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.

🗣️ My HICE26 Sessions

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I am excited to be presenting at the 2026 HICE Conference right here in northeast Ohio on June 2nd and 3rd. This is the conference that we put on through my work at SPARCC and the Stark County ESC. It is a free, in-person event with over 130 sessions covering all areas of education, teaching, learning, technology, and more. If you are anywhere near the area, I encourage you to join us for this amazing conference! Here are the key details:

💡 High Impact Conference for Educators
📅 June 2-3, 2026
🏫 Lake Middle High School
📍 709 Market Ave SW, Uniontown, OH 44632
🔗 Website - https://bit.ly/summerhice
🎟️ Register for free - Google Form

I will be presenting 11 sessions at the conference. You can get all the details and resources for all of my sessions at https://bit.ly/curts-hice26 or at the link above.

💻 Join Me for the Jeffrey Powell Mobile Learning Conference

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I am also excited to be providing a keynote session "Your Brain on AI: Moving from Crutch to Catalyst" for the 17th annual Jeffrey Powell Mobile Learning Conference this summer!

This is an entirely virtual conference, so anyone and everyone can attend, with a wide range of educational technology sessions from amazing educators (and friends of mine) including Ken Shelton, Stephanie Howell, Melissa Kincaid, Steph Sukow, Katie Fielding, and many more.

Here are the key details for this virtual event:

💡 Jeffrey Powell Mobile Learning Conference
📅 June 8-9, 2026
⏰ 10am to 5pm ET (7am to 2pm PT)
💲 Cost - $25 (includes access to live sessions and replays for up to 2 weeks after the conference)
🔗 Website - https://www.nemcc.edu/mobilelearning/
🎟️ Register - https://2026mobilelearning.sched.com/registration
📋 View full schedule - https://2026mobilelearning.sched.com/list/simple

💎 New EduGems

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Each week I try to add new Gems to my EduGems website. Since last newsletter the site has now reached 137 Gems! Below are the newest ones added to the site:

💡 Thinking Routines - Design high-quality classroom activities tailored to your standards and objectives using authentic Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines
🌱 Writing Elaboration - Help student expand their ideas and add strong elaboration to their writing by posing highly targeted questions to prompt deeper thinking
🎓 Study Coach Gem Creator - Design a customized AI study coach for your students based on your grade, subject, and specific content to be reviewed
✍️ The Writer's Room - Transform traditional curriculum materials into engaging, episodic learning experiences, including supporting materials and assessments

🔠 Tapple

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I recently got to catch up with my old friend Ryan O'Donnell at the NETA Conference in Nebraska. Ryan is known for creating games that can be used for student learning. One of his latest games is called Tapple, which you can play for free online. Here's how it works:

Taking Your Turn - Players take turns around the circle. When it's your turn, the timer starts. Say a word that fits the topic and starts with any letter still showing on the board. Hit that letter tile to stop the clock — teammates judge if the word counts.
The Letters - Once a letter is used, it's locked — no one can use it again that round. As the board fills up, finding a valid unused letter gets tougher!
Timer Reset - After a valid answer, the timer resets to full for the next player. If time runs out before you answer, you're eliminated for that round.
Winning - The last player remaining wins the round. Click Continue after time runs out to review the board, then Home to start a new round.

In addition to Tapple, you can find lots of other games on his website at https://ryanthegameshowguy.com/games/

✨ Google AI Educator Series

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Google is launching their core Google AI Educator Series (GES), a brand new set of "snackable and stackable" sessions designed for the busy educator. Whether you are just starting your AI journey or looking for a deep dive into Gemini, these sessions are built to fit your schedule.

📅 May 13 at 1pm ET
🍿 Bite-sized: 15-30 min modules
🧱 Stackable: Build your own learning path
🏫 High-impact: Tools you can use in class tomorrow
🎟️ RSVP at link above

To go along with the "snackable" theme, they even sent me some popcorn and jelly beans to munch on during the launch!

🖼️ Real or AI Quiz

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As AI gets more powerful, it is becoming increasingly challenging to tell if something is real or AI generated. It is critical for our students to realize this and bring their own critical thinking to all content they encounter. To help with this, Britannica Education has a new website that includes:

A 10-question quiz where students try to determine which images are real and which ones are AI generated
Detailed explanations for each image about why it was fake or real
Key questions and tips to consider when evaluating images
Additional resources to learn more and get additional practice

✍️ Groovelit

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Testing season is here. Thousands of teachers are already charging in with Groovelit — and not a single test prep packet in sight.

Groovelit's free game collections are built for your state test. Five-minute games where your students:

📱 Debate whether schools should be allowed to read their texts to stop bullying
🦈 Decide if shark-spotting drones actually make beaches safer
🚗 Argue whether self-driving cars should protect the passenger or the pedestrian

Every game targets the exact constructed response and vocabulary skills their assessment measures — but it feels like an argument they want to win.