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What is the SAMR Model and what does it look like in schools?

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For making games and quizzes

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Create a fun learning game in minutes - we call these 'kahoots'. The format and number of questions is up to you. Add videos, images and diagrams to your questions to amplify engagement.

How to create a kahoot on your computer
How to create a kahoot in the app

Kahoots are best played in a group setting. To join a game, you need a unique PIN. If you're the game host, you need a big screen. Players answer on their own devices, while questions are displayed on a shared screen. In addition to live games, you can also send kahoot challenges that players complete at their own pace - for example, for homework or remote training.
How to play a live kahoot
After a game, encourage players to create and share their own kahoots! With one of our premium plans for schools or business, you can co-create games with your colleagues and save time on finding relevant kahoots for your class or training session.
How to help learners become leaders in class

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Want to make learning fun and engaging? Find out how to get started with Kahoot!, one of world's most popular learning platforms.

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Concept mapping tools are an amazing extension to your thinking abilities. By definition, a concept map is a learning strategy that involves visualizing relations among concepts and ideas using graphical representations.

A concept map is in some sort a graphic organizer, one that consists of various circles or boxes (called nodes) each of which contains a concept and are all interlinked via linking phrases.

The role of these linking phrases is to 'identify the relationship between adjacent concepts' (McClellan and Broggy, 2009).

As learning heuristics, concept mapping tools were first introduced by Novak and his colleagues in Cornell University in the 70s of last century. Concept maps are based on Asubel's theory of meaningful learning which states that "learning is meaningful when the student comprehends the relationship of what is being learned to other knowledge"(KILIÇ and ÇAKMAK, 2013, p. 154).

In other words, meaningful learning "results when a person consciously and explicitly ties new knowledge to relevant concepts they already possess" (Stoica, Moraru, and Miron, 2010, p. 568).

Some key pillars of meaningful learning include prior knowledge, interaction, and collaboration all of which are supported by concept mapping. However, a detailed discussion of the literature and theoretical base of concept maps is beyond the scope of this short post. To learn more about concept maps, their underlying theory and their uses in education, check out the reference list at the bottom of this post.

Benefits of Concepts Maps for students

Hereis a quick overview of some of the benefits and ways to use concept maps with your students. For more check out the references at the bottom of this post:

Provide students with nonlinear visual ways to understand, produce, and represent knowledge.

Help develop higher-order thinking skills including analytical skills.

Facilitate the recall and processing of information.

Help students externalize their knowledge and show their understanding.

Make explicit structural forms of knowledge and relationships between concepts and therefore enhance students comprehension.

Concept maps respond to the needs of different learning styles.

They engage students in meaningful learning activities.

They are effective organizational tools students can use to organize their knowledge.

Visual representations of knowledge is proved to both stimulate and increase brain activity (Marzono, 1998, cited in Birbili, 2006).

Boost social interaction, communication and collaborative team work.

They can be used in different content areas and with students from different grades.

What is the purpose of a concept map?

Concept maps are used in various ways and for various purposes including to:

Highlight the similarities and/or differences between concepts.

Break down and show the different components of a concept or a complex idea.

Showcase the procedural steps involved in the development of a concept, event...etc.

Brainstorm ideas on a particular topic.

Gather feedback from your audience/students.

Use concept maps in review activities or as exit tickets.

Best concept mapping tools

Here are our top picks for concept mapping tools:

1. MindMeister

MindMeister is an online concept mapping software that allows you to capture and share ideas visually. You can create various subtopics and add context to your topics using things such as links, attachments, embeds, images, and integrations.

MindMeister supports real time collaboration enabling you to work with your team on collaborative projects. Once your concept maps are ready, you can share them in PDF or PNG format. MindMeister is available on the web as well as on Android and iOS operated devices.

2. Miro

Miro is another powerful concept mapping software that supports real-time collaboration. You can start your concept map using a premade template and customize it the way you want. You can show visual relations between topics, add subtopics, and organize information visually.

Some of the main features provided by Miro include built-in video chat and comments, presentation mode to illustrate concepts to your team members, add colorful sticky notes and emojis to your maps, add other content to the same board (e.g., documents, concept maps, images, etc), supports third party integration (e.g., with Google Drive, Sketch, Jira, and more). Miro is available on the web and as a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices.

3. Lucidspark

Lucidspark is a good concept mapping tool that provides you with an intuitive canvas where you visually explain and communicate your ideas and concepts. Start with a pre-made concept map template (e.g., a roadmap, a decision tree, 2×2 matrix, etc), and add your own ideas.

Insert sticky notes and shapes, freehand drawing, add text, establish connections between different nodes, and more.

You can invite your collaborators and work on the same canvas, exchange ideas and feedback, group insights by themes and trends, split up into smaller groups to work on Breakout Boards and present the final work to the whole group.

Lucidspark supports integration with third party apps such as MS Teams, Slack, Google Drive, among others.

4. MindMup

MindMup allows you to visually capture and share ideas with others. You can create unlimited number of mind maps and save them to the cloud for unlimited access anywhere anytime and from any device.

You can make your maps content rich by adding elements such as text, videos, spreadsheets, images, icons, illustrations, and more.

MindMup supports concurrent editing for teams and classrooms allowing you to quick view edits made by your collaborators. You can share your mind maps as PDF, PowerPoint, save them to Google Drive, or share them online.

5. Mindomo

Mindomo allows you to create various collaborative mind maps, concept maps, outlines, and Gantt charts. Mindomo supports real-time collaboration, cloud storage, and integrations with third party apps.

Mindomo offers a huge library of customizable mind mapping templates to start with or you can start with a blank canvas and build your concept map from scratch.

You can import files from your computer (e.g., TXT, XLS, OPML) and turn them into concept maps. You can also import maps from other mind mapping tools such as MindMeister and work on them right in your Mindomo canvas.

Your maps can include things such as notes, links, icons, images, video and audio files, and many more. Your generated concept maps can be downloaded in different formats including PDF, DOCX, PPTX, ZIP, among others.

6. Coggle

Coggle is another powerful concept and mind mapping software to try out. Coggle offers a wide range of collaborative features including: real-time collaboration, the ability to add floating text and images to your maps, drag and drop images from your desktop right into your canvas, keep track of changes and easily revert to previous edits, create loops and join branches, access pre-made templates, enable team members to edit your maps by simply sharing a unique link with them without them having to log in, and many more.

7. Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is a concept mapping tool that helps you organize and share your ideas visually. Among the features it offers are: real-time collaboration, full-screen presentation mode, browser-based (works on mobile devices as well), various sharing options (e.g., JPG, PNG, print, among others), create and manage teams with several users, and many more.

8. Google Drawings

Google Drawings is another good concept mapping tool to consider. While it does not offer the sophisticated features provided by the previous concept mapping tools, it is still a great option for us in education. You can use it to create and edit your concept map the way you want.

You can add various shapes, callouts, and arrows. Insert text and images, add links, and several other media elements. You can share your generated concept maps in different formats, in PDF, PNG, or publish them online. You can also easily insert your concepts into your Google Docs or Slides.
Sources:

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Best Concept Mapping Tools for Teachers and Students - Educators Technology

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Concept mapping tools are an amazing extension to your thinking abilities. By definition, a concept map is a learning strategy that involves visualizing relations among concepts and ideas using graphical representations. A concept map is in some sort a graphic organizer, one that consists of various circles or boxes (called nodes) each of which contains...

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Some suggestions for using Instagram with students. Let us know how it goes!

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by Claudia Pesce 14,978 views

Ah, the Internet and the endless slew of social media sites and apps it continues to spawn. We have only recently come to terms with the need to use technology in the classroom. And now we have to add social media to the mix? Sigh.

But what this teacher has seen is a golden opportunity, a chance to use something your students are excited about for educational purposes, our main purpose being, helping them improve their English communication skills. But what is Instagram and how can you capitalize on its appeal to engage your ESL students?

Instagram 101

Launched in October 2010, Instagram is basically a mobile app that allows its users to share photos and 15-second videos with their followers. With Instagram, you can apply a variety of filters to photos and videos, and add captions. A very interesting feature of the video recorder is that you can delete specific portions of the video - there is no need to do it all over again. Finally, users have the option to share their photos or videos on Facebook, Twitter, email and other social media sites.

You and your students may adjust your visibility settings so that your photos and videos are not public. You'll need to follow a user to be able to see their stuff. I recommend reading Instagram's policy regarding privacy and familiarizing yourself with its settings.

Be sure to use hashtags for each specific assignment or project so that they are easily searched and found by everyone in the class, for example, #ESLmyfavethings or #msgarciasclass.

Instagram is available in 25 languages, so chances are your students may navigate the app in their own native language. Encourage them to switch their language settings to "English" for an added benefit to using the app.

8 Awesome Ways to Use Instagram in the ESL Classroom

1. Caption It!

And while on the subject of captions... There are lots of fun writing activities you can do with your class. Post an interesting photo and have them caption it in the comments; the best caption wins a prize! Or have your students share photos and caption a classmate's.

2. Pronunciation Plus

Is there a word or phrase a student has a hard time pronouncing? Record yourself saying it and share it with this particular student for extra pronunciation practice.

Instagram was launched just four years ago and skyrocketed to popularity, reaching 100 million users in less than two years.

Ninety percent of its current 150 million users are reportedly under 35. The potential is there. It's up to you to capitalize on it. No, I wouldn't force a group of students to use it if they have no interest in this app. Don't use Instagram for the sake of using technology in the classroom. But if you happen to have a group of youngsters who are very much into social media, Instagram may be another great way to engage them.

* This question was sent in from a real ESL teacher, just like you! If you need any advice on a particular topic, share your question in the comments below. Or tweet your question to @busyteacher_org with the hashtag #ESLTeachersAsk. Your question might get picked and featured in an article!

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.

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8 Awesome Ways To Use Instagram In Your ESL Classroom

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by Claudia Pesce 14,978 views Ah, the Internet and the endless slew of social media sites and apps it continues to spawn. We have only recently come to terms with the need to use technology in the classroom. And now we have to add social media to the mix? Sigh.

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This is an experiment. Please help me out by trying it!

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Fill | PUBLIC SPEAKING 3100: Delivery Skills quiz

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Video Maker | Make Videos and Animations Online | Powtoon

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Powtoon gives you everything you need to easily make professional videos and presentations that your clients, colleagues, and friends will love! No design or tech skills are necessary — it’s free, easy, and awesome!

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TED-Ed lessons on all subjects. TED-Ed celebrates the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Discover hundreds of animated lessons, create customized lessons, and share your big ideas.

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Last weekend I received an email from a reader named Shayne who had experienced a problem with Google Keep notes randomly disappearing. Shayne's research indicated that other people had the same problem. So if you're someone who has run into glitches with Google Keep, here are some other task management tools that you might consider trying.

Wunderlist is a task management service that will synch across all of the devices that you use. Creating task lists in Wunderlist is an intuitive process. Just click the "create list" link or button and start typing out your list of things to do. You can create as many lists as you like within your account. You could create a list of things to do at home and things to do at school. Or you could create lists for the week, the month, and the year. You can set a due date for each task in all of your lists. All lists can be made collaborative by sharing them with other Wunderlist users.

As reviewed earlier this week, Taskade is a task management tool for individuals and teams who need tools for communicating with each other about their tasks. When you create a list in Taskade you can set a deadline for each item within the list. Files can be attached to each item in the list. And you can write comments on each item in the list. If you invite others to view a list, they can comment on list items too. Taskade users who are working in teams might enjoy the options to be notified whenever a team member updates a list. There is also an integrated text, voice, and video chat that you can use to communicate with team members about list items.

Randomly Remind Me is another task management tool that I reviewed earlier this week. Randomly Remind Me is only available on Android devices. It does not have any collaboration features. It's simply a good app for setting reminders for yourself to complete a list of tasks. My full review of Randomly Remind Me is available here.

Flask is a simple tool for making to-do lists and sharing them with others. To create a to-do list on Flask just go to the site and start writing your list. You don't have to create an account to use Flask. Unique URLs are assigned to each list that you create. To share your lists click the share button to send the link to your list to others. Watch my new video for an overview of how to use Flask to manage task lists.

OneNote has a task list function that you can use. While I enjoy using OneNote for bookmarks and sharing of notes, I don't find the task list function to be as user-friendly as some of the other tools on this list. That said, it could be the option for you if you're already a OneNote user and you don't want to add another app and corresponding account to your phone.

Bonus Option:
Use a paper notebook and pen. That's what I do every morning. The really important tasks then get copied into Google Keep on my phone.

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Last weekend I received an email from a reader named Shayne who had experienced a problem with Google Keep notes randomly disappearing. Shayne's research indicated that other people had the same problem. So if you're someone who has run into glitches with Google Keep, here are some other task management tools that you might consider trying.

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Game platform for learning and reviewing vocabulary. Make your own for your students!

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Q:skills 4 Unit 1 Listening 2 Flashcards | Quizlet

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Start studying Q:skills 4 Unit 1 Listening 2. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.