# data[].attributes.body
- Giving students choice on how to demonstrate competency within a subject

- Choosing the best device or app for a given project or task

- Being able to troubleshoot device issues and install software updates on their own

- Learning how to use technologies on their own: let them “play around” to discover how to use tools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
International Society for Technology in Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video, I am explaining what students are expected to achieve in terms of technology learning. My message to teachers who watch this video is to ask yourself about how you can help your students achieve these technology goals. Source: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016

# data[].attributes.body
- Teaching students how to communicate with technology safely and effectively
- Lessons on plagiarism, citing work, finding credible sources- creating a positive digital footprint through blogs or a classroom Twitter
-Cyberbullying

# data[].attributes.body
This "Octopus in a Tree" site is a total fake, yet looks incredibly real. A great resource to teach children how to analyze websites for credibility!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Help Save The ENDANGERED

From EXTINCTION!

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus
(Enhanced from cropped telephoto)

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus ( Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.

An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)

Reaching out with one of her eight arms, each covered in sensitive suckers, a tree octopus might grab a branch to pull herself along in a form of locomotion called tentaculation; or she might be preparing to strike at an insect or small vertebrate, such as a frog or rodent, or steal an egg from a bird's nest; or she might even be examining some object that caught her fancy, instinctively desiring to manipulate it with her dexterous limbs (really deserving the title "sensory organs" more than mere "limbs",) in order to better know it.

Map of estimated tree octopus maximum range, including spawning waters

Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans. Besides allowing them to see their prey and environment, it helps them in inter-octopus relations. Although they are not social animals like us, they display to one-another their emotions through their ability to change the color of their skin: red indicates anger, white fear, while they normally maintain a mottled brown tone to blend in with the background.

The reproductive cycle of the tree octopus is still linked to its roots in the waters of the Puget Sound from where it is thought to have originated. Every year, in Spring, tree octopuses leave their homes in the Olympic National Forest and migrate towards the shore and, eventually, their spawning grounds in Hood Canal. There, they congregate (the only real social time in their lives,) and find mates. After the male has deposited his sperm, he returns to the forests, leaving the female to find an aquatic lair in which to attach her strands of egg-clusters. The female will guard and care for her eggs until they hatch, refusing even to eat, and usually dying from her selflessness. The young will spend the first month or so floating through Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, and as far as North Puget Sound before eventually moving out of the water and beginning their adult lives.

Why It's Endangered

Route 101, separating the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula from Hood Canal

Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include: decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch. What few that make it to the Canal are further hampered in their reproduction by the growing problem of pollution from farming and residential run-off. Unless immediate action is taken to protect this species and its habitat, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus will be but a memory.

The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. Other tree octopus species-including the Douglas octopus and the red-ringed madrona sucker-were once abundant throughout the Cascadia region, but have since gone extinct because of threats similar to those faced by paxarbolis, as well as overharvesting by the now-illegal tree octopus trade.

Tree Octopus hat from 1923

The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

While efforts were made in the past to preserve remaining tree octopus habitat, these were met with resistance by the timber industry, which has traditionally viewed the tree octopus as a nuisance, both because the octopuses favor the valuable, moss-shrouded trees of old growth forests-pitting conservation needs against lucrative sources of lumber-and because octopuses hiding among felled trees often gummed up sawmills and stained pulp vats with their ink.

Traveling sideshow exhibits, such as this one by Glen "Bones" Hartzell from 1942, demonized tree octopuses to the ignorant masses
(Click to enlarge)

These nuisances led many loggers to regard tree octopuses as bad luck, resulting in the pointless killing of octopuses on sight at logging camps in a misguided attempt at eradicating the troublesome species. Anti-octopus sentiment was so strong among loggers that some even began to fear that the octopuses were prone to attacking humans.

These fears were fueled in no small part by gratuitous stories involving tree octopuses harassing lumberjacks and distressing damsels in Northwestern-themed pulp magazines of the 1930-40s and variously "nipping", "entangling", or "suckering the flesh" of the heroes of men's action magazines of the 1950-60s. (The magazine publishers depended on cheap paper made from wood pulp and were glad to contribute to the anti-octopus propaganda campaign of the timber industry.)

To this day, misunderstanding and fear of these gentle creatures can still be found among many old timers, although education campaigns-and special octopus-separators installed at sawmills-have largely halted the practice of tree octopus eradication.

How You Can Help

More Tree Octopus Information

Posters motivate the citizenry to action! Post them!

Tree Octopus FAQs - Frequently asked questions, now with answers.

Tree Octopus Sightings - Includes photos of and behavioral research on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and other tree octopus species.

Tree Octopus In The Media - appearances of tree octopuses, both real and fictional, in the media and popular culture.

Research On Other Tree Octopus Species:

The author of this article and its subsections is Lyle Zapato.
This site is not associated with any school or educational organization,
other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society.
Not to be confused with the Pacific Northwest Octopus Tree.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Information about the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and what you can do to save it.

# data[].attributes.body
- Students create their own learning
- STEM/STEAM projects

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Five Steps to Enhance Learning in the Classroom

Every great teacher wants their students to find joy in the learning process. How do we as educators provide students an environment to discover who they are, help them unlock the passions they hold, and guide their journey of self-discovery while also teaching our mandated curriculum?

The answer is simpler than you might imagine: provide time for students to explore their passions.

"If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose." -- Bishop T. D. Jakes

Devoting a portion of work time to exploring passions is not a new concept. Almost 70 years ago, 3M encouraged their employees to devote 15% of their work time to research and create innovative projects that captured their interests and passions. Google did something similar when they encouraged their engineers to take 20% of their time to work on something company-related that interested them personally. Both companies valued a spirit of innovation and productivity; allowing employees to be creative resulted in the creation of such products as post-it notes.

This concept of intentional time spent on projects of interest is foundational to the Genius Hour movement in education, where students spend one hour a week researching their passions and sharing their insights. While an hour a week may seem like an impossible sacrifice in the face of packed pacing guides and scheduling constraints, creative teachers across the world are using this model to bring joy back into their classrooms.

Last year, a first grade teacher and I decided to jump in and try "Passion Projects" to help her students find joy by exploring topics that intrigued them. We mapped out a reasonable timeline to ensure we still had time for the required curriculum. We made sure we set reasonable expectations and planned for explicit time to help students narrow down the scope of their project. Since Passion Projects would be completed during the school day, we worked to anticipate any challenges, such as non-readers doing research, and plan for support before we began.

While we wanted students to show their learning in whichever ways they found most effective, we quickly discovered that six- and seven-year-olds need a bit more structure than older students. Since this was the first "project" many students had every attempted, we decided all students would make a multimedia project using Pixie, a software program installed on every computer which many students had used before. Each child would research their passion and use Pixie to create a digital background image, complete with voice narration, to share their learning.

Once our planning was done, it was set our students loose on their Passion Projects! Following are the five steps we used to guide our students' work.

Step 1: Brainstorm

Before we introduced anything to the students, we brainstormed our own passions together, talking about things that made us happy, and exploring the "what-ifs" of being educators. "What if we could teach anything we wanted?" "What if we didn't have to worry about discipline problems?" "What if we could take time to read and learn about our OWN passions during the work day?"

The more we talked about our passions, the more excited we became! Rather than being inundated with logistical worries, we were empowered by the potential of "What if?" This is what we wanted our students to feel: excitement...passion...and the pure joy of learning simply for the sake of learning.

Students began their work by coming up with a list of things that made them happy, and we encouraged them to identify areas about which they wanted to learn more. We used pencils and paper to create our Wonder Wall, but you might prefer to incorporate technology by using a digital tool like Padlet.

Step 2: Question

To make the Passion Projects manageable, we asked students to narrow their focus to one question they wanted to explore. We added their questions to a shared spreadsheet on Google Drive to keep everything organized and worked together to add resource links and additional information as we guided students through the research process.

Step 3: Research

To provide support and guidance during this lengthy process, we used a once-a-week two-station rotation. Students either worked with classroom teacher support to read and take notes in their writing journals, or they worked with me, the instructional technology specialist, to design their project to share using Pixie. This approach also allowed time for content integration.

We encouraged students to use both low-tech and high-tech research options. Many students found the answers to their questions in library books. Others used alternate forms of informational text like tourism brochures. When Internet research was required, students used appropriate information resources, such as videos showing how to make books or steps to build a specific Lego figure. When online texts seemed to be too advanced for emerging readers, we used screencasting tools to record ourselves reading the articles and shared the recordings with students through our district's network and shared cloud storage.

Step 4: Create

As students transitioned from research to creation, we noticed a change in the classroom culture. We had fewer discipline problems and students were engaged with their research and putting more effort into their reading and writing. They were excited about their own digital creations and were helping their classmates who needed assistance...all with smiles, laughter, and joy!

We continued our weekly station rotations until the digital backgrounds were complete. Students then started individual recordings to share what they had learned about their passion. Students who were not busy recording kept working to edit their stories and worked on other tasks.

5. Share

Students showcased their work with an authentic audience of classmates, teachers, parents, and administrators at a Passion Project Share Fair. As guests walked from laptop to laptop, listening to the student presentations, they validated the time and effort students had put into their work and were able to clearly see how each student had come to realize the joy of learning through the exploration of their passions.

To extend the project beyond the concrete walls of our classrooms, we also created a Passion Project website and shared the links on Twitter and Facebook. When students realized their projects were being viewed by people all across the world, they took even more pride and care in their work and asked, "Can we do this again?"

How will you begin?

This year, I'm collaborating with a fourth grade teacher to engage students in Passion Projects devoted to kindness and making the world a better place. Following the same five steps, we are weaving "A Passion for Kindness" through language arts, no-break days, and rainy recess time. We are deliberately planning school time for students to embrace their passions and find ways to utilize their skills and learning to benefit others, giving the sharing portion even more purpose.

Passion Projects capture the joy of learning while integrating content areas of reading, writing, and oral communication and can change the climate of the classroom. Using technology to create, instead of merely consuming, gives students opportunities to showcase their creativity and celebrate their hard work.

If you are looking for a way to bring JOY - Jubilant Outcries of Yes - to your classroom, Passion Projects will do just that.

Popular Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bring JOY to the Classroom with Passion Projects

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Passion Projects capture the joy of learning improving classroom climate and building essential literacy skills.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kumpulan Berita Tentang Judi Online Terkini yang bisa anda nikmati setiap hari.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Uploaded by eLearningExpert on 2016-09-08.

# data[].attributes.body
- Students assist with creating their own learning

- Finding new solutions to big problems using technology

- Design thinking process

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Education, technology and everything in between

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this blog post, I discuss and provide tools and ideas for classroom implementation of the fourth 2016 ISTE Standard for Students, "Innovative Designer". If you would like to read the blog posts for the first three standards, you can find them are:

For more background information about the new standards, read my blog post " Talking Tech: The New 2016 ISTE Standards for Students (1 of 8)".

ISTE and its contributors have been publishing excellent documents that explain and support educators in the adoption and practice of these standards. Here are a few of them:

I recommend following ISTE on Twitter. By checking their feed you can find lots of great articles about the different standards.

ISTE Standards- This is a link to all ISTE Standards (for students, teachers, administrators, coaches, and computer science educators)

The ISTE Standards Community- Check out this living and breathing online community for discussions, announcements, community blogs, and much more!

ISTE Standards for Students- eBook- ($10)- This eBook contains explanations, examples, suggested skills for implementation in different levels, a comparison to the 2007 Standards, a suggested Scope and Sequence, and more!

Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.

Former US President Barack Obama saw the need to emphasize ingenuity and design in US schools, and in the second term of his presidency he created the first White House Maker Faire (called " Nation of Makers") in order to encourage educators and students to create and innovate. This is exactly what this standard is about, and the key to its successful implementation is the use of a design thinking process as a tool to designing creative solutions to complex existing problems. It is the process through which a problem is identified, an idea (or ideas) for a product/solution is suggested, planned, tested, and revised (again and again) until it becomes viable to be implemented and used.

(The stereotypical design thinking process includes the above five steps)

Let us examine some of the tools and resources that would allow us to guide our students not only in the process of making and innovating, but in instilling a new mindset and approach to problem solving:

What is Design Thinking?

It is important that educators, at any given school, work together to adopt a common process. Although the idea of the design thinking process is relatively consistent across different models, one must remember that it originates from a more professional organizational setting, not from schools. Here are a few resources that would help educators and students to understand what the design thinking process is, and choose a model that best fits their setting:

Videos- What is Design Thinking?

In this video, Daylight explains what Design Thinking is and how they followed the five steps to successfully get American children to get more exercise.

John Spencer and A.J. Juliani designed a student-friendly process called LAUNCH (more information below). This video explains their innovative process and how it works.

TEDx (13:44 minutes)- Five great rules for teaching Design Thinking that would allow educators to reach all students.

A great video playlist to explain what Design Thinking is and how it is implemented in different schools. (and here is a TED search for great Design Thinking videos, blog posts, and more)

Design Thinking Toolkits and Tools:

IDEO and Riverdale County School's free Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators is an excellent comprehensive guide for using the process in the classroom. Check out the website, get the toolkit, and get to work!

LAUNCH- Check out the website for some information about the student-friendly cycle, and find resources on how it is being used in classrooms. You can purchase the LAUNCH book or visit John Spencer's or J. Juliani's excellent blogs that focus on Design Thinking and innovation.

Innovation Flowchart (more complex)- The Innovation Flowchart gives a detailed overview of the various stages in an innovation process, listing the activities, requirements and goals of each stage. A very useful planning tool to bring ideas to life.

Ideas for Design Thinking projects and activities:

CityXProject- A project that uses 21st century skills, including emotional literacy, empathy, design thinking, creative problem solving, and social literacy using hands-on engagement with 3D printing (optional) and modeling technologies. You can get the toolkit to run your own workshop with your students.

KidsThinkDesign- A collaborative effort of professional designers and creative college students, this great website was designed for students, teachers and parents to learn about professions that deal with design (graphic design, fashion design, architecture, and more), and to practice some of the design thinking skills through a variety of projects, collaboration, meeting professionals, and more.

The Institute of Design at Stanford has a K-12 Wiki for design thinking projects and challenges, and has lots of resources to teach and practice design thinking.

The underline message of this standard is that students recognize the importance of the process of coming up with an idea and repeatedly refining it, until it becomes high quality. Whatever project your students engage in, they must go through the important stages in the design process, so that the product they create is well-thought-through, and is the best version of what they are capable of making.

Additional tools and resources for student-makers:

TinkerCad- A simple browser-based 3D design and modeling tool. Users can come up with any idea and quickly design, print and cut it. There are basic tutorial lessons, and advanced designers can find lessons on how to create artistic objects of increasing complexity by tinkering with existing designs, as well as to work collaboratively to create new designs.

Create How-To Guides are a great way for students to show their understanding and to ensure they include the correct and chronological steps when designing a product or explaining procedures. SnapGuide and Instructables are two great places for students to learn how to write instructions in an organized and inviting way, and to join large communities of makers and designers.

iBooks Author (iOS; Free)- This Apple-made authoring program allows users to create beautifully designed interactive books, manuals, etc., and publish them to the Apple iBooks Store (or export as PDF)

App Making- Tools for students to test, develop, and publish their own apps:

MIT's AppInventor- Initially designed to introduce educators and students to coding, this relatively simple (MS and higher?) is a block-based programming for creating apps for Android OS. You build your app on a laptop/desktop (Apple works too), and test it on your Android phone.

Thunkable- A business idea that rose out of AppInventor, Thunkable uses similar but simpler drag-and-drop functionality. It is extremely simple and intuitive, and does not require any coding skills to create mobile apps.

Swift Playgrounds- This is a simple iPad app which would allow youngsters to learn the skills to create a real iOS app.

CommonSense has a good list of resources (with reviews) for different apps and programs to help students code on any platform.

Guest Speakers- There are many great professionals you could invite to your classroom to share and discuss how the design thinking process applies to their work- how they came up with ideas, how viable these ideas were, how they changed and morphed into the final product, etc. If you would like to put a touch of tech to your guest speakers, you can always use Skype in The Classroom to find guest speakers around the world who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with students.

*** Looking for even more resources?

Here is InformED's great list of 45 design thinking resources for educators.

The online site of the book Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering and Engineering in the Classroom has some great resources- from starting a Maker's Lab to how to use different materials, related organizations, cool projects and much much more!

You can find many great examples for projects and other resources on Pinterest.

The hard working folks at CommonSense have come up with a list of design thinking tools- from ideas to projects to apps- they got you covered!

Students as Innovative Designers. I hope this blog entry provides you with useful resources to use in your classroom or at home. As always, if you have any other ideas for good resources, any corrections for what I wrote, etc. please leave a comment below.

Next one up, ISTE 2016 Standard for Students #5, Computational Thinker!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Talking Tech: The New 2016 ISTE Standards for Students: Innovative Designer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this blog post, I discuss and provide tools and ideas for classroom implementation of the second standard for students, "Digital Citizen". If you would like to read the blog post for the first standard (Empowered Learner), click here. For more background information about the new standards, read my blog post "Talking Tech: The...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ISTE Standardr●S 5 Computational Thinker

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Uploaded by eLearningExpert on 2016-10-02.

# data[].attributes.body
- Data analysis (finding and responding to data)
- Emphasis on math and science
- Tinkering mindset

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1,718,111,282

Hours of Code Served

A global movement in 180+ countries.

16,524 events registered so far in 2023.

Your class or group can join millions around the world doing the Hour of Code! Registration for the annual Computer Science Education Week celebration begins in October. Though, Hour of Code is available year-round.

Register your Hour of Code

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Use computer science to explore and learn about AI!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ISTE Standardr●S 6 Creative Communicators

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Uploaded by eLearningExpert on 2016-09-16.

# data[].attributes.body
- Presentation platforms that AREN’T powerpoint.

- Interactive platforms such as Socrative or PearDeck, YouTube, Word Clouds, Buncee, Seesaw

- Multimedia app smashing or integration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We recently challenged members of our ThingLink Education Community to take the ThingLink App Smash Challenge. The challenge was designed to help educators discover new ideas for teaching and learning with an iPad by combining two or more apps together to create, publish and share content. The use of ThingLink as a presentation tool provides educators with powerful possibilities for turning an image into a multimedia rich learning tool.

Many members of the ThingLink EDU community submitted ThingLink powered App Smashes to our App Smash Channel and several ThingLink Expert Educators shared their expertise through one of three webinars we offered. In case you missed it, here are resources from our culminating App Smash webinar. Be sure to watch the archived webinar found at the bottom of this post to listen to our Expert Educators describe their amazing AppSmashes.

This very simple example demonstrates how to combine the best features of ThingLink and Explain Everything to help students construct knowledge and demonstrate deep learning. Students can use the built-in web browser and recording features in Explain Everything to create a narrated guided tour of a ThingLink interactive image. The resulting video can be shared through Google Drive or published on YouTub. In this example, the video created with Explain Everything is embedded back on to the ThingLink image through a Rich Media Tag. Explore this interactive image to learn more.

Famous Monuments of the Ancient World

Jamie Forshey created this example of a student project for use with 6th grade social studies teachers and their students for use as a culminating project to highlight their unit of study on Ancient Civilizations. The project was designed for students to share an element of culture from each of the 4 regions studied. Research, mapping and creative design were combined to create their multimedia projects. Explore this interactive image and follow Jamie at @edutech20.

Creative Writing with Book Creator and Scene Maker

Laura Moore shared an example of ways students can create their own visual writing prompts using graphics from various scene maker apps and then publish personal narratives using the Book Creator app. When students complete their own books in Book Creator, they can be combined together to make one collaborative book. Here is a list of the scene maker apps students used to create their own visual writing prompts. Explore this interactive image and follow Laura @LearnMooreStuff

The Smash Pub

Lori Campbell and her team of instructional technologiests at Northern Virginia Community College created this AppSmash for use as a self-directed professional learning activity to present simple apps that students and faculty could mix together easily to create something unique. She creatively grouped apps and presented them with catchy names to provide learners with a starting point for exploring and creating. Explore this interactive image and follow Lori @CampbellLori2

Digital & Analog #TLAppSmash Recipe

Meghan Zigmond created an AppSmash with her 1st grade students to take advantage of their natural excitement for taking pictures and used it to dig deeper into comprehension. As Meghan read aloud, students created drawings to docuement their thinking and mental imagary. They took pictures of their drawings to turn their analog images into digital images. Once the mental images were on the iPad they used Pic Collage to combine them together into one collage. Finally they use the Audio Boom App to record explanations of their thinking. Explore this interactive image and follow Meghan at @ZigZagsTech

Dan Gallagher worked with 3rd grade teachers and students to smash apps together to create a Heritage Project which required students to research their family's heritage, guided by question packets. This project was created in a 4:1 classroom environment so the use of DrobBox for storage was a must. To overcome the obstacles of trying to gather staff members together for training, Dan used ThingLink for video to create instructional materials for teachers. Here is a list of the apps used for this project. Explore this interactive image and follow Dan @Gallagher_Tech

Logo Maker - design logo to represent their self (image will be ThingLink background)

ScreenChomp - screencast describing their logo

Voice Recorder Pro 7 - used to record their name story, included a self-portrait drawing

LayerPic HD - superimposed two pictures

Screenshot of their family's native country (iPad native Maps app)

Picture of the country's flag (searched using Safari)

Tellagami - create a 'narrator' telling their family's immigration story

Green Screen by Do Ink - combine their Tellagami video with a video showing a plane, boat, train, car, or any other mode of transportation used to arrive in the US

Pic Collage - hand drawn family crest with other images combined into one picture used for VRP 7 recording of their family's custom or tradition

Watch the Archived Webinar

Listen to these talented and creative educators describe their ThingLink App Smash examples through the archived version of our Webinar.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
App Smashing with ThingLink and Explain Everything

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We recently challenged members of our ThingLink Education Community to take the ThingLink App Smash Challenge. The challenge was designed to help educators discover new ideas for teaching and learning with an iPad by combining two or more apps together to create, publish and share content.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1. The Camera Roll and other Albums in the Photos app act as the conduit to bring the resources for the project in and out of the various apps being used. Note: With some apps you can use Dropbox and/or Google Drive, but these apps are often not accessible from free apps.

2. Keep a list of apps capable of smashing content and give students opportunities to learn the features of the apps on your list so they will be comfortable using them for app smashing.

3. After students have enough experience with the apps on your list, leave the app choices to your students as much as possible.

Science Project "Report" - Growing Radishes
Apps used:
Camera - take photos of the radishes over time
Photos - conduit for project components
Skitch - annotate photos
Doceri - stitch photos together and add voice
Dropbox - host final project for easy sharing online

Public Service Announcement - Air Pollution
Apps used:
Camera - take photo of lake and clouds
Safari - image search for title photo
Photos - conduit for project components
Skitch - annotating photos for title, information & credits
Tellagami - create the video portion
iMovie - assemble project components
Note: Finished project is hosted on

Used ThingLink Projects
Safari, Photos, Camera, Dropbox, SoundCloud and more to locate, create and/or store artifacts for hotspots. Used ThingLink to add hotspots.

Augmented Reality and Writing - Karen Bosch
Used Chromville, Photos and Write About This. Captured Augmented Reality creature with screenshot in Chromville. Wrote story and recorded audio in Write About This.

Digital Storytelling - Zig Zagging App Smashing Ideas for Early Elementary
Numerous projects complete with examples of actual student work.

Nikolaos Chatzopoulous
Used Tellagami, 30 Hands, PhotoSpeak, Photos and iMovie. Created artifacts with Tellagami, 30 Hands and PhotoSpeak, then imported them into iMovie and added additional narration and music.

Video Cards - Sylvia Duckworth
Used Haiku Deck, Photos and iMovie. Took screenshots of Haiku Deck slides, then imported them into iMovie and added voice and music.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Camera Roll and other Albums in the Photos app act as the conduit to bring the resources for the project in and out of the various apps being used. Note: With some apps you can use Dropbox and/or Google Drive, but these apps are often not accessible from free apps.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video, I am explaining what students are expected to achieve in terms of technology learning. My message to teachers who watch this video is to ask yourself about how you can help your students achieve these technology goals. Source: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016

# data[].attributes.body
Mystery Hangouts: Mystery Hangouts are the modern-day equivalent to a scavenger hunt. Classrooms can be matched up from all over the world to try and figure out where each other is from. Great way to communicate globally!

# data[].attributes.headline
Globally Communicating in the Eyes of a Kindergarten Teacher

# data[].attributes.subject
Globally Communicating in the Eyes of a Kindergarten Teacher

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For this weeks blog post I wanted to focus on ISTE Standard 7 Global Collaborator "Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally". I especially wanted to focus on 7a "Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning". To begin my research on becoming a global collaborator I asked myself "How can Kindergarten students use digital tools to collaborate with classrooms around the globe?"

Ever since I have started working at my current school, my team and I have become passionate about our students learning about different cultures within school community. I think having students become global collaborators allows them to make greater connections outside of our school.
Benefits of Global Collaboration
According to ISTE article 5 ways students benefit from global collaboration by Julie Randles "Exposing students to global collaboration builds cultural understanding, communication skills, and knowledge and awareness of the wider world, experts say".

"It just makes the world real to them," Killian says. "It opens their eyes to the world out there and helps them realize they can do and be so much."(Randles)
Starting a Global Partnership
Global collaboration projects, which allow students to work with peers across state and national boundaries, aren't just fun. They can also address several of the ISTE Standards for Students, including Digital Citizen, Global Collaborator and Empowered Learner. Pernille Ripp the founder of Global Read Aloud has 7 steps to set yourself up for success in ISTE article 7 steps to starting a global collaboration project by Team ISTE.

Ripp's success tips include:

"Find your passion and purpose. Passion drives the energy and dedication you'll need if obstacles present themselves during the course of the project. Consider where something will naturally fit into your day because you already have a lot of passion for it.

Pick a focus. Will your project support reading, writing, speaking or another component of instruction? Narrow your focus to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Similarly, decide in advance how much time you have to dedicate to the project. First-timers should start small.

Check in with students. Make sure that your students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with others outside their classroom or school. There are times when students don't want others involved, and educators should respect that.

Similarly, be sure students are actually ready to collaborate and can mind their manners.

"You need to have community in your classroom before you set them loose on the world," Ripp says. Do they know how to behave on a Skype call? Have you practiced working together, say with an in-class project, to avoid student embarrassment or awkward situations during a live collaboration?

You gotta believe. Believing in your idea is essential for getting others on board. Your conviction will convince others to spend time doing the project.

Find your people. Educators should be connected so that their students can be connected, Ripp says. To make your project work, reach out to your PLN on Twitter, Facebook, Skype in the Classroom, email or even just a face-to-face conversation. If no one jumps on board, it's time to rethink your idea.

Dream a little. If your project concept is a little loose when you start seeking collaborators, that's OK. True collaboration means all partners have a say in the project. As the creator, you should be prepared to figure out the details with your partners. "So you have to have a dream and an idea of what it may look like, but do leave room for others' dreams as well," Ripps explains.

Let go. There will be times when things don't go according to plan. Count on it. That happens with learning and teaching. Allow your project to take its own path and resist the urge to shut it down if it takes unexpected twists and turns. " (Team ISTE)
Global Read Aloud-One Book to Connect the World
One great site for introducing students to connecting with a variety of learners of different backgrounds and cultures in the Global Read Aloud. With Global Read Aloud teachers pick a book to read aloud to their students during a set 6-week period (October to Mid-November) and during that time they try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to the teacher. While there are official tools you can use such as Skype, Twitter, WriteAbout or Edmodo, you choose the tools that will make the most sense for you. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year (Global Read Aloud). Since Global Read Aloud has started more than 4,000,000 students from more that 80 different countries have participated. Using a site like Global Read Aloud would allow for my students to share their ideas with students who might not have the same experiences as them. The possibilities with this program are limitless. I really like the idea of making connections that could last longer than the initial 6 week period.

This program will enhance read aloud experiences and show students to draw upon a variety of resources and experiences in order to become more knowledgeable and responsible citizens.
Sources
7 steps to starting a global collaboration project. (2017, August 8). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=608

Iste.org. (2017). ISTE Standards For Students. [online] Available at: https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students [Accessed 18 Mar. 2018].

Randles, J. (2018, January 12). 5 ways students benefit from global collaboration. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=2129&category=Personalized-learning&article

Ripp, P. (n.d.). The Global Read Aloud. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://theglobalreadaloud.com/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Preschool and Kindergarten by Rara Theme.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For this weeks blog post I wanted to focus on ISTE Standard 7 Global Collaborator "Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally".

# data[].attributes.headline
Student-Friendly Poster of the ISTE Standards

# data[].attributes.subject
Student-Friendly Poster of the ISTE Standards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free classroom poster: I am a digital age learner

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Join the empowered learning revolution! Student-centered learning - where student voice and choice are placed at the center of education - is more important and more possible than ever before. When students determine their own education destiny, they develop a lifelong passion for learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you heard of the new ISTE Standards for Students? Released at the ISTE Conference in Denver last June, these seven standards focus on essential skills for success in a connected, digital world. If you haven't been incorporating them into your instruction, now is a great time to refresh your lessons and start integrating them. Read on for an overview of the standards along with tips on how to try them out in your classroom.

1. Empowered Learner

"Engaging" versus "empowering" students requires shifting the focus from the teacher to the learner or from the teaching to the learning. Instead of simply following the teacher's leadership, empowered students can become agents of their own learning. Empowered students can choose a goal, decide how to proceed to research and present content, self-differentiate by choosing their learning paths, and demonstrate learning and transfer it to another learning opportunity -- all because they develop a growth mindset that allows them to take ownership and apply their skills to other situations.

Try it. Try empowering your students by adapting the classroom to increase student agency. For instance, create a learner-centered classroom by changing the physical space. Try adding visible and tangible learning demonstrations (where students create tutorials, for example), design thinking elements (thinking walls with Post-its), and flexible seating (a few beanbags don't hurt!).

2. Digital Citizen

Before our students can take ownership of this skill, the school has to adopt a digital citizenship curriculum to teach students safe and responsible technology use. Beyond this, we must also ensure that students have many opportunities to safely explore the digital world through interactive tools and games such as Common Sense Education's Digital Passport, Digital Compass, and Digital Bytes.

Try it. Everyday implementation of this standard includes choosing a learning platform that encourages student voices -- for example, Seesaw and Google Classroom. These platforms let students experience a sense of audience (at different scales), become authors, and understand the responsibility that comes along with authorship.

3. Knowledge Constructor

Don't consume -- create! This idea is a huge focus in the new standards. Learners should develop a strong sense of ethics when it comes to media creation. Help them learn to express their unique perspectives and evaluate their own work. We also want them reflecting on creative credit to protect their work and the work of others. Building knowledge and exploring content online require thinking critically and being digitally literate.

Try it. To develop skills, integrate the design-thinking model into your instructional design. Creating a "makerspace," or even just making room for " maker moments," can open opportunities for students to investigate, create, make prototypes, and iterate.

4. Innovative Designer

Teachers are often under a lot of pressure to be the sole designers of learning experiences. What results is something I call "curriculum engineering" -- building excessive curriculum evidences and paperwork. But curriculum should not be a synonym for "building documentation."

Try it. One way to develop an "innovative designer" mindset in our students is to allow them to collaborate on developing course curricula. Have students find and choose the appropriate tools and resources around the design cycle by brainstorming, researching, presenting, and reflecting. Then empower them to determine relevant course content (within the boundaries of the subjects/strands) and have them show their learning journeys using a digital journal or videos.

5. Computational Thinker

While this standard typically refers to coding and programming, at its core it's about problem-solving. This standard does not imply that all teachers should become IT teachers and teach coding but that all students need to have access to opportunities (online or offline) that allow them to develop a tinkering mindset. This can mean integrating space for "making" and STEAM activities whenever possible. It also means designing opportunities for students to collect data, analyze it, and respond to the findings. This standard engages students in manipulating data digitally and physically to conceptualize a problem and make connections to the real world.

Try it. Students could create surveys (using Google Forms, for instance), observe the collected data on a spreadsheet, and analyze it through various representations -- for instance, by using a pivot table to rearrange data or using motion charts to track entities and values.

6. Creative Communicator

It's time to go beyond speaking over a PowerPoint. Becoming a creative communicator is not only about selecting the style and format of the message; students need to focus on developing creativity and creating "original work" or " responsibly repurposing." Our students are expected to use visuals, models, and simulations to grow a sense of audience and authorship.

Try it. Interactive presentations engage the audience, encouraging them to learn. Tools such as Pear Deck or Socrative support participants' voices. A clever combination of tools can promote multimedia integration (for example, ThingLink and YouTube video embedded on a blog). Students could also decide to represent ideas in ways that show data in an original way -- using a word-cloud tool or Answer Garden, for instance.

7. Global Collaborator

These days, we can't deny the connectivity in which we all live. This standard promotes the use of social media for collaboration. It encourages the creation of more opportunities for all learners to broaden their intercultural understanding and to genuinely experience interactions with others.

Try it. Mystery Skypes or Mystery Hangouts are amazing ways to develop global (or even "glocal") collaboration projects that enhance the intercultural mindedness and autonomy of students. With these activities, students are in charge of their learning, they have roles and responsibilities, and the learning occurs while they plan, video-conference, and reflect on the experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Refresh Your Teaching with the ISTE Standards for Students | Common Sense Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you heard of the new ISTE Standards for Students? Released at the ISTE Conference in Denver last June, these seven standards focus on essential skills for success in a connected, digital world. If you haven't been incorporating them into your instruction, now is a great time to refresh your lessons and start integrating them.

# data[].attributes.headline
3 Ways to Integrate Standards for Students

# data[].attributes.subject
3 Ways to Integrate Standards for Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Do you think that the ISTE Standards for students can only be applied through the use of technology? Well, ISTE stand for the International Society for Technology in Education, but you really can start to integrate some of the standards in your classroom with minimal technology... or none at all!

Empowered Learner:

Do your students have choices in your classroom? Can you think of one small thing that you can let go of and let students be in charge? In my elementary art room, 3rd through 5th grade students set up, work and clean up on their own. So of course, I have modeled what this looks like and have had them practice. Sometimes they need more practice, so I give them time for it!

If students do have access to technology, offer them choices to show their learning. When I team taught the phases of the moon with fifth grade classroom teachers, students had lots of choices. Read the post here.

Digital Citizen/Global Collaborator:

Let's face it, to be a responsible digital citizen, you need to know how to be a responsible citizen is in real life. As educators, it is our job to help students make wise choices and be kind, in person and online.

I plan to teach my fifth grade students how to share their work on our art studio Instagram and Twitter this year. (Follow us @ssesArtists!) I have one class iPad and will model appropriate digital citizenship so my students can share beyond the walls of our Connecticut classroom. Digital tools can help students engage with a broader, global audience. Students don't have to create work just for the teacher anymore.

Knowledge Constructor:

Are you ready to move from teacher-created activities to student chosen and/or student-created activities ? Students of all ages need to challenge themselves and take charge of their learning. Of course, this cannot be done in a day, teachers must guide and support students to take more responsibility for their learning.

One way that I created more time for students to work in my classroom was to create some demonstration videos. This is a great idea to increase student work time when you can't add time to the school day!

Have you tried different ways to integrate the ISTE Standards for students in your classroom? I'd love to hear about it! Post a comment below so we can connect!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Ways to Integrate ISTE Standards for Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Do you think that the ISTE Standards for students can only be applied through the use of technology? Well, ISTE does stand for the International Society for Technology in Education, but you really can start to integrate some of the standards in your classroom with minimal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is ISTE and How do the Standards Benefit Students?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is an international advocacy organization that seeks to "transform teaching and learning" through technology and adherence to the ISTE Standards.

The ISTE Standards for Students are perhaps the most critical because the purpose of education is to ensure student learning. The learning environment is technology rich as never before, a trend that is only accelerating. The following standards are geared to empower student voice and ensure that learning is a student-driven process.

Empowered Learner

Empowered learners find meaning and motivation in their work. They feel capable, confident, and prepared. The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) requires lessons to be "student-led, with the teacher in the role of facilitator" at the "Accomplished" rating level. Students aren't necessarily in control, but they are prepared to lead.

Example: Students engage in a turn-based imperialism simulation in which they have authored learning goals for their selected nation state, developed and executed research and simulation strategies via edtech tools (1.a), and receive real-time feedback from the teacher via the class learning management system (LMS) that they use to improve their performance over time (1.c).

Digital Citizen

Digital citizens behave in a professional, ethical, and safe manner when using technology resources. They actively use technology resources with an eye toward creating a positive benefit for society as a whole. Digital citizenship is just an extension of good civic behavior via technology.

The ISTE Standards require students to think critically about being caretakers of their permanent online reputations, make positive behavior choices, respect intellectual property rights, and how they can be safe online and keep their personal data secure.

Example: Across a high school business/computer department, students are introduced to a professional social media platform (such as LinkedIn) and author plans to manage their online reputations (2.a). In all classes, students help determine standards for professional communication, particularly when using the school's LMS (2.b).

Knowledge Constructor

One of the most critical challenges we currently face across society is the ability to build accurate, credible, reliable knowledge bases from which to make good decisions as citizens, family members, workers, and consumers.

ISTE indicators in this area seek to build students' research skills and how they view sources of information with a more critical eye. Students are thus prepared to create curated collections that represent the forging of connections and drawing of conclusions that build an accurate base of knowledge.

Example: Students researching the North Korean nuclear controversy become educated in a source quality analysis technique, such as the popular CRAAP Test used by many universities (3.b), and draw meaningful and accurate conclusions about the crisis from carefully considered and curated resources (3.c and 3.d).

Innovative Designer

Thinkers of all stripes, from architects and engineers to artists, use some kind of deliberative, step-by-step process to consider and implement their designs. Students following the ISTE Standards know and use such a process, combined with the use of digital tools. They engage in the design cycle of developing, testing, and refining prototypical models, and learn to live with the open-ended, chaotic, ambiguous world of complex problem-solving.

Example: Students in a STEM-centered design class must construct a chair out of cardboard that can support their weight. Each partner pair engages in the class-defined design process (4.a) and uses mind-mapping, drawing, and project planning software to manage the work (4.b). Students construct, test, and adjust a model before delivering the final project (4.c). Each group is revealed to have produced a slightly different solution to the open-ended class problem (4.d).

Computational Thinker

This sounds intimidating at first, but it's really about students developing logical descriptions of problems and using the appropriate edtech tools to break down, analyze, and solve them.

Example: Students studying polling techniques in AP Government define a political science problem relevant to their community (5.a), conduct and analyze a survey of a sample of the school population via a cloud-based form (5.b), and break down the results in several interesting ways at a local community meeting (5.c).

Creative Communicator

Students must learn the essential skill of communicating their ideas and how to use varied edtech tools to meet their individual learning goals. This standard area encompasses everything from communicating ideas to fellow classmates to publishing complex digital remixes for consumption by a target audience.

Example: Sophomores are studying the Harlem Renaissance and tasked with the completion of an interdisciplinary digital remix project in which students must link history, geography, and politics to classic works by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, etc.. Students are to select an appropriate presentation platform (6.a), create an original remix that matches project standards (6.b), and publish the content to the school LMS for peer review and feedback (6.d).

Global Collaboration

Interconnected as never before, students should learn to use edtech to think big picture, expand their cultural horizons, and engage in meaningful collaborative work with others, both in class/school and around the world.

Example: In an upper-level Spanish class, students learn about the people and culture of Mexico. The teacher sets up a video chat through the LMS with students at a "sister school" in Mexico (7.a). Her students engage with the other class to learn more about if/how family structures, relationships, and/or traditions differ between Mexico and the United States (7.b).

Student Learning is the Ultimate Goal

By implementing the ISTE Standards for Students, you are providing a pathway for student voice, choice, and empowerment to achieve their educational goals, accompanied and enhanced by technology. EdTech is nothing without the "ed" and the ISTE Standards will help you stay laser focused on outcomes for students.

What did you learn about the ISTE Standards for Students? Let us know on Twitter @Schoology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understanding the ISTE Standards for Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is an international advocacy organization that seeks to "transform teaching and learning" through technology and adherence to the ISTE Standards. The ISTE Standards for Students are perhaps the most critical because the purpose of education is to ensure student learning.