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There is a movement in education right now focused on open educational resources (OER). OER are teaching and learning materials that educators can use and reuse at no cost and without needing to ask permission. OER are authored or created by an organization or individuals that retain few (if any) ownership rights. These materials can be downloaded and used with students or shared with colleagues. In many cases, you can also modify the materials for your own uses and re-post for others to use. The idea behind the OER movement is tied to the basic human right to quality education access.  OER Commons is a great resource to discover OER materials, create materials to share with other educators, and connect with educators interested in OER resources. You can use the website to search for ready-made materials or use their module builder to create your own learning modules that you can build with OER materials. Use the links below to start your OER exploration.
Today's Tech Tip Tuesday is focused on the SAMR model. Designed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the model helps educators design, develop, and incorporate educational technology into learning experiences. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. Below is an image of the model. Notice how each area either falls in Enhancement or Transformation.  I think it is important to note that there is no "bad" area of this model. Meaning, all teachers will fall somewhere in one of these four areas at any time, depending on the lesson. Remember, we always consider TPACK when planning our lessons. That means considering what we want to teach and how we want to teach it before deciding if (and how) technology will support the learning. Consider SAMR as a ladder: How can you get from enhancing learning to transforming learning in your classroom? Some lessons are appropriate at the Substitution and Augmentation level, but many lessons can rise above the line to become transformative learning experiences for your students. Consider how you use texts in your classes. If a student uses an e-Book instead of a physical textbook that is considered Substitution. Now consider how you can move up the ladder. How about if students use an e-Reader with apps that allow annotations and highlighting? That would be considered Augmentation. Now let's take it a little further. Right now the student is working in isolation, but what if she could communicate with others about her reading? Using technology to allow communication about the text would be considered Modification. Finally, allowing your students to analyze the reading in a blog or continue the conversation over Twitter would be considered Redefinition. Now you got it! There are a number of questions you can ask yourself to move up the SAMR ladder. If you want to go from Substitution to Augmentation, ask yourself what ways can you make the lesson more engaging with technology? If you want to move to Modification, ask yourself are there ways to give more control to the learner and/or ways to make the learning more authentic to the learner? Finally, if you want to move to Redefinition ask yourself what would you do in your ideal teaching world if you had no limits? How can you transform the learning with your students? SAMR helps educators design learning tasks that have significant impact on student outcomes. Kathy Schrock extended this thinking by making connections to the updated Bloom's Taxonomy as seen in the image below.  Not only should we design learning that targets higher-order thinking skills as seen in Bloom's Taxonomy, but we need to design learning that also has an impact on student outcomes. Therein lies the connection between Bloom's and SAMR, and they go hand-in-hand. We are already designing learning that builds on the levels of Bloom's; now we can use SAMR to also consider learning outcomes. Not only that, but both help guide the successful and effective introduction and continuing use of educational technology in learning. Want to learn more about these connections? Here is Dr. Puentedura's take on the topic, and here are Kathy Schrock's ideas on the topic. Want to learn more or see great SAMR examples? Check out the links below. 8 Examples of Transforming Lessons with SAMR SAMR Flowchart SAMR Through the Lens of 21st Century Skills Assessing Yourself in Using SAMR and Transforming Learning (Rubric) SAMR Model Explained By Students How are you using SAMR? Leave a comment to join the discussion. Shake Up Learning just released a new list called 17 Challenges for Teachers in 2017. This is a great list of fun ideas to try with your students. I'll be revisiting it throughout the year to hopefully inspire ideas for your classroom. First up, Google Expedition!
As we all know, budgets are limited in education and we need to find creative ways to support our students' learning without breaking the bank. Google Expedition (GE) is a great way to do this! You can use GE to take your students virtually anywhere. Want to explore the International Space Station? Great! Want to take your students to see amazing architecture in Barcelona? Awesome! How about exploring the surface of Mars? You can do that, too! You can take your students pretty much anywhere you can image. Some kits can cost more money than you want to spend (though consider partnering up with other educators in your institution and even writing grants to support the purchase!). There are a number of inexpensive options as well (check out the Landsberg V2), and don't forget eBay is always a good option. Or you and your students can make your own as a class project! Once you have your viewers ready to go and have gone on a few trips, consider having your students create their own virtual reality! The options are endless and a lot of fun to try out. So, how do you think you might use virtual reality in your classroom? Leave a comment below. According to the Teaching with Technology survey conducted by Campus Technology (2016), the majority of faculty in higher education are either flipping their classroom or plan to flip their classroom. The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model where traditional lecture and homework are reversed. Many flipped classrooms include short video lectures from the instructor in order to cover content knowledge before students come to class to discuss and practice the content through projects and exercises. The flipped classroom focuses on active, student-centered learning and has shown an increase in student engagement inside and outside the classroom.  Flipping the classroom allows instructors to offer more interactive and applied practice to help students reach higher level learning. At its core, flipped learning really is a form of blended learning because it incorporates both face-to-face and online elements. Flipped learning can be used to modify learning to best support students' needs and learning interests. Flipping the classroom will be a change for both instructors and students. Instructors will move away from the Sage on the Stage model toward a Guide on the Side model (though carefully considering what that means and not leaving students to fend for themselves, but instead use their sage-ness to help guide student learning). Students will have more choice and responsibility for their learning. The collaborative and cooperative nature of flipped learning can be uncomfortable at first for instructors and students alike, but supporting students in their learning by offering more hands-on practice is worth it when we see students go beyond basic understanding and instead show mastery of content. Resources to Explore
It’s easy to get confused when you set out to find apps that will best drive student learning. There are, after all, thousands of educational apps available in the iTunes and Google Play stores, and the number is growing weekly. Like many educators, we also felt overwhelmed by the choices. But over the years we developed a process that allows us to sharply define what we need and then find the tools that help us meet our needs. Here are the five steps we consider: 1. Start by defining the problem of practice 2. Address the how of learning 3. Narrow down the type of tools 4. Look for sound advice 5. Evaluate the tools For more information on each of the five steps, read more here.   The semester is starting to wind down for many of us, and we are ready for a much-needed break. However, as is typical for most educators, we're always thinking about the next big thing on the horizon. For most of us, that means the spring semester. This week's Tech Tip Tuesday is a short one and meant to inspire your thinking as you take your break. Check out this list of tools to get inspired. While we never plan with the tool in mind first, of course, this can still start re-energizing you for the next semester ahead.
Have ideas to include in the list? Feel free to leave a comment below. And be sure to check back regularly as the list is updated. Today's tech tip is a quick and easy way to save paper and ink. How often have you been online and wanted to print something, but you aren't sure how to get rid of the ads on the sides of the screen? Well, now there is a tool to help you! Print Friendly is a free online tool that helps you erase ads, pictures, and other elements you do not want to print. Check out the video below for more information: The best browser for Print Friendly is Google Chrome. You can also download an extension for Print Friendly that works with Chrome. An extension is like an app that is integrated into the Chrome browser. It will add a green icon in your Chrome toolbar so you can easily use Print Friendly without needing to go to the website and copy/paste a URL.
So now, if you absolutely must print, you can save paper and ink by removing all the unwanted ads and images not applicable to what you are reading. Have other ways you save paper and ink? Please feel free to share in the comments below. Many educators today are doing their best to move away from the traditional lecture format in their classrooms. This shift is a positive one in order to support student-centered learning. However, there are still times when it is necessary to focus the attention back to the front of the room, whether for a video or a traditional lecture. How do we make sure our students are still engaged even when they are asked to sit and listen? You can create a backchannel in your classroom to ensure their engagement and regularly monitor their formative learning. Creating a backchannel is easy using educational technology. There are a number of tools you can use to create a backchannel, and I offer links to a handful below. So, really, why use a backchannel? Won't that just distract my students? Well, no. Your students are already using a backchannel in your classrooms, whether it is whispering, texting, passing notes, or even jumping on social media. So why not offer them a structured backchannel to refocus the conversation on the content information and give them productive ways to collaborate? Backchannels offer ways to have a more organic conversation with your students. Instead of having students raise their hand and interrupt lecture, they can type their questions in the backchannel. The conversation becomes more relevant and happens more organically. The answers to the questions also become more relevant because you can encourage students to collaborate and help each other out by answering other students' questions. This takes some of the work load off the instructor and puts the onus of learning back on the students, where it really should be anyway. You can use a backchannel on most devices that connect to the Internet, so you can encourage your students to bring their own devices or technology (BYOD/BYOT). As a secondary form of classroom communication, the backchannel is a way for the instructor and other students to clarify and collaborate simultaneously with class instruction. Students are constantly engaged and encouraged to take part in an active discussion. It gives students different options for their voices to be heard. Backchannels are a great use of formative assessment because the instructor is able to immediately see if students understand the content, or if it is necessary to go back over material that students don't seem to understand. Students can also go back to the backchannel after class and use that conversation as part of their class notes, providing another way for them to review the content material. Finally, if you are flipping your classroom, you can create a backchannel that is used asynchronously by your students to continue the conversation. Students are encouraged to challenge one another and answer each other's questions. The instructor can jump in when necessary to clarify any misunderstandings, but the learning and active discussion really falls to the students. Below is a list of popular tools you can use to create a backchannel in your classroom. Many of these tools allow the instructor to monitor and delete responses in real time, allow for class privacy, and can easily be shared as links for the students to access. You can click on the links below and explore each tool individually to get an idea of what would work the best for you and your students.
So how do you use backchannels in your classroom? Please leave a comment and let us know! What does discussion look like in your classroom? Do you normally see one student dominating the conversation? Do you have other students who are too shy to join in the conversation for fear of being wrong? Often our classroom discussions can be lopsided due to dominant students or even derailed by students introducing an off-topic to the mix. We want all of our students to be engaged and feel empowered to join in a class discussion. We also want to give students time to think in order to provide deeper answers. Verso can help you create dynamic class discussions by offering a safe, anonymous space for all students' voices to be heard and valued. Overview of Verso:
While student responses are kept anonymous, the instructor can see everything on their own dashboard, including who is typing and commenting. The instructor also has the ability to remove any inappropriate responses immediately. Students can also flag inappropriate comments and responses. For more information on using Verso, please watch the video below: Want more resources? Check out the links below! Also, be sure to leave a comment on how you use or plan to use Verso. Now, go get started with Verso! |
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Julie K. Marsh is a long-time educator, an EdD student at Virginia Commonwealth University focusing on educational leadership, and an instructional designer. Her current research interests include Design Thinking, Community of Inquiry, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), creativity in the classroom, open sourced educational resources, and participatory culture.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.