Tech Tools for HistoryJeff Astor – Simon Technology HS

Brilliant

• Free! Brilliant is one way to keep your science and math whiz kids regularly engaged and challenged. Students receive challenge problems each week that they complete and then compare against their peers all over the world. They can see where they match up against others based on country and age, and share strategies with others students. The site also hosts competitions involving game theory, writing algorithms, and other fun shenanigans.

Poll Everywhere

• Poll Everywhere creates stylish real-time experiences for events using mobile devices

• It's the easiest way to gather live responses in any venue: conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, tv, print — anywhere. And because it works internationally with texting, web, or Twitter, its simplicity and flexibility are earning rave reviews.

Screencast-o-matic

• Screencast-o-matic is a Java-based web application used to create screencasts on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.  Specific benefits of using Screencast-o-matic over other free screen recorders are the highlighted cursor and click indicators, ease of use, the ability to add captions easily, the ability for creators to add notes and for viewers to add comments, and the fact that there is no application to download.

Educreations

• Educreations is a recordable interactive whiteboard that captures your voice and handwriting to produce amazing video lessons that you can share online. Students and colleagues can replay your lessons in any web browser, or from within the app on their iPads. Check out the “showcase” on the homepage or the “Featured” tab in the iPad app to view some great lessons that other teacher have created with Educreations.

InstaEDU

• Free! Looking for a tutor?. InstaEDU is instant, providing an in-demand tutoring service that connects users with online tutors from top-tier universities. Simply enter in your desired subject for tutoring, and InstaEDU gives you a list of the highest-rated tutors on their site.

Coggle

• Free! Coggle aims to set itself apart from other mindmapping tools with an ultra-clean interface and user experience. Controls are a cinch -- add an unlimited number of parent/child nodes and watch as colors, grouping, and spacing are updated auto-magically to ensure the map is always easy to read and trace. You can optionally share mindmaps Google Drive-style, giving collaborators read/write privileges, or review the mindmap creation process with a handy timeline slider.

Blubbr

• Free! Blubbr provides an extremely slick interface that makes it easy for users to create video-based quizzes -- called "trivs" -- similar to those seen on TED-Ed and Teachem. The straightforward six-step process is as follows: 1) name your "triv", 2) search videos under a topic of your choice, 3) select a video, 4) use the entire video or crop to a specific section, 5) create at least four multiple choice questions related to the video, and 6) click 'I'm Done'. All "trivs" are made public and categorized so that any user can practice his or her "trivving" skills.

Aurasma

• Free! Available in the iOS and Google Play store, this app brings the magic of augmented reality to learners. Add a layer of video to an existing image, and voila! Learning comes alive. Aurasma is being used in classrooms to expand vocabulary, deepen conceptual understanding, and engage learners.

LearnZillion

• Free! As of 2013, LearnZillion has employed a team of 11 full-time employees and built up a collection of more than 2,000 video lessons created by teachers and organized by Common Core standard. It operates its learning platform – including short video lessons, assessments, and progress reporting – on a freemium model: teachers get free access.

MediaCore

Free! MediaCore is a platform for creating branded, professional-looking video sites. Though the site caters to businesses and institutions as well as schools, MediaCore has included a suite of features that could potentially stand alone as a learning management system. The site is free for individual teachers and professors with payment plans aimed at schools and businesses.

Synopsis by: Laura Costello

Tech Tools and Commentary Pulled From Edsurge Index!

Check out the Resources available! Everything can be found there

neatly categorized.

Thanks for participating and I hope this helped!

Feel free to contact me further with questions, comments,

concerns, feedback, or just to get in touch: Jastor@laalliance.org