Google Tilt Brush: Impossible now a reality?

 

Google Tilt Brush combines virtual reality with drawing, painting, design, photography, and sculpture. Almost any kind of visual art can be combined with this cutting edge technology to create some amazing works of art. Watch the videos and read about how this technology is being used by artists around the world in a variety of unique ways. How to you think this could eventually be adapted for use in educational settings?

Virtual Reality Learns How to Get Into the Classroom

This article claims that virtual reality can be used as a learning tool in classrooms today. After reading the article "Virtual Reality Learns How to Get Into the Classroom" do you think virtual reality could be all the author claims it could be in a classroom setting? Would you consider using it in any of the ways mentioned in the article? Can you think of other ways it might be incorporated into K-12 education?

16 Modern Realities Schools (and Parents) Need to Accept. Now.

After reading Will Richardson's essay 16 Modern Realities Schools (and Parents) Need to Accept. Now. taken from his Twitter post, about the growing change movement in education. Do you agree or disagree with his thoughts on change? Be specific in your response and state the reasons for your opinion.

10 Great Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom

Read the article "10 Great Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom", describing some simple ways teachers can incorporate a variety of social media sites into their classrooms. Do you think you would try using social media in your classroom? What challenges and/or benefits do you think will result? If you were to use one social media site which one would you be most likely to use and why?

NMC Horizon Report Preview 2016 k-12 Edition

Take a look at the preview of the NMC Horizon Report 2016 k-12 Edition by clicking on this link to open the pdf document: http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-horizon-report-k12-preview.pdf . Look at the key trends in part I, choose one that you think you might like to incorporate into your practice and explain how you would do this. Which significant challenge in part II do you think it will be most difficult to overcome, explain why you think it will be so difficult. Find one important development in educational technology that interests you in part III and explain how you might incorporate this technology in your classroom. Please post your explanations as a comment for this blog post.

The key to making the shift to active learning (and why technology is not enough)

Some public schools (by design) foster passive learners, discourage productivity, and fail to teach self-discipline. The culture of “school” works against what research shows to be in the best interest of next generation learners. Access the article at: http://plpnetwork.com/2015/03/10/shift-active-learning-technology-answer/  After reading the article are you convinced that things have to change? Do you think we are shifting to an educational culture of active learning? Explain why or why not and what you think has to happen to achieve this goal.

TeacherCast: a place for Teachers to Help Other Teachers

TeacherCast.net is a growing dynamic Educational Media Network offering great opportunities for educators, app developers and businesses to work together to improve the quality of education for our students.

TeacherCast offers educators several great avenues for professional development:

• The TeacherCast Podcasting Network
• The TeacherCast Educational Newspaper/Magazine
• The TeacherCast Professional App
• A Career Center to search and post jobs
• TeacherCast University
• TeacherCast TV

Their mission is to create an environment for educators to have access to resources for Professional Development. You can find the site at: http://www.teachercast.net/  Explore some of the content listed above on the TeacherCast website. Which features would you use and how would you use them for your professional development?

iPad Lessons/Technology

Take a look at this Pintrest board: http://www.pinterest.com/schildhauers/ipad-lessonstechnology/ 
Choose one pin that interests you. Explore it and write about how you might use the same app, idea or procedure in your classroom in the future.

2014 Horizon Report Higher Education Edition

The NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Higher Education Edition is a collaborative effort between the NMC and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE Program. This eleventh edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in education. Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six emerging technologies are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, giving campus leaders and practitioners a valuable guide for strategic technology planning. The report provides in-depth insight into how the trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of educational technology, along with their implications for policy, leadership and practice. View the  report at http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2014-nmc-horizon-report-he-EN-SC.pdf  

Look through the report, read about the trends, challenges, and emerging technologies. Which trends and emerging technologies do you think has the most merit? Which do you think you might be using in the near future? Which challenge do you think will be hardest to overcome?

Caitlin Tucker's Blended Learning in the Classroom Blog

Click on the link to view this blog:
http://catlintucker.com/
Find a post that interests you and describe it in a paragraph and tell us how it might change what you do or how you do it.

Rethinking Teacher Roles in a New Networked World

Read the article "Rethinking Teacher Roles in a New Networked World." In this article author-educator Marc Prensky's newest buzzword is "futurecation," which he says involves preparing students to do things "we could never do before." He believed that rather than continuing with a content focus—math, English, science, and social studies (or "MESS" as he calls it)—he said, "I think we need a new core: effective thinking, effective action, effective relationships, and effective accomplishment. Thinking, acting, relating, and accomplishing ought to be what primary and secondary school is about." Do you agree or disagree with his approach? How do you feel this approach would affect the way you teach now or will affect the way you teach in the future?

Interactive Sites for Education

This site has interactive content that can be used by K-5 educators. Select a subject area and then focus on a topic to explore. Identify the topic you have chosen and the grade level you intend to use the activity with. Then describe the type of activities you found and how you can integrate it into your teaching practice. Click on the link to get started: http://interactivesites.weebly.com/index.html

5 professors on YouTube who nailed teaching

YouTube can broaden a teacher's audience to include the world! Here's an article that shows how five professors use YouTube to show off their unique styles of teaching. Choose one that interests you and watch the video, then post a comment telling what you liked and/or didn't like about the video and how you might adapt one of that professor's strategies to your own teaching. Here's the link to the article with the embedded videos: http://www.educationdive.com/news/5-professors-on-youtube-who-nailed-teaching/181504/

The Teaching Channel

The Teaching Channel is a video showcase—on the Internet and TV—of inspiring and effective teaching practices in America's schools. It is a rapidly growing community of registered members who trade ideas and share inspiration with each other.

With the help of the Tch community, their mission is to revolutionize how teachers learn, connect, and inspire each other to improve the outcomes for all K-12 students across America.

Click on the Teaching Channel link: https://www.teachingchannel.org/  Search for a video that would be relevant to your practice, view it, then write a short summary (include the video’s title and its author) including a critique of that video, be sure to add a sentence or two about how you might apply the video's content to what you might do in the future in your classroom. Post your critique in the comment section of this blog.

2020 Stats: Rising Tablets

 

Link for Rising Tablets Infographic

Study this Infographic from the Summer 2013 issue of Scholastic Administrator magazine. What did you learn from it? What did you think was the most interesting fact/observation in the Infographic? Do you think Infograhics are a good way to present information? Why or why not? Would you ever consider creating an Infographic to present information to your students?

The Future of Technology is Here - An Interview with Teacher Julie Garcia, Apple Distinguished Educator

Click on this link to read the article:

The Future of Technology is Here - An Interview with Teacher Julie Garcia, Apple Distinguished Educator 

Do you think Julia Garcia's approach to the integration of technology in her classroom by making her students the producers, rather than the consumers of their own knowledge is a good one? Do you feel this is a valid approach for today's teachers and one that you might use in the future? Why or why not?

Technology Integration In K12 Education/Adaptive Technology in Special Education

Use this link to find an article about adaptive technology for students with special needs: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Technology_Integration_In_K12_Education/Adaptive_Technology_in_Special_Education
This article will be helpful when integrating adaptive and assistive technology tools into planning for instruction in inclusive classrooms. What tools do you think you would use and how would you integrate them into your lesson plans and into your daily practice if you had a student with special needs?

19 Bold (Not Old) Ideas for Change

Will Richardson has some radical ideas about how we should be educating our students. Watch this video http://vimeo.com/45152953 to see his ideas for change. Do you agree with him? Which idea do you like best? How do you think you can make this idea work in your classroom or future classroom?

Lecture As Content Delivery Is Dead

Visit The Think Stick! Jeff Utecht's blog
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/lecture-as-content-delivery-is-dead/
Do you agree with the author? Do you think the other ways that Jeff discusses using lectures are more effective? Why or why not? How do or would you use lecture in your classroom?

Introducing ... The Common Core: ELA

http://prezi.com/shv1e-ig9oqr/introducing-the-common-core-ela/

Watch this Prezi created by Kevin Hodgson for a presentation at a workshop to Massachusetts teachers. It presents an overview of the ELA Common Core and explains the initiate's purpose
Introducing .. The ELA Common Core
Did the Prezi help you understand why we need the Common Core? Do you think the Common Core will change the way we educate our students? How do you think classroom instruction, homework, teaching, and learning will change? Can you embrace these changes?  Will your students and their parents embrace them?