IHMS Tech Tips

Twitter is" an online news and social networking site where people communicate in short messages called tweets."   Many people use Twitter to follow sports, news, celebrities, etc., but is an amazing educational and professional resource as well.  I get a lot of my blog ideas by following #edtech on Twitter.   To create a Twitter account, watch this video.  It's a little long (29 minutes), so check out the time stamps in the video description via YouTube. Follow your colleagues that are already on Twitter: David Case: @Mr_DCase Terry Byfield: @TyBy3 Jeremy Wayne: @knightscitech Rachel Basden: @IHMSJournalism Elyse Biggs: @IHMS_MrsBiggs Hayden Ferguson: @hhbooklady Pam Thomas: @ihthomas78 Andrew Gagnon:   @coachgagnon00 Nick Dailey: @misterdailey Indian Hills: @IHKnights IH Athletics: @ihlaudem PTA: @IndianHillsPTA Here is a possibly outdated post about using social media in the classroom.  Read this ar...

Wakelet is a free website that can be used as a teaching resource or with your students as a presentation tool.  Signing up is easy and links to your Google account.  Students can create a collection/story and curate a variety of media based on a given topic.  Wakelet allows you to pull in videos, websites, tweets, photos, and more.  The functionality is similar to Thinglink that was previously discussed on this blog . Here is an example of a public, published collection that I have embedded here: To get started on your own, choose "create a collection/story" from the home page. Give your story a title and description.  Add tweets, photos, files, or create your own writing. When adding photos, you can either add from your own library, or choose a stock image from Unsplash.  There is a space to add credit which would be a great place for a citation. Students can create work in Google Docs, save it as a PDF, and insert it into their c...

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 ...

Are any of your students NOT on social media? Didn't think so.  Instagram, Snapchat, and what I've been told is social media for old people (Facebook and Twitter), are tantalizing, mesmerizing, and distracting for today's students.  But perhaps we can re-harness this obsession to be not only positive for their digital footprints, but also integrated into your classroom. How many of your students do you think were actually trained on how and what to post on their social media?  They learn by observation and that's not always a great thing.  By using social media in your classroom, YOU are setting the example and becoming a role model for their future digital self.  Social media etiquette is rarely discussed as a preventative measure but instead as a result of poor choices.  We can empower our students to utilize their social media platform for good, not for evil. Why should your classroom jump on board? There is great value to having your studen ts shar...