Alternative Learning Environment Tool

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Schoolwork App by Apple

When pondering over a tool that I wanted to investigate further for an alternative learning environment, I wanted to select a resource that I knew has been on my list to investigate. We have piloted it in several classrooms, but I have yet to be hands-on learning with this specific tool. The resource I am referring to is Apple’s Schoolwork.

As this tool is still in its developmental stages, I’ve heard mixed reviews from those who have piloted the resource. However, being a district of Apple Devices, I’m curious myself how beneficial this could be to really maximize time and personalized learning experiences in the classroom.

Similar to when I introduced Apple Classroom to teachers, I would introduce Schoolwork at a staff meeting as a quick overview, but the modeling portion would really come to life during co-taught lessons in the classroom. I am a very visual person myself, and most teachers I have co-taught with enjoy the walk-through in person when they can really see the value of a resource in action. I can discuss a lot during a staff meeting, but that can often go in one ear and out the other. The muscle memory of practicing the steps to create handouts in schoolwork and monitor student progress, is something that is valuable and better done during an actual lesson.

When I was a classroom teacher, and even today as an instructional tech coach, I think it is extremely important to receive student feedback. If we are using this tool for productivity and to support students and their personal goals, it’s important that they see the value in using this as well. After taking some time to model this with a teacher during a mini-lesson, students would also have the experience to submit work back. What I would love students to see is the collaboration feature with the integration of Apple’s iWork apps and Schoolwork. This allows teachers to annotate on student projects in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers to easily provide feedback.

  • Classes created from managed Apple IDs. Students can also view due dates for tasks.
  • As a teacher, see who hasn’t turned their tasks in.
  • When sharing handouts, teachers can setup student collaboration.
  • Students can submit their work by using the Submit button.

This resource could both empower student learning and promote Digital Citizenship. Schoolwork allows students to also be setup to collaborate together. This goes into discussions about the responsibility of working together through a digital platform and how to professionally communicate with one another. This resource could also be used for student paced learning and personalized learning, which could motivate students. Assignments/handouts could be assigned to a whole class, groups or individual students. If a teacher is leading a student-paced environment, students could follow along with due dates on their device as they complete activities by choice or in a sequential order. You can also create work request assignments where students have a choice to demonstrate their learning.  When pairing with other apps like Explain Everything for flipped learning or IXL, data can be communicated from the app to Schoolwork. This can be used for project management or student goal setting.

There honestly are so many learning management system tools available. I think it is important that a teacher finds one that is most beneficial to their learning environment, but they are also not a one-size-fits-all. The features I truly like about this tool is the workflow, collaboration and data tracking. Many times, teachers have to go into other apps to retrieve data, but now it can be found all in one place. Unless, you would need more in depth reports. While integrated apps are limited right now, I have a feeling more will come. This will really assist my collaboration with a teacher because progress will be easily accessible. Student and teacher storage for iCloud will also be increased, so this allows for more possibilities with creation.

Looking from the student side as the learner, there are a few different ISTE for Student Standards that the Schoolwork tool would target. One, being the Empowered Learner. If used as a flipped, blended or personalized classroom integration, it can really put the student in control of their learning. Digital Citizenship would also be present. Students would be learning how to collaborate effectively on a digital platform, as well as working in media usage rights when creating and sharing projects. Finally, I would say that Schoolwork also targets the Creative Communicator. Depending on the intentions of use, students could have a choice in how they want to demonstrate their learning.
I’m excited to investigate this resource further at the Apple Distinguished Educator institute in July, but if you are interested in learning more about Schoolwork, you can read more through Apple’s Getting Started Guide.

Digital Self and Your Data

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A large push in education recently is giving our students a platform to have a voice and share their creations with the community, and to make connections with the world. Many platforms have made it extremely convenient for our teachers and students to access programs with an individual login issued by school districts. While these resources may allow our students to collaborate, share, and reflect; do we really know what happens once our students login? As part of an ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) certified educator cohort, I’ve taken the opportunity to investigate some of our most widely used resources a bit closer.

My first investigation was focused on taking a closer look at the video resource, Flipgrid. According to Flipgrid’s “Terms of Use”, Flipgrid makes student privacy a priority. Flipgrid states that they won’t sell information, even to a third party, but they may use the data to make improvements to their resource or to communicate with Grid Owners (Adults 18 and over) about Grid features. When creating an account on Flipgrid, Flipgrid will collect name, email, password and school information. Information (video, text, student feedback, etc) that is posted to Flipgrid, will also be stored in the service. While collecting who accesses the website/app, the company will even track down to the device that is being used and the IP address location. Flipgrid does advise parent consent forms and to check with district policies prior to use as they abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act for anyone under the age of 13. One thing that I found incredibly interesting about the site, is that parents can exercise their right to contact Flipgrid and have their student’s data removed.

After learning more about the terms and privacy of Flipgrid, I decided to take a closer look at a resource that our district has purchased for all buildings to use. Many have fallen in love with it, so I was curious to read the privacy and terms for the very popular resource known as Seesaw. Immediately upon opening the Seesaw Privacy Policy, the very first sentence states..

“Seesaw’s mission is to create an environment where students can be their best.  To accomplish this goal, it’s essential that Seesaw is a safe place for students to document their learning, and that parents and teachers are in complete control over how that information is shared.”

https://web.seesaw.me/privacy-policy

While Seesaw does emphasize on it being a safe place for students to share, like many other resources, they do collect information from any individual connected to Seesaw; this includes family. What surprised me about the privacy policy for Seesaw, is that it can take up to 7 years for Seesaw to delete abandoned accounts. One can contact Seesaw directly to have their account deleted, but they will still retain information for up to 60 days.

For my final digital resource, I decided to take a closer look at our district science curriculum resource, TCI. This was a new content area resource that our district adopted about two years ago, where one of their main online features is an interactive notebook. Very similar to Flipgrid and Seesaw, TCI will save any postings that are made by users to their website. What surprised me the most about this resource, compared to others, is that it actually deletes student accounts and information on June 30th of each year. Where as the other resources above may even archive them for years.

Based on the information that was found in the privacy policies of the information above, I don’t think there would be any changes that I would necessarily make to the resources we are using. What I think we may need to do as a district is to make users more aware of what happens to the information that is posted online, since many tend to click directly through the privacy policy notices. More importantly, allowing parents and students to know their right to contact the companies so they know they have the option to have their student information deleted.

Digital Labs in Numbers

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One of the most powerful pieces about Twitter, is the connection that you can make amongst educators. The power of PLN!

Earlier this year, I was working with a jr. high science teacher, who was excited to try something new. I brought up the idea of using Numbers, because of how flexible the layout is. Knowing this could be a great possibility for observations and reflections, I inquired to a former colleague about their experience with Numbers in their middle school/jr. high science classrooms. My contact quickly put me in touch with Jodie Deinhammer!

Jodie, is a science teacher and Apple Distinguished educator, who graciously shared some of her examples and lesson experiences with me via email. One in particular, that we just put into action today with 7th grade, the Microscope Lab!

This Microscope Lab template in Numbers was combined with the use of Bio Metric’s digital Microscope app. The teachers I was supporting were very easily able to modify the template to fit their objective and curriculum standards, and students loved the self-pace style of learning. Teachers are already brainstorming where Numbers will take them next, and how we can improve our microscope introduction lesson for next year.

If you haven’t tried the Numbers app yet, I encourage you to do so. It is one of my favorites and often looked over.





Can’t Catch Me!

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When a whole grade level approaches you for a breakout, how can you not connect it to a fun holiday theme prior to winter break. I smell a room transformation!

The 3rd grade teachers that I work with were in search of a collaborative breakout activity that would allow their students not only to have fun, but to reinforce the 4Cs at a much needed time. Breakouts, if you haven’t tried one yet, are also a great observation tool for building instructional groups and partners, but to also identify the different types of learners in your class.

The Breakout that we decided on was the gingerbread man theme of, “Can’t Catch Me,” which can be found on the Breakout EDU portal. I wish I could take ownership for this activity, but I can’t. The educator who shared this really put a lot of thought into the process of the clues. We did have to modify it a tad for third grade, but that was mostly because this was also their first breakout and a new learning experience.

While some achieved and caught the gingerbread man, there were others who didn’t. However, everyone won in the end because of the opportunity for reflection. It was so positive to see that an unsuccessful round didn’t discourage 3rd graders from the lesson, in fact, they can’t wait to try more!

Lollipops courtesy of Lindsay Zilly’s (@iCoachLindsay) life-size Candy Land.

Of course, we couldn’t have a gingerbread themed Breakout EDU without a gingerbread house! The baker was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the chefs in training, ready to share the shenanigans that this littler gingerbread man got into around the school!

Christmas Around the World

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The days leading up to Winter Break, is a great time for students to dive into some non fiction reading and research how holidays are celebrated in other countries around the world. There is an opportunity for many great extension activities among a variety of content areas.

In early November, two 4th grade teachers approached me about converting a previously very lengthy paper packet to something digital. We explored a few options together and finally landed on Pages.

In Pages, the teachers and I created a mini booklet that contained some information regarding the celebrations, however students were welcome to research additional information in their groups. This also connected well to group discussions on how to safely search for photos, but how we respectfully use photos when being aware of copyrights.

Once the research was completed in Pages, students were then given a choice of how their group wanted to present their content. Most selected to use one of their new favorite resources, Apple Clips.

What made this project unique, is that two classrooms came together to jigsaw 17 countries. Each room completed roughly eight countries that they would present to each other. During the presentation process, students then completed their passport notes in Book Creator.

The students loved this project, and it was so great to see their smiling faces!