This Is How to Create A Library in Google Scholar

10:50 PM    

December 6, 2014
We have recently started a series of posts on Google Scholar. The purpose of these posts is to help teachers and students make the best of this educational search engine through introducing them to the hidden gems within this platform. If you have missed the previous posts, you can access them here.

Today's tip is on how to create a library on Google Scholar. This library can be used to organize and collect all articles you find on Scholar."You can save articles right from the search page, organize them by topic, and use the power of Scholar's full-text search & ranking to quickly find just the one you want - at any time and from anywhere.".

Here is how you can create library on Google Scholar:
1- After you have conducted your search query on Scholar and found the article you want to add to your library, click on "Save" below the article to save it to your library.



2- Click on "My Library" to see all the articles in your library and search their full text. You can also organize your articles by using labels.

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An Excellent New Tool for Creating Multimedia Timelines for Your Class

10:14 PM    

December 6, 2014
HSTRY is a very good web tool for creating multimedia timelines in class. The process is very simple and easy. Just sign up either as a teacher or a student, choose the timeline you want to work on and start adding your events. You can add images, videos, and audio. The great thing about HSTRY is that it allows teachers to create a classroom and invite students to join it. Within this classroom, teachers will be able to share timelines with their students and view the ones they create. Teachers can also make their timelines interactive by adding questions for students to answer.



HSTRY works on different devices including Chromebooks and iPads.

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Over 20 Good Apps to Use in BYOD Classroom

10:26 PM    

December 5, 2014
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is not only about students bringing their own  devices to class and using them for educational purposes. It is much  more than just a problem of hardware but is rather a question of what "learningware" students need to install and use with their devices. Most of the discussions on BYOD center around the accessibility and availability of devices together with  the fact that students are experts of their own devices. Sounds good but not enough!

Students need to be provided  powerful educational apps to galvanize the learning gen inside of them. They need to be shown what apps work with which.  Below is a Symbalo board featuring a wide variety of powerful web tools and apps perfect for BYOD classrooms. Click on the image below to access the interactive version of this board where you can access the links of each of these apps.



Here is a round-up of these apps as provided by Edudemic.
  • Skitch
  • Evernote
  • Today’s Meet
  • Infuse Learning
  • Zondle
  • Socrative
  • Gaggle
  • Vimeo
  • Brain Pop
  • Live Binders
  • Edmodo
  • Whiteboard
  • Class Dojo
  • Quizlet
  • Khan Academy
  • Bit.ly
  • Twitter
  • Popplet
  • Sliderocket
  • Wikispaces
  • Poll Everywhere
  • VoiceThready
  • Studyblue
  • QR Stuff
  • Code Academy
  • Scratch (MIT)
  • Tynker
  • EasyBib
  • Discovery
  • Padlet
  • Atomic Learning
  • The App Builder

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11 Effective Ways to Use Twitter in Education

10:04 PM    

November, 2014
Twitter is a social network of huge importance for us in education. We have posted several articles about it here inEducational Technology and Mobile Learning and here is a resourceful  section where you can access all the educational tools, tips, and ideas to help you to effectively leverage Twitter in your teaching and learning.

There are several ways we can use Twitter in education and here is a brief overview of some of them.
  • Hold after class discussions
  • Create an online community of students
  • Ask questions relevant to course materials
  • Start backchannel talks 
  • Create a classroom hashtag
  • Use it for class announcements
  • Get feedback from students
  • Share interesting online materials
  • Pass on information about events
  • Have a Twitter account for each class
  • Reward participation
  • Integrate Twitter into Syllabus
I am also sharing with you this interesting visual from Pam Jimison which features 11 ways to use Twitter in education. Check if out from this Link.


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A New Wonderful Google Forms Cheat Sheet for Teachers

9:11 PM    

December 4, 2014
Google Forms is one of the powerful tools you want to make sure you have in your teaching toolkit.There are different ways you can use it with your students in class. You can, for instance, use it to create quizzes, polls, questionnaires, and surveys. You can also use it to design permission forms, absence slips, classroom events forms…you name it. The great thing about Google Forms, besides being free and easy to use, is the fact that it is integrated with Google Drive which means that any form you create is automatically saved in your Drive and you can access it anywhere you go with Internet connection.

In today's post, I am sharing with you this wonderful Google Forms cheat sheet created by Shake Up Learning. This document is particularly useful for beginner users. It provides a lot of tips on how to do a wide variety of task on Forms including how to create a form, change and customize the theme of your forms, add collaborators, and many more.This cheat sheet is also available for free download in PDF format from this link. Enjoy



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A Great Chart Explaining The Flipped Classroom Concept

4:00 PM    

December 3, 2014
Flipped classroom or flipped learning is a methodology, an approach to learning in which technology is employed to reverse the traditional role of classroom time. If in the past, classroom time is spent at lecturing to students , now in a flipped model, this time is utilized to encourage individualized learning and provide one-on-one help to students, and also to improve student-teacher interaction. While the instructional or teachable content is still available in class, however this content is mainly designed in such a way to be accessed outside class which is a great way for struggling students to learn at their own pace.

  Together with the resources I have been sharing with you on Flipped learning, the resource I have for you today is especially helpful in that it provides a very simple step by step explanation of flipped learning works. This chart is created and shared by the Blended Learning wiki. The page also provides some very good video tutorials on flipped classroom. I invite you to check out those resources and share with us what you think of them. Enjoy.

Check out the original chart HERE.


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Enhance Kids Reading Skills with These iPad Interactive Stories

9:24 PM    

December 3, 2014
Below are three great iPad apps to enhance your kids reading skills through the use of interactive digital storytelling. The apps allow kids to interact with the stories they read using a variety of tools such as colouring, moving items in the story, changing sounds and many more.

1- Story Time for Kids


Story Time is an interactive story telling app that is bundled with beautifully illustrated story books for children. Each story is bundled with original colourful illustrations, narrations and sound effects! With Story Time, reading is so much fun. All the stories highlight the text as its read along. Children not only read but also learn how to read and pronounce the words clearly.



Kids play and interact with Harry as he struggles to find out what’s wrong with his new monster. The multiple games are intertwined with the story so that the player can help push the action forward. Kids sail a pirate sea, target-shoot soup into a monster's mouth, help get Harry and Zub though a maze and more - plus, every screen has hidden activities and surprises!
3- Monster Moogle


Monster Moogle develops creative thinking, artistic ability and skill in children. This app has an interactive storybook and collage maker that inspires kids to engage with their imagination by creating unique characters and short stories.



Education doesn’t have to be boring. It should be fun! Pickatale was made to improve children’s reading skills, to help them learn about animals, cultures, historical figures and more, and to have fun learning through reading storybooks. The app currently has 200+ interactive stories in English!
 

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