Three Tech Tools I Like


I'm proud to be a part of the ISTE leadership network. I am a member of several communities and believe that contributing to the proper use of educational technology.  

One of my goals this year is to explore the good and bad uses of educational technology. Too often, I am caught up in a new tool because it promises something or looks impressive only to find that its use is very limited or that it is too much work to learn, too time consuming for my students to use in class, or is so limited in the "free" version that it is useless.  

The truly good technology is rare and when I find it, I want everyone to know about it. I have a few of these tools that I'm excited to use this year.

1. Nearpod. This tool will always be among my tools, and I can't imagine going back to teaching without it.  The interface is easy to access, it's easy to transform an existing presentation into a Nearpod, and there are lots of features to add into the lesson to make it interactive and to get in the moment data from my students. 


2. Google Forms. This summer, I became a Level 1 Google Certified Instructor and in that training, I learned how to utilize Google Forms to gather data on my students and transform those data into a graphs that I can share with my students, their parents, or fellow teachers. This is a tool I will be using to gather data on my students throughout the school year. 

3. Canvas Mastery Paths. I began using the mastery paths feature on Canvas last school year, and plan to use it more this year as part of personalizing the learning for my students. One thing I want to explore is using mastery paths in World History to allow students to explore world history via a play list of options based on their self-reported interests. 


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