Control Alt Achieve: EdTech Links

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.

➡️ Brisk Teaching Webinar

Resource Link

I recently recorded a webinar about one of my favorite AI tools for education - Brisk Teaching. If you are not familiar with it, Brisk is a free Chrome extension that provides AI-powered tools for teachers and students. It does so many things, I often call it the "Swiss Army Knife of AI Tools".

💡 Create learning materials
🎚️ Relevel content
💯 Give feedback on work
🔎 Inspect writing
🤖 Make student chatbots

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

🎃 Halloween Themed Google Fonts

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With Halloween almost here, these are 12 of my favorite fonts for the spooky season.
These fonts can be used by you and your students to add style, personality, and creativity to your Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Sites, and more.
Check out my font selections in my blog post linked above.

🎧 GaETC Podcast

Resource Link

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "GaETC Podcast" which is the official podcast for the Georgia Educational Technology Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on November 5th and 6th. In the episode we discussed:

🤖 AI in education
✨ Creativity and innovation
🎓 Personalized learning
🍑 My GaETC25 sessions

Listen to the episode here or at the link above, and check out the sessions I will be presenting at the conference here - bit.ly/curts-gaetc25

🌈 ColorVeil

Resource Link

I recently heard from a teacher that the "NOverlay" extension was no longer available. This was a Chrome extension that put a semi-transparent color overlay on top of any webpage, which can assist readers who have dyslexia, visual stress (Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome), eye strain, and such. I then discovered that two other similar extensions I have recommended in the past were likely no longer available (ATbar and Color Overlay). I spent some time testing out other extensions and came across a great option called ColorVeil.

It is free and easy to use. Just right click on the extension to choose the color and level of opacity that you want. Then you can turn the overlay on and off just by clicking the extension. When turned on, the color overlay will display on any site you are viewing. It seemed to work very well when I tested it.

👀 SuperStructures

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Superstructures are free AI-powered activities that spark collaborative thinking, perfect for energizing any lesson opener or practice session. The interactives include the Connect Structure, Debate Structure, Venn Structure, Spectrum Structure, Dot Plot Structure, and Note Board Structure. To use these activities:

Create - Begin by choosing a structure. Each one is designed to scaffold a specific thinking skill.
Collaborate - Launch and watch as your students contribute and engage, guided by Soop, the friendly AI assistant.
Converse - Lead a meaningful whole-class discussion with real-time insights from our AI-powered teacher view.

Best of all, these activities are free! Check them out at superstructures.io and learn more with their helpful tutorial videos.

🐦 Merlin Bird ID

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If you don't know, one of my hobbies is birdwatching. I have several bird feeders right outside of my office window and love to see the different birds who visit throughout the year. On my recent trip to New Zealand I knew I would encounter new birds and wanted to be able to identify them. To help with this I installed a great free app from Cornell Lab called Merlin Bird ID.

The app uses Sound ID to listen to the birds around you and shows real-time suggestions for who’s singing.
You can then build a digital scrapbook of your birding memories with "Save My Bird". Just tap “This is my bird!” each time you identify a bird, and Merlin will add it to your growing life list.
And of course the app has loads of information, images, recordings, videos, and maps to learn about any bird.

As much as I enjoyed using the app myself, I think this would be great for a science class. Much like the "Gotta Catch 'Em All" slogan for Pokémon, students could build their own collection of birds they have encountered all throughout the year and on their travels as well.

And yes, I did see lots of birds on my trip including the New Zealand Fantail and the Tui (which has a dual voice box so it can make two sounds at once).

💻 VIZOR Chromebook Management

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Managing a fleet of Chromebooks shouldn't be a nightmare. VIZOR’s integration with the Google Admin Console automates key Chromebook management tasks for school IT teams.⚡ Automatically assign Chromebooks with a barcode scanner

🔂 Identify Chromebooks that students have swapped
⬆️ Track device updates to ensure compliance with state testing requirements
❌ Automatically disable lost, stolen, or overdue Chromebooks
💦 Trigger a Powerwash after an event, such as after a repairIf you are sick of managing

Chromebooks through out-of-date spreadsheets and disconnected systems, you need VIZOR! Get in touch for a free demo and pricing! Learn how VIZOR can help your school or district.