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Discover resources and strategies for professional learning. Explore tools, tips, and opportunities to enhance educator growth and development.

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Google Tips and TricksLeadershipMicrosoftProfessional Learning

Learn to Work Smarter, Not Harder

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

workplace study statsDo you find that it is hard to get everything done on your to-do list? That you don’t delegate some tasks because you want them done a certain way and you don’t have time to train someone? That anticipating a day off causes more stress because you know that it means there is less time for you to accomplish the same amount of work? Join the crowd. According to research, being stressed out at work may be more common than you think. Join us at the Productivity Tools for Leaders and learn how to make better use of your technology, time, and people so that you are more effective in your work.

TCEA is offering a full-day workshop that will help you with these very issues. The workshop is designed specifically for administrators at both the campus level and central office. Join us on June 15, 2017 at the TCEA headquarters in Austin for a day packed full of helpful information that you can implement the next day at work. You’ll be able to choose from a variety of concurrent sessions  to tailor your learning to best meet your needs. You’ll be inspired and motivated throughout the day, enjoy a good lunch, and  leave with handouts from all the presentations (not just the ones you attended). Our learning experience strands include:

  • Doing More with Technology – Sessions focus on features and tricks to help you make better use of technology that you commonly use.
  • Time Management – Sessions focus on best strategies and tools that you can choose from to help you better construct your day and accomplish the tasks on your to-do list more effectively.
  • Empowering Staff – Sessions focus on strategies and tools to deal with different personality types, improving customer service, and even how to work with “difficult people.”

This event is only $125 for current TCEA members and $174 for non-TCEA members. Fun and relevant learning, lunch, and continuing education credits are all included. Bring your favorite device and let our experts help you master the tricks you learn.

Register at this website today as space is limited. If you have questions or would like more information, contact me at bellis@tcea.org or by phone at 512-450-5396. We look forward to seeing you here and hearing the successes you experience as you start implementing what you learned!

 

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spring break
Professional Learning

Making Spring Break Last

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Most educators are eagerly looking forward to their upcoming spring breaks, a week in which they can relax and recharge for the rest of the school year. Some will use the time to get long-delayed chores done at home while others go on trips with their families. And both of these activities are important. But I believe that spring break is the best time of the year to catch up on your professional learning, mastering some new skills, techniques, and tools to bring back with you to the classroom and your students.

PD in Your PJs

If you’re a TCEA member (and why wouldn’t you be??), then you have free access to more than 80 hours of recorded professional development that you can watch any time. These include our popular Lunch and Learn series, where we showcase new tools and resources to help you integrate technology into the classroom for more engaged learning. For those using any Google apps, you can learn more about the power of them with our Get Your Google On webinars that focus on specific skill development. All of these webinars are recorded and are available to members in the Member Benefits group in the Community.

Learning with Social Media

Another way to increase your learning over spring break is to use social media to interact with your peers. A free Twitter account is a great way to begin. Be sure to follow @TCEA as we always post amazing resources. But also look for others in your field that you can network with. You can even use the Twitter search for a particular topic, like algebra 1 or fourth grade or Chromebooks in the classroom.  Twitter offers another “learn anytime, anywhere” opportunity for professional development that’s perfect for your spring break.

Catching Up on Your Reading

Enjoy your time on the beach or lounging by the pool while catching up on some great educational blogs. Check out some of the past stories TCEA has posted by using the category feature to find those that fit your needs. And a search on Google for “educational blogs for teachers” will deliver lots of other great resources to extend your learning.

spring break

TCEA hopes that all of you who have toiled so long and hard through the school year will have a relaxing and enjoyable spring break with plenty of time off, good food, fun with friends and family, and a little bit of learning. Come back refreshed and recharged to finish out the year with the very best for your students!

 

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Adobe
Professional Learning

Share Your Adobe Awesomeness!

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

We know that you are doing amazing things with students and educators every day. Won’t you please consider sharing some of your expertise with others at the TCEA 2017 Adobe Academy? The call for proposals is open now for innovators like you!

Call

We invite you to present at the TCEA 2017 Adobe Academy where you can help other educators benefit from your experiences, whether your knowledge ranges from beginner to intermediate or advanced. Share your best lesson plans, your tips and tricks, and even those things you tried that didn’t work out quite as you planned! Presenters with at least two (2) sessions selected will have their registration fee for the academy waived. You can learn more about this amazing learning adventure here.

The TCEA 2017 Adobe Academy Call for Proposals is open now through May 12, 2017. We hope you will be among the many who present, and/or learn, at the academy! Don’t wait until the last minute….

Submit your amazing proposal today!

 

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A toy wizard commanding a windstorm
CybersecurityDigital LiteracyLeadershipProfessional LearningTechnical Support

It’s Not the Phishing, It’s Your Lack of Influence

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“Why did he click on that email attachment?” asked one technology director I spoke with recently. The click led to a ransomware attack that expanded to the business department’s server, resulting in frantic data-saving actions.  For many technology directors, the problem is not the phishing or the ransomware. The real problem is their lack of influence to bring about change in the organization. Consider this problem in light of a common occurrence in education today.

Knowing vs Doing

What is Known:

  • Hackers, phishers, and scammers want our personally-identifiable information. They can sell it for $10 or more on the darknet, where illegal transactions happen (think “Silk Road“).
  • Bad people send out emails to educators. These emails appear legitimate. They invite district staff to surrender their username and password and then send decrypted sensitive data and/or ransomware that use staff’s machines as a beachhead to infect the rest of the network.
  • Staff know NOT to fall for these traps, but do so anyways.

What is Done:

In spite of knowing these things, staff continue to click on phishing links where they happily share their username and password via an insecure website, send copies of confidential documents to complete strangers, or click on ransomware that encrypts their computer, then spreads to everyone else’s. These actions by a few individual wreak havoc on the whole network, and small districts especially are overwhelmed.

The Traditional Response

The traditional response involves disciplining staff, even terminating them in severe data breaches. They should have known better, right? Oh, but wait, your district does not have a safeguarding sensitive data policy in place! (Many districts do not, which is why I offer this one as a start). It involves buying and issuing hardware (e.g. Chromebooks, iPads, Macbooks) that malware (e.g. ransomware) can’t work its dark magic on (YET…you just know hackers subscribe to growth mindset, right?).

problem

It means locking down Windows computers with Active Directory policies: Deep Freeze so that technicians don’t have to spend a lot of time fixing user errors. This has been standard practice for years. Here’s a roundup of advice that should help districts who want to keep closing the gate after the livestock has made its getaway. That is, mopping up the mess after someone has been hacked, phished, or taken.

TCEA’s Roundup of Ideas for Safeguarding Sensitive Data

CTOs and superintendents should also register to attend the upcoming May, 2017 TCEA Technology Leadership Summit, as well as pay a small fee to access the audio and notes from the 2016 Technology Leadership Summit.

But what if there was another approach, employing motivation, influence, and authority?

A Fresh Approach: Influence

In their book, Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, the authors suggest identifying vital action(s) that can be taken. These vital actions start with the desired behavior(s) that must change. Rather than try to change twelve or more behaviors staff exhibit, focus on one or two that will have the greatest results. For example, try to encourage adoption of this behavior:

Assume emails with attachments are suspect, so verify the source of the email. This can be as easy as sending a new email to the person who contacted you and asking, “Did you send me a file attachment that says, “burnbabyburn.exe?” Wait, you can even get more done. Walk over to the person who sent you the email attachment and ask them “Did you send me a file I didn’t ask for?” Or just call them or text them on your mobile phone. This ONE behavior change would stop 99% of the issues technology departments complain about (e.g. ransomware, viruses, malware as attachments, AND sending sensitive data to complete strangers).

Changing behavior

When seeking to change behavior, the authors of Influencer recommend recognizing that there are six sources of influence. Often, we take into account only the first two when trying to bring about change:

Source 1 – Personal Motivation

Make the undesirable, desirable.
Example – Do you really care if your computers gets infected with malware and you lose data? It’s not that big a deal, after all. A technician will come fix it eventually and most of your work is done on paper anyways. Instead, you must passionately care about protecting your data and that of your students. If someone tried to take one of your students hostage, you wouldn’t be so passive.

Source 2 – Personal Ability

Surpass your limits.
Example – Do you have the skills and knowledge to know when you’ve encountered an email that is intended to do you and yours harm? You probably have an idea that you shouldn’t click on bad emails. Learn what you need to be better on guard.

Source 3 – Social Motivation

Harness peer pressure.
Example – Do others on your team or your department really care about email and email attachments? Maybe they go through their spam folder looking for problematic emails because they need a break? What if everyone on your team was motivated to help each other NOT open spam emails with attachments or to practice the desired behavior?

Source 4 – Social Ability

Find strength in numbers.
Example – Who could you speak to in the district who could help you obtain the knowledge or resources you need? Maybe there’s a SafeSchools or EduHero eCourse you can take or a free ebook you can read.

Source 5 – Structural Motivation

Design rewards and accountability.
Example – When you check your email, are there a ton of emails waiting for you, so that you despair about getting through all of them and just click on anything? Maybe you can adopt Inbox Zero strategies so that email isn’t so overwhelming. Avoid sharing your confidential data (username and password) anywhere online since it can be so easily taken.

Source 6 – Structural Ability

Change the environment.
Example – Maybe your district could adopt a different communications medium that isn’t susceptible to malware email attachments, like Slack or Microsoft Yammer or Teams.

Conclusion

While this has been a lighthearted attempt to address the challenges end users face every day, it is important to realize that changing ONE behavior can result in significant change. When you go about changing it, realize that asking people to do the right thing and training them is not going to get it done. Unleash all sources of influence to bring about the change you want.

 

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group work roles
Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Group Work Roles for Modern Learners

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

When I was teaching a thousand years ago, I remember attending a professional development workshop on using cooperative learning techniques with students. During the workshop, the presenter emphasized the need for assigning roles to each student so that he/she could contribute to the group work. There were only four or five job roles mentioned at the time, including things like leader, materials manager, time keeper, and note taker. I agreed with the concept of assigning group tasks, but my students didn’t seem too excited about them. It seemed like the materials manager, for example, often didn’t have much to do in the group other than at the beginning and end of class. And no one ever wanted to be the note taker — how boring!

Fast forward to today. As I work with educators doing group work in cooperative learning situations, I am still convinced of the benefit of each person having specific jobs to do that contribute to everyone’s learning and the success of the team. But I believe that the jobs themselves have changed based on the way we now work. So I would like to propose a new set of group work roles as follows. These will work with students as well as with adult learners. I’ve included a brief job description and possible problems that might crop up.

The Coordinator

Duties: The coordinator, formerly the leader role, is the person who manages the work (but not the workers!). He/She ensures that the goals to be accomplished are clear, delegates responsibility based on each person’s abilities and interests, and checks on everyone’s progress. This means that the coordinator must really know the members of the team, which may require doing some team building activities before starting to work.

Possible problems: If not careful, the coordinator may be perceived as bossy or lazy. So care must be taken that he/she does an equal part of the work and allows others the freedom to work as they wish as long as the goals are being met. It is important to remind the coordinator that he/she is not the boss, just someone who helps others do their very best.

The Divergent

Duties: The divergent is the group member charged with constantly thinking outside the box while looking for more effective ways to accomplish the goals. He/She must use creativity while brainstorming new solutions to the given problem, different ways of presenting the final product, and ideas for helping the team to work better together. All aspects of the group work are within his/her responsibility.

Possible problems: If not careful, the divergent can spend a lot of time in la-la land and not be grounded in the reality of what can and must be accomplished. Time can sometimes be his/her enemy, as can a lack of communication with the rest of the group. It is helpful if the coordinator checks in routinely with the divergent to see what he/she is currently working on.

Resource Specialist

Duties: Similar to the long-ago materials manager, the resource specialist’s job is to gather and curate all of the materials, whether physical or digital, that the group will need to accomplish the goals. This may include anything from getting markers and chart paper to doing research for the project. Once gathered, the materials must be collated and organized in a way that makes it easy for the rest of the team to find and use what they need. And the research process does not end until the completed product is turned in, which means that a good resource specialist is busy throughout the entire project, gathering data on each phase of the work from beginning inquiry to determining what form the final product might be in.

This is the only group role, by the way, that is encouraged to visit with other teams and see what they are doing. This is not so that others’ work can be copied, but so that all of the groups can learn from each other.

Possible Problems: This position may be perceived as a “boring” one by students. After all, who wants to spend all of their time doing research? By stressing the curation and organization of resources to ensure that all possibilities are covered and that the team members can easily find what they need when they need it, the teacher can ensure that the importance of this role is understood by everyone. The resource specialist must work with every member of the group, which can also sometimes lead to off-task behavior.

Tech Support

Duties: If the assignment has a technology component to it, then one member of the group should provide tech support as needed. While we may believe that all students are inherently gifted with technical knowledge, that is not really the case. The tech support person is there to help solve any problems that may come up with a device, an app, or a website. In addition, this position may also assume the recordkeeping duties by creating a Google Doc or other collaborative workspace that can be shared with the group. Having this role frees the teacher or workshop leader from having to stop facilitating and worry about “fixing” things.

Possible problems: Because this person is a techie, he/she will want very much to DO all of the technical work. But that is not the function of this position. Encourage him/her to take a “hands-off” approach to supporting the others in the group and letting them solve problems under his/her tutelage. Think “call support center” help instead of “me doing this for you” assistance.

The Finisher

Duties: The finisher has excellent attention to detail and is perfect at checking the final product. He/She ensures that the stated goals have been achieved and searches out errors, polishing and perfecting. This position does not mitigate the need for all other group members to check their own work, nor should its duties happen only at the end of the project. A good finisher is constantly checking in with the other members of the group to see if they need help.

Possible problems: Meticulous and detailed, the Finisher may be perceived as a nit-picker. So it’s important for this person to explain why changes need to be made.

Recommendations for Use

While students with certain talents may naturally fall into one particular role most readily, I do believe that it is important that roles be rotated throughout the year, allowing everyone to develop skills in each of these area. Whether this is done through a rotation schedule or by random drawing doesn’t matter as long as everyone knows that the jobs will change. This will require a certain delicacy on the teacher’s part in motivating those learners who are not comfortable with a particular role to be successful at it. And training in what the duties of each role look like is definitely required before the teams begin meeting. This training may even include role playing in how the coordinator, for example, can help to keep the divergent on track.

It may also be helpful to bring all of the individuals filling a particular role together at various times throughout the year so that they can share ideas on how they are working in that job and learn from each other. The teacher or workshop leader will need to scaffold these discussions with pre-determined questions for them to answer.

What do you think about these new group work roles? How do you assign roles for your students or adult learners?

 

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Android
AndroidCoding/Computer ScienceGoogle Tips and TricksProfessional Learning

Getting Serious with Android (Part 3)

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

In the final post of this three-part series on Android development, we’ll share resourceful podcasts and active Google+ communities to help you in your development journey. If you missed the previous installments, you can check out Part 1 to find great blogs and newsletters for developers and Part 2 for helpful forums and YouTube playlists.

Podcasts

All About Android

Produced by TWiT (This Week in Tech), this broadcast is chock-full of information about all things Android. Whether you subscribe to the video or audio broadcast, you’ll find the time well spent. You may also find This Week in Google a great resource of information as well. With either one, you are sure to enjoy Leo Laporte’s information-rich shows.

CodeNewbie

A different spin from the usual, CodeNewbie is a platform for people to share their coding journey to help you on yours. Each Monday, a new episode is posted. You’ll hear interesting (and inspirational) stories from folks who were previously truck drivers, accountants, comedians, and more.

Fragmented

This podcast is definitely for the more experienced developer. Whether they are interviewing an expert from the industry or discussing a specific technique among themselves, you’ll find the topics of value. And you’ll find Kaushik’s voice easy to listen to if you are binge-listening to podcasts.

Android Developers Backstage

Hosts Chet and Tor share a wide variety of information helpful to developers. Again, not for the faint-hearted, this podcast team isn’t so much for the newbie as it is for the experienced.

Google+ Communities

Developer Tools

This is the official community for the developer tools of the SDK: Android Studio and the ADT Eclipse plugin, as well as the emulator and command line tools.

Android Developers

With almost 40,000 members, this is definitely a group you’ll want to join as they share resources, tips, and tricks.

Android Authority

This community frequently posts and is trusted for relevant news, phone and tablet reviews, how-to’s, and other news related to Android.

Android Programming

With a little more than 2,300 members, this community shares topics related to programming, Java, C, and basics.

What would you add?

If you have any other excellent podcasts or Google+ communities that you’d recommend, please share them in the comments section below. And if you have any other resources for budding developers, we’d be happy to have you share those as well.

 

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reflection
Professional Learning

How Will You Reflect During and After #TCEA17?

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

If you’re one of the many educators heading to Austin for the 37th annual TCEA Convention & Exposition, you have probably spent a lot of time thinking about what tech to take with you, what clothes and snacks to pack, and how to cover your students or staff while you’re gone. But you may not have thought much about the most important thing in attending a conference: reflection on what you’ll learn. Research has born out what educational reformer John Dewey said:

We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.

To keep all of the learning that you’ll gain this week and to truly make it your own, you MUST reflect. Reflection is an intentional act, not accidental. It requires a quiet place and a calm mind. Some people reflect best with paper or on their device; but whichever you prefer, written thoughts are a necessity for ensuring that the learning sticks.

Also, good reflection usually leads to some type of action plan of how things will be different in the future because of the learning. It does not have to be a detailed plan, just one that can help to hold you accountable for making the change.

Here are four different ways to reflect on all of the learning that you will do during #TCEA17. Make time each day to do at least one of them.

Thinking Backward

  • What was my original purpose in attending this conference/session/workshop?
  • What problems have I experienced in the past that this learning might help with?
  • When did most of my learning occur?

Thinking Forward

  • How might I do this differently in the future?
  • How might this learning shape the goals that I have set for my future?
  • How might what I have learned affect my my classroom/campus in the future?

Thinking Inward

  • Why was this learning meaningful to me?
  • What are my personal beliefs about this experience?
  • How might I change the way I learned this to better share with others?
  • What was the best moment in today’s learning experience? Why?

Thinking Outward

  • How might my students or staff look at this learning differently?
  • Does this learning have different considerations that I might need to apply?
  • What are some ways I can share this learning with others?

If you want to take your reflection to the next level, then share it with a “buddy” who can help you with implementation. Your peer can remind you over time about the change you want to make.

 

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colored pencils
LeadershipOnline Tools and AppsProfessional Learning

Align Your Social Media

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“Don’t wait for the stars to align, reach up and rearrange them the way you want,” says Pharrell Williams. “Create your own constellation.” Want to rearrange your learning experiences with social media? Bridge the gap between face-to-face community efforts and online? Then read on to discover tips on how to shape the social media flow. Grab a friend, your mobile device, and let’s go!

Manual Approach to Social Media

If you’re like most people, you probably have been cajoled into creating a social media account. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, YouTube, and LinkedIn are the most common ones that people start with. But how do you create a community around what you share? Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Tip #1: Mix-and-Match Your Social Media

Combine audio and video tools. Instagram and Facebook make it easy to post links to other social media tools, such as Twitter. That means you can start a Facebook Live session, record audio using Voxer (or use the YouTube Capture app on your phone) and share the link out via Twitter. This is great because it allows you to “liven up” Twitter with audio and video. Imagine recording a student explaining his/her solution to a problem or thinking process. Here are some Voxercasts that I shared via Twitter. If participating in a Twitterchat, try responding to a question with audio or video. It will leave participants “mind-blown.” And, if you’re feeling adventurous, use Voxer and/or Flipgrid.com to kick off audio or video reflections respectively.

Tip #2: Decide on a Content Curation Tool

Content curation involves finding great stuff, stowing it somewhere for safe keeping, and then sharing the relevant information with other interested parties. How the sharing happens is usually through social media. Here are a few tools that I use for content curation. They make sharing with others via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook easy.

  • Get Pocket.com: This remains my favorite content tool. Anything I find on my mobile device or on my computer, I promptly save to Pocket. Since it is everywhere and works well with other tools, it makes saving content easy. Getting content out is also straightforward. More on that later.
  • Diigo.com for Educators: An oldy but goody, social bookmarking with Diigo is a cinch on computers, not so much on mobile. Still, the benefit of Diigo is that you can turn every item you save to it into a tagged item. Tags in Diigo come with RSS feeds (learn more about RSS), which make it easy to share to Twitter and other places. Using the free for Educators account comes with additional benefits.
  • Flipboard.com: A fantastic curation tool since anything you “flip” into a digital magazine (ezine for short) becomes an easy-to-share resource with others. People can subscribe and leave comments. Imagine creating a flipboard ezine for your class on a particular topic or having students collaborate and contribute to a shared ezine. Flipboard makes it possible, and viewing is a pure pleasure.
  • Storify.com: This is a helpful tool since it makes capturing tweets and sharing content easy, although to access some of its more esoteric features will require payment. Storify is often used to archive Twitterchats, even though there are more comprehensive tools. Storify makes finding and sharing content for a classroom of learners simple.
  • Paper.li: Want to create a newsletter that curates itself? Paper.li makes that possible and can auto-publish itself via Twitter with new content daily. It can be hands-off or you can spend time updating it. Like Storify, full feature access costs money.

Tip #3: Master Those Twitter Chats

social mediaEvery day, there are thousands of educators like you connecting and learning from each other. This network of professional learners, open to anyone and everyone willing to learn, is known as a “professional learning network” or PLN for short. You can find a wealth of hashtags, such as #tceachat, that boast robust conversations on days or nights. Here are several tools you can use to make navigating and participating in Twitter chats easier:

  • Tweetdeck: Tweetdeck allows you to set up multiple columns, as opposed to Twitter’s single column of content. You can follow multiple hashtags simultaneously, as well as see what you are tweeting and what others are tweeting at you. What’s more, as you get more proficient and want to manage your own Twitter chat, you can schedule your own tweets days in advance at anytime. Great for tweeting during a presentation and wowing your audience.
  • Participate Learning: This is a must-have tool to take advantage of since it provides a concise schedule of hashtags for Twitter chats and when they are taking place. What’s more, you can search hashtags for relevant conversations, as well as add your own chat. This makes it easier to find other’s chats, as well as sharing your content.
  • Twubs.com: Straightforward interface aside, Twubs is intended to help you get to know who is participating in a Twitter chat. A unique feature includes your ability to get an embed code so you can place the results of a hashtag search on your web page.

Tip #4: Create Image Flyers to Hook Twitter Chat Participants

social mediaDecided to facilitate a Twitter chat for your school or district? Create a landscape flyer with Adobe Spark, Pixlr, Powerpoint, or Google Slides that includes pertinent information, as well as a link to more content. In addition to creating a way to advertise your Twitter chat to the world, you will also want to solve the archive problem. For small Twitter chats, you can use Storify or simply copy-and-paste into a GoogleDoc or IFTTT recipe to feed tweets into a Google Sheet. However, for larger chats (>1000 tweets), consider using a more robust solution like TAGS.

Tip #5: Automate Your Social Media Sharing

“Share once and done!” Avoid having to share information via multiple outlets. Some school districts embarking on social media domination move to post the same piece of information on each social media outlet, but that can be a big waste of time. Use one or both of these tools to automate your social media sharing. Create a blog post and then see it shared automatically to Twitter and Facebook, post images to Instagram and email them to others, and more.

  • IFTTT.com: If This Then That allows you to create mini-apps, or recipes, that execute when a trigger action occurs. For example, if I add a tag “2tweet” to a web article I save on one of my content curation tools, Pocket or Diigo, that item appears as a tweet within thirty minutes. If I add a tag “tceamie,” the item is posted to a Slack group for technology directors and coordinators.
  • Microsoft Flow: A newcomer to the scene, Flow works like IFTTT, yet it works hand-in-hand with Office 365 tools. Visit their website to see some sample “flows.”
    social media

Tip #6: Create a Virtual Sharing Space

At a certain point, you will want to archive all the great things that are being said or happening. One way to do that is to save all chats to a virtual space, such as a OneNote Online notebook (see example, Google Plus Community (see example), or Facebook group. You can, of course, also use popular blogging platforms like Blogger and/or Wordpress.
Use tools like Remind.com to share daily updates via mobile phones. This helps keep your community connected to you, enabling easy, non-intrusive sharing. My favorite example is Dr. Scott Mcleod’s Dangerously Irrelevant daily reminders that arrive via SMS text message every day.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to grasp the stars and rearrange them! Social media tools like those discussed in this blog entry make shaping the flow of social media a joy, not a chore.

 

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balance scales with curriculum and technology
Content AreasLeadershipProfessional Learning

Which Comes First, Curriculum or Technology?

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

As I work with leaders (technology directors, curriculum directors, and administrators) around the state, I find it interesting to hear their answer to the question, “Which comes first, the curriculum or the technology?” Sometimes the answer I get is a reflection of the role they play. Sometimes I’m likely to get someone trying to straddle the fence and give a non-committal answer. More interesting than the actual answer (“curriculum” or “technology”) are the reasons that are shared to justify the positions. So, which do you think comes first: the curriculum or the technology?…and why?

When the Technology Comes First

There is no argument that a robust infrastructure is a necessity for today’s work. With everything and everyone needing to do something online as part of their job duties, bandwidth is always a growing need. But, for our argument, let’s consider that infrastructure is a given. What happens when all the other technology comes before curriculum?

Technology plans are made, many times in isolation of the curriculum department, so that quotas are met, refresh cycles can continue, and a better student-to-computer (or student-to-device) ratio can be touted. In and of themselves, these are not bad. But, in light of relevant student use, administrators may be frustrated to find that these processes lead to distributing dust collectors – expensive dust collectors – that are proudly put out of sight by meaningful educators who have either not been trained in their use or see no value in the learning curve that may need to be invested to make use of the technology.

I can count too many districts that have made aggressive efforts to increase their technology without considering curriculum goals and outcomes; many times making use of bond funds specifically designated for technology. “Designated for technology” shouldn’t mean “divorced from the curriculum.” Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that technology isn’t important. But it should be identified after the curriculum goals and outcomes have been clarified.

When Curriculum Comes First

Curriculum directors and administrators need to have discussions to determine what the outcomes of the curriculum should be. I’m not talking about stats for the district improvement plan or the latest stakeholder newsletter. I’m talking about what it should, or could, look like for students to demonstrate mastery. When we take the time to identify those possibilities and think about how students may have to demonstrate mastery (communicate, produce, collaborate, etc.) as working adults, it becomes very easy to identify which technologies should follow these outcomes.

Identifying the curriculum outcomes also provides a framework as to what professional development should look like. We are quick to demand more than just “seat work” from students, but don’t carry those same expectations to teachers. This dichotomy hinders our teachers’ growth and reinforces the notion to other teachers that technology is “just a fad” or is unimportant.

A Close Second

When I say that curriculum should come first, I should probably follow that up by saying that relevant technology should be a very close second. When district leaders, specifically technology and curriculum directors, work together, a more robust curriculum and relevant technology integration is likely to occur. This can be easily seen in districts where the technology director and curriculum director are having continuous robust discussions and planning how to best utilize their budgets, including IMA funds.

So where do you stand? Which do you think should come first, the curriculum or the technology? And, more importantly, are you able to justify your position in a way that promotes student learning and prepares them for their future?

If you would like to know more about how we structure authentic training that emphasizes curriculum over the technology or details on having TCEA provide professional development in your district or at your campus, contact me at bellis@tcea.org. I’d love to talk with you and discuss how we can create amazement with your teachers and/or staff.

 

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ESL/ELLGood TeachingOnline Tools and AppsProfessional Learning

Connect Learners with Video

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Technologies that connect us, engage. One example of this is Flipgrid, a free video discussion board service. With Flipgrid, you can create grids with topics on them and have workshop participants or students respond to the topics with recorded videos. Several workshops ago, I decided to begin using Flipgrid as a regular part of the learning. Some of the applications of the tool included:

  • Ask participants to introduce themselves and/or each other.
  • Watch videos about a topic and then share a summary or take-away.
  • Summarize an article they have read.

Free Online Flipgrid Course

The Microsoft Education Community offers a free course, Amplifying Student Voice, that features FlipGrid uses. In that course, the developers imagine Flipgrid as being more than just a communication tool in your classroom:

For students, Flipgrid provides a safe space to connect with their peers, share their voice on relevant course topics, and add to the collective knowledge of the classroom. For teachers, you can see firsthand as your students develop confidence, reasoning skills, respect of diverse opinions, and understanding through reflection. Moreover, as Flipgrid videos are asynchronous, you can conveniently connect your students with classrooms around the world by sharing your grids with other educators. Their students add their voices to the grid building an active community of shared knowledge.

You can watch videos embedded in the course, as well as view content, without completing the course (but then you wouldn’t earn the badge!):

Introducing FlipGrid for Professional Development

Introducing Flipgrid to others has been easy. I point out how to access the Flipgrid topic I’ve set up for the process, either on a laptop and mobile device (e.g. tablet or smartphone). I start with a quick demonstration, often recording the video prompt in front of the class. Then I invite participants to work in groups of two to three to record their responses. Some even go out into the hall. After they have completed their video responses, we share a few to the whole group. Who would not be engaged by their own face and voice as they connect with others?

FlipGrid in the Classroom

“Seeing and hearing students’ video responses can make discourse fun; the site allows personalities and ideas to shine in 90-second clips,” says Polly Conway, Commonsense Media reviewer. “Design is colorful, clean, and intuitive.” Curious about how participants in my workshops would describe Flipgrid in their classroom, I asked them to share some reflections. “How would Flipgrid be helpful?”

  • In computer programming, students could use it to demonstrate how the code works and the output.
  • Formative assessment tool.
  • Quick check for understanding.
  • Have students work on a collaborative group project and then share their collective or individual video reflection on each task.
  • It is a great resource to use with the teachers we coach so they can reflect on their practices.
  • English Language Learners (ELL) students can experience opportunities to develop their language and practice language mastery.
  • Flipgrid in elementary would be a strong resource for reading responses.

Listen to this Voxercast (audio recorded using the free Voxer app). It features two TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE), Jocelyn Crew (Lyford CISD) and Jodi-Beth Moreno (Education Service Center, Region 1) sharing about Flipgrid.

Flipgrid Resources

Others have been exploring Flipgrid for classroom use. Consider these examples:

If you’re interested in exploring FlipGrid or other video annotation solutions? Check out this blog entry on Video-based Active Learning.

 

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