Loop is an interesting new student response system that I just found out about from Richard Byrne's blog. The way this works is by educators creating an online classroom and then posting questions for students to answer. Students can then respond via a emoji, words, or selecting an answer. This is a great way for educators to assess student learning and even differentiate instruction.
BoomWriter is a terrific site that I’ve written about many times because it lets elementary, middle, and high school teachers conduct non-fiction, fiction, and vocabulary development group-writing/collaborative activities in almost any subject area. BoomWriter is an innovative learning tool that educators everywhere are using for project based learning and turn students into published writers.
DataCamp is a free mobile (iOS/Google Play) to learn coding for: SQL, Python, and more. This is done through a game based learning interface through 5 min courses. This is a great way to integrate STEM into the classroom and learn more advanced programming/coding languages.
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.
AR-kid: Space is an excellent iOS app for kids ages 4 on up and uses augmented reality to teach about Space. This is done through a robot named Cosmo who narrates through 4 different aspect of space: (i.e. rocket, orbit, moon, and solar system). This is all done using augmented reality where a kid interacts w/ virtual rockets, moon landings, etc.
Modern Chalkboard is a wonderful new free site for finding SMART board resources. This is a great place to find interactive lessons on a wide variety of subjects such as: Math, Grammar, Science, Social Studies, and more Also, this is a nice place to find other resources such as links and help files.
Walnut is a excellent new site/app for finding educational videos and then taking quizzes to assess learning. This is done through a very easy-to-use interface where all the videos are curated for education where student's can then take quizzes that uses a game based learning interface. Best of all, Walnut makes it easy for teachers to assess student learning and differentiate instruction.
Photos for Class is an excellent site that is ideal for finding safe images for students. This search engine uses Flickr safe search as well as some built in filtering to find Creative Common licensed images. Best of all when a user clicks download the image gets cited automatically w/ the proper licensing terms.
Mobile Permissions is a fantastic new free tool for educators to virtual send parents permissions slips. Mobile Permissions makes it easy for teachers to send any type of permission slip form to a parents/guardians phone or mobile device. They can then electronically sign and submit payment while educators can track/monitor to it all from their teacher portal. Finally, they can reuse already created slips for future periods or classes.
NameCoach is a wonderful web service that educators are using to learn student's names and pronounce them correctly. This is especially useful w/ school starting up and teachers want to learn the correct way to pronounce their student's names. 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.
Chegg has long be one of my favorite sites for buying, selling, or renting textbooks/eBooks as well as finding homework help. Recently, they just announced the launch of their new site Cheg Prep, which is fantastic for creating and finding flashcards. Chegg has acquired StudyBlue which was one of the world's leading flashcard creators for education. Students and teachers can create multimedia flashcards as well as search through over millions of flashcards already created on any given subject for free.
Answerables the innovative educational tool that combines the best features of game based learning w/ a learning management system has just released their free iPad app. Answerables is being used by educators in a variety of ways from collaborating w/ other classes, to browsing the web, all in a secure 3D virtual environment.
Math Attax is a super-fun free mobile (iOS/Google Play) Math game that helps students w/ their basic Math skills (i.e. addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.). This is a 2 player game where students move their player up/down a grid while trying to shoot the correct answer to a equation. Also, they can freeze the other player and reset their score. The first to reach the target number at the bottom of the screen wins. Also, there is a tournament mode w/ three different games.
Boddle is a new online platform that uses Game Base Learning to help teach core subjects to students. Right now Boddle is in a pilot phase where they only have Math (grades 1st-6th) but will be adding more subjects soon. Best of all, Boddle has an educational portal which tracks students progress, generates detailed reports, and makes it easy to differentiate instruction.
DOGOnews is an excellent site for creating Reading assignments for grades K-8 that can then be integrated into Google Classroom. This is done through 1000s of curated educated articles in a wide variety of subjects (i.e. Science, History, Current Events, etc.) where educators can then select lesson plans, create assignments, and help students increase their Reading and Vocabulary skills.