For the Love of Technology

              Last week, educational technology brought tears to my eyes, as it often does. However, this time, they were tears of happiness not frustration. I was in the office when a new student, who had enrolled that morning, was being picked up by her father after her first day. Brianna is from Brazil and speaks little to no English. She was surrounded by girls chatting and laughing. Upon closer inspection, every girl had their phone out. They were using the Google Translate app to communicate with her. A huge language barrier was nothing to them. They figured out a way around it, and made this girl feel at home.  The next day, I watched a student teach an eighth grade teacher how to use it to communicate. This experience struck a chord with me this week as my classmates and I have been exploring technology that can be used to enrich and improve instruction in our classrooms.

                The technology we looked at this week touches every aspect of education.  One area of edtech is apps that aid in organization and record keeping. Rank One sports makes caring for our student athletes and organizing student activities significantly easier. Showbie, the paperless classroom app, has huge implications for teachers, students, and parents.  Teachers can assign tasks, provide feedback, and even collect assignments through this app. 

                There are several programs and apps that offer an alternative to your old power points. Emaze is an online presentation software that offers 3D zoom and moving backgrounds for free, and presentations can be accessed from anywhere.  Powtoon creates animated videos and presentations. It can be used by teachers to present to students or by students for classroom presentations. With Swivl, you  have a hands-free way to record lessons or presentations.  Use these in  a flipped classroom or embed them into a  presentation.  Apple TV has endless possibilities for the classroom. I have used mine for years to watch YouTube videos and Netflix, but never thought about the many uses it could serve in my classroom with my mobile device and all of the excellent presentation software that is available.

                Other apps engaged learners by enriching lessons.  Nearpod was one of my favorite edtech tools we looked at.  Nearpod allows teachers to immediately assess students’ learning and actively engages the students in discussion using technology.  Photomath was an excellent app that allows students to take a picture of a math problem. The app then solves the problem and shows all the steps.  Parents can use it to help students with difficult homework. Klikaklu was interactive picture treasure hunt that can be used with iPads or phones.  The Pebble Go program is an excellent resource for teaching elementary students research skills in a fun and appealing way. 

We even looked at apps to help students emotionally. SAM, Self-help Anxiety Management, is a psycho-educational app that allows students to manage and control anxiety. It can help identify times of the day that cause the most stress and offers ways to deescalate when anxiety occurs.

Like it or not, technology is and will continue to be a pervasive element in schools.  How can we use it to truly enrich the lives and learning experiences of our students?  Keep an eye open, and they just might show you a trick or two.