Pear Deck

Pear Deck is a cool educational tool that interacts w/ Google Chrome (extensions) or Google Drive to create interactive quizzes/slides/presentations.  The way this works is an educator creates a dynamic deck/slide w/ or w/out multiple choice questions, then has students join the sessions via their Google in Education domain or Chrome extension.  Then the teacher can ask questions and have students respond to them on their own devices.  This is ideal for Differentiating Instruction and assessing students in real-time.

I highly recommend checking out Pear Deck by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Differentiated Instruction click here.

Padlet Update

Padlet, formerly know as WallWisher, has just released a major update that will have a major impact in its use in education.  Thanks to Richard Byrne's award winning blog, I noticed that Padlet now will let users use a username to login rather then an email address.  This is ideal for schools where sites requiring a student email address is an issue (CIPPA/COPPA compliance).

For more information on Padlet's login change click here.

For my list of educational sites that don't require a student login click here.

Sanderling

Sanderling is a new social network for professional development.  This online community lets educators share their professional development stories as well as resources.  Members can also find a nice list o resources such as: lesson plans, reviews, articles/links, and more.

I highly recommend checking out Sanderling by clicking here!!!

Thanks to Technology & Learning for the tip.

For my Pinterest board on Social Networks in Education click here.

Tocomail

Tocomail is a site/app I recently covered that is ideal for having kids email in a safe environment.  Not only does this site have a built in filter for catching inappropriate words but it just recently updated their app w/ a bully filter which looks for patterns of bullying and then quarantines them for parents to look at.  This is just another safety feature for parents like controlling the contact list as well as viewing all emails that are quarantined.

I highly recommend checking out Tocomail by clicking here!!!

LOTR Map of Middle Earth

Recently, I came across a interactive Lord of the Rings Map of Middle Earth.  I know lots of schools and students are reading this so I thought I'd do a brief post on this.  This is a great place to find facts about the interesting locations in Middle Earth as well as being able to zoom in/out, click on items, and find out other interesting facts (i.e. age, population, life expectancy, etc.)  Also, there's an excellent timeline feature that people can use to find out info on all 5 books (Hobbit/Simarillion included).

I highly recommend checking out the interactive LOTR Map by clicking here!!

Gooru

Gooru is a fantastic online community for educators/students to share and create learning resources.  This is a great place for teachers to go to find educational resources that are aligned to Common Core Standards that have been reviewed and rated.  Also, educators can create custom collection and share them w/ others and students as well track/assess all students progress.  Finally, educators can create courses and share, view, and customize all resources to meet their needs.

I highly recommend checking out Gooru by clicking here!!!

Leo's Pad: Preschool Kids Learning Series

Leo's Pad is a wonderful series of interactive iPad apps that are ideal for Preschool aged kids.  This fun app has students playing along and develop emotional and cognitive skills appropriate for their age.  The stories follow along a young Leonardo Da Vinci as he goes on adventures and playing educational games.  The best aspect of Leo's Pad is the Parent's Pad that educators/parents can use to assess their students/kids and track what they are learning.  The Parent's Pad will track how their child is learning in over 80 different learning dimensions and help educators/parents focus on areas to help their child/student become better learners.

I highly recommend checking out Leo's Pad by clicking here!!!

Below is a brief demo...

Parent's Pad from Kidaptive on Vimeo.