Control Alt Achieve: EdTech Links of the Week

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:

🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links

📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

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

This week I have 4 resources from around the Internet and 3 resources from my blog.

💡 EnlightenAI

Resource Link

EnlightenAI is another one of my favorite AI tools which I have previously covered in my short blog post and demo video and as part of my 1-hour webinar on "Guided Grading with AI". See below for more details to learn more:

Introducing EnlightenAI - the AI-powered tool that helps you grade and give feedback on student work while using the data to drive instruction. What makes EnlightenAI unique is that the AI learns and adapts to YOU. It uses your language, scoring standards, and style as you grade the first few student submissions. Here’s how it works:

Sync your Google Classroom or create your courses directly in EnlightenAI, where you can assign tasks and manage student work.
Set up a rubric or choose from EnlightenAI’s library of rubrics.
Start grading and refine the AI’s feedback and scores to match your voice and expectations. With each submission, the AI becomes more aligned and accurate with your style.
Once you’re finished, you can send feedback and scores to students with a single click.
Hit the ‘Data-Driven Resources’ button to generate custom materials based on the learning needs identified in the student data.

Best of all, the platform is completely free! Learn more at enlightenme.ai

🌍 The World from A to Z

Resource Link

This website provides free current event videos to use in class with students, with a new video every day of the school year.
Each video is 9 minutes long and covers several topics from the news.
The videos incorporate the "5 C's" of critical thinking, civil explanations, compassionate conversations, community, and of course the host Carl Azuz.

💰 U.S. Mint Coin Classroom Games

Resource Link

I came across this next resource from Sarah Kiefer in her weekly newsletter, which you should definitely sign up for if you haven't already.
This website from the US Mint provides 17 interactive games for students to learn about coins, math, geography, and more.
The games range in age from Kindergarten to Grade 6, which you can tell by hovering over the game thumbnails.

⚙️ GearSketch

Resource Link

This interactive site is basically a physics sandbox for gears and belts.
Draw circles on the screen to create gears and loops to make belts.
Drag and drop the gears to connect or nest them.
Add arrows to show direction and speed of rotation.
This can be a great way to teach or explore complex machines, gear ratios, speeding up and slowing down rotational motion, energy transmission, and more.

🗺️ Make Educational Maps with AI

Resource Link

I was playing around with an idea for using AI to help create educational maps. Basically it is a mash-up of an AI chatbot (like ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude) with Google My Maps. I tested it out with a map of American Revolutionary War Battles. It worked really well!

You can get all the directions, sample prompts, examples, and a short tutorial video in the link above. And if you create any maps, please consider sharing them. I would love to see what you make!

🏫 Back-To-School AI Webinar

Resource Link

I am super excited to be part of a free "Back-To-School AI Webinar" being hosted by Dan Fitzpatrick. See below for all the details and please share with others who may benefit.

📅 September 19, 2024
⏰ 11:00am Eastern / 8:00am Pacific / 16:00 UK
🧔 Speakers - Dan Fitzpatrick, Jason Gulya, Dr. Sabba Quidwai, Matthew Wemyss, Aileen Wallace, and Eric Curts (me!)
✅ Register for free at https://hz03lw7mbb2.typeform.com/to/ufAsvREV

🥳 50,000 YouTube Subscribers!

Resource Link

Just this past week my YouTube channel reached 50,000 subscribers! I may do a blog post about this later with some more details and highlights, but I wanted to take a quick moment to thank every who has helped me reach this milestone. I appreciate the views, the sharing, the encouraging comments, and getting to learn with you.

▶️ If you haven't checked out the channel be sure to do that at youtube.com/ericcurts
🔔 If you are not subscribed please consider subscribing and turning on notifications
🔗 If you are subscribed please consider sharing the channel and videos with others
💬 And as always, comments and likes on the videos are greatly appreciated