ed tech tools to try Search Results

Episode 119: “We’re a Family” and Other School Norms that Can Cause Burnout

…own products, The Teacher’s Guide to Tech. This is an interactive PDF that I put out every year to help you make quick, thoughtful, well-informed decisions about using technology in the classroom. Inside, over 250 tech tools are organized into categories: assessment tools, flipped learning tools, note taking, virtual reality, even podcasting tools like the ones I use to make this podcast, so you can quickly locate the tools you need for specific purposes. Each tool page has a screenshot of the tool in action, a discussion of how it works, and a link to a video that shows you…

Episode 70: How HyperDocs Can Transform the Way You Teach

…Doc to the resources they would need. By setting everything up ahead of time, this allowed students to work independently and freed the teacher up to engage one-on-one with students. Little did I know that right around that same time, another group of teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area was giving this same concept a different name. Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis called these digital lesson plans HyperDocs, and they believed so much in them that they wrote a book, The HyperDoc Handbook, where they explore all the possibilities offered by this format, show readers how to…

9 Simple Solutions for Common Teaching Problems

…we’re going to look at one idea from each book: Nine simple ideas that can have a big impact on student learning at your school. Although each hack has a blueprint for full implementation in the book it comes from, we’ll look at how you can get started right away. By the time you’re done reading, you should have found one you can try at your school. Let’s go. 1. Student Tech Gurus From Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School The Problem: Not enough tech support in your school. You have the tech, but when teachers or students need…

Episode 65: Five Ways College Teachers Can Improve Their Instruction

…you by the Teacher’s Guide to Tech. I created this guide a few years ago after learning that one of teachers’ biggest struggles was keeping up with technology. What you told me is that you want to try new tech tools, you know it could probably make learning more powerful and your teaching more effective, but you don’t have the time to figure out which tools to use. The Teacher’s Guide to Tech is like an encyclopedia of over 150 tech tools, organized by function, so there’s a section on video creation tools, a section on assessment tools, and so…

Are You a Curator or a Dumper?

…we did. Sample Scenarios Here are a few education-related scenarios where good curation could make a difference: Student-Directed Learning: As more classrooms move toward differentiated, flipped, blended, and student-directed learning models, we will need to do more gathering and sharing collections of resources for students to choose from, rather than picking one resource to deliver to everyone at one time. If our delivery is sloppy or our collections are thrown together kitchen-sink style, these models will be less successful. One of the most popular HyperDoc models includes an “explore” section, where a set of resources is provided and students choose…

Goal-Setting for Teachers: 8 Paths to Self-Improvement

…Educator. This is a certification that basically marks you as having a solid foundation in Google’s online tools. Becoming a Google Educator is the first step toward becoming a Google Certified Teacher, Coach, or Innovator, all of which are more advanced levels. Learn more at Google for Education Exams and Certifications. And if you’d like help in the process, check out Kasey Bell’s Google Certified Educator Academies, which give you all the tools you need to be successful in achieving your certification. Complete my JumpStart Course. JumpStart is a self-paced, 10-module course designed to move moderately comfortable tech users to…

How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching

…on your book. Your excitement showed through. Bill As I read the article, it sounded just like a stripped down version of BlackBoard or Moodle. Both platforms have issues (what platform doesn’t?) but you can do everything in this article and much, much more using an LMS. George Miller That was great information. George Miller These are great tools for the classroom and the workplace. These are free platforms which also enriches the learning process. These docs can also be shared with the greatest of ease. Kimberly Feldman Hello! I loved this episode and started using Hyperdocs for PD and…

Episode 226 Transcript

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast, Episode 226 Jennifer Gonzalez, Host GONZALEZ: Here’s what I used to think a librarian did: (1) organize and fiercely protect large collections of books, (2) check those books out to visitors, and (3) shush people. As libraries started to house more technology, I added a fourth role: manage and protect the tech. That was about it. But over the last ten years, whenever I set out to find information about teaching strategies, educational resources, technology for schools, or pretty much anything related to improving learning for our students, someone would inevitably pipe up and say,…

Teaching Digital Natives, Chapters 1-5

…presentation tools, etc.) and how they work together (e.g., that videos can be edited, uploaded and embedded) to be able to guide and supervise students using technology? I get that we don’t need to know how to use every tool, but shouldn’t we have a sort of “meta” awareness of the spectrum of tools? Chapter 3: Think People and Passions Rather Than Classes and Content Here we are urged to make every effort to get to know our students’ passions and allow students, whenever possible, to follow them. If we are clear about the verbs we want students to…