July 21: Online Portfolios and Work Time

Today is mostly going to be a work day to finish up projects you have been working on. I want to make sure you have plenty of time to wrap things up and explore some of the resources on the wiki, but we are also going to spend a short time looking at online portfolios as a way to for students (and you!) to share and archive work.

• Google Classroom: Why use it?
• Doctopus and Goobric
• Flubaroo
• What teachers make
• Challenge 1: Blog post! What will change in your teaching as a result of this class?
• Challenge 2: Finish any work you've started and want to complete
• Extension activity 1: As time permits, explore the resources section of the wiki and look for resources to use in your classroom
• Extension activity 2: Watch the video on self motivation
• Extension activity 3: Watch the video on lollipop moments

It's been more than a pleasure getting to know all of you! I'm sad our time is coming to an end, but I can't wait to see what you're producing :)

July 20: Flipped Classrooms and Scratch

Yesterday we talked about Scratch, a simple and fun programming language for people of any age. Although the interface is very simple, you can create surprisingly complex things using Scratch, making it a fantastic way to develop learning artifacts. We're also going to take a look at the concept of flipping the classroom.

• Review of some of the coding concepts we talked about yesterday
• Introduction to Scratch: Some of the types of things you can create
• Signing up for accounts and learning how the basics work
• Exploration and experimentation on the Scratch site
• Introduction to the flipped classroom
• Considering some of the challenges and benefits
• Reading 1: How Flipping the Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture
• Example of flipped classroom video
• Dealing with some of the challenges, especially lack of internet access
• Reading 2: Modifying the Flipped Classroom: The In Class Version
• Challenge #1: blog post on the concept of the flipped classroom. Would you ever use it? How would you need to modify it? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks you see? Share your blog post on Edmodo when you are ready.
• Challenge #2: Create a learning artifact using Scratch. It can be anything you want, but should either demonstrate a learning objective from this course or a learning objective your students might need to know
• Extension activity (as time permits): Create a video for the flipped classroom

July 19: Games Based Learning (part two)

I almost forgot to do this tonight! Many of you suggested we go to the hot springs, so we did. It was so wonderful -- but it left me too relaxed and tired to think about work!

As we discussed, games can be a fantastic way to share information with students. But games can also be an amazing learning artifact -- a way for students to express the information and knowledge they've gained. Today's lessons will focus on coding and game design for students.

• Review of games based learning
• Discussion of today's reading by James Paul Gee: Good Video Games and Good Learning
• Prepare slides to discuss the reading
• Demonstration of one way kids can design games: Gamestar Mechanic
• Exploration time with Gamestar Mechanic: examine potential lesson plans and try it out for yourself
• What is code?
• Explore some basic computer terminology and take a look at what's actually in a computer
• Learn about Hour of Code: a simple way to introduce students to programming
• Try out the Hour of Code resources ourselves
• Look at some other coding resources and introduce Scratch, which we will explore more tomorrow
• Challenge: create a blog post on the topic of Coding in the Classroom
• Extension activity, as time permits: go deeper with Google Drive and explore text adventure games

July 18: Project Based Learning

Last week, we ran out of time to discuss different learning styles, but we all know that students do learn in many different ways. Today we will discuss one of the ways that you can reach students effectively through those learning styles -- project based learning -- and  a way to store and share the learning artifacts.

• Opening Activity: Divergent Thinking
• Video: Changing educational paradigms
• Small group discussions
• Small Group Activity: Divergent Thinking Exercises
• Divergent Thinking Activity Worksheet
• Project based learning introduction
• How to create websites (for use with your projects)
• What is project based learning and how does it differ from simply using projects in class?
• Exploring Buck Institute for Education: primary source for PBL
• Examining an example of PBL
• Creating our own PBL units, complete with websites 
• Extension: Reading: What Type of Thinker Are You?

July 15: Motivation and Learning Artifacts

Today we will be discussing what motivates us -- and what motivates our students! From there we will explore ways we can encourage students to get involved and create real learning -- and the artifacts that show that learning.

• Group discussion: what motivates people?
• Video: The surprising truth about what motivates us
• Reading 1: Engage me or Enrage me
• Group discussion about the reading
• Introduction to learning styles
• Discussion: how can we appeal to students who learn in different ways?
• Introducing Google Classroom: how it works and some of the ways it can make your life easier!
• Challenges #1 and 2 (simultaneous): Create an artifact to demonstrate learning and create a blog post on the topic of learning styles: how do they affect student learning, and how can you use them to reach more students?

July 14: Digital Citizenship

Today we are going to consider the flip side of all the amazing resources we've been looking at. There's no doubt that technology has had an amazing effect on our lives, but it becomes easy to forget how spectacular some of these things really are -- and easy to abuse them as well. Working with students, we can create digitally responsible citizens who think and act responsibly.

• Technology and happiness: Are we happy? How can we become happy?
• Morning challenge blog post on how technology has affected your life, and your students'
• Introduce the concept of the Trillion Dollar Footprint -- what you say and do online lasts forever
• Explore Holy Spirit Catholic Schools' digital citizenship documents -- together and independently
• You'll notice these make frequent reference to Common Sense Media -- let's take a look at some of their digital citizenship resources
• Challenge #2: Create a presentation in Google Drive to go along with one of the lessons on the CSM website that you think you could use in your classroom
• Extension Activity 1: Visit the Digital Bytes site. This site teaches teens digital citizenship and media creation. Complete an activity on the site.
• Extension Activity 2: Explore the games based digital citizenship sites on offer from CSM

July 13: Games Based Learning

Welcome to Day Three! We have spent two days considering Web 2.0 tools that allow us to become connected educators and creating connections between our students and ourselves. Now... what do we do with all of those connections?

Today we will be talking about a topic very near and dear to me: games based learning!

DAY THREE

• Review of topics discussed to date
• Introduction to gamification 
• Reading 1: Case Study
• Group discussion: what could be the benefits and pitfalls of this sort of learning?
• Challenge One: Blog post - what do you think the role of video games is in students' lives? Teachers' lives? Education?
• Jane McGonigall: Gaming Can Make a Better World
• Small group discussion: how can we make students have an epic win?
• Exploration of games (both online and off)
• Graphite: an awesome way to explore video game resources
• Individual exploration time of games listed in the resources on the Wiki
• Check out this article on a video game set in Dominica!
• GoNoodle brain break
• James Paul Gee on how video games help us learn
• Extension activity one: try some serious games -- games that discuss powerful, painful, and meaningful topics from a different perspective
• Extension activity two: second reading, Strategies for Meaningful Gamification