Instructional Technology

As time is evolving and technology advances, we, educators, apply technology in class. Living in the post-COVID era, we have learned and implemented technology in online or blended learning.  As a teacher who majored in curriculum development & instructional technology, I would like to provide some practical and useful information on educational technology.

      

Small tips & websites:

IMPORTANT General Resources

Cult of Pedagogy

Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Digital Storytelling

JakeMillerTeck

Tarver Academy: Google Certified Educator (GEG) sources

MrMikeKaufman.com:Cool PD stuff & tutorials for Google Workplace

The Techy Coach: Google tools sections

FriEdTechnology

https://www.educatorstechnology.com

Finding images

  1. Creative Commons Image Search Tool
  2. Open Clip Art Library
  3. World Digital Library: good for teaching history
  4. National Gallery of Art

Video recording

  1. Flipgrid: A cool video-making site
  2. Zoom: Besides the meeting function, it can be used as a recording tool.
  3. Vimeo: A cool video-making site
  4. OBS open broadcaster software
  5. Powerpoint: It has the recording function

Download Video website

  1. Download4.cc
  2. Youtubepp.com

Video editing

  1. Embedding online video clips: share>Embedding>Copy the code 
  2. Safeshare: trim the Advertisement to ensure Internet safety
  3. Kapwing: edit video and create content online
  4. Edpoints: add stop points to check students’ comprehension
  5. VideoAnt: add annotation into a video clip own by UMN
  6. Edpuzzle: edit video clip and add questions to it
  7. ZAMZAR : A free video convertion site

Video Converter

  1. Online video converter

Multiple activities platform

  1. Wordwall: Contains many small activities
  2. Nearpod
  3. Boom Cards
  4. Flippity: Contains many small activities
  5. Thinklink: Create a cool roadmap with many stations for your audience. It combines several functions and platforms together.
  6. Mentimeter
  7. myViewBoard: An individual platform that can be used for many purposes
  8. Newsela
  9. Peardeck
  10. Lumosity
  11. ClassDojo

Meeting scheduling tools

  1. When2meet: fit for different time zones
  2. Doodle: fit for different time zones

Mindmap tools

  1. Coggle: an easy, user friendly mindmap creating website. Go to create mindmap> use presentation mode to present
  2. Text2mindmap: create mindmap based on texts
  3. Moro: online whiteboard with mindmap function
  4. LucidSpark: Online mindmapping tool

Online whiteboard

  1. Jamboard: own by Google
  2. Scrumblr
  3. Padlet
  4. Whiteboard.fi

Video resources

  1. WatchKnowLearn: Video resources with age filter
  2. Chekc123
  3. Discovery Education
  4. PBS learning media: Videos resources separated into subjects
  5. Youglish: A video website for ESL learners

Chart creating tool

  1. Meta chart

Sound resources

  1. Radiooooo: the musical time machine
  2. Lofi.coffee

  3. 4 hours of Starbucks Jazz Music/coffee shop music

Sound recorder

  1. online voice recorder

Survey tools

  1. SurveyCake: A survey tool most often used here in Taiwan
  2. Survey Monkey
  3. Google Form
  4. Kahoot
  5. Quizizz

Useful tools

  1. Quizlet: A useful vocabulary reviewing tool

Fonts

  • daFont (http://www.dafont.com/): Thousands of free fonts for both Macs and PCs.
  • 1001 Free Fonts (http://www.1001freefonts.com/): The name says it all!
  • Calligraphr (http://www.calligraphr.com/): Calligraphr lets you design your own font using a downloadable PDF template. To use it, simply hand-write the individual letters and numbers that you would like to include in your personal font. Scan the paper in and voila – instant font!
  • emojimix

Google slide templates/Powerpoint templates

  1. Slides Go: Find a professionally created Google Slide template complete with custom graphics, charts, artwork and layout ideas.
  2. Slides Mania: Professional developed Google Slides templates, including some that are designed to be interactive (digital manipulatives, games, etc.)
  3. PPTMON: a professional website for Google slide templates/ Powerpoint templates
  4. PPTBIZCAM: Powerpoint templates in Korean
  5. Slidesgo: Powerpoint templates in English
  6. Presentation Magazine: Powerpoint templates in English

Online Gallery

  1. KUNSTMARTIX online show room: A library of exhibition rooms offers a wide range of architectural spaces — suitable for every kind of art. You can choose between wall colors and combine different rooms into a large exhibition. Create high-quality 3D exhibitions of your art. Share them with gallerists, collectors, or friends. Embed them into your own website or blog.

Portfolio-building Websites

Computational Thinking & Creative Coding

  • Code.org: a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented youth.
  • Scratch: Part of MIT’s “lifelong kindergarten” project, Scratch lets teachers and students construct interactive multimedia experiences using images, sounds and coding
  • Hour of Code: Hour of Code is a website that encourages students and teachers to use coding to learn more about computer science. This website is can be accessed year round but holds a special event worldwide every December.
  • Minecraft: Minecraft is a simple coding-based game which fits perfectly into the classroom. Minecraft offers 14 lessons with examples of how to implement the game into your everyday learning. This is one of the most popular sites so do not be shocked if your students already know how to play.
  • Code Monkey: Code Monkey offers standard aligned lessons for teachers and teaches students about computer science while having fun. Students are challenged to be creative while creating or playing fun games. This website has a free trial but to use it in the classroom or at home, a subscription is needed.
  • Tynker: Tynker is a website that takes students from the simplest coding games to controlling drones or robots. Tynker has a portion of the website which is free but requires a one-year or lifetime subscription to gain access to everything.

Simple Image Creation Tools

Image remove background tool

Combine image tool

AI Assisted Art Creation Tools

Digital storytelling-Web-based tools

Character Creation / Ideas

Digital storytelling-Apps

  • Comic Strip
  • Chatterpix
  • Story Creator
  • Shadow Puppet EDU
  • Explain Everything EDU
  • Prototype on Paper (POP)
  • Stop Motion
  • Foldify

EdTech Websites for Future Research

Word cloud/generator

AI tools

  • BIgjpg: Enlarge picture by AI CNN.
  • Animated Drawing: Once students upload their drawings, the back end of the AI will automatically make animations.
  • Rentor: Enhance any face photo to make them clear