Tag: EdTech

Ep. 242 | Why Educators Are Moving to Bluesky for Social Media Privacy w/ Alice Keeler

Make sure you purchase a copy of my book Cooking Up Experiences In The Classroom: Focus On Experiences, Not Just Lessons from Amazon. Once you do that, listen to Alice Keeler school us on why educators should be flocking over to Bluesky for their #Edusky Social Media needs.

Make sure you purchase a copy of my book Cooking Up Experiences In The Classroom: Focus On Experiences, Not Just Lessons from Amazon.

Why are so many educators flocking to Bluesky? In this episode, Alice Keeler shares her journey to Bluesky, how it champions data privacy, and why it’s the next big thing for social media in edtech. Learn how Bluesky empowers educators, its unique features, and how to get started today. Tune in for practical tips and insights to make the move smoother!

Connect With Gabriel Carrillo

About Alice Keeler

Alice Keeler has a BA in Mathematics and an MS in Educational Media Design and Technology. She started teaching high school math in 1999 in the laptop Algebra program. Alice has taught 1:1 her entire teaching career and is passionate about using technology to create student centered classrooms.

Paperless is not a pedagogy. We should not seek to use technology to save paper, but rather to improve learning, improve relationships, and improve student engagement.

The tool is not what creates the learning, but rather an intentional approach for how a tool can create feedback loops, allow choice and voice, allows for communication of ideas in a creative medium, and increase collaboration.

Connect With Alice Keeler

Ep. 29: Monica, #TasksBeforeApps, and NY Pizza

In this episode, I chat virtually with Dr. Monica Burns about her latest book, Tasks Before Apps: Designing Rigorous Learning in a Tech-Rich Classroom. For those of you who do not know who Monica is or does, she’s an established edtech speaker, trainer, and author who is passionate about education and technology integration. Listen to her take on pizza vs. NY pizza as well as her tortilla preference. If you’d like to connect with Dr. Monica Burns, check out the links below:
Classtechtips.com
Twitter.com/classtechtips
Facebook.com/classtechtips
Pinterest.com/classtechtips
Instagram.com/classtechtips

Dr. Monica Burns’ Books:
Tasks Before Apps: Designing Rigorous Learning in a Tech-Rich Classroom
#FormativeTech: Meaningful, Sustainable, and Scalable Formative Assessment with Technology​
Taming the Wild Text: Literacy Strategies for Today’s Reader

Also, don’t miss out on a promotional offer for EdTech Bites Podcast listeners from Nearpod. For a free 3 month trial of Nearpod Gold, go to Nearpod.com/redeem and use promo code “NP-Gabriel”.

If you’d like to purchase WeVideo For Education, email John Kline (johnk@wevideo.com) and mention that you heard it on EdTech Bites for 10% off a classroom license, 15% off a school license, or 25% off a district license.

Buen Provecho!

Ep. 28: The SMART SEE Summit And Building Your PLN

This special episode was recorded in Calgary, Canada while attending the SMART Global Summit and is all about building your PLN or in this case PLF, professional learning family. This episode is made up of four interviews with four different individuals. Two of them are employees of SMART and the other two are attendees like myself. I would like to give a huge shout out to SMART Technologies for hosting this event and the Conrad Foundation for all the work they did with us, especially the students.

Katie Novak 2:30
Gretchen Monahan 15:06
Monica Mora 26:53
Kelly Miksch 36:53

For more information on becoming a SEE, click here. Thanks again to everyone who I interviewed thanks to my new PLF from all over the world. Don’t forget to subscribe to be notified when future episodes are released. Buen Provecho!

Ep. 25: Sarah, EduMatch, and Vegetarian Cuisine

In this episode, I chat with Sarah Thomas to discuss EduMatch and the importance of connecting educators. No, EduMatch is not a dating site for educators. It’s Sarah’s brainchild that connects like-minded educators. All this while being a vegetarian! Sarah is the first guest on the podcast who is a strict vegetarian and is proud of it. Check it out for yourself and be sure to connect with EduMatch and Sarah with a plate of vegetarian lasagne! Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and tell a friend about the podcast. Buen provecho!

Links to Websites, Blogs, Etc.:
www.sarahjanethomas.com
www.sarahdateechur.com
www.medium.com/@sarahdateechur
www.edumatch4education.com
www.medium.com/@edu_match
www.edcampvoice.com
www.edcampedumatch.org

Flipgrid + Nearpod

Have you ever considered app smashing with Flipgrid. There are many different ways to do this but my go-to tool to do this with is Nearpod. To do this, make sure you have both a Nearpod and Flipgrid account. Once that is done, you’re one step closer. To see step-by-step instructions, check out my how-to video that walks you through the rest of the process. Enjoy!

 

Ep. 12: David, Peergrade, and Rødgrød Med Fløde

Ladies and gentlemen, The EdTech Bites Podcast has officially gone international! Yeah I said it, international baby! In episode 12, I chat with David Kofoed Wind to discuss Peergrade. David lives in Copenhagen, Denmark and is the CEO and creator of Peergrade. For those of you who do not know what Peergrade is all about, let me explain it to you. What do you do when students turn in a rough draft of an essay? You usually randomly hand them back so they may do a bit of peer editing. Students usually mark them up with corrections, ideas, and feedback. Imagine being able to do this with digital submissions via Google Classroom! That’s exactly what Peergrade gives you the power to do. Boom! Bang! Pow! David discusses the ins and outs of Peergrade, the importance of student feedback, as well as Danish cuisine which includes a dessert named Rødgrød Med Fløde. It’s a strawberry pudding that is topped with fresh cream. It sounds delicious but do not ask me to pronounce it, I’ll leave that to him. Check out this episode and check out Peergrade as well. It integrates with Google Classroom and other LMS platforms for ease of use for teachers as well as students. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and please leave a review. Thank you and as always, Buen Provecho! In this case, Velbekomme!

Ep. 10: Microcredentialing, Chad, and Chicago Eats

In this episode, I sit down with a good friend and colleague of mine, Chad Belford. We met up at an authentic Chicago eatery called Wise Guys in San Antonio and discussed microcredentialing, digital badging, and of course…Chicago eats. This is definitely a “squirrel!” episode with lots of side conversation but hey, that’s dinner table talk right? We manage to discuss what we’ve come across in our own research of “how to” digital badge and the pros of it. We’re ready to start rolling this out in our district and would love to hear your journey in Microcredentialing and Digital Badging. Also, if you’d like to tell us about your favorite Italian eatery, please chime in on Twitter with #EdTechBites. As always, enjoy and Buen Provecho! Or in this case, Buon appetito!

Death By…

If your refrigerator was empty, your next step would probably be to make a list of groceries for your next shopping trip. Which items would make it on your list? Eggs, bread, butter, milk, cold cuts, etc. Most of us usually buy the same 100 or so items when shopping, that’s it. We don’t stray away from our comfort items and necessities. However, when we go out to a restaurant and order an item that has ingredients other than that in your shopping list, it tastes great and we suddenly say,

“We need to make this at home!”
“This is different, but delicious!”
“I could get used to this!”

The same goes for using digital tools in the classroom. Why are we “Kahooting” our students to death? In no way am I saying that Kahoot is not a great formative assessment tool in the classroom. What I’m saying is that it’s not the only one out there. We’ve all heard of “Death By PowerPoint” and I’m comfortable in saying that “Death By Kahoot” is not too far off. Think for a second to your classroom or classrooms that you’ve visited in your educational role. I’m pretty sure that you’ve probably seen some sort of “Death By …”. As educators, we get comfortable with what works for us and that comfortable recliner is one that is difficult to get out of. When we do learn of a new tool or resource, we usually like it and see its value but then get turned off by the fact that we now have to create content with that new tool from scratch. Let’s think of this from a student perspective.

Diego walks into his 1st period at EdTech Bites Middle School and sits through a 28 minute PowerPoint and then takes a quiz through Google Forms after. Once he completes the quiz, he begins gathering his items and waits for the bell to ring. His 2nd period teacher does the same thing, and so does his 3rd period teacher. By the end of the day, his only deviations from this were lunch and gym class. Would you like to have the same coffee and bagel everyday for breakfast? There’s nothing wrong with coffee and a bagel but wouldn’t it be nice to have a blueberry scone or a veggie omelette on occasion? Sure, that scone would take some work to prepare and bake.  On the other hand, your family would be grateful that you took the time and effort to change things up.

Variety is the spice of life. Sure there are things that we always like to count on but there are instances where variety has value and can give you a bit more insight. Our digital toolboxes are growing yet some of those tools needs to be dusted off and used more. By doing so, you’re changing things up for your students and exposing them to other means of presenting, taking a quiz, and giving input. Don’t they deserve it? I know my children do. Do yours?