Digital learning is more than just using any type of technology to educate students. According to Bob Wise, former governor of West Virginia and President of the Alliance for Excellent Education that sponsors Digital Learning Day, “Digital Learning is the effective application of technology enabling student-centered learning and allowing a more personalized approach to academic success.”
Digital Learning attempts to change teaching in a very fundamental fashion-one that allows the students to have a greater say in what they are learning and how they are presenting the information that has been learned (SLM Sept-Oct 2012).
Promote Digital Learning – FREE Web Apps
Here are some for your use and for use with students to enhance digital learning:
(SLM Sept-Oct 2012)
Animoto. http://animoto.com/
Allows students to focus on short phrases that get the point across effectively. Try this with science students to illustrate a difficult concept. If they can do it, they understand the concept.
Evernote. http://evernote.com/
Great for taking notes. Our students seem to have lost the ability to take notes on their own, but Evernote allows them to do this wherever it is easiest (phone, tablet, laptop), thus giving note-taking a “cool” factor.
Glogster. http://www.glogster.com/
Think old-fashioned poster in a new-fangled way. This app is great for having students link to quality websites.
Getty Images. http://www.gettyimages.com
Site for high quality photos that can be copyright-free.
Khan Academy. http://www.khanacademy.org/
Quality instructional videos.
LiveBinders. http://www.livebinders.com
Helps to organize resources for teachers and librarians, but also great to introduce to students in helping them organize projects. This would be a great way to organize a research paper.
Poll Everywhere. http://www.polleverywhere.com/
Fun use of texting and cell phone usage to participate in classroom polls. Great data collection tool for teachers. Use it to see if students understand a concept with a simple yes/no poll.
Story Jumper. http://www.storyjumper.com/
Children’s picture book maker. Also fun for older students to use to illustrate a complex process. Try using this with social studies teachers to show historical events during a specific time period.
Voice Thread. http://voicethread.com/
Combines images with voiceovers.
Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/
Another source for copyright-free images.
Here are a few blogs on using technology with your students:
Blogger - http://www.blogger.com
Edmodo - http://www.edmodo.com
Pass the Notes - http://www.passthenotes.com
High School Soup – http://www.all4ed.org/blog
Informative websites for teachers:
Free Technology for Teachers – http://freetech4teachers.blogspot.com/
Educational Technology Guy – http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/
Edmodo Education Community -
http://miamidade.edmodo.com/publisher/educationationnation
Digital Learning Day 2.0 is February 6, 2013
Sign up today and start planning a digital learning lesson – http://www.digitallearningday.org
Digital learning is any instructional practice that is effectively using technology to strengthen the student learning experience. This is the way our students learn. We must adapt our teaching to their style. Digital Learning Day is one day that will highlight this practice, but hopefully, this will continue year-round. (SLM Sept-Oct 2013).
