NCVPS is AMAZING!

NCVPS, is a a supplemental program with student being from mostly public and charter schools. 100% of North Carolina's school districts have students enrolled.  It offers over 150 courses with electives, core courses, credit recovery, and STEM. All 150 of these courses are aligned with the North Carolina Course of Study, and aligned with the standards of the Southern Regional Education Board and International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Over half of the 500 teachers that teach each semester, are also teaching face-to-face during the day. The passing rate for the courses is at an 82%.
I have to admit, this is a pretty astonishing thing to have for their state. I wish Michigan would have something like this. This would encourage students to go back and finish school if they were unable to physically go to school due to sickness, pregnancy, or family issues. Students who are enrolled are able to call, text, email and instant message their teachers any questions or comments they have. If I had the choice to be enrolled in this program, I so totally would!

3D Printing

I think that the use of a 3D printer is a complete game changer for education.  In a time where geography is completely missing in curriculum or involves the coloring of worksheets, a 3D printer could make geography and its connection to history come alive again.  I am interested in becoming a high school history teacher, but I recognize that many people lack artistic skills like I do and assignments that call for modeling strike terror in the hearts of many.  This device would allow a teacher, for example, to really show students why a terrain or topography would have such an impact on a war's outcome or really help demonstrate why people concentrate where they do to live.  I think this would be a terrific aid to make concepts that are foreign to many students, especially those whose families do not have the financial means to travel, vibrant and much more understandable.

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Prodigy

After seeing the different games in class, I was curious to see if someone was nice enough to incorporate it with specific state standards. Sure enough, Prodigy, a math learning site, calls itself a "Pokemon style game" and is lined up with k-8 math standards in various states. There are also standardized test prep options. The teacher can select to use this every now and then or daily. It allows the teacher to create a programmed lesson plan based on specific standards which could be as long as a day to a whole week. It also gives an estimate of daily time that students will need. The site is adaptive to student learning and allows for easy differentiation. And while the students are plugging away, they are motivated by the fast pace, immediate feedback, and interactions with their online characters and environments. It can also be used as an RTI tool because of the easy reporting that teachers see. There are videos on the website on how to use it for RTI. Additionally, it allows the teacher to see the progress made by the class as a whole and from specific individuals. It has a graph that shows the number of students below grade level and at or above grade level, allowing teachers to easily get a feel for how the class is doing. And based on individual progress reports, I could easily think of a way to link the progress made on prodigy to something in the grade book for classwork.

While I do not wish to teach k-8, I think it is a cool resource. I can definitely see it or something similar to it expanding to high school and other states.  The only downside I can think of is that the teacher has little control over what problems are being provided. When selecting which standards to cover the system generates different problems from a problem bank to give to the students. While this is good for differentiating, it could also mean that there may be a problem you might not have thought to prepare the students for. I could also see it being problematic if a problem covers more than one standard and the students have not had experience with that other standard. However, I think it is certainly an interesting and engaging learning tool and I would give it an overall thumbs up.
(All information taken from Prodigy Game)

Statisticsteacher.org (ST) is a great resource for K-12 teachers who are looking for different and diverse ways to incorporate statistics into their students’ learning. The site provides all sorts of education articles, lesson plans, announcements, professional development opportunities, technology, assessment, and classroom resources specific to the teaching of stats. The site creation is the result of a joint collaboration between the American Statistical Association and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Statisicsteacher.org is extremely simple to use and navigate. There are eight tabs across the top navigation bar that allow the user to access most resources within two clicks. For example, under their “Technology” section, teachers will find articles and links to various tools like iNZIGHT that help teachers bring stats “to life”.

Teaching statistics can be challenging. ST helps by providing full lesson plans under a very easy to find “Lesson Plans” section. Teachers can access at least one lesson plan for most K-12 grade levels and each plan is connected to specific CCSS standards. Most lesson plans incorporate a graphing calculator and strongly encourage the use of statistical software if available.

All in all, the site is a great starting point and takes some of the “scary” out of teaching stats!

Study Blue

    StudyBlue is an online learning service that helps high school and college students study for selective courses. The user is able to download Study Blue on any device at any time. The site will allow you to study by searching for your school and courses as well.
   This site shows the frequently searched courses by your particular school. The user is allowed to look through millions of notes discussed on class chapters. The user also can make and share study materials and join classes with other students. Study Blue helps make learning more efficient, allowing the user to enjoy more instructional activities.
   This growing online study tool, now has boasting 500 million flash cards, notes and study guides by students. Compared to 2009 company results (when Study Blue was first founded) of 5.5 million users and only 200 million study materials available. The educational site is easy to navigate and view.

Quizlet Live

I discovered the "Quizlet Live" feature of quizlet today while exploring different educational technology.  Quizlet is a website and an app which helps students learn better by allowing them to create custom flashcard sets. After the sets are created, students can learn a variety of ways, such as timed matching games, fill in the blank exercises, and traditionally reviewing the flashcards in whichever way to user sees fit. This technology is free and helps students learn in a tech-savvy way. Quizlet caters to every learning style, and contains many aids which help cater to those learners with disabilities.
      Contrasting the rest of its features, "Quizlet Live" is geared towards teachers. In this feature, teachers create a custom flashcard set for their students. After this is made, there will be an access code used for the students to access the set in class. Once signed in, the kids will compete in teams to answer all of the questions correctly the fastest. This gameshow-style learning exercise is a fun way to build teamwork, communication skills, and the desired content. This future seemed exciting and fun to me, and would work great as a learning aid in K-8 classrooms. Personally, I was unaware of this feature and hope it gains more awareness, as it is a fun and engaging way to ensure the students are learning the material. Overall, I am very excited about this technology and hope it gains more recognition in the future

Hopscotch App!

Today I was told about the Hopscotch app, which is a fun and educational app for teachers and children. In the app, you can learn computer science, such as coding, and create your own games. Every video and feature is colorful, easy to use, and children friendly. Not only is the app educational and a great teaching tool, but a great way to increase learning in the home. This app is one way to make learning STEM more fun and also to integrate education into video games. I downloaded the app on my phone and am going to try and create my own video games using the instructions. I thought this app was cool and a great way to engage kids in learning from a young age using technology! I will attach the link to the app below and hope you all have fun exploring the app.

https://www.gethopscotch.com