NIS Learning Curve

  Peergrade  is a web-based software that makes it easier for teachers to enable their students to grade each other’s work. At the same time, peer grading is a useful learning tool in its own right. The activity helps the students to evaluate, critique, reflect, and articulate feedback. When students assess their own and others’ work, they are actively involved in the learning process and their independence and motivation is improved. The essence of peer review is that the assignments will be evaluated by several persons, creating more extensive feedback than a teacher normally has time to produce. The students will be more familiar with the evaluation process and criteria and therefore trained in producing better assignments themselves.  Letting students partake in the process of evaluating and giving feedback enables them to learn from the work of others, reflect upon the evaluation criteria in the course and [gain] skills in giving constructive feedback....

  There are two new plugins launched on Google Chrome Webstore. Do check it out. 1. Breakout rooms  -  https://chrome.google.com/ webstore/detail/google-meet- breakout/ kogfdlbehkaeoafmgaecphlnhohpab ig?hl=en .      Tutorial links -  A quick walkthrough video -  https://youtu.be/yuCiYyzU6qo Instruction guide part 1 -  https://youtu.be/4T97zSLisr4 Instruction guide part2 -  https://youtu.be/AR6-kDQISO4 Features:-  1) Single click to open all your Breakout Rooms in either Tile or Tab format 2) Single click to assign Participants to Breakout Rooms 3) Single click to Move between Breakout Rooms using a slider, automatically handles your Speaker/Mic/Video for the active room and the non-active rooms. 4) Single click to broadcast Audio and Video into All Rooms 5) Single click to download simple reports and/or copy to the clipboard 6) Single click to remove participants from room and close room when finished 7) Customize screen colors and ...

  "It's not about the tools - it's about the teachers. But the best teachers should have the best tools!" Looking for a way to spice up your online lessons? Everyone’s looking for a good virtual whiteboard these days. Here’s the latest entry with a bit of a twist. Imagine having a whiteboard that lets each student have an individual whiteboard so we can ask a question and get a quick formative check on if they are understanding. What if you could give every one of your students a whiteboard and have them interact with you from their homes?  What if you could create a class, have them join the class, ask a question and have them answer at the same time, each on their own whiteboard? What if I told you that neither you nor your students need to sign up, give an email or any other information and that it is super simple to set up? Have I managed to persuade you? Then, keep on reading! Whiteboard.fi is a  FREE site . It seems that the developer had initial...

Storytelling and book creation are common creative tasks in classrooms, and there's no better option than Book Creator. Its ease of use and flexibility with media and publishing make it perfect for empowering students to create and share their work. Plus, book creation gets students using critical-thinking and organization skills as they brainstorm, plan, and make creative decisions about their books. Once they start to compose pages, students can learn how multimedia elements help them tell their story or communicate information more effectively. Students can practice their writing skills and feel pride in translating their thinking into book form.  With Book Creator, students can use their creativity to make ebooks such as learning journals, digital portfolios, interactive stories and reports. It is an open-ended tool that can be used for every subject throughout K-12: Literacy, English, Science, ELL, Special Education, Languages, Math and Social Stu...

Blogpost by Ankita Srivastava While delivering our class we  come across scenarios where we need to assess and review students progress through various formatives like worksheets, forms etc. I am sure you must have heard about  Kahoot!  which is a game-based learning platform  used as educational technology in schools and other educational institutions. Its learning games, "Kahoots", are user-generated multiple-choice quizzes that can be accessed via a web browser or the Kahoot app.   Kahoot has come up with a new  Kahoot! Challenge , which is a new student-paced game model which encourages accuracy over speed and extends learning beyond live games which is now available on computers.  The Kahoot Challenge engages students in a fun and interactive way hence helps teachers in assessing and reviewing student progress.   What is a student-paced game? Student-paced games, or challenges,  can be played from anywhere, anytime on students’ own devic...

  "Asking for feedback requires vulnerability; acting on feedback requires humility."  - Anonymous Dear teachers, Greetings. Review up to 75% faster than typing with Voice Comments. Embed explainer videos in three clicks. Track Skills and the tool will auto-complete your rubric. Welcome to the future of feedback!  Teachers typically spend 10-15hrs/week reviewing student work after an assignment is handed in, almost always on evenings and weekends. That's not good for teachers or students. Ideally, the time taken to give feedback should not exceed a period of 3 days, after which the feedback given is not as effective. Kaizena is a Google Docs/Slides add-on for feedback on student writing. Teachers who have gone paperless with Google Classroom and Docs will want to jump on this tool  (which is completely free of cost)  that supports quick and easy feedback right in Google Docs /Slides . Teachers can provide four types of feedback: audio messages, text messages, sk...

Just imagine how cool it would be to create your own virtual classroom with a mini version of yourself making your students feel loved and welcome! Add a fun element to your lessons by creating virtual Bitmoji classrooms with interactive elements that allow students to click through to different resources, instructions, assignments, documents, etc right from your Powerpoint/Google Slides.  Besides creating the virtual avatar on  Bitmoji  site rest all graphics are taken directly from Google image search.  All you need to do is arrange these images in the foreground and background in the PowerPoint. Make sure you select images with a transparent background so that they blend seamlessly with the background graphics. So, here are the many different ways I'm planning to use Bitmoji classrooms in this new distance learning world. 1. Welcome your class with your virtual Avataar. Make your classroom feel nice and cosy just like home! Display cute me...