Storyboard That Gif Update

Storyboard That the world's leading storyboard creator that educators everywhere are using for: project based learning, timelines, graphic organizers, digital storytelling, and more, just released a neat little feature that allows storyboards to be turned into animated gifs.  Gifs are a great way to take your "digital" story to the next level by creating a short animation that can be used in any number of ways (i.e. show a math concept, recreate a historical event, etc.).

I highly recommend checking out how to turn a Storyboard into a animated Gif by clicking here!!!

*Storyboard That is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Help Teaching

Help Teaching is an excellent site for educators, parents, and others looking for educational resources such as quiz/test creators, online assessments, or worksheets/printables.  These printables are for K-12 and cover a wide range of subjects.  Also, there is a test/virtual room where students can take online assessment and get results in real time.

I highly recommend checking out Help Teaching by clicking here!!!

For my Printerest Board on Educational Resources click here.

*Help Teaching is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

ShowMe

ShowMe is an excellent free mobile (iOS, Android, Chromebook) app for creating beautiful looking screencasts, or "flipping" a lesson/classroom.  ShowMe provides an interactive whiteboard to allow educators or students to create lessons, presentations, etc. while recording and narrating their own voiceover.  Best of all, a finished product can then be shared online in ShowMe's educational community where other users can find, share, or embed, other screencasts.

Below is a brief video...



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

Book Creator

Book Creator is a fantastic (iOS/Chrome) app that educators are everywhere to create and share eBooks.  This is done using a very user-friendly interface that makes it easy to creating stunning presentations, digital stories w/ the ability to record audio, projects, and more.  Teachers are using Book Creator for project based learning, digital storytelling, and much much more.  Book Creator can be used to teach any subject or grade level and can be published online, downloaded as an eBook, or
even printed.

Below is a brief demo...



I highly recommend checking out Book Creator by clicking here!!!

For a detailed review on how to use Book Creator for digital storytelling check out Monica Burn's excellent blog.

*Book Creator is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Education Galaxy

Education Galaxy is an innovative online platform for helping students grades K-6 achieve mastery/success in their subjects.  This is done in a through a wide variety of ways such as: game based learning, interactive problems, and more.  Also, Education Galaxy makes it easy to assess student's performance and differentiate instruction through their online portal.  Students can even use Education Galaxy for "self paced learning" as any question that is answered wrong a detailed explantation is given to help reinforce learning.  Finally, there is an adaptive learning program called Liftoff that helps struggling students improve in their "difficult" areas and promote confidence.

Below is a brief demo...



I highly recommend checking out Education Galaxy by clicking here!!!

Buncee

Buncee is the fantastic all-in-one tool that schools have been using for a number of years in a wide variety of ways such as: digital storytelling, as an assessment tool, differentiating instruction, flipping a lesson, project based learning, and much much more.  Also, Buncee has lots of educational resources, templates, lesson plans, and more to help teachers integrate Buncee into any curriculum.  Best of all, the educational portal allows educators to track and monitor student progress,
create/assess assignments, and much much more.

Buncee 3.0 Features include:

• Canvas Sizing - Now there are lots of more options for users to customize their canvas then just the standard 16:9 rectangle.  Users can now choose from other sizes such as: banner, letter, square, business card, or even custom, to offer endless possibilities of creativity.

• New Media Options - Standard media options such as: videos, audio, graphics, and more, have been taken to the next level to give student's the most options to express them creatively.  New Media Options include: emojis (ideal for Social-Emotional Learning), take photos, and shape tools to make it easier to add them w/out having to search through existing clip-art.

• New and Enhanced Creation Tools - These tools will give users the ultimate experience to share and create stories in a new and exciting ways.  Some new features include: enhanced drawing (i.e. the ability to draw over layers, etc.), enhanced text editing to give users more control over their text and customize it, opacity (to make a item solid or transparent), zoom in/out, hide and show panels, undo and redo buttons, and much more.

• Buncee Boards - This features allows users to share, collaborate, and provide feedback never seen before in Buncee.  Students can now comment and provide feedback on their peers work by adding comments or Buncee emoticons.  Also, users can share Buncee's via a unique URL and set permissions on who can view/edit their work.

Below is a brief demo...

Be sure to check out the highly esteemed educator Stacey Roshan to read her detailed review on Buncee 3.0.

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

*Buncee is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

I Know It

I Know It is a fantastic new site from Super Teacher Worksheets for interactive Math lessons grades K-5th.  This is a super fun easy to use site for practice on a wide range of topics, such as: place value, multiplication, counting coins, time, and more.  Best of all, I Know It, allows a educator to assign lessons and track student progress to make it easy to differentiate instruction.

I highly recommend checking out I Know It by clicking here!!!

Below is a brief demo...



*I Know It is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

EDpuzzle

EDpuzzle the world's leading tool for "flipping" a classroom or lesson has been hard at work w/ new features and updates to make it easier and even better for teacher to integrate in their classroom.

Improved Features...

• Main My Classes section:
• Cleaner and simpler design.
• Notifications which alerts teachers teachers to which assignments/videos requires a teachers attention.
• Specific assignment page:
• Easier to preview video for teachers to double-check videos.
• Possibility to quickly edit the title of the assignments
• Easy to update/change due date
• Grading an assignment:
• Teachers will now be able to see formulas and images when grading an assignment.
• Teachers will be able to see the feedback they left in every question for easier grading
• Option to quickly grade all answers as correct (TIME SAVER!)
• Inclusion of time spent. This means that the teacher will know exactly how much time the students spent watching the video. This is ideal for 1:1 conversations with students to push them to work harder on their assignment to get better results.
• Gradebook:
• All teachers will now get access to this feature for free. It's not premium anymore. This means teachers will now be able to see the progress of their students across multiple videos with just one click. 
• On top of that, teachers will be able to select the range of dates they want to have this information (weekly, monthly, quarterly, or picking the dates). 
• Export all the grades to a CSV file.
• To make grading easier, we have included a Total score and Total time spent across all the videos assigned to the student.
• Ideal for formative or summative assessment.
• Main improvements coming up the end of July:
• Enable teachers to assign to individual students. This is something that we have worked really hard to build. Teachers will be able to truly differentiate their instruction. Instead of assigning to a "class" in Edpuzzle, they will be able to assign to a few students.
• Enable to create subgroups.

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

*EDpuzzle is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

VideoClass

VideoClass is a great site for educators and students to find educational videos on any number of subjects.  Also, teachers can upload their own videos and even charge others to download their videos.  Best of all, VideoClass provides a tool to allow users to record their own computer screen to create their very own screencasts.

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

Projector Screen

Projector Screen is a great site for educators or parents looking to find screens, projectors, cables, and more for home or their classroom.  Also, this is an ideal place to find good deals and other resources such as: how to build a home theater or how a green screen works.

I highly recommend checking out Projector Screen by clicking here!!!

*Projector Screen is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Popped

Popped is an interesting new (beta) site for creating a story, screenplay, or choose-your-own-adventure.  The user interface takes a bit of getting used to but is similar to texting/chatting.  However, there is a nice walk-through to help beginners get started.  Finally, users can add chapters and audio to help "liven" up their digital story.

I highly recommend checking out Popped by clicking here!!

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo's blog for the tip.

Chronicle Cloud

Chronicle Cloud is an innovative educational all-in-one iOS app for teachers.  Educators can use Chronicle Cloud in a number of different ways such as: assessing (using their "traffic light" system), note-taking, providing feedback, and much much more.  Also, being on the "cloud" teachers can collaborate and share best "teaching" practices in an easy way.

I highly recommend checking out Chronicle Cloud by clicking here!!!

It's Back - The Writing Bee!

BoomWriter Media recently announced they will once again be providing the writing platform for The Writing Bee.  This event is made available for free to classrooms, schools, and school districts around the world to participate.  What's new for this year's event is the addition of a middle school Writing Bee that will take place concurrently with the Elementary Grade Writing Bee.  Qualifying Rounds for both events will begin this February and continue through May with the Writing Bee Finals scheduled to take place in June.

This year's Writing Bee features Nick Bruel, author of the Bad Kitty series, for the Elementary Grades as well as civil rights icon and former Black Panther Jamal Joseph inspiring students with their creation of spoken word-orientated content in the Middle School Writing Bee.  Following on the momentum generated by previous years' celebrity guest author Jeff Cohen from the Goonies and Jeff Kinney from The Diary of a Wimpy series, this year's authors promise to deliver the biggest and most  interactive Writing Bee to date!

The Writing Bee represents a unique way for teachers to engage all of their students in reading and writing both within and beyond the school day.  School districts, schools, or even individual classrooms can conduct their own local "Qualifying" Writing Bee using the prompts provided by the respective guest authors.  Elementary grade students will use BoomWriter to complete subsequent chapters of a story created by Nick Bruel.  This story will then be published and include the names of all participating students.  Middle School Writing Bee participants will view video prompts provided by Jamal Joseph on BoomWriter offering instruction, inspiration and the themes around which the students will be creating their original spoken word-orientated content.

As with past years' Writing Bees, teachers have the option of providing personalized feedback to students once they've submitted their work in order for them to conduct revisions before the submissions go into the voting portion of the event.  During voting, students review the anonymous submissions of their peers in small batches and cast votes for their favorite/s.  Students who win their class, school, or district's qualifying rounds, as well as each event's top vote-getters, then qualify for The Writing Bee Finals.  This knock-out style competition takes place in June with participants from around the world submitting their work and competing to become the Elementary and Middle School Writing Bee Champions and receive a $2,000 college savings scholarship!

There's a great buzz around this event (pardon the pun), but it really serves as a great way to get kids excited about writing.  Keep in mind the last year's Writing Bee did reach capacity, so if you want your students to have the chance to participate you should go to the Writing Bee site as soon as possible and register your class, school, or district.

NameCoach

NameCoach is a wonderful web service that educators are using to learn student's names and pronounce them correctly.  This is especially useful w/ commencement/graduation ceremonies on the horizon.  The way this works is simple as a teacher creates a name/web page and then has the student's speak their names.  The audio gets embedded into a page and a user can access them all on one page at anytime.  Also, NameCoach makes it very easy to share recordings and keep track of student's name/email.  It's easy, accurate, and 100% safe for schools to use.

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

Below is a brief demo...



*NameCoach is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.educational resources