How Snapchat Can Be Used For Educational Purposes
Snapchat has quickly become one of the most popular apps in the social media world the last few years. The constant additions to Snapchat's content has kept teens and even adults intrigued. It was pretty cool when Snapchat came out that you could draw on any picture that you took, but now with the addition of all the new filters, Snapchat is definitely an app that is not going away anytime soon. So the question is, how can Snapchat be used in an educational atmosphere? It clearly have proven it's worth for entertainment purposes, but Snapchat could have so much more value...
Here are a couple ways that schools could use Snapchat to inspire, educate, and inform their community of anything that happens-
1. Once schools make an account, they should advertise that the community should add them as a friend. A common misconception on Snapchat in communities is that once someone adds an account, that the account is going to add them back and be able to see all of their stories. This is not true, if you add an account that made their stories public, than you will only be able to see their stories if they did not add you back. For example, at Burlington High School we have just made an account called "Burly_schools". The account will be assigned to teachers during specific time periods and they will be able to connect with the Burlington community on what they are doing in their classroom. Pretty cool right? Teachers don't even have to wait for their turn to come around, Teachers could make their own teacher account which all of their students could add to get reminders on what they were assigned on every given night. By teachers posting stories it could act as extra motivation or reminders for students later in the day to get their work done.
2. Students could use Snapchat for a video based project. I constantly see students in the hall way practicing their foreign language and they are just simply recording it on their iPad. With Snapchat they could add funny filters and record themselves saying their assignment. Then the student could just send a bunch of snaps to their teachers account and just like that they have done their project in a cool and unique way. Students don't even have to send the snaps directly to their teacher, students could just save the snaps once they make them through snapchat and then send them through email to their teacher. The possibilities are truly endless for Snapchat as they continue to update their app.
The main concerns for using Snapchat for educational purposes is 1. Getting teachers to make an account. The biggest step is getting the teacher to believe that Snapchat can be used in an educational atmosphere and that it could turn out to be a wicked cool way to connect with students. 2. Getting students to understand the process of adding their teacher on Snapchat. The first thing students are going to think when they hear that they have to add their teacher on Snapchat, is that their teacher is going to be able to see the stories that they post. The only way this could happen is if the teacher adds the student back which would not happen, By the student adding the teacher, they can simply only see the teachers stories once the teacher makes their stories public.
Here are a couple ways that schools could use Snapchat to inspire, educate, and inform their community of anything that happens-
1. Once schools make an account, they should advertise that the community should add them as a friend. A common misconception on Snapchat in communities is that once someone adds an account, that the account is going to add them back and be able to see all of their stories. This is not true, if you add an account that made their stories public, than you will only be able to see their stories if they did not add you back. For example, at Burlington High School we have just made an account called "Burly_schools". The account will be assigned to teachers during specific time periods and they will be able to connect with the Burlington community on what they are doing in their classroom. Pretty cool right? Teachers don't even have to wait for their turn to come around, Teachers could make their own teacher account which all of their students could add to get reminders on what they were assigned on every given night. By teachers posting stories it could act as extra motivation or reminders for students later in the day to get their work done.
2. Students could use Snapchat for a video based project. I constantly see students in the hall way practicing their foreign language and they are just simply recording it on their iPad. With Snapchat they could add funny filters and record themselves saying their assignment. Then the student could just send a bunch of snaps to their teachers account and just like that they have done their project in a cool and unique way. Students don't even have to send the snaps directly to their teacher, students could just save the snaps once they make them through snapchat and then send them through email to their teacher. The possibilities are truly endless for Snapchat as they continue to update their app.
The main concerns for using Snapchat for educational purposes is 1. Getting teachers to make an account. The biggest step is getting the teacher to believe that Snapchat can be used in an educational atmosphere and that it could turn out to be a wicked cool way to connect with students. 2. Getting students to understand the process of adding their teacher on Snapchat. The first thing students are going to think when they hear that they have to add their teacher on Snapchat, is that their teacher is going to be able to see the stories that they post. The only way this could happen is if the teacher adds the student back which would not happen, By the student adding the teacher, they can simply only see the teachers stories once the teacher makes their stories public.
Shortcut in Google Docs for Teachers
In this Edtech tutorial, I explain the importance of this awesome new tool that I discovered with Google Docs! This tool will come in handy for teachers who constantly find themselves giving the same comments to all their students when providing digital feedback. This shortcut will help teachers be fast and efficient when reviewing papers and leaving comments. Teachers must make sure that when they are creating these shortcuts, which they can find in "Preferences" in the "Tools" menu, that they leave a space between their shortcut and the documents text. I also recommend that teachers leave these comments using "Suggesting" mode on Google Docs because the comments will be more noticeable to students in suggesting mode. This mode offers green brackets around comments which stick out to students when they are going back to review what their teachers have written; the regular "Editing" mode does not do this, which means students are more likely to miss teacher feedback.
For clarification, students should NOT hit the check mark to accept the suggestion that their teacher has left for them, because if they do, the comment will then be inserted into the Doc. Essentially, teachers make the edits to the students Doc in suggesting mode, students reject the suggestion, but resolve what needs to be fixed manually. Once this system is mastered, teachers time will be used more effectively, and students will be able to identify comments easily.
For any questions, Ms. Scheffer and I are willing to come into classrooms and help students and teachers! I would also like the thank Jenn Judkins for making her tutorial, "Time-Saving Tips for Google Docs," which inspired me to create my own tutorial and share this idea with Burlington High School. Ms. Scheffer may have also helped me think of the idea....
For clarification, students should NOT hit the check mark to accept the suggestion that their teacher has left for them, because if they do, the comment will then be inserted into the Doc. Essentially, teachers make the edits to the students Doc in suggesting mode, students reject the suggestion, but resolve what needs to be fixed manually. Once this system is mastered, teachers time will be used more effectively, and students will be able to identify comments easily.
For any questions, Ms. Scheffer and I are willing to come into classrooms and help students and teachers! I would also like the thank Jenn Judkins for making her tutorial, "Time-Saving Tips for Google Docs," which inspired me to create my own tutorial and share this idea with Burlington High School. Ms. Scheffer may have also helped me think of the idea....
Moderating a Twitter Chat? Tweetdeck is what you need.
When moderating my first Twitter chat back in October 2015, I never thought that a web based application like Tweetdeck would help me out so much. It is absolutely a must use for people charged with the task of moderating a Twitter chat. This six and a half minute screencast shows exactly how to work Tweetdeck and demonstrates all its great features. Specifically, I demonstrate how to do the following:
1. Schedule a Tweet - important because it allows you as the moderate to participate in the chat live instead of worrying about Tweeting the questions
2. Using the @mentions column - important because it allows you to see who mentions you in the conversation. Having the @mention column allows you to respond to people who tag you in the conversation.
3. User column- allows you to keep track of specific users in the chat; your teacher, co-moderator, etc.
4. Hashtag column (found in Search) - important because it allows you to keep track of every single Tweet in the conversation.
I hope you find this tutorial helpful and encourage you to share it with your students, teacher, and even the parents in your school community who engage in Twitter chats.
It is definitely worth the watch!
1. Schedule a Tweet - important because it allows you as the moderate to participate in the chat live instead of worrying about Tweeting the questions
2. Using the @mentions column - important because it allows you to see who mentions you in the conversation. Having the @mention column allows you to respond to people who tag you in the conversation.
3. User column- allows you to keep track of specific users in the chat; your teacher, co-moderator, etc.
4. Hashtag column (found in Search) - important because it allows you to keep track of every single Tweet in the conversation.
I hope you find this tutorial helpful and encourage you to share it with your students, teacher, and even the parents in your school community who engage in Twitter chats.
It is definitely worth the watch!
Google Classroom Screencast
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Here is my Google Classroom screencast that will show teachers exactly how to create assignments.
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Book Creator Tutorial Steps
Book Creator is a foundational app for Burlington High School students that allows users to easily make fun books fast and efficiently. It is a versatile app that can be extremely helpful for students in their educational experience. The app is $4.99 on the App Store but if Burlington High School teachers would like to integrate it into their curriculum it is possible they can get it through our Volume Purchase Program. They can then have their class stop by the Help Desk so that we can download it for them. Book Creator is for all students, no matter if the user is five years old or eighteen years old, the app is great for learners of all ages!
For example, kids in elementary school could use the app when describing the chapters they read and for each chapter have a different page in their book on Book Creator. An example for high school students would be Mrs. Mckinney’s science class. Her anatomy students are dissecting cats this semester and for each time they make a dissection, the class takes a picture and adds it to a new page in their cat dissection book. They will also incorporate video of their dissections and this will allow Mrs. McKinney to provide her students with meaningful feedback since she will get to see the dissections up close. The possibilities for Book Creator are limitless!
In the video tutorial below, I show you step by step the process on how to use Book Creator and all the cool features that it has. I also show you how to submit a completed Book into Google Classroom. I’ve also included screenshots and written instructions below the video.
I hope you find it helpful!
For example, kids in elementary school could use the app when describing the chapters they read and for each chapter have a different page in their book on Book Creator. An example for high school students would be Mrs. Mckinney’s science class. Her anatomy students are dissecting cats this semester and for each time they make a dissection, the class takes a picture and adds it to a new page in their cat dissection book. They will also incorporate video of their dissections and this will allow Mrs. McKinney to provide her students with meaningful feedback since she will get to see the dissections up close. The possibilities for Book Creator are limitless!
In the video tutorial below, I show you step by step the process on how to use Book Creator and all the cool features that it has. I also show you how to submit a completed Book into Google Classroom. I’ve also included screenshots and written instructions below the video.
I hope you find it helpful!
Book Creator will take you to this home screen when you open the app. To create a new book you hit "New Book" at the top left.
Now you must pick which shape book you would like. SIDE NOTE- Teachers, if you would like students to combine their books later down the road, they all must use the same shaped book.
This is the cover of the book. You can add things to your pages by hitting the plus sign in the top right of the screen. It will then give the options to add a photo, take a picture, draw, add text, and add sound.
Shapes are also a cool feature that you may add to your pages.
To add a background to a page you click the "i" in the top right. You then can either pick a standard color or customize your own.
When done with the book you can turn it into many applications including Google Classroom.
You can delete books from the home page by hitting the 'i". It will then give you the option to delete the book.
To add text you hit the plus sign in the top right of the page. Once you hit that it will take you to this screen.
To export books into Google Classroom you hit the "Export Video" button.