TOOL: Connected Classrooms – Virtual Resources

Keeping students engaged in the classroom can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, especially with the constant presence of technology and social media. But, with these in-classroom tools, we’re inviting you to welcome their presence.

These tools are all designed to combine the power of technology and social media, education, and worldwide knowledge for your local classroom.

TED-Ed

TED-Ed is TED’s youth and education initiative. TED-Ed’s mission is to spark and celebrate the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Enjoy a growing library of original animated videos, find interactive lessons from teachers around the world, and inspire students to discover new topics and build new skills.

• TED-Ed Animations are short, award-winning animated videos about ideas that spark the curiosity of learners everywhere. These videos are creative, collaborative pieces from a range of experts that cover a variety of topics and are paired with questions and resources, making up TED-Ed Lessons.
• TED-Ed Lessons allows you to search for a video by subject area and provides additional resources and debriefing questions for each one. Their Series section has video playlists ready for your classroom, grouping videos together that tackling topics like “Our Changing Climate” and “Cyber Influence & Power”. Users are able to create lessons using a search function that shows reliable and quality videos – you can also add interactive questions, discussion topics and more of your favourite videos. You can then share these lessons with your students and track their results!
• TED-Ed Clubs allow students to work together and celebrate creative ideas through flexible curriculum and the resource library.

 

Connected North

Connected North fosters student engagement and enhanced education outcomes in remote Indigenous communities. This leading edge program delivers immersive and interactive education services, through Cisco’s high definition, two-way TelePresence video technology. The program is made possible through a network of supporters with program delivery managed by TakingITGlobal.

Their goal is to provide students and teachers with access to content that is engaging and innovative, with the hope of increasing feelings of empowerment in school and in life. This is done through five offerings:

• Virtual Experts & Field Trips offer live interactive video sessions that connect students and teachers with content partners and venues. Past examples have included science experiments, Q&A with an astronaut, and a tour of a Roman art gallery.
• Virtual Career Fairs are live and offer virtual mentoring for students to meet professionals in various industries, exploring occupations and possible opportunities.
• The Cultural Exchange program provides connections between participating schools through collaborative project-based learning.
• Teacher Capacity Building uses collaborative technology for teacher professional learning and mentorship, providing opportunities for professional development experts and peer mentors to instruct and interact with teachers in remote locations.
• The Cisco Networking Academy is an IT skills and career building program for learning institutions and individuals with more than 5.5 million people.

Skype in the Classroom

Skype in the Classroom is a free community that offers live transformative educational experiences for students including Virtual Field Trips, talks from Guest Speakers, classroom to classroom connections, and live collaboration projects.

Their 5 connection points include:

• Virtual Field Trips offers field trips with experts from museums, parks, zoos, historical landmarks and many more interesting places around the world. Field trips are categorized by subject material and target age groups and can be requested for specific dates.
• Skype Lessons make learning relevant by connecting virtually with guest speakers in hundreds of professions. Talk to scientists, engineers, authors, conservationists, and more! 
• Skype Collaborations allows you to connect with classrooms around the world to work on projects, explore different cultures and build greater compassion and empathy for one another.
• Mystery Skype is a guessing game gone global! The program allows students to learn about geography, culture, and the similarities and differences of how children live all around the world.
• Hundreds of Guest Speakers can join your classroom from around the world on a variety of topics!