Canva's Storyboard/Comic Templates

 

Canva now has storyboard or comic strip templates! Check them out!

HyperDoc Toolbox

 

Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook recently shared his HyperDoc Toolbox. If you're interested in HyperDocs, I recommend you check it out!

Blended Learning and Co-Seated Course Resources

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

Recently, at a virtual North Texas Instructional Technology Specialists meeting, these resources were shared to aide teachers with how to manage virtual learning and co-seated classes. Take a look and see if anything speaks to you!

• Four Engaging Structures That Work in Hybrid A/B Learning Classrooms

• PK-12 Blended Learning Strategies

• The Concurrent Classroom: Using Blended Learning Models to Teach Students In-person and Online Simultaneously

• Optimizing Concurrent Classrooms: Teaching Students In The Room And Online Simultaneously

• Instructional Models

Station Rotation in an Era of Social Distancing

Check out Catlin Tucker's "Station Rotation in an Era of Social Distancing" post. She has lots of great ideas with details about logistics that make her posts super helpful!

When to Use Tech

Whenever you consider using Technology in the classroom, it's a great idea to ask yourself a few questions. Using tech just for the sake of using tech isn't best practice. Please take a few minutes to read over this article from Ditch that Textbook: Should I use it? 10 Considerations.

Chromebook App Hub

Google for Education has put together this awesome resource for educators: Chromebook App Hub. Filter ideas by idea category, age range, subject, and learning goal and filter apps by app category, age range, and language. I recommend you bookmark the site and visit often! 

Amazon's Inspire

Did you all know that Amazon has its own collection of teacher lesson resources called Amazon Inspire? Check it out!

When to use Technology

Our DLC team recently ran across this Triple E framework rubric for when to use or not use technology in the classroom. It's a great resource! Technology isn't always a best fit, and when it's not, I'll tell you! 

The rubric evaluates Engagement in learning, Enhancement of learning goals, and Extending the learning goals. Take a look!

Technology Integration ≠ Projects

Technology Integration does NOT mean projects. Technology Integration includes anything using technology to engage students in their learning or show what they have learned. It can include:

• collaborative note taking (during lectures, research, etc)
• sketchnoting 
• collaborative creation of work
• using a back channel during class (TodaysMeet)
• online discussion forums
• review materials (GooseChase, digital breakouts, etc.)
• student created tutorials or videos
• researching and evaluating sources
• flipped lessons
• extension activities
• remediation options
• and much more

Common Sense's Top EdTech Eleven

Common Sense publishes a Top EdTech Eleven list and updates it often. Check it out to see what they say is the best of the best in the world of EdTech.
If you have any questions or want someone to investigate with you, please contact your DLC, Penney Matos!

5 Mistakes I Made with Educational Technology

This is an excellent article from Adam Schoenbart titled 5 Mistakes I Made with Educational Technology. 
If you ever have questions about when or what type of technology may be the best fit for your classroom, please contact Penney Matos!

Lesson Technology Integration vs. Blended Learning

At a training last week I came across this video that beautifully explains the difference in and importance of Lesson Technology Integration and Blended Learning.

https://youtu.be/KD8AUfGsCKg

If you would like to talk about how Technology Integration and/or Blended Learning in your class, please see Penney Matos!

Using Google Drive to Improve Student Writing

Carroll ISD recently posted a blog entry on Using Google Drive to Improve Student Writing. It includes several tips and suggestions in addition to a list of helpful Google Docs Add-ons.

Check it out!

PBS Learning Media

PBS Learning Media now offers over 100,000 digital resources in its library for educators!

Read this article for more information or access PBS LearningMedia directly.

Undergraduate Student Loan Calculator

Free Tech 4 Teachers recently posted about an online Undergraduate Student Loan Calculator created by the Hamilton Project. 

Check it out and share with your students!

Plot.ly: graphing in education

Plotly for Educators

Finally: a scientific graphing tool for students and teachers. Import data from experiments or enter it manually into an online spreadsheet. Make scatter plots, bar charts, lines-of-best fit and much more.

Check out our quick-start to make your first Plotly graph!

Types of charts:

Plotly’s Learn page

AppSmashing with Thinglink

This article has taken App Smashing to a new level. 

No one ever said you are limited to one app per project. In the example linked in this article, image products were created through a variety of apps then brought into Thinglink where interactive elements were added. These were then added to a Padlet page, an image made of that and brought in to Thinglink and each one linked to the picture. 

See Penney Matos if you're interested in exploring App Smashing!

10 Engaging Digital Education Sites for Any Social Studies Classroom

Check out this article on 10 Engaging Digital Education Sites for Any Social Studies Classroom.

Mind Mapping Comparison

Free Tech 4 Teachers recently compared 11 free online mind mapping tools. 

Check it out! (use Chrome)

Best Educational Websites 2014

Check out Larry Ferlazzo's Best Educational Websites of 2014 list. It's broken down by topic or subject.