Tuesday Techbytes
What's New in EdTech...
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
EDTECH NEWS
FLIPPED CLASSROOM RECIPE: Every flipped classroom needs some key ingredients and solid "toppings", writes Oklahoma math educator, Scott Haselwood. If you're not sure where to start, take a page from Haselwood's cookbook and check out these six tips (and a bunch of tool suggestions) for creating the perfect flipped lesson.
SPEAKING OF STANDARDIZED TESTING: President Obama wants to limit standardized testing in public schools. Are we hearing that right? Faced with growing opposition from states and both parties, he declared Saturday that the push for more testing had gone too far. Students should spend less than two percent of classroom instruction time taking tests, advised the President, who also called on Congress to reduce “over-testing.” More from EdSurge here.
COMMON CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION: Common Sense Media has released The Common Sense Census, a report on media use by American tweens (8- to 12-year-olds) and teens (12- to 18-year-olds). The group found tweens spend an average of six hours per day consuming media; teens do so for nine hours Both figures exclude media involved in school or completing homework.
Discovery Ed, EA SPORTS, NFL team up for math and science program! Read more about this cool concept here:
EDTECH TOOLS
Attention Lovers of Music and All Things Cool! This app (iTunes/Play) by Smule allows you to play the Ocarina musical instrument on your phone! Learn over 1500 songs!
Zaption is an online tool that allows teachers to create video "tours" for their students. These tours can be created using Zaption's extensive gallery of videos from around the Web (from YouTube, Vimeo, National Geographic, and PBS) or by uploading your own
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TECH DEPARTMENT UPDATES
*Thank You!! Thanks to all of you who completed the Post Chromebook Deployment Survey! We really do use your comments to try to develop the best resources we can.
*Archived Edtech Articles by category!! Got a minute? Get in a quick read!
*Calling all Teachers! Please consider running a guided practice session for a tool(s) that you love. This low stress, credit-bearing opportunity is a win-win for everyone!
*Digital Signage - If you are interested in posting a digital sign on the big televisions throughout the school, please create your slide here - https://goo.gl/ljRFy3. Do NOT change the background. When finished - Select FILE >DOWNLOAD AS>.PNG and then email mhogan@gfsd.org with date details and which school (MS or HS) you want.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Offerings from MyLearningPlan
After School Technology Workshops:
*12/14 - (DATE CHANGE from 12/7) - Teacher Pages, Classroom, and Calendar - Guided Practice Session - Bring your work and your questions (3:15-4:15)
* 12/15 - Exchange Best Practice Ideas for Integrating Tech in the Classroom (3:15-4:15)
* 12/21 - GoGuardian (3:15-4:15)
Edtech Tools Of The Week!
Newsela
Movenote
Movenote provides the fastest way to speak out. Add your favorite content from whatever source you want, and record video alongside to it with your computer, tablet or smartphone. One of the powerful things about the site is that it interfaces with your existing documents (such as Google Drive), allowing users to quickly create presentations that include files and video narration side by side.