Trends in Technology #6: Twitter

Lately, Twitter has taken on a new meaning in my life. I tweet what goes on in my high school science classroom. I tweet reminders about club meetings. I retweet interesting science information from people and organizations I follow to use as a kickstart to classroom discussions in my Earth Science class. Twitter is a representation of my professional life. It allows me to follow a variety of people, organizations, professionals, and groups without being bogged down by lots of personal information.

Twitter is unlike other social media platforms in that it shares information instantly with thousands of followers. There are no frills, no extras - just up-to-the-minute information about things you want to know about. Twitter is being used by schools, districts, students, teachers, and parents to inform and stay informed.

I personally like Twitter for the connections I've made with educational professionals the last several years. I've been able to expand my understanding of educational technology, grow as a science educator, and increase my global awareness and appreciation of science.

I also like Twitter for the #hashtags. Hashtags act like filters to siphon the extra stuff and help find you the information you need. If I want to search #STEM, I might find tweets about educators who are implementing STEM lessons in their classrooms. If I search #eclipse, I might read about all kinds of eclipse stories from the August 2017 event or #CaliforniaWildfires from the December 2017 outbreak.

I wasn't instantly won over by Twitter when I first got started. My advice is to get yourself a Twitter handle - that's tech talk for a Twitter identification - and start exploring. Follow some groups, organizations, or people that know their stuff. Retweet a few stories that you like and want others to see and know about. When you're ready you'll know when to tweet your first time. Plus, you shouldn't feel compelled to check it everyday like other social media platforms. Twitter is there when you need it!

Trends in Technology #5: Blendspace

Blendspace, which is now called TES Teach, is an interactive dashboard that allows an individual to organize resources related to a certain chosen topic. The grid style of the dashboard allows a user to pull a collection of resources together that can be either web-based or self-created.

Let's say I want to create a lesson on Greenland's melting glaciers. To enhance my lesson, I might want to search YouTube videos, find related web articles, locate pictures or add my own documents. The menu/tool bar allows me to search for content, click to review the content, then drag and drop onto my gridded dashboard. The tiles can be moved around and ordered in whatever way a user likes. From the tool bar a user can do the following:

• search YouTube
• search Google
• search Google images
• search Flickr
• insert a Webpage
• insert from Google Drive
• insert from Dropbox
• upload Media/File

A completed dashboard can be used as a teacher's central lesson area or the dashboard can be shared in its entirety with students via a shared link, Google Classroom, or a QR code. TES Teach also allows for Common Core standards to be linked to lessons based on grade level.

I have used this for two lessons in my high school Earth Science course and have found it an easy one stop shop educational tool. I've also had my students create their own gridded dashboards in preparation for a Socratic discussion related to a specific topic. I really like this educational tool and find my students do too. This is another great educationl technology tool that more teachers should try!

Trends in Technology #4: Classroom Screen

There are so many _____ educational technology tools that enhance both a teacher's instruction and a student's learning. You can fill in the blank with your best adjective...good, useful, amazing, helpful, interactive, fun, etc, etc. My ed tech toolbox started about 5 years ago and it continues to grow steadily each school year. I have my colleagues, my PLN, and social media to thank for suggesting new resources that make my instruction more engaging and my lessons more enriching.

Wowza! Do I love Classroom Screen! Classroom Screen is a classroom management tool that has a bunch of widgets that help to maintain the flow of your class. You can keep time with a stopwatch or countdown timer, write instructions in a text box, monitor the sound level in the class, display work symbols or the stoplight to communicate what the students should be doing, QR codes can be added that link to outside resources, you can roll dice, generate random names, and draw images. You can add any or all of these widgets all from one screen! Here is a screenshot of my Classroom Screen. This tool is a game changer...having all of these widgets working together and displayed in one place is genius! The only negative about this tool is that it doesn't save the information you have on the screen once you close out the program. If you hit refresh or close out the tab, all the information disappears and you have to start a blank screen and add widgets all over again. Despite this small flaw, Classroom Screen is a very useful tool for teachers to maintain some sense of organization in their class. I highly recommend it!

Trends in Technology #3: Thinglink

I had seen Thinglinks on Twitter and on a really good ed tech email list that I subscribed to, but never really considered the benefits of using one for my high school science classes. So I created an account and made a generic thinglink about glaciers that ties to a unit for EEND 675. It was easy to upload a background photo and even easier to add links and edit the word bubble that pops up when you hover over the bullseye marker with your mouse. I liked this tool for its ease of use, its potential to engage students, and its ability to pull resources together for a lesson or activity. I made the assumption that this tool was better suited for K-8, but I've changed my opinion and feel this could be a good tool every now and again to change things up and bring variety to my day-to-day instruction.

Trends in Technology #2: Lino

As part of my EEND 675 Module 3 assignment, Collaborative Technologies in the Classroom, I used Lino for the first time. It's similar in some ways to Padlet, a collaborative technology tool that I've used regularly in my classroom, but Lino has some differences that make it a bit more versatile.

You can access Lino at http://en.linoit.com/. Lino is a sticky note and photosharing site that displays everything on a canvas posting board. Here's a screenshot of my sandbox Lino below. You add sticky notes in the upper right corner of the canvas. The base colors are yellow, green, blue, and pink, but there are 10 colors to choose from. In the bottom right corner you see the calendar for the canvas displayed. The lower left corner displays all of the user's canvases.

A user or collaborative group of users can post ideas, draft plans, add photos, create lists, upload documents, set reminders, add due dates, and add videos from YouTube or Vimeo. Some of the benefits of Lino include:

• The size of the sticky note can be altered, the color of the sticky can be changed, the font size can be big or small, and emoji icons can be added for a dash of creativity.
• Tagging posts allows a user to create their own personal library of resources and it can be searched relatively quickly. The tags are displayed right on the sticky (see above).
• The calendar and assigning of due dates is useful. This could help scaffold larger projects for students and break it down into smaller parts with due dates attached. Lino automatically sends reminder emails.
• A user can switch between canvases with relative ease and move or copy sticky notes between canvases. The sticky can also be emailed to an individual for a quick shareout.
• Lino canvases can be shared to Twitter or Facebook. This gives the user an opportunity to share out to a larger audience, get some feedback on a project and/or increase collaboration among a PLN (right upper sidebar).

I find both Padlet and Lino to be user-friendly and intuitive. Here is a comparative table analyzing the features of Lino and Padlet.

As with any collaborative tool, it's beneficial for the user to find something that works for them. As a classroom teacher, I see the benefits of both web tools mentioned in the table above. I had never used Lino until recently and I'm excited to incorporate it into my classroom activities. Students get bored when teachers use the same tech tools repeatedly. This versatile platform has some bells and whistles that I'm confident will grab student's attention and get them working collaboratively.