Permission Click is an online tool that enables teachers to electronically create and collect permission slips online, without the need to waste paper. You can upload a PDF of an existing form, or use their online editor to create your own from scratch. Then you can send it out to your students' parents, who can respond from any device. They can also pay fees via the form collection, which utilizes the highest level of payment security and encryption.
Here's a quick video introduction so you can learn a little bit more.
I have used rubrics a lot for students in my art classes. I find rubrics to be the best way to level the playing field in grading all students, and help eliminate the bias in grading. Rubrics let me specify the exact requirements I have for a given project, and then allow me to assess the degree to which students have met those requirements based on the set criteria. My goal in using rubrics is to help ensure that I'm grading each student's performance individually and fairly, without comparison to anyone else. That being said, rubrics can be very time-consuming to create. So it's wonderful that there is an online tool that can help create rubrics simply and quickly. That tool can be found at QuickRubric.com.
Richard Byrne has a wonderful website called Free Tech 4 Teachers, and he features lots of great ed tech resources on his blog. You can find him on Twitter too (@rmbyrne). Richard has created a tutorial for how to use Quick Rubric, so please check that out below.
This may be a tool you'll want to keep in your online rubric toolbox. If you have experience using Quick Rubric, please share your experience in the comments. Would love to hear from you.
I actually kind of stumbled on this website by accident, but it was an awesome find. Photos for Class is a website that allows you to search for safe, classroom-appropriate images that can be used for educational purposes. What's more, the downloaded images automatically cite the author and the image license terms, according to their Creative Commons licenses. Great tools for good digital citizenship for both teachers and students. Here are a couple of examples that I downloaded today:
As you can see, the photos I downloaded have added the attribution and credit at the bottom of each image. I even put a search box tool from their website to the right-hand side of this blog, so you can try it out, if you like. And if you're interested in learning more, hop on over to the Photos for Class website and do a little more searching yourself. You can find them at PhotosForClass.com.
Formative is an online formative assessment tool that lets you create tests and quizzes and watch your students take them in real time. You can ask any of the standard test question types, but you the tool also allows students to type, draw, and upload photos as answers. Another cool feature of this tool is that it allows you to upload existing documents, such as Word, PDF, and Google Docs, and then you can add additional interactive features to them. Take a peek at this short video to learn more.
Formative has several other tutorial videos on their website too, to help you get started creating great online formative assessments. You'll be able to embed audio and video, post to Google Classroom, give instant feedback to your students in real time, export your results, and even share your assessments with other teachers. And by seeing results in real time, teachers can also use this instant feedback to assess areas of understanding--or lack thereof--and adjust instruction accordingly. Best of all, you can do all of this for free!
Have you ever wanted a way to utilize online videos (or your own) in a meaningful way with your students? If so, then EDpuzzle may be the tool for you. EDpuzzle allows you to take an existing video or link, and then add or insert questions to it--and even your own voice--to create a self-paced and interactive lesson. You'll be able to track if your students have watched the video, how many times, and see their answers to your questions. This would be great for a flipped classroom environment, or even as part of an extended lesson. And EDpuzzle even integrates into Google Classroom.
Here's a link to a great review of EDpuzzle from the Edudemic website that you may find helpful.
Plickers is the perfect tool for the one-device classroom, because it allows you to collect formative assessment data without the need for the students to have devices. I think the easiest way for you to learn about Plickers is to watch this great, short video I found on YouTube (though the presentation was created using PowToon).
I think Plickers is a great way to get instant results, to see immediately if your students understand various topics and questions so that you know if they are ready to move on. And if your classroom isn't 1:1, what a great way to collect data without the need to worry about every student having a device.
Here are some resources to some blogs of teachers who have used Plickers in their classrooms, in case you'd like to learn more about it from others' first-hand experience.
One of my favorite teachers that I follow on YouTube is Keith Hughes, aka Hip Hughes. Keith is a History teacher who also is an Ed Tech guru, who shares that passion with this students. I love watching his videos. He recently shared this video on his Top 5 Free Teacher Tools--Web 2.0 tools that are really awesome. So I thought I'd share this video with you.
I strongly suggest you follow Keith on Twitter (@HipHughes), and be sure to check out his website too at HipHughes.com. Whether you're a History teacher not, I guarantee you that you can find something worth your while on his website and/or in his videos.
I actually stumbled on EdShelf by accident this evening when I was looking for some reviews of a couple of teacher tools. That's what we call a happy accident, friends. And what is EdShelf? I'm glad you asked.
From the Edshelf website itself, it is "a socially-curated discovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning." Basically, it's a fabulous teacher resource, one that catalogs a myriad of teacher tools, apps, websites, etc. And then when you click on one it will give you a description of what it is, its features, how it works, what age of learner it's meant for, what platforms it's available in, its price, and provides any reviews that have been submitted for it as well. It will also often feature a short video introduction of the tool too. EdShelf lets you create a free account, and then you can add any various tools and apps and such to a "shelf." Each shelf lets you sort things into categories, kind of like you do on Pinterest, so that they're easy to find.
Check out this video for a look at how it works.
What's nice about this is that you can collect all of these great resources in one spot, and you can learn about new websites and apps without having to jump from website to website to learn more about them. You can also read reviews from teachers who are already using the tools to see how they like them, and how effective they might be. So it can be a real time-saver if you're looking for some new tools or websites and just want an easy way to search for them.
Just click on the screenshot below to go and visit EdShelf and learn more.
I don't think I can describe PlayPosit better than the explanation given on their website:
PlayPosit is an online learning environment to create and share interactive video lessons. Teachers begin with any YouTube, Vimeo, or TeacherTube video content (screencasts, Khan Academy, Minute Physics, TED, NOVA, etc.) and transform what is traditionally passive content into an active experience for students. By time-linking activities that students engage with as the video progresses the content is segmented into digestible components - increasing student engagement and, through our real-time monitoring, informing the next day’s lesson planning.
You can use PlayPosit (formerly known as Educanon) for your flipped classroom, or simply as a means to make the use of video interactive rather than passive, and/or to make technology use more meaningful and engaging in your classroom. Students can access the videos on any device, and you can add any of seven different question types into a video's timeline to actively engage them. PlayPosit also integrates with Edmodo and Schoology for even more ways to maximize this program.
For more information about PlayPosit, click on the image below to visit their website.
Blendspace is an absolutely free web tool that allows teachers to assemble a variety of resources (videos, pictures, PowerPoints, links, info from other websites, etc.) in one spot to create interactive online lessons.
Blendspace has a multitude of resources right on their website, but you can also upload your own, and it has an easy drag & drop interface. You can also add text, create and add multiple choice quizzes, and keep track of student responses as well.
Blendspace would be a great way to create your own lessons for your students, or to share them with other teachers. You could also have students create projects directly in Blendspace; let them teach a topic to the class and learn in a more meaningful and engaging way at the same time--while improving digital literacy to boot.
If you're interested in check out this free online resource for teachers, just click on the image below to find out more.
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