Thursday, July 30, 2015

Edtech Podcasts Part 2


In December 2013, I wrote about listening to podcasts with the Stitcher app.  I am still enjoying the learning I glean through the edtech podcasts.  If you have not experimented with Stitcher, I want to strongly encourage you to try this tool for a quick and easy learning opportunity.  Several podcasts I've begun to follow:

The Google Educast

Truth for Teachers

TechEducator Podcast

Edtech You Should Know



To find a particular podcast or topic, click thebutton found in both the mobile app and the web app.  Experiment with different topics as the podcasts are easy to organize into station playlists by clicking the PLUS SIGN:



Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Team Shake

Available in the App Store | Available at Google Play Store

Team Shake can assist teachers with grouping students and also selecting individual students.  The $.99 app can be mastered in minutes.  The app opens with a default group.  To add students or members, tap the plus sign.



From the menu found in the lower, left corner, tap , then tap Save as New List or Rename List if working with a previously-saved list.


Tap the preferred amount of teams needed at the bottom of the screen.

Teams or groups can be made by shaking the device or tapping the Shake button.



To select a random player, tap the icon at the bottom of the screen.


Read more here.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Edshelf


Edshelf is a search tool for all things technology, teaching, and learning.



From the site, a student, teacher, or parent can search for many different resource types including mobile apps, desktop apps, Chrome apps, websites, or physical products.  The tool allows users to search by price, platform, subject, age, and category or a combination of these.
Y


Edshelf provides a page for each resource including helpful videos, features lists, reviews, support links, and pricing information.
Shelves can be made to bookmark resources. The shelves can then be shared in various formats including social media, lists including URLs, lists including QR codes, and widgets.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Seesaw


Seesaw - The Learning Journal is a digital portfolio solution that can be used with even the youngest of students.  Students utilize the camera feature on their iOS device to take photos of their work. They simply tap I'm a Student, scan a QR code with the app's built-in QR code scanner and select the appropriate option.

Students can add a recorded audio file, an annotated drawing over the photo or textbox straight from the app.  In addition, saved images from the camera roll, notes with or without recorded audio, and web links can be uploaded as well.
Students simply tap their name to add their item to their class journal.
Teachers can turn on a new items require approval option in their Manage Class settings window to approve all items uploaded by students.

Teachers and parents can view student work from the iOS app or the website. View this short video to see more.

Seesaw provides parents with a Seesaw Parent Access app (Available in the App Store and Google Play) to quickly view, comment, and like their student's work (if the teacher has allowed all of these features).
Parents can also turn on push notifications to instantly be notified of new uploaded work.

Pricing for additional parent features can be found here.


Thursday, July 2, 2015

CraftyRights Extension





The Craftyrights Chrome extension is a tool that forces a Google image search to return images that are free to use or share.


Although Google's image tools and filters have made it easier for users to avoid copyright concerns in just a few easy clicks, CraftyRights gives you a few seconds of your life back by automating the process.  They do not, however, promise 100% copyright free results, but is a responsible step towards respecting artists' rights.  The extension can be found in the Chrome Web Store or at crafty184.com.

Once added to Chrome and turned on, Google image searches will query based on the labeled for reuse query filter: