ed tech tools to try Search Results

6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2015

…do now. I actually just made my first QR code the other day (it’s the one right above this section). It took about five seconds to make it on my laptop; I used this QR Code Generator. Then I installed the QR Code Reader onto my phone. I held my phone up to my laptop screen, scanned the QR code, and instantly, my phone was sent right to the site I had assigned to the QR code. I was so surprised I jumped up out of my chair. Technology does that to me sometimes. This article from Getting Smart describes some really practical educational uses for QR…

How to Plan Outstanding Tech Training for Your Teachers

…it’s also important to determine each teacher’s perception of access. Which of these tools or topics would you like to know more about? This list can contain anything you want, and for me it changes depending on the school I’m going to and what priorities the district has identified. I will set up this checklist so that respondents can check as many items as they like. On past surveys I have listed tools like Google Drive (including Docs, Slides, and Forms), flipped learning tools (like EdPuzzle), tools students can use to demonstrate learning (presentation tools, interactive posters, podcasting tools), discussion tools…

Episode 17: Passion Tools

…not supposed to use, you know, professionally done music, they’re not supposed to like download their favorite song off of iTunes or whatever and use that. They can actually get in trouble for violating copyright for doing that. So you need to have music that was intended for things like podcasts and commercials and that sort of thing. That’s called royalty-free music. So one place that you can get that is a place called Jewelbeat. Screencasting Tools Okay, last set of tools. These are screencasting tools. Screencasting if you don’t know is, if you’ve ever gone on YouTube and watched…

Episode 99: Six Strategies to Quality-Check Your Tech

…administrator and the head of an ed tech company, Gupta has been both a consumer and a producer of ed tech; this has raised her awareness of the interplay between equity and technology. Now she wants to hold herself and her peers to a higher standard when it comes to designing tools that meet the needs of more students. Our conversation starts with an exploration of the problems that can arise when a tool isn’t carefully scrutinized. Then Gupta shares seven strategies educators can use to deeply assess a tool for its impact. I think you’ll come away with some…

9 Ways Online Teaching Should be Different from Face-to-Face

…Best Practices for Teaching Virtually eloquently explained how “Virtual” & “Face-to-Face” instruction need to be different is some ways and how they must be the same other times to optimize student motivation, participation, & learning. To reach every student’s need to feel connected and appreciated a sense of community needs to be a priority, instructional design with teachers collaborating is essential, face-to-face time should be used for active learning, lessons need to be simplified & slowed down, instructions must be easy to find, explicit, multi model, traditional grading practices need to take a back seat to student’s feedback, and assessment…

When Your School Is Short on Tech

…problems. Two resources that can help are listed below. They include advice on getting buy-in from parents, creating an acceptable use policy, and making sure your school network can handle increased use by more devices. 9 Best Practices for Getting Started with BYOD published by Edmentum BYOD Guidebook published by ClassLink 3. Use Minimum-Tech Tools that only require the teacher to have a device: Plickers allows teachers to scan responses that students hold up on paper sheets; only one device required. GradeCam lets teachers create paper answer sheets that can be scanned with a single device. 4. Create a Tech Hub…

Quality-Check Your Tech: 6 Strategies

…a producer; this has raised her awareness of the interplay between equity and technology. Now she wants to hold herself and her peers to a higher standard when it comes to designing tools that meet the needs of more students. Rupa Chandra Gupta, CEO at Sown to Grow Although Gupta is a believer in technology’s potential to boost learning, she has learned that it can also accelerate our mistakes. “Technology amplifies whatever is happening,” she says. “If we’re widening a gap, it can be amplified by technology, and it happens faster, and it happens sometimes under the radar, because teachers…

Using Playlists to Differentiate Instruction

…answers are Jenn’s posts, How Accurate Are Your Grades? (see suggestion #6), Self-Paced Learning: How One Teacher Does It (see section on providing students with answer keys), and Could You Teach Without Grades? I hope these help! Aracely Has anyone used this at a Kagan, standards based school with special education/inclusive classes? Thanks! Cassandra Lytch-Colter Looking for ways to implement in a 3rd grade ELA class. Any ideas or directions. I did make a hyperdoc but I do not feel it is self-paced or differentiated enough. Tracy HI Cassandra, I started out with playlist for a writing workshop because I…

Distance Learning: A Gently Curated Collection of Resources for Teachers

Listen to this post as a podcast: Sponsored by World101 and Listenwise Disclaimer 1: This post was written in the Spring of 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, so a lot of the information here is discussed through the lens of distance learning launched by a global pandemic. I have attempted to broaden the lens beyond our current situation to take other distance-learning situations into account. Disclaimer 2: I recommend quite a few tech tools in this post. Before you proceed with them, please check with your district to make sure the tools comply with your specific use…