Ever Want to "Unsend an Email? ;) Now You Can

Yes, it's possible to get future emails back!

Gmail has enabled an option for users to get sent emails back (at least for an amount of time). Your Gmail account can be set to send your email up to 30 seconds after clicking Send...giving you time to cancel the send and revamp your message with that new thought.

You can enable "Undo Send" in your Gmail/ Google Apps mail under the general settings panel.Find that panel under the "gear" icon toward the upper-right of your inbox.

Shew!! Glad this is finally out there ;)

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33 Digital Skills for 21st century Teachers

What are you going to learn (or relearn) this new year?
Meg sent this link from this marvelous website Educational Technology & Mobile Learning
She thought it would be a keeper and I hope you agree.
Not only does the author provide a list of the skills, he provides links to empower teachers to develop those skills.
Besides being a terrific resource, I believe it further emphasizes the notion that technology is not just for computer 'experts' or an option you can choose to ignore, but a set of skills that is not optional, and worthy of learning to use well in very specific ways. Furthermore, our attitude towards these skills is as important as the competent use of them when it comes to our students.

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Yodio!

Yodio is a free tool that records words and visuals for future playback. As instructors, we can use it to explain a difficult concept or one with unusual pronunciations so the students can play it as many times as they’d like until they are ready to move on. For the students, we could have them explain what they read or discuss their opinions on a topic, then send us the link so we could assess them in a way outside traditional evaluation methods. What a great way to connect using something outside of the normal procedures! Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Below is an example of a student Yodio submission. Press the play button to hear what she has to say!

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Put a CORK in it!

We’ve all read about the importance of group work and collaboration but sometimes getting things started is part of the challenge! One way to get students to form teams is to use corkboard.me (www.corkboard.me). You can use this tool to facilitate a brainstorming session - my example is on “healthy lifestyle choices”. They can add suggested topics to your corkboard (anonymously) then when you’re ready, they can sign up for whichever topic they want to work on.

I’ve also seen it used as a way for students to introduce themselves to the class. Play with mine and see if it might be useful in your class! http://corkboard.me/oCgczOvjhd

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Taking a Poll...

A few of us went to an E-Learning conference last week and picked up some new cool *free* tools to share with you! In many of the ones I attended, they took polls to gauge the audience (“what education level are you representing?”), check for comprehension &/or relevance (“do you feel like you could use this tool in your class?”), or provide a quick mental break (“what is your favorite candy bar?”) At first, I was the girl in the back bumbling for my phone, trying to be the first one to text my answer and see it appear on the projector, but as it continued, I realized the benefit these would serve in many classrooms! The kids want to use their phones anyway, why not turn them into an engaging teaching tool? Maybe start your class with a question to assess whether they’ve read the assigned material? Or do one halfway through to see if they’re following you? It’s easy and fun, and might be just what you’re looking for to freshen up your next meeting, whether it’s online or face-to-face! Polls can be taken via email, text or even tweet and can be embedded into a PowerPoint, ANGEL, or a variety of other options. Check them out (flisti & polleverywhere are two I saw) and let us know if we can help!

Introducing Poll Everywhere from Poll Everwhere on Vimeo.

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QR Code, Skype, and a Funny

Hello everyone. I have a few things to share today - hopefully you will enjoy at least one of them!

I found this post from the Spicy Learning Blog intriguing. After creating QR codes for his blog in class, a student went home and created his QR code with Legos - and it works! Give it a try.

The Wichita Eagle today carried an article titled, "One Person Can Inspire". It concerns Heights High students conferencing via Skype with Taylor Mali, "A famous slam poet, teacher and advocate for the teaching profession". One 16-year-old student's response (quoting from the Eagle):
“He inspired me to write,” Garceau said. “Just the things he says, the way he says it. … My heart almost stopped.”

OK, this last one is a wonderful reminder. One of our Butler instructors created an agent to send students a gentle warning if they had not posted to the discussion forum by a given day of the week. Imagine her surprise when she got the email - twice! She said it gave her a good laugh but caused her to go post to the forum. You have to love it!

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/02/07/2206766/teacher-poet-taylor-mali-speaks.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

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Free text messages to students

It is believed that traditional students often prefer to communicate through text messages rather than ‘old-fashioned’ email. With that in mind, I am piloting Class Parrot. Originally developed for K-12, this tool allows text messages to be sent to registered students’ cell phones through its website. The service is free for a limited number of messages. However, instructor users get 500 initial messages and 200 free per month. There is a monthly or yearly fee for an instructor or school who uses the program. Instructors use just the website, and students do not share the cell phone number at all. I plan to use it to use it to reinforce weekly reminders (and they can be scheduled ahead of time, too).

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Email and the angry student

Angry, frustrated, upset students. We have all had them both in the classroom and online. It is SO tempting for both parties to respond emotionally in this anonymous setting. Here are a few thoughts provided by Victoria S. Brown of Florida Atlantic University in the January 2011 edition of Online Classroom together with the collective personal experiences from our Butler Online staff.

• Do not respond immediately. This is the online equivalent of taking a deep breath and thinking before you speak.
  
• Wait at least an hour or two before crafting your response. But by all means, do respond. Write your email, and then pause and reread it carefully, maybe out loud, before sending.
• Use a professional tone. While email seems impersonal, the person reading it will react very personally. Be careful that your language is neutral and free of sarcasm, condescension, and other unintentional but negative undertones. While students may get upset no matter what you say, it is better to err on the side of caution.
• Address the student by name. Beyond the positive defusing power of using a person’s name, it will help to remind the student that this is not an anonymous situation, that a real person is listening and responding.
• Limit your response to only the issues at hand. Be as brief as necessary.
• Close “Respectfully, [your name]
• Finally, make sure you keep a copy of the original message and your response(s)

Do you have any thoughts or additions? Let us know.

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