Eclectic Technology

Infographics might be considered the intersection of information, illustration and design. They provide students with the opportunity to share information in a variety of ways. This post shares the story of one teacher and her implementation of a research project which culminated in an infographic. After a brief introduction (which includes an excellent interactive infographic, 13 Reasons Why Your Brain Craves Infographics). Following this introduction there are six components that are shared:

* Select an Infographic-Friendly Topic

* Begin the Drafting Process by Hand

* Choose the Right Templates or Software

* Refine Content and Design

* Infographic Resources and Tools for Educators

* Share and Critique

Each section provides additional detail and a number of resources that you will find helpful are included.

If you have not checked out Wonderopolis it worth your time to head over and see the resources available. They post a Wonder of the Day (and as of this writing they have 1328 wonders).

You will find a question and a movie, but that is just the beginning. There are additional questions, a Wonder Gallery, Wonder Words (as in vocabulary), Try It Out (ideas for follow-up work), Still Wondering (additional resources), Test Your Knowledge, and a Wonder What's Next (a teaser for the following wonder).

Although this was written for a Kindergarten class the site allows you to search and provides Wonders appropriate through high school.

The idea of using this as a tool for writing is one that could be used in any classroom, and you could focus it in specific areas or change it daily.

And if you are looking for some Wonders that are appropriate for younger grades you may want to check out this post by the author: 50 Great Wonders from Wonderopolis for Primary Grades.

This post looks at the use of ePortfolios, focusing on the Why, How and What. Each section includes videos and links to additional resources.

In the Why section you will find:

* A TED Talk

* Six resources that look at the advantages of ePortfolios, their benefits and when to use them, why use an ePortfolio, why ePortfolios matter and more. There are also links to a wide variety of ePortfolios.

* The How section explores planning, platforms and assessments. It also includes a video, as well as links to additional resources.

* The What section explores "what learning artifacts will you include? and "what apps/tools will you use to digitize these artifacts?" Additional resources are also listed here.

If you are considering using ePortfolios this post provides many resources that will help you be successful.

This is a quick view of Project Based Learning that may help your students (or teachers in your school new to PBL) understand the key components:

* Driving question or challenge

* Need to know

* Inquiry and innovation

* 21st century skills

* Student voice and choice

* Feedback and revision

* Publicly presented product

Project Based Learning is a great way for students to engage in authentic learning projects. For more information on Project Based Learning (and lots of great resources) check out the Buck Institute for Learning website located at http://bie.org/

They have been around for over 25 years and recently revamped their website.

Today teachers are asked to provide opportunities for students to show their creativity, but in many schools are programs are being cut due to budget concerns...and STEM is being renamed STEAM to include the arts.

This infographic explores why it is important to have the arts as a player in public education. Below are a few of the reasons from the infographic. Click through to see all the reasons (eleven if I counted correctly).

* Have you wondered how much federal funding goes to the National Science Foundation as compared to the Arts and Humanities? Do the figures of $5 billion versus $250 million surprise you?
* The No Child Left Behind Act outlines the arts (music, art, foreign language) as core academic subjects, but the Huffington Post notes that fewer elementary schools are offering it...and research shows that students whom study arts are three times more likely to be awarded for good attendance.

You will also find a list of the resources used in the infographic.

This is an infographic that you may want to share with administrators and with parents.

Take STEM, add A for Art, and you get STEAM. As this post states, if you think of Leonardo di Vinci and his work this is a logical connection. This post discusses why adding the A for Art is important and the changes that may happen because of it, such as more innovation and creativity.

The list of resources includes links for all five letters and chances are you will find a few that you may not have checked out. Below are five of the resources listed...but click through to see the rest, and all are hot linked in the post. (Most tools listed are free but a few have costs.)

* Cardboard Challenge

* Why Scientific Innovation Needs the Arts

* PBS Learning Makers Party

* Odyssey of the Mind

* The Arts Institute of Chicago

Have fun exploring this diverse set of STEAM resources!

Have you asked yourself how can I combine education and animation "together to teach students everywhere, everything they ever wanted to know"?

This post provides resources in two areas:

* Resources for "creating original animation or using animation tools to create lessons"

* Resources for "animated lessons that are already completed and set to share"The first list has seventeen tools many of which are free. In the second list you will find thirty-three resources and the majority are free. 

YouTube is a great resource...but there are times when you wish you had a list of great channels based on your discipline. InformEd states "we can now sift through thousands of resources while navigating a single repository, the potential for inspiration and growth in the field of education has reached a new height." The criteria that was used to select the channels were "based on views, subscriptions and quality of content." Channels are divided into the following catgories:

* General

* Physical Science

* Engineering & Technology

* Mathematics

* Politics, History & Current Events

* The Arts

* Learning a Foreign Language

* University Channels

This infographic provides 11 ideas that you might want to share with other teachers in your building on ways to use technology. It is a diverse list that could be used with students at many grade levels and it may provide you with some inspiration. If you go to the website you may print it out in color or black and white.

Do you have any ideas you would like to share? Feel free to use the comment area to do so.

National Geographic has a wealth of resources and this post from Fractus Learning shares many of them. You will find:

1. Ideas, Activities and Lesson Plans that are easy to search.

2. Five thousand plus amazing videos

3. The best photography in the world

4. Online games and apps - many interactive resources

5. This day in geographic history - help students learn geographic facts by using this resource

There is also a section that provides additional links and resources.

How can we get our students more engaged in the classroom? Teaching them to investigate authentic problems provides them with opportunities to ask questions that will lead to solutions (and failures) but that will also engage them. In this post Tony Vincent shares steps in how to have your students engage in investigating authentic questions.

Vincent starts with a section called Driven to Investigate. In this section he discusses driving questions and references a previous article, Crafting Questions that Drive Projects.

Additional sections (and there are a total of thirteen) include:

* Thinking is Critical

* Stick Together or Divide and Conquer

* Provide Focus

* Provide Staring Points

* Can You  Believe It?

* Experiments, Trial and Error, Data Collection

* You Know Better Than Anyone

Each section is chock full of resources. This is a great resource to help you launch students into investigating authentic problems. He also notes that he will publish Part 3, Creating Products to Show and Share in the future. I will be looking forward to reading (and in all likelihood sharing) that post once it is published.

This post links to a video by Paul Hamilton, Technology in Education. In this 4 minute video Hamilton asks 8 questions that we may want to share with our community, be it our staff, our parents, or the broader community, to begin a dialogue that is lacking in many school districts. Three of the questions he raises are below. Take the time to click through to the post to read the other 5, and if possible find the time to watch this video.

* What do we ant technology to do in schools?

* Are we asking the right questions about technology, learning, and schools?

* Is the way we are using technology now turning our students 'off' to the people and the world around them?

In education we talk about a variety of literacies, and one that comes up more often today is visual literacy, which may also be referred to as graphicacy. This post explores this concept providing a historical perspective as well as links to a number of excellent resources.

There are also many visuals with the post, including the one above that looks at the many forms of graphicacy that we see in our classrooms (and provides a number of definitions). Many of these forms may be created by students using technology.

There is also a short video, To Understand is to Perceive Patterns, that looks at how patterns in nature are repeated.

This post is split into three sections. The first section looks at the term "culturally responsive instruction" and provides not only a definition but also a list of ten characteristics that provide a more robust understanding.

The second section provides a look at "common assumptions placed on students from other cultures." Eleven common misconceptions are shared (based on research from the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan.

The final section has 30 recommended instructional strategies. The post states "The cultural inclusiveness of a learning environment will depend upon the kinds of interactions that occur among you and your students." The post discusses the various types of interactions that may take place and then provides a lit of the recommended strategies. Three are listed below. All are briefly discussed in the post.

* Anticipate possible responses to controversial topics.

* Be ready to challenge assumptions that groups will either be aided or hindered by having certain kinds of students in their group.

What is visual literacy? The Institute of Museum and Library Services defines it as  "Demonstrate the ability to interpret, recognize, appreciate, and understand information presented through visible actions, objects and symbols, natural or man-made"

(http://www.imls.gov/about/21st_century_skills_list.aspx).

This is a 21st century skill and our students need to be visually literate. This post shares:

* Standards that support visual literacy (from Common Core, National Council of Teachers of English Standards and the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning Corporation.

* A lengthy list of the many formats you will find visuals that you can use as teaching tools, such as political cartoons, symbols, dioramas, and advertisements.

* Visual Thinking Routines - each of the routines is described and two have videos that demonstrate them. The ones with videos are Model Think Aloud Strategy, and Introduction to Visual Thinking Strategies that is "a specific approach to whole-class viewing and talking about art that primarily uses [three] questions."

Additional resources include Asking the 4Ws, Five Card Flickr, Image Analysis Worksheets (five different ones), and a lesson: Step-by-Step: Working with Images that Matter. 

We know that many of our students are visual learners and that they need to be able to "read" images. This post provides a wealth of resources that will help make your students adept at this process.

One of the buzzwords in education today is rigor, but what does that mean? This post shares seven myths about rigor, providing a deeper look at each one if you click through. What are these myths? Three are below.

* Is asking students to do a lot of homework a sign of rigor? Not if it is busy work, or if it leads to burnout. Although parents may define it as rigor what do you think?

* Rigor is not for everyone. How do we help students if we request less of them? Rigor may not be the same for each student but each student should be asked to reach their highest level.

* Standards alone take care of rigor. The Common Core Standards tell us they will increase rigor, but it is the instruction that will make this happen, not the standard.

Much more information on this issue is available in the post.

How can check lists help students? Below are a few of the ways suggested by this post. Click through to read all of them.

* A task-based checklists allow students to follow steps providing guidance to successful completion of complex tasks.

* Checklists help with metacognition. They help students "become aware of their learning process."

The post also provides five resources to use checklists in your course.

* Wunderlist

* List Weaver

* Pinterest

* TeacherVision.com

* ReadWriteThink.org

Remember that your check lists may change as students use them...and to ask students for their feedback as they may have ideas that you have not considered.

This website from the University Notre Dame provides great resources to help you embrace media-rich experiences for your students. The site currently has 24 projects which you may explore. Each project includes:

* A brief explanation

* Samples of projects

* Resources to help you learn how to make the projects

* Rubrics

The projects listed include: video story project, infographics, academic poster, book trailer, geographic map and many more.

Although this website was designed for college teachers the resources and ideas are useful for any teacher whom would to incorporate more media-based assignment in their classroom.