Thinglink - Annotating Pictures and Videos

Thinglink for education is a platform for making your images come alive with video, text , images and Google tools. It is one of my favourite Web 2.0 tools. The great advantage of Thinglink is that you can integrate Google tools in the picture and still stay in the same platform without leaving it. Thinglink can be viewed well on a smartphone and is great for mobile learing and BYOD.

Watch this short tutorial on how to create a Thinglink:

 

Collaborating on a Thinglink
In this tutorial you will see how you can enable collaboration on a Thinglink interactive image. 

Adding Google Tools to Thinglink

Here is a very simple explanation how to add Google Tools to your Thinglink picture. Click here.

Creating a channel in Thinglink
A channel is a collection of a few interactive pictures. It's especially useful if a student wants to show his e-portfolio in order to show evidence of learning throughout the year. Teachers might find it useful when they show a collection of sites and pictures.






Application in the classroom:

See how you can create a project with Thinglink - hover your mouse over this picture to discover layers of information in it.




Thinglink is a great tool for doing collaborative projects and useful for alternative assessment. Not only can students create their own projects easily but also teachers can present materials in an interesting way! See how this elementary teacher used Thinklink to present her students with activities about clothes. Instead of giving the students a list of many websites, she gave a link to one picture
Thinglink is great for:

• projects
• Storytelling
• presenting information in a very aesthetic way
• BYOD
• mobile learning - great on mobile phones.
• great integration with Google tools. Students don't leave the platform.

-- 91 interesting ways to use Thinglink in the classrom.

You are welcome to write in the comments section below.

Google Forms: New Quiz Tools

Quizzes in Google Forms can now grade multiple choice and checkbox questions automatically. Teachers can set the quiz so that students get immediate feedback. Teachers can set correct answers and even add explanations and links to websites—so students can get feedback on how to improve.

When you start creating a quiz in Google Forms the first thing that you need to do is to click on the settings cog and then choose quizzes.




Watch this tutorial:






This tutorial explains how to send the answers and feedback to the students' emails.





Application in the Classroom:

It is much easier to assess students and see if the material taught was understood well.  Also, the automatic quiz scoring feature will enable students to get feedback immediately and learn from their mistakes.

Will you use Google forms and quizzes in your classroom? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tricider - A Brainstorming Tool

Tricider 

Tricider is a free brainstorming tool to collect ideas and reach a decision. Ask a question on Tricider, share and get ideas. People can propose ideas anonymously if they wish, add arguments and vote on the idea that they like best. There is no need for registration.

This is a short tutorial




Right below is a Tricider that I have opened so that we can practise and see how effective it is. You are welcome to share your opinions and add arguments. Click on Add new idea, add argument and you can click on the agree sign (thumb up icon) and finally vote. This is a direct link to it.




Application in the classroom:

• Teachers can use for brainstorming on a topic 
• Teachers can get feedback from students on different topics
• Teachers can present a dilemma and students share their opinions
• A great way to collect ideas quickly from teachers in staff meetings
• Students can suggest different endings to stories and then class votes on the best one
• Students can brainstorm ideas to create a shared project

You are welcome to add your comments in the comments section below.

Online Presentations in 2016

This year I participated in three online lectures with the Ministry of Education:

1. Learning in an Emergency -"Tzav Shmone Chinuchi" - "צו 8 חינוכי  in which I volounteered to help students practise for the oral Bagrut. I used the tool Vocaroo so that students can record themselves and share their recordings with their peers. This is a shared file I prepared for students to practise their oral skills, answer the questions, record in Vocaroo and paste their recordings in the shared file.

2. I presented online on Twitter in education together with Adele Raemer in the E-Kenes. Here is a link to the presentation with a recording. In order to create a community of Israeli educators who would like to use Twitter with their students, we are using the hashtag #IsraEd and I welcome educators to join us online on Twitter.

3. Here is my presentation from the online lecture 100% Meaningful Online Conference 100% משמעות בלמידה .I gave the lecture with Tamar Amar. She lectured about Olamon - the use of WhatsApp to send text messages to students in Hebrew. I lectured about the use of WhatsApp in education and the WhatsUp Project in English. My presentation on the WhatsUp Project starts with the slide WhatsUp Project. Click here.

It was a very busy year...

You are welcome to write in the Comments section below.

Blogger - Updating Blogger from Email

Blogger is the easiest blog to use and update. One of the most useful features of Blogger is the ability to update Blogger via email.

How to email posts to Blogger ?

Log in to an administrator account for your Blogger blog.
Click the "Settings" tab and then click "Email." Scroll down to the "Mail-to-Blogger Address" section.

Enter a secret word in the Mail-to-Blogger Address box. The address is in the format of "username.secretword@blogger.com," where "username" is your Blogger username and "secretword" is the word you entered in the box.
Choose Publish email immediately or Save emails as draft post Save

How to email post to Blogger

Log in to your email.

Enter your mail to blogger address.

Compose mail normally. You can attach photos if you wish.

Click send to send your post to your blog.

Please comment in the comments sections below.

Google Spaces

Google has just released a new messaging and small group sharing app called Spaces. You can open a Space in the Spaces app or just login to spaces.google.com. 

What is Spaces?











Spaces is a place to have a conversation on a specific topic. You can create Spaces on diverse topics and add images, videos, and links. You may also open many spaces on different topics. It's a great way to share and collaborate with people.

What can you do with Spaces?

You can create a space for any discussion topic of your choice with just a single tap.

You can quickly invite people by sharing a link through email,  Facebook, or the Spaces app itself.

 Google Search, Google Photos and YouTube are built in. 

Any member of a space is eligible to post comment on the topic.

By quickly searching of keywords, you can find anything of your interest in Spaces.

Here is a tutorial on how to use Spaces

How to use Spaces in the classroom?

• A place for students to collaborate on a project.
• A place for brainstorming. A teacher asks a question and gets many ideas on a topic.
• A platform for submitting collaborative homework.
• A Space for students to collaborate with students from other countries.
• A Space for teachers to brainstorm on lesson plans

How else can we use Spaces? Join my Space to brainstorm.

This is a Space I have opened to share ideas on how to use Spaces in education. Click here to Join my Space.

If you would like to ask a question or comment, please write in the comments section below.

WhatsUp Project

What is the WhatsUP Project?

It's a free national project run by the Ministry of Education for JH & HS English teachers. In this project teachers receive texts with questions and enrichment materials via WhatsApp for their students. The students read the texts on their mobile, answer questions and get immediate feedback. Here is a video explaining about it.

The WhatsUp Project was presented in the Biennale 2022, June 1st. See this short presentation for the Biennale.

We can use technology everywhere and anytime: technology is ubiquitous, touching almost every part of our lives. Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology supports curricular goals. Or, in other words when we ask and get a clear answer to the question:" What's the added value of technology? What do we achieve with the help of technology that without it we would not have been able to achieve?"  This is where the WhatsUp project hits the spot!

What is the WhatsUp project?

Sample of one of the texts

                                                                          

In this project I send teachers frequently a short reading text using WhatsApp on a variety of topics of interest to students in the 7-12 grades. Teachers then forward the WhatsApp message to their students in their own WhatsApp groups. As the project progressed, the reading texts are also accompanied with questions that the students can answer and get immediate feedback and an online vocabulary excercice , here is an example.

The Rationale:
Students are glued to their phones, especially to WhatsApp most of their waking day. Why not take advantage of this application in order to provide an opportunity for them to read about interesting topics in English? The idea behind this project was to encourage students to read more outside of the classroom. As the main goal was to encourage students to read on their own, I translate difficult words in the texts into Hebrew and Arabic so that when students read they find it easier to cope. In addition, much attention has been paid to making sure that the texts are suitable for the different sectors in the Israeli society.

How to Join?

Israeli JHS and HS teachers who have WhatsApp groups with their students are invited to join the project. In order for you to get the WhatsApp messages, please send me a WhatsApp message with your full name and the name of your school to 052-4779394 Sigalit and please fill out your details in this form. 

Application in the classroom:

The short reading texts can be a basis for:

• a lesson starter
• a short class discussion
• a writing assignment
• a full lesson if teachers add more activities
• an incentive for students to get some bonus points - students who read the text can get some extra bonus points if they prove they read it and can answer the teachers' questions about it.

Sharing ideas with other teachers:
All the texts that had been posted are on this Facebook page and on the English Portal. On Facebook, teachers can share ideas, send feedback and upload additional materials which they developed - all this can be done under the relevant text on Facebook.

Additional ideas on how to use WhatsApp in the classroom:

Teachers can take a picture of the board and post it in the group for absent students or LD students who find it hard to copy from the board.

WhatsApp is also very useful for using with the flipped classroom approach. Send a text for your students to learn on WhatsApp. Add translation of difficult words. You can also record the text. Students read and listen to the text at home.

If you would like to ask a question or comment, please email me at sigardit@gmail.com