TeachTech Professional Development K-3

Last updated almost 3 years ago

2 questions

Instructions

Please complete this self-paced professional development. 

Effective collaboration and communication is essential for the success of students and teachers. Consistent collaboration enhances the productivity in the classroom, which makes a difference for student learning (Rider, 2015). "Collaborative learning has been shown to not only develop higher-level thinking skills in students, but boost their confidence and self-esteem as well" (Gates, 2018). It is imperative that students know how to effectively communicate and communicate with others in the classroom and also digitally. 

Three student communication and collaboration tools
Google Drive: Students are able to create, collaborate, and sync a variety of files across devices. 
Drawp: Drawp is a collaborative creation platform where students can collaborate create drawings or work on an assignment sent by the teacher. 
ePals: Students are able to use ePals to collaborate and communicate with students in more than 99 countries. 

                                   Pros and Cons
                                 Google Drive
Pro: Students are able to collaboration using different devices. 
Con: May be a learning curve for younger students if they are not taught how to properly use it. 
Google Drive is helping to streamline engagement with digital learning.  
                                            Drawp
Pro: Students can input images, text, and audio into assignments. 
Con: Paid subscription, similar websites available for free. 
Drawp allows teachers to assign students a variety of assignments about different cultures and nations, and allows students to collaborate on it. 
                                                ePals
Pro: Provides a safe way for students to communicate with students in other countries.
Con: May be difficult receiving a collaborating class. 
ePals allows students to collaborate with students all around the world to learn about different cultures and to also teach about their culture. 

            Activities for students’ collaboration and 
                            communication skills.
The Bell Foundation provides a list of collaboration activities that can be used in the classroom. Click Here for the list. All of the activities stated allow students to move around, collaborate with their classmates and communicate with their classmates as well. Collaborative activities are great for learners because they encourage speaking and listening (2023). 
FlipGrid is a tool that allows students to communicate with each other through video. The teacher can post a video that starts a discussion about a specific topic and students will respond with their own video. 

                         Resources for TeachTech!
LessonPlanet provides lesson plans for communication and collaboration skill for all aged students. 

Illinois State Board of Education provides a PDF of collaborative technique cards. These cards provide teachers with different activities to use in their classroom for student collaboration. 

Required

Match the digital tools to their correct description.

Draggable item		Corresponding Item
Drawp		A tool that allows students to communicate with each other through video.
Flip Grid		A software suite and cloud-based, file-syncing service.
Google Drive		A collaborative, web-based creation platform
ePals		A website that connects classrooms in more than 99 countries to share content and ideas and collaborate on projects.

Required

TeachTech Professional Development K-3

Match the digital tools to their correct description.

I enjoyed this virtual professional development!