Teacher Spotlight: Google Mystery Hangout

Mr. Bahlmann’s 4th grade class at Deane Elementary sits on the edge of their seat while the familiar tune of Google Hangouts rings throughout their classroom.

“Oh no!” says Digital Teacher Librarian Keri Douglas, “It looks like they’re not available.”
Not to fear, a chat box quickly pops up saying, “We need five more minutes to get ready. We transitioned late”. Another teacher somewhere across the country prepares her students to begin. Suddenly, her smiling face appears for the class to see on the projected screen and she announces the beginning of the Google Mystery Hangout.


Google Mystery Hangouts is a critical thinking event in which students from across the country or globe try to determine the location of the other class through asking a series of questions and responding through video chat. Think of the familiar game of 20 questions; now add on: digital tools, geography skills, collaboration, listening and speaking skills, decision making, and data analysis.


The power of Google Mystery Hangouts to incorporate these 21st century learning skills in an authentic way is the driving force behind its popularity. Ryan Livingston, the Digital Teacher Librarian at Patterson International, an IB school, is always looking to make global connections. After joining the Mystery Hangout G+ Community, Ryan found educators in Bogota, Colombia available to connect with his students. Students as young as first grade participated in a Mystery Hangout incorporating their math curriculum. Instead of guessing geographic locations, each class used the hundred chart and wrote series of equations to determine the mystery number. (Photos from this event)

Ryan is most impressed with “what it’s doing for kids... the questioning, inferring, and analyzing what they are hearing and watching. It is the thinking skills that Mystery Hangout promotes.” He already has plans to utilize a Mystery Hangout for the upcoming 4th grade Colorado History unit. He is spreading the word to other DTL’s in the district, including Keri Douglas at Deane. Which brings us back to our 4th grade classroom.


“Are you west of the Prime Meridian?” The first question is posed. Students use their understanding of major grid lines on the globe to narrow down the continent first. The 4th graders at Deane Elementary are prepared as researchers. Each student has their iPad on their desk with Google Maps and Google Earth open in addition to a laminated paper map. Students move between tools, conferring with one another, and posing new questions to ask. The students in the role of recorder skip around the room gathering the next question. Cheers are heard as each answer brings the class closer to discovering where the mystery class is located.

Mr. Wes Jones, student teacher from Colorado Christian University, comments at how the engagement of students is so high! Students are incorporating their learning from the 4th grade Social Studies unit Understanding Region along with ISTE technology standards of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making. This event was a natural fit for Keri and Derek to co-teach and collaborate to authentically bring technology into their learning.

This Mystery Hangout successfully comes to an end as the Deane Elementary Huskies wave goodbye to the classroom located in Texas. Geographically separated by miles, today the classrooms were only a click away.

If you are interested in connecting with educators across the globe, join the G+ community to learn more!

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What is Digital Workflow?

Do you spend hours managing the papers that flow through your classroom on a daily basis?

Is your inbox overflowing with a hodgepodge of student papers?

Do you have difficulty tracking which students have completed which assignments?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions and your students have access to technology, you may wish to consider using digital workflow in your instruction. Digital workflow allows for a paperless classroom in which teacher and students can exchange assignments and provide feedback digitally.

The first thing to understand is that there are many workflow models available for teachers and students to use; some are free, whereas others require a fee or subscription. Additionally, not all digital workflows provide the same features. For this reason, you may decide to use a combination of tools to implement different workflows for different purposes. In order to determine which workflow model is best for your classroom use, you will need to consider the individual needs of your students and the goals you would like for them to achieve.

You might also want to consider which of the following features will help meet those needs and goals:

• Classroom announcements
• Discussions
• Class Calendar
• Co-teachers (more than one teacher per course)
• Ability to watch YouTube videos within the workflow environment
• Tests/Quizzes
• Gradebook
• Grade assignments and provide feedback 

Once you you have determined your needs and goals and you have narrowed down the features that are most important to you, you are ready to make a selection on a digital workflow model. Jeffco has several options available for you use. Here are some of our favorites:


Google Drive:
Google Drive is both a web 2.0 tool and an app; additional Google tools that are associated with Drive are Google Docs, Slides, Drawings, Sheets and Forms. Google Drive allows the user to be able to store and access their digital content from any device that is connected to the internet. All Jeffco students have access to Google Drive, although they do not have access to a Google email address until 2nd grade.


Google Classroom:
Google Classroom is both a web 2.0 tool and an app. Google Classroom incorporates all of the features of Google Drive and its related tools; Google Classroom would be challenging for teachers and students who are unfamiliar with Google Drive and its related tools. Google Classroom allows teachers to assign work and for students to receive, complete and submit the same assignment. Students can attach work from their Drive and other apps, as well. Teachers can also provide feedback, grade assignments, pose questions, and allow for backchannel chats and discussions. The Jeffco help desk does not support Google Classroom.


Schoology:
Schoology is a Learning Management System (LMS) available both as a web 2.0 tool and an app. Through Jeffco, all student and teachers have access to a Schoology account. Schoology can stand on its own as a digital workflow or be a great supplement to an additional workflow model. We often get asked if Schoology is going away, now that Google Classroom has been introduced. This is far from the truth! Schoology is a great tool for teachers who are looking for all the necessary features to "flip their classroom!" The Jeffco help desk supports Schoology.


Showbie:
Showbie is both a web 2.0 tool and an app. We have found the free membership of Showbie to have more than enough features to provide students and teachers with a digital workflow; however, a paid subscription will give you a few more tools and features. Both teachers and students can use the pen tool to annotate PDFs and other documents with their finger, as well as add voice notes and written comments; the pen tool is not available on the Web 2.0 tool, so it is not the best option for Chromebooks or Laptops. Our team has found Showbie to be most successful with primary grades, although it is not limited to K-2. Showbie is not supported by the Jeffco help desk.

Here is a quick-reference guide that shows the features available for each workflow model.

Here are a few additional thoughts to consider after you make your decision on which digital workflow model is best for you:

• How will the teacher communicate student progress to parents, now that fewer papers will be going home in the weekly folder?
• How will the teacher ensure that students are still submitting highly effective work that aligns with CAP?
• How will the teacher continue to reinforce digital citizenship and responsible collaboration? 

Need additional Resources?
Drive Help
Google Classroom Help Center
Schoology Support
Showbie Support
Showbie Pricing
Showbie Supported Apps (app smashing)

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Meet the Ed Tech Team

Have you ever wanted to know who is on the Ed Tech Team? Or, perhaps you needed to contact someone with an ed tech question...Well, here you go! Be sure to check out our staff bios on the new Ed Tech Website - coming soon!

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Students interacting with video: EDpuzzle

EDPuzzle is one of our favorite tools to ensure students are learning from video content and not simply skipping through the material without doing any thinking. To get students to interact with the content, you can add voice or text comments; create multiple choice questions to make them predict possible outcomes, or short answer questions for students to summarize their learning on the topic.

Questions are inserted along the video timeline and, with a check box, you can ensure students answer the questions before they proceed.

Searching for educational content within EDPuzzle is simple and intuitive; or you can upload your own videos. Students join your online class using an access code, and then you can track their progress through your video lessons.

The EDpuzzle iPad app is easy to use. Sharing EDpuzzle videos in Google Classroom is a click of a button in My Classes (as long as the due date hasn't passed).  There is also a handy Edpuzzle Chrome extension which enables you to save YouTube videos directly to your EDpuzzle account.

Richard Byrne at freetech4teachers.com demonstrates creating a lesson:

By creating a Students Project, you can have students annotating video to point out salient points of their learning using voice or text comments and adding questions.

Another benefit of Ed Puzzle: it allows you to bypass the district filter, so that students can watch videos on their own device, on their own time, at their own pace!

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Screencasting for Communication and Supporting a Flipped Classroom

In our modern world, there are many resources available to teachers for instructional videos; YouTube, Khan Academy, and Vimeo all provide teachers with seemingly endless options. However, sometimes it can be very difficult to find a video that specifically meets all of your needs. Screencasting is a simple creation and communication tool that teachers can use to provide individualized instruction. Many teachers find screencasts beneficial because they capture your voice and activity on a computer screen rather than just a lecture on a video. This allows teachers to easily explain procedures and processes or show a slide deck that accompanies a class lecture. The opportunities for screencasting are endless for classroom use.

Screencasting can be a valuable tool to help teachers flip their classrooms. This paradigm shift is based on a learning model where direct instruction happens outside of the classroom during individual learning time and space. Students consume content at home and then come to class prepared to engage. The classroom then becomes an interactive learning environment where the educator provides individualized guidance through deeper learning of concepts. Screencasts allow teachers to provide students with direct instruction on demand, freeing up class time for deeper learning.

The following short screencasts will show you how easy it is to create a screencast using a free tool, Screencast-o-matic and upload to YouTube. The free version of Screencast-o-matic allows you to create a screencast up to 15 minutes in length with basic editing capabilities. The paid version ($14.99) of this tool allows you to record videos up to 2 hours in length, gives you more editing capabilities, and eliminates the Screencast-o-matic logo on the bottom of your screen. Camtasia is another great option for screencasting software with greater editing capabilities. This software costs $299, however, the company offers a 30 day free trial.

Creating a screencast:

Uploading your video to YouTube:

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Schoology: Your New Features Roundup

Have you ever created a Schoology test only to find that you have a couple of students who need a paper/pencil accommodation? Or maybe the test session is closed and you have a student who was absent needs to take it? One of the new features in Schoology is the ability to print assessments. Watch the video below to see how to do this:

Do you have multiple sections of the same course? Course linking is a great way to manage them more efficiently. When sections are linked, they all share the same set of materials and grade setup. This means you only need to create materials and set up your gradebook once, even when you teach multiple sections of the same course. Find out how to link your course sections here.

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Welcome to our Ed Tech Blog: We Make Ideas Click!

Welcome to our Ed Tech Blog: We Make Ideas Click! Each Tuesday the Ed Tech team will post an integration idea that could be used to support your instruction. Each post will show you how technology can connect to the ISTE Standards, the JEFFCO teacher rubric, and will provide you a variety of resources or CAP materials. On the last Tuesday of each month, we will spotlight a JEFFCO teacher who demonstrates exemplary technology integration in his or her classroom.

Our team is eager to come out and support you in your work with technology integration in your classroom. Here are some great ways we can help!

"We build capacity in technology integration to increase communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking."

Techie Tuesday Tip:

Schoology allows teachers to embed videos for students and gives them the ability to watch from anywhere they have access to their Schoology course. They can then complete a task in response to the video, which is a great feature to add to your toolbox. If you are beginning to blend your classroom, providing students with some online and some face-to-face work, then using Schoology is an easy way to start this transformative practice. Watch this video to see how easy it is to create a page in Schoology and embed a video:

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New Blog Coming Soon!

Welcome to the JEFFCO Ed Tech Team's new tech blog! We are excited to bring you news and ideas about educational technology. Many new things are happening at the Ed Tech office! We are working hard to bring you our new blog, a Twitter feed and a completely redesigned and updated website... all coming soon! Don't forget to sign up with your email so that you can receive all of our posts sent to your inbox!