Digital Citizenship CPD Courses

Digital Citizenship CPD Courses

During the summer, many education practitioners are probably starting to think about what materials, resources etc., they can reuse, what they can tweak and what to completely overhaul in their lessons to...

• address "fake news",
• evaluate information and 
• give proper attribution to content learners may want to use in the future. 

KQEDTeach - https://teach.kqed.org/ - offers a collection of free, hands-on professional learning opportunities focused on Digital Media and is well worth a closer look.

KQEDTeach provides free CPD courses and have recently added several new courses specifically addressing digital citizenship.

Each of the courses follows a learn-make-teach cycle, where individuals are not only given the tools and practice each skill themselves, but they are also encouraged to think about and develop a lesson plan, that they can use in the autumn to address Digital Citizenship with learners.

NOTE: If individuals complete a course and share their lesson plan, they will also get a certificate, which in many instances can be used to certify PD hours. A Win, Win, all round!

Three Digital Citizenship courses worth a closer look are...

1. Safety and Privacy in a Participatory Culture: https://teach.kqed.org/course/safety-and-privacy-in-participatory-culture
   
2. Understanding Copyright and Fair Use: https://teach.kqed.org/course/understanding-copyright-fair-use/ and
   
3. Constructing Media Messages: https://teach.kqed.org/course/constructing-media-messages

If you try any of these courses or have already completed them, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.
Thank you.

More Real-time Feedback From Learners

More Real-time Feedback From Learners
Today's post looks at GoSoapBox - https://www.gosoapbox.com/ - a powerful, flexible, and intuitive learner response system for educators to use in their learning environments.

Leveraging web-enabled devices, education practitioners can digitally engage learners to conduct formative assessment and gain insight into learner comprehension.

The GoSoapBox Polls tool allows users to survey their audience by having them select an answer choice in response to a question.

The GoSoapBox Discussions tool allows users to have their learners reply to open-ended questions.

For many educators, one of the simplest yet effective survey options in GoSoapBox is a tool called the Confusion Meter.

The Confusion Meter allows learners to simply say, "yes, I get it" or "no, I don't get it."

NOTE: The Confusion Meter, like all of the GoSoapBox survey tools, can accept anonymous feedback.

Educators can use the Social Q&A tool in GoSoapBox to have learners submit their questions to them.

Learners can see each other's question submissions and vote them up if they want to.
GoSoapBox must be worth a closer look.

If you give GoSoapBox a try or have already used GoSoapBox, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.
Thank you.

Real-time Feedback From Learners

Real-time Feedback From Learners
Chat rooms and polling services provide good ways to hear from all of the Learners in a learning environment.


These kind of tools allow shy learners to...

1. ask questions and
2. share comments.

For more outspoken learners who want to comment on everything, a feedback mechanism provides a good outlet for them as well.

Today's Post is the result of revisiting backchannel and informal assessment tools, for gathering real-time feedback from learners, and realising many feedback tools have shutdown and others have been updated.

Backchannel Chat - http://backchannelchat.com/ - is a service that provides exactly what its name implies.

Backchannel Chat is designed for educational discussions, it provides all the tools an educator could need to facilitate on-line discussions.

Once educators have created their free backchannel room (chat room) they can post comments and questions for their learners to respond to.

Learners can...

• respond in real-time. 
• ask their educator and fellow learners questions within the confines of the Backchannel Chat room.

NOTE: The free version of Backchannel Chat limits you to 30 participants at a time.
Backchannel Chat is also available for mobile devices from the...

• App Store - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/backchannel-chat/id689703051?ls=1&mt=8 and
• Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.backchannelchat

If you give Backchannel Chat a try or have already used Backchannel Chat, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.
Thank you.

Research Tool

Research Tool

Scrible - https://www.scrible.com/ - is a productivity tool that research students should consider.

Scrible provides users with various tools and features that enable them to...

• curate online content,
• bookmark websites,
• store files,
• annotate and share webpages and PDFs.

Users can use Scrible to annotate content on a webpage or a PDF.
They can add comments, highlight passages and share their annotated content with others through email or social media websites.

Everything users curate and annotate is saved to their library in Scrible.

Users can organise their library with tags so they can easily find their saved content.

Scrible also provides an excellent PDF viewer and annotator which works from their browser.

Learners can use Scrible to...

• load or upload PDF documents to work on, using Scrible’s annotation tools to highlight and add comments. 
• share PDF documents with each other and be able to see who is viewing the shared PDF,
• reply to comments and see annotations in real-time.

To learn more about Scrible PDF Viewer/Annotator, watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/embed/IIhG3chkmXQ

NOTE: - Scrible provides free upgrade to students and educators.

If you give Scrible a try or have already used Scrible, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans
Today's post Lesson Plans, is a resource that helps Educational Practitioners Integrate Technology in their Teaching.

Common Sense (formerly Graphite) - https://www.commonsense.org/education/lesson-plans - has a section packed full of pre-made lesson plans, (pre-school to Yr 12) that educators can adapt to their own teaching situations.

These innovative, tech-rich lesson plans combine digital tools and inspiring teaching practices.

Lesson plans are available for...

• Arts
• English Language Arts
• English Language Learning
• Health & Wellness
• Maths
• Science
• Social Studies and
• World Languages

To learn more watch their video at https://www.youtube.com/embed/J6ojCWMcIuY or click the "Create Your Own Lesson Plan" button to get started.

If you give the Common Sense Lesson Plans a try or have already used the Common Sense Lesson Plans, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Improve Visual Content

Improve Visual Content

Wondering how to improve the visual content you share with your learners?


Well with PORTRA - https://portra.me/ - you can make selfies or other photos look hand-sketched or like an oil painting.

PORTRA is a mobile app with filters.

Depending on the filter users choose, they can...

• add flourishes of colour or
• transform their image into different types of artwork.

As the name PORTRA suggests, the app was designed for portraits, but it can be used with any photograph.

The app is available via...

• the App store -  https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/portra-turn-your-selfies-into-artworks/id1251749114?mt=8 or 
• Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playlist.portra

If you, and/or your learners give the PORTRA App a try or have already used the PORTRA App, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.
Thank you.

Creating Videos in Microsoft Photos

Creating Videos in Microsoft Photos

In an earlier post, I provided a "Heads-Up" that Windows Movie Maker was no longer available for download and that Microsoft now recommends using the video creation tools that are built into Microsoft Photos.

Today's post provides you with another Heads-Up...

Microsoft News Centre UK - https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/ - has recently published a helpful set of tutorial videos - https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2018/06/22/its-easy-to-create-an-amazing-video-using-microsoft-photos/ - that can help educators and/or learners create videos in Microsoft Photos.


The clips teach users how to...

• start a new video project - https://www.youtube.com/embed/30s-vPccI8A 
• edit - https://www.youtube.com/embed/XEyn2NYVZqw 
• add titles and captions - https://www.youtube.com/embed/5LM43thAjhI 
• put in music and narration - https://www.youtube.com/embed/ns0JPLpN8t8 and
• experiment with 3D effects - https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vo4pXQO7eZc

If learning Providers use Windows 10 or their learners use Windows 10 on their personal computers, Microsoft Photos could be a great tool for learners to use to create videos.

The fine controls over timing make Microsoft Photos a better choice than some automated audio slideshow video tools without introducing the complications of using full-fledged video editors.
If you, and/or your learners give the Microsoft Photos Tutorials a try or have already used the Microsoft Photos Tutorials, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.