Digital Bytes 16th January, 2017

	12 Tools that Made a Difference in My Teaching Year Rachelle Dane Poth spent a year testing a number of tools with her class to see which ones she felt were most useful to her students. She came up with a list of 12 of the best tools for her students and has given a short description of each. They are well worth your time to check them out.
	Listenwise Listenwise is a fantastic tool for your classroom. Once your students have used their Google account to sign in there are a number of podcasts for your students. All you need to know is in this short 90 second video. You won’t regret checking it out.
	Fake Websites Last week we looked at how to spot fake news and as a follow up we are looking at spotting fake websites this week. Share some of these fake websites like Dog Island with your students and see if they can tell that they are fake. Or share some real and some fake and see if they can tell.

Digital Bytes 28th September 2015

This week we have an article about how multimedia storytelling can change people's perception and develop empathy, a post on a hybrid model of assessment, blending analog and digital tools, and a response to the OECD article that made the rounds a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

Digital Bytes 4th May 2015

Happy Star Wars Day! For this week's Digital Bytes, we feature Essentials for ePortfolios, an article from Scholastic on Twitter for Teachers, and 10 Techie Things to Try for those looking for a bit of inspiration. Enjoy!

 

Learning to Manage Distractions

One of parents' biggest concerns around student use of technology is that of distractions. The same tool we use to create and learn, can be used to entertain and derail productivity.

So what are our options, as teachers? As parents?

We could create elaborate structures of control (blocking certain websites, turning off wifi etc), but that is only a temporary solution.

At UWCSEA, we prefer to educate students about distractions, with a view to creating informed citizens, who learn to manage their tendencies to get distracted. This is of course what all adults need to learn to do themselves...

This skill of self-management takes time to develop, and students need lots of opportunities to practice. They may well need frequent reminders throughout their schooling of techniques and approaches to reducing distractions, and this is where responsive teaching comes to the fore.

One of the ways we have begun to educate students about distractions is through the Personal and Social Education curriculum. Recently, I co-taught with a Grade 3 teacher, who was concerned her students were getting side-tracked with Google Chat, and who wanted some strategies for helping students remain focused during class.

When I walked around the room, I asked if I could borrow a few students' computers to show the class. Here's what we found:

Personalisation
Like adults, students in our Grade 3 class loved personalising their computers. The majority had chosen a desktop background of something they were interested in (Minecraft, soccer players, horses etc) and many had changed their Gmail backgrounds to have snow falling or animated gifs moving in the background at all times.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
Movement and colour can attract attention, often away from what we should be focusing on. Think about visiting a news website, for example. Advertisements often contain moving elements, as these attract the eye - a deliberate attempt by the advertiser to get you to notice what they are selling.

If we choose to have moving elements on our Gmail backgrounds, or our desktop wallpaper (one of the options on a Mac is to have a new desktop background picture every 5 seconds), then we are making it much harder for us to concentrate on our school work.

Colours that help promote calm and thinking are greens and blues, so they were recommended to the students as colours they might like to choose for their desktop and Gmail backgrounds. We encourage personalisation, but we want to make students aware that their choices have an impact on their learning. Students went back to their computers and made changes they were comfortable with.

Chat
The ability to send and receive instant messages is a relatively new phenomenon for our Grade 3 students. Understandably, it's an exciting feature to explore. Many students have older brothers or sisters who like seeing their younger sibling online, and take the opportunity to check in. This puts the younger student in a bit of a conundrum - do I reply to my sibling, or stay focused on my school work?

In one of those serendipitous twists of fate, this exact scenario occurred while I was in the room, providing us with a perfect teachable moment.

We plugged in the computer of a student whose sibling had sent a G-Chat message, and asked the students what they could do in this sort of situation. There were lots of animated discussions in groups about this scenario, and we collected some of the responses and evaluated them as a class.

"We could turn our G-Chat to invisible, so noone knows we are online."
"So can people still send you messages when you're invisible?" we asked.
"Yes, they could."
"Have a think about how that might that affect your learning," we suggested.

"We could turn our G-Chat to busy, so people know we're working."
"So can people still send you messages when you're busy?" we asked.
"Yes, they could."
"Have a think about how that might that affect your learning," we suggested.

"We could sign out of G-Chat when we're at school."
"So can people still send you messages when you're signed out?" we asked.
"No, they couldn't."
"Have a think about how that might that affect your learning," we suggested.

We then sent students back to their desks to make a decision that would help them remain focused on their learning following the discussion with the class.

Documenting Thinking
The final piece of the puzzle was to document their thinking about distractions, and the changes they decided on for their laptops using a Quicktime Screen Recording, which we embedded in their Google Site (see below for details)

Great PD Offerings for Digital Literacy

We are excited to inform you about some wonderful opportunities for professional development in Digital Literacy that are coming up this year. Please see below regarding details, and remember to fill in a Professional Development Application Form should you wish to be considered.

September

Google Apps for Education Summit  
SAS, Singapore
6 & 7th September 2014
Target Audience: K-12 Teachers & Administrators

This two day event focuses on deploying, integrating, and using Google Apps for Education and other Google Tools to promote student learning in K-12 and higher education. Do check the pre-summit offerings as well, for topics such as Google for iOS, Google Geo Teachers Institute and Google Certified Teacher Bootcamp.

The iPad Conference

ISKL, Kuala Lumpur

26th & 27th September 2014

Target Audience: K-5 Teachers

The conference will provide participants with skills to:

• Integrate iPads into Early Years and Upper Elementary learning programs 
• Become fluent in and teach several iPad applications
• Engage young students in meaningful learning using the iPad
• Understand how to assemble a "starter kit" of iPad applications that will satisfy Tech Integration standards at your school
• Manage iPad imaging and handling

October

Learning 2.014

NIST, Bangkok

2nd - 4th October 2014
Target Audience: K-12 Teachers & Administrators

This year’s theme at Learning 2.0 Asia is Empowering Community. From encouraging student entrepreneurship to helping parents in this time of constant connection; from creating a community of empowered teachers to connecting with the nontraditional student, this year’s conference promises to help you Empower Community in your classroom and in your school.

Learning 2.014 is a conference with a unique format. It has Extended Sessions (3 hour deep dives into an area of your interest), Cohort Sessions (where you meet with others in a job-alike session), Workshops (45 minute sessions on a huge range of topics) and Unconference sessions (which unfold over the conference). There is a pre-conference, which you may wish to consider as well.

December

21st Century Learning HK

Hong Kong

12th - 13th December 2014
Target Audience: K-12 Teachers & Administrators

At the 21st Century Learning Conference, there is something for all educators. The annual conference, now in its 7th Year brings together a diverse world class line up of keynote and featured presenters to network and learn together about how to most effectively use technology in education.

Please talk to your friendly Digital Literacy Coach if you would like more details!