Time to Get Active - Back to School!

Last week, I posted my first blog post for Digital Learning Environments. My post focused on using technology effectively in instruction and not focusing solely on the tool. Future posts will dig deeper into this issue, but the gist was that a tool on it its own does not create learning for students. However, as teachers we do need to explore tools so we know which ones work best for our purpose. This summer, a colleague and I presented a session "Creating an Interactive Classroom" (presentation) at our summer tech camp. Technology allows teachers to create lessons that students can actively participate in - using tools that actually help increase participation. One of the tools we talked about was CoveritLive. In my opinion, this is the most comprehensive back channeling tool out there. Another colleague of mine reviewed this tool for Scholastic - check out his review: (blog).

As summer comes to a close and we head back to school, we begin to think about how to get our new group of students active in discussions - in their learning. What tech tools have you used to create an interactive classroom?