We have filled each chapter with practical lessons you can use in any sequence based on your students’ needs. In the appendix, we have included a comprehensive list of every website, app, and product we mention in the book. As digital terms and tools come up, consult definitions in the comprehensive list in the appendix. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/technology to access live links to the sites mentioned in this book.
GOOGLE APPS
Throughout the series, we often mention the Google apps that the G Suite for Education includes. Most educators refer to this as Google Drive (www.google.com/drive). Districts set up teacher and student accounts, and your usual Google email login allows you access to the apps in Google Drive, which include:
This is a Google-heavy book, but you could adapt the ideas and activities if your district uses Microsoft Office 365.
Learning Management Systems
Schools in the 21st century use many different software programs and web-based applications, or learning management systems (LMSs). Most learning management systems have some free features and premium school or district solutions. In most schools, everyone uses the same system so students and parents don’t need to learn a different LMS for every class. Most learning management systems allow the teacher to message students, assign and collect documents, report student progress, and deliver e-learning content. Throughout the book, you will notice we provide steps for how the teacher gives digital files to students and then how students return the digital files to the teacher through the class LMS. For example, “Have students copy the URL and submit the link on the class LMS” means students copy the web address from their document or product they created and share it through the class LMS.
Common learning management systems, both free and fee based, include the following, but you can find hundreds of others on the market.
• Schoology (www.schoology.com)
• Canvas (www.canvaslms.com)
• Edmodo (www.edmodo.com)
• Otus (https://otus.com)
• PowerSchool Learning (www.powerschool.com/solutions/lms)
• Blackboard (www.blackboard.com)
• Moodle (https://moodle.org)
• D2L (www.d2l.com)
• Pearson SuccessNet (www.pearsonsuccessnet.com)
Most districts will select a learning management system for consistency across the district. One free option that needs a little more explanation is Google Classroom (https://classroom.google.com). Google Classroom is a cross between a document management system and a learning management system. It does not contain all the features of an LMS, but it is a great way to get started with managing a digital classroom. Imagine a whole new world without a stack of papers to grade in which every assignment submitted gets organized and recorded in digital folders. Start your LMS search with your trusted colleagues, and soon, you will manage your class digitally.
We can’t imagine teaching without an LMS. If the LMS changed for whatever reason, we would easily adapt to the new features of the next system, but we can’t imagine ever going back to a paper-based system. With a paper system, it is easier to misfile documents, it is harder to communicate with other collaborators, and it makes it more difficult for students to collaborate with one another. Please reach out to your technology department for specific help, or we are always happy to support your personal professional development when you connect with us on Twitter.
Student Privacy and Internet Use Policies
In many of the lessons, you will see students share their work beyond classroom walls. This connection to the outside world is an important one. As educators, we make it our goal to prepare students for the world beyond the classroom, and they live in a connected world. We mention publishing student work online throughout the book, but before you start tweeting pictures or sharing student work online, make sure you understand your school’s and district’s policies for sharing information on social media. Talk to your administrator, and ensure that you understand what you can and can’t share online. In addition to staying mindful of school and district policy, you should familiarize yourself with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 before you have students publicly share their work.
Assessment
Designing effective assessments for student-created digital projects is a process of providing specific feedback throughout the creation process, not just at the end with a letter grade. This team of authors has discovered that short formative assessment checkpoints as students are collaborating and creating projects is the best way to help students better understand the curriculum as well as the technology tools. Feedback might come from the teacher, another student, or another classroom across the globe.
This author team believes in creative assessments that include planning before the project about what will be assessed based on the learning outcome. Regardless of the technology tool, app, or website, the assessment feedback must stay laser focused on the specific I can statements in each lesson. For example, the assessment feedback should not be about how many transitions are in a PowerPoint presentation. Instead, the feedback should be focused on the mastery of the content connected to the learning objective. Creating digital student projects, artifacts, and examples is part of almost every lesson in the book, with each project demonstrating a mastery of content.
We encourage students to organize the projects they create during the year in a digital portfolio. A simple way to get started is by using a Google Doc. Students can create a hyperdoc, in other words, one document with hyperlinks out to the digital projects they have created. This hyperdoc becomes the evidence of completion and growth over time. Another way students participate in the assessment process is when they build their digital portfolio on a website like Seesaw (http://web.seesaw.me). A more advanced digital portfolio could be created using the free Google Sites, a simple-to-create, template-driven website that can be shared publically.
