Category: EdTech

VOKI: Speaking Avatars for Education

Why Voki?

Students can use Voki to create talking avatars that they can customize and easily share with a URL. Audio can be created through text-to-voice, their own voice recording, or an uploaded audio file. The free version does not even require a student account.

Upgrading to the paid version gets you more avatar choices and a closed classroom environment where teachers can post assignments and monitor student work. You can also upgrade to Voki Hangouts, which mirrors an online social network experience while giving teachers full control. Click here for more information on pricing.

How to use Voki?

Here is a tutorial from Dr. Sharon Mistretta on how to use Voki:

Examples of Voki in the Classroom

Teachers can use Voki avatars to create engaging lessons that address multiple learning styles. For example, students can access instructional material with written text and a talking avatar reciting the information for more auditory learners.

Voki is a powerful presentation tool for students to creatively share their learning. The avatars are customizable, so students can practice the design process for a given task. For example, students could create an avatar for a character from Greek mythology, using their research to inform their design. Then they could write the script for the avatar to tell a story about one of their adventures.

Resources for Voki

Collection of tweets from teachers showing how they used Voki
Blog featuring ideas for how to integrate Voki into your teaching
Free Lessons that use Voki
5 Innovative Ways to Use Voki in the Classroom

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

VECTARY: An Online 3D Modeling Tool


The Vectary motto is: “Grow creators, not consumers.”

Why Vectary?

This virtual makerspace gives students opportunities to engage in creative and critical thinking. They learn how to develop, problem-solve, revise, and persevere through the process of creation. They can even 3D print and see their designs come to life.

Something that makes Vectary stand out from similar tools is its special effects. For example, drawn objects can be texturized to look like photographs; you can even add lighting and shadows. Surfaces can be made reflective, so that as you tilt the object, it shows the reflection of other objects.

Vectary can also be a great collaborative tool. Students are able to work synchronously with one another in the same file and work as a team to produce designs.

What does it cost?

The free version of Vectary is quite limited. Users may only have three projects at a time and their only sharing/exporting option is to create an embedded link. However, Vectory is offering free premium accounts to schools! Click here and scroll waaaay down to the bottom to request an account.

How to use Vectary?

This video from Vectary is a great place to start:

Examples of Vectary

Click here for their online gallery.

Resources for Vectary

5 STEM Education Plans and Activities for Vectary
Vectary Tutorial Page
Teacher-Made Vectary Tutorials

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Quia: Assessments Made Easy!


Create your own educational games, quizzes, class Web pages, surveys, and much more! Explore and use millions of activities and quizzes created by educators from around the world.

Why Quia?

Quia has a complete online testing system with automatic grading, immediate feedback, and detailed reporting. It will automatically grade most question types, but for questions that require teacher input (such as an essay question), you can quickly grade only those questions for a given class. You also have the option to give partial credit or add feedback to the computer-graded questions.

Quia’s question labeling system allows you to tag or categorize individual questions so that you can analyze data on specific skills. For example, on a grammar test, you can see how students performed on just questions that dealt with identifying adverbs. You can also use your labeling to quickly create an assessment that pulls from a larger question bank. For example, you could create a 10-question quiz that randomly pulls 2 questions labeled with “appositives,”  2 questions labeled with “infinitives,” etc.

Quia also has templates for creating 16 types of online activities/games using your own content. For example, students can review for your test playing Battleship or Jeopardy. Quia increases student engagement and gives you data on how much time they spend using the activities.

Additionally, subscribers get access to millions of shared activities and quizzes in over 300 categories. These can be copied to your own account and edited as needed.

What does it cost?

There are thousands of free activities that you can access and share with students, but to create your own content, you must purchase a license for $99 a year. Definitely try out the 30-day free trial! The license is for one teacher with unlimited students. Discounts are available for groups of 10 instructors or more.

How to use Quia?

Tutorial Videos from Tamra Willis:

Examples of Quia

Try this U.S. History Civil War Jeopardy game or this Adjective vs. Adverbs Rags to Riches game. Want to see a quiz? Try out this Geology Assessment.

Here is a full list of Quia activities made by teachers. You do not need an account to play them and can even share them with your students – all they need is the link. Note that you will not receive any data on how the students performed without a paid account.

Resources for Quia

Quia Tour
Quia FAQ’s

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Flipgrid: Where Social Learning Happens

Image Source

“Flipgrid is where your students go to share ideas and learn together. It’s where students amplify and feel amplified. It’s video the way students use video. Short. Authentic. And fun! That’s why it’s the leading video discussion platform used by tens of millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families in 150 countries ” (Source).

Why Flipgrid?

Flipgrid provides a platform for students and educators to create a digital space for sharing their learning. A webpage is generated around a central topic, and then users upload their video responses, which are then visible to the other users. They can also post video reactions to each other’s postings. This makes Flipgrid a powerful tool for Making Thinking Visible with Technology.

There are robust instructor controls within the free version (Flipgrid One) such as password-protection, moderation, tracking student engagement, and transcripts. The paid version (Flipgrid Classroom) includes features such as unlimited grids and integrated assessment tools. Check out this post for more details on the differences between Flipgrid One and Flipgrid Classroom.

How to use Flipgrid?

The following video from It Worked will help you understand how to get started.

Examples of Flipgrid

The following video from Two Sassy Apples provides many examples of student work using Flipgrid.

Resources for Flipgrid

Interested in trying Flipgrid in your classroom? Checkout the websites below for great information.

17 Ways to Incorporate #FlipGridFever in Your Classroom
10 Ways to Enhance Math Lessons with Flipgrid

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Badgr: Show Your Achievements!


“A free and open source achievement recognition and tracking system used to issue, organize, and share Open Badges.” Source

Why Badgr?

Badgr is a program teachers can use to create and disburse a credential or a “badge” to signify a specific accomplishment or skill acquisition. The badges contain detailed descriptions of the recipients’ achievements and can link to evidence of their work. These badges can be collected by the student to build a personal portfolio or resume. Students can also post these badges via social media. Badgr API integrates into websites and applications such as Canvas (learning management system). Additionally, Badgr has “Learning Pathways,” which allow learners to build their personal learning network and see a map view of where they are in a curriculum.

Check out this video from the Chicago Art Department about the benefits of badges.

How to use Badgr?

How to Create a Badge

https://youtu.be/coltXaNOsE8

Resources for Badgr

The Teacher’s Guide to Badges in Education
Case Studies on Open Badge Use
The Open Badge Network
How to Gamify Your Class

Guest Blogger: Raina Burditt

Nearpod: Make Your Lectures Interactive

Teachers share a live session, students enter a code (no student accounts needed), and the lesson is synced to all devices.

Why Nearpod?

Nearpod also allows you to add interactivity and instant assessments to your presentation. Interactivity includes quickly polling students, annotating on their screens, completing matching pairs, trying out computer simulations, viewing 3D models, sharing collaboration boards, and more. You can also ask multiple-choice, open-ended, or fill-in-the blank questions. Additionally, Nearpod integrates with LMS’s like Google Classroom, Canvas, and Schoology.

How to use Nearpod?

You can create your lesson from scratch within the program or quickly import existing lessons (pdfs, jpegs, ppts). There are also many lessons available in the Nearpod library. You can choose to show or hide student names as you move through the activities. However, you will have a record of each student’s engagement and can even deploy a student-paced quiz through Nearpod. The program provides detailed analytics and reporting.

picture of computers with students receiving same information


Examples of Nearpod.

The following video from Nearpod provides an overview of the program.

Click here to explore lessons in Nearpod’s library.

Guest Blogger: Raina Burditt

Tech Buddies: Building Technology Skills through Peer Teaching

Take a look at this innovative practice used at John Barry Elementary School in Meriden, CT.

Explore more of this district’s useful resources.

7 Characteristics of Teachers Who Effectively Use Technology

“…Using technology in the classroom – and using it effectively – might require some slight adjustments on the part of the teacher to sustain the effort, creative problem-solving, and innovation required to actually improve learning through the use of technology. This occurs at the belief level–what teachers believe about technology, education, and their own abilities to manage technology.

“Looking at the characteristics of teachers that effectively use technology in the classroom, then, can be useful to create an “edtech” mindset–one that believes in purpose, adaptation, change, and meaningful planning.” — TeachThought

Click here to view the infographic of these seven characteristics.

Wonderful #EdTech Job Opportunity

Here’s a great job opportunity in an excellent school district working with wonderful people.

  • Curriculum Technology Teacher (CTT)
  • Arlington Community Schools
  • Arlington, TN

#edtech #mlearning #edchat