<![CDATA[CSD Education Technology - Classroom Technology Showcase]]>Fri, 01 May 2015 10:00:09 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[ScreenChomping Fractions]]>Mon, 01 Jul 2013 05:11:18 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/screenchomping-fractionsDebbie Owens, a third grade teacher at Draper Elementary, is constantly looking for ways to implement technology into her classroom in a meaningful way.  After attending a professional development training where she was introduced to the app ScreenChomp, Debbie had her students use the app to demonstrate and describe how to find a fraction on a numberline. Check out an example of what was created.
ScreenChomp is a free app that provides a whiteboard where the you can write, draw and talk while recording what you are doing.  ScreenChomp also allows you to import a picture which then becomes the background that you can write and draw on.  When your recording is done you can share your recordings, you'll receive a URL so that you can share your recording with anyone you want.

After doing this activity with her 3rd graders, Debbie was happy to learn that it was an app that the students could easily use.  Her students had a great time creating their ScreenChomp videos.
]]><![CDATA[Using iPads to Engage Staff in Professional Development]]>Fri, 28 Jun 2013 22:30:35 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/using-ipads-to-engage-staff-in-professional-development
If you walked into an after school staff meeting, you would most likely see the same thing at most schools:  The administration standing in front of their teachers regurgitating information from a piece of paper or reading the information off a wordy PowerPoint.  At the same point you could walk around the room and see teachers reading emails, grading papers, knitting, and playing games on their phones or iPads.  While at the same time telling the teachers that they need to “engage” their students more. 

Upon being awarded Utah Association of Secondary Schools Principal of the Year, Mary Anderson was asked to present a topic of her choice at the UASSP conference in Park City.  Mary wanted to present on something her school, Union Middle, has been working on for years, OTRs and effect size.  The question was how to present it to her peers from around the state.  Mary knew that she wanted to use technology; if you know Mary you know that she loves her technology.
By: Dustin Worm
The main question became, how can we expect teachers to engage students if we ourselves do not lead by example.  Starting during the last quarter of the school year the administration and the counselors decided that they would use one technology tool to engage faculty.  Each tool would be used during two faculty meetings to help demonstrate how the tool can be used and what it has to offer.   Think of this as a commercial for the technology tool.  If the teacher would like to know more about the tool or how to use it they could see their schools EdTech.

At the UASSP conference, Mary Anderson decided to use this approach for her presentation, titled "Using iPads to Engage Staff in Professional Development." Mary used Infuse Learning, Doceri, Apple TV, and Nearpod to help engage her audience.  Hearing the ooohs, ahhs, and the “I could use this with my teachers,” was confirmation that even adults need to be engaged to learn. 

A special thanks to Nearpod for donating a 30-day trial of their School Edition so that Mary could highlight all of Nearpod’s amazing features; Nearpod also donated three teacher gold accounts to give away during Mary’s presentation.
]]><![CDATA[Nearpod on the iPads and Laptops]]>Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:33:35 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/nearpod-on-the-ipads-and-laptops What is Nearpod?

Nearpod is an app that you can get from the iTunes AppStore for free. Then you create your account for free. The free version gives you access to Nearpod but only a limited numbers of the benefits.

Nearpod is an interactive multimedia presentation tool. You can put slides of content in, videos, quizzes,  websites into your presentation (NPP) that you put online. Then your students log into Nearpod on their iPads and use the Pin to get to your lesson.

There are 3 different versions available. Silver which is free and gives you 30 students and 50 MB of storage. You have access to Slide, Poll, Q&A, Quiz, Video and Draw tools.

Gold is the next level and it costs $10.00 a month per teachers, students are free and you will be able to have 50 students per session. You will have all of the basic features (Slide, Poll, Q&A, Quiz, Video and Draw it) and extended features (Slide Show and Browse the Internet) that you can use in your NPP. You get 1 GB of storage.

The School Version gets you everything above and sooo much more. The cost of the school version is based on how many teachers you have subscribed. You must have at least 5 teachers. You get 3 GB of storage per teacher. You can have up to 100 students in a session. You also get the School Library which allows teachers to share NPP between each other. You can also use a web browser to access the NPP if you don’t have enough iPads. You can also get your reports as a PDF or a CSV file. With the School Edition, you get a manager account that can manage all of the teacher accounts.

Nearpod homework is also a feature that the School Version and Gold get. You can send NPPs to students to do as homework and it grades it for you.

You must contact Nearpod to get a quote for the School Version. I have used this at Midvale Elementary and my teachers love using it.

By Ross Rogers

]]><![CDATA[Online Enrollment]]>Fri, 28 Jun 2013 19:31:19 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/online-enrollmentCanyons is moving forward with a larger enrollment window and making it possible for all students to enroll for the coming school year through a simple online process. Do make it even simpler, there is a tutorial video below that will walk you through all the steps.
]]><![CDATA[Interactive Simulations]]>Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:56:26 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/interactive-simulations
Have you ever found your self wishing there was a way you could bring your science or math lesson to life?  How do you create a real world application for the concepts you teach?  The University of Colorado Physics Education Technology (CU PhET) has hundreds of simulations that will help you do just that!

MJ Jones, a math teacher at Eastmont Middle School uses her Promethean Board in conjunction with the CU PhET simulations to engage her students and make math concepts more concrete.
When I talked to MJ about how she used the simulations with her class she said "We started with Gas Properties and looked at how pressure, temperature, volume, and even gravity, are related. We looked at Buoyancy – and I should say 'they' because they took over and I just helped them navigate – and also Bending Light. The students were asking questions like, 'I wonder what would happen if we made both mediums water?' and 'Can I have a turn?' and 'Can we try changing the material to wood?' It was so awesome to hear them conversing as they were, exploring and discovering."

These simulations create a great learning experience using the interactive whiteboard that involves the entire class.

Posted by Janae Hunt

]]><![CDATA[Digital Native: Lessons from a seven-year old]]>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:53:08 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/digital-native-lessons-from-a-seven-year-oldWhat does it mean to be a "Digital Native"? Basically, this term describes a person who has used technology since birth.  Digital natives are as comfortable with technology as those of us are as comfortable with pen and paper we used growing up.  (I mean "we" as antecessors who didn't even have their own device to use while in college.) As I have worked in Canyons School District, I have seen students at the elementary level do some amazing projects integrating technology because they had teachers that were willing to let students use technology tools as part of their learning process in the classroom.  This year I have seen teachers use iBooks so students could create digital, interactive books to use on the iPad.  I have seen lower grade teachers building iPad and iPod labs in their classrooms, striving towards the goal of 1:1 initiative with students.  Elementary students have created QR codes to use with their art projects so that when the QR code is scanned, there is a story that can be read that correlates with their art project.  I have seen many examples of teachers making strides to speak the same technology language as the digital natives in their classrooms.  The biggest example to me this year of someone who is a digital native is my daughter. She recently wrote a paragraph in the first grade about computers being the best invention ever made.
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How many educators do we know that probably still don't know what Skype is and how it is used to communicate with others? Even though my role is to help educate teachers on how to use technology in their classrooms, my daughter still teaches me what it means to be a "Digital Native" in this ever changing technology world we live in.  She teaches me not to be afraid of using technology and the importance of implementing technology as part of her learning process.  I hope that as my daughter goes through the education system, that she will be able to use technology in a way that I used pen and paper for learning.  I see the importance of implementing technology in the classroom and I commend the teachers who are making strides to look at learning through the same lens as the digital natives in their classrooms.

Posted by PJ Giles
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“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick 
]]><![CDATA[Classroom Uses for PechaKucha Presentations]]>Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:25:16 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/classroom-uses-for-pechakucha-presentations A PechaKucha presentation is a presentation style designed to keep the presenter on-task and on-time without risk of rambling.  The presentation is limited to 20 slides, each presented for only 20 seconds.  There is a relevant picture with limited text on each slide and no animations or transitions.  

Now that you know what a PechaKucha is, how do you pronounce it?  Click the play button below to find out.

The Educational Technology Endorsement class submitted recorded PechaKuchas for their final assignment explaining the technologies they've used in their Personal Learning Netowrk (PLN).  Elaine Hardman graciously allowed me to use your excellent presentation as an example (right).
 




Ms. McGowan recommended two of her students presetnations.  Watch their excellent work below!
Ms. Trina McGowan's 7th grade English classes at Indian Hills Middle School created mini-PechaKucha presentations (10 slides, 11 seconds each) to showcase various disabilities.  Ms. McGowan created an example of the PechaKucha (left) to show her students and assigned them to groups of 2-3 to work on their presentations.  Below is her review of using PechaKucha's in her class.
I loved doing Pecha Kucha presentations with my students!  The students liked them because of the voiceover element of the presentation.  They had a hard time weaning themselves from using effects on the slides and from putting words on the slides, but when they did, the presentations turned out really well.  
As a teacher, I liked being able to encourage my students to focus on precision -- choosing the most effective words to convey the best information in the least amount of time.  I thought it was very structured, and it didn't feel like an eternity when we were watching them.
PechaKucha is a great presentation technique to keep students focused on the content and not on the superfluous transitions that get in the way.  PechaKucha definitely follows the "less is more" mindset.

Submitted by Maria Jones
]]><![CDATA[My Wild Self Movie]]>Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:04:01 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/my-wild-self-moviePicture
Mrs Homer's Third Grade students participated in an engaging four square writing activity that they brought to life in a WILD way!  The students built a wild version of themselves at: http://www.buildyourwildself.com.  They used the four square writing model to describe their wild selves.  They described their habitat and environment, their animal adaptations, how they use their senses, etc.  The students were extremely creative in bringing to life their animal and describing how each of the animal characteristics they chose would work together.  The project was then assembled and edited using iMovie '11.  Mrs. Homer's class did a fantastic job making themselves GO WILD!
Submitted by Lindsi Sullivan
]]><![CDATA[App Idea Contest - Hawk Tank at Alta High School]]>Tue, 04 Jun 2013 02:42:29 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/app-idea-contest-hawk-tank-at-alta-high-school
Alta High students share some of their app ideas with us.  
When most people think of spring, images of May flowers and the sounds of birds chirping often come to mind.  At local high schools, however, spring means scholarship competition season!  At Alta High School students have a unique opportunity to earn up to $5000 in scholarship funds for pitching a Mobile App Idea in the "Hawk Tank", fashioned after the popular Shark Tank TV show.  On May 31st, at a school assembly, students with the top 10 app ideas were announced and called out of the audience to come on stage and present their app idea to a panel of esteemed judges in the "Hawk Tank."  In addition, all students in the assembly had the chance of winning prices sponsored by skull candy, Rockwell watches, Stance socks, the Utah Jazz, and other local companies. The assembly provided learning opportunities as CEO's spoke of their success experiences and the importance of innovation. 

The scholarship competition is sponsored by the IPOP foundation (In Pursuit of Perfection) and students at Alta High School are challenged by IPOP to develop their best idea for a new mobile App.  In addition to the scholarship, there is a possibility that the idea may be launched as a new business and the students whose ideas are chosen could be given the opportunity to play a part in the new company, becoming young entrepreneurs.
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Students in many classes  learned about needed to think about creating a new app idea.  They began by brainstorming for mobile app ideas using the following steps: (1) listing the apps students like to use and the reasons why because features they may want to include could be features that already exist in apps they like. (2) listing apps they use that they wish could be improved and why - reinventing a poorly made app can lead to inspiration (3) choosing one app for improvement (#2) and doing market research by looking at what have other user posted in the review sections about needed improvement. (4) creating a simple definition sentence containing "difference"+
"purpose"+ "audience."  For example students could describe their app by stating, "My new app is an easy to use photo editing app for photographers."

Students are challenged by IPOP to submit the following:
  • The name of the App
  • Description of what the App does and how it functions
  • Target Market: Who are the people that would want to use the App (for example, teens, children 8 to 12, men, women, adults, etc.)
  • Market Need: What are the reasons someone would use this App (for example, what problem is it solving or what solution does it provide?)
  • Competitive Differentiators: What competitive apps already exist today and what makes your App different or better than them
  • Revenue Model: How would you charge for the app? Or how would you plan to make money with the app? (example, $1.99 to download, or free download with  in app purchases, or charge companies to advertise within your app, etc.)
  • Sketches/Illustrations of App user screens

Students who are interested in App Development are encouraged to learn more about app development by attending the Canyons App Club which meets on Wednesday afternoons from 3:00 - 4:30PM.

Posted by Rachel Murphy
]]><![CDATA[Infuse Learning for Review]]>Tue, 21 May 2013 16:44:16 GMThttp://prolearning.canyonsdistrict.org/classroom-technology-showcase/infuse-learning-for-reviewPicture
      Infuse Learning is a student response system that can be used on any device that has Internet connection.  Mr. Heinz’s Sixth Graders used Infuse Learning during testing review.  In most cases, a one to one environment is ideal, but Mr. Heinz had students pair up to do this review.  He had the students use both iPads and laptop computers, and a second projector to project the student responses.  All of the sixth graders were engaged and enjoyed working together using Infuse Learning!  Danae Reff
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