students with learning challenges!

Categories:

Visual Difficulties

Hearing Difficulties

Physical Difficulties

Attention/Focusing Difficulties

They also include an animation on how to add a Chrome extension!

The term “Assistive Technologies” is defined by the American Assistive Technology Act of 1998 as, “Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.”

(Pinantoan, 2012).

There are many types and degrees of “disabilities”, and designers of Assistive Technology have been creating more and more tools as solutions for the myriad of ways individuals struggle. The PBS Parents website separates these devices into 8 categories: Access and Environmental Control, Aids to Daily Living, Assistive Listening, Augmentative/ Alternative Communication, Computer-Based Instruction, Mobility, Positioning, and Visual Aids.

Viral AI Game: Paperclips

A Viral AI game from Frank Lanz, Director of the NYU Game Center

http://gamecenter.nyu.edu/faculty/frank-lantz/

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Wired Magazine's Article
by Adam Rogers: 

The Way the World Ends: Not with a Bang but a Paperclip

Do you Dare Play the Game?

http://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/

Video Calls in the Classroom: You Can Do This!

Video Calls in the Classroom: You Can Do This!

by Matt Miller at Ditch That Textbook

For step-by-step details, click HERE

#mysteryskype 

Top 10 Google Expedition Tips!

Brought to you by: 
Monica I. Martinez
EdTechTeam Blog

1. Get Your Viewer
Purchase a cardboard online at:
> Google: goo.gl/hwYVSr
> Amazon: goo.gl/EqaTtC
> Web: goo.gl/yZPm7e

2. Download the Cardboard App
> iOS: goo.gl/HLZYq7
> Android: goo.gl/YQ5M7q
Go on an Urban Hike - Visit the Eiffel Tower, Venice
Canals, the Old City of Jerusalem, and underwater
at the Great Barrier Reef.

3. List of Expeditions
With more than 500 Expeditions to choose from,
students can journey far and wide, learning from
immersive new experiences. Find the right
expedition for your classroom in this list from
GoogleEDU and this map (via @MrCarey)
> Sheet: bit.ly/TeacherExpeditions
> Map: bit.ly/awesometableGE

4. Install Expeditions
The Expeditions app is available for Android and iOS
(iPhone and iPad) devices.
> iOS: goo.gl/5GwpJy
> Google Play: goo.gl/hxLVtX

5. Teacher Guide
Check out this PDF 411 on onboarding
Expeditions at your school or in your
classroom bit.ly/TeacherExpeditionsGuide

6. Streetview
Use the Google Street View Camera to
create your own 360 degree Photospheres.
> iOS: goo.gl/v0QL0t
> Android: goo.gl/qk2FgR

7. Make your Own Cardboard
Get the template and build your own
cardboard viewer. You’ll need the following:
> cardboard
> lenses
> magnets
> velcro
> rubber band
Template > vr.google.com/cardboard/get-cardboard

Click here for the infographic & MORE!

Jeopardy Game Templates for Google Slides

"Google Slides for Interactive Stories, Quizzes, and Games" webinar 
presented by Eric Curts

from: 

Control Alt Achieve

Check out the video and Eric's resources below:

Templates

You can open the Jeopardy Game Templates with the links below. Note: The templates are view only, so you will have to make your own copy to be able to edit them. Simply click “File” then “Make a copy”

 Jeopardy Game - 5-topic Template - Google Slides link
 Jeopardy Game - 6-topic Template - Google Slides link 

Example
As an example of a completed Jeopardy game created from these templates, below is a link to a Math Terms game.

 Sample Jeopardy Game - Math Terms - Google Slides link

Tutorials
If you would like to create your own interactive slideshows, detailed directions can be found below in my recorded webinar training and in my help guide and slideshow linked below.

 Slideshow - "Google Slides for Stories, Quizzes, and Games" - Google Slides link
 Help guide - "Creating Interactive Google Presentations"  - Google Document link
 Training video - "Google Slides for Stories, Quizzes, and Games" - YouTube link

Create Ordering-Sequencing Questions with Google Forms

A great tip on how to create randomized sequencing questions using Google Forms 

brought to you by: 

Control Alt Achieve

You'll find the step-by-step process at the link above

-or-

view the video!

Free Online Video Editors & Animation Tools

YouTube Editor

Renderforest

Stupeflix

Rocketium

Biteable

Moovly

Google Docs: Organize and Save Ideas by Color Code

Have an extra large Google document with lots of ideas to keep track of? 
Want to pick out specific concepts and turn them into individual documents? 

BetterCloud MONITOR shows you how!

BetterCloud MONITOR How-To

5 Tips & Tricks for the SMART Board

Brought to you by:

Adam Bellow

VR in the Classroom - Supplementary Resource

Supplementary Resource: Virtual Reality in the EFL Class

Raquel Gonzaga shares her experience as an educator: 

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/raquel-gonzaga/supplementary-resource-virtual-reality-efl-class

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Excerpt from her web page:

Cardboard + lenses = accessible VR
This is possible because of Google Cardboard Box. More info here http://goo.gl/ZbX5kM

I got fascinated by the possibilities shown :

• Field trip to Verona, Italy (integration with Literature)
• Field trip under the water (integration with Biology)
• Visit the Great Wall of China (integration with math to calculate how long it would take to walk the length of the wall)

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The inspiration to believe that inserting VR in her EFL classes was feasible came from watching this video: 

Google: VR in the Classroom

VR in the Classroom: 

Early lessons learned from Google Expeditions - Google I/O 2016

Virtual reality has the potential to change how we teach and how we learn. But how do we leverage VR's potential to actually transform learning? The Google Expeditions team will share what they've learned about making compelling VR apps for the classroom.

Google Classroom: Assign Work to Small Groups of Students

What Can You Do With It?

Brought to you by:
Matt Miller and ditchthattextbook.com

5 Options:

1. Group activities — Assign an activity to an individual group. Then, all the group members are all together in one place. You won’t have to check and double check who is in which group.

2. Providing extra practice — If some students are struggling and could use some extra work — or some suggested sites for practice — assign it just to those students.

3. Leveling activities — Differentiate an activity by creating two, three or four versions of it. A more basic version of the activity has less steps, less detail or less rigor. A more advanced version has more steps, detail or rigor. Add one or two versions in the middle and you have several levels to challenge a variety of students. Assign as needed.

4. Interest-based activities — Have some Harry Potter fans in class? Or a group that loves motocross or sports? If you can identify groups of students that have the same interest, how fun would it be to include those interests in the work they do in class?

5. Rotating activities — If you have stations or a set of activities students will do over a period of days or weeks, keep assignments simple by assigning just the one that group is working on. If students will rotate through four different activities, assign one group just activity #2 until they’re done with it. Then assign them the next one. The “reuse post” feature will make this quick and easy once you’ve assigned all of the activities once.

How-To:

Here’s what it looks like (described with words and images):



1. Open Google Classroom and go to a class. Click the “+” button in the bottom right corner and click, “Create assignment.



2. You’ll notice a drop-down menu that says “All students” next to the name of the class you’re assigning to. That’s where this feature comes in … click it!



3. If you want to assign to all students, just leave it as is. All students are selected by default. But if you want to select a smaller group of students to assign to, uncheck “All students”. Then select the students you want using the check boxes next to their names.



4. Complete your assignment. (Don’t forget to do the instructions part. When students are absent or return back to an assignment later, they’ll be lost without them!) Then click “Assign.” (You can also schedule it or save it as a draft with the drop-down triangle button next to “Assign”.)



5. Your assignment is assigned to that group! When you go to grade the assignment (click on the “Done” or “Not done” area), you’ll see that only the students you assigned it to are displayed.

(Note: Any students you did not assign this assignment to will not see this assignment in Google Classroom.) 

Sharing & Collaborating with Google Drive: A Guide

This guide is brought to you by Eric Curts, and features a video to walk you through the different stages of turning your classroom into a paperless environment through the features and functionalities of Google Drive and Google Docs. 

Here's a sample of Eric's Table of Contents:
Overview
How to name documents and folders
How to choose sharing options: Edit, Comment, and View
How to share a document with specific people
How to share a document as a link
How to use folders
How to create folders for your documents
How to put your documents in folders
How to share a folder
How to use folders as staff handout folders
How to use folders as student turn-in folders
How to use forms to turn in assignments
How to use comments in the grading process
How to use revision history
Use Voice Comments

Other resources

Access Eric's guide here!

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University of Hawai`i Google Drive Sharing Graphic:

by Suzy Mehlhorn

Copyright: What Teachers and Students Should Know!

From "Ditch that Textbook" featuring Kristina Peters from the Nebraska Department of Education 




Kristina Peters from the Nebraska Department of Education joins Ditch That Textbook to talk about copyright and how it applies to the classroom. Use video, audio, images or other media you didn't create? You might be using it legally and ethically ... but you might not. Hear Kristina's valuable information about licensing.
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Also includes uploading videos to YouTube and how Google scans and flags inappropriate content and other violations; what may happen to your account and the possible outcome of an appeal; showing a movie in your classroom; Creative Commons searching; Google search within Google Docs; Google search filtering images by license; example of an image attribution page.

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search.creativecommons.org
Foter
pixabay free images
Wikimedia Commons

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http://ditchthattextbook.com/2016/04/04/14-copyright-essentials-teachers-and-students-must-know/

[Mind] Mapping the Path to Plagiarism

Using mind maps is a creative and dynamic way to visually develop and manage projects, concepts and ideas - from organizing a website to office workflows and academic planning. In this example, I updated our website on plagiarism. 

                                                  

Mind Mapping Ideas

Presentation Organization
Writing Processes
Website Design
Timelines
BrainstormingStrategizing
Proposals
Theme-Based Activities
Classroom Projects
Office Workflow
Project Management
Assessment Planning
Syllabi Development
Learning Outcomes