:: Global Learning Technology Investment Patterns Ambient Insights regularly releases brief reports on learning technology industry, including this latest effort, International Learning Technology Investment Patterns, 2015. Interestingly, one-third of the record breaking investment in learning technology in the first half of 2015 was for China-based companies. More than one-half was for consumer-facing products and services.   Read more.  Designing Learning Spaces for the Mobile Era More attention needs to be paid to the design of spaces for learning. This article is a good place to start.   Read more.  Interview with Stanford’s John Hennessy  Useful Q-and-A with former Stanford President, John Hennessy. He rightly calls for more experimentation to drive improvements in online learning. He cites Carnegie Mellon University’s work as an example. Couldn’t agree more.   Read more.  Open University’s Open Science Lab Despite our close ties and shared histories we do a remarkably good job in North America of being ignorant of what’s going on in the UK. Case in point: Open University. For decades they have built and tested new ways to foster learning in the online environment. One of these efforts is the Open Science Laboratory - a set of 60+ online lab experiences for undergraduates.   Read more.  Rising Textbook Prices  Mark Perry provides some data on the rising cost of print textbooks. His example, taken from the University of Michigan-Flint, shows textbooks reaching the $400.00 level.   Read more.  MIT Considers it’s Next Move Washington Post reports that MIT, long in the vanguard of online education, is considering a for-profit venture.   Read more.  

Fernstone Retreat Each of us was given directions to the cabins located deep in rural Pennsylvania. We planned to spend three days, around-the-clock, hashing out plans for the new venture. It would be several weeks before we settled on a company name. Most of us had never met. We arrived from different cities, states, and even countries. Some came to the venture after working in a well-known R&D initiative at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. Others were former education publishing executives, still more came from academia. Programmers rounded out the remaining. Like many of our colleagues in higher education, we were dissatisfied with the current state of online learning. We wanted to show what was possible if you brought together the best of learning theory, provided educators with actionable information about what’s working and what isn’t, and made the long-awaited holy grail of personalization feasible and trustworthy. Reflecting our roots in Carnegie Mellon University, the foundation for this venture was science: the best approach would be backed by evidence of improved learning outcomes. Experience has shown all of us in higher ed that improving learning outcomes and increasing retention rates is difficult. If technology is going to a play a major role in helping those students that don’t succeed quickly or easily, we need to take course design seriously, and bring all of the capacity of the digital learning to bear. A Very Good Start It’s tough to launch a new business, no matter the field. Most new ventures don’t survive.  Very few get the funding they need to make a serious go of it against the big players. Worse still, higher education is an especially cautious sector and because of our particular approach, we needed to find colleges and universities that were just as ambitious as we were. We launched back in mid-2013. The team has grown since then. We’ve been lucky enough to work with more than 40 partner institutions including Western Governors University, the pioneer in what is now the very active space of competency-based education, and the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley  - one of the highest ranked MBA programs in the world. Earlier this year, we beat out 270 other organizations to win the Return on Education Innovation Award (ROE) at SXSW. And late last year we were the grateful recipients of the Next Generation Courseware Challenge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. If this good fortune wasn’t enough, this week we announced  9.75 million USD in funding from Draper Triangle Ventures, Hearst Ventures, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This seems, then, like the ideal time to stop and say thanks. First, thank you to Carnegie Mellon University and William Gutman, in particular, for providing such a solid foundation. But we also need to thank the colleges and universities that have chosen to work with us to explore the limits of what’s possible in online learning. Thanks.  

New paper published in issue 43 of eLearningPapers - Applied Games and Gamification - Drivers for Change:An Experiment to Assess Students’ Engagement in a Gamified Social Learning Environment This paper presents a research work conducted to address students’ disengagement by investigating if gamification can make a contribution to solving this problem. The disposition to experience flow, a psychological state, was used as a measurement of engagement. An experiment allowed testing a research hypothesis concerning flow in a gamified environment.co-authored with Sérgio Mateus, Rebeca Redondo a Ana Vilas.The overall purpose of the experiment was to test the hypothesis that a gamified version of a Social Learning Environment (SLE) causes in its users an increase in their disposition to experience flow (see this other post) than the non-gamified version. The disposition to experience flow was assessed by using a questionnaire based on the Portuguese version of the DFS-2.The experiment tested a group of subjects (a class of 3rd grade students) before and after the treatment (using the gamified version of the SLE). A pre-test, using the DFS-2, indicated how the subjects did prior to administration of the treatment condition and a post-test evaluated the subjects after the treatment. The effect was taken as the difference between the pre-test and the post-test scores.Although small, an increase in the students’ tendency to experience flow was observed, particularly in the flow dimensions related to flow outcomes.Issue 43 of eLearning Papers has two other gamification papers:To Game or not to Game - a pilot study on the use of gamification for team allocation in entrepreneurship education andWhat really works in gamification? Short answer: we don’t know, so let’s start thinking like experimenters

A public survey released by Deloitte (quoted by the Harvard Business Review here) more than half the executives surveyed said that their current performance management approach didn’t result in high performance or in increased employee engagement. Those surveyed are not alone - and the most recent announcement was that Accenture was getting rid of annual performance rankings and reviews. But wasn’t performance management - with all employees then rated on a bell curve - considered as a best practice for optimal organizational management? Let’s look at the drivers behind this new understanding of performance. Accenture has 330,000 employees - and managers spend thousands of hours on getting trained on performance management and following the practice. What’s behind this huge departure from tradition, and what does it mean for the future of performance management? Why say goodbye to performance management? This is what Deloitte’s people have to say about the move (Deloitte is piloting a new system, Accenture is abandoning it altogether): "They, and we, are in need of something nimbler, real-time, and more individualized—something squarely focused on fueling performance in the future rather than assessing it in the past… We’ve arrived at a very different and much simpler design for managing people’s performance. Its hallmarks are speed, agility, one-size-fits-one, and constant learning, and it’s underpinned by a new way of collecting reliable performance data." Performance management is time consuming: Counting the hours dedicated to the performance review process, to year-end assessments and to the consensus-building process of how employees are ranked against each other Deloitte found that creating the ratings consumed 2 million hours a year! Rating skills isn’t science nor art and ratings reflect very little truth: this is what Deloitte says about rating people in HBR: "The most comprehensive research on what ratings actually measure was conducted by Michael Mount, Steven Scullen, and Maynard Goff … Their study—in which 4,492 managers were rated on certain performance dimensions by two bosses, two peers, and two subordinates—revealed that 62% of the variance in the ratings could be accounted for by individual raters’ peculiarities of perception. Actual performance accounted for only 21% of the variance. This led the researchers to conclude … most of what is being measured by the ratings is the unique rating tendencies of the rater. Thus ratings reveal more about the rater than they do about the ratee." Perfromance management didn’t focus on people’s strengths and what made the best teams work best. Good teams were driven by intrinsic motivation. Most performance management ended up focusing on the past and not providing guidance for the future. So, what lies ahead for performance management? Most companies choosing to discontinue traditional performance management spoke about the need to provide timely feedback and abandon forced rankings altogether. According to research by CEB 6% of Fortune 500 companies have gotten rid of rankings, which used to be the golden rule for human resource management. Timely feedback: timely feedback is feedback that is timely enough to allow an employee to re-work what they are doing, instead of gazing at the past and regretting it. Mario Herger, a gamification guru, told me once that what he likes about gamification is that you can fail, get up and do it again. I think this is an important observation: just like in a real game you lose lives again and again till you figure out a certain level, good feedback is timely enough to let you fail, get up and fix your act. Gamification, in many senses, is just that since it tells you how you’re doing almost immediately, based on the actions you’ve performed in enterprise applications. Fair and transparent: performance management should be perceived as fair, transparent and objective. Again, looking to gamification, we can imagine a system where everyone is rated based on the same elements in the same way. A lot of the psychological distress and dis-engagement associated with a sense of unfairness can be avoided this way. It also helps the organization to better calibrate itself. Visibility: employees need to feel there is a connection between the performance expected of them and the needs of the business. They need to know how it all fits together. This is where companies like betterworks are changing performance management and where gamification, by communicating corporate goals, are attacking one of the weaknesses of traditional performance management. No rankings: Labelling people  by ranking them doesn’t create motivation - it creates a "fight or flight" response. Imagine an employee has gone overboard to perform, but the forced ranking system makes the employee end up ranked 4 out of 5. Imagine that employee performed at level 2 in the past. Ranking the employee 4 is then a disheartening experience. Rather than highlight that employee’s enormous improvement relative to himself, it highlight other employees, creating a sense of competition. We’ve written about this problem of forced rankings when we spoke about leaderboard mistakes to avoid. The experience of ignoring the employee’s accomplishments and drive and a forceful comparison to others will also cause a defensive reaction which will include the employee’s ignoring of feedback, undermining the entire performance review process. This avoidance of implicit competition and focus on intrinsic drives is also changing gamification, as we’re written here. Paying attention to growth: Additionally, focusing on performance rankings creates an atmosphere where employees are ranked on "fixed" characteristics such as talent or intelligence and not on how much they grew relative to themselves. This creates a deterministic atmosphere and results in a natural reaction by employees - distancing themselves emotionally from the performance review process. This excellent article describes the problem thus: "Kansas State University management professor Satoris Culbertson, who studied the response to more than 200 performance reviews, argues that the mere act of receiving a numerical rating can be perceived as negative feedback, and even people with a growth mind-set don’t react well to negative feedback". Focus on the future: The main driver cited by Accenture was the need to focus on the future and not provide feedback about the past. New performance management is focused on shorter term goals, rapid feedback cycles and on-going feedback, just like gamification - giving people the tools to grow instead of forcing them to focus on the past and on winner-takes-all competition. Performance management is changing - the dogma of forced ranking is cracking - and new technologies, such as gamification (but also many others), will become the performance management of the future. These technologies will win not as a result of sophistication or algorithms, but as a result of empathy and a design which is made to make people feel better, and help them obtain meaning, satisfaction and a sense of control and autonomy from the performance review process.      

Daily Rituals: How artists work - a book review by Mason Currey This fascinating book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work shares quick 5-10 paragraph stories of the rituals of over 161 creative artists. Writers, choreographers, and painters are included with perhaps a heavy leaning towards writers (just because I guess they write about it.) Today’s book review gives teachers who inspire creativity an arsenal of stories of the greats of history. Who will like Daily Rituals? While this is NOT necessarily a book for kids (Thomas Wolfe’s habits are a bit over the top, but then again, he was Thomas Wolfe.) This is definitely a book for literature teachers and those teaching students creativity. It is notable that not every artist had a ritual all of the time, but when they produced work, they most certainly did have one. For me, it has challenged me to find and develop my own rituals to help me be more creative. I was struck by how many of the highly creative artists walked. Dickens took a 3 hour walk through the streets or countryside starting promptly at 2pm every day or Tchaikovsky’s two hour walks each day when he was often known to scribble down ideas as he walked. It was also interesting to me how Agatha Christie balanced her home life and writing (flitting in and out of her family life and writing, she seems to have struck the ultimate balance of productivity and writing.) Of course, many artists had their share of addictions with alcohol and amphetamines being among the top habitual excesses. My Book Review of Daily Rituals Overall I found the book fascinating just because I write. This book is an enjoyable read, very fast paced, and sometimes I’m left wanting to know more about some of these artists but that is the intent of the book. Because the chapters are very short, you can also pick it up and put it down easily, so it would be perfect reading for your break or lunch. I do recommend reading this on ebook because I’ve already found myself going back and searching the text for stories and ebook searches are faster. This is one literature, art, dance, and music teachers will want to reference because storytelling is often a powerful underpinning of great teaching. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey is an intriguing book and I read every page. I’m keeping it on my Kindle as a reference book. The post Daily Rituals: How artists work - a book review [Book] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti @traceywilen cover an important topic: how do educators stay employed and relevant FOR LIFE. (Yes, I said for life.) Based upon her research, she has some things to share with all educators about the trends driving education and how we can stay relevant (and employed.) Who should listen to this show? Any educator who wants to stay employed until they are ready to retire. More than that, if you want to thrive, understanding the big picture trends is important because you can see where decision makers are spending the money. My favorite part of the show is when Tracey talks about Society 3.0 and how technology is shaping education. She also gives interesting insight into reasons behind the growth of online learning and online tutoring. (And how tutoring might be a great opportunity for many of us.) Her research into how students are actually learning is quite fascinating as well. (It’s not what you think.) She also gives advice to those who are dealing with an unexpected career change or setback based upon some new research on "how you get a job in a tough economy." Listen to the show Listen Now! Listen on iTunes "Staying Relevant, Staying Abreast, Staying Employed for Life" Add Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti to your PLN Twitter: @traceywilen Personal Blog: http://www.traceywilen.com/ Huffington Post Blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-tracey-wilendaugenti/ You’ll want to read her Huffington article: Don’t get Left Behind: How to Stay Employed in a Technology Based World on this topic. Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network. Every classroom matters because every child matters. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe. The post Secrets of Staying Employed for Life - Dr. Tracey Wilen Daugenti [EMC #25] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Steven Anderson @web20classroom discusses the job of a technology coach. ‘Technology isn’t about technology, technology is about people." Steven says so well. Who should listen to this show? This is a must listen for EVERY technology coach or for anyone in school who manages and helps cast the vision for what technology coaches should be and do. My favorite thing Steven shared in this show is how to help technology coaches help more teachers when there are just not enough technology coaches. I also love his ideas about doing a really good needs assessment with teaches when they don’t know what they don’t know and the Friday Institute’s Need Assessment (Creative Commons license) and how you can use it to help your teachers improve. Listen to the Show Listen Now! Listen on iTunes "Technology Coaches: Helping Teachers Find the Best Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom" Add Steven Anderson to your PLN Blog: http://blog.web20classroom.org/ Twitter: @web20classroom Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network. Every classroom matters because every child matters. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe. The post Being an awesome Technology Coach with Steven Anderson #ECM 52 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

If you have the iPhone 5s, you’ve probably figured out the camera is something pretty special. (As you can tell from the featured photo on this post.) The iPhone 5S has some cool new photography features but so does ios7. I’ve been doing some research to support the iphoneographers in my class and have turned up some interesting tips you might not know about the Photo App in iOS 7 and with the iPhone 5S. 11 Things You might Not Know about the iPhone Photography in iOS7 You can shoot in slo Mo You can hold down the shutter button and the iPhone will shoot at 10 frames per second (FPS) on the iPhone 5s online. It will then select the best one based on sharpness and clarity. The iphone 5s’ new A7 processor makes this possible. You can shoot square (for Instagram) or Panorama Apple (finally) included filters — there are just 8 of them but they are pretty frequent ones for most of us who use them. (But these don’t work on the videos or panorama.) HDR is just for Photo and Square mode. The collections feature that organizes by date, time, and event is SWEET You can see videos and panoramas separately from photos and all kinds of organization features are available. You can have a shared stream with someone (put it on your Apple TV and curate it to have a current stream of pics from your classroom although on Apple Forums there are some issues with screensavers being reported.) Don’t forget that you can swipe up from the Bottom of the screen to start the camera Grid went away but you can get it back. Go into Camera > Photos & Camera > On/Off for "Grid" under the Camera Section You can zoom in while recording a video in iOS 7 (just pinch or spread out to zoom in or out.) I upgraded from the iPhone 4 to the 5S and it was a huge improvement for me, although I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had a problem. If you need a good camera, it is totally worth the upgrade because the photos I take are as good as the tiny digital camera I used to carry around about 5 years a go. iPhone photography definitely got an upgrade. (Just consider upgrading your hard drive space if you are getting it for pics and video.) You have to go into settings to turn on the iphone grid feature. I love the grid but hate that this is hidden away. This is one of the only things I don’t care for because most of it is really awesome. The post 11 Cool iPhone Photography Tips appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Last week, Dave Burgess @burgessdave opened our Gamifi-ed OOC with a video keynote about igniting passion and teaching. It is no secret that Teach Like a PIRATE is one of my all time favorite teaching books and Dave is the real deal. Take time to listen to watch Dave Burgess’ video - Dave gets going around minute 4 or so after the intros. (Listen to his 10 minute Every Classroom Matters interview.) Go to Gamifi-ed YouTube Teaching and Elements of Gaming He related his teaching methods to gaming and elements of gaming. I love what he shares about labeling yourself a certain "style" of teacher (and not to do that.) "When you see something that is engaging large numbers of people, so you should relentlessly pursue using that in your classroom." How can we add elements to the classroom: anything that works and gamification is one of those things. The Lunar Landing Description is EPIC If you want to see what an epic, exciting teacher looks like - forward to around minute 25 to almost 30 to see Dave share how he teaches about the Lunar Landing. Wow. I’m ready to go back to school and teach. Your Class Gets Popular and You Become Less Popular with Some Teachers And my friend, Dave Burgess, I could come through that computer and hug yo for what you said happens when your class gets wildly popular and how much grief you get. (Around minute 32 or so.) I so needed that because it is so true. If you want to rock your classroom, LISTEN to what he says. Authentic Assessment and why Students (and Parents Fight it) Around 42 minutes, the conversation turns to Authentic Assessment and Dave says some things that every educator should hear and discuss. Take time to talk about authentic assessments. He’s dead on.   All of these videos are OER (Open Education Resources) for you to use in your courses, blogs, and anywhere. Remix. Reuse. Share.   The post Dave Burgess Video: Passion and Teaching #gamifi-ed [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Dana Dunnan @DanaDunnan gives advice to new teachers based upon his 26 years of teaching in US public education. He has a new book Notes to a New Teacher but I also loved watching the video about his work and cool science projects. Who should listen to his show? New teachers should definitely listen, but I think all teachers will be interested - particularly if you’re a teacher who may be struggling with staying positive about teaching. Dana talks about impactful teachers with an incredible viewpoint. He talks about a "subversive activity" done with his journalism course that had surprising results about who was actually the best teacher in the school. Listen to the Show Listen to the Show on ITunes "New Teachers: Three Things They Didn’t Teach You in Education School" Add Dana Dunnan to your PLN Dana’s Website: http://chalkdustmemories.com/ Twitter: @DanaDunnan Dana’s Books Notes to a New Teacher ($1.99 on Kindle) Chalkdust Memories ($.99 on Kindle) You’ll also want to view his video about cool science projects. Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network. Every classroom matters because every child matters. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe. The post 3 Things You Didn’t Learn in Ed School with Dana Dunnan #ECM 53 appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Here we have two students, Drakkart @Drakkart (an adult minecraft gamer and YouTuber from Germany) and some parents in a Google hangout talking about Minecraft and why it is so special. This past Saturday, we had an awesome conversation. We spend too much time talking about kids and not enough time talking with them. So, in this session of the Gamifi-ed Open Online Community (OOC) we talk Minecraft. Why is Minecraft special? Is it a good game for kids to play? How does it work? Why do kids like it so much? Why do adults play it too? How can it be used in education? As I listened to Drakkart and the kids talk, I finally "got" Minecraft and started to understand its attraction. I also can now see ways that we can use it in my classroom both as "plain vanilla" players and in learning to code (see last week’s article on how my son is learning Java as he mods Minecraft from Youth Digital.) Gaming is something we can use, if we learn how. So, let’s learn. What is Minecraft? A Video Explanation for Parents & Adults Who Don’t Get It Drakkart also made a trailer to share with educators and parents to help them understand the appeal of the game. If your child (or grandchild) plays Minecraft. Before you take the approach of saying "no" before you check into it, take time to listen and realize that this game is a far cry from Call of Duty or other games that they could be playing instead. And join in on upcoming events on the OOC. We have Colin Osterhout helping us begin playing Minecraft and panels on gaming in higher ed and early childhood and more coming. Lots of gaming goodness. Again, we’re not investigating gaming because we’re experts, but because we want to learn more as we talk to the experts and sharing it all with you. Feel free to join in and share what you know about gaming to #gamifi-ed. Hats off to Verena Roberts for the stellar job she’s doing organizing the OOC. The post What is Minecraft? Should kids play it? [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Make your own trailer or rap with Cinebeat (on Ios) called Autorap on Google Play. Some of you teachers are going to be all over this one. In the show this week Leo LaPorte on a recent episode of iPad Today went on and on about Smule and all of the music apps they have. This cute app has you record 15 seconds of video from 3 different angles to make a video. It will mash it up to make a cool video. There are filters that they have for free and others for charge. (They are giving one away today for free.) Download on iTunes Download on Google Play You could do all kinds of things with this app but I could see using it for funny announcements, reminders, or a trailer for your class. (Free on iTunes and Google Play) Cinebeat will guide you through recording 15 seconds of video from 3 angles. This is great for funny reminders or class trailers about an event. It is fast and cute. Will you share a link to what you do in the comments below? The post APP REVIEW: Cinebeat App (by Smule) appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Do you need to screencast but you’re not sure how to start? Let’s solve that problem right now. There’s a simple tool that works on any PC or computer with a web browser. Java has to be enabled for it to run.  Screencast-o-matic  is free and easy. Let’s talk about how it can be used in your classroom to easily record screencasts. Step 1: Pick a Computer and Play Screencast-o-matic can be used on any computer. Go to the website and click Start Recording and just test it out. Before you set up, make sure that you can run the program on your computer. Just play. Microsoft Surface for Me My favorite screencasting computer is my Microsoft Surface Pro. It  is the best laptop I’ve ever had. (And no, I’m not sponsored by Microsoft.) I always have it open and on my desk.  I take the keyboard off and lay it on my desk and run screencastomatic. It is also great because we have PC’s in my classroom and I want the screen to look familiar. Touch Screen is Great But Not Required If you don’t have a Microsoft Surface, don’t worry, just use your screen on any computer to record what is happening and talk into the microphone. Touch screen is nice because you can write on the screen more easily than using your mouse but it isn’t required. (Remember that if you’re on an ipad you’ll want to use something like Explain Everything or another app, but we’re talking computers today.) Why I Use Screencast-o-matic While I’ve used lots of apps for Screencasting, my go-to now is Screencast-o-matic just because I can have it on any computer anywhere (it uses Java.) (I also don’t have it in my budget purchase Camtasia right now.) Just go to Screencast-o-matic and click "start recording." Do check your microphone. If you’re nervous, watch their videos because they walk you right through it. Step 2: Plan Your Points (One Note) One Note for Planning and Writing When I am recording a review video for my class, I like to open up One Note with a tab for each thing I need to cover and then turn on Screencast-o-matic. Using a pen, I draw on the One Note tabs and then I have a video and drawings in One Note that I can share with my students. (See below for a review of microprocessors.) Other options If you want to draw and have touch screen, you can use anything that you can draw in - Paint - or even PowerPoint slides and turn on the pen feature. Just make sure you’re recording and test before you start. If You Don’t Have a Touch Screen If you don’t have a touch screen, go ahead and get your drawings ready, or you can draw with your mouse with a bit of practice. (I was never very good at it.) You can also just have PowerPoint slides ready and talk through them. There are so many options - but go EASY with something you already know how to use. Step 3: Record and Share Typically, I record AFTER I’ve taught the lesson because it is fresh on my mind. It is rare that I have to edit these at all. Screencast-o-matic Pro gives you some editing features, but if it is short, you may not have to edit at all. (I rarely do.) The free version has 15 minutes per upload (scroll down to see features), lets you record from your screen AND a webcam. You can publish to YouTube or 3 other major formats that you can upload or put somewhere else (like in your Dropbox.) When you finish, it will ask you how you want to share. You can also upload to screencast-o-matic and email out the link. For Every Classroom, Not Just for Flipped Classrooms I don’t flip my classroom. We’re in rural Georgia and far too few of my students have high speed internet at home. It just wouldn’t be fair or practical. Augmenting your my classroom teaching with videos is a good idea because it helps you reach every child. Not every student remembers or learns the same way. Give them videos to help them review.  (Eventually every textbook should include helpful screencasts you can use for this.) When you record a review video, you give them a way to learn it again and in a different way. I made the video above and embedded it on the wiki page for review before we had our test. Students may have missed other things, but I had only one who missed anything about the configuration of processors. Tools Used: Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet (I have version 1) Microsoft One Note (comes free on the Surface) Screecast-o-matic Pro (The free version just has a Screencastomatic logo in the corner. You can get 3 years of pro for $29) A generic stylus YouTube Account (there are other options besides YouTube if it is blocked for you.) We should all know how to screencast Here’s the thing about screencasts. Once you record one, you have it! Play with screencast-o-matic free and you can even put the video in other places besides YouTube. The post How to Screencast in 3 Simple Steps appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

While I did enjoy David Burgess’Teach Like a Pirate, and the hangout he  shared with us, I’ll admit… it made me kind of sad.  Not because of the content itself!  But because of the hard memories it brought up.  I used to teach creatively and encourage innovation in my classroom like that. When I graduated college, I was chock full of ideas and adored hands-on learning.  But my communication skills with parents was very weak and my administrator was a frustrated man who decided his best way of control was micromanaging.  It’s a bit of a long story, but the end result is I was knocked down to stop being creative; to just follow the curriculum and to push worksheets. When I read books like Burgess’, I’m first angry because it validates that I was correct, but too inexperienced to take a proper stand; and then I’m sad because of what I have lost.  I am appreciating these types of classes, and having built a PLN, because I’m slowly coming back to the teacher I once was, but even better because I have more experience and wisdom now. Mrs. Pickrell’s Technology Adventure (Alaska: #etlead class with Dr. Lee Graham, February 17, 2014) The post Getting Back to the Right Way to Teach [Quote] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Gamification in many parts of education is a sham. Listening to the researchers and experts in this area has convinced me of that. If you’re interested in making your classroom more intriguing and powerful, read on. We can do better. Who Is Shaping The Gamifying Education Conversation? In this week’s conversation with Australian Gamer and researcher Lauren Ferro we all went on a bit of a rant about the ridiculous state of badges in education. Teacher Alice Keeler uses games all the time (and doesn’t give grades). Sixth grade teacher Michael Matera reinvented his whole sixth grade classroom as a Games Based classroom and shares how he did it. A Higher Ed Panel had a powerful conversation for why we need games in highered.  (Jackie Gerstein, Beth Ritter-Guth, Alice Keeler, Lauren Ferro and Lee Graham) Colin Osterhout shares how to do Minecraft for beginners if you want to start. Pete Rorabaugh inventor of Twitters vs. Zombies talks about how these principles can be applied to your HigherEd or High School Class. Two kids talk with Drakkart from Germany to help parents teachers understand why Minecraft is so cool to kids. Raymond Yan from DigiPen University talks about how to teach kids to program. Dave Burgess challenges us to bring passion back into our teaching. Kyle Gomboy shares the potential of Unity 3D for creating virtual worlds that can be accessed from any device. The organizers of Gamifi-ed talk about what on earth this thing is. All of these are YouTube videos that have been recorded over the past week and a half as part of the Open Online Community (called an OOC) focusing on games in education. This material is being created as Open Education Resources (OERs) which means you have permission to use, remix, and reshare in any way for educational purposes. What I love most about these recordings is that real teachers, researchers, and practioners are in each session discussing gaming. I have 3 take aways from the learning so far: #1: The Way We’re Doing Many Badges In Education Is A Joke Are we giving badges for taking up space? I was in sessions in an online conference where attendees were more upset about not having received a badge for the previous session than in listening to the amazing presenter who was sharing. To me, badges imply having DONE SOMETHING. Give them a badge when they reflect or add to the conversation, for goodness sakes. Honestly, I could log into a session and go outside and play with Wag the dog and then get a badge for having attended. Doesn’t this run contrary to what we’re trying to do? But as we continue through one of the most powerful learning experiences I’ve ever joined with the Gamifi-ed OOC one thing is clear: We can’t slap points and badges on it and claim we’ve gamified it. There are many more levels to gamification than that. There are two different pieces of gamification that I think are the most important to get your hands around. Game Mechanics should be considered as we discuss gamifying education. See: http://gamification.org/wiki/Game_Mechanics #2: Understand Game Mechanics So You Can Gamify Your Classroom The first is Game Mechanics.  There are 24 of them and they are all important. Take time to go through the Game Mechanics | Gamification.org page and start understanding the things that can make a game. (Hat tip to Raymond Yan  for stressing this point in his session.) We had an incredible conversation about gaming in school as my students told me that really the "Free Lunch" is cheating in school and adds an element of gaming to school for some kids. (I’m still wrapping my head around that comment.) The Bartle Test is used in planning and appealing to all players of a game. Are we going to let the semantics of having a "killer" player type keep us from effectively applying gaming in the classroom? See: http://gamification.org/wiki/Personality_Types #3: Understand Bartle’s Taxonomy of Player Types and Design so You can Reach All of Them Lauren Ferro brought up Bartle’s Taxonomy of player types. There are four of them: Achiever, Socializer, Explorer, and Killer. (There are Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology you can take to see which you are.) Recommended Reading: Bartle’s Taxonomy of Player Types (And Why It Doesn’t Apply to Everything) - Tuts+ Game Development Article In Lauren’s session we had a bit of a conversation about the term "Killer" player type in that it doesn’t really mean someone who kills (a horribly negative connotation for sure) but rather, a person who thrives on combat and building or destroying in the game. They love to pit their skills against others. So, yesterday as we were talking about this in class, a student came out off the chart on the killer player type and nonexistent on achievement. For this student grades are simply not important and as we discussed the meaning of all of this in just a cursory way (because Bartles is not a diagnostic tool and I’m just learning) it gave me some interesting insights into what makes him tick that I never knew. In fact, it may have been a breakthrough moment. Games, as we’re learning in our gamifi-ed work, have so much potential for helping us teach. I’ve found through this course, that you can gamify, make things fun, and use games to teach. My son just asked me a question about variables and has already learned why spelling things correctly is so important. Games have a place in our toolkit. We Need To Get Better At Gamification Gamification and gaming is not a joke. There is some incredible potential here. But gimmicks, adding a count down, and some badges is so missing the point here. Education and the games we play here should mean something. It should represent REAL achievement and accomplishment. We should level up in legitimate ways that represent real achievement and meaning. We should learn how to use gaming elements to make education and learning more sticky and exciting. Gamifi-ed has become one of the most transformational experiences in my own learning journey as we wrestle with learning about something that needs more attention. Hope you’ll join us. Today we have a panel on gamification in early childhood and the primary years. The post Gamifying Education: Do We Really Know How to Gamify the Classroom? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Students are asking to proof each other’s work and teaching themselves how to screencast. They are learning how to do new things, earning experience points, and excited about learning. When Michael Matera @mrmatera decided to divide his classroom into houses, guilds, experience points, and badges in a competitive gamified environment, he had no idea what would happen. But he loves it and it shows. If you want to know how Michael did it, watch this video where Michael transparently shares how he did it and what it is like. He addresses issues some have as a concern in terms of rankings (his don’t relate to grades) and how he assesses. It is so mind blowing, I’m going to have to rewatch. If you want to understand the leading bleeding edge of gamifying the classroom, this is  a must watch video. Gamifi-ed OOC is classroom changing, join us. The post Michael Matera Gamifies Sixth Grade [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

To help your classroom be engaging and fun, you have to be a lead learner. Here’s an assortment of classroom ideas that will get you trying something new. Set a goal to try something new THIS WEEK. Try something new if only to keep you from becoming a stressed, boring minion (see cartoon.) Leveling Up Learning always starts with the lead learner — YOU!  (And for your laugh of the day — enjoy the cartoon: If Teachers Were Minions…) Classroom Idea #1. Publish a Book: Classroom Authors or DIY Classroom Authors"Students from all over the world can collaborate in their classrooms and at home to create and publish books using Classroom Authors web based publishing application."Very cool website — this from the publisher "Our software was developed working with Colombia University Teacher’s College and over 40 classrooms with the purpose of engaging students in the writing process through collaborative book publishing."This looks to be a very cool website and another way to have students publish books and have an authentic audience. tags: education news writing bestpractices  5 Free Easy Ways to Publish eBooks - AJ Juliani shares how you can do it yourself publish ebooks with your students. Classroom Idea #2. Have Students Create Interactive Images: ThingLink Make Your Images Interactive - ThingLink Thinklink has made some upgrades for teachers. There is an improved student sign up, the ability to organize students by class. You can create image "channels" and interactive albums and you can have a more safe way to find images and use them.Students can log in with Google plus (enable it if you have student apps for education. You’ll want to apply for ThingLink Education status which means that you can set students up without emails and as as "profile-less profile" (COPPA Compliant.)For safe status, if students are logged in, they can only see images created by other students, teachers, or created by thinglink staff. Also, if they use Google Video safe search they put the maximum limits on it.I recorded a session on my podcast this week about UDL and Beth Ritter-Guth highly recommends Thinglink to use with students.tags: education news app bestpractices all_teachers udl Classroom Idea #3. Create Flashcards with Your Friends: CardKiwi CardKiwi | Create flashcards together with your friends and save a ton of time ! Lots of kids share flashcards for studying, here’s another way to create the cards but to do it TOGETHER. Cool. tags: education news flashcards memorization edu_newapp Classroom Idea #4. Make Graph Paper inside Excel Turn an Excel sheet into graph paper - TechRepublic You can put graph paper on an Excel sheet. This is useful for those of you wanting to type numbers in and have the students graph the work. It is also useful for math corrections or any other time you might need graph paper with a little different size than you buy in the store. Here’s how. It might save some of you some time. .tags: education news graphing math excel trick all_teachers Classroom Idea #5. Find deals and freebie Kindle eBooks This one is probably more for you, but you can put watches on your favorite children’s authors, etc. if you want to download or get deals on their books to share with your classroom. eReaderIQ | The Easier, Faster, Smarter Way to Kindle!This website tracks deals and freebies for Kindle books. You can also upload your Wish list and it will tell you when the price drops or it goes free. It is really one of the easiest websites for tracking and finding good reading deals (that are worth your time.) Very cool site.tags: news education ebook Classroom Idea #6. Learn How to Make a Screencast How to Screencast in 3 Simple Steps. Using screencastomatic, you can make your first, simple, free screencast. It isn’t hard and you don’t need a lot of fancy, expensive software. Classroom Idea #7: Learn How To Turn Your Google Search Box Into a Timer Turn Your Google SearchBox into a Timer. Yep, just type Timer: 5 minutes and Google starts counting down. Here’s a 30 second video to help you see how. Classroom Idea #8: Find Something Else Cool IF none of these interest you, try these other resource and idea lists. 89 cool apps, sites, and tools for the classroom 89 lesson plans and ideas for teaching math 62 Ideas, Lessons and Humor for English Teachers I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand is in what direction we are moving. What direction are you moving in your classroom? A little poem to get you started Yes, you have a curriculum and things to do, but try to bring in something new. Excite your students, wow your friends, show kids that learning never ends. You’re not too old, you’re not a dud, take the time to help learning bud. Life is short, but a teacher’s influence is long, when you’re always learning you can’t go wrong! LEARN SOMETHING NEW TODAY! The post 8 Great Classroom Ideas To Level Up Learning appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Bev Berns @B_Berns (Iowa), Kim Powell (Michigan) @powell4thgrade live and work in different states supporting their teachers. That has not stopped them from connecting and creating projects for teachers everywhere (including theirs). In fact, I believe that they are redefining what regional support staff should be doing: Making connection opportunities for their teachers. Upcoming projects include Weather Wonders in March and Service Learning in April. (February is Book Trailer Month, cool.) Who should listen to Kim and Bev’s story? If you’re an IT integrator or District/ Region / State technology support staff, you should listen to this show. If you’re a teacher looking for cool new projects, you should also listen as they have great ideas for math, history, and literature projects. My favorite part of the show was when they talked through their plans for the whole year. While it is February now and some of these projects are past, it is not too late to get in on some of their very cool end of year projects.  6 Connected Classrooms Project Ideas in Practice: Mystery Skype. If you want to plan Mystery Skype, you’ll want to see their Mystery Skype overview and their overview for K-2 teachers. Blogging. Here’s how they got classrooms Blogging and writing Community of Writers (Blogging) Project (They used Kidblog and linked to Pernille Ripp’s Kidblog Tutorial.) Math. Math teachers should watch their video story problem channel to use with their kids (with Ben Rimes). This is fantastic for math teachers - there are 195 video story problems to use! (See how they did it and the Common Core Standards met. This is a great example of how you can join with what others are doing.) Book Video Trailers. Right now, they are creating Book Trailers with their students and YOU CAN STILL JOIN IN! (Free and yes, aligned to Common Core Literacy Standards.) Weather Wonders. (Coming Soon) Connect to Weather Experts. Service Learning (April) Learn More: http://connectedclassroomsprojects.wikispaces.com/home Listen to Every Classroom Matters Episode 21 : Bev Berns and Kim Powell Listen Now! Listen on iTunes "Connected Classrooms: Bringing the World To Your Students" Add Bev Berns and Kim Powell to your PLN Bev Berns Twitter: @B_Berns Website: http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/en/school_technology/tech_in_the_classroom/ Kim Powell Twitter: @powell4thgrade Website: http://kimberlypowell.org/ Link to their projects: http://connectedclassroomsprojects.wikispaces.com/ You should take time to look at these projects as you consider how you’ll connect your classroom.  (and if this is your thing and you want to know how to do it yourself, consider picking up Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds). Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network dedicated to excellent education. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe.  Learn to Plan Your Own Global Projects The post 6 Ideas for Connected Classrooms appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Note to My Blog Readers: I am now writing a weekly column for some local newspapers in my area. Two weeks after I post the article, I’m going to be running them on my blog so I can archive and share them further. If you want to know more about this column, check out my newspaper page. This will be one general interest technology column a week, but I’ll have a few extras I have to post to catch up with what I’ve already shared. As I post these columns, they will appear on my Newspaper Archive page. It won’t take away from the main mission of this blog in that many of you will (hopefully) use these technology tips to improve your lives and help people see the usefulness technology can have when used well. From now on, I’ll just disclose this at the bottom of the post. If you think your local newspaper might be interested, let me know. 4 Money Saving Apps Let’s start our technology tip series with some free apps available on all types of smartphones that can save you money. Money Saving App #1 RED LASER Website: http://redlaser.com Red Laser is an app for your smartphone that lets you scan the barcode on a product and it looks up prices for that product on the Internet. When we were traveling to Atlanta last year, we stopped at Tanger and my daughter found THE dress for Homecoming. THE only problem was THE pricetag was over THE top. So, I told her to hold on as I scanned the pricetag on my iphone and found that I could get the SAME dress for over $150 less than the one I was holding in my hand. I ordered it while standing there and it was in the mailbox at home before we got back from our trip. Now that is THE sort of thing that smartphones should do for us. I recommend using Red Laser for more expensive items, even if just to make sure you’re getting a fair price. Don’t forget shipping! Many online sites charge shipping so unless the price difference is more than it would cost to ship, it is often best to buy where you are. Remember also that sometimes stores will price match if they are way off if you ask kindly. Red Laser Tip: Some stores are putting their own barcodes over the manufacturer’s so you should look for the original barcode by the manufacturer. Gas Buddy is an excellent site for finding deals on gas, particularly in more urban areas or along interstates. APPS TO FIND CHEAP GAS Money Saving App #2 Gas Buddy http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasBuddyMobileApps.asp Road Ninja helps you really scout out exits. Money Saving App #3 Road Ninja http://www.roadninja.com While sometimes these apps aren’t as accurate in small towns, they are a must-use for traveling. These apps will help you find the cheapest gas. Sometimes an extra half a mile off the Interstate can save you money. If you find the app is off, you can usually report the correct gas prices. The Grocery IQ app is my go-to app, especially because my family can share lists AND because I can click the microphone and dictate my grocery list into it. Money Saving App #4: GROCERY IQ Grocery IQ: http://www.groceryiq.com You can make (and share) lists using Grocery IQ, but it will also find coupons for what you’re buying. Tip: print out the coupons before you leave home because some stores don’t take coupons on smartphones. WHAT APPS CAN’T GET YOU Unique needs, personal attention, fast help - these are all things you only get from shopping locally. I like to buy wedding gifts locally, for example, because local stores are very kind about exchanging and making sure that new couples are able to mix and match and get what they need. Technology can improve your life but it is only as smart as the person using the app. Thanks to Carl Stokes for asking me to help us all use technology in better ways. Let me hear from you if you have questions. Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher is a full time teacher and author of the award winning Cool Cat Teacher Blog and the upcoming book Reinventing Writing. This newspaper column first appeared in the Camilla Enterprise and Pelham Journal in January 2014 with permission from Vicki Davis. All rights reserved, Vicki Davis. The post 4 Money Saving Apps appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

There are 3,673 of them hidden within 30 miles of Pelham and at least 2,015 hidden within 30 miles of Camilla. They are on the river, they are hidden beside the road, one is even hidden near Debbie’s Restaurant, but unless you know how to find them, you’ll never know they are there. Geocaching is a new outdoor hobby that combines technology and nature. Using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology, caches are being hidden everywhere. Think of it like a world wide treasure hunt. How to find a cache The most popular geocaching website is geocaching.com but there are more including earthcache.org (promoting earth science education), terracaching.com (with challenging caches) and GPSgames.org (a gaming site with GPS games like Geodashing, GeoGolf and even GeoPoker.) Just enter your zip code and you’ll find clues and GPS coordinates for where caches are hidden. Enter these coordinates in your GPS receiver and you’re off to find your hidden object. Most Geocaches include a log book and other items. If you take an item, you must leave one of your own. Here, you can see someone has used an airtight plastic container. What is in a Geo cache? There are many kinds of caches, here are a few of the most popular. Traditional Geo Cache The Traditional Cache is usually a watertight container with a logbook in it where people who have found the cache log their usernames from the site they are using. (Don’t use your real name.) Sometimes people will leave an item that represents them and take one. Never take anything unless you leave something. Multi-cache The Multi-cache involves two or more locations where the first locations have a physical clue to the next location. The final location includes a physical container. Geocaching has been used for quite some time in educator as a way to teach latitude and longitude as well as to engage students who learn better in nature. Map skills and so much more can be taught with geocaching. Puzzle Cache A Mystery or Puzzle Caches require you to solve a puzzle of some kind. Often the cache is NOT at the posted coordinates but is within a couple of miles with the latitude and longitude based upon the puzzle that you solve. The Event Cache Event Caches are hidden for events where people are searching for a prize. Used to promote events and festivals, these caches are removed after the event. Caches can come in any size container - as long as they are airtight, keep your eyes open, you never know! Who takes care of caches? Geocachers have a creed http://j.mp/geo-creed) which includes not endangering others, observing laws, respecting property rights, and minimizing the impact on the environment. No one has permission to place a cache on your land without permission. Each cache is placed and registered by a person who becomes the "owner." If someone goes to a site and something is amiss, they report it on the geocaching website and that site reports it to the owner. If the owner doesn’t respond or take care of it, the cache can be de-listed. Each site has its own ownership rules. Some organizations place caches to promote ecotourism. Others just love the outdoors and like to encourage people to see beautiful spots that are special to them. A safety note: I advise buying a receiver since the cell phone service in South Georgia is often as reliable as a chocolate teapot. (See http://j.mp/gps-receiver) Why would someone geocache? People geocache for many different reasons: to get into nature, to live a healthier lifestyle, or just for fun. As a beautiful area with lots of natural resources, geocaching is a fantastic way to encourage people to come to our community and to get our own children and families out into nature. —- Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher is a full time teacher and author of the award winning Cool Cat Teacher Blog and the upcoming book Reinventing Writing. This article first appeared in the Camilla Enterprise and Pelham Journal in January 2014. For information on having this and other articles in your paper or to see other columns, visit the newspaper column page on this blog. This column has been edited for the web. The post Geocaching : How To Use Technology To Get Into Nature appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

A Guidebook For Social Media in the Classroom Edutopia February 27, 2014 The purpose of the Social Media Guidebook that I wrote for Edutopia is fourfold: To help educators understand why social media writing styles are appropriate for teaching in schools To help educators understand the difference between using social media and socializing To help educators understand ways you can use this form of writing without having kids on popular social media sites To demonstrate using 12 examples of how popular social media sites are being used in classrooms of all ages in successful ways with hyperlinks.   The post A Guidebook For Social Media in the Classroom [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

AdvancED Wyoming: Slides, Free Internet Safety Poster, Free Chapter AdvancED Wyoming Conference March 3, 2014 Today in Wyoming was incredible. Such wonderful educators working hard to do the right thing (and I saw the best speech I’ve ever seen given by a state administrator bar none. Wow.) If you want to see the slides I shared on 12 Habits of a successful 21st Century Educator, 7 Steps to Connect Your Classroom, or Technology Driven Differentiated Instruction, they are all there. Plus.. I put a link to my free Internet Safety Poster and to download Chapter 1 of Flattening Classrooms. I thought all of you might benefit from those freebies or slides, so enjoy. The post AdvancED Wyoming: Slides, Free Internet Safety Poster, Free Chapter [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Karen Stadler @ICT_Integrator , from South Africa, is an educator on a mission to save the rhino. The Traveling Rhino Project creates awareness one child at a time. She was in a local reserve in South Africa when she took a picture of five rhinos. The photo has haunted her as she realized that four or perhaps all five of these rhinos are now dead, killed senselessly  because people mistakenly think their horns will cure hangovers and cancer. These five rhinos now have names and travel the world.And yet, Karen has combined her love for these beautiful creatures and her love of children to mobilize and create awareness about this problem in a way that is respectful and appropriate for children and gets their parents talking. Save the Rhino by joining the Traveling Rhinos Project Karen literally has 5 rhinos traveling  the world. If you like Flat Stanley, sign up to host a traveling rhino at your school. I’ve had several elementary teachers say this is the best project they’ve done. Listen to this show Listen to the show on iTunes "The Rhino Project: Teaching Social Consciousness" Learn about Traveling Rhinos The five traveling rhinos travel the world creating awareness about saving rhinos, one child at a time. Sign up to have one of them travel your way. (You may have to wait until the next school year, so sign up now.) Add Karen to your PLN Karen Stadler Blog: http://karenstadler.wordpress.comTwitter: @ICT_Integrator Project: http://saveourrhinos.wikispaces.com Below is a video Karen made about the project to help you understand why it is so important. Here is another example of a teacher changing the world one child at a time. She’s running a great project as part of her job as IT Integrator that is helping her students and making our world a better place. But here’s the thing and the reason we should be sharing the project — IT ISN’T JUST ABOUT THE CUTE RHINOS nor is it just about white rhinos. It is about suffering animals who are having their horns taken with the mistaken understanding that the horns can cure hangovers and cure cancer with neither proven by research. These animals are having their horns cut and left to die and they don’t have time to waste. Let’s turn this into a movement to protect and help these creatures.Please tell everyone you know to join Karen and her traveling Rhino project. Time is running out. Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network. Every classroom matters because every child matters. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe. The post Save the Rhino: Join Karen Stadler and The Traveling Rhino Project appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

As long as we talk about reaching every child - it is someone else’s problem. Instead what we should each be asking ourselves is how to reach that child right in front of us. Then we reach the child sitting beside her, and then, new one who just enrolled. We must focus on the living breathing children in our eyesight not just looking at the numbers on a page. Reaching every child should be what we do. It is in the educator’s DNA. This is not someone else’s problem it is the problem of everyone who claims to be an educator. I’ll be attending the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai next week. The organizers asked me to share my thoughts on reaching every child. This is not an easy topic but one each of us must consider in our daily lives as teachers. They Are Everywhere Wherever you work or are located, this is your problem because there are unreached kids everywhere. They surround us. You can make a child put their body into a seat in a schoolhouse, but they are the only one who can truly bring their entire being to school. It is a conscious internal decision to become educated because education is not something given. You can’t give a child an education. Education is always earned. You can give the opportunity to be educated but you can’t force someone to be educated. Becoming well educated is a decision to make the best of the educational opportunity presented. (Yes, there are far too many who have no opportunity to be educated as well.) The Global Education & Skills Forum in Dubai next week will tackle conversations about reaching every child. Educators Who Care, Share Best Practices Engaging Every Child Matters. So, as we meet and discuss this most important issue, we’ll need to talk about engagement and effective use of technology (my forte) but we’ll also need to discuss the responsibility that each of us have to share the best practices we discover in our classrooms, outside our classroom walls. There are some of us who are experts at helping students make the most of the educational opportunities they have. Every Child Having Educational Opportunities Matters. Some of you specialize in providing educational opportunities to those who have not had them. You have best practices too that need to be shared. Because lack of educational opportunities often means a complete lack of hope. More opportunities must be given to all students of all races and genders worldwide. Reaching Everyone: Intergenerational Learning I’m a teacher in a tiny rural private school in South Georgia United States. Many of the farmer’s kids I teach don’t have high speed internet and computers. Yet, as we learn and work together, I’ve taught them that we have an obligation to share that learning with the world. Right now, my ninth graders are compiling an Encyclopedia of Learning Games using evaluation rubrics developed by Dr. Lee Graham’s graduate students at the University of Alaska Southeast. They are learning web design, programming, and game design principles as they engage in a project to help more teachers find more free engaging, high quality games to teach kids in their classroom. (See http://gamifi-ed.wikispaces.com  for our work in progress and join us if you want to.) This work has run alongside an OOC (Open Online Community) studying gaming in education run by Dr. Verena Roberts and includes a component where students create a serious game in Minecraft with Colin Osterhout. We were discussing just this week that really we’ve created an Intergenerational Online Learning Community that is as powerful as anything that we have experienced. We’re creating Open Education Resources (OER’s) as we study. Sharing Best Practices is something that we should do as educators.Photo Credit: iStock Photo. Sharing Your Story I’m looking forward to the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai next week to hear the stories of others (and share mine briefly.) Some of the leading educational leaders and practitioners in the world are going to be there. If you’re not there, you’re still here reading this and you can share your story online everywhere you share. Your story is important. It matters that we help each other move forward because teaching is a noble profession but a very hard one. Many of us are passionate about reaching every child. Never forget that the root of passion is: Latin passiō  suffering, from Latin patī  to suffer Having a passion for something requires sacrifice and giving all you have. Are you willing to sacrifice in order to help educate more children? There are no easy answers, my friends. I’ll be on a panel with some amazing educators (and one very cool student) as we discuss leveraging mobile technology, social media, and gaming to improve education. If you have questions or want to follow along, you can follow the Twitter handle. Engaging Every Child You can be anywhere and help educators everywhere. But you must be willing to share. As for me, I dream not only of helping my students learn - and I love them dearly. But I also dream of helping other educators develop the same nurturing, empowering relationship I have with my own students. The 3 Essentials We Need to Reach Every Child Opportunity. First students must have the opportunity to learn. Engagement. Second, we must understand that education isn’t something you give a child, it is something they earn. We must focus on engaging the ones we have. Alarming numbers of children are walking away from education opportunities every year. We must engage those we have to help children become more intrinsically motivated to learn. Sharing Best Practices. Likewise, excellent teaching practices cannot be given to teachers — we earn them with every moment we teach and reach out to our PLN. We sacrifice our time and energy to pursue this passion because we must earn the right to be called an excellent teacher. Reaching every child always starts with the one right in front of you. And it continues with sharing with other educators exactly how you did it. Looking forward to continuing these important conversations with some of you in Dubai where we’ll discuss all three. Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher is an award winning blogger and full time teacher at Westwood Schools in Camilla. She is coauthor of Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds and the upcoming book Reinventing Writing and has created more than 15 global projects connecting students around the world. She’s featured in the World is Flat, writes for Edutopia, and hosts a bi-weekly radio Show Every Classroom Matters on the BAM Radio Network. The post The 3 Things We Can Do To Reach Every Child appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.