Holly Atkins
Here is a list of my top technology tools to support teaching and learning in the K-College classroom. Be sure to add your favorites to the list.
Socrative empowers you to engage and assess your students as learning happens. Through the use of real-time questioning, result aggregation, and visualization, you have instant insight into levels of understanding so you can use class time to better collaborate and grow as a community of learners.
Uploaded by ShowMe on 2015-09-07.
ThingLink lets users add interactive links to any photo and turn them into fun web experiences that drive engagement.
Great formative assessment tool for the one-device classroom. Got a smartphone? Done! Plickers lets teachers actively engage all students in responding to questions, then presents the results in graphs, etc. that can be displayed and saved. (https://plickers.com/)
I'm a big fan of digital storytelling, and Little Bird Tales is a free web-based tool that is both teacher and student-friendly. Adding narration is easy. Images can be uploaded drawings, and images, but there are also embedded drawing tools. The social aspect is powerful, too. Young authors can be part of a community of story-tellers and have their work published. Always a popular tool among my pre-service teachers in our digital storytelling work. (https://littlebirdtales.com/)
My newest passion -- Google Cardboard allows educators to (inexpensively) jump onto the virtual reality bandwagon. No, you don't need to shell out $600 for an Oculus Rift headset. Prices range (you can even print your own), with most averaging around $12 each. Yes, you do need a smartphone (more of an issue in the elementary classroom). Get one set. Download the free app. View a still image or one of the films from the New York Times. The term "mind blowing" is not an exaggeration here! Google even has a special program for educators and their students: "Google Expeditions" -- worth checking out: (https://www.google.com/edu/expeditions/)
This app will save teachers time. With this app, teachers are able to take videos from youtube and crop voices into the videos. You are also able to insert voice narration. Students are engaged easily because they are able to move at their own speed. They are able to add their voice into the videos. Teachers are able to see if the students actually viewed the videos, see how many times they did, and see the answers they gave.
Assistant Professor at Saint Leo University; instructor for EDU 228: Educational Technology
