Category: Classroom Resources

Once you have created your classroom, added your students and assigned them contents like projects and sandboxes, there is a great way to view and monitor what your students are working on! Here’s an example of a classroom with students and projects:

In this example, students have already started working on their projects. If we want to take a look at the project in details, click on the project title:

Once we click on the project, the classroom feature will be shown. This will provide information about the project, student’s progress, model answers and student answers as well. Let’s take a look at each parts:

Project Title and Time Machine- This is the title of the project you are viewing. If you click on this, it will collapse and show all the project’s steps. The back and forward arrows will allow you to move to any step you wish to view on the project.

Open in new tab – This allows you to open the full project in a new tab.

4. Student panel – There are 3 panels on different statuses. Working on, Not started and Completed based on the students’ project status. This will help you track students’ progress as they work on each project. This section is very powerful as it gives you the capability to see what the student’s codes are as they work on the project using the “Student Answer” button.

• 4a. Working on panel – this will have the list of students that have started the project. Information like current step number, number of errors and time spent on a step can be accessible when you click on the arrow icon and quick access to the student profile by clicking on the student’s name.

4b. Not started panel – This will list down students that haven’t started the project yet, giving you an idea who may need help getting to the correct project.

4c. Completed panel – All students who have completed the project will be listed here. Students who have finished early can be given other tasks or help other classmates who may be having difficulties.

Model answer/Student answer – This button lets you toggle to view the model answer for the step or the view live what the student’s answer is. The Student answers will only be available for students who are already working on a project.

Example:

Student’s view:

Teacher’s view:

Project view – This is the overview of the project. What will show on the screen will depend on if you are viewing the model answer or the student answers.

We can also use the Student progress button.

Once you click Student progress button, a page containing an overview and progress of the group or course you selected will show up. The information you can see here are the following:

1. Group or Course name
2. Project or Lesson – This will show the either the lesson number or the project image tile and the lesson name and project name when hovered over with the mouse pointer.
3. Progress – The percentage indicates the percentage of completion for the whole lesson group or course while the blue chunk indicates the completion for a lesson or a project.

These are the classroom features that can help you be more effective in teaching BSD Online and your own materials to your students. As we continue to improve the platform to suit your teaching needs, always feel free to reach out if you have any suggestions or feedback. You can get in touch with us through support@bsd.education or through chat support!

Have you ever wondered what BSD Online looks like on your students’ screen? In this challenging time where distant and hybrid learning is no longer an alternative but rather preferred by teachers, parents and students, we believe that familiarizing with student interface is worthwhile. In this article, we are going to see how BSD Online is from a students’ perspective so you can walk them through the platform without physically looking at their screens!

Let’s take a tour!

Your classrooms

This is the students’ landing page when they log on to their accounts. The student may be a part of different classrooms from different teachers. This is the area where they can see all classrooms they are part of together with classroom details like the classroom name, teacher/s, progress and when the last activity was. Also, we made students’ classroom interface more student friendly by adding a cool background.

Your work

On this page, we have Your projects – this will house all started(in progress) and completed projects. Project details like progress status and when was it last edited are available when hovered over the project card. We also have the Your sandboxes – this section stores all your sandboxes. Similar to projects, sandbox details are available when hovered over.

Inside a classroom

Once the student clicked or entered a classroom, this is a sample page that they will see. This will differ based on the contents added by the teacher.

Lessons like these are collapsible when clicked, showing all the lesson’s content, just like how it is shown in the teacher’s classroom. However, there will be a difference whenever the teacher decides to create a teacher-only pdf. Example:

A lesson with no pdf visible to the students:

A lesson with pdf visible to the students:

For more information about creating a teacher-only pdf, please visit How to Add PDF in a classroom.

Inside a project and a sandbox

Projects and sandboxes have slight differences when being worked inside and outside of a classroom. When a student is working inside the classroom, notice that the classroom name is indicated at the top left side of the page. Students do not have the capability to view model answers. Additionally, the “Ask for help” button is available for the students to send in help requests to the teacher/s.

Project inside the classroom:

Project outside classroom:

Sandbox inside the classroom:

Sandbox outside classroom:

Your portfolio

This section contains all of the students’ sandboxes. However, unlike in Your work section, Your portfolio allows students to generate a shareable link of their virtual portfolio that they can share to anyone, anywhere.

We hope that this article helps you get a better understanding of what the students’ interface looks like and will make virtual teaching easier for you and your students. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out through our support channels- support@bsd.education and chat support.

Sandbox Extensions can be used to provide instructions once students leave a Guided Project and enter Sandbox. Teachers can add text, images, and code snippets. This BSD feature is to assist teachers in providing instructions on what students can do or add further to their projects.

Through the instructions given by the teacher, students can customize a project after its completion which also gives students the opportunity to make their work even better.

Now let’s move on to the steps on how to add sandbox extension to your project.

Step 1. 

For instance, I want to add instructions to the “Blog” project. First, unlock the contents of the classroom by clicking the lock button on the top right of your screen.

Step 2. 

Then you will be able to see the 3 dots that will give you options in which you can “Add sandbox extension” or “Remove project”. You will need to click on “Add sandbox extension”.

Step 3

After you click on “Add sandbox extension”, a new window will pop up where the teacher can define and create instructions. Do not forget to click on the “Save” button.

Here’s a gif to guide you on how to add instructions.

Finally, you can now see that you have added your sandbox extension to the project.

How does it look to my students’ screen? After the students finish the last step or the summary step of a project, they can click on the “next” button and see the instructions the teacher created.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at intercom chat or send an email to support@bsd.education.

Here at BSD Online, every student has the capability to express their thoughts on the project/sandbox they do. And they can also even ask for help if they have any difficulties in understanding the instructions, have a question with coding concepts, or report bugs that they may encounter in their project/sandbox.

We have what we called the “Ask for help” button and the “Feedback” button. So what’s the difference between these two?

The Ask for help button can only be seen by your student if the project/sandbox is within your classroom. Click on the link for more information on the use of the Ask for help button.

On the other hand, the Feedback button is for projects and sandboxes that are outside your classrooms.

In order to submit feedback, students click on the feedback button, an online feedback box will appear, you will see three options. These are Suggestions (where you can write how we can make BSD Online better), Problem (describe the problem or issues you’re having with the project/sandbox), and Feedback (where you can rate BSD Online by selecting one of the emoticons which are the following: disappointed, satisfied, happy, and love it).

Through this feedback button, students can be expressive in providing constructive and insightful feedback, confidence in reporting a problem, and their experience with BSD online. Let us know how we can improve instructions clarity or difficulty in a step project. Your feedback is important to us!

Please note that the “Ask for help” button and the “Feedback” button have different icons.

If you have more questions and other concerns, feel free to reach out to us through chat or send an email to support@bsd.education.

Being able to guide your student even if physical teaching is not possible. To know and assist your student’s inquiry if they get stuck on a project step or sandbox templates right inside your BSD Online classroom. Now possible with the use of the “Ask for help” feature!

How does it work? The student clicks the “hands raised” icon on the step they need help.

Student view:

For example, on the “Online Poster” project step 3.

After clicking the icon, a message will pop up.

If the objective is not clear enough, then click the “Ask for help” button.

After clicking the “Ask for help” button, this confirmation message shows up at the upper right corner of the student’s page.

Note: “Ask for help” button is available only if the students are doing the project or sandbox templates inside the classroom.

The teacher/s will receive a notification on their account.

Teacher’s view:

Click the bell icon to see the help request from the student. It includes which project step the student needs assistance with. To see the student’s answer, click the project title.

Go to the tab pertaining to the objective and see the student’s current answer.

You will also see if the student makes an edit on the answer.

To toggle from “Student answers” to “Model answers”, click the drop-down arrow to select the option.

The teacher can respond to the student’s inquiry in any communication platform they normally use.

Keep posted here on BSD Community for more updates on new features. If you have any questions please reach out to our Support team via chat or email at support@bsd.education.

Imagine if you walked the school corridors, and you’re greeted not just with smiles and ‘hellos’, but also by enthusiastic queries about coding? Sounds thrilling, doesn’t it? Well, this is the impact that BSD Education has had on Ryan Kramer’s students at KIPP Philadelphia Public Schools. We sat down with him for an interview last month to learn how he has been building something different in his classroom and how his students have shifted from passive to active learning, from the mundane to the creative, and from followers to creators.

How have your students benefitted from using BSD? What outcomes has BSD produced for your students?

Ryan Kramer: My students’ curiosity has definitely grown from using BSD. I’m stopped in the halls every day with coding questions, as students are eager to get to the next step of their project. This also speaks to their resilience, as students push through their errors, typos, and bugs to further their own, and their classmates’, skills.

How have your digital skills, technology, and/or coding teaching experience improved by partnering with BSD?

RK: I’ve dabbled in line coding before, but with BSD it truly became accessible. Their code suggestions, error reports, and glossary work together to make learning a new coding language inviting. And their guided projects are perfectly paced for young learners.

Why did you choose BSD over other solutions and why would you recommend BSD to your peers?

RK: BSD’s platform is intuitive to use from both a teacher’s and a student’s perspective. What makes BSD stand out is their customer service. From professional development to coaching, to live technical support, educators are supported throughout the entire experience.

Why are digital skills/technology education/coding so important for your students to learn?

RK: Technology education goes far beyond learning hard tech skills, which are undeniably important, especially for students who interact with technology every day for schoolwork, entertainment, and socialization. Digital skills also grow students’ soft skills. BSD’s CARE values sum it up perfectly: Curiosity, Adaptability, Resilience, and Empathy. Each of these traits is present as students take on and push themselves through new challenges.

Final thoughts…

RK: Hearing that students have gone on to continue their coding education after they’ve left my school, having been introduced to it through BSD, exemplifies the ongoing impact tech education can have. Not to mention, it makes me pretty proud.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing various sectors, and education is no exception. By leveraging AI, educators and institutions can enhance learning experiences, personalize education, and improve administrative processes. The possibilities seem endless, but where do we begin? In this blog post, we will explore practical ways to harness AI in education and unlock its true potential.

Embrace Adaptive Learning

One of the most exciting applications of AI in education is adaptive learning. Adaptive learning platforms utilize AI algorithms to tailor educational content and activities to individual students’ needs. By analyzing data on students’ strengths, weaknesses, and learning patterns, AI can deliver personalized learning experiences, ensuring that students receive the r犀利士 ight content at the right time.

Educators can integrate adaptive learning platforms into their classrooms to provide targeted instruction, identify knowledge gaps, and offer immediate feedback. These platforms empower students to learn at their own pace and engage with content that is most relevant to their learning objectives.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems

AI-powered intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) have the potential to revolutionize the way students receive personalized support. These systems can simulate human tutors by analyzing student responses, identifying misconceptions, and providing tailored feedback. ITS can adapt their instruction based on the learner’s performance, ensuring a customized learning experience.

Integrating intelligent tutoring systems into the education ecosystem can be transformative. They enable students to receive individualized guidance, reinforce concepts, and address specific learning challenges. By supplementing traditional instruction with AI-powered tutoring, educators can provide a more comprehensive and effective learning environment.

Streamlining Administrative Tasks

Educators often spend a significant amount of time on administrative tasks, such as grading assignments, scheduling, and record-keeping. AI can help automate these processes, freeing up valuable time for educators to focus on instruction and student engagement.

AI-powered grading systems can analyze student work and provide instant feedback, saving hours of manual grading. Automated scheduling algorithms can optimize timetables and course assignments, minimizing conflicts and maximizing efficiency. Additionally, AI can assist in managing student records, generating reports, and streamlining administrative workflows.

By leveraging AI in administrative tasks, educators can allocate their time more effectively, leading to improved productivity and a better learning experience for students.

Intelligent Content Creation

AI can also play a crucial role in content creation. Educational materials, such as textbooks and online resources, can be enhanced with AI technologies to provide more interactive and engaging experiences for learners.

For instance, AI-powered virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) tools can create immersive learning environments, allowing students to explore complex concepts in a hands-on manner. Natural language processing algorithms can generate interactive quizzes and exercises to reinforce learning.

Educators and instructional designers can leverage AI tools to create and curate content that aligns with students’ needs and preferences. By incorporating AI into content creation, educators can foster creativity, critical thinking, and engagement in the learning process.

Ethical Considerations

As we explore AI in education, it is vital to address ethical considerations. Transparency, fairness, and data privacy should be at the forefront of AI implementations in educational settings. Educators and institutions must ensure that AI systems are unbiased, protect student privacy, and maintain data security.

Furthermore, AI should not replace human interaction and personalized support. It is crucial to strike a balance between AI-powered solutions and the essential role of teachers in guiding and mentoring students.

AI has immense potential to transform education by personalizing learning experiences, automating administrative tasks, and enhancing content creation. By embracing adaptive learning, intelligent tutoring systems, and AI-powered administrative tools, educators can unlock the full potential of AI in education. However, ethical considerations must be taken into account to ensure fairness, transparency, and student

These days, it is essential for schools to assess their digital skills profile to ensure they are equipped to provide a future-ready learning environment. As technology continues to shape various aspects of our lives, it becomes imperative for educators and institutions to embrace digital literacy and integrate it into their teaching practices. In this blog post, we will explore the steps to assess your school’s digital skills profile and identify areas for improvement.

Identify Key Digital Competencies

The first step in assessing your school’s digital skills profile is to identify the key digital competencies required for both educators and students. Digital competencies encompass a range of skills, including basic computer literacy, information literacy, digital communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving in a digital context.

Create a framework or checklist that outlines the essential digital skills relevant to your educational context. This framework should serve as a guide to evaluate the proficiency level of educators and students across these competencies.

Conduct a Self-Assessment Survey

To gauge the digital skills of educators and students, consider conducting a self-assessment survey or questionnaire. The survey should cover the identified digital competencies and allow participants to rate their proficiency levels. The responses can be collected anonymously to encourage honest self-assessment.

Ensure the survey includes a mix of multiple-choice questions, Likert scale ratings, and open-ended questions to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. This will provide a comprehensive understanding of the school’s digital skills landscape.

Evaluate Existing Curriculum and Instructional Practices

Assessing your school’s digital skills profile requires a thorough evaluation of the existing curriculum and instructional practices. Review the curriculum documents and teaching materials to determine the extent to which digital skills are integrated into various subject areas.

Look for opportunities to embed digital literacy across the curriculum, rather than confining it to specific technology-focused courses. Evaluate the instructional methods and tools used by educators to deliver content and assess student learning. This evaluation will help identify areas where technology integration can be strengthened or expanded.

Observe Classroom Practices

Direct classroom observations can provide valuable insights into the digital skills of both educators and students. Observe lessons across different grade levels and subjects to assess how technology is utilized for teaching and learning purposes. Pay attention to the level of digital fluency demonstrated by educators and the engagement and proficiency of students when using digital tools.

During classroom observations, consider using a rubric or checklist that aligns with the identified digital competencies. This will help standardize the assessment process and ensure consistent evaluation across classrooms.

Analyze Assessment Results and Identify Areas for Improvement

Once you have collected data from self-assessments, curriculum evaluations, and classroom observations, analyze the results to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Look for patterns and trends in the data to gain a holistic understanding of the school’s digital skills profile.

Identify areas where digital skills are already strong and can be leveraged as models of best practice. Simultaneously, pinpoint areas that require further professional development or curriculum enhancement. Use the assessment results as a guide to develop targeted strategies and action plans to bridge the gaps and improve digital skills across the school.

Assessing your school’s digital skills profile is a critical step in building a future-ready learning environment. By identifying key digital competencies, conducting self-assessment surveys, evaluating curriculum and instructional practices, and observing classroom activities, you can gain valuable insights into the digital skills landscape of your school. With this knowledge, you can develop targeted interventions to enhance digital literacy and ensure that both educators and students are equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

In this post, we’ll dive into the importance of resilience in education today and explore practical ways to build resilient students. We’ll discuss strategies for promoting a growth mindset, fostering a positive classroom culture, and empowering students to develop self-regulation and coping skills.

Whether you’re a teacher, parent, or student, this post will provide valuable insights into how resilience can be cultivated in the classroom and beyond. Join us as we explore the power of resilience in education and its transformative impact on students’ lives.

Encourage Growth Mindset

Encouraging a growth mindset is an effective way to build resilience in students. By teaching them that failure is an opportunity to learn and grow, students will be better equipped to face challenges and setbacks. Teachers can foster a growth mindset by emphasizing the process of learning, praising effort, and providing constructive feedback.

Provide Support

Providing support is essential in building resilience in students. Teachers can provide emotional and academic support by creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment, offering counseling services, and providing extra help when needed. This can help students feel more connected and supported, which can increase their resilience.

Teach Coping Strategies

Teaching coping strategies is another way to build resilience in students. By teaching them how to manage stress, regulate emotions, and cope with setbacks, students will be better equipped to face challenges. Teachers can teach coping strategies by modeling healthy behaviors, providing resources for stress management, and creating opportunities for mindfulness and self-reflection.

Encourage Perseverance

Encouraging perseverance is crucial in building resilience in students. By teaching them to persevere through difficult tasks and setbacks, students will be better equipped to achieve their goals. Teachers can encourage perseverance by setting challenging but achievable goals, providing support and feedback, and recognizing and celebrating progress.

Emphasize Positive Self-Talk

Emphasizing positive self-talk is an effective way to build resilience in students. By teaching them to replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations, students will be better equipped to face challenges and setbacks. Teachers can emphasize positive self-talk by modeling positive language, encouraging students to reframe negative thoughts, and providing opportunities for positive self-reflection.

It’s of no debate that building resilience in students is essential in today’s education. Encouraging a growth mindset, providing support, teaching coping strategies, encouraging perseverance, and emphasizing positive self-talk are effective ways to build resilience in students. By building resilience in students, teachers can help prepare them for the challenges of today’s world and set them up for success in the future.

As the world continues to rapidly change, curiosity has become an increasingly important skill for success. It fuels innovation, creativity, and problem-solving, making it an essential skill for students to cultivate. As such, educators must prioritize fostering curiosity in their students, particularly in a technology-driven world where there are endless opportunities for exploration and discovery.

In this post, we’ll explore some effective ways to promote curiosity in education technology. We’ll discuss practical strategies that teachers and students can use to spark curiosity and encourage a love of learning. From leveraging gamification to exploring real-world problems and more, we’ll cover a range of approaches that can help educators inspire their students to be curious, innovative, and engaged learners.

Allow Exploration

One of the most effective ways to foster curiosity in education technology is to allow students to explore. Students should be allowed to explore and experiment with different educational technologies, rather than merely being shown how to use them.

This will encourage them to ask questions, try different approaches, and learn from their mistakes. Teachers can guide their students by providing a list of resources and allowing them to choose what they want to learn and how they want to learn it.

Incorporate Gamification

Gamification is the use of game elements in non-game contexts. It is a powerful tool that can be used to promote curiosity in education technology. By incorporating gamification, educators can turn learning into a fun and engaging experience.

This can be achieved by using rewards, points, badges, and leaderboards to motivate students to learn and explore more.

Encourage Collaboration

Collaboration is another way to foster curiosity in education technology. Students can be grouped into teams and given tasks that require them to work together to solve a problem or complete a project.

This will encourage them to ask questions, share ideas, and learn from each other. Collaboration can be done through online platforms like Google Drive, Zoom, or Slack.

Introduce Real-World Problems

Introducing real-world problems is a great way to foster curiosity in education technology. Students can be given problems that are relevant to their lives or the world around them. This will encourage them to think critically, explore different solutions, and ask questions.

Teachers can also introduce new technologies to solve these problems and challenge their students to find innovative solutions.

Provide Feedback

Feedback is essential in fostering curiosity in education technology. Students need to know that their efforts are being recognized and appreciated. Feedback should be specific, timely, and constructive. It should be used to help students improve and encourage them to continue exploring and learning.

Fostering curiosity in education technology is crucial for preparing students for the future. Educators should allow exploration, incorporate gamification, encourage collaboration, introduce real-world problems, and provide feedback to promote curiosity. By doing this, students will be better equipped to navigate a rapidly changing technological landscape and find innovative solutions to complex problems.