Tech in Education : Zaption
This is a two-parter. Within the next week, please watch this Zaption Tour/Video on SBIT (special education, RTI, and 504s). http://zapt.io/tf2eac9f
Read below as to why I used Zaption for this presentation.
Several years ago as a classroom teacher, I made a decision to embrace technology or Web 2.0 tools as they were known at the time. At the end of the year as I reflected and came to an upsetting realization: far too often I used technology just for the sake of using technology. While several of my tech tools encouraged collaboration and communication (online discussions, crocdoc, etc.), many fell short. So, over the years, I’m constantly looking for tech tools that enhance learning. Technology should encourage students to be more active participants in their learning, allowing them to not just be content consumers but content creators as well.
This week’s tech tool may not encourage content creation, but I believe it enhances student engagement by requiring and encouraging student responses. Zaption is a great tool for flipping classrooms and it’s great for formatively assessing students, providing the opportunity for specialized instruction.
What is Zaption? A free (a more advanced, subscription model is available) tool that allows teachers to easily create and edit presentations (called tours) and add interactive features to them.
Why I’m Recommending Zaption
- It’s all drag-and-drop, so it’s easy to use.
- You can create your own content or search for content online (YouTube, Vimeo, pretty much any video, and from their own tours) to edit.
- Easily trim and edit the video. You can add subtitles, slides, images, text to the tour.
- Add interactive features like open responses, multiple choices, checkboxes, etc. (The subscription model offers many more features).
- You can easily share your video with your students.
- The analytics page, allows you to see student answers to the questions you posted.
Weekly Shout Out
Great job by Lauren Hauser for collecting data and creating a “lesson” for our department chair meeting. Lauren shared reading data for our ninth graders as we begin the discussion of how we can meet the diverse needs of all of our students. For those of you who don’t know Lauren, she is our intervention specialist and will be working with our English department, our SBIT team and, most importantly, individual students to ensure their success.
Thanks for Nikki Eubanks for organizing our first club day, which probably would’ve gone a lot more smoothly if some idiot I didn’t confuse everyone with the incorrect bell schedule.
Need To Knows
Maggie Sullivan who did sensational work with several of our students as our Y-CAPP provider has been promoted and transferred to CHS. Lori Stahl will be filling her position. We wish Maggie the best of luck and welcome Lori to our Mustang Family.
Calendar Items
September 14: US DOE CTE Visit
Writer’s Workshop Meeting during Mustang Morning
September 15: Fire Drill (1st period)
Senior and Transfers History SOL Testing
September 16-18: Senior and Transfer Make-up SOL Testing
September 16 (5:30-8:30): College Planning Night
September 17: Faculty meeting (afternoon only)
September 24-25: Underclassman Pictures
September 24: Homecoming Voting
Worth Your Time
What You May Miss When You Take Notes on Your Laptop (interesting implications as we move forward with DLI)
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