Purpose Games

Today's posting ought to be short, to the point, and  useful to any teacher inclined to use it.
I've been reviewing the website puroposegames.com

The types of games available at purpose games are not space invader or pack man type games, rather they are multiple choice, or matching--match the image, country,  etc. with the terms.  The images are more or less collages, that is you aren't given one image at a time, rather you are given a "poster," map, or diagram with dots at different locations on said image.  For example you may have a picture of the skeletal system with dots on different bones, after clicking on "start" you are given one label at a  time and must click on the correct location for that label.  When you're finished you see your time,  the percent correct,  and how you compared to others.  These games could be played by students at individual devices (at home or at school) or on a SMART Board for the class to see.

I find this site useful in two ways.

First, you can search for or explore games made by others.  Most of these "others" seem to be educators.  This site  seems to lend itself well to science and geography, but I found games in pretty much  all subject fields.  Below, I've posted a sampling of links to games across the curriculum.

Math:
Geometry Figures

Humanities:
Music Notes and Rests
Art Movements
famous Renaissance paintings

Science:
The Hydrogen Element
Skeletal system

Language Arts:
Great Works of Literature
Parts of Speech,
Grammar Correct Usage

Social Studies:
Famous People
Significant Dates in history 1960-2000

Second, You can make your own games.  Uploading an image is quite simple, placing the dots and labels presents no difficulties.  By making your own games you can tailor them to the SOLS (you can include "sol" in your search and you might be surprised at the number of  things you turn up, already correlated to the SOLs).

Here are two games I created which made specifically for the  Geography SOLs related to Europe.

Europe Physical Map
Europe Political Map

Purpose Games also includes the capacity to create player groups.  You can then go on to create "challenges" and "tournaments".  Perhaps some day I'll more fully explore those possibilities and let you know what I find.  For now, let me conclude by recommending "purpose games" as an easy to use site where your students can enjoy learning or reviewing assigned material.

Plicker

Ever want to quickly poll your students but don't want to hassle with the time it takes to set up devices? Plicker is for you!
I recently read a blog post from Richard Byrne about the top ten technology tools for educators this year and Plicker was on the list. Having not heard of Plickers I decided to look into it. Intrigued by what I read I emailed a teacher who I knew would be willing to try them out. Less than 24 hours later Plicker has been tried and deemed pretty darn cool by all involved.
What is Plicker? First of all, the word Plicker is a shortened form of "paper clicker". You know TurningPoint, right? Great tool, but sometimes finicky. The batteries in the clickers go dead, the students can't get their response recorded no matter how carefully they point to the receiver. Sometimes you just don't want to bother with checking out a TurningPoint kit from the library. With Plickers you print out a set of cards that have what look like black puzzle pieces on them, each side labeled with A, B, C, or D. Each student is assigned a unique Plicker (the Plicker below is #13). As with TurningPoint, students do not see how other students answer. Students display their Plicker with their answer choice facing outward (the Plicker below would register answer A if held in this position).

From the front of the room the teacher uses their smartphone to do a "sweeping" scan of their classroom as students hold their Plicker up to answer the question displayed. We found that as students saw their name checked off it worked best if they turned Plicker facedown - that way the teacher easily knew which Plicker still needed to be scanned. Teachers can enter questions on the Plicker site, or on their smartphone. As the teacher scans the classroom a chart shows on the phone which answers have been registered, and they are coded red/green for incorrect/correct.

The question is displayed via the LCD hooked up to the teacher's computer with the teacher signed into their account on the Plicker site, along with a list of the students in the class. The student list can be displayed by card number, first name, or last name. Teachers also have the option of displaying the answers next to the student name. Once all have answered you can display a graph of the answer choices, with or without the correct answer displayed.

   

The reports from Plicker do not compile all the results into one score, just by question. However, it makes a super tool to use for quick checks and exit tickets. Yes, you need a device on which to use the app - but there are Apple and Android versions. The version used to test Plicker was an Android. Since there is an Apple app, it is possible that an iPad could be used rather than an iPhone. Plicker cards are probably best used on card stock. The site does say if you laminate the cards to use a matte laminator so the glare does not interfere with your scan. 

Eduwidgets

Eduwidgets is a new site from the VDOE for teachers and students.  In fact it is still in Beta version and in my estimation a lot of work remains to be done on it.  Furthermore, there are many aspects of it which I haven’t yet had time to explore.  Nevertheless, I think I’ll go ahead and review it now, based on what I know, and perhaps write a second post after I've explored it further and they've improved it more.
The general objective of the site is to give teachers and students the ability to create online, interactive content tied to Virginia’s SOLs.  These “widgets” then can be made available to other teachers throughout the state. Likewise, an Accomack teacher can search through and use content created by others. 
This content can be displayed in one of three interactive formats: timelines, graphs, and images.
Here is an example of a timeline I created.  Notice that you can click at the bottom to take a quiz on what you might have learned from the timeline.  I found this timeline fairly easy to create.  However, Eduwidgets does not work equally well in all browsers (you want to stay away from Internet Explorer).  If you follow the link, you’ll go to a timeline which has not yet been “published”, so it doesn't show up in searches, etc.  I have a similar one I submitted for publication perhaps a week ago--and haven’t heard anything back on it--so that seems like a potential problem as well.
You might want to view and perhaps use some of the content which they have available as “exemplars” to get an idea of how the graphs and “interactive images” work.  I also created an Interactive Image, but, I’m not going to put the link to it in, because I think I sort of overloaded the system--wanted it to do more than it could really do smoothly.  The basic idea here is to have the student drag and image or text to the correct location.
Another problem I found with the site is that the instructional videos are blocked by our filtering system.  Given that they are hosted by Vimeo, I would think they will be blocked by the vast majority of districts throughout the state.   I can’t understand why the VDOE didn't foresee this difficulty.
The vision seems to be for teachers to set up and manage student accounts and for students to do research and create content themselves.  The creations can be interactive timelines, graphs, or interactive images--some of them remind me of some of the Gizmos with which the science and math teachers are familiar.  You can sort through Widgets which are examples from the VDOE, or others which have been authored and shared by teachers and students from around the state.  You can search through these by subject, by grade level, or/and by SOL. 
You can sort through and use widgets created by others without an account.  If you register for an account you can make your own--and have your students make their own.  Registration can’t be left to the last minute, however, as you have to confirm your Email address and then wait to be approved.
To summarize, Eduwidgets is a site I’d use if I were still teaching history.  I’d come up with an assignment where they’d have to do some research and present their findings in the form of a widget.  However,  I look forward to the day when all the bugs are worked out and the site is a bit more user friendly.

Google Apps for Education

This past weekend I spent two days at Charlottesville High School immersed in a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) Summit.  While we are not yet ready to adopt GAFE, I did learn some useful information, particularly surrounding the Chrome browser.

I’ve used Google Docs for years, even before it was Google Docs and was known as Writely.  With Google Docs, now Google Drive, there is really no need for Microsoft Office – as long as you have Internet access.  You can create documents, spreadsheets and presentations, along with drawings and forms that have many uses.  Any of these can be downloaded in Microsoft format.  The best thing, though, is they are automatically saved to your Google Drive account which you can access from any device with Internet access –smartphones, tablets and computers.  These documents can easily be shared with others – fellow teachers can collaborate or simply have a copy.  In GAFE schools the teacher can share a template or other document with their students who then make their own copy and share back with the teacher.  The teacher can then follow progress on the document, even leaving comments for students just as with a paper document.  No need to print anything unless there is a need.

I spent many sessions at the summit learning more about Chrome, one of the fastest browsers.  While I have long been an advocate for Google Apps for Education I was really thinking simply in terms of Docs/Drive, calendar, maps, etc.  I wasn’t thinking along the lines of apps for the Chrome browser.  If you have a Google account and log into Chrome and then switch devices, your Chrome “experience” is the same.  For instance, I tend to use one laptop at school and another at home – I can add apps and extensions to either laptop and they automatically appear when I open the browser on the other laptop.  With the dictionary extension double click on any word on a web page and you will get the definition along with an icon to click to hear the word.  There are plenty of apps, many of which are free and most of which automatically direct you to a webpage.  There are apps for Quizlet, StudyStack and many other flashcard generators.  Want typing practice?  There’s an app for that!  More than one, actually.  There are math game pages, mostly geared towards math facts for elementary students.  Higher level math courses can make use of graphing calculators and equation editors.  Those teachers might also want to look into Geogebra and Sketchometry.  Biodigital Human offers the human body, male or female, in 3D layers.  You turn on/off the skeleton and numerous other systems of the body – lymphatic, muscular, nervous, reproductive, endocrine, digestive, etc.  There are apps and extensions for home, school and business.

While our students don’t have Google accounts, these apps can come in very handy in the classroom as long as you have an account.  Most teachers now have an interactive whiteboard (IWB) of some type, simply display the app and let students interact with it on the IWB.  If you don’t have a Google account (you don’t have to create a Gmail account, you can use your ACPS email account), you will need to create it at home.  Once you have it created you will be able to sign in and use it in the school system.