The art and craft of teaching with technology
Featured image by Pixabay / farmama
Today class will include the final group of our student-taught lessons.
Lessons will be taught by:
Ashley Eala, Justin Matsuura and Chandler Marelich
Maddy Lopez and Garrett Esponda
Molly Cartwright and Sarah Beth Leach
Featured image by geralt / Pixabay
Today class will include the second group of our student-taught lessons. Lessons will be taught by:
Lydia Wanner and Israel Osorio
Diarra Brown Jenkins and Haley Vick
Megan Livingston and Rachel Pettey
When someone clicks on your author link, they will see all of your posts in reverse chronological order. This turns all your work this term into a digital portfolio. Here’s your chance to add one last post that will introduce your work to your viewer.
You can “illustrate” this post with a few of your favorite posts using a WordPress embed. To embed one of your previous posts, just add a “WordPress Block” to your post and paste in the URL of the post you want to add.
Your embed will have your featured image plus the beginning of your post. It will also be an active hyperlink to the post.
Be sure to give it a good title and featured image. You might want to think “big picture” here. This will introduce your work to the world.
Possible prompts:
Featured image Pixabay / Franz26
Today we will have two guests – experienced educators here to talk about instruction, technology and getting a teaching job.
Corin Ahlberg is Director of Technology at Woodburn School District. For the last 10 years she has served in technology leadership roles at Cascade Technology Alliance, Forest Grove School District and Beaverton School District. Before that, Corin was a teacher/technology integration specialist at Willamette Education Service District, Corvallis School District, Tigard-Tualatin School District and Parkrose School District.
Mike Gwaltney is an educator with over 30 years experience as a teacher and administrator in independent schools. Before coming to Portland he taught in the Los Angeles area at Servite High School, Chaminade College Preparatory and the Marlborough School. In Portland, he served as history department chair at Oregon Episcopal School and later became upper school head at Rocky Hill Country Day School in Providence, RI. Mike is currently a Portland-based consultant with Independent School Management.
Student will write a letter from their future selves to their present selves. Treat it as an opportunity to think about what’s ahead for you. Have fun with it and don’t be afraid to drop in some embedded content like we did in our first post. Give it a clever title and feature image.
Begin the letter as follows:
April 12, 2033 Dear former me, It seems like only yesterday, I was at UP. It was the spring term, 2023. So much has happened since then …
Featured image by geralt / Pixabay
Today class will include the first of our student-taught lessons. See guidelines below.
Lessons will be taught by:
Molly Keegan and Sophia Litterski
Iliana Iñiguez and Nicole Pagtakhan
Ella Parker and Valerie Garcia
Working with one partner, students will design and deliver a 20-25 min learning experience to the class. Lessons will be delivered on one of these three dates – April 4th, April 19th or April 26th
Students should incorporate one or more digital tools that demonstrate how to effectively integrate technology into a learning experience. Your goal is good alignment between the technology and the learning experience
Lessons can be “taught” as if being delivered to school age students or as “adult PD” as if delivered to peers.
Student teams will co-author a single web post (due 48 hours before they are presenting) that explains your instructional goals and how they are supported / enhanced by the technology.
The post should give necessary instructions for a student to complete or a fellow teacher to replicate. And the post should include:
Featured image by FoYu / Pixabay
In this week’s class we’ll explore a variety of apps that foster collaboration and creativity: Google Drawing, FigJam, Adobe Express Video, Loom screencasting, EdPuzzle, FlipGrid.
Students will work in a small team to explore and compare apps, come up with a lesson idea, and then share with the class.
Google Drawings provide a “canvas” for users to place a variety of content. Like all Google tools, content can be saved in your Google Drive. Drawings can be used as a browser version or as a Chrome plugin.
FigJam is a collaborative whiteboard app, free for all education users. Start by going to Figma’s Education page and opening an account.
Video Maker– Part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Built in storyboards allow you to integrate images, video, sound. Choose public domain images and soundtrack
Loom is a free screencasting tool that allows users to capture their computer screen and record themselves with their camera. Loom can be used on both Mac and Windows computers. Loom will “host” the video on its server and you can share the screencast or embed in a website. To get Loom open your Chrome browser and get the Loom extension here. Or download a desktop versions here
EdPuzzle. It’s a free web-based tool that you can use to pick a video, add your magical touch and track your students’ understanding. It allows you to add questions, audio and notes to existing videos from Y ouTube, Khan Academy, Crash Course and more. If you’d rather record and upload your own video, go for it!
To start, first create a free teacher account at EdPuzzle.
Flip – Flip is a free app from Microsoft where educators create safe, online groups for students to express their ideas asynchronously in short video, text, and audio messages. (Formerly known as FlipGrid
Featured image by HalGatewood.com on Unsplash
Our course has been hosted on our WordPress site. But here’s another option to design learning via Google Sites. This is a free tool that is especially useful when you want to showcase more content than what “fits” into a WordPress post.
Google sites are free and become part of your content stored in Google Drive. Sites can easily feature text / images and showcase content you have created using Google docs, slides, forms, Google Drawing, MyMaps or YouTube videos.
Working with a partner (s), design a learning activity that is supported by a multipage Google site. Note: Partners should include their names prominently on start page of Google Site and on the WordPress Post. They can upload one post and notify Peter to make them co-authors.
1. Google site – Start Page (Home Page)
Be sure to include:
2. Google site – At least 3 additional pages that provide resources and activities for the students
Be sure to include:
3. A WordPress post that showcases the site. (this will be a co-post, so notify instructor who are your partners)
Be sure to include:
Today’s class will be a deep dive into using Google Forms to individualize learning. We will explore techniques to create lessons that allow student responses to direct students to new content. With modification they can be used to create quizzes that give students immediate feedback and remediation. Similar techniques can be used to give students a chance to choose their own path through content.
We will focus on three use cases:
Here are some sample self-graded Google quizzes created by former students
A great “How To”:
Google Forms: The Ultimate 2023 Guide
After an introduction to Google Forms, students will work in small groups to create their own self graded quiz.
Google forms can be set up so that a response will send the user to a specific section of the form. This can be used in testing – getting a wrong answer takes the student to remediation content. Or in a “Choose your own Adventure” – where student responses can lead to selected content. See examples below:
Tests
Adventures
NOTE: If you cannot embed using “Custom HTML” block then:
1. send your embed codes to the instructor
2. or add instructor as a “collaborator” on Google form
The post should include:
The post should include a self graded quiz with:
The post should include a branching form – test or adventure – with:
Note: You will need to get an embed code from your Google forms to use with the “Custom HTML” block in WordPress and embed in your post.
To get an embed code for Google Forms to use with WordPress:
Featured image by Pixabay / fancycrave1
After some Covid-induced Zoom classes and a snowstorm closure, it’s time to regroup. During this class, instructor will meet one-on-one with students in need of assistance on tech issues and portfolios. Groups of students will meet to begin plans for Lesson Showcase.
Working with one partner, students will design and deliver a 20-25 min learning experience to the class. Lessons will be delivered on one of these three dates – April 4th, April 19th or April 26th
Students should incorporate one or more digital tools that demonstrate how to effectively integrate technology into a learning experience. Your goal is good alignment between the technology and the learning experience
Lessons can be “taught” as if being delivered to school age students or as “adult PD” as if delivered to peers.
Student teams will co-author a single web post (due 48 hours before they are presenting) that explains your instructional goals and how they are supported / enhanced by the technology.
The post should give necessary instructions for a student to complete or a fellow teacher to replicate. And the post should include:
Featured image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
In this class we will explore Book Creator – a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins. Combine text, shapes, images, audio and video to make a book that can be viewed online or printed out. There is a paid iPad app, but you can also use the free online version in Safari or Chrome browser.
With a free account, you can get 1 library and create up to 40 books to use in your classroom. There’s no cost per student, and there’s no limit on the number of students that can join a teacher’s library. Also you can delete unused books and keep going.
It’s a very easy app to use. Start a new book. I recommend a Landscape 4:3 Comic book. Looks good on computer screen and you to get comic elements even if you don’t use a comic book grid.
Click through these 4 screenshots to see the content you can add to a page.
Use Book Creator to make a book – it could either be a resource for students to use or a model for books students would make. Or you might want to make something to share with parents.
Have fun with it. Tell a story or create a lesson or resource for students.
The book should be a minimum of 8-10 pages.
Your post should include should explain your intent for the book – audience and purpose and your reaction to using Book Creator.
Try a variety of content:
Since our embeds using “Custom HTML” are no longer working – just add a hyperlink to your book in your post. The instructor will be able to embed it for you in your post.
How to get started with Book Creator
Here’s three books created by spring ’22 students
For inspiration click image link below to go to a whole library
of books made with Book Creator
Featured image by Nong V on Unsplash
Today’s class will look at two different digital storytelling tools – Microsoft Sway and Adobe Express. Each app is web-based and can be used to create visually striking single page website.
Students will receive some basic instruction in both apps. Then they will break into groups to explore both apps and make sample webpages with each. Finally each group will design and present a comparative analysis of output and ease of use of both apps.
Microsoft Sway is free. As long as you have a Microsoft account, you can use Sway. (Student will use their UP Microsoft account.)
Two Sample Sways
Adobe Web Page is part of the Adobe Express suite. Students should sign for a free account. Then click + and navigate down to “Web Page.”
Two Sample Adobe Web Pages
More student work using Adobe Express
In the poem, “Where I’m From,” George Ella Lyon tells the story of her youth in Kentucky.
Note: I have used the WordPress “Verse” block and set the font small.
I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. I am from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm whose long-gone limbs I remember as if they were my own. I’m from fudge and eyeglasses, from Imogene and Alafair. I’m from the know-it-alls and the pass-it-ons, from Perk up! and Pipe down! I’m from He restoreth my soul with a cottonball lamb and ten verses I can say myself. I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch, fried corn and strong coffee. From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger, the eye my father shut to keep his sight. Under my bed was a dress box spilling old pictures, a sift of lost faces to drift beneath my dreams. I am from those moments– snapped before I budded — leaf-fall from the family tree.
Use the poem as inspiration for your digital story of “Where I’m From” using either Sway or Adobe.
First “write” your story, then use your preferred app to illustrate it. (It does not have to be as long or artistic as the one above – but have fun with it and make it personal.)
It should have a title that starts “I’m from (something artsy).” Be sure to put your name in the subtitle.
Your WordPress post should include:
1. First get the embed code from your Sway or Adobe.
2. Then copy embed code and paste into WordPress “Custom HTML block”
“Places are locations having distinctive features that give them meaning and character that differs from other locations. Therefore, places are human creations, and people’s lives are grounded in particular places. We come from a place, we live in a place, and we preserve and exhibit fierce pride over places.” ~ National Geography Standard 4: Place
Today’s class will explore interactive images with Google MyMaps and Proxi map creator. Both apps provide tools for teachers and students to create and share interactive maps that tell a story of place.
Google MyMaps is a great tool for visualizing place with a variety of content and locational tools. You can easily add photos, video, text, routes and shapes. It can be easily embedded in WordPress or simply share via link or email. MyMaps gets saved in your Google Drive account for easy cataloging.
Sample MyMap Projects | MyMaps Tutorials
Proxi is a new free service for creating and sharing visual maps. Run by female founders and an all-women team, Proxi enables you to easily and quickly create your own collection of places to share with friends or family.
Here are some maps made with Proxi.
Students will create a MyMap or Proxi to support a learning activity. Be sure to have multiple locations and some text or visual content at each location. Try these prompts:
Your post should include:
2. How to set sharing and get embed code from Proxi – Click through three steps
3. How to paste embed code into WordPress– Click through two steps
I showed ChatGPT our AI Toolkit page and asked it to write a two paragraph introduction. This is what I got back …
In this week’s class, we will be diving into the world of AI tools and resources. As part of our course, we are allowing the use of AI tools for weekly assignments and encouraging you to use them in creative ways. However, it’s important to remember that AI is a tool and its limitations. You must acknowledge the use of AI in your assignments and include a paragraph explaining its use. Additionally, be cautious of the information provided by AI and use it ethically.
We have compiled a list of AI tools, including writing tools like ChatGPT, image tools like DALL-E, audio/video tools like Google Speech-to-Text, and even some clever projects. All of these resources are free or have free intro promotions. We will be incorporating these tools into our course throughout the semester, so make sure to take advantage of them. Keep in mind that AI is just a tool and you need to consider its limitations and ethical concerns before using it.
~ChatGPT
Back to the human … As you can see it’s pretty easy to get content out of AI – but is it any good? I find these two paragraphs to be rather cold. ChatGPT selected a few details from the AI ToolKit page, but did not use them effectively to create interest in today’s lesson. So let’s ignore and start over ….
In today’s class we will explore the tools found on our AI Toolkit page. You’ll have plenty of time to explore the tools plus find some tips on writing better prompts (that’s the key to success with AI). You’ll be working in groups and we will share our findings.
We will also consider how AI could be used or misused in the classroom. Remember that in this course, AI use is permitted – but you cite all AI work and reflect on how successful it was. See our Course AI Policy.
I asked ChatGPT: I am teaching college students about AI. Give me a few short demonstrations they can do to find out about ChatGPT. Make them fun
Here’s what ChatGPT gave me back. They all seem like useable activities. It makes me wonder about using it as a brainstorming tool.
I asked ChatGPT a follow up question: : I’m also going to be demonstrating AI image generating tools like DALLE-E and Lexica. Give me five short demonstrations students can use to find out about AI image generation. Make them fun.
Here’s what ChatGPT generated for ideas. But I’m not sure that image generators will be able to do these tasks as written. They might work as a jump off point. For example, I don’t think it could “design a planet.” But it would be interesting to see if it could design inhabitants, if you gave it parameters (such as heavy gravity). So we will use or modify as needed.
In this assignment, you are invited to explore the impact of AI on education, either positive or negative, from the perspective of a teacher or student. You can also use the assignment to experiment with AI tools and see if they can assist you in creating educational content or materials.
This is a great opportunity to get hands-on with AI tools and reflect on their impact on the field of education. Have fun and be creative!
To complete the task, you may choose to post “about” or “use” AI for creation. For example:
Feel free to AI tools to assist you in developing the post – brainstorm ideas, polish up your writing, create a title or generate a featured image.
For all assignments – be sure to create an interesting title, a featured image, citations and hyperlinks for any public domain images or external content used.
Any AI use will need to be cited and you should reflect on the AI generating process you used to create the product. You can site the AI text or image tool you utilized. Include the image-generating prompt you used.
It was made with Lexica using the prompt: “Create a featured image for a WordPress post called “Exploring AI in the Classroom” It should include a student and teacher exploring a Maurice Sendak style setting like “Where the Wild Things Are.”
I had to input the same prompt three different times to get this image. The artistic style doesn’t seem very Sendak. But the content feel like him. I tried three image generators with the same prompt. Here’s another image created by Lexica and images from DALL-E and Karlo.
