Edtech Throwdown

Episode 171: 6 Tools Tips and Tricks to Blast off Your School Year

Welcome to the EdTech Throwdown This is episode 171 called “6 Tools Tips and Tricks to Blast off Your School Year” In this episode, we’ll talk about the end of summer time crunch and 6 of our favorite edtech recommendations to help blast off your school year! This is another episode you don’t want to miss. Check it out.

Segment 1: Intro

Narrative: Crunchtime and PD Days are here!

Segment 2: 6 Tools

Nick:

• Flaticon for AI guideline markers. Switching from noun project to flaticon. They have way more stuff. All my assignments this year will have different icons to indicate to the students how AI can be used on this type of assignment.
• Using AI as a tutor. Last night ChatGPT helped my wife learn how to reformat 7000 lines of data and then set up formulas based on that data for a work project.
• Tables in Google Sheets: With tables, you can simplify and accelerate spreadsheet building by bringing format and structure to unorganized ranges. By selecting your data range and going to Format > Convert to table, Sheets now does the heavy lifting to format and organize data with a polished design including column types, filters, color coding, dropdown menus and more.

Guise:

• Diffit has eduprotocols
• Writer Igniter https://diymfa.com/writer-igniter/
• Canvastera

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Welcome to the EdTech Throwdown This is episode 170 called “Back To School & Refreshing Your Edtech Mindset.” In this episode, we’ll talk about how we are preparing to wrap up summer and get ready for the start of the school year. An important part of this is the refreshing of our edtech mindsets - listen in to learn how we’re doing it! This is another episode you don’t want to miss. Check it out.

Segment 1:

Narrative: Getting ready to start the new school year.

Segment 2: Edtech Mindset & Opening Day Activities

• How will you be using Edtech this year? How is this different from years past?
• Nick: Focus on teaching problem solving and getting questions answered, rather than teaching how to use specific tools. So many updates all the time. Constantly changing tutorials and guides to keep up. Why! Instead, teach students to roll with these changes and use resources already there.
• Show them and provide links to website specific tech guides
• Teach them good phrases to google when it comes to tech help
• Ask AI tools for help
• Guise
• I am going to simplify and reduce the amount of tools that students use in the classroom
• Be aware of technology burnout
• 8 class periods a day 3 edtech tools per class = 24 edtech tools students may use
• What advice would you give to new and experienced teachers for using edtech this year?
• Nick: Stick with time-tested tools that have been around and are not likely to go away. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. For example, the recent locking away of Flip shows us that even popular tools can become out of reach.
• Be clear with your AI policies. Don’t be scared of the AI conversation
• What are some edtech activities/tools that you are looking forward to trying this year?
• Nick: Khanmigo for me and School.AI for my students.
• Guise
• MagicSchoolAI and Textblaze

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Edtech Throwdown

Episode 169: Edtech for Video Discussions AKA Replacers for Flip (Flipgrid)

Welcome to the EdTech Throwdown This is episode 169 called “Edtech for Video Discussions - AKA Replacers for Flip”. In this episode, we’ll talk about the ever popular Flip, formerly known as Flipgrid, as it is set to transition to Microsoft obscurity. Video discussions are a valuable tool, whether you’ll have access to Flip or not and this episode will teach you about them! This is another episode you don’t want to miss, check it out!

Segment 1:

Narrative: I recently had a teacher ask “what do you recommend we use in place of Flipgrid next year? Flip, formerly Flipgrid is going away …kind of

Video discussions is a weird segment of edtech because it doesn’t really exist outside of Flip (flipgrid)

Replacers are tough because there really aren’t any competitors for Flip that do this exact thing.

Segment 2:

Replacer options:

1. Padlet: Popular interactive learning space.
2. Detailed description: To start posting, double-click anywhere on the board. You can then drag and drop files, paste files, or use the Save As bookmark with Padlet mini. Alternatively, click the plus icon in the lower right corner to add content. You can upload images, videos, audio files, links, or documents. Padlet can be used in many ways, from a brainstorming board to a live question bank, limited only by your imagination. You can even make it collaborative, allowing your students to expand and enhance it with their creativity. Once you're ready, hit publish to share your Padlet. It can be integrated with apps like Google Classroom and various LMS options. Additionally, Padlet can be embedded on blogs or school websites.
3. Canva Presentations and video insert. Tell Ss to click Upload and Record Yourself so they can insert their own video. Use the other presentation space for comments and discussion.
4. Whiteboards would be great for this, but in Whiteboards, when you click Upload there is not a record yourself option.
5. Wakelet still incorporates the Flip camera - will this last … hard to say. There is a free version of Wakelet, but you’ll likely want the paid version.
6. Low “tech” version: Google Slides!
7. Book Creators video option
8. See-Saw video recording options. Seesaw combines instructional tools, standards-aligned lessons, student portfolios, and inclusive communication features. Some teachers use Seesaw primarily as a place for students to share their work, and specifically encourage individual reflection and peer feedback. Seesaw becomes a place not only where student work