Recording the Journey

At the end of each professional development session, I ask teachers to complete a Google Form to gather feedback. Based on results from December, I decided to combine an expressed need for learning more about the SAMR Model with the desire to explore a variety of recording apps. This seemed to be a perfect fit because the ability to create and share multimedia presentations with an authentic audience and purpose is made possible through the use of technology.

Though I believe that face to face sessions are important for building relationships, there are also times when my teachers prefer to be able to learn at their own pace at a time that is most convenient. The week following Winter Break and leading up to Clemson in the National Championship was the perfect time for a flexible session! For this month, teachers were able to complete the assignment posted in Google Classroom on their own or during a face-to-face session.

One of my teachers commented, "I liked the option to do this session independently with the live class as a safety net." Another said, "I enjoyed being able to explore on my own time with the opportunity to meet in person to ask questions if needed. I was able to download and explore the apps on my own time instead of being rushed during our short time together." Several others commented on the ability to learn without time constraint or feeling pressured to keep up with others. Those who attended the live session enjoyed time for questions and discussion!

Teachers got started by watching a short video on SAMR model created using EdPuzzle.



Next, they explored the recording apps in the presentation below thinking about how they might use the tools to move toward Modification and Redefinition of the learning task.

To end the session, teachers responded to the question: "What is one way that you might use recording apps to transform learning in your classroom by modification or redefinition of the learning task?" I included the question on my Google Form in addition to the usual feedback.

A1 Core Apps Symbaloo

An important aspect of my job as an Instructional Technologist is to pull together resources for my teachers to use. In the same way that creating recorded Math lessons for my students allowed them to "take me home" with them each night, curating and providing quality resources is a way that I can provide help even when I am in another building! It is important for the resources to be organized and easy to access, so last school year I created an organized Google Drive Folder full of cheat sheets, video tutorials, and student samples to share with the teachers in my area.

Though the teachers and I love the accessibility, organization, and ability to search in Google Drive, I wanted to find a more visual way to show what resources were available. Yesterday, I decided to try using Symbaloo to share file and folder links from Google Drive.

One of my favorite things about this is that I can easily update and make changes! As I add files into my shared folders, they will automatically become available here. As app icons change, it is easy to edit a tile and change the image. If we want to add or delete an app to our core, it is also simple to add or delete a tile from the Symbaloo. I hope this will be useful way for my teachers to access the resources that our A1 Digital Innovation Team is pulling together.