Vine in the Classroom? Really?

Vine is an app used by smartphones and tablets created by Twitter that allows you to create, record, and post a short six-second (that's it) video clip that can be shared via Twitter and Facebook.  It's free, simple to use, and students, not to mention teachers, can have fun creating these short videos.  Video and audio is recorded by tapping the screen and when you lift up your finger, it stops recording.  Teachers have had students create projects using Vine and it has been amazing to watch the creativity that stems from students.  Some of the ideas I have seen for using Vine in the Classroom are:

• Using Vine in the Science Labs
• Video Pen Pals
• Class Book Reviews
• Simple How-Tos
• Teachers or students can announce homework on a class blog or web site
• Book Trailers

These ideas are just a few.  How can you see using Vine in the classroom? 

Check out the following site below.  Under Four Great Ideas Fresh Off the Vine, there are some great examples of Vine created videos for Education.

 Five-Minute Film Festival: Vine and Instagram Video in the Classroom  Edutopia, 9-27-2013. 

Canvas for Teachers

More and more teachers in Canyons District are beginning to use Canvas for part of their course instruction. The primary idea is to help teachers and students succeed in a Blended Learning environment; or in a classroom where part of the instruction is delivered online. Canvas allows teachers to post and grade assignments, have class discussions, give collaborative assignments, peer reviews, quizzes, and much more. Canvas also give teachers access to powerful analytics tools so that they can see which students are engaged and which are not. Formative evaluations are easy, effective, and comprehensive.

We are working to make the transition to integrating Canvas into our schools a smooth one. We know there will be concerns as we move forward. Here are some of the common questions we are hearing:

Question: Will Canvas replace teachers? or, Are we building the machine that will replace us?
Answer: Envisioning a future where robot teachers are rolling around the classroom isn't a new concept, but we don't think this will happen any time soon. Why? Because great teaching is complex and constantly changing. Your students' needs are just as diverse, nuanced, and quickly evolving as they are. Canvas adds the ability to connect with students anywhere and at any time. It allows you to (and we encourage you to) use your voice or a webcam to keep that valuable humanity in the teacher-student relationship.

Note: If you have 20 mins, this TED Talk from one of the creators of Coursera, one of the largest providers of massive open online courses (MOOCs) is well worth your time to watch.

Question: Can I share my course/content with other teachers?
Answer: Yes! Currently in Canvas, you can add other teachers to your courses so that they can copy your content into their own courses. This make working in collaborative teams, departments, and PLCs much easier. We are working on helping schools, departments, and teachers in building question banks for Canvas Quizzes that can be shared with others. We hope to have training materials and other documentation available for this later in the year.

Question: Do I have to use Canvas? or, When can I begin using Canvas?
Answer: All CSD teachers have access to Canvas and all secondary students (6-12) have Canvas accounts already created. Some groups are being asked to use Canvas this year as we all work together to learn more about this system and how it can benefit our students. Groups who are actively being trained with Canvas include:

• 8th and 12th  grade Language Arts
• Middle School Social Studies
• World Languages Teachers
• Physics, Biology, and Chemistry
• Canvas Implementation Program (teachers who began using Canvas last school year.)

Other teachers are welcome to use Canvas. Training for all teachers is managed through our Canvas Fast Track course. We know that it will be difficult to connect with every teacher and answer every question about Canvas, so we created this course as a way for teachers to learn the parts of Canvas they want to learn, when they are ready.  To fully participate in this course, please contact your school Ed Tech Specialist.

Question: Does Canvas replace my class website?

Answer: Not really. Think of your website as a library of information. You may have videos, handouts, and other files on your website. You can use all of these in Canvas as embedded links. Canvas gives your students the ability to interact with your library. Not only can they download your handouts, but they can edit them and resubmit them to you as their completed assignment. And, you can grade that assignment, give students the assignment to review the work done by their peers, give feedback, and allow for re-submissions. Not only can they watch your video, but they can leave comments, ask questions, share ideas, and even create their own videos.

Canvas can be a great tool for giving and receiving feedback to and from students. It can be a great way to engage students in your classroom. What is your experience with Canvas so far? How are you or will you use Canvas in your teaching? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Keyboard Shortcuts Save Time

Time is precious.  The quicker you can get menial tasks completed allows for more time on more important tasks.  Learning keyboard shortcuts, like ctrl + c or command + c to copy, keeps your fingers on the keyboard instead of moving them to the mouse or trackpad and can help save time.
Most shortcuts involve the command (⌘) key on a Macintosh computer or the control (ctrl) key on a PC.

Listed below are some of the most frequently used keyboard shortcuts (Source: Lifehacker.com with permission).

For a complete list of Macintosh keyboard shortcuts, click here.
For a complete list of Windows keyboard shortcuts, click here.

Ted Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing

TED-Ed is a website for teachers and learners to find and create lessons worth sharing.  It is a site that allows teachers to find educational videos that are accompanied by lessons.  These lessons include multiple choice quizzes, open-ended questions/discussions, and links to more information about the material.  Each lesson can then easily be flipped for use with the flipped classroom teaching model.  This site also provides the opportunity to take any educational video from YouTube, TED Talks, TEDx, etc. and add sections to a lesson page where questions, links, and resources can be added.  The video below introduces the vision of the TED-Ed creators to provide lessons worth sharing.

Since being introduced to TED-Ed a few weeks ago, I have been excited about learning and becoming familiar with the content available.  Teachers could use these videos and lessons as a whole class, small group, individual, and/or as homework.  Head over to ed.ted.com to get started exploring videos, lessons, and way to flip them in you classroom!

The other exciting TEDx news is the upcoming TEDxCSD event coming to Canyons School District in November.  This event is another reason I'm feeling excited about TED Talks and the opportunity to share "ideas worth spreading."  The TED Mission of sharing content and information feels energizing to me.  If you are interested in this event register to attend today!

BlendSpace and Combining Electronic Resources for Lessons

BlendSpace (Formerly EdCanvas)
As I have worked to prepare materials for teachers that will show them how to utilize the tools available online, I have found one tool that really helps to make this more interactive.  We are preparing courses using Canvas as our online course builder.  This is a powerful engine that can give teachers the power to have quality blended instruction.  In seeking ways to make this Canvas tool more interactive, Blendspace has been a great tool for this.

It allows you to create what I think of as a quilt of education.  With each slide, you can include pictures, videos, text, web links, and even quizzes.  This can be easily embedded with an HTML code.  It's a way to help students have an interactive content with a limitless amount of electronic resources!  I'll probably write more on BlendSpace.

For fun, I made this BlendSpace on Oklahoma in my Endorsement course.  It is silly, however it showcases some of the things you can do in BlendSpace!

Film Festival Advertisement Category

Last year Canyons School District added a new category to our annual District film festival. For the first time, students were able to partner with local businesses to produce commercial advertisements. Students and businesses had positive experiences, and we all learned a lot from our first attempt. Check out some of last year's winning ads:

 

We are excited to announce that we will again have an advertisement category in this year's film festival. Now is the time for students to consider signing up to participate in the advertisement category for the 5th Annual Canyons District Film Festival!

Why create an ad for the film festival? This is a great opportunity for students to build skills in planning, organization, writing, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Students learn what it means to commit to completing a project within deadlines where real-world clients are invested. On top of everything, they have the opportunity to have fun while building a creative project and interacting with business leaders in their community.

Teachers, please help us spread the word about this exciting film festival category and encourage your students to participate. Creating an entry for this category would particularly benefit students who are interested film, broadcasting, art, and graphic design. We encourage teachers involved in Consumer Science, Film-making, Student News, Arts/Graphic Design, DECA, FBLA, and Business Marketing to inform your students about this great opportunity.

For more information about the advertising category and all things film festival, visit the Ed Tech Pro Learning website. Keep in mind that although film festival entries are not due until March, students must register for the advertisement category by the first week of December.

CSDDOCS.ORG is Increasing Communication and Helping Going Paperless

Union Middle School’s Counseling office will be using CSD docs this year to track and monitor 4 year planning and goal setting with our 8th grade students, formally known as SEOP.  

Screenshot of master document students will be filling out.

This is crucial because it ensures proper transitioning for our 8th graders to our high school staff.  The high school counselors will be invited to the student’s document and that will ensure that they have instant and current access to student planning.  They can use this in a variety of ways, but particularly it will benefit our student’s future planning and college course access in high school. The amount of memory in the CSDDOCS makes it a much better source than any other system, such as dropbox.  It allows school staff to store student information for multiple years and could even be a significant help in post high school transition as well.

Aside from the benefits of helping students transitioning to high school and making student information available instantly CSDDOCS will help reduce the amount of paper used in our school district.  For example, in prior years Union’s counselors would print 2-3 sheets per student during SEOPs, if you don’t count re-printing for updates or lost papers.  That is nearly two reams of paper saved.  While it may not seem like a lot, it is one example how Google Docs will help to save paper.