Top Tech Tool For iPad and Chromebooks

We have multiple devices in our district.  I am often asked "What tool can I use for..." and then the task is unveiled.  With that, I decided to create a Top Tech Tool Infographic.

I chose the Pro version of Piktochart for creating the interactive infographic.  The amount of icons to choose from and the ease of uploading my images was fantastic.  To make all the images uniform, I chose to use Publisher to create a shape on a document.  I was able to right click on the shape and format the shape with a "fill in effect" of a picture.  I then saved that picture as a new picture.  Worked perfectly.

A huge thank you to Tony Vincent for inspiring me to finally put this together.  His "Show What You Know" was the motivating factor for creating something that can be used by our district and the educational world.  I love his infographic because it provides tools for creating assessment pieces of knowledge.  I included a number of other "tech tasks" that always seem to be asked of me.  Reviewing each of these tools helps to support our teachers, because they can spend less time finding the tool and more time creating with it.  This impacts students in their educational setting.

I will continue to update the infographic if and only if a more efficient tool finds its way into my educational learning environment.

I have created a number of options that join the Top Tech Tool Infographic Family.

• The Top Tech Tool Infographic (Full Size)
• The PDF of the Infographic (Tools Not Accessible Through Links)
• The JPG of the Infographic (Tools Not Accessible Through Links)
• The JPG of the Infographic in High Resolution (Tools Not Accessible)

SQWORL Perfect Tool For SMARTER Balanced Conversation

Today, I will be leading a SMARTER Balanced discussion and prep for mathematics teachers.  Immediately, I thought of the new tech tool, SQWORL!  This tool allows for multiple URLS to become one URL.  The benefit of SQWORL is that a visual thumbnails are present with the link and a description.

VIEW THE SQWORL of SMARTER Balanced Assessment 
Resource Includes:

• History of SMARTER Balanced
• Company Making SMARTER Balanced
• Wisconsin's DPI FAQ
• SMARTER Examples
• SMARTER Prep Questions
• DAN MEYER's Geometry & Algebra Curriculum

One negative: All of the thumbnails are not being grabbed from the resources.  Hoping over time that thumbnails will show up.

Implementing Tech Checklist

Using a great app, Comic Life, that I learned about from @langwitches , I created a checklist for teachers to remember the process for implementing tech while getting help.  I realize that it may be simplistic, but it was the first idea that came to me while using this great tool.

I will be sending this in an email, placing it on our best practice site, and printing SOME paper copies to hand out to teachers.

I really like how the Comic Life app worked.  It was easy to use and allowed for some great font, colors, and effects.  While the cost of the app is pretty significant, $4.99, I think it could be a great checklist creation app.

Teachers could create some digital, visually appealing checklists for students on problem-based learning.  The sky's the limit for the type of lists that could be made.