Smartphones in Class

Smartphones in class, it seems like teachers are either for it or against it. Teachers who are against using smartphones in class seem to view them as the enemy, as a resource that is only for leisure and should not be banned from class.Teachers who are for using smartphones in class might not have an idea how to use them efficiently other than letting students use a dictionary on their phones.

As you might know I am an advocate for using digital aids in the classroom, hence this and many other blogs. However, I have found myself wondering how to integrate smarthpones in my class efficiently. At first, I also felt that smartphones should not be used in class since they were a major distraction for students. But, as the year went on I started wondering why: was I against digital aids like smartphones, or was I afraid that using them might limit my control over the situation, therefore a lack in authority that I thought I needed in order for students to learn. Now I feel that students like it when I set goals or frames in which they can learn in combination with providing them the autonomy they need to design their own learning process. I feel that digital aids are a great help for students to work at their own pace and level as well as playing a major role in connecting with them in a modern fashion.

So, now I have established that I think using digital aids such as smartphones in class are helpful for teachers and students. The next step is to find out how I can integrate them efficiently. With this in mind I started to investigate using google and pinterest. I was overhwelmed with the possibilities. There are many blogs and articles out there which describe ways to use smartphones in class but most of them don't apply to my teaching style, my knowledge of digital aids or to the Language Centre. So, I had a short brainstorm session with Chantel discussing the options for the Language Centre. They are pretty basic which I like because that would be a good starting point from which to propel. We have come up with 7 rather simple ways to use smartphones in class:

1. Recording

From experience I know that every iPhone has a recording app, but I assume there are many free apps for this purpose as well. Chantel told me about using the recording app for speaking. She let students record their presentations and have them listen to it. While listening they had to look out for mistakes they made and come up with a way to improve themselves. The feedback from the students was that they heard themselves making mistakes, for example with the past tense. They also notices that they said 'uhm' a lot. With this knowledge they could start working toward specific goals themselves which is great because the students have set that goal, not the teacher.

A recording app could also be used by students when a teacher gives them feedback or an explanation. That way, students can listen to it several times, kind of like the videos used for flipping the classroom where students can watch a video again if they like, or simply pause it to make notes.

2. Stopwatch

Most phones have a stopwatch function, even basic, non-smart phones (that sounds funny :)). Most students have to be able to talk about a topic for about three minutes. Timing could come in handy while practising since they then have an indication of how long they have talked and if that is sufficient or not.

3. Twitter

In period 2 I did a treasure hunt through twitter. Students would get directions from me through twitter. Once they had arrived at the location they had to send me a picture of themselves proving that they were actually there. I would then post their assignment through twitter and they would also twitter the outcome.
This idea sounds really simple and do-able. However, I had never used twitter before which caused some issues. Lotte did the same in Leeuwarden and that was succesful, so I guess it can be concluded that it the reason it didn't work out was my lack of knowledge. Overall, I think twitter could be a great resource for instant feedback or directions from and to students. A tip I can give is to start twittering yourself first :).

4. Socrative

Recently I had to teach a lesson at the NHL to second year students who are , like me, studying to become a teacher. I thought of a way to interact with the students during the lesson because I didn't want it to be boring, at the same time it was a perfect opportunity for me to inspire other teachers to use more technology in their (future) lessons. So, after my introduction I told them to get their phones out and download the 'socrative app' . The look on their faces was priceless :).
The lesson was about my Master Project which was about healthy and unhealthy foods and eating habits. To get information across on this topic I wanted to know how much they already knew about it (activate previously obtained knowledge, didactiscs out there know what I'm talking about). So, I made a prezi in which I posted some true/false statments. Since the students were in my online classroom on Socrative the only thing I had to do was choose for true/false question and they could then choose for true/false, the results showed on the smartboard as a live feed. So we could see straight away how many chose true and how many students chose false. Knowing that I could ask them questions like 'Who chose true and why' etc. This turned out to be an efficient way to interact with students since I felt that they were really involved into what was going on and they had good input.

Socrative has many other options for live feed such as short answer and multiple choice. There is also the option of setting up a previously made quiz (which are interexchangeble between teachers), an end of class pulse check or using a quiz as a game.

5. Zello

A friend on mine introduced me to Zello, oooh the nostalgia! Basically, it's a walky talky app. How I imagine using this is as follows: Person 1 has a map of the building and hides an object somewhere. Person 2 goes out to find this object using the directions that person 1 is giving (using the map). When person 2 finds the object they could take a picture of it as proof as sent it through edmodo, twitter, facebook, whatsapp, etc. Person 2 could then hide the object somewhere else so that they could swap roles. I think this would work well for teaching students to give and understand instructions, to act professionally (for example when the instructions are not clear) and to ask questions. Also, I think student like doing stuff better than sitting still and I believe that having fun as well as turing theory into practise are important to the learning process.

6. Note making

Using apps like evernote will enable students to take notes efficiently as well as store photos (of instructions/writing/drawings/etc. on the white/smartboard) and documents in one place, making it easier for them to organise. For those of you who are not familiar with evernote, have a look at the video below or look up some videos on You Tube.

 

7. QR Codes

Another great way of using smartphones in class would be by using QR codes. This way teachers could make documents accessbile online instead of printing them. Lotte will devote a blog about QR codes soon so I don't want to steal her thunder by going on about this. Watch the video below to spark your interest.

I hope this blog has inspired you to start using smartphones in your classroom. Let me know if you have any other ideas or if you have tried one of these options, I'd love to know!

Roos

Pinterest

Pinterest

I discovered Pinterest a few months ago though a friend and was instanly addicted. After making personal boards and pinning like crazy I started thinking about the possible educational purposes of Pinterest. Here in the Language Centre we have a drive on the computers with files and links that teachers and students can use in class. However, this drive seems somewhat unorganized so it is hard to find what you are looking for. Since most people are quite visual it would be nice to organize using pictures and that is exactly what Pinterest does. Since we also want to start working more digitally Pinterest seems like the perfect source or platform for students and teachers to find and store links in a visually attractive way.

What is pinterest?

Have a look at the video below to get an idea.  

So... Pinterest is an online pinboard to which you can pin an image from a website. The image should represent the website because when you click on the image you get directed to the website. This is a visual way to 'remember' websites and to easily find them, even after a while. Some images are not pinned with the purpose of wanting to go to the website 'behind' it, they are simply pinned because they are funny, like this one:

So you can pin images from websites that you know and want to save, but you can also 'repin' images from others. You can also browse through a certain catagory of pins, for example 'Food&Drink' where you can find all sorts of recipies. You can get to the website 'behind' the picture by clicking on it, it will then enlarge, when you click on it again pinterest will take you to the website.
 

Example:
Normally, if you have found a recipe online and you'd like to save it you would use 'favourites' or even write the webadress down. After a while you have so many favourites that you cannot rememeber which was which. Now, if you 'pin' all of these websites on a board (or several boards) you would have a visual overview of the websites you want to save by seeing an overview of the pictures on the websites (you choose a picture for each website that you want to pin which represents what you want to remember from that website).

How do you get from a pin to a website?

This is my personal pinterest page:

This is my board 'sweet'where I keep all of my recipies for sweet things.

What if I'd like to make the cinnabons from the picture on the top right hand side? I will click on the picture so it enlarges

Now you have several possibilities but let's just take the easy route : click on the picture again and pinterest takes you to the website.
 

Now, I can make these cinnabons using the recipe on the website.

This is the core of pinterest : saving images which represent which website is behind them so you have a visual overview of website you'd like to save.
 

What are the pro's and cons of Pinterest?

Pro's

• Pins can be found easily through the use of pictures instead of writing to indicate a website.\
• Several boards can be made so you can organize your pins.
• Visually attractive
• It's fun
• You can follow everyone, you don't have to ask for permission (as with facebook). So you can follow anyone who has the same interests as you, resulting in finding pins you would otherwise never have found.
• You can collaborate with others by creating a board together. This results in creating a shared database where you can share knowledge and resources that is always accessible.
• You don't need an account to use the pins on pinterest (only to make boards and add pins). You can visit any account,board or pin you like using an url or the search option. This means that students can access the talencentre pinterest account without having to make an account resulting in more autonomy and independence for the student.
• Pinterest speaks to young people because they are used to working with images rather than with text.
• You can make 'secret' boards. This makes it possible for you to keep certain information away from your students.

Cons:

• There is no way of making a board within a board resulting in having to make a lot of boards to organize your pins. This makes it difficult to organise and keeping a clear overview at the same time.
• After a while you probably have a lot of pins and have been browsing Pinterest for quite some time (yes it is addicitive!). This means that you might come across a pin that you might have or might not have pinned before. Pinterest does not tell you wether you have pinned an image (or website) before. This means that you might end up with a lot of the same pins. The same goed for collaborative boards where two or more people might pin the same website or similar websites which could become confusing for students.
• Speaks to boys more than girls

How do I use pinterest during my lessons? 

1. Preparation: I use pinterest for inspiration : it contains a lot of lesson plans, ideas or materials that I can use.
2. During the lesson : When I am in a classroom that has a smartboard or tv I open pinterest and give my students a tour of the talencentrum account so that they know where to find information. Also, when I am in a room with a smartboard I can open the websites I use for workshops and use the smartboard at the same time.
3. During the lesson: Some students need more attention/instruction than others. Students who work independently can use pinterest as an extra source for when they have questions, before they ask their question to their teacher, who is busy giving extra instruction or personal speaking assignments.
4. After the lesson: Students can access the pinterest page from anywhere which means that they can work independently, even at home.
5. Or, see graphic below:

How do you create an account?

Watch the video below for specific instructions:

 

 

How to pin from a website.

 

How to follow people.

 

How to repin on pinterest.

 

How to install the 'pin-it' button?

Click on the following link for written instructions  :http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ 

 

Prezi presentations

Let's talk about Prezi, the website that changed the way I thought about using IT in my lessons! A teacher at Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden introduced me to it and I have not used Powerpoint since..

What is Prezi?

Prezi is an online application that allows you to make presentations that are dynamic and visually attractive. Prezi describes itself as a communication tool to help you organise, present and share your ideas. Right, so what does that even mean??? Basically, Powerpoint 2.0!

According to the About section of the website, 'Prezi is a virutal whiteboard that transforms presentations from monologues into conversations: enabling people to see, understand, and remember ideas'.

You can register with an e-mail account and it is free! Prezi also offers an educational version which provides you with more storage than you would have with a regular free account. This educational version also gives you the option to keep your Prezis private (the Prezis you create in the regular free account are public). If you want  an educational account you have to use your school e-mail address to register. 

Prezis can be added to, linked to, and shared via Facebook and Twitter. You do not need an account to view the presentations, so students have access to your presentations anytime, anywhere. 

You can finish a basic Prezi in about 10 minutes, but the many features will probably cause you to spend more time making sure your Prezi is perfect! 

Prezi: pros and cons 

Prezi has many pros, but there are some cons... I've put them together for you in.. A Prezi! The arrows allow you to click through it. There are to other options: play automatically and Full Screen.

How can teachers and students use Prezi?

1. Use Prezi to present subjects, just like you would use Powerpoint. 
2. Create elaborate Venn diagrams, timelines, or other options to get your point across. 
3. Zoom in on images to make details more clear. 
4. Highlight important information.
5. Show that some ideas go together or flow into each other. 
6. Tell a story or discuss a process. 
7. Make a digital portfolio. 

So what do you think? Are you ready to get started? Good, that means it is time forrrrrr *drum roll*

The step by step guide to your first Prezi! 

1. Go to www.prezi.com and click 'Sign up' in the top right corner of your screen.

You will get to a page where you can choose your license. I chose to continue with the educational license for teachers and students. This option is a bit hidden, but you can find it under the 'Enjoy' option. Do you see the orange hat? That's where you want to go...

In the next screen we will choose the free option 'Enjoy Edu', which is written in green.

2. Sign up with your e-mail address and click continue. Make sure to use your school e-mail account.
Tip: this e-mail address will also be your username, so you may want to write it down somewhere.

3. After this, Prezi will ask for some information about your school: the name of your school, location, country, and school website. You also need to check a box to confirm that you are an active teacher or student. You can find this box below the blue 'continue' button. Strange place to hide it, but yeah..

Click Continue to, well, continue...

4. You will now receive an e-mail with a link to verify your account. Go to you inbox and click the link in the e-mail. If the link doesn't work you can copy-paste it into your search bar and press enter.

5. This is where your personal information comes in. You need to enter your first and last name and then pick a password, which you have to enter twice. Also check the box to accept the terms and conditions.

6. That's it! You now have an account and Prezi will send you to your home screen. As you can see we now have 0 Prezis... Sad times..

You may notice a couple of things in this screen: Your Prezis is written in a bold font for example, because it is the screen you are in now. Next to it, you can see a tab called Learn. This is where you can find tutorials, Frequently Asked Questions and support. I've read somewhere that the Prezi helpdesk is very quick: they fixed a broken Prezi in less than 3 hours after receiving the e-mail. It might be a good idea to check out a video and then experiment with a presentation. There is a lot of information in the videos and I like to think that it is clever to do something with that information right away..

You will find the Explore tab next to Learn. This is where you get access to millions of Prezis from other people and I suggest you take a look at them sooner or later because you are allowed to copy them. They will show up on your home screen so you can easily find them back if you want to. And let's be honest: why do work and create a Prezi to go with it when other people actually have that part covered?

7. Now, let's go back to Your Prezis and click on the blue button that says '+ new Prezi'. A pop-up appears: choose a title for your Prezi and, if you want to, a description. Continue by clicking 'Create new Prezi'.

Edit: Prezi has changed a bit and will now send you to the templates right away. You can enter a name for your Prezi after working on it. To do this, click Exit. You will go to view mode and you can click the pencil next to your Prezi's name (which probably will be Untitled Prezi or something along those lines).

8. We're now in the Template screen. I've decided to go with a template because it has the same options as a blank page. Choose your template and click 'Choose' in the right bottom corner of your screen.

9. Prezi has now come up with a basic outline for your presentation. On the left side of your screen you will see the order of the slides. You can click these slides and work on your presentation, which is exactly what I did in the previous Prezi and in the one I will show you later on. All I did was edit the text a bit. You can do this by clicking on the text and then either type right away or choose 'Edit text'. You will also get the possibility to delete the text.

But there is more.. I'll show you in the next Prezi..

10. If you want to start from scratch and create your own Prezi, the most important thing to remember is the path: the order in which your slides will be shown. You can work on this any time you want by clicking 'edit path'. If you want to add a new slide, you have two options:

• You create a new frame, which will be added to your path automatically;
• You click Edit Path and then click on the text, image or video you want to include.

I've made an experimental video for you to watch, but the sound quality is horrible. Sorry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-iJcc4G6s8

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section or e-mail me at l.brouwer2@fcroc.nl! 

Webquest

Our colleagues mentioned that they would like one of our blogs to be dedicated to Zunal, so here it is!

First things first: what on earth is a webquest?
A webquest is a way of teaching that is activating and interactive. The lesson is mainly focussed on research (kind of like a scavenger hunt) and the information should be completely or mostly accessible through the internet, according to Wikipedia. Students learn to look for and study information that they can use for their final product. Participants in a webquest usually have roles that will help them create said final product. The information they need is structured by their teacher, who are also the creators of the webquest. A webquest usually consists of seven parts:

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Task
• 3. Sources
• 4. Process
• 5. Evaluation
• 6. Conclusion
• 7. Teacher page

This allows students to work on their own and they should be able to work on bigger projects. These projects can be assignments, but a website or a portfolio would also work really well. A webquest can take up as many lessons as you would like: you can do one in one lesson, but it can also run through an entire term. Each and every teacher can create a webquest and you can choose any subject you would like.

Click here for an example webquest on decorating a cake

Advantages of using webquests

1. Participating in a webquest teaches students to use the internet effectively. A teacher should't send students to a website for some copy-pasting but students should be directed to a page where they really have to give some thought to the topic of the webquest.
2. Using webquests can have a positive influence on student motivation. Students have claimed they like this way of learning because it appeals to their curiosity (Abbit & Ophus, 2008).
3. A webquest calls for collaboration and therefore trains students in this skill. Because they are working in groups, students can give input on several levels, such as the activation of prior knowledge, skills,and attitude.
4. Webquests give teachers the opportunity to differentiate where content and work process are involved.
5. Teachers can also differentiate in the final product
6. Using a webquests is a way to integrate technology in lessons and in learning.
7. Students with disabilities appear to be more motivated and finish more assignments when technology is incorporated in lessons.
8. Webquests make it easier to help students with dyslexia because text and lay out can easily be adjusted (think of fonts, size of letters, underlining, or even websites that read text out loud to students)
9. A webquest provides students with

• a well-structured environment
• clear step by step guides to the final product
• a list of suitable sources
• instructions for gathering information for a project.

How do you come up with a webquest idea?

1. Pick a subject you think needs to be worked on and on which information is easily accessible on the internet.
2. What do you want students to be able to do after completing the webquest?
3. How do you want students to complete the assignments?
4. What will the webquest yield/what is the final product? A report? A presentation?
5. Which sources can be used? Find at least five suitable websites.
6. How will you grade the assignment? Add a rubric if you have one.
7. Come up with a way to evaluate the assignment and the webquest.
8. Write down important information for teachers on the teacher page. Students have no business on this page..

Where can I create a webquest?
There are many places to create online webquests, but I will focus on Zunal for this blog. If you want to try another one you can go to Google and look for 'make webquest online' for example.

Step by step guide to your first webquest!

Step 1: Go to www.zunal.com and click the pink button that says 'Register Free'.

Step 2: Create an account. Zunal only allows you to have one account which should only be used by you. You can collaborate with others but only if you all have separate accounts. A free account lets you create one webquest. If you would like to have several webquests up and running at the same time you can upgrade to a Pro account ($20, which is about 15 euros, for three years). If you do not want this, you can obviously create multiple accounts by using multiple e-mail addresses. I have to say that I found this a bit of a shame...

Step 3: Finished? Press Click Here and log in! You will see the following screen: 

Click the pink button to create your first webquest. 

Step 4: Click the blue button that says 'Create a webquest from scratch'. This means you are going to create a webquest that requires you to fill out every page. You can update them after you've finished, so there is no need to be a perfectionist ;)

Step 5: You will now see a pop up screen in which you can write the title of your webquest. Click 'Create now' to continue. If you want to continue working, click 'Continue'... Nooooooo surely not!!! Yes, please do..

Step 6: You have now arrived at the Welcome page. In the middle of your screen are a couple of gray buttons: Update Image (allows you to add an image), Update webquest Information (to specify the information) and Add Resources (to add... resources, basically). If you click 'Update Webquest Information'  you will see that it is quite clear what is expected of you...

Zunal does this on every page: it give you a chapter and tells you exactly what kind of information should be in there. Perfection! Look at the Task page for example:

Step 7: So imagine: you have filled out theWelcome page and you now want to add an English-Dutch dictionary as a link for your students to use. To do this, you have to click the Add Resources button. You will see a pop up appear and this pop up contains several options. I mostly use Add Website, Attach a file en Attach a Photo.  For an online dictionary, choose option 2: Add Website URL. Choose a title, paste the link and if you want to, enter a description. Click Save Now and your link has been added to your webquest.

Many things are possible so I suggest you just go ahead and click on some random buttons to see what happens. Zunal gives you examples for almost everything, so there's not much that can go wrong...

PS: webquests mix very well with Edmodo and with Flipping the Classroom!

Communities of practice : learning, meaning and identity

A while ago I started reading Communities of Practice by Etienne Wenger. I am now writing this blog because I see us, teachers, trying to get a hold of the digital world, as a Community of Practice, and I feel it would benefit all of us to know a little more about this subject. I would like you to see what we are doing and that some of our struggles are acknowledged. The book is quite difficult to read, so I also thought that maybe it would help me understand it better when I write it down and try to explain it to you.

The four components of social participation

Wenger starts with pointing out what has been rather obvious to some of us: many people these days believe that learning is an individual process. There is a beginning and and end and learning is separated from daily life. Learning is the result of teaching. The assumption that learning is a social activity would mean we need to change these core processes and it also explains why many students consider our teaching irrelevant (because it has nothing to do with social activity). If we believe that learning means that pieces of information need to be stored in our brain, our current educational approach as described in the first sentence of this paragraph will work. However, if we join Wenger's train of thought we might come to the conclusion that this isn't so appealing for students. We need new and inventive ways to engage students, we need students to participate and we want to make sure that students can influence their own learning so that it becomes more meaningful.

Wenger compares learning to social participation and provides us with four components:

1. Community : learning as belonging
2. Identity : learning as becoming
3. Meaning : learning as experience
4. Practice : learning as doing

This kind of learning is not limited to a class room but happens everywhere: families, workplaces, schools, friendships.. These situations are all Communities of Practice. We belong to them, we are part of them, we experience emotions and valuable moments in them and we actively participate in them. You don't GO to a Community of Practice to be one, it simply happens when you're there. Communities of Practice help make your job easier because they help you deal with a job that is constantly changing.  

So what happens if I project this onto my own workplace and our digital development? All teachers belong to this community and the way we view digital development belongs to our community too. This opinion allows us to become the teachers we are: digital or analogue. As a team we experience the digitalisation of the world. We experience failure or success when we experiment with applications. And when we do, we deal with these situations by trying out something new. We do... 

Levels of participation  

As you can see, members have different roles in a Community of Practice. The core group is a small group of people who have a real passion for their goal and who energise the Community. Active participants are members who are actual participants whose opinions on what the Community is about may differ from the perspective of the core group, but they define the group. Occasional participants are members who only participate when the topic is of special interest, or when they have something specific to contribute. Peripheral participants are people who have a connection to the Community, but there is less engagement. This may be because they are newcomers or because they work somewhere else and see the Community as part of their network. Transactional participants are outsiders. They interact with the Community but they are not members of it. They use the Community as a resource for tools, documents or services.

Now take a look at your team of teachers. Do you recognise these roles? In which circle are you and where is the rest of your group when digital development is concerned?

Meaning

When you learn something, you want it to have meaning. But meaning can be different for all of us. A painting, for example, is just an image but the experience of the painting provides meaning for the painter as well as for the viewer. This meaning has to be negotiated: it's not just in a person or in the world or in a thing, but in the dynamics of all this. People help negotiating this meaning by bringing experience to the table. This is what Wenger calls participation: you bring your history of participation and negotiation to a new community. A document can also do this, and when it does Wenger calls it reification. Reification means that something turns an abstract object into something specific. This sounds a bit strange, but compare it to what newspapers do. A headline could very well be 'The economy took a blow'. 'The economy' is an abstract thing, but the word reifies it and turns it in to a more concrete object. Participation and reification are a duality: they exist next to each other but cannot replace each other. What does that mean in education? You need to use both: If you lecture too much, there is too little participation. If you do not lecture at all, there is too little reification. What is said always implies a level of participation.

What does a Community of Practice need to function as such?

•  Mutual engagement: a Community of Practice can exist when the members are engaged in the meanings they negotiate with each other. This engagement is made possible by many things: coming to an office, sending e-mails, having dinner together... People who are included in this feel connected and engaged but this group of people doesn't require homogeneity. This means that a manager can also be part of this group. Do we have mutual engagement as a group? Yes, we send each other e-mails, we come to work and we create Facebook groups and Pinterest pages!
• A joint enterprise: a joint enterprise is basically a goal which is negotiated by the members of a Community. The members can disagree with each other on the path they need to take, but the goal is mutual. It is THEIR enterprise, they are responsible for their goal. These members, however, have a place in a bigger system: the company they work for has certain demands and employees find ways to deal with this. I believe we (teachers) have a goal in using more IT applications, but I do not believe the goal is mutual. Yet.
• Shared repertoire: the members of a Community of Practice have, over time, created a shared repertoire of seating arrangements, words, routines, tools and so on. As you can see, this repertoire combines participative and reificative aspects. I do believe teachers have a very strong shared repertoire, but some of it is a bit outdated.

How am I doing so far? Am I making any sense? Let me know!

To be continued ...

Social networking for schools: Edmodo

This blog is for everybody, obviously, but mostly for colleagues who work with students that go abroad or who are involved in distance education. Meet my new best friend: Edmodo!




What is Edmodo?

Edmodo is a safe place where teachers, students and even parents or coaches can collaborate. They can post and share material and educational applications and they have access to assignments, grades and group discussions. Edmodo's goal is 'to help educators harness the power of social media to customize the classroom for each and every learner'.
As you can see in the video, Edmodo offers many opportunities and I think it will appeal to students because it looks similar to Facebook, only especially  focused on education.




What do I like about Edmodo?

• I am so Dutch, it hurts so this obviously means I enjoy free stuff! Edmodo is free. 
• Edmodo contains a social aspect and therefore makes it easy for students to communicate with me and with the rest of the group. Improved communication means less confusion, which in turn means more time for students who have dificulties grasping a subject or students who are capable of taking it to the next level! You can provide students with badges for achievements and contributions. 
• You can create smaller groups within your groups, for example for students who work together on a project. 
• Teachers and students can post links to websites, documents, Youtube videos and so on and share them with each other. This enhances the feeling of learning together. 
• Teachers can post assignments (with a due date) that students can turn in via Edmodo. Students can keep track of their progress: they can see exactly which assignments they have already handed in and which they haven't handed in. 
• Teachers can grade work and provide students with feedback. All of this is recorded in Edmodo. 
• When a student has a question, it can be directed to the teacher or to the whole group. This makes learning possible for not only the student that asks the question, but for the rest of the group as well. I love that! 
• The teacher is in control of the online class rooms and can see all the messages their students post. This is possible because students have only two options when sending messages: to their teacher or to the group. There is no one-on-one interaction between students and therefore online bullying is pretty much impossible. 
• Teachers can disable and reset students' passwords (when they misbehave for example) and they can reset their group codes. 
• Edmodo has a schedule option which teachers can use and add to. 
• All files and links are saved in the Library so you can find them easily and use them again. 

Disadvantages?

• The badges may seem a bit childish, but as a teacher you can create your own badges so this is avoidable. 
• Edmodo does not offer the possibility to weigh your grades. It can be used as a nice overview to show you who needs to do some catching up and who you need to talk to. 

I have been working with Edmodo for about a month now and I am superexcited about it. I also get the feeling that my students enjoy it too, but they still have to get used to some of it. I will keep you posted! 

Do you want to give it a go? In that case I proudly present: 

A step by step guide to Edmodo! 

Step 1: visit www.edmodo.com and click the blue button that says 'I am a teacher'. 

Fill out the forms, click 'Sign Up' and voila, that's it! No e-mails with codes you need to verify, no junk mail, you just get an account !

If you want to, you can now create your profile (upload a photo, give information about yourself) but you don't have to do this right away. We are first going to create our first group, basically your own online class room.

Step 2: You can see a header called 'Groups' on the left side of your screen. You can click eiter join or create. We're trying to make a new group so we're going with Create. 

A pop-up appears and you can fill out the form. Choose the name of your group (Tourism, English Literature...), the level and the subject area. Click 'Create' to proceed.

This takes you to the next screen where you get your Group Code. This is the code that gives students access to your class room. 

Students do the same thing as you just did to create a profile, except they click 'I am a student'. They put in the Group Code, their name and a username and they are ready! Students can give their e-mail address but they don't have to do this, so again no junkmail! Easy as beans!

Possibly you have already noticed the icons in your screen: 

• The small house sends you to your home screen. This is similar to what you see when you log into Facebook, so the most recent activity is first in the list. 
• The calender icon sends you to your schedule. You can enter tests and due dates for example. 
• The folder with the V sign shows you the progress your students have made. You can see which assignments have been turned in and how you graded it. 
• The button next to it is the library. All your documents and links are saved here and you can rearrange them by group if you'd like.

Step 3: We're going to post a note now. To do this, go to the left side of your screen and click on the name of your group. You will see this in your screen: 

This bar will change slightly when you click the part that says 'type your note here...'

As you can see you can attach a file from your computer, a link to a website or a document from your Edmodo library.

The name of the group is now in the Send to bar. This means that the message you're about to send is going to be visible for the whole group. If you want to send a note to a specific student, click the x next to the group name and enter the name of your student. This obviously only works for students who have registered to your group.

The arrow is now on Note, but there are more options. If you click 'Alert' you will send a message similar to a Tweet on Twitter (max 140 characters), but you cannot attach anything. You can post a short announcement for example. You can send the message right away or you can schedule it for a later time so Edmodo can send it later. 

'Assignment' will let you post an assignment. Really? Yes, really... Choose a title, describe the assignment and choose a due date. You can attach a file and schedule a date to post the message. 

It is also possible to post a quiz which seems to be fairly easy. 

Would you rather create a poll? Sure you can! Again, this seems fairly easy to do... Type your question, choose two answer options (or more) and click send! 

Step 4: So, you have posted an assignment. Your students see it and do the assignment. When they're done, they can turn it in via the 'Turn in' button, which they will see in the middle of the post containing the assignment. Teachers will notice a 'Turned in' button in their assignment, which shows them the due date and the number of students that have turned their work in.

A short example: I did a writing assignment with a couple of students today. I have added a photo below with short instructions and the file containing the assignment. You can also see the due date and you can see that 7 students handed their work in. 

If I click on the 'Turned in' button, I can see who turned it in. I can click the student's name and open their work. This is where you can grade any work you would like to grade. I can do this in the top right corner of the screen, in the two squares divided by a slash. Put in the score, click 'Grade' and you're done. You can now choose an emoticon to show your student what you thought of their work.

For this assignment I chose to grade the work and to provide students with feedback. You can send your students a corrected version of their work with feedback via a note or via a reply to their assignment. 

Teachers can also award Badges. Edmodo provides you with 8 basic badges, but you can create your own badges too. It might seem a bit silly, but remember how badly you wanted a sticker on your work when you were younger? ;-)

Well, I think this is enough for today. I have to admit that I haven't tried all the options yet, but from what I have done and seen I can see that I really enjoy working with Edmodo. It is easy to use for me and students think it's easy and fun! Let me know what you think!

Oh and this might be a bonus:  Edmodo has an app for iPhone and iPad!  

Regards, Lotte

Flipping the classroom

First, I have to say that this blog was initially written in Dutch (by me) a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have given it more thought and therefore the content of this blog might differ with the Dutch one. No harm done, it only got better since I only got more enthusiastic!

Flipping the classroom sounds very interesting... I first encountered this term on inspirational heaven 'Pinterest' and was intrigued.... I started to come across it so often that I had to find out what the fuss was all about. I immediately loved the concept because it gave me a different vieuw of education and that is totally inspiring. Flipping the classroom could give students the motivation to start working on their own, they could create their own insights because of it and their attitude could change from consuming to thinking for themselves. In a nutshell: I love it! If you don't know what it's all about (surely you wouldn't be  reading this blog otherwise ?) watch this video to get an idea.

Now, this video below is a Ted talk where Salman Khan speaks, it is quite a long video (20 min.) but it is worth every second of it. I would almost say that watching it is mandatory! PS: watch closely behind Khan at 20:08, Voldemort is in the audience....

Feeling inspired? I am! Unfortunately as a language teacher I cannot use this website since it has no Language content. So Mr.Khan, if you are reading this, I (and I'm sure Lotte would too) would love to help you with that :).

Have a look at the infographic below of you are more of a visual person:

In a nutshell:

As the word 'flip' already says a ' flipped lesson' is a lesson which is turned around: homework happens in class and lectures happen at home. Students watch videos at home where their teacher or someone else explains what they need to know through video (youtube, Khan academy, etc). They then come to class to make their ' homework' which is doing assignments, projects, experiments, etc ; simply applying what they have learned from the videos they have watched at home.

The benefits of Flipping the Classroom are:

• Students can watch the video's at their own pace. They can watch it more than once whenever they feel the need. They can pause or rewind it. 
• Students don't have to feel embarrassed about asking a what seems like obvious question, they can simply rematch an explanation again online. 
• Students get the chance to educate themselves if they are not able to come to class.
• Students can ask questions to each other or the/a teacher or coach whenever they want, online. 
• Teachers are available when they are needed most: when students apply what they have learned. 
• Teacher have more time on their hands for helping students since they can use content of other teachers like videos, online assignments, etc to prepare their lessons. 
• The quality of the teacher-student relationship is improved because no time in class is spent on explaining things which is very time consuming. Also, the teacher can moderate students' progress online thus knows exactly who to help and with what. 

Disadvantages could be:

• Students won't be able to do their work in class if they don't do their homework ; watching a video online. Handling this could create some problems. Depending on what website the teacher and students use, the teacher can or cannot view students' activity and progress. If they cannot view these they will not know if students have done their bit at home. This will only become obvious once a students starts trying to apply what they haven't learned when they are already in class. This could create a more serious problem since one teacher could approve of this behavior and say "Watch the video now and then get to work" where another teacher would remove this student from class, the ticket to class being having watched the video. When teachers disagree about how to handle this situation it could bring down the whole concept of Flipping the Classroom. 
• Finding quality videos where the instructor speaks according to the students' language level can be a difficult task. This could be solved by making your own videos and sharing them with colleagues. However, making a really nice video could cost a lot of money and time and most of us don't have too much of those. 

OK. I hope you now have an all-round view of what flipping the classroom is. The big question is if you feel like you can start doing this in your classroom. If you do think about the following things: What will students watch at home? What will they do in class? How can I monitor their actions and progress? Which materials do they need? What is the main form of communication online?

Another possibility of flipping the classroom is through ed-ted. Watch the following video and find out!

With ted-ed you can flip your classroom using a video made by ted-ed or by using a youtube video. Isn't that great!!

Here are some other resources that you can use to find material:

• Youtube for Teachers
• Youtube for Schools
• Youtube Spotlight
• Ted.com
• You can also have a look on our Pinterest page for materials

Let's get flipping!

Roos