Yesterday I attended the pre-conference workshop on creating digital content, facilitated by Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) and Jo-Ann Fox (@AppEducationFox). They did a great job presenting a number of apps and encouraging engagement throughout the session. There was a lot of collaboration between throughout the workshop. This is my biggest take away from yesterday. A few of the tools they used yesterday were very user friendly, and could easily be incorperated into a classroom to increase collaboration, and ultimately increase student engagement during class activities.
I have dabbled with the idea of back channeling during class via twitter using our class hashtag. I have asked students to share ideas, responses, or questions during their learning to get a gauge of what students are thinking during a course related video or activity. In the limited amount that I have utilized this assessment tool, I have seen value in it. Yesterday reinforced this concept ten fold. The first tool we used was today's meet. It wasn't the first time I had seen today's meet, but the way that Carl and Jo-Ann used it as the backbone for the day helped me to see that back channeling can and should be more of a focus in my class if I want to encourage student voice throughout the learning process. Throughout the workshop, the facilitators referred back to today's meet and used it to address questions, or highlight shared resources from other attendees. This helps even the quietest members of the group have their voice heard, which can be a major challenge when working with shy teenagers.
In addition to modelling the power of back channelling, a couple of other tools they presented helped me to develop some additional ways to use technology to increase collaboration. Padlet was the first tool that stood out to me, it is basically an interactive wall the you can create that allows students to post virtual post it notes for everyone to see. This is a great tool to help facilitate collaborative brainstorming, developing questions for inquiry, or debating controversial issues. This has many cross curricular applications.
The last tool that could be useful in class to encourage collaboration is ask3. This is a program that allows multiple users to collaborate on an interactive whiteboard. Teachers can post a video to pose a question and every student can log into their numbered class, much like socrative, to respond to the question right on the original whiteboard. Then students can create their own interactive presentation and post it to the class bulletin board, which other students can access and respond to. There are many potential applications for this device in my classroom. Students in math class can post a video explaining their process when solving a problem, then other students can watch classmate's videos to provide feedback or alternate methods of problem solving. In history or social studies a student can use this tool to examine and explain a primary source and post their response for their classmates to critique. This application spans across all subject areas and has potential to develop the collaborative spirit I want to achieve in all my classes.
I have only touched on a few of the tools that we discussed and reflected on in the workshop. I have focused on the tools that were the most transformative for me. We discussed the applications of many other programs and apps, some of which I have used in the past and seen value in. I have listed the other apps below if you are interesting in finding apps that promote the creation of digital content in your classroom.
Evernote
Tellegami
iMovie
Thinglink
Chirp
Explain Everything
Book Creator
That is all for my day 1 reflection. Looking forward to another day of edtech innovation! Thanks to Carl Hooker, and Jo-Ann Fox for a great day of collaboration and learning!
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