Workshop Activities for Technology Integration
Now that you’ve established the fundamentals of technology integration, you’re ready to go on an exploration of the subject. A variety of activities are included on this page, all designed to start workshop attendees thinking and talking about how they may use technology in their daily classes.
As a result, these activities are organized into categories based on topic, grade level, and subject area, making them simple to incorporate into workshops with a diverse range of participants. All of the tools that were utilized are either free or have free versions available. The workshop provider should go through the processes on his or her own before the session and have a basic understanding of the technology that will be used.
Activity One: Digital Storytelling
The campaign for the newsletter has come to an end.
The first activity is called “Digital Storytelling.”
During this activity, workshop participants will have the opportunity to experiment with a variety of grade- and subject-appropriate digital tools that will enable their students to tell a story or transmit ideas through multimedia.
Kindergarten to third grade
Literacy is the subject of this essay.
Storybird is a digital tool.
Internet connection; a projector connected to an Internet-enabled computer are the technological requirements. One laptop computer, desktop computer, or tablet is required for each participant.
How to do it:
Demonstrate Storybird stories to participants, pointing out usernames, artwork, page structure, length, and the commenting option, among other things.
Encourage workshop participants to sign up for a Storybird teacher account.
Participants will learn how to select artwork and begin a story by following the example. Point out how the plot cannot be developed ahead of time and the necessity of keeping the length of the first story for students’ first story short to keep the story on track.
Give them the assignment of developing a three-page tale, which should include a cover page (allow about ten to 15 minutes).
Tutor participants through the process of publishing their stories, with a particular emphasis on privacy settings and proper tagging, which will aid them in locating their stories later on.
Participants should be able to navigate to each other’s stories by searching for them using a tag or their username. Make them read the stories and write comments for each other on the stories they read.
Discuss how using this tool could assist their students in gaining a better understanding of one or more specific literacy concepts or skills that they have been teaching during the school year.
Participants in the session should work through solutions to questions such as: “How much time will I have with my pupils?” and “How many students will I have?”
What kind of technological resources do I have at my disposal? Is it necessary for me to make particular arrangements?
What methods will I use to evaluate student learning?
How will students’ usage of this tool enable them to learn something or learn in a way that they would not have been able to learn if they did not utilize the tool?
Activity No. 2: Digital Citizenship Education and Training
The goal of this activity is for participants to become familiar with a variety of grade-appropriate issues in the area of digital citizenship through discussion. A lesson or unit will be chosen by each participant to be taught in their respective schools.
Grades: Kindergarten through twelfth
Subject: All of them
The Common Sense Media website serves as a digital tool.
It is necessary to have one or two Internet-enabled laptops or desktop computers per one or two participants, as well as a projector that is connected to the Internet-enabled computer.
How to do it:
Inquire the participants about the concept of digital citizenship. Inquire as to why it is important. If desired, begin by creating a KWL (know, want to know, learned) chart and recording what each participant knows about the topic.
Participants should be given the option of working alone or in groups of two to three people based on their grade or topic area.
Encourage participants to sign up at Common Sense Media before the event. All participants, regardless of whether they are working in a group, must register an account.
Instruct participants to navigate to Common Sense Media’s digital citizenship curriculum page to view the course materials.
Provide an example of how to use the website to find information for specific grade levels and themes (e.g., etiquette, research).
Activity Two: Digital Citizenship
Allow participants ten to fifteen minutes to peruse the materials and select a lesson or unit that they believe will be the most suitable to their educational environment.
Invite participants to submit their choice of lesson or unit, as well as their reasoning for choosing it.
Participants in the session should work through solutions to questions such as: “How much time will I have with my pupils?” and “How many students will I have?”
What kind of technology will I be required to have? What kind of technological resources do I have at my disposal? Is it necessary for me to make particular arrangements?
What changes do you expect to see in your practice as a result of using this tool?
If you have the opportunity, return to the KWL chart and include any further information that participants have shared about what they have learned.
Activity Three: Checking for Understanding
With this exercise, workshop attendees will have the opportunity to experiment using mobile devices to capture a snapshot of student understanding or to serve as a conversation starter with other workshop participants.
6th through 12th grades
Subject: All of them
Socrative is a digital tool.
Internet connection; projector connected to Internet-enabled computer; one laptop computer, one desktop computer, one tablet, or one mobile phone per participant are all essential technological requirements.
Note: The workshop provider should have already created an account, as well as a sample question, and should be comfortable with the tool’s operation before the workshop.
How to do it:
Participants in the workshop should react to a pre-made survey by utilizing their devices (phone, tablet, or computer) to respond to the question.
Give examples of the various types of questions that may be made using Socrative’s question generator.
Inquire with participants about how they envision this tool being used in their respective classes.
Encourage participants to sign up for a Socrative account so that they can compose their first survey question on the platform.
Encourage participants to try out different questions and settings to see what works best for them.
Participants should volunteer to share their questions and solicit votes from the group (depending on the size of the group, either have all participants share or have a few volunteers). The ability to project tests is not guaranteed, but participants will be able to track answers in real-time on their smartphones and tablets.
Participants in the session should work through solutions to questions such as: “How much time will I have with my pupils?” and “How many students will I have?”
What kind of technological resources do I have at my disposal? Is it necessary for me to make particular arrangements?
What changes do you expect to see in your practice as a result of students using this tool?
The creation of Screencasts is the fourth activity.
In this exercise, participants will be allowed to construct a screencast that they may use to explain difficult ideas to their students in a visual manner. Additionally, this activity can be used to get participants started on the process of generating films in preparation for “flipping” their classes.
Activity Four: Creating Screencasts
Math is the subject of this paper.
Geogebra and Screencast-O-Matic are examples of digital tools.
The following technology is required: one Internet-enabled desktop computer, laptop computer, or netbook for each participant; a projector connected to an Internet-enabled desktop computer, laptop computer, or netbook for each participant.
Make sure the software is already installed, either on the computer itself or via a Google Chrome extension before beginning.
How to do it:
Inquire with participants about what a “screencast” is. Inquire as to how they are employed. To explain screencasts to those who don’t know what they are, explain that they are video recordings of a computer screen or whiteboard that are used to educate others.
Examples of screencasts should be provided. The best places to look are on Khan Academy and in any tutorial videos that teach how to utilize a particular piece of software (e.g., Microsoft Windows Movie Maker tutorial).
Demonstrate the Geogebra program or online application and its basic capabilities to the participants.
Allow participants ten minutes to become acquainted with the software.
Inviting participants to contribute any ideas they have for using this program in their classrooms is a good idea. Ask them to think of a math idea that they will be teaching shortly. Explain that they would be presenting this idea utilizing a screencast of Geogebra as a teaching tool for the students.
Set a timer for five minutes and ask the participants to plan a one- to two-minute lesson using the Geogebra program or web application.
Model the process of generating a screencast using the Screencast-O-Matic website, with particular attention paid to scaling and dragging the recording window, using the recording settings, and saving a snapshot of the screencast creation. Tips: Encourage participants to save their screencasts as an mp4 file on their laptops. Later on, kids will be able to investigate the various alternatives on their own.)
Participants should go to the Screencast-O-Matic home page and click on the Start Recording button to begin the recording. They will then be prompted to enable a Java applet to operate on their computer, which they should do. At the bottom of the screen, they will notice a box with the record, pause, and microphone controls in it. They can resize and move the box to fit it around their Geogebra window.
Explain that they will now construct a one- to three-minute screencast to teach a subject in Geogebra that they have learned over the course. Make sure each person presses the record button after they’re finished speaking. Participants should either wear a headset with a built-in microphone — something as easy as the headphones they use with their cellphones — or be distributed across the room to reduce background noise.
Allow participants five minutes to record their screencasts and save them to their computers.
Participants should be given two minutes to exchange devices with a neighbor and see each other’s screencasts before moving on.
Participants should be asked what they appreciated about the other person’s screencast after devices have been returned to their owners. The group should then begin to compile a list of characteristics that make a successful screencast.
Participants should think through answers to questions such as: “How will I utilize this tool with my students?” and “How will I use this tool with my students?”
What kind of technological resources do I have at my disposal? Is it necessary for me to make particular arrangements?