Digital Classroom Tools Use

  1. Digital Devices, these are primarily Chromebooks and Windows laptops, or students personal smartphones.  The instructional strategies for this tool are nearly limitless.  In fact, I can’t think of an instructional that would exclude a digital device.  The Teachhub article states that, “They're popular with students because they're how kids want to learn”.  I have seen over and over again that student engagement goes up when the rolling cart with the technology is in the room.  Sure, some of the kids are playing games and surfing the web, but we adults do that also.  The Teachhub article later states, “Because they blend rigor with passion, they should be part of every educator's toolkit.”  
  2. Class website, this will be used as a source of instructional material, a link to my blog that serves as a model for students, a place to comment and interact with other classmates. This will also serve as a central location to point students to all classroom resources. The Teachhub article states that, “Class websites serve as a general resource collection for class information.”  Many years ago I created my own website on Weebly.com and will continue to edit and enhance that site.
  3. Digital Portfolios, this will serve as a location for students to create a positive digital footprint before they leave high school.  I have used digital portfolios in the past to demonstrate students’ best individual and group work, but most importantly their reflection (metacognition) on their work.  I want to have them build this in a location they can take with them though.
  4. Email, the obvious use is communication with teachers and other students.  This will be a tool to keep track of progress on group work and individual work.  It will allow for feedback and classification for students and teachers.  Pearson’s summary of their research describes the use of this tool as, “Developing digital citizenship/responsible use [and] Share information with students and parents”. 
  5. Flipped Classroom, the primary use is going to be for direct instruction that will be students-centered.  The recorded videos will allow students to learn at their own pace, in any order they choose, watching as many times as they need.  The mastery approach will encourage students to learn what they need to display their learning as they solve problems and answer complex questions.  The Pearson article explains that it helps to, “Teach & reinforce how to use specific tech skills”, and “Enhance/deepen/enrich learning experience”.
  6. Google Classroom, the primary use of this tool will be for communication and class management.  All classes, physical or virtual, need to have management tools and methods, an online class without management won't work.
  7. Google Apps, well, this will be used primarily for students to demonstrate their learning.  This will be either individual or group.  The tool allows students to begin work in one location and finish it in many others.  It also allows multiple students to work on the product at the same time or at different times, all the while, allowing me as the teacher to see who did which parts and give credit accordingly.  The Teachhub article explains the advantage of Google Apps is, “It can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection and sometimes without.”  They can even be accessed from the student smartphones if they have one.  This is a tool I could not run my classroom without, well, I could, but the results would be much less satisfactory.

Other technology Tools

The TED conference.  An inspiring and amazing collection of presentation from the TED conference.

ISTE - the International Society for Technology Education

Steve Hargadon's podcasts about education and technology

EdReaches podcasts on tech tools for education

The Infinite Thinking Machine - a web-based TV show on education and technology

All about how teachers may "flip" their classroom.

Teacher created materials podcast.

The Naked Scientists - professors from Cambridge who want to reduce science to the "bare" essentials.