Learning Management Systems (LMS) are digital tools that include a lot of applications in one tool. LMS’s can be considered a one-stop shop for managing digital learning. They allow for file management, notifications, assignment submission, descriptive feedback, online discussions and tracking.
Teachers can choose to use a LMS for a variety of reasons. These reasons could include;
simplifying management of digital resources and assignments
encouraging student voice and accountable talk through online collaboration
collect and share digital resources to facilitate student choice in how they learn (personalization and differentiation)
While there are many Learning Management Systems, some examples are outlined in the table below.
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Provincial virtual Learning Environment, vLE (formerly known as D2L) |
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Teachers who use Learning Management Systems often facilitate online discussions as part of their classroom routine. While it can take time to support students in developing the skills to have effective, rich discussions that lead to deep learning, they can be rewarding. Suggestions include co-creating the success criteria for online discussion with students. A gradual release of responsibility model can also be used where teachers write comments and responses as a class, then in small groups or partners before doing it individually. Each step should be reflected on and compared to the success criteria. Students do not automatically know how to have rich, deep conversations online to support their learning.
Combining face-to-face classroom discussions with online discussions can empower all students to participate and think deeply. Resources such as Making Room for Talk (found at edugains.ca) can be used to support teachers making the conversation in class (face-to-face and online) accountable.
Online discussions can be held through a Learning Management System (the Provincial vLE, Edmodo, Google Classroom, Moodle, etc.) or they can be done using tools specifically just for online discussions.
There are many tools for online discussions. A few are listed below.
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Google Groups (GAFE) |
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Most science classrooms involve writing as form of sharing or presenting information. Many school boards have opted for either Google Apps for Education (GAFE) or Office 365 as cloud computing options. Both provide online storage of documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.
Moving beyond basic file storage and creation, cloud computing can support teachers in providing effective descriptive feedback and facilitating peer feedback. The development of collaboration skills in students can be supported through the co-creation of documents, presentations and spreadsheets with peers in the same class, or across the world. =
While the major players in cloud computing are GAFE and Office 365, there are other tools that may be available to teachers and students.
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Google Apps for Education (GAFE) or Google Drive |
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Office 365, Office web apps |
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Blogging is one way that students can demonstrate the understanding of scientific concepts and develop communication skills. Blogs are websites where the most recent posts created show up at the top of the page and older posts get pushed down the page. Blogs can contain text, images, video and other embedded media.
Blogs can be created with one writer, or with multiple writers who collaborate or take turns posting. Some classes have one blog for their class where the teacher and students take turn creating posts about scientific concepts and learning from class. Other classroom learning activities have students creating and maintaining blogs individually or in small groups around social or environmental issues. Research and media creations can be shared on blogs. Students can comment on each others blogs and share their work with the world.
Comment moderation is a feature on blog tools that allows the owner of the blog to require “approval” of all comments written by readers before they show up on the blog for others to see. This safety measure allows teachers to ensure that comments from the general public are appropriate and support the educational goals of the project.
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Blogger (GAFE) |
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Provincial vLE - blogging application |
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Every day teachers read solutions written by students and wonder “what were they thinking at this point?”. Using apps on mobile technologies, students can record their voice as they write on the screen, creating a video explaining how they solve problems. These same digital tools can be used to create videos including images, animation, annotations and audio.
In addition to capturing student thinking these same digital tools can be used by teachers to provide descriptive feedback by annotating images of student work while recording their voice. This feedback video can be uploaded to a LMS to share with students, shared with cloud computing or simply sent by email. This workflow may be frustrating at first, but once figured out can save time and energy.
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Creating mind maps is discussed in the Ontario Ministry of Education Edugains resources as a strategy for differentiating instruction and as a method of summarizing and note-taking. The use of technology and digital tools enhances basic mind-mapping by allowing students from the same class, or across the world to collaborate on the same mind map and embed multimedia. It can also allow students to share their work with peers to spark discussion and encourage feedback.
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Creating video is one of the many ways students may choose to demonstrate their understanding and share information. While not every student is interested in detailed video creation, we now have access to digital tools that make video creation quicker yet still professional looking. This provides choice allowing students to focus in and develop the skills required for professional video creation, or to use one of the apps and tools that provide pre-made themes and short cuts.
Creating video can support the development of many of the “6 C’s”. Creativity, critical thinking and communication skills are developed as students plan which material goes into videos and how to effectively communicate their message to a specific audience. The planning process in creating video is as important as putting the actual video together. Resources such as the Adobe Youth Voices material can help teachers focus in on the critical thinking and social and environmental issues while planning and creating video.
There are many digital tools that support the creation of video. Some of these are software programs installed on computers while some of the easier-to-use tools are apps on mobile devices or work within a web browser. Student and teacher preferences and strengths will determine when it is appropriate to use full-featured video editing tools or easier-to-use but less feature-rich applications.
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Adobe Voice (iPad) |
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Adobe Premiere Elements 7 |
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Stop-motion animation can be a rewarding method of digital storytelling in the classroom. Using a series of still pictures where each image moves a slight amount in sequence allows students to demonstrate their understanding of scientific concepts using a variety of mobile devices as cameras.
The process involved in planning for stop-motion animation projects is very similar to that of planning videos. It is during this process where teachers can focus in on developing skills such as creativity, critical thinking and communication. Adapting and using resources such as the Adobe Youth Voices Stop Motion Animation Curriculum can help teachers integrate the planning process into video creation projects around big ideas and inquiries in science class.
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iOS Apps: |
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Many schools have acquired 3D printers to help students develop the skills for design thinking. 3D printers take design files of designs created in 3D and create plastic objects. Most smaller printers work by laying down plastic layer by layer until the object is created. To use 3D design in the science classroom, students often create designs to solve or demonstrate solutions to authentic issues.
Digital tools for 3D design can be used with or without access to a 3D printer. While many secondary technology departments have high-end 3D design programs installed on computers, teachers and students can access free design programs for introductory 3D design. Some of these tools are in the table below. The 3D files (often in the format of .stl or .obj) can be saved and used if/when access to a 3D printer is available.
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SketchUp |
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Portfolios can be used as a strategy to develop skills for self-assessment. This strategy card from the DI resources on the Ministry of Education Edugains site focuses on the process to support this development. Many different digital tools can be used to create Portfolios. ePortfolios, or digital portfolios can extend paper-based portfolios by tracking feedback and growth, allowing for collaboration, allowing for the inclusion of multimedia creations and allowing for work to be shared with an audience beyond the classroom walls. When whole-school or district strategies are put into place, ePortfolios can follow and grow with students throughout their educational career.
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Provincial vLE - ePortfolio application |
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How Can ePortfolio be used in K-12? |
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Google Sites (GAFE) |
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OneNote (Office 365) |
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One of the biggest drivers for using technology in the classroom is the ability to connect, communicate and collaborate with people all over the world. The most rewarding way to engage students is to provide authentic learning activities where students have voice and choice to direct their learning while collaborating with others. Creating activities that encourage this can seem overwhelming. To help, organizations have created global collaborations that are facilitated (supported by experienced educators). These collaborations provide opportunities for students to collaborate with others around the world to work towards understanding of complex social or environmental issues.
The organizations below run programs and projects that you can sign your class up for. These projects vary each year. For any project, teachers should ask the following questions to ensure safety;
will students be interacting with others?
will personal information be shared?
do I have parent permission?
have I ensured all school and board policies been met regarding sharing student work, personal information and images, collaborating with other students, etc.?
A few organizations that run facilitated global collaborations:
Curiocity and Let’s Talk Science
As some schools are moving towards 1:1 (one device for every student) through mobile devices or “bring your own device” programs, the ability to have interactive teacher-led lessons becomes a reality. Interactive lessons and presentations can be done with every student having a device, or with students working in small groups sharing one device.
These digital tools push the content shared by the teacher (or student facilitator) out to each device. The content can be slides, similar to Powerpoint, websites or other media. The tools also allow for students to write on the screen, annotate images, answer questions, write paragraphs, etc. and send them back to the teacher. Teachers can then share student work to all student devices while students explain their thinking with the entire class.
Mathematics teachers often have students share their work when solving problems as part of a bansho, congress or gallery walk. Science teachers can use these same strategies during lessons based on solving problems. Teachers can also use this student work as a way of guiding their lessons, formative assessment, diagnostics and exit tickets.
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Creating comics and cartoons can provide another method to demonstrate understanding of scientific concepts while developing literacy, creativity and communication skills. Using digital cartoon creation tools allow students who are not comfortable or overly skilled in drawing to use pre-made characters and objects to tell their story. Digital tools such as BitStrips can also be set up so that students share their creations with other students, getting feedback and collaborating on material.
For teachers, it is important to focus on the planning stage to ensure students are thinking deeply about their creation and the scientific concepts demonstrated.
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Often the focus of technology enabled learning is that of redefining how students learn and demonstrate learning, with a focus on creativity, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, character and citizenship. However, there are times where concept attainment can be enhanced greatly through the use of technology. In science where concepts often involve things beyond what can be seen by the naked eye, multimedia and interactive simulations can greatly help students visualize and develop understanding. Other games and simulations can help students apply that understanding to a variety of situations.
While trying to list all media, interactive simulation and games supporting scientific concept attainment is not possible, there are a few places listed in the table below to start searching.
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Ask school or board contact for information |
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While computer science is a subject area in itself, the basic skills of using code to create animations, presentations and games can be used in any discipline. Web-based tools such as Scratch allow students and teachers to practice the basics of coding in a collaborative community. The Scratch community supports a culture of sharing and collaboration. Users can see the code of projects created by others and adapt, edit and build on it while ensuring credit goes to the original creator.
Using a tool such as Scratch to communicate and demonstrate understanding of scientific concepts can support the development of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and digital citizenship.
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Student-directed research has been an important part of science courses for a very long time. Today’s access to information and digital resources can make research much more complicated and rewarding at the same time. Students can be faced with an overwhelming amount of information and need to develop skills of filtering and managing this. On the other hand, students have access to experts and resources around the world like never before.
Working with students to use tools designed to help students research effectively can help them develop skills needed to become scientifically literate in today’s connected world. Listed below are some tools that can help students organize and manage research while tracking sources properly. These digital tools also provide a new opportunity for students to collaboratively research and share resources with others anywhere in the world.
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Google Research Tool (GAFE) |
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OneNote (Office 365) |
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Students use many forms of social media in their everyday life. The desire to connect with others leads to the creation of new types of social media on a regular basis. Teachers need to consider the possible negative experiences students can have while using social media before integrating these powerful tools into classroom learning. Modelling appropriate use and integrating digital citizenship lessons into class helps students develop the skills required to be good citizens online.
While keeping in mind the development of skills required to become good citizens, social media can help to connect students and teachers around the world. Teachers can use social media to connect with their class, sending updates and reminders. Social media can also be used by students in class (through a class account) to share learning from the classroom and learn from others.
Some social media tools include:
Vine
In addition to specific school and board policies, the following guidelines have been released by teacher federations and the OCT;
The digital tools listed below are just a few of the ones available online that don’t fit into the categories reviewed in this resource. While assessing web-based and online digital tools teachers should consider the following while reviewing products:
will student information be shared or stored online? Check terms of service and privacy policies.
will students be identifiable?
have parents/guardians provided permission to use this digital tool?
will students interact with others while using this tool? If so, how are they protected?
what digital citizenship skills need to be reviewed before using this tool?
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