#Edtech Tips

Image courtesy of Julian Santacruz

When I started this blog, I never intended it to become a education technology site, but that is what it has become. My passion is not actually technology, although I do enjoy using it. The reason I like it so much is not for what it does, but what it allows me and others, especially my students, to do: learn. Just because something is ‘flashy’ and ‘new’ doesn’t mean I am going to like it or even use it. I try to find things that allow myself or my students to be active participants in the learning process.

There are a lot of people out there sharing great information about the use of technology in learning. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here, nor am I trying to pitch or sell anything, including myself. My hope is that whatever is here gets shared in whatever way possible so that others can get over the hump of not knowing how, and especially why, we are using these things in and out of our classroom. After a lot of trial and mostly error, I have decided to do things in bite-sized ‘chunks’ which I refer to as #Edtech Tips (the hashtag at the beginning is due to my sharing on Twitter). The goal is to continually create short, easy-to-follow instructional guides on various technology tools we have at our disposal on a regular basis. My focus is primarily on the English Language Teaching field since that is what my education and experience is in. All of the things I share here I have successfully used in my own classroom and have found them to add something to the learning process.

So how does this work? Well, it is only starting, but the hope is that there will be a printable PDF file for each tip that you can download and print to give to those to whom you think it may help. Maybe start a binder or bulletin board in your staff room where you can post things like this or from other sources that give teachers something they can ‘grab and go’. Not everyone is comfortable with Twitter or other social media, so while I am happy to have you share this online, it is the face-to-face contact in the workplace that will make this work. Share it freely, edit it, change it, but don’t sell it. I want this to be as open as possible. I am working on figuring out how to set this up so that it is Public Domain, but for the time being, feel free to give it away. You can even take my name off of it if that makes you feel better. All I ask in return is that you let me know how things work out for you. Did it work? Was it a failure? Did it help someone else? Do you have any other comments that would help this be better? That is all I am ‘selling’ here.

[Note: I am not against others selling things or making money by promoting themselves or using ads. Nope. That is all fine and good in my books. I just don’t want to do it. There are others who do it really well, but I feel like I would have to constantly justify myself if I did. It’s just me.]

 

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Video

Make a video recording of your screen on a Mac using QuickTime Player (screencasting)

Trim a YouTube video to a smaller section to share with your students

Watch a YouTube video on a plain, white background without ads or comments

Host a video online without an account (no registration)

Create a YouTube URL to play a video in a full browser window

Communication

Create a four-person video chat room without registration

Annotation

Annotate a webpage or an image online quickly and easily

Annotate a document online without registration. Comment and receive comments

Documents

Create a printable version of a webpage

Save on online PDF directly to Google Drive in Chrome

Link directly to a certain page of an online PDF

Create a real-time online collaborative document online without registration

Administration

Schedule appointments with students online

Miscellaneous

Create a quick countdown timer with Google

Instantly create a QR Code for the webpage you are on to share with students