Tech talk- Half staff

Ways that tech has enhanced learning and ways it hasn't:

• Ronald: Middle school kids did lab reports in science. Each team (3-4 kids per team) had an ongoing google doc on which team members contributed to the document. Easier for teacher to track group thinking and give ongoing feedback and coaching. Enhanced teams' ability to collaborate. Streamlined flow of work -- would have been a big mess doing it with paper. Students could focus on critical thinking.
• Gabe: Many things fall in "substitution" level, but have enhanced efficiency. One activity: a test... sources of information that students had to analyze were largely youtube clips. Each student could individually view it, pause it, view again, look at their notes, go at own pace -- very effectively enhanced critical thinking. This bordered on redefinition compared to the the traditional test on this material.
• Alexandra:  Using google classroom as repository of resources for the class-- links to explanations of parked questions, answer keys to problem sets, etc. Alexandra has a shared google doc for questions that arise for students that they want to ask about. Alexandra can then answer the question, or post a link that addresses the question. Khan Academy: allows students to move at own pace, good for extra credit, 
• Eric: Extensive use of Khan Academy-- kids get instant feedback, instant hints and explanations,   using Google classroom is in many respects a substitution, but one that dramatically increases efficiency.  Teachers can see student homework ahead of class. (We talked about a number of ways that Classroom really augments the teaching/learning process...