Tag Archives: interactivity

Unplugged Coding : integrating coding activities in your classroom


cc Kathy Cassidy

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Unplugged Coding is a collection of learning activities that introduce coding and programming through engaging games that only use cards, crayons, markers, etc. For younger students, teachers can skip the detailed concepts of computer coding and give them a better understanding of basic computer science knowledge and inspire them for future exploration. For all learners, unplugged activities can help build computational thinking without the need for digital devices. For more in this blog about coding (both plugged and unplugged) and links to BC curriculum, please visit the ‘Coding in your Classrooms’ post.


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Through Unplugged Coding activities, students will be able to develop computational thinking through concepts such as binary numbers and algorithms without using computers or other devices.

Unplugged coding meets Plugged coding: Scratch is a visual programming language. For a brief introduction to Scratch, have a look at Drag and Drop Programming: Scratch. In There are also some unplugged scratch coding cards you can use in the classroom for an analog approach. You can find a teacher’s guide for using Scratch cards in your classroom on 8 ways to use Scratch Coding Cards in Your Classroom.


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Interested in integrating Unplugged Coding into your classroom? Interested in moving from unplugged to plugged (via visual programming)? Here are two websites that might be useful in developing your lesson plans:

https://code.org/curriculum/unplugged

https://www.csunplugged.org/en/topics/

http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/stories 

You might also try these printable ‘scratch’/visual block coding cards. They can be used to introduce visual programming and build algorithmic and computational thinking skills during morning messages, transition or sponge activities or when introducing a lesson. English from ‘ScratchEd‘ or French from Code BC

Or this kinesthetic activity, The Thirsty Robot, where students act as robots and programmers, give and receive commands, encode and decode programs (can be adapted to multiple levels).

For grades 6-9 learners, this series of resources (student and teacher resources) from the Victoria School District helps to build computational thinking and computer programming through unplugged activities.


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Plickers – Student Response System

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 ‘Plickers’ is a free Student Response or All-Class Response System (SRS), useful for those without access to one-to-one devices in the classroom. All you need are some downloadable and printable class cards, the Plickers app, and one handheld device. The students hold their cards up based on their answer (A, B, C, D), the teacher scans the cards from anywhere in the classroom using a smartphone, tablet or iPad, and the responses are automatically entered.

You and the class can view a graph of responses if you connect your computer to a projector (without your students seeing who provided which individual response). Teachers can ask multiple choice questions or yes/no questions and can save the results of each quiz or poll in their teacher account.

NEW: Plickers now has hybrid and online mode for using plickers face to face, online (or in both modes at once!). The Plickers question editor allows you to include advanced mathematical and scientific equations. In addition, the ability to include images, Gifs, sound and other multimodal features might add a more gameified feel!

 


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Regular check-ins with your students during instruction aids formative assessment and future planning. Teachers often use thumbs up/down or hands up or fingers to try to gauge understanding or interest but these ‘systems’ can be difficult if not impossible to track. Plickers allows you to save the individual student responses (and you don’t need to ‘give away’ any of your students’ information to do so).

Plickers can even be used in the gym or outdoors (be sure to download the large sized cards if using in large spaces). This youtube video shares how one teacher uses a ‘magnet version of Plickers’ called ‘Plagnets’ in a PHE class.

Many teachers lack access to individual devices needed to use other student response systems (iClickers, Socrative, Menti, Kahoot and others). With Plickers, all you need is an app, one device and printable cards for your students. Some excellent features include (excerpts below from Plickers.com):

1. Scoresheet: “review your students’ results over multiple questions. Use it to spot learning trends with students, identify questions to review from a unit, or even get grading done faster.”

2. Individual Student Reports: On the left panel of Scoresheet, you can print individual student reports or save them as a PDF. The first sheet provides an overall class average and lists the 3 most commonly missed questions for you to save for your records, while the remaining pages contain individual student reports including the question and answer choice selected.
This resource can be used in a second language classroom such as French Immersion, Core French, etc.

More information about features is available   on the Zendesk on the Plickers website.


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Go to Plickers.com and set up a free teacher account. When you select ‘classes’, you will be prompted to enter student names or aliases which will automatically be assigned to a plicker card number. If you teach multiple classes, you can simply create a new class and add the new students and there’s no need to have a separate set of plickers cards since the app easily lets you toggle between your classes.
Now all you need to do is think of some excellent questions – remember, the questions you ask can make or break an assessment opportunity. Think carefully about your questions. I’d also suggest having a few ‘generic’ questions (i.e. temperature checks, checks for understanding) that you can use at any time regardless of subject or content.
Plickers Quick Start Instructions


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My Maps: Google interactive maps

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My Maps is an online platform by Google that allows you to personalize your Google map and also add multimedia information to different locations. It is important to consider student data privacy when using non-Canadian housed resources (FIPPA). In some cases, school districts have permissions in place for the use of google classroom, while in others, it would be wise to have students utilize a class login if adding to the map (and, of course, ensuring this is appropriate in your district/school). It is important to ensure students develop digital literacy and know what kind of information is safe to share and what isn’t. Valuable contextual learning can take place when students have the opportunity to create in online environments at school with a teacher who is conscious of the issues and possibilities.


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My Maps can enhance place-based learning and learning about place by providing a space for students to upload images, text and audio connected to a specific location in the world. They can be used by teachers to create guides or presentations for students allowing them to explore and discover different areas and information. Creators and contributors of maps can tie in their own images to create a more personalized and interactive experience than a more linear slideshow or video affords. Viewers of the map can click on the tags including text, videos, and weblinks, creating a more interactive and non-linear experience than a more traditional presentation, video or slideshow might afford.

One example of an excellent use for an online collaborative map is this Eco-poetics project: Poems from the Garden.


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Creating a map
  1. Sign into your Google Account.
  2. Click on “Maps” (Depending on your browser, you may need to select the ‘gear’ icon after logging in before you can see ‘My Maps’).
  3. from the ‘menu’, select ‘your places’ and select ‘Maps’ – scroll to the bottom, select ‘create’.
  4. Title the Map.
  5. Select your privacy option for the map using the sharing icon (public, private, viewable or editable by anyone with link or by invitation, etc)
    • Public (shared with everyone online)
    • Unlisted (shared only with people to whom you provide the URL/Map address)
  6. Share the URL of your map.
    • Click on ‘Link’ in the upper right-hand corner of the map. You can copy the link and share it with others. You may even copy the ‘embed code’ and paste it into your website.
    • NB: Individuals with the URL can view the map but cannot edit the map (i.e. add markers) unless they are logged into their Google Accounts.

Adding a marker

  1. Login to My Map.
  2. Find your location.
    • Zoom in to your location (using the +/- or by double clicking on the map) or find your location using the ‘Search bar
  3. Select the ‘Marker’ tool (from the toolbar below the search bar).
  4. Click on the location where you would like to place the marker.
  5. Type your title and description.
  6. Add an image.
  7. Change the icon to one of many custom icons in the app.

Teaching Tip: To help protect student privacy, create a class Google account that students can use to login so that they do not need to set up and use individual Google accounts.


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Google Street View: Explore natural wonders and world landmarks

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Google Street View is a fun way to create your own 360 panoramic pictures and to engage in a 360 experience of places shared by others.

 

Below is a live example:


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Google Street View can help students visualize and understand the world around them. By using Google Street view, students have the opportunity to explore, collaborate and share images around the world. Google Street View can be used by teachers to engage students during their geographic, historical or social science lectures. In addition, it can also be used as a unique way to tell a story.

Content is continually being added to Street View and may require some ‘sifting through’ for quality. Students can also be creators and work together to create their own 360° pictures and share them with the world. They can even add notes about their images. NOTE: as a google product, privacy and permissions are important considerations. See this blog post about FIPPA.


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To view:

  • Download the Google Street View app on your mobile device (your mobile phone, your iPad, or your Android tablet).
  • Log in with your Google account.
  • Click on “Explore” and search for the place you’re interested in. (You can expand the “results” at the bottom of the screen to see a full list of places available.)
  • Select the place.
  • Click on the panoramic icon (compass) to go into 360° view.
  • Click on the Google Cardboard icon and use your VR headset to view the image.

To share and contribute:

  • Click on the camera at the bottom right to create your image.
  • Choose the type of device you are using. Click on the last option, “camera,” if you’re using your phone/iPad camera.
  • To line up, make sure that the orange dot is inside of the white circle.
  • Turn around to take a 360 image.
  • Click on the “check mark” to save your image.
  • To publish your image, here are the steps:
    • Under “Private,” tap Select.
    • Choose a photo to publish.
    • If you have applied blurring, choose if you want to apply the blur to your published photo. Tap More More and then Apply blurring or Remove blurring .
    • Tap Upload .
    • Tap Publish. You’ll see your photo under “Profile”.
  • Now you can view your image on your own device or with the Google Cardboard/ VR headset, and also share your 360 image with your students/friends!

Feel free to use our lesson brief to introduce Google Street View to your students (click Google Streetview Lesson to download).

Follow the steps in this video to upload your 360 images:


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Kahoot! : Free Tool for Creating Learning Games !

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Kahoot! is a platform for teachers to create fun, engaging learning games with little technological knowledge/skill needed.

In Kahoot, you can create a series of questions combining with images, videos, diagrams, etc. The number and type of questions fully depend on your needs, and your students can get access to your learning game by simply go to kahoot.it and input a 4-digit number comes with your game.

There are four different types of Kahoots you can create, include:

  1. Quiz: you can use quiz Kahoots to introduce a topic, review what you’ve been teaching in a class, or use the quiz results to offer rewards to some of your students.
  2. Jumble: it’s a type of brand new game that allows students to rearrange the sentences, sorting algebraic equations, or putting historic events in order, etc. To learn more about Jumble Kahoot, click here for more information.
  3. Discussion: you can create Discussion Kahoots to initiate and facilitate a debate
  4. Survey: use this kind of Kahoot to gather opinions, insights or students’ feedback on a specific subject, a special event, workshop, or a class.

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Teachers need different forms of assessing their student learning and Kahoot! offers a “gamified” version of getting student feedback. It can be used to gather student background knowledge, assess midway through a unit to see if Students are getting the “big idea,” or used as a review.

With Kahoot, students can answer questions on their own devices, while games are displayed on a shared screen. As a teacher, you can pick from the existing games that other teachers have uploaded and even contribute your own games to the community.

Teachers should think carefully about their objectives and utilize the appropriate kinds of questions to help meet those objectives, elicit student understanding and propel learning. Consider varying questions between selection and supply and access the different areas of Bloom’s Taxonomy. This graphic, shared on Flickr by Enokson helps connect Bloom’s with question frames for assessment.

CC image Enokson Flickr Stream

Students might also create their own kahoots to deepen their understanding of the class content.

Kahoot allows you to connect and play in real time with other players in other places (synchronous learning across space!)

*at the time of writing, Kahoot does not seem to allow you to track student responses. If you are interested in trackingindividual responses, consider Plickers or another student response system.


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  1. Create a teacher account on kahoot.com
    • There are several video tutorials on the site to help you out.
  2. Create a new Kahoot by selecting the type of interactivity you want to create.
  3. Title your Kahoot, add a description, and set up the visibility, language and audience type. Feel free to add a cover image to customize your Kahoot and invite engagement.
  4. Now you can start to work on your questions.

Let’s take Quiz Kahoot as an example, first, input the question to the “Question” area (here, we recommend you to prepare with the questions in another document, that will fasten your Kahoot creation process. Then, set up the time limit for the question, and feel free to add awards points to the question if you are doing a quiz. After this, input the answers and click on the checkmark next to the correct answer(s). Remember to give credit to the resources that you have used/ referred to in your questions.

  1. Now it’s time to save and share your Kahoot!

How to get access:

  1. Go to a web browser
  2. Go to kahoot.it
  3. Enter the game pin that showed on the shared screen
  4. Enter a nickname and start to answer the questions

Kahoot Instructions One Page Handout


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Augment: designing and customizing your own augmented reality

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Using Augment in Education – It’s all free!

Augment is a tool to design and integrate Augmented Reality (AR) into your classroom. There are three components included: the Augment app, the Augment Manager and the Augment Desktop. The Augment app allow you to visualize 3D Models via the camera on your mobile devices. The Augment Manager is used to upload and manage various models. Lastly, Augment Desktop makes it simple to design and animate models before publishing them (click here for a tutorial to get started with your design!)

 


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Augment is one of the top AR apps on the market and is an effective tool that can be used to enhance your lessons and activities. Its visuals can help present your designs and captivate your students with 3D interactive experiences. In addition, it allows you to update course content without wasting paper.
In fact, Augment can specifically help you:
  • Engage students by drawing their attention with interactive presentations, posters and text book enhancement
  • Clarify complex concepts that would be hard to understand with a 2D handout. For example, educators use Augment to help students see the difference in the movement of gas molecules and liquid molecules in containers through animated 3D models
  • Empower your lessons by updating content and models for classes without printing

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There are a few steps to get started with using Augment in your classroom:
  1. Create an account on manager.augment.com.
  2. Click on upgrade Now and choose Education Plan.
  3. Download the Augment App free on IOS or Android and log into your account.
  4. Upload 2D images of your model, or you can choose to find 3D models to use from the following sources:

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Want to know what other educators did with Augment? check this video out !

https://youtu.be/89nvotfDCgk

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Google Cardboard – DIY Guide and some VR Apps

In short, Google Cardboard is an affordable piece of Virtual Reality (VR) headgear that welcomes its users to simple yet eye-opening VR experiences. Following just a few easy steps, anyone with a smartphone (and a few free VR apps, of course) can now explore the VR content shared by creators worldwide. As the name suggests, this headgear can be built from low-cost materials that are relatively easy to find, so if you are up to the challenge, you can even make one yourself!

It may not be as high quality or immersive as the more expensive VR set ups (like the HTC Vive that you can use at UBC’s Emerging Media Lab)  but it is fun to use and still brings quite a ‘wow’ factor to the table, especially considering its price.

Note: All of the apps linked below are FREE at the time of this resource posting.

Google Cardboard Glasses

Order Online

Google Cardboard
by Virtual Studio
on Sketchfab

Make Your Own

Pro tip: This video demonstration will guide you through the process quite quickly. For a brief overview of what is involved in making the glasses, see the instructions below.

What You’ll Need

Pro tip:

45mm biconvex lenses: available for purchase online. Search Amazon, eBay or other sources. They are about 70cents each lens but you can sometimes also find them in bulk. We’ve never tested the theory that you can even make your own lenses but there are instructions available online. See below for video how to.

Ring Magnet or elastic and velcro: You don’t really need the ring magnet or elastic, they are nice additions though. The magnet is used as a button because you cannot click the screen while you have the glasses on. The velcro can also be substituted with regular tape.  Magnets are about 0.75in (19mm) diameter and 0.12in (3mm) thickness, and can be bought on Amazon or at Home Depot.

Building Your Glasses

  • Step 1: Download and print the Google Cardboard Template.
  • Step 2: Cut out your template and stick your outlined pieces together placing sections with numbers in white circles on top of those with matching numbers in black circles.
  • Step 3: Trace your pieces onto your cardboard (cereal box works well).
  • Step 4: Cut out your cardboard outlines.
  • Step 5: Fold your cardboard pieces along the red lines indicated on the template.
  • Step 6: Put your cardboard pieces together as shown in the video demonstration.

6 Amazing Virtual Reality Apps

Within VR

Extraordinary stories in virtual reality.

Formerly known as Vrse, WITHIN showcases the best VR video has to offer. The content on display in this app spans a variety of genres and is collected from a number of reputable VR sources. It features documentary and news content from the likes of Vice, the New York Times, and the Huffington Post, comedy and short films from creators and animators like Saturaday Night Live, and music videos from artists like U2.

inVR

The easiest way to create and share VR experiences.

inVR is a “platform for sharing VR experiences”. Users can create content using any 3D modelling software and uploading it to the inVR cloud for other to experience. Whether you are are a 3D artist or animator, or just an avid VR explorer this is a must-try.

NYT VR

An immersive virtual-reality experience.

Journalism has come to VR! NYT VR offers an immersive and thrilling experience as award winning journalists capture their experinces in 360 video for the world to see. Be a Syrian refugee, an earthquake survivor or rescue worker in Nepal, or watch the burning of ivory in protest of elephant poaching in Kenya. Videos are posted on a monthly basis.

Discovery VR

A new way to see your world.

View behnid-the-scenes footage from Discovery shows among other immersive video experiences as videographers show you all our planet has to offer. From the depths of the ship wrecked oceans to survival in the rainforest this app has action and adventure to share.

RYOT

Become the story.

The Huffington post brings you RYOT, a step into a new age of reporting. Like NTY VR, RYOT journalists and videographers capture their experiences at imporant events in some of the worlds most interesting places.

Shakespeare’s Globe 360

Step inside the world of the Globe Theatre.

Explore Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in VR. Take a look around and interact with the virutal environment to learn more about the theatre and acting in Shakespearean times.

Hack: Make your own Lenses

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