Technology – Page 2

Ideas for Using ThingLink in the Classroom

“ThingLink is an interactive media platform that empowers publishers, educators, brands, and bloggers to create more engaging content by adding rich media links to photos and videos…Use ThingLink to create interactive news photography, maps, posters, family albums, infographics, and shoppable product catalogs in minutes” (Source).

Getting Started

The following video will help you start using ThingLink.

Setting up ThingLink for the Classroom

This playlist, compiled by Susan Oxnevad, contains tutorials for setting up ThingLink channels, embedding Google docs, setting up student accounts, organizing students into project groups, and more.

Educational Connections

ThingLink can be used:

To communicate the directions and expectations for class projects, small group activities, independent learning, etc.
With book reports, research projects, and science projects.
To add narration to images.
For teacher and student introductions at the beginning of the year.
To develop interactive posters to communicate with students and parents.
For student reflections.
To integrate multimedia and dynamic data with maps, infographics, Wordles, and other images.
For organizing and sharing professional development resources.
To organize online scavenger hunts and webquests.
As interactive digital bulletin boards.

Examples

U.S. Regions

Home of the Cardinals

Animal Cells: Their Composition and Functionality

Extended Learning

Creating ePortfolios with ThingLink

ThingLink launches Virtual Reality Lessons App For Education

VR Lessons by ThingLink – iOS App

Interesting Ways to Use Thinglink in the Classroom

ThingLink in the Classroom – One image. Tons of possibilities.

20 Ways to Use ThingLink in Education

10 Innovative Ways to Use ThingLink in the Classroom

Historic Images are Everywhere

Talking Ed.: 3D Printing Lab

Talking Ed. with Cody Behles

Episode 010 (View entire series)

Cody Behles provides background on 3D printing and highlights some of the powerful ways that it can be used in schools.

Related Posts

Tour of 3D Printing Lab

References

Image Source: fablabconnect.com

Nutshell: Prezi’s New App for Visual Storytelling

Prezi introduces a new way to share life’s little moments, in a nutshell.

Combining the simplicity of photographs, the compelling nature of video, and the fun of animated graphics, Nutshell uses Prezi’s new storymapping technology to create short, shareable cinematic narratives that can be shared easily and instantly.

Besides creating fun social media updates, Nutshell opens the door for all sorts of unique messaging opportunities when videos feel like too much of a production and plain photos just are not adequate for capturing life’s moments.

3 Easy Steps

Snap three pictures.
Add captions.
Choose graphics and let Nutshell turn it all into a shareable cinematic story.

Features

Library of free animated graphics that you can use to create short cinematic stories
Instant sharing to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
Send nutshells directly to friends via email, text messages, and WhatsApp
Full camera support for iOS 8.0 and above
Much more

Educational Connections

Provides students with a creative alternative for submitting reflections, journals, etc.
Share engaging news and announcements with students and parents.
Integrate with standards focused on communication: personal expression, propaganda techniques, etc.
Enables creative ways for students to share their interpretations of poems, stories, books, plays, and other works of art.
Empower students to collect evidence of their thinking during a lab or group activity.
The finished product can serve as an artifact of learning, potentially making thinking visible in your classroom.

There are many other educational connections. Please share yours in the comments to this post.

Talking Ed.: Badges in Education

Talking Ed. with Dr. Rick West

Episode 007 (View entire series)

“Open Badges provide a new way of issuing credentials to individuals who demonstrate knowledge, skill, or ability in a particular domain. Badges provide a simple system for communicating a skill along with specific information about the evidence connected with earning the badge” (Source). Dr. Rick West provides background for educational badges, discusses some of the rationale and benefits, and provides tips for implementation.

Image Source: schoolleadership20.com

Google Announces New Learning Management System (LMS)

“Classroom is a new, free tool coming to Google Apps for Education that helps teachers easily and quickly create and organize assignments, provide feedback, and communicate with their classes” (Source). “Classroom weaves together Google Docs, Drive and Gmail to help teachers create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently, and communicate with their classes with ease…it lets students organize their work, complete and turn it in, and communicate directly with their teachers and peers” (Source).

The following video highlights the experiences of some of the teachers and students who provided feedback as Google developed Classroom.

Benefits for Classes

Easy to Set up
Teachers can add students directly or share a code with their class to join. It takes just minutes to set up.

Saves Time
The simple, paperless assignment workflow allows teachers to create, review, and grade assignments quickly, all in one place.

Improves Organization
Students can see all of their assignments on an assignments page, and all class materials are automatically filed into folders in Google Drive.

Enhances Communication
Classroom allows teachers to send announcements and questions instantly. Since students can post to the stream, they can help out their classmates.

Affordable and Secure
Like the rest of our Google Apps for Education services, Classroom contains no ads, never uses your content or student data for advertising purposes, and is free for schools.

Learn more: http://google.com/edu/classroom

Tour of 3D Printing Lab

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take one of my graduate classes on a tour of new 3D Printing Lab in the University of Memphis Library. We received training in computer-aided design (CAD) and use of the 3D printer, and had the opportunity to see it in action. Our conversation about integrating 3D printers with learning was packed with ideas and I left feeling energized. Additional educational uses have been popping into my mind since.

The following video and photos showcase some of the various projects that were printed. The Memphis skyline is my favorite and look even more impressive in-person.

The following album offers snapshots and captions of our tour.

Discussion

What experiences have you had with 3D printing?
Can you see potential ways to connect 3D printing with learning?

What Is Web 3.0? Here’s An Introduction

Extended Learning

How Web 3.0 Will Work by HowStuffWorks

Semantic Web at Wikipedia

What Does Web 3.0 Look Like in Education from TeachBytes

An Introduction to Online Word Processing

(Repost from 12/04/2009)

This video provides a great overview of the concept of online productivity tools (word processor, presentations, spreadsheets) in under 3 minutes.

Click to take a look at Google Docs and Zoho Writer.

See this tutorial on collaborating with others with web applications like Google Docs.

Consider how these kinds of technologies could be integrated with teaching and learning and leave your ideas in the comments section below.

Office Productivity Tools

Apple vs. Google: A Rural School District’s Perspective

I enjoyed listening to the following interview from Robert Scoble. On his Facebook wall Robert states that he learned “from an Indiana school superintendent, all about how Google Chromebooks are really changing what he can do and why Android tablets are coming on strong against the iPad” (Source).

What are your thoughts and experiences related to these platforms and tools?

Sounds Good to Me: Learning and Digital Audio #edtech #mlearning

Yesterday I had the opportunity to teach a workshop as part of our IDT Program‘s Teachers and Technology Thursdays (T3) series. I’m sharing the workshop information and resources here in response to inquiries I received last night via Twitter and Facebook. I hope that you find this useful and invite you to share your ideas for integrating audio with teaching and learning.

Workshop Description

Enable students to make their thinking visible through the use of digital audio. Learn how recorded tutorials and messages, storycasts, book trailers, audio chatting and commenting, teacher recorded feedback, and more can enable students to engage with course content inside and outside the classroom and better equip parents to help with homework. Several freely available websites and apps will be demonstrated. Strategies for designing lessons and practical tips for implementation will be shared.

You can view the workshop slides – which include video tutorials, links to examples of student projects, and more – by clicking on the image below.