Educational Technology Tools

Welcome to my blog! For my first post, I used Twitter to search for articles pertaining to the topics of educational technology and global collaboration. In doing so, I found, “6 Cool Educational Technology Tools for Teachers” by Victoria Raish. This immediately caught my eye because as a person who grew up with technology, I wish more of my teachers my earlier education, and now would incorporate more technology into classroom activities.

What are the six educational technology tools for teachers?

1. Flipgrid
   • This is a tool that we have actually used in this class!
   • This website allows students to respond to questions or topics in video format, as well as watch, react, and respond to their classmates.
   • The article touches on how social media, like Snapchat and Instagram, have made students more comfortable with expressing themselves through video.
2. Lrng’s Digital Badges
   • Students work to complete assignments online to earn digital badges to show their accomplishment, rather than a grade. This can be helpful for younger children especially, as they would rather work for a cool badge, than a simple “A” on a piece of paper.
   • This website is very structured and easy for students and their teachers to navigate.
3. Voicethread
   • Students and teachers are able to create slideshows with video and voice recordings playing over the slideshow.
   • This website allows students to comments on slideshows using video, voice, and text responses.
   • The article does recognize that it might be difficult for teachers to get all of their students to be excited about this technology, as some may not be so excited to contribute.
4. Explore Learning
   • This tool actually focuses specifically on math and science.
   • Teachers can assign students to do activities online, such as labs, that they might not have the resources to do in the classroom. I think this could be great for schools that do not have access to a large number of resources for science experiments.
5. Classcraft’s Quests
   • This is a cool and interactive game that allows teachers to set “quests” for students to complete that have to do with a certain content area.
   • I think this would be useful with younger students, as this site actually does look like a game and not homework.
6. Osmo and Little Bits
   • These programs introduce and teach coding and programming to students.
   • Learning to code is a tool that can be very helpful to students in the future, as the world is continuously becoming more and more technology-based.

 Do you think technology adds value to the classroom?

In my opinion, technology adds so much value to the classroom! Technology introduces so many ways for students to learn, discuss, and collaboration. Technology needs to be integrated into the classroom, not only because of how great of a teaching tool it is, but because it is essential for students to know how to work technology in a professional setting.

Click here to read the article and find out what you think!

Follow my Twitter for more @Jada79205436