virtual – iLearn Technology

My Simple Show: Create your own explainer videos for free!

September 22, 2016Kelly Tenkely2 Comments7861 views

What it is: My Simple Show Video Creator lets students easily create professional level “explainer” videos. The finished product looks just like a Common Craft video, so cool! The step-by-step tool helps students think about storyline and the flow of explaining a concept.

How to integrate My Simple Show into the classroom: My Simple Show is a fantastic option for digital storytelling. Students begin by choosing to write their own script, or by uploading a Power Point presentation. Next, they can choose from one of many templates to start from, or alternately, start from scratch. The templates are an awesome option because they give kids an outline and break down the story telling/explaining process. For each step in the process, it guides students with a prompt and with some examples. My Simple Show auto-magically picks up words in the script and suggests pictures. Students can use the pre-selected images, choose an image from the My Simple Show library of images, or upload their own image or picture. In the final step, students add audio. This can be computer generated or students can record their own audio. The finished product is pretty impressive! Below is a video I made quickly today.

My Simple Show’s obvious use is for explanatory digital storytelling, but it would also be a great way for students to reflect on a field trip, tell a story, retell new learning (pssst. this is an awesome way to check for understanding!), or create their own “textbooks.”

Students can use My Simple Show to explain a historical event, introduce a biological process, introduce a physical law, summarize literature, summarize a biography, discuss pros and cons, explain a law, etc. Use My Simple Show to create whole class stories where each student contributes a portion of the explanation or story. This type of video can be made over a few weeks using classroom devices as a writing center. This would be a fun way to create an A to Z type book of learning, reflections by students after a unit, a 100 day video, fact vs. opinion video, a class video of poems, a phonics video, or a class video about a field trip that students took. Students can take pictures of science experiments and create a digital video detailing the experiment with text, images, and student voice reflections included. The finished product can be shared with parents and families easily through YouTube, Vimeo, or downloaded as a MP4 file.

For a back to school night activity, take a picture of each student to add to a class video and record students sharing an explanation of a school day. This same idea could be used in preparation for parent-teacher conferences. Students can create a video about their learning during the quarter/trimester, record thoughts about why they are proud of the work they did, and add reflections. These can be shared as a starting point for conferences, at the end of the conference, parents have a keepsake. My Simple Show could also be used for character education. Give the students a scenario or problem, and have them work out a step-by-step explanation or solution.

Because of the voice recording capabilities, My Simple Show, would be a great way for students to practice a foreign language. They can illustrate a word or phrase accompanied by the audio. Classes could work together to create a “living” digital glossary.

Be sure to give your students access to My Simple Show in your Maker Space, it is a great option for students to choose!

Tips: My Simple Show has video guides that lead students through each step of the process…I definitely recommend watching these at least once as a class or for the first round of creation!

Stormboard: Beautiful virtual brainstorming and collaboration

March 12, 2014March 12, 2014Kelly Tenkely5 Comments7191 views

What it is: Stormboard is a super beautiful virtual sticky note brainstorming and collaboration application that lets classrooms or teams share online whiteboard space. In addition to virtual sticky notes, Stormboard makes it simple to add quality and usefulness to your shared space with photos and video. Each idea that gets added to a Stormboard has a comment thread attached to it, this ensures that everyone’s voice gets heard and conversations about specific ideas don’t get lost. Users can also vote on ideas, this is a quick way to get feedback. Stormboard lets you instantly generate “innovation” reports so that all ideas can be easily captured and saved as a spreadsheet or pdf. Shared space is flexible, you can share both synchronously or asynchronously. Stormboard works on any internet connected device making it ideal for a BYOD (bring your own device) classroom, and seamless regardless of what platforms your school uses.

How to use Stormboard in your classroom: I’ve seen lots of sticky note type applications over the years. Stormboard is hands down the most flexible and the most aesthetically pleasing. It gets all of that without being difficult to learn, it has a really great intuitive interface. Stormboard is a great way to capture learning that happens. In an inquiry classroom, we are regularly brainstorming, asking questions, following bunny trails of important thoughts and ideas, and sharing photos and video. Stormboard would be such an ideal place to capture all of this thought during an inquiry unit. I love the way that it threads conversations so that everyone’s voice gets heard and captured as it relates to an idea.

At Anastasis, our kids are constantly discussing big ideas. Stormboard would be a great way for the students to take notes and capture those ideas all together. As they go through literature, research, current events, science experiments, etc. they can capture all of their ideas, quotes, related images and videos in one place. When it comes time to write a report, reflection, summary or do some design thinking with their learning, students will have all relevant information in one place that THEY created together. This could be huge! Our Jr. High has been going through a book chapter by chapter throughout the year. So many of the discussions they have should be captured, the deep thinking is truly awesome! Stormboard would be a great place for this to happen. Learning and thinking process recorded.

Stormboard would also be perfect when you are implementing design thinking in the classroom. It is the perfect place for the ideation and research phases of the project to be captured.

Students can use Stormboard to work collaboratively with others in their class or with other classes in their school. It would also be a great tool to use with a collaborating school. Because it has options for sharing synchronously or asynchronously, it can be used with schools in different time zones around the world for collaborative projects.

Teachers can use Stormboard to collaborate on units or lessons with other teachers, make plans for new team undertakings, or just as a place to share or capture ideas.

Classrooms can use Stormboard on classroom computers OR on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer to capture learning each day. This would make a cool living “textbook” where students could gather materials, resources, share ideas and conversations. Each day assign a different set of students to be in charge of the record. If you have a one to one device situation, each student can collaborate in this process together. At the end of the day, download the PDF or innovation report and save it. What a cool yearbook of learning and insight into your classroom.

As a school, plan new initiatives with your administrative team. We are currently dreaming of our own building (right now we lease space). This is the perfect place to share that dreaming with all stakeholders and capture conversations and thinking along the way.

I think it is awesome that Stormboard works on all devices, but also provides the option of downloading your work. This way you aren’t SO reliant on a tool that if it disappeared, all would be lost.

Tips: Stormboard is free to use. However, the free account is limited to 5 collaborators at a time. I’ve got my fingers crossed that when they see the awesome way that educators are using Stormboard, they will consider offering a free education account with enough for a class or two to collaborate. For $5/month/user you can add as many as you want. For $10/user/month you get unlimited users and unlimited administrators.

Padlet: now with the ability to download and print!

March 27, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment10799 views

What it is: Wallwisher has long been one of my go-to cool tools. Recently, Wallwisher got a bit of a facelift as well as a new name: Padlet. Padlet is a fantastic little web application that provides a virtual bulletin board of sorts. Teachers can pose questions or ideas for students to answer or think about. Students are sent the unique wall URL and can leave virtual sticky notes answering the question. Students do not have to login to use Padlet, a simple double click allows them to add any thoughts they need to the wall. The platform is very simple to use but provides the opportunity for discussion and collaboration between students. In addition to a brand new look, Padlet will now let you print or download your walls. STINKING AWESOME! Now you can take all of your Padlet walls and save them as an image, PDF, Excel or CSV format. Just click the share/export button and you are in business! Another fun new feature is the ability to keep up with what has been posted to your digital wall using email notifications. You can sign up to get a daily update of all activity on the wall.

How to integrate Padlet into the classroom: Padlet can be used to create a flexible online space where students can create virtual posters, brainstorming boards, virtual project portfolios, and share learning with others. Students can work together on the same Padlet space for group projects.

Padlet offers an exceptional opportunity for students to brainstorm, collaborate, and group ideas. Students can use Padlet to brainstorm ideas for writing, explore lines of inquiry, collect research, for grouping ideas, and collaborating on group projects. Create a Padlet board for your students and ask them to group like ideas, sort, and expand on thoughts. This could be done for any historical event, literature, science concept, and even phonics. Students could practice spelling by typing out their spelling words along with a sentence or synonyms on sticky notes. Then, they can group words by spelling pattern or common phoneme blends. Create a Padlet of sticky notes with English words and sticky notes with a foreign language word on them. Students can work together to group words with their meanings. In math, create Padlet stickys with word problems on one color of sticky note and answers on another set of sticky notes. Students can work to create groups of problems and their solutions. Padlet can be used for whole class activities using an interactive whiteboard, the class can brainstorm together and collect ideas or use the grouping feature in an activity created by the teacher or students.

Students could even use Padlet to create “bucket lists.” They could create a bucket list of books they would like to read, places they would like to travel, imaginary literary places they would like to travel, things they want to learn about, etc.

Padlet boards are SO versatile. If you need a way for students/teachers/parents to collaborate digitally, Padlet is the place. Now that boards can be downloaded and printed…the possibilities for use are even greater!

Tips: See how others are using Padlet by visiting the new Padlet gallery. You are sure to pick up some new great ideas for use!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Padlet in your classroom.

This blog post brought to you in association with MyFactorySchweiz

National Center for Atmospheric Research

December 17, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3498 views

What it is: Today Anastasis students were lucky enough to visit the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. It was a truly fantastic experience (if you ever find yourself in Colorado, it is worth a visit! Open free everyday!). The center has some fantastic interactive exhibits, much like what you find at Exploratorium in California. In addition to the physical location, the National Center for Atmospheric Research has some wonderful online games, activities and resources for the classroom.

In the Interactives and Simulations for weather, climate and atmospheric science section you will find:

A virtual laboratory for creating a weather balloon.
A simple virtual climate model.
The build a tree dendrochronology activity where students can explore past climates.
Compare IPCC scenarios interactive where students forecast carbon dioxide levels.
The climate sensitivity calculator.
The Earth’s Energy balance virtual lab.
Compare solar eclipse photos activity.

In the Games for weather, climate and atmospheric science section students will find:

Solar eclipse memory
Sun-earth connections memory
Clouds memory
Atmospheric chemistry memory

In the classroom activities section, you will find:

Paleoclimates and Pollen where students can study pollen.
Model a moving glacier where students make a model of a glacier and create an experiment to study movement.
Glaciers then and now where students study pictures of glaciers taken in the 1900’s and compare them to pictures of the glaciers today.
The systems game where students observe a system.
Looking into surface Albedo where students inquire into how color affects the way that the sun interacts with Earth’s surface.
Feeling the heat where students investigate which parts of their school yard have a higher temperature.
CO2 How much do you spew where students analyze energy consumption.
The nitrogen cycle game where students play the role of nitrogen atoms traveling through the nitrogen cycle.
The water cycle 0-18 and ice cores where students look at proxy data to determine past climate.

In addition to the fantastic activities on the site, students can learn more about the sun and space weather, weather, atmosphere and climate on the NCAR website.

How to integrate the National Center for Atmospheric Research into the classroom: If you are studying weather, climate or atmospheric research with your students this is a must stop site. It is FULL of great activities, virtual labs and easy-to read and understand information. Really, take a few minutes to dig in. Today, when we visited we got to explore some of these virtual labs and games first hand. Our students watched a short video introducing them to NCAR and what scientists do there. Next we entered into a classroom where the fun began!

Today we learned about the North and South Poles. The fine people at NCAR had made globe paddles that had the north pole on one side and the south pole on the other (glued to giant tongue depressors). They gave the students different facts about the north and south pole and students had to hold up their paddles with the correct answers. Next, students learned about how polar bears were equipped for the COLD temperatures. There were tubs of ice water on the table. Students were asked to place their hands inside the ice water. We timed how long they lasted in the cold water. Next, students put their hands in a “blubber” paw and tried the experiment again. The hand inside the layer of blubber could stay in the cold for a long time with no discomfort. These blubber paws were actually made with 2 ziplock baggies with Crisco in between the layers and duct-tape at the top of the baggies so that they were sealed together around openings where the two baggies came together. This left a Crisco pocket that formed the paw. Students also learned about penguins and how they find their mate in hundreds and hundreds of penguins. Penguins have particular sounds that help alert their mate. The penguins can distinguish between the particular sounds that each penguin makes to find their mate. Students simulated this by each taking a film canister with an object/objects in it. The students had to shake their canister and find their match using the sound alone. They had a ball with this! They also practiced transferring a styrofoam egg from one pair of feet to another without using their hands the way that the penguin does. Our students also did the glacier matching project (listed above) where they worked in teams to match the original pictures to the new pictures. Some of these were really challenging as the second picture had NO glacier to be seen! The kids learned that every glacier in the world is shrinking with the exception of two glaciers in Norway. Fascinating!

Our classroom today…can’t beat the view!

Our students got to follow the activities above with an exploration of weather, climate, and atmosphere science exhibits. You could easily recreate the activities above and follow up with virtual simulations, videos and games. These could be set up as centers for students to explore (the virtual centers on classroom computers). There is SO much here that exploration of all that the NCAR site has to offer could take days. The simulations and games would also be appropriate on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer where students can explore and interact as a whole class. Allow students to take turns playing scientist.

Tips: While we were at NCAR, our guide, Tim, told us that NCAR was originally established in the 1960s to learn how to control the weather. This brought up a great discussion about what could happen if humans could control the weather, and what unintended consequences might come along with that. This would make for a great creative writing exercise or comic strip. Our students came up with some insightful thoughts on this topic!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using NCAR in your classroom.

IDroo: Online educational multi user whiteboard

March 7, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4768 views

What it is: IDroo is an educational multi user whiteboard that lets students instantly collaborate online. Everything that is drawn or written on the whiteboard is visible to all participants in real-time. IDroo supports an unlimited number of meeting participants, the only limitations are computer power and internet connection speed. There is a professional math typing tool built-in making it easy to teach or work through math problems collaboratively. Best of all, IDroo can be used with Skype! IDroo is free for non-commercial use. Now for the downfall (and this is a HUGE downfall in my humble opinion), IDroo is currently only available for Windows. I know, disappointment for us Mac lovers. *sigh* If you are using a Windows computer this is a great way to collaborate online!

How to integrate IDroo into the classroom: IDroo would be a great app for collaborating with other classrooms around the world. Students can use the multi user whiteboard space to work together, share ideas, and brainstorm. IDroo would also be fantastic as a way for teachers to tutor students virtually. Set up an “open lab” time once a week online where students can drop in and get extra help. Virtual lab times are especially helpful for elementary students who can’t dictate their own schedules and often can’t stay after school for extra help.

Tips: Don’t forget to allow IDroo to access Skype API after you download!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using IDroo in your classroom!

Stage’d

May 4, 2010May 4, 2010Kelly Tenkely10 Comments4840 views

What it is: I am constantly learning about cool new website tools for the classroom from my PLN (Personal Learning Network), today I learned about an animated comic creator called Stage’d from fellow Blogging Alliance member @MrR0gers. Stage’d is a tool that helps students to tell digital stories in a new 3-d way. Students can create a stage full of characters and dialogue as if they are directing their own digital play. They can choose characters, costumes, animations, set design and provide characters with dialog. When the 3-d comic has been saved, it can be emailed or linked to with a unique url. Stage’d is perfect for use in any classroom, to save a comic requires no personal identifying information or even an email address. All students have to do is type in the name of the director (first name only or a pseudonym).

How to integrate Stage’d into the classroom: Stage’d is a seriously fun creation tool, students are going to love directing their own 3-d comic plays. Stage’d makes a great digital story telling tool.

Students can:

Publish their own fiction (or non-fiction) writing pieces as a 3-d play
Re-tell a story to demonstrate comprehension
Illustrate vocabulary words
Illustrate historical events
Create mock public service announcements
Create mocumentaries
“Interview” an important person of interest
Create short persuasive video commercials
Illustrate story problems in math
Practice a foreign language dialogue and vocabulary

Stage’d is very easy to use and the results are absolutely fantastic. Create your own Stage’d creations to introduce a new topic or concept to your students. This is a fun introduction that will grab their attention in a hurry.

Tips: The creators of Stage’d are constantly adding new features and options so check back often.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Stage’d in your classroom.

Virsona

April 19, 2010April 19, 2010Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3583 views

What it is: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down and talk to Albert Einstein, George Washington, or Susan B. Anthony? Wonder no more, with Virsona, your students have the opportunity to do just that! Virsona is an interesting tool that lets students create a virtual character of themselves (or a virtual literary character). Students answer a variety of questions about themselves (or another character). They can create automatically generated responses, greetings, and choose a personality for their virtual selves. After they have created their virtual persona, they can share the link to their virtual self. Anyone can ask their virtual self questions (via chat) and responses are automatically generated based on the answers that were given. Virsona has some excellent built in historical, political, and literary characters that students can interact with.. Students can chat with a virtual George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Pocahontas, Babe Ruth, Susan B. Anthony, and more. Students choose the persona to chat with, asking them questions about their stance on politics, entertainment, beliefs, and more. It is very cool! Try chatting with Abraham Lincoln here.

How to integrate Virsona into the classroom: Virsona can be used to connect students to historical characters. Students can “chat” with the historical character asking questions about their life, beliefs, politics, and more. Put your students on assignment as news reporters. Ask them to “sit down” with the historical character and interview them, taking notes about the answers they are given. Students can then fact check the interview, using primary sources, text books, and encyclopedia articles. Students can then write a newspaper article, a character sketch, or create a fake video interview using a tool like Xtranormal. Virsona is a tool that will connect your students to historical figures and learning in a way that wasn’t before possible. I have yet to meet a student who doesn’t love to chat. Put those chatting skills to good use by having them chat with historical figures.

If you teach in the elementary classroom, use Virsona as a whole class. Have students brainstorm questions they would like to ask the historical figure. As a class, chat with the VIP using an interactive whiteboard or projector.

For students over 13, Virsona can be used as a way to create an in-depth character sketch on a historical or literary figure. Students will have to really research the character in order to create a Virsona virtual persona. Students can answer questions as the literary or historical figure would have. As a culminating activity, students can visit each other’s Virsona’s to learn about other historical or literary figures.

Can’t find a character that you want your students to chat with? Why not create the character yourself? In one of our fifth grade classrooms, we have an invisible ninja who can see everything the kids do. The invisible ninja is an enigma that the students often want to know more about. It would be fun to take these fictional characters and let students chat with them virtually. Sometimes younger classrooms have “desk fairies” that leave treats randomly for clean desks. Enter into a spirit of play with your students and create a virtual version of these classroom characters.

Tips: To sign up to create a virtual character, student have to supply an email address, first and last name. To create a virtual character, students must be 13 or older. Students under 13 can still use Virsona to chat with pre-created characters without signing into the website.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Virsona in your classroom.

Emerald Island

April 20, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2208 views

What it is: Emerald Island is a great place for kids to play and learn more about the earth and ways that they can help the earth, perfect for Earth Day! Emerald Island is a virtual world created specifically for kids (6-12). Students can pioneer, prevail over, and protect the Island. Emerald Island is more than just a game, it is a story that students take part in. The students job is to help Tamino (the hero) to save Emerald Island (a green island) from Pirats (pirate rats). Each player plants seeds and cultivates gardens to replenish Emerald Island. Emerald Island helps students to learn about and experience important contributions that are part of an interconnected world. It provides young students with a sense of community and a beginning understanding of a global society. Students begin to build knowledge, empathy, and appreciation for an environment that emulates earth. While playing, students are empowered to make a difference and become true eco-heroes as they take on challenges to save the world. Along the way students meet other citizens of Emerald Island, many of whom give students tips about how they can save energy and be more responsible citizens.

How to integrate Emerald Island into the classroom: Emerald Island is a great game for students to play throughout the month of April as they learn about Earth Day and how to become more earth-conscious citizens. I love how Emerald Island involves students in a story and a quest to save a planet. On the way they learn about how they can be better citizens of our planet with helpful tips from the Emerald Island citizens. The games and activities help students to develop problem solving, reasoning, social, and computer skills. Emerald Island can be played as a whole class exploring and reading clues together with an interactive whiteboard or individually in a computer lab setting. You can expand on what students are learning in Emerald Island by keeping a class notebook of green tips that students learn in Emerald Island.

Tips: Emerald Island provides an outstanding introduction to registering for a website, it is easy enough to use with young students and reinforces Internet safety rules before the game begins.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Emerald Island in your classroom.

Magnetic Poetry

April 6, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2424 views

What it is: Magnetic Poetry is a virtual edition of magnetic fridge poetry. Students can choose from four kits to create their ‘magnetic’ poem. There is Kids Kit, First Words, Best Friends, and Storymaker. After students have chosen a kit they can choose from three backgrounds for their poetry (refrigerator, locker, or whiteboard). Students are given a virtual tub of words to choose from that they can drag, arrange, and rearrange to create a poem or story. When they are finished, students can send their Magnetic Poetry to an email address or save it for later viewing on the site.

How to integrate Magnetic Poetry into the classroom: Magnetic Poetry is a great site to use in April as part of national poetry month. This site is wonderful for those students who are hindered by spelling (you know the students who will only write with words they know how to spell). Students can pull from the word bank of words to create a story or poem that can be saved, sent to an email address, or printed out as a draft and turned into a published piece. This would be a fun website to use with the whole class and an interactive whiteboard, encourage your students to take turns adding words to a class poem or story. This would also make a great center activity for students to visit and create with during the week.

Tips: If a student saves their poem, they are granting permission for the site to use their poem as a possible example on the site or on packaging.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Magnetic Poetry in your classroom.

FETC Virtual Conference ’09

January 13, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments7685 views

What it is: Save the date! FETC is having a free virtual conference on April 23, 2009. The virtual conference is ideal for k-12 educators and technology staff exploring the most important issues related to 21st century skills. Topics will include career and technical education, the Obama administration’s global workforce development agenda, and digital teaching methods and tools. You will learn about the latest in 21st century skills from engaging speakers. FETC Virtual Conference is offering a virtual networking lounge to expand your network of k-12 educators and technology experts, access to other participants through instant messaging, and free content downloads and presentation to go. You will also be able to virtually attend technology product and service demonstrations and Q&A sessions with technology experts! This is a completely FREE event, you can go as a staff!

How to integrate FETC Virtual Conference ’09 into the classroom: FETC is one of the leading technology conferences in the country. With budget cuts this year, you may not have the option to attend the full FETC conference. This free virtual conference is an outstanding opportunity, be sure to take advantage of it! You will learn from some of the best educators and are sure to get practical technology integration tips, tools, and ideas. See you there!

Tips: Register today at http://virtual.fetc.org.

Leave a comment and tell us if you will be attending FETC Virtual Conference.