Educational Technologies

Today in Tech class we explored many new technological tools and resources that can be used and integrated in the classroom. We worked in jigsaw cooperative learning groups to be able to explore a large variety of resources, and highlight the ones with our groups that we really liked. I enjoyed this activity because we were able to explore resources on our own, share with our group what we liked, and then break off into separate groups where we highlighted the best resources that we found. Some resources that I found especially interesting were ToonDoo, Google Sites, Word Clouds, Coggle, Storybird, Padlet, Popplet and Easlly. Each of these resources are free, or have a good free component, which is something that I love! These tools are very versatile because they could be used by a teacher to aid in instruction or by students to demonstrate the learning and growth that they have experienced in the form of diagnostic, formative or summative tasks.

I have experimented with a few of these tools and have found that they would be great additions in my classroom. Today I created an infographic on Easlly (see below) about my Genius Hour project. I used a template that they provided on the website and then changed the information and organization of it to suit what I wanted to depict. The information I used for this infographic came from The World Federation of the Deaf, pages Sign Language and FAQ. Infographics are a great way for students to represent the work they have completed in a simplistic form, such as depicting information found through research. A teacher can also use an infographic to highlight main facts to the class about a topic, or introduce them to something in a quick, easy way.

The World Federation of the Deaf: https://wfdeaf.org/

I have also used Word Clouds to create a sample of how it could be used in the classroom. A teacher could use this to introduce words for a unit that students would need to know; for example, I based my Word Cloud around temperature, and made it in the shape of a cloud to relate it to weather. Students can also use Word Clouds to make a list of new words that they found the definition of through research, or compile new words they learned by the end of a unit. A neat idea would be to compile all the word clouds from each unit into a binder so the student has a quick reference of the words they learned! Printing large word clouds for each unit and hanging them around the room would also be a creative substitution for the traditional word wall!

On a different note, my Genius Hour research is still going well, and I will be coming out with another video of my progress soon! Time is running out to work on this as classes will be coming to a close in a few weeks. Next steps include creating two more progress videos, as well as beginning to work on my Genius Hour Ted-Style Talk...stay tuned!