Resources for the Digital Classroom

From the CANeLearn monthly newsletters

Wordtune – A Great Artificial Intelligence Based Writing Assistant
An artificial intelligence-powered writing assistant that helps users improve their writing style.

Stephen Downes: A Dozen Neat NASA Resources for Students and Teachers
NASA is a model of what other scientific agencies could do to advance interest and engagement in the field. This page points to a number of free NASA resources.

Stephen Downes: List of Educational YouTube Channels
Stephen has long argued that YouTube is one of the best learning applications out there. This post lists dozens and dozens of educational YouTube channels.

62 Educational Netflix Shows to Stream in Your Classroom
Students love watching videos and luckily there are a lot of education ones you can showcase in the classroom. Netflix has a wealth of documentaries and series to stream. List is organized by grade level.

Leveraging Tech Tools to Build Community in Your Classroom
Slideshow on the what, why, and how of community building.

Common Sense Selections for Learning
The Common Sense seal program recognizes outstanding media with an official seal for quality and impact. Common Sense Selections for Learning are best-in-class media resources and tools that facilitate great learning experiences for students and educators.

Best Digital Education Tools for Teachers to Teach Online
While there are tons of options out there in the form of apps, software, and programs, they are definitely not all created equally. Parents, teachers, or school districts looking for a better way to take on hybrid or home-based virtual education can improve classroom participation, information intake, and much more.

Kahoot Guide to Creating Engaging and Fun Learning Games
Kahoot is a game-based learning website that allows teachers and students to create, explore, and play a wide variety of educational games. 

OER K-12 Resource List
Links to a variety of resources for elementary and secondary curriculum with icons indicating relevance to Canadian and Indigenous content as well as by subject matter.

Engagement Strategies for Hybrid & HyFlex courses
HyFlex combines the terms “hybrid” and “flexible.” Hybrid refers to teaching and learning that integrates face-to-face synchronous and online asynchronous learning experiences. HyFlex learning gives students flexibility and choice by allowing learners to choose their participation path for each class. This comprehensive resource is CC-BY-NC-SA licensed and provides suggestions and resources for utilizing hyflex-hybrid engagement activities in your online and/or classroom teaching.  Page seven offers examples of engagement strategies and resources as does page 27.

Beyond the Basics: Teaching with Zoom’s New Tools
If you’re stuck in a Zoom rut and tired of limiting your classes to basic video, screen sharing, and polls, Beyond the Basics is free online training from Contact North | Contact Nord’s e-Learning Training Facilitator.  Learn how to increase engagement and accessibility for all types of learners by:  

  • Enabling live transcriptions for added accessibility  
  • Using PowerPoint in a virtual background as a more immersive way to present 
  • Using focus mode to help learners avoid distractions by only seeing the host’s webcam 
  • Using immersive view for creative discussions 
  • Setting up and using exit surveys for all types of feedback  

The link above will take you to more information and a schedule of live training sessions.

Conferencing Tools for teaching & learning: Best practices
Included are considerations for general etiquette, hosting virtual office hours, facilitating group work and presentations, lecturing, showing videos, hosting external presenters, and managing the space. Additionally, theoretical frameworks to support best practices when teaching online are provided. 

How to Make a Website

A free, step-by-step guide for making a website in an hour or less.

What is a Padlet? Teachers’ Step by Step Guide
Padlet is an online bulletin board that teachers and students can use to collaborate, curate, and share digital content. The way Padlet works is simple and easy: users create padlets and add posts to them; others interact with publicly shared posts (e.g, through comments and reactions) or contribute by adding more resources. Posts can contain various types of digital content such as text, videos, audio recordings, screencasts, weblinks, graphs, images, GIFs, and many more. Check out this great guide from BCCampus.

WEBSITES you didn’t know you NEEDED to know!!

A collection of video resources of websites you did not know you need! This is the winner from Jen Giffen’s BlendEd BC Demo Slam

Videoconferencing Alternatives: How Low-Bandwidth Teaching Will Save Us All
When we try to replicate classroom experiences in an online environment, it’s easy to think of video conferencing as our go-to tool for all sorts of learning objectives—and for good reason. Most of us have participated in a video conference at work or had a video chat with friends or family at some point. We like the idea of being able to see and hear our students while interacting with them in real-time just like we do when teaching face to face. But there are two key factors that make this approach problematic. 

Teaching Online Resources
The online teaching experience involves pedagogical methods that can be very different from those that many instructors are accustomed to using in a face-to-face environment. Fostering self-directed learning in a digital environment, conceptualizing the learning goals and methods of assessments, requires learner-centered practices and intentional instructional design.  Includes resources providing foundational support for teaching online.

Frameworks, Tools, Resources
A directory of links to resources compiled by BCcampus. Updated frequently.

Information Directory: Blogs and Opinions, Books and Videos, News, Research and Reports
An information directory created to fill the need for Canadian-based information, specifically British Columbia, on open education; however, content from many English-speaking countries is included. This is an ongoing resource that is updated as information becomes available.

Embracing Ways of Knowing
BCcampus supported the co-creation of the OER Pulling Together: A Guide for the Indigenization of Post-secondary Institutions. These resources are designed to

  • Engage with varying audiences, including administration and educational leadership, teaching faculty, student services personnel, researchers, and instructional designers;
  • Include resources and considerations on meaningful and authentic engagement;
  • Supplement rather than replace training currently offered.
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Creating and Using Rubrics for Assessment

Useful ideas for creating and using rubrics with guidelines for assessing a wide variety of activities, including e-portfolios, video and multimedia projects, teamwork, and research process.

Tips to Make Your LMS Content Accessible
While focused on Moodle, the information contained in this post can be applied to any LMS.

Designing for Accessibility (PDF posters) 
Includes tips for designing content for accessibility for special needs such as autism, dyslexia, users of screen readers, low vision, physical or motor disabilities, deaf or hard of hearing, and anxiety.

BlendEd
A UK program of professional learning by and for teachers to support the pedagogy of blended learning. BlendEd helps teachers, school leaders, and other educators design effective teaching and learning that makes the most of digital technologies – in the classroom and from home, live and self-paced, in-person and online.


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