8 Virtual Reality Tools to Go Around the World

October 3, 2020September 23, 2020Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

As a Spanish teacher, I am always interested in finding innovative ways to teach in my classroom and to create learning opportunities that do more than to engage students solely with the content material. Over the past few years, I have started to bring different tools for learning into my classroom, some of which pushed me outside of my comfort zone as a teacher. One area that has led to greater student engagement and has been well received by my students is the use of augmented and virtual reality.

For many teachers, the idea of using these types of tools in our classroom bring questions, such as how much time do I need to learn how to use them and what are the benefits? Fortunately, getting started with many of these tools is quite easy as there are resources available to use as tutorials. The tools offer ready-made lessons or examples to start with, and of course, our students learn so fast that we can quickly learn from them. I often say that we just need to know enough to make sure that we are aware of any issues with access, and of course, we have knowledge of the safety or security issues. We must also understand how we plan to use it, focusing on the why behind wanting to do so, but then we should leave it up to our students to take it beyond that point.

As for benefits, using tools for AR and VR helps educators create innovative learning spaces and transform “how” and “where” students are learning. With different AR/VR tools available, we give students the power to explore objects or places, control their learning and connect with the content in ways that textbooks and videos cannot provide. Students can now travel around the world, to another country, underwater or into outer space, using these tools and doing so right from their classroom.

8 Tools to Try

Here are eight different tools to explore that I think can be very beneficial for student learning and promote student engagement. Getting started with these will help educators implement some digital tools into the classroom without taking too much time to get started.

Google Expeditions
The app is free and can be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store. Google Expeditions offers more than 100 augmented reality and 800 virtual reality tours which students can use to explore careers, visit famous landmarks and locations. They can even use it to find out more about global initiatives. Through the roles of Guide and Explorer, teachers and students can engage with the content in a more immersive way that connects students more closely with the spaces they are viewing, which promotes curiosity. Another option is Tour Creator to create a tour specific to student interests or to have students create their own tour to share. Tours are easy to create and share and provide a more authentic way to connect students with places they are studying.
Google Earth
Google Earth enables teachers and students to explore places around the world and even zoom in for a closer look in 360 via Street View. For schools that have access to HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, Google Earth VR makes it possible to walk or even fly around the locations and explore more closely.
Nearpod
Nearpod offers a library full of lessons in VR and the ability to quickly create lessons that have 3D objects and VR field trips included. Tools like Nearpod help to engage students in a more active learning experience while also providing multiple ways for teachers to assess student learning. It is easier now to take students on trips around the world right from within the classroom at any time.
360 Cities
360 Cities offers interactive panoramic photos and more than 2,400 videos to select from to use in the classroom.
Unimersiv
Through Unimersiv, educators can find VR experiences for students ranging from exploring space, human anatomy, or places like Stonehenge, Athens, the International Space Station and more. Unimersiv can be downloaded with lessons available for students. New lessons are added every few months.
Sites in VR
Sites in VR is an app available for download on Android and iOS devices. Locations can be searched based on type including nature, parks, museums, towers and more. Users can choose to explore through the device or with a headset.
360-Degree YouTube Videos
YouTube offers 360-degree videos which can be a good way to hook students at the start of a lesson. There are so many choices available; one of the first ones that I watched was Lions 360. Videos that were filmed in 360 will provide a better experience.
Curated X Kai
Curated X Kai has featured VR field trips available for experiences such as hurricanes, looking at dinosaurs, the solar system, the human body and many others focused on locations or historical events or places. New field trips are added weekly.

Making the Choice

There are many benefits of using VR in the classroom. In my own experience, it provides students with space where they can take more ownership in learning and creates an opportunity for students to build global knowledge, and explore different ideas and perspectives. We can also use VR as a way to connect our students with classrooms and experts from around the world and build more than content and technology skills. We can also help students develop empathy as they learn about cultures and places different from their own.

There are a lot of options out there to choose from, it is about promoting student choice and helping students to do more than consume content, but to actively engage in learning and even become the creators.

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Looking for a new book to read? Many stories from educators, two student chapters, and a student-designed cover for In Other Words.

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METAVERSE: Collections are here!

March 11, 2019March 10, 2019Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Metaverse: Collections are here!

This post is sponsored by Metaverse. All opinions are my own.

Metaverse has become a favorite of my students for creating fun, interesting, interactive “experiences” for class. The best part about using a tool like Metaverse is that it enables educators to give students more control and an opportunity to create something that is more meaningful to them. With libraries full of thousands of choices, every student can find something that meets their interests and engages them more in the creative fun and process of learning. While sometimes it can take a little bit longer to figure out how to use different tools for creating in Augmented Reality, or problem solve to find out why something isn’t working during the creation process, with Metaverse, all students can find exactly what they need. Sometimes people wonder if there’s any bit of a learning curve or how much time it takes to get started with something, but in this case, it couldn’t be easier.

I have found that students really enjoy creating with Metaverse, especially because they have so many possibilities for what they can create. They can add in characters and 3D objects, portals, 360 videos, YouTube videos, audio, and much more. There has been an update to the way that the website looks and it is now even easier to find what you need in order to create your very own experience. Of course if you need help, you can send a message directly to the Metaverse team using the chat or check out some of their updated video tutorials on YouTube.

Other benefits

I find that another bonus of using Metaverse is that it is very user-friendly to get started with and it doesn’t take long for students to figure out how to design their experience on their own or for students to step in and help their peers. I’ve noticed when using tools like Metaverse in the classroom that there is this other component to what students are able to “experience” while learning. It really does a lot for helping peers work on their collaborative skills and even social-emotional learning skills. There are many ways to use this for students to create a representation of something they have learned, to tell a story, to create a scavenger hunt even. You can learn more about Metaverse and how it works from my prior post or check out a recent post about using Augmented Reality tools for blended learning here.

Eagerly anticipating the new features

I had a chance to preview the Collections with the Metaverse team about a month ago, and I was very excited when I learned about the changes that would be coming to the Metaverse platform. Not only would there be more items and awesome things to choose from, that students and teachers could create with, but there would also be a new dashboard with a better way for students and teachers to access the experiences that have been created.

Having used Metaverse for a few years, I have saved a lot of student-created experiences to use in my STEAM classes. In order to make these experiences available for all students to see and enjoy each year, I chose to create a Padlet and have students post their QR codes onto the Padlet. By doing this, it was easy to simply display the Padlet on the Smartboard and have students walk up and scan the QR code. Another benefit was that it gave students time to explore a variety of experiences created by their peers and make new connections while learning.

It’s very easy to manage the student work from your classroom once you create a collection from your Metaverse dashboard. With this new feature, you can see all of your students’ experiences, you can set them up by class or if it’s the same class, put all of the experiences together, that way students have even more to explore and learn from. As a teacher, you have the option to edit the student experiences and take a look at what they have created, and beyond that, once you have the collection created, you the projects for the entire class can be shared through just one link. So easy to connect student work in one space. Check out Collections here!

How to get Collections

So how do you get the Collections? For right now it is still a free feature, without the Collections add-on. Creating collections will become a paid add on for the Metaverse studio. To submit one of your experiences to a collection, there is no cost involved. Students from prior classes or who create experiences in other courses can still share their experiences to be used with the other students in my STEAM class.

The cost is going to be approximately $7 per month or you can sign up for a year at a discount rate of $64! And speaking of benefits, use the promo code ARforEDU and take advantage of a free month of Collections!

The result?

A much easier way to gather, explore and share student work. More convenient and better access to be able to explore the different experiences. One thing to keep in mind is to always check over the student experiences and keep providing reminders about digital citizenship and responsibilities as part of learning journey in Augmented Reality. Ready to get started with Metaverse in your classroom? Check out all of the great resources for teachers here.

Exploring and Creating with 3D Bear Poth

February 14, 2019February 14, 2019Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Sponsored Content, All opinions are my own

Sign up for your free one month trial! https://3dbear.io/freetrial

Exploring the world in AR: 3DBear brings your environment to life

Ever since learning about 3DBear a few months ago, I have continued to be impressed with the platform and the company’s focus on meeting the needs and interests of educators and students. At both FETC and TCEA, I had the opportunity to spend time speaking with the 3DBear team and was able to get a better understanding of their vision for 3DBear and learn more about the newer features and ways to use it in the classroom. Even when I first started creating with 3DBear, I immediately saw a lot of benefits for classroom use regardless of content area or grade level, or even one’s role in education. With a library full of icons to choose from, animations, music, options for changing colors and sizes, moving object positions, and other functions like adding audio and student voice, it is possible to engage students in truly unique ways to learn. It did not take long to see the potential for using 3DBear not only as a tool for students as the creators but also as an instructional tool for teachers as a way to engage students more in learning by “hooking” them in with the use of augmented reality. 3DBear can be a game changer for students, acting as a catalyst to draw students in and let them go on a creative adventure. Get started today with a free teacher trial here!

Why use Augmented Reality?

A popular topic at both FETC and TCEA was Augmented and Virtual Reality. Often questions are asked whether the use of AR and VR has sustainability in education and I believe that there is. Each day I receive numerous email alerts sharing news from around the world about how teachers are using augmented and virtual reality to amplify student learning. Tools like 3DBear have tremendous potential to immerse students in a meaningful learning adventure, giving them more control of how, when and where they learn. Besides being fun to use, it offers students time to build their skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and fosters creativity. It lets students make decisions and leads to a more student-driven classroom. This is what we want for our students, choices, agency, and engagement.

(photo credit to Mitch Weisburgh)

Walking among or narrowly escaping the dinosaurs

While presenting several sessions at both of these conferences this month, I noticed a lot of people starting to use 3DBear in unique ways. During sessions, attendees chose to be more active, and rather than simply listening in to how these augmented reality tools can be used, instead began quickly creating with them and even sharing them out socially. Completely unaware of the danger that I was in until seeing the tweet, I was surprised and thankful that I escaped the dinosaur lurking behind me as I presented at FETC! But I was concerned about the attendees when I saw the dinosaur that was lurking in the front of the room near Jaime. The excitement behind using these tools is evident when people begin creating and sharing them during your session, just minutes after you’ve introduced and only minimally demonstrated the tool. The learning curve of 3DBear? Not much at all! It’s very easy to navigate and dive right in to create your own world in your physical environment. Get started today!

(photo credit Mitch Weisburgh)

Why 3DBear

Students can use it to create 3D objects in different spaces and can then record a story to go along with it. The potential and power of storytelling in AR is awesome. What better way to have students represent their learning than to design their own world, decide what 3D objects to place in their environment and then create a narration to go along with it. Students can even upload items from their device or from Thingiverse. Student-driven learning and possible for students in grades K and up. More than just listening to teachers and how it benefits students, ask students for feedback. (See a video from a school in Medford and how students responded to 3DBear). Also seek feedback from educators, whether on social media or in my experience from attendees in the different sessions presented at FETC and TCEA.

Potential for Storytelling and Adventure

As educators, we want our students to have a learning “experience,” more than the traditional methods of learning and classroom instruction can offer. We need to empower students to become more than consumers of content, and instead help them to embrace the opportunity to become the creators and driving their own learning. By doing this, we start them on a learning journey that will serve to attach more meaning to the content, in a personalized and exciting way to learn, and above all, a more authentic experience.

There are many possibilities for using 3DBear and because time can be a deciding factor when it comes to exploring new tools and methods for classroom use, this is where 3DBear offers a lot for educators. Teachers have access to a teacher dashboard where they can see student work, track progress and explore the worlds that students are creating. There are lesson plans for Coding, Design Thinking, ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, STEM, and STEAM-related themes available for different grade levels which include pacing guidelines. While the lessons are drafted for certain grade levels or range of grades, slight adjustments in the content enables teachers to implement these lessons into their classroom.

One of the best things about 3DBear is that teachers won’t have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get started using it in the classroom. We can learn just enough and then put it in the hands of our students and let them run with it. Many students learn more by doing, and when they have opportunities to engage in hands-on activities, it leads to more personalized experiences and student-driven learning. A world of learning that they create is right in their hands.

When thinking about adding some new technology into the classroom, we really need to focus on the why behind choosing a specific tool or method. Ask ourselves what makes it different and what can it do differently for students that can enhance the learning process and go beyond the traditional methods that are already being used in the classroom. What sets it apart from other options or methods you have been using? I think the answer is clear. Students are the designers.

A Few Ideas to Try

My town: Sharing where we live, describing a location or any lesson where students need to narrate a story, they can create an environment using 3DBear and add characters and more into their project. Once created, students can tell a story about the scene or even narrate in a foreign language. Why not have students create a “welcome to our town” project, adding in 3D objects and telling a story that can be shared with the community? A good way to share student work and give more meaning to the work they are doing.

(Alamo photo credit Jaime Donally)

A book summary: One idea is to have students review a book, summarize something they read in class by bringing it to life with 3DBear. If the number of devices is an issue, use stations and have students work in pairs or small groups, each adding to the story.
Let me teach you: Give students an opportunity to be the teacher. Choose a theme or have students select a topic and then come up with a way to use 3DBear to explain it to classmates. There are many options available for students to choose from, and it will reinforce their problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills, as well as boost creativity as they decide how to best visualize their lesson for others.
Actors in a scene: Give students the chance to interact with a 3D character and maybe even sing together or dance together (who doesn’t love doing the floss with a 3D character?).
Random objects: To really push their thinking, why not create a scene with a variety of characters, objects and more, and then ask students to write a story about it. A task like this can be applied to so many content areas, and grade levels and will definitely be a more authentic way to practice and learn. For students in Spanish classes, it is fun to add random objects into the classroom and have students write a story to describe it. Or, another possibility is to provide students with a narration in the target language and have them create a scene to represent the story.

So many ways for students to leverage technology for learning. They need our guidance to find a starting point sometimes, but then we need to just let them go with it and explore and create on their own. Besides building technology skills and learning about emerging trends, they will engage in powerful learning that not only reinforces the content area but also promotes the development of social emotional learning skills in the process. Augmented Reality has many benefits, the key is staying focused on your “why” for wanting to use it, and then finding the right task to get started. And remember, let the students take charge and learn from and teach one another, including you. Sign up for your teacher trial at 3DBear!

And share how you are using 3DBear in your classroom! @Rdene915

Preparing for FETC, or any edtech conference

January 24, 2019January 22, 2019Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Updated from a prior post written after my first experience at FETC.

In January of 2017 I attended the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) for the first time in Orlando, Florida. Having attended many edtech conferences over the past few years, including ISTE, iNACOL, ShiftinEDU Summer Spark, ACTFL and several at the state level, I had a decent idea of what to expect—and I wasn’t disappointed.

The ideas shared by the panelists and speakers were fascinating, and I found myself surprised by the amount of food for thought I received from the conference.

There are a lot of things to consider when planning your schedule, thinking about what to attend, where to go after the sessions end, and what to do when you get back home. I like to reflect after each conference and these are some of my takeaways each time. My number one takeaway is the relationships! And this year is going to be even better because I will be meeting with members of the #4OCFPLN for the first time.

Tisha, Jen, Dene, Mia

1. Relationships matter. One of the key takeaways for me after each conference is that it’s important to develop and maintain a robust group of teacher-friends who will inspire and learn with me. Having these relationships can help me stay creative, stay engaged in my teaching and keep me from the isolation that can happen at times when our lives as educators become so busy.

Plan your time around connecting with your “edufriends” or the members of your personal learning network (PLN), some of whom you may not have ever met face-to-face. Share ideas, have fun learning from each and having the time to be in the same space to learn. There is so much excitement at FETC and all conferences because it gives you the opportunity to reconnect with friends or meet PLN face-to-face for the first time.

2. Think big, try new things and keep at it. Educators need to be encouraged to do things that are different, and we should be “thinking big.” I hear these words often, and usually they are followed by encouragement to take some risks, and not to be afraid of failures. It seems to be one of the recurring themes in the conversations I hear during each conference.

Find an area to focus on. What are your interests? What are some things you have wanted to try but haven’t because of lack of time or just fear of trying? Conferences are a great way to give it a go.

3. We haven’t seen the last of EdTech innovations, and seeing new developments in person can be a great way to stretch your thinking about your own classroom. Taking time to explore the expo hall and talk with edtech representatives, see and try some of the innovative tools and ask for insight on how these tools can help to engage and empower students.

Stop by the booth presentations, see educators sharing their experiences, take a short workshop and gather a lot of ideas in a short period of time. My favorite is always sharing at the Buncee booth and attending presentations by other educators who demonstrate how Buncee provides many possibilities for creating multimedia presentations and creates diverse learning opportunities, regardless of content area or level taught.
Nearpod is always a favorite of the crowd—always a line at their booth, with many people eager to learn more about virtual reality field trips and see VR headsets in action. Perhaps this was to be expected, as bringing learning experiences to life and immersing students in their learning environment is a goal of almost every educator.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to visit the “Poster Session” areas to learn about topics such as Augmented and Virtual Reality, Coding, Artificial Intelligence, Project Based Learning and see some of the digital tools and apps in action (and how they could benefit students).
The makerspaces and 3D printing areas are always a hit, with each presenter offering samples of cool, student-created work, QR codes with resources available for attendees, and great opportunities to make new connections and bring the learning back to the classroom.
Stop by the author tables and “Meet the Authors” of some of the books you may be reading. Great opportunity to connect!

4. Keep things student-focused. I really enjoy the variety of workshops offered during the conference, especially having the opportunity to attend workshops presented by friends and co-present a few on Augmented and Virtual Reality and Creative Classrooms. Engage in conversations with educators about some of the strategies and tools you use, share ideas, walk away with a lot of new things to try in your classroom and school.

5. Special events and meetups can be great ways to engage teachers in community-building. As educators, we know that students can’t (and shouldn’t) spend all of their time in the classroom. Similarly, teachers can’t spend all of their time in convention halls. In addition to the events held at the Convention Center, there were a number of other events I really enjoyed, such as the #coffeeedu meetups and dinner receptions hosted by different edtech companies, PLN groups and special interest groups.

These events really provided a nice environment in which attendees could continue to build their personal learning networks and keep the conversations going. So much learning goes on during the day, that the evening can be a great chance to share experiences with a group.

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My Overall Impression of FETC

Conferences like FETC are fantastic experiences that provide diverse, personalized learning opportunities. Once a conference ends and you settle back into your regular routine, you will have an opportunity to really let the things you learned sink in.

Take a look at your conference materials, review the #FETC Twitter feed, find one thing to focus on and try something new. Rely on your PLN and connect with your friends—just because a conference ends, doesn’t mean the conversation and learning have to.

It’s all about connecting and working toward personal and professional growth, taking some risks and using new knowledge and experiences to empower our students, our educators, our community and ourselves.

I would highly recommend educators make a note on their calendar to attend FETC next year! That is if you won’t be there next week! Headed to TCEA? See you there!

New features to our favorite tools: Part II

December 5, 2017December 5, 2017Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Kahoot!

Over the past couple of years, there have been a lot of new features added to make Kahoot even more engaging for students and teachers. Some of my favorite features are the questions automatically going through to the next one, the podium feature, its method for kicking out inappropriate names, the new Kahoot! app and other subtle changes to layout and options of the platform. This year has brought two new things, that may be my favorites so far.

The first one I learned about while at ISTE in San Antonio, when I had the opportunity to spend some time with the team of Kahoot and learned about the “challenges” that they were creating. If you haven’t had the chance, you can “challenge” students to complete one of your games by sharing a code with them, just as you do for the live games but students can log into it within the app on their phones. Students can even challenge one another on different topics that they find in the app and so it’s a good way to provide practice for students outside of the classroom, where they don’t have to rely on the Smartboard to see the questions but rather have everything available on their device.

Photo from Kahoot! Blog

RockstarPanda, EpicFox, Friendly Moose and StellarCheetah?

But the most fun that I’ve noticed is unexpectedly was about 2 weeks ago, I created a game for my students to play and at the top of the options, I noticed the option for “generating creative usernames”. So I figured why not, selected it and couldn’t wait for the students’ responses. The generating of creative student names resulted in my students saying that I was taking away their creativity. Kind of funny but these generated names were much more original than the names that they had commonly used when joining our games. I’m not going to lie, it was quite fun to yell out who is “Mystery Panda”, “Fantastic Bat”, “Daring Dog” rather than the usual names. Plus I think it’s a nice way to have anonymity in the game so that students feel more comfortable answering and not so worried about what their score is in front of everyone else.(Even though the often yell out what their score is).

The “Nickname Generator” has a list of 800 unique two word name combinations and using it is a great idea, because it saves the time lost while students try to come up with their own “Creative” names.

Games for the Hour of Code

In recognition of the week of December 4th through the 10th, being Computer Science Education Week, and the “Hour of Code”, Kahoot has added some games to help students understand some basics of coding. Try these out for some fun ways to get the students involved with coding and use the game as a starting point for some class discussion.

Screen Shot 2017-12-04 at 10.24.44 PM.png

From Kahoot!

New Look for the Kahoot details page

I noticed something different when I launched a Kahoot game and that was the appearance of the page once I clicked on the game we wanted to play. It has a much clearer appearance, easy to navigate and a nicer layout. Here is how it looks:

The “Play” and “Challenge” buttons are easy to find. You can see the questions and timers for each. By selecting the “Show Answer”, you are then able to see the choices for each and the correct response for each question.

Quizlet Live: A student perspective

September 28, 2017September 25, 2017Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Teacher to Teacher: Does technology in the classroom help? Ask the students.

Quizlet HQ · Posted by Amalia January 23, 2017

This post was written by Rachelle Dene Poth and Sean, a student in one of her Spanish classes. Rachelle teaches French, Spanish, and STEAM at Riverview Junior-Senior High School in Pennsylvania.

Quizlet Live: An instant hit in my classroom

The availability of technology, and especially of digital tools like Quizlet, have opened up tremendous possibilities for classrooms today. Because of the diverse tools available, teachers now have new ways to deliver content both in and out of the classroom, and students have more engaging and personalized ways to learn.

Quizlet is something I have used in my classroom for the past few years in many different ways. I have used it in class to play Quizlet Live, to give students time to use the activities to review while I work with them individually, and to play games like Gravity on the Smartboard. Toward the end of last school year, I was able to beta test Quizlet Live, their newest collaborative in-class game, with my Spanish II class. It was an instant hit. Once we figured out how to play the game (which was easy), it became a great way to practice the vocabulary and verbs. It also created more opportunities for students to work with and learn from their peers, and build those vital classroom relationships that form a positive classroom culture. (To learn more about how to play Quizlet Live, check out my previous post on this topic.)

How to know when the technology has a purpose: Ask the students

Sean, an 11th grader in my Spanish courses, has been an advocate for the use of technology at school. He recently led a presentation for an edtech conference, TRETC (Three Rivers Education and Technology Conference) and chose to present on Quizlet Live. He explained the purpose of the game, highlighted how to play, and led a game with those present — many of whom were playing for the first time. Sean had great, first-hand information to share and, coming from a student, the benefit of using Quizlet Live in the classroom was clear to everyone.

In Sean’s own words

Quizlet has a purpose when it comes to studying or just having fun. For example, in my Spanish II class, we used Quizlet for studying outside of class or to create cards for homework, and then when we met again as a class, we would play Quizlet Live and it would be fun for everyone. It is a tool that can be used multiple ways for school and work. An example of using it outside of school is when we were coming home from the PAECT student technology showcase. We were bored during the bus ride, so Mrs. Poth asked us if we wanted to play and we said sure.

Screen Shot 2017-01-10 at 1.08.33 PM.png

At the time we didn’t know any topics that could be played on Quizlet Live except for school topics, but we were introduced to some of the other topics that could played. We struggled with some of the TV trivia, which dated back to the 1950s, but we worked as a team and won the game. This activity showed our group that there were a variety of things that could be done using Quizlet Live.

This school year, I have already created a Quizlet Live that my class has played and everyone loved it. I will continue to create more Quizlets to use and help out the class, and to also have a fun time at home. We will be presenting a session during our state technology conference, PETE&C, and in addition to the student showcase, we will take over a full session and teach teachers about these tools. The students will once again be the leaders and engage the attendees with Quizlet Live.

CoSpacesEdu

September 8, 2017September 12, 2017Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

CoSpacesEdu: Opening up new learning worlds

I have always been a fan of technology and any time I learn about a new tool, I go straight to the computer if time allows, create an account and start trying to figure it out on my own. Or if I don’t have time, I will add it to my seemingly never-ending list of tools that I want to check out. Last summer, I came across CoSpaces. I had no idea what to expect other than knowing that the purpose was for creating and experiencing a virtual learning environment. I created an account, looked at the gallery of what was available, and tried to figure out exactly how to create my own 3D space.

I am the type of learner who would rather struggle and figure things out on my own first. I think it is better as a teacher, to work through those struggles so that we can better help our students. If I’ve exhausted all of my efforts, then I will look for a help section or connect with other educators that I know have experience using the tool. Sometimes even simply posting a question on Twitter, or searching YouTube for helpful videos, will give the answers that I need. However with CoSpaces, I was determined to work through it on my own because as soon as I started trying it, I knew right away that it was something I would want to use in my new STEAM Emerging Technology course for the upcoming school year. And while I greatly enjoy learning from the students, I also enjoy being there to watch the student responses as they begin to figure things out on their own and have those “aha” moments when they realize that they’ve uncovered exactly how to do something. Better yet is when they share this knowledge with their peers and also teach me new things to do with what we are working on.

My plans for using CoSpacesEdu were uncertain at the time, because I knew virtual reality was a topic that I wanted to cover in my class. My course is focused on STEAM and Emerging Tech. I had plans to help students develop some vital technology skills, starting with learning about digital citizenship and then adding on new tech skills as we progressed. I knew that many students did not have much experience creating with anything other than Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, if even these two. I also wanted to know the different possibilities for using CoSpaces in the classroom, so I spent some time looking at the gallery, I joined the community on Facebook and reached out to the CoSpaces team to see what additional information I could find. But while doing all of this I did manage to create my own project in which I added many random items and had a lot of fun creating. I was truly amazed at what I was able to do within my own “space”. The ideas started flowing for how I could use this in my STEAM course and also with my foreign language classes. I could foresee students who had to create items such as biomes or do a book report, or a science project using CoSpaces as a way to represent these by building their own space and environment to represent the story they were trying to recreate or to tell. Talk about creativity, imagination, innovation and critical thinking, and more all in one tool.

As with my other projects this year with my STEAM course, I wanted to find a way to connect using this tool for our class with a learning target or project for another class. There are so many possibilities. While waiting for some feedback, I decided to offer a few different options for students to choose from after looking through the gallery. Consulting a friend of mine who is outstanding in the field of AR/VR, Jaime Donally, (@JaimeDonally) who gave me some really fantastic ideas for creating with CoSpaces. I was also fortunate to have a conversation with Manuela, who provided a lot of insight into the new features that CoSpaces would be offering. There are updates sent regularly with details about the new features and links to sample projects and helpful videos.

So if you have not yet checked out CoSpacesEdu, I recommend that you do because I guarantee that you will find it has applicability for something in your classroom. And it is a tool that will further engage students in their learning. Once they have created their own project, they can then immerse themselves in their own environment with the use of the app on the iPad or installing it on their phone and having a headset to walk through their own environment. How cool is that!

So for our first project in STEAM, I asked students to create three scenes in which they either told a story about a TV show, a movie or a book that they had read, or create a different type of a living space, or come up with their own focus, as long as they included the required number of elements into their project. Once they were finished, I had them share their link on a Padlet, so that all projects could be accessible and that students could take turns walking through each other’s environment. The students were excited and amazed at what they were doing. While looking at the gallery and playing some of the games were fun, being able to create their own space, walk through it and explore on their own was way better, according to several of my students.

There are some new features with CoSpaces and I’m sure the changes will continue to come. I recommend that you check it out and think about something that you may be teaching in your class or a project coming up in which students could create a virtual space. Using CoSpaces will really open up your learning environment and immerse students in authentic experiences, increase student engagement and I believe add to motivation the students have for learning and taking some risks and being up to the challenge of figuring out exactly how things work. And hopefully the next time they have project rather than wanting to create in PowerPoint or with Google Slides, they will think of CoSpaces Edu as the perfect way to represent what they know and can do with the material

Thanks Edmodo for teaching me about Instagram

July 9, 2017July 9, 2017Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Wrong again! This is the next in the series of posts about how I was wrong about the value of Social Media.

Instagram

I really did not have any understanding about Instagram. I thought it was just another place for posting photos, although very vibrant ones, enhanced with filters and more. I had an account, one which I created at some point, but had not really used. I just didn’t understand it.

My account had a few photos, nothing too exciting, but it somehow was enough to get a few followers. I am not even sure how people found my account and I did not know anything about the settings, there was just no time investment on my part to learn about it.

I had not checked it in a long time and the one day I did, I noticed that several students were now following me. I couldn’t imagine why they would want to follow my account, especially since it was really quite boring. I actually did not even know my own user name. There were maybe 3 photos, and they were not too interesting or vibrant. I also was surprised that they were able to follow me, but then again, I had not really checked into anything about it, especially the settings. So this made me curious to learn more about it, starting with the settings.

Well, after I changed my username…a few times, I still did not really have intentions to use it, as I already had several other accounts and did not have extra time to post on another site. But then one day, I was selected to carry the Edmodo EdTech baton. I am an Edmodo Ambassador and I enjoy doing activities which share the uses of Edmodo, especially because it has brought about so many positive changes for my classroom and opened up tremendous learning opportunities for the students. I did not know what “carrying the baton” meant. But, it turned out that I had to post photos on Instagram throughout the day I carried the baton.

So this was my purpose for using Instagram and I admit that I had to ask the students exactly how to post things. I did not have a clue! But that is okay because as much as I enjoy learning new things and sharing the information with students, it is so much better to learn from them. There are so many benefits. One, because I can see them engaged at a different level and two, it gives them a different perspective in the classroom, one in which they are the leaders. You can sense their excitement when they are the ones teaching about something they use and understand.

My use of Instagram was short, only for that Edmodo time period of one day, however, I do enjoy seeing the posts of others, the different filters, and truly appreciate the ability to share information and photos so quickly. I have since posted some photos, and sort of figured out the collages, but I prefer to see the posts of friends. It is still not something that I use on a regular basis, but I admit, I was again wrong about the value of another social media platform.

I am trying to stay connected through Instagram. I do appreciate the opportunity to stay connected with friends and family. But there is this whole other side to the use of Instagram which I really did not know. Instagram can also be used for educational purposes, not something that I had thought of aside from when I carried the Edmodo baton. However, I am currently reading “Social Leadia” by Jennifer Casa-Todd @JCasaTodd and just read about some really fantastic, educational uses of Instagram for all levels of students, kindergarten through high school, and so I think I need to give it a try this year. I just need to think about the ways to use it that would be the most beneficial for students.

But before that, I need to remember what my user name is.

Next up…Snapchat…I have no idea how to use it. But, I am fascinated by #booksnaps thank you Tara Martin @TaraMartinEDU

12 Tools That Made The Biggest Difference In My Teaching

April 28, 2017April 28, 2017Rachelle Dené Poth 2 Comments

Posted on TeachThought, January 5, 2017

12 Tools That Made The Biggest Difference In My Teaching This YearRachelle Dene Poth

There are so many digital tools available today to promote student learning in the classroom. The task is in figuring out what you need for your classroom. What could benefit your students the most?

Over the past year, I took as many opportunities to learn as I could, spending time gathering information from reading books and blogs, staying active through social media in Twitter chats, Voxer groups, and by attending many conferences, both physically and virtually. I created long lists of new ideas, new tools, and created new accounts for many digital tools and tried as many as I could.

12 Tools That Made The Biggest Difference In My Teaching This Year

Communication, Collaboration

Technology can help give students a voice, where otherwise they may not be willing to or want to respond, especially within the traditional classroom space. Here are the tools that changed our classroom this year and why.

1. Recap

A video response tool that can be used for many purposes including formative assessments, student reflections and for sharing student work with parents. One of the biggest benefits of using Recap is that it provides a comfortable way for students to connect with their teachers, to share their ideas, thoughts or reflections, in a way which promotes student voice.

After using Recap with students for assessments, for providing their feedback to me about what they liked and did not like about class, and more, I could see that they were comfortable being able to speak freely, in their own space. I like being able to ask questions, provide different prompts, give feedback, and receive the daily reel that Recap compiles, to make reviewing it an easy process.

2. Voxer

I found out about Voxer after being invited into a group created for ISTE Denver 2016. It started with a group on Facebook, and led to the implementation of Voxer as a means to connect everyone, build excitement for the conference and much more. I was amazed with the diverse uses of Voxer, ranging from individual conversations, a specific topic focused chat focused, a book study and much more.

Becoming more familiar with the different uses got me to thinking how I could use it as a way to be accessible to students when they needed help with assignments. I had already been using various platforms including a messaging app and an LMS, but thought I would try Voxer out with a small group of students. The students loved it and used it for a few Spanish projects and even on a personal communication basis. After some time reflecting, I thought it could probably be a good tool to use for speaking assessments and to get the students involved in having conversations in Spanish with each other.

There are many uses for Voxer in general, but as an educator, it can be a good way to become more connected, receive and provide support for colleagues and students.

3. Padlet

Padlet, which is equated to being a virtual wall, kind of like writing on a bunch of post it notes, has emerged as quite the multi-purpose tool in my classroom. What initially began as a way to have back-channel discussions, emerged as a means to communicate with other classrooms on Digital Learning Day, to have students quickly research and post pictures for a fun class activity, to curate student projects for easy display in the classroom, and even for students to use to create a project which included activities and multimedia links.

The uses keep emerging and I’ve found that sometimes it’s best to turn to the students for some extra ideas of how you can use some of these tools in your classroom.

4. Piktochart PIKTODash

A tool for creating infographics, social media flyers, presentations and more, Piktochart has become one of the tools that my students enjoy because they find that it is easy to use and enjoy the options which enable them to really personalize and make their project authentic. I have used it to create visuals such as birthday cards, classroom signs, Twitter chat graphics, and also for creating presentations for conferences. Regardless of what your needs may be, if you want to give students an option to create something visually engaging, personal to their interests and which enhances their creativity, according to my students this is something that you should try.

5. Visme visual-storytelling-in-the-classroom-1024x590

Several of my students who have been very hesitant to use anything other than traditional presentation tools through Google or Microsoft Office, have found Visme to be a tool which encouraged them to take some risks and try new things this year. Students had to create a timeline about their summer, or basically anything they wanted, as a back to school project. At first, several asked to use something different, but they quickly found how easy it was to create something and have fun in the process.

Several students enjoyed it so much that they contributed to two blogs about the use of audio and the benefits of it for education as well as other areas. (hearing from the student’s perspective, and seeing them featured for their work was a great experience). So if you want to try something more engaging that promotes creativity, helps to build those vital technology skills and also lets students have fun in the process, then this could be a tool to try in the new year.

You can create infographics, reports, presentations, social media flyers and more. It is an easy drag and drop tool, that encouraged those “hesitant” students to take some risks and try new things. Check out Visme’s video series for “how-to” information!

6. Nearpod

This is one of the game changers in my classroom this year. After many years of using the same Spanish reader in Spanish III, I wanted to add to the learning experience of students by enabling them to see some of the locations described in the book. I had found many videos and magazines, but I found Nearpod to be a much better way to really engage students in the lesson. Not only did students enjoy the lessons because of the interactive nature of it, they were overwhelmed by the ability to become immersed in the virtual field trips and feel like they were in the places they read about in the book.

I knew it was working when those students who were constantly watching the clock move were the last to leave the classroom. The only thing that made this better was when students created their own lessons and took over the classroom, becoming the teachers and giving me the opportunity to become the student and experience it from their perspective. There are many uses for this in the classroom: interactive lessons, multiple question formats, ability to upload content, assigning a lesson for practice and more.

It is definitely worth taking some time to try out, even looking over some of the lessons available in the Nearpod library, and asking your students what they think. And the Nearpod for Subs is AMAZING!

7. Formative GoForm

A tool that can be used for having students complete formative assessments either live in class or as practice outside of the classroom, and a great way for teachers to get students more involved and be able to provide real-time feedback so that they can continue their learning process. Formative is a tool that has gone through many tremendous changes and improvements throughout the course of this year which make it a great tool for teachers to use for assessing students.

Formative is another tool that my students enjoy using because of the individual benefits of having feedback sent instantly and directly to them, being able to “show” their work or have their answers corrected immediately. It has been a way to create a more interactive classroom and also another tool which I have used to flip roles with students so that I could also learn from their perspective. It is something which students ask to use and which they are excited to tell others about, which is why I know that it is having a positive effect in my classroom.

Join #formativechat on Monday nights

8. Quizizz Quizizz1

A way to involve students in game-based learning in the classroom and also to provide more personalized instruction, based on the feedback you receive when students participate in a live lesson, or when you assign it as a homework practice assignment. I have enjoyed seeing students create their own Quizizz games, which I have found provides more focused practice for the students because they choose the material they need to practice.

Another benefit is that it also enables me to share these resources with the class and with individual students who may need some extra practice There are many features offered by Quizizz, and if time is lacking for creating your own Quizizz, you can gather questions and edit from all the public ones available. Try the game with your students and see what they think, and use their input to help plan the next game!

9. Buncee

The first time I created my own Buncee, I was amazed by the number of choices available for adding elements into my creation. I found myself thinking about how much the students would enjoy creating using it and having so many choices available. I have some students who like to “dab” every time they get an answer correct and so I quickly realized they would really love the fact that they could add a dabbing dancer into their presentation.

I created a Buncee for our annual Open House and was able to record my voice and add extra elements in from the diverse library of choices. Being able to create a Buncee like this, is a great way to share the information with parents who may not be able to attend. I had students create projects with themes ranging fr9. om a medical chapter to a lesson on teaching verbs and more. Students love the choices and the ideas for how we can use this tool keep growing. But the best part of it is that it enables every student to find something to add into their project and to bring out their creativity. And it definitely builds confidence with a lot of fun in the process.

10. Blendspace TES Teach

A few years ago I found “Blendspace” and it was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted an easier, more reliable way to share some websites with students to use for practice during and outside of the classroom. I had been doing this, by typing the links on paper, but the problem was that deciphering the link (between i’s, l’s, for example) sometimes made it a bit challenging. So when I started using Blendspace, now “TES Teach,” it was simply as a way to put activities and resources into a lesson and share one link which would open an entire page full of possibilities for enhanced learning.

But over this past year I have found many more uses for it, ranging from providing an asynchronous lesson, curating professional resources, storing student projects for easy presentation in class, and mostly for the simplicity of building a digital lesson full of multimedia resources, from scratch to share with students and colleagues. Creating a lesson is easy to do and can be done quickly when using the TES resources or when adding your own content.

Students can also use it to create their own presentations and this is a great way for them to incorporate a variety of media and to have everything available in one “lesson” using one tool. Accounts are free and you can have students join your class through a “pin” or Google Classroom or through a link. Teachers can also look at the lessons available through TES Teach and try some in the classroom.

11. Storyboard That

Storyboard That is an online tool that is used to create storyboard and provide a way for students or anyone to tell a story in a comic strip presentation Style. You can create by choosing from so many different characters props background scenes comma speak Bubbles and so much more. It is easy for students to create as this work as a drag and drop tool. It is a lot of fun for students to be able to really personalize the characters and create a very authentic and meaningful representation of the story they are trying to tell.

There are many characters and backgrounds related to specific times in history, you can change the color of the characters, their clothing, adjust their movement and more. It’s really nice for the students because they can customize so much according to their personal needs which really enables them to be creative and have fun and be more engaged in their learning.

Another benefit is that by having an account with school, there are lesson plans and examples available that can really help to see how to integrate StoryboardThat into your classroom, or really into any type of setting, to communicate information in a more visual, creative and innovative way. Another nice feature is that students can use it to present in class and have it presented similar to a power point.

12. BloomzApp

Bloomz is a tool which I began using at the end of the past school year, to see how it could enhance my classroom and open up more communication with parents. Bloomz offers a lot of great features, integrates the features of a messaging app, LMS, an event planner and more. It even provides translation capabilities with translation into 84 languages. Teachers can quickly create an event, share permission slips, create a sign-up sheet, track RSVPs, send reminders, and share photos and videos with parents.

Bloomz also enables teachers and parents to communicate instantly, privately, and as often as needed each day throughout the year. It recently added the features of a student timeline for building a digital portfolio to share with parents, as well as a behavior tracking program, for communicating about student behavior and providing positive reinforcement.

Conclusion

Even with all of the great digital tools available, we have to make some decision about what will work the best for our classrooms. What is the purpose for the implementation of technology? In looking over this list, are there any that you think might help to enhance, amplify or facilitate student learning in a more beneficial way than what you are currently doing in your classroom? Determining the answer is the first step, as we know that using technology just to use it doesn’t make sense. However, when we use technology in a way that enables us to help students find their voice, discover more about what they want to do, what they can do and what they need help with, makes sense. These are some of the tools which helped my students and had a positive impact on our classroom and learning experiences this year. To get started with the new year and some of these tools, my advice is to simply choose one of these tools and try it out. See how it goes and be sure to ask your students for their feedback as well.

Project Based Learning: Essential questions and Many Uses of Recap

April 14, 2017May 4, 2017Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Posted on December 7, 2016 Noemi Sparks

Posted in Guest Post, User Stories, Why Recap

Excited for the upcoming school year, I decided to start with some new ideas, teaching methods and digital tools. I wanted to continue using some digital tools from last year, but hoped to find different and more creative ways to implement them into the classroom. My motivation for this developed as a combination of time spent over the summer reflecting on the previous year, learning new things at summer conferences and through webinars, and engaging with groups on Voxer. But possibly the most impactful for me, was by obtaining feedback directly from my students. I used Recap over the summer to ask them what they enjoyed in class, what helped or didn’t help, and what they were looking forward to in the new school year. Student voice matters.

A New Experience

The biggest change for my classes this year, was starting PBL (Project Based Learning) with my Spanish 3 and 4 students. When taking on PBL, educators need to have some guidelines set as to how to begin and what the process entails. Students will be taking on a challenging new experience, one which provides opportunities for choices, independent and inquiry based learning. It is a different experience, because the students are in charge of their learning. They are studying something of a personal interest, or a passion to themselves. It is quite liberating and can lead to tremendous, authentic, meaningful learning opportunities, which will be highly beneficial for the students. It can also be a bit scary, because of the amount of independence involved in this method. So there are guidelines and resources available to educators that can help with implementing PBL in the classroom, and guiding students to develop their “Essential Questions.”

Getting Started

There are many great resources available for educators to learn more about and implement PBL (Project based learning) in the classroom. To begin this with my students, I first did some research to prepare myself for this new learning experience. I started with the Bucks Institute for Education (BIE, http://www.bie.org) for guidance before implementing it in my classes. I wanted to be prepared so that I could help to guide the students, even though I knew that I would also need some support along the way.

I carefully read over and took notes from the “8 Essentials for PBL” from BIE and also referred to several publications from ISTE for PBL. Other helpful resources were the weekly blog posts by Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy, offering advice focused on #HackingPBL, to be included in their upcoming publication, “Hacking Project Based Learning”, which will be published this month.

Another helpful book was “Dive Into Inquiry” by Trevor MacKenzie, through which I enjoyed hearing his experience and sharing the helpful images of rubrics with my students. During this process, I was also fortunate to have conversations with these educators, and early on, Don Wettrick, author of “Pure Genius” spoke to my students about PBL and how to get started, giving them great information and asking thought-provoking questions to challenge them. We had a Skype call with Ross Cooper, who listened to and offered advice to several of my students on crafting their Essential Questions. The students even later got to meet Ross and Erin and talk about the Hacking PBL book.

Next Steps

Taking all of this information in, I guided my students through each step in the process, with focus on the beginning stages of PBL. The first step is to decide upon the Essential Question. What is an Essential Question? From my research, I have learned that it is not something that can easily be answered by conducting a quick Google search or with a Yes or a No. An essential question requires more. It leads students to research and critical thinking, problem solving, independent learning, progress checks and reflection along the way. When focusing on the Essential Question, it is not readily apparent what the end result of the student learning experience will be. My students initially struggled with not knowing where their research would lead. An essential question requires more, leads to more student inquiry and should be something that will sustain student interest along the way.

Using Recap to focus on the Essential Question and PBL

Rather than have students write their Essential Questions, I asked them to think about what they wanted to study and to share their responses through Recap. I found this was beneficial because they could think through and explain their thoughts, and I could provide feedback directly to them. Having the opportunity to see and listen to the students as they shared their interests enabled me to understand the motivation behind their Essential Question. This method was very beneficial for me.

When we started our PBL, we decided to set aside Fridays as their “PBL” day, and they worked on it independently for the first 9 weeks. We had regular check-ins for updates and at the end, each student shared the product of their PBL experience, which could have taken any form, depending on where their research led them.

One very unique way that one of my students decided to share the information was by using Recap. Recap is a great tool for having students respond or reflect and gives them a comfortable method for sharing information with their teacher and also peers if they choose. One particular student suggesting using Recap to record separate videos of the results of her PBL study on Argentina and the tango. Using Recap for this purpose was a really great way for her to not only share her information and the reasoning of how she crafted her Essential Question, but also her thoughts and steps taken along the way. Using Recap made it very obvious to the audience how excited and engaged she was as a result of having the choice to pursue learning about an area of interest and passion. Even without the video component, the audio itself was enough to inform and engage the listeners in her topic. I could tell that she had chosen an Essential Question which led her through a tremendous learning experience,with sustained inquiry and engagement, and had truly gone through the Project Based Learning process. Selecting this as the “public product” was a great idea, and it also provided her with something to reflect upon as well.

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Using Recap to share the results of PBL

Marina: For my recent Spanish PBL project I decided to use Recap! PBL stands for Project Based Learning which means we come up with a topic that we are interested in learning more about. The first step is to state our essential question, the focus of our research and then being to explore and expand our knowledge. Along the way we might have more questions come up that we may not know how to answer, so we keep searching, learning and expanding our knowledge to find answers to them. At the end of the PBL project we are basically an “expert” and we can share our findings with our class, in any way that we choose.

For my presentation, I decided to use Recap. Recap is like no other tool we have ever used in our classroom and it is by far one of my favorites. Recap is a tool that allows you to record a two minute long video, to answer a prompt, share information, or anything you want. It allows you, as the student, to answer questions that your teacher or professor sends you and you can record yourself, with as many tries as you want and then send it right to your teacher. As a teacher you can create questions and send them through Recap to your students, allowing them to respond in the comfort of their home or anywhere to answer your questions and have a continuous chat with feedback. Or like I did with my PBL, you can just make videos by yourself, you don’t even need a question to be sent to you to be able to make one.

I love using Recap because I feel comfortable at my house recording my thoughts and then having them on my account to show and share with my whole class.

For my Spanish PBL product, I used Recap and recorded myself at home. I spent the time studying the Argentine tango and I was able to research my topic and prepare to make a couple of two minute videos to talk about and share what I had learned during our PBL. I didn’t have to worry about having to talk in front of the whole class and forget what I was going to say. With Recap it was stress free to present in front of my class because I pre-recorded it.

My class absolutely loved it because it was so different than just using Powerpoint or some other web tool that they had seen before. So not only did they learn about the Argentine Tango, they saw they could use Recap in a different way.

Recap is an amazing tool that can bring a whole new element to classrooms everywhere, at any time, because it is so simple and easy and not to mention a lot of fun! I really suggest it to students and teachers because trust me, they will love it!

Check out Rachelle’s Pioneer Page