Edmonds Digital Learning

Summer Camp was such a success that we have decided to offer more online professional development for Edmonds School District staff!   Please read through the description below, explore the Instructional Technology Online PD website to check out the challenges, and check out the Blog where participants will share their learning. Instructional Technology Online PD is an opportunity to learn about a host of technology tools, that can be used with students, at your own pace. All work is completed in a place of your own choosing and on your own schedule. We encourage participants to collaborate with other educators.  Participants may earn badges and/or certificates along with Clock Hours. We are offering Drop-in Labs for one-on-one assistance from an Instructional Technology Coach (register  for Labs on the website) Find out more at the official Instructional Technology Online PD Website Register on the PD Portal This is free optional Professional Develop

Google Forms are great for collecting survey and assessment data, but sometimes you may wish to turn them off when you have received a certain number of responses (e.g. if you are offering a PD class and only have room for 20 people, or you are organising a field trip and only have room for 40 students). Thankfully, there is a way to do this using Add-ons .  Here's how: Step 1:  From your form, go to the Add-ons  menu and select Get add-ons : Step 2:  In the window that appears, type in "Form Limiter" , hit Enter , and then click  + Free on the blue button that appears: Step 3:  Click Allow Step 4:  Now, go to the Add-ons  menu and you will see there is a new option called formLimiter .  Select this menu, and then Set limit : Step 5:  From the menu at the right-hand side, select the type of limit you wish to impose: Step 6:  Set your limit and response message, then click Save and enable

Discover how to use Google Drawings as a learning tool. Have you discovered Google Drawings yet?  If not, you are missing out on a great educational tool. While it’s potential might not be obvious from the start, Google Drawings offers numerous possibilities for creating engaging learning activities. Last February, I posted “Graphic Organizers using Google Drawings” which highlighted a blog post by Matt Miller, on his site Ditch That Textbook , titled “ 15 FREE Google Drawings graphic organizers — and how to make your own” .  If you missed that post, I suggest that you check it out for some wonderful examples of graphic organizers that are ready to use. Graphic organizers are great for certain activities, but that is not the only learning tool that Google Drawings offers.  Matt Miller has written another post on his site titled, “ 10 engaging Google Drawings activities for classes.”  Yes, graphic organizers are mentioned as one of the engaging activities, but there is so

Created by K. Lowden

Please join us for this Professional Development opportunity! EdCamp is a fun and relaxed environment for learning and sharing. It’s a great opportunity to connect with other educators in and around our district. The focus of this EdCamp is on technology integration but the agenda is open to all issues. Find out more at the official website . The registration form is available on the website or here . Please register soon because there’s a limited number of tickets available. FAQs Can only teachers attend? All teachers, para-educators, administrators, and interested people are welcome to attend. Registration is open to all including educators outside of the district. Are clock hours available? Yes. Five free clock hours are available for teachers and administrators in the Edmonds School District. Clock hours are also available to out-of-district people for a fee. What sessions will be offered? EdCamp is a form of unconference designed for participants and their ne

For months now, we've been shouting about EasyBib as a great way for students to create bibliographies.  A challenger has appeared, however: RefMe Like EasyBib, RefMe allows students to create a bibliography in MLA format by either searching for their sources (books, websites, YouTube videos, and 36 other source types) or filling out details in a form. It has a Chrome extension to allow for one-click citations, and also a mobile app that allows students to scan the barcode of a book  in order to create a citation. This is a great way to harness the power that is already in the pockets of many of our students, and to shift the paradigm of cell phones in class. Have you used reference tools with your students?  Do you have other tips for using cell phones in class?  Let us know in the comments.

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/08/25/10-collaborative-technology-projects-your-students-will-love! Reading this article this morning (while cuddling with my dogs), I recognized many tools that I've tested over the years with students as well as a few new ones I can't wait to try. Some of the tools work better with a subscription.  As we shift our thinking towards integrating technology, consider using your $350 to purchase inexpensive subscriptions to products you think will work great with your students. Try out the free version first or talk a young friend into teaching it to you (I learned a lot from my eight year old nephew this summer) and then determine if the subscription will enhance the project.  Unsure if you should buy the subscription? Contact your Instructional Technology coach and we will be happy to take a look and make a recommendation. I often get asked, which tool do you think is best?  It just depends on whether the tool meets the educat

http://www.edutopia.org/article/technology-integration-what-experts-say

If you want to see a playback of your Google Doc writing and revisions in an easy to view format, give the extension Draftback a test drive. Draftback allows you to play back everything you’ve written in a Google Doc and view it as a movie. With a Google Doc, the revision history tracks every keystroke and the history is available to anyone you give “Edit” permissions to. As a teacher, you can easily play back and analyze the process a student used on a piece of writing. Draftback can be found in the Chrome Web Store in Extensions. Unlike other extensions, this one appears in the document on the upper right-hand corner. After selecting the Draftback button you can see a playback of your writing that looks similar to this: Document data and a stats summary are also available and can be found in the document graphs and statistics link. Once Draftback is installed, it will work in any Google Doc no matter when it was created. Draftback is great way to peer over the sh

Do you wish there were more technology professional development classes available? Do you want to create technology infused activities to use with your classes next year? Do you wish you had time to play around with some technology tools? Are you wondering how to make the best use of the devices appearing in your classroom? Register for the First Technology Summer Camp!  Check out all the details on the website .  Complete challenges of your choice, apply them to curriculum you teach, and work on them at your own pace. Summer is about having fun and taking time to explore.  Why not make Technology Summer Camp part of your adventure?  Earn cool badges and clock hours! Register by June 26, 2015

Class blogs can serve many different purposes including opening a new venue for teachers and students to share their ideas, work, and discussions.  Few teachers take advantage of this online resource, but it is a perfect fit for the classroom for all ages. Here are 5 reasons why every teacher should consider creating a class blog: 1. Use Blogs to  Teach Common Core State Standards Writing standards expect students to write for a variety of purposes and audiences.  Yet, most writing instruction revolves around how to write essays.  Why not teach students writing through blogs as well?  Technology has made it easier to communicate through writing via text messaging, emails, social media, and blogs.  However, little time is spent teaching students how to communicate appropriately with this type of writing.    Try this… Students write a summary or share their opinion on an topic.  Classmates read what is written and post comments or questions, such as “can you provide more

Summer is a time for recovering from a stressful school year, relaxing, and rejuvenating.   Summer is also when teachers have time to participate in some unique learning opportunities.     https://goo.gl/nbpLa0 Washington state is hosting 2 different Eduro Learning Institutes this summer that you might consider checking out.  Visit the Eduro Learning Institute site here  to learn more about the type of learning to expect at these events.  Participation is limited to 150 people. Seattle Institute July 2nd The Seattle Institute is a one day institute held in downtown Seattle at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center.  For more information about the Seattle Institute click here . Walla Walla Institute July 6-8 This event is a twist on normal professional development. It is a multiple day event that mixes learning about using technology in the classroom with students while taking time to explore the wine region of Walla Walla. For more information ab

Technology continues to grow rapidly.  As a result,  more people are connected electronically and are communicating regularly through social media, texting, and emails.  News agencies, businesses, and politicians readily advertise their email addresses or social media pages as a means to contact them. However, the ease of communicating through email or any other form of technology can create some issues if not done carefully. Has someone you know hit "Reply All" with a response that only applies to the person sending the message? Has someone you know accidentally sent an email to an unintended recipient? Has someone you know hit send before the message was completed?  Maybe they forgot an attachment or left out important information. Chances are you have either been the recipient or sender of one of these types of emails.  Accidents happen right?   In order to help prepare students for their future, they need to be taught how to communicate using technology and

One of the benefits of using Google Forms is the fact that it automatically creates a summary of the data in an easy to read format.  Pie charts, bar graphs, and percentages that provide an overview of the information.  This works great if you are a collaborator or own of the original form.   What happens if you want to share the summary of results, but don’t want to provide other people with editing privileges to your original form?    Don’t worry!  There is a way. Scenario 1:   The class takes a survey.  You then decide that it would be great if the students were able to view and analyze the results.  Is this possible?  Yes! Go to the the summary of results page.  (From the Form this is under the Responses Tab , from Sheets this is under the Form Tab ) Once you are on the Summary of Results page, select Publish Analytics at the top of the page.   This action will allow the people who responded to the form to be able to view the results.   A window will pop

Common Sense Media have launched a new game that allows you to check your Digital (Moral) Compass.  Called Welcome to Anywhere , it allows students to explore real-life issues with social media, online peer pressure, self-image, and more. Using simple story paths, players take each character through a dilemma and see how their choices affect them.  Each "level" ends with a game of some sort (e.g. sorting statements into positive and negative online behaviours). It's a great way to look at consequences of online/offline decisions, and to show students how the divide between the real world and digital world is being eroded rapidly. The cute animation and overly moral tone will likely be a turn-off to high school students, but could always be used as a springboard for a project for students to design their own "choose your own adventure" story and game to teach younger students about issues they may face in high school.

The newest updates to Google Classroom allow multiple teachers to work and collaborate in a single Classroom class. With the exception of deleting the class altogether, additional teachers can perform all of the same functions as the primary teacher, including: Creating assignments and announcements Viewing and grading submissions Participating in comments on the class’ “stream” Inviting students to the class Receiving email notifications related to the class Finally, in response to teacher feedback, Google have made two additional changes that will make Classroom easier to use: Autosaving grades - Grades will now be autosaved as they’re entered, meaning teachers can grade assignments over multiple sessions but still return those assignments to students all at one time. Improved notifications - Teachers and students will now receive email notifications when private messages are left on assignments.

In my last post , I mentioned the concept of "fair use," which is a term that many students think they understand, and many completely misunderstand, thinking that it gives them carte blanche over copyrighted content because they are a student. The video below explains the concept of fair use in a classroom-friendly way: In most cases, students are covered by fair use laws, until they decide to make their work public (ie. published on the web).  At that point, they need to ask themselves serious questions about the nature of their use of copyrighted works. Here are some tools that can help them decide: University of Minnesota: Thinking Through Fair Use -- a simple checklist to help students understand fair use. Fair Use Evaluator -- more in-depth resources to go deeper with copyright law. A solid bibliography will help students understand the ownership of the information they use.  The golden rule always should be: "if in doubt, leave it ou

Guest post from AMS teacher, Dean Nakanishi : Unfortunately, I had to discover a new way to detect shared plagiarism within Hapara / Google Docs. If you suspect two students have shared significant portions of their essay with each other (but you can’t remember who paper #1 belonged to and you don’t want to go back and re-read 40 to find it)… Go to Hapara -> “Sharing” -> “All Docs” Copy a few sentences of suspected Paper #2  Click on the Search “magnifying glass” icon  Choose the drop down arrow to “Full Text Search” (instead of “Title Search”)  Paste in sample sentences and search class by class  It will eliminate students until you arrive at the class that had “sharer” of Paper #1  You can confirm that they shared by checking Sharing History  You can confirm the copy and paste by student #2 by checking Revision History (more details) to see how their essay “suddenly appeared”

Now that many of our students are publishing content beyond the walls of the classroom, we need to make them aware of real world consequences of content they are using. While it can be considered "fair use" to use copyrighted music in a class presentation, when that presentation hits the web, students can be subject to copyright infringement claims.  This rarely results in a lawsuit, but students can have requests for their material to be removed from a hosting site (YouTube, Blogger, etc.) -- too many requests and they can find themselves banned from publishing to these sites. Good digital citizens will try to find copyright-free content to use in the presentations (and cite correctly).  A great resource for this is the Creative Commons Search: http://search.creativecommons.org/ Creative Commons is a licensing system where content creators can allow for the use, re-use, and modification of their content (either with or without attribution). The search

Have you checked out Synergyse yet?  There have been a few posts previously about this great training tool for Google Apps that is provided for users in the Edmonds School District.  The great news is that Synergyse has added to their training materials!   Google Forms Have you been wanting to create a formative assessment, quiz, or survey using forms, but not sure how to start?  The training modules for Google Forms range anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 1/2 minutes and can be accessed right from the form you are creating.   These modules will help take you through the steps.   Each training is divided into these categories: Introduction to Forms Working with Forms Adding Questions or Other Items to a Form Collaboration Publishing your Form Managing Forms response data Additional Features You can choose to play all of the modules in a category or simply select the topic you are interested in learning about at the time. Google+ Google+ is unfamiliar to many p