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 3 resources from around the Internet and 4 resources from my blog.

🗓️ 2024 Year-in-Review

Resource Link

Happy "almost 2025" to everyone! Thanks for going on a learning journey with me in 2024. As a wrap up to this year, I put together a blog post with a "2024 Year-in-Review" including:

✍️ Top 10 Blog Posts
▶️ YouTube Stats
🗣️ PD Sessions
📰 Newsletter Stats
📧 Email Group Stats
👍 Facebook Group Stats
🎬 Bonus: Favorite Movies & Shows

Thanks again for being a part of my year, and I hope I was able to bring some helpful resources and ideas to you. Looking forward to another year!

⚡ Join Me for the "EmpowerED 2 Teach with AI" Virtual Conference

Resource Link

I am excited to be presenting at the FREE "EmpowerED 2 Teach with AI" virtual conference that runs from January 3rd through 5th, 2025. This is a conference for educators with 15 awesome speakers on a wide range of AI-related topics, which you can watch online and on-demand. You can get all the details and registration information in my blog post linked above.

🤠 My ISTE 2025 Sessions

Resource Link

I am excited and honored to once again present at the 2025 ISTE Conference in San Antonio, Texas this June 28th through July 2nd. Check out the link above for the sessions I will be presenting at the ISTE Conference, along with any associated resources. I will continue to update this list with any changes and additions to my schedule.

And if you are attending ISTE feel free to contribute to the Google document I set up for sharing resources here bit.ly/iste25-share

🌞 My 2025 FETC Sessions

Resource Link

I am also excited and honored to be presenting at the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC 2025) in Orlando, Florida on January 14th through 17th, 2025. See my blog post linked above for all the final (I think final) updates to my sessions and resources.

And if you are attending FETC feel free to contribute to the Google document I set up for sharing resources here bit.ly/fetc25-share

🎨 Arteater Animation Creator

Resource Link

Arteater is a super creative (and free) tool for anyone to create their own animations.
You start by printing out a one-page template with squares where you can draw in each frame of your animation.
You then take a picture of your completed template and upload it to Arteater.
The site then creates an animated GIF from the frames you drew.
This could be an easy and engaging way for students to create animations for stories, vocabulary words, science processes, and more.

🧪 Explain that Stuff

Resource Link

Science is awesome, but sometimes can be confusing.
Explain that Stuff is a free science education website written by Chris Woodford (author of many popular science books for adults and children).
It includes over 400 easy-to-understand articles, richly illustrated with over 4000 photos, artworks, and animations, covering how things work.
General topics include Communications, Computers, Electricity and electronics, Energy, Engineering, Environment, Gadgets, Home life, Materials, Science, Tools, instruments, and measurement, and Transportation.
The site even includes a detailed teaching guide, which shows how the articles map to different parts of a typical science curriculum for students aged 10–18.

✅ AI Privacy and Safety Checks

Resource Link

There are so many promising AI tools available for schools, but it can still be challenging to determine which ones are safe for use in schools, especially with students.
Recently Sarah Wood of My EdTech World shared an amazing resource she has been developing to help with this.
She has created a spreadsheet where she reviews AI tools based on their publicized terms of service and privacy policies.
This includes topics such as Transparency, Focused Collection, Data Sharing, Respect for Context, Individual Control, Access and Accuracy, Data Transfer, Security, Responsible Use, Advertising, and Compliance.
As Sarah continues to evaluate more AI tools, the results will be added to the spreadsheet which you can access through the link above or at https://bit.ly/aiprivacysafety