2023 Giant EdTech Year In Review

2023

GiantEdTech

Year In Review

Just like summative assessments, this is a wonderful time of year for us educators to take stock of our own learning and professional growth. I sometimes struggle with understanding my own data but often remind myself that just the act of reflection and questioning is an important exercise in understanding how far I have come and the direction I want to be headed in. One of the big benefits of working in a school is that I feel like I get two "New Year" opportunities. August certainly feels like the right time to set those goals and plans for what we want the school year to be. As we turn the page on the calendar and welcome 2024, we are faced with yet another chance to align our practices to our goals and decide how we want the second half of our school year to go.

With that in mind, here are some statistics that I have gleaned from this blog:

Where We've Been:

As you can see, there have been 13,400 views over the last twelve months. The largest number of views came during August and September, while the summer months of June and July also saw a lot of traffic. The day with the single largest number of views was August 26th with 795 views. One of the most popular post was from August 20th, What's In The Toolbox.  This post has a nice short summary of five popular edtech tools that we pay for in our district. Now would be a great time to revisit and review your use of some of those tools. 

The second most popular post was from January of 2023. Quizizz Where Motivation Meets Mastery is a great reminder that sometimes the simple tools are what gets us the most impact for how much effort we put in. 

Coming in third place is a post on Google Workspace. If you haven't seen what's new with our Google tools you are definitely missing out! Click here to take a look at Google Workspace: AI, Pageless Formats, Emojis, and More!

Where We're Headed:

There is no doubt that the use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning spaces is here to stay. Gamification and personalized learning continue to be trending as well. 

Google For Education, along with Canvas8, conducted a study across 24 countries on the future of education. They released a three-part global report. Here is a link to the entire report. The report has three parts. Below is a brief summary. Think about what each of these means for you and the work you do with students. 

• Part1: Preparing For A New Future

There is a need for educators to rethink the role of education in society. There is a rising demand for global problem-solvers, people who see themselves as lifelong learners, and the ability to adjust and change skillsets that are required for work.

• Part 2: Evolving How We Teach And Learn

The latest advances in technology are changing how the world thinks about teaching and learning. There is a need for a more personal approach to learning. Reimagining how learning is designed will be important for student growth and success. There is also a shift from the role of teachers as the "gatekeepers of knowledge" to the "choreographers of learning". 

• Part 3: Reimagining Learning Ecosystems

Upgrading learning environments through investments in digital infrastructures are helping to create new visions of learning environments. There is a greater need for blending technology, pedagogy, and physical space.  As educators have greater access to data and insights, decisions can be made about which tools and practices can have the greatest impact. There is also increasing demand for more meaningful ways to track student progress and more effective modes of assessment. 

Speaking of Google, have you seen this year's "year in search" video? It celebrates 25 years in search. Check it out:

Key Takeaways from 2023 To Bring Into 2024:

Here are the lessons that I have learned that I am bringing with me as areas of focus for the upcoming year.

1. Artificial Intelligence is here and we are responsible for teaching our students how to use it responsibly, even if we are not 100% sure how to do that.
2. Adaptability and resilience are some of the most important qualities that will help our students in the future. We should be working on how to build these skills.
3. Teaching and Learning requires humanity. Yes, lots can be done with technology, but it's the human connection that keeps us all going, students and staff alike.

See you in the new year!

 

What's In The Toolbox?

@LisaBerghoff

*image above was created with Canva's text to image AI tool

I was shopping for school supplies with my kids last week. Maybe it's just me but there is something exciting about bringing home new notebooks, folders, and pens. Yes, they are the same supplies we bought last year, but when they are brand new it's like there are endless possibilities.

I feel the same way about our digital tools. Many are the same we had last year, many also have added new features, but it's the idea of the endless possibilities of how we will use them with our students this year that gets me excited. 

Here is a list of some of the items available to you in your digital toolbox. Many of these can be utilized in lots of different ways. I would love to explore these with you so if you want to work together please reach out.

Here are the top 5 (in no particular order) that we pay for click here to see the whole list:

Pear Deck gives you the ability to create interactive slides. You can create a prompt on the fly or in advance and your students can work along with you as you lead them or you can set the activity to student-paced. Within the Pear Deck suite lives Flashcard Factory, which is a partner activity that can be tailored to any lesson, and Giant Steps, which is a game-like activity where you can create questions and your students can play with you in person or on their own. There are lots of Pear Deck posts in this blog, feel free to search the archives or reach out to me for help. I am a proud certified Pear Deck coach.

Read&Write for Google Chrome is a chrome extension and the premium version is available to ALL students and staff. This is your one stop shop for everything reading and writing online. It has text to speech, a highlighting tool, a screen mask, a vocabulary builder, voice notes, and so much more. This is an extension that many adults in the business world are using and it would only make sense for us to teach our students about this tool now. There are also many blog posts about Read&Write in the archives so feel free to check them out. I'm happy to work with you and your students to get you up and running.

Screencastify is your go-to tool for screen recording and basic video editing. Yes, the students have access to it too! This is a fantastic tool for students to give presentations and voice over their slides. You can also now give assignments right on the Screencastify dashboard. Just look for the orange arrow in your chrome extension bar and try out the various tools you and your students can use to create videos. 

Want to assign videos for your students to watch? EdPuzzle is a great way to make those videos interactive. You can add questions and notes and it integrates with Schoology. EdPuzzle now also has a great content library with their own videos in addition to all of those found on YouTube and elsewhere. If you set it up with multiple choice questions it will also auto-grade!

Did you know that we have a building license for Padlet? That means that you and your students can make unlimited padlets and you can set them to only be visible within our dist113 environment. Padlet is a digital bulletin board. But really it's so much more than that. You can create timelines, maps, use it as a backchannel, a review guide, a hub for resources, a way for students to display work and give and get feedback and more. 

Want to know what else we have? Check it out here.

These are free and amazing:

Canva- Do I need to tell you what Canva is?  Probably not. 

Flip- Students can interact with you and each other via short videos. Great mobile app! Easy to use. So easy my niece's 2nd grade class used it. Try it. You won't be disappointed. 

I am so excited to see what you and your students create with these tools! Don't forget to reach out for help or just to bounce ideas.

What's In The Toolbox?

An Inventory Of Premium Tools

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

I have been doing a lot of home repairs lately and while I am not particularly handy, I am pretty good at following YouTube directions and eventually getting the job done. One thing that I have learned is the value of having the right tools. It definitely makes a huge difference when you have the appropriate tools for the job. I have also learned the importance of taking inventory and knowing what tools I have and what they are actually used for. (A story for another day!)

This seems like a good time to share a brief inventory of the tools that we have available to us. The tools on this list are specifically ones that we pay for, are for classroom use,  and are not content specific. If you would like more information or some help working with any of these, please don't hesitate to reach out. 

To not show favoritism, here they are in alphabetical order, with a very
brief explanation of each. 

1. Edpuzzle: Integrates with Schoology (use file/link/external tool) and allows you to embed questions into video content. If your questions are multiple choice it will also auto-grade and input into the Schoology gradebook. 

2. Hapara: Creates shared Google folders with you and your students. Hapara also allows you to see students' active screens and focus internet use to a specific domain.  You can access Hapara from the staff portal. You will need to click allow to connect to your school Google account. 

3. Mastery Manager: Web-based assessment tool that allows teachers to monitor progress. Especially helpful if you are looking for data on standards alignment.   This is a great tool for collecting SLO data. Can also be accessed from the staff portal. 

4. PearDeck: This is two tools in one. Peardeck integrates with Schoology and works to create interactive Google slides presentations. Students can respond in a variety of ways to embedded interactive questions. Also, Flashcard Factory is a game used for vocabulary development. A class set of flashcards is the end result of this collaborative game. To get started, go to Peardeck.com and sign in with your school credentials to use all of the premium features. 

5. Respondus Lockdown Browser: This is a tool that is integrated with Schoology. It locks down the testing environment within Schoology. Students will not be able to open tabs or access their chromebooks other than to take a test in Schoology. They also cannot take screenshots, copy, or print. To access, just click LockDown Browser on the left side of your screen when you are in a Schoology course. 

6. Screencastify: This chrome extension is a fantastic tool for screencasting. You can record what is on your screen and/or your webcam to make videos for your students. This is a great option for flipped lessons and also for instructions that you want your students to have but you don't want to repeat yourself a hundred times. Your videos will automatically save in Google drive. Easy integration with YouTube as well. There also is a built in editor. Your students have it too! To access, click the extention icon or click the little gray puzzle piece in the top right corner of your chrome browser. 

7. Texthelp: Equatio and Google Read&Write: These tools make outstanding Tier 1 interventions. Equation is designed for math and science, while Read & Write is a literacy tool. Both are chrome extensions and all of our students have access to the premium features. Both include speech to text, text to
speech, and so many other options that are designed to remove barriers to learning. To access, click the chrome extension icon or click the little gray puzzle piece in the top right corner of your chrome browser. 

8. TurnItIn: This tool is designed to promote original written work by your students. Turnitin integrates well with Schoology and can easily catch plagiarism.  It is simple to get started but must be done through Schoology. Here are instructions to get you started. 

What's In The Toolbox?

Quick Guide To Online Learning Tools

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Now that our school year is under way and we've settled in as much as we possibly can given all of the excitement of working in a high school, it's a good time to think about our use of technology in our classrooms and to take an inventory of the tools we have at our disposal. The goal of any learning tool, digital or not, is to support learning. Sometimes it's a matter of increasing student engagement. Other times it could be a need to make materials more accessible. I recently came across this article that lists 5 Questions To Help You Make EdTech Decisions. Of course, your content and the needs of your specific students may lead you to add to this list, but these 5 questions are a nice place to start:

• Is there a tool to help check for understanding so that all students can share their learning?
• Have I identified open-ended creation tools that give students a space to create a product that demonstrates their learning?
• Will students be able to collaborate with their peers and work toward a common goal?
• Do these tools help students build transferable skills they can apply in a variety of contexts?
• Will these apps or websites work in the environment my students currently use (home, school, hybrid), and do they take connectivity, accessibility, and hardware into account?

Keeping the learning goals in mind, here is a quick and easy guide to what we have as a district for use in our learning spaces. 

Here is a rundown of the online products we pay for, along with a brief explanation of what they do. Feel free to book a time with me to explore more!

1. Edpuzzle

2. Hapara

3. Padlet (at HP)

4. Pear Deck

5. Schoology

6. Screencastify

7. Turnitin

8. Texthelp: Read&Write and Equatio

We also have premium (free to all educators) access to:

Canva

Flip (formerly Flipgrid)

There are MANY other online tools that offer fremium and/or free limited versions. 

A quick reminder about SOPPA:

The Student Online Personal Protection Act is a "digital privacy law that provides safeguards to protect the privacy and security of data about students when it is collected by educational technology companies. The Act is intended to ensure that sudent data will be protected when it is collected by edtech companies."   

We as a district need to account for the agreements we have with edtech companies and how data is collected and how it is protected. Any online tool that is used in our classrooms that utilizes the single sign-on ( Sign on with Google), falls under SOPPA.

Not sure if a tool you are using is SOPPA compliant? You can always go to LearnPlatform to check. If you are using something new, you can also request that it gets in the cue to be approved.

It Doesn't Have To Be So Hard!

Flippity

@LisaBerghoff 

I was recently asked about what it is that makes me want to do things that are physically and mentally demanding. Actually, the words that were used were "what's wrong with you?". I guess I like the challenge. I like to set a big goal and then see if I can accomplish it. This comes with a downside though, sometimes I get stuck in this mode where I think for something to be worthwhile, or to succeed, the process must be at least a little bit painful. In other words, if it doesn't feel hard, it must not be working. While we know that being pushed out of your comfort zone is where real progress happens, sometimes we take this too far. You can be out of your comfort zone and not be completely miserable the whole time. This reminds me that in school, we can be working hard without feeling like we are drowning all the time, if we employ the right tools to help us. 

That's why I often turn to tools like Flippity. The site is packed with small, simple classroom tools that can have a big impact. 

What Is Flippity?

Flippity.net is a free educational website that turns Google sheets into interactive, customizable learning tools. This includes flashcards, quiz shows, digital games, classroom management tools, digital breakouts, and more. There is no registration, login, or account needed. You don't need to have Google sheets set up because there are templates on Flippity that are already formatted for you to use. 

How Do I Use Flippity?

1. Go to Flippity.net to get started. Take a look at the options. New activities are being added regularly. 

2. For each activity, you can click on "Demo" to try it out yourself. This is very helpful and highly suggested. You will get to see exactly how the activity works before setting it up and using it with your students. 

3. When you have decided what activity you want to use, click on "Instructions". Some of the activities have a "quick and easy" method. Others have very easy to follow step-by-step directions followed by a FAQ section. 

Each activity is self contained and you will have a link ready to go to use in class. 

When Should I Use Flippity?

The tools within Flippity tend to fall in a few categories. These might help when making decisions about when to pull these activities out of your toolbox. 

• Study Aids: Flashcards, matching games, memory activities
• Games And Activities: Jeopardy-style quiz, bingo, crosswords, breakouts
• Classroom Tools: Random name pickers, randomizer wheels, scavenger hunts, seating charts
• Organization: Leaderboards, progress indicators, certificate creators

What Flippity Activities Should I Try?

I'm so glad you asked! There are a few that I have been using on repeat lately.

Random Name Picker: I call this the spinny wheel. So easy you can set it up in less than a minute. You don't have to put names in there. Add characters, numbers, settings, or anything where you don't really care what the outcome is. Click on the wheel and watch your students get invested. I don't know why it works, but it does. 

Flippity Flexcards: These are 10-sided multimedia flashcards and they are a powerful study and organization tool. Click on the demo first to see how they work. 

Flippity Randomizer: This reminds me of a slot machine for words or symbols. You could add numbers, math symbols, or anything else that fits with your content. This is a powerful tool for practice. 

Mobile Friendly Leaderboard: Sometimes you need a cool leaderboard for your students who are motivated by seeing their name climb to the top. This one has a spreadsheet template that is easy to follow so you'll have your leaderboard up and running fast.

Are you using Flippity? What are your favorites? Ready to get started with Flippity but want some help? Let me know. I'm happy to help get you up and running with Flippity.