Educational Technology Listicle

Classdojo is a versatile tool that allows teachers to give students instant feedback about their actions and work ethic. In a conversation with my sister and her principal during the Hernando county teacher of the year awards I had asked them out of curiosity what tool other teachers in their school use the most, both were adamant about Classdojo and how it encourages students to be more well behaved. Even in my sisters classroom of developmentally disabled students the goal of getting points on classdojo encourages these young students to try their hardest

It says a lot that even in a college classroom full of future teaching professionals the entire room seemed energized at the prospect of completing a kahoot quiz. Human beings are naturally competitive and when college students are raving about how good Kahoot is it's no surprise it's ending up this high on the list. Considering that all people are naturally at least a little bit competitive, wanting to answer questions correctly and get a higher score appeals to just about everyone.

Creating tests and assessments for every stage of learning is a tremendous undertaking. While understandably necessary for gauging how well your class is understanding the information any bit of help is appreciated in the process. While Edulastic has it's faults they are overshadowed by just how easy it is to set up your class, create assignments, and measure how well each student is answering each question, with the ability to share and use other teachers test questions to create better quizzes. And a built in gradebook functionality? It's just super.

Creating animations, short games, and sharing those with your students? What more could you ask for? How about several thousand more educational animations and minigames designed to teach students about topics from fractions to geography.

Flipgrid is a tool for teachers, students, and parents to connect and socialize. you can discuss assignments and get alerts from teachers and tell parents about upcoming events in your classroom. This connectivity allows for unparalleled communication between students and their peers as well as teachers.

Merge cube is an augmented reality product that allows teachers to upload and create "holographic" information tied to cubes. when students scan the cubes with their phones information is shown to them via augmented reality technology.

Another AR tool, HP reveal allows instructors to create scannable objects and images for students to view on their phones, providing information or even other images/ movies when they scan. Out of all the Augmented Reality tools I looked at HP reveal was the easiest to use and to get right, and while it's not as technically impressive as merge cube it was simple to create auras.

As a history buff and future history teacher nothing excited me more when it came to augmented reality than Timeref. Being able to wander around an authentic 10th century English town and castle was thrilling and any historically curious students probably wouldn't be able to put this one down. Despite a few technical hiccups this is an incredibly impressive piece of technology.

Cpalms isn't the most exciting website, but that's because it doesn't need to be. It's a resource for teachers to find lesson plans based on state standards. While other programs allow you to build lessons for your students directly, Cpalms is there to guide your lessons and make sure your lesson plans meet state standards for education. While it may not be as loved as Kahoot it is still a necessary piece of educational technology.

While whatsapp doesn't seem like it would make a good educational tool, looks would be deceiving. It is a social media and VOIP tool that allows teachers to communicate and collaborate with your class. It also allows students to work together on projects and assigments and stay up to date on classroom issues. While not by any means my favorite I felt whatsapp was a very neat technological tool