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AI/VRDigital Literacy

Integrate Immersive Learning Technologies Into Your Classroom.

by Macee Hall
written by Macee Hall

Keeping your lesson plan fresh can be difficult when it seems like new technologies are being created every day. But deciding to implement those new technologies can transform your classroom like never before! For example, immersive learning technologies can be used to transport students into ancient ruins or allow them to learn about the inner workings of our world all at the touch of a button! Keep reading to discover some fun ways to integrate immersive learning technology into your classroom this school year.

Differentiating Between Immersive Learning Technologies

Before diving into some ways to utilize immersive technologies in the classroom, it’s important that we distinguish between some key terms. 

Extended Reality

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term that includes all types of immersive technologies, including any immersive learning technologies used in schools. These technologies blend the physical and digital worlds at varying degrees to create hands-on, in-depth learning experiences.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) takes our physical world and adds a digital overlay, typically allowing for more hands-on interaction with certain elements. AR is typically more physical than digital and is usually more accessible since it utilizes your immediate environment. 

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) brings a more immersive digital landscape to the user by fabricating, either mostly or entirely, a new environment to explore. VR is more digital than physical and may require specialized equipment or software to experience fully. 

Incorporating Immersive Learning Technology into Your Lesson Plan

Here are some AI-powered ideas for how to incorporate immersive learning technologies like XR, AR, and VR into your classroom, courtesy of Perplexity.ai. After you check out our list, we encourage you to also utilize your favorite AI software to research even more epic ways to bring immersive tech into your lesson plans!

Virtual Field Trips

Explore historical sites, museums, and more through virtual tours and field trips. This is an easy way to visit recreations of ancient ruins in social studies, hard-to-reach ecosystems in science, or a variety of museums covering all subjects. It’s a low-cost and safe way for students to explore the world without boundaries. Check out Google Arts & Culture to explore history and art museums, but be aware that not all subject matter will be age-appropriate. 

Interactive 3D Models

Visualize complex concepts in STEM classes with interactive 3D models. High school students can explore the anatomy of humans and other animals, middle school students can explore basic cellular structures, and elementary school students can learn about 3D shapes with a unique, hands-on learning experience. Take a look at Sketchfab and Merge Cube to discover an array of interactive models.

Immersive Language Learning

Experience simulated cultural environments and have conversations with AIs or native speakers with immersive language learning software. This cultural immersion makes international learning safe and accessible for all students. ImmerseMe offers desktop and VR headset learning opportunities in a variety of languages, specially designed for the classroom.

Hands-on Skills Training

Engage students with hands-on skills training like virtual science labs, digital vocational training, and simulated technical lessons. These trainings not only get students more active in their own learning process, but they also save on costs and allow students to work at their own pace. Zspace focuses mainly on STEM lessons and provides interactive 3D models and simulations for students to dive into immersive learning. 

Augmented Textbooks and Learning Materials

Deepen students’ understanding with digital textbooks. Many augmented textbooks have interactive features like digital overlays that help students explore the subject material more in-depth. For K-8 students, check out the free e–textbooks at Core Knowledge. For students in high school and beyond, check out the free, open-licensed textbooks at OpenStax

Gamified Learning Experiences

Boost motivation and engagement with immersive, gamified learning. There are countless educational games with immersive elements available on the web. Take a look at Breakout EDU, which turns classroom lessons into virtual escape rooms where students must work together and employ learning strategies to make it out in time.  

How do you use immersive learning technologies in the classroom?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Back to SchoolDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyTechnology ApplicationsTEKS

Integrate the 2024 TA TEKS into Your Third Grade Classroom

by Macee Hall
written by Macee Hall

The Texas State Board of Education’s new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology Applications for K-8 students has educators working to update their lesson plans to meet overarching educational goals. This change can feel overwhelming, but implementing the new 2024 TA-TEKS into your elementary coursework just takes some creativity and a little elbow grease! 

NOTE: For information on TA-TEKS for students in kindergarten, first, and second grade, check out our Technology Applications: TEKS for Grades K-2 online course. Keep an eye out for expanded grade level offerings in the near future. 

2024 TA TEKS Updates

The new TEKS list was formally adopted in 2022, but does not take effect until the 2024-2025 school year. With the former TEKS in place since the Fall 2012 semester, members of the board decided it would be more beneficial to set goals for each grade level, rather than banding several grades together as they had done in previous years. Third-grade TEKS, specifically, represent five core strands that include:

  1. Computational thinking
  2. Creativity and innovation
  3. Data literacy, management, and representation
  4. Digital citizenship
  5. Practical technology concepts

The new set of TA TEKS will place a heavy emphasis on problem solving. And, for educators, that emphasis is a great place to focus when creating lesson plans for the new year and beyond.

Three Ways to Use the New 2024 TA TEKS in Your Classroom

When crafting lessons that not only weave technology into core educational goals, but that also follow the required benchmarks set by the state, it’s important to emphasize critical thinking and digital literacy in an age-appropriate way. 

Keep in mind that, even though we’ve honed in on ideas for third graders in this specific article, these lessons can be tweaked and reshaped to fit any late-elementary grade levels. 

Encourage Creativity with Digital Storytelling

2024 TA TEKS strands involved:

  • Creativity and innovation
  • Practical technology concepts

To enable students to utilize technology in fun and creative ways, help them create and share multimedia stories. Start by introducing the concept of digital storytelling. At this point, students should be familiar with the general cadence and structure of their favorite books, so you may consider choosing an existing story to use as the basis for an example project where you share a tale they know and love in a new way. You may also want to provide a list of themes or prompts to help your students brainstorm or encourage them to think outside the box!

Have students utilize storytelling apps like Storybird or Book Creator to build their creations, complete with text, images, and even audio clips. Then have them share their finished projects with the class to encourage public speaking and presentation, skill building that they’ll need later on. 

Spark Interest with Digital Research Basics

2024 TA TEKS strands involved:

  • Computational thinking
  • Data literacy, management, and representation
  • Practical technology concepts

Help students develop priceless research skills by utilizing digital tools and resources to learn more about a fun topic of your (or their) choice. Start by teaching students how to gather accurate data from reliable sources. At a third-grade level, steer them towards education-focused sites like National Geographic Kids or Smithsonian Kids and help them learn to navigate using the search bar and menu. 

You may even want to take it a step further and teach them how to evaluate online sources for credibility and accuracy. Make it fun with some outlandish examples. There was a period in the late 2000s where a certain site listed George Washington as a ninja who had a black belt, so there’s bound to be a silly example to highlight your point somewhere on the web. If you can’t think of one, check the the “Save the Tree Octopus! Helping Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills” lesson plan. Don’t forget to finish the project by having students create a slide deck and present their findings for an added educational bonus.

Foster Critical Thinking with Digital Citizenship and Safety

2024 TA TEKS strands involved: 

  • Computational thinking
  • Digital citizenship

Build on the basic digital citizenship and online safety knowledge students already possess at a higher level each school year. In third grade, start with a discussion on what being a good digital citizen means. You may consider subjects like respecting others online and protecting personal information. Include positive and negative examples in your lesson, and invite your students to deduct whether the example is one of good digital citizenship or not. 

You can also role-play scenarios that highlight safe online behaviors when students encounter potentially unsafe situations online. Include tips on what to do if they encounter or experience cyberbullying, phishing, and more. There are several interactive websites that simulate real-world scenarios that your students can use for additional practice like the FBI’s Safe Online Surfing Internet Challenge. 

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Five Stages of EdTech Adoption blog header
Digital Literacy

Five Stages of K-12 Ed Tech Adoption: Part 1

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Feeling tired and burned out by all the ed tech and AI-based news finding its way into your life? Take a moment to step back from all the chaos and reflect on the big picture. The Five Stages of K-12 Ed Tech Adoption will give you some context for understanding what you are going through. You will also get practical tips to help you harness the power of technology to create an engaging, effective student learning environment. Let’s take a look at:

  • The five stages of ed tech adoption and how to navigate them with success
  • Actionable strategies to integrate technology into your daily routine
  • The latest trends in educational technology and how you can use them

Ready? Let’s review each of the stages.

Stage #1: Exploration and Awareness

Whether you are a new teacher, or someone new to using digital tools in the classroom, it’s easy to adopt a spirit of openness when it comes to ed tech. As a classroom teacher, curiosity and eagerness to see how technology can improve teaching and learning are your focus. This first stage may be described in the following way:

People first learn about new technology. They explore it. Maybe they're curious. Maybe their friends or leaders told them to try it. They're open to learning. They start to see how it could help them teach.

It’s a time for exploration. Digital tools such as virtual reality, gamification, and artificial intelligence start to paint a picture of a more engaging, personalized, and efficient approach to education. Here are some ways you can get started with ed tech in your classroom:

  • Build yourself a choice board of learning. Explore workshops and resources that focus on improving reading comprehension, using project-based learning, or effective classroom instructional strategies.
  • Showcase your learning. Use tools like Blogger, WordPress, Google Sites, and/or Wakelet to create free portfolios of your learning. Showcase your teaching philosophy, resume, lesson plans, and videos of mini-lessons. Take the time to reflect on what you’re learning as you’re learning it.
  • Conduct a self-assessment. Assess your teaching and learning environment, reflecting on classroom arrangement, media tools available, instructional strategies, and your comfort level with digital tools.
  • Engage in knowledge sharing. Take field trips to meet with other educators to learn how they are using technology, and/or share how you are using it to impact teaching and learning. This can help build a strong sense of respect among you and your colleagues as well as a community of lifelong learners.
  • Walk and talk. Encourage your colleagues at work to allow Walk and Talks to pair up and discuss topics relevant to blending technology into the classroom.

Remember that TCEA can assist you with all of this. TCEA’s Annual Convention & Exposition and focused events are an invaluable resource. These events offer a plethora of learning opportunities. You get to see other educators present on the latest educational technologies and walk the exhibit hall floor where new products are showcased. What’s more, the TCEA TechNotes blog offers practical tips, teaching strategies, and resources that align ed tech with high-effect size instructional strategies and technologies.

Stage #2: Adoption and Experimentation

Characterized by teachers starting to use new ed tech to teach, there is experimentation and trying to see how tools work. Some reject the idea that teachers should experiment in the classroom, but where else should they attempt this work? Every lesson is an experiment. Digital tools involve a hands-on approach where both teachers and students become co-learners. They try out different technologies, learn how they work, and then assess their effectiveness in facilitating learning. This suggests that students have agency, choice, and the ability to self-regulate their own learning.

An example of levels of spoken feedback when it comes to ed tech.
Adapted from David Perkins’s (2003) The Ladder of Feedback and John Hattie’s (2014) The Power of Feedback. | Get Your Own Copy in Google Slides format

Some ed tech tools and technologies that are often considered for experimentation in the classroom include:

Assess ed tech tools in the context of back-and-forth conversations with students. Consider the suggestions in the “Assess K-12 Classroom Technology Usage” infographic as you work to implement new tools in your classroom.

Stage #3: Integration and Application

In this stage, technology is used routinely in the classroom. You may describe this stage in this way:

Technology is part of the classroom. Teachers and students use it daily. It supports learning goals. It fosters student feedback. It helps with everyday tasks. What’s more, it gives students choices in how they learn. It promotes student discussion and collaboration. It's a tool for success.

At this stage, ed tech is a core element of the classroom. It scaffolds learning, encourages feedback, and makes teamwork at a distance possible. It makes tasks for teachers and students alike easier to complete. What’s more, it blends into lessons and activities and provides students with a variety of ways to interact with curricular materials to show what they know. It also provides the timely feedback students need to gauge their distance from target learning objectives.

Some examples in addition to those mentioned above include:

More to Come

You may have figured out that only three out of the five stages were addressed! Stay tuned for more content in part two. In the meantime, here’s an infographic of the Five Stages of Ed Tech Adoption in K-12:

Five Stages of EdTech Adoption - https://www.canva.com/design/DAF-7iMpYnk/hKcjLpsU_yBlKkmCE-gicg/view?utm_content=DAF-7iMpYnk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor
Five Stages of EdTech Adoption – View the Five Stages of Classroom Ed Tech Adoption in K-12

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Digital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)

A SIFT Lesson Plan: Critical Skills for Navigating Media

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“Oh my goodness, have you seen all the political ads on the television recently?” said a colleague earlier this month. It’s an election year, but how are you making sense of what’s true and false? Many of us have to learn how to deal with persuasive text, which may include political propaganda. And many adults and students are dealing with media overwhelm.

The middle school Texas ELA TEKS emphasize critical thinking skills. But how do you teach that? Let’s take a look at one approach you might consider. That approach is Mike Caufield’s SIFT Method (CC-BY 4.0 license). Before jumping into an overview of SIFT, let’s take a moment to review why it’s even necessary.

Media Overwhelm

If you can read, listen, or watch content, you are under continuous assault. Differing viewpoints and perspectives assail your senses. In fact, when you have so many points of view, you may lack an easy way to make your own selections. The sheer volume of content can force some to throw up their hands in anomie.

Did You Know?

Anomie is an old concept, dating back to Emile Durkheim’s 1897 work, “Suicide: A Study in Sociology.” You may, as I did, have first learned about it in high school sociology class. Anomie occurs when the norms and values of society are unclear. People become confused about how to behave. Social order is threatened and people feel unrestricted in their behavior.

Anomie is a lack of rules about interpreting content resulting from the media blizzard. It raises its head with media due to the effects of media overwhelm. This can have dire consequences for students:

The psychological and social effects of excessive exposure to media and information can lead to feelings of isolation or conformity.

Hyper-connectedness results in feelings of disconnection that can affect students (source). To assist students and staff, you might consider adopting a tool to sift through the fluff.

Available Online at the OER Pressbooks Website

Introducing SIFT

A simple process, SIFT is an acronym that represents the following actions:

  • Stop. Check your emotions. If you have an emotional response to content, you’ve been “hooked” already.
  • Investigate the source. Where does the content originate? Who made it?
  • Find better coverage. Check other reliable sources to verify.
  • Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.

Each step in the process comes with a few moves and questions you can ask. You can find these outlined in the infographic below.

View | Get a Copy in Canva | Get PPTx or PDF

Using the SIFT approach (or SIFT Method) in a real-life situation is easy. Let’s give it a go.

Example Use of SIFT Method

“Hey, Miguel, did you hear the news? Our principal now expects us to write all our lesson plans by hand to prove they weren’t generated by AI.” said a teacher at a recent event. “It’s in response to a new policy that goes something like this,” she shared. Then she gave me a printout:

View full size | Get a Copy in Canva | Get PDF (Adapted from Jason Horne’s “What do you tell teachers about AI?“)

What might this analysis look like with the SIFT Approach in mind?

SIFT StepQuestions to AskMovesAnalysis
S – Stop– What is my initial reaction to the memo?
– What do I know about the source of the memo?		Pause and consider any immediate reactions. Reflect on the credibility of the source.The memo is formal and appears to be from a school principal, Juan Wright, addressing the teaching staff. It seems to be a legitimate communication about policy regarding the use of Language Learning Models (LLMs).
I – Investigate the Source– Who is Juan Wright?
– What is the reputation of the school or institution?		Research the author and the institution to understand their credibility.Juan Wright is identified as the principal. To further investigate, one would need to look up his professional background and the school’s reputation. However, this information is not provided in the memo or the search results.
F – Find Better Coverage– Are there other documents or announcements from the school that discuss the use of LLMs?
– Have other schools implemented similar policies?		Look for corroborating documents or policies from other sources.The memo itself does not provide other sources, but one could search for similar policies at other educational institutions or official guidelines on the use of AI in education to compare practices.
T – Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to their Original Context– Can the policy points mentioned in the memo be traced to educational standards or guidelines?
– Is the policy based on research or recommendations from educational authorities?		Seek out the original sources that may have informed the policy.The memo does not cite specific research or educational standards. To fully trace the policy’s basis, one would need to access the school’s official policy documents or inquire with the administration about the research or guidelines that informed the policy.
AI-generated SIFT Analysis of a fake principal memo regarding lesson plans

Applying the SIFT Method

Now that you know what SIFT is, let’s apply it quickly to a news item, “Artificial Intelligence Helps Complete Beethoven’s Unfinished Symphony” from DoGoNews. The analysis below relies on ChatGPT-generated content:

SIFT StepQuestions to AskMovesAnalysis
S – Stop– What is my initial reaction to the headline?
– What do I already know about the topic?
– What do I know about the source?		Before diving into the content, pause to consider any biases or emotional reactions. Reflect on the source’s credibility.The headline is intriguing and might evoke curiosity or skepticism. Given that DoGoNews is a platform aimed at younger audiences, it’s designed to be educational. However, it’s still important to approach with a critical mind.
I – Investigate the Source– Who is the author?
– What is the mission of DoGoNews?
– Are there any potential biases?		Research the author and the publication to understand their credibility and potential biases.Lisa Castillo, the author, writes for DoGoNews, a site dedicated to providing news for kids. While the site aims to educate, it’s crucial to cross-check information with other reputable sources to ensure accuracy and lack of bias.
F – Find Better Coverage– Are other reputable sources reporting on this?
– Do fact-checkers support the claims made?		Look for corroborating or contradicting reports from other sources.The completion of Beethoven’s unfinished symphony by AI is covered by multiple reputable sources, including CBC[3], NVIDIA Blog[5], and Classic FM[6]. This widespread coverage by credible sources supports the article’s claims.
T – Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to their Original Context– Can the original studies or announcements be found?
– Is the information presented in its true context?		Seek out the original sources of claims, quotes, and media mentioned to verify their accuracy and context.The article references resources like Theconversation.com, NPR.com, and ScientificAmerican.com[1], which are reputable. However, directly accessing these sources or looking for the original announcements or studies would provide the most accurate context and information.
AI-Generated SIFT Analysis of DOGOnews article

Looking for some additional sources of age-appropriate news? Here’s a short list:

View full-size | Get a copy in Canva or PDF

Now that you’ve seen it in action with age-appropriate content, let’s look at a lesson plan using the same example.

Lesson Plan Example

In the example below, you will see the following:

This lesson plan aims to teach 6th graders how to think in a critical manner. It also facilitates their understanding of how to assess online sources. This aligns to the relevant TEKS standards for English/Language Arts. The activities build on one another, solidifying the SIFT method’s learning goals. Accommodations appear to ensure all students can engage and gain from the lesson.

Here’s what a 60-minute lesson plan for sixth graders might look like:

ObjectivesStandardsPre-AssessmentActivitiesPost-AssessmentAccommodationsTime
TEKS ELA.6.12.H.i: The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the author’s choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts.TEKS ELA.6.12.H.i: The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors’ choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts.Students will complete a short quiz to assess their initial understanding of evaluating sources and identifying credible information.Introduction to SIFT (15 mins): Briefly explain the SIFT method and its importance. Use a simple, clear example to illustrate each step.
Group Activity (20 mins): In groups, students will apply the SIFT method to pre-selected websites or articles. Each group will present their findings.
SIFT Practice (20 mins): Students will individually choose an online article and apply the SIFT method, documenting their process and conclusions.		Students will write a brief reflection on how the SIFT method changed their perspective on evaluating sources and how they plan to use it in the future.Provide visual aids and step-by-step guides for each SIFT step. Offer additional time for tasks as needed. Use technology to assist students with special needs.60 mins

In a world flooded with media, telling the truth from falsities is essential. Equip your students with a critical thinking approach, the SIFT method—stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, and trace claims back to their roots. It will assist them in sorting through the noise to evaluate media with a critical lens. This approach will guide you through the firehose of content and help you avoid the confusion and disconnection that too much information can cause.

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Digital LiteracyReading

Going Beyond Digital Literacy: Fostering Readers as Learners

by Kristine Seale
written by Kristine Seale

Open your favorite website (maybe you are already on it!). What do you notice on the page? What percentage is text, pictures, videos, ads, or links? Chances are the sites you typically frequent do not feature endless pages of information. You are far more likely to encounter sites that rely heavily on visuals, audio, and graphics to convey information. Maryanne Wolf, author and brain researcher, says, “young readers have to develop a bi-literate brain – learning the needed skills and dispositions for paper and digital reading in tandem – much in the way children who are raised to speak two languages develop their skills.” So what kind of skills do students need to develop good reading behaviors across print and digital media? Let’s explore how we can foster readers as learners.

Why Is Digital Literacy Important?

In today’s digital society, information has become more widespread and easily accessible, which means our students have more knowledge at their fingertips than any other generation in history. Consequently, educators must shift into the role of “facilitator” to empower students to take ownership of their own development as readers and learners. Literacy in our digital world means students must learn to evaluate ALL the information they encounter to make sense of the world. Fostering readers as learners means ensuring students understand that reading skills are life skills. As educators, we must leverage resources so students develop the ability to learn whatever they want to learn in a variety of digital and print formats and platforms.

How to Promote Literacy Success Across the Board

However, fostering readers will not happen if educators never help students make connections beyond a short block of reading time. Let’s take a look at several ways we can help students develop and hone the thinking skills they need to be successful across all settings, platforms, and genres. 

1. Leverage the Gradual Release of Responsibility framework for the development of cognitive strategies that support all learners.

Colorful graphic explaining the process of building student independence through gradual release of responsibility.

The Gradual Release of Responsibility model works well to support building thinking skills in students no matter the format of the information. It helps move them toward independence, both when teaching strategies and teaching content. Our interactions with students change because the explicit teaching point will be different the first time you teach a skill compared to the third or fourth. As our students take on more of the responsibility of using the skills and strategies, they are also able to take on a higher level of thinking work.

When this model is employed effectively, all students, even those who may be otherwise missing background knowledge, are able to build and draw upon the necessary schema to make learning possible. This, in turn, facilitates the development of deeper cognitive thinking. Students who are comfortable using cognitive strategies are more flexible, strategic, and productive in their learning processes because they are learning how to think critically. They are doing more than learning material; they are learning HOW to learn. 

Pink and yellow graphic outlining three cognitive strategies to promote literacy and deep learning.

2. Leverage blended learning to support small group literacy instruction and conferring.

The less time we spend talking, the more time we have to work with students. Blended learning bridges the gap and helps keep all students focused, even when they aren’t with you. The station rotation model, in particular, works well at the elementary level to allow the teacher to differentiate based on diverse student needs. This includes choosing a form of Personalized Learning that fits, when appropriate. We want to stick closely to our literacy instructional strategies that work and use them to leverage the time we have effectively and efficiently. 

Colorful graphic with ideas for literacy station rotations that are offline, collaborative, online, and lead by the teacher.

3. Explicitly teach reading comprehension strategies to promote the transfer of literacy skills.

The goal is for comprehension strategies to become internalized and automatic, naturally occurring to synthesize information without the conscious thought of the reader. We also have to teach that these literacy skills transfer across subjects, genres, and platforms. The skills that you use to understand how a character is feeling are the same skills you might use to understand the motivations of important people throughout history. This is true if you read about them in texts or learn about them through other forms of multimedia. 

Circular graphic outlining goals, skills, and strategies for planning literacy skills.

In addition to this explicit instruction, it’s also vital to provide students with opportunities to respond to texts and other types of media and to choose response types and tools that work across the curriculum. Canva, Flip, Seesaw, and Book Creator are all examples of tools that can be taught once and then used in a variety of ways throughout the year for students to demonstrate evidence of their learning. They can be used with strategies like these: 

Five strategies to promote literacy and make learning visible.

4. Teach and model with a variety of media and text formats. 

In our world today, we have access to information on such a large scale. Not only do we have more information to evaluate, summarize, and synthesize; but we also have more ways that information is presented. Modeling and teaching with all the different types of media is crucial to student literacy and reading success. This includes honoring and acknowledging that formats like audiobooks, graphic novels, vlogs, and other less traditional media are all valid and respectable avenues for learning! 

In their book “Read the World,” Ziemke and Muhtaris include lessons that explicitly teach ways for students to “read” images, videos, graphics, and artifacts. But more importantly, we can’t just teach students how to do these things. We must model and continue to scaffold these strategies (both in print and digital) so students can transfer them into their everyday reading and thinking habits. 

What will learning look like tomorrow?

As we work to support our students in literacy and learning at high levels, we must continue to think about what learning will look like tomorrow. If students are taught not just how to read, but how to learn in our digital world, they will be empowered to reach whatever goals they choose to set for themselves. And they’ll have the skills needed to do so. When we marry our tried and true instructional practices that work with authentic opportunities and real-world connections that take learning outside of the instructional block, we can have an enormous impact on the capabilities of the students we teach every day. 

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Content CreationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Writing

What You Need to Know About Copyright

by Renee Bogacz
written by Renee Bogacz

Most people don’t find themselves breathless with excitement at the prospect of learning about copyright. If you were to play a word association game with the term copyright, you would likely get responses such as boring, confusing, unnecessary, or annoying. While those emotions might be legitimate, the truth is, understanding copyright is a necessary evil for both teachers and students. Let’s break it down into the most useful pieces of information.

The most basic way to explain copyright is this: It’s a law that protects people who create by giving them the right to control who can use their creations and how. The following are protected by copyright: 

  • Books
  • Stories 
  • Articles
  • Blog Posts
  • Song Lyrics
  • Musical Composition
  • Works Of Art
  • Photographs
  • Video Recordings
  • Audio Recordings

Essentially, if it is highly creative, it’s protected by copyright law. 

How do you know something is copyrighted?

A common misconception is that a copyright symbol must be present to show that a work is copyrighted; actually, once a work takes tangible form, it’s covered by copyright. So if you scribble a poem on a cocktail napkin, it’s copyrighted. Every picture you take with your phone is copyrighted. You don’t need the symbol, and you don’t need to officially register your work to have copyright law apply.

A common misconception is that a copyright symbol must be present to show that a work is copyrighted; actually, once a work takes tangible form, it’s covered by copyright.

How can you use a copyrighted work?

Copyright law can be pretty unforgiving. To use a copyrighted work, you would have to determine who the copyright holder is and get permission to use the work. That can be time-consuming or even close to impossible. The internet makes it more confusing because it looks like everything is freely available to use. It can be really difficult to track down a copyright holder online because so many things, especially images, get shared over and over again. So if you’re about ready to give up ever using anything copyrighted ever again, don’t fret! There are a couple of things that make it much easier for educators to work easily within copyright law!

Fair Use

One nice option is Fair Use. While not an official part of copyright law, it still allows copyrighted works to be used for some very specific purposes – one of which is education. Now, that doesn’t mean you can run to the copy machine and make copies of a novel for your students instead of buying them! Fair Use says that copyrighted works can be used for educational purposes if used in small amounts (as opposed to in entirety) and if the impact doesn’t harm the market for that item. Since Fair Use isn’t officially part of copyright law, there aren’t any hard and fast guidelines for using works and calling it Fair Use. That makes some people nervous because they just don’t know when they may have crossed a line and used too much work or used it inappropriately. 

Creative Commons

Luckily, there is another option that can be useful in the educational setting. That’s Creative Commons. This does work within existing copyright law, so it can be much clearer to understand what can and cannot be done with a copyrighted work. Creative Commons licenses were developed to give copyright holders clearly communicated control over certain aspects of their work, ranging from fairly lax requirements to pretty stringent. Creative Commons licenses indicate the following things:

  • Attribution: all licenses require you to give credit to the original creator of the work; this also allows you to adapt, remix, and build upon someone else’s work.
  • ShareAlike: this indicates that you are allowed to adapt, remix, and build upon another person’s work and then share your creation using the same licensing the original creator used.
  • NoDerivs: this allows you to use someone else’s work but you can’t adapt it.
  • NonCommercial: this allows you to adapt, remix, and build upon someone else’s work, but you can’t do it commercially.

There are actually six different Creative Commons licenses, using different combinations of the above elements. The least restrictive would be Attribution (do what you want, just give credit); the most restrictive would be Attribution-NonCommericial-NoDerivs (share someone’s work only as it is, non-commercially, and with credit given).

List of creative commons licenses

Because teachers and students alike use copyrighted materials daily for education, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what copyright is and how to work within it. Here is an excellent resource from the Learning Technology Center of Illinois that serves as a great guide for educators when it comes to Fair Use and Copyright. 

For the younger learners, simply teaching them that anything they didn’t create on their own belongs to someone else and having them share where they found it will be sufficient. As students get older, however, they should learn the nuances of copyright, become familiar with Fair Use and Creative Commons, and learn ways to formally document their use of any copyrighted materials in school projects. 

Copyright violations become increasingly severe as kids get older and become adults. Anything from a failing score on an assignment or a failed course to disciplinary measures like expulsion could happen to a student, depending on the severity of the violation and the student’s age. As an adult, it could cost someone his or her job or even result in fines or jail time. That’s why starting early instruction on copyright is so important. 

If you’ve decided that copyright is fascinating, welcome to my world! If you’ve decided that copyright is fascinating, welcome to my world! Here are a few great resources for you to keep the learning going!

Kids Can Care About Copyright, Too! Think kids can’t understand copyright? Think again! Learn how to break down copyright so it’s easy to understand, and discover tools your students can use to respect copyright!

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Digital CitizenshipDigital LiteracySocial Media

Resources for Teaching Students to Fact-Check

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

Teaching students to evaluate, analyze, and think critically about information is absolutely essential. With advancements in technology, communication, and artificial intelligence, it’s easier than ever before for falsified information, photos and videos, and news to spread like wildfire, presented to the world as fact through social media and other avenues. Let’s take a look at some resources for fact-checking, vetting, and analyzing information. But first, let’s look at why it’s so important for students to learn how to assess source credibility. 

What Is Fact-Checking? 

Fact-checking is the process of assessing the credibility, accuracy, and validity of information. The goal is to determine whether information is true or false and whether or not a source is trustworthy and credible. It’s become so important to intercept misinformation that Duke Reporter’s Lab reported a total of 378 fact-checking projects operating in 2022, up from 186 in 2016, and down from 391 in 2021.

Why Is Fact-Checking Important? 

There is a lot of information out there about misinformation and disinformation, its spread, and its impact. With our students being subjected to so much so often, as in daily – especially via social media – teaching them ways to fact check and identify credible sources is more vital now than ever before. We can be a part of changing statistics and helping our students be better informed. And we can do the same for ourselves!

Statistics on Misinformation and Fake News

If you want to dive into 18 gut-wrenching statistics on fake news and misinformation, take a look at this recent article (January 27, 2023) published by TechJury. It references sources from PEW Research, Business Insider, The Economist, and more. They offer some key statistical takeaways, mostly from 2020-2022, with two sources cited in the article from 2016.

Another study, conducted by Poynter Institute for Media Studies, MediaWise, YouGov Inc., with support from Google, found the following: 

  • 62% of respondents think they see false or misleading information online every week.
  • 39% of respondents across countries say they have unintentionally shared false or misleading information.
  • 55% of respondents say they have shared false or misleading information because they say they thought it was true. A third say they shared impulsively.
  • The largest share of respondents in the US are only somewhat confident (36%) that they can identify information as false or misleading. 

Additionally, a 2016 study by Stanford University on student ability to evaluate information showed that 7,804 students across 12 states had difficulty discerning sponsored content from actual news. They also had trouble “identifying where information came from.” The study consisted of five “tests” for middle school students, high school students, and university students. The authors of the study mentioned that, at every level, students lacked preparation and may focus on content rather than on sources when it comes to determining reliability. A more recent 2022 study by Stanford University showed that student ability to identify questionable websites increased twofold with just six, 50-minute lessons. 

That said, let’s look at some resources to use with students to boost their skills when it comes to recognizing false information. 

Resources for Student Fact-Checking 

1. Civic Online Reasoning (COR)

News Literacy Project
Screenshot by Emily Horn | Civic Online Reasoning

This is the curriculum that was tested in Stanford’s 2022 research study, which demonstrated that six, 50-minute lessons can positively impact students’ ability to discern credible information. The curriculum is based on three questions:

  1. Who’s behind the information?
  2. What’s the evidence?
  3. What do other sources say?

There are lessons (lateral reading, sponsored content, news vs. opinion…), assessments (website reliability, home page analysis, article evaluation…), and collections (for the history classroom, for the science classroom, classroom posters, click restraint…). This resource is of great quality and extremely relevant! Highly recommend. 

2. News Literacy Project 

I love this resource! The News Literacy Project has been around since 2008. As a nonprofit (like TCEA), it has a nonpartisan mission for news literacy and a vision for everyone to know how to identify credible news sources and information. New Literacy Project has a lot of resources for educators, including: 

News Literacy Project
Screenshot by Emily Horn | News Literacy Project

Checkology: “Checkology is a free e-learning platform with engaging, authoritative lessons on subjects like news media bias, misinformation, conspiratorial thinking and more.” For more information, read this.

The Sift Newsletter: “The Sift, NLP’s free weekly newsletter for educators — delivered during the school year — explores timely examples of misinformation, addresses media and press freedom topics, and discusses social media trends and issues. It also includes links, discussion prompts, and activities for use in the classroom.” 

Resource Library: “NLP’s resource library includes lesson plans, classroom activities, posters and infographics, quizzes, training materials and videos for educators teaching news literacy.” (Grades 4-12+)

Professional Learning: “The News Literacy Project’s professional learning emphasizes teaching educators essential news literacy concepts they can integrate into the curriculum to provide their students with the abilities, knowledge, and confidence to navigate an increasingly complex and ever-changing information landscape.”

3. PBS Learning: Be MediaWise 

PBS Be MediaWise
Screenshot by Emily Horn | PBS Be MediaWise

PBS offers resources and lessons for grades 6-12 on media literacy and fact-checking which are part of the Poynter Institutes’s Teen Fact-Checking Network. When you go to the site, you will need to change your city in order to proceed. You can share Be MediaWise lessons to your Google Classroom, to students using a link, or to your social media. Lessons offered range from ChatGPT and out-of-context quotes to checking scientific claims and how misinformation spreads. They also offer supporting materials like background reading, handouts, activities, discussion questions, and/or vocabulary.  

4. Five Websites for Fact-Checking 

There are numerous websites available to help students and teachers fact-check information. Here are a few of the top sites for fact-checking:

“When misinformation obscures the truth and readers don’t know what to trust, Snopes’ fact-checking and original, investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis. We always link to and document our sources so readers are empowered to do independent research and make up their own minds.”

“Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.”

“We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”

“AllSides™ is a media solutions company that strengthens our democratic society with balanced news, media bias ratings, diverse perspectives, and real conversation. We expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other.”

“This tool allows you to easily browse and search for fact checks. For example, you can search for a politician’s statement, or for a topic. You can also restrict results to a specific publisher. You can search by keywords and see a list of matching claims and the corresponding fact checks. Keywords can be anything from specific topics to full politician quotes. Basically anything you would also put into the regular Google Search bar.

How do you plan to equip students and build their judgment when it comes to discerning the accuracy and validity of information and the credibility of sources? If you have any resources or activities to add, please showcase them in the comments, and thanks for reading! 

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accelerating learning
CommunicationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)MathMicrosoftReadingSocial-Emotional Learning

What Are Microsoft’s New Learning Accelerators?

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Announcing a host of new tools, Microsoft seeks to accelerate learning and reporting in the classroom. These tools expand on their ongoing effort to reimagine education with technology. Their tools seek to empower teachers and students with coaching and progress tracking.

“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

Source: Microsoft Blog, 01/23/2023

What will resonate with educators in Microsoft’s February announcement? These are AI-powered tools blended into Microsoft 365 products, including Bing, Teams and OneNote. PowerPoint, Word, and Immersive Reader have also been supercharged. These Microsoft 365 integrated tools, a.k.a Learning Accelerators, target critical skills, including:

  1. Reading and Literacy
  2. Information Literacy
  3. Mathematics
  4. Speaking and Presenting
  5. Social-Emotional Learning
Immersive Reader now features Reading Coach.

1. Reading and Literacy

Reading Coach and Reading Progress focus on helping “students practice fluency,” ostensibly through individualized instruction in critical literacy skills. Included in Teams and Immersive Reader, students get guided reading support. They can practice reading with exercises that aid with a variety of skills, such as:

  • Pronunciation
  • Syllabification
  • Reading Speed
  • Vocabulary Recall

Additionally, teachers are able to track students’ reading skills. This allows them to provide timely feedback that is actionable. With Reading Coach, teachers can upload a reading selection of their own or browse a catalog. The catalog allows you to filter by these criteria in search of “the perfect passage:“

  • Grade Level
  • Genre
  • Lexile Level
  • Word Count

These two Learning Accelerators offer a few more features of interest in the classroom.

2. Informational Literacy

Worried about fake news and misinformation finding their way into the classroom? You may need to be. Consider these statistics:

  • 62% of all Internet information can be fake
  • 80% of US adults have consumed fake news
  • 64% of US. adults believe that fabricated information causes much confusion about basic facts (source)

Worse, NPR reports that 80% of students surveyed believe fake news is actual news. Getting to the truth involves teaching critical thinking skills.

We tempted the AI chatbot [ChatGPT] with 100 false narratives from our catalog of Misinformation Fingerprints™. 80% of the time, the AI chatbot delivered eloquent, false and misleading claims about significant topics in the news, including COVID-19, Ukraine and school shootings.

ChatGPT generated false narratives — including detailed news articles, essays, and TV scripts — for 80 of the 100 previously identified false narratives. For anyone unfamiliar with the issues or topics covered by this content, the results could easily come across as legitimate, and even authoritative.

(Source: NewsGuard)

Microsoft’s Search Coach seeks to assist students in distinguishing fact from opinion. Their goals include assisting students with the following:

  • Forming effective search queries
  • Finding trusted sites
  • Thinking critically about search results in ad-free environments

Students can find Search Coach in Microsoft Teams. They can then rely on filters such as domains, date range, operators, and other sites. Search Coach includes NewsGuard results, a search progress component. Search Coach allows teachers to:

track the development of information literacy skills. It creates a window into students’ search activity and behaviors.

3. Mathematics

Math is not far behind reading in Microsoft’s Learning Accelerator Suite. Scheduled for release in the 2023-2024 school year, Math Coach and Math Progress (along with Speaker Progress mentioned below) will become available in Microsoft Teams. You can watch a demo of Math Coach and Math Progress in this @petrijamsen TikTok video:

@petrijamsen

Quick view of the new upcoming Math Coach #teams #microsoft #microsofteducation

♬ alkuperäinen ääni – Petri Jämsen

4: Presenting and Speaking

PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn now feature Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress.

Preparing students to speak can be tough. Microsoft’s Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress offer information and analytics. Teachers and students can now measure speaking performance using criteria such as:

  • Pitch
  • Filler Word Usage
  • Pacing

Find these two Learning Accelerators in PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn.

5: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Recognizing the importance of SEL, Microsoft has another enhancement for its digital classroom. Microsoft Teams, a learning management system, now has a reflection tool for students. Students are able to identify and express how they feel in “safe and fun ways” through emojis, emotional vocabulary, and a “Feelings Monster.”

With Learning Accelerators, Microsoft is making its student learning surveillance efforts more transparent. Data tracked and reported includes students, classrooms, and schools.

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CommunicationDigital LiteracyGood TeachingScience

One Strategy for Combatting Pseudoscience

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a critical thinker? I am not…yet. The gap between knowing what’s possible and where I’m at spurs me to learn more. It happens whenever a close friend or family member suggests a course of action that is concerning. What should I do? How do I proceed? Making better decisions is one goal of critical thinking. Deepening one’s knowledge of critical thinking strategies and adopting a skeptical attitude can help. Doing so can also assist during encounters with pseudoscience or other “sketchy” ideas. Let’s take a look at some of my findings in exploring critical thinking. And, wow, what an amazing set of resources I have found!

“If we teach only the findings and products of science – no matter how useful and even inspiring they may be – without communicating its critical method, how can the average person possibly distinguish science from pseudoscience?”

— Carl Sagan

What’s At Stake?

Distinguishing real science from pseudoscience is a critical life skill. If we don’t model it for others and teach it to our children, we are setting them up for failure. The failure? An inability to think critically and identify pseudoscience when we encounter it. Let’s dig into that some more.

Three Essential Cognitive Styles

Believing is easier than knowing. Pseudoscience relies on beliefs that sound scientific but are not. That’s because we seek to affirm what we believe or our worldview. Why do people do that? In studying the psychology of pseudoscience, a researcher found three cognitive styles are essential for evaluating, and conspiracy theories result from a lack of one or more of these three cognitive styles.

  1. Analytic thinking. This involves breaking complex tasks down into manageable parts to reach a working solution. Think of computational thinking or George Polya’s approach, featured in this TCEA blog entry.
  2. Critical thinking. A mode of thinking that involves raising questions and problems, gathering relevant data, interpreting that information to reach a well-reasoned conclusion and solution, then testing that solution in an iterative process. You might enjoy TCEA’s blog entry on Design Thinking or Engineering Design Process.
  3. Scientific reasoning. This involves observing something, developing an explanation of what is happening, and creating an experiment to test your explanation. Read TCEA’s blog entry on Interactive Science: Labs to Master the Scientific Method.

How Does Psuedoscience Spread?

Read Melanie Trecek-King’s article, 11 Characteristics of Pseudoscience

What’s more, pseudoscience gets shared from one person to another. That sharing happens when one or more characteristics of pseudoscience are present and you…

  • trust the source (e.g. a family member, close friend, colleague)
  • are convinced by the reasons offered (e.g. you accept reasons without critically analyzing them)
  • are helped by these beliefs (e.g. you feel relief or better because of them)

The other poster child? Science denial. Pseudoscience is believing ideas that sound scientific but are not. Science denial is denying facts because they contradict what we want to believe.

How to Teach Critical Thinking

“Why don’t kids know critical thinking or scientific reasoning before taking my class?” That’s a question many educators have asked. Melanie Trecek-King, a professor of biology, offers a solution. Before expanding on it, she encourages teachers and students to engage in scientific skepticism. She describes it in this way, albeit with some minor edits:

Insist on evidence before accepting a claim. Then, match the strength of our belief to the strength and quality of the evidence. She describes matching the strength of your belief to evidence quality as “proportioning.”

You can listen to her explanation in a podcast recorded by Thinking Clearly. And her article, “A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation,” expands on key elements of her “FLOATER” rules. Trecek-King points out that pseudoscience violates the rule of objectivity. Consider the image below as a way to help jog your memory after you learn the seven rules.

Read Melanie Trecek-King’s article, “A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation”

Learn More about FLOATER

Wondering how to teach this to your students? Trecek-King has done a wonderful job making these heuristics easy to share. She provides an amazing website for educators, Thinking Is Power, where she offers assignments and activities such as:

To her credit, these activities are available at no cost as a part of her nonprofit organization. You can choose to offer compensation, though. 

Screenshot by author

Fill out an email form to get these Critical Thinking Cards, Fallacies and Biases wall posters, and more, from School of Thought. Shared under Creative Commons.

More Resources for Your Consideration

Here are some resources to expand your thinking and add to your reserve of instructional strategies, activities, and materials.

I hope you’ve found these helpful and useful for teaching critical thinking to combat misinformation and pseudoscience. How will you incorporate them in your classroom?

Feature Image Source

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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cyber workforce
Coding/Computer ScienceCybersecurityDigital CitizenshipDigital Literacy

Free K-12 Cyber Workforce Curriculum

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Worried about cybersecurity and preparing students for the future workforce? Let’s explore a new resource and some ways to stay up to date.

Preparing the K-12 Workforce

Every day, thousands, if not millions, of people get emails from spammers. Some of the spammers are advertisers, hawking their products. Others offer advertisement-laden livestreams and webinars. Consider this one example on cybersecurity:

Tech workforces are changing fast. Is your workforce keeping up? Join us [date] on LinkedIn Live. Watch thisfuture-ready digital workforce informational webinar. Learn how to evolve your tech workforce to meet the future tech demands your organization needs. You will learn how to make it thrive. You’ll get rich, er capitalize, on your digital tech workforce transformation.

You get the idea. What if there was a way to engage K-12 students and prepare them to be that tech workforce? Let’s explore a new initiative – expanding cybersecurity education nationwide.

Did You Know?

TCEA offers a Cybersecurity for Educators: Data Guardian online, self-paced course. With this course, you can learn the essentials of protecting yourself and confidential data. It’s geared for classroom teachers, district professionals who aren’t cybersecurity experts. You need to know what’s in this course and put it into practice. Don’t be the reason for the next data breach in your organization.

Why Is It Important to Prepare Students?

I attribute my failure to learn how to code to a terrible mathematics program. Who could know that not learning math in middle school would have long-lasting effects? And the sooner we learn how math and coding relate, the better. That failure, whatever the reason, has resulted in a profound gap:

Cyberseek reported there are around 1.1 million people employed in cybersecurity in the United States. Over 700,000 unfilled positions are currently available. Worldwide, the cyber workforce shortfall is approximately 3.5 million people. (source)

A question many Americans ask is, “How do we prepare our children for a future in information security?”

Preparing Our Children to Be Secure

Getting our children ready means asking, “What do they need to know now to be ready for the future?” To find that out, check with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Screenshot by author

Jen Easterly, CISA Director, says that the K-12 cybersecurity education program is going nationwide. The program began in Louisiana through a grant and focused on high school students.

The CYBER.ORG Range is accessible to all K-12 students but is primarily geared toward high school students interested in learning core cybersecurity concepts and curriculum.

With over 750,000 open cybersecurity positions and continued cyberattacks on both the public and private sectors, it is more critical than ever to expand access to cybersecurity education.

Source: Cyber Innovation Center

The goal of CYBER.org is to empower educators to teach cyber with confidence. This should result in students with the skills and passion needed to succeed.

Free Cyber Curricula

You can find free cyber curricula on CYBER.org, including lessons, for use in K-12 settings. Some examples of the resources found on the site with a quick search include:

There’s a lot more content, organized by grade level and subject, that you can see. Subjects include:

  • Career & Technical Education
  • Computer Science
  • Cybersecurity
  • Engineering
  • Humanities
  • Math
  • Robotics and Coding
  • Science

These materials also encompass K-12 grades, so there is a wealth of information. Entry points abound for any educator who is seeking to prepare students for the future.

Screenshot by author

Engaging Students Early

One of the intriguing resources available via CYBER.org? Coding Fundamentals.

Coding Fundamentals introduces students to the foundational concepts of coding and cybersecurity. It does this through hands-on lessons. Students at differing grade levels learn the fundamentals in one of two ways: Microsoft’s MakeCode block-based language and/or through Python text-based programming.

Cybersecurity lessons include brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, and on-path attacks (formerly known as man-in-the-middle attacks).

MakeCode Block is recommended for grades 4-8 (beginners). Python is recommended for grades 8-12 (intermediate).

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Get your students, and your own children, learning the fundamentals.

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author

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