Professional Learning Goals

• By utilizing educational resources shared online in respect to the best Chrome apps and extensions (such as “50 of the Best Google Chrome Extensions for Teachers,” “22 Chrome Apps Every Teacher Should Know About” and “100+ Chrome Apps and Extensions for Teachers and Students”) we compiled a master list of potential apps and extensions to be assessed
• After testing potential options, we decided which would be best-suited for inquiry use so that we can develop activities and projects
• We have a better understanding of this area of technology which helps us implement the SAMR model in our teaching practice
• We can also share our work with other teachers to help them inform their practice

Activities and Resources

At meetings, we:

• discussed what apps and extensions were
• investigated apps and extensions recommended by other teachers on the web
• shared and discussed ideas on how to use the apps
• compiled the blog that recorded our ideas

At our school buildings, we:

• used the Chromebooks purchased through this project to supplement technology in the classroom
• designed lessons where the technology supported the pedagogy
• observed student use of apps and extensions

Unexpected Challenges

• We had some challenges with different models of Chromebooks working different ways. We had to do some troubleshooting with IT staff to make things work.
• One of the challenges in the student review process was that the logins look different for students and teachers. We did some troubleshooting to overcome this problem.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

The technology we investigated will offer multiple options to engage a wide variety of  students with different learning styles and abilities. Audio, visual and interactive components will be more accessible for individual and group inquiry. Students also learned the value of their feedback for projects that initiate change. 

Sharing

Our blog makes it easy to share information through providing the link. We plan to share it with the tech coaches in our board, which is a representative from each school. We also plan to use social media (namely Twitter) to share the project with our online PLN. Many of us train within our schools and we will share the apps we investigated with our staffs.

Project Evaluation

For our learning, we felt this was a success. We have a clearer picture of what apps and extensions are and what they can do. We can now describe the differences and also comment on add-ons. We have discovered some exciting tools that we can use in our teaching.

We had some difficulty getting student feedback in the timeline, and this process will continue as we use apps in our teaching.