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For years, educators have been using Google Forms to gather data, assess learning and create fun techy learning experiences.

Recently, Google Forms got a facelift, and even more recently, it added some new features. These features make some new things possible in the classroom, and they make some things easier - and prettier - than before.

Here are some of the changes and what you can do with them in class. If you've used Google Forms before, please keep your favorite uses of Forms in mind and add them as a comment at the end of the post!

1. Hustle through student responses to quizzes, assignments and surveys. Responses in Google Forms are much easier to review now. Before, you could view them in a spreadsheet or see a brief summary of them. Now they're all gathered right in the form editor under the "responses" tab. You can now view a summary of answers (all in one place ... nice!) OR click through each individual response.

You can still view results in spreadsheet view. However, as I learned on Twitter from Google guru Alice Keeler, Forms won't automatically create a spreadsheet for you like it did. You'll have to click the little green spreadsheet icon to create one now.

2. Get an email when students submit forms. Before, to see whether there were new submissions to a form, you had to go into the form (or the spreadsheet of results) and check. Now, you can opt to have Forms email you with new submissions.

This is GREAT for infrequently-used forms, and it's GREAT to turn on after most of your student submissions have come in. I would NOT turn it on right before giving a quiz or test in Forms. Your inbox will be flooded!

CLASSROOM USE IDEA: Create a "late work submission" form. Since Google Classroom (and other assignment collection options) won't notify you when late work comes in, a form for that (with email notifications on) would notify you! It's great for absent students, too.
Click here to get a copy of a late work submission form that you can save to your own Google Drive and use!
3. Use add-ons and scripts. This was possible with the old Google Forms, but it was just added with new Google Forms. Add-ons and scripts let you add new functions to your Google Forms for your specific needs. They're available by clicking the three dots in the top right and clicking "Get add-ons ..." or "Script editor ...".

Unless you write code or have some to copy into a form, you probably won't use the script editor.

ANYONE can use add-ons, though, and there are a few that are really useful in education. I'll show you one here and one later.

CLASSROOM USE IDEA: Add math equations to Google Forms with the g(Math) add-on.

Click the three dots in the top right and choose, "Get add-ons ...".

Find the g(Math) add-on by searching or clicking on its icon.

Click the "free" button and install it.

Click the puzzle piece icon in the top right and choose "g(Math) for Forms".

Choose which type of entry you want. (At first, if you're not sure, experiment. If you don't like what you create, you can always delete it!)

Add all the details you need. It will add an image to your question!

4. Make sharp-looking forms with templates and themes. If you're not exactly sure how you want to make a form, there might be one already created for you. Forms has a library of templates you can choose from as soon as you load it up.

PRO TIP: Type "forms.google.com" in your browser to get to forms quickly. (In the past, you had to go to Drive and click "New" and "Google Forms.")

Some of the templates available:

Contact information (users submit their name, address, email, etc.)

T-shirt sign up (users give their name, t-shirt size, etc.)

Exit ticket (students say what they learned, whether they were prepared, and what would have made the lesson more effective)

Assessment (students fill in their name/email and answer quiz questions that you add)

Worksheet (students fill in their name/email and answer questions that you add)

Course evaluation (students fill in class name and instructor and rate the course in various areas ... this one is a good example of how a multiple choice grid works!)

Once you choose a template, you can customize it however you'd like (i.e. add text, images, videos, different kinds of questions, etc.).

Customize your forms by clicking the paint palette in the top right. Choose a color for color scheme or click the photo icon in the bottom right to choose a theme. Themes provide colors and images for forms. You can also upload your own photo to create a theme.

OTHER USES OF FORMS: In a recent reader survey, many people said they wanted to better understand Forms and how it could be used in the classroom. The following ideas were possible in the old Google Forms and are still available in new Google Forms.

5. Create and grade a quiz or test with Flubaroo. Host your quizzes, tests and other assessments digitally with Google Forms. Then, with responses in a spreadsheet, autograde the closed-ended questions (multiple choice, true false, matching) with Flubaroo, an add-on for educators using Google Forms.

Create your quiz in a Google Form (from scratch or using one of the templates). If you want to email results to students later, make sure you make a short-answer question called "Email".

Click the eye icon in the top right to view the assessment. Fill it in with all the correct answers and use the words "ANSWER KEY" as the name. Submit it with the button at the bottom.

Deliver your quiz to your students:

Use the "send" button to get a link to the assessment that you can give students

Use the "send" button to email a link to students

Add the form to an assignment in Google Classroom

When students have taken the assessment, click the "responses" tab and click the green spreadsheet button to see responses.

Go to that spreadsheet and click "Add-ons > Get add-ons ...". Search for Flubaroo and add it. (If you already have Flubaroo installed, you won't need this step.

Go to "Add-ons > Flubaroo > Enable Flubaroo for this sheet".

Go to "Add-ons > Flubaroo > Grade assignment".

Use the drop-down menus to tell Flubaroo what to do with each question. Click "Continue."

Choose the answer key you created earlier. (This will be easy if you made the name "ANSWER KEY"!)

Flubaroo will create a grading report for you with student scores and more.

Get more information about Flubaroo and its advanced features at the Flubaroo website.

6. Create a place for you to store quick grades. When students completed simple assignments for me, sometimes I would walk around the room, quickly grade their assignments on the students' desks and write a grade on them. Instead of collecting those assignments, I wanted a place where I could store those grades to transfer to my gradebook later.

I created a Google Form with all of my students' names on them. As I walked around the room, I had the form loaded on my iPad. I put each student's scores into that form. Later, I pulled up the responses and transferred them to the grade book.
Here's an example form of what that might look like that you can copy into your Drive!
7. Create a digital sign-out sheet. Need an easy way to track students as they leave and return to your class? Create a Google Form where they log their name and their destination, as well as whether they're leaving or returning. In the spreadsheet view, it will time stamp their submission, so they won't need to write the time. (That way, the return time can't be fudged to make it look like they weren't gone as long as they were!)
Here's an example form of what that might look like that you can copy into your Drive!
8. Create a flipped classroom assessment. The flipped classroom comes in many different shapes and sizes, but many teachers have students watch a video and then answer some comprehension questions afterward. This is easily done in Google Forms.

Create a form. Add a YouTube video (click the icon to the right of the form with the triangle "play" button).
Note: You can also add a link to a website, an image, etc. ... whatever content you want to deliver to students.

Add questions afterward to gauge their understanding.

Deliver the form to students:

Use the "send" button to get a link to the assessment that you can give students

Use the "send" button to email a link to students

Add the form to an assignment in Google Classroom

Here's what a form like that would look like when students loaded it. Here's an example form that you can copy into your Drive!
9. Make a Choose Your Own Adventure activity. By using branching (the "go to section based on answer" choice in the three-dots menu in a multiple-choice question), you can create fun Choose Your Own Adventure Story-type activities. Create them for your students or let students create their own!

Here's a screencast video tutorial I created a while ago to show you how it works. The basics are still there, although the video shows how to do it with the old Google Forms.
For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links: Interested in having Matt present at your event or school? Contact him by e-mail! Matt is scheduled to present at the following upcoming events:

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For years, educators have been using Google Forms to gather data, assess learning and create fun techy learning experiences. Recently, Google Forms got a facelift, and even more recently, it added some new features. These features make some new things possible in the classroom, and they make some things easier - and prettier - than before.

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Duolingo is the world's most popular way to learn a language. It's 100% free, fun and science-based. Practice online on duolingo.com or on the apps!

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Foreign Language: Spanish | Knowitall.org

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Produced by SC Department of Education with SCETV, Foreign Language: Spanish was designed to meet the needs of schools that would like to offer foreign languages, but have no language teacher and serves as an introductory-level course in Spanish.

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(Written by Save the Sea Lions creator, Julie Devine)

I was a classroom teacher for 13 years before becoming an Instructional Technology Specialist. With the change in my job, I had more opportunities to find connections and opportunities to collaborate with classrooms around the world. Last year, during the 2015-2016 school year, I came across the global classrooms website and was immediately excited to find connections I had always hoped for as a classroom teacher. Right away, my colleague, Michelle and I gravitated to the Caretta Caretta 2 Project, which provided opportunities for connecting locally and globally with students focusing on a common theme of endangered sea turtles. The project leader was so organized and did such a great job in providing us the tools to make these connections. The students were beyond excited, were eager to learn, and truly wanted to make a difference for the Loggerhead Sea turtles.

Their enthusiasm got us thinking, "Why don't we start our own project?" and so...we did. We had our students vote on what endangered animal they thought we should try and save next, and they chose the Sea Lions. This year is the first year of our project Save the Sea Lions, please join us in creating, collaborating and saving the endangered sea lions. We look forward to opportunities of connecting with classes around the globe and possibly Skyping with some too.
The Global Classroom Project! Michael Graffin has graciously allowed me to try and get this wonderful project back in the works.
Please visit our wiki space to check out existing projects or consider posting a new project yourself. It can be as simple or intricate as you like. I would also love to keep posts on this site as active as possible! If you are posting a project and would like to write a blog post to go along with it, please email me at globalclassroomprojects@gmail.com.I look forward to re-connecting with old global friends and connecting with new friends! Spread the word, "We're back!"

With so many engaged global educators and so many valuable resources shared, we deemed our very first slow chat a success... and we're ready to do it again! Join us over the course of the next 24 hours as we discuss the best of global connections, ideas, and resources.

Wondering how this slow chat will work and how you can participate? Here's how:
Questions

Search #globalclassroom at any time during the 24 hours. You will be able to check out the conversation and join in as you wish.

When you do pop on, you can respond to the current question or to any of the other questions. In your tweet, be sure to include A1, A2, etc. depending on the question you are answering.

Q1: Who are 5 of the #globaleducators you follow & think others should add to their #PLN here on Twitter? #globalclassroom

Q2: What are 5 #globaled organizations that you think we should all add to our FOLLOWING lists? #globalclassroom

Q3: What are the best #globaled projects, events, or activities that you have heard about &/or engaged in virtually? #globalclassroom

Q4: What are the best #globaled #lessonplans or activity ideas you have found &/or used? Share the links here! #globalclassroom

We hope you will join us and share your expertise. Use #globalclassroom and join in on the conversation!

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(Written by Save the Sea Lions creator, Julie Devine) I was a classroom teacher for 13 years before becoming an Instructional Technology Specialist. With the change in my job, I had more opportunities to find connections and opportunities to collaborate with classrooms around the world.

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The widely adopted ISTE Standards provide a framework for educators to create high-impact, sustainable and scalable learning experiences for all students.

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Today's students must be prepared to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape. The ISTE Standards for Students are designed to empower student voice and ensure that learning is a student-driven process. Connect with other educators in the ISTE Standards Community and learn how to use the standards in the classroom with the ISTE Standards for Students .

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Today's students must be prepared to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape. The ISTE Standards for Students are designed to empower student voice and ensure that learning is a student-driven process. Connect with other educators in the ISTE Standards Community and learn how to use the standards in the classroom with the ISTE Standards for Students .

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School & District -Subscriptions | Seesaw

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Seesaw is the best interactive learning platform for PreK-5. Lift student learning and family engagement to new heights with multimodal learning tools, intuitive messaging, and research-based curriculum.

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Melania Trump and Michelle Obama side-by-side comparison

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Published May 18, 2017

Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense:

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to "plagiarize" means:

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own

to use (another's production) without crediting the source

to commit literary theft

to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

But can words and ideas really be stolen?

According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

turning in someone else's work as your own

copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source is usually enough to prevent plagiarism. See our section on citation for more information on how to cite sources properly.

What about images, videos, and music?

Using an image, video or piece of music in a work you have produced without receiving proper permission or providing appropriate citation is plagiarism. The following activities are very common in today’s society. Despite their popularity, they still count as plagiarism.

Copying media (especially images) from other websites to paste them into your own papers or websites.

Making a video using footage from others’ videos or using copyrighted music as part of the soundtrack.

Performing another person’s copyrighted music (i.e., playing a cover).

Composing a piece of music that borrows heavily from another composition.

Certainly, these media pose situations in which it can be challenging to determine whether or not the copyrights of a work are being violated. For example:

A photograph or scan of a copyrighted image (for example: using a photograph of a book cover to represent that book on one’s website)

Recording audio or video in which copyrighted music or video is playing in the background.

Re-creating a visual work in the same medium. (for example: shooting a photograph that uses the same composition and subject matter as someone else’s photograph)

Re-creating a visual work in a different medium (for example: making a painting that closely resembles another person’s photograph).

Re-mixing or altering copyrighted images, video or audio, even if done so in an original way.

The legality of these situations, and others, would be dependent upon the intent and context within which they are produced. The two safest approaches to take in regards to these situations is: 1) Avoid them altogether or 2) Confirm the works’ usage permissions and cite them properly.

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Understand the definition of plagiarism.

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by Kelli Ohms, Special Education Functional Life Skills Teacher

Being a functional life skills teacher, my class is not set up like a typical classroom. Students do a lot of individual and small group work. All students spend time on academic subjects like basic reading skills, money skills, and social skills. We also spend time on life skills activities. We'll take trips out into the community to work on life skills needed in the community, and each Friday we cook a full course meal for lunch to work on cooking a variety of foods and following directions.

We started using Seesaw last November as a way to document and share the work my students were doing in the community and record evidence of the key academic skills they're working towards. Due to the nature of my class, students pick and choose most of the items they post in their Seesaw journals, with some additional items which they are told to add.

At first, my biggest challenge was teaching my students to add items independently, but now they enjoy adding new items to their journals, and even request to post unprompted! I also give students option to "write about it" or "talk about it" so there is commentary from the student along with the photo or video. They pick based on what they're most comfortable with doing, and I allow that because it is their journal.

The biggest way Seesaw has helped my classroom is with parent communication. Prior to Seesaw, I was writing notes home each day with a brief summary of what the student covered during their day. This took up a lot of my time at the end of my day, and parents only received detailed information about their child on progress reports every 9 weeks.

Now that I use Seesaw, Parents have loved getting real-time updates on what their students are working on in class and how they are making progress. Seesaw has helped parents to see first hand how their child is performing a variety of skills, including math, reading, and life skills.

For instance, I had a parent who did not think their child could count money. Through a video on Seesaw, the parent saw their child in the beginning stages of counting money. The parent has now started giving part of the child's allowance in coins so they can continue to practice at home. Since this change at home, I have also seen increased accuracy and improvement in this skill at school!
Increasing My Students' Motivation
Because of Seesaw I've also seen an increase in student motivation for work because students can independently see their own progress. Now that they have several months of posts in Seesaw, they can look back and see how they are improving; they say, "Look how I did today! It's better!".

Students are also excited to post to Seesaw to show their parents the work they are doing at school. Knowing that their parents look at their journal is especially motivating. They are very proud, and enjoy it when they get a comment from their parents during the day even before they head home on the bus.
Simplifying Documentation and Data Collection
As a teacher, Seesaw has helped me improve my data keeping and documentation, and makes it easier to see over the course of a couple of months how students are doing. Now I have easy visuals to access as I am going through data to document for progress. This has also improved my teaching because I can replay how students are making errors, and see how to teach skills in another way. I have also found it beneficial to pull up pictures and videos during annual case conferences with parents to show student progress, which I wasn't able to do very easily before.

I would suggest Seesaw to everyone! It's quick and easy to set up, and it's user friendly for teachers, students, and parents. Seeaw has simplified many aspects of my classroom, makes parents feel more involved and up to date on student progress, and increased student motivation.
Learn more about Seesaw - The Learning Journal at http://seesaw.me or tweet Kelli Ohms is a Special Education Functional Life Skills Teacher working with students from 6th grade to 22 years in Albion, Indiana. Follow Kelli on Twitter @KelliOhms. Kelli has been using Seesaw in her classroom since November 2014; How I Use Seesaw To Create A Learning Journal In My Classroom

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Use Seesaw To Create A Learning Journal In Your Classroom

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by Kelli Ohms, Special Education Functional Life Skills Teacher Being a functional life skills teacher, my class is not set up like a typical classroom. Students do a lot of individual and small group work. All students spend time on academic subjects like basic reading skills, money skills, and social skills.

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Seesaw Help Center: Getting started tips, tutorial videos, professional development, lesson plans, FAQ and more resources to help you use Seesaw for student driven digital portoflios and parent communication.

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Ideas for Seesaw in a Kindergarten Classroom!

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Ideas, lessons, products, crafts, and more for the kindergarten classroom!

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TodaysMeet is so simple yet so versatile that it has become one of my go-to digital tools.

It's designed as a backchannel - the conversation behind what's going on. TodaysMeet creates personal chat room that you can set up and invite people to. They can quickly and easily write comments or questions for anyone in the chat room to see.

TodaysMeet is literally the easiest website to use I've ever come across. To create a room, just go to TodaysMeet.com, give your room a name (let's say we named it "DitchThatTextbook" ... no spaces, periods or certain other characters). Decide when it closes (i.e. how long you want it to exist). Then click "Create your room."

That's it. Your TodaysMeet room is created.

You can immediately share the URL to the room (in our DitchThatTextbook example, the room we would create is TodaysMeet.com/DitchThatTextbook) and start the conversation. Just join the room, type your name and you're ready to post a message in the room.

Each message has a 140-character limit, so be concise. (Or just type multiple messages.)

I already use TodaysMeet in a number of ways in my classroom and can see so many other possibilities. Here are some of them:

1. Have a conversation. Students can talk about anything in a TodaysMeet room, and often you'll draw out the shyest, quietest students - the ones who would never raise their hand in class discussion.

2. Share links. Post the URL for a website you want everyone to visit. Links you post are clickable in TodaysMeet.

3. Ask questions. During a lecture, presentation or movie, if students are unclear about something, they can ask questions and get answers without interrupting.

4. Give examples. Looking for students to show how something relates to their life? Or how they would apply a new concept? Participation is immediate and much faster than raising hands to answer.

5. Take a poll. Ask for a vote among a couple choices and the results will be visually obvious in a matter of seconds.

6. Check for understanding. Ask a comprehension question and have students type the answer WITHOUT clicking "Say" (the button you use to submit your answer to the room). Then, if they all click "Say" on the count of three, you'll see who understands and who doesn't.

7. Gather feedback. Did your presentation make sense? Do students like changes to the school? What is really working in class? What would they like to see more of?

8. Gather anonymous feedback. If you want participants to be REALLY honest, ask them not to type their names (maybe just a letter or character, or the same thing for everyone) when they answer.

9. Create "rotating stories." Create a TodaysMeet room with a story starter. Have each student add a new sentence to the story. (Or, have every student create a TodaysMeet room and start their own story ... then have each student visit every other student's room to add a sentence.) See where the story goes.

10. Discuss an event. The State of the Union speech. A movie relevant to class. A presentation in the auditorium. Host a behind-the-scenes quiet discussion.

11. Hold online office hours. Tell students you'll be available at a TodaysMeet room at a certain time to answer questions.

12. Crowdsource details. When my Spanish classes and I make up stories in Spanish, I like to ask them for details to add - a character's name, where the character goes, what a character does next. I can get suggestions from everyone in about 15 seconds (or less!).

13. Connect with other classrooms. Extend a discussion beyond the four walls of your classroom. Invite a class from down the hall, in another city, in a different country.

14. Connect with experts. Find an expert in the subject your class is discussing and see if he/she will engage with your students in a TodaysMeet room. You can have a guest speaker without the hassle of travel.

15. Host a contest. The first person who correctly posts in the TodaysMeet room wins!

16. Teach brevity. Students can easily get too verbose and use unnecessary words. Expressing thoughts in 140 characters is an exercise in simplicity.

17. Practice digital citizenship. TodaysMeet rooms are online spaces for discussion much like many social media sites. They are a safe place to post and then talk about the do's and don'ts about engaging online.

18. Facilitate group projects. Students can post links to useful articles, relevant information and ideas they want to include in a group TodaysMeet room.

19. Create a club/team communications site. Post meeting cancellations and changes. Connect with parents. Save yourself tons of phone calls or text messages if everyone checks the group TodaysMeet site.

20. Have asynchronous staff/committee meetings. Host a discussion where participants can discuss when it's convenient for them. Let everyone pop in to a TodaysMeet room throughout the day (or week) and wrap up the meeting at a predetermined time.

Which of these ideas sounds the most useful? What other ideas would you add to the list? Share them in a comment below!
For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links: Interested in having Matt present at your event or school? Contact him by e-mail! Matt is scheduled to present at the following upcoming events:
[getnoticed-event-table scope="all" expanding="false"]

Check out our online courses. ALL under $50!

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20 useful ways to use TodaysMeet in schools

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TodaysMeet is so simple yet so versatile that it has become one of my go-to digital tools. It's designed as a backchannel - the conversation behind what's going on. TodaysMeet creates personal chat room that you can set up and invite people to.

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Examples of Applying the SAMR Model can Help Teachers Understand and Embrace it

The SAMR Model for integrating technology into teaching, developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, has gained a good deal of exposure in recent years. "SAMR" is an acronym that stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. The SAMR model provides a technique for moving through degrees of technology adoption to find more meaningful uses of technology in teaching and move away from simply using edtech for tech's sake.

We recently discussed the SAMR model during an Academic Technology Work Group meeting at The College of Westchester. We examined the video, SAMR in 120 Seconds. One thing that really struck me is how much the example helped, so I made it a point to gather and/or create some more examples.

Following are 8 examples of the SAMR process, each taking an example of a typical classroom exercise that does not use technology and walking it through each phase of SAMR. For half of these, I searched and borrowed from examples that teachers had written about online (original sources are provided - in some cases I tweaked the example a bit). I also created examples of my own. In working through this, it became apparent to me that while Substitution and Augmentation can be relatively straightforward conceptually, there is even more room for interpretation when it comes to Modification and Redefinition.

The goal of this exercise was to help me (and readers) better understand the SAMR model, and to really see how lessons and assessments can be transformed while considering the benefits of evolving them through these stages. I find it particularly interesting to see the vast difference between the original lesson and the redefined lesson - there is often a much wider range of skills required in the latter stages, and lessons can become much more engaging and collaborative when modified or redefined.

Lesson: Writing a Short Paper
Taken from: http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/08/samr-model-explained-through-examples.html. A modification of an idea found at https://edofict.wikispaces.com/SAMR+Examples. Taken from: https://edofict.wikispaces.com/SAMR+Examples and modified. Idea taken from: https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model and slightly modified. In this example, we take a simple form of assessment and evolve it into a collaborative group project.
Original Assignment: A hand written paper.

Lesson: Geography & Travel

Original Assignment: An overview of a location consisting of hand written content supplemented with compiled cut-and-pasted magazine clippings.

Lesson: Understanding Shakespeare

Original Assignment: Read a Shakespeare play in traditional printed format.

An Assessment Exercise
Original Assignment: Show understanding of fractions on a worksheet by coloring in blocks.
Original Assignment: Take a quiz, answers handwritten in a printed form.

Following are some example lessons, evolved through the SAMR model, that I have tried my hand at creating.It's easy to get caught up in worrying about how effectively an approach constitutes "modification" or "redefinition", but that's not the point of the exercise. To my way of thinking, it's more about understanding the difference between a just replacing or augmenting a "paper" lesson with a "digital" one and actually evolving it in a beneficial way and exploring new possibilities.

Lesson: Art/Painting
Creative Commons license image source.
Original Assignment: Drawing a picture using traditional brush, paint, paper. Of course, there is a a big difference between doing this by hand in the traditional manner and doing it digitally. Digitally is by no means better, it is just different and opens up some interesting possibilities.

Substitution: Use a digital drawing/painting program (like MS Paint) to draw/paint a picture.

Augmentation: Use a tool that allows the creation of your masterpiece to be layed back (like Educreations, for example).

Modification: Pull a background image to use as a canvas. You could even scan something hand drawn and use that.

Redefinition: Create Artwork Collaboratively using a Collaborative Online Whiteboard (like Twiddla or one of these other tools).

Lesson: Email Etiquette

Original lesson: Review printed copies of Email Etiquette concepts and guidelines.

Lesson: Learning Fractions

Substitution: Use an Excel Worksheet to let students color in the blocks.

Augmentation: Use Google Sheets to let students color in the blocks, where the teacher can offer feedback directly on Google Sheets.

Modification: Use Google Sheets and direct students to online examples and supplementary learning materials for areas that they might struggle with.

Redefinition: Use a Fractions App instead (here are a handful of examples for iOS devices).

Lesson: Phys Ed - Learning To Hit a Baseball Well

Original Assignment: Learning how to hit a baseball by watching and listening to a Coach or Phys Ed instructor show you and then trying it yourself.

Hopefully these example of lessons modified through the SAMR cycle help to encourage you to think about how you leverage technology to make some of your lessons more interactive, collaborative, and engaging with some of the many great technology tools available today! Here is a set of tools that may be helpful when working to evolve your lessons: 10 of the Most Engaging Uses of Instructional Technology (with Dozens of Resources and Tools).

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8 Examples of Transforming Lessons Through the SAMR Cycle - Emerging Education Technologies

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Examples of Applying the SAMR Model can Help Teachers Understand and Embrace it The SAMR Model for integrating technology into teaching, developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, has gained a good deal of exposure in recent years. "SAMR" is an acronym that stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.

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Dr. Puentedura graciously Creative Commons-licenses some of his papers to allow for reproduction on other sites with attribution.

I have taken one of the PDF files and turned it into a slideshow below. I have included links to the original PDF files in case you want to download it from Dr. Puentedura's site.

Bloom's and SAMR:
​My thoughts based on the work of R. Puentedura, A. Churches and L. Nelson

I feel teachers need to both create tasks that target the higher-order cognitive skills (Bloom's) as well as design tasks that have a significant impact on student outcomes (SAMR). A visual to illustrate that follows.

Educators will argue they have seen redefinition tasks that only target the remembering level or have a creative assessment that is only at the augmentation level. Of course that is true, but I believe we should be planning for technology tasks, activities, and assessments that include both the higher levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and the transformation area of the SAMR model.

My vision of how the Bloom's and SAMR models work together and intersect follows below.

Bloom's and TECH: My thoughts

Work by others

Videos by others

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SAMR is a model designed to help educators infuse technology into teaching and learning. Popularized by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the model supports and enables teachers to design, develop, and ...

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All Project-Based Learning Is Not Created Equal: What Works?

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All Project-Based Learning Is Not Created Equal: What Works?

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Every Classroom Matters on BAM! Radio Network

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Nanocasting Radio Network is property of Jackstreet Media the leading new madia company that developed the Nanocasting system for hypertargeting an audience and delivering information directly to those who are most interested in it.

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Twenty ideas for getting engaging projects going in your classroom.

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K-12 Math Projects: About Project-Based Learning

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Learn about project-based learning, the methodology, and how to design and assess your own math projects and Webquests.

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How safe is my [water, air, soil, food]? How can we use our voices to effect change? Where is the line between "primitive society" and "civilization"? From great Driving Questions through review and reflection, the Project Planner will help you design or adapt projects for your classroom.

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Project-based learning (PBL) works, but not all project-based learning is alike. PBL Expert Suzie Boss takes us into assessment, project design, and teacher PD for more effective, meaningful projects that improve learning.

Project-based learning should not be memorization and regurgitation. It shouldn't be something you can Google with a simple answer. It should require deep digging, application, creativity and more. We also talk about the power of audience and student learning. We discuss the challenge of fair, consistent assessment of projects across schools and districts.

Who is Suzie Boss?

Suzie [email protected]suzieboss, education writer and consultant, is the author of several books, including Reinventing Project-Based Learning and Bringing Innovation to School. She is a regular contributor to Edutopia and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and a member of the Buck Institute for Education National Faculty.

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Categories: Assessment, Education, Education Trends and Topics, Every Classroom Matters Show, Teachers

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All Project-Based Learning is Not Created Equal: What Works?

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Project-based learning (PBL) works, but not all project-based learning is alike. PBL Expert Suzie Boss takes us into assessment, project design, and teacher PD for more effective, meaningful projects that improve learning. Project-based learning should not be memorization and regurgitation. It shouldn't be something you can Google with a simple answer.

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"If you inspire them to care about it and draw parallels with their world, then they care and remember."

For Terronez, the goal is to always connect classroom learning to its applications in the outside world. He's found that when the project is based in the real world, addressing problems that people actually face, and not focused on a grade, students are naturally invested. "If you inspire them to care about it and draw parallels with their world then they care and remember," he said.

It takes a lot of diligent planning by the teacher to design projects that give students space to explore themes and real-world resonance to make it meaningful for them. And it takes trust in the students, as well.

When Terronez assigns a writing project, it's rarely just for a grade. Rather, the goal of the assignment is to be published in an anthology or in some other way relevant to the world around them.

Here are just a few examples of some the innovative things Terroniez has tried.

1. DESIGN YOUR OWN CLASSROOM.

When students arrived on the first day of school they found an empty classroom. The first project Terronez asked his students to undertake was designing their own learning space, one that would support experience-based, collaborative learning. "I wanted to see what would happen to my instruction and the student's learning if we didn't let the classroom design, desk, chairs, whiteboard, etc. form the way I teach class,"Terronez wrote on his blog. "What would come of the studio space that used to be my classroom if students became the designers of their own space?" From the outset, the project mattered to the students and they took it seriously.

2. DESIGN AN IPOD APP.

Terronez asked his students to design an iPod app that would solve a real-world problem. They came up with an idea, designed the display icon, figured out how users would navigate the app, prototyped sample tabs, then pitched their mock-up to an audience. They didn't actually code the project, but they did all the conceptual product development. A sample project, the Virtual Yard Sale, allowed yard salers to post a virtual sale, listing the items that corresponded to their actual yard sale. This way, buyers could bid on items before stopping by to pick them up.

3. HOVERCRAFT PARADE.

In a project exploring air pressure, Terronez's students built their own hovercrafts using a leaf blower as the engine. When the hovercrafts worked, the students designed 3D representations of themes from " Freedom Fighters," a Discovery School education video about racial struggles featuring the stories of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Their creations were featured in a hovercraft parade on Election Day.

[ What's the Best Way to Practice Project-Based Learning?]
4. IRON CHEF COOK-OFF.

To understand the reasons behind colonization, Terronez explored the spice trade with his class. Students participated in an "Iron Chef" competition where they each picked a spice important during the Imperial era in Europe, learned its history and then had a cooking competition featuring both the history of the spice and a dish. Other students then judged both the cooking and the content.

5. LABEL-READING LITERACY.

These projects were all undertaken without Terronez "teaching" anything. The learning developed along with the project, guided by an educator who had already put a lot of planning hours into the intended outcomes. Students took the projects in whatever direction most interested them and the teacher's job became pushing students to think through the real implications of their choices.

Take a look at High Tech High art teacher Jeff Robin's video explaining the difference between project-oriented learning and project-based learning.

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What Project-Based Learning Is -- and What It Isn't

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"If you inspire them to care about it and draw parallels with their world, then they care and remember." For Terronez, the goal is to always connect classroom learning to its applications in the outside world. He's found that when the project is based in the real world, addressing problems that people actually face, and not focused on a grade, students are naturally invested.

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Misconception #1
PBL is the same as "making something," "hands-on learning" or "doing an activity."
Fact Check: PBL is often focused on creating physical artifacts, but the artifacts are not as important as the intellectually challenging tasks that led to them. For example, it's not truly PBL if students are simply making a collage about a story, constructing a model of the Egyptian pyramids, or analyzing water samples from a lake. These artifacts and activities could be part of a rigorous project if they help students meet a complex challenge and address a Driving Question. And not all "projects" involve creating a physical product. A broad definition of PBL includes projects in which students solve a complex problem and defend their solution in an oral presentation or in writing.

Misconception # 2
PBL isn't standards-based. It focuses on "soft skills" like critical thinking and collaboration, but doesn't teach enough content knowledge and academic skills.
Fact Check: Some projects in the past may have been guilty of being "content-lite" but PBL models today are different. In well-designed projects students gain content knowledge and academic skills as well as learn how to solve problems, work in teams, think creatively, and communicate their ideas. When planning a project, teachers should align the Driving Question, student products and tasks with important standards, and use rigorous assessment practices to document evidence of achievement. PBL marries the teaching of critical thinking skills with rich content, because students need something to think critically about -- it cannot be taught independent of content.

There is research to back up the claims for PBL's effectiveness, which you can find on Edutopia's Project-Based Learning page as well as the Buck Institute for Education's research page.

Misconception # 3
PBL takes too much time.
Fact Check: It is true that projects take time, but it is time well spent. A project is not meant to "cover" a long list of standards, but to teach selected important standards in greater depth. The key is to design a project well, so it aligns with standards, and manage it well, so time is used efficiently. Not all projects need to take months to complete -- some can be only two weeks long. And a teacher does not have to go all-PBL, all the time -- even one or two projects a year is better than none. Some teachers are concerned that planning a project takes too much time. PBL does require significant advance preparation, but planning projects gets easier the more you do it. You can also save planning time by collaborating with other teachers, sharing projects, adapting projects from other sources, and running the same project again in later years.

Misconception # 4
PBL is only for older students . . . or fluent English speakers . . . or those who don't have learning disabilities.
Fact Check: Elementary-age students benefit from engaging, authentic projects just as much as high school students. Teachers might have to manage a project differently with young children, but PBL can and is being done successfully in many K-5 schools today. To those who think young children are not ready for rich content, point out that knowledge plays an important role in early literacy. Content-rich projects, often based in science or social studies, build background knowledge that influences comprehension. Literacy skills can be taught in the context of the project. Projects can increase student motivation to read, write, and learn mathematics because they are engaged by the topic and have an immediate, meaningful reason to apply these skills.

Projects are effective for students learning English because reading and writing is purposeful and connected to personally meaningful experiences. ELL students also benefit from the peer interaction that a project involves. For students with disabilities, teachers can use the same support strategies during a project as they would use in other situations, such as differentiation, modeling, and providing more time and scaffolding. Since a project involves working in small groups, it gives teachers more time and opportunities to meet individual student needs. And projects can provide students who may sometimes feel "left out" with the chance to show their strengths and feel included in the classroom.

Misconception # 5
PBL is too hard to manage and/or it would not fit with my teaching style.
Fact Check: Although some teachers do find project work to be "messy" -- they aren't in total control of their students' every step -- they can use project management practices to make the work time productive. It is important to teach students how to work well in teams, manage time and tasks, conduct inquiry, and use formative assessment to improve their products. For teachers only used to direct instruction, it may be challenging at first to manage students working in teams and handle the open-endedness of PBL, but with more experience it gets easier. And teaching in a PBL environment does not mean giving up all traditional practices; there's still room for teacher-directed lessons, mini-lectures, textbooks, and even worksheets. PBL may not be for everybody, but most teachers who stick with it say they would never go back

So, next time you're faced with a PBL skeptic, see if a fact check helps clear up any misconceptions first. If they're still doubtful, encourage them to take a leap of faith and wait for the evidence -- which they'll see when they watch a well-designed, well-managed project in action.

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Debunking 5 Myths About Project-Based Learning | Edutopia

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PBL is the same as "making something," "hands-on learning" or "doing an activity." Fact Check: PBL is often focused on creating physical artifacts, but the artifacts are not as important as the intellectually challenging tasks that led to them.

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For as long as there has been school, there has been cheating. And in many ways, the advent of the digital age has made plagiarism and stealing answers even easier. Some teachers will tell you that trying to prevent cheating is an exercise in futility. While it's true that you can't police all students at every turn, you can put some techniques and digital tools in place to help curtail problems while embracing collaboration.

Here are eight tried and true ideas for keeping cheating to a minimum:
1. Create defined pathways.
Although students should have many opportunities to find and choose their own sources, for tests and assignments that may tempt them to cheat, consider providing a limited number of sites to choose from. This will make it easier to track and highlight similarities in their answers. You could even use a visual bookmarking site like fav7 to direct the students to approved URLs.

2. Use your digital resources.

If you already suspect cheating, sites like Turnitin.com or Plagtracker.com can help you confirm your theory. However, these tools can also return false positives, so don't rely on them totally. Temper the results with your best judgment.
3. Encourage collaboration and choose groups wisely.
Flip cheating on its head by allowing - and even encouraging - kids to work together. Collaboration is one of the main components of a digital age workplace, and knowing how to work together, provide and accept constructive criticism, and solve problems as a team are all qualities companies are looking for in future employees. No one wants to work with a person who refuses to do their part, so student groups tend to self-regulate. If you know your class well enough, put all the freeloaders together. They'll have to step up or fail.
4. Don't ask "cheatable" questions.
Stick with open-ended questions. It's very easy to cheat when there is just one right answer, but if you're making higher-level inquiries, it becomes a lot harder to copy answers. Rethink your desired outcome. You can still include multiple-choice questions, but ask why the other answers are wrong instead of which one is right.

Another idea is to give all your students the same assignment, but make one aspect unique to each. For example, ask all your students to draw a food chain, but have them each draw one link in the chain out of a hat. Or, if you want your students to do a book talk, have each tell it from a different character or inanimate object's point of view.
5. Communicate your expectations clearly.
Let them know when it's appropriate to work together and how to work together. Consider applying an honor code. While this won't work for every student, it will help them recognize that you're serious. On the flip side, when you allow them to work together or "let them cheat" through open-book or open-internet tests, you are likely to find that your students work harder and create better end products, since they have no excuses for not getting it right.
6. Show them you're paying attention.
This is very important to meaningful grading. If you grade based only on completion of a task, you're opening the door to copying. Wander around your classroom and do spot checks. Ask them to explain one specific piece of an assignment to demonstrate their learning. Even if you check in with only a few kids each day, they'll have an incentive to stay on their game since they know the spotlight could be on them next.
7. Do your research.
Once a year, open up the cheating discussion to the students, either as a class or anonymously. Ask them what they're seeing in other classes. What do they know their peers are doing? You'll be amazed at what you learn from them.
8. Give up!
Pick your battles and don't get bogged down with ticky-tacky issues. "Cheating" is defined in many ways. What each teacher allows will vary, just like rules around gum chewing or listening to music. Some find that a looser system produces excellent results. Whatever you choose, stressing integrity and deciding what you can live with and what crosses the limits are good jumping-off points.

Learn more about modeling and guiding good digital citizenship for your students in ISTE's self-paced, online Digital Citizenship Academy.
Gillian Wilson is a technology integrator with a focus on social studies and gifted education for Chesterfield County Public Schools, Virginia. She is a published blogger and Google Qualified Individual. Before joining the technology team at Chesterfield, she taught middle school history and language arts for nine years. You can follow her musings on life and ed tech @ItsGillianW.

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8 ways to prevent cheating in the digital age

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For as long as there has been school, there has been cheating. And in many ways, the advent of the digital age has made plagiarism and stealing answers even easier. Some teachers will tell you that trying to prevent cheating is an exercise in futility.

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Three years after implementing a makerspace at their San Francisco school, Michael Matthews and his colleagues realized the space had a fundamental flaw.

"Students were creating amazing pieces of work and then assembling them on the floor. The space was defining what we could do rather than the other way around," said Matthews, director of curriculum and program innovation at Katherine Delmare Burke School.

They decided to tear it up and start over, which was a big challenge considering their tight budget and narrow timeline. But last summer Matthews and his colleagues transformed the space - essentially two tech labs with 25 desktop computers - into a dynamic, flexible makerspace.

Looking for inspiration to redesign a school space? Matthews offers these tips for creating a makerspace on a shoestring.

Make sure the space is student friendly. Put materials in students' hands. Kids need to play, brainstorm, touch, tinker, grab a material and try it or put it back. At Burke the cornerstone of the redesign was lots of bins packed with materials situated right in front of the students.

Give students ownership of the space. You don't need brightly painted walls or high-end supplies. Just create lots of places to display student work to inspire more great work.
Above all, Matthews wanted students to feel like they were in charge of design and upkeep of the space. Using staple guns, students gave their old swivel stools a makeover by reupholstering the seats with colorful fabric.

Address safety and efficiency. Label makerspace bins with red and green dots. A red dot means the material is scarce, comes with safety rules or is expensive and therefore requires teacher permission to use. A green dot means students can use these supplies without permission. The system saves teachers' time while ensuring students are careful and conscientious.

Put it on wheels. This allows you to define the space based on the learning rather than vise versa. Tables can be in the center of the room for group work or moved out of the way to create a big open space. At Burke, even 3D printers and TVs are on rollers, and wheeled garment racks hold dry erase boards that nest together to save space when not in use.

Focus on curriculum. A makerspace isn't about pricey tools or even technology. Laser cutters and 3D printers are always at the top of people's lists when they create a makerspace, but it's more important to have a great curriculum. Buy those tools only when you need them for a project. This helps your space evolve at a natural pace.

Start with your staff. It's not unusual for faculty to be timid about making. Combat this by inviting the leery to come in and play. Set up a mini-maker fair on campus during a workday and asked teachers to bring something they made for an informal show and tell. At Burke, staff brought in photography, baked goods, paintings, a surfboard case, wedding invitations, crafts, even a miniature ship. It was a great way for teachers to share their talents and create collaborations down the road.

Build in time for unstructured play and tinkering. Open your makerspace at lunch and recess and schedule time for faculty and students to bring their families to play in the space. Matthews follows the genius hour philosophy of setting aside time for students to pursue their passions. "It naturally becomes a genius hour when you build in time for unstructured play," he says.

The maker movement is a hot topic at ISTE 2016! Matthews will share his ideas in one of dozens of sessions dedicated to the maker movement in education.

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7 tips for creating a learner-centered makerspace

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Three years after implementing a makerspace at their San Francisco school, Michael Matthews and his colleagues realized the space had a fundamental flaw. "Students were creating amazing pieces of work and then assembling them on the floor.

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Cell phones have had a checkered past in schools. When students first started bringing them to class, educators were fairly united in their opposition to the devices on grounds that they were a distraction and a means for easy cheating.

But thanks to an exponential increase in ubiquity and computing capacity, today's smartphones make BYOD a feasible answer to many of the challenges that 1:1 programs face. They offer endless possibilities for higher engagement, enhancement of student understanding and extension of learning beyond the classroom, particularly if a student doesn't have internet at home or attends a school where 1:1 is not an option. Smartphones also provide an easy way for teachers to "facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity" while increasing motivation, as espoused by the ISTE Standards for Teachers.

Best of all, research shows that when students are engaged in their learning - and they're almost always engaged with their phones when given a choice - they are less likely to succumb to distractions. The goal is to give students ways to use this beloved technology to learn, collaborate, share and create in meaningful ways.

Here are six ways to use students' smartphones that are sure to engage and inspire:

1. Create short videos.
Videos of 5-20 seconds can give students a way to exercise their creative muscles. Students can create their own videos on the fly using their own mobile devices, or they can create one part of a string of videos that the teacher can then string together. Videos can express any type of learning in any style, from music videos to interviews, book trailers, historical reenactments, tutorials and stop animations.
2. Scan QR codes.
QR codes offer instant access to video, audio, websites, contact info or any brief text. The tiny pixels in these jumbled ink squares may seem arbitrarily connected to one another, but when scanned with a smartphone or webcam, they act like a direct physical link to a virtual resource. For example, I use them to link German texts in a classroom scavenger hunt. You can find all sorts of free QR code generators online, or search for one like ATTscanner in the Apple App store.

While anything with QR codes will take a bit more effort on the instructor's part to create, students love the twist on learning. On worksheets, QR codes can generate answer keys beside each problem to allow students to self-check their work. The codes can also link to websites or educational YouTube clips that provide more information.

My favorite use for QR codes is the scavenger hunt: Students choose the correct answer to solve a riddle or answer a question. If they choose the correct answer, the associated QR code will lead them to directions that tell them how to reach the next question. Students are engaged by both the technology and by the game-like activity.
3. Access an online dictionary and thesaurus.
Once students learn how to use dictionary apps and websites efficiently, the difference in their work is spectacular. As a German teacher, I find it is incredibly helpful for students to be able to rapidly double-check whether a noun is masculine, neutral or feminine on PONS or LEO. Question about a verb conjugation? Go to LEO or Canoo (for German). Confusion about a phrase in a text, or double-checking the use of a word in an essay? Try Linguee. Tired of using the same word over and over again? Find synonyms in many languages at Open Thesaurus!
4. Collaborate and share with Padlet and Twitter.
I grouped these two tools together because they both increase student participation and allow teachers to gather real-time feedback from students about their learning. Both Padlet and Twitter are more comfortable communication tools for shy students to respond to in-class questions or participate in brainstorming sessions, yielding a great deal of insightful information.
5. Listen to podcasts and read the news.
For the voracious student who wants to keep learning outside of class, the struggling learner who needs more exposure and everyone in between, smartphones provide instant access to civics, social studies, English, psychology, math, foreign language and science related media sources, including journals, newspapers, online news sites, podcasts, EdLang videos and more. Yes, you can access this information on a desktop, but mobile phones offer the added bonus of filling your spare time with anytime, anywhere learning. Riding the bus to school? Hunt for that article about World War II you were supposed to summarize for homework and take notes using a notepad app. Need extra German practice? Listen to Slow German podcasts on the way to softball practice! Smartphones can be especially useful for foreign language students, since it is almost impossible to learn a language quickly without listening to native speakers frequently and accessing culture directly through newspapers and magazines.
6. Use the apps, obviously.
Yes, we can be cliché: There really is an app for that. Many mobile apps make learning instantly accessible, such as Memrise for languages and vocabulary. But don't limit your students to the purely educational apps. Get creative and let them have some fun with games. For instance, you could change the language setting of a popular game like Trivia Crack to give students language practice while they have fun.

Polling applications, such as Poll Everywhere, are also useful for collecting direct feedback from both students and teachers during class and delivering the data in a way that's more accessible and organized than the classic exit ticket.

And those are just two examples. Play with the app store to yield thousands of options for a variety of content areas.

Turning a gadget that you have heretofore thought of as a distraction into a super-efficient mobile learning device does not happen overnight. Patience and deliberate practice is necessary, for you and for your students. But it is worth it to unlock the ease of access to unlimited information and resources - not to mention the engaged learning - that smartphones provide.

Ready to implement a mobile learning initiative in your school? Sign your entire team up for ISTE's free, rigorous Verizon Mobile Learning Academy.
Kelsey Ehnle has a B.A. in psychology and German as well as a master's in educational studies. She teaches at Carolina Forest High School in South Carolina, where she seeks out innovative ways to engage students in their learning.

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6 ways to use students' smartphones for learning

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Cell phones have had a checkered past in schools. When students first started bringing them to class, educators were fairly united in their opposition to the devices on grounds that they were a distraction and a means for easy cheating.