Your Summer Bucket List!

In keeping with our tradition of the Summer Bucket List, this week we are sharing our ideas for your Summer 2015! We love sharing these ideas as a way for you to explore the technology options available, and we know how busy it can be to explore these during the school year! So in no particular order, here are our summer bucket list items for you this year:

• Flip your Classroom: This is no new concept, but it always seems that summer is the best time to really check this out because frankly, we have the time to explore our options and plan for the upcoming semester! Basically, incorporating the flipped classroom model into your class would consist of bringing in more discussion and interactive activities during class time, and posting the lecture and informational material on the class website for students to complete as homework. We have tons of ideas on ways to do this—from tools facilitating the use of videos to interactive response tools, be sure to check out our blog to get started!
• Put yourself in your Student’s Shoes: What do we mean by this exactly? Think about being a student in your classroom-what tools would help you? What resources? If your students write a lot, perhaps it would be helpful to include on your Blackboard site a list of great web-based tools that are free, such as Purdue’s OWL resource and Analyze My Writing. There are webtools for just about everything—if you are looking for some options specific to the needs of your class, summertime is a great time to explore the web (and our blog!) to see what you can find! If you’d like help in finding tools, feel free to reach out to us! We would be happy to help search for some solutions that will fit your needs and the needs of your students!
• Check out some of the services offered by ITS: If you haven’t been keeping up with what we’ve been doing throughout the year, ITS offers some great and exciting services! 3D printers are available in the media lab for the use of faculty, staff and students. It may be a neat idea to take this ground-breaking technology and incorporate it in your classroom and ask students to use these printers to design an object. Throughout the summer ITS also will be offering workshops on Microsoft Office programs, Adobe, and more! If you have the time and the desire to pick up some new skills you should definitely join us!