Smart Parking Logs for Frequently Used BYOD Sites

As districts embrace BYOD, a policy that encourages students to bring their own devices to school, teachers need some good ideas for ways to incorporate web 2.0 tools in small, but useful ways. In my experience, BYOD can be very effective both for student engagement as well as making student gains. Sometimes there are so many resources that it can be difficult to keep track of them all.

Enter the Frequently Used BYOD Site place-mat. The place-mat is a simply designed paper that has four of my most frequently used places: Edmodo, GoSoapBox and Padlet. I have created two Padlet sites for each of my classes. One is for bright ideas and the second is for academic questions (the parking log). Having these resources encourages students to be creative and to ask questions while at the same time allowing me to table those questions for later if I need to. 

Edmodo and GoSoapBox are both used for polls, exit tickets, and class discussions. Both tools allow me to track student progress and I can use the data collected to inform my instructional methods. 

I print these place-mats on bright, colored paper and place the strategically  around the classroom so that students can easily scan the QR code for the needed site. Of course, it is important to teach students when and how you would like them to make use of these resources and then model the process a few times. I have a poster that my district provided that has three BYOD zones (red, yellow, and green) that helps me indicate to students when they are and aren't allowed to use their devices. 

Sample QR Code Placemat

What are your favorite BYOD, Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom?