Common Sense Education's 50 Favorite Tools |
Listen and learn : Lecture
Wednesday, June 26, 8:30–9:30 am
Location: 201A
Dr. Tanner Higgin
Danny Wagner
In six years, the Common Sense Education editorial team has rated and reviewed over 3,000 tools. This rapid-fire presentation presents the team's 50 favorites, from free apps and teacher tools to weird and wonderful games sure to delight your students.
Audience: | Teachers, Technology coordinators/facilitators, Library media specialists |
Skill level: | Beginner |
Attendee devices: | Devices useful |
Attendee device specification: | Smartphone: Windows, Android, iOS Laptop: Chromebook, Mac, PC Tablet: Android, iOS, Windows |
Focus: | Digital age teaching & learning |
Topic: | Online tools, apps and resources |
ISTE Standards: | For Educators: Citizen
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-Participants will learn about 50 tools they can use in their classrooms in the new school year.
-Participants will better understand re-definitional use of technology that moves away from using tech to replicate traditional approaches.
-Participants will be able to more effectively and efficiently search for useful tools on their own.
Introduction
- Background on Common Sense Education and our editorial process (5 mins.)
Session (45 mins.)
-We'll go over our 50 favorite tool selections via rapid-fire, highly-visual (PechaKucha-inspired) presentation. Each tool will be accompanied by a use-case focused on re-definitional use of technology that pushes past traditional practice.)
-Tools will be grouped in categories like "totally," "weird and wonderful," "best for privacy."
Wrap-Up (10 mins.)
-Audience members will submit their favorites for discussion (8 mins.)
- How to find and evaluate tools on your own (2 minutes)
I published this article on EdSurge which offers some of the key things we've learned at Common Sense Education about learning design and the edtech market: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-07-21-what-makes-a-good-edtech-tool-great
We also have a forthcoming research study tentatively titled the Common Sense Educator Census. It'll be released in late 2018 or early 2019 at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research. Many of the findings in that study, which I can share at the presentation, relate to the challenges teachers have finding and using tools effectively.
Danny is Senior Editor, Education Reviews at Common Sense Education. His focus is on guiding the editorial direction of the Ratings & Reviews platform to discover the best in education technology for teachers and schools. In addition to reviewing digital media for learning potential, Danny produces content and articles for a variety of topics, including STEM and social and emotional learning. Previously, he was Curriculum Technology Integration Specialist for San Francisco Unified School District and a middle school science and robotics teacher for a decade in the Midwest. Prior to his career in education, Danny worked as an Environmental Engineering consultant.
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