Title: Classroom Workflow
Course: Workflow - Part II (Classroom) > Section: Investigation

Table of Contents

Part One - Altering Learning Expectations: Explore the ways in which teaching and learning will change when using a mobile workflow.

- Brainstorm Activity- Changes in your classroom

Part Two - Helping Students: Ideas for how to help your students adjust to a mobile classroom workflow.

- Brainstorm Activity - Your Students

Part Three - Resources: Learn how to establish a habit that will help you keep current on EdTech developments.

- Activity Choice - Twitter or News Reader

Part Four - Creating a workflow with my students: Explore the various ways you can create a mobile classroom workflow.  Choose one method that would suite your classroom needs.

Application & Discussion: The final stage of the investigation.  You will have several activities to choose from.  Please complete one.

* To move on to another section of the investigation please click the title button at the bottom of the page.
Note - this is not the button that says classroom workflow.  That will exit you out of the investigation.

The Paperless Classroom

Part One - Altering Learning Expectations

How might these devices alter my expectations for how students conduct their daily learning in class?

A 1:1 classroom transforms the teaching and learning process by increasing student access to content and their ability to collaborate and create.  The teacher's role expands from not only being a content expert but also a master facilitator, guiding students through a process of learning and discovery.  Ultimately learning becomes an active process where students interact with the curriculum.  Traditional assignments are transformed to become collaborative, interactive and grounded in real-world context.  Classroom communication is enhanced by providing a digital platform that continues the communicate and instruct beyond the class period.  Please read the Creating Learning Environments by Ben Johnson a HS Principal and former Spanish Teacher.  This article provides a brief insight into how technology changed the learning envrionment in his Spanish classroom.

How will my classroom look different? Although a 1:1 envrionment does change the nature of teaching and learning ultimately your classroom will still be the same in that it is a place where students gather to gain and create knowledge.  There are four main considerations to think about as you embark on creating a mobile workflow with your students:

- Communicating class content
- The nature of learning activities and assessments
- Peer collaboration and student work
- Classroom expectations and management specific to mobile workflow

The Altered Classroom Experience

Communicating Course Content:

- Content can be communicated to students in an electronic fashion and housed in a common place such as Google Drive.  This format serves many purposes such as:
  - Enabling students to access information in class without paper helping to facilitate student organization and to provide access for absent students.
  - Allowing for individualization by tailoring course material for different learners' needs and privately sharing it with those students.
  - Facilitating easy review of semester content.
  - Enabling parents to become involved and aware of the content you are covering in class.
- Diversify course content by enabling you to pull other experts into your content by guiding students to various resources.

Learning Activities and Assessments: What you ask kids to do and how they demonstrate their learning can change.

- Students now access classwork in a shared digital space.
- Students display their knowledge through an increased variety of interactive platforms such as iMovie, Explain Everything, WordPress, Keynote or Numbers.
- Simulations become real.  Instead of writing to fictional audiences students can blog about a subject it in real time getting feedback from peers and community members.
- Students can connect with others outside of the classroom.
- Teacher feedback can occur "in progress" while students are working on an assignment when created in a shared ditigal space such as Google Drive.
- Formative and summative assessments can be assessed through digital tools.
- Individualization is easier and more diverse as teachers have greater tools at their disposal to modify assignments.
- Electronic dissemination of modified work protects student privacy by allowing you to place modified assignments in individual student folders.

Peer Collaboration:

- Students can easily collaborate on projects through digital platforms that enable sharing such as Google Drive
- Students can work remotely on group projects eliminating issues of absenteeism and meeting outside of class to complete work.

Classroom Expectations and Management: With this structural change comes the need to communicate how this will work.  Below are a few tips to get started.  For additional support please reference the Classroom Managment Resource Document or consider taking the Classroom Management Module.

- Clearly communicate your expectations both in writing and verbally.
- Train your students in mobile workflow procedures in a similar manner to how you train your students in all classroom procedures.
- Start slowly
- Set clear expectations and outcomes for collaborative work.  When approriate, create roles for students to assume during collaboration.
- Have a "signal" for when the device should be "on" and when it should be "off".
- Think about how you will handle student distractions.  This should be similar to how you handle general distractions.
- Think about how you will handle students who forget their device at home.  This should be similar to what you do when kids forget current resources at home (notebooks, textbooks etc.)

Brainstorm - Changes in your classroom

Take a minute and brainstorm the ways in which your classroom will change as a result of mobile learning.  Think about the following questions. It is okay if you don't have concrete answers, this is your beginning brainstorm.

1. What course content will you now communicate electronically?
2. What learning activities or assessments will students do online?  What platforms will you use?  (Certain apps, blogs, sites etc.)
3. What projects can students now collaborate on using Google Drive?
4. What classroom expectations do you want to change?  What worries you about managing a mobile workflow?

Part Two - Helping Students

How can I help students adjust to these changes?

- Model these skills.  Create and use a mobile workflow in your professional life.  For support please reference the Workflow Resource Document or take the Module - Workflow - Part I (Teacher)
- Set up a classroom workflow structure.  Teach them, reinforce and use it frequently.
- Set clear expectations and processess on how to co-create and collaborate.
- Create assignments where students practice these skills
- Start slow to go fast.  Take time to teach and reinforce these skills.  Choose to introduce and work on one or two skills at a time.  For example when introducing this to students first work on turning in an assignment electronically, then work on co-creating an assignment with a peer and build up to more complex tasks.
- Create clear instructions on not only how to complete the activity but on how to organize and submit the work electronically.  See this example from an activity in a World Studies classroom.
- Talk and teach about Digital Citizenship.

Common Sense Media
Great resources for educators

Brainstorm - Your students

Think about one of your most recent classes.  If you were to implement a mobile workflow with them what would be your first steps?  Take a minute and brainstorm some of these questions.

1. What skill(s) do you think will be the most crucial for you and your students to master first when creating a mobile workflow?
2. What are a few strategies you can use to help your students master these skills?
3. What anticipated problems do you forsee?

Part Three - Resources

Where can I find new and up-todate resources on student workflows with mobile devices? As we know technology is constantly changing.  What we learn and implement in our classrooms today will become antiquated in a few years.  Equally important as learning how to set up a mobile classroom workflow is establishing the habits that will help you stay current in Educational Technology.  Below are a few suggested ways to help you build your habit.

Creating the habit:

- News Reader - Use a news reader to keep track of blogs and websites that discuss the new trends in EdTech
- Twitter - Use Twitter by following Connected Educators to see what they are saying.  Also participate in a Twitter Chat on a particular topic that interests you.  Chats enable people to gather on Twitter are a designated time to discuss a common issue.  Chats are tracked by #hashtags

Below choose either News Reader or Twitter to begin the habit.

Activity - Twitter

Using Twitter to stay current in EdTech:

- If you don't already have a Twitter account please set one up at Twitter.com.  Here are some tips for setting up a Twitter Account.
- Choose one (or both) of the following activities.
- Then share what you have done in the Twitter Discussion Forum

Activity One: Follow Connected Educators

Directions:

- Click on on one or both of the following lists.
- Click "Subscribe" located in the left hand corner under the list name (EdTech or SVVSD)
- You will find tweets from the individuals on this list in your home screen.
- To view tweets only by people on this list click on "me" then "lists" then the list you wish to view
- Once you are done add your thoughts to our Twitter Discussion Forum

Connected Educators from around the nation:

Tweets from https://twitter.com/SVVSDITC/edtech

SVVSD People:

Tweets from https://twitter.com/SVVSDITC/svvsd

Activity Two: Twitter Chat

Directions:

- Sign into Twitter during one of the chat times.  Follow and participate in the conversation.
- Once you are done add your thoughts and ideas to out Twitter Discussion Forum

Suggested Chats:

- #edtechchat - Monday nights 6pm-7pm MDT or Tuesday nights 5pm-6pm MDT.  A discussion dedicated to anything related to Education Technology.
- #edchat - Tuesday afternoons 12pm-1pm EST or Tuesday nights 7pm-8pm EST.  One of the more popular chats it attracts participants worldwide to discuss anything related to education.
- #Irnchat - Thursday nights 8:30p-9:30p EST
- #iPadEd - ongoing
- #flipclass - Monday nights 8pm-9pm EST. Conversation surrounding the flipped classroom.
- #1to1echat -

Check out other chats on this schedule of weekly Twitter Chats.

 Twitter Discussion Forum

Activity - News Reader

Using a News Reader to stay current in EdTech:

- If you don't already use a news reader create an account on one of the following recommend sites.
- Browse through the suggested sources and add some to your reader.
- Once completed share what you have learned in the News Reader Discussion Forum.

Feedly Video - Short explanation of Feedly News Reader

Feed Your Mind On The Go from Feedly on Vimeo.

News Readers:

- Feedly (works on web, iOS, Android)
- Curata Reader (works on web)
- Digg (works on web)
- Flipboard (works on iOS)

Sources:

- Edudemic - A collection of articles about education and technology.  This site has great resources for teachers and students.
- Edutopia - (Particularly their blog section - technology integration).  A collection of articles about best practices in teaching.  Their Technology Integration blog is a great source to learn about technology and educational practices.
- Mind/Shift KQED - A joint project between KQED public media and NPR
- Connected Learning - A non-profit research organization that focuses on digital media and learning.  A wealth of resources including many webinars.
- Educator Innovator - Another project of the National Writing Project.  This site is a collection of blogs and aims to create a community of educations that support Connected Learning.
- NWP - Digital Is - A website from the National Writing Project.  Many resources about the process of teaching and learning to write in a digital world. Be sure to check out their blogs and webinars.
- Common Sense Media - A non-partisan and non-profit organization that creates resources about safe use of media at home and in the classroom.

News Reader Discussion Forum - Take a minute and share your thoughts on this process in the discussion forum.

Part Four - Creating a workflow with my students

Introduction:  Take a minute and read this reflection about starting a digital journey in your classroom.  I hope some of the insights resonate with you and the new course you are charting.

"Where Do I Start?": Beginning the Digital Journey in the Classroom."  This article is posted in Digital Is in the Teach and Learn Collection

How can I begin to create and manage a mobile classroom workflow?  When setting up a mobile workflow with students there are two main avenues to pursue when creating this connection. The first is to use a document sharing platform and the second is to use a Learning Management System (LMS).  The two district support platforms for this are Google Drive and Moodle.  Both systems have unique features depending on your classroom and teaching style.

Google Drive With Students

What is this? Google Drive is a cloud based productivity suite, Google Docs is one of the functions of Drive and is specifically a word processing program.  Drive offers several tools such as presentations and forms.  It can house videos created in other apps such as Keynote or Explain Everything.

How would I use this?

- Create a course handout folder for students to access class materials and resources online
- Have students create turn-in folders to submit assignments electronically
- Facilitate student collaboration by creating documents together or editing peer work
- Use a common platform to share work created in other programs (Pages, Keynote, Explain Everything etc.)

Resources: Setting up and organizing a mobile classroom workflow

Creating class handout folders in Google Drive

Creating student turn-in folders in Google Drive

Learning Management System

What is this? You are currently using one while taking this or any LTP Module!  A LMS allows you to create a comprehensive digital classroom where you can do a variety of tasks including:

- Hold class discussions
- Deliver classroom content
- Have students submit work
- Create quizzes and assignments.

Moodle (a.k.a. Classes): Moodle is the district supported LMS.  You already have experience using one.  All LTP Modules are Moodle Classes when you took the LTP Quiz to receive your iPad that too was a Moodle Classes.  People in district use the terms interchangeably to refer to the LMS

Why would I use a LMS?

- For creating an extension to your classroom or in a hybrid course (many of the activities you have completed during this module)
  - Host discussions outside of class hours
  - Post announcements
  - Create learning activities
  - Access online quizzes
  - Upload or embed videos
  - Have students submit work
- For creating and teaching an online class

Resources: For setting up a Moodle Course

- Atomic Learning Tutorials - Moodle 2.0 - Instructor Training
  - You will be prompted to enter a user name and password.  Please use your universal district user name (without @svvsd.org) and password.  You will then be taken to the tutorials.
- Managing a Moodle Course - Includes several sections to provide information on the various aspects of managing a Moodle class.

YouTube Clip - El Paso teacher discusses her use of Moodle in a hybrid class.

Application & Discussion

After reviewing the Investigation in this module, please complete the following application.  When you have finished the application activity go to the Application Discussion Forum to post your creations and reflect upon what you have learned about a mobile classroom workflow.

Creating a mobile classroom workflow