Help Learners Share Their Voice?

I love to share apps!  Apps that make learners want to share their learning!!  I get a little too excited when a conversation, that has nothing to do with work and school, turns to fun apps.  And, when you can use a "fun" app to help learners grow...amazing!

I used some time I had with educators to remind them of some simple ways to incorporate voice in their classroom.  We took a little time to look at ChatterPix and Tellagami.  These were not necessarily new apps, but looking at some really great examples of using these tools in their classroom and in every classroom.

I put together a ThingLink to share the resources:



What I loved the most was in less than 30 minutes an educator shared how she had easily created content she needed to share with her learners and had not thought it was going to be possible.  She moved a conversation that would have taken a large chunk of her face to face class time and moved it to a format her learners could access at any time!

A week later, while I was walking in the hall I heard another educator ask the learners to summarize their learning using a ChatterPix to submit as an assignment.  I may be a little bit too excited about apps, but I don't care!  I love it!

Learn more about ThingLink here!

Chrome Can Change Your Life!

It was very interesting to meet a group of individuals who weren't using Chrome for, well everything!  What is this browser you speak of?  I don't understand, are you speaking in a different language?  Chrome has the ability to simplify my life!  I can pickup browsing where ever I left off, no matter what device.  And the extensions have made functioning so much easier, too!

So, this fall I was able to help others convert to my favorite browser!  Here are the basic steps to simplifying your life!

Twitter Challenge

Developing a PLN through Twitter has been an encouraging and validating experience for me.  I am excited by how many educators are willing to share their ideas and connect with others.  I crave learning from other liked minded individuals and inspired.  This PLN I have created keeps me engaged in a wider world of education.

I want to help others grow their PLN.  Earlier this fall, I hosted a Twitter challenge.  The focus was to tell the story of our campus.  It is interesting how so many educators have amazing things happening in their classrooms and never share!

The challenge  about 3 weeks.  The challenges focused on broadening awareness of the campus activities, trying new tools or sharing familiar tools, sharing your voice.  All the tweets had to have either #teamwest or #cmswconnects.  Take a look at the bingo board the educators used:

The challenge included prizes!  Jeans passes were a hit! It was amazing to see individuals really take a leap of faith and try something new.  Many educators have continued to use Twitter so share their story.  What a great example to share with learners how to use social media responsibly.

Educators used the app Notability to track their participation and shared their results in the end.  A good number of educators either filled their bingo boards or came very close.  Overall, this was a great experience and I would highly encourage others to use a similar method to dive into tweeting!

Posting Videos to YouTube

When having learners, or yourself, uploading video projects to YouTube I would encourage you to check the settings for privacy.  A learner was working on a project and found their own video linked to a website they had never come in contact with before.  It is a very strange feeling to find your work somewhere you have never actually been asked to share with before.

An option for sharing using YouTube is to Unlisted so that the projects can only be accessed by those who have the link.  This can be achieved when uploading projects from an iPad or a computer.  Here are step-by-step directions for uploading a video from the iPad.

Sign into your school Google Drive and allow Google to access your account information

Upload the movie file from your iPad to your YouTube Channel

Enter a Title and Description for the project

Select Standard Definition

Enter Tags related to the content area

For Category, select Education

Select Unlisted so that only individuals with the link can view the video.

Then Publish

Also, here are directions for uploading to YouTube from a computer:

Keep these instructions for when you have a video project later!