Ten years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “Ed Tech Digest” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps.

You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2021 – PART ONE, as well as checking out all my edtech resources.

Here are this week’s choices:

Wick Editor looks like a nice and free tool to create animations. You can read more about it at Richard Byrne’s blog. I’m adding it to The Best Ways For Students To Create Online Animations.

Research Quest offers virtual field trips to support science learning. You can read more about it at The Hechinger Report. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Finding And Creating Virtual Field Trips.

Google has expanded its resources and lessons about online safety.  I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning Online Safety.

Classroom adapts for the future of learning and teaching is from Google. This news looks particularly interesting/useful, though I’m not sure if our district’s version would support it:

Classroom add-ons: Coming to beta later this year for districts with the Teaching and Learning Upgrade or Education Plus, Classroom add-ons allow you to bring your favorite content and activities from top edtech tools right inside Classroom. Admins will be able to pre-install add-ons for multiple teachers or groups at once.

We’re starting with nine partners including Adobe Spark for Education, BookWidgets, CK-12 Foundation, Edpuzzle, IXL, Kahoot!, Nearpod, Newsela and SAFARI Montage, with plans to expand to many more. Here’s an example of how Bookwidgets is using add-ons to make it easier for teachers to assign an activity and students to complete it, without ever leaving Classroom.

 

I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources For Learning About Google Classroom.

Form To Chat looks interesting.  It lets you convert a Google Form into a chatbot.  I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Creating Chatbots.

Formative, a student learning and analytics platform, raises $70M to challenge the summative, test-based approach to education is from TechCrunch.