Create a Gallery Walk of Student Work w/ In3DGallery

It's Tech Tuesday, so I'm trying out a new tool.  In3DGallery is a free service that allows you to upload pictures, choose a template, and choose the way the presentation is formatted for view:  slide show, fly through, or walk.  It will automatically fill the wall space with pictures from your library, but you can reorder them and choose different pictures to upload.  

Here's a sample I made using pictures from our librarians' meeting last Friday as well as some student Maker project shots. In order to view presentations, you will need to install the Unity Player.  Once installed, look for the pop-up message in your browser to unblock Unity.

It's an obvious choice for student artwork, ideal for any photographic portfolios of student work, and has some advanced audio and video features that I haven't even tried yet.  

Tech Tuesday: KidBlog

KidBlog is a safe, simple way to integrate technology and writing into your curriculum.  I have been using this with a 2nd grade class that I read to every morning.  It's a big class, and we only have about 10 minutes to work with it, but they are doing fantastic!


So, what can young students learn about using KidBlog?

• Writing - Students write daily and can receive feedback from the teacher and peers (if the teacher decides to turn that feature on).
• Spelling - The blog underlines misspelled words in red, so students can instantly recognize words they need to fix.
• Typing and Text Tools - There are simple text tools that students can learn, including bold, italics, underlining, size, font style, colors.  They can can also learn about simple formatting, including bullet lists and alignment.
• Adding Media - Quick and easy tools make adding images and short videos simple.
• Digital Citizenship - They learn the appropriate way to communicate online. When you and they are ready, you can let them comment on each other's posts, too.
• Portfolios - Students learn to curate their work and can share with a global audience.
• Parent Involvement - Parents can be given permission to see their students' blogs, too.

Tech Tuesday: Little Story Maker

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/
little-story-creator-digital/id721782955?mt=8

The Little Story Creator app is a free way to create beautiful ebooks that can include audio or video elements.  It has more of a presentation feel than some of the other book creator apps, but it is more stable than Little Story Maker and free, unlike Book Creator, which is $5 per device.

The app does not require an email or account to create books that stay on your device.  If you want to share them by email, you'll have to set up a "parent" account.

This is a fun and easy to use app that can make your students feel like authors and add another tool to their presentation and/or assessment toolbag. They could also use it to retell stories using pictures they take or draw.  

You get to choose the background of each page from the preloaded images. Then, use the toolbar to add video or photos, text, and audio recordings.  There is also a small collection of stickers and a free-draw pen you can use.  Biggest drawback:  You need to finish the book in one sitting because there doesn't appear to be a way to edit ongoing projects.  

Fun Friday with OSMO and the iPad

Fridays are fun anyway, but this Friday I set up the new Osmo - Play Beyond the Screen.  Every student that walked by it wanted to explore what it could do. The universal reaction from Kindergarten to veteran teacher, COOL!!

Osmo Words

Using reflective artificial intelligence, the Osmo brings physical interactivity to the digital world in a way that goes way beyond the touch screen.

In Osmo Word students use letter tiles to spell the word for the picture on the screen.  It can be played alone, against an opponent, or in a team.  They also have a Junior level that challenges the player to identify the letter making the initial sound for the word pictured.  

I used this with one of our emergent readers, and he was completely engaged.  As he was getting them right, he would say things like, "See, I'm smart.  This is fun!"  


The Osmo Tangram steps up the challenge.  I haven't played with it enough yet to know if there are puzzles that don't show you where to put the tiles.  Love the reaction these friends had using the Tangram game kit.

The Osmo Newton challenges you to guide falling balls to hit targets on the screen.  It can react to objects you place or lines you draw on the page.  There are several puzzles included in this challenge  The girl at the end of this video says it all, "Technology Rocks!"

Thank you, Voya Unsung Heroes for the funding to provide these interactive, technology based learning experiences for students of all ages that visit our school library!

Tech Tuesday - Educanon: Don't Just Show a Video, Interact With It

In my quest to offer individualized learning, I have tried several different tools for creating video lessons with assessments.  There are plenty of great resources out there, but the one I like best for my K-6 students is Educanon.
Why?

1.  It's free.  It's a shame that cost has to take so much priority in my ranking, but there is no money for software purchases in my library budget.  So, free is a very important feature.

2.  Email is not required for student access.  I work with K-6 students, and we do not issue email accounts to our students.  This has been a deal breaker on several otherwise viable video/assessment tools.

This is what my students see when they
click the link or scan the QR code.

3.  Students do not need a username or password to access the video/quiz.  Now, that's a great feature.  Since I see the entire school, it is time consuming to set up individual accounts for every student.  Then, there's the matter of communicating that information to each of them and helping them remember/reset passwords.  With Educanon, I simply create a QR code for the video quiz location.  When students scan the code, they are prompted to enter their first and last name.  Then, they have immediate access to the content.  This may be my favorite feature.


4.  Makes videos interactive.  You can add questions at any point in the video.  Free users can add multiple choice, check all, or reflective pauses.  Subscription users can add fill in the blank and free response questions. I also love that questions can include pictures (even in the free version).  

5.  Students receive instant feedback.  You can set the responses to let students know more about the right and wrong answers they choose.

6. Student responses are stored in a spreadsheet format.  Quickly view students' final scores as well as answers to each question.

7.  Works with video from YouTube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, Khan Academy, and Shmoop.  It accepts large videos, too.  I used a 22-minute video from Vimeo that was a favorite for teaching about legends.

8.  You can share and embed the video quiz with easy built-in buttons.  The link and embed code can be generated for sharing on your digital space.  You can also share the resource using Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, or e-mail.

9.  It is iPad compatible.  We are a 1:1 iPad school, but this would also be important in a BYOD environment.

10. It's easy!  Creating a lesson and sharing it is simple and takes very little time.