Technology Resources for Teachers


  • Passive and active use of technology
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The Digital Use Divide
    2017 National Education Technology Plan Update
     
    Many popular providers of instructional content and assessment materials online have already pledged to be compliant with federal student privacy and freedom from commercial marketing protections. Here is a list of these providers. Teachers may select from these providers. Here is a list of the Web 2.0 providers currently used in West Chester classrooms. Additionally, here is a list of all approved iPad apps. Check back periodically for updates.
     
    Promoting Active Use

    Technology Standards for Teachers

    Curriculum 21 Clearinghouse - Technology Resources for Learning

    Gooru - This site catalogs the best free instructional resources on the web and indexes them so they are searchable by Common Core State Standards.
     
    Edutopia- The George Lucas Educational Foundation

    Google Earth- Discover, explore, and learn about the world around them.
    Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything connects teachers to virtually everything. The site suffers from only one fault, it can be overwhelming. However, resources are logically organized.

    Khan Academy allows advanced learners to increase their knowledge on virtually every subject we teach in schools today. Additionally, it could provide tutorial support for those students who need extra time to master a topic, as they can view processes as many times as they need.

    Quest Garden- The WebQuest has been around for a long time. Choose a WebQuest in any subject area, topic, and grade level. A good WebQuest fosters collaboration and higher level thinking, as well as a product that is usually technology-driven. Additionally, it features the necessary resources for students to be successful so they can get right to work. Be careful, however, as there are many quests out there but not all are great. Take Alan November's key questions and consider SAMR when evaluating the value added to a quest on your topic. Try creating your own and submitting it for others to use.

    Is Technology Adding Value?

    SAMR in 120 Seconds

    Teaching Above the Line

    Digital Storytelling

    Why Digital Storytelling? To integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

    Student Literacies - Digital Storytelling by students provides a strong foundation in many different types of literacy, such as information literacy, visual literacy, technology literacy, and media literacy. Summarizing the work of several researchers in this field, Brown, Bryan and Brown (2005) have labeled these multiple skills that are aligned with technology as “Twenty-first Century Literacy,” which they describe as the combination of:

    • Digital Literacy – the ability to communicate with an ever-expanding community to discuss issues, gather information, and seek help;
    • Global Literacy - the capacity to read, interpret, respond, and contextualize messages from a global perspective
    • Technology Literacy - the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance;
    • Visual Literacy - the ability to understand, produce and communicate through visual images;
    • Information Literacy - the ability to find, evaluate and synthesize information.

    A good story with a compelling question can make a great digital story. Conversely, technology can make a bad story a painful and time consuming experience for all concerned. Teaching critical questioning techniques is important. What is an essential question? Click here for a resource that can help.

    It doesn't have to be complicated - Click here to see how simple it can be.

    Story books/boarding/telling

    • Animoto– Create wonderful looking slideshow that includes video, images, music, and more.
    • Digital storytelling apps: Powtoons Edu, VoiceThread, PowToons, LittleBird Tales, Loupe Collage, MoveNote, Pixton ComicMaker, Wixie, Cartoon Yourself, Comics Head, Fotor Slideshow Maker, Glogster EDU, iStorybooks, MeeGenius, Newslea, Pickatale, My Story Maker

    See more about the power of digital storytelling with Ted Talks:

    Digital Storytelling -- Changing People, Perceptions, and Lives: Jim Jorstad at TEDxUWLaCrosse

    The Power of Digital Storytelling: Emily Bailin at TEDxSoleburySchool

    Why Storytelling is so Powerful in the Digital Era | Ashley Fell | TEDxUniMelb

    The Evolution of Digital Story Telling | Richard Campbell | TEDxYouth@BIFS (Using the iPad for creating digital stories) 

    Digital Storytelling: Dr. Bernard Robin at TEDxYouth@UH (Personal narratives and other story ideas across subject areas)

    Don't just ask your students to Google it:

    20 Tips and Tricks to Use Google More Efficiently
    Advanced Web Page Searches
    Advanced Images Searches
    Google Scholar (journals and case law)

    Talk to your school librarian about our great research databases available to students and staff at school and from home.

    Show your thinking as you work tools:

    Explain Everything
    Read/Write/Think is an engaging creative writing website that has students reading, writing and assessing content in ways they’ve never done before!
    Visual Ranking
    Seeing Reason tool

    Imagine/Research/Experience

    Dictionaries: Many web sites have this ability including ones specific to ESL students

    Find complex answers for complicated questions with Wolfram Alpha

    Organize your web-world with Symbaloo

    Augmented reality - Layar

    Educational Gaming with FunBrain: If you’re looking for a great collection of educational games, look no further than FunBrain. On it, teachers can take advantage of fun tools for math and reading.

    Collaborate/connect/communicate

    • Text to speech/Speech to text: Built right into most operating systems, mobile devices, search engines, and in Microsoft Word
    • Google Docs (real time)
    • O365 and OneNote: sharing and group projects
    • List of collaborative tools

    Design/Create

    Video/animation editing/creation:

    Future of Assessment

    2017 National Education Technology Plan Update