Simple Tips for Learning From PD Webinars

I love webinars. They're a convenient way to learn from experts that I otherwise wouldn't get to interact with. But not everyone enjoys them like I do. In fact, I didn't always find them enjoyable. Then a handful of years ago I made some simple, almost "duh," discoveries that helped me get more out of each webinar that I joined. I shared those tips in this video on my YouTube channel. Below the embedded video I have written the tips.


1. Participate in live webinars, don't just watch them.
Every webinar platform has some kind of chat or Q&A feature. Use it! Use it to ask the presenter questions. An experienced webinar presenter will be able to handle questions in realtime. Don't be afraid to ask clarifying questions. Even when I'm attending webinars about things with which I'm already familiar, I make an effort to think of questions to ask. This forces me to tune-in and listen with more focus than if I was just listening in the hopes that something said by the presenter will jump out at me.

2. Close Facebook and take notes.
If I cannot attend the live version of a webinar, I still find great value in recorded webinars. When I watch recorded webinar I focus on it the same way I would during a live session. That means closing Facebook and taking notes in my notebook. In that notebook I write the questions that I want to send to the presenter via email.

3. Act on webinar ideas quickly.
When I participate in a webinar my participation isn’t over until I actually act on what I was just taught. Just like in a traditional classroom setting, it’s important to try for yourself what was just demonstrated for you. Do this as quickly as you can.

The next webinar that I am hosting is next week for the Practical Ed Tech Coaching Group. There is still time to join for 2018. After next week, membership will be closed to new members.

Science Friday - Audio Science Lessons

Science Friday is a weekly podcast (hosted on Sound Cloud) that features science stories spanning a wide array of topics, but most topics that are related to current news stories. As the name implies, new episodes appear on Fridays. You can listen to each episode in its entirety or you can choose to listen to the individual segments as featured on the Science Friday homepage. Here's a segment from last Friday's show.


Applications for Education
Science Friday has an education section that offers many free lesson plans. The lesson plans are generally connected to one of the Science Friday segments. You can search for lesson plans in the Science Friday education pages according to grade, topic, and the length of activity that you would like to do.

How to Create an Interactive Diagram in Google Slides

Google Slides has a lot of capabilities that often go overlooked. One of those capabilities is the option to link slides so that viewers don't have to necessarily see them in a chronological sequence. By linking slides you can create an interactive diagram in Google Slides. In this video I demonstrate how to create an interactive diagram in Google Slides. You can try my diagram yourself by viewing the slides here.


Are you new to using G Suite for Education? My Practical Ed Tech online class will help you get started.

Taking Notes on a Touchscreen - Three Options Compared

iPads, Android tablets, and touchscreen laptops that fold flat make it easy for those who prefer to handwrite their notes to preserve those notes in a digital format. I've used Google Keep for this purpose for a number of years, but as a part of my on-going effort to feature more non-Google tools I spent last week trying out some other options. Here's what I determined about OneNote, Zoho Notebook, and Google Keep. (Evernote fans, I left it out because the free version limits how many devices you can use it on).

OneNote
OneNote is the obvious choice for anyone who is using a Microsoft Surface or other Windows-based tablet. It is also available to use on iPads and on Android tablets. The option to have handwriting converted to text is an outstanding feature. Note that those of us with exceptionally sloppy handwriting don't always get accurate conversions from handwriting to text. Like all other notes in OneNote, your handwritten notes can be added into any of your notebooks.

Google Keep
If you're a G Suite for Education user, Google Keep is probably already on your radar. It has a handwriting input option that often is overlooked by new users. Just tap the pen icon to launch a handwriting screen. This option is now available in all versions of Google Keep. It doesn't have the handwriting-to-text function that OneNote offers. Keep is a solid choice for G Suite for Education users even without the handwriting-to-text function and fewer notebook organization options. If you're not married to G Suite for Education, OneNote has more options for you.

Zoho Notebook
Zoho Notebook doesn't have the name recognition of OneNote or Keep, but it is backed by a solid company with a reputation for developing excellent and reliable products. Of the three options featured here, Zoho Notebook has the most intuitive design or organization options of the three digital notebooks featured here. The downside to Zoho Notebook is that the handwriting option only appears on the Android and iOS platforms. If the handwriting option worked in the Chrome or Edge web browsers, I'd probably put it at the top of this list.

Applications for Education
When it comes to jotting down notes or sketching out my ideas, I prefer to do it by hand. I'm sure that you have students that feel the same way. For me it's partly because I started taking notes long before I could even dream about using a laptop, let alone a phone, to write notes. The other reason I like to use handwriting for notes and idea sketches is that many of the mind mapping programs I've tried are fine for displaying flowcharts, but they feel a little restrictive when I'm in the early phases of sketching out my ideas.

Of course, the obvious downside to taking notes on paper is that you then have to keep track of the physical notes and notebooks. That's not much of a problem for adults, but it is certainly a challenge for many students (have you looked inside a middle school student's backpack?). That is why the rise of touchscreen tablets and laptops is a boon to so many.

10 Free Apps for Elementary School Math Lessons

Math Learning Center offers ten free apps that are designed for teaching elementary school mathematics lessons. All of the apps are available in versions as free iPad apps, as Chrome apps, and for use in the web browser of any computer. With the exception of the flashcards app, all of the Math Learning Center's free apps are designed to provide you and your students with virtual manipulatives. By the way, the flashcard app is available in English and Spanish.

Last week I included Math Learning Center's Geoboard in my round-up of math resources. Geoboard is a good example of how all of the apps are intended to be used. Geoboard is a free app on which students stretch virtual rubber bands over pegboards to create lines and shapes to learn about perimeter, area, and angles. Another app features US currency to help students learn to add and subtract money. The Pattern Shapes app is designed to help students recognize and develop patterns by moving colorful shapes into place.

Applications for Education
It is important to note that except for the flashcard app all of the Math Learning Center apps are really just virtual manipulatives designed to be used as a part of lesson plan not as stand-alone practice apps. You will need to provide your students with feedback when they are using these apps.

MySimpleShow Offers a New Service for Classrooms

MySimpleShow is a great tool for creating explanatory videos. The service features artwork to drag and drop in individual story frames, background music, and automated narration in a variety of voices. But the best part of MySimpleShow is the storyboard editor. Students have to write the script for their videos before they can begin to adjust the visuals in their videos. In fact, when students write their scripts MySimpleShow uses the keywords in the script to suggest artwork to use in each frame of the video.

This week MySimpleShow launched a new classroom account option. A free classroom account will let you have up to 50 students in your account. Students who create videos in a classroom account have access to collaboration features. Additionally, classroom accounts have more music options and image options than free commercial accounts have. You can learn more about MySimpleShow's classroom accounts by watching this video that is embedded below.


Applications for Education
Using MySimpleShow can be a good way to create a Common Craft-style video in which students use simple drawings and words to explain complex topics. A few topics that are suited to explanation through this style of video are bitcoin, mobile phone networks, and compound interest.

Disclosure: MySimpleShow is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com