Let there be Quizlet and Padlet

Quizlet You Soar the Highest in Teaching!

Reaching greater heights in the new normal education becomes easier now because of the existence of various online educational tools that enable teachers and learners to bring out the best in them. In this part of the article, I am going to illuminate the beauty of Padlet for you to see how this marvelous tool can change your life forever.

Quizlet is a digital educational tool that contains immense studying materials about numerous topics or subject matters created by other users. Its study sets are for free and any user can make their own learning materials and share them with others to foster resource sharing. The information you can acquire from this app can be presented through flashcards, quizzes, and games so that you can utilize them to uplift student engagement or just create an exciting learning experience in the class. Isn’t it astounding?

Just like the other digital tools that I have tried using, I got a fantastic experience using the Quizlet on my own. It was just a trial-and-error session. When it comes to its accessibility, I find it user-friendly for I can just simply sign up and login without complications. It can be used by Android and iPhone users, and since I am an android user, that’s a good thing for me. As to the learning materials, I can just look for the available ones that are relevant to the topics I want to acquire. Also, I tried creating learning material and I was stunned because I can add up multimedia resources that can make the content more creative and attractive. For you to have varied choices of presenting the learning material, you can choose the modes like flashcards, learn, spell, test, match, and gravity. These modes are very enthralling, but what I love the most is the gravity.

However, I can also see two downsides to this tool. First, the reliability, accuracy, and credibility of the learning materials can be questioned because these shared resources are not validated or reviewed, that is why it is necessary to properly and thoroughly assess the information being presented to you before using it. Second, I know that it’s free but what’s painful about open access is that you can just explore or navigate limited features, unless you will upgrade and avail the premium platform for you to have the additional customizations and enhancements. Despite these problems, I can still consider Quizlet as a very functional tool that we, educators can use as a weapon to channel the enthusiastic energy of learning even if we are having a hard time dealing with this pandemic.

In 2016 qualitative data analysis of Bruce Lander about what the students think about Quizlet, results have shown that most of the students resoundingly love the digital flashcards but there are also some of them favor more traditional methods of learning the vocabulary. He also expects further additions and augmentations from Quizlet. With this study, I can say that it is very important for us, educators to utilize this tool and to consider redefining and reimagining our teaching practices (from traditional to modern) by marrying the technology so that the students can be more betrothed in learning and discovery. We need to more open to progress and innovation. Whatever age bracket we are in, seasoned or not, we all need to level up and embrace the new normal education because there’s no other way but to move forward.

With the amazing experiences that I had when I tried using Quizlet, I would love to use it again, especially in this upcoming academic year. Now I will start exploring for more and maybe if I will have the budget, I will consider unlocking the premium platform to maximize its functionality. I would also love to share it with my colleagues for them to know that we can still do more despite the hardships this pandemic gave us. Indeed, we can soar the highest in the field of education with the aid of Quizlet. Just let the Quizlet do the magic!

 

Unlocking Padlet: Opening the Door to Literacy

            I know it’s so metaphorical to say that information and communication technology is now our best pal to combat against the cruelties of this pandemic and to survive in this new normal education, but it’s totally the reality. With its glory, smart and analytical learning is still possible and feasible even if it’s now done differently. For some, this new system is bizarre because of their reluctance, but for me, I have to break free from the bondage of information uncertainty and illiteracy by creating awesome learning experiences with help of the flooding digital tools.

            New added tool to the list is the Padlet. This technological tool can be a great venue for students to post and share notes in the same place. The notes can be provided in various formats like links, images, videos, and other types of documents. Students can easily use this tool to enhance their quality of learning by conducting group research, unleashing creativity, improving class participation, and acquiring class updates. Mostly, this technology tool can empower collaboration among learners for them to lift each other’s up in this new normal learning environment.

In terms of its functionality and practicality for the teachers as the facilitators of learning, it can be used in many fruitful ways. It can serve as a digital wall that is very useful in the classroom. Specifically, you can use this to do recapitulation or asking students to post a synthesis of what they have learned from the previous lessons and activities. It can also help you gather students’ class expectations, organize collaborative notetaking, conducting living Webquest, wrapping up the day by asking questions about what they have learned, letting students store, share, and export relevant images, links, and topics, asking students to share ideas, acquiring whiteboard answers, and many more. This tool is endless and we can ensure that with its help, the pandemic can’t take its toll on the quality of teaching and learning. It can be your bulletin board, billboard, blackboard, whiteboard, and boredom destroyer!

When it comes to my experiences with this tool, I still like the fact that it’s easy to use. From signing up to the actual utilization, I find this accessible. In signing up and logging in, I use my Google account to keep it simple. Obviously, I have just used the free version because I don’t have the budget yet to upgrade it to the Pro version, but it’s manageable even if it’s just a free version. So, since it’s just free, I am only allowed to create three padlets at a time, but you can just delete them afterward if you want to make new ones. There are actually options that you can do to use it differently. We can have it in a form of a wall, canvas, stream, grid, shelf, backchannel, map, or timeline. Our posts can be enhanced by selecting backgrounds, choosing font styles, selecting the color scheme, attaching links, multimedia files, and other documents, etc. I have found out that we can change the privacy of the post. After the basic steps that you need to do, we can just post the content, make it accessible to our students, and start exploring its possibilities for teaching and learning.

In the 2019 paper of Inma Beltran-Martin about the utilization of Padlet for collaborative learning, it was found out that the students were highly contented with the use of this technology tool in class because it can help them achieve a good academic performance. Moreover, it was confirmed that it can successfully support the collaborative work of the learners. With these results, we can really prove that Padlet can save you in handling the virtual classroom.

I strongly believe that Padlet can be greatly used, just like other technology tools, in making the new normal learning more interactive and more alluring to our learners. With the multiple advantages of this tool, we can organize a safe place for us teachers and learners to gather, share, and expand ideas. It’s like a social networking site that solely for educational purposes. Aside from its stride for academic excellence, it also helps foster camaraderie. Also, I would like to focus on the advantages of this tool (even if there are not-so-serious loopholes or hitches). Aside from the fact that it can be used for free, it is easy to use and it allows you to connect heartily and intellectually with your students.

In the meantime, I will just settle for the free version, since we also have a learning management system that also has this tool’s features. However, I still find it more creative and more engaging so I would really find time to utilize it and showcase its beauty and brilliance to my students. I want to connect more with them, especially that this pandemic hinders me to effectively monitor them. I strongly think that this tool will help me make them updated and espoused in learning. Together, we will unlock this Padlet’s full features and advantages to open the door that leads to academic excellence!

Author: JVC Abatayo

Photo Credits: 

https://www.generalatlantic.com/media-article/quizlet-raises-series-c-funding-from-general-atlantic/

https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/18/padlet-raises-1-2-million-for-its-easy-to-use-collaborative-website-builder/

The Beauty of Plickers and the Power of Google

Plickers can help you Teach!

To those who are not familiar with Plickers yet, it is an amazing application that is inexpensive and free at the same time. You can upgrade your experience but rest assured, it is very cheap. It is actually an educational tool that enables teachers to conduct real-time formative assessments without being problematic if the students don’t have devices or gadgets. You can simply use it in the classroom when it comes to pre-assessments, exit tickets, and class surveys.

After the presentation of the discussant and the demonstration she did, I’ve tried using it and exploring it to see and appreciate its beauty. Using my laptop and my android phone and of course the downloaded Plicker cards, I’ve tried mimicking a classroom scenario. It was hard since I didn’t get real participation from students because it was just a practice but I’ve found out that those cards will be used by the students to have their responses. All they have to do is to rotate the card to give their answer and the instructor will just scan the card to acquire the instant results. As simple as that.

Numerous studies have confirmed the efficacy of heightening student opportunities to respond to growing academically engaged attitudes. When it comes to the reliability of Plickers as an educational tool, there are also existing studies that exposed its splendor. In 2019, David Bradley Kent indicated in his paper that Plickers is an ultimate tool that can be used to engross students of all ages in formative assessment. He further emphasized that it is unique because it can do the assessment by taking technology out of the learner's hands while at the same time, assessing all students at once. In 2017, Morgan G. McCargo conducted a study about the effects of Plickers as response cards on academic engagement behavior in high school students. He hypothesized that the use of it will augment academically engaged behavior class-wide and minimize disorderly behavior among students. Thus, based on these two pieces of literature, we can say that Plickers can help empower student engagement at school.

What I love about Plickers is that is it is so enjoyable and easy to use. It boosts student engagement because no one will be left behind and everybody will be given a chance to stand and deliver. Moreover, it can be done in real-time and it will surely ease your burden in terms of getting the data of your assessments because it can give you automatic feedback. Furthermore, I love the fact that it uses online games and lessons in which it can really help me up as a college instructor, especially that our school is only catering to online learning.

I can’t wait to utilize this tool in the upcoming academic year. I know it will be difficult to orient or train my students to effectively use it because it is very simple to use if we look at the procedures. It is also accessible because it can be used by students of all ages and they don’t need extra efforts or modifications just to participate or be interactive in the class. I am hoping that my plan to use it will be put into action. I will do my best to make my class more engaging and enthusiastic so that my students can appreciate online learning. With the aid of these available applications or tools and with our undying passion for education, we can successfully thrive, prosper, survive, and get out one piece and triumphant from this maze-like predicament!

Google Suite Can Save the Day!

What makes Google dominating and rising? Is it because it controls the cloud? Is it because it powers up everything? Or is it because it is the most superb educational tool nowadays?

Did you know that it is not called Google Apps now? Ladies and gentlemen, let’s pave the way for the Google Suite! It’s creating a revolution in cyberspace because of its massive capabilities and the huge opportunities it brings. One of its servants is Google Forms. This tool helps people to go beyond the office suite. If you’re a teacher, this tool can give you advantages of efficiently doing assessments, especially in this new normal learning environment where most educators find it hard to handle online education. Aside from that, it can also your means to communicate, get feedback, and collaborate with students and colleagues for it will provide you real-time and quick results. If you are a researcher, this is a big hit for you because you don’t need to meet with your respondents in the far-flung areas just to administer your survey questionnaires and experience various risks. Through Google Forms, we can save time, space, effort, and money. It’s your best buddy when you think that the pandemic hits you hard!

I really consider myself a big fan of Google Forms because it can let me do a lot of things. In my work as an educator, I can make use of it to conduct quizzes or exams and give assignments or homework. It can also help me organize webinars and in-house training and symposiums. In fact, libraries nowadays even use Google Forms to acquire feedback from the users aside from using library management systems. It helps me and my students successfully conquer their research despite the restrictions of the pandemic. It can be our remedy in every pandemic’s misery!

Moreover, I also want to emphasize the superiority of the Google Suite as a whole. It is not only free for educational institutions; it can also help them handle gracefully the new normal education because of its known accessibility and functionality. Google Suite awes me so much because of how it effectively facilitates easy interaction, collaboration, learning, and teaching without being problematic in terms of cost and technicality. From the productive or office suite up to the high-end online experiences, Google Suite can really promise you one thing—awesomeness!

As to the existing studies on the usability of Google Suite, most of the results denote the majesty of this online universe. In the paper of E. Romero and colleagues (2018), it was highlighted that Google Suite for Education and ‘Google Universe’ in general is a prevailing group of combined tools that is worth utilizing. It is a boundless option if educators and learners want to work in the most engaging way using collaborative and easy-to-handle tools for enhancing their learning approaches. Aside from this piece of literature, there are massive studies about the Google Suite as an effective tool for teaching and learning. These studies can attest to how exceptional it is.

Definitely, I will continue enjoying the benefits of Google Suite. Without it, I can’t really imagine how things will work accordingly in my life as an educator and a regular individual in the darkest hours of the pandemic. Without it, the world will surely meet its downfall. Yes. It’s not an exaggeration but I think that could happen, especially that there are many learning institutions that rely on its mercy and compassion. I know that there is so much to explore because Google has lots and lots of features. Possibly, it will require so much from us, but one thing is for sure, Google Suite can always save the day!

Photo Credits: https://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1755-real-time-formative-assessment-without-the-need-for-student-devices

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