As I shared in my last blog post, my #oneword2023 is #develop. I am focusing my year on developing in 4 main areas: 

So far, things are off to a great start. I began this month with a great podcast interview on the Dr. Will show and have two podcast interviews tomorrow that I am very excited about.  Not to mention, I am doing a better job focusing on my health and not only have lost a couple of pounds so far, but I just feel better!

Reviewing what are the ABCs of Transforming Learning are-

Two weeks ago, I shared a blog post called I = Invest in YOU: The Power of Reflection.  In this blog post, I used some adapted thinking routines to help me reflect on the year that just ended and the year that is starting.  

This week, we will focus on J = Jump Into Tannenbaum Tech's 3 Cs of Creation. So many times when we decide to add more creating into our educational settings, it can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. In fact, using Tannenbaum Tech's 3 Cs of Creation makes it so much easier to determine whether a tech tool is a good match for the students you serve. Not only do they address UDL or Universal Design for Learning as they provide our students more ways to share their learning, but they also provide both ISTE Standards for Educators and Students. So let's jump into the 3 Cs of Creation.

J = Jump into Tannenbaum Tech's 3 Cs of Creation

Back in  October 2021, I first introduced my 3 Cs of Creation during presentations at Unison EDU and Fall CUE. The premise behind the 3 Cs of Creation was: How can we best determine which tools will best support our students to be creators? My 3 Cs of Creation not only helps educators determine which tools best fit our students needs but provides all of our students increased access to creating with these tools.So what makes a tech tool a good candidate for promoting creation? The 3 Cs answers that question and gives educators a concrete way to identify tech tools.

Choice

The first of the 3 Cs is Choice. We need to give our students multiple ways to share their learning. This correlates with ideas of Universal Design for Learning emphasizes multiple measures of engagement, representation and action/expression. Choice addresses options for action and expression.  On the CAST website's UDL Guidelines,  it shares this guidance:  "It is important to provide alternative modalities for expression, both to level the playing field among learners and to allow the learner to appropriately (or easily) express knowledge, ideas and concepts in the learning environment."  (https://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression/expression-communication

When we give our students choice, they can respond with text, speech to text, audio, images, drawing tools and even video.

Collaborative


The second of the 3 Cs is Collaborative. We need to provide our students the opportunities to collaborate and moreover, tools that empower them to collaborate. Collaboration is a skill that needs to be both scaffolded and practiced often. It is more than partner work, but involves working with someone to create something together. We need to ensure that our students have experiences working collaboratively from a young age. Like any skill, our students need to practice collaboration and have collaboration experiences scaffolded for them. Not only is this an important life skill, but an ISTE standard for our students. Standard 1.7 Global Collaborator states, "Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally." More on the importance of this in the next blog post in two weeks.

Clickable


The  third of the 3 Cs is Clickable, What do I mean by clickable? That’s easy. We need to teach our students how to navigate digital learning environments. Back in December, I heard a podcast episode that shared the following.

"Our students might be digital natives; but they are not digital learners."

We need to help our students to become digital learners by helping them to understand what the icons they encounter are and teach them how to use those tools to create. We need to consider whether the programs we use are clickable and easy for our students to navigate.

When we use tech tools and teach their corresponding icons to our students, we promote creation in our classrooms.



Top 3 Tech Tools That Promote the 3 Cs 

Wixie

It is no great secret that I love using Wixie. It is a kid friendly creation tool that empowers all of our youngest students to create and demonstrates all three of the 3 Cs. It shows choice since students can choose between text, speech to text, images, drawing tools, audio, and video to share their learning. Wixie also includes the team feature. Using this feature, educators can form collaborative teams or allow students to form their own. Plus, educators can monitor all of their students’ work and guide them as they work. Last, its icons are easily recognizable and clickable. The program even includes graphics of each of the icons. 

Book Creator

Book Creator is a program that empowers all students to create. Students in primary grades all the way up to secondary grades can use this program to create. Like Wixie, it too promotes choice, students can use text, speech to text, draw images with drawing tools and even autodraw technologies, create audio and video clips. It also helps students to collaborate. Educators can allow students to work on a project collaboratively with another student. Finally, its icons are easy to use and clickable. 

Canva

As I have shared many times, Canva is quickly becoming one of my favorite programs.  I love the variety of choice options available in this program. Although it does not have speech to text capabilities (yet), it does have audio, images, drawing and video options. It also has a huge variety of templates for students to choose from. It also has predictive text options in the new Canva Docs. Students can also work collaboratively on Canva projects in real time. Lastly, with the exception of needing to learn what elements are (which can easily be taught) , the rest of the icons are easily recognizable and clickable 

Getting Started with Tannenbaum Tech’s 3 Cs

These three programs are just a few of the programs that promote the 3 Cs. Take some time and audit the programs that you use. Do they promote choice, collaboration and are they clickable? Give your students the tools that they need to become digital learners.