Tech2Learn: Success Stories of Technology Integration in the Classroom

Tech2Learn: Success Stories of Technology Integration in the Classroom

Outstanding teachers to get BMWs

Wow!



Outstanding teachers to get BMWs



Did you Enthusiasts see this headline?  It was back in October but it somehow popped up in a search I was doing?





Anybody know if it is legitimate - is the Saudi Ministry of Education really awarding BMWs to are best teachers?



Share the knowledge if you have some.



Thanks,



Ryan

SILC Presentation - Digitally Interfacing Classrooms

Hey Enthusiasts, Educators & Friends,

Here's is my recent presentation of my passion for Digital tools in the Classroom;

It's in its entirety some please jump around.



Thanks for listening & playing!

Ryan

My Very First Webinar!!! Sunday, December 7th, 1300 GMT

Why's and How's of My Desire to Get on the Other Side of My Students' Screens

Making Students' Digital Interface Work: App Flashcards

Let's talk about getting on the important side - the "looked-at" side - of the students' devices.  

I offer suggestions that I used to make learning more attractive for my Saudi Digital Natives using Quizlet & other great apps.

This is a flipped presentation!!!

Please preview my Quick Quizlet Prezi below - four short (less than 3 minutes each) YouTubes introducing the app with step-by-step creation & a sample of lesson delivery. 

Also, here's my Tablet Technology for Teachers Prezi with a screenshot step-by-step of other tablet-mediated teaching tools, including Bluetooth, Google Keep, Merriam Webster Dictionary, SimpleDifferent Website Builder & Socrative. 

Link here for connection details:

Learning2Gether moderated by Vance Stevens

                                   & 

Find it streaming at Google+ Hangout on Air - WebHeads In Action

Thanks & see ya Sunday!!!

Tablets for Schools & the Educational App Store

Brilliant afternoon DigitalEnthusiasts!

In my exploration of the ​V​irtual ​W​orld​ & what's going on at schools out there with there tablets​, I have found a really dynamite website to check out:

www.tabletsforschools.org.uk

And, my what a promotional video they've got:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buXG6heAEDE

Wow, I'm excited! See what you think.

​And if you're really curious for their app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eas&hl=en

Thanks,

Ryan

Themes from Prince Sultan University Discussion: Control & Technology Introduction

Hello there my Friends & fellow Educators,

A kind teacher who joined us last week at Prince Sultan University ask me a question this morning:  

"How can I solve some educational problems with technology?"

Dynamite question!!!  

One of the issues that is common today is with the technology actually already being in the classroom & teachers not having any control over it or how it's being used.  

That is, mobile phones.  Students have them & are using them in class.  Even when they are banned by very well-meaning administrations or teachers, they still end up in class.  When confronted with this, I personally saw the mobile phone as a competitor for my students' attention.  I was extremely frustrated, as I am sure you are.

So, I faced two choices:   

• I could continue to compete with whomever (or, indeed, whatever!) is on the other end of the mobile phone & more attractive than my lesson & curriculum.

Or . . .

• I could embrace that mobile phone as some kind of mediator of the ideas & knowledge - the lessons & curriculum - I wanted to get into the students' minds.

I needed to get myself & lessons on the the right side of that interface that was glued to my students' faces.

Let me suggest some very beginning steps that helped me come to a more favorable relationship with the mobile in the classroom (whether we like it there or not).  As a communicative function & a sort of bonding exercise, I Bluetooth pair with each of the students in my class.  I do this in class as an exercise to show them that I am able to use technology & am not opposed to it being used in the classroom.  I do this at the beginning of the semester & it allows me an additional step to aid in memorizing student names & getting to know about them.  The step-by-step process of Bluetooth pairing is displayed visually in my presentation Tablet Technology for Teachers.  It is the very first planet on the of the solar system Prezi diagram.

Another thing I have found useful for building rapport & getting their mobiles/tablets on our side is setting up a WhatsApp group.  Initially, I had established these WhatsApp groups as a simple form of bonding & social networking.  Again, I wanted the students to know that I could use the technology & that it was useful in an educational environment - for posting assignments or sharing links to online research/media, for example.  

However, one hot Thursday afternoon I was having the worst of times attracting my students' attention.  Just formulating my philosophy on Digitally Interfacing Classrooms, I thought to myself, "I bet if I send them a question through the WhatsApp group, I'm more likely to get a personal & individual response from each student."  So, I sent a question regarding the lesson at hand & asked them to "thumb" me a response in grammatically & syntactically correct English before they could be released for the coming break.  As, the activity was in a digitally public forum (they could all see each others' WhatsApp messages in our "ENG101 - English Only" group), peer-to-peer criticism (constructive in the teasing way young men have with each others' errors) produced some excellent responses & helped me draw their attentions away from their Instagram or other chatting apps.  

I know these may be seen as experimental & possibly dangerous.  

Well, maybe that's where we are right now.  

Short of taking their phones away & provoking the "engage me or enrage me" response that Marc Prensky observes in Teaching Digital Natives, I am not going to win an outright battle with an iPhone 6 or Xperia Z3.  I'm just not that stimulating or attractive.  And if I won that battle by force & discipline, I'd be losing the students anyway - as they rebelliously fold their arms & glare menacingly at me from under their eyebrows.  That can be very intimidating, as I teach full-grown young men at an industrial vocational institution.

I believe, my dear friends, that the idea is to approach the technology as a potential friend, not an enemy.  That's all.  How can we make the existing & resident technology our friend & helper?

I hope some of this helps & I will continue to answer as many questions as I have stories for. 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to communicate my ideas & please send back other questions, answers or comments you have as well.

Thank you so much!

Ryan

Follow along with Prezi!

​Hey there SuperTeachers, Enthusiasts & Digianados,

You can follow along with me & my workshop if you clink on the links below:

Digitally Interfacing Classrooms

Tablet Technology for Teachers

And Hey,

I'd really love your feedback & comments - if you want more of what you see here, shoot me a question or comment & I'll get back to you ASAP.  I think it's mind-bendingly obvious that I've sort of warped this into a serious & magnificent obsession.

All your questions are welcome & please remember that the maxim for the Digital Age
is "Sharing is Power!"

Thanks a metric ton!

Ryan

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