Control Alt Achieve: EdTech Links of the Week

Monday, February 12, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 2-12-24

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

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And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

This week I have 3 resources from around the Internet and 3 resources from my blog.

📚 "Study with Me" Videos

Resource Link

YouTube has put together a playlist of "Study with me" videos to help people hunker down and focus when needing to work or study.
Some of the videos teach habits of focusing, and others simply offer relaxing music and visuals to help you get in the zone.
Check out the playlist linked above, or simply search YouTube for videos with "study with me" in the title.

🤖 Google AI Updates

Resource Link

There were lots of changes and updates for Google AI in the last week or so!
Google Bard got renamed to Gemini.
The free version of Gemini uses the Pro 1.0 model which is far more powerful and capable than the AI model that was running Bard.
Google is also offering a paid version called Gemini Ultra with even more power and abilities.
There is now also a Gemini app for easy access from your mobile device.
And finally, Google added the option to generate images in Gemini. You can simply type in what you want and Gemini will create custom pictures that you can download and use however you need.

🖼️ Pic-Lits

Resource Link

Pic-Lits is a free e-learning website that utilizes photography and word banks (keywords) to improve literacy skills via writing.
Choose a photograph and get word banks for Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, Verbs, and Universal words.
Drag and drop the words to write sentences, dialogues, captions, quotations, lyrics, and more.
Or choose the Freestyle mode to type in your own words.

❤️ Googley Valentine Activities

Resource Link

With Valentine's Day coming up, here is a collection of some of my Valentine-related Google activities for students to practice writing, math, and creativity:

📊 Hearts and Charts Google Sheets Math Activities
😍 Valentine Emoji Rebus Stories in Google Docs
🧲 Valentine Magnetic Poetry with Google Drawings
💌 Valentine Cards with Google Drawings

You can get copies of all the templates, as well as detailed directions for use at the link above.

🔑 Accessibility Tools for All Learners

Resource Link

Recently I did a session for the Teacher Innovation Network "EdTech Playground" series on accessibility tools. For my portion of the session I presented on lots of tools for text-to-speech, speech-to-text, readability, reading comprehension, artificial intelligence tools, audio support, organization, focus, and more.

You can access the recorded webinar and all of the related session resources at the link above.

📣 16 Updates to Make Google BETTer

Resource Link

Each year at the BETT conference in London, Google announces loads of new features coming soon for education. Although I have never been able to attend the conference in person, I always like to share my favorite updates they announce. Check out my blog post linked above for highlights on new features for Google Classroom, Docs, Accessibility, Chromebooks, AI, and more!