Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blogging Challenge For Teachers (Day 13)

Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blogging Challenge For Teachers (Day 13)

Topic:
Name the top edtech tools that you use on a consistent basis in the classroom, and rank them in terms of their perceived (by you) effectiveness.

1. Schoology
2. twitter
3. All things GAfE (kind of cheating but docs, spreadsheets, forms, sites)
4. Screencasting tools (airserver & quick time)
5. iMovie

Schoology

We are a 1:1 iPad school so using a good LMS is important, I think Schoology is growing, and growing fast. So my hope is that they will continue to develop their app for schools like ours that the students are largely using only the app to access the content. I would love for the app to function more like the browser version, and they have promised that is their mission in the next year or so. I love that it is a more robust LMS than edmodo (of which I used for several years before moving to Schoology). 

I am pleased with the course content building, and the quiz/test features, again more robust then other LMS's I have seen. I am constantly learning knew ways to use the system and increase the productivity for my students. Also, am really loving the access and tools for parents as well. The e-mail digest feature that I learned about at the first ever Schoology #NEXT14 conference in Denver this summer by the fantastic Cherry Creek School District was a revelation. 

Looking forward to teaching my Tech Guru's about how to create content on the platform and start building Parent Learning modules for even more interaction for the community.

Twitter

So I use twitter in the classroom to send out reminders to my students about homework, class announcements, and generally just to get my class and content "in their face" as much as possible. Let's face it, students are on social media platforms and gorge themselves on the information, if I can go to where they are then I am more likely to get my message across. 

I also use twitter in the classroom to talk to like minded people and get ideas for curriculum and connections for the students. 

GAfE

I use google forms to collect data and information from my students like it is going out of style. I also use google docs for the writing process, the amount of revision and really high quality work I am able to get from my students is amazing. I also have my students build google sites, and use it as their e-portfolio for proficiencies. 

Flipping Tools

Airserver for iPad app tutorials

Screencasting tools

Prior to the move to a Macbook I used screencastomatic.com to create my screencasts for my flipped videos. Now that I have a Mac I use quicktime for all my screencasting needs. 

Because my Tech Guru's and myself make tutorials for iPad apps and use of the iPad we also use Airserver for screencasting what we are doing on our iPads. 

iMovie

I have enjoyed getting to know iMovie and making my flipped videos that much more edited and professional looking. Sometimes if I am not careful I go down the rabbit hole and spend too much time editing and adding junk that isn't really needed for the videos. In the end I enjoy using this for the easy upload capabilities.