Stay up-to-date with new teaching trends!
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Being a STEM teacher means to know more than students do and it puts demands on teachers not to stop educating themselves. In the net of all on-line and on-spot courses it is sometimes difficult to distinguish among the numerous possibilities of being „tuned up“. I personally like the current trend of being enrolled in Massive Online Courses (MOOCs) which provide you with the handiest way to learn about things that really interest you and to contribute to your teaching career. These courses have been provided mostly in English language but some of them have been delivered in other languages. For more courses you can go to http://bit.ly/1Lnf8lO.
The online course “Teaching with Tablets” bit.ly/TWT16 is one of them and it is aimed to acknowledge teachers to use iPads, Tablets and handheld technologies interactively in their lessons. It is organized by The University of Northampton, an institution that has proved to be of high quality in achieving success in the educational field.
The course is divided in 7 weeks time. It started on the 7th of February and will last until the 21st of March. It is aimed at a wide audience of teachers from primary schools to higher education up to experienced practitioners all over the world. In the course of activity a group was created and is accessible to all at Google+ community bit.ly/GplusTWT16.
There is Weekly overview:
Course opens – 7th February 2016
8th February – Exploring Apps
15th February – Exploring Apps
Week 1 – 22nd February – Manipulating Media
Week 2 – 29th February – Visible Learning
Week 3 – 7th March – Technology Outdoors
Week 4 – 14th March – Digital Storytelling
Week 5 – 21st March – Talk and Collaboration
Each week starts with opening a new access to a topic listed above and teachers -in their own pace- can go through the listed activities. This way of interactive learning provides a good chance to meet iPads and Tablets friendly teachers and share their attitudes and points of view. The teacher is not left alone but has the support of other teachers and providers of the course, who will help them succeed in the accomplishment of active tasks. What I appreciate most about this course is that it suggests activities that help the teachers to put some ideas into practice with their own learners. The best thing about the course is that it gets activities from the book of the same name and for those who prefer to have a printed form of the manual, there is a link to order it http://bit.ly/1OF7FsY. The book helps teachers understand:
- How to use tablets to devise meaningful learning activities
- How to embed handheld technologies in genuine curriculum contexts, drawing upon case studies from existing practice
The course has its support on Twitter and provides weekly chats using the hashtag #TWT16 of teachers. It is a good experience for those who are not well familiar with using Twitter and Tweetchat. What the course brings to active teachers is:
- Apps covering different content and activities to support learning, communication and self-assessment (collaborative writing, digital photography, video, audio usability, presentation apps, assessment, evaluation, gamefication, etc.);
- Best practice approaches and practical examples for using iPads and tablets in lessons and education in general in different countries;
- Responsible and safe use of tablets and new media;
- Creating interactive materials for classroom use and deliver them to students;
- Identifying and reviewing practical tablet applications for educators, news and media applications useful for educators and their students (creating text, video clips, podcasts, presentations, screen-casting, images, PDF files, e-books, mind and concept maps, maps etc.);
- Designing, planning and writing sample units of work or lesson plans that deploy the iPad and tablets.
I think MOOCs have a lot to offer active teachers to stay well informed while taking part in educational life. The other courses can be found on the link http://bit.ly/1oHb85n and each teacher can enroll to online course according to his/her preferences and interests. Do not hesitate and from warmth of your houses attend the best tailored online course for you.
Article written by: Gabriela Krížovská, Scientix Deputy Ambassador
Tags: activities, course, lifelong training, tablets
Thank you for your excellent article on updates of teaching trends and teaching tools for teachers. You should also check out 10 edtech tools for teachers from CoderZ as another good resource. http://gocoderz.com/blog/10-edtech-tools-teachers/