108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom…Word Clouds in Education Series: Part 2

Welcome to a series of posts devoted to the use of Word Clouds. I know you will find new information… whether you are a seasoned user of word clouds, or brand new. I enjoy working with teachers and helping them use word clouds in their lessons because they are a great way to get any teacher started with integrating technology.  In the last post you discovered  12 Tips in Using Wordle. In fact you may wish to read it if you have not as of yet. This post will share 108 ways for educators to use word clouds in the classroom. There will still be more in this series including:

1. There is more to Word Clouds then Wordle… other awesome word cloud generators
2. Beyond word clouds… cool sites and applications to integrate word clouds

To ensure you do not miss one of these valuable posts or other resources covering PBL, STEM, 21^st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. As always  I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on to someone not as familiar with technology and Web 2.o.  Word clouds and Wordle are a great starting place for teachers just testing the waters.

108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom – by Michael Gorman at (http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/)

I am amazed every time I talk to groups and find out so many educators have not used word clouds with their students. In fact I am so sure that you will enjoy this topic I have come up with 108 ways to use word clouds in the classroom. I have tried to include almost every subject. These are a collection of ideas shared with me, various readings, and a lot of my own brainstorming. I know this will be an article you wish to share with others. In order to better understand some of the advanced uses I suggest you may wish to read Part One of this series entitled, 12 Valuable Wordle Tips You Must Read. I am certain you will find at least one new idea… and again please give a retweet. By the way… have an idea I have not listed? Then just take a moment and leave a comment…. I thank you in advance. Let’s explore those word clouds!

All Subjects

1. Put your lesson plan into a word cloud to create a word cloud of what you will be learning about. This could also be part of your entire course outline used at the beginning of a course.
2. Paste a reading from your text into a word cloud. You may wish to turn off common words.
3. Copy and paste a reading from the web into a word cloud. You may wish to turn off common words.
4. Put vocabulary words into a word cloud.
5. Use a word cloud to create a discussion either in class or posted on the web for a discussion forum. Try to create it so that a question of inquiry can be used.
6. Create a group word cloud of the entire class or sub groups in the class. This could be in reaction to a discussion, an idea, a reading, or video. Students work in groups to come up with 20-30 descriptive words and then make a word cloud. Using advanced tools they could rank them or color code them.
7. Each student creates a word cloud in reflection from a discussion, an idea, a reading, or video. Individual comes up with 20-30 descriptive words and then makes a word cloud. Using advanced tools they could rank them or color code them.
8. Entire class creates a word cloud in reaction to a topic. In order to capture student word have them digitally input them using the Web 2.0 tools Write with Me or Google Forms.
9. Have students create word clouds that generate understanding of a concept, standards or vocabulary word.
10. Illustrate classroom thoughts or views using a word cloud to survey students. Favorite university, pro team, singer, etc.
11. Create a class word cloud that highlights class expectation. This can be done by students. Have students use phases to enter needs to know for upcoming learning, or reflections on what they have learned. These can be collected using Google Forms or Write with Me.
12. Post students first names to create a class or group word cloud.

Science

1. When classify objects… make a word cloud for each classification. Remember you can make the classification heading bigger.
2. Make word molecules and compounds by putting in the elements by relative numbers of atoms in each compound into a word cloud. Use advanced number feature.
3. Create word clouds for animals in a biome. Remember you can make the classification heading bigger.
4. Create a simple food chain showing representing each population of animal by word size. In fact create a whole food web of an area or biome. Use advanced number feature.
5. Create word clouds to illustrate the elements and all of the uses for each specific element. Each element could be its own word cloud.
6. Have students compare sizes of different planetary objects and make a scalable word cloud of each. Make each planet a different color.
7. Show different climates of different cities showing the scale of city size using average temperature, or rainfall, or snowfall, or your idea.
8. Create a word cloud of different geographical/climate occurrences showing size relationship. Example: Famous Earthquake Magnitudes or places of occurrences.
9. Put both the word and short definitions into a word cloud. Have students find a way to connect the words and definitions. This could be redoing the word cloud with a tilde between words so the go together. It could be color coding the words using the advanced edit feature. Perhaps they just draw lines between them. Could be used to classify items (example: type of rock under its classification) or used as labels to words (Such as label for an element and element).
10. Students create a word cloud of famous scientists or events in science history.
11. Have students make predictions and form a hypothesis. They then shorten them to a phrase and are put into a class word cloud. This allows for a class discussion and students then write their own hypothesis with reasoning and create their own individual word cloud.
12. Have students read a science nonfiction article. Have them create a paragraph or short story using these terms and words in science fiction.  With their story they should then create two word clouds. One of the articles that was science fact and the other science fiction. Can members of the class tell the difference?

Language Arts

1. When classify parts of speech… make a word cloud for each classification. Remember you can make the classification heading bigger.
2. Make a word cloud to illustrate a student writing. Remember to not put personal information that can identify students into word cloud generator.
3. Have a students analyze their frequency of word usage in a writing
4. Compare and contrast persuasive writing using word clouds. This could include student writings or those found in editorials and papers.
5. Create descriptive word clouds to cover descriptions of themes found in a reading or novel. This could include characterization, setting, voice, and plot.
6. Create a word cloud and have students create a story from what they see in the cloud. They can then make a word cloud of their own story.
7. Have students write different poetry such as haiku, free verse, ballads, etc. Have them then create a word cloud for that poem. This could be neat to incorporate shapes using Tagul or Tagxedo.
8. Have students write a book review and put it into a word cloud. Find write ups of books and create word clouds to promote a book.
9. Copy and paste various author and writers styles to see what can be learned. Identify parts of speech to see amount of adverbs, adjectives, etc. How do author and writer styles differ?
10. Have students predict what might happen in a portion of text that is coming next. This can also be used to have students pick out possible important words and meaning of something they just read.
11. Put words in a word cloud that will be part of spelling tests and vocabulary investigations.
12. Have students analyze a selection from various online encyclopedias on a given subject.

Social Studies

1. Use a word cloud to compare, contrast, discuss, and analyze two presidential speeches. Remember that you can use a word count to analyze and even graph use of popular words.
2. Use a word cloud to compare, contrast, discuss, and analyze two state or country constitutions. Remember that you can use a word count to analyze and even graph use of popular words.
3. Use a word cloud to compare, contrast, discuss, and analyze persuasive speeches in history. Remember that you can use a word count to analyze and even graph use of popular words.
4. Using statistical information from a place such as CIA World Fact Book create word clouds that illustrate country statistics such as resources, ethnic groups, religions, languages, etc.  You may wish to use advanced number feature to illustrate prominence of each.
5. Create a word cloud to illustrate how countries of the world (or states in a country) rank with related themes such as oil production, GDP, industries, languages, etc.  The heading would be the resource and countries would be in the word cloud showing their rank by size.  There could be other variations. Use advanced number feature.
6. Have students create a word cloud that represents geographic ideas such as: oceans of the world or continents of the world.
7. Show a word cloud of different geographic features in their size relationship. Example: Famous Volcanoes.
8. Create a word cloud of famous documents and treaties in history. Have students analyze and discuss.
9. Have students create a word cloud of biographies of famous people in history.
10. Remember that you can use a word count to analyze and even graph use of popular words.
11. Create word clouds to illustrate a period of time or events on a timeline.
12. Wordle a newspaper or magazine article for a current event. A transcript from a radio, television, internet interview, podcast, etc, could also be useful for a class discussion or individual analysis.

Math

1. Make a word cloud of a math story problem
2. Have students show ratios, proportion, and scale using a word cloud. Use advanced number feature.
3. Have students work out ways to illustrate statistics in a word cloud. Have them work with both advanced numbers and colors.
4. Create word clouds using geometric shapes with vocabulary words to fit in those shapes. Since Wordle cannot do this you will need to use Tagul or Tagxedo.
5. Show units of measurement in a word cloud. Try to scale it by proportion… to some extent where possible. Put each type of measurement such as volume, linear, mass in its own color. Be creative and use both the advanced number and color tool.
6. Create a word cloud that shows a pattern and have students discuss via classroom, groups, or online forum.
7. Have students either spell out or use number values to show relative size of numbers along a number line or place value within the metric system.
8. Create word clouds that display fractions. Example: A word cloud with three different insects, two mammals, four fish, and five birds. Ask for fractions of each animal type.
9. Have students find mathematical papers written by famous mathematicians and create a word cloud of some of their writing. See what words have high occurrence and see what they might mean.
10. Have students analyze a writing and give statistical information using percentages, proportions, and numbers of used words. Remember that you can use a word count to analyze and even popular words. What kinds of graphs might be able to be used to illustrate better?
11. Create a word cloud of standards to be used in the course.
12. Have students come up an original way to use a word cloud to tell a mathematical story.

Health and PE and Family and Consumer Sciences

1. Have students keep food journal of what they eat for a week. If they eat French fires three times they record that. They then enter their entire journal entry being sure to give a number value in the advanced more or pasting the word the correct number of times. They should end up with a word cloud of their diet
2. Same as above only now assign each food a color to represent a food group. Use the advanced color mode to color code each food group.
3. Students create a word cloud from a recipe.
4. Students create a word cloud of the ingredients found in a product. Students may even be able to show scale of amount of product or color code nutritional information.
5. Students create a word cloud of items found in different rooms of a house.
6. Students study a family budget and create a word cloud making budget items in proportion to the cost applicable to each item.
7. Students create a word cloud of different occupations to a related field.
8. Students create a word cloud relating to a specific sport.
9. Students make a word cloud of the different human body systems. In groups students work individually on a specific system word cloud and then combine with partners for the total of all the systems. Each system should be in its own color. Use advanced tool for colors.
10. Students make word clouds to represent different diseases, drugs, and medicines.
11. Students create a word cloud to illustrate their favorite athletic personalities and do not include the name. They then present word cloud to class and students try to guess. Finish by including their word cloud as part of a poster with a picture of athlete, name of athlete, and paragraph about him/her.
12. Have students come up with a unique way to display a word cloud in regards to fitness and/or diet.

Art and Music

1. Make a word cloud of the lyrics of a song.
2. Make a word cloud of a famous composer, musician, or artist’s biography.
3. Gather class, individual, or group input to come up with descriptive words to describe a painting, sculpture, work of art or song. Have a word cloud made of these descriptive words.
4. Make a word cloud that comes under a certain category. This could include artist, time period,instrument, or genre. Have students create a word cloud of one type of classification.
5. Have students experiment with word clouds to make their own work of art. They may wish to use Tagul and Tagxedo to make it even more powerful.
6. Create word clouds for different art projects. They can be CD, DVD covers. Use internet sites to create all sorts of items such as calendars, jigsaw puzzles, etc. at http://bighugelabs.com/. Or think about a t-shirt, mugs, and bags at a place like http://www.zazzle.com/.
7. Put original lyrics for songs or words for poetry into a word cloud. Superimpose that word cloud over an original picture.
8. Animate a Wordle using stop motion capability.
9. Superimpose a Wordle using green screen capability. This could include a bringing in a person that points and talks about some of the words or objects that appear as the words are described.
10. If a picture paints a thousand words… then why not paint a picture looking at words you have input into a word cloud?
11. Have students create a word cloud gift. It could be a poster or card for a special holiday for friends and family.
12. Students create a word cloud to illustrate their favorite artist or musician and do not include the name. They then present word cloud to class and students try to guess. Finish by including their word cloud as part of a poster with a picture of artist/musician, name of artist/musician, and paragraph about him/her.

Foreign Language

1. Have students create a word cloud that highlights the country being studied.
2. Have students create a word cloud of important words to study.
3. Have students word cloud a foreign newspaper article. What are the common words that are used? You may wish to even use show word count. Do it by showing common words. What are the most common? Also, try it with- out common words. Can students tell what the news article may be about before reading?
4. Post vocabulary and spelling words in a word cloud.
5. Put both the English and foreign word into a word cloud. Have students find a way to connect the words. This could be redoing the Wordle with a tilde between words so the go together. It could be color coding the words using the advanced edit feature. Perhaps they just draw lines between them.
6. Create a word cloud of introductory word for discussion by students in class.
7. Have students write a one paragraph reflection on a similar topic in a foreign language. Have them create a word cloud. Combine all the student writings into a class word cloud. Have students compare their individual word clouds with the class word cloud. What discussions and further reflections can be made?
8. Have students write a biography of a famous person from the country studies and include a word cloud of that person.
9. Have students create a word cloud of food items from this country.
10. Have students create a word cloud using statistical information from the country. You may want to incorporate scaling of words and identification of groups using both the advanced edit feature that allow for color and word size.
11. Use Google Translate to translate an American news article into language studied. Make sure it is something very familiar such as movie review, sports story, celebrity, or politics. Create a word cloud and have a class or online discussion of the word cloud. In the end give them the actual article and have them reflect.
12. Have students create a word cloud in the foreign language of an important place or historical event in the country.

Applied Arts

1. Students create a word cloud of different architectural and engineering terms.
2. Make word cloud of technical directions and have students discuss what seems to stand out.
3. Have students create a word cloud of a famous piece of engineering.
4. Students find create ways to create word clouds that show units of measure including the use of the advanced edit features allowing for color and scale of words.
5. Share word clouds of the upcoming chapter or reading and have a class discussion previewing what will be learned.
6. Students study famous inventors and inventions and create a word clouds.
7. Search for a patent at http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html and copy description and students make a word cloud. Students publishes a  one sheet publication showing their own  picture of patent item, a paragraph on what it is, and their own reflection on usefulness and success.
8. Make a word cloud of terms used in a software program students must learn.
9. Using a timeline, have students create word clouds of a significant event or discovery.
10.  Ask students to come up with terms that might lead to a new product or innovation and put the terms in a word cloud in order to brainstorm a new idea.
11. Have students name a physical or math/ scientific principal found in engineering and design.  They must then come up with words that are both possibilities and constraints related to the principle. Have them rank the possibilities and constraints and scale them. This should all be put in a word cloud.  Also have students color code between possibility and constraint in the word cloud. Make sure the scientific principle is in the word cloud in larger letters and a different color.
12. Have students research and make word clouds of the different occupations found in  the applied arts.

Thank you for joining me in this series on Word Clouds. I hope found new information for use in your school and to share with other educators.  As always , I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on to someone who will benefit.   Watch for other posts in this series including:

1. There is more to Word Clouds then Wordle… other awesome word cloud generators
2. Beyond word clouds… cool sites and applications to integrate word clouds

To ensure you do not miss one of these valuable posts or other resources covering PBL, STEM, 21^st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. Have a great week… enjoy the passing word clouds! – Mike (http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/)

12 Valuable Wordle Tips You Must Read…Word Clouds in Education Series: Part 1

Welcome to a series of posts devoted to the use of Word Clouds. I know you will find new information… whether you are a seasoned user of word clouds, or brand new. I enjoy working with teachers and helping them use word clouds in their lessons because they are a great way to get any teacher started with integrating technology.  In this series of posts I will cover:

1. 12 Tips in Using Wordle  (Some you may now… but other you may not.)
2. Over 10o ways  to use Word Clouds in the classroom
3. There is more to Word Clouds then Wordle… other awesome word cloud generators
4. Beyond word clouds… cool sites and applications to integrate word clouds

To ensure you do not miss one of these valuable posts or other resources covering PBL, STEM, 21^st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. As always  I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on to someone not as familiar with technology and Web 2.o.  Word clouds and Wordle are a great starting place for teachers just testing the waters. – Michael Gorman at (21centuryedtech)

 Word Cloud… Wordle… An Introduction

* Do you already know Word Clouds… then go down to the 12 Tips… I am sure you may learn something new about Wordle

I have long heard of Word Webbing, Words Diagrams, Word Art, but how about a Word Cloud? By now you may be either familiar with a Word Cloud, have googled the Weather Channel to get a better idea, or maybe have taken a look out your window to see if there really is such a thing. The concept of a Word Cloud maintains that “If a picture paints a thousand words, then what can a thousand words paint?”  The answer of course is a Wordle. Yes, Wordles are amazing Word Clouds that can be created by all.  On a recent internet surf I found that this Word Cloud holds the sky as the limit while providing an abundance of sunshine for the educational setting.

So, Wordle is an application that creates Word Clouds (pictures made of words) based on the frequency of the words that are entered in the Wordle Site. A great explanation can be found at Wikipedia. The University of Oxford even defines a word cloud as “Graphical representation or word frequency that presents a picture of the most common words used with those used more often displayed larger”. As I reflected on Wordle Word Clouds it occurred to me that they were a reflection in themselves. They display our very words and in a sense give an analytical look at who we are, and what we write. This is where my Wordle Addiction first began. I immediately needed a biography on a website and “Wordle It”. Wow, what an awesome idea, kids write a biography of a famous person and Wordle that biography! My addiction did not end there. How about writing a paragraph about my favorite college football team and another on one I despise the most. Wordle them both separately and compare, then contrast! Michigan and Ohio State provided a great lesson and it is hard to walk away without understanding the standard of compare and contrast. Imagine the possible contrasts between the Red Sox and the Yankees! My need to Wordle  grew as I discovered summaries of author’s books, main ideas of textbook paragraphs, collaborative thinking of groups of people, menus from restaurants,  favorite lyrics from songs, an entire poem or ballad, descriptions of characters from books, movie summaries, and  weather reports from across the nation. I found that editorials that I agreed with made great Wordles!  My Wordle addiction led to research ways that Wordle can be used in the educational setting. Please take a moment and explore my Wordle tips.

12 Valuable Tips for Using Wordle in the Classroom

1: Understanding word clouds? – In order to use Wordle you must understand the basis behind a word cloud generator. As described earlier, a word cloud generator actually counts the number of times a specific word has been used in a document. It takes those words and makes them larger in size according to their frequency of use. This is great for the obvious use of looking at a document and getting a pictorial representation of that document. Think of the documents that you and your students can have great discussions over!

2: Making a word cloud? – First find some text you wish to make a word cloud of and make sure you make a copy of it. Next go to (http://www.wordle.net/). Believe it or not… you are half way finished. Click on “Create Your Own”. You will see a box to paste the text you had copied earlier. Scroll below… and hit submit. Within a few seconds you will have your own Word Cloud. Use the controls to make it look the way you like.

3: Saving a word cloud – Wordle does not provide a way to save but there are ways around that.. Of course you can print it… but then you may want an electronic copy. The best way is to us one of these techniques. In Windows you can always hit the Print Scr button. Next open up Word, Open Office, or graphics program such as Paint and paste it in. Use the cropping tool in that program to get what you want. With a make it really is the same process. In Windows 7 you may wish to use the Snip It Tool which gives you a lot more options including the ability to save as an image and crop. Last, remember I said you could print. Use a program such as Adobe Acrobat Acrobat or the free CutePDF Writer. Now you even have a digital print file!

4: Make word clouds setting your own word sizing – Wordle will let you create word clouds that allow you to emphasize certain words. Examples: 1.You wish to have a word cloud with names of mammals with the word mammal in large letters. 2. You wish to show a word cloud of endangered animals with larger letters showing larger population and smaller letters showing smaller populations. There are actually two methods.

• Method One: Words you wish to have larger will require you to type (or copy paste) multiple times. The larger you wish the word to be… the more it is typed in. Make sure you always leave a space between words. The size of a word in the visualization is proportional to the number of times the word appears in the input text. So, for example, if you type “mouse cat cat  dog dog dog” into the create page’s text field, you’ll see that cat’s font size is twice mouse’s, and dog’s font size is 3/2 that of cat’s. Wow… do I see a math lesson?
• Method Two: Use the Advanced Wordle which can be found at http://www.wordle.net/advanced. There are some advanced Wordle users that do not even know this exists. It is well worth your time to discover! It really is quite simple. You must type in the word, followed by a colon, followed by the number (no spaces). You must hit return after each entry so that each word is on its own line. Want to pick you colors and backgrounds? There is even a method for that and take a look at this link to understand hex colors… it really is easy! I have provided a picture below to show Method Two.

5: Keeping compound words together – By default Wordle assumes that every space means a new word is coming its way. This is a problem in the instance of wanting compound words and phrases to stay together. There is a fix and it is called using the tilde character (~) between words. Just type in the tilde (found above the Tab Key on most keyboards) in-between the words of a compound word of phrase… no spaces. Example: North~America, one~small~step~for~man

6: Making numbers show up – Wordle has a setting that automatically removes the numbers. Perhaps you wish to keep your numbers. In fact this might be helpful in math, or using a tilde when giving a word with a quantity. This is very easy. Once you make the Wordle you will see a Menu sho up. One of the items is “Language”. At the very top of the language menu you will see “Remove Numbers” is checked (it is the default). Click and uncheck it and notice… your numbers will now show up!

7: Include all words entered in the word cloud – Wordle likes to eliminate some of those common words it refers to as a “stop word” (a frequently-used, but unimportant word, such as “the”, “and”, or “but”). Once again go to the “Language Menu” once the Wordle has been made. You will see a command that says, “Do not remove common words”. Make sure it is checked and all of your words will show up.

8: Capitalization of words – Wordle sets as the default the exact way you capitalize your words. This could mean no letter is capitalized, the first letter is capitalized, the first two letters are capitalized,  or even the last two letters are capitalized. You can use the “Language Menu” after making your Wordle to change this. You have the option of making all letters capitalized, not capitalized, Wordle’s guess of capitalization, or the way you entered the word. Think of the language arts lessons on proper and common nouns!

9. Counting each word occurrence – Yes… Wordle will amazingly count the number of times each word was used and give a read out of this. This could be valuable in investigating word frequency and analyzing text and speeches. Think of the possibilities!  After making a Wordle you will find at the bottom of the “Language Menu” a tool called “Show Word Counts”. Just click on it and you will see an awesome table!

10. Changing fonts, colors, and layouts – You can have so much fun changing any of these. Make sure you discover all the possibilities after making your Wordle. You will find these opportunities in the Drop Down Menus: Fonts, Colors, and Layouts. You can spend hours making it look just the way you wish. If you don’t like your last change… just go to the Edit Menu and click Undo!

11. Classroom thoughts – Remember that Wordle is a Web 2.0 application. As in all Web 2.0 applications students should not enter any personal information. Also there may be an occasional inappropriate word cloud in the gallery. Those at Wordle will remove these when informed. It is a good practice to enter Wordle by using the address http://www.wordle.net/create to bypass some of the galleries. Also, you may wish to have your network administrator block the following:  http://www.wordle.net/gallery,  http://www.wordle.net/next, and  http://www.wordle.net/random

12. Making word clouds into neat word shapes – Wouldn’t it be awesome if the word cloud could become any shape or a variety of custom shapes. Imagine a word cloud about a eagle… shaped like a flying eagle. It is possible… but not in Wordle. In my future posts you will learn how to make it happen! Make sure you sign up by RSS or email and follow me on twitter at (@mjgormans).

 Thank you for joining me in this series on Word Clouds. I hope found new information for use in your school and to share with other educators.  As always , I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on to someone who will benefit.   Watch for other posts in this series including:

1. Over 100 ways  to use Word Clouds in the classroom
2. There is more to Word Clouds then Wordle… other awesome word cloud generators
3. Beyond word clouds… cool sites and applications to integrate word clouds

To ensure you do not miss one of these valuable posts or other resources covering PBL, STEM, 21^st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. Have a great week… enjoy the passing word clouds! – - Michael Gorman at (21centuryedtech)

Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week(s)…. Have You Thanked A Teacher?

Welcome to a post that is dedicated to you… the teacher.  Please enjoy the read and please remember to share it with others.  - Mike (21centuryedtech)

Probably if you are visiting this site, there is a strong chance you are a teacher. It really doesn’t matter if you are in the central office, a school principal,  support staff, or in the classroom. It is important to note that every one of these individuals are members of the teaching profession. All of us have learned from teachers as part of our formal schooling, worked side by side with teachers each day, and have been supported by teachers in our own schools and across the world.

As you may be aware, this is a very special week for educators. It is a week that, together, we celebrate and show appreciation for those in the teaching profession. The importance of this very special event is best described in the quote, “Teacher appreciation makes the world of education go around.” (Helen Peters). It is this world of education that awakens true discovery and promotes learning that lasts a lifetime. Continuous education is a very special gift that we all hold and one that supports the enlightened society in which we live.

As educators, we must take this opportunity to show our sincere appreciation to those teachers who make the world of education go around for each of us. Perhaps it is a teacher from our past, a teacher who took a moment and mentored us as we entered the profession, or a teacher today who continues to support our continued learning. Take a moment and celebrate this special week by sending that special message of appreciation to a teacher who has been part of your life. In this wonderfully connected world it really is just an email, conversation, phone call, or snail mail away!

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all the educators who awaken those special moments of discovery in the daily lives of others as well as in my own. Thank you to those teachers who have given so much of their time, energy, and passion to ensure success in both their students and colleagues. It is also important to remember those preparing for the education profession along with those who have given service in the past.

Make sure you take a moment to show your appreciation to that special teacher. As  we all express our appreciation, we will find that our individual, yet collective, efforts last much longer than a week… as they should. It really is time to integrate teacher appreciation as part of our ongoing professional culture. After all, “Teacher appreciation makes the world of education go around.”

Thank you so much for your visit(s). In closing, please take a moment to subscribe by RSS or email and follow me on Twitter at mjgormans. I have so many more resources to share involving 21st century education. Your subscription means a lot to me and I thank you in advance.  Take a moment and share with others with a retweet by scrolling to the bottom! Thanks, and until next time, and with much appreciation.  – Mike Gorman  (21centuryedtech)

 

Add To Your Digital Curriculum…MIT Delivers Engaging STEM Lessons That BLOSSOM

Welcome to another  post that is dedicated to highlighting an amazing site providing an awesome collection of resources to educators.  The site entitled “MIT BLOSSOMS” is so much more then science and math. It provides a total STEM emphasis by covering the science disciplines along with mathematics/statistics, engineering, technology, health/medicine, and career.  Before reading… be sure to sign up for  upcoming  Siemens STEM Academy blog posts in order to discover other great STEM resources.  Don’t miss out… make sure you give us a  follow on twitter at mjgormans. Thanks for joining us at the Siemens STEM Academy and enjoy the post!  - Mike Gorman (21centuryedtech)

The people at MIT constantly are bring some amazing resources to STEM based classrooms across the world. The one that I bring to you today will have you exploring unique and engaging methods to include and explore STEM in relevant and meaningful ways. It will give you the opportunity to relate to your students avenues in which the STEM Disciplines really do integrate into their every day world. Lets take a look!

MIT BLOSSOMS - Explore a program that will allow your classroom to bloom and show the beauty and color of the STEM world. BLOSSOMS video lessons have the ability to enrich students’ learning experiences in the high school classroom and in some cases even the middle school. This incredible Video Library contains over 50 math and science lessons, all freely available to teachers as streaming video, Internet downloads, DVDs and videotapes. You will find that the lessons really are a complete resource including video segments, a teacher’s guide, downloadable hand-outs, plus a list of incredible online resources relevant to the topic. BLOSSOMS are based on fifty minute lessons that builds on math and science fundamentals. Each lesson relates abstract concepts to the real world that your students live, work, and play in. These lessons employ video instruction with engaging exercises that promote problem solving and critical thinking. The  BLOSSOMS Lessons  promote STEM success by assisting students to really understand and apply through hands-on experience while fostering a sense of accomplishment, achievement and excitement.

The BLOSSOM method allows each classroom teacher to teach with an amazing guest teacher.  These learning activities do not replace the current curriculum, but rather enhance it.  Students view video in brief segments, allowing the in-class teacher between segments to engage the class in an active, goal-oriented exercise. In the lessons the following methods are employed.

• No video segment lasts longer than about 5 minutes.
• In between segments, the in-class teacher  guides or facilitate the students through an active learning exercise building from the video segment’s guest lecture.
• After each active learning exercise, another video segment is shown.
• This  process continues until the lesson is completed, usually lasting a full class session.

You may wish to see one of the MIT BLOSSOMS videos used in a classroom. Take a moment and  watch a Statistics class demonstration made available at the BLOSSOM Website. After reading this, you will want to  take a tour of  MIT BLOSSOMS amazing video collection. Look at titles such as:

• MATHEMATICS: Why Beehive Honeycombs Have a Hexagonal Shape
• CHEMISTRY: Is There a Connection between Water Desalination and Making Pickles?
• PHYSICS: The Physics of Racing Cars
• BIOLOGY: Using DNA to Identify People
• MATHEMATICS: Why Beehive Honeycombs Have a Hexagonal Shape
• ENGINEERING: Using Geometry to Design Simple Machines

You can also search by topic or standards. While you are visiting the site you may wish to discover the topics that will soon be included in the collection. You may even wish to order a DVD or video tape lesson and be sure to sign up for the MIT STEM Newsletter. Read all about the BLOSSOM effort and think about incorporating a lesson in your classroom.  Note that some videos are in a foreign language… MIT is looking for translation assistance on some of these. Perhaps you could help. Overall… you will enjoy watching your STEM curriculum BLOSSOM.

Well, there you have it… another STEM related digital resource.  Please continue to join the Siemens STEM Academy as we continue to discuss other ways you can promote STEM and 21st century technology and learning in the classroom. Don’t miss out on future posts and resources dedicated to STEM education. Now is a great time to sign up for an RSS feed and also follow me on twitter at mjgormans. You may even wish to share this post with others via a quick email or even a tweet!    Have a STEMtastic week and may it BLOSSOM into full color! – Mike Gorman 21centuryedtech

12 Reasons To Teach Searching Techniques With Google Advanced Search… Even Before Using The Basic Search

Welcome to another post, one that I hope you will find valuable and will pass on to others. please take a moment to subscribe by RSS or email . Your subscriptions mean a lot to me!  I’ll have additional exciting resources and information in future posts coming your way. You can also follow me on twitter (mjgormans). Now, enjoy a visit designed to help you reflect on how students are being taught… or not taught to research! Have a great week – Mike

I often present on the importance of Digital Immigrants (most teachers) facilitating Digital Natives (most k12 students)  in the use of digital technology. You see, I believe that while today’s digital natives have a affinity for using digital tools… they often do not have the life experiences to utilize these tools to their greatest potential. One example I would like to present to you today is the use of Google as a search engine. I have had many an opportunity to watch students perform various searches with Google during my teaching career. I often see what I claim is inefficient input resulting in a multitude of needless results from Google. Assisting our digital natives in the process of searching is something that all of us as digital immigrants can help with. We have the life experiences and educational background to help our students fine tune their digital skills and become more productive in research.

I would suggest that educators direct students towards the Google Advanced Search Engine even before using the Google Basic Search. In fact, I would further suggest that an Advanced Search be used until students understand how to use these advanced techniques in a Basic Search.  Why? First, I do not see  these skills as advanced techniques. I see them as a skill set necessary in finding information in a productive manner.  When  educators ask students to search and find information on the internet… it is not to just get the answer. It is to learn an important process that will serve them through future schooling and eventual careers. Let’s take a look at the Google Advanced Search Engine and see why it really should be a basic prerequisite!

For those who have been long time users of the advanced search you are probably aware that it is no longer next to the search box in its once prominent location. Instead… it was moved a while ago to the upper right hand corner appearing as a gear icon and sometimes may not appear until your perform a basic search. You can also get to the Advanced Search using the link: http://www.google.com/advanced_search

1. The Advanced Search teaches important syntax such as STRINGS, AND, NOT, and OR. In the first part of the Advanced Search as shown below students will learn the following:

All these words (above picture) allows the AND statement (AND is actually not needed in Google since it is inferred when multiple words are put in. This is an important concept since I have seen students many times needlessly type in the AND command. (Note that small words such as articles are omitted - a, the, of, an, as… etc).

This exact word or phrase (above picture) allows words to be put together in a STRING. In this case Google will look for a string of words that must be together in a website. This is great when looking up an author, movie, quote, or for words that must be kept together (nuclear fission).

Any of these words (above picture) allows the use of the OR command. This is valuable when a researcher wants to look for more than one word… but does not want to eliminate a page because all the words cannot be found in a specific page.

None of these words (above picture) allows for the NOT statement to be used.  This is very useful in eliminating unwanted words and results. Often called the NOT command and uses the (-) sign in a Google Basic search. An example would be looking for the country Turkey while eliminating results for the bird turkey.

Numbers ranging from  (above picture) allows researcher to search between a set number of years, such as 1800-1900. Specifying a dollar amount such as $250 – $500or searching for a distance range 10 miles – 100 miles could be valuable in finding needed information. A student may even wish to look  up a range of page numbers. This will translate in the Google Basic Search Box on the results page.

2. The Advanced Search teaches about a search through its “do this in the search box” explanation area. In the picture above I have included this on the right. It explains exactly how to use each search box.This may be one of the best reasons to include the Advanced Search as a teaching tool.

3.  The Advanced Search teaches syntax by taking input and displaying how the search would look in a Basic Search (below picture). This is displayed after performing an Advanced Search. It will appear in the Google Search Results page in the search box. Once again, students learn how the Basic Search should be structured. This reinforces the concept that proper input of search terms will increase efficiency and until students knows how to use the Basic Search effectively, they may be more productive in Advanced.

Note in the picture above that a search is being made for the phrase “one small step for man” outside of the  reference to Neil Armstrong. Notice that the top of the page allows the student to see how this would be built in a Google Basic search. This will apply to all of the techniques available in Google Advanced search.

4. The Advanced Search teaches how to search for pages in any language (below picture). What an awesome way for students to explore a foreign language they are studying or get primary resources on an event from the source country. This is actually an easier way to search than in the Basic. Even more importantly, students can then enter the website for translation. Translation is usually found at the top of the website, or one can use http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en to translate. This is not integrated in the Basic Search Box.

5.  Advanced Search teaches how to specify to find websites from various regions of the world (below picture). This is a great way to teach students about bias and regional differences. This part of the search engine allows the student to look up web pages published in a specific region or country. This technique is great for current events, allowing the searcher to get information from the country of origin. A teacher should encourage students to compare and contrast the same news story coming from two different areas or regions. Students can study a subject, such as the American Revolution, from a British, French, Russian, or United States perspective. What is Russia’s take on the Space Race,  Cuba’s thoughts on the Bay of Pigs, or China’s research on Global Warming?  This tool does not show up in the Basic Search Tool Box and is another reason to use the Advanced tools.

6. Advanced Search teaches how to specify to return results according to Last Update (below picture). This is very valuable for finding timely information. Students looking up a current event or breaking news story may want to use this feature. Remember, the default is (anytime). It is also a great way to emphasize whether currency of information is relevant to the research topic. This does not translate into the Google Basic Search Box.

7. The Advanced Search teaches how to search inside of a website or domain (below picture). This can be useful for limiting a search to a  .gov or .edu, or possibly to a specific website such as nasa.gov, youtube.com, or census.gov. You will note that the Google Search Results shows you how to put this in the Basic Search. You can also search for websites from specific countries using the country code for that country.

8. Advanced Search teaches how to specify to search for keywords in a specific place on a website (below picture). This is a tool that can be really useful in narrowing down results. First, the default is (Anywhere In Page).  This includes all the possibilities, but may actually be too broad in scope. One could narrow down results a little by just specifying text in page. When getting a large number of returns, one could narrow down returns by requesting that keywords be listed in title. This will narrow the search and possibly lead users to a more specific subject, since keywords in a title tend to emphasize content in an article. In the same way, URL and Links to a page may lead the researcher to more specific and relevant information The syntax  does display in the Google Basic Search Box on the results page so that one can see what it would look like in a Basic Search.

9.  The Advanced Search allows for a Safe Search (below picture). This is especially helpful in the classroom and provides a slider that will glide bar between off, moderate, and strict.

10. The Advanced Search displays information on reading level of a website (below picture). A user can specify no reading level displayed, annotate results with reading levels, show only basic results, show only intermediate results, and show only advanced results. One can even see percentage of each type of reading level available in the result pages.

11. The Advanced Search teaches how to do the search for alternate resources by file type in an easy manner (below picture). Of course, the syntax is available at the top of the page for those wanting to try it next time in a Google Basic Search. Educators and students can find powerpoints, Google Earth files, spreadsheets, PDF files, Flash files, Word files, and even Autodesk files. Great for research and even better for teachers wishing to find some lesson plan material.

12. Advanced search teaches how to specify a search related to a website’s usage rights (below picture). This is a gold mine for those wishing to use, share, modify, or remix information.  Also, it is  a great way to teach students about copyright and creative commons rights. It is important to observe the rules governing how an item may be shared, and to make students aware of this. This is especially helpful when searching for pictures in the Advanced Image Search

The Google Advanced Search, used correctly, will  facilitate today’s digital natives to expand their digital abilities while promoting productivity and learning in the classroom. It’s you and I, the digital immigrants, who can make it happen! In closing, please take a moment to subscribe by RSS or email and follow me on Twitter at mjgormans. Your subscription means a lot to me and I thank you in advance.  Take a moment to give this article a retweet if you scroll to the bottom! Thanks, and until next time… start thinking of ways you can advance your students with Google.  Have a great week! – Mike

The Digital Curriculum Part 2… Eight Amazing Free Digital Curriculum Resources… Time to Explore

Everyone is talking about a digital curriculum free of those hard copy textbooks that have been a part of schooling since the advent of the one room schoolhouse. This is the second  post in a series devoted to investigating resources that can open up a world of digital curricula. First, your subscriptions mean a lot to me so sign up by RSS or email! You can also follow me on twitter (mjgormans) and please take a moment to share and retweet this post. Now, enjoy a visit and discover eight amazing digital resources that will help put students at the center of learning!  Have a great week – Mike Gorman (21centuryedtech)

As educators begin to distance themselves from the traditional textbook there is more and more need to find digital alternatives. In this process the textbook of the past will move from the center of learning, while still playing an important role on the peripheral. It is important to remember that we must continue to promote the student as being at the center of their learning. At the peripheral we find unlimited resources including multimedia, simulations, formative/summative assessment, 21st century skills, readings, web2.0, and yes… lecture.

While many educators have been moving the textbook from the center, other find it not quite as easy of a task. Afterall… understandably the textbook and its amazing linear table of contents seemed to have ruled instruction for over the last 200 years. Today there are digital alternatives.  Some are much like our textbook friend, while other take on a different look. Best of all, the resources I have listed for the most part, are free. This leaves funds for needed equipment, professional development, and pay for teachers to prepare and curate for this needed transformation. Let’s spend a moment to see what possibilities exist to bring the curriculum to the digital age while moving the student to the center of their learning. As you read about the possibilities… remember that the free digital textbooks and resources are only one of those important  peripherals that should surround the student. There is so much more, including some amazing resources that do cost and are available from a from innovative vendors. First… lets take a look at the free  (or almost free) resources provided below

1. Khan Academy

As the site states… watch, practice… learn almost anything. There are over 3,100 videos in multiple STEM areas. All are geared to help you learn what you want, when you want it. You will find the categories of Math, Science, Finance/Economics, Humanities, Test Prep, and Talks/Interviews. In each of these categories you will find multiple sub-categories. Perhaps you just wish to apply some formative assessment through Practice by using the Exercise Dashboard.  Now all you need to do is type in a concept or standard and you will discover some pretty cool activities! You also may wish to look for videos or activities using the Common Core at any level of math by exploring Khan’s Common Core Page. Here you can click on specific grade levels and find both exercizes and video tutorials as related to the Common Core.

2. MIT Blossoms

BLOSSOMS video lessons are enriching students’ learning experiences in high school classrooms for students across the globe. This amazing video library contains over 50 math and science lessons, all freely available to teachers as streaming video and Internet downloads and as DVDs and videotapes. Visit the BLOSSOMS Video Library anytime to browse and download lessons to use in your classroom. Every lesson is a complete resource that includes video segments, a teacher’s guide, downloadable hand-outs and a list of additional online resources relevant to the topic. The people at MIT carefully craft each BLOSSOMS lesson to make the classroom come alive. Each 50-minute lesson builds on math and science fundamentals by relating abstract concepts to the real world. The lessons intersperse video instruction with planned exercises that engage students in problem solving and critical thinking, helping students build the kind of gut knowledge that comes from hands-on experience. By guiding students through activities from beginning to end, BLOSSOMS lessons give students a sense of accomplishment and excitement. You can even check these lessons out by standards.

3. Curriki 

This is the community of K12 open resources. Currently Curriki has 6.5 million users and contains over 40,000 K12 free learning resources. When visiting Curriki you will discover an abundance of resources in a searchable database that will keep you coming back.  You may wish to explore over 441 full courses or check out these interactive resources for some amazing formative assessment ideas. Possible you may wish to search using your state standards or  by subject.  Perhaps you enjoy looking over resources that have already been reviewed. You can start learning more by exploring this library of training tutorials explaining how to use Curriki.

4. NROCK

The National Repository of Online Courses (NROC) is a growing library of high-quality online course content for students and faculty in higher education, high school and Advanced Placement. This is a non-profit project, and is supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. NROC  is an Open Educational Resource (OER) and assists collaboration among a community of content developers. Courses in the NROC library come from a wide array of developers from leading academic institutions across the United States. Best of all,  courses are assessed to ensure they meet high standards of scholarship, instructional value, and presentational impact.  NROC courses are designed to cover the scope of topics based on generally accepted national curricula and can even be customized within a course management system. NROC content is distributed free-of-charge to students and teachers at public websites including HippoCampus. Take a look to see what course are available or are in development.

5. HippoCampus

This amazing resource claims to be teaching with the power of media. HippoCampus is a project of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (MITE). The goal of HippoCampus is to provide high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge. HippoCampus was designed as part of Open Education Resources (OER), a worldwide effort to improve access to quality education for everyone. HippoCampus content has been developed by some of the finest colleges and universities in the world and contributed to the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC), another MITE project. With Hippo Campus educators care able to:

• Create their own set of media playlists from content throughout the site
• View what content is most popular this week
• See what media is highest rated

To begin, you will wish to create a free educator account at HippoCampus. After that you will want to download this amazing 27 page PDF file explaining how to use Hippo Campus? You will be impressed with all the capabilities you will have at building your digital multimedia curriculum. You will find resources from Khan, PHet, NROCK, and NOAA Earth Space Science. Course  best suited for K12 subject areas include;  Math  (Arithmetic, Algebra & Geometry, Calculus & Advanced Math, Statistics & Probability)… Natural Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science)…  Social Science (Economics,  History & Government, Psychology).

6. WikiBooks

Welcome to a collection of open-content textbooks collection that anyone can edit. The Wikibooks collection currently contains 2,443 books with 40,980 pages. Simply, Wikibooks is a collection of open-content textbooks. Because the word textbook is open to interpretation, this document exists to help clarify which types of content are acceptable for Wikibooks. For example, The Complete Works of Shakespeare might be considered a textbook in an English Literature course, but such a text would be inappropriate for this site. Wikibooks is for textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals. These materials can be used in a traditional classroom, an accredited or respected institution, a home-school environment, as part of a Wikiversity course or for self-learning. As a general rule only instructional books are suitable for inclusion. Most types of books, both fiction and non-fiction, are not allowed on Wikibooks, unless they are instructional. The use of literary elements, such as allegory or fables as instructional tools can be permitted in some situations. Wikibooks includes both minor and major book-like projects.

Upon entering the site you may want to browse the book categories. You may also wish to explore Wikijunior, a project  to produce age-appropriate non-fiction books for children from birth to age 12. These books are richly illustrated with photographs, diagrams, sketches, and original drawings. Wikijunior books are produced by a worldwide community of writers, teachers, students, and young people all working together. The books present factual information that is verifiable. You are invited to join in and write, edit, and rewrite each module and book to improve its content. The books are distributed free of charge under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

7. CK12 Interactive Book

I bring this amazing resource up because it is a a relatively new initiative. The community at CK12 Flexbooks and Wolfram Alpha have combined efforts to bring you this awesome Interactive Algebra Book. This highly interactive text is perfect for the high school classroom, covering all Algebra I topics, including but not limited to equations and functions, real numbers, equations of lines, graphs of equations and functions, solving systems of equations, and polynomials. The base content comes from CK-12 Algebra I – Second Edition, FlexBook and is enhanced by Wolfram technologies including  Wolfram|Alpha,  Mathematica, and Computable Document Format (CDF). You will want to download the CDF add on. As this partnership grows it is possibly we will see more of this type of resource dedicated to other STEM areas.

8. Flexbooks

I did include this in the last post but wanted to make sure it was added to the list. So… what is a FlexBook?  They may be best described as customizable, standards-aligned, free digital textbooks for K-12 education. FlexBooks are customizable textbooks that teachers can use online,via  flash drives, CD’s, or as printed books. Teachers can even share FlexBooks with other educators and they can also customize them to fit their students, locality, standards, and current events. They contain high-quality online materials that are aligned with national and state textbook standards. Since FlexBooks are online  they are kept  up to date much more easily than printed textbooks. Teachers can use the books as they are provided by C-K12, use only parts of them, or add their own materials along with other content from the web. By now I am sure you understand the word “flex” in Flexbook. When you arrive on the page you will discover 38 mathematics Flexbooks,  34 Science Flexbooks, and  20 subjects in other area Flexbooks. There is even a link to some free SAT Prep materials.

By now you maybe wondering how to get started. First, take a moment and be sure to sign up and register. Next, you may wish to look at the step by step web page devoted to helping educators learn more. Have a question? Be sure to take  time to read over the list of Frequently Asked Questions. There is also a wonderful three minute quick-start overview video, along with a page filled with helpful step by step tutorial videos. Topics of these basic  tutorials include Book Assembly,  Basic Chapter Editing, and  Creating Chapters from Scratch. More advanced tutorials include  Advanced Chapter Editing – Images,  Advanced Chapter Editing – Multimedia,  Advanced Chapter Editing – Links, Advanced Chapter Editing – Equations Editor, Advanced Chapter Editing – Paste from Word, and a video that allows you to learn how to  Print and Share. Want to learn about a topic that isn’t covered  on the website or in a video tutorial? Sign up for a free online webinar to have your specific questions answered. You will find more information about up-coming webinars at this link. It may also be interesting to see what states Flexbook has already aligned with specific state standards. For those interested in saving money, try this calculator that compares the cost of traditional textbooks with digital Flexbooks.  Apple iPad users may discover more by reading about the ePub format and Flexbooks. These books are also available for download directly from Apple’s iBookstore.  CK-12′s FlexBooks are also  available as Amazon Kindle eBooks. Learn more at this page dedicated to Flexbook and the Kindle, or view all the books on Amazon.

Thanks for joining me in this series devoted to ” Going Digital” at 21centuryedtech.   But that’s not all… future posts will also contain resources on evaluating web resources, Project Based Learning, STEM, Web 2.0, and so much more on 21st Century Learning. I even have a post coming your way that describes over 100 ways to use Wordle in the classroom. You may even find another amazing digital curriculum resource covering multiple disciplines as this series continues! Please take a moment to subscribe by RSS or email! Your subscription means a lot to me and I thank you in advance. In fact, you can also give this article a retweet if you scroll to the bottom! It’s a great way to spread the word and I appreciate your support. Thanks, until next time… start thinking of ways you can enter the digital curriculum. If you know of another great digital curriculum resource please let me know so I can discover and share.  Have a great week! – Mike Gorman (21centuryedtech)

The Digital Curriculum Part 1… Textbook To Flexbook… Free, Open Source, Engaging!

Everyone is talking about a digital curriculum free of those hard copy textbooks that have been a part of schooling since the advent of the one room schoolhouse. This is the first  post in a series devoted to investigating resources that can open up a world of digital curricula. In the next post I will bring seven more amazing digital resources that just might replace what we know as the textbook. Before exploring further,  please take a moment to subscribe by RSS or email. Your subscriptions mean a lot to me! You can also follow me on twitter (mjgormans) and please take a moment to share and retweet this post. Now, enjoy a visit designed to help you put some flexibility in your textbook  as you bring learning into the digital world. In fact you will also discover 12 points to ponder before using a Flexbook in school. Have a great week – Mike

With so many schools beginning the journey towards a 1 to 1 initiative, it really is time to investigate how a digital device in every child’s hand can transform learning… even down to what a student carries in a book bag!  In fact, could it be that the book bag may just have to find a new name? After all, why carry around an encyclopedia of books when that same print can be stored in a digital manner?  Additionally, why limit it to print? One group providing a free and open source alternative is the CK-12 Foundation,  a non-profit organization whose  mission is  to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the U.S. and worldwide. C-K12 is building an open-content, web-based collaborative model termed the “FlexBook”,  In fact, CK-12 intends to pioneer the generation and distribution of high quality educational content that can serve as both a core text and at the same time provide an adaptive environment for learning.  The people at CK12 state that, “content generated by CK-12 and the CK-12 community will serve both as source material for a student’s learning and provide an adaptive environment that scaffolds the learner’s journey as he or she masters a standards-based body of knowledge, while allowing for passion-based learning.”

So… what is a FlexBook?  They may be best described as customizable, standards-aligned, free digital textbooks for K-12 education. FlexBooks are customizable textbooks that teachers can use online,via  flash drives, CD’s, or as printed books. Teachers can even share FlexBooks with other educators and they can also customize them to fit their students, locality, standards, and current events. They contain high-quality online materials that are aligned with national and state textbook standards. Since FlexBooks are online  they are kept  up to date much more easily than printed textbooks. Teachers can use the books as they are provided by C-K12, use only parts of them, or add their own materials along with other content from the web. By now I am sure you understand the word “flex” in Flexbook. This unique flexibility made possible by digital technology allows for adding or deleting of  material (including graphics and videos), adjusting the difficulty of the language, and making any other changes students may need. Imagine teachers providing the valuable handouts, readings, videos, pictures, and sound bites they have always used and including these pieces in the textbook, or should I say Flexbook!.  Best of all FlexBooks are free, so  teachers can modify the FlexBook each time they find something that works better in their classrooms.

Currently, the Flexbook Library  contains 50 books with many more soon to be added.  Flexbooks at this time are almost exclusively focused on math and science for middle-school and high-school students. In fact, be sure to check out these Flexbooks in the area of Science,  Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  You can be certain  this library will grow, as it is the  goal of CK-12 to ultimately encompass all subjects for K-12,  as teachers and authors create books and donate them to the FlexBooks Library.

By now you maybe wondering how to get started. First, take a moment and be sure to sign up and register. Next, you may wish to look at the step by step web page devoted to helping educators learn more. Have a question? Be sure to take  time to read over the list of Frequently Asked Questions. There is also a wonderful three minute quick-start overview video, along with a page filled with helpful step by step tutorial videos. Topics of these basic  tutorials include Book Assembly,  Basic Chapter Editing, and  Creating Chapters from Scratch. More advanced tutorials include  Advanced Chapter Editing – Images,  Advanced Chapter Editing – Multimedia,  Advanced Chapter Editing – Links, Advanced Chapter Editing – Equations Editor, Advanced Chapter Editing – Paste from Word, and a video that allows you to learn how to  Print and Share. Want to learn about a topic that isn’t covered  on the website or in a video tutorial? Sign up for a free online webinar to have your specific questions answered. You will find more information about up-coming webinars at this link. It may also be interesting to see what states Flexbook has already aligned with specific state standards. For those interested in saving money, try this calculator that compares the cost of traditional textbooks with digital Flexbooks.  Apple iPad users may discover more by reading about the ePub format and Flexbooks. These books are also available for download directly from Apple’s iBookstore.  CK-12′s FlexBooks are also  available as Amazon Kindle eBooks. Learn more at this page dedicated to Flexbook and the Kindle, or view all the books on Amazon.

Please explore my  twelve points to consider when investigating the implementation of Flexbooks.

1. Provide sustainable in-service for teachers. This is a big shift and teachers must be provided with successful professional development to transform from hard copy to digital.

2. Allow time for teachers to collaborate, create, and plan their digital curriculum; you might be an adoption cycle away from full implementation.

3. Gather resources to facilitate the entire curriculum. Just as the regular textbook is only one resource, so is a Flexbook even though it may provide more opportunities to engage students.  Additional resources beyond a Flexbook must still be available and accessible.

4. Provide proper  technology and include necessary maintenance.. This also includes  internet connectivity that is capable of supporting 1 to 1. Plan for possible and probable network disruptions.

5. Consider the wide diversity of students’ needs in their home environment and have plans to facilitate for this wide spectrum.

6. Spend more time discovering resources and less time writing standards… after all most standards are already provided by national and state agencies. Teachers need to have time! Notice the continued emphasis on time for teachers to develop and customize.

7. Consider the local community when seeking material for a Flexbook as this will allow relevance and meaning for students. It will also allow for community connections and field trip possibilities. Best of all, it will gather support of community stakeholders.

8. Remember that transformation from hard copy to digital must be done in small measurable  steps. Start planning  and preparing now and you could see big gains in several years. Encourage teacher collaboration and sharing while providing time to do so!

9. Keep in  mind that the flexibility in a Flexbook means that content should go beyond text and allow for a wide array of learning styles. It also allows for topics to stay current and be updated as needed.

10. While there may be cost savings, keep in mind that these savings could be spent in ways to further support students and teachers.  This may include additional  engaging materials for students, and professional development for teachers. It will be money well spent,  placing even the Flexbook at  the periphery of the curriculum… and  students more at the center.

11. Realize that there is no such thing as a free lunch. There will, of course, be costs for infrastructure, professional development, and planning/implementation time.

12. A great amount of quality digital curriculum resources are currently available by  publishing companies for a fee. These types of sources still must be investigated and should be purchased and implemented where applicable.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that a digital curriculum will provide access to a virtual and flexible textbook that will facilitate  necessary understanding of content by all students. It will be available in a variety of formats to be read on tablet, iPod, Droid, laptop, desktop, or possibly a  piece of real paper! As the virtual and flexible textbook matures it will become interactive, filled with engaging media, and will provide a  nonlinear experience. It will allow for a curriculum that facilitates both convergent and divergent thinking.  Most of all, it will be flexible as it meets the needs of all learning styles.  So you can see, the textbook will remain a good friend  as it transforms BIT by BIT.  As it moves from the center, the  new digital curriculum will put kids in the middle! As you continue your journey in the world of the 21st century you just may find that the Flexbook may be the start of a new and different way of looking at our old friend!

Join me in this continuing series devoted to ” Going Digital”. In fact Part 2 promises to bring you seven more digital resources.  But that’s not all… future posts will also contain resources on evaluating web resources, Project Based Learning, STEM, Web 2.0, and so much more on 21st Century Learning. I even have a post coming your way that describes over 100 ways to use Wordle in the classroom. Please take a moment to subscribe by RSS or email! Your subscription means a lot to me and I thank you in advance. In fact, you can also give this article a retweet if you scroll to the bottom! It’s a great way to spread the word and I appreciate your support. Thanks, until next time… start thinking of ways you can go flex your digital curriculum.  Have a great week! – Mike