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SOURCE
http://powermylearning.org/
web link
http://powermylearning.org/education/learning/educational-games-activities

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Start Exploring K-12 Content | PowerMyLearning Connect

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Explore quality K-12 content curated from renowned publishers. Find certified playlists, consisting of sequenced learning activities & assessment items.

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FANTASTIC TOOLS SHARED BY  COOL TEACHER ONLINE 

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FANTASTIC TOOLS SHARED BY  COOL TEACHER ONLINE 

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Internet and blogs can provide us with a long list of tools .... worth sharing

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SKYPE can help develop collaboration and bring the real world into our classroom.

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Great tools

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Do you want to add speech bubbles to images and your photos? So, you don't need to download/buy any software to make your photos speechable but I've come up with 5 comic and free websites to add speech bubbles to your photos online.

These websites are very easy to use. You just need to upload the photo, add bubble and enter the text inside. So, are you ready to try these sites to make speechless pictures and cartoons speechable? Yea! That's good.

Now, have a funnier look on these websites that will help you to add speech bubbles to your photos online:

Speechable is the most popular website to add speech bubbles to your photos online for free. It enables you to upload photos from your PC or from any URL and then you can add speech bubbles to the photos to make it speechable.

To do so, you've to visit the website. You can visit the website from the above link and upload a photo from your PC or from any URL.

Now, to add the bubble to your photo, just click on Bubble, set the bubble and enter the text to show inside the bubble.

That's it, now you can share this photo to your friends on Facebook or you can also save it on your computer to publish on your blog.

It is another fantastic website to add comic word balloons, speech bubbles and thought balloons to your uploaded photos. Yes, as of Speechable here also you can upload a picture from your PC and add such bubbles and balloons to your photo.

First of all, visit the above link and then click on Start Here! Now, you'll move on to another screen. Here click on Upload Image button and upload picture. To add balloon, click on Add a Balloon button to add the balloon to your photo.

Now, you can save or share this picture any where you want. I hope you will find it very simple and interesting.

It is a very simple comic speech and thought bubble photo editor. After visiting the website, you'll automatically understand what to do.

So, you can simply upload a photo from your PC or Import picture from Facebook or use random stock photo to add speech bubbles. After importing photo, you can add speech and thought bubbles. Only be careful about one thing is that it doesn't import low resolution images and the resolution of photo must be at leas 640×480 px.

LunaPic is a great online photo editor where you can do almost everything with your photo. It provides several drawing tools, effects and animations.

Now, if you want to add speech bubbles to your photo with LunaPic, then visit the website and move cursor to Draw category and then select Speech Bubbles from them.

Now, you can upload you picture and add any of these speech and thought bubbles to your photo very simply. Another thing which is very important in this editor is that you can make the bubble area transparent.

It provides many photo editing facilities such as Cartoonize yourself, add speech bubbles and many other attractive bubbles to photos and more.

To add bubble to your photo, first of all you've to upload your photo and then you can add bubbles to your photo very simply.
Finally, I just wanna say that if you want to add comic speech bubbles to your photos to be uploaded on your blog as a blog post, then the first and second listed sites are best. In addition, you wanna add different type of attractive and other bubbles such as heart bubble etc, then you the last one and also the other listed websites are good too.

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5 Comic Websites To Add Speech Bubbles To Your Photos Online

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Do you want to add speech bubbles to images and your photos? So, you don't need to download/buy any software to make your photos speechable but I've come up with 5 comic and free websites to add speech bubbles to your photos online. These websites are very easy to use.

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Students can do the following with their comics:

Retell a historical event

Write dialogues

Summarize readings

Create the setting and situation appropriate for idioms and phrases

Post an interview

Explore societal issues

Explore the language in jokes

Explore political issues

Introduce themselves to their peers

Show how to accomplish a goal

Explore the meaning behind quotes

Give visual instructions- Howtoons.com is full of great instructional comics

Highlight the rules

Create a context for math word problems

Tell the news

Explore various deﬁnitions of a word

Visualize research

Favorite Comic Creators

​Make Beliefs Comix– Web site to create comics and an iPad app. Create two, three and four panel comics in multiple languages. Also find 350+ free printables for teachers.

Play Comic– A web site in both Spanish and English to walk you through learning with comic games and a creator.

ToonDoo – The site allows students to share their comics, comment on other comics, and even save and edit a copy of a comic.

Comics Head– iOS and Android app to make comics. Students add their own images or can choose from their library of characters, backdrops, and speech bubbles. Students can draw in the comic. With the paid version, students record their voice for each panel.

Friendstrip– iOS and Android app to make comics. Frames set and students can fill in the story.

Pixton– on the web and an iOS and Android app to create comics. Has a library of characters, frames, and backgrounds.

Book Creator– iOS and Android app to create digital books, including comic books.

Creaza– Create comics, make movies, edit audio, and more! Embed in a blog or wiki.

Bubblr– Create your comic strip with Flickr pictures and add bubbles to tell your story!

Bitstrips– Free to create comics with friends and on Facebook. Offers a 30-day free trial for the education version.

Marvel– Create comic strips and books with Marvel characters.

Write Comics– Simple comic creation tool.

Witty Comics- Great for political cartoons. Simple and easy to use. No registration required.

Garfield– You can create comic strips or books with Garfield characters.

Phrase It– Add speech bubbles to pictures.

StoryBoardThat– Create comics or storyboards.

LIST OF RESOURCES
http://www.shellyterrell.com/comics.html

http://phrase.it/
http://writecomics.com/
http://www.pearltrees.com/shellyterrell/comics-learning/id7474042#l768

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http://phrase.it/

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Great tool

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Make a newspaper clipping with your own headline and story. Surprise friends and colleagues, send a birthday greeting or give your next blog post a special look.

To download your newspaper, use the link at the bottom of the generated image. You can use the images as you wish ie. put them on your own website or blog. Please note, that direct linking to the newspaper clippings doesn't work; the images are deleted from the server after a short time span.

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Make a newspaper clipping with your own headline and story. Surprise friends and colleagues, send a birthday greeting or give your next blog post a special look.

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A tool for creating visual quotes

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Recite.Com is available for purchase. Get in touch to discuss the possibilities!

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AND  ENTRAPRENEURSHIP

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A tool for helping teachers to work
http://www.designthinkingforeducators.com/

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Useful

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Newspaper Template
Here's the first newspaper template pack, it includes beautiful designs and you can pick your favorites from the list below, you can get these printed if you need with the help from Managed Print Services. Don't forget, these are for Microsoft Word, so you need a working version of that installed on your computer (either Mac or PC works fine). I also have the best essay and thesis writers available. Please visit https://www.writingelites.net/

Tip: you can view a larger image if you click on the pictures.

Here goes the list:

1. A simple newspaper for Microsoft Word. It is fully editable and it's all free. You can just type your text instead of the dummy content that is on it now (and replace the image or add you own). Feel free to rearrange the articles and items at your will.I guess this type of simple design is not that easy to find, so it will be useful to a lot of people. Another one is soon to come. Please visit my website again to check for new articles. Now use the download button below to start downloading this layout if you like it. It seems to be the most popular so far since most editors choose this one. Maybe it's because it's so easy to change.

Download this word file "

2. Number two has a blue theme. You open it in word and simply put in your text and pics. Of course you can duplicate the text boxes and create more pages. All colors can be changed.
This is possibly one of the easiest to modify and it looks simple enough that anyone can use it. This is how it was designed.
Download this 2 pages word file "

3.Another document for Word. It is fully editable like usual and it's all free. You can just type your text instead of the Lorem Ipsum content that is on it now (and replace the image or add you own). Feel free to rearrange the articles and items at your will. Of course you can edit the colors in all of them and you can easily paste in your pictures.
Download this 2 pages word file "

4.This is a bit flashy, but it surely has the looks of a real news paper.

This is another good resource for all of you news publishers out there.

Alright, what you will get in this download is a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) that you can use freely at your discretion. I think this is cool stuff, saves you from a lot of work. Everything is editable, just put in your text and pictures. You can also tweak the colors or content placement. And Voila! It only has one page, but you can copy the styled content boxes on new pages and extend you publication. I love using the newspaper, I was actually able to compare motor trade insurance in the newspaper and I found a pretty good deal.
Download this single word file "

5.Fifth in line, read the description.
Are you doing or helping out on school news or magazine project?

The projects you find here are fully editable and don't require much (if any at all) knowledge of design, programming, all the boring stuff. It's just you, your content and the customizable paper/magazine. Your readers will be enjoying a better experience and you will get it done faster and easier.

Enough talk! Now use the link below.
Download this one page word file "

6.Complete two pages template for Microsoft Word. This one might be harder to edit, but all you have to do is fill the blue boxes with your own pictures and replace the dummy text with your content. Feel free to edit the formating, colors, sizes, positions, etc.

It's my favorite of all. Just looks wonderful with content in it.

This is the 6th in line, just for the records.

Everyone is welcome to download and use the templates provided at their own will.
Download this double page word file "

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Free Newspaper Template Pack For Word | Extranewspapers

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Here's the first newspaper template pack, it includes beautiful designs and you can pick your favorites from the list below

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Just found online

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Learning to Go: Lesson Ideas for Teaching with Mobile Devices, Cell Phones, and BYOT. QR Codes. Once Upon a Device: 20 Reading Activities & Apps. Chat Text Apps

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Something worth sharing... to learn more

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A RESEARACH TOOL

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What is InstaGrok?

It is a research tool that allows users to build a concept map to which they can pin notes, websites, videos, and facts. Users can they open a journal that cites all of the resources with active hyperlinks, creating a fully interactive journal that can be saved and shared.

How does the concept map work?

In order to create a true concept map, sub concepts can be connected to related concepts. This is done by dragging and connecting smaller concept balls to each other. Note: you are unable to attach a small concept ball where you want on the large concept ball, you must connect small concept balls to small concept balls

Why is Einstein at the top of the page?

By dragging the bar from the chalkboard to Einstein, the user increases the complexity of the vocabulary and the associated research available.

Other features:

Instagrok also has a glossary of terms with definitions of the concept researched as well as a quiz related to the concept.

Like any search engine, the more specific your search is, the better the results. For example, search "Abraham Lincoln" not Lincoln to avoid results related to the location or the car, if you only want to know about the President.

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In this tutorial, you will learn how to use InstGrok to 1. Conduct informal online research as a starting point for more in-depth learning 2. Create a concept map with connected websites, videos, and images 3. Create a journal entry using the research collected 4.

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Saving your online resources

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Learn some of the advanced features of Diigo - renaming tags, Diigo lists, webslides, searching, blog posts, and extracting annotation reports among others.

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Activity Type Web 2.0 Tools - Mappa Mentale - Schema

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These Web . tools are a basic listing of tools from which to choose while selecting appropriate tools for classroom activities. If you find broken links plea...

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LEARNIA
https://thelearnia.com/

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Convert your presentation into Video lesson [Tutorial Video]

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http://www.thelearnia.com In this Tutorial Amy from theLearnia will explain how to convert your PowerPoint presentation into an awesome video lesson within minutes. One click and you can share with your students.

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CLIPIX AND MORE
https://www.clipix.com/

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Are you looking for a new bookmarking tool to help you get organized? There are many free options available, but only one has a central focus on privacy.

Clipix allows teachers and students to save everything in one central place. You can bookmark, or clip, just about anything to different clipboards in your account. Photos, videos, notes, websites, even emails - clip them all and have access to them anywhere you have internet access.

One thing that sets Clipix apart from other tools is its focus on privacy. By default, your clipboards are private and kept that way unless you decide otherwise. If you want to share a clipboard with others, you can decide to create a collaborative clipboard where others can contribute.

There are a lot of free bookmarking tools out there. If you'd like to learn about some other options, here are a few resources for you to check out. I recommend trying a couple of tools out that seem like they'd fit your needs before you decide which you will adopt permanently.

7 Reasons Why Teachers Love Evernote - Learn a little about why teachers enjoy using Evernote for bookmarking. If you think Evernote is the tool for you, you may want to check out this on-demand course on the tool, Stay Organized and Remember Everything.

Symbaloo: Visual Bookmarking Made Simple For Teachers - Symbaloo is an interesting tool that you can use to create custom homepages or search boards for students. If you've interested to learn more in-depth about Symbaloo, check out this on-demand course, Discover an Easy Way to Organize, Access, and Share Web Resources.

Go From Overwhelmed to Organized with 5 Free Web Tools - Finally, for a look at a few different tools including Evernote, Symbaloo, and others, this on-demand course walks you through the basics of some great organization and bookmarking tools.
Do you have a free tool that you use to stay organized in, and out, of the classroom? Tell me about it in a comment on this article. Kimber Thompson is a Lead Moderator for SimpleK12 webinars and a Contributing Editor for SimpleK12.com. She writes frequently about education topics, and is passionate about tools and techniques that inspire young learners. You may reach her with ideas and comments at editor@simplek12.com.
A Bookmarking Tool for Everyone Click to Tweet

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A Bookmarking Tool for Everyone - Simplek12

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Clipix allows teachers and students to save everything in one central place. You can bookmark, or clip, just about anything to different clipboards in your account. Photos, videos, notes, websites, even emails - clip them all and have access to them anywhere you have internet access.

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http://nc3t.com/webinar-the-value-of-project-based-learning-a-shining-example/

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The Value of Project Based Learning:  A Shining High School Example

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Educators in New York's Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-Tech) utilize project-based learning (PBL) to engage and inspire students. With carefully designed PBL, students connect school learning to the real world, especially to careers. Join NC3T's Thom Suddreth as he talks with Mike Dardaris, Chief Learning Officer at Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES' P-Tech Early College High School along with Kacie Rea, P-Tech ELA teacher.

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Interesting video

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They can manage and work better supported by the others

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October 28, 2015
Project Based Learning with Students with Disabilities

Back in March, John Larmer, John Mergendoller, and Suzie Boss enhanced the Buck Institute's original Project Based Learning (PBL) framework, highlighting essential elements that lend themselves to deeper learning. Many of the original pieces are there, but this new model, Gold Standard PBL, gives equal billing to reflection as an important part of the PBL experience. While students have always been encouraged to reflect throughout PBL, I think its appearance on the Gold Standard Design graphic serves as a reminder for all of us when we are facilitating student learning.

So, with that in mind, I would like to reflect on our initial exploration of PBL as a vehicle to engage students with disabilities as we prepare them for career, college, and civic life. While not all students with disabilities will attend a traditional college, they all will experience a post-secondary life that will include academics, advocacy, and accomplishment. Last year, a group of exceptional educators embarked on a journey with me that would change the way we look at instruction; these teachers decided that PBL offers an approach that leads students toward a life after high school where content knowledge is just one aspect of the whole adult. There is so much more that our students require when they leave us. Mr. Larmer, Mr. Mergendoller, and Ms. Boss, in Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning, discuss the acquisition of "Success Skills" as an integral part of learning. It is this emphasis on critical thinking, collaboration, and self-management that provides even more opportunity for our students with disabilities as they strive toward independence in their post-secondary life.

Last year, we deemed that all kids "CAN PBL" when Onondaga-Cortland-Madison NY (OCM) BOCES students in 12:1:1 and 12:1:4 classes grew a community garden, created and distributed leisure activity brochures, fed the homeless, and educated fellow staff and teachers about autism. Others utilized technology to communicate the importance of animal habitats to zoo visitors, staffed a diner for fellow classmates, created posters promoting a balanced diet for the school cafeteria, and prepared families for a natural disaster. That is just some of what our students with disabilities accomplished in a few short months. It is important to note, however, as John Dewey stated, it's not the experience, it's the "reflection on experience" (1938) that elevates us to that metacognitive platform. To honor reflection as a part of the learning process, I invited the teachers involved to share in a "fishbowl" protocol. As I listened from the perimeter, the teachers spoke about what their students learned and the nature of transfer, a result of deep learning. Students were making content connections for days, even weeks, after products were shared with the public! As the reflection continued, the teachers recalled collaboration among students who were so prone to parallel play in the traditional teaching environment. Now, those students accomplished tasks as a team and celebrated together. They looked into each other's eyes and handed items back and forth, a feat that can be difficult for some children with disabilities. They helped each other if someone struggled. As the reflection continued, teachers shared how their students, so often marginalized and forgotten, became advocates through this experience. They became problem solvers, helpers, makers...

Reflection leads to planning next steps; so with this in mind, I look forward to year two. I look forward to supporting teachers as they design projects intent on facilitating academic proficiency and promoting advocacy while providing opportunity for rigorous inquiry for all of our students. And when those students have learned, they can revel in their accomplishments as they prepare for post-secondary life.

Do you have questions, advice, or stories to share about using PBL for students with disabilities or in Special Education? Please make a comment below!

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Project Based Learning with Students with Disabilities | Blog | Project Based Learning | BIE

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Back in March, John Larmer, John Mergendoller, and Suzie Boss enhanced the Buck Institute's original Project Based Learning (PBL) framework, highlighting essential elements that lend themselves to deeper learning. Many of the original pieces are there, but this new model, Gold Standard PBL, gives equal billing to reflection as an important part of the PBL experience.

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To get started .....

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EducationWorld is pleased to present this article contributed by Aimee Hosler, who specializes in education-related topics for a number of websites, including TeacherPortal.com. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Traditional rote learning is not working-at least not for all students. So is there a better way to engage kids? To encourage critical thinking, communication and socialization, all while reinforcing key lessons and concepts? Chances are no single model will work for every student or classroom, but some come pretty close. Problem-based learning is one of them.

What is problem-based learning?

In this type of instruction, students work together to solve real-world problems in their schools and communities. Successful problem-solving often requires students to draw on lessons from several disciplines and apply them in a very practical way. The promise of seeing a very real impact becomes the motivation for learning.

These real-world projects develop problem-solving, research and social skills, but that is just the beginning. Studies suggest these activities engage learners, enhance retention and help establish a model for lifelong learning. They also teach students valuable lessons in cooperation and communication that they can carry with them into the workforce.

Best practices for problem-based learning

Begin with a focus on very real, very local problems in the neighborhood or the school community. This way, students will see the fruits of their labor and develop a sense of accomplishment. You may take a walk through your school grounds or the surrounding neighborhood to identify suitable problems-say, a flower bed that is not living up to its potential or an ongoing litter problem. Even better, ask students to identify problems.

Either way, set a reasonable scope for the activity by considering students' age and prior experience with problem-based learning. Once you have selected a problem, gather your students to discuss project goals, deadlines and materials, and to brainstorm some action steps for the project. Make sure your assignment has no one right answer. Let your students drive the discussion and do the real, "messy" work-your job is to offer gentle direction and answer questions.

In addition, consider how students will present their solution to the problem. A final product could be anything from a persuasive letter or series of graphs to a multimedia presentation. Be careful, however, not to over-emphasize the "pizzaz" of the presentation, at the expense of the problem-solving portion of the project.

Ideas for problem-based learning opportunities

If no project ideas immediately occur to you and your students, try collaborating with other educators in your school building or community to share insights. You may also join online communities dedicated to problem-based learning. Another good source of inspiration is local business leaders-especially those who might be willing to serve as a resource for students.

Here are a few questions that can help jump-start brainstorming:

How can we limit food waste in the school cafeteria?

How might we better control the area deer population?

How could we improve access to healthy food in our community?

How could we track and protect local plant or animal species?

How could we improve school attendance?

How might we limit cold and flu transmission among students?

Is there a better way to manage school traffic during pick-up and drop-off times?

Potential barriers (and how to get around them)

It is inevitable that students will sometimes run into problems when trying to complete projects. Perhaps one of the most common barriers is a lack of community support. Sometimes students may need to contact local businesses or experts for support, but not all of them will be willing to contribute-or, at times, even take young people seriously. Another common barrier is a lack of resources, especially when problems require certain materials or off-site excursions. View these obstacles as opportunities for students to develop their communication skills and problem-solving savvy. Help them learn how to work within time and budget constraints. These skills-and others they are sure to develop-will serve them well as adults.

Related resources

Education World®
Copyright © 2013 Education World

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Problem-Based Learning: Tips and Project Ideas

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EducationWorld is pleased to present this article contributed by Aimee Hosler, who specializes in education-related topics for a number of websites, including TeacherPortal.com . She holds a B.S. in Journalism from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Traditional rote learning is not working-at least not for all students.

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TO BEGIN WITH

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Not only does project based learning motivate students because it is an authentic use of technology, it facilitates active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Projects begin with a driving question-an open-ended question that sets the stage for the project by creating interest and curiosity. Writing an effective driving question is surprisingly challenging. You want the question to be intriguing and irresistible to students, which makes it very different from the typical questions they encounter on tests.

A Driving Force

Like many educators, I call the "mission statement" of a project a driving question. It captures the heart of the project by providing purpose using clear and compelling language. With so many different flavors of project based learning (including problem based learning, challenge based learning, student centered learning, exploration, student driven inquiry, and authentic learning), it's not surprising that we have a variety of other terms for a question or statement that is the project's driving force. These terms include essential question, challenge, prime question, WILD HOG question, focus question, and smart question. I'll stick with driving question, but do know that sometimes the driving question is not interrogative. It might be a statement, but I'll still refer to is as a question.

Driving questions pose simply stated real world dilemmas. They pose predicaments that students find interesting and actually want to answer. The question drives students to discuss, inquire, and investigate the topic. It should push them toward a production or solution. In the process of investigating the question and sharing their answers, students learn important content and skills.

Make a Dent

Steve Jobs had the mantra, "Let's make a dent in the universe." He was on a mission to change the world. His dent in the universe is almost as big as the dent his company has put in my pocketbook (brief pause for chuckles). I think the best projects set out to make a dent. The dent might be big or small, but at least the project has made a difference in the universe.

Projects can make a difference by...

educating others

solving a problem

calling people to action

building something useful

planning an event

raising money for a purpose

recognizing or inspiring others

designing a better way to do something

If a student can ask Google, Cortana, or Siri a question and get the answer, then that question would not be a good driving question. Its answer is readily available. Answering it again as a project won't make a dent in the universe. It would be work that keeps a student busy but has little value in itself (also known as busy work).

Chicken or Egg

Which comes first, the driving question or the learning goals? I think it depends. The most successful projects feed off of students' passions. Don't be afraid to tap into them. Take what they are interested in and find a way to connect that interest to learning standards.

In my first year of teaching, my fifth graders were obsessed with SpongeBob Squarepants. They would enter the classroom each morning talking about the cartoon and its characters. They would mention SpongeBob any chance they got during class. If they were passing notes, it was probably about SpongeBob. I saw my students' eyes light up when they found out my dad's name is Gary (the name of SpongeBob's pet snail). Instead of embracing their passion for the topic, I banned SpongeBob from my classroom because I thought it was distracting. I really wish I hadn't done that. I lost rapport with my students, and just imagine if I could have funneled that energy and enthusiasm into a project... Driving questions might have been:

What adventures would SpongeBob have during the Great Depression?

You are in charge of Nickelodeon. Propose episodes of SpongeBob that teach kids about finding common denominators.

How can we use SpongeBob to persuade our parents to protect Earth's resources and environment?

So, to develop a driving question, you can use students' interest as a starting point and then creatively connect learning standards. Alternatively, driving questions are often developed by first looking at learning standards. Some of them will most likely coalesce into a possible project. Considering where your standards are used in the real world may help you connect them with a problem, dilemma, or question you can use to drive a project.

Some of the learning aims my school had for students in math were working with decimals and graphing data. I also wanted them to learn about spreadsheets. These goals lead to the question, "How would you use $1,000,000 to help our community?" For the project, students had to account for every penny, categorize expenses in a spreadsheet, and construct pie charts. Language arts standards were also addressed because the end product required good writing and speaking skills.

So, you can start with a topic or you start with learning standards to develop a driving question. In the end, the driving question should require students to learn skills and content in order to answer an interesting question.

Who Writes the Question?

It's likely the teacher will be the one writing the driving question. A good driving question is challenging to construct, even for an experienced professional educator. The teacher will know best how to form a question that incorporates learning standards. To involve students, the teacher could get input from them about the potential driving question.

Driving questions written by students are certainly valuable (and an essential part of Genius Hour or 20% Time), but they can be very difficult to integrate into a prescribed curriculum. Don't worry, even if the teacher develops the driving question, students still have the opportunity to ask loads of their own questions (see the Branching Questions section below).

Types of Questions

There's an art to developing driving questions, because there isn't a specific formula you must follow. Though, you can find some examples and structures to help you out. Below are some types of driving questions. Maybe some of these will be the spark that inspires you write your next driving question.

📐 Solve a Problem: There's a real-world predicament with multiple solutions.

How can we stop phantom traffic jams?

How can we beautify the vacant lot across the street for $200?

What's the best way to stop the flu at our school?

Design a better lunch menu for our school.

Design a safe and sturdy bridge to replace one in our city.

🎓 Educational: The purpose of the project is to teach others.

How can we teach second graders about helpful insects.

Create a campaign to teach senior citizens how to use an iPad.

What do the students at our school need to know about being respectful?

👍 Convince Others: Students persuade a specified audience to do something or change their opinions.

Create a public service announcement (PSA) that persuades teens to drink more water.

Drive yourself to define a question and then Prove It to your classmates.

Convince grocery shoppers to return their shopping carts.

How can we convince our principal that we should have a party in December?

🌏 Broad Theme: The project tackles big ideas.

What does it mean to read?

How does conflict lead to change?

How does math influence art?

How do writers persuade others?

How are good and evil depicted in different cultures?

💬 Opinion: Students need to consider all sides of an issue in order to form and justify their opinions.

Should pets be allowed to attend class?

Why has a woman never been a U.S. president?

What makes a good astronaut?

🚥 Divergent: Students make predictions about alternative timelines and scenarios.

What if Rosa Parks gave up her seat?

What if the world ran out of oil tomorrow?

How might your city change if the climate became an average of 10°F warmer?

What if the USA switched to the metric system?

🚀 Scenario-Based: Students take on a fictional role with a mission to accomplish.

You're a NASA engineer, and you are in charge of building a moon base. What are the ten most important things to include and why?

Imagine that you are King George. What would you have done differently to keep American part of England?

You are the CEO of a company that is designing a new social media app. Present a business plan to your investors that explains how your company will make money.

You've been hired to revamp your local shopping mall. Come up with a plan to increase business.

How would you spend $1,000,000 to help your community?

🚧 Scaffolded Around Framing Words: BIE has a tool to help you develop driving questions called a Tubric. It provides possible framing words, actions, audience, and purpose. If you'd rather not take the time to construct a tube, you could use Rhoni McFarlane's Developing Inquiry Questions chart, Amy Mayer's Scaffold for Writing a Driving Question, or TeachThought's PBL Cheat Sheet.

How can I create a campaign to reduce bullying in my school? (from Rhoni McFarlane)

How can we find a solution to reduce the litter in our school permanently? (also from Rhoni McFarlane)

How can we as first graders create geocaching sites to promote physical fitness in our neighborhood? (from Washington Discovery Academy)

Refining the Question

Driving questions are rarely perfect after the first draft. There are usually ways you can make them better. Talking a driving question over with colleagues, asking on social media, and putting it past your students can help you get insight into how well the question will drive a project.

A driving question shouldn't sound like a question students would find on a test. Instead of "Describe what organisms need to survive," the question could be "What if we had a chicken house at our school?" And, "Why did the American colonists declare war with England?" could be reworked into, "How could you have convinced American colonists to support independence using today's technology?" Making your question appealing to students is probably the most difficult part of crafting a question. Keep in mind, a question that is captivating to you might not be to your students.

Below is a checklist to help you refine your question. You might not be able to check off all the items, but the more the merrier!

‼️ The question is appealing to students.
🗜 The question is concise.
💦 The question has no easy answer.
😍 The question taps into students' interests and passions.
💤 The question does not sound like a test question.
💗 The question leads to more questions.
🔀 There is more than one answer to the question.
🔰 The topic is personal or local.
🏡 Students can relate to the question in their daily lives.
🤔 Students will have choices for end products.
💬 There is an authentic audience for the project.
🕵️‍♀️ The question requires serious investigation.
ℹ️ Students will learn important skills and content.
💥 The project will somehow make a difference in the world.

Outcomes

Since you've probably attached a few learning standards to the project, you'll want to make sure that those are addressed. Learning goals don't have to be part of your driving question. In fact, mentioning them in your driving question will complicate it. Instead, the place to communicate learning outcomes is in your assessment instrument. Whether you use a checklist, rating scale, or rubric, you'll want to create it alongside your driving question. The criteria you put in your assessment will guide students toward the content and skills you want them to learn. You might even want to get their input before you finalize the project's assessment.

Be sure that your assessment gives students lots of leeway in how they investigate and share their projects. Every project should turn out differently. As Chris Lehmann says, "If you assign a project and you get back 30 of the exact same thing, that's not a project, that's a recipe."

You can create rubrics and checklists with help from:

💡 Great Idea: Teacher Kristy Louden writes about how she delays giving a final grade until after students have read her feedback and conferenced with her.

Branching Questions

A good driving question will lead to more questions. Students will generate these sub questions and their answers are important for the project. These sub questions branch off of the driving questions and each other. They are specific and can guide student research.

Let's take the driving question, "What if we had a chicken house at our school?" Students might brainstorm branching questions like:

What do chickens eat?

How often do they eat?

How large of a house do they need?

Does the house need to have different rooms?

Do chickens fight with each other?

How many eggs will they lay?

Branching questions get students thinking about what they need to know to answer the driving question. Using a mind mapping app like Popplet can help students capture their brainstormed branching questions. Students can then group their questions based on similarities, by the kinds of resources that can help them answer, or for the purpose of assigning sub questions to different group members. Below is a Popplet map with branching questions organized by sub topics.

Free mind mapping apps you might consider...

And, of course, paper or whiteboards can be used to brainstorm branching questions.

Big Deal

A driving question guides a project, which can take days, weeks, or months to complete. It's a big deal. You want to make sure your question is a good one. How do you know if a question will push students toward a quality project? Do the project yourself! If you do your own project ahead of time, you might encounter some bumps in the road that you didn't anticipate, giving you a chance to refine your question or modify your assessment instrument. If you do your project alongside students, you can model thinking skills and perseverance. By doing your own project, you're showing your students that the driving question is such a big deal, even you want to answer it.

Since your question is such a big deal, treat it like one! Make up rhymes, chants, poems, or songs. An app like Songify for iOS or Android can turn your spoken words into a catchy tune.

Plaster your driving question at the front of your classroom, post it in the hallway, put it on your website, and include it in your class newsletter. Heck, you can make stickers, banners, t-shirts, mugs, slippers, and water bottles with the driving question.

You can use your favorite design app to make a graphic or poster of your driving question. As a time saver, there are websites that can instantly make your driving question visual. Some good ones are Recite, Quozio, QuotesCover, and Canva.

You Know Better Than Anyone

As the leader of your classroom, you are in the best position to know what will work with your students. You know a lot about their interests and abilities. You know the amount of time you have, the resources available, your curriculum, and the learning standards. Considering all this and concocting a meaningful question that will spur students to investigate and learn is no easy task. But, since a driving question can make or break a project, it's very much worth the effort.

Phillip Schlechty says that teachers need to ask themselves, "What is it that I am trying to get others to do, and what reasons might they have for doing such things?" Answering a well-crafted driving question can be a terrific reason for learning!

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Crafting Questions That Drive Projects - Learning in Hand with Tony Vincent

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Not only does project based learning motivate students because it is an authentic use of technology, it facilitates active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Projects begin with a driving question-an open-ended question that sets the stage for the project by creating interes

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Just to get some ideas
http://gettingsmart.com/2015/08/5-projects-for-your-project-based-learning-classroom-this-year/
Project  sites
http://internet4classrooms.com/project.htm

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http://bie.org/objects/cat/planning_forms

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SEARCHING FOR WEB TOOLS AND MORE ONLINE 

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SEARCHING FOR WEB TOOLS AND MORE ONLINE 

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https://edshelf.com/

https://www.graphite.org/

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Training Course: Teaching Digital Citizenship

Prepare your students for success as digital learners, leaders, and citizens, and create a road map for teaching digital citizenship in your classroom. In this one-hour interactive training, you'll learn the six core concepts of ...

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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Something to take into consideration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIqxZJf-6I8

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FCS | Module 1 | Tool for Teaching: TeamUp

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ONFIRE

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A  useful shelf
https://edshelf.com/shelf/935lax0-collaborative-tools-for-teachers/

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Collaborative Tools for Teachers - edshelf

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http://gettingsmart.com/2016/01/17-teacher-tech-tools-for-high-quality-project-based-learning/

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/project-based-learning/digital-project-based-learning-7-tools-student-collaboration/

https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/ten-sites-supporting-digital-classroom-collaboration-in-project-based-learning/

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http://www.schrockguide.net/online-student-collaboration.html

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Online collaboration is a way for students to both feel comfortable in an environment larger than their classroom and also a way to teach them the aspects of becoming a global citizen. If you find a...

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Tips

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Suzie Boss is an education writer and consultant who focuses on project-based learning as a strategy for improving teaching and learning. She is the author of Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World and co-author of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age. She blogs for Edutopia.org and is on the national faculty of the Buck Institute for Education.
During a recent visit to a high school that embraces 21st century learning, I watched a team of students deeply immersed in a real-world project. Their challenge: How to make the local bank branch more environmentally sustainable while staying within a budget?

Earlier, students had used online resources to investigate a variety of green design solutions. They crunched the numbers, producing spreadsheets that compared not just short-term costs but also long-term energy savings of various approaches. Now they were using a program called SketchUp to produce a 3-D model that offered detailed views of the redesigned building from the exterior (featuring drought-resistant landscaping), interior (right down to the color of floor covering made from recycled materials), and bird's eye perspective (showing rooftop rainwater-collection features). They knew this would be a handy visual aid when it came time to present their recommendations to the client.

When I asked one of the students how he learned to use SketchUp, he glanced up from his laptop and said simply, "Just by using it."

In project-based learning, that's exactly how technology integration should happen.

This wasn't a "SketchUp project," any more than it was a "spreadsheet project" or a "PowerPoint project." It was an authentic challenge that required interdisciplinary problem-solving and connected students with an audience beyond the classroom. Students chose to use online modeling software, among other tools, because 3-D graphics offered an excellent way to make their thinking visible. Technology was integrated not for show, but because it helped students meet their project goals.
Focus on What's Essential
When considering the role that technology should play in project-based learning, teachers need to be clear about the essential learning functions that tech tools will serve. Rather than building a project around the latest or greatest gadget, teachers are better off starting with the academic content and 21 st century skills that they want students to understand and apply. Only then are they are ready to consider tech tools that will enable students to meet those goals. In many instances, the right tech tool takes learning deeper, allowing students to analyze information, create and share original content, or accomplish other project results that would be hard to do otherwise.

For teachers, this means asking yourself some key questions at the project design stage: Are student collaborators likely to be contributing to the project at different times or from different locations? If so, a wiki offers a good choice for organizing content that is contributed asynchronously by multiple users. A shared online calendar will help team members keep track of project deadlines and stay accountable to each other, even if they don't meet face-to-face every day.

Will students need to consult with content experts from outside their school? Skype in the Classroom enables students to videoconference with people from anywhere in the world. This easy-to-use tool eliminates geographic barriers and sets the stage for cross-cultural communication.

Will students use the writer's workshop model or iterative design cycles as part of the project? Collaborative tools like Google Apps for Education or Microsoft SkyDrive and Office Web Apps enable users to store their work in the cloud. That means students can exchange peer feedback and track edits on shared documents.

Projects of the 21st century variety often put students in the role of innovator, challenging them to think creatively about solutions. Here, too, technology should serve key learning goals. Students might want to try a tool like Skitch, for instance, to share virtual "napkin sketches" of raw ideas. If they're more inclined to brainstorm verbally, they might use Wallwisher to post virtual "sticky notes" summarizing their creative suggestions. Why not just brainstorm as a group? Teachers tell me that some students censor their creativity for fear of peer criticism if ideas seem too "wild" or unorthodox. Technology creates a safe space to let the imagination off leash. Later in the project, there will be plenty of time to evaluate and test ideas, discarding those that aren't practical. At the brainstorming stage, though, the more ideas, the better.

At the research stage, students may need to conduct field work. Here's a chance to have them use their mobile devices for making observations or gathering digital data.

When it's time for students to offer each other critical feedback-another essential part of the learning cycle in PBL-a wide range of tech tools can be harnessed. Students might use a tool like VoiceThread to record brief audio critiques of each other's work at the draft stage, when there's still time for revision and improvement. Teachers can listen to the recordings to make sure students understand what it means to be a critical friend.

The sheer abundance of tech tools and mobile devices may seem daunting, but there's no need to overload a project with technology. Keep your focus on those essential learning functions. And don't expect to be an expert in every new tool that comes along. Be selective, but also be ready to entertain students' suggestions about which tools will help them meet their project goals. Before starting a new project, you might survey students about which tech tools they already know how to use. If you have budding filmmakers, capable app developers, or active bloggers in class, tap their expertise as peer leaders on project teams.
Walk the Talk
Teachers who want to expand their familiarity with technology can apply the same approach that worked so well for students on that bank redesign project: Just learn by doing. Try a few Web 2.0 tools that are new to you as part of your own professional learning. See which ones deliver learning functions that you don't want to be without.

Here are just a few examples:

Use the Twitter hashtag #pblchat to connect with other teachers who are engaging in project-based learning. (If you aren't yet on Twitter, set up an account at www.twitter.com) A weekly chat takes place each Tuesday evening (6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern), focused on a specific topic relating to PBL. You also can tag your tweets with #pblchat anytime to connect with the growing community of PBLers who connect in the Twitterverse.

QuadBlogging (http://quadblogging.net/) is a site that lets you connect with three other teachers from around the world so that your students will have authentic, responsive audiences for their online publishing. Designed by an educator from the United Kingdom, QuadBlogging has been an Internet sensation, connecting some 100,000 students from 40 countries in its first year.

Edmodo, a social media site for education, has an active PBL community where teachers share resources and project ideas, connect with colleagues, and invite feedback on student work. Sign up for a free teacher account and then join the PBL community (http://www.edmodo.com/home#/publisher/biepbl).

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Integrating Technology with PBL: Keep the End in Mind

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Suzie Boss is an education writer and consultant who focuses on project-based learning as a strategy for improving teaching and learning. She is the author of Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World and co-author of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age.

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When you think about some of the key features of Project-Based Learning (PBL), what do you think of? PBL should be student-driven, with a real-world connection. It should be core to learning, include structured collaboration, and have a multifaceted assessment. Giving students a real problem to solve, getting them engaged in their work, having them work with others, and assessing their work with more than just a grade sounds a lot like how many things in the 'real world' work, doesn't it? After all, aren't we trying to prepare students for the world after school?

Many of the tech tools used in classrooms are made especially for classrooms. This is a great thing in many ways, but if you can integrate tools that students will also encounter in the real world, that should be considered a bonus, too. So why not dig deep into your awesome Google Toolbox and build your project based learning tasks to use these tools? On top of being things your students will likely use once they're out of school, they're free, they integrate seamlessly with one another, and you likely already use at least some of them. If you think this is a smart idea, but aren't sure where and how you can implement some of the tools, take a gander at our handy graphic below. And as always, if you have awesome ideas you think we should include, give us a holler! Drop us a line in the comments below,mention @DailyGenius on Twitter, or head over to the Daily Genius Facebook page and say hello there!

Google tools and project based learning

Planning:

Where do you start when deciding on a project your students will spend significant time on, have some say in, that will address a number of learning goals and be meaningful and relevant? Start with what most people know Google for: Search. Whether you're exploring current events, looking back on history, or seeing what's popular around the globe, you'll be able to find it with Google.

Inquiry:

Once you've decided what the students will be focusing on, they'll need more information on the topic. Google's general search is a great place to start, but there are a number of other more specific tools that can help them both become better searchers and narrow down their searches a bit.

Connecting and Collaborating:

As a part of their work, students will likely need to connect with others - with collaborators in the classroom and with folks around the globe that can help them learn about what they need to know.

Student Voice:

An integral part of PBL is students having a voice in their work. When you need to get feedback from your students, put Google Forms to work for you. You can pose specific questions and pool the answers. Alternatively, creating a Site for your class can allow for a collaborative online space. A discussion forum using Groups can keep everyone in the loop and give everyone a voice.

Sharing, Presenting, Feedback, and Assessment:

PBL encourages sharing work and getting feedback that is more meaningful than just a grade. Students will be sharing their work with more than just the teacher or the rest of their class. They can build websites, create photos, videos, maps or multimedia presentations. With many of these tools, the 'showing' doesn't need to be static. The documents and products can continually evolve along with the project over time.

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How to use Google tools in Project-Based Learning - Daily Genius

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When you think about some of the key features of Project-Based Learning (PBL), what do you think of? PBL should be student-driven, with a real-world connection. It should be core to learning, include structured collaboration, and have a multifaceted assessment. Giving students a real problem to solve, getting them engaged in their work, having them work with ...

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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT - what I found was interesting on line

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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT - what I found was interesting on line

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https://www.twiddla.com/

http://stoodle.ck12.org/

https://nathanghall.wordpress.com/webtools-no-registration-needed-for-students/
http://www.docurated.com/101-free-free-try-online-collaborative-learning-tools-teachers-educators

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https://padlet.com/teacher_academy/hz3p2ellq4ya

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https://blog.edmodo.com/2015/10/28/real-world-collaboration-on-pbl-using-edmodo/

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I have used Edmodo for over five years, and I know what a powerful tool it is for classroom management and blended learning. I have used every feature on Edmodo to its fullest extent, but I wanted to push myself and my students even further in creating a global classroom event. Last year, I used Edmodo to extend my classroom well beyond our school community for an activity that was more than receiving and turning in assignments and taking tests. This became a pivotal point in how I used Edmodo with my students in Michigan.

I partnered with a company in my community to create a collaborative, eight-week, project-based Global Design Challenge with my fourth grade students. The challenge was for my students to work with students in Australia to design recyclable plastic bottles, snack packages, or cereal boxes. I partnered with a global company that has offices in my town and in Australia. I was able to connect with two teachers in a school in Melbourne, Australia. I agreed to teach them about Edmodo so that our students could work collaboratively. They had never heard of Edmodo and were reluctant at first. As an Edmodo Ambassador and Certified Trainer, I had many tools available to me. I set up a large classroom that included all of my students and all of their students. I added all teachers as co-teachers. I trained the Australian teachers virtually using Skype, Facetime, videos, screenshots, and Edmodo roll out materials by email. All in all, we had over 80 students and six teachers.

The challenge was sponsored by a grant that rewarded us with furniture and tools to add to our 21 st century classroom. Employees from the company assisted students by creating weekly video challenge lessons on the design process, viewed in Edmodo. They also volunteered in the classrooms to help students on a weekly basis. The employees of the company learned about the power of an online learning management system in a classroom and quickly became fans of Edmodo!

We began with a poll for students on the three choices they were being offered for projects. This helped us narrow down the number of students who were interested in designing each project. Students were given the choice of which product they were most interested in designing and then we grouped them into small groups of three or four students.

Assigning students to small groups allowed them the opportunity to continually share progress on projects and ideas by uploading photos and writing notes regardless of the major time difference. Collaborating in small groups, partners researched and designed plastic bottles, fruit snack packs, and cereal boxes. An added benefit included the sharing of cultural and climate information with their new friends. For example, Michigan students were able to show themselves playing in deep snow on our playground while Australian students introduced Michigan students to the game of Cricket. Additionally, they also shared favorite foods and customs with their groups.

The culminating event was a company-hosted celebration on each continent by Skype that included parents, school board members, company executives and employees, teachers, and green-screened digital student presentations pitching their products to the audience. My students also created poster board presentations for viewing after the global conference call. Students received certificates and awards for their project designs. What an exciting real world project and powerful way to bring two continents of learners together! This was the highlight of my use of Edmodo. It goes well beyond just being a classroom management tool.

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Real World Collaboration on PBL Using Edmodo

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I have used Edmodo for over five years, and I know what a powerful tool it is for classroom management and blended learning. I have used every feature on Edmodo to its fullest extent, but I wanted to push myself and my students even further in creating a global classroom event.

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Some links for working in PBL

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From Slideshare

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It gives the basic knowledge about what Project based learning (PBL) is.

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- Revision and Peer editing
( Google docs and Titan Pad)
- TWITTER
- Screencast-O- matic
- Smartboard
- Blogs in PBL
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQfYMeFBb7ipsUkHRtGP_rA

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A list of website and information about them

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Last week I published an updated version of one my popular ed tech tools comparison charts. That chart was about creating multimedia quizzes. This afternoon I updated my chart of seven blogging tools for teachers. The chart is available as a Google Doc or as a PDF embedded below. Unlike some of my other charts, at the bottom of this one I included my ranking of the tools. That ranking is also written below the chart embedded into this post.

1. WordPress.org - If you have the technical accumen or the time to learn it (it's not that hard), self-hosting a blog that runs on WordPress software will give you the ultimate in control and flexibility. You will be able to create and manage student accounts, have a nearly infinite variety of customizations, and you'll be able to move your blog from server to server whenever you want to. That said, you will have to pay for hosting (or convince your school to give you server space) and you will be responsible for maintaining security updates and backing-up your blog regularly.

2. Blogger - It's free and easy to set-up. It can be integrated into your Google Apps for Education account which means that you and your students can use the same usernames and passwords that they use in all other Google tools. You can make your blog private (up to 100 members invited by email). The drawback to it is that a lot of school filters flag it as "social media" and block it on those grounds.

3. Weebly for Education - It's free to have up to 40 students in your account. You can manage your students' accounts. You can have students contribute to a group blog and or let them manage their own individual blogs.

4. Edublogs or Kidblog - Both services allow you to manage your students' accounts. Both require you to pay for a subscription in order to get the features that you really want. Those features include embedding videos and other media from third party sites. Both services are powered by WordPress. I give a slight edge to Edublog because they have proven, outstanding customer support. Edublogs also offers mobile apps while Kidblog does not.

5. SeeSaw.me - SeeSaw was originally launched as a digital portfolio tool. The addition of a blogging component was made in January 2016. The blogging component of SeeSaw allows you to import and display your students' digital artifacts publicly or privately. There is not much you can do with SeeSaw in terms of customization of layout and color scheme. SeeSaw is free for teachers and students to use, but charges parents for access to see their students' digital portfolios.

6. WordPress.com - It's easy to use and is free, but with some serious limitations at the free level. The free version displays advertising on your blog which you cannot control. The free version also doesn't allow embedding content from many third-party sites.

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7 Blogging Platforms for Teachers Compared and Ranked

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Last week I published an updated version of one my popular ed tech tools comparison charts. That chart was about creating multimedia quizzes. This afternoon I updated my chart of seven blogging tools for teachers. The chart is available as a Google Doc or as a PDF embedded below.

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https://answergarden.ch/
it is a neat service that allows you to embed a open-ended feedback tool into your classroom blog or website. With an AnswerGarden embedded into your blog your students can simply type responses to your question and see their responses appear in a word cloud. Creating an AnswerGarden is a simple process that does not require you to create an account. To get started go to the AnswerGarden homepage and click "create AnswerGarden." On the next screen you will enter a question or statement for your students to respond to. To share your AnswerGarden with students you can give them the link or embed the AnswerGarden into your blog as I have done below. Optionally, before sharing your AnswerGarden you can turn on moderation of responses and set an admin password.

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What is AnswerGarden

AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic feedback tool. Use it for real time audience participation, online brainstorming and classroom feedback.

Who uses AnswerGarden

AnswerGarden has many different users: classroom, conference and corporate audiences, creative teams, online crowds, mindmappers, and more!

Benefits of AnswerGarden

AnswerGarden fits educational, professional and creative purposes, is standalone and embeddable, and shows thousands of answers in a glance!

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AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic brainstorm tool for online brainstorming, real time audience participation and classroom feedback.

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A list of useful tools
https://goformative.com/
https://www.quizalize.com/
http://81dash.com/
http://www.quizsocket.com/

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Polls, chat tools, and interactive quizzes provide good ways to hear from all of the students in a classroom. These kind of tools allow shy students to ask questions and share comments. For your more outspoken students who want to comment on everything, a feedback mechanism provides a good outlet for them too. Here's a run-down of some of the best tools for gathering feedback from students in real-time.

Newer tools:
Tozzl is a chat platform that allows you to quickly create private, password-protected message boards as well as public boards. To get started visit Tozzl and select "create a new Tozzl." Then you can name your message board and set a privacy password (optional). Tozzl assigns a new, unique URL to each message board. On your message board you can add sections for chat, file sharing, to-do lists, and YouTube videos. You can also import the feed of a Twitter hashtag into your Tozzl boards. A Tozzl demonstration video is available here.

Dotstorming is a neat tool that combines a bit of Padlet with a polling tool. On Dotstorming you can create a space for people to post digital sticky notes. Those notes can contain text and or images. That part of Dotstorming is just like Padlet. What makes Dotstorming different is that once the notes are posted, you can have people vote for their favorite notes. As the creator of a Dotstorming space you can restrict the number of votes that each person can cast. For example, you could say that each person gets two votes and once those votes are cast they're prevented from casting any more votes. After the voting is completed, you can sort the notes according to the number of votes they received. See Dotstorming in action in this video.

Twitter isn't new, but its native polling tool is new this year. Twitter polls allow you to create simple two answer choice polls. Watch this video to see how it works.
Formative is a tool that offers my feature from the now defunct Infuse Learning platform. That feature is the option for students to draw responses to your questions. Formative provides you with a place to create online classrooms. Your students join your classroom by entering the assigned class code after registering on the Formative website. Once your classroom is established you can begin distributing assignments to students. Assignments can be as simple as one question exit tickets like "what did you learn today?" to complex quizzes that use a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and true/false questions. You can assign point values to questions or leave them as ungraded questions. You can also enable or disable instant feedback for students. When you give an assignment to students through Formative you can watch their responses in real-time. A video about Formative can be seen here.

Quizalize is a free quiz game platform. Students play your quiz games on their laptops or tablets by going to the Quizalize website then entering their names and a class code. Students are awarded points for correctly answering questions quickly. Students are given feedback instantly on every quiz question that they answer. A total score is presented to students at the end of every quiz. Creating quizzes on Quizalize is a simple process. To get started just name your quiz and tag it with a subject label. As you write each quiz question you can include a picture and up to four answer choices. You can specify a time limit of 5 to 120 seconds for each question. Quizalize offers a marketplace in which you can find quizzes created by other users. Some of the quizzes are free and others are sold for a dollar or two. To be clear, creating and playing your own quizzes is completely free.

Old reliables:
81 Dash is a nice backchannel platform that provides a place for teachers to create chat rooms to use with students to host conversations and share files. Once you are registered you can begin creating rooms. In your chat room you can exchange messages and files. As the owner of a room you can delete messages written by your students. Students join your 81 Dash room by going to the URL that is assigned to your room. When they arrive at your room for the first time they will be asked to register. There are two registration options. Registering as a "guest user" does not require students to enter email addresses.

Plickers is a neat student response system that has been a hit at every conference or school in which I've shown it. Plickers uses a teacher's iPad or Android tablet in conjunction with a series of QR codes to create a student response system. Students are given a set of QR codes on large index cards. The codes are assigned to students. Each code card can be turned in four orientations. Each orientation provides a different answer. When the teacher is ready to collect data, he or she uses the Plickers mobile app to scan the cards to see a bar graph of responses. Click here for a full run-down of ideas for using Plickers.

Padlet is a tool that has been used by teachers in a variety of ways for years now. I've often used as a collaborative know-want-learn chart and as an exit ticket tool. Padlet works on interactive whiteboards, on iPads and Android tablets, and in the web browser on your laptop. In this post I outlined five ways to use Padlet in the classroom.

GoSoapBox allows you to have your audience respond to questions through their laptops, tablets, and phones. Polls and Discussion in GoSoapBox are the meat and potatoes of the service. The Polls tool allows you to survey your audience by having them select an answer choice in response to a question. The Discussions tool allows you to have audience members reply to open-ended questions. One of the simplest yet effective survey options in GoSoapBox is a tools called a Confusion Meter. The Confusion Meter allows members of your audience to simply say, "yes, I get it" or "no, I don't get it." The Confusion Meter, like all of the GoSoapBox survey tools, can accept anonymous feedback. You can use the Social Q&A tool in GoSoapBox to have students submit their questions to you. Students can see each other's question submissions and vote them up if they want to.

AnswerGarden is a neat service that allows you to embed a open-ended feedback tool into your classroom blog or website. With an AnswerGarden embedded into your blog your students can simply type responses to your question and see their responses appear in a word cloud. Creating an AnswerGarden is a simple process that does not require you to create an account. To get started go to the AnswerGarden homepage and click "create AnswerGarden." On the next screen you will enter a question or statement for your students to respond to. To share your AnswerGarden with students you can give them the link or embed the AnswerGarden into your blog as I have done below. Optionally, before sharing your AnswerGarden you can turn on moderation of responses and set an admin password.

ParticiPoll is a service that you can use to add interactive polls to your PowerPoint presentations. Your polls are created and delivered within your PowerPoint slides. Once you've added ParticiPoll to your PowerPoint you can create as many polls as you like. Each poll can have up to six response options. The best aspect of ParticiPoll is that you don't have to leave your slidedeck at all in order to administer the poll and see the results of your poll. Your audience can respond to your ParticiPoll poll through their cell phones, tablets, or laptops. To respond they simply go to the URL for your poll and choose a response. When you want to display the poll results you just click to the next element in your PowerPoint slidedeck and the results are displayed for all to see. All polls are anonymous.

Kahoot is a service for delivering online quizzes and surveys to your students. The premise of Kahoot is similar to that of Socrative and Infuse Learning. On Kahoot you create a quiz or survey that your students respond to through any device that has a web browser. Your Kahoot questions can include pictures and videos. As the teacher you can control the pace of the Kahoot quiz or survey by imposing a time limit for each question. As students answer questions they are awarded points for correct answers and the timeliness of their answers. A scoreboard is displayed on the teacher's screen. Students do not need to have a Kahoot account in order to participate in your activities. To participate they simply have to visit Kahoot.it then enter the PIN code that you give to them to join the activity.

Socrative is the standard to which I compare all new student response systems. Socrative uses cell phones and or laptops (user's choice) for gathering feedback from students. You can post as many questions as you like in a variety of formats. One of the more fun question formats is the "space race" format in which students can work individually or in teams to answer questions as quickly as possible.

Quiz Socket is a tool developed for the purpose of enabling teachers to quickly gather feedback from students. Quiz Socket enables students to respond to questions through their cell phones, tablets, and laptops. Here's how Quiz Socket works. Teachers visit the Quiz Socket website and click "create quiz." A quiz code is assigned to the teacher. The teacher then gives that quiz code to students to enter on QuizSocket.com. Teachers then deliver multiple choice questions to students either verbally or by posting them on a whiteboard. The teacher controls the pace of the quiz by simply clicking "next question" to move the quiz along.

Poll Everywhere is a service that allows you to collect responses from an audience via text messaging. The free plan for K-12 educators provides selection of features and quantity of responses that is adequate for almost any classroom. One of the neat ways to display feedback gathered through Poll Everywhere is in word clouds. The word cloud feature integrates with Wordle, Tagxedo, and Tagul.

TodaysMeet is a long-time favorite tool of mine for backchanneling in the classroom. When you create an account on TodaysMeet you can keep track of all of your chatrooms in one place, restrict access to your rooms, and close rooms early if the conversation gets too far off track. Registered users of TodaysMeet can moderate comments in their rooms. TodaysMeet can be embedded into blogs and websites. Click here for more information about these updates.

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15 Good Tools for Quickly Gathering Feedback from Students

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Polls, chat tools, and interactive quizzes provide good ways to hear from all of the students in a classroom. These kind of tools allow shy students to ask questions and share comments. For your more outspoken students who want to comment on everything, a feedback mechanism provides a good outlet for them too.

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A video

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Learn more about Project Based Learning (PBL) at : http://bie.org/. Choosing the appropriate Web 2.0 tools to support project based learning can be a daunting task. However, integrating the use of these tools into a project can help teachers to effectively facilitate the design, assessment, and management of projects.

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Great livebinders

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project based learning 21st century skills collaboration

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A guide to standards-focused Project-Based Learning.

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Interesting ideas and useful tips

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More sites to help you find success in your classroom

Rubric Maker

Create custom rubrics for your classroom.

Graphic Organizer Maker

Create custom graphic organizers for your classroom.

Pics4Learning

A curated, copyright-friendly image library that is safe and free for education.

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Project-based Learning | Creative Educator

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More sites to help you find success in your classroom Rubric Maker Create custom rubrics for your classroom. Graphic Organizer Maker Create custom graphic organizers for your classroom. Pics4Learning A curated, copyright-friendly image library that is safe and free for education.

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to be downloaded
http://hub.globaldigitalcitizen.org/download-pbl-ebook?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

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Interesting document
http://www.innovationunit.org/sites/default/files/Teacher's%20Guide%20to%20Project-based%20Learning.pdf

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INTEGRATING SKILLS

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Project Based Learning: Integrating Skills and Specifying Objectives

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A video conference

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Email List Fast | Email Marketing Training & Tools

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Best Web Tools for Project Based Learning - Katie Regan

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Session from the inaugural OSPedagogy conference "Transforming learning in the 21st century" on 6th June 2014.

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TIPS FOR PBL  AN ARTICLE FOUND IN THE NEWS

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TIPS FOR PBL  AN ARTICLE FOUND IN THE NEWS

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from The Guardian

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Project-based learning: 10 top tips for schools

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From getting started and engaging reluctant staff to designing your first project, our panel of experts share advice on all things project-based learning

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A project based learning method is a comprehensive approach to instruction. Your students participate in projects and practice an interdisciplinary array of skills from math, language arts, fine arts, geography, science, and technology.

"The collaborative nature of the investigation enhances all of these valuable experiences ... as well as promotes a greater appreciation for social responsibility (Scott, 1994)."

Building Motivation
Using Multiple Intelligences

To help you start using PBL, we've created age-appropriate, customizable project checklists for written reports, multimedia projects, oral presentations, and science projects. The use of these checklists keeps students on track and allows them to take responsibility for their own learning through peer- and self-evaluation.

PBL Project Checklists in English
PBL Project Checklists en Español

We now have customizable rubrics for multimedia projects, work skills, experiments, oral projects, and many more -- all available at RubiStar!

If you have questions, check out the FAQs.

K-1 2-4 5-8 9-12

K-4 5-8 9-12

2-4 5-8 9-12

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Age-appropriate, customizable project checklists for written reports, multimedia projects, oral presentations, and science projects.

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http://us.iearn.org/professional_development/multimedia/assess/BIE_PBLrubrics.pdf

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COLLABORATIVE  LEARNING WITH  GOOGLE HANGOUTS

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COLLABORATIVE  LEARNING WITH  GOOGLE HANGOUTS

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Collaborative Learning with Google Hangouts

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My books! Learn to Go & The 30 Goals for Teachers http://ShellyTerrell.com/publications Find resources at ShellyTerrell.com/Google & http://teacherrebootcamp.c...

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PBL IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM  SLIDESHARE

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PBL IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM  SLIDESHARE

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This is the slideshow for a presentation to Riverside Girls HS teachers interested in introducing PBL into their teaching practice. I have mostly included exam...

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http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/pblmanagementtools

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Discover pages with the best links about a subject

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PBL AND AUTHENTIC LEARNING  A GUIDE ONLINE

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PBL AND AUTHENTIC LEARNING  A GUIDE ONLINE

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Whether it is called project based, problem based, challenge based, or inquiry learning, the process falls under the larger framework of authentic learning. Links and materials to support each type...

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Students learn best while doing the activities.

Project Based Learning is a great way to get students started. When involved in a project, students collaborate and learn things by working together on an extended period of time that not only helps them gain knowledge but also helps them refine their real life skills such as collaboration and communication. This teaching method is engaging for kids. It helps them understand the subjects in depth as they get to understand topics from multiple angles. In this process of learning, students [participate actively and explore real world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.

Below are some of the best project based learning ideas and lesson plans you will find on web.
Check it out!
1. English Project Ideas For Language Arts Project Based Learning

A great resource with a listing of over 200 examples that you can use in your classroom all segregated by grade level. With these project-based lessons learning and teaching will a lot more different than it used to be. The list is sorted for elementary school activities, middle school language arts project and high school language arts projects.

2. Project Based Learning Science

Get project based lessons on topics like astronomy, earth and environment, chemistry, engineering and architecture, life science, physical science, physics, technology and some other science projects for elementary, middle and high school. The list is sorted topic wise and for the convenience of educators topics are categorized according to the grade level.

3. Project Based Learning: Lessons Achieved

This resource by CCUSD (Culver City Unified School District) is an amazing collection of project based learning lesson plans, segregated according to grade level. The lessons are listed for kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. Each lesson's short summary is mentioned with a link to complete details as how you have to go about it.

4. Project Gallery for Middle School

This one is specifically for all the middle schoolers. If you tech middle school, you will find this very useful. A short list of lessons sorted based on the subjects covering most of the important and basic topics.

5. PBL Pathways

Some great math and science ideas to put your learning into action. Every project mentions what all topics are covered in it.

6. CASES Online

This works like a search engine to your entire project based lessons. Simply pick your subject and grade level to get access to lists of lesson plans and get started. And if educators have something to add on, they can do that as well.

7. Virtual Schoolhouse

A collection of project based learning practices. The site guides to work with tools that are involved in the project and helps you make PBL part of your learning-teaching process.

8. High Tech High Schools

Selection of PBL projects from High Tech High Schools, in San Diego, California.

9. Social Studies Projects & Ideas for PBL History, Geography & Civics

This list is for Social Studies teachers with more than 350 projects to get your hands on. These social studies projects take your students beyond dioramas and research papers to authentic learning, through community and civic problem solving and outreach.

10. Math Project Ideas: Examples of Project-Based Learning

Over 150 examples to pick from. Sorted grade and topic wise.

11. realworldmath.org

Get interesting PBL ideas from this math-dedicated site to initiate some action in your classroom.

Is there any other lesson idea or plan that you'd like to mention?

Like what we do?

The Latest EdTech News To Your Inbox

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Top Project Based Learning Ideas and Lesson Plans You Will Find On the Web

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Students learn best while doing the activities. Project Based Learning is a great way to get students started. When involved in a project, students collaborate and learn things by working together on an extended period of time that not only helps them gain knowledge but also helps them refine their real life skills such as collaboration and communication.

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ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING  TOOLS   A LIST WITH ALSO SOME FREE TOOLS

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ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING  TOOLS   A LIST WITH ALSO SOME FREE TOOLS

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VIDEOS AND MORE

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Best Practices in Project-based Learning

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PBL: A Definition
Project-based learning empowers learners to collaborate in teams, mentored by their teachers, as they research real-world questions, pose solutions to real-world problems, and design real-world products in a rigorous way.
Empowers: Project-based learning shifts the locus of control over learning from teacher to student. Students are empowered to make meaningful choices related to the projects they undertake.

Learners: Project-based learning reconceptualizes 'students' as 'learners' who are naturally curious and inquisitive. Both qualities serve as driving motivators, especially for student initiated projects.

To collaborate in teams: Project-based learning emphasizes collaboration and teamwork. Both skills are central to 21st century citizenship. (They are also highly sought after by employers.)

Mentored by their teachers: Project-based learning recasts teachers as project facilitators and supervisors, who support the work of project teams, but who also set high standards for that project work. Teachers provide full classes and small groups of students with just-in-time instruction that helps students achieve their project goals.

Read the full definition...

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Project-based learning empowers learners to collaborate in teams, mentored by their teachers, as they research real-world questions, pose solutions to real-world problems, and design real-world products in a rigorous way. Empowers: Project-based learning shifts the locus of control over learning from teacher to student.

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http://www.eduproject.org/monographs/EduProject_Monograph_Monreal.pdf

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A list of whiteboards for collaboration
http://www.pearltrees.com/italianteacher/online-whiteboards/id15627559

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Creating stories by using SOCIAL MEDIA

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Team collaboration in one place

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Accelerate your teams' work with Atlassian Intelligence (AI) features 🤖 now available for all Premium and Enterprise! Learn more.

Keep everything in the same place-even if your team isn't.

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Boards

Trello boards keep tasks organized and work moving forward. In a glance, see everything from "things to do" to "aww yeah, we did it!"

Lists

The different stages of a task. Start as simple as To Do, Doing or Done-or build a workflow custom fit to your team's needs. There's no wrong way to Trello.

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Manage Your Team's Projects From Anywhere | Trello

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Make the impossible, possible with Trello. The ultimate teamwork project management tool. Start up a board in seconds, automate tedious tasks, and collaborate anywhere, even on mobile.