5 Student Options for eLearning

It is barely September, but our school, students, teachers, and parents will be experiencing their first eLearning day of the 2018-2019 school year. Students have had devices in their hands since the first week of school. Which means they have had quite a few opportunities to do some work on their Chromebooks--whether it is with the Google tools or other online learning experiences. However, with an eLearning day looming, some teachers may not be 100% sure of what to do as an assignment or how to make it an online assessment or activity. This is where I step in to give some options. Check out my top 5 education tools below.

1. Flipgrid - I just LOVE Flipgrid! What a wonderful way to give kids options to give their input and to record their thoughts and/or feelings. Prompts can be given to students in the form of an article to read, a YouTube video to watch, or a Google Slides presentation to view. My recommendation is to have students respond to your prompt, and then respond to one of their classmates as well. Ask Angie Murray or Nicole Nelson how they have used Flipgrid in their classrooms in the past. The other cool thing is that students do not have to have a laptop or Chromebook to respond...they can use the FREE App from their smartphone or tablet!

2. Quizizz - This is such a fun website for in class or for use as a homework. Many teachers love using it because it "gamifies" the learning for the students. Students love it because they get a funny meme after every question, whether they are correct or incorrect. If you haven't used Quizizz yet, you will also love the option to choose (or better yet, create your own) which meme set students will see when they answer their questions. This also has a FREE app that students can use on their smart device to answer your questions. Just share your code through Google Classroom and then students can join in just a few clicks. You will love how easy it is for students to complete this assignment.

3. Google Slides - This may seem like an unlikely option, but it is

wonderful because students can actually open the Google Slides assignment on wifi, take their device offline, edit their Slides offline, and then once they return to wifi, their Google Slides will sync. It is a pretty awesome way for students without home internet to be able to complete an eLearning assignment. Here are a couple of fun ways you can use Google Slides as learning activities.

• Using Google Slides to Create Instagram Stories
• 8 Interactive Google Slides activities for classroom excitement
• Student-created vision boards with Google Slides

4. Hyperdocs - How about supercharged Google Docs? Want to streamline a way for your students to do some of their own learning? Then look no further than Hyperdocs. Hyperdocs contain many parts of a lesson, but the main parts are: Engage, Explore, Explain, Apply, Reflect. The most important aspect will be the "Reflect" part. Check out the templates that are given on the webpage. Also search for examples from the content areas. If you would like to create your own Hyperdoc, let me know and I'd be happy to work with you.

5. Edulastic - Now we get to one of my all-time favorite websites! Edulastic has the ability to transform your classroom, and not just on an eLearning day. With the ability to sync your current Google Classrooms, upload PDFs, and create well over 30+ technology enhanced questions, it is a wonder it is still FREE. If you have any questions about Edulastic, I will sing its praises all day long. But don't just listen to me, talk with Mr. Burpo, Mrs. Gasser, or Mrs. Johnson.

So those are my suggestions for this eLearning day. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

The Power of Collaboration

Back in the winter I came across a tweet from Google About a month ago, I received an email from Google confirming that Delphi Community High School was going to be able to participate in its #LoveWhereYouLive Expeditions Beta program. I was ecstatic! I was super pumped to get to use one of Google's tools to create something exciting and unique. But it wasn't just for me...it was for the kids at my school as well. It is for the kids that are tired of worksheets and book work. It was for students in classes that don't get to "create" something authentic for a global audience. It was for the kids and families in the Delphi community.

When I originally submitted my application for the Expeditions Beta program back in the winter, I focused on the 10 miles of beautiful trails that surround the Delphi community. If you have paid any attention to the news over the past year, the trail system has received plenty of media surrounding the passing of two of Delphi's angels, Abby and Libby. Since that time, there has been a large support for improving the safety and security on the trails. One of the immediate upgrades will be improved lighting and cameras along the trails. These upgrades and improvements will be wonderful for the trails and for the community. But what will we do for those that cannot travel to view the 60-foot Monon High Bridge? What will we do for those that are physically unable to get out and walk along the trails on a sunny afternoon and feel the calm breeze and listen to the birds speak? How about the folks that have never seen the beauty of Sunset Point on a late summer's night? What will we do? Well, we will build a virtual tour for those people. In fact, we will build virtual tours of various places around Delphi and Carroll County!

Click to view larger map.

This is where the power of collaboration will come in. I knew I could do this project on my own, but where would the fun be in that? So I enlisted the help of Laurie Kinzie and her Interactive Media 2 & 3 class. We have started to list different areas around Delphi and within Carroll County. (We don't want to limit ourselves with just the trails system. We want people to come to Delphi for the other amenities this little town offers.) The students have also started researching these different sites for their Expedition. This research is necessary as we will need to include beginner, intermediate, and advanced questions within each Expedition. This part is not as much fun. But since we are a G Suite for Education school, the group collaboration has become much easier with the use of shared Google Docs. Each group must share with myself and Mrs. Kinzie as well. It's always important to have a "fact checker".
So in conclusion for this post, we need to remember that collaboration is one of the 4 C's of education. Collaboration is key, and collaboration is power. Sure, I could have been selfish and kept the Google Expeditions Beta to myself and hogged all the glory. But where is the fun in that? And how is that helping my kids? Giving the kids the power to collaborate is going to give them the power to do our next couple of "C"s.
Never fear kids, we are almost to that next step--the "Creation" step!

Destination...Google Expeditions!

Hello all! I figured I better resurrect this blog as I have not been posting about all the awesome things that are happening in Delphi Community Schools in a while. As one of my New Year's Resolutions for the ICE community, I chose to make blogging more of a habit and to make sure I get "our" story out there. So without further ado, let the resurrection begin...starting with one of my all-time favorite topics--Google Expeditions!

I have spoken about Google Cardboards many times in the past. In fact, I previously posted about it back in February...of...2016... (Oh dear, where did 2017 go?) Virtual reality (VR) has many educational implications, but honestly, it is just plain fun! Just check out these lovely faces.



This past year Google created an app for teachers to actually be a tour guide for these destination travels. This app is called Google Expeditions. It allows the teacher to have some control over what the students are viewing. This is sooooooo much easier than having students open the Google Street View app, type in a destination, click on the image they want to view, and then put their phone in the Cardboard. Now, image doing that about 5-7 more times for each different 360 photo they want to view. Bleh!

So far in 2018, our 7th graders have taken a trip to Egypt and the Pyramids of Giza. If you could have heard the "oohs" and "aahs" from the students, you would have been just as excited! Mr. Burpo holds a wealth of knowledge about all things Social Studies. He was able to guide the students around the pyramids, across the Nile, and through different parts of Cairo. By using Google Expeditions, students were immersed into the landscape and the beauty of Egypt. They were able to experience Egypt, and not just passively view it on a 2-dimensional image. Check out the images below.

Mrs. Kahl chose to use Google Expeditions to view the Circulatory System with her Introduction to Health Care class. Students were able to go inside and view different parts of the heart, as well as see how arteries and veins work within the system. One of my favorite comments from a student was, "This is cool to see how the different tubes work within the heart!"

Google Expeditions is a wonderful app and an activity that can "tech up" any lesson plan. There are expeditions for all curricula, such as, Business, health care, culinary arts, science, Social Studies, etc. With over 700+ expeditions, there is something for everyone. Take that leap, and try something new! Your students will thank you.