We've come to the end of the summer and to the end of this year's TECHsplorations program! I've had so much fun learning and exploring learning management systems along with you over the past several weeks. I hope that you have found some valuable information that you will use with your classes this year.
All of our work from TECHsplorations will continue to be available to you throughout the year, so feel free to refer back to our group for pointers or tips.
No TECHsplorations journey would be complete without a tasty cupcake reception! As usual, we will celebrate our learning and accomplishments with a Cupcake Reception this coming Monday, August 26th from 12:30 to 1pm in the North Building Lobby. I hope you'll stop by!
For this final week, please check the TECHsplorations group in either Edmodo or Canvas. This week, we'll be sharing tips and tricks for our learning management systems to help us make the most of them. I've already shared a few of my own tips for each system, but I'd like to hear some tips from you as well. What have you discovered as you set up your Canvas courses? What did you learn at EdmodoCon? Let us know!
Thanks again for your willingness to play and learn new things. As always, have fun!
See you at the Cupcake Reception!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Week 5
After a brief hiatus, TECHsplorations is back and there are great things for you to explore!
For LS teachers, next week, Edmodo is holding a free online conference called EdmodoCon on August 7th. Your TECHsploration for this week is to register for the conference and explore the session offerings so that you can plan to attend one or more of them. The conference features real teachers sharing tips and tricks for using Edmodo in the classroom. I've attended in past years and found it to be inspirational--I hope you'll agree! Head over to our Edmodo page for information on where to register. If you aren't free at any point on August 7th, you can still register for the conference. Much of the information shared in the sessions will be available to participants after the event.
For MS & US teachers, good news! Your courses have been created in Canvas (huge thanks to Colin!). You are welcome to start building your courses, adding content, making quizzes, etc. Please note that if you teach more than one section of the same course, you will notice that you have only one course set up in Canvas. Canvas allows you to create multiple sections within that one course page. Colin has just sent an email with all the important information about this.
Additionally, we're exploring ePortfolios this week. They are an excellent way of collecting and sharing a student's best work (or yours!). Please visit our TECHsplorations course on Canvas for all the details.
Have fun and keep TECHsploring!
For LS teachers, next week, Edmodo is holding a free online conference called EdmodoCon on August 7th. Your TECHsploration for this week is to register for the conference and explore the session offerings so that you can plan to attend one or more of them. The conference features real teachers sharing tips and tricks for using Edmodo in the classroom. I've attended in past years and found it to be inspirational--I hope you'll agree! Head over to our Edmodo page for information on where to register. If you aren't free at any point on August 7th, you can still register for the conference. Much of the information shared in the sessions will be available to participants after the event.
For MS & US teachers, good news! Your courses have been created in Canvas (huge thanks to Colin!). You are welcome to start building your courses, adding content, making quizzes, etc. Please note that if you teach more than one section of the same course, you will notice that you have only one course set up in Canvas. Canvas allows you to create multiple sections within that one course page. Colin has just sent an email with all the important information about this.
Additionally, we're exploring ePortfolios this week. They are an excellent way of collecting and sharing a student's best work (or yours!). Please visit our TECHsplorations course on Canvas for all the details.
Have fun and keep TECHsploring!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Week 4
Wow! We're already on Week 4 of TECHsplorations! Summer is flying by--be sure to savor every second!
This week, for LS teachers, we are going to explore the brand new look of Edmodo--they've updated the look of the system to be less cluttered and more intuitive. I think you'll like it! Log on to our group and go through the checklist I've posted to be sure that you are able to locate everything in this new "look." If you haven't yet joined our group, just look at the links to the right on the blog and jump right in! Joining now will really help you to make the most of Edmodo in the fall.
MS and US folks, we're looking at Pages and Modules in Canvas this week. These are the core building blocks of course in Canvas, so you could say that this is an important week. We had excellent participation last week in sharing interesting articles through a Google Doc/Canvas collaboration--well done everyone! I really enjoyed reading all the interesting things that have caught your eye this summer. If you haven't had a chance to contribute or to read the articles, be sure to take a look! Your small assignment for this week is to read about Pages and Modules and then add your thoughts to the wiki page I've created. I've purposely made this page editable by everyone (and you can do that with your students too!). I'll be grading this using a rubric, so you'll get to see that feature in action too! Log on to our Canvas group for all the details.
As always, have fun! :)
This week, for LS teachers, we are going to explore the brand new look of Edmodo--they've updated the look of the system to be less cluttered and more intuitive. I think you'll like it! Log on to our group and go through the checklist I've posted to be sure that you are able to locate everything in this new "look." If you haven't yet joined our group, just look at the links to the right on the blog and jump right in! Joining now will really help you to make the most of Edmodo in the fall.
MS and US folks, we're looking at Pages and Modules in Canvas this week. These are the core building blocks of course in Canvas, so you could say that this is an important week. We had excellent participation last week in sharing interesting articles through a Google Doc/Canvas collaboration--well done everyone! I really enjoyed reading all the interesting things that have caught your eye this summer. If you haven't had a chance to contribute or to read the articles, be sure to take a look! Your small assignment for this week is to read about Pages and Modules and then add your thoughts to the wiki page I've created. I've purposely made this page editable by everyone (and you can do that with your students too!). I'll be grading this using a rubric, so you'll get to see that feature in action too! Log on to our Canvas group for all the details.
As always, have fun! :)
Monday, July 8, 2013
Week 3: Collaborations and Small Groups
I've written this blog post in advance as I am away from school this week and soaking up some Florida sunshine with my family! Hope you're having some fun summer adventures of your own!
Remember that, as always, if you haven't started TECHsploring, you can start anytime--so why not start now?! One of the main goals of this summer's program is to prepare you to use your division's learning management system with your students in the fall, so you'll definitely put your new skills to good use.
This week, for MS & US folks, we are going to collaborate using a Google Doc that I've integrated into the Collaborations section of our Canvas course. It's hard to test these things on my own, so I'd love for you all to give this a try. Log on to our Canvas course for all the details. http://
This week, for MS & US folks, we are going to collaborate using a Google Doc that I've integrated into the Collaborations section of our Canvas course. It's hard to test these things on my own, so I'd love for you all to give this a try. Log on to our Canvas course for all the details. http://
**Try the mobile app as well! There are links on the blog to help you with setting up and using the Canvas mobile app.**
For LS teachers, we are going to look at two things: the small groups feature and the reset a student's password feature. The small groups feature allows you to break your students into groups to share ideas and work online together, and I don't think I need to tell you just how important the reset a student's password feature will be to you! You, as a teacher of your course, have the ability to reset your students' passwords if needed. No more log in hassles! Hooray! Log on to our Edmodo group for more details. http://brynmawrschool.edmodo.
**Try the mobile app as well! There are links on the blog to assist you with setting up and using the Edmodo mobile app.**
Don't forget that the discussions are just getting started over on the BMS Goodreads group--join us! AND there's always Twitter for finding fresh ideas and inspiration.
As always, have fun! I'll "see" you back in Baltimore next week!
Monday, July 1, 2013
Week 2
Hope you are enjoying this glorious summer weather! I'm thrilled that we've gotten both the Canvas and Edmodo environments all up and running (many thanks to Colin!).
Now, we can start TECHsploring these new areas!
For MS & US folks, we are going to try adding video and/or audio commentary to a discussion forum. We're also going to try taking a quiz that I've created in the Canvas environment. Log on to our Canvas course for all the details. While you are not yet able to practice creating these, I've provided links to tutorials for how you can add these things to your own courses once we have set them all up.
http://brynmawrschool.instructure.com
**Try the mobile app as well! There are details on the right side of this blog about how to set up and use the Canvas mobile app.**
For LS teachers, we are going to look at the "Send to" feature and the other Edmodo communities that exist outside of Bryn Mawr School. In addition to using Edmodo with your students, you can also use it to connect with teachers all across the globe who are teaching the same subjects and/or grade levels as you! This week, you'll make some new connections and hopefully, meet some new people to add to your Personal Learning Network (PLN). Log on to our Edmodo group for more details.
http://brynmawrschool.edmodo.com
**Try the mobile app as well! There are details on the right side of this blog about how to set up and use the Edmodo mobile app. I know we've had a few hiccups with using it on iPad, but keep working with it!**
Don't forget that the discussions are just getting started over on the BMS Goodreads group--join us! AND there's always Twitter for finding fresh ideas and inspiration.
Now, we can start TECHsploring these new areas!
For MS & US folks, we are going to try adding video and/or audio commentary to a discussion forum. We're also going to try taking a quiz that I've created in the Canvas environment. Log on to our Canvas course for all the details. While you are not yet able to practice creating these, I've provided links to tutorials for how you can add these things to your own courses once we have set them all up.
http://brynmawrschool.instructure.com
**Try the mobile app as well! There are details on the right side of this blog about how to set up and use the Canvas mobile app.**
For LS teachers, we are going to look at the "Send to" feature and the other Edmodo communities that exist outside of Bryn Mawr School. In addition to using Edmodo with your students, you can also use it to connect with teachers all across the globe who are teaching the same subjects and/or grade levels as you! This week, you'll make some new connections and hopefully, meet some new people to add to your Personal Learning Network (PLN). Log on to our Edmodo group for more details.
http://brynmawrschool.edmodo.com
**Try the mobile app as well! There are details on the right side of this blog about how to set up and use the Edmodo mobile app. I know we've had a few hiccups with using it on iPad, but keep working with it!**
Don't forget that the discussions are just getting started over on the BMS Goodreads group--join us! AND there's always Twitter for finding fresh ideas and inspiration.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Start of TECHsplorations 2013
Welcome to a new summer of TECHsploring! This summer will feel a little different than past years' TECHsplorations, as the framework will be built around our learning management systems. You are, of course, still encouraged to use Twitter to enrich and grow your PLN [Personal Learning Network].
To clarify, the Lower School faculty will complete TECHsplorations within a class on Edmodo, and the Middle and Upper School faculty will complete TECHsplorations within a class on Canvas. Using these learning management systems to explore new facets and features will help to prepare us to use these systems effectively with our own students in the fall.
On the right hand side of this blog, you will find many helpful links, including:
To clarify, the Lower School faculty will complete TECHsplorations within a class on Edmodo, and the Middle and Upper School faculty will complete TECHsplorations within a class on Canvas. Using these learning management systems to explore new facets and features will help to prepare us to use these systems effectively with our own students in the fall.
On the right hand side of this blog, you will find many helpful links, including:
- Begin here!
- This link will give you an overview of this year's TECHsplorations and outline our goals for the program.
- BMS Canvas login
- This link will take you directly to our Bryn Mawr Canvas environment
- BMS Edmodo login
- This link will take you directly to our Bryn Mawr Edmodo environment
- BMS GoodReads group
- This link will take you to our BMS GoodReads group, where you can join a discussion about one or more of our summer reading picks.
- TECHsplorations Blog Chrome App
- This link will take you to the Chrome Web Store, where you can install the TECHsplorations blog app onto your Chrome apps page--essentially a bookmark for this blog!
- Twitter -related links
- These links will take you through the step-by-step process of setting up a Twitter account and finding your BMS colleagues. You can also read the Twitter Lingo section to learn more about the special symbols and abbreviations you'll see while browsing Twitter.
- Fun & Prizes
- What is TECHsplorations without some fun & prizes?? We will have a cupcake reception as always, plus there will be prizes for participants at different levels.
Plus, we're mobile! All the TECHsploring we do this summer can be done from a mobile phone or iPad. Check out the links to the right about using the mobile apps to see screenshots of the apps in action, and then download and use them yourself if you'd like!
So, jump in and get moving! There's a lot to TECHsplore!
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