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.

🤿 Recorded Webinar - Dive into Snorkl for Student Learning

Resource Link

I recently recorded a webinar about Snorkl, one of my favorite AI tools for education. With Snorkl…

❓ You create a problem, question, or prompt for your students (any subject, any grade).
🎙️ Students record themselves solving the problem or answering the question while explaining their reasoning.
✒️ If needed the student can draw on the digital whiteboard while speaking.
💬 Snorkl then reviews the student's explanation based on your guidance, and then provides personalized feedback for the student (and you) on their work.
💯 Based on the feedback, students can immediately record a new version of their response to improve their explanation.

And all of this comes in a robust free version! To learn all about Snorkl, see the link above to watch my recorded 1-hour webinar and to access the resources from the session

💎 New EduGems

Each week I try to add new Gems to my EduGems website. Since last newsletter, the following Gems have been added to the site:

⚖️ Concept Analogies - Generate 3 distinct, grade-appropriate analogies that map a difficult idea to a familiar scenario or interest
🚨 Emergency Sub Plan - Generate a detailed, low-prep emergency sub plan that is aligned to your content but requires no specialized knowledge or login credentials
▶️ YouTube Quiz - Create a chronologically ordered quiz (and answer key) from any provided video transcript, including timestamps if available

Click on any of the links above to access, use, and copy the Gems.

📰 What's New in Google?

Resource Link

Feel free to join us online Tuesday, December 16th at 1pm (ET) for our November / December GEG-Ohio Google User Group meeting. We will cover all of the new features and updates from Google from the last two months, as well as great ideas for using Google tools in school.

📝 You can view (and add to) the agenda here - Google Docs link
▶️ You can view the live video for the meeting at - YouTube link - (The video will be recorded and available to watch afterwards for those who cannot join us live.)
📆 You can add this event to your Google Calendar here - Calendar link

Anyone with an interest in Google tools for schools is welcome to join us. Please feel free to share this information with others who may benefit. See you soon!

🤝 "AI Trust You" Update

Resource Link

I have been sharing about "AI Trust You" since earlier this year, and was excited to see a new update roll out. If you are not familiar with it, "AI Trust You" is a free Google Docs add-on designed to address uncertainty around AI use in the classroom. For teachers the addon allows you to clearly define if and how students can use AI on a specific assignment. For students the addon provides a simple way to document and report their AI use.

So what is new? Now when a teacher is specifying how much AI can be used, and when a student is reporting how much they actually did use AI, that usage level is divided into three helpful categories:

Assisted by AI
Collaborated with AI
Produced by AI

This is clearer than the simple percentage scale from before, and will help everyone understand how AI can be used and how AI was used on an assignment. Be sure to try it out if you have not yet and check out all my resources about AI and cheating.

🗺️ TrueSize

Resource Link

Years ago I shared about an educational website at thetruesize.com which allows users to compare the real sizes of states and countries, relative to each other. This can help students get a better idea of how large other countries really are and improve their understanding of the world.

Recently I came across a similar site at truesize.net that does all of that, but also has added historical maps throughout all of history. This opens up loads of new educational uses such as comparing the sizes of superpowers over time, for example … modern USA versus 1960's USSR versus the Roman Empire of 200 AD.

The website provides a detailed tutorial as well as a collection of several useful examples to get you started.

⏰ Hour of AI

Resource Link

The "Hour of AI" launches this week to coincide with Computer Science Education Week. This is an evolution of what used to be called the "Hour of Code" to focus on the advances in AI in education, and specifically its impact on coding.

The website has over 130 hands-on, easy-to-follow activities to help students and educators everywhere take their first step into understanding and creating with AI. To find the best activity for your students, you can filter the resources by age, topic, activity type, length, accessibility, classroom technology and more.

🐡 Recess Reset

Resource Link

Students coming in hot and wild after recess?
Facing daily student and teacher stress and behavioral difficulty?
Meet your new class transition routine, Recess Reset!

No lesson planning, no time wasted. Recess Reset is a turn-key solution that leaves students and teachers feeling calm, focused, and ready to learn... in just 3 minutes a day.

Our year-long animated curriculum empowers teachers and schools to seamlessly implement "bite-size" mindfulness-based Social Emotional Learning lessons as a class transition routine, replacing discipline headaches with consistent life skills development.

Say goodbye to warnings and consequences, say hello to self-regulating and self-aware classroom communities. We're on a mission to make SEL practical in the school day.

⚡ Create a Free Account to gain access to 30 animated video lessons, coloring sheets and classroom posters.
🎨 Visit the Website (www.recessreset.com)
🎓 Proudly created by former SFUSD teachers in partnership with Stanford University