Edmonds Digital Learning

Google Forms is a fantastic and versatile software for quick data collection. It is relatively easy to use, free, and collaborative. What's not to love? Like an onion, a parfait, or young-adult vampire literature, Forms has a lot of layers. The more you peel, spoon, or leaf through, the better experience you'll have. Plus, Forms usually won't make you cry. That's right, I'm looking at you, onion. Here are six tips for getting the most out of Forms.  Use FormRecycler to Reuse Items Remember the Google Form survey you wrote last month? It sure had some great questions! If only there were a way to reuse some of them on your new survey without retyping or copying and pasting line-by-line. Enter the Add-on 'FormRecycler'. This nifty add-on lets you import items from any of your previous Google Forms with no typing required! 1. Go to forms.google.com  and create a new form. 2. Click the three-dot menu in the top right corner and se...

In the third grade, I was involved in an uncomfortable relationship with my teacher's chalkboard. Speaking without raising a hand, accidentally tearing a blue ditto worksheet, or any number of other relatively minor infractions led to her drawing a small circle on the board. The dissident student was called to the front of the class and instructed to put her/his nose in the center. If the incident was deemed especially heinous, the student would be called to the board before the circle was drawn so the teacher could sketch it just high enough that the perpetrator would be forced to stand tip-toed to serve out the sentence. To this day, I'm not a fan of the smell or the feeling of chalk. Starting my teaching career, chalkboards made way for whiteboards and such punitive procedures were, thankfully, deemed barbaric. Nonetheless, whiteboard marker tips were notorious for getting pushed in and, if erased by human hands, the boards started looking nasty alarmingly quickly. ...

I learned how to make short films with green screen technology a few weeks ago and have spent time the last couple of Saturday afternoons making films with my six-year-old son (see above and below). We're still working on lighting, but imagine the possibilities for student presentations! The use of green screens, or chroma keying, is a common technique in movie-making that dates back to 1898 when French filmmaker, Georges Melies created the silent film, The Four Troublesome Heads . At the time, audiences were panic-stricken as they observed Melies "remove his head" and place it on a table next to him. The strategy is still used today to add special effects in high-budget feature films including, The Avengers. * In the classroom, students have the opportunity to participate in filmmaking with green screens as well! To get started, you will need to cover a small section of classroom wall, preferably about 6 ft x 6 ft, with fabric or paper of a single c...