Just a quick rundown of some apps I've been looking at in the past few weeks. I get very Google-centric here because of their vast array of resources and the availability of them, but it's important to remember there are amazing #EdTech resources outside of the Google realm. All three of these resources are designed to be for any curriculum. They are tools every class can use as apart of their repertoire.
This is a favorite of a lot of people in the EdTech world. For Blended Learning purposes (think flipped but not completely), this resource is a big one. You can house a series of steps for your students all in one easy to navigate, and use, hub for a self-contained lesson. Add content (documents, video, images, etc.) from your computer or the web, and provide guidance for students. The resource is shareable and embed-able (as you can see below) and makes complex tasks with numerous steps easy for students to grasp.
A link to the above file if you'd like to see it in a new tab:
https://www.tes.com/lessons/C9C0J3u6cp4OPQ/rise-of-fascism-dbq-prep
I'm a huge fan of
EdPuzzle for videos (forces students to answer questions about the video before proceeding) and Actively Learn works very similarly but with articles and primary source documents. Have students answer questions as they read as part of their check for understanding. Want them to discuss items while they are reading (What? Thinking...while they are reading?), create the space for them. Want them to take a poll within the document at any place to gauge their opinions or understanding? Well....lets' do that!! It's one of those products that asks you to create a classroom and have students sign into it. But it is well worth it. Ken Buck at NU has been giving it a go as of late and he reports its an excellent resource for Primary Source documents and his students' understanding of them. There are a ton of features and options and Actively Learn walks you through the process in an easy to understand way.
With Actively Learn, you set the pace with students, get them to answer all the questions in a rich manner, and allow for a deeper understanding of course material. After clicking, "Read More" check out the pic and gifs on how this looks for the student.
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| Start with an Intro Question - Students will not see the article or document until they respond |
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| Any question or poll for them to take requires their response before they move on. |
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| You can add notes or instruction in the margin |
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| Students can define any term in the doc and get an audio pronunciation of the term |
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| Add discussion items on the right where all students will see the response of others |
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| Include images and other media into your discussions |
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| Again, questions stop the student from seeing the rest of the document until they submit a response |
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| Add a final, summative question at the end to gauge the readers' understanding of the article itself |
On the teacher side, you can give marks to students based on their responses and make students revise their responses if they weren't sufficient. If you're interested in learning more about it, email me. I'd be happy to walk you through it. Give Actively Learn a shot!!
For those not on Schoology, having your students stay organized with all of your work and deadlines can be a pain. We are also transitioning from a time period where the "paper planner" is just as common as pay phones and newspapers (no slight on either of those....but facts are facts). Students are also experiencing high levels of stress due to disorganization and a lack of time management skills. MyStudyLife seeks to upend those issues by providing students a robust product that can be fully customized by the student. The product offers web access and apps for Android and iOS devices. The student inputs their schedule when they create their account and then they add the assignments, projects, assessment dates, and any other helpful information they need to stay on top of their workload. Students can have access to their daily, weekly, monthly schedule complete with the work that they must do at all times. They get reminders (push notifications) when work is due. Its slick, easy to update, and beneficial to those that make the practice of staying organized a habit.
Coach Savoie at BR has been using this service for his "Camp Savoie" students - a handful of at-risk Sophomores and their Junior and Senior peer-tutors. For those that have been using the service religiously in that class, they have reported satisfaction with the product. I'll be collecting data soon on the entire group's usage to gauge it's effectiveness. For now, if you're interested, check out the Google Slides below that I ran through with the students when signing them up.
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