My Favorite Ed Tech Tools

This post corresponds to day #13 of the +TeachThought 30-day blogging challenge, focused on reflective teaching through blogging.  Interested in joining the challenge?  It's not too late! 

It's difficult to narrow down or rank my favorite ed tech tools because there are so many good ones out there, however I can say with confidence that my favorites all fall under one category: non-content specific.

All of my go-to ed tech tools are effective to use no matter the subject area, and a few are also device agnostic, meaning they are not limited to usage on a single device, however, since my district is going 1:1 iPads, many of my top picks are iPad apps.

When I think about what's important to me when choosing ed tech tools I'd like to use, my top criterion is that the app allows for the creation of a product to demonstrate understanding.

A year or two ago, a colleague and I came across the Padagogy Wheel by Dr. Alan Carrington, which combines the SAMR model and Bloom's taxonomy with various ed tech / iPad tools that can be used at each level.   Just last week, I saw a new / updated version of the Padagogy Wheel, titled the iPadagogy Wheel by +Relton McBurrows on Google +.  What's cool about it is that is has the added layer of the ISTE technology standards, paired with SAMR and Blooms, and it also includes updated apps.  All of the apps listed on both wheels are non-content specific and make it possible for students to create something to demonstrate their learning.

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So, clearly there are lots of great ed tech tools out there to choose from.  And, in the age of app smashing, there's no need to choose only one!

I do have a few favorites; a list that is fluid and never set in stone...
(in no particular order)

• Google Apps for Education.  
• Reasoning: They facilitate creation, collaboration and creativity across content areas and devices thru Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, and a variety of other add-ons.  And, they're free!
• Screencasting Apps, such as ShowMe.
• Reasoning: They give students the chance to be the experts, and to demonstrate their understanding of a concept by teaching it to an authentic audience.  Plus, they facilitate student self-reflection and self-assessment.
• Scratch Programming.
• Reasoning: Scratch (and other student-focused coding sites and apps) embraces student creativity and sharing through its easy-to-use coding platform, complete with a supportive and collaborative community of programmers of all ages.  
• iMovie.
• Reasoning: It's a great medium for pulling everything together and sharing out a final, polished project.
• Other favorites: PicCollage, HaikuDeck, StoreHouse, AdobeVoice, ShadowPuppetsEDU

What are some of your favorite ed tech tools?  What helps you to narrow down your favorites?

Blogging in the new year

Hey 2014, let's get blogging... A new year, a fresh perspective, a renewed vision.

The past couple of years, as an ELL teacher, I had a pretty clear sense of my blogging focus: ed tech tools and resources that enhanced English language teaching and learning.  It was a specific topic, and I found my blogging rhythm (fairly) quickly.  This year, in my new position as a technology integration specialist, it's been harder for me to focus in on one specific theme for my blog....and as a result, I haven't quite established my blogging routine...yet.

Over winter break, I had a chance to do some reflecting on my blog and the direction I'd like to take it in the new year.   I realized that there are basically three kinds of ed tech blog posts that I love to read, talk about, and write:

• content curation, reflection, and response
• successes and/or failures with an app, tool, or resource
• content generation, brainstorming, creative expression

So, I've decided to use those three categories as guides to help me focus my blogging in 2014.

And what better time to start...than the present.

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Canva-Image-.jpg

One of my favorite techie tools out there is a free graphic design website called Canva.  Although this site was not designed specifically for educators, I have loved using it to help me design and publish graphics for presentations, posters, websites, my blog, logos, and even my family holiday card.  I love graphic design, and have been on the look-out for an easy-to-use, free graphics resource.  It is currently in Beta and in order to use it, you sign up for an invite - I got mine in a day or two.











Pros:
Canva currently provides templates for 11 different design platforms / sizes:

• Business card
• Invitation
• Poster
• Photo collage
• Card 
• Social media
• Facebook cover image
• Blog graphic
• Presentation
• Document
• Christmas card

Once you choose a design type, you have over 1,000,000 images to choose from to build your design.  Most are free - those that aren't free cost $1.00.

You can customize your design by changing the color, text, size, layout, combination, and alignment of the different images.

You can share your design directly to Twitter and Facebook, you can email a link to it, or you can download it to your computer to print or share.

You can give your friends instant access to Canva once you sign up - sharing really is caring when you find an awesome resource.

Cons:

At this point, the only con I've discovered while using Canva is that it doesn't yet have an EDU version to make sure the graphics are filtered for student use.  Even so, I love it as a tool for my own teaching and graphic design, and highly recommend that you give Canva a try!

What are your blogging resolutions for 2014?  

How do you structure and focus your blog?  

Have you tried out Canva or another, similar tool?  

I'd love to hear from you - please share your comments below!