Category: Educational Technology

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

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

Classkick: Give Feedback in Real Time!

Why Classkick?

Teachers upload content (drawings, text, images, audio, links, or video) to ClassKick and then students interact with the content on their devices. Teachers  can view all the student screens on their own device and can provide individualized, real-time feedback or allow students to give each other anonymous feedback. Students can also digitally “raise their hand” for assistance. The program helps the teacher to see who needs help and allows the teacher to monitor how students are progressing through the assignment. This is a great tool for teachers who do not have classroom management software since it gives them some control over their students’ digital space.

How to use Classkick?

Tutorial Video from Amanda Moody:

What does Classkick cost?

The free version is very robust with unlimited assignments, the ability to give instant personalized feedback (and stickers!), as well as peer-to-peer feedback. The paid version adds automated questions with grading, the ability to export grades, class chat, and more. Click here to see more information including the pricing options for the upgraded version of ClassKick.

Examples of Classkick.

Check out the Assignment Library, to see how teachers are using Classkick to create innovative lessons. Each assignment has a corresponding blog post that breaks down the assignment to encourage intentional, thoughtful planning. You can also copy the lessons into your own Classkick account!

Resources for Classkick

Classroom Success Stories
5 Reasons to Use Classkick
How to Get Started in Classkick

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

NoRedInk: Building Strong Writers!

A fun, personalized, and adaptive tool to help students improve their grammar and writing skills.

Why NoRedInk?

Students select their sports, music, and/or movie interests and NoRedInk builds sentences that incorporate these interests. Students appreciate the personalization and are more engaged. Teachers assign specific topics, and whenever students make a mistake, NoRedInk instantly remediates and directs them to more practice on the same skill. It is truly mastery learning with students taking ownership of their own learning by identifying strengths and weaknesses and working to master individual skills.

Introduction video

How to use NoRedInk?

Teachers assign diagnostic quizzes to their students. Based on the results, teachers then assign tutorial-style lessons with adaptive mastery-based practice.  Students conclude with a summative quiz and the teacher can review the students’ overall mastery of various skills.

The free version contains only 20% of their curriculum, so there are several buy-up options. Click here to see the differences between the free and paid versions of NoRedInk.
Click here for a quickstart guide for NoRedInk.

Example of NoRedInk

Check out this video from Brad Scott that shows how students interact with the program.

Resources for NoRedInk

NoRedInk State and National Standards Alignment Guide
Classroom Integration Strategies

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.

21st Century Skills: It’s More Than Just Technology


“Given the growing ubiquity of [technology] in schools, as well as the increasing numbers of educators advocating for their use, it can seem as though education may have reached a tipping point when it comes to improving students’ 21st-century skills. According to the Partnership for 21st Century skills, these can be categorized as the 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.” — Beth Holland

Beth goes on to share that she has started to worry about the growing presence of what she calls the Fake Cs.

Source: EdWeek

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.