Innovative Education in Vermont
Exploring innovative, personalized, student-centered school change
Family & Community Involvement Part of successful technology integration in schools is the welcoming of families and community members into the dialog around 21st century learning. Whether it’s communicating with families about 1:1 rollouts and take-home devices, or providing connections between motivated students and worthwhile community projects, here are some resources to help guide your …
Chrome extensions for immersive online reading
John Downes was appointed to Director of the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education in 2017. Prior to then, he had served as the Associate Director of the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education since its founding in 2009. Before joining the University of Vermont, he spent ten years designing and facilitating curriculum reform and professional development …
Get videos off your device with this easy app Attention screencasters! This could save you a ton of time. For all of you using Camtasia to produce your screencasts, there’s a new app that can import your videos from an iOS or Android device directly into Camtasia.
Here’s a great way to dip your toes in the digital credentialing waters: DIY.org. What Is It? Geared for kids 8 and up, DIY.org features dozens of digital badges heavily geared towards doing and making. To earn a badge, students choose to complete 2 or 3 challenges from an array of 7 or 8, and …
PAML 6th grade educator and all-around good egg Joe Speers returns to the blog to with another #1minutehowto, this time on how he’s using Google Docs to reinforce the difference between formal and informal writing with his students. Joe previously showed us how his students use Corkulous to create vocab flashcards, and how he …
Continue reading “How-to: Use Google Docs to reinforce formal vs informal writing”
I know, I know. But let me get a show of hands: how many of you now have that song stuck in your heads? You’re welcome. Whitney Kaulbach is a social studies educator at Lamoille Union High School, and over on her blog, she’s written a compelling and well thought out post on how she …
Welcome to our new twice-monthly column highlighting best practices for digital middle schools from a leadership perspective. Twice a month, Tarrant Institute director Penny Bishop and associate director John Downes will share their insight into what they’ve seen make a lasting and profound difference in technology integration with 21st century middle schools. In this …
Continue reading “Talk Us to Your Leaders: Penny Bishop & John Downes”
Meet Theresa White. She teaches 4th and 5th grade at Roxbury Village School, and this past summer, in preparation for her school going 1:1 with iPads, she took Susan Hennessey’s Emerging Technologies course, and as a result, shared this 5-minute lesson on getting up to speed with Google Drive on the iPad. Bonus: …
Continue reading “A Google Drive lesson for iPads + iPad skill checklist”