Online Course: Integrating Technology in the Adult Education Classroom

Now Available on the LINCS Learning Portal --- The LINCS Integrating Technology in the Adult Education Classroom Online Course

LINCS provides the opportunity for professional development for its members in the form of a series of optional online courses developed by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education’sLiteracy Information and Communication System (LINCS) Resource Collection initiative. These online courses are self-paced, freely available, and accessible 24 hours a day through the LINCS Learning Portal. The courses will enable users to work at their own pace, at a time that is most convenient to them.

 

Online Course: Integrating Technology in the Adult Education Classroom

Integrating Technology in the Adult Education Classroom is designed for adult education instructors who are at the beginner/intermediate level of knowledge of technology tools and technology integration in the classroom. This course examines the why, how, and what questions for integrating technology in the adult education classroom:

  • Why is technology important for instruction and learning?
  • How do you approach integrating technology?
  • What tools can you use to integrate technology?

This course covers the purposes for integrating technology, explores guidelines for planning to integrate technology into instruction, and organizes thinking about the wide range of technology tools available. Examples of adult education practitioners’ experiences in integrating technology are incorporated throughout the course. In the culminating activity, participants create a Technology Integration Action Plan for a unit or lesson selected for use with adult learners.

 

Use this discussion thread to post your responses to questions below from the online course, Integrating Technology in the Adult Education Classroom. Please share your comments to any of the following questions, or post a general comment or feedback on the course.

  • Introduce yourself.
  • What technology devices do your students have access to? What are some of the everyday tasks your students are using these technology devices to accomplish?
  • After reading the Let’s Become Chefs! final activity, what are some creative ways to integrate technology into the strategy for the final activity? List a couple of ways that you can integrate technology into this strategy.
  • What two technology tools did Cynthia try to implement with her students in the classroom? What were the observed benefits of using one tool over another? What are some limitations of both tools?
  • How did Nell’s use of Pinterest in the lesson on autobiographies enhance and extend student learning?
  • After listening to the two teacher reflections from Cynthia Bell and Nell Eckersley, consider the following: How have you approached technology in the past? With the guidelines provided in this module, what new or additional considerations will you build into your unit or lesson planning process to more effectively integrate technology into your classroom?
  • After reviewing the printable table of categorized technology tools used in an educational context, reflect on the following: Were there tools that were mentioned that you would like to explore? Did you learn about new ways of using existing tools? How can one tool be repurposed to meet another need?
  • After listening to two adult education instructors reflect upon their experiences integrating a technology tool in their classroom instruction, share your responses to the following questions: (1) Identify the technology tool the instructor used. Was the instructor comfortable using the tool? If not, what was the instructor’s plan for understanding the tool? (2) Did the tool selected meet the students’ existing technology skills? If not, what was the plan for teaching the students how to use the technology tool? (3) Did the technology tool selected improve instruction and/or deepen student learning? How? (4) Was this technology tool the best choice to implement the teaching strategies of the unit or lesson? What other technology tools could the instructor have selected to use?
  • When you are finished redesigning your lesson plan, we invite you to share it with others here. Revisit this thread to reflect on your progress and the lesson effectiveness.

 

This online course was developed under the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education’s Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) Resource Collection initiative under Contract No. ED-VAE-11-C-0048.

 

The new LINCS Learning Portal offers adult educators free online professional development courses from a variety of OVAE initiatives. Join today at: https://courses.lincs.ed.gov.

Comments

I am currently in a course related to OER. This is a great resource for teachers to use in the adult education classroom. It provides resources and allows for collaboration between teachers, the formation of groups, and different types of lessons in all adult education areas that benefits the adult education classroom. 

I teach adult ESL classes after 22 years in a high school classroom.  Now that we are adjusting to living with COVID 19 pandemic, DL is not an option, but a necessity.  As a novice to technology for the most part, one of the first takeaways from this training is learning the vocabulary.  For instance, I did not know what the meaning of QR or Bitly.  As challenging and non-intuitive this is for me, I am going to keep learning and applying all the information.  One thing I have come to realize is that the traditional classroom may become extinct.  There is a lot in the traditional model, like teacher just doing 99% of the talking that not only does not help learning, but in some cases turns students off completely.  We can do better!

I know what you mean. I just found out a few days ago that newer smart phone cameras can automatically read QR codes - no need to download an app. I am a big fan of mobile learning, since the next generation is on the phones so much. I was hoping someone would invent an app that works like Lyft or Uber, but for education. Once someone demonstrates mastery of a topic and passes a (peda/andro)gogy training, they can be paid to teach someone else whatever they mastered. Students rate instructors. Employers can enter customized lists of skills they want employees to have. Only pay for what you need! How long until you can have it ready?

I think the traditional classroom may not go extinct, but get down to the endangered level and stay there, kind of like what the internet did to newspapers.

I know I still haven't broken the "sage on the stage" habit entirely, either. I was in the Marines 20 years and taught college for a few years, prior to joining the adult education community. Coming along slowly.

During the pandemic, my students have been accessing Zoom and Google Classroom using their smart phones. I'm not sure of their capabilities or mine. I liked the Northstar assessment and will need to try to do it on my phone. If it works, I may try it in the class. Some of my older students don't have keyboard skills. Jane

The possibilities here are exciting. I'm not 100 percent sure about VoiceThread, but I think it has possibilities. I can imagine posting the recipe on VoiceThread and then having the learner discuss the recipe. 

Paper.li could be a cool way to turn recipes into a newspaper, if it is possible to pull from student-created documents.You could try to find images, plus perhaps a photo of the student and a brief bio. In addition, the student could write a short piece on why the recipe is meaningful. Potentially, each student could create a newspaper, or the class could create a class newspaper.   

Much as I hate to admit it, the idea of using a Facebook group is a good one. Many students probably already use it. It is worth polling them to find out. Anything that makes it easier for us to connect is a good idea. I'm interested in the flipped classroom, but am wondering how to apply it if everything is online. My guess is that we use the breakout rooms feature of Zoom to accomplish the individual and group tutoring that is a key component. 

Hello Jane,

Some adult basic skills (including ESOL/ESL) educators create a Facebook private group for each class they teach.

There is a private Facebook group for adult basic skills teachers who use Facebook in this way, Adult Educators Using Facebook for Education (AEFE). Email me if you would like an invitation to join.

Flipped learning works pretty much the same way in virtual/remote/distance learning as it does in in-person classes. The teacher assigns an instructional video to watch (that the teacher has made or found), often one accompanied by a quiz using a Google Form whose results the teacher looks at before the online class to see who has:

1) passed the quiz

2) taken it but needs more help, or who

3) hasn't taken the quiz.

The teacher might assign the second and third groups to different breakout rooms, with a different approach for each. She might have those in group one continue on to the next assignment, perhaps not even come to the online class that day, or not stay for the whole time. She might meet with those in group three briefly, and ask them to watch the video and take the quiz then. She might spend most of the time working with those in group two, helping them to understand what they could not from just watching the video.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

djrosen123@gmail,com

 

This is useful, David. I'm going to copy and paste your email into my file. One of my colleagues, Sharon S., might also like to join your group. Please send the invite. I won't be very active on the group because I'm not teaching until the fall. But, if you hear from Sharon S., you can invite her. Actually, I believe she was one of your students. And by the way, by 19:26 on a Friday, you are supposed to be having fun, not responding to these messages! (But I'm glad you did).

Nell: 

Even though the email lesson presented many roadblocks, I think Nell's lesson provided a valuable service to her students. Email is now the most common way of formal communication, so having an email address is vital in today's society. The digital literacy skills of password creation and how to remember passwords are vital. Nell was able to improve her lesson plan on the second go-round, which is the mark of a good teacher. 

Cynthia: I was a little daunted by the QR code so I'd have to experiment with it. I've used bit.ly many times in the past but had forgotten about it, so I can see where that would be useful. The point is that we have to figure out all these things because this is how we are teaching now. Our students come in at all levels and we have to bring them up to speed. Gone are the days when a pencil and notebook did the job.  These are the new study skills and we've always taught study skills. 

Hi everyone,

I realize how stupid this is to be asking for basic technology help in a technology course.... but, I can't upload my culminating activity.

I downloaded the template integrating technology template. I filled it out. But here in the comment section, there doesn't seem to be a way to attach a file. I'd like to attach my fillable (now filled out) Tech Integration Action Plan. Anybody have any advice?

Thanks,

Jane   

I'm not sure if this is what I was supposed to do, but what I ended up doing was using the Snip program on my computer to convert the pdfs into jpegs, which I could then insert as an image. Pretty slick, I think. Jane

Hey Jane!

In the future, if you need to make available the original fillable version of the document, like in a PDF, you'll likely want to host the file elsewhere and link to it in your comment. The LINCS community system only lets you upload images, as you discovered, like JPEGs. You can use free accounts with Dropbox, Google Drive, or even iCloud Drive to host the file and then get the "public share link" which you'd post in your comment.

Hope that's helpful!

The teacher wanted to have the class use the computer to write a thank you note to the Mayor of the city.  However, once she had the students in the computer lab she realized that she had students of varying experience with a computer.  Some of them had email addresses, passwords and usernames already whereas others did not.  She was familiar and comfortable with using the email and she knew how to help her students to become email users. The steps the teacher took to get students to be able to use the tech tool (emailing a letter) are important and yes, were helpful in meeting student needs.  She realized that some of the students were bored because they did not need these first steps so she put them to work helping other students. Everything ended up working out better than she expected in my opinion in that now all of her students were able to connect to email accounts and to learn how to use a public computer.  She may have been very frustrated with herself at first when she realized that she did not take the time to find out where her students were with technology before she entered the lab.  I think this was the best tech tool that she could have selected for what she wanted.  She wanted students to type a letter to the mayor giving thanks for his support.  You would do that in the 21st century through an email and not snail mail. Texting would be inappropriate. So yes. she did a fine job selecting a tool to accomplish her goal.  She could have selected the use of zoom with the white board and all of the students contributing to one thank you letter as they wrote one together using brainstorming of ideas on the white board, transferring it to an email BUT WITHOUT an email address yet setup the students would not have been able to connect to zoom anyway.   So my opinion once again, nice job.  Just doing it right the first time would have saved time, saved face, saved frustration and it would have been a smooth transition to the computer lab. 

 

She changed her lesson for the next group of students and this time did it better. She had in classroom several lessons on how to setup a password, email address and discussed why good passwords are necessary.  this is all before going into the lab.  So when they went into the lab they were ready for the lesson they were supposed to do and that was create, write and send an email thank you letter to the Mayor. 

She wondered if her simple one step plan to write an email to the Mayor which became a multi-step plan was worth the effort. 

In the end, the students received an email address, password and the knowledge of how to write and send messages back and forth was definitely worth it.  The students were now able to send work to the teacher through an email, ask questions about assignments to the teacher or to other students and they were also able to connect with other students to ask for help or just to begin to form a bond or a friendship which leads to a stronger community of students.  

P as in POST

 People

Who are my students and what are their learning goals?

 What are their existing technology skills, areas of challenge, and level of access to technology

My students are beginning ESOL older adults from various countries. Their learning goals are in the areas of vocabulary, listening, speaking, writing, and technology training.

Some of my students have computers and the others have smart phones. Many of my students are older and have not had a lot of technology experience.  We are going to take it one step at a time. We will start with learning how to email and send text messages.

 

O as in POST

Objectives

 What are the learning objectives for the unit/lesson?

When possible, objectives should describe observable behavior. What will the learners be able to do at the end of the unit/lesson?

*Technology: The students will use keyboarding skills, copy and paste commands, online image searches, email messaging, using a mouse, sharing written work and images, and text messaging to others.

*Vocabulary Development through Speaking and Listening: The students will be able to use vocabulary to introduce themselves, comprehend and use vocabulary to understand online netiquette, ask for assistance, as needed and comply with classroom / online procedures and rules.

*Grammar: The students will be able to read, write, comprehend and speak with simple present tense sentences using subject pronouns and contractions of to be.

*Reading: The students will be able to learn the English alphabet and numbers.   The student will be able to read their introductions to other students.

*Writing: The students will be able to use capital letters, lower case letters and good punctuation when writing their introductions.

*Students will also be able to complete a class survey such as Survey Monkey.

S as in POST

Strategy Considering your students’ goals, their existing technology skills, and areas of challenge, what strategies will you apply to achieve the learning objectives of the unit/lesson?

Technology: These are the strategy targets that I need to ensure before students can be responsible for meeting all of their objectives.

1. Students access to Webex or a virtual meeting room

2. Students email accounts setup

3. Students comprehends how to use username and password

 4. Students understands and uses Netiquette

 5. Students learn how to appropriately write, send, reply, and insert images into emails and text messages.

 6. Students access a free online keyboarding practice app

7. Students learn how to copy and paste

 

My strategies to teach English is to use the format from the Future's series as a guideline to promote the concepts and standards mandated by the State of Florida in the same way as I would if were still in a standard classroom, yet keeping in mind, the nuances of our virtual reality world.

 

T as in POST

Technology What technology tools best support your objectives and match your students’ skills? What do you have the capacity to implement?

The technology that I feel for these beginning students is to use simple and everyday tools to help them easily communicate with others and and be able to submit student work in a format that is user friendly and simple. Therefore, I feel the best technology tools would be to learn how to use a computer (keyboarding, mouse ,etc), use email, text messaging, and a platform such as Webex for meetings.

 The technology tools that best support my objectives and match my students' skills are by using a platform such as Zoom or Webex to have our virtual classes between Teacher and Student (T2S) and for them to be able to easily use this format to be able to invite students to a student meeting S2S, and be able to ask their teacher to join a meeting that they call S2T meeting. They will post their work through email or text messaging, for now, because most people are familiar with and use these 2 technology tools. In this way, they can generalize what they have learned in the classroom and share it with others through the use of these tech tools.  Other tech tools will be added as we learn and continue to work using these elearning tools as the course progresses. Students can reach out to family and friends who also may know and use these mediums.

 I know and have used all of these tech tools and would be able to help the students use and teach others how to use them.  They will be able to implement them as needed for class study and communication

 

Part 2 planning for integrating technology   

 

Where Am I Now? Consider the technology tools listed in the Technology section in Part 1 of the Technology Integration Action Plan. How comfortable are you with integrating these tools in the classroom.

Where am I now?

I am very comfortable in using Webex for student meetings. I don't know it all but I know enough to be able share my content and to help students use the platform in a simple way through an email invitation to join. I also know enough about email and text messaging to be able creates, read, reply and insert attachments such as pictures or text or URL numbers. I am comfortable in using parts of Webex for student meetings.  Also, I know enough about emails and text messaging to be able create an email or text and to reply to them as well as to understanding how to insert pictures, internet info, tables and charts, etc.

                                                                                                     

Where Do I Want To Be? Choose a technology tool you would like to explore further in your professional development. Where do you want to be in your comfort level with using that tool in your classroom? How do you plan on learning more about that tool and how to use the tool to improve instruction and deepen student learning?

Where do I want to be?

I am still learning different things about Webex.  I haven't learned how to do the breakout groups yet.  I am sure there are other things within Webex that will be worthwhile to know and easy enough to learn  or find someone who can assist me in learning it, when it is time. I think where I am now is a start but I do think learning more about the tool will give me so many more opportunities to help my students grow. Such as the breakout groups which have been very fun to do.  So I have experienced them I just haven't learned how to set them up. I will. It shouldn't be too hard to learn.

I plan on learning more by watching YouTube videos or taking webinar classes. It will improve instructional teaching and deepen student learning because students will be learning from others, questioning things, seeking answers, stating confirmation or opinions.  I can be there too to assist them while in the break out groups.

 

I would like to explore other avenues for my students to be able to post their work in a private room on FaceBook or use a blogging site such as Tumblr. I would like to have more knowledge than my average student. I will take into consideration any advice my most experienced students may have for me and use as it deems suitable. I will learn more about these tools from Youtube or in a webinar or on their websites. I use the knowledge I learn and practice it with my family and friends first before I venture to my students.

 

Timeline for professional development and implementation

What are your milestones for learning about the technology tool and integrating the tool in the unit/lesson? If your students are unfamiliar with the tool, what is your plan for teaching them about the tool?

I already know how to use Webex and it won't take me long to learn how to use it for Breakout Groups. I will know how to do that before I meet with the students on the day they will learn about Webex. I have used both email and text messaging. Before it is time for the students to post their introductions with their pictures of themselves and interesting facts about their countries and themselves I will learn about Facebook private messaging and Wordpress.  I will also continue to introduce new technology tools to my students as they gain mastery of the ones I have already taught we can move on to new ways of displaying their work such as in a powerpoint presentation.

 

 I will share my screen with the students while on Webex and go through the steps with them. They will be able to ask me questions as we go along. We can go as quickly and as slowly as we need to. We can also review as we go along.

 

 

Assessment

How will you measure if the technology tool is improving instruction or deepening student learning?

 

I will be able to see the entries of my students through email and text messages or they can share it on Webex. I will ask them questions through a survey or a quiz and check to see how they are doing, where they are doing great, where they still need some help and how they are sharing their information with their other classmates.

 

 

REFLECTION

 

Since I haven't had the chance to teach the students I will reflect upon what I hope will happen after teaching my lesson and unit. I know that all of my students will feel comfortable using emails and text messaging to communicate to one another and to be able to write texts and insert attachments as needed. I also know that their English skills have improved and since I can hear and read I know which areas I need to continue to work on with them for proficiency. Some of the students now know how to use a computer and use the above tech tools for communication and delivery of information who never used a computer before. I hope that some of my more advanced students would have ventured out and given me a simple powerpoint presentation and sent it to me on their work or even introductions, while others shared in emails or in word docs. All learned about each other, different countries and cultures, learned more English vocabulary, reading and writing skills and speaking in our webex meetings and how to take a survey.

 

IMPROVE OR CHANGE?

 

I would add to it... I would add a place where the students could discuss what they learned and to ask questions and answer questions on formats such as Wordpress or Private classroom Facebook.

My twenty-twenty five adult ELL students range in age from 2o - 80 and come from various countries including Jordan, Egypt, Guatemala, Venezuela,   Mexico, and Russia.  They are beginner learners who want to speak and understand English.  Most students have access to cell phones so on the first day, we connect them to Remind so that we can communicate when we are away. Their cell phones are a great tool not only for connecting but also for lessons. Students have now learned to use Zoom conferencing (a little) and are working on computer skills using the Burlington English program.  It can be used on their smartphones and on a tablet.  We worked a lot during class time when we could not meet in person using Zoon conferencing on their smartphones.

I learned something I did not know - about QR codes.  If I didn't know it, I know some of my students probably didn't either.  There are many technology tools available to assist in learning.

My name is Darla Melton. I have taught adult education for almost 30 years. I am enrolled in the Integrating Technology in the Classroom because of the pandemic I am afraid we might all have to be forced to go virtual again and I want to better prepared. 

I learned about Bitly.com for use in flipping the classroom which I believe to be advantages to our students, especially now in the midst of the pandemic. 

Cynthia wanted her GED class to use an online space so they could share their 5 paragraph essays.  She tried a tool that most of her students weren't familiar with.  That was unsuccessful because her students didn't want one more place they had to go for technology.  After applying the POST method, she realized that using Facebook could work if she created a separate group for only her class to help protect thier privacy.  Her students responded positively and every one of them submitted the minimum number of essays to share.  

Funny I read this today. I teach GED LA classes and we just finished our midterms which included an argumentative essay.  I was amazed at how good some of them were.  I was thinking about sharing them so all students could see what is expected of them and how other classmates wrote their essays.  Finding an online format sounds like a great idea and I want to look into my options, especially since I do not have a Facebook account.  Unbelievable, right? Thank you to Cynthia for this great idea.  Now I need to find the right tool to use for my class.

Hello Nancy, and others,

I believe you are taking the LINCS (free, asynchronous) Integrating Technology online course. That's great! 

You are wondering, I believe, about good ways to share student writing online. I will suggest a couple, and hope to hear from others here with what they use with their students.

A blog that you create for your students might be a way they can share their writings with each other and with others. All they would need is the URL (web address) for your blog and, perhaps as your class blog gets more and more entries, some simple instructions for how to navigate it. You will need to post the students' writings, at least at first until they get used to this new tool. I use Wordpress (free) for my blog, and have always found it reliable and easy to use. If readers want to comment they can and, as the  blog owner, I can decide whether to publish each comment or not; this may be useful particularly if you get spam or irrelevant comments from those outside your class. A Wordpress blog is usually public, although there may be ways to make it private. Anyone know?

Another free digital tool for sharing writing, and doing collaborative writing, is a Google Doc. You can create one (or more) of these for your class(es) and you can control who gets invited by only providing the URL to your students; although, if they share this link with family and friends, it no longer is private. Alternatively, you could set it up so that only your students have access, logging in with their own email addresses.  Your students can easily comment on each others' writings once you show them how. You will need a (free) gmail account to create the Doc(s) and I think it's best if your students also all have (free) gmail accounts to access the Google Docs; some students who have other email accounts may be able to access the Docs, but some may not, and a gmail account is a more reliable way to access the Google Doc.

Others here may have different, perhaps better solutions. If so, please share them here with us.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

This sounded like such a fun assignment where students used pinterest as an autobiography opportunity. They opened an account and had to put pictures on their board about where they were from and any other pictures to help express who they were.  I thought it was interesting that after writing their essay, they then had to pin that to their board too.  I've never used this tool but it sounds fairly easy.  I too have friends who are addicted to Pinterest.  I wonder how I could use this with my GED LA class?  Sounds like I need to apply the POST method to try and come up with lessons that make sense and will motivate my students.

Hello again Nancy,

Pinterest is very easy to use, and once your students get comfortable with it -- some may already use it, for example, to share recipes, they may want to share their Pinterest collections with each other.

I wonder how other teachers here might have used or be using Pinterest with their students?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

It now seems so obvious that , yes I have been using technoloy since I have no choice since Covid 19, and yet in many ways I have not employed the use of technology tools that are meant to enhance the lesson.  I need to consider what other kinds of tools can I use to draw the students in, to make their learning more effective and more interesting, so that they will be more willing to participate in class.  I need to put my own fears and insecurities with using new technologies aside, and like my students become a learner in our class environment. 

Still, as I write this, I can feel my resistence to using more technology tools.  As one of the people who posted here, I need to take little steps to learn, share, and learn some more with my students allowing their enthusiasm to propel me forward.

Colleagues,

Nancy wrote that she needs little steps in learning to use digital tools for instruction.

Some of you are experts in using digital tools for instruction or assessment. If you are, remember when you were new to using digital tools with your students. What is a good free, easy-to-learn online instruction or assessment tool for teachers who are new to using technology?

If you are new to using digital tools for instruction or assessment, and you have just learned to use one that you have found is helpful and engaging for your students, tell us about that tool and how you use it.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

Looking at the list makes me realize how little technology I have actually used.  I think that using the Technology Integration Action Plan will help me focus in on where some of these tools can be used.  I've often considered using something like a Wiki or Google sharing document to encourage my students to write more.  Maybe even more important is the need to learn how to work in a group as this is becomng more common in the workplace.  Many of my HSE students want their certificate so that they can get a better job.  That job will be more demanding and expect higher writing and collaborative skills. This could be an introduction to that kind of work.  My classes tend to have students with extremely different ability levels so I'm wondering how it would be best to group them.  This needs to be considered before starting this type of collaborative task.  So much to think about.  I'll need to do some research concerning this matter.

Hello Nancy,

You wrote, "Many of my HSE students want their certificate so that they can get a better job. That job will be more demanding and expect higher writing and collaborative skills. This could be an introduction to that kind of work. My classes tend to have students with extremely different ability levels so I'm wondering how it would be best to group them." These are great observations!

Some HSE teachers who use constructivist (project-based) learning group their students by what they want to do together, not by ability. For example, earlier you mentioned that some of your students have written good essays. Perhaps some of your students would like to refine and publish their essays for other HSE students and teachers to read. You could show these students how to create their own blog for this purpose, but perhaps they should begin with a Google Doc that joins their essays together, so they can easily review the essays together before publishing them on their blog. From my experience, students who choose to do this get very interested in correct spelling, grammar, clarity, completeness and other important aspects of good writing; If their writings are to be published (to the world!) with their names as authors, they care about clear and correct writing.  Before they critique each other's writings, you may want to discuss with them how to do that, for example how to critique (or praise) the writing and not the person, or what to do when no one in the group is sure about the correct punctuation and other anticipated issues for which they may need help. You might choose not to provide a grammar rule yourself; instead, you could provide a good source of grammar rules so they can use that tool whenever they need to check their grammar. I know that some teachers, for example, use Grammar Girl quick and dirty tips. When the students' project has been completed, the group can present it to the class, or to other classes that may benefit.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

 

Cynthia Bell wanted to share a video in a level 4 Math class. The only access to technology was the smartphones that most of the students had.  The teacher found a great video on Kahn Academy; however the link was very long which could create a problem for the students to accurately get on the video.  She checked out Bitly which could create a much shorter link, but it could also create a QR code.  Since Cynthia was unfamiliar with these tools, she had to learn how to use them and practice so she could then share with her class. She created a document with full instructions for the students.

She first had to show students how to download an app so they could scan the QR code.  They had seen these but most were suspicious of using one.  They practiced in class, watched the video, and then worked on the Math problem presented in the video.  This was an activity to determine what is more cost effective? Renting or buying one's home?The students worked in pairs using the QR code and finding the answer.  What a fun way of introducing this kind of Math problem.  Students were excited about using this new technology and even showed family and friends how to use the QR codes and scanner.  It appears that this was an excellent was integrating technoloogy into the lesson.

This appears to be the best tool considering most students only had smartphones to work on.  Maybe creating a Pinterest board with pictures of the homes and the mathematical details could be interesting but too time consuming for this assignment.  If the entire class worked on one board where they included their mathematical solutions, it might be worth the time.  As a teacher I am always weighing the time vs the outcome and importance of the task.

 

 

 

I just finished the course Integrating technology in the AE classroom.  It asked me to submit a lesson using the POST plan.  I did that today and want to submit but I can't seem to find the place that allows me to attach the file.  It just brings me back to this page.  Can you help?  I did all the work but it show that it is incomplete and I need the certificate.  Again, can you help?  Nancy

Hello Nancy, and others who may have technical difficulty with a LINCS course,

Please contact LINCS Technical Support using the contact us form that you will find by selecting the "Help" tab in the grey menu near the top of this page. The contact us form link is at the top of that help page that opened. During the work week LINCS technical assistance helpers generally respond the same day.

David J. Rosen, Moderator'

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

Hi,

My name is Earline Banks.  Technology is a very useful tool, especially during this COVID-19 virus.  Students are isolated from their friends and family, and the use of technology is vital.  Many students have smartphones, usually about 50-75%.  Some students have computers about 30-50% in the homes.  A lot of the younger students are familiar with Twitter, Facebook, and other technology tools.  The older students are not as familiar and are reluctant to use them.  I am not as savvy with technology as I would like.  I am constantly trying to catch up with the new technology.  It is important for my students to feel comfortable with the use of technology.  This information can open many doors of opportunities for me and students.

Technology is a very useful resource. Students use technology on a regular basis.Technology is relevant to learning as it help students to search and apply for jobs, pay bills, and register for classes.

Hi, I'm Iola Duncan....In this age of the COVID virus, it has become very trying to come up with ideas for a successful Thanksgiving meal. Students brainstormed various ways of staying safe and still enjoying a healthy dinner. Youtube videos and Google have become a cooks best friend. Technology makes it possible to research recipes, healthy food choices and ingredients for the perfect meal. Being able to navigate these search engines.