EdTechnocation: #EdTechTidBits of the Week! (May 25, 2015)

Thursday, June 04, 2015

#EdTechTidBits of the Week! (May 25, 2015)

EdTechTidBits from last week include a vetted repository of student projects by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Khan Academy's search for new talent, a brand new Chrome extension by Google, and an update for Goobric.

Resource: Center for Student Work

Earlier in May, a new online resource of amazing student projects, writing assignments, and teacher resources was released through a partnership between the Hardvard Graduate School of Education and Expeditionary Learning, a K-12 nonprofit. All submissions are carefully reviewed and the process is very selective, but you can submit your own student projects to be included. You can also join the Ning community and subscribe to the newsletter. You search for student projects by applying filters for grade level and subject.

Filter search results by grade level and subjects.

Apply: Khan Academy Talent Search

The Kahn Academy is looking for fresh new talent and excellent explainers! The talent search runs until June 21st and they're really interested in gathering videos for AP, intro college students, and grades K-2 early learners. If you're not familiar with Kahn Academy, they are a not-for-profit organization and their mission is to provide a free, world class education to anyone, anywhere. If you have a passion for teaching and you see value in sharing your knowledge with others, then submit your videos today!

Tool: Google Tone Chrome Extension

Have you heard of the new Chrome extension, Google Tone, created by Google? This extension has great potential for classrooms, conference sessions, workshops, and other face-to-face professional development. It utilizes your computer's microphone to send and receive websites to other users.

For example, if I need to share a website with my class I can click the Google Tone icon and it will broadcast a special audio tone from my computer. If my students have the Chrome browser open and Tone installed as well, their Tone extension will listen for my broadcast, and if it hears it, it will load the same webpage that I'm on. This can be a quick and easy way to get all of your students on the same page!

Thanks to +Pete Hansen for the reshare!

Updates: Goobric Gets Libraries

If you're a user of the Doctopus add-on and the Goobric Chrome extension, you'll like this new addition. A new Libraries option has been added to Goobric. Now, when you're ready to attach a Goobric rubric to a class assignment, you have the option to access Libraries, which are special Google Drive folders that can contain content specific rubrics. You can share these special folders with your grade level or teaching team, so that you all have access to the same rubrics. The added value to this new feature is that there are also Published Libraries, which contain high-quality rubrics created by well known educational agencies. Read more about this new feature here. And here's an in depth document on how to use Doctopus, Goobric, and the new Libraries feature.

Thanks for checking out this edition of #EdTechTidBits of the Week! See you next week!