MindTap

How MindTap Can Enhance Your Classroom

How MindTap Can Enhance Your Classroom

Jeremy Walts

Senior Director of Product Marketing • Math, Science and Digital Learning • National Geographic Learning | Cengage

Want to learn a bit more about MindTap? Watch this short video introducing MindTap and how it can enhance your classroom.

And in case you’d just prefer to read about it, here is the script for you:

“Learning is more than the number of A’s on your report card. It’s about creating the drive to stay engaged, focused, and on task. National Geographic Learning/Cengage presents a brand new personalized learning experience for teachers and students. MindTap empowers students and supports teachers!

MindTap is a learning space where teachers and students access rich content and assignments in a simple, integrated user experience. Every time they sign in, students focus where you want them to focus, pushing them to strive for better results. No distractions.

Content includes digital textbooks, multimedia activities, assignments, and a variety of formal and informal assessments. Building on the student experience, teachers also have access to interactive teacher materials to effectively and efficiently support every student’s learning.

A powerful digital textbook developed specifically for mobile students provides a highly visual experience that is optimized for different devices and includes audio, note-taking, and highlighting functionality to support mastery of content.

Encourage positive outcomes by managing students in real-time. Spend less time grading and more time responding immediately to students who are struggling. Adjustable readability levels give students the ability to engage with learning materials in a way they never have before.

All MindTap materials – the interactive digital textbook, activities, resources, and assessment — is searchable by state standards or skills, giving teachers the flexibility and ease of finding the content that addresses their specific curriculum goals.

Accessing MindTap is simple. NGL Sync enables LMS integration and rostering, providing seamless access to students and teachers. Set worries aside—service and support begins at the start of the year and continues throughout your MindTap implementation.

MindTap builds confidence for both students and teachers. Student learning is elevated with rich, differentiated content that helps students achieve grade-level mastery. Improve outcomes by engaging students in a powerful digital experience that makes learning fun.”

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Why Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2019?

Why Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2019?

Abigail Hess

Associate Product Marketing Manager • Career & Technical Education • National Geographic Learning | Cengage

We know that Microsoft has committed to continue to new versions of Microsoft Software every 3-years in addition to Office 365 updates. And while updating means working with your administration and IT to upgrade the new software AND  your learn new features, there are several reasons why Office 2019 is worth it and offers new tools that will better prepare students for success in competition, college, and their future careers.

Stay up to date with Microsoft Office Specialist Certification (MOS)

Microsoft recently released their Office 2019 Associate level exams for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access, and just released Word Expert in August of 2019. Excel Expert releases in September 2019, and Access in November, 2019 (Certiport). MOS certification has becoming increasingly popular as an industry credential for any CTE student, even beyond the Business, Finance, and Marketing career clusters. With Office 365, most businesses with Microsoft Office subscriptions will update to Office 2019 within the year and employers will be looking for certifications that match the software they use.

Appropriate Icon Use

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook now allow users to insert Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). So what’s cool about them?

With over 500 SVG icons that users can change the color, re-size, and rotate these characters add visual interest and provides teachers with the change to have students put their emoji obsession to good use. Teach the difference between personal and business communication and appropriate icon use in Outlook messages and invites, in Word Business Documents, and PowerPoint presentations. When does a visual icon enhance communication and add clarity or distract? When is it appropriate or not?

More Powerful Presentations

PowerPoint for Office 2019 allows users to quickly add clean motion animations and move seamlessly around your presentation, with Morph transition and Zoom.

Morph transition saves time and confusion from traditional animation methods by allowing users to duplicate a slide, make any changes and then add a transition that actively allows presentation views to see the change, whether options move, grow, or shrink.

Zoom allows the presenter flexibility by reconstructing the organization of the traditionally, linear PowerPoint presentation. Students can now practice giving presentations that are conversational and allow presenters to move to new ideas in their presentation in a realistic manner, without having to click through 20+ slides to get to the topic at hand.

Enhanced Excel

Excel for Office 2019 has many updates, but a few that students will be excited about may be the ability to create a new map chart to show values or categories in particular sections of a country or the world—an awesome tool for lessons in economics and global business.

PivotTable improvements speed up data analysis without forcing users to wait for the table to load until they have selected all the changes they want, and even can save defaults to get the same outcome much quicker next time! Likewise, Automatic Relationship Detection helps find relationships across multiple tables and notifies students if they should be linked together to find the information they need.

For additional information check out these posts by one of our authors of the Shelly Cashman Series for Microsoft Office, Corinne Hoisington!

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Koeninger_Morehouse

Using Academic Testing to Create a Culture that Motivates Students

Using Academic Testing to Create a Culture that Motivates Students

Dr. Jim Koeninger discusses the HOSA Academic Testing Center. He is joined by Bergen Morehouse, Director of the HOSA Competitive Events serving nearly 10,000 competitors at the annual conference and advising the 54 state, territory and country associations.

Jim Koeninger, Ph.D

Executive Director
HOSA

Bergen Morehouse

Director
HOSA Competitive Events

Dr. Jim Koeninger discusses the HOSA Academic Testing Center. He is joined by Bergen Morehouse, Director of the HOSA Competitive Events serving nearly 10,000 competitors at the annual conference and advising the 54 state, territory and country associations.

National Geographic Learning and HOSA-Future Health Professionals partnered in 2019 to provide delegates attending the HOSA 2019 International Leadership Conference (ILC) the opportunity to test their basic knowledge to become a future health professional. The top 10 scorers were recognized at an ILC Awards Session. This recognition opportunity motivates future health professionals to determine their college readiness in critical academic subjects. Dr. Koeninger believes that two to three times as many HOSA members will participate in the Academic Testing Center in 2020.

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Sophie Murphy

The Power of Language: Developing High Impact Teaching Strategies with Effective Classroom Discourse

The Power of Language: Developing High Impact Teaching Strategies with Effective Classroom Discourse

Professor John Hattie’s Visible Learning research has now ranked over 250 influences that are related to learning outcomes from highly impactful, positive effects to negative effects. His meta-analyses have concluded that strategies emphasizing feedback, including classroom discussion, have a strong, positive effect on student learning and achievement outcomes. As a self-proclaimed teacher that “talks too much,” Sophie Murphy, under the direct guidance of Hattie as her lead supervisor, began investigating effective talk and questioning through the eyes of students.

 

Sophie Murphy

Sophie Murphy

K-12 Teacher, Researcher and Global Education Leader

Professor John Hattie’s Visible Learning research has now ranked over 250 influences that are related to learning outcomes from highly impactful, positive effects to negative effects. His meta-analyses have concluded that strategies emphasizing feedback, including classroom discussion, have a strong, positive effect on student learning and achievement outcomes. As a self-proclaimed teacher that “talks too much,” Sophie Murphy, under the direct guidance of Hattie as her lead supervisor, began investigating effective talk and questioning through the eyes of students.

In this webinar replay, you will learn about:

Randy_Bell

The Nature of Science in YOUR Classroom

The Nature of Science in YOUR Classroom

What is the nature of science and how can it be used to increase student interest and promote scientific literacy? These are just some of the questions that you will explore as you learn from student-centered activities designed to encourage critical thinking about what nature of science is and how it can enhance your instruction. Dr. Bell’s session will offer specific strategies and resources that support ALL students in learning about the nature of science and how to make sense of scientific claims they encounter on a daily basis.

Randy_Bell

Dr. Randy Bell

Associate Dean and Professor of Science Education

What is the nature of science and how can it be used to increase student interest and promote scientific literacy? These are just some of the questions that you will explore as you learn from student-centered activities designed to encourage critical thinking about what nature of science is and how it can enhance your instruction. Dr. Bell’s session will offer specific strategies and resources that support ALL students in learning about the nature of science and how to make sense of scientific claims they encounter on a daily basis.

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

Malcolm_Butler

Reading and Writing in and About Science — Engaging and Encouraging Every Student with Notebooking

Reading and Writing in and About Science — Engaging and Encouraging Every Student with Notebooking

How can we use notebooking as a tool for increasing student success in science? Language is a critical part of the learning equation, and the use of a variety of communication strategies is essential for students in developing their academic language. This webinar replay will offer specific strategies (with appropriate rationales!) for teachers, as they support ALL students in the learning of science and language. 

Malcolm_Butler

Dr. Malcolm Butler

Associate Director, School of Teacher Education
University of Central Florida

How can we use notebooking as a tool for increasing student success in science? Language is a critical part of the learning equation, and the use of a variety of communication strategies is essential for students in developing their academic language. This webinar replay will offer specific strategies (with appropriate rationales!) for teachers, as they support ALL students in the learning of science and language. 

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

Pathways

Preparing Students for College and Career: How Can We Make Sure Students are Equipped to Succeed?

Preparing Students for College and Career: How Can We Make Sure Students are Equipped to Succeed?

Combined with over 30 years of experience working with students in higher education, these two seasoned college and career advisors share their insight into the pros and cons of various individual readiness tools typically used by schools. Changes that have the potential to increase students’ preparedness are discussed.

Pathways

Marilyn Baehr

Ohio State University Academic and Career Advisor
Academic Advisor at Columbus State Community College

Amy Martinez, MA

Ohio State University Academic and Career Advisor
Admissions Coordinator, Ohio University Heritage College

Combined with over 30 years of experience working with students in higher education, these two seasoned college and career advisors share their insight into the pros and cons of various individual readiness tools typically used by schools. Changes that have the potential to increase students’ preparedness are discussed. The advisors offer tangible ideas for students to take ownership of their learning pathway, as well as strategies for teachers and school administrators to best position students for current demands in college and career readiness.

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

Schneider

New Ideas in CS: What the New AP® Computer Science Principles Course is All About

New Ideas in CS: What the New AP® Computer Science Principles Course is All About

In this webinar replay Dr. Michael Schneider will discuss how to incorporate and focus on crucial computational skills that go beyond basic programming languages to fulfill the needs of the AP® Computer Science Principles course including the study and application of algorithms as well as the legal, moral and ethical issues related to the field.

Schneider

Dr. Michael Schneider

Co-author of Invitation to Computer Science

In this webinar replay Dr. Michael Schneider will discuss how to incorporate and focus on crucial computational skills that go beyond basic programming languages to fulfill the needs of the AP® Computer Science Principles course including the study and application of algorithms as well as the legal, moral and ethical issues related to the field.

In this webinar replay, you will:

Kokoska

Navigating the AP® Calculus Exam: A Content Presentation

Navigating the AP® Calculus Exam: A Content Presentation

How do you motivate, present and justify AP® Calculus Exam concepts and how are student responses scored? Former Chief Reader, Stephen Kokoska, discusses L’Hospital’s Rule, background, technology, and examples, and how Free Response Questions involving L’Hospital’s Rule are scored. This webinar replay will benefit AP Calculus teachers of all experience levels as you help students prepare for the AP Calculus Exam.

Kokoska

Stephen Kokoska

Professor of Mathematics, Bloomsburg University
Former Chief Reader, AP® Calculus

How do you motivate, present and justify AP® Calculus Exam concepts and how are student responses scored? Former Chief Reader, Stephen Kokoska, discusses L’Hospital’s Rule, background, technology, and examples, and how Free Response Questions involving L’Hospital’s Rule are scored. This webinar replay will benefit AP Calculus teachers of all experience levels as you help students prepare for the AP Calculus Exam.

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

Anusha-Shankar

National Geographic Explorers in the Classroom

National Geographic Explorers in the Classroom

Dr. Shankar is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Arctic Biology in the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is a Featured Explorer in the new reading program Panorama: Reading Through the Lens of Science. She has studied animals around the world in locations such as Arizona and the Ecuadorian Andes. In this webinar replay, you will learn about the lives of Explorers as you join Dr. Shankar in exploring how animals from hummingbirds to arctic ground squirrels manage their energetic needs in some of the planet’s most difficult conditions.  

Anusha-Shankar

Dr. Anusha Shankar

National Geographic Explorer

Dr. Shankar is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Arctic Biology in the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is a Featured Explorer in the new reading program Panorama: Reading Through the Lens of Science. She has studied animals around the world in locations such as Arizona and the Ecuadorian Andes. In this webinar replay, you will learn about the lives of Explorers as you join Dr. Shankar in exploring how animals from hummingbirds to arctic ground squirrels manage their energetic needs in some of the planet’s most difficult conditions.  

In this webinar replay, you will learn: