IHMS Tech Tips

One feature of Google Slides that you may not be aware of is the Q & A.  It allows anyone watching your presentation to submit questions to you, the presenter.  This is, of course, is an option and probably not useful for every slide deck you create. When viewing your active presentation, your audience will see a short link at the top of your screen. From this link, students/audience can ask a question or vote on a question that they'd like to be answered. You can pause the Q & A option at any time.  Questions submitted will be funneled into a time-stamped list that you can either use while presenting or save for later.  Having these questions will give you feedback on what to teach again the next day and which students need more instruction.  Questions can be submitted anonymously, however. I can see this being used in the classroom for: Daily teacher-directed lessons Student presentations/peer participation Getting those students engaged that are

Many of us probably use Pinterest in our personal life, but why not start utilizing it as an instructional tool as well?  Sorry 7th grade teachers, this social media site, like most, is only for those kiddos 13 or older.   " Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, and discover new interests by posting (known as 'pinning' on Pinterest) images or videos to their own or others' boards (i.e. a collection of 'pins,' usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned." There are thousands upon thousands of educational pins pinned every day, so  USC Rossier Online  has created an amazing resource with their "Guide to Pinterest for Educators." Here a few suggestions for classroom use: Creative team brainstorming Research projects Group projects Digital student portfolios Teaching self-reliance Virtual field trips Peer feedback Collaborative stories Photo journals Differentiated learning