Start the School Year by Experiencing the Solar Eclipse

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Our school year begins on August 21, the same day as the long-awaited solar eclipse. And the total solar eclipse will be visible above our location as Nebraska is a prime destination for viewing the eclipse.  Check out this interactive map of the world to tell exactly when the partial and maximum solar eclipse will be in your area. What a perfect way to emphasize the STEM areas to begin a school year by encouraging students to question, research, and experience a natural phenomenon.

The Internet is full of resources for teaching the solar eclipse. There are books and articles you may want to check out to bring into your classroom for students to read. The official NASA Eclipse Website traces the path of the solar eclipse and provides video to observe the eclipse live as it occurs. In addition NASA shares information about eclipses past and future. Your students will enjoy the countdown until the eclipse and perhaps you can find an event in your area at this site. They even have directions to make your own 3D Printed Pinhole Projector in the shape of the United States or your state! And check out NASA's Math Challenges for all grades to perform basic math related to the August 21 solar eclipse. NASA Next Generation Science Standards approach to classroom instruction on the solar eclipse gets students to observe an anchoring phenomenon, ask driving questions, and set up investigations.  A great example of how to make students leaders in their active learning.

One of my favorite online news sources is Smithsonian TeenTribune. I appreciate the way they level current news stories so students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 can read the same story at their own level in English or Spanish. When it comes to news events there are no alternate stories for students who are reading below grade level, they need to know the same relevant information about events in the news, so this source is a great addition to the classroom. The current edition of TeenTribune explains the viewing tools you can safely use to view the solar eclipse.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will also stream live video remotely from the UNL Student Observatory and the UNL Minnich Solar Telescope. So if you want to watch the solar eclipse from your classroom with your students in real time go to the UNL website. Concordia University, Nebraska will host over 2,000 K-12 students from across the state, as well as the public, to view the total eclipse with university students in the stadium. Beginning at 11:00am the Science department will provide updates and commentary audibly to viewers with visual information showing on the stadium screen.

Some possible student projects to extend student learning include: (1) mapping the path of the solar eclipse,  (2) locating pictures of the phases of the eclipse and creating a multimedia presentation explaining each, (3) writing a blog or digital story about the experience including preparation, observing, and reflecting on the solar eclipse, and (4) creating a one-minute movie demonstrating the positions of the earth, moon, and sun during a solar eclipse. Possible technology tools to use include Google Maps, Google Images, NASA Image Gallery, Adobe Spark Page or Video, Blogger, and Swivl. Then be sure to have students share their projects and learning at your class/school website.

Enjoy the Solar Eclipse and all the best in the new school year!

Innovative Learning Spaces

The role of the educator today is changing. Based on the

International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (ISTE NETS*T) teachers should be able to apply technology to:

• facilitate and inspire student creativity;
• design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments;
• model digital-age work and learning;
• promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility; and
• engage in professional growth and leadership.

And the Proposed 2017 ISTE Standards for Teachers view teachers as:

• Empowered Educators (Learners, Leaders, Citizens)
• Learning Catalysts (Collaborators, Designers, Facilitators, Analysts)
• The goal is to help students meet the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students as Empowered Learners, Digital Citizens, Knowledge Constructors, Innovative Designers, Computational Thinkers, Creative Communicators, and Global Collaborators.

While these expectations are quite different than the lecturer model education has used for many years, today's classrooms often don't look much different than they did many years ago often making it more challenging for teachers to modify their pedagogy.

Some innovative learning spaces are evolving to support teachers as they empower their students to learn in new ways. Educause (2015) offers ideas to design active learning spaces that support collaboration, project-based learning, inquiry learning, as well as traditional presentation and lecture methods. They suggest incorporating the following into innovative learning spaces to increase flexibility and technology use:

(1) Multiple writing spaces throughout the room (whiteboard ability on walls, tables)

(2) Presentation displays on multiple walls (no front of the room required so groups of students
can create and present on screens in their area)

(3) Internet connectivity to support all learners in the room

(4) Power throughout the room to charge students' multiple devices

(5) Movable furniture to provide flexibility in teaching and learning (tables & chairs with wheels)

Video source:Educause. (2015, June 22). 5 tips for active learning space design [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXDTxEeLLD8


As the second semester begins, consider how you

will teach and how you can arrange your learning space to facilitate that teaching and learning. How will you facilitate and inspire student creativity? How will you design digital-age learning experiences to help students construct knowledge? How can you provide opportunities for students to collaborate globally and present learning in creative ways? Perhaps the way you design your classroom will determine how learning will take place. I would love to see pictures of the creative learning spaces you design to facilitate student learning, as well as samples of student projects!

All the best in the new year!

Coaching for Technology Integration

This is the time in the semester when I get really excited! Preservice teachers in literacy practicum
have been in the classroom since the beginning of the school year. They have been teaching literacy courses as well as literacy across the curriculum, using their iPad to access lesson plans and online reading curriculum. They have received formal feedback on their teaching and are confidently managing the class. Additionally they have been creating technology projects to use in their practicum classroom. Now they are preparing to make their students the creators in demonstrating their learning using technology.

At the same time their cooperating teachers are beginning to listen to technology ideas as I share them with their preservice teachers. When cooperating teachers have a question about technology they go to their preservice teacher, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to be in the room to help out. One question this week was about how to search for images within Google Docs. Since the Research tool has been replaced by Explore, teachers have to change their visuals that demonstrate how students can add images to their research projects. A preservice teacher found that Explore let's you search the web, images, and your Google Documents to add information to your paper. She created a screencast using Screencastify to show students how to add images to their presentations. I was so impressed with the level of this screencast and others created this semester.

Additionally, we just had Tech EDGE 18 The Future is Now: Innovative Approaches to 21st Century Learning. A couple cooperating teachers and other inservice teachers led sectionals demonstrating creative ways they are integrating technology in the classroom. Student teachers, and some of these literacy practicum students, attended the conference along with some classroom teachers. When processing what they learned and wanted to use in their classrooms these beginning teachers discussed ways they could incorporate Genius Hour, Makerspaces, Google Classroom, interactive student responses, international collaboration, green screen videos, Google Draw, and much more. How exciting to send new teachers into the field with innovative ideas of what education can be along with competence in making it a reality. I am convinced there has never been a more exciting time to be a teacher, and am proud to coach amazing preservice teachers and their cooperating teachers. Now to prepare for more preservice teachers to observe classroom teachers using 1:1 devices with students at Tech EDGE Aurora on Wednesday! Let the innovation continue!

Innovative Schools with Personalized Learning

This week I have visited schools that inspire me! They extend the bounds of what school can be to meet the individual needs of its students. The first is Mill Neck Schools for the Deaf and Special Needs Preschool. I was inspired by this sign outside one classroom empowering all children to be scientists, authors, explorers, creators, thinkers, leaders! Another bulletin board noted that these students have as their Super Power... Signing! One graduate of the School for the Deaf just graduated from Harvard Law School, realizing the school's vision in her own life through their individualized educational program to help her realize her God-given potential.

I enjoyed seeing the way technology enables the teacher to present multimedia on a specially designed Smart Device where the teacher can sign on the other half of the board as information is shown. Now students can look at one board to see content and watch the teacher sign to teach at the same time. Amazing!

Next I visited Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School, a progressive school preparing students to serve and lead globally in 21st century careers. LuHigh offers an Academy Model to allow students to pursue their interests and passions within a college preparatory curriculum. Beginning as a junior students may focus their learning in areas including STEM, Leadership & Communications, Allied Health Services, Social Science, and Arts & Humanities. This allows students to explore interests before applying to college to build knowledge and learn if this is a field they would like to pursue. 100% of students go on to college!

When I visited a class was working in a Makerspace to design a prosthetic hand for a child in another state who was born with only two fingers. This robotics course uses project-based learning to inspire students to create to meet real world needs. Student designers are building two models that will allow another student to grasp a lacrosse stick to better compete in a sport he loves. They are collaborating with the child to find out with what other activity he would like the second device to assist. After designing they will create the prosthetic using one of the five 3D printers in this space. These students are learning the STEM areas of critical thinking to make a difference in someone's life, and their own.

Personalized learning does motivate students to pursue their interests as they develop their God-given gifts. It is exciting to see actual schools achieving standards while helping students go far beyond to achieve their own goals and prepare for college and career. Hats off to these Lutheran schools of excellence!

Tech EDGE 17: Innovation in Teacher Education

Can it really be August already and nearly time for school to begin? Indeed it is, and along with the beginning of a new year comes the Tech EDGE conference for teacher educators, classroom teachers, administrators, and media specialists. This will be our seventeenth Tech EDGE conference planned to meet our mission, "To create a generation of teachers who are effective and confident using new technologies to prepare the students of Nebraska to participate and lead in tomorrow's global society." For more than seven years Guy Trainin and I have been working with university instructors, classroom teachers, and preservice teachers to impact technology integration in the classroom. Throughout this time dozens of classroom teachers have grown in their use of technology in the classroom, then come to present at Tech EDGE so more teachers and preservice teachers can learn how to effectively integrate technology across the curriculum. Because of the partnerships of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Concordia University Nebraska, and multiple schools throughout the state, Tech EDGE received the AACTE 2016 Best Practice Award for Innovative Use of Technology in Teacher Education.

Specifically in the summer we focus on university instructors. We have found that in order for preservice teachers to effectively use technology in their own teaching they need to experience effective teaching and learning with technology in their classes, as well as observe it in field experiences. We assist university instructors in a variety of student-centered learning including running backchannels to involve students, creating screencasts to share content, collaborating using Google Drive, providing ongoing feedback using online formative assessments, and incorporating democratic principles into classrooms.

We invite and hope to welcome all teacher educators from across the state to join us on August 17. We begin by exploring current best practices in education at all levels. At the university we need to know what technologies schools are using and their expectations for new teachers. Colleagues will discuss current topics in round table format, each sharing what they are finding helpful as we learn together. Participants bring their own devices and learn new tools to begin using this semester. Finally we will explore leading edge practices in higher education, focusing on how we can continue to collaborate among teacher education programs.

Checkout our weekly video podcast about mobile learning in K-12 classrooms on iTunes U and on YouTube. We invite you to join us, and share your ideas for keeping teacher education relevant in 21st century classrooms. All the best in the new year!

Learning Spaces that Inspire Students

This summer I had the opportunity to teach a graduate course on technology integration in an
experimental classroom and a collaborative classroom. I have been thinking much about effective design of learning spaces for a while now and using these two designs helped me evaluate how rooms could be arranged to foster collaboration and sharing. The teachers in the course stated that they wished they had this type of learning space in their classrooms so students could sit in a variety of groupings to work on projects, all the while able to see information projected on screens. To meet standards more and more we ask students to collaborate as they ask questions, research, and report learning. Having a space facilitates working together, sometimes sharing devices, can make this process more natural for students.

So what components should be considered when designing a learning space? I propose the following: 1. Movable furniture.  The experimental classroom had movable chairs with rollers to allow students to work in a variety of groupings by simply sliding the chair. The chairs came in a variety of styles from overstuffed, to hard plastic, all with cup holders and side writing tables to slide up when needed. The collaborative classroom provided chairs, tables, whiteboards, and projection screens all on wheels so groupings can be created as needed for each learning activity.
2. Large HD TV screens with Apple TVs on each wall. No matter if students turn their chair to the side to work with a partner, or turn it completely around to work in a small group, every student can see the screen at all times because there is a screen on all four walls. Groups creating projects can project their work on the nearest screen using the Apple TV so everyone in the group can see and contribute to the work as it progresses.
3. Internet access for student devices. Every student brought multiple devices into the class each day. It was important that the room had adequate wireless Internet capability to  provide fast access for all devices. Students used laptops for setting up accounts and writing longer pieces, tablets for taking pictures and making videos, and phones to connect with each other.
4. Writable walls. All walls become writing surfaces. As groups form around the room, students can write ideas on the wall spontaneously during brainstorming, then analyze and organize ideas on their devices to present.

On May 20, 2016 Education Technology presented Introducing the 'Classroom of the Future'. They propose that we should build classrooms to include space for student programming, interactive screen walls, interactive desks connected to the cloud, solar windows to reduce carbon footprint and save money, and open space for students to interact with holograms in virtual reality.

As school begins, how will you arrange your classroom? Consider what learning activities you will involve students in, then create a space to make that happen. Build the thought behind "making" into your learning space to empower students to build and create innovative designs to solve problems. Those first days back in the classroom can be exciting this year! Please share a picture of your learning space that inspires students!

Using Technology to Relate to Youth

I just returned from New Orleans where I attended the National Youth Gathering. 25,000 high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors came together from across the country to learn and grow together. The organizers of this exciting conference knew how to connect with teenagers using a variety of social media sites, apps, screens, websites, and other technologies. Beginning with the opening night program in the Super Dome as captured by colleague Donna Lucas students participated in the music and shared personal responses to the message using Poll Everywhere. They were further challenged to take a survey using their mobile devices, receive a reply that they could take the following day to a booth to receive a button. Universities were thus able to connect with interested youth without having to input handwritten information into an online database, and students could visit and have questions answered when they visited the booth.

When I asked a student the following day if he knew any people in his high school who don't have an iPhone he quickly responded, "No." Everyone he knows has a cell phone that connects to the Internet. Then I asked at what age students get phones and he replied 5th or 6th grade, but his brother got a phone in 4th grade so his mother could connect with him. She just put some restraints on the phone to keep her child safe.

Knowing that each of these high schoolers would come with a mobile device and many social media connections, this conference engaged students throughout. Huge TV screens projected speakers and musicians so all could see clearly, the Offline App connected students to the performed music so each device lit up in a rainbow of colors and light, all 25,000 students could respond individually to questions posed to the whole group using Poll Everywhere and responses were displayed on a huge screen in the venue in real time, Twitter quotes were displayed by presenters as sources to support their ideas, and participants tweeted using the conference hashtag along with daily topics so they could share pictures and ideas beyond their individual groups. Technology connected these students beyond the mass gatherings into their many hotels, interest centers, recreation activities, and mission work throughout New Orleans. Learning about the violence in Baton Rouge through newsfeeds, these amazing students donated 200 units of blood which were sent immediately to assist with the police shooting that happened simultaneously with the conference.

And these students will continue to connect beyond today as they left the conference to go back to their homes across the country, because they are connected with shared experiences. Via social media these students will continue to make a difference in the world as they collaborate virtually, and hopefully reconnect in college and beyond.

What can we in education learn from this experience? I share three thoughts.
1. We can make use of the devices that students already carry to school for learning, getting us to 1:1 more quickly.
2. We can use social media in positive ways to connect students and share ideas with the world.
3. We can empower students to impact society positively by following news events and reacting to help.