Mr. B EdTech Blog

I believe this is a really great alternative to the "student interest" survey's I used to do at the beginning of the year. One of the first things every teacher wants to do each year is memorize their students faces and names. This makes a personal connection to each of your students and helps them feel welcome and valued in your class. The last thing we want to do is call a student by the wrong name or have to resort to a "Hey you". https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2018/08/learn-students.html

https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/mock-it-up-9-tools-for-learners-to-design-blueprint-and-visualize-their-innovations This resource offers great apps available on a variety of platforms to help students visualize projects. STEAM Up Learning! Ideas to Inspire Inquiry, Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving from Shelly Sanchez Terrell

Are you using Google Classroom this school year? I love combining favorite tools! Spark Video is a fantastic, web-based and mobile movie-making tool for students. If your students are using Google Classroom, they can easily share their Spark Video creations with classmates before showing off their work to the world! Spark Video is a powerful, easy-to-use video creation tool from Adobe. It’s totally free for schools who can access all of the premium features at no cost. See the Full Article https://classtechtips.com/2018/07/08/spark-video-google-classroom/ https://spark.adobe.com/sp/login I personally have not used this app in the past. However, after playing with it for a little while, I was able to get to know the user interface without much difficulty. I liked being able to sign in with my Google Account, great for students as well. Look forward to seeing more about this app.

Another year passes for me today. I am a little older, a little wiser, and still feel like I have so much to learn. I am reminded of my blessings and reflect upon my goals in life. As I've gotten older, I've noticed that a lot of people either don't get their birthday emphasized / don't take the time to say Happy Birthday to someone. See this example from one of my favorite Simpsons episodes from one of their first seasons.      Both scenes are from Lisa's birthday. One where it seems everyone has forgotten her birthday (except Maggie). The other is Bart (and "Michael Jackson") signing a personally written Happy Birthday Song. See the difference? Although not a birthday story, I will share a personal example. When I graduated High School I received a card from a grade school teacher, congratulating me and telling me how proud she was of me. That meant a lot to me. I could hardly believe that she would remember me after so many years as I had n...

ISTE 2018 was held in Chicago at the end of June 2018. At this conference, educators, vendors, and industry professionals met to collaborate and discuss the latest and greatest in education technology. Common Sense Education published this list of 8 hidden gems from this conference. See the Full Article https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/8-must-see-hidden-gems-from-iste-2018

In this article are 25 different uses for Google Docs in the Classroom. http://blog.mimio.com/25-cool-hacks-for-google-docs-in-the-classroom

So I have to admit, my curiosity is peaked. Here is an article showing some excellent ways to incorporate this device into learning. 5 Meaningful Ways to Leverage the "MakeyMakey" in Your Teaching http://www.cyclesoflearning.com/home/5-meaningful-ways-to-leverage-the-makeymakey-in-your-teaching

https://www.weareteachers.com/back-to-school-memes-for-teachers/ Many of us in the Education Technology world are working year round, but to my teacher colleagues, I sympathize.

Lately, I’ve been busy grading my students’ digital products. Each year my students accomplish so much with technology, such as brainstorming, collaboration, annotation, editing, research, and so forth. My students also create several digital products throughout my courses, such as mind maps, infographics, posters, presentations, video commercials, audio interviews, comics, ebooks, portfolios, visual prompts, speaking avatars, etc.  See the full process http://teacherrebootcamp.com/2018/07/16/techintegrationprocess/

What Is on the Horizon for Education Technology? Report outlines important tech issues facing school districts. Is there anything more exciting today in schools than the marriage of technology and pedagogy? Educators are finding new ways to connect with students, using students’ individual needs and wants to guide their instruction. A deeper connection forms between teacher and student when technology is used to enhance their relationship. Read the Article https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2016/09/what-horizon-education-technology What is interesting to me is that this article was written two years ago (2016) and some of the points made were and still are accurate. Schools are redesigning classroom spaces for more-hands on learning and incorporating technology education to prepare the next generation to become part of a technology-based workforce. Wide open spaces make room for colloboration “As the number of computer science jobs are expected to prolifera...

See the Full Article http://www.bigguyinabowtie.com/the-blog/5-awesome-google-docs-add-ons Add-ons are apps that you can "add-on" to Google's G-Suite apps. These often add much needed features that are currently lacking in Google Docs. Check out a few listed in the article above to see if you can use some of these features. Also check out more in their add-on's section. Do you have an add-on for Google Docs that you can't live without? Post it in the comments.

You can run virtual reality software, purchase new experiences, and connect to the web all from inside the headset. It's really the first headset that you can describe with ”no fuss, no muss.” Check out the article https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/oculus-go-first-impressions Check out more  https://www.oculus.com/go/ VR keeps circling around the education technology scene, however from my experience it has been slow to catch on. VR for the most part is expensive and not typically affordable for school districts with the assistance of grant funding. However, it is easy to see that there are educational opportunities with VR. Still I feel that most easy access to VR has to be Google Cardboard. http://blog.mrbwebsite.com/2017/07/vr-and-google-cardboard-revisited.html http://blog.mrbwebsite.com/2016/04/virtual-reality-google-cardboard.html