ISTE Takeaway: Choosing the Right Tools

ISTE Take-Away: Choosing the Right Tools

After my amazing and often overwhelming experience at my first ISTE conference, I have a lot to think about, but many of my takeaways can be summed up by this theme: Think more critically about which tool to use for each job. Think about it. The most obvious difference between a master carpenter and his apprentice is that the master has a full set of tools, knows exactly which one to use and exactly how to use it. The apprentice does almost everything with a hammer, because that's all he knows how to do. It's awfully trite, I know, but it's one of those maxims that is easy to say and harder to live. It takes a long time and a lot of hard work, (and trial and error) to become a master carpenter. There is no reason it wouldn't be at least as hard to become a master educator in the digital world.

1. Assessment: Last year I did all my quizzes and unit tests on either Schoology.com or, after my district adopted it, Canvas. But at ISTE this year, there was a myriad of options for building both formative and summative assessment: Quizizz, Plickers, Quizlet, Quizalize, Socrative, Kahoot! and more. Why limit my students to one platform when it's not always the best one for the job? Check out this awesome flowchart from Matt Miller (of DitchThatTextbook.com) suggesting which one to use on any given day. Now that Google Apps for Education has added graded quizzes to it's Google Forms, there is even another option! Though honestly, my assessments will often be much more innovative next year anyway. I hope to try out FreshGrade in order to easily create collaborative digital portfolios that demonstrate learning in different ways.

2. Home Base: Google Classroom or Canvas? I choose Classroom. They are very different. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. The perfect LMS would have the data tracking and module design of Canvas and the user friendliness and GAFE integration of Classroom. This doesn't seem to exist, so I must choose a digital place for my class to live and because of the incredible power, integration and elegance of the GAFE collaborative tools, I choose Classroom. Do I wish I could better organize and
differentiate within classroom? Absolutely, but I choose classroom as my digital base camp for these reasons:

• Organization and collaboration: GAFE tools with their integration between docs, sheets, forms and draw have been the most transformative thing for my classroom so far. Classroom is the only LMS that offers simple and elegant integration with this, plus infinitely better organization tools. 
• Digital Citizenship: Some argue that a LMS should pull websites in under a safe and secure umbrella and that Classroom sends students out onto the internet to become distracted or worse, but as I become more of a digital age learner myself, I realize how important it is to be able to use multiple tools safely. I need to model that and teach my students how to accomplish it. This is part of teaching digital citizenship. I believe it is wrong it is to treat school as a sheltered simulation to help prepare children for the real world. When we learn to drive, we get into a real car and start slowly, with guidance from people who care about us, but in a real car, and in the real world. Isn't that how we should treat all learning? Shouldn't we be helping students to engage in learning about the real world with real experiences, guided, slowly at first, by someone who cares about them and is watching and coaching them closely.
• Betting on a Winner: Let's face it, Google has been outstanding in the educational technology department. Yes, they sometimes release products in an almost beta form, but they continue to improve and develop them with feedback from real users and they do it quickly. Google has just released a quiz feature within Google Forms and seems to have plan to release a parent communication feature in the fall. Thank you for listening, GAFE!

3. Design Thinking: Sometimes the best tool isn't a tool but an idea or a methodology. One of the ignite sessions on the first day really got me thinking about incorporating design thinking into my GameMakers unit. I really want to learn more about this process, especially for this Project Based Learning unit. I was a little disappointed not to be able to find out more about it at ISTE. I  couldn't find any sessions or posters that seemed to address what I want to do, but I won't let that stop me. Time to do some research. If you know of any good resources, please let me know!

4. Give students new tools, too: I had already planned to give up my teacher desk and create a maker-space within my classroom, but really my plan was to just get out the things I already had from old "build-a-cell" projects and the like to create a craft space. After really playing with Makey Makey, Raspberry Pi and Hyperduino, on the recommendation of some of my favorite people (Thanks Christy and Jen), I can't wait to add these tools to my classroom maker-space and give kids new and interesting tools to build with. Combining tech with real world leftover fabric, beads, glue gun is awesome too!

5. Badges: Do we need them? One session from those who had used digital badges made me realize I need to think more critically about why I would use them. In order for them to be meaningful, there needs to be a good reason to use them and more importantly, a good reason for students to want to earn them. Do they unlock a benefit or a new challenge? Will students have choice in which badges they earn? Can they demonstrate learning from my class to new people in other settings and vice versa? I have some thinking to do before implementing them. I think they could be very useful, especially to transfer credit for proficiency with a tool like raspberry pi or makey makey.

6. Stacked Solo Cups: It's not new. I've heard it before, give students 3 colored solo cups to signal when groups need you and when they are cruising along. Who would have guessed someone would mention it at ISTE? Actually, it went right into my take-aways list. Even though I have seen it many times before, I have never implemented this system, but as I move to a more truly student-centered class and take the #notalkwc challenge, (Thanks for inspiring me Alice Keeler) I realize that sometimes the best tool for the job might not be digital at all.

As I continue to improve my skill as a digital educator, I'll explore the ever changing landscape of tools available. I'll connect with my PLN through social media and from more of the amazing and overwhelming conferences like ISTE and InnEdCo that have inspired me so far, but always with this question in my mind: "When would this be the best tool for the job?"