It continues to be time for mid-year “Best” lists.

The first was THE BEST WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION IN 2019 – PART ONE.

The second was The Best Social Studies Websites – 2019 (Part One).

Third was The Best Online Learning Games – 2019 (Part One).

Fourth was Best Videos For Educators In 2019 – Part One.

I publish a regular series called Ed Tech Digest, and I thought it would useful to readers and to me to review them and highlight the ones I think are the best of the year.

You can see previous editions of this list, along with all the “Best” lists related to ed tech, here.

Here are my choices from the past six months:

Testing Mode Matters: New research finds a score penalty for computer-based testing — at least at first is from Harvard. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing.

Frase lets you find, and then summarizes for you, research. It seems to me like a super-charged “Explore” button that you found on the bottom of Google Docs. I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Academic Research.

13 EXAMPLES OF GREAT CLASS BLOGS is from The Edublogger. I’m adding it to The Best Sources For Advice On Student Blogging.

A look inside online learning settings in high schools is from Brookings, and is important read for any school using credit recovery.

5 Google Drive Tips for New Users is another great post from Richard Byrne. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Use Google Docs/Google Drive.

Can Computers Teach is by Robert Slavin. I’m adding it to The Best Research Available On The Use Of Technology In Schools.

Is technology good or bad for learning? is from Brookings. I’m adding it to the same list.

Creative Commons launches its search engine out of beta, with over 300M images indexed is from TechCrunch. I’m adding it to The Best Online Sources For Images.

This does not seem smart: School districts are going into debt to keep up with technology is from The Hechinger Report.

Silicon Valley Came to Kansas Schools. That Started a Rebellion. is from The NY Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Understanding “Personalized Learning”  Even more interesting, The NY Times Learning Network received over two-hundred comments from students reacting to the article.

I haven’t tried Memex yet, but it looks like an amazing tool that helps you remember, and find, just about anything you’ve seen online.

Protecting Your Internet Accounts Keeps Getting Easier. Here’s How to Do It. is from The NY Times. I’m adding it to The Best Advice On Protecting Our Digital Info.

Screen Reading Worse for Comprehension, Leads to Overconfidence, New Meta-analysis Concludes is from Ed Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Which Is Best – Reading Digitally Or Reading Paper?

What Is Fake News and How Can I Spot It? is from Seventeen and offers some excellent advice and tools on online “news.” I’m adding it to The Best Tools & Lessons For Teaching Information Literacy – Help Me Find More.

5 Ways to Use the Google Docs Explore Tool is from Shake Up Learning.

This is pretty wild: What If Instead of Taking the SAT You Got to Play a Video Game? is from Bloomberg.

Flipped Classroom 101: Challenges, Benefits & Design Tips is from Catlin Tucker. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On The “Flipped Classroom” Idea.

Does Personalized Learning Work? The Research Is Too Scant, Too New and Too Nuanced to Give a Clear Yes or No — At Least For Now is from The 74. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Understanding “Personalized Learning”

5 WAYS TO SHARE AND MARKET YOUR TEACHER BLOG is from The Edublogger. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers.

Words To Time will give you a rough estimate of how long it will take to say something based on the number of words in a text and how fast you want to talk. It could come in handy.

boClips for Teachers is a large and searchable collection of educational videos culled from YouTube. You can read more about it at Richard Byrne’s blog. I’m adding it to A POTPOURRI OF THE BEST & MOST USEFUL VIDEO SITES (which I have to revise one of these days).

Summit Learning declined to be studied, then cited collaboration with Harvard researchers anyway is from Matt Barnum. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Highlighting Why We Need To Be Very Careful Around Ed Tech.

VidHug is an easy way to have a bunch of people collaborate for one of those recordings where you share your appreciation for someone.  It costs $15 but – I can tell you from experience that this sounds like a much less painful way to do one of those than using other tools.

How to Become a Google Drive Power User is a great infographic I learned about via CristinaSkyBox. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Use Google Docs/Google Drive.

In African Classrooms, Shiny Technology Shouldn’t Replace Long-Term Solutions is from Bright.

A few other educators and I share some ideas in an article in ASCD Educational Leadership with the over-hyped headline, Secrets of the Edu-Twitter Influencers. I’m adding it to a list that badly needs revamping, The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

Glose raises $3.4 million for its collaborative reading app is from TechCrunch. Glose is a “social reading” site that has game elements. It has an education arm that lets teachers created virtual classrooms with up to forty students for free, including a fair number of class books in the public domain (you have to pay for others). I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress.

Introduction to Using Google Expeditions in Your Classroom is from Richard Byrne. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Virtual Reality In Education.

LiveFile lets you upload a document and have a group discuss it and “your audience can click links. They can select text and draw, and everything is shared instantly with every other participant.” It’s invitation-only for now, but I received an invitation shortly after I registered. It seems like it could be pretty useful. I’m adding it to The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration.

How to Access and Use the Blurring Tools in YouTube’s Video Editor is yet another post from Richard Byrne. I’m adding it to The Best Teacher Resources For Online Student Safety & Legal Issues.

Ten Ways to Use Google Earth In Your Classroom is from Practical Ed Tech. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Google Earth Beginners Like Me.

GOOGLE UNVEILS NEW & IMPRESSIVE FREE READING APP: “RIVET”

KAHOOT! PREPARES TO LAUNCH ENGLISH VERSION OF TOOL FOR TEACHING BEGINNING READERS

“TELEPROMPT.ME” HAS SCRIPT MOVE AS YOU SAY THE WORDS, NOT AT A PRE-SET SPEED