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Does technology actually make a difference?

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The teaching strategies based on educational technology can be described as ethical practices that facilitate the students' learning and boost their capacity, productivity, and performance. Technology integration in education inspires positive changes in teaching methods on an international level. Are you still wondering whether or not you should start relying on different apps and tools? The following list of benefits will help you come to a final conclusion.

1. Technology makes teaching easy!

Aren't you tired of giving theoretical explanations your students cannot understand? You simply cannot discover a way of presenting tough concepts that makes the concept clear for each and every student in the class. Technology has that power! Thanks to audio-visual presentations, your students will understand exactly how the knowledge is applied in practice. You can use projectors and computer presentations to deliver any type of lesson or instruction and improve the level of comprehension within the class.

2. Technology helps you track students' progress!

You are no longer limited to a plain-old diary and notes about every student. That would only get you confused. Today, you can rely on platforms and tools that enable you to keep track of the individual achievements of your students. MyStudentsProgress and theTeacherCloud Progress Tracker are great online tools that enable you to do that, but your school can also develop personalized software that would serve that purpose.

3. Educational technology is good to the environment!

Can you imagine the amount of paper and number of trees that would be saved if every school decided to introduce digital textbooks? Of course, that goal is far from realistic at this point, but you can make a change when you start from your own class. For example, you can instruct your students to take online tests and submit their papers and homework through email. You can also encourage them to use eReaders to go through the literature you assign.

4. Thanks to technology, students enjoy learning!

Students are addicted to Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Digg, and other websites from a very early age. The internet can distract them from the learning process, but you can also use their inclination to spend time online for a good purpose: Making learning enjoyable. Use touch-screen technology and online presentations to make the classes more interactive. You can also rely on technology when you want your students to take part in discussions. Set up a private Facebook group for your class and inspire constructive conversations!

5. Technology makes distance learning more accessible than ever!

Without the wonders of the internet, people wouldn't be able to get access to any type of information at the very moment they think of it. Today, distance learning is one of the most trending learning methods. Virtual lessons are slowly taking the place of traditional lectures. Students can organize their time in a way that works for them, and they can easily gain the knowledge they are interested in. For example, let's say one of your students shows great interest in Astronomy, but the traditional curriculum does nothing to feed that hunger for knowledge. You can recommend him/her to take beginner's course at Coursera, Udemy, or any other online service that offers high-quality virtual lectures.

6. Students and teachers can access information at any time!

This is possibly the most obvious benefit of technology. When old-school teachers were students, they had to spend hours in the library looking for the information they needed. Today, technology integration makes everything different and simpler. Students can easily access newspapers, scientific articles, studies, and any other type of content online. They can write better, deeper academic papers because they can support their arguments with more evidence. When you give a lecture the students don't understand, they can find simpler instructions and information with a single Google search.

7. Technology makes collaboration more effective!

Think about the way collaboration looks like in a traditional classroom setting. You organize groups, assign the projects, and suddenly the class becomes a complete mess. Some students express their opinions too loudly and firmly, while others don't get an opportunity to be heard. Online tools and apps offer a unique setting for students to engage in a group project. They can do the work from home; the team is connected through the Internet and everyone is inspired by the focused environment.

Don't Underestimate The Power Of Technology

You stand no chance of being called "the cool teacher" if you keep neglecting the use of educational technology in the classroom. The benefits of technology integration described above should convince you of the fact that this form education is great for both students and teachers.

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7 Benefits Οf Technology Integration Ιn Τhe Education Sphere - eLearning Industry

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The teaching strategies based on educational technology can be described as ethical practices that facilitate the students' learning and boost their capacity, productivity, and performance. Technology integration in education inspires positive changes in teaching methods on an international level. Are you still wondering whether or not you should start relying on different apps and tools?

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What is successful Technology in a classroom?

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What Is Successful Technology Integration?

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Well-integrated use of technology resources by thoroughly trained teachers makes twenty-first-century learning possible. From our Technology Integration Professional Development Guide.

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For k-8 Games

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1st Grade Games - Fun, Free, Online Games for 1st Graders - Knowledge Adventure

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Keep your first graders busy and entertained with Knowledge Adventure's fun and free 1st grade games!

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Benefits of using Technology

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Benefits of Technology in the Classroom - TeachHUB

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Technology has become an everyday part of our lives, and that’s true for schools, too. Learn more about the benefits of technology in the classroom.

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Pros and Cons of using technology

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Using IMovie in the classroom

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iMovie for ISO devices (iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone) is an incredible app to use in the classroom. With an iPad or an even smaller iPod touch or iPhone equipped with iMovie you can put in to students...

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Helpful and child appropriate videos about digital citizenship

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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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People to reach out to in North Thurston

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Technology Services / Technology Services

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Privet School in Tacoma

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Life Christian Academy - Where Life Happens!

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Life Christian Academy provides an exceptional education experience: excellent academic instruction, authentic spiritual development, and quality programs.

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OlyMEGA - Olympia Makers, Engineers, Geeks, and Artists

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OlyMEGA is a nonprofit Makerspace located in Olympia, WA. We're dedicated to fostering creativity, collaboration, and education.

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Official Website

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To describe them simply, makerspaces are community centers with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn't be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone.

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10 ideas to use Google Maps

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Google Maps has been out for 10 years now. Digital maps...starting with Mapquest has been out since 1996 (technically 1993 but mapquest was the first main stream map most people remember). For those of you keeping track that puts us almost 20 years into the digital mapping word. 20 years we have been using digital maps and yet for some reason digital maps have not replaced ( there's that word again) mapping in our schools.

In 2007...8 years ago now....Apple put a map in our pocket. Fast forward to 2015 and almost everyone has a digital map in their pocket. Pilots now fly with iPads, ship captains now navigate with GPS and digital maps. Truck drivers now drive via digital maps and GPS location. So basically every professional that needs to use maps is using digital maps. I'm not saying we need to stop teaching how to read a paper map...but really...that should be 10% of the mapping work a student does not 99%.

With that in mind here are 10 ways you could use Google Maps in the classroom.
1. Latitude Longitude Scavenger Hunts
You remember learning about Latitude and Longitude right? Well, in a paper map world it's a place that is "kind of there" where your two fingers meet. In a digital world it's a specific location. This allows us to do some fun stuff and learn about Latitude and Longitude at the same time.

What do these three places have in common?

24.007233, 38.210118

31.204263, 121.281686

46.986944,-123.812859

Then maybe you have students go to the opposite hemisphere from where these places are and see what's there. Is this math looking at x y axis and how we divide our world? Or is this social studies and looking at landmarks? Or is this English and we have the settings of the books we have read? Or is it History and we're comparing and contrasting battle sites. In a digital mapping world Latitude and Longitude mean more than where your fingers meet...it's a very exact location.

Google Sightseeing blog: View some of the great images from around the world
2. Earth Picker
Earth Picker is a fun and addicting game. If you click on the link kiss the next 30 minutes of your life goodbye. The game reminds me a bit of Carmen Sandiego back in the day. Only in this game you need to be able to "read an image" a new skill that we need to be teaching students as more and more of our information becomes visual. What do you see? What clues can you find? A great little game to start teaching digital mapping skills.

Yes...Google does have a whole site dedicated to using maps in education
3. Smarty Pins
Smarty Pins is a great game for educators to use and adapt. I encourage educators to play the game for awhile, yes the questions seem to be American Centric, however what we're after here is the questions that Google is asking and how the game works. Once you get the hang of it an educator could create their own questions around their own content area. Students could put a pin on the map where they think it is...once the true place is revealed they could get driving directions to see how far they were off....now we bring math into the curriculum and have students add and keep track of their own distances. Think settings of books in English class, battles in history class, or create questions in a world language class and the country practicing language skills. Yes the game is fun....even better is how easy it would be to adapt it to fit your curriculum.

Create your own mapping game
4. My Maps
My Maps is simply amazing. So much so that it is used in the next six ways to use Google Maps. My Maps allows you to create maps not just read and use them. All of a sudden we become digital map creators and the possibilities become endless.

5 ways to use My Maps in the classroom
5. Video Tour
Using My Maps students could add markers along a route of say..... Ferdinand Magellan. Students could create videos, or record their voice and actually embed them into a marker for others to learn about what happened at that spot on his travels.

Now....because this is Google.....of course you can share a map just like you can a Google Doc. Now you have 10 students working on 10 different explorers all of them adding their routes and videos to the same map. From there we can start to see patterns of routes, patterns of where explorers were going and what they were trying to do. Now we can start asking questions and as we find answers to them we create videos and add more information back to the world.

Want some training? No problem Google has you covered!
6. Create a map for your community
My Maps isn't new. In fact I've been creating maps for different purposes since about 2007! Here's a map that I created for friends that came to visit while we lived in Shanghai, China from 2005 - 2008. Are you studying your community? Your country? Your state/province? Why not create a map for others based on your favorite places to eat, visit, play, etc.

See how others are using Google Maps to help their communities
7. Create a route
We're talking real skills here! Here's a route I created when my wife and I visited Croatia last year. We had never been to Croatia before and didn't know the roads or how long we should expect to drive between our destinations. Using My Maps we were able to create a route from hotel to hotel and get a really close approximation of the driving time we would have each day. So cool and digital maps has now forever changed the way you travel!

Keep up with what Google is doing with maps
8. Measure Distance and Area
In My Maps you get the ability to draw straight lines to see the distance between two points anywhere in the world. Better yet is the ability to draw out an area. Ever wonder just how big Russia really is? What if you draw an area map around your country and then move that area over Russia. How many of your countries do you think fit in Russia? In China? On the continent of Africa?

Using Google Maps in math class
9. See your World in 3D
My Maps allows you to export your map in KML format. Funny....cause Google Earth allows you to import KML files to give you high resolution images of all your information in a 3D space. Expanding the conversation, expanding knowledge about our world...and beyond.

40+ Ways to Use Google Earth and Maps in the classroom
10. Mobile Maps
Google Maps is downloadable on every mobile device I know of and My Maps is as well ( Android, iOS)! So now you can create maps and use maps on your phone, tablet, watch? No need to have a class set of laptops when every students has a phone in their pocket. Here's the problem.....this is number 10 and now that we have the ability to make and read maps on a mobile device that has GPS on it.....we just opened up a whole new way to engage with information, create information, and teach students the skills they'll need for their future in a digital mapping world!

Ideas of how to use My Maps on mobile devices

Yes.....paper maps days are numbered. Sure they'll be around for awhile yet but really...that's for our generations not theirs. They might never touch a paper map...never have to be frustrated with trying to fold it back up, worry about it ripping or whether or not it's up to date. I know, I know....we loved our paper maps. But it's time to let them go and embrace a new digital mapping world. For the sake of our students and their future.

Happy Birthday Google Maps....may you continue to lead me around our world!

I started blogging in 2005 and found it such a powerful way to reflect and share my thinking about technology, this generation, and how we prepare students for their future not our past.

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10 Ways to Use Google Maps in the Classroom

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Google Maps has been out for 10 years now. Digital maps...starting with Mapquest has been out since 1996 (technically 1993 but mapquest was the first main stream map most people remember). For those of you keeping track that puts us almost 20 years into the digital mapping word.

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22 of the best video software

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How to incorporate reading into lower elementary school

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How to use it.

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Official Website

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It's great to try something new.

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Review about the program

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Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that empowers students of any age to independently document what they are learning at school and share it with their teachers, parents, classmates, and even the world.

Used in over 200,000 classrooms, 1-in-4 schools in the US, and over 100 countries!
Named Best Website of 2016 by American Association of School Librarians, Top Pick for Education 2016 by Common Sense Media, and featured in by Apple as "Perfect for Every Classroom" for 9 months. Named Best App of 2015 by Graphite Common Sense Media, American Association of School Librarians, and Richard Byrne's Free Tech for Teachers. WHAT IS SEESAW?:
For students, Seesaw helps them see their own growth and provides an audience for their work - whether that be peers, parents, or the world at large.

For parents, Seesaw gives an immediate, personalized window into their child's day so they can support learning at home.

For teachers, Seesaw saves time on organization and communication, makes formative assessment easy, and provides a safe place to teach digital citizenship skills.
FEATURES:
Easily Capture Student Learning in Any Form

Students can use photos, videos, drawings, text notes, links or PDFs to show what they know and store evidence in their digital portfolio. You can also import from 100s of other apps.

When students add to Seesaw, content is uploaded, organized by student, and accessible from any device.

Teachers can browse work from the entire class or for a single student. Optionally, use folders to organize work by subject area project, or assessment standard.

Teachers can flag items in the digital portfolio for follow up or to review at parent-teacher conferences.

Sign In Options that Work for All Ages

Younger learners or classrooms with shared devices can sign in with a QR code.

Older students can sign in with their email address or Google account.

Encourage Reflection and Provide an Authentic Audience

Seesaw helps capture the learning process not just the end result. Students can use Seesaw's built-in audio recording and drawing tools to reflect on what they've learned or explain how they got their answer.

Seesaw gives students an authentic audience of their peers and parents, encouraging better work and real feedback. Teachers can control who can see what, and what feedback options are available, such as likes and comments.

Strengthen Connections Between School and Home

Include families in the learning process by inviting them to view updates to their child's Seesaw journal. Seesaw's immediate, visual updates actually get seen by parents, provide encouragement for students, and cross language barriers.

Teachers approve all new additions and comments before anything is shared with parents.

Seesaw Blogs - the easiest way to create a blog for your class!

Create a public webpage for your class and give students a global audience for their work.

Teachers and students can post a selection of Seesaw items to the class blog in just one tap. No other apps, websites or embed codes needed! All posts are teacher-moderated.

Connect to other class blogs directly within the Seesaw app so students can easily comment and collaborate with students from other classrooms.

Teacher Resource Center at help.seesaw.me

Getting started tips, professional development resources, FAQ.

More than 100 Common Core aligned activity ideas for K-12.

Need help? Have feedback? Email us [email protected] or tweet @Seesaw

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Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that empowers students of any age to independently document what they are learning at school and share it with their teachers, parents, classmates, and even the world. Used in over 200,000 classrooms, 1-in-4 schools in the US, and over 100 countries!

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How to use it

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About Seesaw

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At Seesaw, our mission is to create an enviroment where students can be their best. Learn about the Seesaw team and view job openings.

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https://quizlet.com

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1. Are Teachers of tomorrow prepared to use innovated technology?

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Getty Images

With a new generation of teachers coming into the work force, there's a discrepancy between what principals expect of teachers-in-training and what they're actually learning in school.

A new Project Tomorrow report surveying principals concluded that they want to hire new teachers with creative ideas about how technology can be leveraged to create authentic and differentiated learning experiences. But student-teachers report that their tech training focuses only on simple management tools. At the same time, the report concludes that those who have the biggest influence on new teachers - veteran educators - don't always embrace new ways of using technology to engage students.

Only half of current working teachers believe they can use technology to motivate students to learn, compared to 75 percent of incoming teachers. Only 17 percent of current teachers believe technology can help students deeply explore their own ideas, compared to 59 percent of incoming teachers. And 26 percent of current teachers believe students can use technology to apply knowledge to problem-solving, compared to 64 percent of aspiring teachers.

Teachers-in-training say coursework focuses on technologies that help a teacher stay organized, rather than ways to engage students. In their methods courses, where teachers learn the mechanics of running a classroom, 71 percent report that they're taught to use simple word processing, spreadsheets and database tools, 64 percent report learning how to create multimedia presentations and 55 percent say they've learned how to use interactive whiteboards.

Incoming teachers use tech fluidly in their own lives, but they're learning to teach within a system that lags behind the times.

"Principals want new teachers to know how to use technology to create authentic learning experiences for students (75 percent) and how to leverage technology to differentiate instruction (68 percent) before they apply for a position at their school," the report said.

Additionally, principals hope new hires will use social media to connect and communicate with students and parents, as well as their ability to integrate mobile devices, social media, and other digital instruction into their daily teaching. Principals also recognize that a move towards self-directed learning means that new teachers will have to have strong classroom management skills. Almost half of principals surveyed said incoming teachers should have the ability to manage a classroom where students are using their own mobile devices and 25 percent would like teachers to know how to teach an online class.
EXPECTATION VS. REALITY
But there's a disparity between what principals expect from new hires and what teachers-in-training are learning. A full 72 percent of pre-service teachers report they think they're being well-prepared to use technology in the classroom. That may be because this is a generation of teachers who grew up using technology - 61 percent use smartphones, preferring them for daily tasks. They are also much more likely to use social media, online discussion boards and other Internet tools to enhance and direct their professional development.
[RELATED READING: Amidst a Mobile Revolution in Schools, Will Old Teaching Tactics Work?]
These incoming teachers appear to be caught between generations. They use technology fluidly in their own lives and to enhance their education, but they're learning to teach within a system that lags behind the times. Sixty-eight percent of teachers-in-training report they rely most heavily on field placements to learn about how to integrate technology into the classroom. They also watch their professors and take advice from peers.

There was a similar disconnect on metrics about how technology can improve the way educators teach. Teachers-in-training thought technology could help them be more organized, create more interactive lessons, make learning student-centered and would encourage students to be more self-directed, while experienced teachers were much less enthusiastic.

The report attributes the optimism to two main factors. One, teachers-in-training grew up with technology and aren't afraid to figure out how to make it work in class. They're also more comfortable looking for resources online and using social media to collaborate with peers. Secondly, as they were growing up they witnessed attempts at technology integration from their own teachers and they have a sense of what works and what doesn't.

Are Teachers of Tomorrow Prepared to Use Innovative Tech?

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Katrina Schwartz

Katrina Schwartz is a journalist based in San Francisco. She's worked at KPCC public radio in LA and has reported on air and online for KQED since 2010. She's a staff writer for KQED's education blog MindShift.

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Are Teachers of Tomorrow Prepared to Use Innovative Tech?

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Getty Images With a new generation of teachers coming into the work force, there's a discrepancy between what principals expect of teachers-in-training and what they're actually learning in school. A new Project Tomorrow report surveying principals concluded that they want to hire new teachers with creative ideas about how technology can be leveraged to create authentic...