Updates

This is where we post notes about any changes to links or content (due to a site or resource that is no longer available or revision work in process) through the  school year.

This project has been funded for continuation for 2021-2023 thanks to the REMC Association of Michigan.

REVISIONS/UPDATES for 2022-2023

November 2022

• TechSkills Survey for grades 9-12 has been updated, resulting in 35 technology skills students use to set learning goals around technology.
• 12.Q3 Interactives: Added three online Calculators to the Knowledge and Problem Solver section.
• ProProfs updates
  • Includes a Try again button for 90% or lower scores
  • Changed results from Passed or Failed to Excellent..VG, Good, Fair, Needs Improvement
  • Shows all questions on one continuous page, moves automatically to the next question.
  • No certificate unless 70% or better is shown with the results
  • The results only show the questions that were incorrectly answered
  • New message at the end of the session:

October 2022

• New QRCode Breakout Activity added to 2.Q3
• Updated TechSkills surveys for K-2 and 3-5

August 2022

• Update to the TechSkills 6-8 Survey has been completed, the additional grade level surveys will be completed after December 2022.
• 2022-23 Roadmap documents have been updated 8/22/22. These are located on the following pages: 1.Q1 and also on the Teacher Resources page.
• Thing 3 My Digital Life has been revised, and the two Quests focus on personality type: Strengths - Struggles - Strategies - and Technology Applications and Tools. Some previous applications and tools have been moved to other Quests.
• 1.Q6 Basics: Safe and Secure has updated videos and a new Two Factor Authentication (2FA) section.
• Videos in Digital Footprint in Managing Your Footprint have been updated.
• The Roadmap and Awesome Index have been updated to reflect the changes (8/18/2022)
• The 5-8 Technology Skill Survey Questions are being updated and will replace the existing one by September.
• Digital breakout rooms (aka escape rooms) have been created for 12 of the Quest activities. These are like puzzles where students use clues to solve them while learning or reviewing content. A Teacher Key to these are located in the Teacher Resource Login Page area.
  • What is a Digital Breakout? A Google Slide Presentation.
  • See some examples and resources for more information: Digital Escape with examples, from Ditch That Textbook, Planning guide to create them easily.
  • Complete Breakout Activities list currently (8/2022):
    • 1.Q8 Basics: Email Etiquette
    • 2.Q3 QR Codes 10/17
    • 5.Q4 Digital Footprint: Getting Social
    • 6.Q3 Cyber Safety: Online Etiquette 
    • 7.Q4 Be Legal & Fair: Stop the Pirates
    • 8.Q4 Troubleshooting: Trouble
    • 9.Q5 Search Strategies: Fake or Real News 
    • 10.Q4 Digital Images: The Science Mythbusters! 
    • 13.Q9 Dig the Data: Changes Over Time  Breakout
    • 14.Q3 Social Networking: Consider This 
    • 15.Q1 Design Thinking: What is Design Thinking?
    • 19.Q4 Buyer Beware: Clickbait
    • 21.Q5 Computational Thinking: Algorithms

July 2022

• TechSkills Surveys: We are in the process of updating/revising the TechSkills Survey Questions for Grades 6-12.
• 13.Dig the Data we recommend after completing Q1-5, go to Q10 Sort It Out if your students are new to spreadsheets.
• Student showcase portfolios have been updated to include options to add a screenshot of the Digital Breakout Awards if completed.

May-June 2022

• Buyer Beware Breakout Review Activity 19.Q4
• Design Thinking Digital Breakout Activity 15.Q1
•  Video Demo Example of solving a Digital Breakout located in 1.Q8 and used with other Breakout activities.
• H5P Interactive Knowledge Checks are now embedded in:
  • 2.Visual Learning: 2.1, 2.3
• Teachers Menu: Assessment has been reorganized.
• 13.Q9 Dig the Data Changes Over Time has a NEW Breakout Activity that is a sub-page to the standard Quest.

March - April 2022

• H5P Interactive Self-checking Knowledge Checks (interactive quizzes) are now embedded in the following Quests: 
  • 1.Basics Quests: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, and 1.7,
  • We are exploring the use of these added interactive self-assessments with plans to add them to additional Things.
• Accommodations & Resources have been updated.
• Digital Breakout Activities have been added to some of the Quests. See the updated list above.
• 13.Q10 is now 13.Q6 Sort it Out and has been updated with: new tutorials, step-by-step guides, teacher guide, digital portfolio, and the student checklist for Sorting and Filtering with either Google or Microsoft Excel.
• 1.Basics Gold Quests have been moved to a sub menu under Basics
• 6.Cyber Safety Q3.Online Etiquette now has three activity choices: a Cyber Shield Quiz, a Digital Breakout, and Qualities of Digital Citizenship.

January - February 2022

• Basics now has a short video (6:14) introducing Immersive Reader on the first page of the Thing.
• Teacher Login resources page updated (21t4steacher, pwd REMC21)
• MiTechKids task cards are in process of being updated
• Teacher Handbook has been updated

November-December 2021

• The Syllabus, Badges, Graduation Certificates are updated.
• Cyber Safety 6.Q4 has been redone to replace the past Flash activity. A new interactive challenge and directions and materials for making you own Cyber Safety game are provided.
• ProProf quizzes are updated to match content changes
• Updated #2 Visual Learning Q1 & Q2 directions
• #13 Dig the Data updated directions Q8 Whiskers, Q9 Changes over Time, and Q10 Sort It Out, and some tutorial videos are currently in process of being updated and added.
• Complete URL list is continually being updated when links or videos change. It is located on the Teacher Guides page as well as in the Teacher Login Resources.
• Completed new Student Showcase Portfolio templates located on each Thing page and the Teacher Resources.
  • Both of the Portfolio templates, Google slides and Microsoft PowerPoint files, are located on the Thing pages.
• The Awesome Index is being updated for the categories for Interactive/Self-Guided (NEW) , Content Area, and Applications
  

September-October 2021

• Share your Ideas: A new short Form has been added to the bottom of each teacher guide. We hope educators will share their ideas, modifications, time to teach a Quest, etc. The information will be added to the Quest it pertains to.
• Bad Link Report: Teacher Guides have a link to report a Bad Link in a Quest.
• Student Showcase Portfolio Templates are provided as both Google Slideshow files and Microsoft PowerPoint files. These are located on each "Thing" page below the Teacher Guide. Students can use these to document their work through each Quest and Thing.
• Online Quiz Tools for Classroom Teachers. Learn more about: Blooket, Kahoot, Quizalize, Quiziz, Socrative, Gimkit, Quizlet, and Google Forms as a Quiz Tool
• New Graduation Certificates in PPT or Google Slides versions are located in the Teacher login resources section
• New Interactive content (using H5P) are being added. The first one is located on the 1.Q1 Navigation page. It is a hotspot interactive.
• Start Here Page has been moved to the main menu, and no longer required to access the Basics pages.
• The Roadmap, syllabus, Index, complete URL list, and teacher handbook have been updated and are being checked for accuracy.
• A few revisions are still in process (due to Flash): 13. Dig the Data Q8 Whiskers, and Q9 Changes over time, 6.Q5 Cyber Spy Game is being replaced, 17. Creative Communications Tools will receive a few new tools
• Thing 11. Powerful Presentations has been updated and new quests added for Microsoft PowerPoint QM3-QM5.
• We are considering replacing or updating 12. Interactives and 2. Visual Learning in the future.

April 2021 Updates Completed:

• View 21t4s tutorial video captions in Spanish: When you start playing a video, pause it, go to the CC box and select it, then select Spanish. They will appear along the top of the video (so maximize the video onscreen so that the captions block less of the video).
• Powerful Presentations #11 QGS Quests 3-6 for Google Slides, and #11 QM 3-5 have been renumbered and updated.
• Social Networking #14 has been updated.
• All 21t4s created documents (including Teacher Guides & Student Checklists) have been moved onto the REMC Google Drive, and older ones will say Delete in the title if we missed relinking them (let us know please).

Updates March 2021

• The Roadmap documents will be updated over the summer to reflect the most recent changes. They are located on 1.Basics Q1 Navigation in section 2.4 and also on the side menu under the Websites and Documents menu.
• We are in the process of updating all Quests that used Flash resources, as it was discontinued by Adobe Dec 30, 2020.
• #13 Dig the Data Quests 1-6 have been updated, and Q7-Q10 are in process of being updated.
• #19 Buyer Beware is being revised this month due to Flash.
• #6 Cyber Safety Q4 Cyber Spy Game is being revised due to Flash.
• #15 Design Thinking videos are being replaced as they were discontinued from the location they were hosted on.
• Powerful Presentations will be updated (March-April 2021)
• #4, Suite Tools that focuses on word processing for Google docs, and also Microsoft 365 have been revised and updated to include Immersive Reader.
• Search Strategies has been updated (February 2021).

Updated in January & February 2021

• We have changed how the Quizlet quizzes are accessed to avoid ads, they will or be now embedded in a content block right after the vocabulary, and be set to match, learn, or flashcard mode. Test or spelling modes are not used. The direct link to the Quizlet is also provided.
• A new assessment bank of questions for each "Thing" is available in the Teacher Login section. We have created the ability to create your own Google form Quiz for each "Thing" that is editable by you, and that can be used to pre and post test students for each Thing. The entire data-bank of questions is also available. We are working to make this available for Microsoft 365 Forms in the future.