The Grand Finale

Alright so maybe it's not *the* grand finale, but a small finale certainly. This reflection culminates a long semester of gamification, best practices, research and reading, designing, shining, and above all, blogging. So here are my top 5 stand-outs from it all, from big proclamations to tiny tidbits that are now recorded for posterity!

1. If you are thinking of a video or presentation that you want to share with your students, someone has probably already made it. BUT, it might not be free, it may not have the exact detail/ vocabulary/ tone that you need, and it will be wayyyy too long. Enter, video editing programs like Edpuzzle that let you crop and add questions or notes to videos from YouTube. I definitely plan to try for more of a flipped classroom approach to some of my lesson plans, and use Edpuzzle to make sure students watch and understand the video before class, using videos from all over the internet so that I don't have to create each from scratch. And if I can't find something on YouTube, could it possibly be worth knowing? In the rare instance that the answer is yes...
2. It's *so* easy to make your own screen grab videos. I've been using Screen-cast-o-matic all semester, and it's ridiculously easy to add your talking head to a video of your screen, which can include powerpoint, websites, or heck, even video clips you want to comment on. Adding your face to a presentation goes a long way towards increasing engagement (Guo et al., 2014), and by having your face and the text/presentation/image/video showing at the same time, you save time from having to toggle between views, helping keep your videos short and sweet. Side note- I reference that Guo et al. paper so much that I've memorized that citation and everything I use it for. Also, Brame's 2017 paper on best practices for videos.
3. Planning takes longer than doing, UNLESS you have technology issues or you realize that what you'd planned won't work with the technology you chose. So really, budget 1/2 your time for planning, 1/6 for doing, and 1/3 for technology trouble shooting. Seems to be true almost every time unless you're really comfortable with the content, technology, learning management system, etc. I have certainly neglected to include enough technological trouble shooting time in my lesson planning, and hopefully I won't do that again!
4. Just make it a game. Seriously, can your assignment be a game? I bet it can. It doesn't have to be hard or time-consuming (check out Blooket), it can do wonders for motivation and engagement (Kostic et al., 2015; Alsawaier, 2018), and it can be easier (or at least more fun) to grade if you design it well. Since AP Environmental Science requires students to practice with multiple choice questions, I definitely plan to use Blooket to make that review more engaging!
5. Don't pay for technology if you don't have to. There's a free version of everything, and it's hard to tell in advance what will work with your school's privacy settings and the student's laptops, what will grow with your content, what will actually be fun and what you'll forget about in a week. So don't pay for it if you don't absolutely need it.

So to end it all, another big takeaway from this course is that there is so. much. technology. So many programs for teachers, so many platforms that claim to do it all, so many versions and levels and tiers of each. And it's tough to know what's out there and stay on top of it! So, it seems important to develop a plan for how to stay in the loop on all the goings on in the ed tech world. Here are 5 ideas for how to do that.

• This one is so easy it feels like cheating, but make someone else keep you in the loop! By that of course I mean sign up for email updates or newsletters from sites like New Tech Network or the many research journals on EdTech (here's a list of ten). Aside from just sharing new technologies themselves, these resources can help keep us up to date on how to use them effectively!
• Follow some educational blogs. I love Cult of Pedagogy (links to a post on tech tools) and EduTopia. Many blogs will also send out email updates with new posts, so you don't have to remember to check the blog itself to stay in the know.
• Inquire about your school's continuing education policies and ask other teachers in your network what programs they've found useful. 
• And on that note, ask your students what tools they've used in other classes that they've liked! This could be a great way to start a new school year and collect some ideas for platforms they may enjoy and be familiar with.
• This last one might not work for everyone, but try "liking" some social media related to the topic of educational technology. Turns out the internet is pretty good at sending you advertisements for things it thinks you like and might pay for. You might as well get advertisements and recommendations for things that are useful! When I scroll through Facebook, I get adds for all sorts of education related content that gives me the opportunity to check out new stuff that grabs my attention. Pinterest in particular, I've found, is a pretty good predictor of your interests, and has tons of linked content that is super useful, such as educational blogs and products related to topics I've searched for and viewed.

It's been a pleasure blogging with you all! Best of luck in your future endeavours.

References

Alsawaier, R. (2018). The effect of gamification on motivation and engagement. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 35(1), 55–79. https://doi.org/10.1108

Brame, C. (2017). Effective Educational Videos. Life Sciences Education, 15(4). https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.16-03-0125

Guo, P., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How Video Production Affects Student Engagement. http://up.csail.mit.edu/other-pubs/las2014-pguo-engagement.pdf

Kostic, B., Groomes, D., & Yadon, C. (2015). Game Shows as Review Activities: The Impact on Course Evaluations and Student Perceptions. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(4), 349–361.