Edtech Training and Resources

Oh boy Quizizz! If there was only a single site that I could recommend to teachers, this would be it. Unlike Kahoot! which emphasizes full classroom participation, Quizizz is fully self-paced, allowing students to answer questions at the speed that is right for them. The "teleport" feature also makes it incredibly easy to quickly create custom reviews for concepts your students should know for your test - and Quizizz stores reports of every quiz you give in class, allowing you to pre-test/post-test and see class scores on question types and even individual scores for students. Its a fantastic tool for formative assessment and the expansive database of questions makes it very versatile. 

They have introduced some new "Super" features - which now lock some questions behind a paywall (somewhat annoying), but it is still my go-to for review or extra practice. 

Blooket, however, is a new challenger in this space. Their question base is not as robust, but this may change as more teachers transfer to this app. The diversity of review games is a plus, but detailed post game review functionality is locked behind a paywall.

I know this is the "fun stuff" section, but honestly, what is more fun than a spreadsheet? 

If you answered, "A real-time collaborative spreadsheet" - Hello, I'm Wesley. We should be friends.

Spreadsheet software is so ubiquitously useful that in every class I teach, students are given at least one assignment that requires them to use it. Here's an example from an IB Biology class. Google sheets is particularly helpful anytime data needs to be shared across groups. Here's an example from a physics class and you can see a global example of this on the World Wide Data Day page. 

A word of caution, spreadsheets are intimidating - both to teachers and students alike. Scaffolding is very important - give students clear steps on what to do and how to do it. As students become more comfortable with it, they will start to investigate shortcuts on their own, including using formulas, conditional statements, arrays and OOPS you've introduced them to programming!

Does your class have any vocabulary? Use Quizlet. 

The ability to quiz yourself is one of the most efficient study techniques, and flashcards are the simplest form of the self-quiz. Quizlet is the digital flashcard system. Like Quizizz (yes, you will get these confused), Quizlet has the ability to search definitions from other card sets when making your own. I personally shell out the $35 a year so I can maintain class vocabulary sets for vocab heavy courses like Biology, but you can have a fantastic Quizizz experience without giving into the paywall. 

The app is also very useful - a student with a smartphone should have quizlet installed on it. It is very easy for them to pull up a vocab set and review, even for a few seconds of downtime. 

Most importantly, Quizlet.Live changed the way I taught vocabulary to my students. The game implements all of the psychological tricks to get students to learn vocab terms quickly. - A competitive team game where they are uniquely responsible for their team's success, and a single wrong answer resets their score to the beginning. Put a set of unfamiliar terms on a quizlet live and play a few rounds and you will see how quickly students begin to pick up the material. 

Artsteps is a 3D/VR compatible virtual gallery that is a perfect place to showcase student work. 

Now artsteps does have its limitations such as long load times and the occasional broken link (you can see examples of this on the Innovation Day page), but when it works, few things can delight students (and parents) more than seeing their work proudly displayed on a fully navigable virtual museum. 

There are some alternatives that load easier on a browser, emaze in particular has some immersive templates, but for a fully virtual experience, artsteps is the way to go.

What mmhmm lacks in vowels, it makes up for in a robust and user friendly video app. 

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is the gold standard for video capture and on-the-fly editing. It's freely available, open source, and has a wide array of functions. It is, however, intimidating and carries with it a fairly steep learning curve. 

Enter mmhmm.

Mmhmm takes the features of OBS and gives it a clean, easy-to-use interface. It has auto-background removal (with or without a greenscreen). Easy scene changes, the ability to import files (so it works with your existing powerpoints or slides) and a library of virtual backgrounds make it perfect for recording lessons for a flipped classroom. 

Have you wanted to be able to search and post animated gifs into a zoom meeting? mmhmm lets you do that. 

There are premium features, but educators and students get them unlocked for free! 

I am a little salty that they chose to not hire me as a content creator, but dang it's still a good program, fun to use, and I just can't stay mad at anyone who gives free premium features to educators. If you have any desire to include video creation in your classroom, try this software out.