3 Must Use EdTech Tools

3 Must Use EdTech Tools
Summary: I teach general education online biology courses to adult learners. To enhance student understanding of science and to appeal to students with different learning styles, I incorporate as much educational technology as possible in my classes.

Must Use EdTech Tools

I have tried many different EdTech Tools over the years. Here are my current top three picks.

1. Prezi

Prezi is a visually-enhanced medium that allows for the incorporation of videos, pictures and text into a seamless storyboard. Think PowerPoint, but much more interactive and multi-dimensional with the capacity to seamlessly add video or audio content.

Prezi provides free templates or an experienced user can develop custom formats. It allows for collaborative, simultaneous development and there is a free version available for educational users.

Here is an example of a recent Prezi I created:

wSTEM_connections

http://prezi.com/qk3wwhudtm_b/wstem-connections/

 

2. Thinglink

Thinglink is an interactive technology tool to create infographics that incorporate different media: audio, visual and Web links. The technology is built around a central image that the user can tag to link out to the media.

Each one of the icons on my example below is a hyperlink to a resource related to the topic. One important tip: be sure to build the asset around an image that is either open source or that you have copyright privileges to use.

Here is an example of a recent Thinglink I created for students:

Thinglink

 https://www.thinglink.com/scene/561596715665195010

 

3. Bundlr

Bundlr is an online collation program that allows a user to “bundle” links, videos, and podcasts into a tab that is easily searchable, accessible, and sharable. Bundlr can be added to your browser as an extension, so that when you identify a website that you want to save you can easily file it within the appropriate bundle.

I use this extensively for resources for students or for when I develop assets for presentations or talks. To follow me on bundlr see http://bundlr.com/u/drcatalano

These are some bundles I recently updated:

Bundlr

What are you current favorite education technology tool?