Ed Tech in Our Classrooms

This is been a very interesting time for people interested in design thinking and advanced technology. Last week a huge container ship became stuck in the Suez Canal. Today it managed to get free with the help of many tugboats. I have been watching its progress using a tool called vesselfinder.com.  Take a quick glance at vessel finder and you will see thousands of vessels spread all over the world. Zoom into areas interest to you, even on the Great Lakes.  The next time you are on the Great Lakes and see a freighter off in the distance you can nerd out in front of family and friends.

This is the group. We gathered from Juneau (AK) to Baton Rouge (LA) to Los Angeles (CA) to Asuncion, Paraguay. Some of us have never met in person but we are hoping to this summer.   

 I finally dusted off the drone. I use it less like a flying toy and more like a flying camera.

 I came across a new tool yesterday called IORAD which you might consider using someday to help your students to figure out how to perform key tasks on the internet.  Here is a simple step-by-step I created to remind folks how to Share their Google Docs with the world. https://ior.ad/7u7P   To make one like this, you simply walk through the steps and iorad records your steps then produces instructions for you. It's awesome.

 Larisa Lovelace (WI21) shared this exciting event. PLAYDATE: Digital Age Teaching Exploration The REMC Association PLAYDATE and MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) are partnering to bring you  Digital Age Teaching Exploration . Revisit popular MACUL conference session topics as well as educational technology strategies and tools in the PLAYDATE format. There are no experts, no formal presentations, just sharing and learning alongside one another! Registration NOW OPEN! Participants attending the full PLAYDATE receive a $25 Amazon gift card. Date: April 28, 4–6 p.m.

 I came across a great article (easy read) about Design Thinking I wanted to share. What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular? by Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang.

This was my desk this morning before class with all my 3-D objects ready to share.

 I gave a brief and very informal survey to my students this semester about their use of apps like Google Calendar. To my surprise, only about 11% of them used Google Calendar but over 25% used an actual paper calendar - more if you include appointment books (usually paper).  Many of them use whiteboards and sticky notes in combination with their memory. Some of them also use the application they have on their phones. 

Sometimes there is nothing much to say to a bunch of blacked-out Zoom screens, but when you all visit each other in Gather.Town and play a silly drawing game, suddenly you have the opportunity to bond and cameras turn on. It's magical.