Techie Nerd Alert: Tip #1 CUE Conference

 

Happy Tuesday my friends! 

As my followers know, I LOVE technology!!! I often refer to myself as a techie nerd ... yes, it's true!! I frequently include technology tips and ideas in my blog posts ... so I decided to start organizing my technology ramblings into 

"Techie Nerd Alert Tips"!!! Yay!

This will be my first "official" tip.  

Techie Nerd Alert: Tip #1 CUE Conference

 

I was fortunate enough to attend the fabulous CUE conference earlier this month in Palm Springs.  This conference is all about TECH!!! It is centered around using technology to advance learning in the classroom.  My mind was blown!  I was truly inspired by all the innovative teachers I had the pleasure of listening to.
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I learned a TON!!! I'm in the process of experimenting different websites, apps, and strategies in my classroom.  I plan to share my findings and document my never ending tech journey with you ... my lovely followers.

I'll start simple and share three of my favorites.

Edmodo is amazing! I've used this for the last few years as a collaboration tool among teachers in my district and at my school site.  It is a great way to share and post ideas with my teacher peep community.

I never really thought of using it with my students.

However, I'm always looking for new TECHIE ways to build collaboration among my students.

Many presenters at the conference suggested using Edmodo.  A few of my techie savvy colleagues also shared how they use Edmodo for homework and assignments. 

Hmmm .... ding, ding, ding!!! I decided to try it out.

I love it!!  I can ask my students questions about their learning, post surveys or polls, assign homework, attach files or web links (for students to access at home), and more.  I plan on blogging about this in the future.

Here's a link to the website.  After you create an account, you can access it online or through the Edmodo app.

Here's a link to a permission letter in English and Spanish.  I sent this home with my students last week.  Parents can create their own account as well.  They won't be able to post or reply to any comments, but they can view your class homepage.  So cool!

Here's a screenshot of what my homepage looks like.  We're finishing up our solar system unit this week.  Our Open House is this Thursday.  I'm planning on having students and families post a comment on an iPad together.

Another one of my faves from the conference is Telegami.  This app is SO much fun.  Click on the link below to see what it looks like. 

Haha! I told you I was a tech nerd.  Funny!
 
This app is a great way to showcase student learning.  Students can design their avatars, choose a background, and record their OWN voice.  The background image can be ANY picture.  It can be a photo you have taken or an image from the web.  Fun!

 
I had each of my students make their own Telegami video to share at our Academic Fair (a.k.a Open House).  Their videos will be playing on my smartboard. 

The only downside to this app is that the avatars are adult characters.  I wish they had a Telegami with kid avatars.

My last favorite (for now) is AR!!!!

This is amazing!! At my school AR stands for Accelerated Reader, but there is a NEW AR in town.  AUGMENTED REALITY!!!!

I attended a session by a fabulous presenter, Carol Anne McGuire. The whole audience was in awe of the cool things she showed us!!

I often use QR codes in my classroom.  I love them.  QR codes are fabulous.  Students scan them and are instantly taken to a link.  This link can be a website, image, or text.

Augmented reality is another way for students to scan an image and instantly get more information. 

The BIG difference here is that AR brings images to life!!!

There are many books that have AR embedded in them.  For example, Guinness World Record Books (2013 and 2014) have AR.  After you download their app, images from the book literally come to live and jump off the pages.  WOW!!!!!

Also, there is a fun app called ColAR Mix.  You can print out a few free coloring sheets from the ColAR Mix website.  After students color, they can use the app to bring their coloring to life.

 

I had my students design their own planet.  Using the ColAR app, their planets rotate!!!  

Are you amazed yet?!!!!!

This is why I call myself a techie nerd!! 

This is the first of many "Techie Nerd Alert Tips!"  I'm excited to continue sharing with you.  My goal is to share a new tech tip once a week. 

Happy TECHing,