Category: EDCI 336 (Page 1 of 3)

This is a category for the EdTech course. Please add this category in addition to the relevant edtech assignment category(ies).

Design Lab

This week in class we check out SD5 DESIGN LAB and boy was it AMAZING! The district does such a great job of cultivating resources to engage our students and give them opportunities I could have only DREAMED of when I was in school.

PROS

  • students engage with technology they may not otherwise have a chance to use
  • students collaborate to problem solve
  • practicum teachers are welcomed
  • design lab tries out technology to see how it can be incorporated in a classroom
  • great resources to help the teacher create and teach a lesson plan if they don’t have much experience with technology
  • student lead activity options
created on canva

CONS (What to be aware of before bring a class)

  • design lab books up early, be prepared to plan this months in advance to get a spot
  • students have varying level of technology expertise, how can you work to ensure every student is included?
  • funding needed to get students to the design lab (buses)

Something that stood out to me from the design lab was the tools for attaching cardboard together. I thought this could be a fun low tech project for younger grades to introduce them into technology.

Photo found on Unsplash by Jon Moore

I like the idea of using cardboard/ waste products to create something new and exciting. I think this would fit well into a lesson on RECYCLING.

I like how this project could be student lead. I think giving students plenty of CHOICE in learning is so important to their development.

I like how hands on the project is, this is great for keeping younger students fully engaged in an activity.

created on canva

Students would work in groups to create a house using any products they can find (great practice for students to be resourceful) and the given screws to hold challenging materials together. Students would be told to create the most sturdy house they can.

After creating the houses we would discuss what we think makes a building more or less sturdy. Create a list with the students hypothesis.

Students will then place their projects on the earth quake simulator to see how their building holds up.

After discuss the results. Ask the students again what makes a building sturdy.

Create larger groups and conduct another experiment with students using there new knowledge on how to make a building sturdy. See if the students new projects last longer on the earthquake simulator.

Exploring Ice Breakers in the Classroom Overview

Children get bored. As educator’s it is imperative to our students success that we find ways to keep children engaged and excited about learning.

Icebreakers are an excellent way to break up long lessons in a class and redirect students when they are starting to get side tracked. As a teacher how are you suppose to know when your students will need a Brain Break?

Found on Pexels by Brett Jordan

Purpose: This blog was a way to use class time to create a virtual resource binder so I can efficiently flip through my work and find the perfect ice breaker to fit my students needs.

Materials: Choosing more ice breaks that do not require any set up is how I managed to collect a video of instant classroom activities

Benefits: Students learn to regulate their learning to avoid getting overwhelmed. These activities are a great way to teach students to ask for breaks. Each Icebreaker also fits into different aspects of student learning so students can remain on task while still getting up and letting loose.

Ms. Johnson’s Virtual Resource Binder

Find the Activities below for an in depth how to teach: All linked on this blog

Table of Contents:

Would you Rather

Roll a Question

Find a Friend

Mimic Octopus

Popcorn

Yes Lets

Search and Sketch

Pass the Pumpkin

Pumpkin Workout

Alphabet Freeze

Name Aerobics

Knot Challenge

Guess that Object

Digital Portfolio’s- Week 10

A digital portfolio is digitalizing student Artifacts. This involves posting student work online which is a great way to share with families what learning is happening in your classroom in real time!

What artifacts might you want to share?

PHOTOS

VIDEOS

VOICE RECORDINGS

DRAWINGS

DOCUMENTS

School & District -Subscriptions | Seesaw
Photo from their website

Seesaw is a great online site to create a digital portfolio for your students! Seesaw is very accessible with a desktop version, a free app and the ability to access straight on a mobile device. I really enjoyed how EASY TO NAVIGATE seesaw is because that makes it realistic for students to be successful on this device! I noticed how the teacher has control to adjust the settings so they can set all posts to be approved before posting as you begin to teach students what is appropriate to post online!

********My loyal blog readers may be wondering why Seesaw sounds so familiar well it was a part of my Assignment 2 What makes a good blog project! Check out my walk through tutorial if you have not had a chance yet!

created on canva

One way to use this in the classroom?

The LESSON PLAN: Students will use a digital portfolio like Seesaw to create a family free inquiry for Science class! Students would pick an animal of their choice to get the project started and share a photo, video or document explaining which animal they chose. Parents would comment a question they have about the animal and that question would be the topic of next weeks post on the topic! Continue for 5 weeks with the parents asking questions and the students conducting research and sharing the new information online with their parents!

CAREFUL: some students may not have a family that is able to support this project so the teacher would need to step up and share in those students learning!

BENEFITS:

  • students learn to do research to answer questions
  • students learn to share their learning using a digital portfolio
  • parents can learn alongside their child
  • students learn to report information in a clear manner
  • will great make discussion points at home while introducing seesaw to the students as well as their parents
created on canva

What Makes a Good Classroom Blog/Website?

Check out our Google Slide Presentation or learn the information directly on this blog post!!!!

3

Easy set up

Add all your students and link them to a parent.

Teachers, students and parents each have their own platform to work from.

  • Sweet Avatars for students to create.
  • Teachers can add photos, assignments and messages
  • Students can add photos and assignments.

Screencastify exploration

  • EASY TO SET UP/CREATE
    • EASY TO EDIT
  • FREE 
  • EASY TO ACCESS – DON’T NEED A SEPARATE APP OR LOGIN – EASY ON PARENTS (PUBLIC)
  • CAN BE USED BY STUDENTS AS WELL AS PARENTS
  • LIMITED EDITING OPTIONS
  • GOOD TO KEEP STUDENTS AND GUARDIANS UP TO DATE

Screencastify exploration

  • Parent-teacher communication
  • FREE for everyone
  • Accessed on pc (website) or smartphone (app)

  • Relatively easy to create & update
  • Private, public, or company use- can add registration 
  • Fill and submit forms
  • Direct contact button

Site exploration

Screencastify exploration

  • SET UP AN ACCOUNT AS THE TEACHER, AN ACCOUNT FOR EVERY STUDENT AND INVITE FAMILIES TO SET UP AN ACCOUNT TO ALLOW FOR OPEN COMMUNICATION
  • TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT PROFESSIONALISM ONLINE, TEACH THE STUDENTS WHEN TO SHARE AND WHEN NOT TO 
  • CREATE FOLDERS FOR EASY ORGANIZATION OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND WORK

  • UPLOAD PERMISSION FORMS DIRECTLY TO THE PARENTS
  • CREATE ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CONVERSATIONS TO COMMUNICATE WITH PARENTS AND STUDENTS ABOUT UPCOMING EVENTS
  • TEACH STUDENTS TO USE TECHNOLOGY IN A SAFE PRIVATE MANNER

Screencastify exploration

What kind of things make a class website or blog “good”?

1. cost

Preferably FREE

2. accessibility

  • Is the website/blog easy for students/parents to navigate?
  • Can you view the website/blog from multiple devices?

3. privacy

  • Password protected?
  • Can anyone view the class blog/website?

References

Class Dojo

Jotform

Seesaw

Google Sites

EDCI Presentation’s Overview Day 2

photo found on unsplash by
Minh Pham

How can Virtual Reality Experiences be used in the classroom?

Types of Virtual Reality:

Headset on and see environment (Virtual Reality)

  • Virtual Reality: player puts on a headset and is fully immersed in the environment displayed by the headset
  • Augmented reality: player puts on a headset/glasses and you see the data from the glasses overlaid over their normal surroundings
  • Extended reality: merges the two realities. Unattainable for classroom use, currently for military accesses, pilots….

PlayStation Titanic VR:

Playstation is an example of a tethered VR as the processes are uploaded directly into the source!

What do you need? headset, led light remotes, camera on tv (track movements using light).

contains inside out tracking: cameras in headset tracking pieces of information (stand alone technology)

Learn history and physically BE A PART of the titanic

PROS: ENGAGING, new way to learn (novel), hands on, tech continues to advance and is only getting better!

CONS: outdated software (cost to update), set up time (can be complicated to set up the first time), limited educational software (lots of video games), motion sickness

Smart phone VR: Librarium, Hand Physics Lab, Nanome, Star Chart

What you need: contained devices (like a computer) with all the tech you will need!

These are great for free inquiry’s, creating a virtual study room, online notes and learning materials that may not be accessible in a classroom!

PROS: ENGAGING, hands on, novel, simple set up, portable, affordable (single cost to operate), open source activities (lots of options!), own browser in device, options for software support

CONS: you need to set up every time, gaming device bias, simplified graphics, you need to recharge device, students with physical disabilities may struggle with it (this is a project they are work on)

Overall VR is a way to get kids EXCITED for learning in a modern new way that is always growing and improving. It provides kids opportunities to explore tech and be a part of places they could only dream of seeing!

Photo found on unsplash by Wilkins Morales

How can Virtual Fieldtrips be used in a classroom?

  • take students on virtual tours from the comfort of the classroom
  • supplement students learning using (jamboard, quizlet)
  • engage students in opportunities they may not otherwise have
  • motivate the students to learn

Kindergarten Virtual Field Trip

virtual trip to the zoo!

activity ideas: create their own habitat, field trip passport, teacher can create their own personalized virtual tour

make it special with costumes, decorations, art, make it feel like a field trip not just a video!

Grade 8 Virtual Field Trip

Mount St Helens

activiy ideas: jam board check ins, allow students to record questions on jamboard and after doing the research as a class create a YOUTUBE video to answer the students questions, student made quizzes

PROS

  • engaging
  • no physical limitations
  • accessible to all students
  • can be fit to student interests
  • teaches student internet safety
  • helps visual learners

CONS

  • potential tech issues
  • how to get funding?
  • how to get students moving?

ethical note: be sure to demonstrate best practices and pay for the products you use, this is someone’s work!

Collaboration Ice Breakers

This first ice breaker is a FUN CHALLENGE to do with your students! The purpose of this activity is to have the students work together to untangle themselves!!!!

Adaptions:

  • challenge the students to complete this task without talking! This is a great way to practice nonverbal communication
  • have two smaller circle of students and see which group gets untangled first
  • have one student volunteer to be the leader. Only that student can talk, everyone else must use nonverbal ques and follow the direction of the student leader. After 30 seconds call switch and the student directly to the left of the leader becomes the new leader and only they can talk. This is a great way to allow students to practice taking charge and work on following directions from a fellow classmate! Give every student a chance to lead!!!!
Photo found on Pexel.com by Pixabay

Summery of directions:

  1. students start out in a circle
  2. students reach out their left hand across the circle and grab another students hands
  3. repeat with their right hands (do not let go)
  4. challenge the students to untangle themselves while remaining hand holding

GUESS THAT OBJECT!

Purpose:

Students will work together to describe an unknown object for their classmate to guess what it is!

Communicating Core Competencies
Photo pulled from the BC curriculum website

BC Curriculum- Core Competencies:

Communication: students will use descriptive language to engage with their

classmates

Communicating Core Competencies
Photo pulled from the BC curriculum website

Collaboration: students work collectively towards a common goal

Materials:

Fill a bag full of common items that your students will recognize. Create a list of words that are not allowed to be used for each object in the bag!

The Activity:

  • split the class into small groups 4-6 kids
  • give each group a bag filled with everyday classroom objects
  • have each group chose one student to be “it” and have them turn their chair around so they are facing away from the group
  • have another student from each group pick on object from the bag
  • instruct the students to describe the object word at a time without using any of the words on the no list
  • tally how many words it takes for the student to guess the object
  • SWITCH ROLES
Free Stop Sign Stock Photo
Photo on Pexels.com by Mwabonje

What to be Aware of:

Ensure students know it is not a competition within their group. They are working as a team! At the end of the activity ask each group to share how many words it took the ENTIRE group to guess every object in the bag! No singling kids out!

Randomize the groups so students are working with students they may not normally team up with! Consider drawing straws or rolling a dice so the kids know the groups are 100% random.

Pick objects you know the students will be comfortable describing.

Adaptions of the senses:

**** See: have the students act out objects instead of describing them

*** Touch: have the students blindfolded and guess by using their hands to feel the object. Consider weight and texture

** Smell/taste: Use food items and have the students blindly smell and taste the object to try to guess what it is. Try using a candy with many flavors and then the students can guess which flavor it is!

COMBINE THESE ACTIVITIES FOR ULTIMATE GUESS THAT OBJECT

The first student in the group pulls an object from the bag and verbally describes it to the second student in the team

Once the second student guesses the object they are passed the bag with just the teams object in it. The second person then assists the third person in the team on guessing what the object is while blindfolded. The students can not talk to each other so they need to touch the object to guess what it is!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is coloured-down-arrow.png

Once the third student guesses the object correctly they can take off the blindfold. They will then assist the last person in the team on guessing the object using taste! (Use a new piece of the food item that entire group has not been touching to reduce germs but make sure it is the same product everyone else guessed!)

You can have multiple groups in the classroom doing this relay activity and the first to have every station finished wins!

LITERACY ICE BREAKERS

Todays icebreakers will tie into the LA curriculum with a focus on descriptive language and teaching the alphabet!

Alphabet Freeze:

photo found on pexel.com by
Magda Ehlers
  1. Students will all walk around the room reciting the alphabet as a group until the teacher yells STOP. (quite yell please there are other classes learning beside you)
  2. All the students will gather in a circle repeating the letter we stopped on until everyone is in the circle.
  3. Once in a circle the students will answer the first question written on the board: What is your favorite animal but the answer must start with the letter we stopped on. Use describing words to achieve this, ie: little rabbits for L if the students favorite animal is a rabbit.
  4. Continue playing for the next 4 questions:
  • What is your favorite sport/activity?
  • What is your favorite colour?
  • What do you want to be when you grow up?
  • What is one thing that scares you?

NAME AEROBICS:

This next ice breaker is a fun activity for younger students who are just learning the alphabet but feel comfortable spelling their own name!!!

created on canva

This game is an excellent way to have students work on the alphabet while also learning the names of fellow classmates! The silly actions are a FUN way to help students REMEMBER and having the students repeat each letter is a great way to PRACTICE saying letters of the alphabit

ADAPTIONS:

  • instead of saying their names students could say a phrase answering a morning prompt like “what did you do this weekend?” for each SYLLABLE the students would create a new action. This is a fun way to practice breaking short sentences into syllables!!! GO SKI ING (this student would have 3 actions)
  • Instead of doing an action the students could say one descriptive word for each letter in their name! C (caring) A (attractive) S (silly) S (sassy) I (independent) D (daring) Y (yeller)

******* for the second adaption I would recommend limiting the students to 4 letters and have them just say the other letters in the name to save time

******* consider allowing the students 1 pass if they get stuck on a letter. Maybe ask them to tell you what they come up with by the end of the day!

These ice breakers could be an excellent way to dive into a literacy activity for the day by warming the students up and having some fun!

Credits:

I adapted these ice breakers to make them fit my needs but check out these awesome resources for plenty of other fun ice breakers!

34 Quick Icebreakers

Icebreaker Ideas

Prodigy As a Math Tool- Week 9

Today we explored prodigy as a classroom tool for teaching math. Prodigy is on online game intended to make learning fun! Students create characters in the game and explore the world by battling creatures and completing tasks. Prodigy can be used for Math or English but I have been playing to learn math so that will be the focus for today!

sample in game question

BATTLING in the game is done by answering math questions! If you get the answer correct your attack is successful and the opponent loses damage. If you get the answer wrong your attack misses. If a student is continuously getting questions wrong then the algorithm adjusts the questions to their knowledge level to ensure every student is learning!

my character attacking in the game.

ATTACKING in the game does damage to the opponent. The goal is for the opponent to lose all their health points before you to win. If you win you collect starts, new attacks and level up your characters!

completed quest screen in prodigy, take note of my characters there are so many to collect!

QUESTS can be completed in the game to earn more points and level up! As you continue to complete quests you also get chances to “catch” more creatures to add to your team. As you can see I already have Snowfluff and Rukus!

I found prodigy to be a lot of fun to play! By creating a STORYLINE to the game and QUESTS to complete I was eager to keep playing to grow more levels! This is a great MOTIVATION for students who may otherwise not engage in a math class! The game is super adaptable by the teacher to ensure students are sticking to the LEARNING OBJECTIVES. The teacher is able to set grade level and check the progress of the students. They can see who is playing, when they are playing and how they are doing within the game. The teacher can access statistics on which questions students tend to get wrong. For example if they notice students are getting 60% of the questions on division wrong the teacher will know to focus on division in the classroom!

PROS

  • engages students
  • adapts questions based off of student skill level
  • tracks student results for the teacher
  • addictive (I wanted to keep playing)
  • in game tools for drawing out the math problem- inclusive to lots of math strategies
  • fun
  • can continue learning at home

CONS

  • reward based learning, how will students react without getting points for correct answers (how to keep them motivated)
  • easy to cheat with access to a computer!
  • addictive (I wanted to keep playing instead of doing work)
  • requires access to technology for every student

Please check out my Screencastify for some live action game play!!!

scan the QR code to check out my screencastify

COMPUTATIONAL THINKING- Week 8

Computational thinking is a strategy for problem solving. There are four steps to computational thinking meant to provide order and intent to ones thinking in order to solve complex problems. Lets explore each of those steps:

STEP ONE DECOMPOSITION: Break down the problem into smaller, manageable pieces rather than attempting to look at the problem as a whole.

STEP TWO PATTERN RECOGNITION: Observe patterns within the problem. Are the pieces of the problem you broke up related (same cause)? This is an excellent time for learners to look to their previous knowledge to see how this could help them now. Has this happened before?

STEP 3 ABSTRACTION: Analyze the problem’s complexity. Pull out the significant details and only focus on the pertinent information. Ignore any details that do not directly affect your ability to solve the problem.

STEP 4 ALGORITHMIC THINKING: Create a set of rules required to solve the problem. Create a step by step plan to address the issues.

BC Curriculum:

Computational thinking can be brought into the classroom to help students with independence and group problem solving and it fits into the curriculum in a few different ways. I found there are ways to fit computational thinking into every core competency to varying degrees depending on the focus of your teachings.

Communicating Core Competencies
core competencies for the BC curriculum, the photo
was taken directly from their website

Teacher Talk (Vocabulary for Understanding):

Paired Programming: When students work together to code on a shared piece of technology rather than a 1:1 ratio of students and computers

Collaboration: students learn to work towards a common goal

Critical and reflective thinking: students learn to examine their own thinking

Personal awareness and responsibility: students learn to make constructive and ethical decisions

CORE COMPETENCY TEACHINGS WITH COMMPUTATIONAL THINKING:

COMMUNICATION: Computational thinking can be taught in small groups to solve complex problems the students are struggling with. A great example of this is paired programming which is an excellent way to teach collaboration under the bc curriculum.

THINKING: Computational thinking has thinking in the name so it must teach thinking right!?! Specifically I would categorize this under critical and reflective thinking. Students are learning how to analyze a problem, observe the problem, question when something goes wrong and learn from their mistakes!

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL: Computational thinking teaches students personal responsibility and independence. Giving students complex problems to solve and teaching them strategies to be successful rather than showing them how to fix it can be a frustrating act for the kids who get stuck. Allowing them to preserver by themselves fits into the BC curriculum under Personal Awareness and Responsibility as the students work on regulating emotions and managing their stress when they are thinking through complex problems. I always find when a student panics is when they lose sight of the goal. Computational thinking works on breaking a problem down into smaller pieces and completing things one step at a time which is important for stress management.

EDCI Presentation’s Overview Day 1

Over the last month our class has been working on creating projects to answer important questions on using technology as a classroom tool you can find my project under Educational Technology Presentation but here is what I learned from my classmates:

How can we create a more inclusive classmate using tech?

The goal is to provide resources to allow all students to be engaged and for the teacher to be able to reach all their students!

Virtual Classroom

zoom lectures

Teams

blackboard websites

google classroom

(online resources to provide the lesson to students either in real time or posted to access at any time)

Immersive reader

reading support system

there is a google chrome immersive reader extension to use for any website and device

Nearpod

collaborative boards that can be presented live or student paced (code protected)


Pros

  • students can work at their own pace
  • revisit lecture from class
  • available anytime anywhere
  • keep up on classwork if you miss a day
  • students can have a voice online if they feel less comfortable speaking out

  • translates for learning English
  • excellent for students with difficulty reading screens
  • you can colour coordinate parts of speech (verbs, nouns…)
  • user chooses the speed of reader and can pause on tricky words
  • offers independent choices for extra support

  • has a whiteboard to interact with lesson during a presentation
  • student results are emailed right to the teacher
  • lots of features to keep students engaged
  • student paced
  • has built in immersive reader
  • audio submission options if typing is a challenge
  • assign pods for virtual collaboration
  • you can add a coteacher

Cons

  • learning curve
  • inaccessible to some (must have tech at home)

  • students could rely on immersive reader but it may not always be available
  • cost to use
  • tech does not always work or is not always available

  • requires individual tech that is not always accessible
  • students may face temptation to use their device for games rather than learning
  • site does not support canav
  • internet could fail, have a backup plan
  • has American based materials

How does Technology supports diverse learners?

Technology can help to create an inclusive environment, adapt for student needs, engage students, allow for differential instruction.

Seeing AI– free app to describe people, text, objects to you and uploads the page directly to a digital file.

PROS: -speak to text – uses camera phone (accessible to most students

-describes a photo or face to students with visual impairments -reads text to help

students read – transfers scribe to create digital files

CONS: – digital voice can be hard to understand – minor description glitches (age,

race, sensitivity concerns)

Eye Gaze Tech: It uses eye movement tracking to control the computer and make selections by blink activation, a manual switch or dwell for selection (stare at screen for a set amount of seconds to make selection

PROS: – helps with mobility disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism…. – easy to learn

and use – allows students independence – used to diagnose visual disabilities

– has been used to diagnose autism as early as 6 months – helps students

communicate effectively – has games to practice using the technology –

students can create PowerPoints for school

CONS: – expensive – not accessible for everyone

Immersive reader: used to read text out loud, edit student work, draw focus to specific words for student learning.

PROS: -change colour to learn vocabulary (nouns, verbs) – highlight words

student needs help with – changes line spacing ( helps with visual disabilities)

– helpful to teachers, students with ADD, vision impairments, autism, dyslexia

– free with Microsoft account (most schools supply)

CONS: – can be loud and require headphones,

Breathe Think Do with Sesame Street: this is a game where you work through activities with a buddy monster

PROS: -reads to you – works on problem solving – helps with behavior issues – helps students monitor breathing – helps students be independent

CONS: – not very customizable would be cool to create a schedule for the student

in the game to work on routines

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