Educational Blogs have been my planning, instructional, and assessment saviours for the past 5 years.  Blended Learning, Mobile Learning and Technology-rich instruction are growing trends in education and it can be overwhelming when it it comes to how use new tech tools and apps in your classroom. These blogs have great teaching tips, assessment strategies, and resources that I've accessed to integrate technology into the classroom to create more meaningful learning experiences for my students. These are my Top 5 blogs to follow if you are considering tech integration in your face-to-face classroom:

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  1.  Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

This blog focuses on Edtech and mLearning and provides a large and useful collection of "educationally approved" apps  that educators can use in the classroom, as well as strategies to integrate them successfully. 

​Mobile devices are changing how students learn inside and outside of the classroom, and educators and schools need to be aware of how to integrate them properly with lesson plans and curriculum.

  2.  Cult of Pedagogy 

This is the only cult that I suggest you join LOL. The editor in chief, Jennifer Gonzalez, is a breath of fresh air and presents through her blog and podcast, relevant, effective, and pedagogically sound teaching strategies and practices.  Her blog posts are categorized into The Craft (Instructional Practices, Classroom Management, and Technology), Go Deep (Exploring Learning Theory, Leadership, Professional Development, Book Reviews, and Hot Topics), Teacher Soul (Attitude, Inspiration, Teacher Stories).  Her resources and instructional/assessment strategies are focused on the 21st Century learner and professional development.  She even offers resource packages and online courses! Visit this blog and you will most definitely become the newest acolyte in her cult!

3.  Edutopia 

The George Lucas Educational Foundation funds this blog as part of a two-pronged strategy to improve K-12 education. The Force is definitely with this blog (I had to!), it has it all! Up-to-date, research based articles and videos on best practices and innovations in education, are housed on a clean and intuitive interface. This is one of my core teaching resources. Check. It. Out!   ​

4.  Teachthought   

​Teachthought is new blog to me in the last few months.  I kept on finding great "how-to" tech articles that were created for this site and now I'm a regular!  Check out the Technology section of this blog and get lost in how to use social media, Google Suite for Education (GSFE), and Virtual and Augmented Reality in the classroom.  It has been a highly useful resource while I plan for Mobile Learning curriculum and create quick lesson ideas using apps like Twitter, Pintrest, GSFE, Facebook etc. 

5.  We are Teachers

This blog has fantastic lesson ideas and teaching strategies in the Classroom Ideas section.  Search for articles in Assessment, Science, Technology, Math, ELA, SEL/ELL, Professional Development, you name it and you will find insightful resources created by teaching professionals.    

I cannot encourage you enough to check out these educational blogs, as well as the many others out there (400,000 ed blogs out there! Get on it!).  Accessing blogs and the educational content, curriculum, resources, etc. they house has created a pivotal change in how I teach and plan. The educational blogging community has created a vast and varied resource base for me to tap into and use in my lesson planning and instructional/assessment practices. A huge benefit of blogs as an educational resource is that most blogs create and share Open Educational Resources (OERs), which are materials that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt, and re-share.  As I annoyingly tell my children, "sharing is caring!" And in this case, it truly is.  By creating and sharing educational material online, educators are increasing accessibility and efficacy of best practice and resources, as well as creating an online community for educators to share ideas and receive feedback and support to better improve their teaching practice.  A win-win!

I will leave you now with my final thought on blogs (like this one!).  Blogs create a medium in which educators can access the most current information and resources, that will bring much needed inspiration, innovation, and hopefully transformation into their teaching and classroom. AND this post doesn't even touch on all of the student benefits of blogging, such as improved skills in literacy, typing, technology, social interactions, cultural understanding, digital citizenship, and geography, just to name a few! So check out some educational blogs this week or better yet start your own blog and share your teaching knowledge with the global education community!  

In a podcast by Lois Smethurst, she states,  

I've officially fallen down the rabbit hole into the land of Mobile Learning!  I believe I may be Alice in this analogy with a dash of White Rabbit, and quite possibly some Cheshire Cat to boot!  The combination of Alice's insatiable curiosity, the anxiety of the White Rabbit (hurry, hurry!), and the detached, clear-headed logic of the Cheshire Cat perfectly describe my mental state while planning for Mobile Learning in the face-to-face classroom. LOL

Mobile Learning is 'anywhere, anytime' learning made possible by portable, internet-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptop computers etc.  
It is new on the educational scene and educators will need the mental attributes of Lewis Caroll's colourful characters to fully engage with this innovative pedagogy that will undoubtedly challenge and disrupt traditional ways of teaching and learning.  Not to drive the analogy into the ground, but Mobile Learning is truly a Wonderland and I'm excited to introduce some simple planning techniques, instructional and assessment strategies, as well as online applications that will help educators gradually implement Mobile Learning Pedagogy into their face-to-face classrooms. 

My hope is that this Moblog (Mobile Technology and Learning Blog) will create community of educators that will learn and grow together while exploring Mobile Learning and provide a much needed platform to discuss and share resources on this dynamic and rapidly evolving area of education.    

To learn more about Mobile Learning, click HERE.

Now let me play the Cheshire Cat and give you some simple planning strategies, resources, and apps that I have been using while Mobile Learning unit/lesson planning.  *Let's begin at the beginning* (go away snarky cat! Actually, on second thought, stay LOL).

HOW DO I PLAN FOR MOBILE LEARNING?

Pedagogy FIRST!

I typically begin with looking at the learning goals and 'Big Ideas' that I would like my students' to achieve and then explore the ways that Mobile Learning could facilitate and optimize these goals.  In an informative article about adopting digital technology into the classroom, David Staley states that “[Pedagogy], rather than technology, should drive the process of adoption” (2004).  A good question to ask yourself when deciding to use mobile tools and technologies in your classroom is does the technology have pedagogical value?

Instructional example:

If your learning goal is more authentically achieved by traditional instructional/assessment strategies, such as face-to-face discussion rather than say a Google Form survey completed during (or after) a learning activity to assess student learning, then by all means keep doing what works best for your students.  To highlight the pedagogical value of Mobile Learning in this particular example, students completing a Google survey on a mobile device could be an invaluable assessment tool to inform your teaching quickly, giving you a real time 'Snapshot' of students' concept attainment.  The live student feedback gathered by the survey would allow you to address any learning breakdowns as they happen during your lesson, or allow you to reinforce certain concepts that students struggled with during a follow-up discussion after the learning activity, effectively combining quality face-to-face instructional strategies with technology.  This would create a more relevant and meaningful learning experience for your students. Pedagogical value - check!

To learn more about the Google Forms app, click HERE.

As for a specific educational planning strategy, I use an approach that closely aligns with Understanding by Design (UbD).  UbD is a backwards design approach that begins with the outcomes or desired learning goals in mind when designing curriculum units, assessment, and instruction.  It focuses on student understanding and transferable skills and strategies.  To enter the UbD world I suggest starting with the resources provided by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD.org).  Click HERE for a great introduction to the UbD Framework.

I use a UbD Unit template to organize and gather my resources, assessment tools/strategies, and instructional ideas. I have found that this approach to unit planning pairs well with BC's New Curriculum and encourages a "concept-based, competency driven approach to learning" (BC's New Curriculum, 2019).  The curricular "Know-Do-Understand" model takes the three elements of Content (Know), Curricular Competencies (Do), and 'Big Ideas' (Understand) to create personalized and authentic learning experiences, both hallmarks of Mobile Learning Pedagogy. These elements work together to create deeper learning and are actualized through the three Stages of UbD: 

1. Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results
2. Stage 2 - Determine Assessment Evidence 
3. Stage 3 - Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

This is a simple UbD template that I use frequently.  A great resource for how to plan effectively with UbD is Jay McTighe, the Godfather of UbD you might say.  He has a website with great resources for planning with a UbD approach and is where I accessed the UbD template linked above. Click HERE to access his website. 

P.S. Other educators and Principals looooooooove how organized my unit planning is and this is due in large part to this template LOL

I know I've talked a lot about planning strategies, apps, and resources so far and not specifically about Mobile Learning and how to plan to make teaching and student learning MOBILE. 

So let me switch gears and fall into the role of inquisitive Alice.  *"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"* (curious Alice!)

Mobile Learning Pedagogy is not just about the technology and tools, although I do believe those are important!  Mobile Learning is truly about extending the boundaries of the traditional classroom and giving students more autonomy in their learning process.  But as I touched upon earlier in this post, handing a student a smartphone or tablet won't in itself create deeper learning.  It's all about pedagogy, pedagogy, pedagogy!

There are three key features of Mobile Learning Pedagogy: personalisation, authenticity, and collaboration. Mobile Learning shifts away from teacher-led, direct instruction to student-centered, inquiry-based instruction. It focuses on supporting learners wherever and whenever they are and creating more opportunities for contextual learning experiences.  Instructional approaches such as active and interactive learning, integrated formative/summative assessments, instant and descriptive feedback, and synchronous and asynchronous collaboration are facilitated and enhanced by Mobile Learning.  If you take sound pedagogical approaches and integrate them with online and mobile learning tools/apps, students will be able to flow with the content in an inquiry-based learning context and collaborate with and teach each other, creating a community of learners.  Doesn't this sound positively WONDERFUL?! Like Wonderland wonderful? LOL

So what I plan to do on this website is not necessarily tell you which way you should go with Mobile Learning, but provide excellent online applications and tools that I've used to create Mobile Learning curriculum, as well as giving you access to Mobile Learning unit/lesson plans, and assessment tools that I've created and collected. A Mobile Learning starter kit! Mobile Learning Pedagogy paired with these resources, should give you some solid practical applications for Mobile Learning in your face-to-face classroom and create an opportunity for your creative brain to have fun and innovate!  

For a collection of Mobile Learning Applications click HERE. 
For examples of Mobile Learning curriculum click HERE.