March Instructional Technology Resource Update

I have listed below the top instructional resources that I have learned about in the last month. All new website links are also posted on http://www.diigo.com/user/Ebucrek.  I hope you will scroll through the resources and to pick out one or two new things that interest you to try out.

I attended the NCTIES (NC Technology in Education Society) Conference a couple of weeks ago, so I have a lot of great resources to share with you from the presentations I attended! I have just included a few below, but there will be more to come! You can find all the sites that I bookmarked at the conference on my Diigo page under the tag "NCTIES".

1. "Going Mobile in a Stationary Classroom-Incorporating ALL Student-Owned Devices into your Curriculum"
 NCTIES Presentation by Patrick Crispin. His website is http://netsquirrel.com/index.html and the PowerPoint Presentation can be found here http://netsquirrel.com/powerpoint/bydate.html.

2. TodaysMeet

TodaysMeet can help you to connect with your students in real time. Try using it during a lecture, or during student presentations to increase class participation, and to make your class more student-centered.

You create a private type of chat room for your class. They go to the website link that you give them to "join", and enter their name. Once they join they can type in their questions or comments from their mobile device or laptop. This was my favorite resource shared at the conference (by multiple presenters)!

3. ICTmagic - ICT & Web 2.0 Tools

Tons of Web 2.0 tools that are categorized, and include site descriptions.

4. Authentic Learning - Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

NCTIES Presenter on "Authentic Learning by Students"
One of the resources shared during the presentation:

Project Based Learning Checklists

"To help you start using PBL, we've created age-appropriate, customizable project checklists for written reports, multimedia projects, oral presentations, and science projects. " You can create your own checklists in English and in Spanish with the program.

5. 10 Awesome Android Uses and Apps
NCTIES Presentation by Richard Byrne fro http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ 

 

(Android website below)

http://android4schools.com/
"Reviews of apps (mostly free ones) that are appropriate for use in K-12 settings. And some suggestions about how those apps could be used by students, teachers, and school administrators."

6.Qwiki

Kind of like a multi-media "wiki", or Wikipedia. Type in any topic and Qwiki will give you a short presentation on it. It could be a good way to build some background knowledge before starting a new topic of study.

Students can also create their own Qwiki. Each "Qwiki" is easily created through a browser - enabling users to combine pictures, videos, infographics a and their own voice into a beautiful, interactive presentation describing anything." (Site shared by Tammy Worcester)

7. Free Technology for Teachers: Best of the Web 2012

NCTIES Presentation by Richard Byrne

8. Tammy's Favorite Tech Tips, Tricks, and Tools

NCTIES Presentation by Tammy Worcester

9. Rushton's Resources
NCTIES Presenter of "Powerful Professional Development and What You Can Do Right Away" (He is a high school teacher of Japanese language so I highly recommend his site to World Language teachers for resources).

 

10. Classroom hooks

"Classroom Hooks is a website dedicated to bringing you resources to hook your students from the second they walk in the door. A hook can be used at any time of your lesson to bring the outside entertainment world into your classroom."

This site is new so teachers are still adding to it. It does not have a ton of resources yet, but I think that it is a great idea and it has a lot of potential to grow!

11. Evernote Peek | Evernote

Have you ever used Evernote, or do your students use it? If so this is a student and teacher tool that can be used to "Turn your notes, audio and image in Evernote into study materials with Evernote Peek. Prepare for a quiz or brush up on a language by simply lifting your iPad’s Smart Cover, or by using our virtual smart cover."