Technology Tools

With countless new technology resources becoming available every week, teachers can become lost in a sea of endless "waves" of possibilities for integrating technology into their curriculum. Hopefully, most teachers have been willing to board the "Project Based Learning" ship and explore many of the mobile apps and Web 2.0 resources available for use by students to demonstrate their knowledge. From research to development of their ideas to final presentations, students need to no longer be limited to the familiar waters we've been traveling for some time. Our blog highlights many of those resources each week. Take a look at past posts for detailed information on favorite resources complete with suggestions for use in the classroom.

You can also check out this list  for the most popular tools chosen by more than 500 learning professionals worldwide.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 from Jane Hart

Most of the familiar tools and many brand new ones have made this list.  While Twitter might be the #1 technology tool for the last 5 years and Google Drive and YouTube vie for 2nd place, others are dropping in the rankings, not because they aren’t quality resources, but because of the influx of so many new ones. Animoto is a great example, dropping 42 places to #81 in just one year.  However, it is still one of my favorite tools used by many teachers and students to create book and content trailers or create unique videos to introduce themselves, demonstrate learning, present a point of view, or promote a cause. 

One tool I would add to the list is Bounce - a fun and easy way to share ideas on a website or even an image. It's free and no registration is required.  Copy and paste a URL or upload an image into Bounce and it will grab a screen shot of the website or online document. Students can then highlight portions of the screen shot or image and add comments. When finished, the annotated document can be shared with its unique URL. What a great way to quickly collaborate or demonstrate understanding of the content.

Are your favorite technology tools for teaching and learning on the list? If not, please leave a comment and tell us which one/s you would add and why.