Current and Emerging Technologies Blog - Cassie Hancock

According to the article, 7 Ways to Hack Your Classroom to Include Student Choice, "educators should not just take a learner's style into account, but also their background and interests" (Ronan, 2015).  When students are interested and engaged in their schoolwork, they are motivated to learn and more likely to be successful in their academic career.  The article also discussed that when students feel in control of their learning and have options, they are happier.  This leads students to become more confident and capable students that are interested in learning.  Ronan stated her disapproval for learning styles and said, "no scientific, educational research has proven the validity for teaching for student's learning styles" (Ronan, 2015).  She even goes as far as taking statements from ten educational researchers that discredit using learning styles.   I chose student choice boards for classwork as my way to give students a choice in my classroom.  We

Plickers is a fabulous real-time formative assessment tool. It is very user-friendly!  I use this tool in my classroom all of the time and my students love it! You go to plickers.com and register for a free account.  There are cards that you have to print out and each one is numbered, there's a standard set of 40 and an expanded set of 63 cards.  You can use the numbers as they are to coincide with your student's grade book number or you can assign them a number with their name (it will pop up on your device when scanning their answers).  I like to put my student's names in so that I don't have to guess or look up who missed a question.  You type in your questions on the website and you can choose true/false or multiple choice answer choices.  The students hold up their cards with the letter of the correct answer at the top, it is difficult for other students to see what the other picked because the answer choices are small.  You use the plickers app on your device and

The online learning trend that I explored was personalized learning.  Personalized learning is changing the pace of instructions, being able to differentiate instruction according to the student, allow the users to choose their own learning path, and using the student's experiences and interest to meet their needs.  We use Compass at our school, it does not let them choose their own path, but it gives them a path based on their STAR test scores, differentiating their instruction.  They can also go at their own pace.   Using technology in your classroom is a great way to personalize learning because you do not have to use the same content delivery method for each student.  It is also a good idea because students do not have to be embarrassed because they are not doing the same tasks as others.  There are many different apps to use for personalized learning.  Nearpod -  https://nearpod.com/ Nearpod is a great way to present information whole group.  The teacher controls cont

After reading and researching 3-D printing, I thought, how am I going to incorporate this into reading?!  I believe that it would be a great opportunity to collaborate with my co-teacher that teaches science and social studies (she is not into technology).  The students could pick an inventor from the Industrial Revolution, and instead of making a poster or using Google Slides with pictures on it, they could make a mini model of the invention. This would allow students to see how it works.  While, they would still write out the paper portion, or use the computer, I think this be an excellent lesson. They would be able to see and touch their models.  It would bring student engagement to a new level.  The possibilities seem to be endless in science in social studies. There are a few differences in 3-D printing and rapid prototyping such as a 3-D printer cannot print large items and you may not be able to select build parameters or adjust them, it does not have as many materials, and th

BYOD or Bring Your Own Device is an emerging trend where students bring their own devices whether it be a smartphone or tablet to use in the classroom.  This can be both positive and negative because cell phones can be a distraction in the classroom and also an asset. If the device is used to collaborate on assignments or as a learning tool, it is a great asset, but kids will be kids, and some are always looking for a way to be off task.  While BYOD can be positive because most students have a device no matter their socioeconomic status, there are some that do not, and that can lead to a student feeling bad or upset. At my school, Harrand Creek Elementary, eight teachers are 1:1 with Chromebooks, and we also have about 70 iPads, and 60 Chromebooks that other teachers may check out to make their room 1:1 for the day.  I like that my classroom is 1:1 and I do not have to worry about one of my students forgetting their device or not having one.   When devices are provided by the school

RealSense Technology is a 3D camera that can capture images, gesture control, video, and scan 3-D images.  You can attach to your smartphone, desktop computer, laptop computer, or tablet. It uses various technologies to achieve depth perception, 3-D imaging, interior mapping, and feature tracking. RealSense technology not only allows you to edit photos and videos, but it also allows you to make accurate measurements of things in your videos or pictures.  You can scan people and objects in using this technology and print it out using a 3-D printer, making it come to life!  This would be an awesome tool to use in a science or social studies classroom.  The camera allows the computer to recognize objects and people and navigate the environment. A person can take a picture with their Realsense technology and make it move using their hands.  They can become part of the experience. Using the Realsense camera the user can change the backgrounds of their pictures, enable special effects, and e

I am one of those people that are not real sure about bringing the gaming aspect into the classroom, so at the beginning of Jane McGonigal's TED Talk, I doubted her theory.  As I watched it, it made more and more sense, and I began to agree with her.  My students love, love, love to play video games every waking hour that they are home, so why not incorporate gaming into our lessons at school?!  I believe if we could turn some of lessons and tests into games the results would be mind blowing!  One of the previous quests, the Socrative app, could help bring this idea to reality. Our students use gaming to escape the "real-world," but if we as educators could incorporate gaming into our classrooms, they wouldn't have to escape the real world.  Our students would not only be doing what they love, but they would be learning at the same time.  McGonigal discussed how gaming can help gamers feel like they are doing something that matters. When people are playing games, t

The Socrative app is a great formative assessment tool.  You can use it on a computer, smartphone, or tablet.  You can create your own assessments or search for a ready-made one.  When you are creating a quiz, it can be multiple choice, true/false, graded short answer, or open-ended short answer.  The Socrative app also allows you to choose your subject, core standards, grade, and the actual standard you are assessing.  This is an excellent option because the teacher can organize their quizzes.  It can also be used as an exit slip to see where your students stand on a standard or skill.  Teachers can also create quizzes and set up a gaming element, "Space Race," so that students can compete against one another.  The Socrative app can also be teacher paced or student paced, depending on how you want to use it.     I am going to use the Socrative app in my classroom as an exit slip so that I can see which students I need to pull for Tier II instruction.  Another way that I c