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Category Archives: Digital Learning

Top Tools To Keep Kid’s Homework on Track

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Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium at TechMamas.com 1

With my busy life as a working mom, I am always on the move. This requires my technology to be flexible, fit my lifestyle and be available for the kids especially when it’s homework time. Finding the right technology tools can help my family have more productive days. Using Office 365 Home Premium is not only a game changer for families, but it is a great way to keep my kid’s homework on the right track.

 

 

 

 

Listed below are my homework tech tips and video of my family in action ( click below to view the video).

 

 

 

 

Tip 1 – Homework storage and document management: The first step for homework management in my house was to create a storage and document management system. It’s important that I can access and review my kid’s homework from anywhere, and now I can do this with Office 365 Home Premium, as it is now integrated with SkyDrive – Microsoft’s storage in the cloud.

 

 

Microsoft Office 365 Skydrive TechMamas.com

 

 

Once we store our Microsoft Word, OneNote, PowerPoint or Excel documents on SkyDrive, my family can even view and edit them using Office Web Apps from a browser! How cool is that?

 

 

 

 

Office 365 Home Premium web apps enable classmates (or anyone we want to share documents with) to edit or view group assignments by using the links we send them.

 

 

Microsoft Office 365 Skydrive TechMamas.com

 

 

If we happen to be out of the house using a PC that has Windows 7 or higher, logging into our Microsoft account will allow us to stream a version of Office 365 Home Premium to that PC for a one time use.

 

 

Tip 2 – Organize Homework Tools: I set up a system to help my kids have the right tools for homework and know where to store digital documents. We have homework supplies such as paper, pencils, paper clips, stapler, rulers and pens in a desk drawer of our family room desk (where our shared family Windows 8 desktop is located). With Office 365 Home Premium, our family has all the most current Office tools (Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and more) and all their work is stored on SkyDrive in organized folders. They use OneNote for gathering information, Word to create their essays, PowerPoint to create presentations and Excel for spreadsheets in math class. Our kids use OneNote, to create “homework” notebooks that allow them to write and edit using touch, type or stylus.

 

 

Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium OneNote TechMamas.com

 

 

For some math work, a good old fashioned pencil and ruler is good enough. But when my kids work on equations, they enjoy using OneNote’s equation editor on our Windows 8 touch desktop, allowing them to use a stylus to write the equation and then have it converted to type.

 

 

Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium OneNote TechMamas.com

 

 

They also use OneNote tools to record audio and video.

 

 

Microsoft Office 365 OneNote Home Premium TechMamas.com

 

 

My kids’ OneNote notebooks are also the place they can gather information about their projects, including links to web pages, inserted photos and even embedded Excel spreadsheets that update the original spreadsheet when changes are made. Word allows my kids to insert online pictures to their essays and the resume reading feature allows me to utilize small pockets of time during the day to review their book reports, and resume each time at the same place I left off. There are also great templates for my kids to use when creating their book reports.

 

 

 

 

With PowerPoint my kids can give their presentations with the advantage of using Presenter mode.

 

 

Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium Powerpoint TechMamas.com

 

 

With Excel, kids can use formulas, charts and tables to represent math equations and percentages. Using those tools to represent math assignments helps them understand the concepts. And it looks great when turned into the teacher!

 

 

 

 

3. Set Up Ways to Move and Work – to Help Keep Kids Focused: Some kids need movement to focus and get work done. One of my boys responds very well to homework breaks where he is really exercising his muscles and alternates between jogs around the house and bouncing on a mini-trampoline in the back yard. Then, quite by accident, I discovered that he finishes his work more quickly if he sits (ok… bounces) on my big, inflated yoga ball when attacking his math and writing assignments. He now looks to that yoga ball as his favorite chair, and is able to focus on his homework for longer periods of time because he moves when needed. He even learned to type while bouncing! My next purchase may need to be a balance ball chair. For longer sessions requiring significant writing or typing we ask him to use a regular chair. When sitting, he is usually squeezing a small hand therapy ball for some stationary “hand exercise”. At least that keeps him seated!

 

 

 

 

4. Teach Your Kids How to Get homework done From Anywhere. With all of our afterschool activities (and especially during Spring Little League), we can’t seem to find a regular time during the week to sit down and do homework together. It is especially challenging when I am at work or a meeting late in the day for my sitter to spread out his time between all of my kids. Luckily our documents are on SkyDrive (in the cloud), so I can help my kids with homework (and “remind” them about their assignments) even if I am not at home. When they have questions on their homework and provide me with a file name, I can take a look and help. Even though they may not especially like that I can always see the latest version of their homework files, they DO appreciate that we can edit together so their assignments get done. After my kids saw how I use Office 365 Home Premium to get assignments done no matter where I am, they started asking to do that as well. My older son figured out that while my twins are playing a baseball game during a school night, he can be there to watch but also work on school projects using one of our Windows 8 devices. Learning to get work done by utilizing available segments during the day is an important skill not only for my kids’ homework but also for their future careers. This also enables our family to check off our list of work each day, so that we can have quality time at night before bed, just talking – no tech in sight.

 

 

 

Technology and Innovation in Education Update: Dell, MIT and MSNBC

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One of the daily struggles I have with my kids is also something that has brought so much amazing information into our lives: technology. On the plus side our family computer offers endless educational information online including homework and class photo websites. This includes software to help with school assignments such as creating essays using Microsoft Word, math and organizational lists on Excel and  presentations using videos and Powerpoint presentations. It also includes news updates, how-to videos on everything (including videos that helped my kids learn skateboarding techniques) and endless humor that makes us laugh. The challenge is teaching kids to unleash the power of technology by using it to learn and create, but also mind screen time limits and social networking etiquette. I look at technology training as “the new talk” that all parents should discuss with their kids. I also think it is important to set up a proper homework workspace (that includes space for technology) to help kids get access to what they need to do homework.

 

Learning about technology at home also helps my kids with a background to use technology at school. My elementary school twin boys have a technology lab at school where they learn how to type, do learning games such as math facts, research for projects and create photo art. Their teachers have Smartboards that allow them to bring up electronic images or online sites as examples of the subjects covered in classroom learning. The bottom line is that I believe digital literacy is not only one of the important skills my kids need when they enter the workforce but also offers unlimited ways for them to express their creativity.

 

I am participating in a Dell program that is called #Dell Dozen (see disclosures at bottom of this post). Part of that program gives me access to information about technology and education. Just a few days ago they shared information about the day of innovation Dell hosted at MIT. While I could not be there, I found information that filled me in on the discussions – including a livestream from the Dell Innovation In Education Think Tank @ MIT  and video segments from the NBC + Dell “Technology in the Classroom: What’s Next?” Town Hall @ MIT . One of the videos asked the important question: “Will Technology Transform Learning“: “Moderators Alex Witt and Chelsea Clinton sit down at the MIT Media Lab with 3rd Grade Teacher Susie Brooks, New Classrooms Co-founder Joel Rose, and MIT Professor Mitch Resnick, and an audience of K-12 educators to talk about how technology will transform learning and classrooms.”

 

Chelsea Clinton brought up the challenge that technology in the classroom should not be considered for just for math and science—but also for English, civics, languages, and history.  The panelists also brought up many good points related to technology and education. I summarized  some of their points bellow:

 

  • Nothing more important then to learn to think creatively for all jobs. Not just information delivery but to think creatively to finish a project.
  • It is important not to just drop ship computers at schools- it should be a higher delivery model to offer instruction for different kids.
  • Technology is important for digital literacy and collaborative learning.
  • Benefits are that technology breaks boundaries, goes across ages and disciplines. But it is scary for teachers to implement the new tech devices into the classroom.
  • Technology helps with individualized learning so kids are not stuck in a curriculum by age and can tailor to their interests. For example, a kid who is bored by standard math at school can be fascinated by attaching sensors to roller blades to find out how fast they are going.
  • Important to keep close eye on use of technology so as not isolate, make sure to balance with real life social interaction.
  • Teachers should be the models of good learners, so Teachers need to adapt to new situations.

 

Dell also shared an info-graphic they developed on Innovation in Education.  Some of the data included 85% of teachers said that technology allowed them to provide a more learning experience in class while 63% of students say the benefits of technology in classrooms outweighs the distractions. 71% of students say they have access to more advanced technology at home then the classroom.

 

 

 

My personal experience has been that I am thrilled that my kids can view interactive information on a Smartboard at their schools (which they find engaging) and my son with a writing disorder can use a laptop to type essays at class. But one of the big barriers is that not every school can get access to the technology and to give training they need (and deserve). Dell also announced their Education Challenge (that started September 13) that offers prizes and awards to help students put their ideas into action. DellChallenge.org is an educational innovation community “where university students, academia, primary/K12 educators, mentors, judges and fellow students from around the globe can network, share best practices and inspire each other to create educational change“.

 

What do you feel about the importance of digital literacy skills for your kids? Do you feel like technology in education creates innovation or distraction (or both)? Please share your thoughts.

 

Disclosure: This is not a paid post. I am a member of the Dell Dozen program that gives me access to Dell products. Part of the suggested activities of the program is sharing information about their initiates but my choices about what to post and my words are my own.