Weekend Learning

Happy Sunday! I hope this post finds you cozy in your PJs, sipping coffee, enjoying the company of loved ones while exploring new tech tools! I mean, that's what we all do on our weekends, right?! This weekend Tech Heather and I met with some of our fellow nerds from all over the Bay Area at EdCampSJ, a fabulous event where tech interested educators come together to share, learn, and talk tech. We picked up some fun tools that I wanted to pass along to our staff to explore.

EdCamp SJ Resources

• Voxer: Download the Voxer app on your cell phone and use it to send photos, videos, messages, and most importantly voice memos. Join a Voxer Ed Tech group to listen to what your techie colleagues are talking about. Similar to Podcasts, but more interactive. Send me a Voxer message (lblass548) and let's start a CMS Ed Tech Voxer group.

• Flippity: Need a fun and engaging SBAC review idea? Use Flippity to turn spreadsheets into Flashcards. Use Flippity Quiz Show to turn a Google Sheet into a Jeapardy style quiz show!

• Peardeck: The Nearpod of Google Apps, Peardeck allow you to turn your Google Slides into an interactive presentation for your students. Deliver your lesson on their devices, collect data instantly, and boost student interest and engagement! 

• Diigo: Collect information online from any device and store it in a central location. Add digital highlights and sticky notes. Share information with others. Similar to Evernote tool, but more robust annotating features that you and your students can use.

• TimelineJS: Create visually rich, interactive timelines using Google Sheets.

• Kaizena: Give your students valuable and meaningful voice feedback from within a Google Doc!

Webinar Resources
Our fellow techie Gloria was hoping to join at EdCamp, but instead found herself stuck at home with a cold watching tech webinars. Gloria passed along the tools she discovered this weekend, which are featured below.

• Google Earth Pro (free subscription): Click here for a Livebinder with more information on this tool to take virtual field trips! Ask Gloria about using layers.

• Google Cultural Institute: Explored mapped museums and art collections from all over the world online!

Tech challenge!!!
Recently Jacobi discovered dubsmash.com, a tool that allows you to put your face to any audio. We love this tool, but are at a loss for how it could be used to support instruction. Any ideas?! Perhaps this one is too much of a stretch? Watch this video to witness Jacobi's Dubsmash skills:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! As always, please let me know how I can support you in technology integration.