WeVideo

When students (or teachers) work on video projects, they often turn to WeVideo, the non-Apple answer to iMovie.  WeVideo works directly in your browser, so students can use their Chromebooks to make incredible videos with ease.  The web tool also offers a Google single sign on (SSO), so it's easy for students and teachers to access quickly.

Up until last month, we were just utilizing the free version. Now, the free version is good.  But the paid version is better.  So WRSD purchased WeVideo school licenses for up to 500 users.  Let's explore that.

If you would like to utilize WeVideo licenses, contact Liz Brobst for the group link and access code.  These work for both teachers and students; you need them access the premium features.

In addition, to the perks listed above, WeVideo makes it SUPER easy to use the green screens we have around our buildings.  All students need to do is film in front of a green background (or any solid color background, really), and then they edit it out in WeVideo.

If you would like to utilize WeVideo licenses, contact Liz Brobst for the group link and access code.  These wors for both teachers and students; you need them access the premium features.

I've been working on tutorials for WeVideo: here are two for you use to use and share with students.  The first shows you how to use the color keying effect (for green screens), the second shows you how to add audio to your video.

There are so many things you can do in WeVideo, just click around and explore.  I'll share more tutorial videos as they are created, so you can watch those too.  And as always, if you have further questions, just ask your friendly school librarian.

If you would like to utilize WeVideo licenses, contact Liz Brobst for the group link and access code.  These wors for both teachers and students; you need them access the premium features.

Learning Techniques and Tech Tools to Make Them Happen

Recently I was listening to the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast and heard about the research of some cognitive psychologists on learning strategies.  In it, they talk about six learning strategies that help us develop our study skills.  I thought I would share this with you and also include some tools for making that happen in a technology rich environment.

First off, you can read the actual article here.  In it, the learning strategies are:

1. Spaced Practice
2. Retrieval Practice
3. Elaboration
4. Interleaving
5. Concrete Examples
6. Dual Coding

Many of the learning strategies we were taught growing up fall into one of these categories.  I do not write this blog post to talk about flashcards, but rather how a chromebook or mobile device can be used in the same way.

Spaced Practice is the same as chunking, and teachers structure their lessons so that they are introducing a small amount of new information and reviewing old information already.  With the use of Google Calendar and turning on alerts, we can show students how to remind themselves to work on a larger project a little bit at a time, such as essay writing and revising.  There are also student planners for chromebooks, such as My Study Life and myHomework.  Just a reminder that anything requiring an account may have restrictions for students under the age of 13 without parental permission.

Retrieval practice forces us to put away anything that might trigger a memory that might make us feel that we know or understand a concept, but without the trigger, we cannot recall the information.  The learning experts suggest writing or telling all the information on the topic so that you can see how much you can recall.  Then through this, any misconceptions can be corrected or you can make note of areas in which you could not recall enough.  

Chromebooks can be used to do this in a number of ways, from recording sound files of students talking about their knowledge, then a teacher can listen and give feedback, to a student taking a video of themselves talking and following the same procedure.  Sound recordings and video recordings can both be made directly on the chromebook, then saved to Google Drive, linked in Google Classroom, or sent via email to the teacher.  For sound recordings, I recommend Mic Note and for video recordings I recommend Soapbox.

For the elementary iPad setting, Educreations and Evernote are great options for this, but iOS 11 now has screen recording available, so students could actually be just using the camera and recording themselves with the camera facing them as they talk.

Elaboration goes hand-in-hand with questioning techniques and good class discussion, where the students are posing, answering, and facilitating discussion.  While face-to-face would always be preferable, it is possible to use discussion boards to work on this skill asynchronously and also have students provide evidence to support their claims.  Google Classroom and Schoology both work very well for this.  At the high school level, having students work towards providing citations to their discussion posts will prepare them for the requirements of higher education coursework.

Interleaving is mixing the repetition of a variety of skills so that students are forced to decide on the correct strategy to give the answer.  This is where project-based learning really shines because it is already mixing a variety of strategies and skills.  Writing, problem-solving, communicating, working well with others, planning a timeline are all elements we see in our projects.  Depending on the task, technology is usually a great tool for these ideas that we are already implementing in a great number of ways.

Concrete examples is something that teachers always do, but by having students come up with an example to explain an abstract idea of their own, it is more likely to stay with them.  It can be done in a number of ways.  The hardest part is not just drawing from a handful of students, so having every student contribute their concrete example to a Google Form or a discussion board can force them to create their own version that will stick with them as they learn because it can be personalized to their interests.  Exit tickets, Frayer models, and parking lots are other ways of having each student create their own.

Dual coding is my favorite because I am a visual learner.  To draw from what the authors said, it’s just combining the knowledge with a visual format:

“And when we say visuals,” Smith explains, “we don’t necessarily mean anything

specific, so it depends on the types of materials. You could have an infographic, a cartoon strip, a diagram, a graphic organizer, timeline, anything that makes sense to you so long as you’re sort of depicting the information both in a way with words and a way with pictures.”

“This isn’t just for students who are good at drawing,” Weinstein adds. “It’s not about the

quality of the drawing. It really just needs to be a visual representation as you can depict it.”

Another favorite for me is sketchnoting, and if you like Sylvia Duckworth, you know how effective mind mapping can be.  This is really powerful for students who like to doodle.  They will often come up with sketches so great that they are worth sharing with their classmates.

While this blog post has been long, I hope it has given you a variety of resources and ideas.  Please reach out if you have any questions and be sure to check out the websites of the Learning Scientists and Cult of Pedagogy.

Chromebook tips and tricks

As we roll out a device to (almost) every student in our district, I thought these few bits of information might be helpful to teachers.

1. In place of the function keys at the top of the keyboard, there are a number of icon keys which serve some of the same purposes.  Here’s what they do:

2. The black bar at the bottom of the screen is called the shelf, and you can “pin” pages there that you want kids to be able to open quickly.  This is especially helpful as an initial setup for our slowest typers. Then it can act like a bookmark for the future.

To do so, just two finger tap the icon of the app/website and say, “Pin to shelf”; if it’s a website, when you have it open, click the three dots in the top right-hand corner and select, “Pin to shelf.”

3. To scroll on a chromebook, use two fingers on the touchpad to push up or pull down.  Hint: this also works on your laptops, teachers.  To right click, tap two fingers on the touchpad.

4. For classroom management purposes, chromebooks can be a distraction.  When entering the classroom, you can use signals to let students know expectations.  For example, use a stoplight to indicate how you will start class.  Red means no device needed, so put it under your seat.  Yellow means not yet.  Green means get ready to go!  Another favorite is “Lids at 45” so that eyes can be on you.  I’m in favor of closing lids to get their full attention, but sometimes goofy things happen when opening them again, so lids at 45 at least removes it from their line of vision.

Chromebooks have lots more fun tips that our students may know more than us.  Don’t be afraid to explore or ask for help!