<![CDATA[The EdTech Roundup

<![CDATA[The EdTech Roundup - Reviews ]]>Mon, 18 May 2026 23:24:22 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Book Review | No Fear Coding: Computational Thinking Across the K-5 Curriculum (2nd Edition) by Heidi Williams]]>Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:22:00 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/book-review-no-fear-coding-computational-thinking-across-the-k-5-curriculum-2nd-edition-by-heidi-williams

One of my favorite books and resources is now available in a newly updated and revised 2nd edition! No Fear Coding: Computational Thinking Across the K-5 Curriculum is an exceptional resource written by Heidi Williams (who also happens to be my colleague). The 2nd edition has been expanded to include new and updated resources and activities, so even if you’re familiar with the first edition, this is a great time to revisit the book.

Central to Williams’ book is the idea that coding, programming, computer science, and computational thinking should be accessible! This book is meant for K-5 educators and technology leaders with or without computer science and computational thinking experience. Even if you’ve never felt particularly comfortable using technology, this book acts as a welcoming and friendly onramp to beginning to integrate these ideas into your own classrooms.

Plus, with more and more states beginning to push for computer science and computational thinking integration at the elementary level, now is the perfect time to develop or expand upon your existing integration strategies.

Throughout the book, there is also a major focus on how computational thinking integrates with other problem-solving processes and activities. For example, computational thinking can sit nicely at the intersection between project-based learning and inquiry-based learning:

In other words, the emphasis is not on giving teachers yet another thing to do or add to their already overburdened curriculum, but rather, to show how computational thinking and coding can be used to further support the development of knowledge and skills that teachers are already working to support.

The book begins by digging deep into this idea and showcasing different possibilities for where coding and computational thinking can fit into your already existing curriculum, along with providing examples of what teaching these concepts looks like in action. This section (Part 1) is particularly helpful as so many teachers who are being asked to integrate these concepts have not received training (or don’t have a background) in these ideas.

From there, Part 2 explores a wide range of activities and physical devices (like robots) that can be used to engage learners with coding and computational thinking. Then, Part 3 examines block-based coding possibilities (like Scratch), which are always wonderful starting points for students and teachers alike. Part 4 brings these two sections together, and discusses the integration of physical computing and coding. Across all of these sections, standards are pulled in to address how these skills and ideas directly connect back to a typical curriculum.

The book closes with Part 5 and explores exciting examples of what is possible when ideas like global collaboration, augmented reality, and more are brought into the picture. It’s the perfect way to wrap up the book, and provides advanced ideas and possibilities for even the most experienced educators.

Overall, I absolutely recommend No Fear Coding, Second Edition. Whether you are just getting started integrating coding and computational thinking, or even if you have a few programming competitions already under your belt, this book provides excellent resources, ideas, and integration possibilities to explore.

]]><![CDATA[Book Review | Ethics in a Digital World: Guiding Students Through Society’s Biggest Questions by Dr. Kristen Mattson]]>Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:18:27 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/book-review-ethics-in-a-digital-world-guiding-students-through-societys-biggest-questions-by-dr-kristen-mattson

Ethics in a Digital World by Dr. Kristen Mattson explores incredibly important ideas surrounding the non-neutrality of technology and how grades 6-12 educators can better support the development of digital citizens who are equipped to navigate ethical questions at the intersection of technology and humanity. Personally, I believe this book (and these topics) should be a must-read for all 6-12 (and K-12) teachers and technology leaders.

Technology impacts nearly every aspect of our daily lives, and building a foundational understanding of that impact is of critical importance in modern education.

After introducing key vocabulary, ethical principles, the ISTE standards, and providing tips for integration of these ideas, the book is organized around 6 big ethical questions:

Access to Information: Is It Time to Better Regulate the Internet?
Privacy in the Digital Age: How Much Are You Willing to Give Up?
Human Bias: Can Artificial Intelligence Help Diminish Human Bias in Decision-Making?
The Future of Work: Is Innovation Helpful or Harmful?
Technology and Mental Health: Cause or Cure?
Social Media and Society: Flashlight or Flame?

Following the examination of these big questions, the book concludes with a call to action and brings these ideas together against the current pandemic backdrop while also providing additional follow-up resources and support suggestions.

Overall, these questions are enormously important and sit at the center of the current ethical issues our larger society is faced with. Dr. Mattson has done an excellent job scaffolding the conversation around these questions and providing accessible entry points to educators who are new to thinking about these ideas.

Each of these 6 major questions has a chapter dedicated to it, and each chapter begins with background information, vocabulary, and relevant current events. From there, different arguments and claims are explored, along with research-based evidence about each claim. The chapters then move on to make explicit curricular connections, provide sample activities, make connections to the ISTE standards, and provide additional resources, articles, and lesson ideas.

In general, I found this chapter organization strategy to be an excellent and highly beneficial approach to breaking down and implementing complicated technology-related questions into 6-12 classrooms.

Overall, Dr. Mattson does a phenomenal job providing accessible examples and integration strategies across secondary grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are a technology teacher or coach, or teaching another secondary subject, I strongly recommend exploring the ideas, activities, questions, and discussions this book raises.

Technology impacts all grade levels and subject areas, as well as students’ lives outside of the classroom, often ways that perpetuate harm and systems of oppression. These are absolutely the questions our students need to be asking and examining.

Find Dr. Mattson on Twitter for more.

]]><![CDATA[Book Review | Distance Learning for Elementary STEM: Creative Projects for Teachers and Families by Amanda Thomas]]>Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:14:44 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/book-review-distance-learning-for-elementary-stem-creative-projects-for-teachers-and-families-by-amanda-thomas

Distance Learning for Elementary STEM is a timely and accessible new book that explores a wide variety of beneficial ways to integrate K-5 STEM activities into distance and online learning. Thomas does an excellent job writing this book from a perspective that supports both teachers and parents, and pulls in beneficial examples that can be done with limited to no budget, at home or in a classroom.

Overall, the book is organized around 8 major projects (broken down by chapter) with the first chapter providing an introduction to how educators and parents / caregivers can support STEM education and the last chapter exploring next steps.

The 8 major projects included are fun and engaging, and also appropriate for a wide range of grade and ability levels. Each project covers the materials, time, and supervision needed as well as additional resources for learners to explore (broken down by grade level). Plus, explicit science, math, and engineering connections are made for each project as well (including connections to the NGSS and CCSS).

The 8 projects include:

How does your garden grow?
What’s cooking?
Oh my stars!
How’s the weather?
Short circuit.
Catching the vibe with sound waves.
It’s a Zoo in Here!
Going viral.

And while these activities are well-suited for the pandemic and our current education landscape, it’s also clear that distance and online learning are not going away any time soon. Even for educators returning to the classroom, these activities will still work well.

Plus, for parents and caregivers looking to have fun at home with additional STEM activities and lessons, this book is an excellent resource.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for elementary STEM educators and families looking to add a little more STEM into their lives!

]]><![CDATA[Book Review | Coding and the Arts: Connecting CS to Drawing, Music, Animation and More by Josh Caldwell]]>Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:09:35 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/book-review-coding-and-the-arts-connecting-cs-to-drawing-music-animation-and-more-by-josh-caldwell

Coding and the Arts by Josh Caldwell is an excellent new release that explores a wide range of integration possibilities for bringing coding, computer science (CS), and computational thinking (CT) into the arts. This book is written for K-12 teachers and technology leaders at all grade and experience levels, from those who have worked with these ideas before, to those who are brand new to thinking about coding and computer science.

And, with more states pushing for coding, computer science, and computational thinking integration across K-12, now is the perfect time to develop or expand upon your existing integration strategies. Fortunately, Caldwell explores a wealth of excellent ideas and possibilities.

Overall, the book is broken into 3 parts, each addressing a different component of integrating coding into the arts.

Part 1 opens by exploring the intersection of CS and the arts, and the historical overlap between the two fields. The focus here is around conversations on equity in CS and the importance of supporting the development of CS knowledge and skills for all students.

This first part also explores the basic terminology that will be used, and lays out the pedagogical and philosophical approaches for the rest of the book as well as the reasoning for integrating coding and CS into the arts.

From there, Part 2 is broken into different categories of the arts, and how coding and CS can be implemented across these contexts. First is the visual arts, followed by music and physical computing, and Part 2 closes by looking forward with technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality.

Across all of these chapters, highly detailed and specific examples and tools are examined and discussed, and elementary and secondary integration examples are provided.

Finally, Part 3 explores how to “bring it back to the classroom.” This section provides specific tips and strategies for implementing these ideas in your schools and classrooms. Ideas on instructional strategies as well as assessment and feedback are provided. I found this section to be particularly beneficial, as so many teachers who are being asked to integrate these topics don’t necessarily have a background or training in coding or CS.

Overall, for K-12 arts teachers and technology leaders who are looking to bring more coding, computer science, and computational thinking into art classrooms, this book is full of excellent and detailed examples and possibilities. I highly recommend exploring this book whether you are just getting started, or have already begun to integrate coding into your arts classroom. You can also find Josh on Twitter at @MrJoshida.

]]><![CDATA[FormAssembly: Online Form Building Made Easy]]>Mon, 07 Dec 2020 22:44:11 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/formassembly-online-form-building-made-easy

FormAssembly is a SaaS platform that lets you easily and quickly build web forms to collect data, send data, process payments, and conduct a variety of functions that today’s K-12 school districts need to accomplish. It’s an excellent tool for leaders at the school or district level, and it can also integrate with a wide variety of authentication services (e.g., CAS, LDAP, etc.), payment applications, and CRMs like Salesforce.

Before jumping into the review, here’s an intro video from the FormAssembly team:

In general, and for the K-12 environment, I think FormAssembly is best suited for those at the school or district leadership level. While there are classroom applications that are possible, I think FormAssembly really shines in terms of data collection, payment processing, and CRM integration that meets the needs for schools and entire districts.

First, let’s talk about building web forms. In general, every school or district needs to collect data.

This data collection could be internal or external processes. Schools and districts might need information from employees, from parents, from students, from community members, and from a variety of other sources. For example: Enrollment applications, feedback on new implementations, HR forms, the list goes on and on.

For any big-picture, school or district-wide data-collection processes, FormAssembly is an excellent fit.

Without any coding or programming experience, anyone can use FormAssembly’s drag-and-drop form building features to quickly and easily create forms to collect any type of data needed.

Plus, in terms of integrations, FormAssembly has a ton. If you want to send submitted data to Salesforce, or to Google Sheets, or Excel, or Mailchimp, it’s all possible.

Payment processing is also an option, for things like school fees, application fees, field trip costs, etc. You can use PayPal, Stripe, Chargent, Authorize.net, iATS, and other payment processing options for collection payments from respondents.

[See how Cornell University used FormAssembly to save time and resources]

And, at the enterprise level, these forms can also be protected by a wide-variety of authentication services.

If your district uses CAS, or SAML, or LDAP, your forms can sit behind those authentication services. That way, only folks who have and need access will be able to submit data.

[Check out 10 reasons why education customers choose FormAssembly]

Overall, for anyone at the school or district level needing to collect data, process payments, submit data to Salesforce, or export data in a wide variety of other formats, FormAssembly is an excellent, accessible, easy-to-use tool that offers enormous benefit.

For those interested, you can sign up for a demo here, or try a two-week free trial!

The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for this review.
I was previously employed by FormAssembly.

]]><![CDATA[Waterford Reading Academy: Personalized, Adaptive Instruction for preK-2 and 3-6]]>Fri, 06 Nov 2020 23:10:14 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/waterford-reading-academy-personalized-adaptive-instruction-for-prek-2-and-3-6

Waterford Reading Academy is an instructional program that guides students from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” The platform consists of two components, a preK-2 program and a 3-6 program, both of which can be used on any internet-enabled device. The preK-2 program offers curricula on reading, social-emotional learning, math, and science—and it is completely personalized and adaptive based on each student’s individual needs and abilities.

The 3-6 portion generally focuses on reading comprehension and independent reading of whole books. The content can be customized for individual students or for whole-class instruction.

In general, Waterford Reading Academy provides CCSS and ESSA-aligned curricula in a few different segments. At the preK-K level, Waterford recommends that students engage with the software 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week. For grades 1-2, that recommendation increases to 20-30 minutes a day per course. While there’s no specific usage recommendation for 3-6 students, teachers can customize the time-related goals within the platform.

This time with the program can be individual, with students each on their own device, or Waterford Reading Academy can be implemented in small group or whole class settings.

Regardless of which level students are at initially, early learners (preK-2) begin using Waterford Reading Academy by taking a placement exam, which determines their specific level within the curriculum.

In general, this placement exam takes about 30 minutes, and once they’re finished, students can dive into the curriculum.

Wherever students place within the curriculum, they will next get an engagement activity, followed by guided practice and assessment until they reach mastery level for each topic. Along the way, if students are struggling with a particular lesson, they will go into a remediation cycle to get additional support, and the application will teach the same topic in a different way.

In general, Waterford Reading Academy activities include a wide variety of video, animations, interactive elements, stories, and other engaging activities.

In total, there are about 10,000 activities in the early reading program, making up hundreds of hours of content. For early math, there are over 5,000 activities, making up about 300 hours. For older elementary students, Waterford Reading Academy provides learning activities and content to accompany over 140 classic and contemporary books for independent or classroom reading.

Plus, for ELL students who speak Spanish, all preK-2 content is available in Spanish as well.

For teachers and parents, reports are available to track and monitor student progress.

Parents can log in and see exactly how their children are doing. They also get personalized notifications about their child’s progress, along with simple ideas for reinforcing the learning at home.

Teachers have detailed reports and analytics that give them both the big picture and granular data on how students are meeting benchmarks and standards.

I also appreciate that Waterford Reading Academy has gone through a variety of research studies focused on assessing and improving their product.

In general, these studies have suggested that Waterford Reading Academy can help close the achievement gap, better support ELL students, and also support long-term reading improvements and gains.

Waterford also has a lot to offer in the realm of professional development. The organization's Professional Services team has a whole suite of trainings and workshops designed to help teachers and schools get the most out of the program. Topics range from implementation planning and data usage to instructional coaching and family engagement.

Finally, in terms of pricing, a single annual licence runs about $80, with bulk discounts available. Site licences vary depending on size. They start at $5,775 and top out at just over $16,000.

For those looking to test out Waterford Reading Academy to see if it’s a good fit for your classroom or school, you can contact their team to request a demo.

The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.

]]><![CDATA[Genially: Create Presentations, Infographics, and Visuals in Seconds]]>Thu, 09 Jul 2020 15:59:52 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/genially-create-presentations-infographics-and-visuals-in-seconds

Genial.ly is a presentation creation platform that offers a wide range of possibilities for what teachers and students can create. From excellent templates to interactive visuals, there are some really fun and exciting ways to easily create visuals of all kinds. Plus, it’s a freemium resource, so teachers and students can get started creating completely for free.

Before we jump into the review, here is an overview video from the Genially team:

Overall, Genially offers a wide range of presentation options with an even wider range of templates to draw on. For those teachers and students looking for new design and visual options for traditional presentations, Genially is a great choice.

Additionally, for teachers asking students to create infographics, reports, guides, or even images with interactive elements, Genially also works incredibly well.

In terms of pricing and plans, Genially has four options. Fortunately, for most schools and classrooms, the free plan is a great place to start. Students and teachers get unlimited creations (and views of those creations) and have access to free templates and additional resources and design assets.

The main limitation with the free plan is the lack of private links, so anything created would be visible to anyone who had the link. However, online collaboration is still possible with the free plan, which is great to see.

When teachers and students login to Genially, they’ll start by deciding what they want to create (presentation, report, infographic, guide, etc.).

Then, they’ll have the option of choosing from a large (and growing) library of templates. Within each template, you can also choose the slides / visual assets that you’d like to use. For presentations (if you’re not on the free plan) you can also import your pre existing PowerPoints as well.

Once a template has been selected, you’ll be taken into the Editor where you can build your project.
One of the great things here is that you’ll be presented with easy to follow guides and tutorials if needed, but most everything is easy enough to pick-up without any additional guidance or support.

On the left side you select what you want to add or edit, and in the middle, you do your editing!
If you’ve ever used PowerPoint, Visme, Canva, or any similar tool, you’ll find Genially to be immediately intuitive.

One of my favorite parts of Genially is the ability for teachers and students to create “Learning Experiences” and the “Gamification” option.

For the Learning Experiences, students and teachers can build traditional quizzes, video quizzes, matching games, drag and drop activities, and all sorts of interactive options.

All of these include templates which makes building them incredibly easy and straightforward.

For the Gamification option, you can “create your own content with the structure of a game.”

There are three main types of templates under gamification: 1) Click to action (very simple) 2) Quizzes and 3) Escape Rooms or Digital Breakouts. Here’s an example of the Escape Room option that’s really fun.

And below is an example of the Click to action option in the form of a “Choice board” for possible assignments and activities students could complete:

Overall, Genially is an excellent creation platform, and a great alternative to PowerPoint, Canva, Visme, or any other similar platform.

Plus, the ability to create interactive visuals, games, and activities, as well as do collaborative work, are all huge benefits. Unlike other platforms, Genially also includes plenty of options, features, and templates with their Free plan as well! For educators looking to try something new for themselves, or with their students, Genially is absolutely a great option to consider!

You can sign up for a free plan here.

The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.

]]><![CDATA[ClassroomAPP: A Complete, K-12 Digital Platform for Online and In-person Classrooms]]>Wed, 01 Jul 2020 16:05:46 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/classroomapp-a-complete-k-12-digital-platform-for-online-and-in-person-classrooms

ClassroomAPP is a single platform that combines all the digital tools a teacher could need to provide online or in-person instruction. This means that not only can ClassroomAPP act as an LMS, but it can also serve as a testing platform, a video conferencing platform, a place to monitor student devices, a source of reports and analytics, and a whole lot more. Essentially, any digital task a teacher might need to perform can be achieved within ClassroomAPP.

Before diving into the review, this overview video from the ClassroomAPP teams provides a helpful introduction to the platform and everything it can do:

As mentioned in the video, there is a lot that ClassroomAPP covers. From standards-based assessments and reporting, to controlling students’ screens and devices, to integration with third party tools and apps, ClassroomAPP covers all that and a whole lot more. Throughout this review we’ll touch briefly on most of these, but it’s important to note that this is an excellent tool not just for classroom teachers, but also for admins, counselors, students, and even parents.

You can also access ClassroomAPP’s most recent brochure here, which provides additional details on what each of these features looks like in action.

And while ClassroomAPP does offer a ton in terms of features, what I like most about the platform is that it never feels overwhelming, difficult to use, or hard to find what you’re looking for. Their team has done a great job creating a platform that is robust, but still user friendly and easy to navigate.

Typically, ClassroomAPP is licensed at the school or district level, so all the courses and student enrollments will be setup already when a teacher logs in for the first time.

But even when that’s not the case, students and courses are easy to set up manually at the teacher level, or they can be imported from Google Classroom, Clever, or most common SISs as well.

For teachers and students, ClassroomAPP is split between two parts: The “Dashboard” and the “Application.” The Dashboard is used for live class sessions, and the Application is basically used for everything else (course management, assessment and assignment creation, communication, etc).

The Dashboard is a great place to start in order to see what a class session with ClassroomAPP actually looks like in action. The video below shows the getting started process, and provides a first look at the Dashboard, which is launched via a required Chrome / MS Edge extension. This extension is what allows teachers to see student screens, send out direct links during a class session, and lockdown student browsers as well.

Using the Dashboard (which requires the aforementioned Chrome or Edge extension), teachers can quickly share any site they’re on with their students. They can force students onto that site (way easier than having students type in a link!), lock a student on a specific site, see what they’re currently looking at on their device, or adjust web filters on the fly.

One of my favorite parts of the Dashboard is that you can even control the volume of students’ devices. For any teacher who has ever had 30 YouTube videos all load at once, you know what a lifesaver this feature can be!

Plus, you can send different sites and links to different students, which makes ClassroomAPP a great tool for differentiation as well!

Additionally, one of the main challenges for many schools and students at home is bandwidth. ClassroomAPP is designed to be a low-bandwidth application (it caches in your browser to help in low bandwidth situations). You can also deploy a local server in your school or district to make it accessible offline if you are in a remote location far from good internet access.

In addition to the Dashboard, there is the actual “Application” part of ClassroomAPP, which is accessed by logging in on their website, or by clicking ClassroomAPP in the Dashboard.

The home page of the Application is the “Instructor Panel” where teachers can access and do anything they need to do outside of live sessions. You can access and share any apps that have been added by your school or district admin. You can send out course codes to students. And you can access support wizards and tutorials.

However the place where teachers will be spending most of the time is “My Courses.” This is where you can create, edit, and share content of all types. You can share resources of any type, create or import assessments, have chats with students, access the gradebook, create reports, and anything else you might need. This video below provides an overview of what this looks like in action:

For those looking for a deeper dive into the Dashboard, the Application, or how Video Calling works through the system for remote class sessions, the ClassroomAPP video page has additional tutorials and overviews.

On the Admin side, school administrators / IT staff have the ability to set up courses and import students, and set up third party integrations, as you would expect.

Plus, deep reporting gives anyone the information they need at their fingertips. From performance, to usage analysis, as well as safety and wellness (students browsing violent sites or suicide-related sites for example).

But one of my favorite features here is the ROI analysis, which provides detailed analytics into what third party apps and integrations are being used, and how often students and teachers are accessing them.

This can be incredibly beneficial in order to get a snapshot of school or district-wide activity to see what is actually beneficial and being implemented at the classroom level.

For parents, they are granted free access to ClassroomAPP and can access any materials or resources that teachers have marked as available. This can include grades, assignments, or any other course material that may be beneficial. Parents can also chat with teachers through ClassroomAPP, making the platform a communication hub as well. Parents can see student performance live or even create reports to closely monitor their kids’ performance.

For professional development, ClassroomAPP offers the built-in tools needed for delivering on-site and remote training. A challenge faced by schools and districts is bringing all teachers together in one place. ClassroomAPP allows you to streamline the delivery, administer online webinars (e.g. by grade-levels), and record them in your archives for new teachers, and then verify participation or viewing of recordings.

Finally, in terms of pricing ClassroomAPP is priced at $10 per student for schools with 400 students or less, with deep discounts for larger schools.

Overall, I really like what ClassroomAPP has to offer. ClassroomAPP does an excellent job combining all these features and services into a single platform, while still making it easy to use and navigate. As with any platform that controls student devices, there are some limitations (have to use Chrome or Microsoft Edge in this case), but that is to be expected. And the consolidation of such a wide range of digital tools and features easily makes up for that limitation.

If you’re searching for a new tool that can help integrate and improve on your current digital practices and processes, I recommend signing up for a free trial of ClassroomApp to see if it’s a good fit for your school or district!

The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.
Due to COVID-19, I was only able to test in remote settings.

]]><![CDATA[InferCabulary: Vocabulary Made Visual for K-12 Students]]>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 18:14:48 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/infercabulary-vocabulary-made-visual-for-k-12-grade-students

InferCabulary is a web-based, visual vocabulary and reasoning program that helps students use critical thinking to learn the nuanced meanings of vocabulary. The program can be used on any web-enabled device, and can be used by all K-12 students. InferCabulary can be integrated at the individual, small group, or whole class level. The program is built around a large body of vocabulary learning research, and comes with a free 14-day trial for parents, specialists, and schools.

Additionally, to help schools as they deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, InferCabulary is currently providing two months of free access to its online visual vocabulary tool. The offer applies for all new school plans, regardless of the size. To sign up for free access, click here.

Before jumping into the review, this video from the InferCabulary team provides a quick overview of how the program works from both teacher and student perspectives:

In general, InferCabulary is built around a concept known as “Semantic Reasoning”.

The InferCabulary team defines Semantic Reasoning as the process by which new words are learned and retrieved through analysis of multiple images that convey various contexts of the word’s meaning. It’s a higher-level, critical thinking skill that students use in order to learn words deeply. Beth Lawrence, the Co-founder of InferCabulary, discusses this idea in depth during her TEDx talk:

In general, rather than asking students to memorize complex language-definitions that they do not always understand, InferCabulary uses this type of Semantic Reasoning, where students actively infer the meaning of words based on seeing multiple images of the word used in different contexts.

You can see more of what this looks like in action at the 2:30 mark in the first video above.

In total, the InferCabulary curriculum currently includes 4,000 words from across K-12. These words are "tagged" in InferCabulary with literature titles (e.g., If You Give a Mouse a Cookie or Romeo and Juliet) and category labels (e.g., emotions, vehicles, SAT vocabulary lists). InferCabulary emphasizes Tier Two vocabulary (per Beck & McKeown's work) and Academic Words (per Coxhead's work).

Teachers also have access to a dashboard, where they can view helpful analytics and see student progress across their different assignments. A list of “top struggle words” is also provided, which can be beneficial for helping teachers decide what types of remediation students may need.

For support resources, the InferCabulary team provides both web-based and in-person PD and training, depending on a school or district's needs.

Finally, in terms of pricing, InferCabulary is available at the Classroom, School, or District level. For a single classroom (of up to 40 students) the cost is $25 a month. At the School/District level the cost is $7.50 per student, per year.

Overall, I think InferCabulary is an excellent resource for supporting student vocabulary development. We know that just asking students to memorize words and definitions is not a beneficial strategy (nor an engaging one). InferCabulary’s approach helps engage students in critical thinking processes, and connect with vocabulary in ways that make the learning more meaningful.

While I think it can be a beneficial resource for early elementary students, where InferCabulary really shines is at the later elementary and secondary levels. As they note on their site, “InferCabulary teaches students the nuanced meanings of a variety of nouns and adjectives. We have included some tier one words for younger students and those learning English, but emphasize tier two vocabulary words, which are tricky to teach and learn due to their nuances.” I would also add that in peer-reviewed studies on InferCabulary, it has been shown to be a beneficial resource for 5th grade students with disabilities, which is great to see as well.

For more information, you can check out their digital brochure here, or visit their website and use the demo tab at the top to try it out for yourself!

The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.

]]><![CDATA[Visme: Easily Create Online Presentations, Infographics, and Other Visual Content, Updated for 2020-2021]]>Mon, 02 Mar 2020 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews/visme-easily-create-online-presentations-infographics-and-other-visual-content

Visme is a web-based application that can be used to quickly and easily design presentations and infographics. After testing is out, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite design tools because of its simplicity and its great collection of templates and graphics. Plus, the app offers a free plan where you can get started and check it out, let’s take a look.

Before digging into the review, let’s take a quick look at an overview video from the team so you can see the app in action.

As you can see, the overall interface is similar to what you would find in PowerPoint or Keynote. However, given the proliferation of presentations from these two applications, I always find it nice when you can break away and design something that looks different and stands out.

With Visme, you definitely have the potential for that, whether you’re creating a presentation, an infographic, or any other type of visual design.

When you first sign into Visme, you’ll be presented with your dashboard and from here you can get started by creating a new project or by editing a past project you’ve been working on.

One thing I really like is that you can organize your existing projects within folders, which so many web-based apps don’t offer for some reason. Plus if you have a premium plan, you can also import presentations from PowerPoint and Keynote to edit.

If you choose to create a new Visme, you’ll be asked to choose if you’ll be creating a presentation, an infographic, a report, a printable, a web graphic, a social graphic, or a custom sized blank visual. From there, you’ll be able to select from their wide range of custom templates:

Regardless of the path you choose, there are a ton of great templates, which is one of the things I really like about Visme. From the outset, you’ll have a fresh design that hasn’t been done a thousand times in PowerPoint, and they all have a very modern design approach.

Once you’re inside the design interface, things are very similar to PowerPoint or Keynote and there’s a pretty easy learning curve. You can add in new slides, and they’ve got a variety of designs to choose from for each template. You can add animations, import videos, search free stock images, and one of my favorites is the graph/chart designer which let’s you add in custom data visualizations as well.

You’ve also got a variety of options for graphics and logos to add in as well, which makes the design process so much simpler than having to hunt around the internet for what you need. And these are all broken down by category and searchable as well.

When you’re finished designing your presentation you can choose to download it as a .jpg (or a .pdf and .png if you’ve got a premier plan) or you can send out a link to view the presentation online, or embed it on a blog or website. If you’ve subscribed to the premium plan you can set up the presentation to be privately available as well.

Updates for 2020-2021

As of March, 2020 Visme has released a brand new version called Visme Unleashed. In addition to everything described above, the team has done an outstanding job expanding and improving on their product. The overall UI has been revised and improved upon, load times have decreased, and the team has introduced (and expanded on) a variety of features including:

Video and audio clips
New templates and themes
Visme Teams for collaboration
Smart design features
New animated graphics
Expanded download options (including GIF and video formats).

Overall, I'm a big fan of Visme. The interface is familiar enough where anyone who knows how to use PowerPoint or Keynote can easily make the switch over, but the design elements are all incredibly modern and fresh. Plus it’s much easier than PowerPoint to share out online and embed, which is a great feature.

For Visme's current education plan, you can sign up for an entire educational organization. However, they don't currently have a single classroom package, which I think would be a big advantage, especially considering that many education technology decisions are made at the classroom level.

Regardless of that, if you’re looking for a way to spice up your presentations with a new look, and easily share those presentations online, I’d recommend signing up for a free account and checking Visme out!

The opinions expressed in this review are my own
I was not compensated for writing this review
I was provided with access to a premium account while writing the review

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