Ideas for Appropriate Integration

I wanted to get back to the basics with this post and consider this question: If I am just beginning to get into technology and I want to put it in my class, where should I start? Am I too late to begin?

Not to fear, here are a couple of sure-fire tips to help you succeed!

1. Provide students with worthy choices

Have you ever been to a restaurant where the menu seems too limited and you order the spaghetti because you felt like there wasn't any other choice? Sometimes teaching can be the same way: we present students with a project without allowing them the opportunity to work with a tool that appeals to them.

Give students some choices about which tool(s) they can use to complete an assignment. That way you're hitting those learners with something that excites them. So, they may be more excited by ToonDoo than they are by Glogster or vice versa. Give them the opportunity to try out those different tools and allow them to explore their different styles of learning by allowing them to use those different tools. Fran Mauney of the Greenville (SC) School District recommends creating a menu for students so they have a variety of choices from which to complete their assignments. (Note: Ms. Mauney's menus serve a class for an entire unit, so this is not necessarily a one-time thing.)

2. Always have a backup plan

We know that when working with technology we'll occasionally run into a situation where nothing works. Either the school's server is down, an Internet connection is lost, or the website just isn't working with you! Sometimes things just don't work! Most of the ideas or resources we use in the class are web based, which means that if you're planning to use Kerpoof and the Internet is down your whole lesson is lost. So, always have a backup plan, which I suggest is the "old way of doing things". Ask yourself, "What else could I do if my whole lesson gets blown away because I don't have Internet access?"

3. Appoint a "Technician of the Week"

As you have different jobs in your classroom, perhaps the lunch count person or the door holder, have someone designated as your technology person. When you're doing technology assignments this person acts as the "go to" person. Tell the class that Joey, Bobby, and Susie are the Glogster experts and let them help their classmates. This will free you up to help students complete the assignment in an academic manner, while the "technicians" can help with more basic how-to questions. Some other roles for this person may be to get the computers up and running in the morning and shut them down at the end of the day.

4. Hold students accountable

Provide students some way to know they're on task and moving in a positive direction. Give them a rubric and help them understand how to follow it. After all, there's no use in using technology if doesn't adhere to the content and if there's no way to tell if they've learned anything. This is just like when you create any other lesson. You wouldn't plan a non-technological lesson without a way to determine what your students learned. It's the same with technology.

Glog, glog, glog, glog!!!

I've found the best way to generate enthusiasm about a project with my students: personalization. What I mean is that when I allow students to create something that reflects their unique character, they seem to have much more fun as they learn. Often they don't realize that they're learning if they're having a good time!

A great tool for garnering this kind of enthusiasm is Glogster, an online poster maker. If you've never used Glogster, imagine creating a standard poster with your class. Now imagine being able to add and edit pictures quickly, add links to different websites, putting videos on your poster and doing the whole thing without the scraps of paper littering the floor and glue all over the place! You'll be amazed how your students will exhibit a surprising desire to create and stay on task when they are simply allowed to customize colors, images, and text! Check out this example below:



How to bring this into the classroom
Glogster is such a versatile tool that it's difficult to narrow down how to use it. You can literally use it in every subject with almost every grade level (though I probably wouldn't go younger than 2nd grade).

Ideas:
2nd Grade: During an animals and habitat unit give each student a different animal and have them create a glog about that animal's unique characteristics and how each thrives in its given environment.
4th Grade: Have students illustrate the differences between patriots and loyalists during the time of the Revolutionary War.
5th Grade: Students do book reports on WWII books in order to compare/contrast reality and fiction.

What other ideas do you have?

Animation

A fantastic way to engage your students is to create cartoons or some kind of animation. There are numerous sites for such activities, such as Kerpoof, XtraNormal, and Be Funky, and each is an incredible way to allow your students the ability to express themselves creatively. One of my favorite sites is ToonDoo, which is an easy-to-use comic strip creator. In a matter of minutes students can create professional looking comics that can act as a class project or an assessment of their learning. The example below shows how students might create a comic about Revolutionary War taxes being levied on American colonists.

By rnovak | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Me and You...Tube

YouTube is a fantastic resource for finding great educational videos. Unfortunately, in the context of educational use, YouTube can receive a bad rep because there is a large number of inappropriate videos on the site, which can get students in trouble if they're irresponsible. However, if properly monitored, YouTube can be a real boon to the classroom because, while there is a large number of videos that are not beneficial in the class, there is a larger number of great videos.

The Internet also allows students to quickly create videos that can be posted to YouTube and then be shared with not only with their classmates but with the world! Below is an example of how a student might use YouTube to produce a quality work that can then be shared with the world. This student showed her understanding of Native Americans by creating a video. That means she had to put together her understands in a way that could then be clearly communicated, then she had pull together visual resources that would help her teach the topic. In this case, she used Google Earth. Imagine how much more seriously a student will take an assignment if they know it could be seen by any person around the world!

How do you think you can use YouTube in your classroom?

Collaboration

Collaboration is one of the best ways to increase learning and create a sense of community. Many tools are readily available to facilitate collaboration, whether that is peer-to-peer or teacher-to-student or student-to-student collaboration. Any way it is done the goal is to learn together, sharing understanding and resources. A great resource to consider is a ning. This is general term referring to an online learning community where people of similar interests pool their combined resources and knowledge in order to help the group at large. Nings exist for art teachers, people with cats, or mountain bikers; they exist for every possible group you can imagine.

How might a ning be used within a classroom, in a traditional teacher-and-students setting? Suppose the teacher set up a ning to discuss topics they had been discussing in history class. Perhaps they can list or catalogue their understandings of over-arching themes and show how history repeats itself. Students are quick to grab onto a resource like a ning because they are accustomed to using sites like Facebook, Google+, and MySpace, where they join together with their friends and discuss a variety of subjects.

Nings can also be used to encourage professional growth. Participants can discuss current methods they are implementing and topics being discussed in the classroom. Everyone that participates in a ning benefits, whether they are actively participating or simply reaping the benefits of others' experience.

He, She and iGoogle

In a move to keep various pieces of information at our eager fingertips, iGoogle gives users an opportunity to pick and choose the information that most interests them and have it accessible when they enter their iGoogle account. Similar to accessing the basic Google search engine, iGoogle includes its famous search bar, but it also features an innumerable amount of widgets that display news headlines, weather in other parts of the world, events saved in your Google Calendar, or popular YouTube videos.

This application helps tailor the Internet to personal tastes, a descriptor of what is being called Web 3.0. As opposed to the well-known term "Web 2.0", which describes Internet sites that connect users to each other and allow people to collaborate on information (Wikipedia is a classic example of a Web 2.0 site), Web 3.0 focuses more on personalizing the Internet and presenting only information that interests the user.

As an educator, iGoogle keeps me in touch with relevant and current information. I am able to follow blogs, which present information that I can use in the classroom. News headlines help me predict the direction educational technology is moving and it helps me prepare for trainings I may need to offer or lessons I may need to learn myself. By pulling together all of this information you are able to stay current and up-to-date with the your profession, your personal interests, and your life!

Using Google Forms in the Classroom

Another fantastic addition to the bevy of Google applications available is Google Docs, the more familiar name for Google Documents. Docs allows multiple users to simultaneously collaborate on a single project, assignment, or document, which, if incorporated into the classroom, would allow students to work on a project with other members of a group without needing to be physically near their classmates. Students can work from the luxury of their homes, the comfort of a coffee shop, or their school library and also be working with their peers at the same time, even though those peers are currently elsewhere. Google Docs allows learning to happen outside of the classroom, but will still allow collaborative learning and group participation.


One feature within Google Docs is Forms. This allows users to create a document that other users could complete and submit their answer. So, how might this be used in the classroom? One way is to create assessments at the end of a unit. Students would access the form, which can be distributed via email or by embedding it into a website, answer the questions and submit their answers. Google Docs will then collect all submitted answers into an easy-to-read spreadsheet that has also graded the students answers! This means teachers do not have to spend time copying tests nor grading if they take advantage of Google Docs!


How else might Google Docs be utilized in the classroom?


Here is an example of a Form that has been embedded into my blog.