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Educational TrendsSTEM/STEAM

Free Audio Resources: Podcasts, Music-Making, and More

by Andrew Roush
written by Andrew Roush

Audio and visual resources have long been central to the growth of ed tech. Today, resources, apps, and programs that use audio and video are everywhere. Meanwhile, the use of tools like audiobooks continues to grow.

While A/V tech can sometimes be a distraction, if used well, multimedia tools can help comprehension, especially for elementary students. In a 2014 issue of the International Journal of Scientific Research, researcher Deepa Awasthi summarized this notion:

At [the] primary level, teaching can be effective when it activates all the sensory organs of child. Using Audio Visual aids can be useful for making learning easy, effective and permanent. Role of teachers is very important in using technology because, on one side, if it is used appropriately, it can make the learning interesting, but on other side, if not used properly, then it can distract the mind of young children.

What are some of the most useful free tools that use audio in education? Here are some choices you might consider.

Recording, Editing, and Creating

Soundtrap is a cloud-based creative sound editing app that allows students and teachers to create and share music, podcasts, and any kind of creative audio you can dream of. The app works with learning management software like Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, and Musicfirst. Users can record loops, use drum machines and instrument samples, and even chat with each other in real time about their creations.

Incredibox is a dynamic, playful tool packed with animations and a huge library of sounds, loops, tunes, instruments, and more. As an avenue for artistic expression, this program — available as an app or in a browser — is hard to beat.

Vocaroo is as simple (and useful) as it comes. Need your students to record and upload audio? Vocaroo’s single function is just that. Simply open the page and hit record, or upload previously recorded audio.

ChatterPix is a fun, free tool for elementary students. Record your voice and make photos or images talk, sing, and perform. You can share your creations as messages, cards, or even book reports.

Similarly, SpeakPipe is a simple record-and-share site you can access any time.

Looking to convert an audio file you’ve already recorded for easy downloads, transfer, and more? Online-Convert includes an audio conversion tool free of charge.

Podcasting

Anchor is a free, straightforward podcast creation and distribution platform. Its ease of use makes it a great tool for the classroom. Bonus: hosting is unlimited, so you can record to your heart’s content! You can read more about Anchor here.

Interested in podcasting, but not sure how to start? Check out this educator-focused guide to podcasting from the New York Times. If you’re looking for a deep dive into the podcast possibilities, take a look at this article from the Bello Collective. Further, you can read a tech integration specialist’s take on classroom podcasting here.

Exploring the Possibilities

Not sure how you’d like to format your podcast? How you use podcasts as a teaching tool will depend, of course, on grade level and subject, along with what interests your students. Consider some of the tools listed above and how they might inspire different kinds of creative productions. Teach Hub outlines a few types of shows your students might be interested in creating:

  • Audio Tours: Students record school tours, acting as the tour guide so newcomers can explore the school through the eyes of a peer.
  • Celebrate Culture: Students podcast about important cultural events and share these with parents, the school, or the community around them.
  • Current Events Newscasts: Students deliver weekly or monthly podcasts on interesting current events.
  • Debates: Hold a class debate. Record it in audio and have other students listen and weigh in.
  • Guest speakers: Make podcasts of class guest speakers to share with absent students or future classes. This can be stored in the podcast library (mentioned below).
  • Interviews: Have students interview each other as well as teachers and administrators about important school-wide events such as a sports competition or an award ceremony.
  • Musical Podcasts: Have band or orchestra students create podcasts for each instrument, detailing its specific sounds and characteristics.
  • Podcast Library: Curate the varied student-created podcasts into a library of podcasts for present and future students.
  • Publish Presentations: Instead of writing a book report or acting out a play, students record the presentation as a podcast, using only their voice to communicate ideas and build excitement.
  • Radio Show: Students make short radio broadcasts summarizing the books they are reading.
  • Roving Reporters: Send students out into the “field” (read that: the school campus) to interview key players in important events.

A Special Announcement

Fans of ed tech and audio tools will be excited by a new project from TCEA, our podcast: The Ed Tech Club.

Our new podcast, all about the tech tools you love, the resources you need, and the insights you value, launches in August. Keep an eye on TechNotes, or subscribe to our TechNotes newsletter to make sure you know when the show goes live.

Photo: Matthieu A

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Google Tips and Tricks

A Fresh, New Look for Google Classroom

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

A few weeks ago, Google rolled out a fresh new look for Google Classroom. Many teachers want to keep their Google Classroom organized and clean and the new updates will help accomplish this.

A Cleaner Look

When teachers log into Google Classroom, they will notice that Classroom has a new look and feel. At first, notice the new white background. Then, when you get into one of your classes, an obvious change you will see is that the class code is now located at the top on the header. There is also a new display icon next to the class code. When you click on it, the class code will appear largely and clearly. This makes is a lot easier to project your class code so new students can join your class.

new look

Drag and Drop Assignments and Topics on the Classwork Page

The Classwork page allows teachers to post assignments and questions. To better organize your classwork page, you can even group those assignments and questions into topics. For additional flexibility, Google has now added the ability for you to drag individual items within and between topics. You can even drag an entire topic to another location on the Classwork page. This will make rearranging and organizing your classroom even easier.


Personalize Your Google Classroom with New Themes

Google has introduced 78 new themes so teachers can now personalize their Google Classroom. The themes come with custom illustrations, ranging from history to math to photography. It’s now even easier to customize your Classroom than ever before. All you have to do is click on Select Theme and choose one of the nice new backgrounds. Of course, you still have the option to upload your own photo.

Hopefully, these are some changes that will be beneficial to you.  Stay tuned to our blog for new updates to Google as they come out.

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Google Classroom
Google Tips and Tricks

Back to School with the New Google Classroom

by Jennifer Bergland
written by Jennifer Bergland

Google unveiled the new and improved Google Classroom just in time for the first day of school. So that you are fully prepared for your students, let’s dive in and learn the three most important things you need to know about the new tool. If you want to review all the changes, check out Google’s Back to School 2018 FAQ.

Classwork = Better Organization  

When you create a new classroom, you will notice at the top of your new room that you have three tabs: 

classroom

The stream is no longer where you and your students will spend most of your time. Instead, you will be using Classwork to create, edit, and manage your assignments. One big improvement is that you will be able to group your assignments and posts by using the Topics. Google has also given you more control on the location of the content. This allows you to determine what you want your students to see first and in what order.  

Classroom

Grading Just Got a Whole Lot Easier

When you are ready to grade your students’ work, open the assignment you want to grade and then click on View Assignment.  This will take you to your grade book. In the upgrade, Google gave the teacher some tools to help grade assignments that reside in Google Drive. Below is an assignment using a Drawing template to help students identify the cause and effect of the Texas Revolution. To grade it, you would click on one of your student’s assignments. It will open you to a new grading tool. With this tool, you can add comments, assign the grade, and communicate back and forth with the student using the private comment feature.

Classroom

You’re going to love this next feature. You can create a list of generic comments to make it easier to provide feedback. When you open the comment field, insert a hashtag (#) and the suggested comments will appear. Click on the one you want to use and then post the comment. It is that simple!

Classroom

When you are finished grading and commenting on the student’s work, use the arrow at the top of the page to move to the next student. That’s right! They have made it super simple for you to scroll through your student’s work.

Classroom

No About Page

Google has taken away the About Page which teachers have used to post documents and forms their students might use all year long such as a syllabus, a reading log, class rules, etc. Google has announced they will soon provide a way for teachers to upload and post documents on the Classwork page. You will then be able to create a topic such as “Class Resources” that houses these types of documents.

Odds and Ends

At this time, you cannot add a Classwork section to an older classroom; however this is also something that Google is working on and  will release this feature soon. One last thing, you can now make a copy of an entire Classroom. It appears that it only works for new Classrooms however. This will allow secondary teachers to create a model classroom that can be copied for additional sections. 

What are you waiting for? Start creating magic in the new and improved Google Classroom.

 

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Google Classroom
Google Tips and TricksUncategorized

Two New Features in Google Classroom

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

On January 11, 2017, Google announced some powerful new features for Classroom for both teachers and administrators. Both of these features really focus on providing the ability to personalize learning.

For Teachers

For teachers, the program provides for more differentiation. A teacher can now decide which student/s should receive a specific assignment or question, allowing her to personalize the learning more. To make this feature work best, the teacher should create subsets of students based on their unique needs. This is perfect for allowing struggling students to practice more or to provide an extension activity to students who have already mastered the content. And, with the update, teachers will also receive two new Classroom notifications: one when students submit late work after the due date and the other when students re-submit work.

Google Classroom

 

For Google Administrators

Google administrators will now see Classroom data included in the Admin Console Reports. You will be able to see the amount of time being spent on Classroom and how many posts are being created. You can also view this data schoolwide, on a class-by-class basis, or by individual user. This will make it easier to target professional development for staff who may be struggling with how best to use Classroom.

Thanks to Google for continually listening to educators about the needs for this wonderful tool!

 

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Google Tips and TricksMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Classroom Smackdown: Google vs. Microsoft (Updated)

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

While learning management systems (LMS) of yesteryear (e.g. Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai) remain powerhouses of centralized control for educators, most of the teachers I speak to are no longer interested. It’s as if they are saying, “Ok, why does virtual class management have to be so difficult? I want simple solutions that help me get my work done rather than force me to learn arcane workflows.” As a result, we’ve seen educators eschew solutions like Edmodo, ever on the hunt for the easiest, most powerful tool.

Consider new classroom tools as the latest iteration of learning management systems. For example,  Moodle and Blackboard provided one iteration, Edmodo and Schoology another, and now Google Classroom and Microsoft Classroom are the latest iteration. Let’s explore this most recent iteration.

Update: Since this blog entry was first submitted for publication, both MS Classroom, OneNote Class Notebook and Google Classroom have released powerful new updates that may not be reflected in the feature list below. For example, OneNote Class Notebook now has a “take it on the go” feature. Click links above for more info about each. This blog entry has also been updated to clarify information relevant to MS Classroom and School Data Sync. Most recent updates appear in maroon.

Watch these MS Classroom Video Overviews exploring various features.

What Is Classroom?

The goal of any virtual classroom system, or LMS 3.0, involves providing a suite of online tools that empower students and staff to connect, create, collaborate, and facilitate organization. Microsoft Classroom, like Google Classroom, offers integrated word processing, spreadsheet, slideshow presentation, and cloud storage.

It goes one step further with OneNote Class Notebook, facilitating digital ink/notation of student assignments, the grading of assignments and full integration with MS Classroom Assignments. MS Classroom, by itself, is a powerful classroom collaboration tool. But add OneNote Class Notebook, and you’ve made it simple for educators to distribute assignments, draw/use digital ink to create and annotate content. Then, you can add audio comments and feedback to student work along with digital ink feedback.

Features and Benefits

Both Google and Microsoft have a wealth of features. Let’s take a peek, adapting this support document to facilitate a feature comparison. I’ve also added components (e.g. MS Snip/video links to the MS Classroom side or links to Google’s support page) to the “Yes” response if they include items readers new to MS Classroom may be unaware of.

 

Feature List

Microsoft Classroom

Classroom

Google Classroom

Classroom
Save Teachers Time
Add students easily. Yes, and you can add students through a quick search as well as through School Data Sync*. Students can join a class with a code, giving you more time to teach..
Manage multiple classes—Reuse existing announcements, assignments, or questions from another class. Share posts across multiple classes, and archive classes for future reference. Yes, you can post assignments to multiple classroomssimultaneously.

 

You can Activate or Deactivate classes.

 Reuse existing announcements, assignments, or questions from another class. Share posts across multiple classes, andarchive classesfor future reference.
Teach together—Co-teach a course with other instructors. Yes, you can easily add co-teachers. Co-teach a course with up to 20 other instructors.
One-click worksheets—From a worksheet template, create an individual document for each student with one click. Yes, with OneNote Class Notebook integration, you can create individual documents, as well as provide templates for students to use in a content library. From a worksheet template, create an individual documentfor each student with one click.
Rich assignment materials—Add materials to your assignments, like YouTube videos, Forms, PDFs, and other items from your cloud storage. Yes, a wide variety of media (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, MS Sway, Slideshare) can be embeddedby pasting in the link. Documents can be included in Conversations component of MS Classroom as well as embedded in OneNote Class Notebook. Add materials to your assignments, such as YouTube videos, a Google Forms survey, PDFs, and other items from Google Drive. Teachers and students can draw on, write notes, and highlight documents and PDFs in the Classroom mobile app.
Customize assignments—Add optional due dates, create customized grade values, and track which assignments are graded. Yes, each assignment can have due dates and times, as well as custom grade values. You can also quicklyassign grades via a connected OneNote Class Notebook, grades auto-synching to MS Classroom. Add optional due dates, createcustomized grade values, and track which assignments are graded.
Prepare in advance—Draft posts and assignments, or schedule them to automatically post to the class stream at the scheduled date and time. Yes, you can schedule assignmentsin the future. Draft postsand assignments, orschedulethem to automatically post to the class stream at the scheduled date and time.
Quick exit tickets and polling—Post a question to students, then view results within Classroom. Yes, as well as take advantage of Microsoft Forms or Excel Online Surveys. Post a question to students, then view results within Classroom.
Customize your class theme—Change the default color or theme image for your class. Yes, custom banners, icons and titlesare available. Yes. Change the default color or theme image for your class.
Keep resources in one place—Create a class resource location for documents, such as your syllabus or classroom rules. Yes, use OneDrive for centralized location for online documentscreated, and/or OneNote Class Notebook with built-in search, passworded access to sections, and more. Yes. Create a class resource pagefor documents, such as your syllabus or classroom rules.
Keep students organized—Classroom creates a Calendar for each class, adding assignment due dates to the calendar. Students can view upcoming work in multiple places. Yes, create assignment due dates and see those appear in calendar immediately. Students can view upcoming assignments, as well as review completed ones. Students also have a “Mark Done” option they can select and that turns the work in.
MS Classroom also features a private “chat” between teacher and student for feedback regarding a particular assignment.		 Yes. Google Classroom creates a Google Calendar for each classand updates the calendar with work and due dates. Students can view upcoming work in the class stream, on their work page, or in the class calendar.
Keep teachers organized—Review student work, including assignments, questions, grades, and previous comments. View work by one or all classes, and sort by what needs reviewing. Yes, one place to review assignments, student comments/questions, as well as the option to view items in OneNote Class Notebook. Yes. Review student work, including assignments, questions, grades, and previous comments. View work by one or all classes and sort by what needs reviewing.
Grade quickly and easily—Sort students by first or last name, see who has turned in work, draft grades to share with students later, add private comments when returning work. Yes. Yes. Sort students by first or last name, see who’s turned in work, draft grades to share with students later, and add private comments. Plus, add annotations and visual feedback to student work in the Classroom mobile app.
Transfer grades—Export final grades to spreadsheet format or to a CSV file for upload elsewhere. Yes, you can export grades through a CSV file. Yes. Export final grades to Google Sheets or to a CSV filefor upload elsewhere.
Integrate with other favorite teaching tools—Sync your existing Classroom classes with partner applications. Yes, OneNote Class Notebook allows for integration with multiple LMSs, including Edmodo, Google Classroom, Moodle, MS Classroom, Schoology and many more. Also, Office 365 Suite of online and installed programs (e.g. Word,Powerpoint, OneNote, Excel). Yes. Sync your existing Google Classroom classes with partnerapplications.
Communicate and Collaborate
Access anytime, anywhere—Access Classroom on the web or via the  Android and iOS Classroom mobile apps. Yes, iOS  and  Android apps are available. Also features OneDrive cloud storage and OneNote apps for all platforms (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows, Mac). Yes.
Real-time feedback—View, comment, and edit student work in real time. Yes. Yes.
Create class discussions—In the class stream, post announcements, engage students in question-driven discussions, or move important topics to the top. Yes, you can use MS Classroom Conversations feature. Yes.
Manage class discussions—Control who can post to the class stream and mute individual students from posting or commenting. Yes. Yes.
Share content—Share links, videos, and images from websites to Classroom. Yes. Yes.
Push content to students’ screens—Push web pages instantly to a class. Students can also share their screen with their teacher. Yes*.

*Note: You can push or “distribute” content instantly using OneNote Class Notebook (which is “baked into” MS Classroom). These pages are instantly available via OneNote Online for students.

 Yes.
Easy Admin Support
Affordable and secure—Like other services, Classroom contains no ads and never uses your content or student data for advertising purposes. Yes. Yes.
One sign-in—Teachers and students can sign in to Classroom with a single sign-on. Yes. Yes.
Professional development —Get your teachers using Classroom quickly with free online training. Yes. Professional learning online is available and a click away in OneNote Class Notebook. Yes.
Personal data protection—Classroom is covered. Yes. Yes.

*More on MS School Data Sync: “School Data Sync imports school roster data from the school SIS (like PowerSchool) and synchronizes it with Azure Active Directory and Office 365 so that Classroom (or any other application) can use the roster data to create online classrooms, have context about the student, and even enable single sign-on.

Schools can also use Microsoft School Data Sync to automatically create classes and add students based on the school’s student information system (SIS) roster.” Watch this short video about School Data Sync!

And, this chart doesn’t even mention online surveys and/or forms, both of which are available through Google Forms and Microsoft Forms (read this post by TCEA Board Member, John Bimmerle, on Microsoft Forms). That will be the subject of a future blog entry.

Conclusion

These two third-generation LMS players are quite evenly matched, offering school districts who are looking for an alternative to Google Classroom that relies on robust, familiar MS Office tools a rich alternative. However, OneNote Class Notebook, OneNote Learning Tools, Collaboration Space, and the ability to quickly disseminate handouts and resources to students via the Content Library give Microsoft Classroom the edge. What’s more, OneNote serves as a great ePortfolio solution that can integrate with a variety of learning management systems, including Google Classroom. Depending on your needs, there is no reason why your district or school couldn’t mix and match the various tools (e.g. Google Classroom + OneNote Class Notebook, MS Classroom with YouTube) to get the desired results.

Are you a Texas educator using Office 365 in your District? Join the free, open to members and nom-members TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Facebook group!

 

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Google Classroom
Google Tips and Tricks

Check Yes or No: Add Polls to Google Classroom

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

When I taught high school Spanish, I used exit tickets all the time. An exit ticket can be a great way to set up the next day’s learning. Before students left my class, they would answer a quick poll about the day’s lesson and what they had taken away from it.

In the past, these exit tickets could be cumbersome and difficult to check, even when I took advantage of technologies like Google Forms. Google Classroom makes that process of multiple choice form creation a lot easier, and, if you haven’t heard the news, you can now create polls in Google Classroom. Teachers can choose to create a multiple choice or short answer poll to distribute to the class. They will be notified and can quickly see the answers to the poll.

For example, consider this example from Google’s blog, illustrating the new feature:

“Cindy Nordstrom, a teacher at Oak Ridge Elementary School in Minnesota, uses polling to make sure students understand the main points of a lesson. She explains, “We were studying poetry and talking about novels in verse. Since this was the first time that most students had encountered the format, I wanted to see if they knew what novels in verse were. I created this poll as an exit slip for the class. I could click on students’ answers and see their names associated with their response. This helped me get an at-a-glance view of who understood the concept and who didn’t.” Source: Google for Education

Getting an at-a-glance view is powerful for teachers, especially secondary teachers working with 120+ students, because it provides a quick, easy measure of student learning.

If you are interested in exploring Google Classroom further, consider attending the TCEA 2016 Chromebook Academy this July where you can spend hands-on time with Classroom, as well as other Google tools and resources. You can find more information about the academy here.

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