Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Blended Learning Presentation

Below is the slideshare for our Blended Learning presentation at Keystone TIC:



Moodle Moment: Groups in Moodle

Another Moodle Moment.  Our latest screencast gives an overview on the process of setting up and using groups within Moodle.  It also previews the look and feel of Moodle 2.7, which we will be updating the K-12 server to on June 27.


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Learn How to Flip Your Classroom!

AEA PD Online instructor & Grundy Center teacher/tech coordinator Bob Munson is at it again!  He is offering an online course for teachers on the cutting edge of instruction.

Have you heard about Flipped Learning, the instructional model that blends online instruction into your face-to-face classroom?  What's more, have you thought it sounds promising, but seemed to hard for you to learn?  This course is for you.

Flipped Learning shifts direct instruction outside of the classroom to the online environment, opening up time in-class to be better utilized.  Check out the video below from science teacher Aaron Sams as he showcases how it works in his classroom.




The course is coming up quick, but it isn't too late to sign up.  It starts May 26 and goes through June 30, available for 2 license renewal or graduate credits.  To register for the class, click here.

Looking for another option?  Check out our popular MOLLIE: Blended Learning course!  The MOLLIE (More Online Learning for Iowa Educators) series helps teachers with the process of blending your classroom instruction, and flipped learning is one of the focal points.  There is a section that starts June 11.

(Cross-posted at AEA PD Online)

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Everfi



Everfi is dedicated to providing teachers with quality content that can be used with students in ablended classroom. The content is engaging and interactive and most importantly focused on helping students learn critical skills that they will need to be successful in the world beyond school.


The content can be divided into five key areas:
Financial Literacy
Vault: Understanding Money 4-6th grade
Everfi: Financial Literacy 9-12th grade

STEM
Ignition: Digital Citizenship 6-9th grade
Radius: Math and Coding 8-10th grade


Civic Engagement
Commons: Digital Town Square 8-10th grade
African-American History 9-12th grade


Health and Wellness
Alcohol EDU 9-12th Grade


Career Success
Venture: Entrepreneurial Expedition 7-10th grade

To Learn more view AEA PD Online's: LIVE! event featuring EverFi's courses.

Infuse Learning: Learner Response System




Mike Pic.jpg“Infuse learning allows me to upload the materials I use in my geography classroom eliminating confusion among students when comparing maps. Consistency in materials is a key for 7th graders in learning about the world and the relationships between countries and continents. Infuse learning is a great tool for the students to use and allows for easy corrections when needed.”
Mike Cunningham
7th grade Geography Teacher
Knoxville Middle School, Iowa

Are you looking for ways to create an interactive environment for assessment and learning? Infuse Learning might just be the tool you need. Infuse learning allows you to ask quick assessment questions to check for student understanding. Teachers can create the following types of questions:
  • Draw a response
  • True/False
  • Multiple Choice
  • Sort and Order
  • Open Ended Text Answer
  • Numeric
  • Likert Scale
Once students complete the question(s), it immediately allows teachers to see, review, and save their responses.

Infuse Learn also offers:
  • Translation-Students can choose to read or listen to questions in a variety of different languages.
  • Draw a response-Allows students to draw a diagram or picture that illustrates their answers.

See how it works!


Getting Started!
Check out How to Get Started With InfuseLearning by Infuse Learning on Snapguide.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

New on the Catalog: Digital Citizenship Course

New on our AEA K-12 E-Curriculum Catalog is a course in Digital Citizenship.  Created by the Heartland AEA technology integrationists in partnership with Johnston CSD, the Digital Citizenship course helps students understand the 9 principles of digital citizenship.

You can access it on our statewide Moodle server, or download it and use it on your own LMS.  For questions about the content, please contact Denise Krefting.


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Atomic Learning Launches Mobile Learning and Common Core Resources for Educators

Atomic Learning launched it’s newest set of tutorials, workshops, and professional development resources focused on implementing mobile learning the the Common Core in literacy and mathematics. 

View this short video to learn about their newest resources.



Atomic Learning is brought to you by Iowa's AEAs. To access its resources, go to iowaaeaonline.org and select "Atomic Learning".

Iowa Teachers Use Core Skills Mastery (CSM) with Students

What is Core Skills Mastery (CSM)?

Who’s Using CSM in Iowa?

Marlene Ballou
District: Audubon
Position: At-Risk Coordinator

Marlene Ballou has been using CSM with her 7-12th grade students since fall of 2013. Currently, her students are using it for several different purposes. Several students are completing the course for a math or English credit. The credit they will receive will assist them in meeting their graduation requirements. Other students are working on portions of it in an effort to support their success in career and technical classes. Finally, one student has completed all of her coursework and wanted extended learning opportunities. The CSM course is providing her with challenging learning opportunities that extend beyond the high schools current course offerings.

“CSM has been a very positive experience for my students. The course strengthens their understanding of important math and literacy concepts/skills. It also helps them become independent learners. Students must also manage their time and stay focused so that they can successfully complete the course.”
Marlene Ballou

Michelle Flores
Teresa Focht
District: Sidney
Position: 7th and 8th Grade English/language arts Teachers

Michelle and Teresa have been using CSM with their 7th and 8th grade English/language arts students since September of 2013. Currently, the school follows a block schedule block schedule. Classes are 66 minutes long. Students spend approximately 15 minutes of every day working on the CSM course. Both teachers like the adaptive nature of the CSM course.  

If a student answers a question incorrectly,  the student can review a lesson about the concept. After the lesson is completed, he or she can attempt another question. Furthermore, if a student reaches a level of frustration the program moves them on to a different concept and then brings them back later time.
Michelle Flores and Teresa Focht

What Students are Saying

“I like it. It lets you practice. You can retake it as many times as needed.”  
Shelby
“I took a test and if it wasn’t for CSM I wouldn’t have known how to do it.”
Gracey
“CSM helped me in math, it even made understanding math easier!!”
Christen
“CSM is a great learning site it is fun and confusing. Knowledge is Power!”
Jayden

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

10 ideas for Using Twitter in your Online or Blended Course

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You’ve been using twitter for years now (It is hard to believe that it has been around for seven years). Twitter is where you get your updates on world news, inspiration for working out, and even the latest information on Justin Beiber. You have even found some great resources about teaching and learning, but you haven’t quite figured out how to integrate with students in your online or blended course. Here are ten ideas for using Twitter with students. 

  1. Tweet out reminders to students regarding important days, assignments, or assessments.
  2. Ask students to tweet their opinions or thoughts about a focus of classroom discussion using a class hashtag.
  3. Use weekly hashtags to collect feedback, questions, or comments from students.
  4. Share resources (websites, news articles, blog posts, etc.) with students.
  5. Ask students to share important or useful resources they find related to course content.
  6. Have students follow people, organizations, or government entities and track what they are doing/saying related to the course content.
  7. Communicate with experts. Find authors, scientists, historians, or industry experts on Twitter and connect with them to gain insight or ask for advice/help.
  8. Have students build 140-character summaries based on reading assignments. The brevity of the statement will keep them focused.
  9. Encourage students to tweet an inspirational quote of the day related to course content.
  10. Stimulate conversation by having students coordinate and collaborate via twitter.

Check it Out! Twitter finds a Place in the Classroom




Learn about how one eighth grade teacher uses twitter in the classroom.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Ten Steps to Choosing Digital Curricula for Blended Learning



Do you want to blend your instruction, but aren’t sure which e-curriculum best fits your needs? Below are ten steps to help find the digital content that best meets you needs.

Click here to find out how to preview AEA K-12 Online’s catalog of free e-curriculum.


Digital Curricula
Selecting Digital Curricula for Blended Learning – Courtsey of DreamBox Learning

EduCanon: Creating Interactive Videos for Your Online or Blended Classroom




Have you ever asked students to watch a video in your online or blended course and at the end of the day wondered if they gained anything from watching it? Wonder no more!...EduCanon allows you to take a video you create or find on YouTube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, etc. and transform it into an interactive experience.

To see how EduCanon works, view the video below. You can also experience it for yourself by clicking here and watching, “What is an EdCanon Lesson?”



Vocoroo: Adding Audio to Your Online or Blended Classroom


To find out how to add audio to your online or blended course, click here.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

E-Curriculum: Cyberbulling Unit



In this AEA PD Online: Live event, Deb Henkes provides viewers with an overview of an online or blended unit focused on addressing the issue of cyberbullying. She reviews the units learning goals, content, and assessments. This e-curriculum is free for all Iowa educators to use with students. Information on how to access the cyberbullying unit or any of AEA PD Online’s e-curriculum go here.



A special thank you to Deb Henkes for developing and sharing her e-curriculum with the state.