eLearning w Books & Beyond

So first off I think textbooks are incredibly boring and do not meet the needs of today's students. Think about it. When you want to learn you first go to YouTube and search for a video. Want to hang a picture, fix your car engine, make furniture, you name it. But we continue to produce boring textbooks that challenge the student not to fall asleep. Yes those in the humanities say we need our students to learn to read, but really name an adult - even a teacher - who reads textbooks for fun. Textbooks often turn off, especially in the humanities our learners rather than excite them which is what we want. In other words if you want students to love reading, give them a fun diary entry, a novel, etc.

Now textbooks aren't all bad. They are a good source of information from time to time and are a good resource. But as we move our students online and to a a hybrid 1:1 environment, we want to offer our students a way to learn in the way that is best for them - not for the teacher.

So that is why I like CK-12 as a resource. It is best for math and the sciences as those subjects offer the complete suite of learning. For example, if you go here you can see that the student learning about angles can read a short description about angles, then, if necessary, watch a video; practice problems and then there is an interactive way to challenge the student. So for me this is great. If the student gets it after reading the text, then s/he is done. If a video is all that is needed or is better than the text then the kid can stop there. If the student wants practice then there are two ways to go about it. Find a textbook that offers all of that AND IS FREE!

Finally all the learning can be done on one's smartphone as well.

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Homework Reminders

When I want to quickly contact my online students, I use Remind.com . It allows you to send a text without knowing their phone numbers. Additionally you can set a time for it to be sent. You can add a link and/or upload a document. If you choose, you can also text individual students. All of the texts are recorded and kept as long as you keep the class. Above is a video giving you a great overview and here are several videos explaining how to use different parts of it. If you use Blackboard, the video below shows you how to embed Remind texts into a Blackboard page.

How to Make Your Own Flip & Tutorial Videos

Over the years I have made lots of video tutorial for my blog followers and flip videos for my students . Every single one of them have been made using Screencastomatic . You can purchase your own yearly subscription, but I have not only never paid, but also never even set up a free account. You don't need to since you can make the video and then just upload it onto YouTube. Watch the video above and you will be able to see how to record, add you talking (or not) to the recording and to upload it - all in less than two minutes. Go forth and make your own tutorials and teach lots of others. In a later post I'll show you how to organize your YouTube video library.

Tech Conferences

On March 7th and 8th I will be at the South by Southwest Education conference in Austin. Another conference that I have enjoyed is the ISTE one which this year is in Denver from June 26-29 . The key, if you can do so is to find someone else to pay for you. For example I am doing work for TES (more on that coming later) and so they are paying my entry ticket. So why bother? Well first off you will meet lots of tech minded people like yourself and make some connections that you can work with when you return home. Secondly there are lots of companies showing all of their latest wares and then, there are talks and demonstrations - literally hundreds of them. If you can't get the big ones, look for one close to home. Here is a place to start.

My AI Education

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