Ranger Ready
Tech Thursday | 20 October 2016
Communication
Why This Matters?
Students who collaborate in online spaces to provide feedback “learn from each other, improve their work, and develop their skills,” making such interactions beneficial to students of all ability levels (Thomas et al., 2014).
Moving away from lecture-style teaching “allows teachers to pose gripping questions, problems, and challenges so compelling that students have to reach out to others to solve them using collaborative methods” that are more reflective of 21st century learning experiences (Wardlow, n.d.).
Live online chats can offer a fun, yet immersive educational environment—informally requiring both partners to participate and eliminating much of the fear of being judged or corrected (Chen & Eslami, 2013).
Because internet and social networking applications are not going anywhere and can be used on most any device (both in school and out), teaching students how to use web tools (even to those as young as pre-K) are likely to become a priority for schools (Ribble, 2012).
Digital writing assignments, like digital storytelling, can turn a student’s responses to an idea into an activity that allows him or her to “blend design, creativity, thoughtful expression, and technology skills” (Gresham, 2014).
Electronic portfolios allow students to personalize their work through dynamic links, provide opportunities for digital self-reflection and peer feedback, and offer ongoing storage, organization, and progress tracking (Meyer et al., 2010).
App for Communication
Collaboration
Why This Matters?
Students report that when they see their peers being creative in many different ways, they want to be like them (Gresham, 2014).
Researchers argue that collaborative writing, such as using services like Google Docs, “is one of the very few forms of group work that can prove to be as important to students’ work after college” as it is in their current classrooms (Vens, 2011).
Through digital media and social technologies children can communicate with others as close as another room in their home or school or as distant as varying continents. Mobile digital media allows them to learn anytime and anywhere and engage in communication with anyone (Barone, 2012).
Shared online documents allow students to communicate more openly on a personal level, providing teachers with a rich source of data to help them know students and their non-academic needs (Velasquez et al., 2013).
Apps for Collaboration
Critical Thinking
Why This Matters?
The urgency of using traditional skills, such as distinguishing sources and understanding plagiarism, have become heightened due to the overwhelming amounts of information available on the web (Microsoft Education Team, 2010).
When students participate in an authentic scientific experiment or investigation that calls for the use of technology, fluency in both scientific inquiry and innovative technologies are improved (Ebenezer et al., 2011).
The ability to solve problems and challenges enables young learners to develop the skills to enter a flexible workforce and compete in a global market (Gresham, 2014).
App for Critical Thinking
Creativity
Why This Matters?
Education is being transformed completely “into an experience rather than a thought process,” indicating that learning will become more focused on creative input and output (Gresham, 2014).
Digital simulations and games can provide “insights into the nuances and complexities of how students solve problems” (Bushweller, 2014).
Research indicates that the use of both words and pictures “lets the brain process more information in working memory” (SEG Research, 2008).
Students who create videos to communicate ideas in the classroom simultaneously partake in a process of self-reflection and monitoring (Henderson et al., 2010).
App for Creativity
Mr. A. Mason, M. Ed. Ready 1:1 Instructional Coach
Email: almason@garlandisd.net
Website: www.edtechmason.com
Location: Naaman Forest High School, Naaman Forest Boulevard, Garland, TX, United States
Phone: (972)-675-3090
Facebook: facebook.com/edtechmason
Twitter: @edtechmason