The 21st Century    

              Today, we have many resources in the 21st for teaching than ever before! In the 21st century, we can now access many kinds of resources, like online resources, websites and more, rather than just relying on paper. Nowadays, there are many new resources like online resources and games. New studies show that online games can improve the learning environment and learning in general.

             “Math video games can enhance students’ motivation to learn, but it may depend on how students play, researchers at NYU’s Steinhardt School and the City University of New York have found in a study of middle-schoolers.

        One candidate is educational video games, which, at first glance, would seem to result in performance rather than mastery orientations given their competitive focus and that they are often played with others.

                But, given the popularity of gaming among school-aged students, exploring their potential value intrigued the study’s authors.To test this possibility, the researchers had middle-school students play the video game FactorReactor, which is designed to build math skills through problem-solving and therefore serves as diagnostic for learning.In order to test the impact of different settings on learning, students were randomly assigned to play the game alone, competitively against another student, or collaboratively with another student.

                 The researchers controlled for students’ abilities by conducting a pre-test.The findings revealed that students who played the math game either competitively or collaboratively reported the strongest mastery goal orientations, which indicates that students adopted an optimal mindset for learning while playing the video game with others.Their results also showed that students playing under competitive situations performed best in the game. In addition, those playing in both competitive and collaborative conditions experienced the greatest interest and enjoyment.”

Said the NYU. (Read more about this topic from the NYU here!)

                    Online Resources 

             Collaboration is important for students and teachers, which is why many companies have created websites and such to help teachers keep track of online work and collaborations. Some of the candidates are:

-Google Classroom                   By Google                   (See more on website here)

-Teacher Advisor                     By IBM (Watson)       (See more on website here)

-Docebo                                     By:?                               (See more on website here)

But today, we are going to mainly talk about IBM Watson’s Teacher Advisor and Google’s Google Classroom. I went ahead and tried both of them and found out that the main difference was that Google was more focused on the collaboration part, while IBM was more focused on the curriculum.

The IBM Watson’s Teacher advisor is really interesting, as it has activities, worksheets, and games. In Teacher Advisor, you can search the topic you may want to teach, and it will show some worksheets, activities, and games. While I was at Teacher Advisor, I noticed that with the activities, the teachers also get a curriculum document which tells what strategies are included and overall what the activity teaches. Here is a picture of the Grade five adding fractions document: math-g5-m3-topic-b-lesson-3     

As you can see, it also uses Common Core and EngageNY. Learn more about Teacher Advisor Here.

The Google Classroom is based like all the Google products, like Google Slides and Docs, It’s very open, and it is based on collaboration, where everyone can work together, sort of like an online forum. It also advertises the Google Brand, where teachers can add Google Slides, Docs, Sheets, Forms, or Video and pdf file. To turn things in, you can either “Mark as done” or you can also attach a google drive product and then turn it in. After you turn in your work, (Or mark as done,) Your teacher can see that you have turned it in, and you may no longer make changes to your work. Google Classroom is rather simple, where teachers get stuff from their own sources and post it on Google Classroom, Rather than the teacher advisor, where the source is there. Learn more about Google Classroom here.

Website	Price	Usabilities	Easy to use	Other
Google Classroom	Free	Forum	Yes	Way to overrated because of the Google brand.
Teacher Advisor	Free	Source	Yes	Really good source for worksheets, (And it’s free!)

The Teacher Advisor is more of a Source, And Google Classroom is more of a collaborative forum for teachers and students. Google Classroom is also more online but is more openminded. Teacher advisor though is a good resource with many worksheets, activities, games, and strategies.