Teaching Twitter, Connecting with Families During the Summer, and Learning from Student Evaluations... in Education Today

If you are interested in these topics--teaching Twitter, connecting to families, and/or learning from student evaluations of your teaching--then you will find useful ideas in these blog posts.

The Art of Twitter / mkhmarketing / CC BY 2.0

Online Teaching and Twitter: Beyond the Basics
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/online-teaching-and-twitter-beyond-the-basics/

Melissa A. Venable, PhD
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/about/

Venable shares great ideas for introducing Twitter to educators. These strategies can be modified for other students, also.

Connect / http://www.gotcredit.com/ / CC BY 2.0

8 Digital Resources To Stay Connected to Families This Summer
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2015/05/8-digital-resources-to-stay-connected.html

Lisa Nielsen
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html

Nielsen recommends using social media tools to stay connected with families this summer. She provides many good examples. Which tool will work best for you?

Amazing Teachers / Bunches and Bits (Karina) / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Here Are Forms Students Will Be Using To Evaluate The Class & Me
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2015/05/16/here-are-forms-students-will-be-using-to-evaluate-the-class-me/

Larry Ferlazzo
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/about/

I have always learned so much from the evaluation forms I ask my students to complete at the end of a course. It is interesting--and instructive--to read Ferlazzo's reactions to his students' evaluations and to see an example of an evaluation form he designed and used.

Being Paperless, Using Skype, and Creating Videos... in Education Today

Some interesting blog posts I have read recently about being paperless, using Skype, and creating videos...

Going Green / State Farm / CC BY 2.0

PAPERLESS Classroom Hacks: Teacher Efficiency
http://www.hotlunchtray.com/paperless-classroom-hacks-teacher-efficiency/

Penny Christensen
http://www.hotlunchtray.com/about/
http://www.hotlunchtray.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Personal-Bio-Plate.pdf

Penny Christensen initially asks us to "identify what you want." If we choose what we want to accomplish by going paperless, we can decide how to begin our journey. She provides good advice for the beginning steps... and then shares practical suggestions for software, hardware, and structure appropriate to use to meet our goals. Christensen's recommendations are very good for folks interested in developing a paperless classroom.

Skype Classroom - Sharks / Laurie Sullivan / CC BY 2.0

6 Creative Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
http://www.edudemic.com/skype-in-classroom/

Kristen Hicks
http://www.edudemic.com/author/kristenhicks/

Skype--a free service for calls--has been used by friends, families, and businesses for many years. It is now also becoming more popular in classrooms.

• Skype is the modern penpal for students when it is used for collaboration with other classrooms.
• Experts can visit your classroom virtually more readily than they can in person.
• Teachers can communicate with students and their parents who are too ill or otherwise unavailable to be in class.
• Educators and/or volunteers can be available to students for tutoring outside the classroom.
• Classrooms can host virtual career exploration days with parents as the experts for the students.
• Teachers can facilitate group meetings for projects and extracurricular activities.

After explaining and providing useful ideas for these creative suggestions Kristen Hicks then suggests tools that will help teachers to implement these ideas successfully. Hicks' suggestions are practical and useful for beginners and also for those teachers who have already used Skype.

Technology Use / Denise Krebs / CC BY 2.0

Seven Steps for Creating Videos in Your Classroom
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/05/seven-steps-for-creating-videos-in-your.html#.VVAAVuf4mPV

Richard Byrne
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/about-richard-byrne-and-free-technology.html#.VVAAgOf4mPU

For many years we have taught students and their teachers to plan projects before they actually create anything. Is that what you actually do? I find that I must do some creating before I understand what it is that I need to plan.
 
Richard Byrne has re-visited the creation process and changed his approach to one that--I believe--is useful, practical, and relevant for students. Plus--I think--it works. Read his explanation and his revised creation process for short classroom videos to see if you agree.

Instructional Design and Digital Curriculum in Education Today... Black-and-White Photos and Photo Storage in Photography Today

Some interesting blog posts I have read recently about online courses (and blended learning) and photography...
 

"Addie-design" by Dave Braunschweig - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Addie-design.png#/media/File:Addie-design.png

Instructional Design...

Handy Checklist for Instructional Designers
KomiReddy Deepika
http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/checklist-for-instructional-designers

Do you use lists to help you organize your time and efforts? A list can help you to be efficient when you design online courses, too. Deepika's checklist has six parameters (with specific suggestions for each) to check when designing a course. The parameters include:

• learning objectives
• flow of content
• instructional strategy
• presentation
• assessments and feedback
• accessibility and navigation.

These are good reminders of what you should include when you create a course.

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Tips on Accelerating a Digital Curriculum in Your School Infographic
http://elearninginfographics.com/tips-accelerating-digital-curriculum-school-infographic/

The infographic in this article lists some best practices for implementing online programs. The basic ideas include:

• set goals for your digital curriculum
• bridge the "digital divide" with planning
• use digital content to shift students to active learning
• make your digital content easy for teachers to use and share
• use your digital curriculum to make time for the activities you value.

Each best practice lists specific ideas for that step. These suggestions work well for individual teachers as well as for schools and districts.


Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

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B&W Trees / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Photography...
Video Series: Black and White
http://www.picmonkey.com/blog/black-and-white-effects/
 
Black-and-white photos are not just... well... black and white when you use PicMonkey for photo-editing. You can use a color picker with the black-and-white setting to filter color. The daguerreotype setting allows you to work with black-and-white or sepia or what looks like a dark sepia. And a color picker is available there, too, for filtering colors. Plus both these options have fade controls.

PicMonkey provides short video tutorials for these effects and they are creating additional videos for other black-and-white effects.

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Olde Time / Jeff Hitchcock / CC BY 2.0

All-Time Greatest Album: the best way to manage your photos online in 2015
Casey Newton
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/29/8467289/cloud-photo-storage-comparison-dropbox-icloud-flickr-onedrive-free

Casey Newton describes--and then charts the features of--eight photo storage services. He recommends which services work best for different types of photographers (average users and power users). He describes pros and cons for storage, auto-uploading, power, ease of use, value, and costs. The many comments at the end of this article discuss additional issues and provide useful insight.