Friday Matinee: Two Fun Ideas to Try!

It's been a long week . . . no, make that a long couple of weeks, and the month of August is almost over.  It's time to relax a bit, so we've come up with 2 fun ideas.

First: (drum roll please . . .)

Create a Bitmoji Classroom for your students!

Here's a video on how to do this from the inventor of the Bitmoji craze:

https://youtu.be/XdMWiDWBN1U

and a blog post with lots of information.

You will do this in Google Slides and add images (search for transparent PNG files) and links.  When searching for Bitmojis that will work in your classroom, use the term POSE.  We'll be glad to help if needed.  There are TONS of examples online, just do a search for "bitmoji classroom."

Want to engage your students?  Have them create a Bitmoji scene with links to information about what they are learning.

Turn in your Bitmoji Classroom for the chance to win a PRIZE!

Second:

I'm sure you've heard of Flat Stanley, an activity that is done in many elementary classrooms.  As a fun project, have your students (you can do this too) take photos (could be on campus or of what they did on Labor Day, or their trip to Walmart) and put them into a Google Slides journal (you can change the "paper" size by going to FILE>PAGE SETUP) and add a Bitmoji into the scene and telling about what they were doing.  

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