1. Teacher Tasks and Productivity Tools
EDUC W200 Week 10

2. The five types of tasks…
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3. The five types of tasks…
?
Student-led
use of technology
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4. LET’S SHIFT OUR ATTENTION TO HOW
TEACHERS CAN BENEFIT FROM USING TOOLS.
• Generally with any technology tool, one can increase
their productivity when they are on task.
• Today, we will focus on tools that increase “teacher”
productivity.
• We will call these tools (teacher) productivity tools.
EDUC W200 Week 10

5. SO, WHAT DO TEACHERS DO? – COMMON
TEACHER TASKS THAT TECHNOLOGY CAN ASSIST WITH
• Pre-class teacher tasks: Plan lessons
o Teachers need to provide resources for learning.
o Teachers need to create worksheets.
• In-class teacher tasks: Manage class + facilitate learning
o Teachers need to “multi-task”.
o Teachers need to facilitate learning with multimedia resources;
students as well need to “note-take” with multimedia resources.
• Post-class teacher tasks: Grade (assess), record (administrative)
o Teachers need to provide feedback or assess students.
o Teachers need to keep various student records.
EDUC W200 Week 10

6. PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS 1.
WHEN PLANNING A LESSON…
• Teaching resources include lesson plan examples,
templates, worksheets, multimedia resources, etc.
o Teacher Community
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything
• Teachers.net
o Publicly Sponsored (museums, broadcasts, gov, edu)
• Discovery Education; PBS American Experience (History)
• ReadWriteThink
• Smithsonian American Art Museum – Education Resources;
National Museum of National History – Lesson Plans & Classroom Resources
• Library of Congress - Teachers
o Corporate Sponsored (ed tech companies, textbook publishers)
• BrainPop, BrainPopJr (K-3)
• Scholastic Teachers
• Microsoft Office Templates
EDUC W200 Week 10

7. Tryout: Readability tests
• Sometimes, you find a great web resource, but your
students simply don’t get it because the words are
too difficult for them.
o Think about what resources you used in your Webquests for
TIP 6 and 7
• How can teachers make sure the web texts are at the
appropriate reading level for your students?
EDUC W200 Week 10

8. Tryout: Readability tests
• You can run a “readability test” via this web tool:
http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php
• The tool scans the text data from the webpage and
analyzes it with mathematical algorithms. The results
are reported in three types of reading level indices.
(E.g., Gunning-Fog Index, Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade)
• What do teachers do if the original resource is too
complex (or not complex enough) for the target
students?  They make “ADAPT”
EDUC W200 Week 10

9. Tryout: Readability tests
• Pair up with someone close to you.
• Open up your ICW#6 Webquest > Process page.
• Paste its URL to the readability tool and run the test.
• Discuss the result of the test
o Gunning-Fog Index
o Flesch Reading Ease
o Flesch-Kincaid Grade (easiest to interpret !)
• Make necessary changes to the webquest.
EDUC W200 Week 10

10. PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS 2.
IN CLASS…MULTI-TASK, BE EVERYWHERE
• Smart and mobile technologies free up teachers from the
teacher station to be available for students in need.
o Attendance Apps: KidGrid, Attendance for Android, Google Forms
o Smart Sync (demo)
o Clickers: Turning, SMARTBoard RS, Socrative, Co:lor, and more!
o MOBI(Mobile Interactive Whiteboard)
o Splashtop Desktop or Other Remote Desktop Apps
• A tool for both teacher and students? Tools that allow note-
taking of multimedia resources
o Evernote (Evernote Story on Youtube)
o MS OneNote
o Google Docs
EDUC W200 Week 10

11. Productivity Tools 3. After Class
• Reminder Tools for Organization
o Google Calendar (set reminders and include an entire class)
o Remind101.com – Send text messages to students OR
parents
EDUC W200 Week 10

12. PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS 4.
AFTER CLASS…GRADE AND RECORD
• LMS (Learning Management System)
• An integrated system/platform that manages “learning”
• The system functions as a resource sharing space, space for
discussion and communication, awarding grades and
feedback, keeping student work, etc.
• Examples:
o Blackboard [proprietary] vs. [open source] Moodle; Sakai
• Read this blogpost on Blackboard buying Moodle!
o E.g., Oncourse (Sakai), CanVas
o ClassDojo – targeted for younger students (K-3?)
o My Big Campus; LearningConnection (Introduction video)
EDUC W200 Week 10

13. Hands-on Activity: COMPARE LMS’S
• You will be comparing two LMSs in pairs.
• First, review the LearningConnection using your
existing account. Then, go to My Big Campus, sign up
as a teacher (email confirmation required), review
major features.
• Discuss:
o Major features that are common in both tools
o Major differences
o Which one you would prefer using and why
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