32 Innovative (Free!) Online Educational Tools to Try in 2015. Want to be a better student? There are literally thousands of apps for that. Not to mention a wide array of other online learning tools. They’re not all changing education — but a few innovative ones are. Among the wide-ranging apps, sites, learning management systems, flashcard creators, and content archives, there are a few dozen that promise to make an impact on how students learn this year. Noodle’s team of education experts investigated the vast array of online learning tools to create this list of the 32 best, most innovative online tools that we think will change the education space in 2015.
We spoke with teachers, tutors, and leaders in the space. We have grouped these 32 selections based on how they are making a difference in student education. Without further ado, here are the tools that you’ll want to have on your computer, tablet, or smartphone this year... Classroom Connectors Clever Why it’s good: Clever saves time in the classroom. Edmodo Kahoot! What it is: Kahoot! Schoology. The-new-multi-screen-world-study_research-studies. Students, Computers and Learning. The World's 21 Most Important Social Media Sites and Apps in 2015. The concepts behind “social networking” aren’t anything new – ever since there have been humans, we have been looking for ways to connect, network, and promote with one another – but they’ve taken on an entirely new meaning (and momentum) in the digital age. Where we used to have handshakes, word-of-mouth referrals, and stamped letters, today’s relationships are often begun and developed on LinkedIn, Google +, and Facebook.
That means savvy business owners have to know and use a variety of social platforms to stay relevant, not to mention take advantage of emerging opportunities. Below, you’ll find what I consider to be the 21 most important channels and tools you need to be aware of. 1. Twitter. Perhaps the simplest of all social media platforms, Twitter also just happens to be one of the most fun and interesting. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. vk.com. 19. 20. 21. Social networks / shutterstock. Motive.io - Location-Based Storytelling - Tools for building dynamic location-based story gamesMotive.io – Location-Based Storytelling. Untitled. Vol 6, No 2 (2015) The Educator's Guide to Creating Connections: Thomas D. Whitby: 9781483392882. Translations & Foreign Rights | Permissions Blogging, social media, and PLN’s made easy! The Corwin Connected Educators series is your key to unlocking the greatest resource available to all educators: other educators.
Educators today must prepare students for a world that doesn't exist yet. Creating connections enables educators to adapt in order to stay relevant. This book is every educator's guide to becoming connected through social media, blogging, personal learning networks, and even new policy. Thought leaders in Connected Education help you use real-world tips and tools to: Master and adapt to 21st Century teaching methodologies Build ongoing technology literacy skills Begin your connected journey Being a Connected Educator is more than a set of actions: it’s a belief in the potential of technology to fuel lifelong learning. "The successful educator is a connected educator. The government is helping fund a Minecraft-style game for teaching kids about the environment. (Strange Loop Games) Minecraft is a cultural phenomenon. The block-based exploration and crafting game was snapped up by Microsoft for $2.5 billion last year and has helped inspire competitors from giant toy companies like Lego.
Even the government is interested in building on Minecraft's success: The Department of Education is helping fund a project known as "Eco" that looks a lot like Minecraft, except with a few added twists: There's a looming ecological disaster and players must band together to make a community -- agreeing on laws and living in harmony with the environment. If they fail, the world dies forever. Strange Loop Games, the company behind the game, describes it a "global survival game" and says failure results in "server-wide perma death.
" Eco is designed to help teach middle school students about environmental science and was awarded a nearly $900,000 grant from the Department of Education last month. Here's what the game prototype looks like in action: Read more: Foundations of dynamic learning analytics: Using university student data to increase retention - Freitas - 2014 - British Journal of Educational Technology. The Generational Content Gap: How Different Generations Consume Content Online. As online audiences continue to grow and diversify, it's essential for content marketers to understand what resonates with their customers. One of the most important factors is how different age groups will react to specific types of content. BuzzStream and Fractl surveyed over 1200 people from three generations - Millennials (people who born in between 1981-1997), Generation X (born 1965-1980), and Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964) - to learn how content preferences differ among these groups.
Late Evening, between 08 PM to 11:59 PM, is when most people like to consume content. Try to post content during this time to reach the largest audience. Don't forget to optimize for mobile. Take a look at the infographic below for more insights. Social Media in the Classroom. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that social media has changed more than just how we pass the time, it has now infused itself into formal learning channels. Although adoption is slow (for instance, only 15% of teachers find value in Facebook, Wiki, and other social networks), time will only show that it will rise. Interestingly though, about one third of teachers surveyed for this infographic say they use social networking or social media for their instruction. Seeing as social media is now mainstream, to what extent do we combine it with instructional design methodology? Is it possible to get beyond just the standard “youtube” clip, and engage learners in a way that they are accustomed to every day?
I think this is a thin line, but if done correctly, could prove valuable. The one thing that should be avoided at all costs is relying upon social media as the main venue for the learning at hand. My personal opinion is to use social media (or any “glitzy” functionality) in low quantities. Gone Home: A Video Game as a Tool for Teaching Critical Thinking Skills. By Matthew Farber Educators are held responsible for several aspects of English-language arts competency with their students: critical thinking, writing, assessing narrative structures, thinking about how characters develop and how setting affects character. Teachers have a variety of vehicles for conveying those lessons, but a new tool has emerged for learning with digital games. Books have a linear format; films have an arc; art has a focal point; stanzas in a poem are read in order. But a recently published game called “Gone Home” is testing the traditional progression of learning by flattening the story.
Players have questioned whether it qualifies as a game since it doesn’t include traditional points, prizes and leveling up (the game is self-titled as “a story exploration video game”). Critics have praised “Gone Home” as a new way of storytelling, and it’s beginning to make its way into the classroom, as a viable substitute for traditional text. Solving a Mystery. 15 of the Best Blogs for Educators - Social Learning. Three Technology Revolutions. Three major technology revolutions have occurred during the period the Pew Research Center has been studying digital technology – and yet more are on the horizon. Broadband First, the rise of the internet changed the way that people got information and shared it with each other, affecting everything from users’ basic social relationships to the way that they work, learn, and take care of themselves.
The speed of internet connectivity picked up considerably with the rise of broadband connections. As people adopted those higher-speed, always-on connections, they became different internet users: They spent more time online, performed more activities, watched more video, and themselves become content creators. Mobile Second, mobile connectivity through cell phones, and later smartphones and tablet computers, made any time-anywhere access to information a reality for the vast majority of Americans. Social. Framework-for-Meaningful-Gamifications.pdf.
Multi-tasking.pdf. DabbaughPLE.pdf. 9780262527743 (2) Ravelry: a knitting community as a site of joy and learning | Francesbell's Blog. “That lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne “ The Parliament of Fowls by Geoffrey Chaucer Evidence that learning starts in the womb is revealed when babies hear lullabies that they will respond to after birth; and learning continues throughout life, as Chaucer says of love.
We can all remember from an early age the social nature of learning – learning from family, friends, and subsequently peers from study and work contexts. This is a community perspective, in contrast with a more typical view of learning as being chiefly the outcome of formal education. Social Technologies Social technologies have focused attention on networks and online/virtual communities. Virtual communities can be traced back to 1985 (and probably earlier) when the WELL started as a dial-up bulletin board.
A parallel stream of development in virtual communication was in formal education: bulletin boards, web pages, and then groupware, and virtual learning environments. Ravelry – individual view by Frances Bell. Connected_Learning_report.pdf. Evolution of Learning Technologies [Infographic]