Educational Technology Trends

World reader provides a comprehensive literature program for schools in 3rd world countries across the world. Their free app has thousands of free books in hundreds of different languages. Additionally, they provide an extremely discounted price on E-readers and E-books for these schools. Many of the languages that their books are in are tribal languages that have very limited accessible children's literature. Their free app alone is a wonderful tool for any educator that is trying to help ELLs and other students read outside of the classroom.

Osmo transforms iPads into a hand-on educational tool that can be used in all subject areas. This technology completely changes how iPads are typically used in the classroom. With Osmo, technology can be used to make hands-on educational lessons and activities. It seems to be highly affective in improving student engagement. An author from DailyGenuis explains how Osmo works and the value it can have in education.

Google is certainly changing education. All of the Google tools I have used so far have been extremely helpful in my preparation and teaching. This article gives some great tips on how Google docs can be used in education. There is an endless amount off add-ons to transform Google docs to be used for teaching across a broad range of topics.

I have found it be difficult to choose quality educational apps when trying to incorporate them into the classroom. There are some wonderful apps that can enhance the learning in the classroom but teachers should certainly evaluate what makes a quality educational app. I have not proven all of these apps to be educationally valuable but I know that many can be great tools for classrooms with iPads, tablets, or Chromebooks.

This article gives insight on the struggles that teachers have with keeping ELLs up to speed on both instructional content and technological skills. Included in this article are summaries of studies done on technology use with ELLs, an overview of the struggles that teachers face when using technology with ELLs and strategies for teachers to use when teaching technology skills to ELLs. At the bottom of this article are links to additional resources about helping ELLs learn while using technology.

This article gives 9 apps that can be used to assist ELLs in the classroom. Many of these apps can be used during independent work time for students to improve their English vocabulary and speaking skills. Other apps can be used to help students study for tests and complete their assignments.

This article compares and contrasts the differences between a surface level technology integration program and a program of meshing technology and instruction together as one efficient learning machine. The second half of the article gives several different apps, websites and tools that can be used to strengthen the learning in an English language learning classroom.

Google has so many resources and tools for educators of all different age groups, subject areas and cultures. This portion of the Google Education website gives articles of how teachers across the world are improving education through the technology and resources that Google offers.

Although I believe that hard copies of books will always have their place, e-readers and tablets are transforming how students learn to read. This article shows how e-readers can help improve students reading levels through interaction, support, creativity and engagement. Many reading apps have audio options to read books aloud to students. Along side a lot of e-books are comprehension questions that can be scaffolded up or down to fit a student's current abilities. There are numerous different apps that can give students opportunities to be more engaged in their reading.

The Gutenberg Project is making thousands of books available for free public use. The books can be added to Google Drive, printed or downloaded to tablets and computers. There are books that range across various cultures, topics, time periods and reading levels. This is a great resource for private schools that do not have the funding to purchase adequate reading materials.