Instructional Support and Training

There are tons of great websites offering educational videos all over the web. TED, Khan Academy, YouTube EDU, and that’s only the beginning. The videos on these sites typically contain TONS of great information, all of which we would love to remember (but often don’t!).

Enter Video Notes! This tool allows users to pull up the video they wish to watch and take notes on via the appropriate link. The video will appear on the left side of the screen, while a notepad appears on the right—enabling the user to take notes in the same window while watching the video! When finished watching the video and taking notes, both the video and the notes will be saved to the Google
Drive account, and easily accessible for future use!

If you have Google, this tool integrates with your Google Account, with the Google Drive App! It is automatically saved to your account, and easy to share and distribute to others! This is a great tool—if you plan on spending time this summer seeking potential videos to share with students in the fall, this would be a great way to bookmark the videos and take some quick notes on your ideas of incorporating it in class!

Yet another semester has come and gone, and now it’s on to summer! A great time to reflect on the school year, relax, and do some preparing for the fall (because it will be coming so quickly!).

As you all know, we have blogged about the Flipped Classroom and ways to get started in the past! Now that there is more time to spend looking into adapting new technologies and trying new things in the classroom, we’re sharing a new tool with you: Soo Meta.

This tool allows users to create a video presentation which includes photos, text, videos, and voiceover audio that can be added by using a microphone. This video can then be shared with anyone and embedded in websites, blogs and more. One of the new features of this tool incorporates polling and quizzes into your presentation. Add questions throughout the presentation, and those viewing it are able to respond directly by clicking their response.

Soo Meta is a tool that is great for both teachers and educators alike. In the flipped classroom setting, it has several great purposes! Educators can create a video presentation and then as a homework assignment, have their students go through the presentation and respond to the questions throughout to check for understanding of the material being presented. Students can create their own presentations as an interactive project to share with their peers.

Soo Meta is just one of the many tools that are great to incorporate into the flipped classroom! For more ideas, feel free to contact us!

We always love sharing infographics on the ways technology is being used in classrooms across the world, so we had to share this one we came across!

Check out this infographic, which takes on a different perspective that what we’ve shared before. It’s clear that incorporating technology into education is important to educators, students, and parents alike! However, budgets are decreasing, and many students attend schools in low income areas where these resources may be more limited. It’s important to provide all students with the opportunities to learn with technology and enhance their education. We’d love to hear some of your ideas on how to lessen the digital divide and increase access!