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We're Back!  Weekly Roundup for August 23rd

8/23/2014

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Hello and welcome to the Roundup!  After taking two months off to move back to the states from Colombia, and then to move again to Bloomington, I'm ready to get the site running again!  For those who are curious, I'll be starting a Ph.D. program at IU in instructional technology.  As for the site, not much will change, except I'm going to start adding a monthly "Research Roundup" for those interested in the current research and studies that are underway in the field. Otherwise, it's good to be back and thanks for reading!  Let's begin!


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Today we'll start at EdTech magazine with an article by Matt Renwick, entitled "How Teachers Can Become Fluent in Classroom Technology."  With a new school year beginning, it's the perfect time to give that new technology tool a try!  In the post, Renwick talks about the benefit of starting small and trying to make a personal connection with the technology you're using in the classroom.


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Jordan Shapiro at Mind/Shift has a new post which shares "How to Choose a Learning Game."  So maybe you've decided you would like to begin integrating learning games in your classroom, but you're not sure how to pick the right one.  Shapiro asks several guiding questions to help teachers select and implement a learning game that will be beneficial for students.


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A few of the new posts from the excellent Free Tech for Teachers:
  • Video Guides to Sending Free Texts Through Remind (101)
  • ViewPure for Distraction-Free YouTube Watching
  • ClassDojo in the High School Classroom
  • Otus - A Great Online Learning Environment
  • The Most Popular Posts of the Week


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If you're not familiar with Google Hangouts, it's a free video conferencing tool that be used to connect with others.  It offers great classroom potential, and to that end, Jennifer Carey at Edudemic has a new post which outlines "4 Ways to Enhance Your Class with Google Hangouts."


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Over at Getting Smart, Jena Draper has a new article which asks "Is the Sharing Economy Education's Future?"  Draper opens by discussing the increasing momentum of the sharing economy and goes on to discuss how this relates to education.  Her main argument is that, "the sharing economy, when applied to education, has the potential to accelerate a highly advanced teaching and learning model."


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Sean Cavanagh at Education Week has an interesting new article which discusses how "Ed-Tech Vendors See Hurdles in the K-12 Marketplace."  The post discusses the intricate nature of the K-12 environment and how it can be a slow and difficult process to get Ed-Tech tools out of the hands of creators and into the hands of students and teachers.


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Here are a few of the new podcasts from the EdReach network
  • Flipped Learning: Digital Responsibility w/ Ken Shelton
  • Google Educast: Classroom Validation
  • Flipped Learning: Talking STEM w/ Chris Craft
  • EdAdmin: New Visual Literacies


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Finally, at ElectricBrains the site shares an excellent post on "The Top Resources for Teaching Digital Responsibility."  They have a great collection of sites to check out as well as a short post on the huge importance of digital responsibility in the classroom.  If you're using technology at all in the classroom, this is a great post to start thinking about digital responsibility and how to teach it.


And that's all for today!  Thanks again for stopping by and it's good to be back.  Also, if you're a teacher who uses Edmodo (a great learning management system), you might want to check out this excellent collection of guides and resources from Educational Tech & Mobile Learning.  In closing, here's an interview with Paul Andersen (of the excellent Bozeman Science) about creating online resources for students. Have a great weekend and see you next time!
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8 Classroom Apps To Try This Fall

8/15/2014

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Despite my best efforts to slow down time, summer break is quickly drawing to a close.  And, while summer break is obviously one of the best things humankind has ever come up with, I am excited to get back in the classroom and try out some new ideas and resources. 

I'll be back to posting the normal Roundup tomorrow, but I wanted to start off this semester by covering some of the apps I'm really excited about, particularly those that can be used in a variety of subjects and grade levels.  So, without any further ado, let's begin!

EduClipper - Clip Everything, Share Anything

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EduClipper, also known as the "pinterest for education," is an absolutely awesome tool for collecting, sharing, and organizing digital information.  It's great for students and teachers and it can be used to create a digital bulletin board of useful links, articles, pages, and you can even upload your own documents to share.  It's incredibly easy to use and to top it all off, it's free!

    [ The Complete Roundup Review of EduClipper ]


Class Dojo - Digital Classroom Management

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Class Dojo is a free classroom management app that can be used on the web, iOS, and Android devices. Within the app, you can store all of your student information and with the click of a mouse, you can easily award students negative or positive points for their behavior in class.  The app records and tracks all that behavior data so that you can view, graph, and analyze it whenever you want!  

      [ The Complete Roundup Review of Class Dojo ]


TouchCast - The Web Inside a Video

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TouchCast is an awesome new iPad app that allows you to create videos with interactive web content inside of the video.  Within the videos you can integrate maps, images, links, polls, questions, and even live Twitter feeds.  Plus, it's free, fun, and incredibly simple to use.  If you've got iPads you can use in your classroom, definitely give it a try!

      [ The Complete Roundup Review of TouchCast ]


Metta - Flip Web Content into Video Lessons

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Metta (formerly Soo Meta) is a web-based tool for creating flipped video lessons.  Teachers can use the tool to take images, audio, and video from their computers (or the web) and easily mix it all into a video lesson that can be sent out to students.  You even have the option to create interactive polls and questions that students can answer while they're watching the lesson!

         [ The Complete Roundup Review of Metta ]


Otus - The Complete Learning Management System

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Otus is an application for iOS and web devices that aims to offer everything a mobile classroom could possibly need for both teachers and students.  They've got assignments, assessments, polls, feedback, and more, all packaged within a free and easy to use app.  If you're at a 1:1 school I highly recommend checking out Otus because, quite simply, it's awesome and a wonderful learning management system.

                                                                                   [ The Complete Roundup Review of Otus ]


Moby Max - Online Math & Language Curriculum

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The only reason Moby Max isn't at the top of this list is because I don't teach English anymore, so I won't be able to use this app this fall.  But, for the Language and Math instructors out there, you should absolutely check out the site.  Moby Max is a completely free, standards-based, online curriculum that even determines exactly what indicators your students have trouble with.  It's awesome.

      [ The Complete Roundup Review of Moby Max ]


EduCade - Find, Create, and Share Lesson Plans

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Despite being a relatively new resource, EduCade has a ton of free, standards-based, lesson plans to try out.  You can easily search by grade-level or subject-area to find any lesson you might need.  All the lessons come with the resources you need, a step-by-step lesson plan, and even reviews from other teachers who have tried it out.

       [ The Complete Roundup Review of Educade ]


Answer Pad - The Free Student Response System

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And last, but certainly not least, The Answer Pad a free web, iOS and Android app that is perfect for the BYOD environment.  Remember "clickers," where a question would appear on the board and then the students would press their answer on a remote?  The Answer Pad takes that idea and improves on it a million times over.  If you have a BYOD policy at your school, definitely check it out.

[ The Complete Roundup Review of The Answer Pad ]

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