Welcome to EDIT 3220, a class devoted to providing ideas and training on how to use technology in the K-12 classroom. You might want to bookmark this page, as it will be continuously updated with new information on assignments, as well as technology, throughout the semester. The course will be paperless so all content that you need to complete your projects will be posted on this page.
Padlet Section 1 | Padlet Section 2
Course Syllabus
– You will use Livetext as well as your Google Drive account in this course. Make sure you have access to both and know your usernames/passwords
Proposed Schedule:
| Jan 10 | Class introductions, basic tech, social media |
| Jan 17 | Searches, social media, iPad basics |
| Jan 24 | Padlet on Laws |
| Jan 31 | Using Book Creator (field-based) |
| Feb 7 | Professional website creation, design |
| Feb 14 | Using Electronic Whiteboards |
| Feb 21 | Teaching demonstration with whiteboard |
| Feb 28 | Google certification |
| March 7 | Explain Everything |
| March 14 | Spring Break |
| March 21 | Online Teaching/Learning |
| March 28 | The best online resources |
| April 4 | How to produce and edit digital video |
| April 11 | Editing session for videos |
| April 18 | Wrap up websites |
| April 25 | TBD |
Creating a film or using the makerspace
For this project you will work individually or in a group to plan, film, and edit a 3-5 minute film that aligns with the school curriculum. Project requirements (check the rubric for specifics):
- Camera work shows purpose and forethought, mimics professionals
- Lots of different angles are apparent throughout the film
- The audio quality is good and all dialogue is easy to hear
- Background music and sound effects are included
- A green screen, split screen, or picture-in-picture is utilized
- The production is 3-5 minutes in length
- There is some alignment to curriculum
We will have a film festival on April 26th to screen these projects. Do a good job!!
Makerspace Ideas:
Blog of activities
3D Printing in Elementary
Engraving in Education
Using Cricut with Students
Excellent Online Resources for Teaching and Learning
For our next assignment, your group will create a presentation to share with the class that details a really useful online resource for the classroom. While you don’t have to use one from this website, it is a great place to get started as it includes many curated websites and apps that have been determined to be very useful for K-12 education. You will use Canva for this.
Your presentation should include:
- An overview of the resource
- Training on how it works
- Screenshots or, even better, a screen recording
- Ideas for ways it can be implemented in the classroom
You will present this in class on March 27th, the week after spring break.
Explain Everything
For this project, you will create a lesson, tutorial, review, or some type of combination. Here are the parameters:
- You create it from scratch using the Explain Everything app on your iPad
- It lasts 2-3 minutes
- It is aligned with your curriculum
- It includes your voice for delivering content/instruction
- It mimics something your students could do for you using Explain Everything on their device.
An excellent project will be:
- Very creative, with attractive colors, fonts, and layouts
- Have clear audio, good pacing, and clean animations
- Utilize advanced features like integrated video, a web browser, file integration, or other advanced features offered in the software
Ideas (just a few to get you started):
- Bring a science experiment to life
- Showcase math happening in the real world
- Capture images or videos to then write on, talk about, move around, and animate
- Model physics using videos and animations in Explain Everything
- Animate a historical event using images and graphics
- Use cartoon characters and other elements to bring a creative story to life
Professional Website
You can use this website as a model for your project
This might be the most useful project you do in the course. When you are finished, you will have created a website that showcases you as a teacher. You will be creating your website using the excellent free service Wix.com
If you want a custom domain (for instance, www.drchrisgreer.com) then you can register one here and point it to your Wix website.
Your website needs to be, at the very minimum, 7 pages and contain content related to:
1) what you teach
2) your philosophy
3) examples of your work (technology and other), embed your technology projects on a dedicated page for greater visibility
4) your overall experience
5) a link to your resume
6) lots of your own images
If you want to ensure a solid grade for this project, you should go above and beyond these minimum guidelines.
You can also showcase any research, presentations, work experience, or a variety of other topics.
This website will be due on our last day of class. It is important that you don’t wait until a few weeks before to finish it, as it will take a while to gather the needed materials to complete it.
Google Educator
Google Educator Level 1 (test costs $10 to take)
Do the training and then take the test
This certification will 1) prepare you for technology integration in your classroom and 2) help you stand out when applying for a teaching position.
If you have not been asked to do the Apple Teacher certification in another one of your classes, it is also an option for this assignment.
You need to complete the certification and upload proof of it to the assignment in Livetext no later than April 26th.
Electronic Whiteboard
For this project you will use the whiteboard to teach a lesson to the class. You will need to form groups of 4 students and plan about 10 minutes of instruction to deliver to the class. The instruction should be on something related to your content area, and you need to take full advantage of the whiteboard’s functionality. This includes interactive exercises that get students up to the board and engage them in the lesson. You can have questions, writing exercises, integrated video, and links to external websites. The more functionality you utilize, the stronger your grade will be. Be creative with your layouts and make sure to utilize plenty of colors and images throughout the presentation. There is a rubric available on Livetext that you can reference when creating your project.
Lumio is the online version of Smart Notebook that is free to use
Using a Promethean or SmartBoard at your school? Download the software to your personal computer so you can create lessons from home!
Book Creator Assignment
You need to create an 8-10 page book on something that can be found in the Milledgeville area. It could be a location that has a historic or ecological element. It could involve how math is used on a daily basis. It could look at a person or place that is uniquely important to the area. The book must include:
- 8-10 pages, minimum
- A video that aligns with the content of the book. The video should be at least 30 seconds in length.
- Photographs that you take with your phone or iPad
- Supplementary photos that you find online
- Text that you have written. Do not copy and paste from anywhere
- A pleasing layout using fonts, images, and shapes that are available in Book Creator
This book is due two weeks from now in Livetext. Pay close attention to the rubric in Livetext as you create your project, it can guide you as far as what to focus on.
Laws Teachers Should Know:
Classroom activity:
You all will be building a concept map and there can be no more than 4 individuals in each group. You will build your concept map on the laws that all teachers need to be aware of: CIPA, COPPA, FERPA, and Fair Use of Copyright. Each group member must work and develop the concept map. The finished map needs to be extensive and cover the laws sufficiently.
- begin with a main title
- break it down into the subtopics that are all related to the main subject
- break those down further into detailed examples and media
- you must include images, video, and links
- Each law needs to include an example of something that could happen in a classroom to violate the law (this shows you understand how they can apply to you)
- overall there should be roughly 25 elements (or more) on the completed concept map
Hardware and Software
Using search engines activity
Download free software to prevent viruses
Do not fall for phishing scams. They can be very clever and many people cannot tell the difference.
Google is a powerful search engine, but many people don’t know some of the advanced ways it can be used. Try to answer these questions:
- Find some PowerPoint presentations or PDF files that can help you teach the structure and function of cells in the human body.
- Name the many bands/artists that have covered the song “Wagon Wheel”
- How many times is my last name mentioned on the Georgia College website?
- Find some of the critics’ reviews of The Walking Dead during previous seasons, but without worrying about coming across a spoiler from the current season.
- Your cell phone has started dropping the Wifi connection on a daily basis. It happens at school and at home. How could you solve this problem?
Social Media
General rules to follow:
1. Do not Facebook, Twitter, or IG “friend” your students
2. Consider changing your last name once you begin teaching
3. Consider creating a new account on Facebook/IG/Social Media for online contact with students
4. Make sure your stuff is private. Make VERY sure. Go and view it as someone else and as the general public to make certain
Locking down your presence on the web can be tough, but now is the time to do it. Google, Twitter, Tik Tok, IG, Vine, Tumbler, etc need to all be examined.