Edublog Awards 2013

It's that time of year again for us educators w/ a blog or public forum to nominate our favorite blogs, educators, web tools, etc in a wide variety of categories for the coveted Edublog Awards.  Below you'll find my list and of course I wish everyone the best of luck!!! :-)

• Best Individual Blog - Shelly Terrell (Teacher Reboot Camp)
• Best New Blog - Karen Wright-Balbier (Karen's Korner: Using Tech to Teach and Learn)
• Best Ed Tech/Resource Sharing Blog - Erin Klein (Kleinspiration)
• Best Teacher Blog - Stacey Roshan - (techieMusings)
• Best Administrator Blog - Kelly Tenkley - (iLearn Technology)
• Best Twitter Hashtag - #edchat
• Best Free Webtool - Buncee
• Best Educational Use of audio/video/visual podcast - Ladygeeks 
• Best Open PD/Unconference/Webinar Series - Reform Symposium (RSCON)
• Best Educational use of a Social Network - TechinEDU
• Best Mobile App - FluencyFinder 
• Lifetime Achievement - Naomi Harm 

To nominate your own candidates or for more info on the Edublog awards click here.

Geddit

Geddit is a new educational tool that I just found out about from Edshelf.  This is a wonderful site that allows students to use any mobile device to gauge their understanding of any given topic/lesson.  The way this works as a lesson is being given they click/tap a on bar (think bar graph increasing vertically) to show their understanding (i.e., 1 bar - not very - 4 bars - very).  On the the teacher's device they will receive instant real-time feedback and be able to see which students are doing good and which ones are struggling.  This is a great way for teachers to differentiate instruction and adjust their lessons to meet individual needs.

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

Below is a brief demo...

eLearning Infographics

eLearning Infographics is an excellent site for finding educational infographics.  Not only can a user search for infographics in a wide range of topics a person can submit their infographics as well.  Once a user finds their infographic, they can print it out, share it w/ others, or even embed it into their site/blog.

I highly recommend checking out eLearning Infographics by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational Resources click here.

Chegg

Chegg is fantastic sites for students as it has a ton of useful resources for college aged students.  This is a great place for students to explore courses, find homework help, and buy/sell/rent textbooks.  All a student has to do is get a quote, ship the books for free, and then await payment when the book is received.

I highly recommend checking out Chegg to sell textbooks.

Hakitzu Elite: Robot Hackers

Hakitzu Elite: Roboto Hackers is a fun iOS game that I just found out about from Edshelf.  In this game players battle robots against others while learning how to program them w/ JavaScript.  As a player gets better in coding they are able to unlock extra items such as levels and more.

I recommend checking out Hakitzu Elite by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Learning how to Program/Code click here.

Math vs Undead

Math vs Undead is a fun educational iOS app that combines what kids love zombie, w/ Math.  This is a great game for practicing basic Math skills such as: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and more. Ideally this game is for 3rd - 8th graders and has students trying to stop zombies by solving Math equations.

I highly recommend checking out Math vs Undead by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.
For my Edshelf collection on Educational iOS Apps click here.

My Geometric Universe

My Geometric Universe is a cool iOS app for helping students draw geometric shapes.  This works by supplying a bunch of drawing tools such as: pencil, ruler, compass, etc etc.  Once a shape is created it can then integrated into one of three digital environments: kids room, Middle Ages, or Ancient Egypt.

I highly recommend checking out My Geometric Universe by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.

Phrasalstein

Phrasalstein is a free iPad app after my own heart.  This app designed by Cambridge University Press, is a fantastic app that helps students learn vocabulary and phrases in a fun mid-evil/horror setting.  The way this works is a user selects a verb and a preposition and then watch as an animation occurs.  Also, there are definitions, examples, and exercises that students can complete to help reinforce their Language Arts skills.

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

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.

Quizsocket

Quizsocket is a nifty little site that I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers.  This site is designed for educators to assess students in real-time by having them login to a site (teacher generated code) on any device and then answering questions.  A teacher can give these multiple choice quizzes either orally or on a board and then have students answer on their code specified Quizsocket page.  One item to note, is that a quiz can not be created on Quizsocket it is only used for gathering answers and assessing students in real-time.

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

For my Pinterest board on Quiz/Test Creators click here.

Otter

Otter is a neat little site that I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers for creating a teacher webspace/page to host information for students.  This site allows educators to create a space where they can create events, add them to calendar, share announcements, and upload files/homework.  While it might not be as robust as other sites like Weebly or Wix, it does create a nice place to create an online syllabus.

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

For my Pinterest board on Website Creators click here.

Google Play for Education

Google Play for Education is a new dedicated online store that looks to be competing w/ Apple in using Android apps on Google tablets.  I've known about Google Play for awhile but recently read on ClassThink that Google Play is now available.  This is fantastic curated site for educational Android apps.  Best of all, a school using Google Play for Education can purchase an app online and then push them out to other devices.  Or they can create a "image" of a tablet and using a built in service on the tablet to transfer it to another.

I highly recommend checking out Google Play for Education by clicking here!!!

Below is a brief demo...

Sentence Reading Magic

Sentence Reading Magic is a wonderful free iOS app that I just found out about from Edshelf.  This is a great app for beginning Readers that helps them build sentences as well as work on their Reading skills.  For building sentences a student has to move the words into the correct position and the Reading section has users reading a sentence (2-3 words) and then tapping on a picture to see if they are correct.

I highly recommend checking out Sentence Reading Magic by clicking here!!!

World's Worst Pet

World's Worst Pet is an excellent free iPad app for vocabulary.  This common core aligned app lets students play through 4 different games to learn over a 1000 words.  This is done through a variety of activities such as: word context, word sort, synonyms and antonyms.  Finally, there is a nice section on writing prompts which is ideal for educators looking to spark students creativity in writing.

I highly recommend checking out World's Worst Pet by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.
For my Edshelf collection on Educational iOS Apps click here.

15 Sites and Apps for Augmented Reality

"Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. (Wikipedia)"  AR has been around for awhile but is really starting to garner interest in the educational community/sector.  Using augmented reality is a great way to incorporate 21st century technology into the classroom using different types of apps, sites, and equipment.

15 Sites/Apps for Augmented Reality

1. AR Dinopark - A fantastic iOS app for bringing augmented reality dinosaurs to life.
2. AR Flashcards - One of the most popular sites/apps for using augmented reality.  An educator can choose from a wide selections of flashcards to print out w/ AR images built in to view on a mobile device.
3. ARSights - A fantastic site that incorporates AR w/ Google Earth and allows users to view landmarks in augmented reality.
4. Augment - A free iOS app for viewing 3D AR models.
5. Augmented Reality Brings New Reality to Learning - a fantastic article from Edutopia on how to integrated AR into the classroom.
6. Aurasma - Probably the most popular site/app for viewing augmented reality images.
7. colAR Mix - A great free iOS app that turns a AR enabled coloring book into a 3D augmented reality experience.
8. Daqri - A free iOS app that enables user to view 4D augmented reality enabled images.
9. Fetch! Lunch Rush - A free iOS app that is a fun multi-player game where players try to keep up w/ the sushi orders.
10. Junaio - A augmented reality browser that lets users view AR enabled images.
11. Our Discovery Island: Phonic Tricksters - A fun free iOS app that uses augmented reality to learn phonics by capturing Tricksters.
12. PopAR Viewer - A great free iOS app that allows users to view augmented reality objects as well as create books, cards, puzzles, and more.
13. Science AR - A fantastic iOS App for viewing educational AR enabled posters.
14. Wikitude - A very popular AR browser to view augmented reality objects.
15. Zoo-AR - A fun iOS app for viewing animals and insects in augmented reality.

Bonus - Drew Minock & Brad Waid are the famous educators of Two Guys and Some iPads and are leading the way into integrating augmented reality into the classrooms.

For my Pinterest board on Augmented Reality click here.

Google Connected Classrooms

Google Connected Classrooms is a new learning adventure by Google that allows educators to take students on "virtual field trips" using Google Hangouts inside of Google+.  These field trips can take students to museums, zoos, memorials and more.  Also, there is a nice calendar that shows which field trips are coming up, and all field trips are archived for viewing at any time.

Thanks to David Andrade's great blog for the tip!!!

I highly recommend checking out Google Connected Classrooms by clicking here!!!

Below is a brief demo...

QuickCast

QuickCast is a nice free screen casting app for Mac (10.7) that I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers.  It allows users to record up to 3 min and then share via unique URL or embed into a site/blog.














I highly recommend checking out QuickCast by clicking here!!

Voki Classroom

Voki Classroom is a new educational portal from the very popular avatar creation tool, Voki.  This is a wonderful safe way for educators to create a class w/ student accounts (no student email necessary) and then assign Voki based assignments.  Once a student completes an assignment a teacher can then preview/moderate which assignments can be displayed online or set them to private (ideal for COPPA).  Finally, there is a wide selection of lesson plans for educators to look through on the Voki Classroom portal.

I highly recommend checking out Voki Classroom by clicking here!!!

Shadow Puppet

Shadow Puppet is an excellent free iOS app for digital storytelling that I've known about for sometime but was kindly reminded via a promotional email.  This is fantastically simple app for students to use to create digital stories by adding their photos and then recording their voice over for narration.  Best of all, a finished story can then be embedded into a site or blog.

Click here for an example of a digital story created by Shadow Puppet.

I highly recommend checking out Shadow Puppet by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Digital Storytelling Sites/Apps click here.
For my Edshelf collection on Digital Storytelling Sites/Apps click here.

The Time Tribe

The Time Tribe is a new (beta) site that I just found out about from Graphite that is ideal for Gamfification.  This is a free site geared for students 5th on up for learning about History and different cultures/artifacts.

Here are some more benefits to using Time Tribe in the classroom...

• Immerse them in culture and past ways of life
• Help them imagine what it was really like to live in the past, while exposing them to new ideas and ways of life
• Prod them to consider complex issues from multiple viewpoints
• Foster empathy and responsible global citizenship
• Empower them to crave a personal path through an epic story

Below is a brief demo...

I highly recommend checking out The Time Tribe by clicking here!!!

Blendspace

Blendspace is a site I just found out about from Edshelf that reminds me a bit of MentorMob.  This is a site that allows educators to create interactive lesson plans by adding digital content such as videos in one location.  Also, a teacher can use Blendspace to assess and monitor students in real-time as well as give them online quizzes.

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

Below is a brief demo....