Bloom's Layers Get Outta This World

This week, we're doubling down on scaffolding, introducing Bloom's Taxonomy and sending it all into space (well, up to the exosphere at least). This lesson provides sample activities and assessment questions based on the layers of the Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric layers are then re-layered into Bloom's Taxonomy, implemented with scaffolding, learning theories, and all sorts of educational goodness. Check it out on FlipSnack or in the embed below!

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Tools and Tricks and Techniques, Oh My!

Hello again! This week, we got bombarded with dozens (hundreds?) of apps, sites, tools, widgets, and gadgets. Our task: to create a video. Sounds simple you say? Just a short, 5-minute video, yes. But simple? Not really. My topic for this four-part series is the historic development of the atom. In the first module, we covered the Ancient Greek origins. This time, I was hoping to breeze through the experiments of the 19th and early 20th centuries that improved the atom from a small sphere to a complicated, charged network of subatomic particles. My goal was to illustrate the evolution of the atom, as well as two of the major experiments. Originally I wanted to use a Khan Academy/whiteboard style video to illustrate these concepts. Of the most commonly used video formats, the Khan Academy style is one of the most effective at engaging students (Guo, Kim, & Rubin, 2014) . However, I realized quickly that without a special tablet, it's really hard to draw that wel...

The Gift of Presence in Online Learning

It's time for presents presence! Specifically, the three types of "presences" we try to maintain in online learning: teaching, social, cognitive. Teaching Presence While it might seem obvious that a course needs a teacher, it also needs a clear sense that the instructor is there to direct and focus the class on the content, and maintain a safe and inclusive space (Garrison, 2007). A big part of this is starting the class on the right foot. Teachers need to establish ground rules, expectations, and goals for the course (Maxwell & Shackelton, 2012). To demonstrate this, I decided to create a Bitmoji classroom . At the moment, only the Netiquette box and my email actually link to the appropriate resource, but hopefully this gives you a sense of how it would look and function. Are you in love? See the video below for more information on how to create your own! This virtual "classroom" is a great way to get students oriented to a course, or to u...

A True Asynchronous Synchronicity

You might think the title of this post is purely for fun, but the tool I'm going to share with you came to my attention at an opportune moment when I was desperately trying to find tools that I could use in a particular class. At the time, I was not sure if I would be able to implement it in real-time (synchronously), or if I'd have to give students something they could work on even without me there (asynchronously). Such is life in a pandemic! Finding PearDecks and it's dual modes for instructor-paced and student-paced learning turned out to be exactly what I needed- a true synchronicity! In this post, I want to give you a quick introduction to PearDecks, an awesome tool that I use for both synchronous and asynchronous learning. In my school district, the first half of class is supposed to be synchronous, a time for "lecture," and the second half is asynchronous, for individual work time. ( Image available from Cotron Online ) Why this tool? In my school...

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