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Matt’s Media Tips 1-17 In a Class of Their Own Last week I shared with you my five favorite things that you could do with the Discovery Education Builders. This week, I want to share with how you can assign content (Builders, videos, images and more) to your students. Let me set the stage with a little assurance first. All of the steps for creating and managing a Discovery Education classroom have been screencast and narrated for you. That’s right. All of these simple steps come with an online guide to walk you through them! Even better you can rewind and fast forward this guide. To find these guides simply log into www.discoveryeducation.com and then click on the words Classroom Manager. Then your screen will look something like the image on the right. Once on this page, click on any of the tutorials and your guide will walk you through the steps. Click on the blue words to access to create and manage your classes. Note: Creating a class from a school roster is the fastest way to create a Discovery Education classroom because the students have either already been manually created or uploaded into the system by your district. As you walk through the steps of creating a classroom you will be prompted to fill your class with students. Each student will have a username/password. You can see your students’ usernames by
clicking on the Manage My Classes link. And while you can’t see their passwords - you can reset them if necessary. Pretty cool right? Well my friends, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This means that your students can now have access to Discovery Education 24/7 - from any platform! That’s right - Discovery Education works on iPads and mobile devices just like it does on your laptop or desktop computer. Even cooler, (staying with my iceberg theme - get it?) you can assign content to your students in a myriad of ways. Here are four easy examples:
Assign Content from the video detail page
Assign Content from My Content
Simply check any video, segment, song, image, etc and change the My Content drop-down box to Classrooms/Students. Then click on the blue Add button. Finally, choose your class and your student/students!
Open up the content that you’ve booked-marked in your My Content area. Then change the “Choose” drop down arrow to Assign and follow the same steps.
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Assign Content from a Builder
Assign Content from a Theme Page
When you are creating an Assignment, Quiz or Writing Prompt Builder the very last step that you have to do is to Assign it. Once you click on the Assign tab you simply need to choose how long you want the assignment to last and then assign it to a class or student within the class.
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Did you know that there are over 100 different theme pages within Discovery Education? You did? Awesome! Did you know that you can assign that thematic content to your students as well? Well you can. Simply type in a few keywords and then drop down the Media box and select Theme Page. To assign the page follow the same steps as you would when assigning a video, image, song, etc.
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You and your students can experience the Discovery Magic in a number of live events that are coming up next week! Make sure that you sign up early to reserve your spot. As we kick off the new year, we are excited to introduce the launch of "Discovery Education LIVE!"...our premier webinar series that takes students beyond the classroom---introducing the personalities, thought leaders and visionaries that are at the forefront of today's most important issues. Our January series launches with General and Mrs. Colin Powell speaking on the important topic of drop-out prevention, the importance of a high school diploma and how students can help their peers stay engaged in school. Next up, Discovery Education will bring Mark Shriver from Save the Children to classrooms in support of "National Poverty in America Awareness Month." Mark will provide students with historical context for poverty in our country and share his vision for the important role educators and students play in finding a solution. General and Mrs. Colin Powell will be speaking on January 23, 2012 at 12:00 PM EST and Mark Shriver will be speaking on January 25, 2012 at 1:00 PM EST. To register for one or both of these events please click on this link. Also on January 25, 2012 at 1:00 PM EST we’re giving students and teachers around the world the opportunity to connect with Philippe Cousteau to discuss whether the stuff we eat really has an impact on our planet. Join Philippe Cousteau of EarthEcho International for a What’s On Your Fork? webinar to begin exploring the environmental and community impact of daily food choices. With guest experts Brent Kim and Ralph Loglisci of Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, this webinar will delve into issues of food choices and the ways in which food and water are inextricably connected. You can register for that webinar here.
What is a DEN Star Member?
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule
Have you checked out Quizlet.com yet? This free site lets you and/or your students create free flash cards. The site even lets you upload images from Discovery Education to incorporate into your cards.
Dates
Time (EST)
Link
1/18
7pm-8 pm
How to Apply to the 2012 Siemens Summer of Learning PD programs. Join this webinar to learn how to apply to the Siemens STEM Institute and Siemens Teachers as Researchers (STARs) programs: all-expenses-paid programs that allow middle and high school STEM educators from across the country to collaborate and engage in immersive, hands-on professional development.
1/25
1pm 2pm
What’s on your Fork? Does what you eat really have an impact on our planet? Join Philippe Cousteau of EarthEcho International for a What’s On Your Fork? webinar on January 25 to begin exploring the environmental and community impact of daily food choices
1/28
9-3
DEN SCIcon! This online conference (with a twist) focused on providing participants with some of the most effective strategies for transforming their science classes through the meaningful and effective integration of digital media content.
2/1
7pm 8pm
Making Mobile Media Meaningful in Your STEM Classroom (and beyond!) Make your classroom walls expand! Mobile phones, iPads, and tablets have the ability to create and share learning both in the classroom and in the extended online anywhere/anytime universe. Hall Davidson will show educators how to build interactive projects and assessments that tap and expand student knowledge with apps, QR codes, social media sites, and more. Attendees will learn how free resources, media libraries, and the web can work mobile - even for students without smart phones. You don’t want to miss this webinar!
And while it doesn’t have a mobile App that complements the site, it partners with many free and paid third party apps. The third party app that I am highlighting today is called Flashcards*. From their site: Flashcardlet is a free, easy-to-use studying application with material for any class or standardized test. You can also create and share your own. The app can handle large decks, deck sharing, images, intuitive gestures, or even manage to show nice looking cards. Flashcardlet feels like a real deck of flashcards and does not get in your way. Collaboratively creating and sharing study material does not get easier than Flashcardlet. You can email your flashcard decks or share them using Dropbox. Flashcardlet allows you to search for, study, and make local edits to Quizlet.com flashcards