Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Category: design

  • Creating a Society6 Store of Digital Photography Products

    A few months ago my mom told me about a friend’s daughter, Erica Brooks, who was completing an amazing, around the world year of travel and work with Remote Year (@remoteyear). Erica documented her adventures on the website UnraveledTravels.com. She works in media, design and marketing, and had setup a personal storefront using the website…

  • Considering Audience and Purpose for Classroom Websites

    Some of the elementary teachers at my school recently asked me to help them get started with classroom websites. I shared a Google Slide presentation with them on the topic, “Considering Audience and Purpose for Classroom Websites,” and discussed the specific pros and cons of using Seesaw (a digital portfolio platform and learning journal), Google…

  • How Are We Preparing Students for the Artificial Intelligence New Normal?

    This week at school we’ve been brainstorming and discussing qualities we want to see in our graduates as they leave our school and enter the wider world of college and work. Today among many other questions, I was thinking about automation and the ways we need students to develop computational thinking skills so they can…

  • Create Image Collages with Google Drawings

    Creating collages of images is a basic digital literacy skill, and I have a new browser-based favorite tool for this media product: Google Drawings! In this post, I’ll share a few recent photo collages I’ve created to use as header images for Twitter profiles, YouTube channels, and WordPress websites. I’ll also describe the workflow I’m using…

  • Opening Tinkercad 3D Designs in Minecraft

    I’m serving as a “Minecraft Consultant” to our 6th grade Social Studies teacher (Sara Zedlitz) and middle school librarian (Michaela Freeland) who are collaborating for a second year on an awesome 3D design and 3D printing project that is part of a study on ancient Rome and Roman structures. Yesterday I helped students who had designed…

  • Design Thinking Takeaways from Our #k12onlineconf Panel

    Last Friday after school I had an opportunity to facilitate a 60 minute panel discussion about “design thinking” with Brad Ovenell-Carter (@Braddo) in Vancouver, BC, Canada and Brian Lockwood (@BrianLockwood) in Copenhagen, Denmark for the K12 Online Conference (@k12online). In this post, I’ll share some of my learning points and takeaways from the panel discussion.

  • 2 Great (and free) Ways to Learn About Design Thinking

    The free K12 Online Conference (@k12online) is continuing this year with short “mini-conferences.” Last week John Spencer’s (@spencerideas) keynote for the “Design Thinking” strand was published. The video is just over 30 minutes long, and provides a practical introduction to both design thinking and how it can be used to transform learning in your classroom. I…

  • SmartPhones to Consider Besides the iPhone

    I’d like to share several smartphones BESIDES the iPhone to consider purchasing and using. I have not decided for sure if I’m going to upgrade my iPhone 6S to the iPhone 7 or to a model by a different manufacturer. In this post, I’ll review several REASONS to consider iPhone-alternative smartphones as well as specific…

  • How Microsoft is Poised to Destroy MinecraftEDU

    As an elementary STEM teacher turned technology director, I’m extremely enthusiastic about the positive potential for students and teachers to use MinecraftEDU software to create powerful learning experiences. I’m extremely disappointed and sad, however, to learn about the changes and price structure which Microsoft is making to the “MinecraftEDU School Edition” set for official release on…

  • Podcast446: Reflections on a PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp for Kids

    Coding is an important literacy skill we need to introduce to everyone in the 21st century! This podcast features reflections by Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) following a PBS Scratch Jr. Coding Camp for Kids in Edmond, Oklahoma, on September 17, 2016. It also includes some recorded audio from Shelly’s lessons during the…