Friday Matinee: 8 Ideas Designed to Engage Students in Active Learning Online

Are you teaching either online or hybrid and looking for ideas to engage your students?  Well we found this great list by Dr. Catlin Tucker that is sure to have at least one idea that will work for your classes - and probably more!  She includes digital concept mapping, an online fishbowl, and 6 other strategies that will have your students working collaboratively in active learning online.

8 Ideas Designed to Engage Students In Active Learning Online

Friday Matinee: Enhance Student Engagement with Virtual Social Learning Spaces

Everyone's asking how they can engage their students during remote learning.  Teaching online makes this more difficult than when your students are in front of you in the classroom.  Dr. Catlin Tucker shares ways to engage groups of learners online using technology.  She also includes some ideas and strategies for creating spaces for student-centered learning experiences.

Enhance Student Engagement with Virtual Social Learning Spaces

Many of her ideas include tools that you are already familiar with, including Zoom, Google apps, Padlet. Jamboard, and more.

Friday Matinee: Creating Choice Boards With Google Slides

Giving students a choice of how they can complete an assignment gives students ownership over how they show you what they've learned.  By creating choice boards, in Slides (you can also use PowerPoint to do the same thing) it is easy to create an assignment where the students have to pick a certain number of things to do to complete the assignment.  Many teachers use these boards and have students pick 3 out of 9 options to complete tic-tac-toe.

Here's how to create the boards in Google Slides.

During remote learning, some teachers are having their students work on their choice board assignments when they are remote while they do something different with the students in their classroom that day.  Others are using choice boards to have students work independently when they are not attending class synchronously.

Friday Matinee: Using Padlet in Your Class

Padlet is a great app for discussions, formative assessment, sharing documents, brainstorming, and more.  It looks a lot like an online bulletin board with a bunch of sticky notes!  The free version allows you to create 3 walls for free.  If you need another one, just delete a previous one.  Students can upload just about any file, add a link, search and add images, videos and more via Google, take a picture with your computer's camera, capture video from your camera, record their voice, record the screen, doodle, add a place/location, or link to another Padlet.  Wow!  That's a lot!!  What's more is that students can respond to other students.

I've used Padlet for years to have students give feedback on an article they've read, review a Chrome extension that they have tried, as a backchannel, or as a way to share a document with the class.  I've asked a question and had students respond.  I've even had them introduce themselves and add a video or image to show something that they are interested in.  The possibilities are endless and it is easy to use in a hybrid teaching environment.

Check out this video on how it works.  Want to try it?  Here's one I created asking about what the characteristics of effective feedback are.

Friday Matinee: Using Wakelet in Your Classroom

Wakelet is a curation tool that allows you to save items (anything with a link), organize them, tell stories, and share content from around the web (Kathleen Morris, 2019).  Curation, evaluating resources, and collaboration are necessary skills for our students.

It will help you understand more about what Wakelet is if you look at a collection.  Here's a one on (drum roll please . . . 🥁 ) WAKELET!  Check out these resources, many of which have been written for K-12, but that doesn't mean that they can't be used in higher education.  It's a great way for students to keep up with their research and they can work together in groups to find and organize their information.  Their curated information can then be put into a Google Site, a research paper, a presentation, or a digital magazine as a way for them to show what they have learned.  Here's another one that you can actually add to!

Wakelets can be private, unlisted (only people with the link can find it), or public, where anyone can find it when searching the web.  It's easy to get a link to share a collection or add collaborators.  Wakelets are an easy to share resources with students, differentiate learning, create digital portfolios, and more.

Watch as Holly Clark (she's amazing) shows how to use Wakelet in the Classroom.

Click on the above image to read more!  

Remember to check out our Remote Learning Resources website for more ideas on collaboration.  

Want to know more about how technology is infused into classrooms around the world?  Attend the Virtual FETC Conference in January for FREE!

Friday Matinee: Creating a Backchannel With Google Docs

Having a discussion is an important part of a class but it can be difficult when you are teaching either totally online or using the hybrid model.  Fortunately there are digital tools that can be used for backchannel discussions, including a shared Google Doc that everyone in class has the right to edit.

Use this Google Doc that you can copy (FILE>MAKE A COPY) for classroom discussions.  I like this document rather than just using a Doc without any added guidelines because you can see not only who asked the question, but also who responded and what their response was.  It also keeps the questions and answers together for easy viewing.  Multiple people can also answer the same question.  

A suggestion is to have one student per week or class period who would be in charge of the backchannel document.  They would monitor the questions and answers, and bring up questions in class that might need clarification.

I would keep the original document as a master and then make a copy of it and rename it every time you use it.  All you need to do is change the title and date at the top.

Friday Matinee: Online Learning With Powerful Thinking Routines

Dr. Catlin Tucker teaches high school, but the thinking routines she shares in this blog post can easily be used in higher education.  Created by Project Zero at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, these templates and routines encourage students to be intentional thinkers and to share what they know, their perspective, what they wonder, how their thinking has changed, and more.  Each thinking routine can be modified and adjusted to meet your needs, your student's needs, and your subject area and are great for engaging students both online and in the classroom.  Go to the Project Zero website to learn more about the routine's purpose, application, and find tips for starting and using the routine in your classroom.  There are other routines on the Project Zero site that you can check out.

Support Online Learning with Powerful Thinking Routines by Catlin Tucker

The templates that Catlin created are shared in Google Slides, but can easily be downloaded as PowerPoint files.  Just go to FILE >Download > and choose Microsoft PowerPoint.

Friday Matinee: Google Jamboard for Online Collaboration

Google Jamboard is a physical digital whiteboard (our college has one!) but it is also an online digital whiteboard that is collaborative.  Online you can share, view, and create Jams with your students to engage them during class time.  All "jams" are saved in Google Drive and are accessible via Google Chrome.  You can add images, sticky notes, text, and drawings.  

Let's try it out!  Open this file and scroll through the frames at the top.  You can have a total of 20 frames in one Jam.  Go ahead and add to each frame.

To create a file, just go to Drive>New and find Jamboard, find Jamboard in the waffle, or type jamboard.google.com.  Like a template, but need to make a copy?  Open the template and go to the 3 dots in the upper right and choose "make a copy".  You can download PDFs and images from there as well.  Use the Share button to get a link or share via email.  There's an app for your phone or tablet that will let you add files from Google Drive.

 Want ideas for using it in your classroom?  Matt Miller's article includes 20 ideas for using it in the classroom.  

Here are a few idea templates that you can copy and use.

Blackout Poetry

Brainstorming

Thinking Routines

The Ultimate Collection of Jamboard Templates

Jamboard Templates and Information

Let's Jam: Google Jamboard Resources in a Wakelet collection.  We'll keep adding to this wake.

You'll be jamming in no time!  Here's a video if you want to learn more.

Friday Matinee: Using Nearpod for Engagement & Formative Assessment

As you start planning your classes for the rest of the semester, you might want to check out this post on engagement while teaching remotely.  If you scroll down to where it says Keep it simple with eLearning modalities, you'll see where the author mentions using Flipgrid and Pear Deck with her online college classes.  We've sent out information on using both in previous Friday Matinees.

Nearpod is an add-on for Google Slides and works with PowerPoint and is very similar to Pear Deck.  Here's a comparison of both tools.  Both have free versions and offer interactivity during presentations with either Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint.  The free version of Nearpod seems to have more interactive features available than Pear Deck.  Like Edpuzzle, you can also make your videos interactive.  Nearpod offers some pre-made interactive lessons and videos with the basic plan and your lessons can be presented live or in student-paced mode, which is great for online learning.  You can also add a lesson to Zoom with one click!

If you go here, you'll find some resources that KATE has curated to help you learn more about Nearpod by clicking on the link at the top of the page. There are videos on getting started, using it with PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canvas, and more

Back to Pear Deck for a minute:

In case you are more of a Peardeck fan, here's a link to get 3 months of unlimited access to all of Pear Deck's premium features. When the 90 days is up, you can go back to a basic free account. Not sure when this deal with end.

Friday Matinee: Using Pear Deck for Engagement & Formative Assessment

It actually feels like fall outside and it looks like it is going to be a great weekend to do something outside.  If you have a little time either over the weekend or sometime next week, take a look at Pear Deck.  It works with Google Slides (or PowerPoint) to help you add active learning and formative assessment to your presentations with learners of all ages.  There's a free and paid version of Pear Deck and I suggest you start with the basic free version.  You can add interactive questions, polls, quizzes, and formative assessments right into your presentation.  You can control the pace of the class so that everyone (including those who are attending on Zoom) will be on the same slide at the same time.  Or you can enable your students to work through the presentation on their own.  Let's take a look by checking out these links:

Pear Deck Tutorial For Google Slides

Webinar: Using Pear Deck + Zoom to Make Learning Interactive in a Remote Learning or Online Class

20 Ways to Use Pear Deck to Engage Students

Ideas for Using Pear Deck in the Classroom

And there's lots of tutorials and blog posts on the Pear Deck website!

Friday Matinee: Collaboration Ideas for Remote Learning

Take a big sigh of relief!  The first week of classes is over.  As you start to think about next week, you might try adding an activity where your students can collaborate digitally.  On our website on Remote Learning Resources, we have added several ways to have your students collaborate during class time (or after) using several digital tools.

One of the easiest to try is Padlet.  You can join with your MSU (Google) account and sign up for a free account and quickly set up a discussion wall.  I love using Padlet with inservice teachers to get their ideas or feedback during professional development sessions.  

Another is Wakelet.  Divide your students into groups and let them create a Wakelet on what they've learned, adding resources from various sources on the topic to share with their classmates.  It will take them less than 30 minutes to put together a great Wakelet (or wake) on a given topic.

Collaboration Ideas for Remote Learning

Friday Matinee: Remote Teaching & Learning Resources

As the start of the new semester draws near, many of you are rethinking how you are going to be teaching your classes.  Having students online as well as in the classroom means that you may need to find new digital resources for collaboration, discussion, and to engage your students during your class time.

We have started to build a website of curated resources that may be beneficial to you.  This site is a work in progress and we will be adding to it during the upcoming weeks and beyond.  If any of you have resources or ideas that you would like us to add to the site, let us know.  Please email me with links, videos, and any details that I would need to add the information.

Remote Learning Resources

Remote learning requires us to rethink the way we engage our students and interact with content. Digital resources can assist in the facilitation of small or large group discussions, support collaboration activities, or make presentations more interactive. The purpose of this site is to bring together resources that could be useful in a remote learning setting. If you have any questions, feel free to contact any member of the KATE team.

Check out Torrey Trust's website that includes Online/Remote Teaching Resources.  Torrey is an associate professor of Learning Technology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  On her site is an infographic on Rethinking Teaching 2020.  Be sure to check out her "Instead of this, try THIS!" section.  There are so many great ideas on this site.

Another great resource is a blog post from Dr. Catlin Tucker entitled, "Enhance Student Engagement with Virtual Social Learning Spaces" where she shares that by providing virtual places for students to interact helps them learn from each other. Catlin shares ideas for creating these spaces in breakout rooms, by using the Google apps, for Jamboard and Padlet, as well as Flipgrid and Wakelet.  Most of the apps are mentioned here in this site and how-to videos are available.  Catlin's blog has great posts with practical learning strategies that work online, blended, or in person.

Remember that KATE is available to help.  Need to brainstorm an idea for a class?  We can help!

Friday Matinee: Teaching in Higher Education Podcast on HyFlex Learning

In researching the HyFlex model for online learning to help me understand how to support you this fall, I came across this podcast with David Rhoads, the Director of Teaching Excellence and Digital Pedagogy at Vanguard University of Southern California.  David has extensive experience in the area of online pedagogy and program development, non-traditional enrollment and support, instructional design, and educational technology. In it he shares what a HyFlex design structure looks like, as well as ideas for making it work.  There are links to several resources on the website.

https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/hyflex-learning/

I hope this gives you some insight on HyFlex and helps you prepare for the upcoming school year.

Friday Matinee: Managing Your Meetings & Teaching With Zoom

Here's are links to some of our webpages where you can learn how to manage your Zoom meetings and teach with Zoom.

Managing Your Zoom Meeting

Audio is the most important part of Zoom that needs to be working correctly to have a successful Zoom meeting.  Echos are an issue caused by too many microphones being on in the same room.  Make sure you are confident in choosing your microphone and video camera when you are in a Zoom meeting.

Being able to share your screen, use waiting rooms, and share files is all controls by the control panel in Zoom.  Practicing with these controls will make you more comfortable and give you confidence as you start teaching with Zoom.  You may want to set up Zoom meetings with friends and family to do this.

Teaching With Zoom

Zoom has some great built-in features like whiteboards that are perfect for teaching. Learn how to use breakout rooms, chat, and polls, and help students when they are experiencing issues with Zoom.

Friday Matinee: Using Zoom at Murray State University

Zoom is a necessary component for teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic at Murray State University.  Whether your class is totally online or some of your students are in the classroom while others are online, Zoom will help you with your online teaching.  

Need help with using Zoom in your classroom?  This site is dedicated to helping you quickly find the answers to your how to questions.  Whether it is how to schedule your Zoom meeting in Canvas to how to use breakout rooms, you'll find the resources here to get you started.

Before using Zoom with your class it is recommended that you explore all of the features of Zoom, find out how they work, and practice using them with family and friends so that you are comfortable with the controls and features.

We have been curating information on how to use Zoom and will be sharing it with you over the next couple of weeks.  We have done put this information into a Google Site for easy access.

Friday Matinee: Zoom Scheduling & Basic Controls

Zoom sessions are very easy to schedule and use in the classroom and it's important that you are comfortable setting up meetings and using the controls from within it.  Besides setting up your Zoom link for your class in Canvas, you can schedule on the Zoom website.  Setting up a Zoom session outside of your Canvas class link can be important if you need to meet with a student or small group during the semester or set up a different virtual office hours link.  Check out the videos on how to do this.  

Scheduling a Meeting on the Zoom Website

KATE's website: Using Zoom at MSU

I'm also adding a video on the fundamental Zoom meeting controls that are available when you are in a Zoom meeting.

Host and Co-hosts Controls in a Meeting

Friday Matinee: Adding Zoom to Canvas

Looks like we are in for a hot and muggy weekend.  If you've been outside and need to cool down for a minute AND if you don't know how to integrate Zoom into Canvas, then this is the video for you.  It's less than a minute and a half and so easy to do.

Adding Zoom to Canvas

Here's the article from Information Systems on how to do this as well.

Friday Matinee: Ways to Make Online Learning More Engaging

The semester is over and you've taken a big sigh of relief!  Teaching online is over for now.  

It's a great time to start thinking about summer and fall classes and possibly teaching again online.  You've got the basics down and are delivering the content, but now is the time to start thinking about making your classes more engaging for your students.  

Check out ISTE's (International Society for Technology in Education) blog post showing 3 ways to make remote learning more engaging.

Friday Matinee: Some Advice for Newly Remote Instructors

Happy Friday!

I recently came across an article that is part of a guide entitled, "Sustaining Higher Education in the Coronavirus Crisis," and wanted to share it with all of you as you begin to get ready to teach online this summer or think about classes for this fall.  The article not only has advice for new remote instructors, but includes a link to a Google Sheet created by Daniel Stanford, the director of the faculty development and technology innovation at DePaul University.  This sheet includes a great number of resources curated from universities.

Coronavirus Has Led to a Rush of Online Teaching. Here's Some Advice for Newly Remote Instructors

Friday Matinee: Resources for Teaching Online

This was shared by a professor that we follow on Twitter.  It is a podcast with a lot of resources for teaching online.  Some things may not apply, but there's a lot of great information that is provided.  Torrey Trust, who is interviewed on the podcast (there are several links and a great slide deck shared as well) is a professor and past president if the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Teacher Educator Network and an Associate Professor of Learning Technology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

https://www.sfecich.com/torrey

Kasey Bell from Shake Up Learning, did an interview with a teacher who has been teaching online since leaving China where she taught at an international school and she shares tips, tools, and best practices for this special situation.  She mentions that closing for the Corona virus is different than closing for a few snow days especially with the added stress and emotions that everyone is experiencing.

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/coronavirus-closures-online-learning-tips-for-teachers-and-schools-interview-with-an-american-teacher-in-china/

Keep in mind that a lot of companies are opening up their wonderful resources for free to schools, but we don't need to be throwing a lot of new tools at students during this time. Use one or two that they are familiar with and leave it at that.