As middle-years educators, we recognize how important the social aspect of a school is in the development of young people. When students leave our classrooms, it is the experiences and relationships that stand out to them - rather than the content they learned in class. Due to the physical nature and proximity in a classroom, many of the connections and relationships occur organically. Furthermore, teachers strategically design lessons and activities to develop social skills and build relationships among the members of their classroom. However, when students transitioned to online learning, it became more challenging to naturally develop social relationships that are typically fostered in a physical classroom environment. Through our experiences in the Master of Education program, we have come to know and understand the importance of interactions in the online world. Through experiences such as breakout rooms, Flipgrids, and blog posts, we have found these opportunities valuable in making our online classes more engaging and enjoyable. Our PrototypeUnderstanding the importance of building connections in an online environment, we have implemented the following experiences for our students: FlipgridIn our course prototype, we plan to utilize Flipgrid for a variety of activities including the target game, movement sequences, and alternative first-aid supplies. We chose this platform because:
I was actually able to utilize the target game that Trevor and I had for created for this course when my students were learning online. Feel free to check out an example of a student-submitted flipgrid video below: Microsoft Teams Breakout RoomsWhile OneNote is a large part of our LMS, we decided to place it within Microsoft Teams because this allowed us to easily utilize the breakout room feature within our lessons and activities. Specifically, we plan to use this feature to facilitate group discussions at the conclusion of our target game lesson, as well as a group work project in our First Aid section. We chose this platform because:
KidblogAlthough many of the written assignments for our lessons take place in OneNote, we provided students with a few opportunities to share their thoughts with one another via blogging. While there are many blogging sites online, both Trevor and I found Kidblog to be the best option for student blogging because:
MentimeterWe plan on using this tool within our course for quick formative assessments as well as engaging our students in a live activity on safety practices. We chose this platform because:
As we progress through the development of our course, we have found that it is important to critically analyze when and where our students interact. With a plethora of options online, we’ve considered what’s easily accessible and user-friendly for our students. While it may be difficult to replace the face-to-face interactions that occur in a physical classroom, there are no shortages of tools and strategies to facilitate these experiences in an online environment.
3 Comments
Matt, I like how you outlined your teaching and educational technology tools. I appreciate how you outline what each tool is, features that you find appealing and how it relates to your course. I appreciate how you wrote about KidBlog as I have never used that in my classroom before. Have you used it in your classroom before? Do the kids love it? I'd love to hear the feedback that students give you, as it seems like many students would maybe be engaged more using this.
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Matt
3/28/2021 12:00:02 pm
Thanks for your comment, Kelly. I enjoy using Kidblog with my students as it provides them with an interactive and engaging way to sharing their voices. My students like using it as it very user-friendly and allows them to integrate various aspects of multimedia into their posts and comment on their classmates' blogs as well. I've found it to be an effective way to engage my students with other classrooms around our city for book clubs and Genius Hour. The only downside is the cost, as it is no longer free and requires a yearly subscription
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3/17/2021 02:48:15 pm
Fantastic post, Matt! I really love what you said... "when students leave our classrooms, it is the experiences and relationships that stand out to them - rather than the content they learned in class." This is so true! It's clear that you put an emphasis on collaboration in your classroom and truly engage kids in unique ways. You can tell by the excitement and enthusiasm from your student in the video they created. You outlined the resources for your project so well! I have never used Kidblog before, so it was helpful to read about the features and how it benefits students. Like Kelly, I am wondering if you have used it in the classroom yet. Do you have any feedback about it? Thanks for such an informative and engaging post. I also had a laugh at the pun in the title!
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