After a couple of years of talking about this launch…I am excited to release BoostEDU’s 4 C’s Self-Assessment! In this self-assessment, educators can assess the depth of 4 C’s in their lessons and find strategies, lesson ideas and technology tools to help them “boost” their future lessons. After the self-assessment is complete, educators will receive an email contain their detailed report and next steps.

Interested in trying it out? Click on the link below!

Need more details? Watch this video for an overview of the 4 C’s self-assessment:

Finally, I am still looking for some feedback on this self-assessment. If you have gone through the self-assessment and are willing to provide feedback, please go to this survey: bit.ly/4cFeedback

Did you try the 4 C’s Self-Assessment? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

It has been far too long since I have shared updates on my Google Innovator Project, BoostEDU.

BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process. Currently, the program hosts a SAMR self-assessment, as well as a guided lesson design template to guide teachers in understanding the depth of technology use in their classroom. Interested in checking it out? Visit the website –> BoostEDU!

While I haven’t shared much recently, I am excited to say that BoostEDU is regularly used by educators around the country. On a daily basis, educators are using the BoostEDU self-assessment to identify their depth of technology use and to find ways to improve their instructional practice. There are still SO many ways that I want to continue to improve this program but it is exciting to see how it has developed over the last two years.

Even more exciting, I am happy to announce that on May 6th, 2019 the 4 C’s Self-Assessment will be launched!

To be able to successfully launch this self-assessment, I am looking for a little bit of help from the amazing educators that follow this blog. If you are interested in helping with this launch, here are two ways in which you can support the new self-assessment:

1.) Submit ideas to the BoostEDU: 4 C’s Survey.

While I have many of my own ideas on how to bring the 4 C’s into the classroom, I need ideas from educators from different content areas, experience, demographics, etc. Please consider filling out this short survey to share how you promote the 4 C’s in your classroom or school!

2.) Sign up to a be a BoostEDU: Beta Tester.

In April, I plan on having the majority of the self-assessment built and I will be looking for educators who are willing to test out this assessment and give feedback. Fill out the short form above to sign up!

I cannot express how excited I am for this upcoming launch for BoostEDU – I hope you will join me on this journey!

Today I am excited to share some big updates to BoostEDU!

If you are unfamiliar with this resource, BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process. The purpose of this program is simple – help teachers “boost” their lessons through a personalized approach.

Over the last month, I have been working on several updates that I hope will be exciting to current and future users of this program. Check them out below!

1.) SAMR Database

Recently, I wrote a blog post on the SAMR database that replaced existing Google Docs with an easy-to-use database of resources. In this database, educators can search for ways to reach deeper levels of SAMR for note-taking, writing, assessments, presentations, reading, and research. After selecting specific categories, features and tech tools, the SAMR database will offer instructional strategies for teachers to try in their classroom.

Here’s an example of the database:

Click HERE to check it out!

2.) Self-Assessment Form Updated

One of my favorite parts of BoostEDU is the SAMR self-assessment form. (Keep an eye out for the 4 C’s self-assessment later this year!) I am excited to share that there have been significant updates to this self-assessment form, particularly when it comes to the instructional strategies and tech tools.

If you haven’t used the self-assessment form, the goal is for teachers to assess the depth of SAMR in their classroom based on specific instructional strategies. Teachers will receive their results and be given suggestions and tech tools to try out in their classroom. Over the last month, I have added over a dozen new suggestions, instructional strategies, and tech tools to the self-assessment.

Ready to test it out? Click HERE!

3.) Free Workshop Resources

Finally, I am so excited to share a workshop/training resource with you! I have had several educators and districts ask for a resource to train their teachers, so here it is!

If you are interested in sharing BoostEDU at your site or district, feel free to use this presentation!

Have you used BoostEDU for yourself and/or with your site/district? I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

It’s been a little over a month since I shared any updates on BoostEDU. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s not that I wasn’t working on anything for BoostEDU – it’s just that I wanted to truly finish something that I am really excited to share. It’s the completely neurotic, OCD part of me! While I have quite a few more updates coming, I am super excited to share today’s update with you!

As a quick reminder, BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and lesson design process. If you’re curious about the four parts of the BoostEDU program, watch THIS video.

What’s Changed?

While I am excited about the progress I have made for BoostEDU, there is one part of the program that just hasn’t felt very clear or organized to me. I designed a “resource” page for educators to use to find lesson ideas specifically aligned to the SAMR model. See what it looked like before by clicking on the image:

It’s not terrible but it’s definitely not clean or easy to navigate. All of the resources are in different Google Docs – which is great. However, it’s kind of messy and all over the place. I think it takes away from all of the (hopefully) great resources and lesson ideas that are within those documents.

So, with the inspiration from my good friend Dee Lanier (founder of SmashboardEDU), I decided to create an Awesome Table to organize all of these resources into one, simple table that is easy to navigate via filters. Check it out by clicking on the image below:

Much better, right? I have to admit – it took wayyyy more time than I anticipated to build this awesome table. However, I think that this is a much better resource and solved one of my biggest problems. Many educators have been asking if I could add links to the tech tools on the self-assessment form. While Google Forms does not allow me to do that, I was able to add links within this resource.

How Does This Support Educators?

This resource will support educators by:

• Helping them lesson ideas for a variety of instructional strategies, such as assessments, note-taking, reading, writing, research, and presentations.
• Allowing them to sort by SAMR depth, tech tool, and instructional type.
• Helping them to reach deeper levels of SAMR.

As always, this resource is just recently released and I would love some feedback. Share your thoughts about the SAMR Database in the comments below!

I am excited to announce that the BoostEDU community is growing! 

BoostEDU is now on Facebook and Twitter and is a community where teachers can receive updates on resources and support from teachers all around the world.  Interested in joining this community?  Click on the links below!

In these communities, feel free to share resources to support teachers and post your own lessons for community feedback.  In addition to this, each week I will be posting a question and/or poll to spur conversation and bring more resources to our community.  This week’s question:

I look forward to seeing this community develop and the conversation grow!

Last month, I had the great pleasure to work with the HyperDoc team and Lisa Guardino on how to use BoostEDU to evaluate HyperDocs.  I cannot express how nerdy excited I was to see the BoostEDU self-assessment in action!

In this video, Lisa Guardino, an advanced HyperDoc designer, completes the In-Depth SAMR self-assessment on a HyperDoc that she has created.  In addition, I also spend some time talking about BoostEDU, the self-assessment, and the other resources that are available on the website.

Anyways, I am going to try to prevent myself from being super wordy (shocker!) in this blog post and give you time to watch the video:

Interested in trying out the BoostEDU In-Depth Self-Assessment, visit www.boostedu.org today!

Also, a big shout out to the HyperDoc Team (Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis) for helping share BoostEDU.  I greatly appreciate their support and encouragement!  Another big shout out to Lisa Guardino for testing out the self-assessment and giving her insights on how it can support teachers.

Have you tried the resources that are on BoostEDU?  If so, I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below!

One of the key features of BoostEDU is the SAMR Self-Assessments.  In the SAMR Self-Assessments, educators are given the opportunity to assess the depth of SAMR in two ways:

• In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessment is used to analyze the depth of SAMR in specific areas of a lesson.  Educators will receive an editable Google Doc to add ideas for future lessons.
• Basic SAMR Self-Assessment is a short self-assessment that provides educators with the depth of SAMR in their overall classroom.

Personally, I really love the In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessment due to the depth that educators can evaluate their lessons and how it gives them a step towards boosting their old lessons.  One of the great benefits of this self-assessment is the instructional strategy and tech tools suggestions that can be selected and added to a Google Doc.  If you haven’t had an opportunity to test this out, I highly encourage you to click on the link above and assess one of your lessons.

In addition to this self-assessment, I also created a series of Google Docs that contain ALL of the instructional strategy and tech tool suggestions.  These documents are really helpful with designing new lessons and/or redesigning old lessons.  While all of these resources are included in the self-assessment, I felt that some educators might benefit from being able to quickly view all of these suggestions in one place.

Ready to boost your lesson? Check out these resources from the SAMR self-assessment!

• Assessments
• Note-Taking
• Presentations
• Reading
• Research
• Writing

CALL TO ACTION: As you might have noticed, the documents are open for anyone to COMMENT.  That’s right, I would love to hear your ideas and have feedback added to this document.  For instance, do you have any ideas for suggestions or tech tools for these areas of a lesson?  Add them in the comments!

Interested in becoming more involved? I would love to have some educators review BoostEDU and highlight their review on this blog.  Contact me at meagan.kelly@boostedu.org if you are interested!

One month ago, BoostEDU was released – it seems so long ago, but also just like yesterday!  During that time, the BoostEDU website has received over 5,000 views from over 1,200 unique visitors.  I have felt so encouraged by all of the positive feedback that I have received and I am excited to continue to develop this program.

Interested in learning more about BoostEDU, click HERE for a short video!

As excited as I am about all of the positive feedback that I have received, I am also aware that there is much work to be done.  There is so much to review, modify, and improve to really meet the needs of teachers as they begin to incorporate more technology into their classrooms.  While I look at BoostEDU through the lens of a 12-year Math, AVID, and technology educator, I need the lens of all educators.  I need the new and veteran teachers to go through this program.  I need all content areas to go through this program.  I need teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators to go through this program.  I need multiple viewpoints to help me find ways to improve this program for educators all around the world.  Like I said, there is much work to be done.  So, I decided to ask for some help from the many amazing educators that exist in this world.

Here is the fun part – are you already intrigued in how you can help with BoostEDU?  There’s even more!  The first 50 educators to complete three tasks will receive some free, #BoostEDU swag!  I mean, come on.  All educators love free things, right?! Especially when it comes to stickers and buttons!

Requirements for #BoostEDU Swag Giveaway

The first 50 people to complete these three, simple steps will receive some #BoostEDU Swag:

1. Complete the BoostEDU Feedback Form.  (Remember to visit the BoostEDU website!)
2. Re-Share on Twitter and/or Facebook.
3. Join the BoostEDU Facebook Group.

#BoostEDU Swag

• One (1) BoostEDU Sticker
• One (1) I  EDU Sticker
• One (1) BoostEDU Button
• One (1) BoostEDU Postcard

Just a reminder – the #BoostEDU Swag will only go to the first 50 educators that complete all 3 activities…and go! 🙂

Finally…

Thank you!  Thank you to all of the educators who have been following BoostEDU’s progress over the last year.  It’s been a wild, challenging, and fun ride – one that would have been difficult without the words of encouragement from you.

I look forward to your feedback and seeing you share the #BoostEDU on social media!

Earlier this month, I publicly released my Google Innovator Project: BoostEDU.  BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process.  (Interested in learning more?  Watch this video.)  It’s been a lot of work but it has been very exciting to hear feedback from teachers that have started using these tools to support their lesson design.

In this blog post, I wanted to spend some time talking about the two self-assessments that are currently available on BoostEDU: the Basic and In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessments.  In the future, I plan on expanding the self-assessments to include 4 C’s, ISTE Standards, and TPACK but SAMR was an excellent starting point for this project.  Here is some information on the two self-assessments:

The Basic SAMR Self-Assessment

The Basic SAMR Self-Assessment is a short self-assessment that provides educators with the depth of SAMR within their overall classroom.  Here are some key features:

• Short self-assessment that includes 7 questions.
• Focuses on the classroom as a whole, rather than a specific lesson.
• Results are immediately delivered within the screen.

The In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessment

The In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessment is used to analyze the depth of SAMR in specific areas of a lesson.  Here are some key features:

• Focuses on a specific lesson, activity, or project.
• Results are immediately delivered to the user’s email in an editable Google Doc.
• Offers suggestions, tech tools, and next steps for lesson planning.

Are you interested in seeing these self-assessments in action?  Watch the video below!

Ready to try it out for yourself?  Go to www.boostedu.org to start!

Have you used the BoostEDU Self-Assessments?  If so, I would love to hear your thoughts below!

I’ve had a few people recently ask me how BoostEDU is developing and when it will be released.  The official release date for BoostEDU is January 8, 2018 – yes, just 24 days away!  Although I had planned for an earlier release, I realized that there were some parts of my project that I wanted to finalize before I release it to the public.  Mostly, I think the A-type, neurotic part of me started getting a little paranoid that it wasn’t ready or that it wouldn’t be good enough to release to the public.  (Transparency – remember, it’s my favorite word.)

After a lot of feedback and encouragement from my beta testers, I realized that it is time to take the jump and release BoostEDU.  It’s still going to be in beta and it is still developing but…isn’t that everything in life?  Aren’t we always constantly developing, revamping, and tweaking things that we have created, released, and shared?

Anyways, I wanted to share a “sneak peek” at BoostEDU.  In the video below, you will get a sneak peek at the BoostEDU website and all of the resources that will be provided on the day of release.  I tried to make the video as short as possible but there was so much to share!

I would love to hear your feedback and if this is something that would benefit your teachers, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!

If you would like to learn more about BoostEDU, please visit the “Adventures in Innovation” series on my blog!

BoostEDU will be released on January 8, 2018 at www.boostedu.org.