GaETC 2015

An infopic is a photo with text layered on top that is designed to communicate a message. The message might be a summary, quote, definition, notes, data, weblink, or other informational tidbits. The information might come from a conference, workshop, activity, lesson, video, book, a conversation, etc. Infopics can help us process, remember, and convey information in an appealing way. See loads of examples and learn about apps, websites, and techniques that teachers and students can use for making their own infopics.

Learning academic terms and phrases doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, learning new words should be exciting and fun! It’s time to start looking at digital ways to expand students’ vocabulary. Let’s explore apps and websites that are so irresistible, students can’t help but be motivated to learn. We’ll take a good look at representing words visually, creating multimedia, and playing games. Yes, the technology can be mesmerizing, but it’s important to use techniques and strategies proven to work. That’s why pairing technology with Robert Marzano’s Six Steps for Vocabulary Instruction is a powerful combination.

Collect information, homework, and exit tickets with Google Forms. Forms is part of Google Drive, and educators love how a form’s responses feed directly into a spreadsheet for easy access and analysis. You don’t have to start your forms and spreadsheets from scratch because there are useful templates and helpful add-ons. Teachers can create assessments, surveys, checkout forms, and self-grading quizzes. Administrators can poll their staff, collect information from parents, and keep logs. Bring your laptop so you can complete sample forms and make some of your own.

Foster creativity and promote independence by giving your learning centers or stations a makeover! The collection of activities teachers provide students at a center can be enhanced with technology, even if there’s only one computer or tablet in the classroom. Explore how you can leverage websites and apps to give learning centers a boost, especially when it comes to setting the course, providing content, supporting creativity, and capturing responses. We’ll focus on free tools, so you can get to retooling your learning centers right away!

There are much better ways to study than gazing at a stack of flash cards. Let’s see how technology can turn studying into a game! Tony Vincent has collected some of the best websites and apps to help students learn and retain information. Websites like Quizlet and PurposeGames let students search for or input what they want to study and turn it into a series of activities and games. You’ll see why when students make their own study aids, it aids in their studying!

Whether you're flipping your classroom, app smashing, blogging, moviemaking, storytelling, or presenting, visuals are not just important, they are essential. Since it's not legal, ethical, or cool to steal any old image you find on the web, it's great to know that there are alternatives to theft. Let's become familiar with resources for finding copyright-friendly images, including the best places to get public domain and creative commons images.

Not only do projects motivate students because they can be an authentic use of technology, they also facilitate active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. In this session Tony Vincent showcases several inspiring projects. Each project begins with a driving question—an open-ended question that focuses the project by creating interest and curiosity. Writing effective driving questions is surprisingly challenging. Get ideas for making questions relevant and open-ended, and see how to make a driving question a “big deal."

Taking notes isn’t limited to putting pencil to paper and writing in outline form. There are plenty of other ways to take notes, especially when a student is equipped with an iPad. An iPad can help learners capture, organize, store, find, and share their notes. And those notes can be a combination of typed text, handwriting, photos, drawings, flowcharts, audio, and video. Let’s explore apps that can enable learners to capture and process information in ways that make sense for them.