If you are on the fence about using Google Classroom, this post is all about convincing you that Classroom is the way to go. There are lots of Learning Management Systems (LMS) out there, and many people have their favorites. Google Classroom is the best for 21st century schools, and here’s why.

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The Google Classroom App and IOS (Apple mobile operating system) functionality is great.

There was a time in the short history of Google and Apple relations that many thought a cold war would erupt between the two. Peace abounds in the land of tech, however, and the 2 superpowers have made peace, perhaps because of a threat of mutually assured destruction? The Google classroom App and web software is a prime example of this peace. The App allows for amazing collaboration opportunities while integrating Google Apps For Education (GAFE) seamlessly on the iPad.  

Students(and staff) already have Gmail and Google Apps.

The idea that all students and school staff have GAFE is kind of a big deal. GAFE is not just email and Google classroom/ Google Docs. It consists of incredible learning tools that include interactive website building, unlimited Cloud storage, Spreadsheets, Forms, Scholar, Presentation, Drawing and many other software applications. Even other software providers like Microsoft and Adobe are also fully integrated into Google (not perfect), but GAFE users are able to upload/ download almost anything to their Drive account. All of this techy talk means 1 important thing. Google Classroom is the education portal to this world.

Google is constantly upgrading, innovating and a leader in Education.

Google views education as incredibly important (rightly so of course). They take a long view on the integration of technology into the K-12 classroom, continuing to expand, upgrade and enhance their ed offerings. Since Google Classroom launched a little over a year ago it has attracted millions (yes millions) of users, launched an App, and upgraded a ton of features. In one year. Google Classroom will only continue to upgrade and improve.

Google classroom is elegantly simple for educators and students.

With classroom, Google has created a totally easy user experience. Documents. Links. Uploads. Videos are added with incredible ease. Students are added with a little code login that is unique for each class a teacher sets up.(no data entry) The assignments, announcements, questions, discussions all scroll similar to a Facebook or other social media “feeds”. Ease of use is a great strengths for Classroom, yet through the GAFE environment, learning opportunities or truly endless.   

Google skills are marketable, transferable and generally build to further tech skills.

Employers want their workers to have tech skills, this is without question in a learning economy of the 21st century.  Google is the backbone for so many parts of digital life including, Android, Youtube, Google Apps, to name just a few of the familiar. Google Classroom offers the best LMS to get students using all of the Google tools. If an employer wants a data analysis, there is a Google App for that, if they want presentation skills, marketing, research, writing, design, coding, almost anything techy, Google has at least a hand in it. Are there more “robust” tools that do what Google does? Of course, but Google is an entry point. If you know Google sheets, for example, you can also use Microsoft Excel.
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There are some really strong offerings in the Learning Management System/ Workflow category, with some probably having features that are unmatched by Google Classroom. However, if your school is a fully integrated Google Apps environment, it stands to reason that Google is the direction to go when managing a digital classroom. Finally, ask yourself what is a better skill to list on a resume?   

Education Scaffolding Resources and Research Links

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber

http://elearningfacultymodules.org/index.php/Scaffolding_Learning_for_Novices,_Amateurs,_and_Experts

http://www.cblt.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/PDFs/Scaffolding%20online%20historical%20inquiry%20secondary.pdf

http://www.knewton.com/blended-learning/

Scaffolding Online Courses for the K-12 Student

Nearly everyone is online today, maybe it’s your sweet grandma posting irreverent pictures to what she calls, “The” Facebook, cousin Frank and his Twitter rants or even the Tumblr scrolls that can get full on addictive, we are all “webbed” up to be sure. But what about the students that were born with the internet? (between 1996 and 2001) Guess what? They are in High School. If that does not make you feel old, Dr. Dre is 50. . .
Anyway, enough of the human condition. This posting aims to help with engaging our K-12 students in high level thinking, learning and engagement in online courses, through scaffolding. That’s a mouthful, it’s also a necessary component of any online course.  In a world of constant social media distraction, limitless information and the potential to learn anything online, even students born post .com bubble require careful guidance to reach their full learning potential in an online course. 

Old school meets new

Every educator worth their monthly pension contribution knows that they need to scaffold learning for their students, but what exactly does that look like? The core of scaffolding relies on the idea of “fadeable support,” engaging the learner in understandings around a topic before removing some of those supports to allow for deeper inquiry and learning. As the interconnectedness, availability and general expectation that classes are taught and live at least partially online, teachers can bring many of the tried and true scaffolding techniques into the digital realm.

• Beginning a lesson in any classroom, online or otherwise from the prior knowledge of your students, then using it as a launching point for future lessons is not only a scaffolding technique, it is just good teaching. How to do it online? Why not a class blog post created from smaller groups or even individual posts from students? This could also be facilitated well on a discussion board using a Learning Management System (LMS)

• Another crucial learning scaffold is the structured time to talk. In a traditional classroom this might include specific structured talk activities like, “Think, Pair, Share”, “Turn and Talks”, or “Triad Teams”. How to do this online? One idea would be to record a Podcast or Google Hangout around a particular learning topic. Another strategy for the online class could be to record oneself about a topic and then facilitate a “mashup” of audio or video files.

• The use of visual aids/ graphic organizers is one of the most beneficial scaffolds a teacher can provide. For online instruction, graphic organizers can get lost in the information deluge. As a support for secondary learners especially, the usefulness can’t be understated. How to do this online? Try the site “Read Write Think” for a plethora of web-based Graphic organizers that easily become PDF files.

Take It Slow at First

There have been numerous stories of the questions around the quality of “online” K-12 schools. One of the clear questions is around student engagement. “Self-Paced” or non-teacher led online courses are the norm, and without scaffolding the actual “how-to” of this type of course, many students will continue to fail. It is important for online or blended educators to model, assess, and remediate the actual structure and expectations of the “online” aspects of the course.

• To start a course, in addition to a clear and concise syllabus, online educators should model and assess the use of the LMS. The assessment should be a required first step towards entering the online course. By taking the time to guide, model and generally help students feel comfortable with their LMS, online educators will help in combating apathy and isolation in their courses.

• Progress monitoring for the online educator is a necessary scaffold. To accomplish this online, educators should consider game elements and/ or badges as part of their class. This can help build the best progress monitor of them all, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

• When considering the viability of online education for specific learners, it is important to be reminded of a fundamental principal of educational scaffolding. Is the learner ready? For the K-12 learner, there is a level of academic maturity that should be reached before embarking full steam into an online course. The K-12 online educator should be prepared to help foster and build the learner up in preparation for “meat and potatoes” of their online offerings.

Blended is better or don’t forget to talk to people

One of the distinct advantages that K-12 educators can harness is the power of and fact that, most often students are attending the class on a regular basis, in person. There is still much to be said, and supported about educators working with students in the same space and time. When considering online courses for K-12 students, this can be the most powerful scaffold of them all.

• The flipped classroom has been with us for a while now, promising and delivering a paradigm shift in the way education is delivered to students. Within the flipped model is a very important aspect that many educators miss, the power of their own voice (and teaching). The Flipped classrooms that work, are the ones that use the teacher themselves. Meaning, it is fundamentally crucial that educators create their own flipped videos. It is all well and good to post a video and assign it as homework and call that flipped learning, but within the blended K-12 classroom, that is not the best practice. The relational part of the teacher, classroom and student can’t be undersold as a scaffold to higher learning. 

• Weekly “Check-ins” and discussions with all interested parties are a useful strategy to bridge learning gaps in any classroom. Perhaps the majority of learning and activity occurs online? But a weekly conference, in “the flesh” if possible, is a perfect strategy that K-12 educators especially should be able to take full advantage of.

• Being anonymous should not be an option within any classroom. Students should be able to defend, support and generally discuss what they are learning at any time within a course. For K-12 students this is even more important as they form identity and self within their learning environment. To support student learning online, educators should create a display event or product reveal within the “real” world. Discussion panels, Product “fairs” and general presentations for audiences can all provide a necessary and welcome scaffold for the K-12 online student and educator. This would fall under the “authentic assessment” category while serving as a unique and powerful scaffold for student engagement.

Bring on the "Revolution"

Much has been written (and threatened) about the coming online learning revolution, and while it is certainly here, scaffolds are still a constant necessity in any classroom. The joy and satisfaction of being an educator is mostly won through scaffolding. With proper planning and implementation, educators are poised to bring those scaffolds to where much of the learning is trying to take place, online.   

Screen Scream

Using the iPad in a public school classroom as a 1 to 1 learning device is very difficult.  The iPad is different than other devices.  It is extremely portable, has 2 cameras, a microphone and is truly a multi-media device.  This is a huge plus and strength of the device.  It is also one of the reasons that this device is very hard to manage in the classroom.  There is a reason that the Chromebook has overtaken the iPad as the most purchased device by American Schools and its not because the iPad design is bad, its more because it is so good.

Sales Data

The iPad goes everywhere.  The bus, the classroom, the bathroom and everywhere in between.  The iPad becomes attached to its user, much in the way a “smart” web enabled, cell phone does.  And here in is the problem, with classroom management continuing to be a huge part of the learning experience, the iPad makes it harder to manage a classroom.  As the user integrates the iPad into their life, it is mostly centered around entertainment.  The games, videos, and social networking communication capabilities are so instantaneous that it becomes very difficult to use the device as a learning tool because that entertainment is always there.  

Screen Time Risks

American children spend an average of 7 hours with a screen, with the majority of that being entertainment, not educational.  Tablets like the iPad increase the accessibility to time with screens because they are so portable and easy to access.  This is a big problem in the classroom.  If a teacher wants their students to lets say, complete a reading and answer some questions, many times the iPad screen makes it a much longer and less productive learning experience because the student is so attached to the device as entertainment.  The reading turns into checking their game, to watching a quick video, to posting a snapchat and then finally, maybe, getting to the reading.  This is what the iPad is designed for, being a media consumer, not being a productive learner.  The iPad doesn’t even have a keyboard, another clear sign that it is not designed, first to be an education tool.

The iPad is an amazing device, coupled with full access to the Apple App store it is hard to beat the overall capabilities of the machine as an entertaining, multi-media device.  Speaking from personal experience however, as a classroom tool, it can make the teachers job harder, not easier.

Gamification: Passing trend or new paradigm?

Gamification is a fancy word for applying game theories and mechanics to topics not typically  associated with games.  Socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism and closure are the humanity aspects used to leverage for desired outcomes.  With learning being of exigency in today’s information driven economy, gamification will hold court as a growing field of research, expertise and even emerging career field.  First, a brief history and background of gamification.

First used in 2002 by Nick Pelling, a British programmer and inventor, the word “gamification” (which Pelling calls “deliberately ugly”) didn’t become popularized until 2010.  Prior to the term, elements of gamification were used in many fields such as business.  In fact, some have labelled author and business consultant Charles Coonradt the “Father/ Grand Father” of Gamification for his 1970’s/80’s consultancy and book, “The Game of Work.”  The more specific aspect, currently in use after 2010 refers to “gamification” catching the eye of venture capitalists.  This, larger funding presence, coupled with the growing use of software to use the game aspect of social and reward base applications across many platforms (Social Media, E-Commerce and Education).

One of the best descriptions come from bunchball.com:

“Gamification is the process of taking something that already exists – a website, an enterprise application, an online community – and integrating game mechanics into it to motivate participation (and) engagement.”   This means that truly anything can benefit from gamifying elements.  Here are the core principles of gamification:

Feedback (Fast)

Transparency

Goals (Short and Long)

Badges/ Evidence

Leveling

Onboarding

Competition

Community

Points:  Tangible measures.

It is clear that gamification has depth in its purpose and multi-dimensional paths of entry.  It will continue to grow as a path for all types of learning and learners.  Stay tuned for continued investigation into this exciting topic.

Keep School Tech Working

One thing that is often overlooked in the Tech Ed realm is the facilitation and logistical aspects. There are millions of devices in classrooms all over the world that are used every day.  These devices are maintained, monitored and managed by a small group of professionals.  As the world of ed tech grows more mobile, while increasing in density, it will be crucial that education institutions develop clear plans and expectations around the roles of ed tech professionals.

Changing Roles?

The educator/ school professional of today has many roles, teacher, coach, facilitator, mentor, and administrator, to name a few.  What about technology?  In the past, technology has been the realm of a department or even whole position(s) in a school.  While 80-85% of school budgets are tied to salaries, a position solely dedicated to hardware/ technology, seems like one that could be evaluated further for overall viability and effectiveness.  This is not to say that a position dedicated to the management of hardware, and more importantly, a school network is not vital, however, the role of these positions is certainly worth examining in the days of tightened school budgets and accountability.  Looking into a crystal ball of technology is impossible, it stands to reason that some very time/ labor intensive parts of Information Technology (IT) will and are changing.  Will schools require huge, clumsy, land line phone systems?  What about schools that are Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)?  Computer labs are on the way out, if not already, at best obsolete.  In the day of cheap, mobile computing, does it make sense to be funding a full position to manage devices?  The answer is no, but take heart full-time school tech guru, there is still a robust role for you to fill in most places of learning.

The Return of Technology Education.

“The device in your pocket is more powerful than any of the tech used to land men on the moon.” This often used (and abused) quote is a bit of a misnomer.  Sure, the actual computing power of an IPhone is greater than what they had during the Apollo missions, but there is one big difference.  The people at NASA new (and know) how to use every bit of that computing power to its fullest.  Today, we are lucky to be fully organized digitally, let alone, using our iPads to launch rockets.  Of course, that isn’t to say that there aren’t individuals and institutions doing amazing things with digital devices, including schools, but the scale is so tiny it mine as well be 1965.  What if technology use could be scaled up further?  Would it spark greater, the learning evolution/ revolution that is already migrating to the web?  The answer is yes, it is also the answer to the malingered role of the IT professional. Nearly everyone employed by a learning institution should be a teacher in some capacity.  From the head administrator to the lunch crew, everyone can teach in some way.  So should the IT department.  Keyboarding, Social Networking,Digital organization, Blogging, Web Design, and e-commerce are all soft skills that almost every working professional needs in the 21st century economy (those that don’t have them are probably not working).  The hard skills would include digital design, network administration, coding/ programming and analytic's.  These aren't being taught in today’s schools, and it shows.  Stop fixing phone lines and jammed printers!  It’s time to empower the tech professional employed by learning institutions to lead groups of learners in their area of expertise.

Fix it!

Through changing the often rigid roles and expectations around technology in education institutions like public schools, there will be immediate dividends paid. Those that continue to have IT professionals fixing hard drives and monitoring computer labs will languish further, eventually left to die on the proverbial vine.  With proper role and expectation shifting, however, schools can take better advantage of the professional expertise they already have.

Learning to Love the iPad (and Apple)

Rejoice!  Huzzah!  Apple Inc.  (a publicly traded company) has released the Iphone 6.  Please.  RIGHT MEOW!!!! Take my money!  All of it, for one of your shiny new devices.  This amazing technology will surely propel my thoughts to Zanadu and beyond.....How can I live without it???

I don't own an Iphone.  I don't want to.  I don't own any Apple hardware.  My employer has generously provided a work device called an iPad that I am to master in order to bring forth learning from its magic screen into a world of possibilities....or something like that, but I'm still not sold.  However, the iPad and Apple sold someone with a lot higher  pay grade than me on the software and hardware so I will lick the boot soul of Steve Jobs all the way to maintaining a monthly salary.

Truthfully there is a great deal to love about Apple.  (did I mention it is a publicly traded company).  The hardware is second to none and the software...well...its ok...(see IOS 8....)  Where the iPhone and iPad really shine in  software, however, has less to do with Apple itself and more to do with the developers creating amazing Apps, especially for the education market.  The following are some quick reviews of 5 of my favorite ed apps so far.

 Explain Everything: Woah. This thing has blown me away. Easy You-Tube uploads, image configuration and screen casts. A class flippers must have. Also a great deal of potential with student created projects.

Notability:  Pay to play but worth every shilling.  You can't do notes on the iPad without it.  Grab a stylus and get to work.  Anything and everything can be marked up and completed with Notability, couple it with a good scanner App for max digi classroom/ student fun.





Google Drive:  Unlimited cloud storage for schools, collaborate in real time, continuously improving, collaborate anywhere, FREE.  Enough said.










Adobe Voice:  A simple yet robust way to create with the iPad.  Tell stories using pictures, take learning to the next level.  Another one that is exciting because of the potential for student created "stuff".

Apple I-Work Suite:  Ok Ok, Apple software works best on Apple devices!  So they made a sweet suite that is just as good as anything Microsoft is crankin out these days.  Apple is popular because it just works, and so do there software offerings.  As long as you pay lots of monies, (did I mention Apple is a publicly traded company)?