16 Student Feedback Tools Tutorials

As I mentioned yesterday, last week someone rightly pointed out to me that the Practical Ed Tech Tips playlist on my YouTube channel was getting a bit too long (it has more than 200 videos in it). To rectify that problem I've created some smaller playlists consisting of videos that I've published on various topics within my YouTube channel. One of those smaller playlists features sixteen tutorials on student feedback tools including popular services like TodaysMeet and lesser-known services like PingPong. The playlist is embedded below.

PBS Election Central Offers Debate Kits for Classrooms

Earlier this year PBS launched a new version of Election Central. That website is dedicated to helping teachers help students understand the process of choosing the next President of the United States. Join the Debates is one of the features of Election Central that teachers should find useful as we head into the last couple of months leading to the election in November.

In Join the Debates teachers will find a free poster highlighting general rules of engagement for a classroom debate. More importantly, in Join the Debates teachers will find a thirteen page booklet of ideas and guidelines for classroom debates related to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. The booklet includes a list of debate questions covering topics ranging from immigration to healthcare to foreign relations to energy and environmental policies.

Other useful resources available through PBS Election Central include videos about Electoral College, lesson plans about the role of media in an election, and lessons about public speaking and persuasion.

PBS Learning Central's interactive election map was previously featured here on Free Technology for Teachers. The interactive election map displays important and interesting facts about each state and each candidate for President. The map will show students where a candidate was most recently seen campaigning. Students can also use the map to find quotes from candidates about hot-button campaign topics like immigration, defense spending, and climate change.

Applications for Education
Facilitating a productive classroom debate can be tricky if you haven't done it often and or you haven't planned it well. Using the resources in the Join the Debates booklet should help you help your students get the most out of a classroom debate activity. While the booklet is designed for debates about topics related to this year's election, the concepts outlined in the booklet could be applied to many other topics.

The Week in Review - The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where despite some rain it's a nice weekend. Looking over the valley from my house I can start to see some leaves starting to fade and change colors. This is a sure sign that school will soon start here. In many other places, the new school year has already started. I hope those of you who started school this month are off to a great start. For those still on summer vacation, enjoy it!

Here are this week's most popular posts:
1. 10 Good Tools for Creating Digital Portfolios - A PDF Handout
2. Storyboard That Offers Four School Year Starter Projects
3. Tour Buckingham Palace In Virtual Reality
4. Student Stories - Student-led Portfolios on ClassDojo
5. The Physics of Olympic Sports
6. Two Ways to Use Data Validation in Google Forms
7. Exploring Marine Science in Google Earth

I Will Come To Your School or Conference

Click here to learn about my professional development services. 

Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.

Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.

BoomWriter provides a fantastic tool for creating writing lessons. 

Storyboard That is my go-to tool for creating storyboards and cartoon stories.

Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.

PrepFactory offers a great place for students to prepare for SAT and ACT tests.

D2L offers a great LMS and they want your input to make it even better.

The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.

Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.

EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer.

Buncee offers a great tool for creating visual stories.