Spending 2 days at MACUL conference 2015 was a pleasure and good learning experience. I appreciate the diverse topics that MACUL addresses. As an instructional technology organization MACUL does an excellent job of nurturing the dialog around instruction and learning with support through technology. I look forward to participate next year.
During the sessions that I presented, I get as much out of the interaction as I hope the participants receive. Interactive dialog is a signature component of my presentations, which judging by the full house at the sessions there must be appeal for it.
Project Based Learning Re-boot: 8 Key Strategies to Powerful Learning Experiences
During this Thursday session, I provided access to a Google Doc for questions that participants could post at anytime during the session. As promised, here are my responses:
- Is your presentation available online? Oh, I see it now!!
Here is the link to the slide deck handout to the presentation. You’ll find other presentations as well. If you’d like a presentation or workshop at your school, district, or organization, please contact me. I’d love to discuss the support possibilities.
https://openingpaths.org/blog/presentations/ - Aside from public audience, how does “post a video about bullying and Romeo… to YouTube” equate to a relevant learning outcome or clear learning target in the context of a PbL unit?
The skills and concepts that an effective video on bullying are (this is a sampling):
–based on Common Core 9th grade standards–- Persuasive: Wri.1
- Organization of ideas: Wri.4
- Writing Process: Wri.5
- Using technology for a purpose: Wri.6
- Draw evidence from literary: Wri.9
- Determine a theme or central idea: RL.2
- Resources for Global Competencies:
- https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/
Mike Gorman’s blog is one of my major go-to places for ideas on instructional technology, STEAM, and Global Competencies. It’s won awards for a very good reason. - http://bie.org/objects/cat/rubrics
BIE is an excellent resource for all things PBL. They are a constantly evolving learning organization that dedicates itself to PBL. As of this post, I’ve done contract work for them as a National Faculty member since 2010.
- https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/
- Can you suggest resources of PBL activities to use in class? I’d love to incorporate more PBL, but would appreciate a resource of ideas to try
Here is a list of databases for projects and project ideas:
https://openingpaths.org/blog/resources/pbl/pblsites/
Here are comments about the session, during the session:
Find additional PBL resources here.
MACUL: One Size Does Not Fit All: 20+ Ways to DI via Social Media Tools
This Friday session was in collaboration with co-moderator of #DI4ALL Charity Stephens @differNtiated4u (website). By session end, we shared 50+ resources via this link to my article on Edutopia. I’d like to give a shout out to all of the foreign language (Spanish and ASL), Math, and Special Education teachers who attend. They represented in a major way to the workshop. Thank you and everyone else for attending.
We used Today’s Meet as the tool for collecting questions during the session. What follows are responses to the questions:
If you do a class hashtag, what about that one student who posts something inappropriate with the hashtag?
This is a coaching opportunity for helping that student learn ethics or digital professionalism. When using hashtags, one must have an account. Students should use the account that you have on record from them. In this way, you can monitor if this situation happens. If the student uses a fake account, a little detective work will still lead you to the person–especially if everyone else is following the rules. Done let the inappropriate actions of one or a small group of individuals wreck the rich learning experiences for other students.
How do you manage 35+ students, some with devices others none?
When there is a limited number of devices, especially when not everyone has one, there is an easy solution. Survey students for who has a device. Use that list to group students so that each team has at least one person with a device. 1 to 1 tech is nice to have, but such a concept should not stop us from making use of what’s available.
I like Tagboards concept, but Padlet.com is very similar that allows you to control posts.
Tagboard is useful as a way to easily review conversations and shared resources based on a classroom or other educational hashtag. It captures hashtag dialog, like #DI4ALL, from most social media tools that use them. Using hashtags is a specific approach for working with students, and communicating with them, families, and community in an ongoing approach. Padlet is useful when you want to be even more intentional around building collaboration skills and offer another product option.
Can Tagboard let you be selective about what makes the board? I have used Tweetbeam.
No. Tagboard captures all social media posts that uses the targeted hashtag.
Does tagboard only show posts from public accounts?
If posts from a private Twitter account can be read by the public than it will be captured on Tagboard.
Want to increase ways for my PreCalculus students to share thoughts & ideas when solving particular problems outside of school.
Jennie Allen, a co-Moderator of #DI4ALL, is an amazing math teacher who presents on the topic of Differentiating Math. Check out her site and follow her on twitter: @JennieAllan2
#NT2T and http://en2t.weebly.com/ for those new to Twitter.
Yes, as we shared at the beginning of the session, having a professional network via Twitter is an incredible resource. Check out these links to connect with other educators who are seeking similar answers: how can I use Twitter for my work. Also, meet Twitter vets who will support you along the way. As of this post, #NT2T meets live every Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST.
Here is the slide presentation used via Emaze:
Find additional resources for Differentiation here.
Feel free to post your questions in the comment section below or send me a tweet @jmccarthyeds –https://twitter.com/JMcCarthyEdS