The Power of YET! Meme – Google Educator Level 2

MEME INVITATION: Here’s an invitation. Use this template in Google Draw (or make your own, like these Growth Mindset Cats by Laura Gibbs) to make your own Power of…YET poster each day this week, reflecting on YOUR own fixed mindsets. Then share that on your blog or via twitter/Instagram (tag it #yetpower) and post it in the comments. Won’t that be fun?

I had a bit of fun reflecting on Google Educator Level 2 experience I had in December and came up with this Power of YET! to capture some of the topics I recall and pulled from the sample exam questions….It’s also fun to make one of these because you have to ask yourself, “What is that I don’t know about yet?” Yes, this is pretty low-level how-to, but it could be fun to also use this as a way to get folks thinking about what they don’t know how to do yet.

Dealing with how-to is pretty great because it’s low stress…for most folks. “I don’t know how to do something so how can I learn how?” The answer is easy for how-to questions; watch YouTube. For deeper issues (e.g. biases, mindsets that are based on emotions/feelings rather than facts and information), Power of YET becomes a lot more controversial. Making your own Power of YET that inventories those internal biases can be tough.

Of course, it’s tougher if someone else inventories your biases for you! Better to do your own.

Scenarios

1. YouTube Annotations:
   “Jennifer,” said Superintendent Charlie, “I’m so grateful that you recorded that staff development presentation at Central Office and put it on YouTube. I know that there are several key components in the video that folks may want to jump to rather than sit through the long introduction I gave.”
   “Would it help if we added a hyperlinked table of contents to the front of the video?” Jennifer asked with a smile.
   “Yes,” said Charlie. “Gotta run! Let me know when it’s there so I can mention it…maybe even at the district gathering!”
   “Yes, sir,” replied Jennifer. Then she sighed. “How am I going to add hyperlinks to a Youtube video? Where is a Google Educator Level 2 Certified person when you need one?”
2. Google Scholar:
   “Today, class,” said Ms. Rosen, “we’re going to be conducting research on immigration.”
   “Are we going to build a wall?” asked Nezio.
   “No, no,” she said without inflection. “Colonial immigration patterns played a key role in the short immigration video we’re watching later today. What is a tool that we’ve used recently to get information on immigration trends in colonial times?”
   “Google Scholar?” inquired Arminda.
   “Yes, exactly. Let’s take a moment and use Scholar to research laws during colonial times. Use your Big6 organizer.”
   
   
3. Google Tour Builder:
   Take a moment to read this blog entry on Google Research and Tour Builder. Explore Google Tour Builder and build a virtual tour of your own family’s migration patterns in the U.S. to the best of your knowledge. This can include cross-country moves and involve any scope of time (e.g. ancestors or just your life if you’ve moved a lot). Be sure to include a picture/video and text for each.
4. Achieve Inbox Zero:
   You are getting tons of email from work colleagues. That’s not so bad, but you’re losing track of the “important” emails from your supervisor and grade level team. Investigate how Google Labels, filters and/or Groups could be used to better manage your incoming email. Create a short how-to screencast demonstrating how you’ve sorted your inbox with labels for Dr. Jackson, Mr. Green, and a Google Group for your grade level.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

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The Power of YET! Meme

Do an internet image search on “growth mindset,” and you’ll stumble across an astonishing array of pictures that capture Carol Dweck’s ideas about growth mindset. In case you’re not familiar with it (yikes, how have you missed the deluge of growth mindset pictures, articles, books?), growth mindset is defined in this way:

“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment,” writes Dweck.

When I reflect on growth mindset in my own life, I realize that I definiely have some legacy “fixed mindsets” in place that I need to remove. May I share one of them with you?

Fixed Mindset: What I Know Now Trumps What I Could Learn in Future

Like many Google Certified Innovators and Trainers (ok, I am well-certified in Google tools, ok?), I remember doing what I’ve seen some Microsoft folks saying wherever they hang out. What’s ironic is that these are the same things I’ve heard some in the “true to Google” camp say, too.

Why would anyone want to use that? I don’t know about it and don’t want to learn how to use that. I’m satisfied with what I do know.

I’d probably go even further. So, when I started down my path using Microsoft (as a result of my job), I had to set aside my fixed mindset. Instead, I had to agree to become a learner, resetting my odometer to zero, relinquish my expertise as a Google expert (sheesh, how do you define experts anyway?) and embrace my ignorance.

Wow, what a tremendous experience that was. Now, I often do embrace my ignorance (it’s easier to learn new things, I’ve found) but learning new stuff can be hard. And, my journey with Microsoft tools was just the beginning. And, what fun it was to learn new stuff!!

After awhile, it didn’t matter what I was learning, only that I was learning. Does that make sense?

That’s why “The Power of Yet!” is so powerful. And, it inspired the image at the top of this blog entry. Imagine making your own “The Power of…Yet!” for yourself about your particular challenges and obstacles. Wouldn’t that be cool?

MEME Invitation

Here’s an invitation. Use this template in Google Draw (or make your own) to make your own Power of…YET poster each day this week, reflecting on YOUR own fixed mindsets. Then share that on your blog or via twitter and post it in the comments. Won’t that be fun?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Designing #Minecraft Spaces

“How might you shape your space to foster creativity and learning for yourself and others?” asks University Innovation Fellows (@uifellows) via this presentation slide. At its most effective, early childhood curriculum expands children’s knowledge of the world and vocabulary. Such curriculum makes investigating real topics and events meaningful for children. And it instills a desire for question making and the use of literacy skills to explore the world around them. Ultimately, it invites them to be co-creators.

Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. Source: Wikipedia

Knowing how to shape the spaces we inhabit remains a human imperative.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

Designing Learning Spaces

Physical Space Design

Early childhood educators can both shape the physical and virtual spaces students work in. With Minecraft: Education Edition, they can invite children to shape the virtual spaces in ways that the physical space cannot. Designing learning spaces converts impersonal spaces into learning-friendly ones and moves far beyond throwing a carpet down in the corner reading center.

As we re-imagine physical spaces to reflect current educational research, several basics must be kept in mind. (Source: Tips for Creating Wow-Worthy Learning Spaces)

• Allow students to easily transition to functional locations
• Create spaces that nurture a sense of belonging
• Foster interactive spaces that allow students to work in small groups
• Highlight displays and materials (e.g. books)
• Tidy storage of materials when not in use
• Develop an ambience that addresses air quality, temperature, lighting, sound absorption, and effective wall space usage

How can we coach students and help them create virtual spaces that are learner friendly?

Virtual Space Design

Whether in Second Life or Minecraft: Education Edition, as students become architects, how will physical space design principles transfer into the virtual world? One approach involves having students simply copy the physical space design. Minecraft: Education Edition explores re-designing classroom learning spaces. Who hasn’t looked at the flat world in Minecraft: Education Edition and felt a sense of awe at the creative possibilities? How do we help students go out and create a world?

From Classroom Space to Virtual World Design

Minecraft boasts unlimited space. The largest Minecraft map, if translated into a real world scale, would be equivalent to 9.3 million times larger than the surface area of the Earth (Source: The How-To Geek Guide to Minecraft). While students can’t necessarily be expected to fill the space, we should be asking ourselves “How can we design a worldwide virtual space, and what would a network of Minecraft worlds look like?” It’s not hard to imagine Minecraft:Education Edition expanding to include the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, and more. Anyone who has experienced The World of Humanities has gotten a taste of the immensity of Minecraft space:

Pre-Populating Your World

If you are balking at how to get started with designing in Minecraft: Education Edition, you may want to take advantage of seeds.

Every time you create a new world in minecraft, it will be assigned a random unique value, known as a seed. This seed is kind of like a barcode for Minecraft saves, and allows Minecraft players to share the cool worlds that they have found with other people. However, any changes made to the world made by the player will not show in a newly created seed.
Source: What are Minecraft seeds?

For example, to obtain the village shown below, I located a Minecraft seed that works on the Pocket Edition of Minecraft (and also with the Minecraft: Education Edition).

And here’s what pasting the seed into the Create World window looks like:
Benjamin Kelly (@bbtnb) provides some examples of seeds usable in Minecraft: Education Edition. Find them at the links below:

• Seeds of Success 1-12
• Seeds of Success Pack 2

Conclusion

“Less is more,” some say. Ensuring students learn how to design virtual spaces may be one of the next big challenges they face online. Begin with the end in mind and consider the tips referred to in this blog entry.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Forms Smackdown: Google & Microsoft

Collecting data via online forms has never been easier. New web-based form tools have revolutionized how we gather and analyze data, making arcane database-backed web tools obsolete.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

Even the next generation of database-backed web tools (e.g. Airtable, Obvibase, more solutions) find themselves catering to power users, rather than teachers and students. These descendants of venerable desktop database tools (e.g. Filemaker Pro, Microsoft Access, Alpha IV, Paradox) require some knowledge of databases and how they work. Google Forms and Microsoft Forms drop database complexity and make it easier for K-12 and adult learners to focus on the task rather than the method.

Practical Uses of Forms in K-12 Schools

The uses of forms to support teaching, learning and leading are legion. While you can see 81 Interesting Ways to Use Forms in the Classroom, here are a few of my favorite uses:

• Gather data about a particular phenomena or event and then use the data for analysis by staff and/or students.
• Conduct climate surveys to get insights into staff perspectives about the work place.
• Enable participants to craft self-assessments for appraisal or growth purposes.
• Get insights from staff/students/community into home technology and/or social media use.
• Employ forms for formative assessment activities, such as exit tickets.
• Set up a help desk system to track requests for support.

You can find even more uses online in these TCEA TechNotes articles on the use of forms. Remember, you can easily adapt the uses of forms across the tools available. Find the one that works best in your environment (e.g. Google or Office 365).

Are you a Texas educator using Office 365 in your District? Join the free, open to members and non-members TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Facebook group!

Feature Comparison

Both Microsoft and Google Forms have a wealth of features. Let’s explore some of those features, keeping in mind that they are rapidly changing.

Feature	Microsoft Forms	Google Forms
Web link	View Microsoft Forms	View Google Forms
Account required	Free Office 365 account or School Office 365 account	Personal Google account^ or Google Suites for Education account
Multiple question types	Includes: Choice (multiple choice and checkboxes) Quiz Text (short and long answer) Rating (linear scale and star choice up to 10) Date	Includes: Choice (multiple choice and checkboxes) Multiple choice grid Quiz Text (short and long answer) Rating (linear scale and star choice up to 10) Date Time File upload^
Embed media such as videos/images	Images YouTube	Images YouTube
Add subtitle description	Yes	Yes^
Option to shuffle responses	Yes	Yes for any questions containing multiple responses^
Add question to quiz computation	Yes, add any question to a quiz	Yes, create a self-grading quiz
Add other option to available responses	Yes	Yes
Organize form elements in sections	No	Yes
Adjust theme to reflect color of choice or available background image	Yes	Yes, and includes option to insert one’s own image
Preview form using built-in desktop or mobile	Yes	No, but features responsive web design
Re-order questions at any time	Yes, with up/down arrows	Yes, drag-and-drop
Copy/duplicate question	Yes	Yes
Delete or trash question	Yes	Yes
Organize question into multiple pages	No	Yes, insert page breaks after questions
Branching responses	Yes, dependent upon response chosen	Yes, with the ability to send to a different page.
Share form online	Yes, includes the following: Link provided for copying Embed into OneNote Notebook Page Email link QR code download Web page embedding	Yes, includes the following: Link provided for copying Share form link via email Web page embedding Social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) link sharing
Tracking form completion	Yes, tracking is possible if user is required to login to access the form	Yes, tracking is possible if user is required to login to access the form
Export results as a spreadsheet	Yes, results can be exported to Excel sheet (and other formats from there) and saved for further analysis or placed online	Yes, results can be exported in various formats
Form data at rest can be interacted with (Google Sheets tab is similar to an Excel Workbook sheet)	No, form data can be printed or deleted but not create a live workbook sheet that can be used, interacted with on another sheet	Yes, form data on one Google Sheets tab can be linked and interacted with another tab
Set start and end dates at specific times for when the form is open or closed for access	Yes, by date and time	No, form must be manually shut down to stop receiving responses. FormLimiter add-on can be enabled, however^.
When form is NOT accepting responses, create a custom message as to why	Yes	Yes^
Handling of individual or summary responses	Yes, options to form creator include viewing, deleting, printing individual and/or summary responses. In summary view, responses are aggregated and appear with graphs when appropriate.	Yes, options include viewing of individual and summary responses. Summary view includes aggregate results with graphs. Removing individual responses may require accessing the Google Sheet where Form responses are archived.
View average completion time for the form	Yes	No

^Special thanks to Eric Curts (@ericcurts; Ctrl-Alt-Achieve) for his feedback and corrections indicated with this symbol.

Update 01/26/2017: Microsoft Forms Enhancements

Microsoft Forms is in the process of rolling out enhancements, as reported by Brandon Cornwell (@CornwellEdTech; Tacoma, WA schools), that include the following NEW features not included in the chart above:

1. Print summaries of MS Forms charts are now possible.
2. Individual quizzes featuring student responses, scores and feedback are printable by the teacher.
3. Extra credit points can now be alloted.
4. Teachers can post scores, enabling students to to view their quiz score and obtain feedback.
5. Students can be provided feedback regarding their form responses.
6. Individual items can now be scored.
7. Specific value formats (e.g. number) can now feature data entry restrictions.
8. Math symbols and equation creator are available in quiz mode.
9. Form creators are prompted as to whether Form or Quiz is planned.

Reflections

Microsoft Forms features have expanded (e.g. a recent addition is collaborative form editing, a feature Google Forms also enjoys) since a preview launch in the summer of 2016. In important ways, it has achieved parity with Google Forms. In other ways, it may have outpaced Google Forms. For educators in Office 365 districts, Microsoft Forms represents a fantastic tool. Given the prompt development of both products, the feature gap will not endure long!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Collecting #ELL Anecdotal Records with #OneNoteEDU #msftedu

Most language learning assessment tools are rooted in paper and pencil. As Surface tablets, iPads, and Chromebooks find their way into teachers’ hands, new technologies can move us one step closer to multimedia assessment techniques. For example, in the area of assessment, the use of Microsoft OneNote can be helpful for recording observational notes. In this article, let’s consider how OneNote can enhance a type of assessment known as anecdotal records.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

Towards Authentic Assessment

In the Language Learning classroom, Microsoft OneNote can be used to support various types of assessment, such as anecdotal records. As discussed in 50 Strategies to Teach English Language Learners, using OneNote can greatly enhance the assessment process, through the following steps:

1. Decide on a system for collecting assessment.
2. Choose what to document/schedule.
3. Conference with students to set growing goals.
4. Use records for planning hands-on, cooperative learning.

A campus team, such as a department or grade level group, can take advantage of OneNote to facilitate observational notes and collection of student work. Growing goals can be set in collaboration with students, and the digital version can be updated.

Anecdotal Records

Anecdotal records are a form of authentic assessment. These observational notes allow the teacher to record authentic experiences, unintended outcomes of literacy development, levels of engagement, curiosity, motivational factors, and more. For teachers, these records facilitate assessment conversations between educators and others.

Anecdotal Records Assessment (ARA) with OneNote

In his article, Focused Anecdotal Records Assessment: A Tool for Standards-Based, Authentic Assessment, Paul Boyd-Batstone outlines several ways ARA can be used. Let’s review some of his suggestions for OneNote usage:

• Observing children in instructional settings: In this suggestion, Paul points out that students may be observed in small groups of 2-4. One of the concerns is that the teacher may forget the observations. He suggests observing different students throughout the week to build an observational record. Furthermore, using the Office Lens app, the teacher can capture student work, photos, and images and place them directly in the anecdotal record notebook.
  OneNote Connection: Teachers can create a page in OneNote for each student, adding video/audio recordings of the student, while quickly switch back-and-forth to make notes about specific students.
• Maintaining a standards-based focus: Maintaining a focus on a particular standard or set of standards enables the teacher to better keep track of what he/she is observing. Paul cites specific verbs that the teacher can use. For example, in writing, verbs would include: write, print legibly, summarize, describe, and others.
  OneNote Connection: Teachers can keep a list of standards they copy-and-paste into OneNote as needed. These become checkboxes participants could use to quickly check off standards observed.
• Making and managing of anecdotal records: Paul suggests that a single-page form can facilitate managing records (see example in OneNote).
  OneNote Connection: Create an anecdotal record form as a OneNote page, then set it as a page template that you can insert when taking notes. Here’s a blank form, as well as a sample that you can review (get the PDF version of both). As you can see, having the form in digital format makes it easy to include audio/video annotations as well as traditional text.

Conclusion

Assessment in the language learning classroom can be aided through the real-time recording of student work towards academic outcomes. OneNote facilitates this process for teachers, enabling them to record their own observations in digital format and quickly embed media (e.g. audio, video, images) that enhance those recorded notes.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 #OneDrive Tips You May Have Missed

Looking for tips that will improve your productivity? Microsoft OneDrive offers incredible benefits, so why not take advantage of it? It’s an app that I use every day, both on my Windows computer and my mobile phone. Did you know you that you can scan documents, record video, and backup your images straight to this amazing (and free) resource? Or did you know that you can access your OneDrive files without having an Internet connection? Learn about these tips and more below.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

Tip #1 – Engage in Conversations about Documents

Want to discuss OneDrive documents with others while you both review them? OneDrive and Skype are integrated to allow communication. With a few clicks, you and another person can Skype about a particular OneDrive document. This is a tremendous tool for having staff and students discuss and collaborate on files.

Tip #2 – Create and Share Documents with Others

Create Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Excel Survey, and OneNote notebooks using OneDrive on the Web. This is the quick way to create documents that you can share with others. You can also organize your documents and move and copy them from one folder to another. The app also makes it easy to share documents with others via a variety of options, as shown in the included image.

You are also able to embed content in a blog or web page. And, aside from saving files with others, you can also make it easy to get files off your own computer using the Fetch feature.

If you have the OneDrive desktop app for Windows installed on a PC, you can use the Fetch files feature to access all your files on that PC from another computer by going to the OneDrive website. You can even access network locations if they’re included in the PC’s libraries or mapped as drives.

When you browse a PC’s files remotely, you can download copies of them to work on. You can also stream video and view photos in a slide show. To access files on your PC remotely, make sure the computer you want to access is turned on and connected to the Internet. OneDrive also needs to be running on that PC, and the Fetch files setting must be selected. (Find out more).

Tip #3 – Create Files Using the Mobile App

With the mobile app on your phone or tablet, you can manage the web version of OneDrive, take photos, record video that bypasses your device’s photo gallery (a.k.a. camera roll), and create Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and Powerpoint presentations. Photos and videos are created in OneDrive and saved there. Office files are created and accessible via your device’s Office apps, as well as Office Online (e.g. Word Online).

Tip #4 – Scan Business Cards, Documents, and Whiteboard Using the Mobile App

Digitizing student work, important paperwork, photos, and more represent real tasks. The Scan component allows you to capture business cards, documents, and whiteboard work. Scan your paper notes, which are then turned into a PDF and sent to your cloud storage. Once notes are saved to cloud storage, you have the ability to share those with others. You can also use the OneDrive app to print, delete, rename, or open the file in another app.

Tip #5 – Use It as Your Digital Hub

OneDrive can work as your digital hub for documents, but it also notifies you when others share documents with you. You can enable notifications using the mobile app. But wait, there’s more! Did you know you can set up MS Office 2016 on your computer to save directly to OneDrive? Of course, you are also able to save files offline. Want to save space on your Surface Pro tablet or computer?

Map your OneDrive as a network drive with these instructions

In this video by Sean Ong, see how to set OneDrive to show all the files on your Surface or PC without taking up any storage space.

Here is a summary of the instructions shown in the video:

1. Log in by going to www.onedrive.com
2. Go into a folder in your OneDrive (any folder)
3. In the URL bar (navigation bar), copy the text that is between the “=” and the “%”
4. Go to “This PC” and click on “Map Network Drive” option
5. Type in “https://d.docs.live.net/[your copied text]/
6. Click finish, enter your credentials, and voila! You’re done.

More Tips

“I’ve taken so many pictures and videos, but I can’t get them off my iOS device!” Many fall into this trap. Caught up in the excitement of capturing and creating content, they fill the limited storage of their iPhone or iPad. Data is lost as teachers reset the device to clear content. Let’s take a look at an option you may not have considered, Microsoft OneDrive.

To the Rescue

Teachers attending a TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) event asked,”How do we use Office 365 accounts to backup photos and videos?” Another question that follows is “How do we share photos taken at school events with a wider audience?” The answer is Microsoft OneDrive, available for personal (5 gigs of storage) and work (1 terabyte up to 15 terabytes for school accounts).

The hub of Microsoft’s mobile apps, OneDrive makes interacting with various Microsoft apps possible. The iOS version offers an elegant interface (sans complex options) that you can use in the following ways:

• Access and open OneNote Notebooks
• Automatically upload camera photos, which feature camera information like camera used, shutter speed, aperture.
• Create photo albums to facilitate sharing
• Scan and digitize paper documents, whiteboards, and business cards

OneDrive now features Scan, a way to digitize paper documents and save them direct to OneDrive!

Miscellaneous features such as monitoring your storage space, the ability to modify settings, accessing offline files, and setting up multiple Microsoft Office 365 accounts are also included.

Once activated, OneDrive will upload pictures and videos from your device to your account. On your mobile, as well as online,  you also can organize items into albums for sharing, allowing viewing and/or editing. The Album image thumbnail rotates to give you a preview of the contents.

Save Photo or Record Video to the Cloud

OneDrive makes it easy to take a photo or create a video that can be saved directly to cloud storage. This eliminates the hassle of creating a video, then figuring out how to back it up. Instead, your photo or video is saved directly to your OneDrive account. See how you can do this with this guide.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the video recorded straight to OneDrive (bypassing the iOS Camera Roll) and appears with a time/date stamp. Sharing options for this Microsoft product (view/edit with a link or not) for Business/Education reflect your school district administrator’s preferences. OneDrive personal accounts provide individuals with more flexibility.

Interact with Photos Online

If you back up your camera roll to a personal OneDrive account, the photos will be available to you at OneDrive.live.com. You will see the “Camera Roll” folder appear inside your Pictures folder. To see Albums of Photos, and to access a specific Photos menu, be sure to click on the left sidebar, as shown below.

Share Albums and Photos

You can access photo albums and, as shown below, modify the sharing options:

One neat feature that OneDrive-based photos have is the auto-tagging option. OneDrive automatically tags photos, as seen below, with one-word tags:

Conclusion

Offering a multi-function feature set, OneDrive provides you with backup and creation options. You can backup photos or videos you have saved to the Camera Roll and use OneDrive to capture photos/videos direct to the cloud. Finally, you can use the iOS Send To menu to save to OneDrive. Give it a try and avoid the hassle of other, less effective methods.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 Solutions for Filling Out Forms on iOS Devices

“My admins are looking for a way to do teacher evals,” wrote a colleague, “using self-created forms that have drop-down boxes, not just text. Any suggestions?” This question got me thinking about all of the different ways to do forms. Let’s do a quick review of available solutions for filling out forms on any mobile device.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

Solution #1 – Forms Connect

This solution, available in iPhone and iPad app versions, as well as a pro version, defines itself in this way:

The FormConnect and FormConnect Pro apps allow you to create various types of forms including patient intake, customer contact, onsite inspection reports, invoices, expense reports, proposals, purchase orders, surveys, and more. The data collection app will set you back $14.99, offering an impressive list of features.

Solution #2 – iFormBuilder

Zerion Software’s iFormBuilder boasts an impressive list of features, including data encryption and secure data storage on the device with an internet connection. Some key features include “27 element types, powerful smart logic,  and smart table search.” Although a robust solution, cost may become a factor given that pricing starts at $5K+.

Solution #3 – GoFormZ

GoFormZ offers the ability to scan existing printed paper forms via the web, then convert them into a mobile-friendly form. The form will work on all mobile devices and via the web.

You can use the form editor to create drop-down lists, automate calculations, embed maps and photos, and add data sources for list items. Setting up an account is fairly quick.

Solution #4 – WuFoo for Education

Branding itself as a “choose your own adventure story” for form development, Wufoo automatically builds the database, backend, and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast, and fun. Because they host everything, all you need is a browser, an internet connection, and a few minutes to build a form and start using it right away. It comes with 400 + templates.

Solution #5 – Microsoft Forms and/or Google Forms

Forms creation solutions from Microsoft and Google make it easy to get started.  While neither offers an exclusive iOS app (yet?), accessing these forms are a cinch via the iOS Safari browser. Whatever tool you decide upon, both offer a wealth of features that make form creation and data aggregation easier (read Forms Smackdown blog entry for more details).

Also, Google Forms has a series of templates (if you need inspiration from the old Google Forms templates, be sure to investigate those before “early 2017” when they will go away) to get you started. I have no doubt Microsoft Forms will eventually feature a template gallery, too!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

What’s Your District’s Privacy Process?

“What approaches do you have in place to safeguard student data and privacy?” From student assessment data to personally identifiable information to counting how many times students visit the restroom, administrators are working to put tracking systems in place. 

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

These systems (such as Google Sheets/Form where students submit data about themselves without parental knowledge) make it easier for schools to record and track information on students, but they may also put sensitive data at risk. What is your organization’s process for safeguarding student privacy?

What’s Your District’s Process?

“There’s no right or wrong answer,” says Bill Fitzgerald of Common Sense Media, “except to not have a process to evaluate how data will be maintained over time.” Whatever the original positive intent, each campus and/or district should evaluate how it intends to use and share collected student data BEFORE any program to gather that data is implemented. The process may include something as simple as the following:

1. Prepare the program for a pilot implementation.
2. Invite stakeholders, including students, parents, and educators, to meet and discuss the proposed program. Some points to ponder:

• What are the positive and negative aspects of the program?
• Who will access the digital data and for what purpose?

3. What does the Committee think about objections by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other organizations that make these assertions (Source)?

• While there is an expectation of supervision and guidance in schools, monitoring the detailed behaviors of individuals can be demeaning.
• Tracking and monitoring young people in their development may condition them to accept constant monitoring and tracking of their whereabouts and behaviors.  (Source: Chip Free Schools as cited by Slate)

Conclusion

Before you purchase and implement a system that tracks students’ movements or data, give serious thought to the process steps you may have overlooked. Doing so can save time and trouble later, resulting in a safer environment.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Engaging Learners with MS Forms

Dump those old paper rubrics and flip the learning! Empower yourself and your students to use Microsoft Forms for the quick evaluation of academic work. This makes grading easy and simplifies the process for students. In fact, it can create a culture of collaboration and self-assessment. Let’s explore some ideas for using Microsoft Forms, as well as review Forms features, in the classroom and/or for professional learning.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

#1 – Flip Learning

Flipped learning videos enable students to seize anytime, anywhere learning opportunities. However, a challenge for teachers and students involves deepening engagement with the video content. While tools like EdPuzzle and Flipgrid offer built-in assessments and video responses, respectively, they are also more involved than simply filling out a form.

#2 – Check for Understanding

With Microsoft Forms, you are able to gain insight into students’ engagement with a video or online activity, including flipped learning videos. Here’s the process you can follow:

1. Create a Microsoft Form.
2. Embed a YouTube video, image (such as a Powerpoint slide with information or diagram), or Office Mix.
3. Pose questions that check for understanding about the video.
4. Students complete the questions as they watch the video.

You can review student submissions, as can students, depending on the goal of the check for understanding. Some also rely on Microsoft Forms to create exit tickets. “Exit tickets can be a great way to set up the next day’s learning,” says Diana Benner (@diben). “Before students leave class, they can be asked for an ‘exit ticket’ that provides insight into what they learned from the day’s activities.”

#3 – Empower Students to Create Rubrics

Make it possible for students to collaborate and create their own rubrics for class projects. Not only do you create a culture of teaming, but students will experience a model, purpose-driven learning.

#4 – Remember Awesome Failures

Tracking success can energize learning, while tracking failures can kickstart new directions and possibilities. Use Microsoft Forms to create a digital
space where students and teacher(s) share what did not work and why. When learning new ideas and implementing projects, sharing how you have failed can be an effective motivator.

Having these awesome failures relevant to projects over time can help map out roadblocks and detours that students can take. Create a virtual failure space with Microsoft Forms to capture incomplete implementations or partial success. Model the use of this with your students.

#5 – List Learning Take-Aways

“What are the most important takeaways from today’s lesson or reading?” Microsoft Forms can facilitate the list that results from this kind of prompt. Combine this approach with soliciting feedback from the community. As students work on a project, post their works in progress (video or photo) and then invite community members you trust to share their suggestions.

Getting Started with MS Forms

To get started with MS Forms, all you need is an Office 365 account, which is available through your school district or free. Let’s walk through the steps:

1. Get an Office 365 account for free.
2. Add a new form.
3. Select the type of questions. You have several choices such as Multiple Choice, Quiz, Text, Rating, Date.
4. Type your question or add media (e.g. YouTube video, image).
5. Publish the form to others in your organization or anyone with the link.

To better understand the possibilities, here is a list of MS Form features.

Creating a Survey

• Requires an Office 365 account (free)
• Multiple question types, including Choice, Quiz, Text, Rating, and Date
• Easily embed YouTube video or images in the question text
• Add subtitles (in case you want more instructions; media adding isn’t available for subtitles)
• Option to shuffle responses
• Add question to Quiz computation
• Add “Other” to available responses

Organizing Questions

• Adjust theme to reflect color of choice or available background image
• Preview form using built-in desktop or mobile view
• Re-order questions using up/down arrows
• Copy/duplicate question
• Delete or “trash” question
• Branching dependent upon response chosen to a particular question

Sharing Form and Viewing Results

• Share form online via copy link, email, QR code download, or web page embedding
• Copy link to MS Form and then paste it into OneNote 2016 to embed form for student use
• Make it easy to track those who complete the form in your organization or make it available sans tracking for anyone with the link.
• Save results as an Excel spreadsheet. After all the responses have been gathered, use Excel to add formulas and sort the data in order to analyze it.

Opening/Closing Form for Completion

• Set start/end dates at specific times for when the MS Form is opened or closed for completion.
• When form is NOT accepting responses, create a custom message as to why.
• View/delete/print individual responses or summary responses in aggregate form with graphs.
• See what the average completion time is for the Form.

Also, each question has individual options that you can take advantage of. For example, the Rating question type includes the ability to assign labels. With the Rating question type, you can switch between stars (e.g. 5 stars for great!) or numbers (e.g. 1-5, with 5 being the best).

Conclusion

As you can see, MS Form boasts an extensive list of easy-to-use features. Combine it with one of the five approaches mentioned above to engage learners in your Office 365 classroom. If you are already creating rubrics, exit tickets, or awesome failure walls in Microsoft Forms, I’d love to hear from you! Share your examples with me at @mguhlin on Twitter

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

New Chromebook Features

On January 24, 2017, Google announced some powerful enhancements for Chromebooks available for education, both for educators and students. These features (available in devices from Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung) enhance the Chromebook’s versatility. With more than 20 million teachers and students employing Chromebooks, both will soon have access to devices that rely on “apps, stylus, and increased touch capabilities,” as well as USB-C charging (source).

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

For Teachers

For teachers, Chromebooks will come with world-facing cameras. This enables teachers, as well as students, to capture videos and photos from all directions. Teachers will also have access to many Android apps, as well as specially designed cloud apps. These include Adobe Creative Cloud apps (such as Photoshop Mix, Lightroom Mobile, Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Sketch, Adobe Comp CC, and Creative Cloud Mobile). Teachers will be able to combine these intelligent enhancements with Chromebooks. They can use just-announced Google Classroom notifications for better assignment management and tracking with the new models.

Chromebooks for Students

Students, in addition to a greater variety of bundled Android apps, will be able to enjoy access to creative applications:

• Explain Everything: An incredible, robust presentation, digital whiteboard app, and video annotation tool that is indispensable.
• Soundtrap: This web-enabled audio editing and podcasting tool is a much needed addition for Chromebooks.
• WeVideo: A browser-based video editing solution that, like audio editing, remains in high demand in Chromebook environments.

All these solutions are available at discounted pricing for schools.

Even more exciting, especially in math and other classes where drawing is involved, students are able to take advantage of the inexpensive, high-quality stylus. This is an advantage when using the Google Classroom Android app. Styluses can be shared or easily replaced if lost since they do not require charging or pairing with a Chromebook.

Thanks to Google for continually listening to educators about the needs of the Chromebook-powered classroom!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

School Security Summit: Safeguarding Privacy

Safeguarding student privacy and the security of networks remains a key priority for education leaders. 

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

In December, 2016, school leaders came together to match answers to tough questions as they heard from industry experts on ways to protect what is most important to them. In this blog entry, learn how to get access to the powerful presentations and conversations that took place.

Mark Your Calendars! The 2017 TCEA Technology Leadership Summit is scheduled for Friday, May 12, 2017. Register now for this event.

How Do I Get the Summit Resources?

You can access the audio, presentation slides, and more of the sessions online now for a nominal fee ($49). You will need to have a TCEA log in.

What Exactly Will I Get?

Presentation slides, pictures,and  audio recordings of the high-level speakers will be yours to explore and reflect on. In addition to Bill Fitzgerald’s (of Common Sense Media) keynote, critical areas addressed include:

• Understanding DDoS Attacks,
• Securing Single-Sign-On (SSO)
• Security/Privacy Legislative Panel

TCEA’s Commitment

TCEA is committed to creating professional learning and networking opportunities that address the needs of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) and Directors/Coordinators of Technology in K-16 education institutions. Be sure to join your colleagues at the Friday, May 12, 2017 event.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Revisiting One of My Favorite Books: Our Iceberg is Melting

I wrote about this some time ago, but can’t find my blog entry. SO, I’m copying-n-pasting from someone else’s (Leading Blog: A Leadership Fable – thanks!):

From Our Iceberg is Melting…

SET THE STAGE: 

1. Create a sense of urgency. (not panic) “Problem. What Problem?” Take the issue to the right people. Watch this YouTube interview with John Kotter on his new book, A Sense of Urgency.

2. Pull together the guiding team. This team must be strong enough to guide the change—leadership skills, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills and a sense of urgency. If you look at the companies that are good at initiating a major change, increasingly you’ll find that it doesn’t work if the top few try to do all the heavy lifting.

DECIDE WHAT TO DO: 

3. Develop the vision and change strategy. Change to what? Too many change initiatives might indicate that you haven’t done this step well. You’ll get change burnout and more resistance.

MAKE IT HAPPEN: 

4. Communicate for understanding and buy-in.
5. Empower others to act. Remove barriers so that people can act on the new direction. Get the “junk” out of the way to get the momentum. Empowerment, but not a free-for-all—competent training may be called for.
6. Produce short-term wins. It’s critical because you always have skeptics. Tangible success will help to drain the power from these people and bring them on board.
7. Don’t let up. Even after the win, keep up the pressure to keep the momentum going. Be relentless until you reach the end goal.
8. Create a new culture. Make sure that it sticks—internalized.

Fascinating stuff and worth reflecting on…again.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Congratulations to @MarkGabehart for #tcea17 Award!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Check out #TCEA17 Twitter Moment for Quick Audio Interviews

Feeling a bit disconnected from the excitement going on at the TCEA 2017 State Conference? Check out this Twitter Moment, which provides easy access to on the spot audio interviews!

Listen to TCEA 17 audio interviews and see pictures!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Creating Digital Prof Learning Communities (PLCs) with Social Media #tcea17

Check out my slideshow for this talk online at http://ly.tcea.org/tcea17!

“Don’t wait for the stars to align, reach up and rearrange them the way you want,” says Pharrell Williams. “Create your own constellation.” Want to rearrange your learning experiences with social media? Bridge the gap between face-to-face community efforts and online? Then read on to discover tips on how to shape the social media flow. Grab a friend, your mobile device, and let’s go!

Manual Approach to Social Media

If you’re like most people, you probably have been cajoled into creating a social media account. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, YouTube, and LinkedIn are the most common ones that people start with. But how do you create a community around what you share? Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Tip #1: Mix-and-Match Your Social Media

Combine audio and video tools. Instagram and Facebook make it easy to post links to other social media tools, such as Twitter. That means you can start a Facebook Live session, record audio using Voxer (or use the YouTube Capture app on your phone) and share the link out via Twitter. This is great because it allows you to “liven up” Twitter with audio and video. Imagine recording a student explaining his/her solution to a problem or thinking process. Here are some Voxercasts that I shared via Twitter. If participating in a Twitterchat, try responding to a question with audio or video. It will leave participants “mind-blown.” And, if you’re feeling adventurous, use Voxer and/or Flipgrid.com to kick off audio or video reflections respectively.

Tip #2: Decide on a Content Curation Tool

Content curation involves finding great stuff, stowing it somewhere for safe keeping, and then sharing the relevant information with other interested parties. How the sharing happens is usually through social media. Here are a few tools that I use for content curation. They make sharing with others via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook easy.

• Get Pocket.com: This remains my favorite content tool. Anything I find on my mobile device or on my computer, I promptly save to Pocket. Since it is everywhere and works well with other tools, it makes saving content easy. Getting content out is also straightforward. More on that later.
• Diigo.com for Educators: An oldy but goody, social bookmarking with Diigo is a cinch on computers, not so much on mobile. Still, the benefit of Diigo is that you can turn every item you save to it into a tagged item. Tags in Diigo come with RSS feeds (learn more about RSS), which make it easy to share to Twitter and other places. Using the free for Educators account comes with additional benefits.
• Flipboard.com: A fantastic curation tool since anything you “flip” into a digital magazine (ezine for short) becomes an easy-to-share resource with others. People can subscribe and leave comments. Imagine creating a flipboard ezine for your class on a particular topic or having students collaborate and contribute to a shared ezine. Flipboard makes it possible, and viewing is a pure pleasure.
• Storify.com: This is a helpful tool since it makes capturing tweets and sharing content easy, although to access some of its more esoteric features will require payment. Storify is often used to archive Twitterchats, even though there are more comprehensive tools. Storify makes finding and sharing content for a classroom of learners simple.
• Paper.li: Want to create a newsletter that curates itself? Paper.li makes that possible and can auto-publish itself via Twitter with new content daily. It can be hands-off or you can spend time updating it. Like Storify, full feature access costs money.

Tip #3: Master Those Twitter Chats

Every day, there are thousands of educators like you connecting and learning from each other. This network of professional learners, open to anyone and everyone willing to learn, is known as a “professional learning network” or PLN for short. You can find a wealth of hashtags, such as #tceachat, that boast robust conversations on days or nights. Here are several tools you can use to make navigating and participating in Twitter chats easier:

• Tweetdeck: Tweetdeck allows you to set up multiple columns, as opposed to Twitter’s single column of content. You can follow multiple hashtags simultaneously, as well as see what you are tweeting and what others are tweeting at you. What’s more, as you get more proficient and want to manage your own Twitter chat, you can schedule your own tweets days in advance at anytime. Great for tweeting during a presentation and wowing your audience.
• Participate Learning: This is a must-have tool to take advantage of since it provides a concise schedule of hashtags for Twitter chats and when they are taking place. What’s more, you can search hashtags for relevant conversations, as well as add your own chat. This makes it easier to find other’s chats, as well as sharing your content.
• Twubs.com: Straightforward interface aside, Twubs is intended to help you get to know who is participating in a Twitter chat. A unique feature includes your ability to get an embed code so you can place the results of a hashtag search on your web page.

Tip #4: Create Image Flyers to Hook Twitter Chat Participants

Decided to facilitate a Twitter chat for your school or district? Create a landscape flyer with Adobe Spark, Pixlr, Powerpoint, or Google Slides that includes pertinent information, as well as a link to more content. In addition to creating a way to advertise your Twitter chat to the world, you will also want to solve the archive problem. For small Twitter chats, you can use Storify or simply copy-and-paste into a GoogleDoc or IFTTT recipe to feed tweets into a Google Sheet. However, for larger chats (>1000 tweets), consider using a more robust solution like TAGS.

TAGS – http://ly.tcea.org/tagsexample

Tip #5: Automate Your Social Media Sharing

“Share once and done!” Avoid having to share information via multiple outlets. Some school districts embarking on social media domination move to post the same piece of information on each social media outlet, but that can be a big waste of time. Use one or both of these tools to automate your social media sharing. Create a blog post and then see it shared automatically to Twitter and Facebook, post images to Instagram and email them to others, and more.

• IFTTT.com: If This Then That allows you to create mini-apps, or recipes, that execute when a trigger action occurs. For example, if I add a tag “2tweet” to a web article I save on one of my content curation tools, Pocket or Diigo, that item appears as a tweet within thirty minutes. If I add a tag “tceamie,” the item is posted to a Slack group for technology directors and coordinators.
• Microsoft Flow: A newcomer to the scene, Flow works like IFTTT, yet it works hand-in-hand with Office 365 tools. Visit their website to see some sample “flows.”
  

Tip #6: Create a Virtual Sharing Space

At a certain point, you will want to archive all the great things that are being said or happening. One way to do that is to save all chats to a virtual space, such as a OneNote Online notebook (see example, Google Plus Community (see example), or Facebook group. You can, of course, also use popular blogging platforms like Blogger and/or WordPress.

Use tools like Remind.com to share daily updates via mobile phones. This helps keep your community connected to you, enabling easy, non-intrusive sharing. My favorite example is Dr. Scott Mcleod’s Dangerously Irrelevant daily reminders that arrive via SMS text message every day.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to grasp the stars and rearrange them! Social media tools like those discussed in this blog entry make shaping the flow of social media a joy, not a chore.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MyNotes: Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms Chapter 6 #edtech

Note: Friends Dr. Dawn Wilson and Dr. Katie Alaniz were kind enough to share a book they authored in collaboration with Joshua Sikora, Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms: The Potential for Meaningful Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

Listen to Dr. Katie Alaniz, one of the authors, share about the book

In the space below, I’ve included some of my take-aways from the book, stuff that struck my fancy in Chapter 6, and included my reflections/comments in square brackets [really? that’s unbelievable!]. Feel free to swipe the images highlighting key points and repost them everywhere! Read blog entries relevant to this book. Note that my notes imperfectly capture some of the main ideas in the book. I heartily recommend reading the text!!

MyNotes on Chapter 6: Setting Meaningful Learning: Supporting Students with Content Acquisition

1. Savvy educators identify ways to leverage the boundless potential of multimedia applications to set the stage for learning within their classrooms.
2. Effective teachers seek to engage their learners in vital content.
3. Impactful educators prepare, encourage, and inspire their students to wrestle with various aspects of content until they establish meaning for themselves.
4. Active construction of their own learning can be achieved in…
1. a variety of ways
2. using an assortment of tools
3. in order to create products that are:
1. intentional
2. authentic
5. The modern ability to record and replay actual footage of key historical events from around the world is revolutionary.
6. Teachers utilizing digital media to connect students to a specific place elsewhere on the globe or to a historical event must work to help students envision the reality of these scenes. Otherwise, learners may easily process such images just as they would the illusory world of Avatar or the exaggerated devastation of a metropolis depicted in a superhero film. [excellent point! how?]
7. Keep it real by:
1. encouraging students to judiciously document their own experiences with a video camera. The process of producing their own documentaries can serve to encourage learners in re-associating media experiences with reality.
2. Students must engage their imagination just as actively while watching a film as they would when reading a book, but instead of creating the missing visual content, a film viewer is prompted to envision thoughts, motivation, and emotions.
3. Use listening and viewing guides that facilitate analysis:
1. Movie Sheets is an online worksheet database with ready-made, editable worksheets.
2. NewseumED offers a collection of educational resources for incorporating primary source materials from news sources into classroom learning.
3. TED-Ed
4. Khan Academy
8. By engaging in interactive content, students receive feedback on their input, offering them a two-way interface. Interaction may also be peer-assisted, such as when students seek support of other students via online tutoring sessions.
9. Elementary Resources that students can interact with engaging, meaningful, educational multimedia content:
1. Interactives Sites for Education
2. PBS Kids SMART Board Games
3. Seussville
10. Middle School Resources: The text includes multiple other resources for MS/HS
11. Discussion of Webquests…[wow, trip down Memory Lane!]
12. [I would also respectfully include video annotation and hyperlinking tools mentioned in this blog entry]
13. Impactful, memorable educational encounters engage learners in significant content.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Infographic: Ten Ways to Customize MS Classroom #tcea17 #msftedu #msftexpert @

Get Adobe PDF version | Note: This blog entry to appear at TCEA TechNotes Blog

#1 – Add Students to Your Class

1. Login at MS Classroom
2. Click on Teachers & Students in top right section of page
3. Add students after quick search. Click DONE after finding all students

#2- Add Co-Teachers

1. On the same screen where you add students, you can add teachers
2. Search and select them

#3 – Create OneNote Class Notebook

1. Click on Class Notebook tab
2. Create Class Notebook with desired settings
3. Open it as OneNote Online then EDIT in OneNote 2016 to sync a copy to your Win10 device

#4 – Start Conversations for Student Participation

1. Create Conversations around identified class topics
2. Edit members in group by clicking on ellipsis in top right corner of screen

#5 – Make Assignments

1. Click on Assignments tab
2. Click on + New Assignments
3. Set title, due dates, description
4. Set assignment for all classes for whom it applies, attach relevant documents, enable Conversation

#6 – Grade Assignments

1. Click on Assignments tab
2. Click on Assignment name in “In Progress” column
3. Review “Submissions” and then easily enter grades, assigning comments as needed.

#7 – Share Files and Resources

• Click on “Files” tab to access the shared files for the class.
• Place Word, Excel, Powerpoint Online documents and other files for students to access.

#8 – Use Class Calendar

• All assignment due dates appear in calendar
• Add new dates for events (e.g. field trips) to class calendar for students to access

#9 – Manage Class

• Modify course info using the Manage tab as well as
• Update class banner, icon and course description

#10 – Update Notebook Settings

• Add/remove sections
• Update teacher/student button if changes to roster have been made
• Lock/unlock Class Notebook Collaboration space for student use

Attending TCEA 2017 Conference?

Microsoft believes in empowering every student to achieve more. In our mission to support educators in guiding and nurturing student passions, we are offering preconference professional learning to TCEA participants. Attendees at these sessions will be eligible to receive a complimentary Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) and Microsoft Certified Educator (MCE) exam voucher for attending and earn badges on the Microsoft Educator Community to recognize their achievements.*  Preregister to secure a seat.

2-Day MIE Trainer Academy

• Monday February 6th and Tuesday February 7th | 8:30AM-4:00PM Register Here

1-Day MIE Teacher Academy

• Monday February 6th  | 8:30AM-3:30PM Register Here

1-Day MIE Teacher Academy:  Minecraft Education Edition

• Tuesday February 7th | 8:30AM-3:30PM Register Here

Visit aka.ms/TCEAresources to find session schedules and other information about Microsoft’s presence at TCEA as it develops.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Engaging Learners with Text #iOS #iPad @typorama

Be sure to read this blog entry at TCEA TechNotes’ Blog for access to even more exciting content!

Leaders, looking for an easy app to use to spice up important quotes that you include in your staff missives, parent newsletters, or student projects? How about a simple way to highlight key ideas in assigned student text? Typorama may fit the bill for iOS device users!

Quote Makers, Create!

I love collecting quotes, often snapping a photo of my favorite quotes at Buc-ee’s while I’m traveling or jotting them down in my handy notepad. The best part of being out on the road is encountering truisms, as well as listening to K-12 and adult learners share their stories.

Just last month, I spent some time in Edinburg facilitating Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) professional learning. We kicked off the session reflecting on a powerful quote from Microsoft. Using Typorama, I recreated the quote below.

Don’t you think this is more engaging than words on a slide? Typorama is a VERY COOL iOS quote app! Once you start using it, you won’t be able to stop.

Scan this image with Aurasma to listen to the audio introduction from Dr. Katie Alaniz, author of “Digital Tools for Today’s Classrooms,” the book from which this quote was taken.

Quote Makers, Adhere to Copyright!

Typorama combines a wide range of copyright-friendly backgrounds and text styles and allows watermarks to be inserted as well to advertise your campus, district, organization, or event. What’s more, you can use pictures from your camera roll and then add powerful quotes from students, staff, or even your own creations.

Note: Don’t have an iOS device? You can make your own image quotes with Google Draw or Powerpoint, but you might also give one of these a try:  Recite.com, Quozio.com, BeHappyMe, and/or VizzBuzz

Not satisfied with the pictures that come with Typorama? Save pictures from any of the popular free image sites, several shown at the bottom of this blog entry, to your iOS device and then add your quote. The New York Public Library just released their digital collection for use, so be sure to include that in your list of image sources.

Learning Connections

As written in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), “Students must develop the ability to comprehend and process material from a wide range of texts.” Using a quote generator like Typorama, you can help students identify topic sentences or key ideas represented in text.

Tap into the excitement students experience when creating a work of art. This work can be displayed via social media or made into a “mini-poster” for bulletin board placement. And you can also help students “summarize the main idea and supporting details in text in ways that maintain meaning.” Whether for professional development (e.g. book study, article jigsaw) with adults or ask ing students to work in small teams with a buddy to analyze text, this type of activity is powerful for engaged learning.

Quote Makers, Share!

Learners can, as encouraged in Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms, “Collaborate to create an online clearinghouse of student-created media.” This clearinghouse can serve as a resource for students to use as they support one another in preparing for exams. The clearinghouse can be any one of the following:

• 

  

  OneDrive-based Image Clearinghouse
  Hallway bulletin board
• Google Photos – Easy to create a shared album, enable multiple staff/students to add content.
• OneDrive Photos – Easy to add images to a folder, as well as share edit rights or view only link.
• OneNote Online Notebook
• School or classroom Instagram account

Steps to Make and Take

Here are the steps you can take to create your Typorama quote project. Remember, these techniques can be used whether you have the app or not. If you and your students are on a computer, try one of the aforementioned, browser-based, free quote generators.

1. Read a selection of text, online or from paper.
2. Choose your favorite quote or come up with your own based on what you have read (better activity).
3. Start up Typorama, select a background from their image search results or use a picture you have taken with your camera. Remember, you can always find a picture online. The image should reflect a key word in the quote text.
4. Modify the text and image features and then share it online.

Enhance with Augmented Reality

Using the iOS app Aurasma, you can convert these student-created image quotable quotes into “hyperlinked” images. That is, you turn each image into a “trigger” that when students point their iOS device to it, it has students reading the quote aloud, sharing a short anecdote.

Reminder: TCEA members, don’t forget about the upcoming January 25, 2017 Augment Your Reality Lunch-and-Learn webinar where we will share more ideas for using AR in the classroom.

Use the Aurasma app on your Android/iOS device and scan the quote picture above to listen to audio via Voxer!

More Than Quotes

This is a perfect app for both adult and K-12 learners to use. You can use it for creating memorable vocabulary words, summarizing fictional texts, and posing problems in social studies or history class. Please comment below and share how you would use Typorama in your classroom.

List of Copyright-Friendly Image Resources

1. iClipArts for Schools
2. Animal Photos
3. Car Pictures
4. Classroom Clipart
5. ClipArt.com: School Edition
6. Compfight
7. Creativity103
8. Creative Commons Search
9. ClipArt ETC
10. Discovery Education Clipart
11. Free Clipart
12. Free Icons
13. Free Images
14. Free Images Collection
15. Free Foto
16. Free Photo Bank
17. FreePik
18. Internet Archive
19. Pexels
20. Pics4Learning
21. Pixabay
22. School ClipArt
23. Teacher Files Clipart
24. UnSplash
25. Wikimedia Commons

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MyNotes: Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms Chapters 5

Note: Friends Dr. Dawn Wilson and Dr. Katie Alaniz were kind enough to share a book they authored in collaboration with Joshua Sikora, Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms: The Potential for Meaningful Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

Listen to Dr. Katie Alaniz, one of the authors, share about the book

In the space below, I’ve included some of my take-aways from the book, stuff that struck my fancy in Chapters 1 and 2, and included my reflections/comments in square brackets [really? that’s unbelievable!]. Feel free to swipe the images highlighting key points and repost them everywhere! Read blog entries relevant to this book. Note that my notes imperfectly capture some of the main ideas in the book. I heartily recommend reading the text!!

My Notes from Chapters 5:

1. Chapter 5 – Using Digital Media to READY Students for Learning: Preparing Learners to Acquire Key Knowledge and Skills
1. Teachers need to reflect on the following questions:
1. Begin with the end in mind. What do students know and be able to do by the end of instructional cycle?
2. How can multiple modalities most effectively be incorporated into instruction?
3. How can students move through Bloom’s higher levels, analyzing, evaluating and creating?
4. What instructional strategies most effectively direct students toward reaching the goal of independently demonstrating their learning?
5. What resources will be used?
6. What assessment strategies/tools will be employed?
7. Will rubrics be used?
8. How do you activate engagement, motivation and interest?
2. By charging students with tasks that require creativity, analysis, and applications, teachers move the focus away from themselves to an emphasis upon their learners.
3. Student-centered products enable learners to showcase their new knowledge and skills in relation to a particular topic in an infinite variety of ways. Examples [love these examples!!] include:
1. Building a website that demonstrates their content knowledge.
2. Constructing a multimedia presentation to teach learned content to others.
3. Creating a newsletter or flyer that highlights key findings on a given topic.
4. Producing a stop-motion video that displays a process or procedure.
5. Designing a cartoon strip that highlights important findings in a unique way.
6. Creating a digital story to describe reflections on a particular topic.
7. Producing a Sketchcast demonstrating mater of a topic or concept through narration, text, sketches.
4. Research about how students learn is shared, including Piaget, Curran and Bruner.

1. Bruner’s theoretical framework describes learning as an active process in which learners construct their newfound knowledge using concepts derived from previous experience.
2. The learner selects and transforms information, creates hypotheses, and arrives at decisions based on a cognitive structure (mental model or schema), which adds meaning and organization to the experience and enables him or her to perform the information given.
3. “If students are not paying attention, they are not engaged; and, hence, they are not learning” (Wolfe, 2001).
4. When stimuli are ignored, the brain begins to shut down inputs from that particular source. However, if the brain is primed for additional incoming information, the learner is more likely to perceive this input.
5. Selective attention of the brain depends on suppression of irrelevant data and amplification of meaningful data (Jenson, 1998).
6. When emotional or personal stimuli are present, attention is more powerfully gasped.
7. Varying the routing and methods of presenting material increases students’ attention in classroom settings.
8. Two types of interest…teachers can influence and/or create situational interest and anticipatory sets seem an ideal vehicle through which to do so (Ormond, 2004).
1. Situational interest – short-lived, revolves around an activity or topic
2. Personal interest – more enduring, includes pursuits in visual and performing arts, sports, speech, etc.
9. Both attention and interest are related to motivation.
10. Students motivation to learn encompasses their ability to derive intended benefits from meaningful, worthwhile activities.
11. TEASe – Technology Enhanced Anticipatory Set:
1. utilizes a media presentation to introduce a unit or lesson.
2. Effective TEASes seamlessly coalesce media, images, music, and text within a three- to seven-minute multimedia piece, ultimately heightening learners’ interest and motivation.
3. A TEASe’s storyline is composed of visual and audio pieces to activiate prior knowledge, very broadly stitched together with short lines of text to guide viewing.
4. TEASes that include elements of pop culture and music relevant to students’ lives most powerfully engage learners.
5. Should not be used to deliver content to learners, rather, TEASes help students focus their attention and interest at the beginning of a unit, even before the content is delivered.
6. Narrative messages wield tremendous influence in changing the attitudes and beliefs of audiences. They allow for a specific reading or viewing experience. They transport recipients into the narrative world, personally involving them cognitively and emotionally.
7. TEASes provide a unique opportunity by which to ready students for learning.

Quick Reflections:

Wow, loved this chapter! Leaving behind the copyright concerns of Chapter 4, it strikes at the jugular of creating engaging content! I loved the examples provided, research regarding engagement (which is so often discarded as “Tough, life isn’t always fun and engaging. kids should pay attention if they want to get good jobs!”), and the TEASe activity. 

This last item reminds me of problem narrative or problem engagement activities in PBL/PrBL.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MyNotes: Digital Media in Today’s Classroom Chaps 3-4

Note: Friends Dr. Dawn Wilson and Dr. Katie Alaniz were kind enough to share a book they authored in collaboration with Joshua Sikora, Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms: The Potential for Meaningful Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

Listen to Dr. Katie Alaniz, one of the authors, share about the book

In the space below, I’ve included some of my take-aways from the book, stuff that struck my fancy in Chapters 3 and 4, and included my reflections/comments in square brackets [really? that’s unbelievable!]. Feel free to swipe the images highlighting key points and repost them everywhere! Read all blog entries relevant to this book.

My Notes from Chapters 3 and 4:

1. Chapter 3 – Essential Considerations in Using Digital Media

1. Media literacy–applying skills to media and technology messages, learning to skillfully interpret, analyze, and create messages–empowers people to be both critical thinkers and creative producers of messages using image, language, and sound (NAMLE, Ellis, 2005).
2. Media education seeks to mae school more student centered.
3. “We were educated to read actively, yet we’re conditioned to view visual images passively,” observes Steve Apkon.
4. Now is the time to change “English” classes into “Communication” classes in which students study the grammatical rules of graphic arts, film, and music, in addition to learning the rules of English grammar.”
5. Ubiquitous access to tech suggests the focus must now shift to identifying and applying the most fitting tools and resources for meeting students’ needs and reaching learning goals.
6. [This chapter focuses on several key ideas, such as COPPA, copyright, terms of use, keeping track of acceptable use policies/responsible use agreements. I heartily disagree with the portion that suggests schools track the paperwork. This is an antiquated perspective. Now, most districts take advantage of opt-out clauses in their Student Handbooks. If you want to opt-out, then you have to do so. Otherwise, this grants teachers the right to use third-party systems with students, acting in loco parentis].
2. Chapter 4 – Planning for Digital Media: Settings, Groupings, and Platforms
1. Key questions:
1. Under what circumstances should teacher consider integrating digital media within classroom settings?
2. How should digital media be integrated within classrooms settings?
3. Who should be utilizing the media–teachers, students, or both?
4. For what purposes should digital media be used within classroom settings?
2. Curriculum Design models:
1. The Understanding by Design Framework
1. Effective curriculum planning involves a process of “backward design”
2. Educators must also initially determine a set of learning goals for their students. They should identify certain enduring understandings.
3. Specific strategies for measuring students’ learning need to be reflected upon.
4. Teachers should begin with the end in mind, designing a road map.
2. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Model
1. Offers students various modes of content representation.
2. Encourages teachers to provide students with multiple means of expression, including both physical and communicative action.
3. Promotes numerous methods of engagement.
3. Bloom’s Taxonomy
4. Classroom Instruction That Works: Identifies nine categories of instructional strategies that hold tremendous potential for enhancing student achievement for all learners:
1. Summarizing and Note taking
2. Identifying similarities and differences
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
4. Homework and practice
5. Cooperative learning
6. Nonlinguistic representations
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
8. Generating and testing hypotheses
9. Questions, cues, and advance organizers
3. Digital media enables teachers to vary their methods of representing content through a diversity of media, including print, video, audio, hands-on modeling, interactive applications, and much more.
4. Digital media to practice and receive feedback on their own content knowledge with online flashcards, games, and simulations. Examples include:
1. Online quizzes and educational games provide students with the opportunity to test their remembering and understanding skills using interactive media such as Quizlet. 
2. Students can enhance their content knowledge through playing online games associated with the concepts taught in class.
3. Digital media simulations allow students to apply, analyze, and evaluate the ways in which content elements interact.
1. Math and Science simulations (PhET)
2. Social Studies simulations
3. Interactive multimedia games warehouse provides teachers with a multitude of games and simulations to support students.
4. Authoring tools:
1. Audacity
2. Voicethread
3. Kidblog
4. Digital storytelling via Little Bird Tales (littlebirdtales.com) and Storybird (storybird.com)
5. Draw.io and Bubbl.us
5. A teacher should 
1. focus on the content that should be delivered and the learning goals that are being sought. This allows them to harness digital media as a tool to serve educational objectives.
2. consider the type or types of devices with which students will learn. 
3. think about the online tools, resources, and software options students will have access.
6. Ready, Set, Learn! Model
1. Ready: This involves preparing students, from lesson’s start, to meet and act on content. 
1. Teacher-centered: Should I create my own digital media or use an already-created resource to grasp students’ attention and ready them for learning?
2. Student Use: How can I ensure that content is delivered in a variety of ways for diverse levels and varying learning modalities?
2. Set: Establishing the content in the students’ mind. 
1. Teacher-centered: Should I create my own tool for the students to use in developing content knowledge, or should I identify an already-created tool?
2. Student Use: How can I be certain to provide students with opportunities to interact with content, check for understanding, and receive formative feedback in a variety of methods using an array of online tools and targeting a mixture of learning modalities?
3. Learn:  Students demonstrate their learning with independence. Students are challenged to create an original product that demonstrates their learning through the use of multimedia tools. 
1. Teacher-centered: Should I create a resource to assess student learning or use an already-created assessment?
2. Student Use: How can I provide students with meaningful and applicable opportunities to demonstrate their learning by independently creating a digital media product? Should I assign specific tools to students or leave assessment choices more open-ended?
7. In curriculum design, content is king.
8. Effectual planning begins with the end in mind, and teachers ask, “What do I want my students to be able to accomplish?”

a counter-question…too much control  in teacher’s hands limit students’ freedom to take ownership of their learning and creations.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MyNotes: Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms 1 & 2

Note: Friends Dr. Dawn Wilson and Dr. Katie Alaniz were kind enough to share a book they authored in collaboration with Joshua Sikora, Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms: The Potential for Meaningful Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

Listen to Dr. Katie Alaniz, one of the authors, share about the book

In the space below, I’ve included some of my take-aways from the book, stuff that struck my fancy in Chapters 1 and 2, and included my reflections/comments in square brackets [really? that’s unbelievable!]. Feel free to swipe the images highlighting key points and repost them everywhere! Read blog entries relevant to this book.

My Notes from Chapters 1 and 2:

1. Chapter 1 – Digital Media – What Is It and Why Does It Matter?
1. Children aged eight to eighteen spend an estimated seven hours per day, on average, glaring into screens (American Academy of Pediatrics).
2. Teenagers compose an average of 3,417 text messages per month.
3. The bedrooms of an estimated 97% of adolescents contain at least one electronic device (Aspen Education Group, 2011). [I believe these stats just based on what I’ve seen of my own teenagers…in fact, one device in the bedroom is understated!!]
4. No solid evidence exists that technology is deteriorating the cognitive capacity of today’s students (Taylor, 2012).
5. Obsession with social media [or games!] may amplify or contribute certain psychological issues.
6. Using media to simply transmit information in the clasroom has not proven effective (Grabe & Grabe,2004).
7. Research demonstrates that multimedia might be used to support learners in accessing prior knowledge, evoking emotion, stirring interest, heightening curiosity, and appealing to multiple intelligences [so, is that worth the $$$ spent on edtech each year?]
8. Gains in achievement result when students are granted the opportunity to create original products using some form of multimedia (Goodlin, 2012).
   
9. Potential applications include:
1. Have students study fairy tales from different locales, analyze them, then create their own. Story analysis and media construction are the acquired skills.
2. Students collaborate to create an online clearinghouse of student-created media to serve as a resource for supporting one another in preparing for exams [or, let’s think even bigger! a real life project/problem! and use Minecraft?]
3. Create stop-motion videos for sharing/commenting on lab experiements/results
4. Study media coverage and resources to develop different forms of persuasive media techniques to protest an issue they feel strongly about.
10. Incorporation of multimedia in the classroom provides students with exposure to both pictures and verbal information (“dual coding”) which yields two memory codes instead of one.
1. Dual coding theory asserted that individuals process perpetual information by encoding images for organizing, storing, and retrieving knowledge through a nonverbal system.
2. They process text and words using a verbal system, which deals mostly with linguistic information.
3. Dual coding suggests learning is generally more meaningful when new information is encoded and processed through both channels (verbal and nonverbal) than through either alone.
   
11. Decisions teacher must make when considering how to incorporate tech into teaching practices:
1. Who will use the digital media?
2. When in the lesson will it be used?
3. How will it be used?
4. Which tool(s) will be used?
5. How will student products be assessed?
2. Chapter 2 – Research Findings and the Implications on Learning

Image Source | More

1. Adidas or “New Way of Learning” suggests a learning archetype:


1. 70:20:10 Framework
1. Seventy percent of learning occurs experentially on the job
2. Twenty percent of learning happens through social interactions with others
3. Ten percent of learning results through formal coursework
2. The brain forgets 50% of learning that takes place in a classroom environment within a mere hour’s time [oh oh, that means participants in my 1 hour sessions will only remember half of what they learn…whew!]
3. Forty-three percent of teachers have incorporated online games in classrooms
1. Students allowed to use gaming software scored 91.5% on a standardized assessment versus an average score of 79.1% for those students who did not use digital games
4. Use of digital resources allows teachers (76%) to simplify the process of adapting teaching methods to diverse learning styles
5. Teachers (77%) report edtech boosts student motivation
6. Teacher (76%) commented edtech enhances content being taught
7. Research on the impact of technology on student outcomes suggests that students who use digital resources in their learning experience a slight positive gain over those whose instructional experience does not include technology.
8. The pivotal achievement factor is not the type of tech, but rather the actual use of the tools.
9. Academic achievement increases when the technology is integrated in a student-centered environment.
10. Most beneficial environments involve students in:
1. creating hypermedia presentations
2. solving problems
3. conducting research
4. developing computer simulations representing models of their own understandings.
11. Tech integration enhances learning when students engage in solving complex, authentic problems that cross multidisciplinary boundaries instead of focusing on knowledge acquisition.
12. Student created digital media, when combined with rigorous content standards, has demonstrated a positive effect on student achievement and performance on high-stakes testing.
    
13. An educator’s ability to provide powerful links from the curriculum to real world experiences appears to encourage students to respond to the material in a highly positive manner.
14. Digital resources are most strongly correlated with enhanced student learning when the instructor’s role is that of a facilitator of knowledge creation rather than a disseminator of knowledge.
15. Cognitive load: when learners are required to split their attention between two or more streams of information simultaneously, cognitive load increases. This means the ability to process new knowledge decreases.
16. Academic achievement increases when students are provided the opportunity to progress through 5 different levels of active processing, namely selecting words, selecting images, organizing words, organizing images, and integrating words and images.
17. Selecting words and images involves both the visual and verbal working memory while simultaneously making internal connections to images, words, and their meanings.
18. Research indicates that image data is collected simultaneously while text is processed in a sequential fashion. This simultaneous processing allows learners to make sense of visuals sixty thousand times faster than text.
19. Visual literacy truly has become the new currency of learning.
20. A student’s prior knowledge can influence which images are remembered and the ways they are recalled.
21. Videos are even better tools than still images, as videos send multiple streams of information to learners through movement, music, words and pictures. This supports student learning regardless of their learning style or intelligence.
22. In classroom settings, images and video clips hold the potential to increase students’ understanding of a subject while also prompting them to develop emotional connections with the material being presented. 
23. Learning experiences must be designed to strengthen the process of visual attention and connection in order to deflect the pressure of over-sensory stimulation.
24. Dual coding and imagery are powerful tools that allow the learner to activate prior knowledge in addition to encoding details more rapidly so that they remain for longer periods of time.

Wow, a great review of research and some powerful points about multimedia in the classroom! In a future blog post, we’ll take a quick look at some of my notes from the next couple of chapters.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Connect then Engage with @Flipgrid Video #msftedu

Technologies that connect us, engage. One example of this is Flipgrid, a free video discussion board service. With Flipgrid, you can create grids with topics on them and have workshop participants or students respond to the topics with recorded videos. Several workshops ago, I decided to begin using Flipgrid as a regular part of the learning. Some of the applications of the tool included:

• Ask participants to introduce themselves and/or each other.
• Watch videos about a topic and then share a summary or take-away.
• Summarize an article they have read.

Free Online Flipgrid Course

The Microsoft Education Community offers a free course, Amplifying Student Voice, that features FlipGrid uses. In that course, the developers imagine Flipgrid as being more than just a communication tool in your classroom:

For students, Flipgrid provides a safe space to connect with their peers, share their voice on relevant course topics, and add to the collective knowledge of the classroom. For teachers, you can see firsthand as your students develop confidence, reasoning skills, respect of diverse opinions, and understanding through reflection. Moreover, as Flipgrid videos are asynchronous, you can conveniently connect your students with classrooms around the world by sharing your grids with other educators. Their students add their voices to the grid building an active community of shared knowledge.

You can watch videos embedded in the course, as well as view content, without completing the course (but then you wouldn’t earn the badge!):

• Flipgrid Overview
• The Power of Student Voice
• Integrating Flipgrid in Your Class (not a video)
• Example of Use: Laura Goetz

Introducing FlipGrid for Professional Development

Introducing Flipgrid to others has been easy. I point out how to access the Flipgrid topic I’ve set up for the process, either on a laptop and mobile device (e.g. tablet or smartphone). I start with a quick demonstration, often recording the video prompt in front of the class. Then I invite participants to work in groups of two to three to record their responses. Some even go out into the hall. After they have completed their video responses, we share a few to the whole group. Who would not be engaged by their own face and voice as they connect with others?

FlipGrid in the Classroom

“Seeing and hearing students’ video responses can make discourse fun; the site allows personalities and ideas to shine in 90-second clips,” says Polly Conway, Commonsense Media reviewer. “Design is colorful, clean, and intuitive.” Curious about how participants in my workshops would describe Flipgrid in their classroom, I asked them to share some reflections. “How would Flipgrid be helpful?”

• In computer programming, students could use it to demonstrate how the code works and the output.
• Formative assessment tool.
• Quick check for understanding.
• Have students work on a collaborative group project and then share their collective or individual video reflection on each task.
• It is a great resource to use with the teachers we coach so they can reflect on their practices.
• English Language Learners (ELL) students can experience opportunities to develop their language and practice language mastery.
• Flipgrid in elementary would be a strong resource for reading responses.

Listen to this Voxercast (audio recorded using the free Voxer app). It features two TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE), Jocelyn Crew (Lyford CISD) and Jodi-Beth Moreno (Education Service Center, Region 1) sharing about Flipgrid.

Flipgrid Resources

Others have been exploring Flipgrid for classroom use. Consider these examples:

• 5 Strategies for Using FlipGrid for Language Learning
• FlipGrid Uses for Learning
• Flipgrid as the Missing Link for the Flipped Classroom
• Flipgrid for Book Talks
• International Studies Elementary School Uses Flipgrid to Reflect on Learning

If you’re interested in exploring FlipGrid or other video annotation solutions? Check out this blog entry on Video-based Active Learning.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Create Lessons with #FREE Interactive #Math and #Science Simulations @flipgrid #msftedu

Note: This blog entry was originally published at TCEA.org’s TechNotes blog. Read it there along with tons of other great articles!

Need to model complex math and science concepts for your students? Use any of the 130 award-winning PhET math and science interactive simulations. Available for grades three through adult learners, these are  open educational resources (OERs), which means they are free to use. Each simulation will work on any device, making it perfect for 1:1 and BYOD classrooms, as well as those with only teacher projection.

Image Source: https://phet.colorado.edu

Explore Simulations

Each PhET lesson (e.g. Balloons and Static Electricity simulation) comes replete with resources. Included are a video primer, lesson ideas, and teacher-submitted activities. Watch this video for an overview. A main goal of PhET is to assist students in becoming scientists. As learner-in-chief in their classroom, teachers ask questions (combine them with Quizziz or Kahoot for quick assessment) to highlight key concepts and spur deeper inquiry.

Measure Learning with Office Mix

Combine PhET and Office Mix to further support student learning.  Explore a friction simulation. This can help students see what factors affect friction. Students can then respond to multiple choice questions which are placed in a Powerpoint slide show using Office Mix.

Did you know? You can learn how to blend technology into instruction. Schedule an online or face-to-face professional learning session with TCEA’s Microsoft Innovative Education (MIE) Certified Trainers and Experts.

Support Open Inquiry

Another approach involves using a student-centered strategy called POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning). Students work in small groups with individual roles or in cooperative learning groups if the learning needs to be scaffolded. POGIL activities focus on core concepts. They encourage a deep understanding of course material and develop higher-order thinking skills. Find out more | See it in Action

Engage in Video-Based Reflection

Deepen reflective interactions focused on a simulation with video. Use Flipgrid.com to pose video questions  about a simulation’s key concepts. Students respond via their mobile device’s built-in video camera.

Conclusion

These approaches and technologies are so easy, you can get going quickly. Select your interactive simulation and scaffold the inquiry with POGIL. Then, assess learning with Office Mix, Quizizz/Kahoot, and Flipgrid. Your students will be thrilled you made the effort!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Single Sign-On (SSO) Solution for Texas Schools #edtech #txed @encore_enboard

Just received this press release from Encore Enboard folks…definitely check them out as a great SSO solution!

Don’t play password roulette
Are your staff and students playing password roulette?
Many districts are trying to adequately manage many digital resources
and are discussing SSO. 

Join Encore for a quick overview covering the following:
    What is SSO and how does it work?
    Can you create accounts in your SSO?
    Is it secure?
    Join Encore at the upcoming conferences FETC, TCEA and CALSA to learn more 

Join us January 18, 2017, at 11:00 am for a quick overview to learn more.
click here to register

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Google Teacher Tribe VIP Member! #gttribe

Wow, so excited to have received this email announcement from dear colleague, Kasey “Shake Up Learning” Bell and new friend, Ditch That Textbook‘s Matt Miller:

You are now a VIP Member of the Google Teacher Tribe!

Welcome and thank you so much for your early support of The Google Teacher Tribe Podcast! We are so excited to share this journey with you. Grab Your VIP Badge!  As a thank you for your support, we would like to give you a digital badge that you can place in your email, on your blog, your website, wherever you like–to help spread the news about the Google Teacher Tribe. Follow Us on Social Media Facebook Twitter Use the hashtag: #gttribe

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Towards a Community of Sharing: Reflections on a New @Voxer chat

On January 2, 2017, I found myself at a Best Western in Sonora, Texas nursing a bee sting and listening to various Voxerchats, including Edumatch, ConnectedTL, EngageChat. That’s when a request for help came in via Voxer. That evening also found me longing for a Texas Voxer community focused around teaching, learning, leading and edtech (well, of course!).

As I polished off my 8oz cup of Sonic french vanilla flavored coffee (quite good when you’ve been driving for a few hours, starving and bee stung), about to enter a caffeine-fueled swiftly flowing current of creativity (forgetting about my bee sting altogether until it started to throb at midnight, a 6-hour fugue), Dr. Dorian Roberts sent me a vox asking me about Microsoft stuff. She had been referred to me by Christy Cate (thanks!).

Please join in at http://ly.tcea.org/tceachat | Voxer direct link

As we chatted via Voxer, I realized what a tremendous opportunity I was missing–the opportunity to setup a Voxerchat that results in me learning more about tons of different topics! And, what better way than to ask others to teach me what they are great at? So, with that idea in mind, I brainstormed (in a blink of an eye, since I was coffee crazed) what should be needed:

http://ly.tcea.org/tceachat

• This needs to be a slow chat because who know when folks are going to jump in, and it’s great to not have the pressure of “we’re only doing this RIGHT now and you are going to miss out”
• I need to setup pictures with info. Why not use Google Slides to create that and collaborate with others? (yes, yes, I could have used Powerpoint online, too).
• Create a virtual space to house content, links, etc. Why not use OneNote Online? See image above
• Invite new guest speakers to offer 1 question per day, Monday – Friday. 
1. Build personal connection to topic. (what you feel)
2. Share research and information (what you know)
3. Share learning experiences (what you have experienced)
4. Overcoming challenges (how you have detoured around roadblocks)
5. Lessons Learned, Resources Gathered that may help others
• Schedule some tweets using Tweetdeck announcing the chat.
• Invite awesome folks to be “guest agitators”
• A way to archive voxer audio contributions, or “voxerbursts” (yes, I’m trying to put that word in circulation).
• Include voxer chat tips and tricks.

How is it working?
Curious as to how it’s working? Well, it’s working great! Our first two guest agitators have included Diana Benner (@diben; Read Sprinkle Innovation Blog) and Eric Curts (@ericcurts; Read Control Alt Achieve Blog). Both have done an incredible job sharing ideas and getting conversations going. More importantly, others have jumped into the conversations and I’m thrilled to be learning with them.

For example, during the inaugural week, Dr. Katie Alaniz (you may remember her from my series on edtech coaching) jumped in each evening (more like LATE at night) and shared awesome research and insights into everything. Tons of other great folks are piling on this week, sharing their take-aways and learning.

Want to be a Guest Agitator? Shoot me a Tweet or sidevox me!

While not every topic will appeal to every Voxer chat member, I am hoping that we develop a community of continuous sharing where everyone will feel comfortable stepping up to the microphone.

When that happens, I know #tceachat will have moved from a group of people hoping to learn from each other to a learning community.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Tools for Making Quick Videos

Looking for some quick ways to craft videos? These tools are all wonderful and can help you put together a video quickly:

• Mobile Apps
  Combine your mobile device (e.g. iOS/Android phone/tablet) with an inexpensive tripod (duct tape works, too!) and use one of the following apps:
• YouTube Capture (iOS only): This phenomenal app allows you to quickly record video, save it straight to YouTube. You can do simple annotations/edits with the app.
• Shadow Puppet EDU (iOS only): Combine pictures, video and sound in this app to create a great video you can save to YouTube.
• Screencasting
  Screencasting often involves recording your screen. Most screencasting tools will allow you to capture you in a small preview window, enabling you to record your screen while picturing you.
• Screencastify: This easy to use Chrome browser Add-On allows you record Chrome browser tab with sound, your Desktop with sound, and include you in a preview window. You will have to pay more money ($20 onetime fee, well worth it) if you want to record longer than 10 minutes.  Watch tutorial.
• Nimbus Screenshot and Screencast:  Similar to Screencastify but free.

Bonus Tips: Take advantage of Green Screen tools to kick your video up a notch!  

• iOS Device handy? Take advantage of the Do Ink Green Screen app ($2.99) and a $1.00 Family Dollar green table cloth to put yourself into the screen.
• Windows 10 device? Use The Simple Green Screen app.

And, finally, Chrome browser with webcam laptop? Use a Google Hangouts background! You can combine Screencastify and Google Hangouts Chrome Add-On to get all Googly (terrible example). After recording the video, crop it to cut out all the unnecessary screen noise. Example shown right.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Redesign That: SketchUp in Schools #txed

“We’re going to redesign our Spot’s dog house this holiday break!”
“What do you have so far?” I asked. My colleague held out a legal pad, crude drawings marring the perfect yellow pages. If you’re going to be re-arranging a dog house or your living room to fit a Christmas tree, take a look at SketchUp Make and SketchUp Pro, available for free to K-12 public schools.

Get SketchUp

With a Google account, you can do the interior design work using the newly-released My.SketchUp.com. And if you want the full power of SketchUp Pro (a $695 value), fill out a short form through TCEA. Private schools can obtain SketchUp Pro EDU licenses for as low as $15 per seat per year.

Use SketchUp on Chromebooks, Windows, and Mac

Available for Mac and Windows computers, SketchUp Pro now comes as a web version usable on Chromebooks. What’s more, SketchUp Mobile Viewer ($13.99) allows SketchUp models to be viewed on the iPad.

As my colleague put it, “Google SketchUp is 3D modeling software that lets you create anything you can imagine. It’s powerful enough to build complex projects, yet is easy to learn and use.” Their work appears in SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse, which houses millions of models. Simple enough to use that grade 3 through adult learners rely on SketchUp for a variety of tasks. SketchUp can be integrated into different classes.

Make Creative TEKS Connections

Classes such as, art, science, history, geography, and math are just some of the perfect venues for learning with this free software. Some ideas of how you might want to use it in your classroom are available at TCEA’s SketchUp Resources. Curriculum projects can align to the Technology Applications:TEKS in Grade 6, such as defined below:

Creativity and Innovation: The student uses creative thinking and innovative processes to construct knowledge, generate new ideas, and create products. The student is expected to…
(C) explore complex systems or issues using models, simulations, and new technologies to make predictions, modify input, and review results

You can find teacher guides that provide specific models.

Explore More Features

For children with autism, Project Spectrum shares powerful examples of student creativity made possible. SketchUp Pro can also be used for 3D modeling and printing. Students can create designs in SketchUp, then save them as OBJ files. These can then be opened in your 3D printer’s software (e.g. Makerbot) and printed. Talk about authentic learning!

SketchUp Pro also supports design templates for 3D printing, making it a simple matter to create to scale. You can also export designs in 3D Warehouse to STL file format for 3D printing. Doing so helps clean up your design before beginning to print. Another neat feature involves interacting with holograms. Visualize design data and collaborate with others using SketchUp Pro with Microsoft Hololens.

Conclusion

SketchUp makes creating models for sharing, and printing. Prepare your children for the future and introduce them to it today!

Special thanks to Taylor and Brian Wright for sharing their use of SketchUp to create real structures via their blog.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Activate Learning Innovators

Change can be difficult. But it’s almost always necessary. So how can we activate learning innovators in schools? In this blog entry, we will explore key technologies and action steps.

Getting Connected

Today, we have access to new technologies.  Voxer, Appear.in, Edmodo, Twitter, blogs, Skype for Business, and  YouTube Live are only a few.  Decide whether the tool, such as GoogleDocs or OneNote Class Notebook, scaffolds learners’ efforts. Ask yourself, “How does this technology facilitate access and reflection across time, space, and devices?”

Growing from Network to Community

In a professional learning network (PLN), the more nodes (a.k.a. people) in your network, the richer the flow of ideas. Moving from information to innovative practice requires effort. Think of a PLN as a journey of learning and reflection. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) often involve groups. PLCs also describe a team’s shared journey of learning and reflection. Unlike a PLN, the PLC focuses on team efforts for achieving desired student outcomes. Which works best in your situation?

Activating Learners: Steps to Success

Allow me to share some action steps I have learned with past initiatives such as  Pathways to Advance Virtual Education (PAVE), EC3 iPads in the Classroom , and the Technology Integration Lead Teacher (TILT) Program in several settings. Take these action steps to get a similar effort started in your school or district.

1. Organize learning around content that fosters innovation. That may be why one Texas district brought in George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset, to lead #NISDTechCamp district-wide conversations (see my notes and  materials).
2. Provide incentives that generate excitement among participants. Providing a stipend or technology equipment (e.g. iPad, laptop, Chromebook) that facilitates access is a common practice. When in a technology rich environment, offer options for various incentives. Remember incentives can also include badges for professional learning.
3. Use a blended learning approach to meetings, including face to face and online. Be sure to bring the group together, face to face, at the beginning, middle, and end of the initiative. Social media has replaced cumbersome learning management systems (LMSs).
4. Secure support from school/district leadership. Invite leadership to align strategic goals to your initiative and vice versa.
5. Support participants in creating an online portfolio of work with video and audio reflections that results in certification.
6. Let empowered individuals give back by helping others on campus.
7. Celebrate, such as with a dinner or graduation ceremony. Celebrate the efforts participants have put into learning. This can assist them in assuming a new, influential role.

An Example: Innovation Cohort

“Reach for the edges,” says Ryan O’Donnel via a Voxerchat I’m participating in (connect with him via the ConnectedTL Tribe Voxer chat) as he shares his vision in this Innovation Cohort Application. Notice that there are several components, such as required meetings, designing an innovation project, site-based support, financial reimbursement for time, and an application process. Many similar efforts exist, such as the Google Certified Innovator program, Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), Discovery Education Network (DEN) Stars program, as well as many more (e.g. Seesaw Ambassador).

Invitation to Reflect

Please share in the comments what your thoughts are about these kinds of efforts. If you have participated in these efforts, how did they impact your work?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Dystopian Learning: No Matter What the Device

“You’re just a shill for Google,” a district colleague joked when I shared I had been selected to participate in the Google Certified Innovator program in 2010. I laughed for a moment. If that moment was funny, the fact that I became a Microsoft Innovative Education (MIE) Expert in 2016 must generate a few more chuckles. And some wondered at my efforts with a 1:1 Apple iPad classroom. Work in education, you soon find yourself avoiding a dystopian, technology singularity.

The Big Three, which includes Apple, Google, and Microsoft (let’s refer to them as AGM going forward), are competing for space in today’s classrooms. Each boasts new, powerful software, hardware, and online spaces that bridge the learning gap for educators around the world. From Apple’s Distinguished Educator (ADE)  to Google Certified Trainer to Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Trainer, each program connects you to a vibrant community of educators.

AGM’s respective efforts involve getting educators to adopt education versions of their consumer technologies. While claims of classroom transformations must be taken with a grain of salt, there are real benefits. Let’s explore some of the benefits below.

Drink the Kool-Aid!

“Have you drunk the kool-aid?” When you drink the kool-aid, you suspend your cynicism of AGM’s intentions. Instead, you embrace problem-solving with the technologies at your disposal. The more active the AGM-affiliated educator community, the better off you are. These communities connect via various social media, email lists, and face-to-face gatherings. All are focused on helping you bring the power of their technologies to bear on overcoming learning challenges.

Solving Learning Challenges

How would you approach the problem below?

Students need to adapt propaganda techniques seen in presidential candidate advertising. After analyzing those techniques in several video segments, students must create their own version. The version will connect to their reading of TIM, Defender of Earth, a dystopian novel featuring a dinosaur in a world-saving battle with nanobots.

How would you approach this from your particular AGM perspective? For fun, let’s jump right in and see (i  alphabetical order):

Apple

Students could collect video clips, recording relevant clips using the iPad’s built-in camera. They must provide a brief analysis of the propaganda techniques in the video, then transition to their application of the techniques to a TIM, Defender of Earth main character. They could use one of these free apps (Shadow Puppet EDU or Touchcast) to create narrated video clips and then stitch the production together in iMovie ($4.99), Videocraft ($3) or Pinnacle Studio Pro ($13). Videos would be turned into the class Seesaw account (free), appearing on the Class Seesaw Blog after the teacher approved them. Students in other groups could offer feedback via the Seesaw app on their iPads.

That’s one approach to solving this challenge using Apple. Let’s take a look at another way.

Google Suite

After reviewing YouTube versions of commercials and advertisements, students decide to use video annotation tools built into YouTube. They annotate parts of the video, highlighting the parts that exemplify a certain technique. Upon completion, students organize a Google Slide featuring still images, incorporating a comic strip storyboarded in Google Draw, and a video they recorded to YouTube using either their mobile phone with the YouTube Capture or their Chromebook’s webcam with ClipChamp extension($49 per classroom per year). Other students incorporate audio into their Google Slides presentation by recording voice-overs using Nimbus Screenrecording extension (free). And others might use Adobe Spark (free) or WeVideo ($250 per classroom per year) online.

Microsoft

Students might create a OneNote notebook, providing a written analysis of several videos from YouTube and Vimeo. They can copy and paste the video link (a.k.a. embedding) into a OneNote page, the video appearing for viewing. Then they use their MS Surface Pro 4 tablets to record a video rendition of their advertising. They could blend propaganda tips into the video and then add their explanation of what they did. As a final step, they create a view link for their OneNote Notebook. This makes it possible for anyone with an Internet browser to view the OneNote Online. Their teacher can make a class Sway highlighting the published products and share it online via Docs.com. Students with special needs are able to interact with the OneNote Notebooks their classmates create using the Learning Tools add-in.

Conclusion

You may have seen several possible ways to overcome the learning challenges in the scenario presented. In fact, like most educators, you imagined ways for all technologies to co-exist and empower students. Settling on only one technology may lead to an unwanted dystopian learning situation. Consider blending technologies instead. With that in mind, what would your technology classroom utopia look like? Please share in the comments!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Creating Interactive Math Textbooks

“It is not the reader of a text who learns the most,” says Stephen Knudsen, “but rather the author.  When a student makes a textbook in a course, the student engages daily in all classifications of learning…when students are asked to make a textbook, they are required to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. The results of this process are often nothing short of astonishing!”

Combine popular math tools like OneNote and GeoGebra to create astonishing, interactive math textbooks. Let’s find out how below.

Creating a Digital Textbook

Microsoft OneNote makes digital textbook creation easy. Students can work together on a single OneNote notebook that is organized into “notebook, section groups, sections, and pages.” Create a OneNote notebook as a textbook template, then share it via Docs.com. Students can grab the OneNote notebook digital textbook template, then enhance it. Each student or group of students can take responsibility for a specific section. OneNote enables you to insert all sorts of content, such as Vimeo, YouTube, Office Mix, Sway, and Microsoft Forms.

Organizing a Digital Textbook

Want to create a digital textbook template for your students? Let’s adapt Stephen Knudsen’s suggestions for a digital textbook:

• Section 1: Welcome
  • Title page featuring student-created cover art
  • Dedication
  • A short Foreword by the teacher or someone who has read the textbook
  • Table of Contents. You can use Onetastic add-on to OneNote to auto-generate a table of contents for each “section chapter” and the digital textbook as a whole.
  • Author’s page with pictures of students, including their Twitter addresses
• Section 2: Chapter 1 – Introduction
  • Organize the OneNote notebook into sections. Each section is a chapter.
  • Each section chapter will include its own table of contents and introduction.
• Section 3: Chapter 2
• Section 4: Chapter 3
• Section 5: Chapter 4
• Section 6: Chapter 5 – Conclusion
• Section 7: Chapter 6 – Appendix

Students create hand-drawn resources and then digitize their creations with the mobile-friendly Office Lens app. Tablet access? Students can create their first draft of figures within OneNote. Identify key terms, record video/audio definitions and explanation. Design tall buildings and describe in a video how they were created. For math problems, students can use OneNote digital whiteboard technology to draft their explanation. Or rely on Microsoft Snip’s whiteboard capabilities and then embed that in the OneNote page. A few other tips include adding tags to chapters, creating a hyperlinked table of contents for each section, and setting a page template specific to each section. When complete, future classes can access the digital textbook via OneNote Online or a “frozen” copy can be permanently published at Docs.com.

Exploring GeoGebra

Wondering how to add difficult mathematics constructs? Take advantage of GeoGebra tools and materials.

GeoGebra is dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education (free to non-commercial users) that joins geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics, and calculus. It also runs offline and works on various software platforms and devices (Source).

GeoGebra enjoys a rich community of support (check out Kurt Soeser, fellow Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), work | watch his video) with over 500,000 pre-created resources. In addition to creating content with GeoGebra, students can also place any of those half a million resources within their digital textbook. Want to see this in action? Go to my TCEA Connect OneNote notebook using this link. You can also watch the YouTube video walkthrough.

Conclusion

Rather than rely on traditional textbook publishers, adopt a maker attitude in your math classroom. Empower students to create digital textbooks using Microsoft OneNote and GeoGebra. Publish to a worldwide audience and ensure that the learning is meaningful and authentic.

Image Source

“Embed GeoGebra in OneNote” via Kurt Soeser as featured in the LearnOneNote Conference. Available at https://www.learnonconference.com/kurt-soeser-2016 during 11/12-11/17, 2016.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Microsoft Leadership Courses

If you are an instructional leader who wants to continue growing, then mark your calendar to participate in these free K-12 Education Leadership online courses available in January, 2017. With the goal to drive systemic change and improve education, these courses are incredibly powerful and cover important topics like design thinking, gamification, and deep learning.

About the Leadership Courses

Created by Microsoft and edX member universities, these K-12 Education Leadership courses guide K-12 school and education system leaders in developing their teachers, enhancing classroom learning, and improving student outcomes in innovative, effective digital schools. Each course includes an About This Course section, a description of what you will learn, and the option to add a certificate that can be posted or shared via LinkedIn. Each Microsoft-funded course provides resources to K-12 school leaders. The goal is to meet the needs of leaders around the world at the intersection of education and technology.

Course Schedule

Arrange your schedule as follows:

• January 17, 2017: Launching Innovation in Schools
• January 24, 2017: Leading Ambitious Teaching and Learning
• February 27, 2017: Deep Learning through Transformative Pedagogy
• March 6, 2017: Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning
• March 21, 2017: Design Thinking for Leading and Learning

Allow Yourself to Be Engaged

I found myself genuinely interested in the content of several courses. From topics like “Bringing people together around ideas they care about” to “Measuring progress and adjusting along the way,”  these processes are sure to prompt problem solving and thinking.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Anytime, Anywhere Learning Opportunities #msftedu

“What can I learn this vacation break?” As a lifelong learner, I like to ask myself this question when I have some spare time. Balance quiet family moments your next vacation with anytime, anywhere learning. Below, you will find suggestions for self-paced professional learning this winter break. These will deepen your technological and pedagogical knowledge without impacting your budget.

Microsoft Education Community

The self-paced classes available will garner you badges and certificates you can print and share. In a profound way, these courses deepen your understanding of teaching and learning with technology in your classroom. Take these three steps to maximize your holiday learning.

Step 1 – Get a free account.

Your first step involves setting yourself up with a Microsoft Education Community account. Don’t lose your username and password. Some of the options that you have include a free Microsoft account (you can create one with your Gmail or Apple email account), Twitter, Facebook, and Office 365 account connected to work.

Step 2 – Select topics of interest.

Once you are logged in, you’ll see a menu bar running down the left side of the screen featuring several links. Click on the Badges and Points to see what options are available.

Recommendations for Microsoft classes are shown below, followed by more courses focused on pedagogy:

Microsoft Office Tools

• Teacher Academy Windows 10 – A straightforward overview of Windows 10, great for newbies. You will earn 3,000 points and a badge for completing the course.
• Teacher Academy OneNote – This provides some great insights into using OneNote, a collaboration tool that is available free to all. You will earn a badge and 3,000 points.
• Digital Inking and Surface – Learn about digital inking and how the MS Surface Pro tablet can make learning more engaging. You will earn a badge.
• Teacher Academy: Office 365 – Did you just get a free Office 365 account through work or on your own as a teacher? This course will help you create, edit, share, and work with others using Office Online, Outlook, and Skype for Business. Earn a badge and 3,000 points.

Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Technology

• 21st Century Learning Design – This 20-hour course combines eight courses with 4-6 lessons each. You will earn a badge, certificate and have a better understanding of the learning that is possible in today’s classroom.
• Digital Citizenship – Explore digital citizenship concepts and become a confident digital citizenship champion. You will earn 500 points for this course and it will only take 30 minutes to complete.
• Technology-Enriched Instruction – Learn more about TPACK, 21st Century Learning Design, and how to integrate technology into your classroom. This three-hour course will earn you 3,000 points and a badge.
• Amplifying Student Voice – In this course, you will explore how to amplify student voice through the lens of research, practice, and integration frameworks. Tools like Skype, Flipgrid.com, and Sway will be used. You will earn 500 points for completing this course.
• PDLN Connect, Communicate and Collaborate – Visit classrooms that have set norms for cooperation and collaboration. You’ll see how technology can expand the walls of your classroom. Earn 500 points for this one-hour course.

Learn More About Coding

If you’re interested in developing your coding chops, then definitely check out Prepare to Teach Creative Coding Through Games and Apps.  Join the TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE) Facebook group (with 210+ members) to tap into a dynamic community!

Step 3 – Share Your Learning

Take a moment to share your learning insights via a blog entry, record a voxercast and tweet it, or present at the next staff meeting.  Principals could certainly create a Padlet to facilitate sharing.

Did you know? Ditch That Textbook Digital Seminars are available for free. Go to the site and click “Today’s Speaker” to learn something.

TCEA Professional Learning

Need more human interaction? Check out all the available options at TCEA.org. These for-cost options feature TCEA Professional Development directors to support your learning efforts. Here are a few certification courses:

• 21st Century Administrator Certification – Learn what you need to be successful in a campus leadership role.
• Campus Technology Specialist Certification – Understand the tools and processes to better engage students and increase relevant technology utilization in the classroom.
• IT/Technology Director Certification – Become an effective district leader and support administrators, teachers, and students in the use of technology.
• Chromebook Certification (Level 1) – Dig deeper in their utilization of Google Apps for Education tools.
• iPad Certification (Level 1) – Build a solid foundation for integrating the iPad in your classroom by participating in this certification.

Conclusion

Mapping your vacation learning gets easier every day. Treat yourself with anytime, anywhere learning!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Five OneDrive Tips #msftedu

Looking for five OneDrive tips that will improve your productivity? Microsoft OneDrive offers incredible benefits, so why not take advantage of it? An app that I use every day is Microsoft OneDrive, both on my Windows computer and my mobile phone. Did you know you that you can scan documents, record video and backup your images straight to OneDrive? Or did you know that you can access your OneDrive files without having an Internet connection? Learn about these tips and more below.

Tip #1 – Engage in Conversations about OneDrive documents

Want to discuss OneDrive documents with others while you both reviewing them? OneDrive and Skype are integrated to allow communications. With a few clicks, you and another person can Skype about a particular OneDrive document. This is a tremendous tool for having staff and students discuss files.

Tip #2 – Create and Share Documents with Others

Create Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Excel Survey, OneNote notebooks, and Excel Surveys using OneDrive on the Web. This is the quick way to create documents you can share with others. You can also organize your documents, move and copy them from one folder to another. OneDrive also makes it easy to share documents with others via a variety of options, as shown in the included image.

You can also embed content in a blog or web page. Also, aside from saving files with others, you can also make it easy to get files off your own computer using the Fetch feature.

If you have the OneDrive desktop app for Windows installed on a PC, you can use the Fetch files feature to access all your files on that PC from another computer by going to the OneDrive website. You can even access network locations if they’re included in the PC’s libraries or mapped as drives.

When you browse a PC’s files remotely, you can download copies of them to work on. You can also stream video and view photos in a slide show. To access files on your PC remotely, make sure the PC you want to access is turned on and connected to the Internet. OneDrive also needs to be running on that PC, and the Fetch files setting must be selected. (Find out more).

Tip #3 – Create Files using OneDrive Mobile App

Have OneDrive mobile app on your phone or tablet? Then you can manage the web version of OneDrive, take photos, record video that bypasses your device’s photo gallery (a.k.a. camera roll), Word document, Excel Spreadsheet, Powerpoint Presentation. Photos and videos are created in OneDrive and saved there. Office files are created and accessible via your device’s Office apps, as well as Office Online (e.g. Word Online).

Tip #4 – Scan Business Cards, Documents, and Whiteboard using OneDrive Mobile App

Digitizing student work, important paperwork, photos, and more represent real tasks. The OneDrive Scan component allows you to capture business cards, documents and whiteboards. Scan your paper notes, which are then turned into a PDF and sent to your cloud storage. Once notes are saved to cloud storage, you have the ability to share those with others. You can also use the OneDrive app to print, delete, rename or open the file in another app.

Tip #5 – OneDrive serves as Your Digital Hub

OneDrive serves as your digital hub for documents, but also notifies you when others share documents with you. You can enable notifications using the OneDrive mobile app. But wait, there’s more! Did you know you can set up MS Office 2016 on your computer to save direct to OneDrive? Of course, you are also able to save files offline. Want to save space on your Surface Pro tablet or computer?

Map your OneDrive as a network drive with these instructions

In this video by Sean Ong, see how to set OneDrive to show all files on your Surface or PC without taking up any storage space.

Here is a summary of the instructions shown in the video:

1. Login to your OneDrive – go to www.onedrive.com
2. Go into a folder in your OneDrive (any folder)
3. In the URL bar (navigation bar) copy the text that is between the “=” and the “%”
4. Go to “This PC” and click on “Map Network Drive” option
5. Type in “https://d.docs.live.net/[your copied text]/
6. Click finish, enter your credentials, and voila! You’re done.

More Tips

If you want more Microsoft tips, join the TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Facebook group.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

My Learning Journey with Minecraft: Education Edition #minecrafted

Image Source: https://news.softwarevilla.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MinecraftEdu-Nimblechapps.jpg

Over the last few months, I’ve been learning as much as I can about Minecraft: Education Edition, in the hopes of sharing it with others. I am continually amazed at the creativity and resourcefulness I encounter centered around Minecraft. So, part of my learning process has been to write and reflect on what I’m learning.

Upcoming #MinecraftED TwitterChat on Tuesday, January 24, 2017: Join the crew for a chat! The topic is Professional Learning with Minecraft or something like that. What kinds of questions do you have about enabling professional learning for staff and students with Minecraft: Education Edition?

This blog entry is a “round-up” of what I’ve written or create relevant to Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE). A part of me was curious as to what I had written and I wanted to see it in a rush rather than wait for a slower publication schedule.

It’s not exhaustive list of all the great things you could ever know. Rather this thimble-full of knowledge is just my poor attempt to share what I’m learning as I’m learning it. Thanks for reading and sharing. I hope it may be useful to someone else, but if it’s not, that’s OK, too!

Acknowledgements and Appreciation: I would be remiss if I didn’t thank TCEA.org, Microsoft and the Minecraft: Education Edition folks for their support. Learning would not have been possible without their support. Thanks! Be sure to check out their web sites and blogs.

Setting Up Minecraft

1. Installing Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE)
2. Logging into M:EE
3. Server Setup and Classroom Mode for M:EE

Making Curricular Connections

1. Amplifying Creativity: Minecraft Fairytales
2. Marzano’s Minecraftian Strategies
3. Five Steps to Game-based Learning with Minecraft
4. Designing Learning Spaces
5. Fantastic Voyage: Minecraft Lesson Planning

Wow, so that means I’m two short of ten articles on Minecraft, although strictly speaking, I need 5 more articles since three of these are really how-to, or illustrated walkthroughs!

Note: Links above will become active once respective blog entries are published. Sigh.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Fantastic Voyage: Minecraft Lesson Planning #minecrafted

Embarking on a fantastic voyage of learning with Minecraft? Let’s review the building blocks of project-based learning success. Minecraft Global Mentor, Benjamin Kelly (@BBTNB), starts us off with this project,  Minecraft Musical Chairs:

Anatomy of a Project

Texas educators may want to add a few more components to Ben’s project task card:

• SWBAT statement
• TEKS and ELPS
• Engaging scenario
• Formative assessment activities.

Let’s take a closer look at these building blocks.

Block #1 : Student Will Be Able To (SWBAT)

Jared Dees writes “SWBAT stands for “Students Will Be Able To….” Use SWBAT to focus a lesson plan on what the students learn by doing. Ask yourself “How do these verbs Jared includes align to what students do in Minecraft?”

Block #2: Relevant TEKS and ELPS

Learning happens on the messy journey from problem to solution. Aside from using The TEKS Resource System, hook students with a problem scenario.  Match the grade level TEKS to a core content-embedded scenario.

In Ben’s example, students show how they can work together. They construct a 3D physical representation of their learning by first developing construction criteria together and then adding their own positive improvements. In this way, student-architect teams achieve constructions they could not do alone.

Block #3: Fantastic Voyage

Get PDF version | PPTx version

In the Project Task Card above, I adapted Lynne Telfer’s (@lynnetelfer | blog) lesson, Create Fred The Human Body! from the Minecraft: Education Edition website. In The TEKS Resource System, this science lesson for grade 7 students helps them grasp the key concept that individual components combine to perform functions as a system.

During this unit, students study human body systems for the first time…They identify the main functions of the systems of the human organism.

Block #4: Assessment

Adapt an existing assessment, (e.g. rubric) from an existing one, such as this one offered on The TEKS Resource System. To gain maximum credit, modify the rubric as shown.

The 3D model of the human body is highly detailed, accurate. The model reflects the selected system with a high degree of accuracy. Each component is clearly labeled. Signs and Non-Player Character (NPC) provide functional details. Critical fluid flow is accurate and possible. Specific information on how size, scale, properties, and materials are included.  3D human body modeling is evident, analyzed, and explained.

Conclusion

While you can  teach this lesson the old-fashioned way , using Minecraft: Education Edition makes students architects of their own learning in 3D virtual environments. Research shows this is a growing future work trend (source).

Be sure to check out these links to additional lesson ideas.

• Lessons for Minecraft
• Fueling Analytical Thinking in Minecraft
• Adventures in City Planning
• Minecraft Math Activities

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Designing Learning Spaces #minecrafted

“How might you shape your space to foster creativity and learning for yourself and others?” asks University Innovation Fellows (@uifellows) via this presentation slide. At its most effective, early childhood curriculum expands children’s knowledge of the world and vocabulary. Such curriculum makes investigating real topics/events meaningful for children. And it instills a desire for question making and the use of literacy skills to explore the world around them. It invites them to be co-creators.

Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. Source: Wikipedia

Knowing how to shape the spaces we inhabit remains a human imperative.

Designing Learning Spaces

Physical Space Design

Early childhood teachers can both shape the physical and virtual spaces students work in. With Minecraft: Education Edition, they can invite children to shape the virtual spaces in ways that the physical space cannot. Designing learning spaces converts impersonal spaces into learning-friendly ones and moves far beyond throwing a carpet down in the corner reading center.

As we re-imagine physical spaces to reflect current educational research, several basics must be kept in mind. (Source: Tips for Creating Wow-Worthy Learning Spaces)

• Allow students to easily transition to functional locations
• Spaces that nurture a sense of belonging
• Interactive spaces that allow students to work in small groups
• Highlight displays and materials (e.g. books)
• Tidy storage of materials when not in use
• Ambience that addresses air quality, temperature, lighting, sound absorption, and effective wall space usage

How can we coach students and help them create virtual spaces that are learner friendly?

Virtual Space Design

Whether in Second Life or Minecraft: Education Edition, as students become architects, how will physical space design principles transfer into the virtual world? One approach involves having students simply copy the physical space design. Minecraft: Education Edition explodes re-designing classroom learning spaces. Who hasn’t looked at the flat world in Minecraft: Education Edition and felt a sense of awe at the creative possibilities? How do we help students go out and create a world?

From Classroom Space to Virtual World Design

Minecraft boasts unlimited space. The largest Minecraft map, if translated into a real world scale, would be equivalent to 9.3 million times larger than the surface area of the Earth (Source: The How-To Geek Guide to Minecraft). While students can’t necessarily be expected to fill the space, we should be asking ourselves “How can we design a worldwide virtual space, and what would a network of Minecraft worlds look like?”

It’s not hard to imagine Minecraft:Education Edition expanding to include the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, and more. Anyone who has experienced The World of Humanities has gotten a taste of the immensity of Minecraft space:

Pre-Populating Your World

If you are balking at how to get started with designing in Minecraft: Education Edition, you may want to take advantage of seeds.

Every time you create a new world in minecraft, it will be assigned a random unique value, known as a seed. This seed is kind of like a barcode for Minecraft saves, and allows Minecraft players to share the cool worlds that they have found with other people. However, any changes made to the world made by the player will not show in a newly created seed.

Source: What are Minecraft seeds?

For example, to obtain the village shown below, I located a Minecraft seed that works on the Pocket Edition of Minecraft (and also with the Minecraft: Education Edition).

And here’s what pasting the seed into the Create World window looks like:

Benjamin Kelly (@bbtnb) provides some examples of seeds usable in Minecraft: Education Edition. Find them at the links below:

• Seeds of Success 1-12
• Seeds of Success Pack 2

Conclusion

“Less is more,” some say. Ensuring students learn how to design virtual spaces may be one of the next big challenges they face online. Begin with the end in mind and consider the tips referred to in this blog entry.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Five Steps to Game-Based Learning with Minecraft #minecrafted

TCEA MEE Gameboard (Get Full Sized PNG Image or Adobe PDF version)

Wondering how to effectively engage students in interactive learning? Before we explore five steps to game-based learning with Minecraft: Education Edition, let’s recall why engagement remains important. If students don’t care, they fail to learn. Some of the top ways to engage students include:

• Physical activities get your students out of their chairs, learning better.
• Written/video quick reflections on learning (e.g. quickwrites, quickvids) yield powerful benefits
• Flipped learning, efficacious learning
• STEM/STEAM lessons show real value
• Robotics and/or 3D printing, engaging and pedagogically sound
• Project-based and game-based learning

Project-Based, Gamified Learning

Minecraft, which is a game-based effort to engage and keep students focused on learning, taps into student enthusiasm about gaming. Even more important, it models cooperative learning that mirrors teams in the workplace. The skills they develop are the “glue that keep people working together” (source: Getting to Know Minecraft: Education Edition slideshow). Think of Minecraft as a giant, blank canvas, a genesis of divergent learning opportunities students can take advantage of. Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE) brings a plethora of built-in opportunities ripe for written/video reflections on learning. Also, opportunities for flipped learning about relevant topics are embedded in project-based learning.

Getting Started Actions

People learn through observation, trial and error, and play-based practice. Minecraft’s open learning enables differentiation for students as they accomplish project-based tasks. These tasks are seldom accomplished in isolation. Like real life, they must be done in tandem with a committed team. Follow these steps to get started with M:EE in your school or district:

Step #1: Get your hardware and software licenses in order.Before you can get M:EE going in your classroom, you will need to ensure that your computers have Windows 10 or OS X “El Capitan.” Also, each machine will need an external mouse and every student will need an Office 365 account. These accounts are available through your school district’s Office 365 setup or via a free account.

Step #2: Install Minecraft: Education Edition on Windows 10 computers.To get M:EE ready to go on your Windows 10 or Mac OS X “El Capitan” computers, you will need to go to the M:EE web site. You will need your Office 365 account to get access to the software. Check out the M:EE Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to get started. View this short installation guide with screenshots.

Step #3: Build familiarity with the game.You need to achieve some level of comfort with Minecraft: Education Edition. To help you, TCEA has created this M:EE Gameboard. (You can download a PDF of the M:EE Gameboard above.) There are various tutorials you can watch online at the web site. And here are M:EE online courses that will help build your comfort:

Video #1 – Learn to Play Minecraft: Get ready to jump into a Minecraft world. It will help you learn the controls you’ll need to play. Learn to move around, swim, climb, jump, and place and destroy blocks.

Video #2 – First Weeks of Learning: This is the introductory module for the Minecraft in Your Classroom course. Some teachers may wonder whether they should take the time to incorporate game-based learning into their already packed curriculum. In this module, you will learn (1) what type of learning environments result in the greatest retention by students and (2) how Minecraft Education Edition not only supports such learning environments, but creates a safe, risk-free learning space for students.

Video #3 – Building Blocks of Literacy: This panel explores how and why Minecraft is being used to encourage literacy through play. From artistic collaborations between literature and gaming to stimulating learning through role play and stories, to nurturing new voices and young storytellers, you will take a closer look at the ways Minecraft is inspiring a new generation of readers and writers.

Step #4: Learn key terms and tools in Minecraft: Education Edition. M:EE brings a wealth of specific classroom tools. These are intended to make the game less about surviving zombies, creepers, and griefing (e.g. destroying) and more about working together to externalize learning. Check this glossary available online.

Step #5: Plan your project-based lesson.There is a rich collection of M:EE lessons you can adapt for your own use! We will explore these in more detail in a future blog entry. For now, take a look at some of the ideas displayed in this TCEA TechNotes blog entry Amplifying Creativity: Minecraft Fairy Tales.

Did you know? TCEA is offering Introduction to Minecraft workshops throughout Texas. The first is January 23, 2017 in Pittsburg (Area 8). The second is February 27 in Edinburg (Area 1), and there is another on March 31st in Victoria (Area 3). Online course offerings will also soon be available! Sign up now to learn with a Minecraft Certified Trainer.

Conclusion

Technology can facilitate real-life learning through the presentation of ill-structured problems. Minecraft: Education Edition enables learners to create external thinking models as they work to solve those problems. This short guide should start you on a journey of discovery.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Server Setup & Classroom Mode for Minecraft: Education Edition #minecrafted

Overview

The goal is to setup Classroom Mode so that you, as teacher, can take advantage of various controls to organize the world and people there.

What You Will Need

• A dedicated computer to serve as the Minecraft: Education Edition server. You will set it up in Step 1 shown below.
• A computer you can use to run Classroom Mode on. You can also run Minecraft: Education Edition on this computer, as well, but it cannot be the same machine as the “server.”
• Patience

Step 1 – Setup M:EE Server

Setup a Minecraft: Education Edition World to run as Multi-Player.

a. Modify your new world settings as you like then click MultiPlayer, as shown below. This will become the machine, a.k.a. “server,” you and others can use to connect to.

b. Verify that the computer is setup as a server on the Local Area Network (LAN).
Do that by going to another computer and running Minecraft: Education Edition on it. Then, click on FRIENDS and select the server you setup.

This will generate screens like this one:

Once the M:EE Server is setup, you can run Classroom Mode to connect to it and control it. Let’s do that now.

Step 2 – Setup Classroom Mode on a Computer

Classroom Mode will be used to control the class Minecraft world you setup in Step 1.

Follow these steps below to get Classroom Mode working on your “teacher” computer.

a. Search for “Command Prompt”:
 (Back to Top)

• Right-click “Command Prompt” shown above and then
• Select “Run As Administrator”.
   

b. Copy/Paste this command in the command prompt.

Once you are in Command Prompt, which looks like the screenshot below, paste in the command shown in italics below. You should only have to do this once per computer where you want to run Classroom Mode:

CheckNetIsolation.exe LoopbackExempt -a -n=Microsoft.MinecraftEducationEdition_8wekyb3d8bbwe
 

If it works, you’ll see the words OK as a response.
 

c. In the Classroom Mode App, you should see the following:

Notice that the server titled “MiguelG” at IP address 192.168.90.85 has 2 users out of 30 possible users connected.

When you click on the server and click CONNECT, you will see this screen:

Then, after a moment, you will see a similar screen as shown below:

Step 3 – Allow Others to Connect to The Server

Now that you have a server set up and are connected to it, you can connect additional users. You can follow the same steps as Step 2b, which are re-inserted below:

Do that by going to another computer and running Minecraft: Education Edition on it. Then, click on FRIENDS and select the server you setup.

This will generate screens like this one:

And, when you are connected, you both will be in this world:

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Marzano’s Minecraftian Strategies #minecrafted

Blended learning, coding, wearable tech, robots, artificial intelligence, and 3D printing remain hot, new trends for the near future. These technologies are already beginning to converge. One catalyzer that is making convergence possible in K-16 circles is Minecraft. How do these trends align to classroom instruction that works in virtual learning spaces?

Did you know? TCEA is offering Introduction to Minecraft workshops throughout Texas? The first is January 23, 2017 in Pittsburg (Area 8). The second is February 27 in Edinburg (Area 1), and another is on March 31 in Victoria (Area 3). Online course offerings will also soon be available! Sign up now to learn with a Minecraft Certified Trainer.

Classroom Instruction That Works from Marzano

Marzano’s research studies find that the effect of classroom practices on student learning are significant. Learners can use Minecraft as a future trends sandbox, disguising learning as play with 3D printing, coding, making, Internet of Things (IoT) control, and virtual learning space design. A wealth of work exemplifying Minecraft: Education Edition exists online, often the creation of self-motivated students across the globe. These students represent a growing expertise that shapes top Gartner group trends.

Let’s explore why in the chart below:

Category	Percentile Gain*	Trends	Connecting Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE)
Identifying similarities and differences	45%	Online learning and makerspaces	Cognitive research shows that educational programs should challenge students to link, connect, and integrate ideas. Minecraft serves as a virtual graphic organizer, enabling teachers to scaffold student control of structure at differing levels of support. Students develop their own strategies and develop non-linguistic representations that enhance their grasp of similarities and differences. This enables students to “make new connections, experience fresh insights, and correct misconceptions” (source: Identifying Similarities and Differences)
Summarizing and note taking	34%	Coding and content creation	In anticipation of creating a literature scenario or project in Minecraft, students must distill information into a concise, synthesized form and focus on important points. This is exactly what students do when they deconstruct fairy tale elements, script events as for a play, and then create the sets, characters, and portray the story in Minecraft. For example, constructing a building in Minecraft may require coded commands. Students become effective learners as they retell a fairy tale in Minecraft.
Reinforcing effort and providing recognition	29%	3D printing	Student achievement can increase when teachers show the relationship between increasing effort and achievement. One approach often employed with Minecraft involves creating a class effort rubric that shares a common definition for effort. This can involve defining whether a Minecraft student creation reflects the key elements of the rubric. View one example online and many others here.
Homework and practice	28%	Makerspaces	Re-constructing a historical site over time in Minecraft enables students to break down complex processes (e.g. architecture, planning, building to scale, geometry) into smaller bits. Consider the Crafting the Past Minecraft project as one example of this effort. Per the website, “In order to create the most authentic experience possible, archaeologists have been working alongside gaming experts since the beginning of the project.” Students can do homework to practice how they might create project aspects and then demonstrate divergent strategies to a group in class.
Nonlinguistic representations	27%	Makerspaces and blended learning	When students make virtual, 3D creations, as well as other types of non-linguistic representation, they create visual models of their thinking. They are able to organize key concepts in a visual way, as well as gain a better understanding of geometry. After creating visual structures, students can use their creations to better organize their ideas. See more ideas here.
Cooperative learning	27%	3D printing, drones, and robotics	Working together to design and create a 3D printing object in Minecraft serves as one example of cooperative learning. Students can plan a creation, execute it in Minecraft, and then print the result. Take a look at this video example. Robots can also be created and controlled in Minecraft using command blocks. The same can be done with drones.
Generating and testing hypotheses	23%	Coding and the Internet of Things	In Minecraft, students can employ Redstone to create simple programs, as well as more complex ones, to achieve desired results in virtual space as defined online. Minecraft’s Hour of Code also provides examples for students to learn to control objects and make visible their thinking.

*Adapted with Minecraft examples by Miguel Guhlin from a chart available online here. Read full report, What Works in Classroom Instruction, featuring effect size online from McREL.

Summary

While few can predict future trends with any degree of certainty, new technologies are converging and finding their way into virtual spaces and worlds. Minecraft serves as one technology that makes creating and controlling other technologies easy with minimal expense. With proper scaffolding, Minecraft activities align to Marzano’s classroom instruction that works research.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure