EdTech for SD Teachers Podcast - Episode 13: The CRAP test for Information Literacy

This week, I discuss the CRAP test to help you determine the accuracy of an information source. Teachers can adapt this test for different ages of students in order to help them learn this important 21st century skill. Here are the elements of the CRAP test:

Currency
Reliability
Accuracy
Purpose and point of view

Here are the links from this post:

• Reliability of Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia

More information in my book - Educational Technology for Teachers - including a full section on information literacy.

3 Free Synchronous Distance Learning Tools

Do you want to have a videoconferencing session with a student or parent at home? Maybe you want to connect to another classroom on the other side of the world to learn about a different culture or language. Perhaps you would like to invite an expert into your classroom, but that expert lives far away. 

For teachers who wish to communicate with students and others synchronously (live), there are a variety of free tools available online. These tools — which include Skype, Google+ Hangouts and Talky — allow the teacher to connect with students, experts and other classrooms for distance learning. This post is an excerpt from my textbook, Educational Technology for Teachers. 

Skype 

Perhaps the most ubiquitous free synchronous communication tool is Skype, a communication tool that allows you to chat, call and videoconference with anyone who has an Internet connection and Skype account. Skype wasn’t necessarily created for educational purposes, but it has been used by teachers and students worldwide to share lessons, connect to other classrooms and invite experts to the class. 

All participants in a Skype call must first sign up for a free Skype account, but it has been estimated that as many as 33% of voice calls worldwide are made through Skype, so a lot of people already have Skype accounts. Videoconferencing is limited to five separate locations at a time and is dependent on the quality of the Internet connections of each participant. For voice-only calls, the number of possible separate locations that can connect is 25. To start a session in skype, simply click on the person in your contact list that you wish to call and then click “call” or “video call.” When the call has been established, there is a “+” button that lets you add more people for a group call. 

Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangouts is another free synchronous communication tool that features group chat and videoconferencing. As is the case with Skype, Google+ Hangouts was not created for educational purposes, but can be used to present a lesson, connect to classrooms, answer questions, and do other learning activities. Google+ Hangouts videoconference sessions are limited to only 10 people, and all participants must have a Google+ account before participating in a chat or live session. 

To chat or videoconference with people using Google+ hangouts, login to Google+ and then type their name in the “New Hangout” field. For a group chat or videoconference session, you can check the checkboxes to add as many people as you want. A new chat window comes up in which you can chat with the group. To videoconference with a person or group, you can click the “video call” button in the chat window. 

Talky

Talky is relatively new in the synchronous communication world, but it provides a high-quality interface for videoconferencing which requires no login or previous software installation. Screen and video sharing is possible by all participants in a Talky session, and through screen sharing, the teacher can show presentations, software applications and documents. Students can also share presentations and concepts using screen sharing in Talky. Starting a synchronous session is simple, you just go to the Talky website and then enter a name for the session you want to start. Once you have a session started, participants can go to the correct web address and join the session. 

My book, Educational Technology for Teachers, also includes videos showing how to use these distance learning tools. Don't forget about these useful videoconferencing tools the next time you want to communicate from a distance!

EdTech for SD Teachers Podcast - Episode 12: Technology: It's How You Use It!

This week, we talk a little about the future of education and how what we do now with technology in the classroom can be student-centered. Remember, it's how you use technology that really counts! Simply using technology in your classroom won't make a difference with student learning. Using it in student-centered ways will!



Here are the links from this post:

• Reinventing schools: It's time to break the mold (book) - http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Schools-Time-Break-Mold/dp/1475802404
• Google Earth - https://www.google.com/earth/

More information in my book - Educational Technology for Teachers - including a full chapter on student-centered learning with technology.

Interactive Whiteboard Activities for Higher-Order Learning

If there's one thing that I want teachers to know, it is that learning will not be affected simply by your adopting a new technology in your classroom. Instead, you must use a technology with an appropriate learning method to really improve learning. In the case of interactive whiteboards (sometimes called Smartboards or Promethean boards etc.), I suggest using Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide to focus on higher-order learning. Remember Bloom's Taxonomy? If not, then here is a nice picture. This post is an excerpt from my book, Educational Technology for Teachers. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy includes categories of learning outcomes from lower-order to higher-order. These categories are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating (Krathwohl, 2002). The categories in Bloom’s Taxonomy build upon one another. Students who understand something also must remember it. Students who evaluate something must be able to apply and analyze it. 

When using an interactive whiteboard, it’s important to go beyond the remembering and understanding categories and get to the higher-order categories, including applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. Students tend to retain the content that they are able to apply, analyze, evaluate and create, better than the content that they only remember and understand. 

Supporting higher-order learning in the applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating categories is no easy task. A high percentage of teaching in most classrooms leads to lower-order learning (remembering and understanding categories on Bloom’s Taxonomy). This state of affairs is certainly appropriate in some classrooms as students gain a developmentally-appropriate foundation of knowledge. However, in the Information Age, much of the content that students are remembering and understanding is not as useful as it once was, because this information can easily be discovered with a quick Internet search. There are times when applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating are appropriate and necessary to help students gain a deeper content knowledge than that which can easily be found on the Internet. When students are applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating, they also develop better critical thinking skills.

Higher-order learning can be fostered using interactive whiteboard activities. For instance, once a

content item has been taught by the teacher, students can be asked to apply, analyze, evaluate or create an example of this concept through interactive whiteboard activities. Students can apply rules and concepts to sort items into different categories or orders. They can analyze concepts and issues or evaluate the quality of issues and positions through interactive whiteboard activities. Students could also create interactive whiteboard lessons and games that show their knowledge. Here are a few other suggestions:

• Present a concept, then have students do an activity with the interactive whiteboard that helps them apply the concept
• Instead of having a student respond to a multiple choice question by touching the answer, have students sort items on a continuum or into different categories, making them apply their learning
• Have students create an example of an idea or concept using interactive whiteboard tools
• Instead of playing a review game using the interactive whiteboard, have them create a review game for the interactive whiteboard

Creative teachers have found ways to go beyond remembering and understanding to higher-order learning using interactive whiteboard activities in a variety of content areas. When planning lessons, ask yourself how you can help your students to apply, analyze, evaluate, or create as they learn important concepts in your class. See my book, Educational Technology for Teachers, for more information about supporting higher-order learning with interactive whiteboards. 

References:

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview. Theory into
Practice, 41(4), 212–218.