App review: Scrawlar

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my thoughts on app I found out about via twitter. It is called Scrawlar. Scrawlar brings together a collaborative doc, drawing, and backchat into one easy to use app that you can use on your tablet, phone, or laptop.

What is Scrawler?

• Scrawlar is a web 2.0 tool that combines an interactive whiteboard, collaborative document, and chat feature into one user friendly classroom tool. 

How to set up Scrawlar:

• To create a Scrawlar account please go to http://www.scrawlar.com/signup.php
• Complete the requested information 
• Check the box to agree
• Click submit
• Once your account is set up login to the account by going to: http://www.scrawlar.com/login.php
• Select teacher
• Login to the account

Once you are logged in you will be directed to a work space where you can create a collaborative document, a sketch, and back chat (class feed). You can create new docs to share with students or check what has been shared with you.

Manage students in Scrawlar

• To create student accounts for your class select manage students
• Complete the information required for each student
• When an account is created a password will be identified for each student
• Students can login to Scrawler and find docs that have created and that have been shared with them

Sharing docs or sketches in Scrawlar

• Create a document you would like to share
• When document is complete click the share button (on your workspace, it is a green button on the right hand side)
• Select which users you would like to share your document with 
• Can select if the user can view or edit the doc
• Click update

Shared docs

• To view docs or sketches that have been shared with you select Shared with me
• You will find all docs or sketches shared with you here 
• You will also see the permissions a user has set for you (view, edit) 

Class feed

• The class feed feature is like a back chat
• Users can type whats on their mind here
• Responses will be displayed (most recent first)

How to use Scrawlar in your classroom:

• Collaboration between students
• Write and revise drafts of work 
• Group work 
• Use as alternative to Google docs
• Annotation on a drawing between several students  
• Back chat

Cool Tool Review...Piazza

Good Monday morning everyone.

I wanted to let you all know about a cool tool I found out about this weekend at TLT2014. This tool is a question and answer/discussion tool called Piazza.

What is Piazza?
Piazza is a free,  robust discussion board tool that can be embedded into your learning management system.  It allows for communication between students and instructor in realtime. It allows students to participate in discussions by either posting their username or as anonymous (in case you have those shy students). To learn more about Piazza access their PDF here.

How to set up Piazza
I know it looks like a lot, but it doesn't take anytime at all to set up an account. To set up Piazza please follow the instructions below:

1. Navigate to https://piazza.com/signup
2. Select instructors get started
3. Type in your school
4. Click continue
5. Enter your school domain, if you don't know your domain click "My school doesn't have it's own email domain"
6. Select I agree to the terms
7. Click Continue
8. Select the term for your class (summer, spring, fall, winter)
9. Name your class
10. Create new class
11. Enter the class number
12. Enter the class enrollment number
13. Click create course
14. Join the class as a student, TA, or professor
15. Enter the email address you want to use to enroll
16. Click enroll me
17. Enter your verification code (as per the email) 
18. Create your login information
19. Welcome to your class! Congrats!

Piazza Set up

Once you have created an account, you will be directed to your course page on piazza. From this point students can either self enroll (with the code you provided) or you can invite students via email or a class list.  Piazza also gives you a snippet of text to put in your syllabus explaining piazza. You can add questions/comments/ discussion points by organizing your class into folders. I  made each week as a module and then had final project, chat, and other folders. 

I created a welcome message in each folder, along with a poll, and file (an article for discussion). Students are then required to collaborate about the topic in the article. Now all I have to do is wait for responses! 

*For more help regarding Piazza please visit here. You will find video and text tutorials.* 

How to use it with your class

• Post announcements
• Ask questions to promote discussion 
• Put students in groups to promote group discussion
• Answer questions related to homework
• Use it as a discussion board
• Create polls 
• Load files and resources for collaboration 

How do you use Piazza? How do you plan to use Piazza? 

Connections all around the world using technology!

Guest Post by Elaine Hirsch

Thank you Elaine for creating another great blog post about several different technologies which can be utilized to connect classrooms around the world!

Using Technology to Connect Classrooms Worldwide

In today's global marketplace, it is more important than ever for students to learn how to connect and communicate with people around the world. Whether a student is in high school, college or even completing a masters degree, they can benefit from exposure to diverse cultures and global projects. Not only does collaborating with other schools provide new learning opportunities for students, but it is also a great opportunity for teachers, as it provides them with alternative perspectives on the subjects they are teaching as well as chance to develop lessons plans with other educators.

Electronic Pen Pals

One method of getting students interested in other cultures is by assigning them a pen pal. Use a website such as epals.com to locate a school in another country with students that are around the same age. Students can then write to their new friends on a weekly or monthly basis. It's a good a idea to develop a rubric to ensure students write about the topics you want them to learn. Besides letting students “meet” kids in another country, having pen pals is great for students in foreign language classes as it allows them to practice writing in the language they are learning. Students can even practice speaking the language by setting up video conferences with their pen pals.

Skype

Skype is a telephone and videoconferencing tool that teachers can use to show their students people from around the world.  Use to service like Edublogger to locate other schools around the world that are signed up with Skype. After pairing up with a partner school, let the students discuss their environments, similarities and differences. Students can also work on a project in their respective countries and then demonstrate the projects to the students from the other country during a video conference. Not only will this allow students learn about other countries, but it will also help students develop relationships with students from other countries and develop brainstorming ideas for collaborative projects.

Collaborative Projects

Collaborative projects are another great way for students to get to know others around the world. For example, a school in Delaware participated in a history project in which the students gathered items that were common around the time of a shipwreck that occurred in 18571. On the anniversary of the shipwreck schools from all over the world shared their projects with each other. Likewise, students can also partner up with students from other schools to share literary works or digital projects.

Forums such as Blackboard are often used for these types of projects. Additionally, Epals also offers an extensive list of projects that allows teacher to find and pair up with other schools to complete a project. Projects vary greatly from completing written works, encouraging diversity, sharing information about cultures, and exploring math and science problems. Students can also study factors that affect people all around the world, such as politics and the economy. Students can also complete webquests online, which will allow them to learn about other countries and customs.

Virtual Tours

Virtual tours offer another opportunity for students from around the world to learn together. Many virtual tours can be completed independently at the teacher's and students' convenience, making it for teachers to incorporate them into lesson plans. Tours can also be scheduled in advance in which schools from all around the world can hear information regarding a country or museum. This type of project helps connect multiple schools and provides students with the opportunity to hear and ask questions in real time.

Students use new technology everyday and educational progress should reflect this dynamic. Using services like Skype and Blackboard  to complete projects will not only allow students to work with other young adults across the globe, but they also give students the chance to learn about issues on a global scale, improve their foreign language skills and become familiar with social customs around the world.