Note: This entry is a cross-post for a blog I wrote for Jossey-Bass Education.

Today the World Wide Web is absolutely overflowing with new web 2.0 tools.  From video editing to file sharing to image manipulation to brainstorming, there’s a tool for every possible task we could ask students to do.  At every conference I attend, I’m asked, “So, what tools do you use with your students?”  Everyone is looking for the latest and greatest websites, hoping for the silver bullet in their classroom.  I think that seeking out the best tools and making our classrooms as current as possible is a noble goal.  However, I think we also have a professional responsibility to start thinking about which tools are “best” for our classrooms and limiting the field to just those tools that are really powerful.  Otherwise, we risk spending just as much time teaching students how to use technology as we do teaching them our content area.

That’s why, starting a few years ago, I limited the number of tools I use regularly with students.  I forced myself to limit drastically to just six tools total all semester.  That small arsenal of websites then became the ones we went back to time after time to get the work of learning and demonstrating knowledge done in my class.  By the end of the course, students were experts with those tools because they’d used them several times, not just once for a single project.  Not only could they create efficiently within the tool, they also began to distinguish within that tool set to determine which tool was best for each task, an extraordinarily sophisticated skill (and one that is more what the real world looks like!).

Although every content area and classroom may look different, below are the basic tools that I use regularly in my classroom along with a brief rationale for each.  I try to choose those tools that are most powerful and most flexible for my needs.  Each of them is explained in far more detail with example assignments in my forthcoming book, Teaching on the Education Frontier: Instructional Strategies for the Online and Blended Classroom.

• First, a Learning Management System is an absolute requirement.  My classroom is fully online so an LMS is where students access all of our collaboration tools, assignments, and grades.  However, even in a face to face classroom, using an LMS can make the classroom more engaging and more efficient (as I mentioned in this post).  My school district uses Schoology and really likes its powerful, intuitive interface, which looks a lot like Facebook.
• Second, a powerful wiki tool is needed.  I use wikis for all sorts of projects in my class, from completing the prewriting for research papers to demonstrating competence on a final project.  Wikis are flexible, powerful, and engaging for all sorts of tasks.  I currently use Google Sites but have also had success with Wikispaces.
• Third, students need access to a drawing tool so they can demonstrate their understanding of a concept in a non-linear, sometimes even non-verbal way.  At first, I used Webspiration as my core drawing tool.  Now that they’ve moved to a fee-based service, my default is Google Drawing.  It’s easy to use and powerful, especially if you teach students how to find and use templates.
• Fourth, we rely on a presentation tool.  Students need a flexible tool where they can demonstrate their understanding in a visually pleasing way and also add more complex elements such as video, web links, and audio.  For my class, we use Prezi.  It’s a relatively simple tool to use with the possibility for extraordinary complexity when needed and as students become more experienced with the tool.
• Fifth, because I believe wholeheartedly in the power of digital storytelling, a video editing tool is needed, preferably one that allows students to add images, music, and voice as easily as adding actual video.  Right now my students prefer Windows MovieMaker but we’ve also experimented with Photo Story 3.
• Sixth, since we attempt some collaborative writing, an online word processor with the option to share, comment, and write together is important.  Google Drive, specifically the word processing tool, has proved to be powerful and simple to use.

And that’s all.  Although students occasionally choose to go outside these tools, these six tools are the ones we use regularly throughout the school year.  We spend time learning the ins and outs of them during the first six weeks and then for future projects, I expect that my students already know how to use the tool and can instead focus on the learning.  I’ve found that the result is a more efficient classroom and far fewer problems with technology and learning new tools.

What do you think?  What tools am I missing from my arsenal?  Or, are there some that are even more powerful that could replace my current go-to’s?  Just like you, I love to stay on the leading edge and make sure I’m using the tools that are best for my students, just as long as there aren’t too many of them!

It’s Spring Break week here in the beautiful state of Colorado.  Last Friday I gleefully set my auto-responder and looked forward to ten blissful days of being unplugged.  No sooner had I shut the laptop than the email alert dinged on my phone.  I sighed and checked the notifications.  No one wants to start break with something hanging over them, right?  It was one of my students who desperately wants to pass my course, asking me if I could take a look at a first draft before break so she could wrap it up during break and keep working on her late work.  Ugh.  This paper was already two weeks late.  But, wanting to support my student, I powered back up and gave her feedback on the draft.

Then, on Sunday, in a thoughtless act of habit, I opened the work email on my iPad.  There was an email from a student with a 6% who desperately needs to pass my class in order to graduate in May.  She asked me what she needed to do to get there and, oh, by the way, could I send her a place to start so she could work over break?  Sigh.  Of course I can.  How could I leave her hanging?

Sunday evening, while I was cooking dinner, the text message alert went off on my phone, again another student.  This time one of my students who tends to skim all emails and directions in the course who had no idea that the due dates were different over break.  He was asking for an extension on an assignment that isn’t due until next week.  How could I not answer?  Poor kid was panicking.

So, here we are three days into break, and I haven’t unplugged at all.  Would these students benefit from a lesson on boundaries and when it is and is not appropriate to ask for help from an adult?  Probably.  But is it the most important lesson I could teach them right now?  No.  Right now they need the loving support of a caring adult.  These are all students who wouldn’t pass my class without it.  And so I help them…and feel like a sucker.  But also, I  feel like their teacher.  And that’s worthwhile.

A recent article on the Time Magazine blog does an awesome job of highlighting both the promise and the peril inherent in the new MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) phenomenon.  The thing I love about MOOC’s is that they refocus on the idea that “education is about learning,” not about the name of the university, the format of the course, or even the grade you received.  When we start to discuss course quality, in everything from fully f2f courses to fully online courses, that point is absolutely critical.  What are students learning?

In a session I attended today at the Virtual School Symposium (VSS) about Project Based Learning (post coming soon on that one!), the presenter mentioned that he believes that absolutely every online teacher should tweet on a regular basis, as a way to feel less isolated.  I couldn’t agree more!

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that VSS is a great conference to attend if for no other reason than to remind yourself that you’re not alone in this work.  In many ways, Twitter can serve the same purpose.  If you’re looking for some great online educators to follow, search #vss12 on Twitter right now and follow a few of your favorite posts.  You’ll be reminded on a regular basis of the great work that’s going on out there.  And…as a bonus…you’ll gain all sorts of new ideas for your classroom!  Below are a few other hashtags to consider searching:

• #edchat
• #onlinelearning
• #blendedlearning
• #edtech
• #k12

And one new one that a few of us are suggesting specifically for online teachers: #onlinek12  I promise you won’t be disappointed!

I’m leaving for New Orleans in just a few short hours to attend the iNACOL Virtual School Symposium.  One of the sessions that I’ll be presenting is a facilitated discussion about how to create community in an online classroom.  Below are some of the key questions we’ll be discussing and that you may want to ponder as you work to create a classroom community in your everyday work:

Using Humor

• How do you translate who you are as a teacher into the digital space?
• What are the benefits of using humor in your online course?
• In what ways have you tried to bring humor into your online classroom?
• What areas of an online course lend themselves the best to humor (announcements, course content, discussion boards, webinars/live sessions)?
• What are some of the dangers of using humor in an online classroom?  How do you avoid those dangers and make sure student “get” your jokes?
• What are some options for allowing students to make the digital space their own space, including having them create content or share humor?

Facilitating Discussion Boards

• How do discussion boards help create a classroom community?
• What are some of the best discussion board prompts you’ve used with students?
• How often should/could discussions be used?  Is there a point where there are too many discussions?
• How much should the teacher be involved in a discussion board?
• What should happen if a student isn’t being appropriate in a discussion board (either by adding inappropriate content or by not fulfilling the expectations of the discussion)?
• How do you assess discussion boards?
• What is the role of a discussion board in a self-paced classroom?

Group Projects

• What are some examples of group projects you’ve done in the past?
• What tools work best for facilitating group projects?
• How much should the teacher be involved in managing a group project?
• Should group projects be graded as a group or as individuals?
• What is the role of group projects in a self-paced classroom?  How could they be incorporated?
• What “keys to success” should every group project include?

Building Relationships

• Do you feel like you truly get to know your students in an online classroom?  How so?
• What are some examples of students you got to know really well in your course(s)?  What key events or key elements shaped that relationship and how could those key elements happen more often with other students?
• What’s the best way to initially get to know your online students?
• In what ways do you continue to get to know your students throughout the course?
• How can you help students get to know each other in addition to knowing their teacher?
• What communication mediums do you use most often with kids and how do those communication tools shape the kind of relationship you have?
• What role does assignment or assessment feedback play in building a relationship with a student?

Alternative Forms of Communication

• If you were to create a communication array that listed all the forms of communication you are using with your students, what tools would it include?
• Why do online teachers have to use so many different types of communication?  Why not just use one tool?
• Which tool do you use most often to communicate information to your students?  Which tool do your students use most often to communicate back to you?
• What role does texting play in your classroom?
• How do you ensure that texting is school appropriate as well as secure?
• What role does Twitter or Facebook play in your classroom?  How do you ensure that those tools are used wisely?
• What tips would you have for teachers who are just beginning to incorporate social media into their classrooms?
• Which communication method have you had the most success with in your classroom (i.e. Students have responded the best to it)?
• What tools have you found to be most helpful in organizing your communications?
• How do you prevent information overload in your communication methods?  When do you “power down” and how?

I can’t wait to see some of you there!  Shoot me an email or a Tweet if you’d like to meet up!

It’s that time of year again!  Next week I’ll be headed to New Orleans for iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium.  This three day conference is an awesome opportunity to see some great sessions about online and blended learning.  However, I think the best part of VSS is getting to talk to other educators who are doing the same work that I am.  Since online education is so new, it’s easy to occasionally feel isolated.  Some days I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who is doing this work.  Thankfully that’s not true and VSS proves it.  Every year I am blown away talking to amazing teachers who are treading this frontier with me.  It’s a fantastic learning opportunity.

This year I’ll also be presenting in a couple of different sessions.  The first is called “Hugs from Strangers: Developing Community in an Online Classroom.”  It will be a facilitated discussion around how we create student to student connections within our classrooms.  We’ll talk discussion boards, group projects, using humor, and building relationships.  I’m excited to learn some new strategies from all of you!  The second session I’ll be a part of is one for teachers who want to explore blogging further.  I’ll be a part of a panel of teachers who are sharing their experiences in the blogosphere.

Can’t make it to VSS live?  Check out my blog and Twitter feeds.  I’ll be adding to them throughout the conference with the best content I find.  If you are going to be there live, let me know!  I’d love to meet you!

Daphne Koller’s exceptional TED talk about Coursera (shown above) is creating a lot of buzz these days.  Basically, Coursera is providing free online college courses through video lectures by some of the best in the business and community-graded quizzes and projects.  It’s a fascinating idea, one that could literally change the way we do business in the American education system.

My initial reaction when I first watched this video was fear.  If we create a system that can and will teach students without the assistance or guidance of teachers, what role will teachers play in the future?  Are we willing to say that education can happen without the humanizing hand of a professional educator?

Thankfully, Koller was quick to point out that this system would not replace teachers.  Instead, according to Koller, teachers and professors would be freed up to engage students in critical thinking and dialogue.

This is a great start but I think this idea could also be larger.  I also see a world in which educators can move into multiple, differentiated roles.  Sometimes they might be on the front lines working with students, engaging them in critical thinking.  But other teachers might specialize into the things they do best.  Some might focus on creating video lectures along with the interactives that accompany them in an online course system.  Others might focus on creating engaging, authentic assessments to be deployed on a large scale as well as meaningful feedback to accompany those assessments.  Others might focus on creating multiple learning paths within each course they develop.  Maybe I’m idealistic but I think there will always be a place for great teachers and great communicators of content…but that place may look drastically different from how we work today.  Is that scary?  Yes.  But it also holds amazing potential.

I’m so thrilled to get to be a part of today’s iNACOL Teacher Talk webinar along with Lesley Fetzer, the 2012 NOTY award winner.  The webinar will begin at 6:00 pm EST and it’s completely free!  It’s going to be an interesting conversation about teaching and learning in the online world.

If you’d like to join us, it’s not too late to register!  Register here.

This is a cross-post of a blog I did for the Jossey-Bass Education blog during August for Connected Educator month.

It’s no secret that the demands placed on educators on a daily basis are extraordinary.  From RTI meetings to grading, planning, and actually teaching, every moment of every day is scheduled and squeezed.  If we’re honest, too often technology feels like “one more thing to do” and the idea of making serious changes is scary and, we fear, time consuming.  It doesn’t have to be that way. What if I told you that some technology tools are not just time stealers?  In fact, what if I told you that some of them could make your life significantly easier?  That’s definitely worth your time!

One of the best tools you can use to speed up the teaching process is a basic Learning Management System.  A Learning Management System (LMS) is a space where you can organize information about your class, share due dates, and collect electronic files for grading.  It’s a “home base” for everything that’s happening in your class, both face to face and online.  LMS systems such as Blackboard and eCollege first came on the scene to assist schools in creating online courses but now they’re evolving into an essential resource in face to face classrooms.

Instead of piles of unruly paper crowding out your entire desk, students can submit a file to an electronic dropbox, which will add the file to your electronic gradebook.  You grade the files right on the system and then they get returned to students immediately.  No more of the painful process of marking and returning papers—“Chris, where are you?  I have your spelling quiz.  Joey?  Here’s your worksheet…”  Students get faster, more in-depth feedback and you find extra time in your day (and more space on your desk).  It’s truly a win-win!  And that’s just the beginning of what these systems can do.

The best LMS systems will also have a space for a course calendar, announcements, quizzes, assignments, and even a discussion board.  The possibilities are amazing!  Even better?  There are free options out there for hosting your class in a high-quality LMS.  Schoology and Edmodo are both excellent, free tools with everything you need.  Pearson’s Open Class and Blackboard’s Course Sites are also worth a look.  They’re free versions of the company’s more complex paid products.  Finding an LMS to use with your students is definitely worth your time as you begin this new school year.   A few minutes early on will save you time throughout the year and, as a bonus, will make your class more engaging for students.