Welcome to our Inaugural Round Up!
The goal of our site is to provide you with a daily overview of the latest posts, lessons, reviews, apps, and news in the field of educational technology. We strive to find the most relevant and useful integration ideas and put them all together in one place.
And, while you're here, feel free to check out our ever-growing collection of lesson plans, product reviews, and editorials, all designed to help you integrate technology into your classroom and curriculum.
So, without further ado, I give you the Weekend Round Up:
And, while you're here, feel free to check out our ever-growing collection of lesson plans, product reviews, and editorials, all designed to help you integrate technology into your classroom and curriculum.
So, without further ado, I give you the Weekend Round Up:
Edudemic has some great content up from this weekend. First, they've got an article entitled, "How Many Teachers will we need by 2015?" which is about UNESCO's new infographic exploring the global need for new educators over the next two years. The main point of the article is that the supply of teachers is failing to keep up with the global demand (especially in Sub-Saharan Africa) and that we'll need approximately 6.8 million new teachers over the next two years for our school systems to be effective.
Next up, they've got a post outlining "4 Popular Screencasting Tools." Screencasting is a way to share a recording of what's happening on your screen. It can be a great resource for providing tutorials and lessons for students to watch outside of the classroom. They review:
- Camtasia (30-day free trial, $299 to buy),
- Screencast-o-matic (Free for 15-minute recordings or $15/year for unlimited use)
- ScreenFlow 4 (Free trial, $99 to buy)
- iShowU ($20-$60 depending on the version)
Finally, Edudemic has a new post entitled, "5 Tools for Making Custom Timelines." Occasionally, timelines are overlooked in classes outside of history and social studies but they can be great tools in English (timeline of events in a novel) or science (timeline of lab procedures) as well. They review:
(I've got a lesson plan up for TimeGlider in the Lesson Plans section of the site)
- Time Toast (Free with easy Facebook integration)
- Meograph ($20 and up)
- Capzles (Free with mobile iOS support)
- Dipity (3 for free and $5 a month after that)
- XTimeline (Free and great for collaborative work)
(I've got a lesson plan up for TimeGlider in the Lesson Plans section of the site)
Next up, over at Getting Smart, we've got 3 new posts from the Weekend. Their first post, "A District Guide to Online Learning" is an excellent resource for any district considering offering online classes. They outline 10 steps/ideas every district should consider before launching online course offerings.
Personally, I'm a fan of K-12 Online Curriculum (which is mentioned in the article). Our district currently uses their services for online electives and they've been incredibly supportive, user friendly, well-created, and an overall pleasure to work with. The article also discusses Apex, Connections, and Florida Virtual as other options for online curriculum.
Getting Smart's second weekend post discusses the launching of 10 New EdTech Startup Companies by the ImagineK12 organization. It's a pretty exciting list of companies. For me, one of the most interesting is Accredible which is focused on creating "the diploma of the future with a focus on MOOC and self-educated students" (MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses).
Finally, Getting Smart has a story about "Hacker Communities & Local Communities" The article discusses the growing popularity of the Hacker Scouts, a non profit organization which was founded last fall and focuses on building STEAM skills and community connections in today's youth.
(STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)
Personally, I'm a fan of K-12 Online Curriculum (which is mentioned in the article). Our district currently uses their services for online electives and they've been incredibly supportive, user friendly, well-created, and an overall pleasure to work with. The article also discusses Apex, Connections, and Florida Virtual as other options for online curriculum.
Getting Smart's second weekend post discusses the launching of 10 New EdTech Startup Companies by the ImagineK12 organization. It's a pretty exciting list of companies. For me, one of the most interesting is Accredible which is focused on creating "the diploma of the future with a focus on MOOC and self-educated students" (MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses).
Finally, Getting Smart has a story about "Hacker Communities & Local Communities" The article discusses the growing popularity of the Hacker Scouts, a non profit organization which was founded last fall and focuses on building STEAM skills and community connections in today's youth.
(STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)
Emerging Ed Tech has a new post up about Moby Max. Moby Max (Formerly Moby Math) is a K-8 curriculum system that helps educators identify missing skill sets and monitor student progress. It's great for data collection and analysis, helping with student motivation, and differentiating student instruction.
[Article Link] [Moby Max Link]
[Article Link] [Moby Max Link]
Over at the EdTechReview there's a new article and infographic discussing "How to Make the Jump to Digital"
While the infographic is sponsored by Online Colleges.com (an organization that supports online schools like the University of Phoenix), it's widely applicable and has some excellent information about tech-based learning. [ Infographic Download ]
While the infographic is sponsored by Online Colleges.com (an organization that supports online schools like the University of Phoenix), it's widely applicable and has some excellent information about tech-based learning. [ Infographic Download ]
EdCetera has an excellent article discussing "How Technology is Helping Improve Graduation Rates."
The article focuses on the declining rate of students graduating from college and how Educational Technology can help. It discusses how new tools like MOOCs and virtual textbooks can go a long way to making college more affordable and accessible.
The article focuses on the declining rate of students graduating from college and how Educational Technology can help. It discusses how new tools like MOOCs and virtual textbooks can go a long way to making college more affordable and accessible.
Finally, the always awesome Free Technology for Teachers has three new posts up from this weekend.
First up, if you have an interest in learning how to blog, Richard Byrne has some seats available in his new blogging course. It will be an online webinar, cost $87, and be divided between two 90 minute classes. [ Information Link ]
First up, if you have an interest in learning how to blog, Richard Byrne has some seats available in his new blogging course. It will be an online webinar, cost $87, and be divided between two 90 minute classes. [ Information Link ]
Richard also has a new video post outlining "How to Use Audacity and Other Tools to Create Podcasts." Podcasts can be excellent tools (much like screencasts) for providing instruction outside of the classroom. Educators who are interested in "Flipping the Classroom" should familiarize themselves with podcasts, videocasts, and screencasts, as they can make the process a whole lot easier.
Finally, Free Tech 4 Teachers has a post entitled "New Tools Added to Wideo" discussing the new support the program Wideo has added. Wideo is an excellent (and free) program for creating online animations and movies. Plus, they've now added a voice over option and improved scene arrangement support. We'll have a review up for Wideo soon, but I highly recommend checking it out. [ Wideo Link ]
Finally, Free Tech 4 Teachers has a post entitled "New Tools Added to Wideo" discussing the new support the program Wideo has added. Wideo is an excellent (and free) program for creating online animations and movies. Plus, they've now added a voice over option and improved scene arrangement support. We'll have a review up for Wideo soon, but I highly recommend checking it out. [ Wideo Link ]
All in all, a busy weekend for the field of educational technology. But, in reality, it's a busy field every weekend, which is the main reason I started this site.
With the ever-growing importance and ubiquitousness of technology in education, it has never been more necessary for educators to be aware of new tools and ideas in the field. We will continually work towards providing an unbiased and wide-ranging overview of everything ed tech, and I hope you'll join me for our daily updates. Thanks for reading,
- The Round Up
With the ever-growing importance and ubiquitousness of technology in education, it has never been more necessary for educators to be aware of new tools and ideas in the field. We will continually work towards providing an unbiased and wide-ranging overview of everything ed tech, and I hope you'll join me for our daily updates. Thanks for reading,
- The Round Up
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