Learning & Leading Through Technology

Flip Your School’s Library

Many students think the library is the last place to find tech-savvy academic help.

Authors Heather Hersey and Sue Belcher set out to change this perception by flipping their library during orientation. Find out how you can leverage technology to make students aware of your library’s resources and your digital expertise.

Motivate Kids with Online Contests

How do you get students to become producers of digital media instead of just consumers? Challenge them to a competition! Chad Mote, Yasmin Kafai, and Quinn Burke describe two courses they built around annual online competitions that engage students in creating their own digital products using the programming language Scratch.

Sick of Grading? Try Digital Badging!

Do you ever get the feeling those marks on students’ report cards don’t tell the whole story? Frustrated with the inadequacies of the traditional grading system, Kristin Fontichiaro and Angela Elkordy developed a digital badging system that they hope will more accurately reflect student progress and describe attributes currently left unacknowledged.

Is it time to stop filtering the internet? Debate this and other controversial issues on ISTE’s LinkedIn group page at iste.org/counterpoint.

Designed to integrate with existing classroom projectors, the BrightLink Solo Interactive Module from Epson can be used on any dry-erase board, wall, or other flat surface.

The module, which connects directly to a Windows or Mac computer via USB, allows teachers to select the size to match the available space (up to 102 inches diagonal). The module comes with two interactive pens with rechargeable batteries and charger, a pen tray for storage, wall mount hardware, and TeamBoard Draw annotation software for creating, capturing, and sharing lessons with an option to add Promethean ActivInspire curriculum software. Schools can purchase the BrightLink Solo Interactive Module at a discount through the company’s Brighter Futures program.

MORE INFO: www.epson.com

Uzinggo is tapping into
the gamification trend
that uses game thinking
and game mechanics in a nongame context to motivate stu-
dents. Uzinggo’s online tutoring platform rewards middle and
high school students for learning math and science. As stu-
dents work through the lessons, exploring basic principles,
solving math equations, conducting virtual experiments,
and building knowledge through real-world examples, the
built-in gaming and reward system allows them to earn
points and badges, reach new levels, and design their own
virtual worlds. Students can use their badges and rewards
to purchase virtual goods and enter drawings for gift cards.

MORE INFO: www.uzinggo.com

Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom is a new book from educators Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager that advocates the maker-movement approach of project-based and hands-on experimentation in the classroom. Combining theory and history with practical classroom tips and resources, the book explores new technologies, such as

3D printing, wearable computers, robotics, and computer programming. It also provides helpful tutorials, teaching strategies, learning models, and information about project planning. Resources include project collections and organizations to help teachers incorporate STEM-centered learning environments into their classrooms.

MORE INFO: www.inventtolearn.com

Classroom Advantage, a cloud-based library of learning activities from Waterford Research Institute, allows teachers to provide large-and small-group instruction using an interactive whiteboard. Teachers can create customized lessons from more than 4,800 Common Core–aligned multimedia activities as a complete curriculum or as enrichment to existing lesson plans. The interactive lessons for PK– 2 students employ visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile learning models to promote participation using a variety of sing-along tunes, games, and fun characters that introduce, instruct, and review concepts.