Introduction to Blendspace

Teachers and students collect different types of learning materials to create a learning environment using Blendspace. By being able to pull information from many different places over the web such as youtube, google drive, flicker, world wide web you can create a dynamic learning experience. Blendspace also offers a easy to use interface and workflow. Learning Outcomes Students will take control of their own learning Students will create Blendesace Accounts Students will create a Blendspace Lesson to present their Google 20% Project Students will add 5 different types of media into their presentation Students will create a quiz Demographic Junior High Art students in the 6th,7th and 8th grade. Rationale There are so many great tools out there to create content. Blendspace allows me to pull learning materials from many different kinds of sources and put them in one space. I want my students to be able to pull materials from all over the web into one place for easy use of viewing and collecting. Google 20% Project Presentation Students will be working on a Google 20%,similar to and Genius Hour. Both of these styles of projects give students the power to learn in their own hands. Students will create a proposal for a research project that they are passionate learning more about. I learned about the Google 20% project from other educators which led me to various educators to had started a movement in their schools and classrooms. Von Jan (20011) goes on to explain that “Google’s “20% Time”, was inspired by Sergey Brin’s and Larry Page’s Montessori School experience, is a philosophy and policy that every Google employee spend 20% of their time (the equivalent of a full work day each week) working on ideas and projects that interest that employee. They are encouraged to explore anything other than their normal day-to-day job. As a result 50% of all Google’s products by 2009 originated from the 20% free time, including Gmail. Real break-through happens when we are free from others’ expectations and driven by individual passion.” In my classrooms students will be given this opportunity to research and learn based on their passions. Students will be given the skills to be able to research and find reliable information on the web and other local sources. Students will use blendspace to create a collection of the materials used for their project. Then create a final lesson to teach others in their class about their own research and findings. According to ISTE Student Standards its important that students get experience working and critiquing others. “Students will demonstrate Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media” (Iste 2014) Getting Started Tutorials for Blendspace References ISTE standards taken from International Society for Technology in Education website. Received from: http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-S_PDF.pdf on 5/11/14 Jan, K. (2011, October 24). Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School. The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 12, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-von-jan/unstructured-classroom_b_1024404.html