Tech & Learning has announced the winners of their 2025 "Best Tools for Back to School" to help educators discover the most effective products and solutions for any learning environment.

Tech & Learning judges evaluated nominated products based on their versatility, value, and ability to solve specific problems to support innovative, effective teaching and learning.

"In an era where AI and new technologies are reshaping the classroom, and districts are focusing on sustainable, long-term investments, our readers rely on Tech & Learning to highlight the best products to support an equitable and effective learning environment," says Tech & Learning Content Director, Christine Weiser. "The winning products met our rigorous evaluation criteria to qualify for this prestigious list."

Congratulations to the following winners!

PRIMARY WINNERS

3P Learning, Reading Eggs

“This is a very good solution to make sure young readers are ready for reading expectations moving forward in grades 4 and up. The variety of science backed instructional methods and gamifications on some lessons makes this very attractive to educators.”

3P Learning, Mathletics

“Mathletics stands as a research-validated, globally-adopted math education platform that combines engaging gamified learning with rigorous academic standards, delivering measurable student achievement gains.”

AB Studios, AB Studios: Shaping the Future of Enrichment with Dynamic, Story-Driven EdTech

“The target audience for AB Studios is after school programs. It meets the challenge of providing quality enrichment resources and videos, without the instructor needing much preparation to deploy. From STEM to arts, this is robust enough to use every day or every now and then.”

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 (model CPE794-1N-797A)

“This is a very good Chromebook with some upgraded features that give it more flexibility and power for the upper elementary grades.”

Acer Chromebook Spin 512 (Model R857TN-P5QA)

“These are very good and rugged devices. Improving on their ruggedness is a plus since Chrome Device Management timelines have been extended. This will allow these to hopefully meet the full service term and save districts time and money. I really like their repairability.”

Airia, BrainFreeze - The Complete AI Platform for K-12 Education

“BrainFreeze is the AI platform for those wanting more control over creating agents for teachers and students to use. It is highly customizable and made for education.”

Amira Learning, The Amira Reading Suite: Where Neuroscience Research and AI Meets Instructional Coherence

“The Amira Reading Suite is amazing! I believe it is one of the best uses of AI for teaching and learning reading in all of the market! I so wish this product was around when my kids were learning how to read, they would be geniuses by now!”

Amplify Education, Amplify Desmos Math

“The new Desmos math tool from Amplify is an amazing platform to help students concretize the abstract concepts of math! This tool not only uses a project-based approach to learning which solidifies complex math concepts, but it also provides many opportunities for learning these concepts in different ways. Added bonus is that many of the lessons that are available are available at no cost to any student!”

Apptegy, Apptegy School Communication Platform

“My teachers love how Apptegy Platform improves daily instruction and allows for classrooms to open their doors to showcase learning outside the four walls.”

AVer Information Inc., M11WB

“The AverMedia M11WB is a solid document camera that offers great optics and many features for great presentations. I particularly like that the M11WB features 4K resolution and 29X zoom to eliminate visibility problems, allowing every student to see fine details, whether it’s a science experiment or a piece of student art.”

AVID Products, WonderEars Early Learning Headset – Supporting Focus, Literacy, and Safer Listening

“WonderEars is a headset made for kids ages 4‑9, built to be comfortable, durable, and safe. It has a fixed ‘KidCom’ microphone so even quiet students can be heard, sound limiting to protect young ears, cushioned earcups, and rugged design to handle classroom wear‑and‑tear.”

BBC Studios, BBC Learning HUB

“BBC Learning Hub is a free, globally accessible platform that delivers engaging educational content for PreK–12 students and educators. With high-quality video clips from iconic BBC programs, differentiated reading materials, and ready-made lesson plans, it makes enriching, standards-aligned instruction both easy and exciting.”

Benchmark Education, StartUp BuildUp SpiralUp Phonics

“StartUp BuildUp SpiralUp Phonics delivers highly structured, research-aligned phonics instruction for K–2+ students through flexible, multimodal resources. Created with phonics expert Dr. Wiley Blevins, this Tier 2 program blends digital and print tools to support small group instruction, differentiated pacing, and targeted intervention. Its rich decodable texts, diagnostics, and alignment with the Science of Reading make it a powerful solution for addressing unfinished learning, supporting English learners, and enhancing reading fluency.”

Benchmark Education, Benchmark Phonics Intervention

“Benchmark Phonics Intervention provides a research driven solution to teaching phonics to students behind in reading, in comparison to their peers. Its strength lies in reliability, depth, and ease of classroom integration.”

Bookelicious-Bookmoji

“Bookelicious is a great resource for a library or media center to help students pick out a book. With an engaging quiz it can find a better book for a student to encourage more reading to take place.”

BrainPOP 3-8

“BrainPOP helps students solve problems projects based on many of the BrainPOP topics. For elementary level, this is a great intro tool for learning computer science. They gear these activities toward middle schoolers with engaging learning games, animated movies, and activities but it’s a good solution for K-5 as well.”

Brisk Teaching, Brisk Teaching

“Brisk Teaching is one of my favorite AI tools for teachers on the market today. Not only do they pay close attention to student and teacher data privacy as the process input with AI, but I love the fact that it already resides as an extension to your browser. This makes it a tool that teachers don't have to leave their workspace to go to another web platform in order to use this AI tool.”

Cignition, Inc., K-12 Math & ELA High Dosage Virtual Tutoring

“Cignition’s K-12 Math & ELA High Dosage Virtual Tutoring program offers a structured, research-backed model that supports student learning through consistent, targeted virtual sessions. With experienced educators leading 1:1 and small group instruction, it provides flexible, data-driven support that scales across districts while remaining personal and effective. The program’s strength lies in both its focus on conceptual understanding and its commitment to inclusive, culturally responsive practices that support a wide range of learners.”

ClassLink, ClassLink Suite

“The Classlink Suite of products for Application Authentication, Usage Analysis of Applications, DataGuard, and App Track to name a few, are some of the best tools on the market for Ed Tech Administrators and should be in every district CTO's toolbox! Not only is the Classlink Suite incredibly robust in function and features, the ClassLink vision to help schools all over the world is absolutely first rate!”

Clear Touch, Connect + FOBio

“Connect + FOBio by Clear Touch is a smart and practical solution for modern classrooms, making it easy for educators to log in, access personalized content, and start teaching instantly—no more waiting or fumbling with passwords. The optional FOBio device streamlines the process even further with a one-click login. Combined with centralized admin controls and seamless integration with other Clear Touch tools, this duo simplifies classroom tech while boosting security and efficiency in shared environments.”

Committee for Children, Second Step

“This product fills a needed gap in school curriculums. I am glad it covers both students and teachers in the learning. I also like the flexibility and tracking tools for teachers and administrators.”

Discovery Education, DreamBox Math by Discovery Education

“In my district. teachers rely on DreamBox Math to simplify complex tasks and keep lessons engaging. Students find the work enjoyable and game-based.”

Discovery Education, DreamBox Reading by Discovery Education

“Our district uses DreamBox Reading to build stronger primary education lessons that inspire growth. Teachers appreciate how it adapts to each child’s learning level, providing personalized practice that builds confidence and skill over time.”

Edmentum, EdOptions Academy for Primary Education

“This product is a wonderful option for districts wanting to develop a Blended Learning opportunity for students. Many districts, including my own, have used this platform as a positive alternative to Remote Learning needs and especially for students that are Hospital or medically homebound or may be forced to quarantine for safety reasons. Highly recommend.”

Edmentum, Exact Path for Primary Education

“ExactPath by Edmentum is a really nice tool for taking assessment scores and standards from annual and quarterly summative assessment companies and projecting a unique learning path for students to improve their areas of deficiencies. I especially like how many assessment companies Edmentum has partnered with to garner scores from for building learning paths.”

Footsteps2Brilliance, Inc., Footsteps2Brilliance Financial Literacy

“F2B Financial Literacy pairs interactive graphic novels and an AI-powered Writing Coach with real-world financial scenarios. If financial literacy in grades 4–8 is a priority, but literacy and/or math goals are limiting time in that space, this may be a solution that addresses both needs for your school.”

GoNoodle

“GoNoodle provides brain breaks, SEL-aligned activities, and curriculum-connected videos that boost engagement, improve behavior, and support emotional wellness. I love the fact that this platform keeps students engaged through movement, regulated, and ready to learn while also supporting teacher well-being! I wish this was around when I was in school!”

HoverCam, HoverCam Orbit Trio

“HoverCam Orbit Trio the only casting solution that lets you cast both your laptop screen and the wireless document camera feed simultaneously. It is device agnostic, as any device can cast, and its closed loop approach eliminates any network concerns.”

Inquisitive, Inquisitive PreK-5 Science

“Inquisitive brings a smart, streamlined approach to PreK–5 science instruction with open-and-go lessons built around real-world phenomena that get students genuinely curious. Designed to be both teacher- and student-friendly, it combines strong instructional design with inclusive supports like translations, multimodal content, and real-time feedback. At just $76 per teacher with free student access, it offers a rare mix of affordability, scalability, and high instructional value.”

IXL Learning, IXL

“IXL is comprehensive, with ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish/Spanish Language Arts. Recent additions, like the LevelUp Diagnostic for ELA and enhanced analytics, strengthen actionable, personalized learning.”

Kahoot!, Kahoot!+

“Kahoot has long set the standard for student engagement excellence for many years. This new, reinvented Kahoot+ is a game changer now that it has added the power of AI! Now, the same power that teachers have had for years with Kahoot creativity is now also in the hands of students to help them prepare for national placement tests and even next week's test with powerful AI tutoring tools!”

Kibeam Learning, Inc.

“This is a very innovative solution. I like how they package everything you need, including PD, with the product. The fact that it is a non-screen technology that can be used with paper books is great.”

Kiddom, Kiddom Suite

“Kiddom Suite represents a next-generation curriculum platform that successfully integrates AI-powered Learning Intelligence Technology with high-quality instructional materials.”

Learnetic, EdTool

“EdTool is a powerful AI assistant for educators that transforms PDFs, textbook photos, or prompts into interactive, WCAG-compliant lessons in minutes. It offers 50,000+ ready-made K–12 STEM and Special Ed resources, multilingual support, real-time analytics, and personalized learning paths. Designed to reduce workload and boost inclusivity, EdTool helps teachers spend less time prepping and more time engaging students.”

Learning.com, EasyTech AI Lessons

“Nice solution! AI education is becoming more needed and this fills a space to help educators deliver instruction to various age groups.”

Lightspeed Systems, Lightspeed Insight

“Lightspeed has a great solution that has even more granular usage data in the new version. This is a much needed tool in schools that can save time and money as well as help with compliance at many levels.”

MagicSchool AI, MagicSchool AI

“Magic School is a robust tool that provides a safe entry point for using AI in schools. Elementary teachers find it a great entry point for introducing AI into classrooms.”

MIND Education, Seeing is Believing: InsightMath Makes K-6 Math Click

“I like their approach to teaching math. The research-based approach that focuses on the way students learn helps direct teachers content delivery. They cover all learning styles and challenges.”

MIND Education, ST Math

“ST Math is a PreK–8 visual, game‑based math learning platform designed to build deep conceptual understanding. It uses puzzles, spatial‑temporal reasoning, and formative feedback to let students explore math visually before formal vocabulary or procedures. Teachers use dashboards to monitor progress, intervene, and let students work independently or in small groups. It’s especially strong for multilingual learners and students with learning differences.”

MobyMax Education, LLC, MobyMax

“My teachers have shared how MobyMax makes working with the younger learners easier to manage with all the data aspects, and shared that it helped them reach students in more meaningful ways.”

Otus

“Otus is an all-in-one platform that brings together assessment, progress monitoring, grading, and data visualization to give K–12 educators a centralized, actionable view of student growth. Designed for transparency and efficiency, Otus helps schools reduce tool sprawl, meet compliance, and save educators valuable time—making it easier to actually use data to drive instruction.”

OxEd & Assessment, Tel Ted Program

"The Tel Ted Program offers an assessment platform for 4-7 year-old students that often do not get enough attention during this important time in a child's long-term success. These assessments are absolutely crucial in understanding and addressing student's cognitive learning deficits or challenges. This research-based platform seeks to improve life outcomes for all children.”

Presence, Kanga by Presence

“Kanga by Presence delivers a specialized, clinician-designed teletherapy platform that uniquely addresses the complex needs of school-based special education services.”

Prodigy Education, Prodigy

“Prodigy is a free game‑based learning platform used with K–8 students for math and ELA. It combines adventures, quests, and interactive features to engage learners while following standards‑aligned content. Teachers can assign work, monitor student progress via dashboards, and customize practice to fit classroom goals.”

Readable English, Readable English

“Readable English simplifies the complexities of English decoding by overlaying intuitive pronunciation guides directly onto traditional text, enabling students—especially those with dyslexia, learning differences, or limited English proficiency—to read fluently and independently. It's a highly scalable solution that meets struggling readers where they are without requiring intensive teacher prep or intervention pullouts.”

Renaissance, Nearpod - AI Create

“Nearpod has always been a great teaching and learning tool. Now, with the leveraging of AI, it will really expedite the creation of high quality lessons saving teachers time without losing quality of instruction.”

Renaissance, Star Assessments - Star Biliteracy Report

“Star Assessments Biliteracy Report (Renaissance) is a bilingual assessment feature that combines data from Star Reading (English) and Star Lectura (Spanish) to help educators evaluate bilingual students’ reading progress using benchmarks that reflect bilingual rather than monolingual norms. This tool highlights strengths, identifies growth areas across both languages, and supports more equitable and informed instruction in dual‑language programs.”

Renaissance, Renaissance Next for Teachers

“Renaissance Next for Teachers is a teacher‑oriented dashboard that brings together assessment, practice, and instructional data (from tools like Star, Freckle, myON, etc.) into one place. It gives educators at‑a‑glance insights and recommends next steps for the whole class, small group, and individual instruction—making it easier to see where students are, where they need to go, and how to get them there.”

Renaissance, Flocabulary Español

“For schools looking to increase their Spanish language resources and are already using Flocabulary, Flocabulary Español is a great addition to support Spanish speakers and Spanish language learners.”

Riverside Insights, Cognitive Abilities Test

“CogAT is traditionally used for identifying Gifted and Talented students, but using this for all students helps to inform instructional strategies for all students.”

Sadlier Publishing, From Phonics to Reading

“From Phonics to Reading represents a high-quality, evidence-based phonics program that addresses the Science of Reading. Its competitive pricing makes it a value proposition for K-3 literacy instruction.”

Sadlier Publishing, Building Reading Success with Wiley Blevins

“Building Reading Success with Wiley Blevins represents a well-designed, evidence-based intervention program that addresses critical gaps in the K-5 reading intervention market by combining systematic Science of Reading principles with practical classroom implementation.”

Savvas Learning Company, Experience Science for Elementary

“Experience Science for Elementary offers a thoughtfully designed, NGSS-aligned curriculum that puts students at the center of learning through real-world phenomena and hands-on investigations. With flexible, station-based instruction and robust teacher support, it empowers educators to seamlessly integrate science into the busy elementary day while supporting all learners, including multilingual students. Its cross-curricular connections and adaptable resources make it a powerful tool for schools looking to make science both manageable and meaningful.”

SchoolStatus, SchoolStatus Attend | Primary

“The SchoolStatus Attend platform is focused on correcting and reducing the massive chronic absenteeism battle every year. SchoolStatus streamlines not only the communication process for messaging interventions but allows for less personnel to achieve the accounting of student attendance management. Not only does it offer robust interventions to tackle the behaviors that lead to chronic absenteeism, but it uses positive, proactive outreach processes to work with families to work together on the root causes and not just the symptoms.”

Science Interactive, Starlab

“Starlab is a great product that is very engaging to students. It's portable and easy to setup. The included learning platform makes this an interactive tool on a variety of topics.”

Seesaw Learning, Seesaw Learning

“Our district counts on Seesaw Learning to keep Primary Education moving forward. Our teachers count on it and it has been a very reliable resource.”

Share-A-Cart, Share-A-Cart for Google Classroom

“We need products like this to help teachers and students get the supplies they need to learn. This is a simple solution that helps get these lists in one place.”

SMART Technologies, The SMART Board® RX Interactive Display

“The SMART Board enhances elementary teaching and learning by turning lessons into participatory experiences that spark curiosity and creativity in our youngest learners. It provides tools that support diverse student needs, especially neurodivergent learners, by making learning more inclusive and interactive.”

Stride, Inc., K12 Zone

“This is a departure from traditional LMS's, with K12 Zone's clubs, field trips, customizable avatars, classroom spaces, and social hubs making it more appealing for a younger student user.”

Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI), TCI's Bring Science Alive! K-5 Programs

“TCI's Bring Science Alive! is a great curriculum solution that integrates literacy and math into its Next Generation Science Standards aligned lessons and labs.”

TEAMology, TEAMtalk by TEAMology

“TEAMtalk provides diverse characters that promote social and emotional foundational skills in a relatable way for children to understand the concepts and apply them in their daily life. I particularly like the real-time solutions and strategies to common stress and anxiety issues that happen throughout the day.”

Tech4Learning, Wixie

“Wixie has been used for a long time and they continue to add new features that help students and teachers alike. Although these tools aren't all that unique, the way they combined them and how they can be used within the program is excellent.”

Voyager Sopris Learning, REWARDS

“This is an interesting entry from the rest since it is mostly analog in its usage. But, that doesn't mean it's not a winner. This is a good solution that offers ongoing support and training for their users. Teachers have a good set of resources as well.”

SECONDARY WINNERS

Acer, TravelMate B5 14 (Model: TMB514-31-G2-P97S)

“This notebook may be the best classroom laptop for teachers to monitor battery life and internet connectivity with an LED on the lid that changes color to indicate internet connectivity and low battery.”

Amplify Education, Amplify ELA

“This new ELA product from Amplify is solid when it comes to helping students read and improving their reading skills. It is particularly good for middle school students who have been struggling in the past, to get them brought up to speed with their peers.”

Apptegy, Apptegy School Communication Platform

“Teachers like how the Apptegy Platform improves daily instruction and allows classrooms to open their doors to showcase learning outside the four walls. In our secondary schools, I see older students benefit greatly from the high level of communication it enables, helping them share their voice, connect with opportunities, and build stronger school-to-home partnerships.”

BenQ, BenQ SL04 PANTONE VALIDATED SIGNAGE

“Our district found that BenQ supports both teachers and students in high school by ensuring instruction is innovative, efficient, and aligned with modern learning goals. For older students with a wide range of interests, it offers engaging visuals and interactive opportunities that help capture attention and connect learning to their passions.”

BenQ, BenQ Board Essential RE04 Series

“For high school students, this tool captures attention through its innovative design and interactive features. The technology helps keep older learners engaged, sparks curiosity, and makes lessons feel more relevant to their world.”

Cellairis, Cellairis Cyber Pouch

“This is a homerun that balances the need to meet the ban requirements but also allows access in case of emergency. The simplicity of the solution along with the simple check in/out system deserves a place in the classroom.”

ClassLink, ClassLink Suite

“The Classlink Suite of products for Application Authentication, Usage Analysis of Applications, DataGuard, and App Track to name a few, are some of the best tools on the market for Ed Tech Administrators and should be in every district CTO's toolbox!”

Coursemojo

“Coursemojo represents a breakthrough in AI-powered education by uniquely combining curriculum-aligned teaching assistance with real-time student insights, delivering encouraging pilot results.”

CTL Chromebook NL73 Gen 2 Series

“The CTL Chromebook has supported our students with a robust device for learning and a stable tool to teach effectively.”

Curriculum Associates, i-Ready Pro: Honoring the unique needs of middle schoolers

“iReady Pro targets middle school students who are behind, but the platform allows them to catch up without feeling they are falling further behind. It is an adaptive academic program with reliable diagnostics and personalized instruction, particularly effective for districts seeking to close gaps in reading and math.”

Discovery Education, Discovery Education Experience

“Discovery Education is a resource my high school teachers value because it truly engages students and connects learning to the real world. From virtual field trips to ready-to-use lessons, it saves planning time while still offering rich, standards-aligned content.”

Edmentum, EdOptions Academy for Secondary Education

“This product is a wonderful option for districts wanting to develop a Blended Learning opportunity for students. Many districts, including my own, have used this platform as a positive alternative to Remote Learning needs and especially for students that are Hospital or medically homebound or may be forced to quarantine for safety reasons. Highly recommend.”

Edmentum, Courseware for Secondary Education

“This is a very good and well thought out solution. I really like the immersive, simulation-based training they offer. The added CTE training with job ready certifications is a nice addition that is much needed.”

Edmentum, Exact Path for Secondary Education

“ExactPath by Edmentum is a really nice tool for taking assessment scores and standards from annual and quarterly summative assessment companies and projecting a unique learning path for students to improve their areas of deficiencies. I especially like how many assessment companies Edmentum has partnered with to garner scores from for building learning paths.”

Everway, Unique Learning System (ULS)

“Unique Learning System (ULS) by EverwayUnique Learning System is a modified special‑education curriculum designed for students with moderate to severe disabilities (preschool through transition). It covers core subjects and is aligned with evidence‑based frameworks such as UDL (Universal Design for Learning), the Science of Reading, and scaffolded learning.”

Everway, Read&Write

“Read&Write empowers students in Secondary Education by creating interactive, accessible experiences that spark creativity and build confidence in learning.”

Hometown, Schoolfundr – Transforming School Fundraising to Enrich Education

“This is a nice solution – it can definitely improve fundraising. Schools need to know that they will get ‘most’ of the money raised, less the processing fees from Stripe. The personal information collection and data sharing policies look pretty good as well.”

iCEV, iCEV

“iCEV has been around for 40 years, and their innovations in CTE curriculum is well-suited for high schools seeking an all-in-one solution to meet diverse career pathway requirements.”

Incident IQ, iiQ Facilities

“Our district uses many iiQ tools. Facilities streamlines our work orders and communication, it helps us maintain safe, efficient, and well-managed learning environments.”

Instructure, Mastery

“Mastery is a teacher-centric assessment platform with a very large, vetted item bank and research-backed predictive benchmarks that give teachers and leaders timely, standards-aligned data to drive instruction.”

IXL Learning, Rosetta Stone for Schools

“This program supports non English speaking students as they learn english. Students can learn at their own pace in culturally responsive environments. Using the same tools and features as the original product, Lexia Learning, it sets students up for success.”

Jebbee, Jebbee

“Jebbee is a modern career exploration platform that uses video content and AI to help students grades 9‑12 discover careers, colleges, apprenticeships, and mentorships aligned with their interests and strengths. It includes tools like Virtual CareerDay, mentorship chats, and recommendation engines to make exploration relevant and engaging.”

Kira's AI Tutor

“Kira's AI Tutor is a robust platform for not only learning computer science principles, but also advanced coding techniques in artificial intelligence. This platform has so much to offer both at the high school and middle school level for students who want to investigate careers in IT!”

Learning.com, EasyTech AI Lessons

“This is a needed solution for students and educators. Proper instruction in AI is quickly becoming a necessary part of the curriculum. I think this product fills the need nicely.”

Level Data, Inc., Return On Instruction

“What makes this product stand out for me is its ability to track both digital and analog resources. Being able to compare the use and success of all learning resources is extremely important. Also, access to their in-house data people to help disaggregate the data is very helpful.”

Level Data, Inc., Brolly by Level Data

“This is a much needed solution that helps the very busy and over-extended CST members track compliance. This can help improve outcomes for the CST and most importantly the students.”

Level Data, Inc., Grow by Level Data

“This is a great tool for documenting and tracking professional growth. The use of a language is so important in any organization and can keep all stakeholders on the same page and focused on goals.”

Magic EdTech, MagicBox

“MagicBox is a robust AI-powered digital learning and publishing platform tailored for grades 6–12, enabling seamless content creation, delivery, and analytics via branded web and mobile apps. It supports personalized, offline-accessible learning, integrates with popular LMS/SIS systems, and uses AI to simplify lesson planning and student engagement—making it a powerful ally for both educators and content publishers.”

ManagedMethods Classroom Manager

“ManagedMethods Classroom Manager is a classroom‑management tool that gives teachers real‑time visibility and control over student activity on devices (especially Chromebooks), helps direct online access, and reduces distractions during lessons. It works via browser extension and is built with a security‑first mindset, making it a good fit for schools looking to balance tech use with student safety and instructional efficiency.”

NetSupport, classroom.cloud by NetSupport

“The NetSupport Classroom Cloud product is amazing when it comes to mobile device management at the classroom and teacher level. This system is also device agnostic and allows teachers to have full control over the content and use of district-owned students devices.”

Newsela, Formative

“Formative stands out as a comprehensive, innovative assessment and instruction tool that supports both teachers and administrators with real-time data and AI-powered features.”

Otus

“Otus offers a unified platform for K–12 assessment, grading, and data visualization, streamlining teacher workflows while improving student support and district-wide transparency. With AI-powered insights, standards-aligned tools, and integrations that reduce the need for multiple systems, Otus delivers a cost-effective, scalable solution that helps educators focus on growth instead of administration.”

ParentSquare Attendance Plus

“ParentSquare Attendance Plus is a K–12 attendance tool built into the ParentSquare platform that fights chronic absenteeism through equitable outreach, automated interventions, and real‑time data. It syncs with SIS systems to flag at‑risk students early, allows staff to log interventions and follow‑ups without switching tools, and sends multilingual, multi‑channel communications to families. The focus is on connection and prevention rather than just compliance.”

PBLWorks TEACH

“PBLWorks TEACH gives teachers ready‑to‑go, research‑based project units (middle school, grades 6‑8 right now) in core subjects, with step‑by‑step supports, resources, and embedded professional learning. The goal is to make high‑quality, Gold Standard PBL doable even for teachers new to it, and scalable across schools and districts.”

PFU America, Inc., ScanSnap iX2500 Helps Educators Work Smarter and More Efficiently

“I have personally used ScanSnap in my work in education and they are invaluable for archiving paperwork, photos, and a variety of other print items. The software saves these scans in a format that can easily be saved and viewed. Also, these devices are super portable and easy to use.”

PFU America, Inc., RICOH UHL3660 UST Projector Improving Student Engagement and Learning

“This is a solid projector with some very good features, including the high lumen count, its form factor, and the fact that it can be mounted by a single person. This is a solid ultra short throw projector. “

PowerSchool, Attendance Intervention: Turning Data into Daily Success

“Schools who are needing an attendance dashboard, rather than exporting from their SIS and creating their own, will find this tool valuable.”

Presence, Kanga by Presence

“Kanga by Presence delivers a specialized, clinician-designed teletherapy platform that uniquely addresses the complex needs of school-based special education services.”

Proximity Learning Inc. Virtual Education

“Proximity Learning delivers certified teachers and case managers into classrooms virtually. Their synchronous instruction model fills critical staffing gaps, especially in special education, by providing both live instruction and administrative support (case management, IEP compliance, etc.). The model makes quality instruction accessible even in underserved or rural districts without sacrificing compliance or classroom presence.”

Savvas Learning Company, Experience Science for Middle Grades

“Experience Science for Middle Grades empowers students to learn like scientists and engineers through hands-on instruction. The curriculum uses Next Generation Science Standards aligned in 14 modular units in Life, Physical, and Earth/Space Science.”

SchoolAI, SchoolAI

“School AI has quickly set itself up as one of the premier AI tools for both teachers and students. School AI was one of the first AI tools to sign a data privacy agreement with school districts ensuring that student data will always be protected and will not train their LLM's. School AI offers simple tools that work safely in schools and students love to use their historical and celebrity AI models for tutoring and studying!”

ScreenBeam 1000 EDU Gen 2, 1000 EDU G2

“This is a reliable and easy to setup and use product that has a place in any district classroom. It can save teachers, IT departments, and districts time and money with its easy installation. integration, and management features. The suite of alert and teaching tools is more than capable and easy to use for instruction and sharing.”

Share-A-Cart, Share-A-Cart for Google Classroom

“We need products like this to help teachers and students get the supplies they need to learn. This simple solution helps get these lists in one place.”

Singleton Foundation, Venture Valley Business Tycoon

“Venture Valley Business Tycoon platform uses experiential learning and exciting gameplay to foster financial literacy as students take on the role of startup founders in immersive, fast-paced business simulations. This experiential way of problem-solving provides real-world tasks that help students understand what it is like to be an entrepreneur while also fostering better understanding of design thinking.”

Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI), TCI's Middle and High Social Studies Programs

“TCI’s Middle & High Social Studies Programs are inquiry‑based curricula that put students in the driver’s seat by using primary sources, video, discussions, hands‑on activities, and interactive elements. They aim to shift social studies from memorization to critical thinking, civic awareness, and relevance to today’s world.”

The Commons Inc., The Commons App

“This is a good alternative solution to pouches. The app pauses access to distractions like social media, games, and scrolling, offering a technological approach to cell phone bans.”

Voyager Sopris Learning, TransMath

“TransMath is a research-driven math intervention program aimed at students in grades 5–10 who are significantly below grade level. Its structured, dual-topic design emphasizes mastery of foundational skills while building readiness for algebra. With age-appropriate content, multisensory tools, and visual models, TransMath offers a supportive, engaging experience for both teachers and students, focusing on conceptual understanding and long-term math success.”

Voyager Sopris Learning, LANGUAGE! Live

“LANGUAGE! Live is a comprehensive literacy intervention for struggling students in grades 5–12 that incorporates both online and teacher-guided instruction. I particularly liked the blended learning opportunities the online components provided students by allowing them to move at their own pace in authentic texts.”

YouScience, YouScience Brightpath

“YouScience Brightpath connects education with career applications designed to help students unlock their potential for future pathways. Brightpath uses a series of brain games to help students discover their unique aptitudes and interests. This helps guide them toward the right path. This system is a great way to learn about ‘you’.”

HIGHER EDUCATION WINNERS

Anthology, Blackboard AI Conversation

“Blackboard AI is transforming how we can approach teaching and learning in 2025. By blending AI literacy with immersive, practice-based scenarios, it prepares students for the workforce while keeping them engaged in meaningful ways. Faculty can use the tool and gain deeper insights into student learning, and learners gain confidence navigating real-world challenges.”

AvePoint, MaivenPoint: Driving Stronger Educational Outcomes in the AI Era

“MaivenPoint's deep Microsoft integration and regulatory automation features provide advantages for institutions seeking comprehensive academic administration rather than just course delivery.”

AVer Information Inc., TR315

“This is a very nice upgrade to the older model. I like the tracking and interoperability features. This is a great solution for both lesson capture as well as online instruction.”

AVer Information Inc., PTZ211

“The PTZ211 is a feature-rich 12X HD AI PTZ camera designed to simplify high-quality video capture in classrooms and hybrid learning environments. Its smart automation—like SmartFrame and SmartShoot—removes the need for manual camera control. It offers professional-grade performance in an accessible, reliable package.”

BenQ, BenQ Board Essential RE04 Series

“Faculty have shared how the BenQ Board supports the wide variety of content and learners in higher education. It makes instruction easier to manage while also helping professors connect with students in more meaningful, interactive ways.”

BenQ, BenQ SL04 PANTONE VALIDATED SIGNAGE

“In higher ed, BenQ supports both teachers and students by displaying a wide range of interests. It offers engaging visuals and interactive opportunities that help capture attention and connect learning and needs to students' passions.”

ClassLink, ClassLink Suite

“The Classlink Suite of products for Application Authentication, Usage Analysis of Applications, DataGuard, and App Track to name a few, are some of the best tools on the market for Ed Tech Administrators and should be in every district CTO's toolbox!”

Copyleaks, Copyleaks AI Logic

“Not only does AI Logic have a 99.1% accuracy rate and a .2% false positive rate, it also can detect AI content in over 15 languages, AI-generated source code, and paraphrased AI content and AI text interspersed with human-written text.”

D2L, D2L Accessibility+

“D2L Accessibility can be a cornerstone for building stronger Higher Education programs that inspire growth. As an integrated accessibility solution within Brightspace, it helps institutions close the gap between compliance requirements and the learner experience.”

D2L, D2L Brightspace

“Brightspace is a reliable platform for creating engaging and personalized learning experiences. Educators appreciate its ease of use, accessibility-first design, and ability to adapt to different learning needs.”

Epson America, Epson EB-PU2116W 16,000 Lumen 3LCD Laser Projector with 4K Enhancement

“Epson’s EB‑PU2116W is a large‑venue laser projector aimed at higher education and other settings needing big, bright, high‑quality visuals. With a 20,000‑hour maintenance‑free laser light engine, sealed optics, dust resistance, and a suite of features for flexible installations, this model gives institutions powerful imaging with a design built for longevity and ease of use.”

FeedbackFruits, Learning Design Studio by FeedbackFruits

“Learning Design Studio (FeedbackFruits) helps teachers build flexible, customized learning experiences inside their LMS. With AI‑feedback/automated grading, real‑time analytics, and reusable templates, it reduces prep time, supports both in‑person and asynchronous learning, and keeps everything connected in one tool.”

FeedbackFruits, Learning Design System

“Learning Design System is a modular platform integrated into an LMS that lets teachers build personalized learning experiences. It supports mixed modalities (in‑person, asynchronous), real‑time analytics, AI feedback/automated grading, and flexible learning journeys across student levels.”

FeedbackFruits, Feedback and Assessment

“FeedbackFruits excels as a specialized peer assessment platform with strong technical execution and institutional support. This is an excellent option.”

Instructure, Canvas

“In higher education, our district sees Canvas as a cornerstone for strengthening programs by streamlining communication between professors and students. It provides a reliable platform for organizing coursework, managing the flow of multiple classes, and ensuring consistent learning experiences that support student growth.”

Kaplan, All Access License by Kaplan

“Kaplan's All Access License represents a breakthrough innovation in higher education support services by creating an entirely new pricing model. This allows a greater number of universities to provide their students with school-wide access to free, industry-leading test prep for graduate admissions exams, licensure, credentials and workforce readiness programs - all for one flat fee.”

Logitech, Logitech Rally Camera Streamline Kit

“This camera does a great job for what it was designed to do. I think that the low installation needs and switching between views makes it valuable. IT departments will also like the manageability of these devices. Teachers will appreciate the ease of use and feature set.”

Mars Challenge

The Mars Challenge platform gives students and teachers a realistic and authentic way to not only problem solve, but find better ways of doing science and research that become more purposeful and meaningful. I love the approach these challenges take that "if the problem can be solved on Mars with no atmosphere, no water, and no resources, then surely problems on earth can be more easily solved!" The Mars global platform is a wonderful opportunity for young innovators to prototype humanity’s survival on two planets at once!”

ScreenBeam, 1100P

“This product is reliable, easy to set up, and use that has a place in any higher ed classroom. It can save colleges time and money with its easy installation, integration, and management features.”

Shure, MXW neXt 2

“I found the neXt 2 Wireless Microphone System provided clear audio and supported both in-person and hybrid learning.”

SMART Technologies, The SMART Board Mini

“I found the SMART Board Mini empowering for students in Higher Education because it allowed the creation of interactive, accessible experiences that spark creativity and build confidence in learning.”

Turnitin, Turnitin Clarity

“This is an excellent solution that not only teaches students how to use AI in an ethical and productive way, but is also collaborative. The AI insights for the teachers gives them clear insights into the student's writing process as well as any issues that may need addressing.”

Vector Solutions, AlcoholEdu by Vector Solutions

“I like their approach. They include information not just for prevention, but for students that may not drink or are in recovery. This training seems well thought out and researched.”

ViewSonic Corp., ViewSonic LDS138-151 All-in-One Mobile Direct View LED Display

“The ViewSonic LDS138-151 is an impressive 138-inch all-in-one, mobile Direct View LED Display Solution. This Video-Wall display is nothing short of amazing and even folds up to transport it when combined with the wheelable cart.”

VitalSource, VitalSource’s Bookshelf CoachMe, The Industry-Leading AI Study Tool for Modern Learners

“Bookshelf CoachMe is an AI‑powered study‑coach feature built into VitalSource’s eText platform. The tool is free for students using qualifying eTexts, and it gathers data on usage and outcomes so educators can monitor engagement and identify students who might need extra support.”

Zoom Communications, Inc., Zoom Workplace for Education with AI Companion

“The staff at the college where I teach have shared how AI Workplace makes their jobs easier to manage while also helping them reach students in more meaningful ways.”

Tech & Learning has announced the winners of their 2024 “Best Tools for Back to School” to help our readers find the most impressive products and solutions that will support their work in any learning environment.

Tech & Learning judges evaluated nominated products based on versatility, value, and solutions to specific problems to support innovative, effective teaching and learning.

“With emerging technology like AI exploding just as ESSER funds are dwindling in schools nationwide, our readers count on Tech & Learning to curate the best products out there to support an equitable, effective learning environment,” says Tech & Learning Content Director, Christine Weiser. “The winning products met our evaluation criteria to qualify for this prestigious list.”

Congratulations to the following winners!

BEST TOOLS FOR BACK TO SCHOOL 2024

Higher Education

• BenQ, BenQ LH650, BenQ RP04
• Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve, ATEM Mini live production switchers
• BM Technologies (BMTX), BankMobile Disbursements and BankMobile Vibe
• ClassLink
• Copyleaks, AI Detector
• D2L, D2L Lumi
• Ellucian, Ellucian Journey
• Gale, part of Cengage Group, Gale Literature Resource Center, Gale Digital Scholar Lab
• NetSupport, NetSupport School
• Niche, Niche Direct Admissions
• Turnitin, Turnitin’s Paper to Digital Add-On for Feedback Studio
• Viewsonic Corp., ViewSonic LDC031 DirectView LED Display
• VitalSource, Bookshelf CoachMe

Primary Education

• Acer, Acer Chromebook Plus 514
• Age of Learning, My Reading Academy Espanol, My Reading Academy, My Math Academy
• Amplify Education, Amplify Desmos Math
• Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Community Educator Learning Hub
• AVer Information, AmpliWave, M15W
• AVID Products, WonderEars Early Learning Headset
• Benchmark Education Company, Benchmark Advance< Benchmark Adelante< eBook Library, Foundational Skills Assessment
• BenQ, BenQ LH650, BenQ RP04
• Boxlight, Xploris, Robo E4/E4 Pro 3D Printers, MimioPro G, FrontRow Unity
• Capstone, The PebbleGo suite
• ClassDojo, ClassDojo for Districts
• ClassLink
• Clear Digital, The Müv
• Clear Touch, NEXT Hub
• Curriculum Associates, i-Ready
• D2L, D2L Lumi
• Discovery Education, Mystery Writing, DreamBox Math
• ECS Learning Systems, STAAR MASTER Interactive
• Edmentum, EdOptions Academy, Exact Path
• Follett Software, LLC, Destiny Library Manager
• HUE, HUE Animation Studio
• Incident IQ
• Instructure, Mastery Connect
• IXL Learning, IXL
• Kiddom
• Lenovo, Lenovo LanSchool
• Lightbox Learning Inc., AV2 Nonfiction Subscriptions
• Logitech, Logitech Reach
• MIND Education, ST Math
• MobileMind
• MobyMax
• myBlueprint, SpacesEDU
• Mynd.ai Promethean, Inc., Explain Everything Advanced
• n2y, Unique Learning System (ULS)
• Newline, Newline 75” Q Pro (with Merlyn Mind)
• Otus
• OxEd & Assessment, LanguageScreen
• Pikmykid, Pikmykid Messenger
• Play Piper, Piper Make
• Pocketalk, Pocketalk Plus
• Presence (formerly PresenceLearning), Presence Teletherapy Services
• PSNI, SNAP Health Center
• Read Naturally, Inc., Read Live
• Reading Horizons, Reading Horizons Discovery Product Suite
• Rise Vision, Rise Vision Digital Signage
• Science Interactive Group, Starlab
• SMART Technologies, Lumio
• Sphero, Inc., Sphero BOLT+ programmable robot
• Vivi, Vivi Wireless Presentation and School Communication Solution
• Voyager Sopris Learning, Step Up to Writing
• William H. Sadlier, From Phonics to Reading
• 95 Percent Group, 95 RAP, 95 Literacy Intervention System, Top 10 Tools by 95 Percent Group

Secondary Education

• Acer, Acer TravelMate P4 Spin 14, Acer Premier Service (Authorized Service Provider and E-Learning Repair Program)
• Amplify Education, Amplify ELA
• Banzai
• BenQ, BenQ LH650, BenQ RP04
• Bloomsbury/ABC-CLIO, American History
• Boxlight, Robo E4/E4 Pro 3D Printers, MimioPro G, FrontRow Unity
• ClassLink
• Council on Foreign Relations, CFR Education
• CTL, CTL Chromebook Plus PX141G Series
• Defined, Defined Learning, Defined Careers
• Discovery Education, Career Connect
• Edmentum, EdOptions Academy, Edmentum Courseware, Exact Path
• Epson America, Epson ELPCS01 Mobile Projector Cart
• Follett Software, LLC, Destiny Resource Manager, Destiny Fundraising Manager
• Foundations in Learning, WordFlight
• Gale, part of Cengage Group, Gale In Context: For Educators, Gale In Context: Literature
• Gladeo Inc., Gladeo’s FutureReady Career Development Program
• Gradient Learning, Along
• Hiveclass, HiveclassPE
• HUE, HUE HD Pro
• Identity Automation, PhishID
• Incident IQ
• IXL Learning, IXL, Rosetta Stone for Schools
• Kiddom
• Lightspeed Systems, Lightspeed Digital Insight
• Linewize, Linewize School Manager
• LocknCharge, FUYL Smart Locker System
• MagicSchool, MagicSchool AI
• MobileMind
• myBlueprint, SpacesEDU
• n2y, News2you, Unique Learning System (ULS)
• Nash Consulting, MyFlexLearning
• NetSupport, classroom.cloud
• Newline, Newline 75” Q Pro (with Merlyn Mind)
• NoRedInk Co., NoRedInk
• Otus
• ParentSquare, Virtual Phone
• PFU America, Inc., ScanSnap iX1600 Chromebook Edition
• Pikmykid, Pikmykid Emergency Alert Systems
• PowerGistics, Time Machine
• PowerSchool, Naviance CCLR
• Presence (formerly PresenceLearning), Presence Teletherapy Services
• Proximity Learning, Live Virtual K-12 Education
• Reading Horizons, Reading Horizons Elevate
• Resonant Education, SSIS SaRA powered by Resonant Education
• SAE International, d’Vinci Interactive
• Savvas Learning Company, Outlier by Savvas Dual Enrollment Courses
• SchooLinks
• Screencastify
• Scrible, Inc., Scrible Edu Pro
• SmartPass, SmartPass Pro
• Stride, Inc., K12 SUBS Program
• Study.com, Free, AI-Powered Praxis Core Prep
• Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI), TCI’s Social Studies Programs
• UWorld, UWorld’s Courses for AP
• Vivacity Tech PBC, 36-Unit Smart Charging Cart, Mobile Charging Station, Student Repair Academy (SRA), Guardian Work-In Case with Pouch
• Vivi, Vivi Wireless Presentation and School Communication Solution
• Voyager Sopris Learning, LANGUAGE! Live

Back-to-school time is here and it’s essential for educators to start building a comfortable and secure atmosphere in their classrooms from day one.

One way to ease into the new year is with icebreakers – shared exercises and activities that help students shed their first-day anxieties and get to know their new classmates. Teachers can also learn about their new students through icebreaker activities, which carry none of the usual stress of assignments and exams.

Unlike many other classroom activities, icebreakers aren’t graded and have no “right” answers. Participation is the only required element! The following icebreakers are designed to engage kids’ interest and make them feel at home with their new classmates. Expect laughter (but not mayhem).

Best Icebreakers for Back to School

Ah So Ko Circle Game Inspires Creativity & Fun
In this hilarious circle game, three basic syllables and gestures form the foundation of a quick-paced, flexible, fun, and creative group exercise. Although the game features elimination of players, no one is truly excluded as the eliminated players join the hecklers, who seek to influence gameplay from outside the circle. This detailed video includes a transcript and time stamps for every key moment.

Using AI for Icebreakers In The Classroom
With the integration of artificial intelligence into many edtech tools comes the opportunity to experiment in a low-stakes situation, such as back to school warm-ups. In this article we explore the use of AI tools in Padlet and Adobe Express as icebreakers for any time of year.

Mentimeter Word Cloud Icebreakers
The presentation tool Mentimeter can be easily used to create word clouds with your students. Simply enter a prompt (such as “Summarize today's lecture in one word”) and share the join code with your class. Mentimeter will supply a range of other prompts if requested. Free basic education account required.

Edutopia: 10 Community-Building Ideas
These low-tech activities aren’t flashy and don’t require artificial intelligence. Yet each one offers a way for students to connect with and learn about each other at the beginning of the school year. Divided into elementary, middle, and high school, activities are accompanied by helpful images and videos from real-life classrooms. Try the classroom shout-out, Friendly Friday, or Rose and Thorn for quick yet meaningful student interactions.

Carnegie Learning: 20 Activities for the First Day of School
The first day of school is usually taken up with administrative tasks, seating assignments, and learning your student’s names. Why not make it more memorable for yourself and your students? In this article, Carnegie Learning spotlights math, ELA, and language activities for elementary through high school grades. Each activity is clearly explained and features several variations on the theme.

12 AI-Enhanced Icebreakers To Motivate Learners
Educator, author, and Tech & Learning advisor Carl Hooker shares (with humor and expertise) his top AI-enhanced icebreakers for the classroom. Explore icebreakers such as Favorite Images, Futuristic Headlines, and Five-Word Challenge to spark your students’ interest and creativity.

Make Beliefs Comix Starters
This fully free site aims to inspire kids to exercise their creative spirit through comic strip creation. Make Beliefs Comix is chock full of great activities, but Comic Strip Starters is especially appropriate for a back-to-school icebreaker. Kids simply choose the cartoon that appeals to them, then write a story to fit the single-panel cartoon. This activity can be expanded into a longer lesson, or kept as a simple, low-stress icebreaker.

Elementary Student Back-to-School Icebreakers
This interesting collection of outside-the-box yet accessible icebreakers for elementary school includes a book read-aloud, time capsule, fun with emojis, and (my favorite), a math activity that challenges kids to create equations to describe their age, name, and other characteristics. Activities are suitable for both in-person and remote learning.

Magnetic Poetry Nature
Simple, free, and easy-to-use digital “magnetic” poetry game lets users quickly create original poems and share via email. Hundreds of nature-themed words—no refrigerator needed!

Storyboard That Icebreaker Questions
Six engaging digital icebreakers that will prompt kids’ thinking and imagination. Includes KWL (know/want to know/learned) charts, conversation cubes, riddles, and more.

7 Digital Icebreakers using Google
Ideal for both remote and in-person teaching, these digital icebreakers make use of free Google tools—Docs, Sheets, and Slides—to help kids get to know one another and find common ground with their classmates.

Read Write Think
“My Summer Vacation” is a popular writing assignment in the new school year. Consider this interactive timeline as a fun twist on the old standby. Kids simply click to add events such as sports, summer camp, family vacations, or summer jobs, then add a written description and images. The final product can be downloaded, printed, or exported as a PDF file. Free, no account needed.

Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities
Searchable by group size and category, this free site offers more than 100 icebreakers, team-building exercises, group games, family-friendly activities, worksheets, and more. Among the dozens of great classroom icebreakers are “Personal Trivia Baseball,” “Time Hop,” and “Memorable Catchy Names.”

21 Free Fun IceBreakers
Explore these classic and modern free digital icebreakers and select the perfect ones for your in-person or online class.

BoomWriter
Teachers place students into groups and have each one write a page of a story, then share with the class using BoomWriter’s innovative writing and voting process. Free trials available.

Share my Lesson Icebreaker Activities
Dozens of high quality icebreaker lessons and activities created by your fellow teachers. Searchable by grade, subject, standards, and attributes, these activities include games, quizzes, speaking topics, and more.

An internet search for free learning resources will likely return a long list that includes some useful sites amid a sea of not-really-free and not-very-useful sites.

To help teachers more easily find the best free and freemium sites they can use in their classrooms and curricula, I've curated a list that describes the top free/freemium sites for learning.

In some cases, Tech & Learning has reviewed the site in detail, and those links are included so readers can find out more about how to make the best use of the online materials. In all cases, the websites below provide valuable educational tools, lessons, and ideas, and are worth exploring further.

FREEMIUM SITES

AnimakerCreate presentations, posters, animations, and infographics. Free account for up to two teachers and 25 students.

Animoto
A drag-and-drop video creation site, Animoto offers a free account allowing unlimited videos. Great for beginners.

Belouga
Belouga is a digital platform providing K-12 teachers and students with a personalized learning journey through connection, communication and collaboration with peers around the world. Teachers can sign up for a free account.

Arcademics
Boost student engagement and fact fluency with this free multiplayer educational games, math games, language arts games, and more.

Better Explained
A different way to understand math concepts, for students and teachers.

Blooket
Blooket's game-based learning platform is fun, free, and customizable by educators.

Boardmaker
Boardmaker is a collection of standardized picture symbols used for communication with students who are strong visual learners, including those with autism spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, speech and language disorders, and behavioral disorders. A thematic series of units called Boardmaker Activities to Go are free, and ready to download, print, or copy.

Classroom Cereal
Grammar practice in 30 free, printable short stories. Premium

Cloud Stop Motion
Cloud Stop Motion is free for individuals, schools and organizations.

Conjugemos
"Use without account" option has vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin. Free student account offers unlimited access to public games, activities and printables and more.

Course Hero
Free study guides provided for a range of subjects. Each core topic is broken down into smaller sections which contain videos, infographics, vocab words, reading recommendations, and practice problems.

Data Classroom
DataClassroom is a web app that allows students in grades 6-12 to make graphs (line, bar, box plots, dot plots, etc.) and do basic statistical analysis. Free basic account.

Deck.Toys
Interactive lesson creation site, offering a free account for up to two classrooms, three private decks and up to 100 public decks.

DeltaMath
Delta Math is a free website for teachers and students covering a wide range of math content from middle school through AP Calculus.

Diigo
Social bookmarking site offering free teacher and student accounts, plus how-to guides for using Diigo in the classroom.

Duolingo
Provides foreign language instruction. Free basic content

EdPuzzle
EdPuzzle, which lets teachers create lessons from any video, offers a free basic plan, which includes access to more than 5 million videos, ability to create interactive video lessons, analytics, and storage space for 20 videos.

Educaplay
Gamify learning with a free account to create engaging learning activities. Choose from more than a dozen templates to create your own individualized activity.

Elementari
Elementari is a K-12 online platform to read, write, code, share, and remix interactive stories using professional illustrations and sounds offering free basic accounts. K-12 teachers in a public or chartered schools in the U.S. can receive a free Elementari Educator License (up to 35 student accounts).

Emile
Free access to Roman numeral and multiplication table games-based learning resources.

Epic!
Epic! provides online learning resources such as books, learning videos, quizzes and more. Free classroom access for all educators.

EverFi
EVERFI’s no-cost digital resources cover topics such as social emotional learning, STEM, financial literacy, career readiness, and health & wellness. Its standards-aligned resources have assessments embedded, enabling teachers to see measurable outcomes from student work in real-time.

Facing History
Collection of educator resources includes a wide range of flexible, multimedia materials, from primary sources and streaming videos to teaching strategies, lesson plans, and full units. All resources free with creation of online account

FluentKey
FluentKey helps language teachers make listening meaningful by turning real-life videos into an interactive game. They have hundreds of videos in Chinese, English, French, and Spanish. Free basic account includes videos, transcripts, quizzes, and games.

Formative
Formative enables teachers to build their own assessments and assignments, or pull and customize “formatives” from its library of thousands of pre-made materials. Educators can always sign up for free accounts.

Freckle
Freckle.com has a free level that includes differentiated activities in math, ELA, and science, and a basic teacher dashboard.

Gamilab
A platform in which anyone can find or create their own simple learning games.

Genially
Create presentations, infographics, and more in seconds.

Infogram
Create charts, maps, and infographics for free with a basic account, with the ability to access up to 10 professional templates.

Kahoot
Kahoot! offers a free basic plan that allows teachers to create, play, and host games outside of the classroom and in-class.

Kami
Kami is a cloud-based platform providing digital space for teaching resources, including digital books, lessons, videos and audio. The free basic plan includes no-ad service, toolbar functions, view documents and images through Kami, autosave, and file conversion.

Loom
Loom is a work communication tool that helps users create instantly shareable video. Capture your screen, record your front-facing camera, and narrate it all at once, then share with a simple link.

Lucidchart
Featuring graphic organizing and mind mapping, Lucidchart is a cloud-based tool to make learning visual and collaborative. 10 free Lucidcharts

Marq (formerly LucidPress)
Marq is a cloud-based tool for creating documents such as infographics, posters, magazines, and school newspapers. Free basic plan includes 100 professional templates.

Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams offers unlimited chat, video calling, file sharing, storage, and more.

Mote
Mote is a Chrome extension that allows educators to record feedback of their students' work. Free basic account.

NearPod
NearPod's free plan allows up to 40 students per session, essential assessment and lesson creation tools and multimedia content.

Fusebas (formerly Nimbus Capture)
A Google extension that works like Screencastify. Allows you to screen grab, record over presentations, or record a "live" lesson. Many features are free but expanded features can be purchased as well for a modest price.

NoRedInk
NoRedInk is a free online curriculum that includes diagnostic tools and assessments, targeted skills practice, a writing platform that guides students through the drafting and revision process, and instructional resources for teachers.

Parlay
A discussion-based learning tool and global community of educators who aim to reimagine class discussions. Free teacher trial with no time limit.

Pear Deck
Basic free accounts integrate with Google and Microsoft tools and allow users to create interactive lessons, polls, quizzes and formative assessments.

Pecha Kucka
PechaKucha helps teachers, students, and researchers create short, powerful talks that are engaging, memorable, and easy to share. Basic free plan includes unlimited presentations

Quill
Quill.org offers online literacy, writing, grammar, and ESL/ELL resources for teachers and students. Free for educators and students, paid premium reporting features.

Quizlet
Quizlet offers curriculum-based materials, interactive study methods and games Always free for students and teachers.

Wayground (formerly Quizizz)
Free fun gamified quizzes for math, language arts, history and more. No account required to play.

Remind
Remind offers communication solutions for teachers, students and parents. A free Remind account lets educators create up to 10 classes with up to 150 people each. Always free.

ScreenCastify
Chrome screen recording extension offers a free basic account.

Seneca
Offers free certified teaching resources with topics by subject and exam.

Sight Reading Factory
Free sight reading exercises for piano, guitar, woodwinds, strings, ensembles and more. Users simply select the instrument or modality desired, time signature and key signature and start playing the music. Then click the play button to hear how the piece is supposed to sound. No signup is required for the first twenty challenges. Student subscriptions available for as little as $2 annually.

Slido
Free basic plan includes up to 100 participants, unlimited audience Q&A, and three polls per event.

Solfeg.io
Online music lesson plans. Free plan includes 20 free songs, unlimited students, lesson plans and more.

Starfall
Starfall.com uses animation and sound to engage children in the learning process. Each category offers selected free resources.

Sumdog
Offers personalized math and spelling practice, curriculum-aligned. Free account includes six games, standards alignment and personalization.

Sumo Paint
Sumo Paint's well-organized interface makes it easy to start creating digital art right away. Its free basic plan allows online creation with selected tools and limited storage, while the modestly priced full plans are as low as $2 per month for students.

Sutori
Sutori is a collaborative presentation tool for the classroom for all age groups and content areas. Free basic accounts provide the ability to create and share stories, collaborate, slideshow view, and more.

Tynker
Free teachers accounts provide three free coding courses, more than 35 hours of K-12 code activities, unlimited student accounts, and professional development.

Typing Club
Free edition allows unlimited students, three classes, two instructors, and the ability to create and customize lessons.

Typing.com
The typing.com free account provides lessons in typing, tech readiness, career prep, coding basics, and more. Full district and administrative tools.

Vectr
Vectr is like a streamlined, simplified and— best of all, free—Adobe Illustrator. The free version allows 30 MB space and includes (blockable) ads while two premium versions offer higher storage, more tools, no ads and AI features. No account needed to get started, but you'll need one to save progress.

VEXcode VR
Free computer science/coding instruction, offering three ways to code: block-based, blocks + text, and text-based coding with Python. Students code a virtual robot using a block-based coding environment powered by Scratch Blocks

We Video
Free plan offers 1 gGB cloud storage, 22 songs from the music library, five minutes per month video time.

Wizer
Wizer's free version of its program, Wizer Create, allows teachers to create self-grading customizable worksheets for their students.

XtraMath
Helps kids master basic math. Aligned with Common Core State Math Standards, the site targets K-6 elementary school students but is also used by older students for review or intervention.

Zotero
Open-source software that allows users to collect, organize, cite and share research. Free accounts allow up to 300 MB storage, while three premium accounts allow users to expand storage as needed.

FREE SITES

Ableton’s Free Synthesizer Learning Tool
A surprisingly in-depth online "manual" for learning the synthesizer, Ableton’s Free Synthesizer Learning Tool offer a fascinating, easy and fun way to learn to learn to play a synthesizer—right in your browser window. No need to purchase an expensive instrument- simply explore each chapter at your own pace while you learn to create digital music.

AMAZE
AMAZE is a free online resource that teaches about puberty, reproduction, relationships, sex, and sexuality., and provides strong guidance for educators in the form of videos, lesson plans, and references.

American Chemistry Society
The American Chemical Society offers its ChemMatters magazine articles for high schoolers online. Biographies of chemists and historical articles are also available.

American Panorama
Created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond, this free interactive digital atlas of America uses online GIS to explore and visualize data with maps. Varied topics include presidential global travel, the importance of canals to American economy and overland trails. A related resource, the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, provides digital reproductions of the classis text by Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright.

Audacity
Audacity is a free, open-source audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.

Bark for Schools
Student and school safety product that detects potential problems across G Suite, Office 365, and Chrome to help protect students — at no cost. Bark looks for potentially harmful activities that may indicate online predators, adult content, sexting, cyberbullying, drug use, depression, suicidal ideation, and more.

Bedtime Math
Bedtime Math helps families introduce math as a fun part of their daily routine, while the Teacher's Corner features "math libs," wacky fill-in-the-blank word problems that kids will love to solve.

Bibcitation
Easy-to-use website serves as a free online citation generator for students and teachers. Choose from dozens of styles, from MLA7 to Zootaxa, and easily copy and export citations. No account is required, but creating a free account allows users to save their data.

Big History Project
Big History Project is a remarkable free online social studies curriculum that emphasizes skill development such as writing and critical thinking, allowing students to draw connections between past, present and future.

Bomomo
Fun, simple art site that allows users to create art using their computer mouse. No account required. Save and download as a jpeg or high-quality png image.

Bookshare
An ebook library serving people with barriers to literacy such as dyslexia, learning disabilities, visual impairments, and physical disabilities. Free for qualified students.

Bunk History
Digital archive of a variety of media produced about current events, culture, history and government. Articles, book reviews, book excerpts, and maps linking to other media make this a unique current events/social history site. From the University of Richmond.

CHALK Academy
Offer multilingual, Chinese, and Korean learning resources.

Chartle
Fully free and easy-to-use site for creating, saving, and sharing 10 types of charts.

Chrome Music Lab
Chrome Music Lab makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. Fourteen online music tools allow users to play with melody, chords, arpeggios, rhythm, and more. Create and share music online easily, no account required.

CiscoWebex
Cisco Webex offers a free video/meeting software plan.

CK-12 Foundation
Offers free standards-aligned lessons in math, science, English, social studies, and more. Each lesson has a reading passage, videos, optional review questions, and self-graded practice questions. The lessons can be assigned to Google Classroom. Bonus: The new Flexi 2.0 AI-powered tutor provides answers to questions like "How to do ratios?" and "What is heredity?".

ClassDojoClassDojo is a free tool for parent communication, sharing information, and portfolios, provide a platform for teachers to assign and students to complete and submit work online.

Class Playground
A unique free resource for teachers that combines real-life materials with digital learning, Class Playground provides summaries of important concepts such as story sequencing and multiplication tables, accompanied by printable PDFs that demonstrate the ideas to help kids learn.

CMU CS Academy
Provides a free, online, interactive textbook for high school and middle school teachers to use to teach computer science in their classrooms.

CommonLit
The CommonLit Literacy Model is built on a foundation of more than 2,000 high-quality free reading passages for grades 3-12, complemented by aligned interim assessments, growth-oriented data, and expert-led teacher development.

Compassion Project
The Compassion Project is a national initiative to provide compassion education to elementary school students across the US.

Computer Science without a Computer Crash Course
Amazing free YouTube channel offering educational videos in diverse subjects from biology to literature to philosophy. Free activities, printables and ideas for computer science curricula. No computer required

Curriki
Curriki offers digital learning content—curriculum, lessons and on-demand content—that is free, open, and accessible to all. Be sure to explore CurrikiStudio, the suite of free interactive learning tools.

Data Nuggets
Data Nuggets are free educational resources, co-designed by scientists and educators. When using Data Nuggets, students learn about authentic science research projects, and work through an activity featuring real data from a real scientist, providing practice developing explanations about natural phenomena using data from the study.

Ditch That Textbook
Provides more than 100 free elearning activities, templates, and tutorials, from graphic organizer templates to ready-to-use interactive lessons. Be sure to check out Remote Learning 101, a free remote learning online course from site creator, educator Matt Miller.

Dr. Roger's Math Neighborhood
This is a free online video series with detailed solutions to more than a thousand publicly released College Board SAT Math, Subject Test Math Level 1, and Subject Test Math Level 2 problems.

Educandy
Easily create and share fun interactive games for students to play and learn from.

Free Math
Free Math is free software that integrates with Google Classroom or any LMS and allows students to show and save their step-by step work on math problems in a digital format. Teachers get help with grading while retaining the choice to give partial credit for work shown. An automatic comparison feature flags student work to prevent copying.

GameChangineer
From the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, this free site helps students learn computational thinking and logic in order to create their own games and understand the computer science principles behind classic games such as Downhill Ski, Pacman, Space Invaders, and others.

GIMP
Powerful open-source image software, frequently cited as the best free alternative to Photoshop.

GIPHY
Create original GIFs in a few minutes, or explore the library of GIFs provided on site.

GoNoodle
GoNoodle offers movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts. Available for free at school, home.

G Suite for Education
Free teaching and management tools for teachers and schools include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Google Forms, and many more.

Hand2Mind
Hand2mind offers hundreds of free printable PDF worksheets, searchable by topic or grade.

HippoCampus
HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content -- videos, animation, and simulations in math, sciences, history, and more. More than 7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas. Teachers can create a free account to customize HippoCampus for their students.

Hour of Code Teaching Tools
The free Hour of Code computer science teaching and learning resources aren’t just for December. Build your curriculum with detailed guides and hundreds of free videos and activities.

ICivics
iCivics, inc. is a nonprofit organization in the U.S. that provides free educational online games and lesson plans to promote civics education and encourage students to become active citizens. Now offering a free remote learning toolkit.

iCompute
Fourteen free fun computing home learning activities for children aged 5-11 include topics such as coding for games, puzzles, and websites.

IDEA
The Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (IDEA) is a free international program that helps users develop digital, enterprise and employability skills though online challenges and certificates. Users earn badges and industry-recognized awards for completing mini-courses in subjects such as research, blockchain, e-safety, virtual reality, and more.

Interactive Constitution
From the National Constitution Center, the interactive constitution allows users to explore each section, article, and amendment, with guidance from differing scholarly views. Mouse over selected paragraphs to reveal helpful popups with additional relevant information.

Izzit.org
Always-free educational videos, quizzes, interactive courses and other teaching and learning resources.

JacksonPollack.org
Paint like Jackson Pollack on this fascinating digital canvas created by Greek artist Miltos Manetas.

Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a fully-free comprehensive resource for students, teachers, and parents offering free lessons in math, science, and humanities.

Khan Academy Kids
Khan Academy Kids is a free online education program for children ages 2-7. The mobile app was designed by child development experts at Stanford University and engages kids in core subjects like early literacy, reading, writing, language, and math, while encouraging creativity and building social-emotional skills. Always free, no ads, no subscriptions, with an offline version available for when internet access is difficult.

KRITA
This free, open-source digital painting software download for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux, focuses on illustration, concept art, matte painting, textures, comics, and animations.

Learning Apps
Free interactive learning modules in diverse topics from arts to history to vocational education. Have an idea for an app? Create you own by adding content to one of the provided templates.

Libby App
Free Overdrive app for digital books and audio books. Access through libraries.

Make Beliefs Comix
A fully free award-winning comic creation site that provides teacher tools and lessons plans, a Coronavirus Comic diary, ESOL/literacy help, and special needs sections.

MathCelebrity.com
Automated online math tutor, like a Google for math. Enter your math problem or search term, press the button, and it shows you the step-by-step work and answer instantly. Grade 2 through college.

Mindful Poetry Moments
Mindful Poetry Moments, a collaboration between Mindful Music Moments and The On Being Project, is a free program that offers a chance to pause and reflect on poetry's ability to encounter ourselves, the world, and each other. Participating schools, individuals and organizations will be offered recordings of poets reading their work, accompanied by mindful prompts and questions such as "Does this poem encourage gratitude? How?” and "What’s a line in this poem that brings a strong visual image to your mind?"

MIT App Inventor
This free cloud-based service lets students create their own mobile apps using block-based coding. Extensive tutorials support instruction.

Music Theory
Introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, exercises, ear trainers, and calculators. Free online content

New American History
Digital learning resources and tools developed by Dr. Ed Ayer for American history, geography, and current events. Fully free.

Open Culture
Extensive collection of free online learning resources, including courses, movies, podcasts, ebooks, audiobooks and more.

OpenShot
Free, open-source video editor boasting powerful features.

PBS Learning Media
PBS LearningMedia is a free, PreK-12 digital media service available to educators nationwide, offering teachers access to more than 30,000 learning materials aligned to state and national standards, including 25,000+ videos, interactive lesson plans, media galleries and more to enrich classroom instruction. Always free.

PBS: Nova Labs
Free standards-aligned virtual labs on diverse topics, from managing money to evolution. Each lab includes real-world data and an educator guide. No account required to play, but if you sign in with your Google or PBS account, you can save your game progress.

Phet
From the University of Colorado Boulder, these amazing interactive simulations demonstrate principles of physics, chemistry, math, biology and more. Searchable by topic, grade, language and inclusive features.

Pixilart
Remember the old video game graphics? Now you can create your own retro pixel art for free. Explore the gallery of digital art and comic creations or make your own. A daily digital challenge provides a prompt to get you started.

Prodigy
Award-winning curriculum-aligned math practice site offers free accounts for students and teachers.

Project Gutenberg
More than 70,000 free ebooks, available for download or reading online. Includes books in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, and many other languages.

Quizlet
Quizlet offers curriculum-based materials, interactive study methods, and games. Always free for students and teachers.

Reading Rockets
Extensive, in-depth research-based strategies and tools to help young readers, especially those who struggle with literacy.

ReadWorks
ReadWorks is an online resource of research-based reading passages and lesson plans for students of all levels K-12.

Rock Hall EDU
Free classroom resources such as videos, playlists, essays, lesson plans, writing prompts, and more. Teachers can sign up for a free account, download the resources, and use temporary authorization links to share materials directly with their students online. From the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

SEPUP
Science Education for Public Understanding Program (SEPUP) provides free science simulations, scientist profiles, and other digital resources for middle school science and high school biology students. No log in required.

Seterra Geography
Fun and educational geography quiz site that challenges users to demonstrate their knowledge of countries, capitals, flags, oceans and more. All the quizzes and printables on the website are free to use and no account is required to participate.

Sketchpad
Comprising essential free online tools to create, export, and share digital paintings and drawings. Sketchpad's clean, easy-to-navigate interface invites users to create digital art with imagination.

Snapplify
Snapplify offers a library of 50,000+ free e-books. Teachers can sign up for free and also share their own resources on the platform. Integrates with Microsoft/Google for education.

SplashLearn
SplashLearn is a curriculum-aligned learning program that covers pre-kindergarten to grade 5 math skills through engaging games. Available on iOS, Android and the web, it offers a free-for-life teacher account. Assignments can be accessed at home for free through laptops, iPads or smartphones.

Storyline Online
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creative illustrations. Readers include such luminaries as Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Viola Davis, John Lithgow, Betty White, and dozens more. Always free.

The Choices Program
The Choices Program has a library of more than 1,700 free short videos (most are 1-4 minutes long) with leading scholars, journalists, practitioners, artists, activists, policy makers, and others addressing topics ranging from Afghanistan to Westward Expansion. Also available are free up-to-date lessons on current events.

The Good and the Beautiful
Free homeschool curriculum with course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine and thoroughly cover phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography. Always free.

The OT Toolbox
Free occupational therapy resources for teachers, therapists and parents designed to build skills in children through movement and play.

Toy Theater
A delightful creative art site with a simple intuitive interface that allows users to explore drawing, coloring, symmetry, animation and more, using digital tools and interactives. No account required.

Truth or Fiction?
Non-partisan fact-checking site helps users distinguish between real news and eRumors, fake news, disinformation, myths, and hoaxes.

Twig Science Reporter
Twig Science Reporter is a free weekly science news service for K-6 classrooms, designed to connect classroom lessons with real-world STEM news and events through high-quality video, images, activities, and suggestions.

Unsilence
Through storytelling, the arts, and serious games, Unsilence creates interactive, research-based learning experiences that help communities learn about social injustice, human rights, and genocide. Unsilence's online interactive features are free to use and include choose-your-own-pathway stories, webquests, human rights poetry and stories, interactive exhibitions, and companion education resources.

Unsplash for Education
More than 1 million free images for safe and legal education use.

Van Gogh Museum’s Free Interactive Lessons for in the Classroom and Online
Free online teaching materials on Vincent van Gogh for primary and secondary schools. The interactive lessons can be taught on classroom smart boards, but are also suitable for online schooling, covering subjects including crafts, drawing, cultural and artistic education, languages, history, and geography.

Vroom App
Free educational tips and science explanation for parents of children up to 5, available by app, text, and printables. Always free.

Wakelet
A free tool that lets educators bookmark, organize, share, and curate top educational content.

White House Historical Association
Free education resources for learners of all ages, including classroom resource packets, reading lists, virtual tours of the White House, videos, historical essays, and a digital library of White House.

W3Schools.com
100% free and non-commercial site providing tutorials in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Web building, and more. No account required.

YouTube Learning
Explore free educational videos covering every imaginable topic, from biology to history to taxes.

Zearn
K-5 curriculum aims to build deep understanding and a love of learning math for all students. Always free for all children, individual teachers and families.

As schools get ready for the 2023-24 school year, Tech & Learning's Awards of Excellence program, “The Best Tools for Back to School” is designed to help our readers find the products and solutions that will support their work in any learning environment. Eligible products included hardware, software, curriculum, and more, all divided by grade levels to make it easier for readers to find the solutions they need.

“With ESSER funding coming to an end, and emerging tech like AI exploding into the market with little guidance as to how best to integrate this new technology into the classroom, it’s more important than ever to curate the many education products on the market to ensure your investments support innovative teaching and learning,” says Tech & Learning Content Director Christine Weiser. “Our judges chose the following nominated products based on their versatility, compatibility, value, and ability to help schools solve challenges and support continuous instruction. Congratulations to all of our winners.” 

Best for Back to School PRIMARY

Accelerate Learning Inc. STEMscopes Math
STEMscopes Math is a core mathematics program for grades K-8 and Algebra I. It combines digital and print components to provide everything teachers need to create meaningful math learning experiences for students. “STEMscopes Math is an awesome product to use as a core math curriculum,” write our judges. “It offers curriculum in both Spanish and English!” 

Acer  Acer TravelMate Vero (TMV15-51-57PP) Laptop
A powerful combination of practicality and sustainability, the TravelMate Vero TMV15-51-57PP helps educators excel at their job, while reducing their environmental impact as it’s made with recycled materials. One judge writes: “I really am impressed with the sustainability features put into this product. The stock specs for the price point are very good. The security and manageability features are good as well.” 

Airtame Airtame Core
Airtame Core offers all-in-one wireless screen sharing, digital signage, and remote device management, for classrooms and education facilities. It packages Airtame 2’s hardware with Airtame Cloud for flexible and intuitive remote management and control throughout any school building or district. “Airtame Core turns any connected display into a screen mirror for laptops and mobile devices,” write the judges. “One major advantage Airtame Core brings to the table is that the platform protects and prioritizes teachers’ wireless connections.” 

Amplify Boost Reading, personalized digital literacy instruction for grades K–5
Boost Reading is a Science of Reading-based personalized learning program for grades K–5 that leverages the power of storytelling to engage students in reading instruction and practice—whether students are just learning to read or mastering comprehension of higher-level texts. “This unique supplemental program is research-based and proven to accelerate literacy gains for all learners,” write the judges.

Avantis Education  ClassVR
ClassVR is an all-in-one VR and AR headset designed specifically for K-12 classrooms. Used by over 1 million students in 100,000 classrooms and 90 countries, it includes all hardware, software, tools, training, support and implementation services needed to deploy AR/VR in the classroom. “ClassVR is the total package when it comes to bringing and scaling VR use for schools to adopt this technology,” write our judges. 

AVer Information  A30 All-in-One Camera
The A30 is a multifunctional classroom tool that enhances the teaching experience by combining a document camera, web camera, microphone, and speaker. With easy-to-use plug-n-play connectivity, it connects to computers, IFPs, and monitors to provide clear classroom audio. The judges: “This is a very innovatively designed product. It's compact and has all of the features to address the needs of in-person and remote instruction. The warranty, and compatible software, are excellent.”

AVer Information  F17+ Portable Flexarm Document Camera
The F17+ Portable FlexArm Document Camera is an effective solution for adding highly detailed images, thanks to a flexible gooseneck equipped with a compact 4K camera and LED lamp. The judges: “There are less expensive units on the market but this is well-built, has a great warranty, and the Sphere2 & AVerTouch Software Suite makes it a winner.” 

AVID Products  AE-36 USB-C
The AE-36 headset delivers an enhanced audio experience in a durable design, providing optimal fit and sound quality, and is designed to work with all your digital devices and content. One judge writes: “These appear to be well-built and thought-out headsets. I like that you can get them in a variety of connection types.” 

Benchmark Education  Steps to Advance Literacy Solutions
Steps to Advance is a literacy resource designed to help striving readers and special education students in Grades 2-6 access complex texts and work toward mastery of grade-level expectations with interactive materials and engaging texts. “I appreciate the comprehensive approach they have taken with this product,” writes one judge. “From interventions, PD, and teacher and parent resources it is a very well thought-out solution.” 

Benchmark Education Benchmark Academy
Benchmark Academy is an online professional learning network that provides interactive, engaging, step-by-step guidance for teachers of all levels through video-based classes paired with research-based PD. Note our judges: “Benchmark Academy provides teachers with online PD to support their continued education, which in turn helps to support classroom instruction. Teachers can access a variety of content at any time from anywhere.” 

BenQ BenQ Board RP03
BenQ Board smart boards offer integrative and intuitive features including single sign-on, cloud access, screen sharing, split-screen, screen recording, and annotation tools. “The BenQ Instashare revolutionizes the way teachers teach,” write the judges. “Allowing teachers to be move around the room increases classroom management and places the teachers in ‘the zone,’ with more opportunity to share and collaborate by not being attached to a desk or podium.” 

Bloomz  Bloomz
Bloomz is a user-friendly and comprehensive app designed for parents and teachers to interact and stay connected, offering a secure and private platform for sharing classroom updates, announcements, photos, assignments, and more. “Streamlining communication is key for parents, teachers, and students,” write the judges. “Users can receive communication in their language of choice, which is a nice feature. Behavior can also be tracked, which is a huge plus for this product!” 

Boxlight  MimioWall
Transform classrooms, hallways, offices, and lecture halls with this LED wall solution that offers screen sharing capabilities and complete control via CleverLive digital signage software, plus seamless imagery, scalability, and exceptional visual quality. The judges: “We particularly like the ultra-wide, 3-in-1 LED board that combines the power supply, receiving card, and hub board, which facilitates a shorter installation time because of this streamlined design.” 

Boxlight  Mimio DS Series
The Mimio DS Series offers enhanced color calibration and precise picture quality adjustment, with flicker-free and anti-glare viewing, plus a powerful quad-core CPU and 4 GB of RAM, real-time wireless screen sharing, and more. The judges write: “The integration of Mimiowall and Cleverlive is a great way to bring safety and technology together. It offers that ability for information, safety, and learning to be broadcasted across devices. It is a great solution.” 

Boxlight  MyBot Recruit
The Mimio MyBot Recruit offers an intuitive interface that allows beginners to dive into robotics, while advanced students can explore complex coding in Python. “Mybot looks like a great tool for teaching coding in the classroom,” write the judges. “It offers drag-and-drop and Python coding options, and has lesson plans for teachers to seamlessly add this into their curriculum. The tutorial videos are informative and make using the product very easy.” 

Branching Minds  Branching Minds
Branching Minds is an online K-12 education platform that brings together all quantitative and qualitative data needed for teachers, specialists, and administrators to build a comprehensive multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). “Data tracking is not easy,” write the judges. “The platform brings together all quantitative and qualitative data needed for teachers, specialists, and administrators to identify which students need support.” 

Canon  PIXMA G3270 Wireless MegaTank All-In-One Printer
The Canon PIXMA G3270 Wireless MegaTank All-In-One Printer is a 3-in-1 printer that enables users to wirelessly print, copy, and scan using the Canon PRINT App, Apple AirPrint, and Mopria Print Service. It can print 11 images per minute and handle workloads of up to 7,700 pages. Writes one judge: “I have some of these printers at work and they perform really well. The ink is extremely affordable. They are really well suited for individual office use.” 

Canva  Canva
Canva for Education is a free online visual communication platform that allows for classroom collaboration by providing free access to thousands of customizable templates and cutting-edge tech. “Canva is superior to all other design platforms,” write the judges. “Teachers and students can create anything they want. And now with the new AI additions, the possibilities are endless! Canva is a one-stop shop for any educator or student!” 

CareerVerse dba StudentVerse  StudentVerse
StudentVerse is a metaverse platform in which students become real-time avatars and interact with lessons, attend live online sessions, and collaborate with their peers and teachers. “StudentVerse is a wonderful on-ramp into the metaverse for students to engage and explore new environments for learning,” write the judges. “The best feature that we liked is that they designed StudentVerse to be accessible without the need for VR headsets, providing game-changing edtech for all students.” 

ClassLink  ClassLink Suite
ClassLink is a provider of identity, access, and analytics products that offer instant access to apps and files with single sign-on, streamlined class rostering, automated account provisioning, and actionable analytics. “Classlink is a one-stop shop for students and teachers,” write the judges. “Classlink stands out amongst its competitors as a supreme platform. This portal provides access to all district platforms that students need to access.” 

ClassLink  ClassLink DataGuard
DataGuard protects users by providing to partners only what's absolutely essential and masks all key fields. It dynamically replaces the fields selected with meaningless letter scrambles. “Keeping students and their data safe is every school's priority!” the judges write. “DataGuard does this extremely well.” 

Clevertouch by Boxlight  IMPACT Max
The IMPACT Max is an interactive display available in 65”, 75”, and 86” sizes, equipped with free software tools, Clevershare, 20 touch points, and virtually unbreakable glass. “An effective tool to support learning and create a dynamic learning environment,” write the judges. “Students can interact with content using this solution.” 

Curriculum Associates  i-Ready
Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Assessment and Personalized Instruction combines powerful assessments for K-12 and rich insights with effective and engaging instruction in reading and mathematics for K-8. “Looks like a great tool for diagnostic testing at the beginning of the year to set goals for learning,” write the judges. “This tool helps individualize learning, making an impact on the gaps found. With personalized paths for each student, their growth can be seen throughout the year.” 

Defined  Defined Learning
Defined Learning is a project-based learning platform that includes a library of standards-aligned performance tasks, career videos, and research resources. Projects are based on real-world situations in careers and give students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills. “This is a very good, research-based solution for PBL and career awareness,” one judge writes. “I like how they link the tasks to real-world applications.” 

Discovery Education  Science Techbook
The Discovery Education Science Techbook series is a comprehensive, research-backed science solution for grades K-12 aligned to national standards with virtual and hands-on investigations, STEM activities, and instructional supports. One judge writes: “Discovery Ed always provides stellar resources so I know this would be no different. Definitely would be a resource in my classroom.” 

Discovery Education  Experience
Discovery Education Experience provides a collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, intuitive quiz and activity creation tools, and professional learning resources. “The platform meshes easily with existing systems, making it simple to share resources with students in assignments, questions, announcements, and materials,” write the judges. “One-stop shop for more than 200,000 videos, text-based passages, and much more.” 

Edlio  The Edlio K-12 Communications and Payment Solution
Edlio provides schools with a K-12 website and communication suite with a plethora of tools including school news, custom forms, Google and Office365 Integration, Social Media Manager, staff directory, teacher pages, and more. “They have designed a well-put together unified communication system,” writes one judge. “I really appreciate how education specific it is with Google and other integrations.” 

Edmentum  EdOptions Academy
EdOptions Academy is a fully accredited program that provides flexible, virtual human-centered instruction from state-certified educators. Writes one judge: “This product is a wonderful option for districts wanting to develop a blended learning opportunity for students. Many districts, including my own, have used this as a positive alternative to remote learning needs, and especially for students who are hospitalized or medically homebound. Highly recommend.” 

Edmentum  Exact Path
Exact Path focuses on academic recovery by combining evidence-based diagnostic assessments with individualized learning paths for K–5 math, reading, and language arts. “This is a really nice tool for taking assessment scores and standards from annual and quarterly summative assessment companies and projecting a unique learning path for students to improve their areas of deficiencies,” writes one judge. “I especially like how many assessment companies Edmentum has partnered with to garner scores from for building learning paths.” 

EverDriven EverDriven's Suite of Technology
EverDriven's Suite of Technology enables and enhances learning by providing students with a consistent, reliable and safe ride to school each day via state-of-the-art integrated technology. “With EverDriven, parents can rest easy knowing their children will get to school safely,” write the judges. “Students don't need the added stress of worrying about how to get to school either. This also helps with attendance issues!” 

ExploreLearning  Reflex
ExploreLearning Reflex is a gamified math platform to build math fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Adaptive and individualized games require increasingly complex, fast-paced answers to math facts, ensuring students reach automaticity. Our judges call it a great review tool, adding, “Full of games that students love, Reflex meets students where they are and adapts to their learning abilities.” 

ExploreLearning  Frax
An adaptive and game-based digital learning product, ExploreLearning Frax helps students in grades 3-5 master foundational fractions skills through research-driven methods and interactive games in an out-of-this-world galaxy setting. In story-driven missions, students move throughout the galaxy, exploring new worlds as they hone their fractions knowledge. “This is a great product for students to review fractions,” write our judges.

FACIL'iti  MYDys EDU
MYdys EDU is an assistive technology app that allows students to use any device to scan or upload any text and the app will instantly adapt it to the students’ specific areas of struggle. “This is a great app for mobile devices,” writes one judge. “I am especially impressed with the tool that allows the teachers to set up and push out content to the students. Also, the ability to change settings on a device to match the learners needs is great.” 

Forward Edge  Edge•U Badges
Edge•U Badges is an instruction-focused professional learning system that builds teacher capacity and directly impacts student learning in the form of microcredentials (badges). Each one has been designed to focus on technological learning. “In education, providing professional learning for educators is critical,” write the judges. “Just as important is the need to organize and track what has been done and what the needs are. This solution allows for self-paced PD for teachers.” 

Forward Education  Climate Action Kit Class Pack
The Climate Action Kit is a tool designed to help educators teach STEM subjects in the context of real-world climate action opportunities and their technology solutions. It includes a hardware robotics kit, online learning platform, and step-by-step coding tutorials, and is suitable for grades 3-12. The judges write: “A great way to incorporate the concept of climate change into the curriculum.” 

Frontline Education  Human Capital Analytics
Frontline Human Capital Analytics delivers school district leaders actionable insights to make informed decisions related to recruiting and hiring, absence and substitute placements, and PD. “Adding the analytics piece to the HR software is critical for districts,” write the judges. “With a large turnover in education and the need to track certifications and historical work in the district, this is a great option to create efficiency in hiring and in-district movement.” 

Frontline Education  Offering financial wellbeing benefits to K-12 staff
Frontline Education and Wagestream formed an exclusive partnership that will enable K-12 school districts to attract, engage, and retain top talent to achieve their educational mission by offering financial wellbeing benefits and flexible access to earned wages. The judges: “Adding the Wagestream piece to the suite creates an efficient way for individuals to manage wages and the district to budget and see trends.“ 

FrontRow by Boxlight  Teacher Action! Mic powered by ELEVATE
The Action! teacher microphone, powered by ELEVATE wireless technology, provides optimal mobility, exceptional sound, and advanced features. “This product produces a connected learning environment in which every student in the classroom can clearly hear the teacher, and understand the sounds and words the teacher is making,” writes one judge. “I also like the feature where when the teacher leaves the room the microphone is disabled. It also offers safety features, which are key for our classrooms today.” 

GoGuardian  Giant Steps
Giant Steps is a gamified digital learning experience in which students move through a season map where they earn rewards by correctly answering questions. “Looks like an excellent product for a gamified approach to learning,” writes one judge. “I like the student interaction and support with classmates through virtual high fives and stickers, and the student-designed avatars. I can see learning being reinforced through their strategy of spaced repetition.” 

GoReact  GoReact
GoReact simplifies teacher growth with enhanced opportunities for practice, demonstration, and feedback using video. The judges write: “Looks like a great tool offering educators the ability to fine tune their teaching with the help of a coach. Easy to leave a text comment or video comment. It is also nice that the comments appear in the timeline of the video at the moment it happens. Seems like an excellent tool for honing and improving the craft of teaching.” 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  HMH Into Science and HMH ¡Arriba las Ciencias! Grades K-5
HMH Into Science and HMH ¡Arriba las Ciencias! deliver a flexible, student-centered, solution to support successful science teaching and learning that supports the Next Generation Science Standards. “Very few science digital learning resources are directly tied to the curriculum, and this is one of them,” write the judges. “It allows teachers to customize learning and students to be part of the learning, not just take in facts.” 

HUE  HUE Animation Studio
HUE Animation Studio is a STEM.org-authenticated, movie-making starter kit for children aged 7-13 years that fosters skills such as collaboration, planning, and critical thinking through creative play and project-based learning. “HUE Animation Studio is a great addition to a teacher's toolbox,” write the judges. “The addition of canned resources such as sound effects, etc., will also kickstart creativity and lower frustration.” 

Inquisitive  Inquisitive
Inquisitive provides teachers an immediate start with everything they need to teach K-5 science with full lessons, questions and activities. It is designed for three-dimensional inquiry-based teaching and is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). “Looks like a great option for and an excellent science curriculum,” write the judges. “It seems to incorporate hands-on investigative learning and collaborative lessons.”

IXL Learning  Rosetta Stone for Schools
Rosetta Stone for Schools is a learning platform that helps students, particularly English Language Learners, build the fluency and confidence to speak new languages. Lessons engage students in all four domains of language: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The judges: “This solution gets to the heart of learning the language with well-designed lessons that target students' needs and key skills.” 

Kiddom  Kiddom
Kiddom is a groundbreaking educational platform that promotes student equity by uniting high-quality instructional materials with dynamic digital learning. “I really liked the ability for schools to own the materials and make it work for them!” writes one judge. “Teachers are also able to see real-time results from formative and summative assessments.” 

Learning A-Z  Writing A-Z
Writing A-Z is a K-5 writing curriculum rooted in cutting-edge research and best practices, and offers two paths: a complete curriculum or a supplement to existing programs. “Writing A-Z has improved over the years of development and is a very useful platform for schools and students,” write the judges. “It is a great solution for K-6 students learning to write at a foundational level and then to transfer learning.” 

Learning A-Z  Foundations A-Z
Foundations A-Z is a complete program that leverages digital-first tools and resources to save teachers’ time and deliver a fun and engaging learning experience. The judges: “It is difficult sometimes to use digital programs to teach the science of reading. It is best served face-to-face. However, if you have to use a program, this tool is a good option and will fit your needs.” 

Learning A-Z  Raz-Plus
Raz-Plus empowers elementary educators to differentiate instruction for every student at every level using research-based resources, personalized practice opportunities, and assessments designed to enhance reading comprehension and boost literacy performance. “RAZ-kids is effective for a quick assessment of students,” write the judges. “It also does a running record of every student with minimal effort and gives usable data.” 

Learning Without Tears  Handwriting Without Tears
Handwriting Without Tears is a research-proven, evidence-based K-5 supplemental curriculum designed to be easy to teach and learn. The judges call it an excellent product for a specific need within education today, adding, “You can see why educators like this product. It uses technology, manipulatives, sensory, music and more to learn the fundamentals of handwriting. It is a great tool for this niche in education.” 

Learning Without Tears  Phonics, Reading, and Me
Phonics, Reading, and Me is a supplemental print and digital program that sequentially and systematically helps students acquire the range of skills they need to become proficient readers. “This looks like a great supplement to the reading classroom,” writes one judge. “I like that the teacher is the one offering explicit reading instruction with the help of PRM while also including the ability for digital lessons.” 

Learning.com  EasyTech
EasyTech is a comprehensive building-level and district solution for K-12, which develops students’ digital literacy and computer science skills. “EasyTech makes it simple to ensure that students are equipped with the essential skills to stay safe online, keyboard fluently, and succeed with technology,” write the judges. “This product is a game changer! One-stop shop for helping students succeed online!” 

Legrand C2G  AV Controller
C2G’s AV Controller features eight buttons with nine brightness levels and interchangeable labels. All buttons can be programmed to send bi-directional infrared, RS-232, and RS-485 commands simultaneously. The judges: “This new AV Controller by Legrand and C2G is designed to take the guesswork out of running classroom technologies such as remote screen operation, projection, sound, and other classroom peripherals.”

LG Business Solutions  LG CreateBoard with ChromeOS Flex certified slot-in OPS-C001
The LG CreateBoard is a purpose-built solution that addresses a variety of needs for in-person, remote and blended learning, offering an up-to 40-point multi touch interactive display. One judge praises this as a well-designed product, adding, “I really like the picture-in-picture and multi window options. Furthermore, the security and SSO options are a great addition that many boards don't have.” 

Lightspeed Systems  Lightspeed Digital Insight
Lightspeed’s Digital Equity module, a component of Lightspeed Digital Insight, unlocks visibility into students' internet access and device health outside of school with real-time data and a complete picture of students' internet experience. “This tool will help school districts, especially large ones with big deployments that cover large geographic areas, gain the data they need to identify equity and connectivity issues,” write the judges.

Logitech  Zone Learn
Logitech’s Zone Learn headset is built with comfort in mind to allow for deeper student focus and increased comprehension, and features voice-optimized sound quality. “Looks like an excellent solution to audio needs in the classroom,” write the judges. “These headphones offer ambient noise reduction and are tuned for vocal clarity, rather than music. Which is great for multiple digital learner applications used in the classroom.” 

MAXCases  Extreme Headset
The MAXCases Extreme Headset features adjustable ear pieces with vegan padded covers that provide comfort for extended listening; the fixed-position stub mic delivers clear audio quality and is durable. “The MAXCases Extreme Headset is really well made, particularly for younger students,” writes one judge. “This Extreme Headset has a microphone that is almost microscopic in form factor and eliminates the need for students to want to bend it or mistreat it. I particularly liked this feature!” 

Merlyn Mind  Merlyn
Merlyn is a voice- and remote-controlled AI assistant that connects to a teacher’s laptop. With Merlyn, teachers can operate their front-of-class display, laptop, and internet applications from anywhere in the room using the power of their voice. The judges call it a phenomenally innovative product that should be in every classroom, adding, “Teaching is a hard occupation, teachers need assistance. Enter Merlyn for the assist!” 

MIND Education  ST Math
ST Math is a PreK-8 visual instructional program that leverages the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems with challenging puzzles, non-routine problem-solving, and formative feedback. “Interactive games will captivate young kids to the point that they could become fully engrossed in the learning,” write the judges. “The fun games and visuals are perfectly suited to the target age group.” 

MobileMind  MobileMind
Built with the Adult Learning Theory, MobileMind’s self-paced micro-courses take minutes to complete and provide immediate takeaways to educators. The judges call it an excellent tool for PD, with one adding: “Love the ability to make this the hub of learning for teachers. Leaders can create digital and self-directed learning or calendar in-person events. I also like the built-in badging and the dashboard looks like it is very easy to use.” 

MobyMax  MobyMax
MobyMax offers teachers a comprehensive K-8 curriculum for 27 subjects, including math, reading, phonics, language, vocabulary, spelling, writing, science, social studies, state test prep, and so much more. The judges write: “This looks like a great tool to find and fix missing skills. The adaptive curriculum differentiates for students and identifies where each student struggles and maps out a learning path for what they need.” 

ObjectiveEd  BuddyBooks
Designed for struggling readers, such as students with dyslexia, ADHD or autism, a computer and the student “buddy read”–alternate orally reading sentences from over 1 million books. “Buddy Books is a great example of the power of AI to improve instruction and reading for struggling learners,” write the judges. “They have set this up to help both the teachers and students make improvements and save time.” 

Otus  Otus
Otus empowers educators to help every student reach their full potential through an all-in-one platform with integrated tools to gather, visualize, and act on student growth data. “Having data is critical but what Otus provides is a data story that allows the user to see trends and possible next steps,” write the judges. “The more educators use the tool, the clearer the learning path is.” 

Ozobot  Color Code Magnet Kits
The Color Codes Magnets: Base Kit includes the magnetic board, wet erase marker and 36 puzzle pieces that pair with the Evo robot for a hands-on learning experience that introduces the foundational concepts of coding. The judges: “Any solution that allows students to create enhances learning. Ozobot Color Code Magnet Kits do just that.” 

Pikmykid  Pikmykid
Pikmykid is a safety and dismissal platform that empowers schools to transform their daily and emergency operations. “Pikmykid can help eliminate the unnecessary stress of crazy dismissal times,” write the judges. “This platform helps to streamline safety and dismissal processes like no other! Pikmykid is a one-stop shop for districts to reimagine safety and to give time back for what matters, learning!” 

Presence (formerly PresenceLearning)  Presence Teletherapy Services
Presence provides remote evaluations and teletherapy solutions for children with diverse needs in PreK-12 schools. It allows school teams, independent practitioners, and Presence’s network of 2,200 speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and behavioral and mental health professionals to serve children both in and out of school. The judges: “The live video therapy still has the feel of being face-to-face and has built-in tools and activities for students to practice and learn.” 

Reading Horizons  Reading Horizons Discovery
Reading Horizons Discovery provides teachers with a digital tool that includes an interactive teacher’s manual with scripted lessons for whole-class and small-group instruction, reporting features, and gamified student activities and assessments. The judges call it an excellent product, with one adding, “I like the looks of the teacher dashboard and the data it reveals. My favorite aspect is the teacher's ready-made materials and the gamification. Definitely a tool that I could see improving literacy skills.” 

Samsung Electronics America  Samsung Interactive Display (WAC)
The Samsung Interactive Display is a transformative interactive whiteboard that provides enhanced usability and specialized features. The judges: “Not only does this Interactive Panel by Samsung offer stunning, vibrant displays of life-like content for learning, but this product is amazingly versatile in accepting content from many curriculum companies as well as converting lessons that were created using other brands of displays and other interactive software platforms.” 

Savvas Learning Company  enVision Mathematics 2024 Grades K-5
enVision provides comprehensive, standards-based content to support all students in developing deep conceptual math understanding, procedural skill, and fluency, with relevant application opportunities to become college- and career-ready. “A very solid complement to the Savvas learning program,” write the judges. “The more time designing the learning pathway, the more the educator can maximize this resource.” 

Study.com  Social studies solution
Study.com’s social studies solution provides schools with a comprehensive curriculum paired with skills practice and assessment components designed to support diverse learners. It also includes quizzes, chapter tests, flashcards, and lesson plans. The judges: “The interactive micro lessons allow students to progress through courses and are supported by guided video walkthroughs, practice problems, and assessments.”

Study.com  Science Solution
Study.com’s science solution is designed to meet the diverse needs of middle and high school science students, including AP learners. Boasting thousands of science microlessons, the platform seamlessly blends comprehensive curriculum, skills practice, and assessments to foster personalized mastery of science concepts. The judges appreciate how teachers can craft personalized learning plans for students to master at their own pace. 

TechTerra Education  STEM in a Box
STEM in a Box is a turn-key STEM solution for Pre-K through high school students that features sustainable, durable STEM tools, standards-aligned curriculum, and immediate and on-going training. “STEM In A Box is a great idea for schools wanting to bring STEM curriculum, tools, and resources to their students to bridge learning gaps, accelerate STEM learning, and to enrich limited science resources,” writes one judge, adding, “I particularly liked the fact that it can be adopted by any teacher in any grade level.” 

TouchMath  TouchMath PRO
TouchMath PRO delivers a seamless, digital math intervention experience for students who struggle with mathematics with a flexible digital interface that adapts for in-person, distance, and blended learning. One judge writes: “I like that the product offers options to complete lessons digitally or by printable activity sheets. It looks like Touchmath Pro is a great solution for helping students reach their individual goals in learning.” 

TouchMath, DySc  Dyscalculia Screener
DySc is a comprehensive dyscalculia screener and individualized intervention guide aligned to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). “This screener provides timely info for teachers to make adjustments and interventions right away, specifically helping educators identify areas of focus for students who are struggling with math difficulties,” write the judges. “This is definitely a needed support in today's classrooms.” 

Vivi  Vivi
Vivi is the only all-in-one communication suite designed exclusively for education as a single solution for wireless screen sharing, digital signage, and emergency alerts. It is device- and operating system-agnostic, creating an easy-to-use interface for everyone from IT, to teachers and students, to guest presenters. Writes one judge: “I really like the fact that it is easy to set up and use. Especially for younger students.” 

William H. Sadlier Inc.  From Phonics to Reading
From Phonics to Reading, Suite of Science of Reading Solutions, authored by Wiley Blevins is a collection of print and digital student and teacher resources that support the development of students decoding, encoding, and reading comprehension skills in grades K-3. “This program helps teachers address the shift from balanced literacy to the science of reading,” writes one judge. “I can see this being a very helpful program to use in the foundational grades.” 

Woongjin ThinkBig  Mathpid
Woongjin ThinkBig's Edtech lab, launched Mathpid, an AI-powered math app that quickly and accurately identifies a student's math level within just 10 problems. Leveraging an AI engine and Big Data, it offers personalized learning paths post a diagnostic test. “What a great use of this technology,” writes one judge. “I also like that it uses AI to coach the students as they complete the math problems.”. 

Xello  Xello
Xello is an online, full K-12 college, career, and future readiness program that helps students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds cultivate their self-knowledge and skill building while exploring options for life after high school. “We talk about training for college and career, but not many resources on the market support it,” write the judges. “This tool is a great solution to support students in understanding their needs and charting a path to success after graduation.” 

Best for Back to School SECONDARY

Acer  Acer Chromebook Vero 514 (CBV514-1H/T)
The Chromebook Vero 514 (CBV514-1H/T) combines the performance, features and durability standards to let teachers and high-school/university students excel at teaching and learning while reducing their environmental impact. “Another very well thought out environmentally responsible product from Acer,” say our judges. “The price is not too bad for its spec and screen size.” 

Acer  Acer and NASEF alliance for esports
Acer America and the Network of Academic and Scholastic Esports Federations (NASEF) recently launched an alliance to help schools launch or expand student esports programs. Our judges write: “This is a great concept and partnership. I believe many schools struggle to properly implement and sustain eSports programs due to lack of knowledge or training. This solution, especially with the option to get the fee waived, is a great resource.”

Acer  Acer Student Repair eLearning Program
The Acer Repair Certification eLearning Program gives high school students the opportunity to learn more about technology and build transferable skills in a hands-on setting. “By providing these skills to students, Acer is providing extra help for struggling tech departments,” our judges note. “I really like the fact that the students have to demonstrate their knowledge to staff members as part of the assessment for certification.”

BenQ  LH730
BenQ’s LH730 is the first LED projector in the company’s professional lineup designed specifically to meet the rigorous standards that educational classrooms demand. Our judges note: “This cutting edge LED projector stands out amongst its peers. It's affordable and reliable! The picture is high quality, bright, accurate, and doesn’t yellow. Definitely a game changer in the world of projectors!”

BenQ  BenQ Board RP03
BenQ Board smart boards offer integrative and intuitive features including single sign-on, cloud access, screen sharing, split-screen, screen recording, and annotation tools. One judge writes: “The BenQ Instashare revolutionizes the way teachers teach. Allowing the teachers to be up and moving around the room increases classroom management and places the teachers in ‘the zone’. InstaShare 2 provides more opportunity to share and collaborate with students by not being attached to a desk or podium.” 

Boxlight  MimioWall
Transform any setting like classrooms, hallways, offices, and lecture halls with the brilliance of LED innovation via the MimioWall. This innovative LED wall solution redefines engagement, boasting screen sharing capabilities and complete control via CleverLive digital signage software. “The integration of Mimiowall and Cleverlive is a great way to bring safety and technology together,” write our judges. “It is a great solution for school when looking for innovative LED display solutions.”

Boxlight Mimio DS Series
The Mimio DS Series redefines education, placing educators at the forefront of dynamic teaching and learning. These digital displays boast brilliant visuals through enhanced color calibration and precise picture quality adjustment. Minimizing distractions with flicker-free and anti-glare viewing, the Mimio DS creates an immersive environment that captures students' attention and ignites creativity.

Boxlight MyBot Recruit
The Mimio MyBot Recruit is an intuitive interface that ensures that even beginners can dive into robotics, while advanced students can explore complex coding in Python. “Mybot is a great tool for teaching coding in the classroom,” write our judges. “It offers drag and drop and Python coding options. The tutorial videos are informative and make using the product very easy.”

Canon  imagePROGRAF TC-20M MFP
The imagePROGRAF TC-20M MFP is a large-format printer with a built-in scanner that can produce high-quality posters and banners, making it the perfect tool for schools and educators. “The idea of having a scanner that will print in large format from a standard sheet of paper is great,” write our judges “It takes away the need for a computer and saves time for teachers to make posters, etc. Also, being an ink-tank model, and not cartridge based, makes it a cost saver as well as better for the environment.” 

Canon  MegaTank MAXIFY GX4020
Canon’s MegaTank MAXIFY GX4020 balances speedy performance with minimal maintenance in a four-in-one design. Our judges note: “I really like the tank style printers. They are more economical to own as well as environmentally responsible. Canon makes very good printers and this would be a good addition to school environments.”

Casio America, Inc.  Casio fx-991CW ClassWiz
The Casio fx-991CW ClassWiz is Casio’s latest scientific calculator. With a new quadruple graded LCD display, users can easily find their cursor while working with expressions. “This is a solid calculator with all of the functions needed for students and teachers,” write our judge. “I really like the additional app for added graphing and other features.”

ClassLink  ClassLink Suite
ClassLink is a global education provider of identity, access and analytics products that create more time for learning and help schools better understand digital engagement. Our judges note: “Classlink is a one-stop shop for students and teachers. With safe and secure seamless rostering and access to applications, Classlink stands out amongst its competitors as a supreme platform.”

ClassLink  ClassLink DataGuard
DataGuard protects schools from data theft. Instead of giving vendor partners all your students and teachers personally identifiable information (PII), DataGuard gives them only what's absolutely essential and masks all key fields. “Keeping students and their data safe is every school's priority! DataGuard does this extremely well,” write our judges.

Clayful Health  Coaching and Content with Clayful Health
Clayful works with schools to provide every student with on-demand, text-based coaching in 133 languages. Our judges write: “Clayful provides diverse ‘Coaches’ to communicate with students when they need help through a texting app. This service is greatly needed and extremely valuable in the school setting.”

CTL  CTL Chromebook PX11E "Secure" Special Edition
The CTL Chromebook PX11E "Secure" boasts a secure transparent bottom for users to view its interior electronics. Our judges note: “The concept of a clear back may help with students trying to get into them, and the special screws and extra thread lock helps. But, the back may be a teacher tool as well and add to the "cool factor" of the device. Overall, a solid well built and spec'd device.” 

Defined  Defined Careers
Defined Careers is the only online K-12 college and career readiness platform that helps schools and districts provide students with the opportunity to explore and experience careers through hands-on Project-Based Learning (PBL). “Defined Learning is not just a career exploration platform,” write our judges. “They use PBL to give students real world experiences to explore their interests.”

Discovery Education  Experience
Connecting educators to a collection of ready-to-use digital lessons, quizzes, activity creation tools, and professional learning resources, Discovery Education Experience provides an enhanced learning platform. Our judges note: “The Discovery Education Experience platform meshes easily with existing systems, making it simple to share resources with students in assignments, questions, announcements, and materials. One stop shop for over 200,000 videos, text-based passages, interactives, audio, podcasts, and images that span all grades, subjects, and critical topics.” 

Discovery Education  Science Techbook
The Discovery Education Science Techbook series is a comprehensive, research-backed science solution for grades K-12 aligned to national standards. Our judges write: “The Science Techbook series from Discovery Education enhances the delivery of impactful, blended instruction. The textbook contains 100 re-imagined virtual labs and interactives to support K-8 science explorations. Definitely would be a resource in my classroom.”

Edmentum  Courseware
Reach graduation goals and beyond with Edmentum Courseware,  digital curriculum for grades 6–12, designed to fuel first-time credit, credit recovery, and expanded course access. Our judges write: “Edmentum’s comprehensive Courseware digital curriculum for grade 6 through adult learners is based on the development of real-world skills. The Courseware is rigorous, relevant, and aligned to state and national standards with over 400 courses covering core, elective, CTE, world language, and advanced subjects.”

Edmentum  EdOptions Academy
Edmentum’s EdOptions Academy supports districts and schools by providing flexible, virtual human-centered instruction from state-certified educators. “This product is a wonderful option for districts wanting to develop a Blended Learning opportunity for students,” write our judges. “Many districts, including my own, have used this platform as a positive alternative to Remote Learning.” 

Edmentum  Exact Path
Exact Path makes personalized learning possible, helping schools and districts scale intervention plans with personalized instruction and immediate data insights proven to accelerate growth. “ExactPath by Edmentum is a really nice tool for taking assessment scores and standards from annual and quarterly summative assessment companies and projecting a unique learning path for students to improve their areas of deficiencies,” write our judges. 

Edutek Solutions  One to One Plus
One to One Plus is an all-inclusive, integrated asset management and help desk software that is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of K-12 school districts. “This would be a great tool for all deployments, especially large ones across multiple sites. The interface and data features are well thought out,” write our judge. 

Epson America  Epson PowerLite 810E Extreme Short Throw with 4K Enhancement
The new PowerLite 810E is Epson’s first 3LCD extreme short-throw lamp-free laser display with 4K Enhancement Technology. “A durable projector that saves room in the class and allows for board use and then for projected lessons,” write our judges.” 

ExploreLearning Gizmos
ExploreLearning Gizmos are online simulations that excite curiosity and invite interaction as a digital learning subscription product. “This product will save a lot of time in the classroom, which allows students and teachers to dive deeper into topics,” say our judges. 

FACIL'iti  MYDys EDU
With MYdys EDU, teachers can use any device to scan or upload any text and the app will instantly adapt it to the students’ specific areas of struggle, consequently making it easier to read and comprehend material. “ This is a great solution!” write our judges. “Being compatible with any device and incorporating AR and OCR to scan and recognize text that can be adapted for their individual needs is excellent.”

Flinn Scientific  PAVO
PAVO, by Flinn Scientific, is an award-winning gateway to comprehensive science content that streamlines instruction and engages students with dynamic digital and hands-on learning. “PAVO looks like an excellent choice for a science curriculum or supplement. It is aligned with NGS and offers learning pathways for students that give teachers the ability to differentiate and personalize lessons,” write our judges.  

Forward Edge  Edge•U Badges
Edge•U Badges is a powerful, instruction-focused professional learning system that adapts to the needs of educators. “Providing professional learning for educators is critical,” write our judges. “Just as important is the need to organize and track what has been done and what the needs are. This solution has both. It also allows for self-paced PD for teachers.”

Forward Education  Climate Action Kit Class Pack
The Climate Action Kit is a tool designed to help educators teach STEM subjects in the context of real-world climate action opportunities and their technology solutions. Our judges note: “I like how this product combines STEM, coding and environmental curricula together. I also like that it has reusable parts and uses the microbit platform.”

Frontline Education  Human Capital Analytics
Frontline Human Capital Analytics delivers school district leaders actionable insights to make informed decisions to benefit staff, students and communities related to recruiting and hiring, absence and substitute placements and professional development. “With a large turnover in education and the need to track certifications and historical work in the district, this is a great option to create efficiency in hiring and in-district movement,” writs our judges. 

Frontline Education  Offering financial wellbeing benefits to K-12 staff
Frontline Education and Wagestream formed an exclusive partnership that will enable K-12 school districts to attract, engage and retain top talent to achieve their educational mission by offering financial wellbeing benefits and flexible access to earned wages. Our judges write: “Adding the Wagestream piece to the suite creates an efficient way for individuals to manage wages and the district budget and see trends, ensuring a streamlined process that will allow for more focus on the work, and less on ‘how am I getting paid’ or payroll stream.”

FrontRow by Boxlight  Teacher Action! Mic powered by ELEVATE
The Action! teacher microphone, powered by ELEVATE wireless technology, revolutionizes teaching with optimal mobility, exceptional sound, and advanced features. “This product produces a connected learning environment where every student in the classroom can clearly hear the teacher, and understand the sounds and words the teacher is making,” write our judges. 

Gale, part of Cengage Group Gale In Context: Literature
Gale In Context: Literature is a resource for literature instruction and learning that helps high schoolers engage and thrive in English Language Arts. “The Gale In-Context: Literature Module provides rich digital print content and access to a vast library of literature at the high school level and beyond,” write our judges. “Some of the more impressive tools that are built into this digital platform include the ability to accommodate students with on-demand article translation into 40 different languages, searching capabilities by lexile range, and MLA and APA Citation tools integration.”

Gale, part of Cengage Group  Gale In Context: For Educators
Gale In Context: For Educators merges current, relevant, standards-aligned content with rich ready-to-use lesson plans and essential teaching tools. Our judges write: “This lesson planning tool supports educators as they curate and develop personalized digital content for teaching. It also ties to state standards.”

GoGuardian  TutorMe
TutorMe partners with schools to provide impactful 24/7, on-demand online tutoring to students across all grade levels, when and where they need it the most. “TutorMe is a great solution to help students reach their learning goals. Tutors are highly vetted and selected with care,” write our judges.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  HMH Into Science and HMH ¡Arriba las Ciencias!
HMH Into Science and HMH ¡Arriba las Ciencias! deliver a flexible solution that streamlines the support, strategies, inspiration, and rigorous content needed to successfully engage students in doing and learning science. “With digital labs, experiments, companion videos, and checkpoints, this program gets to the heart of science, not just the facts and results,” notes our judges,” note our judges.  

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  Math 180, Student Software
Math 180, for grades 5-12, is tailored for students who lag one year or more behind in math, reinvigorating understanding where it faltered. Our judges write: “Math 180 personalizes learning. The solution has a lot of possibilities and, if used correctly, can have a significant impact.” 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  Read 180, Student Software
Read 180 is built to meet the needs of striving readers in grades 3 – 12 that are reading one year or more below grade level, including students with gaps in foundational reading, comprehension, as well as Newcomers to the United States. “This tool is useful and gives educators a good formative assessment view,” note our judges. 

Impero Software  Impero Classroom
Impero Classroom is a holistic, scalable classroom management solution designed by Impero Software, a leader in classroom management and student safety software. “Impero has created a complete classroom management system that gives teachers the power to keep students on task while delivering content in an efficient manner,” note our judges.

Incident IQ  Incident IQ Platform
Incident IQ is a K-12 workflow management platform, revolutionizing support operations for school districts of all sizes. Our judges write: “Incident IQ is a very good solution to manage and maintain the entire technology assets. It has good integrations that will allow the users to make data driven decisions. With the amount of technology in schools today, a quality management system is key.”

Instructure  Canvas LMS
Canvas by Instructure breaks through the crowded edtech industry by being the leader in Learning Management Systems. “Canvas is a supreme platform for hybrid learning,” write our judges. “Students can keep up with work missed and often times work ahead at their own pace. The continued use of an LMS like Canvas means students stay engaged, parents stay informed, and learning can continue, both in and outside the classroom.”

IXL Learning  Wyzant
With 65,000 tutors specializing in more than 300 subjects, Wyzant enables learners in secondary education to receive private, one-on-one tutoring in nearly anything they want to learn. Our judges write: “Post-COVID, we forget that some students need personalized synchronous lessons during times that work for them. Wyzant is a unique tool that provides avenues for learners and schools to receive personalized learning virtually to fit time and schedules.”

Junior Achievement USA (JA)  JA Connect
JA Connect is JA’s first entirely virtual, self-guided student platform. Our judges write: “This product and platform are completely digital and can be accessed on mobile devices or computers. I particularly liked the fact that the platform, which is currently part of a credentialing pilot, allows students to develop and demonstrate competency in skills and behaviors within each JA pillar at increasing levels of difficulty. It also allows students to share an objective level of proficiency with potential employers or other interested stakeholders. 

Kiddom  Kiddom
Kiddom is an educational platform that promotes student equity by uniting high-quality instructional materials with dynamic digital learning. Our judges write: “Kiddom offers high-quality instructional materials that are accessible at all levels of the district. I really liked the ability for schools to own the materials and make it work for them!” 

Learning.com  EasyCode Pillars
EasyCode Pillars is an interactive web-based curriculum that helps students in grades 6 through 8 learn key coding principles using Python, one of the world’s most popular programming languages. Our judges write: “This program allows students to learn coding in a fun and safe environment. EasyCode makes it easy for schools to rise to the challenge of providing the computer science skills essential to student success in our digital world.”

Legrand C2G  AV Controller
C2G’s AV Controller prioritizes both ease of use and management of classroom AV. “This new AV Controller by Legrand and C2G is designed to take the guesswork out of running classroom technologies such as remote screen operation, projection, sound, and other classroom peripherals,” write our judges. “This controller can be preprogrammed to replace the need for having multiple remote controls for each classroom device.”

Lincoln Learning Solutions  Lincoln Content Bank
The Lincoln Content Bank, powered by Amazon Web Services, is a highly secure LMS add-on tool that gives educators access to discover and add enterprise-level curriculum content into their course. Launched at InstructureCon in July 2023, the Lincoln Content Bank supports educators and fuels learning experiences at any grade level by providing an affordable repository of vetted learning items to implement seamlessly into any educational setting.

MAXCases  Extreme Headset
The MAXCases Extreme Headset covers all the bases for K12 needs, with a design that’s ideal for the rigors of all-day use. “The MAXCases Extreme Headset is really well made, particularly for younger students,” writes our judges. “Unlike other brands of classroom headsets that include a microphone that stretches past the earpiece around the cheek of the user, this Extreme Headset has a microphone that is almost microscopic in form factor and eliminates the need for students to want to bend it or mistreat it,” note our judges.

Merlyn Mind  Merlyn
Merlyn is a voice- and remote-controlled AI assistant that connects to a teacher’s laptop. “Merlyn, the AI Assistant for teachers, is a phenomenally innovative product that should be in every classroom!” write our judges. “Through voice commands, Merlyn can be your teaching assistant and present content in any format that the teacher requests, from Google, to Powerpoints, to Youtube videos to Remote Learning situations.”  

MobileMind  MobileMind
MobileMind delivers a comprehensive professional learning hub that facilitates district-scaled, sustainable, personalized learning while engaging educators in gamified, self-paced micro-courses. “Excellent tool for professional development,” write our judges. “Love the ability to make this the hub of learning for teachers.” 

NetSupport  classroom.cloud
classroom.cloud is a classroom management and teaching platform that includes online safety and technician’s tools. Our judges write: “classroom.cloud is a powerful tool for teachers to manage student learning, their devices, and their browsing habits. I particularly like that it's compatible with all device platforms and can integrate with ClassLink and Google Classroom.”

NoRedInk Co.  NoRedInk
NoRedInk simplifies the process of building strong writers and critical thinkers by providing teachers with diagnostic tools, instructional resources, skills exercises, and scaffolded writing activities. “NoRedInk’s activities integrate seamlessly with ELA instruction. I like that they are adaptable for teachers to mix and match them as they see fit. They also offer many integrations like ClassLink, Infinite Campus, Canvas, Clever, Google Classroom, and Schoology,.” our judges note.  

Optoma  Optoma Creative Touch 5-Series Interactive Flat Panel Displays
The Optoma Creative Touch 5-Series Interactive Flat Panel Displays offers 4K UHD resolution and new levels of customization and flexibility. “I really like the ease of use of this product,” writes our judges. “The floating toolbar that jumps to a location that the pen presses on for a couple of seconds really makes working more efficient. The sharing, screen recording, SSO, and Google Classroom integration is also valuable.”

Otus  Otus
Otus empowers educators to help every student reach their full potential through an all-in-one platform with integrated tools to gather, visualize, and act on student growth data. “Having data is critical, but what Otus provides is a data story that allows the user to see trends and possible next steps,” say our judges. “The more educators use the tool, the clearer the learning path is. In the secondary level, educators can use the resource to ensure graduation pathway and prepare for AP and other advanced courses.”

PowerSchool  PowerSchool Naviance CCLR
PowerSchool Naviance CCLR is the leading college, career, and life readiness (CCLR) platform that helps students connect learning to life goals. “The life of a high school junior and senior can be stressful when looking for and applying to college,” note our judges. “Naviance has taken some of that way with their streamlined dashboard and lens into colleges with the students interested in majors and gives a range of performances to reduce the applications to schools that may be out of reach.”

Presence (formerly PresenceLearning) Presence Teletherapy Services
Presence is the leading provider of remote evaluations and teletherapy solutions for children with diverse needs in PreK-12 schools. Our judges write: “Offering therapy through online support makes it so much easier to schedule students as well as eases the issues that districts are facing trying to recruit these positions in their districts.”  

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Dell Inspiron 14 (Powered by Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2)
The Dell Inspiron 14, powered by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 compute platform, combines the best features of a smartphone and a laptop into one device. “I like the idea of using a SOC chip, and the Snapdragon is a good one” write our judges. “Built-in AI and security features are appreciated as well.” 

Samsung Electronics America  Samsung Interactive Display (WAC)
The Samsung Interactive Display is an interactive whiteboard that provides enhanced usability and specialized features for teachers and students to seamlessly collaborate. “Not only does this Interactive Panel by Samsung offer stunning, vibrant displays of life-like content for learning,” note our judges, “but this product is amazingly versatile in accepting content from many curriculum companies as well as converting lessons that were created using other brands of displays and other interactive software platforms.” 

Savvas Learning Company  enVision Mathematics Grades 6-8 enVision A|G|A (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2)
Savvas has introduced new editions in its industry-leading enVision K-12 math series, including enVision Mathematics © 2024 Grades K-5, enVision Mathematics © 2024 Grades 6-8, enVision A|G|A © 2024 (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2), and enVision Integrated Mathematics © 2024. “enVision Mathematics solution hooks students with clean designs and active learning,” write our judges. “enVision Mathematics allows educators to customize learning and get to the heart of student needs.”

Savvas Learning Company  SuccessMaker: Foundations of High School Math
New this school year, Savvas is introducing SuccessMaker: Foundations of High School Math, an intervention solution providing personalized adaptive instruction for high school students who haven’t yet mastered all the prerequisite skills necessary for success in early high school math classes. Our judges note: “The interactive aspect of this solution sets this product apart. This solution allows students to be part of learning and learn from doing.”

Singleton Foundation  Venture Valley Business Tycoon
Venture Valley empowers young adults to build financial and business basics by capturing kids’ interest with a competitive esports-style multiplayer play. “This is a fantastic and fun solution that gamifies the process of financial literacy and entrepreneurship,” write our judges. “Plus being free makes it available for any school district. 

Slooh  Slooh
Slooh offers live online telescope feeds of the cosmos and its amazing astronomical events. Our judges write: “Slooh is an amazing platform designed to bring the curiosity of the cosmos into any classroom by establishing real-time connections to research telescopes around the world.”

SmartPass: SmartPass One
Originated by a high school assistant principal and co-founded with the help of students, teachers, and school building leaders, SmartPass allows educators to seamlessly approve, manage, and monitor student movement related to out-of-class activities. “The more schools are efficient, the more they can focus on learning,” note our judges. “This solution creates efficacy to help all aspects of the school to increase the focus and time on learning, not on operations.” 

Sphero, Inc.  Sphero Blueprint
Sphero’s Blueprint Build Kit is a modular system of easy-to-handle mechanical engineering parts designed to teach middle and high school students diverse, scalable, and creative engineering concepts. Our judges write: “Hands-on engineering and excitement over learning these concepts become reality with the Sphero Blueprint Build Kit & Class Pack. This kit and pack help to prepare students for college engineering and concepts being taught.”

Tutor.com and The Princeton Review  On-Demand and High-Dosage Tutoring + Test Prep
The mission of Tutor.com and The Princeton Review is to advance equity and improve student achievement and academic outcomes by delivering no-cost, research-based high-dosage tutoring. Our judges write: “Tutor.com offers so much at no cost to help students learn! It is on-demand, researched-based learning,  available 24 hours a day, and one to one.”

Vivacity Tech PBC  Student Repair Academy
Vivacity Tech’s Student Repair Academy provides students with interactive training and core knowledge to help create your very own in-house repair center. “I am a big fan of these kinds of programs,” write our judges. “Vivacity has a well thought-out solution. Building a student tech repair program can save a lot of time, money, and put fewer computers in the landfill.”

Vivacity Tech PBC  Guardian Work-In Case with Pouch
“This laptop bag has quality components, secures and protects, as well as has extra storage,’ note our judges. “I also like that it allows for air flow for the device which will extend its battery and longevity.” 

Vivacity Tech PBC  Mobile Charging Station
Vivacity Tech’s Mobile Charging Station ensures that outlets for electronic devices are always readily available. “I really like the long cord and adjustable base of this unit. Also, the variety of charging options is appreciated,” writes our judges.

Vivi  Vivi
Vivi is the only all-in-one communication suite designed exclusively for education as a single solution for wireless screen sharing, digital signage, and emergency alerts. Oor judges liked that the product is designed for an educational setting and has education specific tools and features.

Xello  Xello
Xello is an online K-12 college, career and future readiness program that helps students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds cultivate their self-knowledge and skill building while exploring options for life after high school. Our judges note: “We talk about training for college and career, but not many resources on the market support it. This tool is a great solution to support students in understanding their needs and charting a path to success after graduation. 

Best for Back to School: HIGHER ED

Anthology Inc., Blackboard Learn Ultra
Blackboard Learn Ultra (Learn) is Anthology’s next-generation learning management system that is designed with a modern and intuitive interface to engage college students and simplify processes for instructors. “I really like the flexibility of this product for both instructors and students. The use of AI is very innovative,” write our judges.

Airtame  Airtame Hybrid
Airtame Hybrid turns any connected display into a screen mirror for laptops and mobile devices, while also enabling centralized digital signage functions for entire campuses. Our judges note: “While this functionality is found in the Airtame Core, the Airtame Hybrid takes it up several notches by incorporating Video Conferencing as well.” 

BenQ  LH730
BenQ’s LH730 is an LED projector designed specifically to meet the rigorous standards that commercial applications such as educational classrooms demand. Our judges write: “This cutting-edge LED projector stands out amongst its peers. It's affordable and reliable! The picture is high quality, bright, accurate, and doesn’t yellow. Definitely a game changer in the world of projectors!”

BenQ  BenQ Board RP03
BenQ Board smart boards offer integrative and intuitive features including single sign-on, cloud access, screen sharing, split-screen, screen recording, and annotation tools. One judge writes: “The BenQ Instashare revolutionizes the way teachers teach. Allowing the teachers to be up and moving around the room increases classroom management and places the teachers in ‘the zone.’ InstaShare 2 provides more opportunity to share and collaborate with students by not being attached to a desk or podium.” 

Canon  imageFORMULA R30 Office Document Scanner
The Canon imageFORMULA R30 is a compact dual-side color scanner with an automatic document feeder designed for efficient scanning. “These small scanners are a great way to digitize documents, save paper, share, and cut down on physical file storage. I have used them for years and they are a key piece of my daily workflow,” writes one judge.

ClearOne  DIALOG UVHF Wireless Microphone
The ClearOne DIALOG UVHF is a highly flexible wireless microphone system that delivers incredibly robust reception and more available spectrum on-demand than any other product in its class. “This is a great solution for higher ed. I like all of the components as well as the transportability of the hardware,” note our judges. 

Copyleaks AI Content Detector
The AI Content Detector is an enterprise-level AI content detection solution. Utilizing machine learning in real-time, the AI Content Detector boasts a 99.1% accuracy rate and a .2% false positive rate. “The AI Content Detector by Copyleaks comes at an incredibly opportune time in the Age of ChatGPT,” one judge noted.  

CTL CTL CBx3-7 Chromebox
The CTL Chromebox CBx3-7 is a small form-factor PC with an Intel Core i7-1355U processor that delivers speeds up to 5GHZ. “The ability to mount on the back of the screen, as well as the internal hardware configuration and port, makes this PC a real standout,” write our judges. 

CTL CTL Works With Chromebook Keyboard and Mouse Combo
The CTL Chrome OS Bluetooth keyboard and mouse are Google-certified products that guarantee top performance for Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. “This is a very nice mouse and keyboard combo,” write our judge. “I appreciate the forethought of the Google Everything and screen capture buttons” 

Gale, part of Cengage Group  Gale Digital Scholar Lab
Gale Digital Scholar Lab is a cloud-based research environment designed to transform the way scholars and students access and analyze Gale primary source materials. “The Digital Scholar Lab not only guides students on how to perform scholarly research queries, but also how to categorize their discoveries and prepare them for review and citation usage,” write one judge. “I wish this tool existed long ago in my early college research days!”

NetSupport  NetSupport School
Classroom management and instruction solution, NetSupport School, provides a full toolkit for instructors to deliver meaningful lessons. “The variety and granularity of the controls given teachers is great,” write our judges. “Monitoring student devices in various ways is so important. It safeguards both the students and instructional staff. Also, seeing the teacher to delegate some control to a student group leader, show student screens as examples, and control student access to devices will save time and frustration during class.”

PeopleAdmin  Faculty Information System
PeopleAdmin’s Faculty Information System and Course Evaluations are part of a faculty ecosystem that supports faculty and academic affairs offices across campus and throughout the employee lifecycle. Our judges note: “This product does a very good job of getting all of the inputs and outputs in higher ed to make for smoother, more accurate processes and data. I also appreciate the thought put into the evaluation process of the professor by students.” 

Planar Planar UltraRes™ L Series all-in-one LED display
The Planar UltraRes L Series Display combines Planar’s best-in-class LCD features with award-winning direct view LED technology to deliver an all-in-one, easy-to-use display solution. “This is a great solution for higher ed” say our judges. “The feature to show four different windows at once will help professors show the correlation of content.”

Qualcomm Technologies Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G SQ3 (Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3)
The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 SQ3 5G features the Microsoft SQ3 compute platform based on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform by Qualcomm. “I am very interested in these products and their use of AI and offloading processing to a separate AI engine to make the computer run more efficiently,” writes one judge. “Microsoft has put together a great higher ed solution, especially for running cloud based apps. 

Samsung Electronics America Samsung Interactive Display (WAC)
The Samsung Interactive Display is an interactive whiteboard that provides enhanced usability and specialized features for teachers and students to seamlessly collaborate. Our judges note: “Not only does this Interactive Panel by Samsung offer stunning, vibrant displays of life-like content for learning, but this product is amazingly versatile in accepting content from many curriculum companies as well as converting lessons that were created using other brands of displays and other interactive software platforms.” 

ViewSonic Corp.  ViewSonic myPodium ID2456 Interactive Display
The ViewSonic myPodium ID2456 is a multifunctional 24-inch interactive display designed to expand learning spaces and boost efficiency. One judge notes: “ViewSonic has put together an all-in-one LED Display that can be installed by pretty much any handy employee. This will ease the stress of campuses knowing that they can install these themselves and not have to contract out the labor. Just a beautiful display!”

ISTELive23 was back in full swing in Philadelphia this year with hundreds of sessions and exhibitors enjoying the learning and networking – despite the rainy weather. 

The exhibit hall was energetic and robust, showcasing hundreds of new products and services. The Tech & Learning judges culled the show floor to review the many nominated products for this year’s Tech & Learning's Best of Show Awards at ISTELive 23 awards. The evaluation criteria included: ease of use, value, uniqueness in the market, and proof that the product helped make teachers' lives easier and supported student achievement. 

“We received an impressive array of nominations for this year’s awards,” says Christine Weiser, content director for Tech & Learning. “Our judges chose the products that they believed best supported innovation in the classroom and district. Congratulations to our winners!”

Best of ISTELive 2023

Acer America TravelMate Vero TMV15-51-57PP  This lightweight laptop is designed to combine practicality and sustainability. It is made with recycled materials with at least 30% post-consumer recycled plastic in the chassis and screen bezel, and 50% on the keycaps. Our judges were impressed by the sustainability of the product and its battery life given its reasonable price point. 

Acer America Acer Student Repair eLearning Program The Acer Student Repair eLearning Program is a program that teaches high school students how to perform repairs on Acer Chromebooks. “This is a great concept,” said our judges. “Good for CTE and to help students gain skills they can use in and out of school.”

Avantis Education, exhibiting as ClassVR The Eduverse 2540 The Eduverse made by Avantis Education, creators of ClassVR, is designed to help districts supplement curriculum by providing immersive, standards-aligned, educational VR and AR content in a teacher-controlled virtual environment. Our judges said that this service fills a gap in VR and AR education.

AVer A30 All-in-One Camera The A30 is a classroom tool that combines a document camera, web camera, microphone, and speaker. Designed for plug-n-play connectivity, the A30 speaker connects to computers, IFPs, and monitors. The judges called it a “very cool, all-in camera,” and praised its ease of use as a selling point for non-techies.  

AVID Products  AVID AE36 USB-C Headset 2251  The AE-36 lightweight headset is designed to provide high-quality sound with a noise-canceling, adjustable boom microphone that makes it easy for even the softest-spoken student to be heard. Its USB-C connection is compatible with many devices and software. The judges said, “This product ensures every student hears the teacher clearly.”

Beanstack Beanstack Beanstalk impressed the judges with its strategy of inspiring a love of reading in students by facilitating a community reading challenge approach modeled on the gamification motivation of apps such as Fitbit and Duolingo — rewarding students with digital badges, encouraging daily reading with streaks, and inspiring positive competition among friends. 

BenQ  BenQ Board with InstaShare 2 Software The BenQ Board smartboard features onboard InstaShare 2 wireless presentation software that enables advanced collaboration opportunities. Our judges liked that InstaShare 2 allows teachers to teach from anywhere in the room, adding, “It is easy to share a laptop, tablet, or smartphone screen onto a BenQ Board.”

Boxlight Mimio DS The Mimio DS Series features multi-functional USB Type-C ports, enabling educators to connect various devices for audio and video transmission, network connections, and charging external devices. “The integrated video wall processing is a high-value feature, as is the integration with campus communications systems,” said the judges. 

Boxlight MimioWall The MimioWall is designed to eliminate the need for external devices and complex management systems, and is available in nine sizes ranging from 120" to 299". Our judges were impressed by numerous features including the CleverLive digital signage platform, which allows for sharing of campus information, updates, and alerts. 

BrainPOP BrainPOP Brainpop is designed for students in grades 3-8 to introduce new and complex concepts, help them develop essential skills, and drive progress toward grade-level expectations with games, animated movies, and interactive learning activities. “Brainpop gives cartoon videos and interactives to make tough subjects accessible for young students,” our judges said. 

BrainPOP BrainPOP Science BrainPOP Science is a complement to the 6-8 grade science curriculum, and is designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards. “Animations, interesting facts, and challenging gameplay are bound to keep kids interested,” said the judges. “With quizzes, experiments, and mini-games, kids have many opportunities to apply what they learned in the lessons.” 

Canva  Canva for Education  Canva for Education integrates with everyday tools and learning management systems through single sign-on, making things easier for students and teachers. “This tool gives all students and teachers the freedom to bring ideas to life and continues to evolve as a product,” said the judges. “It is a must for K-12 education.” 

Capstone PebbleGo PebbleGo is a curricular content hub designed for students that features informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports for students of all abilities. “Pebble Go is a kid-friendly app in English and Spanish,” said the judges. “The subjects are presented with photos, media, links to similar topics, printable assessment sheets, and correct citations.” 

ClassIn ClassIn ClassIn is an end-to-end education platform with a full suite of tools designed with hybrid-first pedagogy in mind. Its features include live streaming, screen sharing, interactive blackboards, breakout rooms, and online assessments. Our judges said it was their favorite virtual school option. 

ClassLink, Inc.  ClassLink Enterprise Suite The new suite of tools from ClassLink includes ClassLink Analytics, which allows teachers and leaders to measure and track student engagement, and ClassLink Roster Server and OneSync, which enables schools to automate their rostering and provisioning processes. “These latest features add greater ability to limit the amount of sensitive student data shared,” said the judges.  

ClassLink, Inc.  DataGuard ClassLink’s DataGuard is a RosterServer upgrade designed to protect sensitive personally identifiable information when schools share class roster data with vendors. The judges were impressed by the way the tool allows schools to selectively share essential data while masking other key fields, ensuring continuous data protection. 

Clear Digital  Clear Digital Evo Roll Pro The Evo Roll Pro is a unique digital signage solution, offering a 43-inch screen that is IP65 rated, 2000 NITs bright, and anti-glare, and designed to work indoors or outdoors. “This is a unique mobile digital signage solution that makes it easy to bring your digital signage needs wherever you need them,” said the judges. 

Clear Digital Clear Digital Sho Content Software Clear Digital's Sho Content Management Software is a cloud-based platform designed to simplify the creation, management, and deployment of digital signage content. “This system makes it easy to create stunning digital signage displays that connect with your audience,” the judges said. “Even if you’ve never designed before, Sho will make you look like a pro.” 

Clear Touch Clear Touch 6000A+ Interactive Panel Clear Touch’s 6000A+ Series panels feature responsive multi-touch technology, are available in 65”, 75”, and 86” sizes, and have EDLA certification, which provides enhanced security and access to native Google applications. “The 6000U Series is an easy-to-use, intuitive interactive panel, loaded with features that help teachers and students collaborate and work smarter,” said the judges. 

Clever Clever MFA+  Clever MFA+ is designed to protect sensitive data by providing a dual layer of authentication in a manner that is easy to use and includes a variety of authentication options. “The ability to use the software to help author and implement MFA policies was impressive,” wrote our judges. “It works with the major players of Microsoft and Google.” 

Clevertouch by Boxlight CleverLive CleverLive is a tool that provides informative posters, welcoming messages, and updates throughout the campus. It is also designed to simplify the booking of rooms and integrate with popular calendar systems. Our judges were also impressed with how CleverLive provides a mobile device management section for administrators to monitor device health and ensure timely updates. 

Clevertouch by Boxlight IMPACT Lux IMPACT Lux is an interactive flat panel that launched with a Google certification which helps ensure seamless integration with Google Classroom and other Google education tools. Other features that impressed the judges were its 40 touch points, access to a free app store, and the ability for multiple students to collaborate.

Clevertouch by Boxlight LYNX 1828 LYNX Whiteboard features a range of pen tools and shapes that facilitate lesson engagement. These tools include highlighters and drawing tools as well as precise geometrical shapes and other math tools. These features impressed the judges as did the tool’s AI capabilities and its library of 100 STEM activities.

CTL CTL Chromebox CBx3 This form factor PC is powered by Chrome OS, Intel's 12th generation Celeron 7305 processor with 4GB RAM, and 256 GB storage. The device also features new Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.3 options for connectivity, all of which impressed Tech & Learning’s judges. 

CTL CTL Chromebook NL72CT-L 1420  The CTL’s NL72CT-LTE B48-ready Cat 12 Chromebook is designed to ensure reliable connection and fast speeds, and allows access to LTE technology with a separate LTE data plan from a carrier as well as access to the latest private Band 48 CBRS private LTE, and most carrier bands. Our judges cited these quality connectivity features.

Edmentum Apex Learning Tutorials Apex Tutorials offers modular, on-grade acceleration and remediation designed to propel grade 6-12 graduation goals by focusing on bringing every student to course proficiency. The tool provides comprehensive coverage of essential topics aligned with grade-level, end-of-course, and college readiness exams. “Digital intervention for struggling students has value and this platform seems strong,” said our judges.

Edmentum Courseware Courseware provides continuous flexible learning with more than 500-course options. Subjects include CTE, electives, world language, college and career readiness, and ELL foundations. Educators can customize courses by adding, hiding, deleting, or reordering course content. Our judges were impressed with these features. 

Edmentum EdOptions Academy  EdOptions Academy offers customized virtual instruction delivered by state-certified virtual teachers with curricula designed to support district efforts and help them reach academic growth goals. “As teacher shortages become more serious we are going to have to accept the fact that this type of learning is going to stick around,” said the judges. 

Edmentum ExactPath Exact Path features diagnostic-driven, individualized learning paths in K-12 math, reading, and language arts, and real-time data powered teaching tools. The assessments, learning paths, and instructional tools help educators isolate the discrete skill and standard gaps of every student and provide data-informed universal, small-group, and personalized intervention. 

Ellipsis Education Ellipsis Education Ellipsis is designed to help all educators, regardless of their experience, effectively teach computer science. Every Ellipsis course includes pacing guides, standards maps, training, and detailed lesson plans that extend beyond coding. Skills such as computational thinking, collaboration and problem-solving are also stressed, which was lauded by the judges. 

Epson Epson PowerLite 810E Extreme Short Throw with 4K Enhancement Designed for classroom and meeting room spaces, it offers 5,000 lumens of color/white light output powered by Epson 3-chip 3LCD laser technology. “This would be good not only for regular classroom use, but also in less traditional spaces because you can wheel it in, set it almost flush to a wall, and project 80" onto any surface,” said our judges. 

Forward Edge Edge•U Badges Edge•U is an instruction-focused professional learning system that offers learning opportunities in the form of microcredentials (badges) in which participants browse to select the topic and development scope that is appropriate to their personal development goals. More than 240 badges aligned to ISTE standards and the SAMR Model are available to choose.

Forward Education Climate Action Kit The Climate Action Kit is designed to help educators teach STEM subjects using climate change issues and solutions. It includes an online portal, coding platform, and inventor's kit, and is suitable for grades 3-10. Teachers choose from a range of curriculum-aligned lessons and share a link with their students, who work at their own pace. 

Gale, part of Cengage Group Gale In Context: Literature Gale In Context: Literature organizes high-quality literary resources into one searchable platform, complete with accessibility and navigation tools. Educators easily connect students to standards-based resources that provide the literary context necessary to ensure student understanding of the texts they’re reading in ELA lessons. 

GoGuardian Giant Steps Giant Steps is a gamified digital learning experience that enables independent practice and collaborative learning in K-12 classrooms, with its library of standards-aligned, customizable content (practice sets). Our judges said, “The combination of gamification with research-based quality content makes this a fun addition to the classroom.”

GoReact GoReact Teachers use GoReact to practice, record, and share videos with their mentors or colleagues, who then give personalized feedback using text, audio or video comments, markers, and customizable progressions. “With simple, flexible tools for experiential learning, GoReact helps all learners develop and demonstrate skill competency,” said the judges.

HoverCam HoverCam Orbit  Orbit is a gigabit wireless USB and HDMI document camera that allows users to cast straight to a computer or HDMI display in 4K resolution up to 60FPS. Said our judges: “This wireless document camera is impressive, with its image quality, simple buttons, and plug-and-play nature, making it a welcome addition to the document camera market.”

Ideamapper Inc. Ideamapper Ideamapper is a mind mapping tool that visually organizes ideas, offering reflection and analysis of complex topics while supporting collaborative discussions and adaptive learning experiences. "IdeaMapper is a promising mind mapping app for the iPad that offers a unique interface that replicates the process of creating a mind map on a white board – complete with colored markers and a dry eraser!” said the judges. 

Identity Automation Authentication With RapidIdentity Authentication, users are ensured seamless access with a variety of passwordless and student-friendly authentication methods, while all entry points are securely maintained. Our judges liked the focus on safety and called Authentication a “necessary tool” toward that goal.

Impero Software Impero Wellbeing This holistic classroom safety tool grants teachers and school district officials visibility into threats to student wellbeing—including digital, physical, and mental—via online and offline monitoring to provide a full picture of each student’s overall wellbeing. “With Wellbeing, schools can identify early warning signs of harmful online behavior, raise concerns, intervene early and provide support to students if needed," said the judges, adding, “Digital safety is critical for students.”

Instructure Canvas Credentials With self-paced professional learning journeys, Canvas Credentials allows educators to take ownership of their learning with verifiable badges, district-level pathways, analytics, personalized learning, and more. Features can be aligned to district and individual goals. Our judges praised the flexibility and principles of this platform.

Instructure Mastery Mastery is designed to help educators understand what students know through high-quality, effective assessments comprising a suite of four product offerings: Mastery Connect, Mastery Item Bank, Mastery View Formative Assessments, and Mastery View Predictive Assessments. The judges appreciated it, saying, “Instructure has a long history of research-based assessments that makes it a trusted brand in schools.”

Instructure Canvas LMS Canvas LMS lets teachers focus on teaching, with tools such as the free Admin Analytics, SpeedGrader, which can cut grading time by 50 percent, modules, calendars, schedules, quizzes, rubrics, analytics, and more. Our judges consider Canvas LMS to be a necessary tool for teachers.

IPEVO Inc. IPEVO VOCAL A speakerphone with AI-powered two-way noise reduction, IPEVO VOCAL offers both omnidirectional and directional microphone modes. Its AI noise reduction was trained using more than 500 million pieces of data to effectively identify human voices among environmental noise. “VOCAL will make meeting spaces much more clear and improve communication for all users, said the judges.  

IPEVO Inc. IPEVO TOTEM 360 IPEVO TOTEM 360 provides a seamless 360° image from four cameras, sound from an all-around speaker, and captures voices via an array of four beamforming microphones with AI noise reduction. The judges praised the high-quality image and sound and the "stitch" video technology that allows for true wide angle viewing.

JAR Systems Elevate Air The Elevate Air USB-C Open Charging Cart, Powered by Quick-Sense USB-C module(s) provides fast and balanced charging that is completely AC adapter-free. Unlike traditionally designed carts, the open concept provides easy visibility of devices from across the room.

LEGO Education LEGO Education SPIKE Essential SPIKE Essential introduces students to STEAM through fun, standards-aligned lessons that also teach practical design skills and boost student engagement. “The design projects are fun to do, and have the classic LEGO approach to building that kids will easily be comfortable with,” said the judges. 

LG Business Solutions CreateBoard (model TR3DK) LG CreateBoard offers an up-to 40-point multitouch interactive display that enables live annotations of digital files and provides tools for content creation, sharing and management. The LG CreateBoard line includes 55-, 65-, 75- and 86-inch models, ensuring students can view the presentation regardless of seat location or room size.  

Lightspeed Systems Lightspeed Digital Insight and Digital Equity Module Lightspeed Digital Insight empowers IT and instructional technology leaders with a single view of district edtech usage to quickly understand and act on approvals, cost management, and impact. Our judges said, “Having a lens into what is being visited is critical and can help streamline a budget.”

Linewize Linewize Monitor Linewize Monitor provides 24/7 notifications of students at risk of self-harm, depression, grooming, sexual content, bullying, and school violence. It uses a combination of AI and human moderation to detect risks across the digital space, including what a student types, Google and Office 365 activity, offline documents, web chat, social media, and more.

Linewize Linewize Pulse Linewize Pulse provides schools with insights on student wellbeing via 60-second weekly check-ins that anonymously gathers school trend-level data. Additionally, the platform encourages students to express gratitude by thanking people who have made a difference in their lives. 

Lumens Integration Inc. VC-TR40 Suitable for a  classroom, auditorium, theater, studio, or meeting room, this tracking camera can recognize a human face and will track the presenter’s movements in any direction. Said the judges: “This camera has many features needed in our classrooms and learning spaces.”

MAXCases Extreme Shell-F Slide Case for Chromebooks and Laptops The all-new slide-on top design easily slides onto the device, which disperses pressure evenly around the entire perimeter, providing a snug fit that eliminates pressure hotspots around the screen. Additional protective features include layered bumpers plus an outer covering of rugged scratch-, dirt-, oil-, and tear-resistant TPE. 

MAXCases Shield Extreme-X2-H with Hand Strap for iPad 10 Features such as a 360-degree rotating hand strap, sturdy FlexStand, dual-layer bumpers, and a commercial-grade screen protector offer the highest protection for iPad 10. Meets MIL-STD 810G-516.6 standards for drop protection up to six feet with dual-layer bumpers and a commercial-grade screen protector. 

McGraw Hill McGraw Hill AR McGraw Hill AR is an augmented reality app that provides engaging, bite-sized experiences that help students learn a concept in minutes. “This app can supplement any core curriculum by stimulating engagement on challenging topics through interaction, exploration, and multi-sensory experiences,” said the judges.

MIND Education ST Math ST Math is a preK-8 instructional program that provides scaffolded, visual problem-solving objectives delivered through challenging self-paced, interactive puzzles. The judges said, “The fun games and visuals are perfectly suited to the target age group.”

Nearpod Nearpod Nearpod’s interactive instructional platform merges formative assessment and dynamic media for live and self-paced teaching and learning through 22,000+ interactive lessons, interactive videos, gamification, and activities. "Nearpod is a great tool to increase engagement, discourse, and achievement in your  class,” our judges said. 

Nearpod Flocabulary Flocabulary’s 1,300+ standards-aligned video-based lessons support vocabulary acquisition and comprehension skills across K-12 subjects. “These super-entertaining hip-hop videos will keep students' attention, and they'll have a blast forming and performing their own lyrics,” said the judges.

Nearpod Nearpod Math Program Nearpod Math is a supplemental K-8 math program that provides 5,000+ new standards-aligned lessons, videos, practice activities and virtual manipulatives. The judges said, “Nearpod is a great tool to increase engagement, discourse, and achievement in your math class.”

NetSupport NetSupport DNA  This IT asset management and online safety solution helps technicians track, monitor, and manage technology, while its online safety toolkit helps maintain a safe learning environment. Our judges said, “Netsupport partners with all the major players in student privacy and automated rostering and the back-end features would be valued by many IT teams.”

NoRedInk Co. NoRedInk NoRedInk is a provider of online writing curriculum that incorporates a student’s favorite celebrities, characters, athletes, and other interests into a wide range of writing and grammar activities. The Tech & Learning judges said, “The site goes to great lengths to make learning grammar interesting and meaningful, but teacher engagement and feedback are key.”

NUITEQ NUITEQ Snowflake AI Assistant NUITEQ Working seamlessly with Snowflake.live, the AI Assistant saves educators time and energy by using AI to generate customizable, classroom-ready lessons and activities in just a few minutes. “This product embraces AI technology to create a product specifically designed to save teachers valuable time in creating lessons,” said the judges.

Otus Otus Otus offers a streamlined integration of assessment, performance tracking, and third-party data, while its gradebook and dashboard reports make it easy for stakeholders to understand student growth. “Teachers will appreciate the many different lesson-building and analytic options available,” said the judges. “Students will like some of the interactive features, such as polls and portfolios.”

OverDrive Education Sora, the student reading app The Sora student reading app is a customizable platform that provides access to assigned curriculum texts and popular titles for students, including ebooks, audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, and magazines. The judges praised Overdrive for offering a robust library that can be scaled to meet the needs of any sized district. 

Ozobot MetaBot The Evo App features MetaBot, an augmented reality coding experience that allows students to create custom backgrounds and environments as well as work with digital bots that can navigate 3D obstacles. Said the judges: “It’s a fun immersive environment that students will enjoy. And it's free!”

Pocketalk Pocketalk Pocketalk is a two-way audio and text translation solution that can translate 84+ languages and be utilized anywhere in the world with an internet or data connection. “The app is easy to use and helps schools easily translate into many languages, crucial for districts with students who speak many languages,” said the judges.

Promethean, Inc. ActivPanel 9 Premium with ActivSync The new ActivPanel 9 with ActivSync offers easy, secure sign-in options, streamlined connection to content, and flexible lesson delivery software. “This is an amazing upgrade to the Prothean IWB product line,” said the judges. “The impending addition of Explain Everything software into the board will be a huge benefit to teachers.”

Reading Horizons Reading Horizons Discovery Reading Horizons Discovery is a turnkey solution that provides tech-enhanced lesson content, support resources, and real-time data to differentiate instruction, plus on-demand real-time coaching. “Reading Horizons has a long history of success–proven through research–helping schools support student reading proficiency,” said T&L’s judges.

Renaissance Accelerated Reader Accelerated Reader is an independent reading practice program that supports more than 220,000 fiction and nonfiction book quizzes at a wide range of levels, and includes in-depth reporting. The judges praised its terrific reports and interface, adding, “Well-designed quizzes and activities demand meaningful reflection and challenge kids to develop their reading skills.”

Renaissance eduCLIMBER eduCLIMBER provides interactive district-level to whole child data management and strengthens multi-tiered system of support implementations with tools for student need identification, measuring intervention effectiveness, and more. The judges appreciated its single dashboard, adding, “MTSS includes so many facets of a student, that a tool like this is long overdue.”

Renaissance Freckle Freckle is an adaptive and targeted practice program that delivers practice aligned to standards in ELA and math with engaging content, interactive features, real-world scenarios, and embedded supports and scaffolds to help students. The judges appreciated how it engages, adding, “Collecting coins to spend at the store will likely be an incentive for younger students.”

Renaissance Lalilo Lalilo is a personalized, standards-aligned early literacy practice tool that supplements any core ELA curriculum, aligns with the Science of Reading, and adjusts each student’s experience using AI, scaffolded exercises, speech recognition, and self-reflection. “Students travel through different worlds, playing games, collecting stars, and unlocking stories,” said the judges. “The visual design is simple and modern.” 

Renaissance Star Assessments Renaissance Star Assessments offer a flexible comprehensive assessment system – computer-adaptive tests and curriculum-based measures for reading, math, and early literacy, all available in both English and Spanish. Said the judges: “Its best features are that it is quick and easy to use for teachers and students, and reports can be generated in seconds.” 

Renaissance Star Phonics Star Phonics is a web-based screening and diagnostic phonics assessment tool that targets the twelve most critical phonics categories and diagnoses 102 specific phonics skills. The judges personally recommend it, adding, “It provides valuable information about phonics skills essential for instruction, especially for those students struggling to read words, including those with dyslexia.”

Robotical Marty the Robot Marty the Robot is a small humanoid robot that stands on two legs with arms that move independently and a face that conveys human-like emotion, ideal for coding and STEM learning. “A very user-friendly robot that gives kids many options for creativity yet is connected to learning standards,” said the judges.  

Samsung Electronics America Samsung Interactive Display The Samsung Interactive Display is an interactive whiteboard, available in 65-, 75- and 86-inch clear UHD models and comes with simultaneous connectivity for up to 50 devices regardless of operating system or manufacturer. The Tech & Learning judges particularly appreciated its flexibility and intuitive controls.

ScreenPal ScreenPal ScreenPal is an all-in-one interactive video creation, management, and sharing solution for teaching and learning with easy-to-use tools to record, annotate, edit, manage, and share videos and images for learning, all in one secure, student-safe environment. “ScreenPal is an essential video creation and sharing solution for everyone,” said the judges.

SMART SMART Board GX Series The SMART Board GX-V2 series is an interactive display with intuitive functionality and educator-friendly features, including persistent ink tools for both Windows and Mac, presentation tools, and more. “SMART continues to build relevant and necessary software tools to enhance the already important hardware,” said the judges.

SMART Lumio Lumio allows teachers to upload and edit existing content – including Google Slides, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations and add game-based activities, formative assessments, and collaborative or independent workspaces. Said the judges: “A fun and creative way to bring learning to life for students and gives teachers flexibility on lessons and activities.”

Teq iBlocks An iBlock is a ten-part sequence of student-led, teacher-guided lessons and activities that center on technology and culminate in a capstone project. “iBlocks is where project-based learning meets the PD needs and learning we want for differentiation,” said the judges. “The program empowers schools, districts, and states to buy and use their solution to drive student outcomes.”

Turnitin AI writing detection feature The AI writing detection feature gives educators a report showing an overall percentage of the document that AI writing tools may have generated. If the submission shows less than 20 percent AI writing detected, the report displays an asterisk to inform educators that they may need to exercise academic judgment.

Turnitin Gradescope by Turnitin Gradescope is a paper-to-digital grading platform that works for a variety of different paper assessments, including presentations, multiple choice, code projects, written exams, handwritten diagrams, and online/remote work. Educators can grade work on their own or collaboratively online before sending it back to the student digitally with a final grade and feedback. 

ViewSonic Corp. ViewSonic LDS135-151 All-in-One Direct View LED Display Solution Kit The ViewSonic LDS135-151 is a mobile, 135-inch all-in-one Direct View LED display solution kit that offers a large screen display solution in a pre-assembled design, which allows setup in minutes. The judges praised it as easy to use, adding it will enhance lessons and learning.

ViewSonic Corp. UNIVERSE by ViewSonic UNIVERSE by ViewSonic is an immersive and interactive 3D education world that connects students and teachers in a virtual meta-learning space by providing resources that might not be available in physical settings. “Collaboration is critical in education and now adding a 3-D piece takes it to another level,” said the judges. 

Vivacity Tech PBC Guardian Backpack The Guardian Backpack can fit up to a 15" device and has multiple high-density layers and scratch-free microfiber lining. The exterior of the backpack is made with water-resistant polyester to help protect the contents from spills, rain, or other liquids. The judges appreciated its quality and effectiveness in protecting devices 15" or smaller.

Vivacity Tech PBC Guardian 11" Work-In Case  The Guardian 11" Work-In case has metal fasteners, zipper pulls, D-rings, and swivel snap hooks, as well as scratch-free interior cool-decking to allow students to work with the case on their device without worrying about their device overheating or hassling with removing the device from the case. The judges cited its quality and strong protection.

Vivacity Tech PBC Student Repair Academy (SRA) Vivacity Tech’s developed curriculum, Student Repair Academy, is an online, self-paced learning program that provides students with the knowledge and technical skills they need to operate a student-led repair center. “This is a great concept,” said the judges. “Great for CTE and to help students gain skills they can use in and out of school.” 

Vivacity Tech PBC 36-Unit Smart Charging Cart Vivacity Tech's 36-Unti Smart Charging Cart features 36 individual slots that can fit any device up to 14" and a cycle timer for intelligent charging technology, which charges devices row-by-row. The judges called it “a well-made charging cart,” citing the added bonus of its charging process helping to reduce schools' energy output. 

Vivi Vivi Vivi is an all-in-one communication suite designed exclusively for education as a single solution for wireless screen sharing, digital signage, and emergency alerts. It is device and operating system- agnostic, creating an easy-to-use interface for everyone. The judges highly recommended it, adding, “A true rare blend between digital signage and classroom-based screen sharing.” 

To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here.

Back to school time is here and it’s essential for educators to start building a comfortable and secure atmosphere in their classrooms from day one. 

One way to ease into the new year is with icebreakers - shared exercises and activities that help students shed their first-day anxieties and get to know their new classmates. Teachers can also learn about their new classes through icebreaker activities, which carry none of the usual stress of assignments and exams.  

Unlike many other classroom activities, icebreakers aren’t graded and have no “right” answers. Participation is the only required element! The following icebreakers are designed to engage kids’ interest and make them feel at home with their new classmates. Expect laughter (but not mayhem).

Best Digital Icebreakers

Icebreaker Bot
Put aside your (justifiable) fear of chatbot overlords and try this fun and super useful Icebreaker Bot (IB). Simply  enter a topic or idea, and Icebreaker Bot will quickly return several imaginative icebreaker activities. For example, for the prompt “back to school,” IB returned three fanciful yet highly doable thought experiments that give kids a chance to stretch their creative wings without worrying about grades. Ingenious. 

10 First Day Of School Activities Shared By Teachers
Ten simple and easy to implement ideas for getting kids started off right in your classroom. These low-key, low-stakes activities are designed to make it easy for kids to get to know their peers, and for teachers to get to know the new class. Activities range from building plastic cup towers to blindfolded jigsaw assembly to student superheroes. Top notch.

Elementary Student  Back-to-School Icebreakers
Interesting collection of outside-the-box yet accessible icebreakers for elementary school includes a book read-aloud, time capsule, fun with emojis, and (my favorite), a math activity that challenges kids to create equations to describe their age, name and other characteristics. Activities are suitable for both in-person and remote learning. 

Magnetic Poetry Kids
Simple, free, and easy-to-use digital “magnetic” poetry game lets users quickly create original poems and download them as .png images. Kid-safe word pool. No refrigerator needed! 

Me – The User Manual
What makes you tick in the workplace? What makes you ticked off? How do you like to communicate? What do you value? The answers to these and other key questions will help your new colleagues get to know you as a person while collaborating more effectively. Edit the questions appropriately, and It’s also a great pictorial and/or writing assignment for K-12 students. 

Storyboard That Icebreaker Questions
Six engaging digital icebreakers that will prompt kids’ thinking and imagination. Includes KWL (know/want to know/learned) charts, conversation cubes, riddles, and more. 

7 Digital Icebreakers using Google
Ideal for both remote and in-person teaching, these digital icebreakers make use of free Google tools—Docs, Sheets, and Slides—to help kids get to know one another and find common ground with their classmates. 

Read Write Think
“My Summer Vacation” is a popular writing assignment in the new school year. Consider this interactive timeline as a fun twist on the old standby. Kids simply click to add events such as sports, summer camp, family vacations, or summer jobs, then add a written description and images. The final product can be downloaded,  printed, or exported as a PDF file. Free, no account needed.  

Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities
Searchable by group size and category, this free site offers more than 100 icebreakers, team-building exercises, group games, family-friendly activities, worksheets, and more. Among the dozens of great classroom icebreakers are “Personal Trivia Baseball,” “Time Hop,” and “Memorable Catchy Names.”

Voki
A fun site at which students can create animated and speaking avatars to introduce themselves to their classmates. Free basic account for one teacher, five students. 

21 Free Fun IceBreakers
Explore these classic and modern free digital icebreakers and select the perfect ones for your in-person or online class. 

Magnetic Poetry
Having a limited set of words is a great entrée into self expression. Choose from Kids, Nature, Geek, Happiness, or the Original digital magnetic word collections and have your students get creative. Be prepared for the unexpected! No account required. 

BoomWriter
Teachers place students into groups and have each one write a page of a story, then share with the class using BoomWriter’s innovative writing and voting process. Free trials available.

Share my Lesson icebreaker activities
Dozens of high quality icebreaker lessons and activities created by your fellow teachers. Searchable by grade, subject, standards, and attributes, these activities include games, quizzes, speaking topics, and more.

To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here.

►20 Sites/Apps Every Teacher Should Try for Back to School 

►Best Free AI Detection Sites

►How to Use Comics in Your Classroom, With MakeBeliefsComix Founder Bill Zimmerman

It’s back-to-school time again!

Whether you’re excited about the new school year or need some inspiration, a new teacher or a seasoned pro, or teaching in a classroom or online—you and your students will benefit from education sites and apps that deliver the all-important student engagement while supporting learning goals in reading, writing, math and more.

The following sites and apps are some of the best all-around edtech teaching tools. Most are fully free, while others offer free basic accounts or generous free trials. All are worth checking out!

20 Sites/Apps Every Teacher Should Try for Back to School

FREEMIUM

Duolingo
Duolingo is an AI-powered language learning platform that uses adaptive practice and gamification to teach new languages effectively. It’s easy for students and teachers to sign up for free accounts by answering a few questions designed to assess their goals and abilities. The platform is fun and engaging, with an adorable birdlike mascot and frequent positive reinforcement. Using text, images, and voices, Duolingo teaches meaning as well as pronunciation. The free version includes nearly all features, but also has ads, while Duolingo Plus ($6.99/month) is ad-free and offers unlimited hearts, a progress tracker, streak repair, practice mistakes, mastery quizzes, and unlimited test outs. A great supplement to standard language curricula.

Grammarly
A top spelling and grammar checker that offers a highly useful free account option in addition to paid plans. Grammarly is available as a download, online tool, or browser extension. Recent updates include the ability to create and vet citations as well as a generative AI writing assistant. A useful tool for both teachers and students.

Otter.AI
Otter.ai is a simple-to-use yet powerful transcription/speech-to-text app that creates a cloud-based transcript synced to its recording. The transcript is searchable, editable, and ultimately, a great time-saver for educators. Top uses for teachers and students include interviews, generating ideas for writing, improved accessibility, and summarizing meetings.

GooseChase Edu
The GooseChase online platform helps users design and a variety of scavenger hunts: indoor, outdoor, virtual, and group. The free basic teacher’s account allows one live game at a time in team mode. iOS Android

Desmos Classroom Featured Collections
Help your students reveal their inner mathematician with hundreds of free classroom math lessons and activities covering arithmetic, algebra, geometry, functions, calculus, and more. Each lesson includes a step-by-step teacher’s guide and interactive digital slides.

Book Creator
Book Creator allows students and teachers to blend text, visuals, audio, and video to create digital books and portfolios, interactive stories, academic reports, graphic novels, and more. It’s an excellent way to boost literacy, independent learning, and collaboration. The free account permits one library and up to 40 books.

EDpuzzle
With this tool teachers can turn videos into lessons by adding questions, audio, or notes. Integrates with Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Moodle, PowerSchool, Blackboard, and blackbaud. What’s more, Edpuzzle tracks student progress, helping teachers to differentiate instruction. Free basic plans offer access to more than 5 million editable videos, storage space for 20 videos, and student analytics.

BoomWriter
BoomWriter is a Google for Education Partner that allows students to collaborate in writing books. In addition to motivating students with an interactive platform and highly engaging online environment, BoomWriter is a top-notch vehicle to deliver individualized feedback and writing instruction. Excellent brief video tutorials demonstrate how to get started in your classroom. Free to sign up and use; to purchase the final hard-copy books costs $12.99 plus S&H per book.

ClassHook
Who doesn’t love movies? ClassHook leverages the power of “moving pictures” to help educators capture student attention across a wide range of subjects, including science, math, history, SEL, health, and others. Free basic accounts offer 20 clips and three live discussion rooms per month.

Oodlu
With a learning approach based on education and neuroscience academic research, Oodlu’s innovative platform lets educators create learning and assessment games for their students. Free standard account allows formative assessments, the ability to create, search and select questions, and more. Oodlu for students: Android iOS

PREMIUM

Khanmigo
From the remarkable free learning platform Khan Academy, Khanmigo offers AI-powered guidance and tutoring for students. Top features for teachers include lesson planning and differentiation, assessment creation, automatic essay feedback tool, videos to help teachers implement Khanmigo across the curriculum and assistance with IEP creation.

FREE

Photomath
A top-rated free app (with some premium features) for smartphone and tablet, Photomath helps users understand and solve math problems through annotated equations, method variation, and concise explanations of math terms. Users simply scan their math problems into the app to start learning. iOS Android

Microsoft AI Reading Coach
The new AI-powered Reading Coach helps students practice reading aloud through generated stories, targeted word coaching and assessments. It’s free to anyone with a Microsoft or Xbox account: simply login and start practicing with an existing reading passage, AI-generated story or custom uploaded content. Reading Coach will ask permission to access the user’s microphone in order to provide feedback on the speaker’s pronunciation. Digital badges provide encouragement. and help learners mark their progress.

Better Explained
“Learning isn’t about memorizing facts to pass a test.” If you agree with this statement, you will find a lot to like in this free math/computer science concept website, built by former Microsoft programmer Kalid Azad. Articles such as “Developing Your Intuition For Math” and “How To Learn Trigonometry Intuitively” offer a learning path that goes beyond exam prep, and ultimately may lead toward a deeper understanding. Colorized math topics and cheat sheets (don’t worry, there’s no cheating) use colors and plain English to help readers understand tricky ideas. Excellent resource for teachers and students in grades 9-12 and beyond.

Ducksters
This user-friendly platform offers a diverse selection of interactive educational games, ideal for students or anyone seeking both entertainment and knowledge enrichment. Explore an array of captivating digital games encompassing subjects including mathematics, language, world geography, brain-teasers, and timeless classics such as chess, checkers, backgammon, and mahjong. Then dive deeper into the educational experience, where you'll find an extensive compilation of engaging lessons supplemented with visuals, covering topics such as history, biographies, geography, and science. Assess your understanding through interactive quizzes and explore related game links. No registration necessary to play or learn.

The New York Times: Exploring the Creative Process With ‘Live Art’
An in-depth examination of the creative process through videos featuring various artists creating art and narrating their work flow. The article includes specific ideas and prompts that teachers can use to customize the lesson for their classes. All links and videos within, as well as the article itself, are freely accessible without an account.

Google Fact Check Tools
The internet alone was bad enough for truth. Now with free AI tools proliferating, how can you believe anything? With Fact Check Explorer, students and teachers can search for fact checks from various sources with a single word or phrase. Try a quote from a politician or a Twitter or Facebook meme. A great resource for students doing research or studying journalism.

NewseumEd
An organization dedicated to supporting civic education, NewseumEd provides thousands of free lesson plans, digital artifacts, virtual classes, professional development, and more. Search by topic, tool type, grade, time of keyword. For full access to all resources, create a free account.

Google Arts and Culture
An incredibly rich source of web- or app-based (Android iOS) interactive learning. Head over to Google Arts and Culture and simply start scrolling through topics such as “The Gardener” by Vincent Van Gogh, 10 of the World's Zaniest Buildings, Cultural Crosswords, Virtual Museum Collections, and so much more. Ideal for art, social studies, history, design, PBL, even STEM—but every classroom or online learning environment will benefit. Free.

Flip
This outstanding video discussion tool is designed for the digital classroom but works in any learning environment. Teachers post videos as prompts for class discussions and students respond using text, emojis, and stickers. Integrates with Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Remind. Free.

Common Curriculum
The Common Curriculum platform allows educators to design standards-aligned lessons, units, and assignments in one easy-to-use website. Collaborate with your colleagues too! Free basic plan offers lesson planning, posting to Google Classroom, downloading, and uploading.

• Best Free AI Detection Sites
• Free Sites for Back to School
• Best Sites & Apps for K-12 Education Games

As schools get ready for the 2021-22 school year, Tech & Learning's new Awards of Excellence program, “The Best Tools for Back to School” is designed to help our readers find the most impressive products and solutions that will support their work in any learning environment. Eligible products included hardware, software, curriculum, and more, all divided by grade levels to make it easier for readers to find the solutions they need. 

“As we head into another uncertain year in education, technology will continue to be one of the key drivers for innovation,” says Tech & Learning Group Publisher Christine Weiser. “Our judges chose the winning products recognized here for their versatility, compatibility, value, and ability to help schools solve challenges and support continuous instruction. Congratulations to all of our winners.”  

“My message is, ‘Help is here. Help is here.’”

That’s what President Biden told attendees during the virtual National Safe School Reopening Summit, an event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education designed to provide support and critical resources to educators, students, and other stakeholders as they work to reopen schools to in-person learning.

During his remarks, Biden stressed the importance of in-person education and focusing our help on those students who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. “These aren’t someone else’s children, these are all our children,” Biden said. “They are the kite strings that lift our nation's ambitions aloft, and they need that opportunity.”

Biden also told educators that he’s depending on them. “As my favorite teacher, the First Lady, likes to say, ‘Any nation that out-educates us will out-compete us,’” he said. “Everything our nation is going to be tomorrow is dependent on how we educate our young people today.” He also reminded states and educators that $130 billion from the American Rescue Act is now available to support schools.

First Lady (and classroom teacher) Dr. Jill Biden also addressed attendees during the three-hour event, which also included other guest speakers and multiple panel discussions around key topics related to safely reopening schools to in-person learning. “There are some who have questioned whether or not educators want to go back to school. Of course we do!” Dr. Biden said. “Classrooms are where our work comes alive, they’re where we can truly connect with our students, and where we build community.”

“We still have lots to do,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “We learn best from one another. We know that, and that’s why we’re here today.”

Watch the full summit

Key Takeaways

The Summer Learning and Enrichment Collaborative

As part of the Education Department’s efforts to mitigate learning loss, Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced a new program, the Summer Learning and Enrichment Collaborative. Cardona, who also announced that he’ll be going on a nationwide listening tour, promised that the summer collaborative won’t be a traditional “drill and skill” program, but part of the ongoing effort to improve education and an opportunity “to hit the reset button on the things that aren’t working.” More details will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

5 Key Mitigation Strategies

“The CDC believes that schools should be the last place to close and the first place to open,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reminding attendees that “Science must lead the way,” Walensky discussed how the CDC has reviewed all the data in creating return to school strategies that have been built on evidence. 

Walensky also said that the key to a successful and safe reopening relies on five key mitigation strategies that should be layered or implemented together to increase effectiveness.

• Proper masking 
• Appropriate social distancing, for which the CDC just revised guidelines, going from 6 feet to 3 feet 
• Proper hand washing (at least 20 seconds, and repeated throughout the day) 
• Regular cleaning of high-touch areas, such as door handles and light switches 
• Screening, testing, and then quickly isolating those who test positive for COVID-19

All schools should have a plan for diagnostic testing, said Dr. Greta Massetti, Co-Lead of the Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force for CDC COVID response. If someone shows symptoms, there needs to be a place to isolate them. Funds are now available for school screening and educator vaccination.

“There’s no way to completely eliminate risk,” said Massetti. “What the objective should be is to keep that infection spread low. To prevent that one case from becoming five or 20 cases.”

Although not one of the key mitigation strategies, Massetti also stressed the need for proper ventilation and air exchange. Districts can use a combination of strategies, such as bringing in outdoor air (cracking windows open), ensuring HVAC are set to maximize ventilation, and increasing filtration (changing filters more frequently, using exhaust fans and hepa filters in classrooms). 

Most of the prevention strategies are either low-cost or no cost. For example, social distancing by creating one-way hallways or rethinking learning spaces can be effective.

These layered mitigation strategies will work against COVID variants, said Massetti. 

Lessons from the Field

In a panel session moderated by Cardona and Walensky, educators, staff, and students from Cleveland Metropolitan School District and New York City Public Schools shared their best practices for reopening.

“As hard as closing was, opening is harder,” said Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon. The district, in which 75 percent of staff has been vaccinated for COVID-19, used the CDC guidelines to create a three-point reopening plan that focused on physical safety, virtual social-emotional support and messaging, and collaboration with stakeholders every step of the way. The district also partnered with the local healthcare community to create a reopening playbook and organized teaching teams, and has phased in synchronous in-person instruction four days per week.

“We didn’t get into the pandemic overnight, and we’re not going to get out of it overnight,” said Sheri Obrenski, president of the district’s teacher’s union, who stressed the importance of collaboration and communication among everyone in the district during the process.

“This is new to all of us,” said Aaron Creel, Facilities Director, who also cited the need for flexibility and working together. His team met with each school’s staff to optimize student flow and provide the appropriate signage to maintain distancing. They also prioritized ventilation, replacing 15,000 air filters in newer buildings and adding more than 900 air purifiers to older ones, and created PPE stockpiles across the district.

In New York City, which has been hit hard by the pandemic -- including more than 70 public school staff who have been killed by COVID-19 -- it was key to focus on allaying anxiety and fear for everyone and dealing with it, said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. “So it was transparency and safety at all times, and being clear,” said Mulgrew, who noted that there were multiple virtual town hall meetings with faculty and staff. “Everyone who walks into a school building wants to help children, so we had to take that and use it as our guiding force as we went through.”

The main focus of that effort was on ventilation, said Meisha Porter, NYC DOE chancellor, who, with other leaders, personally inspected every building, checking each individual classroom to make sure it had functioning ventilation. “It was important for people to know that the leadership walked through the buildings to make sure it was safe,” Porter said, adding that more than $31 million was spent to upgrade filters and add air purifiers.

To also help ease fears and model good masking practices, leaders stayed transparent and connected with their communities. For example, at PS 1 in Manhattan, principal Amy Hom help workshops with students and shared pictures of staff wearing masks so students would know what to expect when they returned to class. Staff showed students how to properly wear masks. “We also bribed students, I’m not afraid to say,” laughed Hom. “We have stickers, we have candy, we have decorations -- whatever is needed to keep those masks on.”

Social-Emotional Needs

The final part of the event focused on strategies to support the social, emotional, and academic development needs of students, especially those who have been historically underserved, as they returned to in-person learning. Educators and students from Cajon Valley USD in California and Tulsa Public Schools shared how they’ve been addressing those needs across their entire school community.

At Cajon Valley USD, which is returning to full in-person classes in the next week, the approach started with getting staff and parents on board first. “In order to have happy, engaged students in schools, we need to have a culture of engaged adults on our campuses,” said assistant superintendent Karen Minshew. Since last March, the district has staged more than 100 active listening sessions with all stakeholders to hear concerns and what needs were of the highest priority. “Engaging our customers was the key, and that has provided the steps and guidance to reopen,” she said.

“The reality is that social-emotional learning cannot be embedded, it has to be at the forefront of everything you do,” said Nerel Winter, principal of Bostonia Language Academy. He discussed how they have used multiple communication platforms, such as Facebook Live and TikTok, to provide opportunities for parents to have a voice in the school and community to better know their students’ values, interests, and strengths. “We want them to know we care about them and want to build strong relationships with them,” he said.

In Tulsa, wellness teams were launched to support the whole student and adults. They worked to connect directly with students, families, and staff, through phone calls and other means, to see how everyone was doing.

“You can’t have cognitive work happening without a real focus on the social, emotional needs of students, said Paula Shannon, assistant superintendent. To address that, the district embraced the CASEL framework to introduce three key SEL practices. 

• Warm welcomes, from administrators in meetings to teachers beginning classes
• Optimistic closures, when ending meetings/lessons, including time to be reflective  
• Look fors, in which leaders observe and provide feedback 

“We have lots to learn,” said Shannon. “And I would say to all of you driving toward bold change: Have the courage to be bold. You’re going to feel a lot of tension, lots of technical questions are going to come up that are mired in old bureaucracy. Forge ahead, and give your school leaders, teachers, and community partners the cover they need to do awesome things for our young people.” 

With so many unknowns, time is more critical than ever for administrative teams to make decisions that are informed by as many facts as possible. There are numerous questions, such as “where, who, and what,” that need to be answered in order to plan for the 2020-2021 school year. Effective data analytics tools can also help schools answer a number of these critical questions by enabling them to assess the effectiveness of instructional planning, whether related to online, face-to-face, or blended models.

Using Geovisual Analytics to Identify Student Needs

The need to understand questions that begin with “where” has become essential to effectively servicing all students. Inequities have been exacerbated by the switch to eLearning during the pandemic, which required students to log in from home. As scenario planning begins for fall, the ability to visualize students geographically to determine hybrid models, split schedules, and/or students who will remain remote for the beginning of the school year is vital to capturing the needs of each and every student in the planning process. Understanding where students are located geographically and what their needs are will remain an important considerations for leaders going forward.

Administrators are utilizing geovisual analytics to address questions regarding:

- Digital Divide challenges:

• Where are the students located who are struggling with no access or haven’t logged in all spring?
• Where do we need to provide hotspots or other options to enable connectivity? 
• What support can local providers supply and where is that support needed most?

- Scenario Planning for Fall Return

• How will we ensure equitable balance in all buildings as we reduce class sizes to accommodate split or alternating day schedules? 
• How will each building be zoned for the various models? 

Mark Finstrom, CTO from Highline Public Schools in Washington, used GuideK12 to track where devices were placed, what the device was, and if the device had connectivity. Looking at additional characteristics, such as socio-economic status and single vs. multi-family dwellings, enabled him to determine where to deploy hot spots and how many were required to provide proper access.

Using Data to Plan for a Variety of Return-to-School Scenarios

This past spring, many districts were in emergency mode, so accommodations and exceptions were made regarding grading standards. Students on IEPs or with special needs may have not been able to receive all of their traditional support or services when schools were suddenly moved into distance-learning mode.

As schools develop more robust instructional plans for next year, there are many more questions that will need to be answered using analytics, including:

• Are students grade-level ready or did the extended break create a gap for some? 
• Which students are completing the assignments?  
• Are there certain subjects that the students are struggling with more online? 
• Where are the areas of disproportionality within the district and what is being done to address the achievement gap? 
• Are students on-track in terms of readiness for their college and career plans?

As a result of the significant number of questions that remain surrounding what a return to school will look like in the fall, districts are creating multiple “what if” scenarios to ensure that they are prepared. Kristin Tollison from Wayzata Public Schools is using GuideK12 to accomplish this, as her district explores all of the possible return-to-school scenarios to ensure that even a split-schedule classroom is consistent with the building’s overall demographics and not skewed by the selection process.

Finding and Funding the Right Tools

CARES Act funds and local state funds could provide a mechanism for districts to purchase tools to answer the important questions tied to access and eLearning. One such tool is 5Lab™ from Forecast5, an analytics tool that provides school districts and building leaders with critical dashboards to monitor student performance, whether in a traditional, remote, or blended learning environment.

Many tools provide districts with log-in information on students entering an eLearning platform. However, it’s critically important that leaders are able to assess and understand what is actually happening while students are logged in. What is the actual level of student activity? How engaged are they? What is their degree of comprehension? The answers to these questions, when tied to student characteristics, are key to ensuring students aren’t falling behind. They can also help identify if an instructor is struggling with the online setting, which might affect student progress.

“After school ended, we had our school improvement meeting and shared 5Lab examples. Our high school administrative team immediately saw the benefits of how helpful this will be during eLearning instances, not only if we do have an extended ‘stay away’ period, but even if we’re in the school building. It gives them examples to look at to see how active kids are with their learning,” commented Lynn Schemel, Director of Data Systems and Assessment at Westfield Washington Schools.

Preparing for the New Normal

Many factors are at play in this “new normal.” Having the ability to explore the variables, both at the grade and building level as well as at the student and teacher level, will ensure administrators can provide students with what they need to continue to learn and answer important “where” questions with tools such as GuideK12.

The ability to track and assess online learning, as well as traditional classroom learning, for determining student progression requires proper metrics. Analytic tools like 5Lab, which answer these critical questions will provide a more focused, relevant way of ensuring every child continues to learn despite the obstacles brought on by the pandemic.

Find out more at www.Forecast5analytics.com, check out their special site of COVID-19 resources here:https://www.forecast5analytics.com/covid-19-resources , or contact jfitzgerald@forecast5analytics.com for more information.

In this unprecedented period of extended remote learning, the mental health and well-being of students has been a concern. From students feeling isolated and dealing with depression to handling social-emotional challenges and experiencing long-term trauma, it's been a challenging time for everyone.

Tech & Learning recently discussed remote learning and mental health with Dr. Peter Faustino, a school psychologist for a public school district in Westchester County, New York, and Shawna Rader Kelly, a school psychologist in Bozeman Public Schools, Montana. Both are members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).

Key Takeaways

Expect a range of responses. Returning to physical buildings will look different in different districts, and crisis response protocols need to be in place to help screen students who may be at-risk for mental health difficulties. Remote learning has looked and felt different for every student, so recognizing that in terms of social-emotional behavior, and responding properly will be critical. Expect students to be anxious about returning to a social setting, their physical health, and their academic performance. Keep in mind that kids can be resilient and some kids may not have been as affected by the crisis, so being able to differentiate responses will be key.

“We don’t have the answers yet.” With such an unprecedented event, no one can for certain say what’s going to happen, but districts will have to prepare multi-tiered systems of support to identify and support those students who are resilient versus those who are at-risk versus those who are in crisis. Trauma-informed care and support needs to be shared across schools systems. While returning to class after large-scale traumatic events, such as 9/11 and natural disasters, can provide somewhat of a road map for planning, this is still uncharted territory.

Stay nimble. With so much unknown ahead, it’s critical that schools stay nimble and flexible to deal with students’ mental health needs. Best practices and basic needs are good to start, but going down a rabbit hole of what-if scenarios without more information may be counterproductive and increase anxiety. 

Mind the gaps. The expertise of school mental health professionals will possibly be needed now more than ever to help guide students and educators through this crisis recovery. As educators, this situation can provide an opportunity for self-reflection, and also a reminder of the inequity that many students deal with every day, which has been exacerbated during the pandemic. Hopefully, this new awareness will help to address the achievement gaps going forward. 

Silver linings. Maintaining some of the lessons learned from the remote teaching experience, such as assignment flexibility and willingness to work beyond the traditional school schedule, could provide a good opportunity to shift the education paradigm upon the return to schools. This is also a chance to discuss how public education fits within our communities, and the importance of mental health within that. Kids and parents are missing schools, and the normalcy that comes with that. 

• What is Remote Learning?
• Remote Learning and Digital Equity: Best Practices

The CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention) recently updated its “Considerations for Schools” guidance, suggesting stringent cleaning and social distancing practices for school districts upon any return to physical classrooms. In addition to recommending that district leaders work with state and local officials in deciding what approach is “feasible, practical, acceptable, and tailored to the needs of each community,” the CDC also offers direction to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and what to do when someone gets sick at school.

The Considerations for Schools  guidance assesses infection risk, from lowest (engaging in remote learning classes and activities) to more (small, in-person classes and activities following social distancing protocols such as staying 6 feet apart and not sharing objects) to highest (full-sized in-person interaction with no precautions).

Behaviors that reduce spread are a point of emphasis for educators, including the promotion of staying home when appropriate, teaching hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, using cloth face coverings, maintaining clear communication through multiple methods, and having adequate cleaning supplies on hand.

The CDC offers advice on how to maintain healthy environments, which focuses on cleaning and disinfection, not sharing objects and devices, checking for proper ventilation, and redesigning communal spaces to accommodate social distancing rules. Spreading desks six feet apart is also highly recommended, and can be used to determine how many students can safely occupy one classroom.

Guidance for day-to-day school operations is also provided. How to properly regulate gatherings and visitors, protect students and staff at high risk for infections, potentially implementing staggered scheduling, and training staff to recognize signs and symptoms, are among the information listed.

Finally, strategies for when someone gets sick are included, from proper notification and disinfection practices to isolation and public communication policies.

Click here for the full "Considerations for School" guidance.

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on education worldwide, which has brought to light the profound need for remote learning. 

But how can you prepare for next school year when there are so many unknowns? In this Tech & Learning Remote Learning webinar, Dr. Kecia Ray talked with school district leaders about how they are designing an infrastructure that supports blended learning, including providing the training and content to ensure continuity of education for their school communities next year. The conversation ranged from handling uncertainty and addressing digital equity to creating opportunities and shifting pedagogy.

Watch the on-demand version here

Key Takeaways

Staying focused. Sam Edwards, Technology Integration Specialist for Parkland School District, talked about how they have been trying to provide all the tech support so teachers can focus on pedagogy. Having one platform for the entire district allows that to happen. Professional development has been strongly encouraged, with time set aside each day for virtual training sessions. And with no assessments to worry about, teachers have been encouraged to try new approaches to instruction.

Staying connected. “We may be socially distant, but we don’t need to be socially disconnected,” said Kellie C. Ady, Senior Director of Instructional Strategy, PowerSchool. Being able to connect with other educators in the school community is important to supporting one another. At first, educators were reactive but now is the time to be proactive, most likely in a blended environment. 

Handling uncertainty. “Education is not in crisis. People are still learning, just not the traditional way,” said Robert Schuetz, Technology Coordinator, Palatine High School, Township High School District 211. The human side of education is being brought to the forefront, and is critical right now with so much uncertainty. The district is trying to be flexible, nimble and prepared for what’s going to happen. The uncertainty has forced everyone to ask critical questions and put on our learner hats. “We have problems to solve,” Scheutz said. “And no one has all the answers right now.” The pandemic has allowed educators to put aside less important things, such as assessment, to focus on the actual learning.

Addressing digital equity. Scheutz also discussed how the pandemic has brought attention to the serious access and device issues that exist for many schools and students. “Internet access often varies greatly from home to home,” said Schuetz. “Now is the time for leadership to get together to make sure everyone has access.” Finding ways to provide WiFi for an entire district may be part of the solution.

“Digital equity is one of the critical issues of our time,” said Tracy Smith, Assistant to the Superintendent for Operations, Parkland School District. The district has been focusing on purchasing and distributing devices to ensure all students have access to the many online learning resources available. “Our goal No. 1 was to make sure everyone was connected,” Smith said.

Re-imagining learning. “In education, time has been a constant and learning is the variable,” said Smith. “But with remote learning, it’s an opportunity to make time the variable and learning the constant.” Some learners are race car drivers and others are on ponies, but they all get there, she said. Remote learning allows students to become independent learners and supports cognitive learning. 

Special ed needs. How to better support students with special needs, specifically after the return to buildings, is a developing story, said Ady. Being able to stay connected via video and audio has been critical and essential for special populations, said Schuetz. 

Staying connected. Having the combination of asynchronous and synchronous communication tools, plus a live help desk, to assist with technical needs has been great for Palatine High School, said Schuetz. At Parkland Schools, the administration building has been transformed into a tech repair center, according to Edwards. Leveraging discussion board answers to build FAQs that are accessible for parents is a good strategy, said Ady, as many of the same questions pop up over and over. 

Evolving pedagogy. “We need to go from engagement to investment,” said Edwards, adding that students have to take a role in becoming involved in how their learning is delivered. “We need to bring in students to ask them what’s not working in terms of pedagogy,” agreed Schuetz. “They need to be part of the conversation.”

Lunch 'n Learn with Tech & Learning

This report is part of Tech & Learning's District Leadership Lunch ‘n Learn Roundtable series, hosted by Dr. Kecia Ray. In this series, districts from across the U.S. share their strategic plans, the challenges they are facing, and the creative solutions they are using to support students and teachers. Access previous webinars and register for our upcoming events here. 

Lunch 'n Learn Roundtable Recaps

• Research-Informed Practices for Blended Learning
• Flipping Virtual Classrooms for More Impact
• T&L Webinars

From our friends at Tom's Guide: With kids headed back to school, it’s time to take a closer look at the apps that should be going to class with them. We’ve looked at a bunch of apps for a wide range of grade levels — from elementary school up to high school — and these are our favorite mobile apps for students.

Why this matters: There are thousands of apps for K12 students, covering subjects from algebra to zoology, and functioning as calculators, recorders, digital flashcards, monitors and much more. Knowing which apps help kids to learn best while still remaining budget-friendly is a must for teachers and school administrators. Find out which mobile apps are tops for K12 students by reading the full report at tomsguide.com.

The new school year is off and running! Have you had time to catch up? If not, no problem! Tech & Learning has you covered. CLICK HERE to browse our library of back-to-school tips and tools to make your job easier this year. From the latest classroom tech to organizational tips, T&L's editors and advisors share ideas that can help you make this school year a success!

If you are a new to, or planning for a STEM school, take a look as you plan. Already a STEM school… then use these questions to assess and determine your next journey along an amazing path!

Ten Questions to Ask when Creating a STEM Culture in Education

1. What does STEM mean to the education process and culture of a school for students and educators? So many schools have jumped onto the idea of STEM education involving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  The integration of these four areas is very important, but what does it mean for a building or district? We must be careful not to amplify these areas of study, while putting less emphasis on other areas of the curriculum. It is important to emphasize the idea of “Why STEM?” as your school or district takes the steps toward  STEM education.  People must understand that STEM will be a way to engage students in all content areas.

2. Are there any unintended results as we emphasize this idea of STEM? The elements of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are wonderful areas of study and really embrace the idea of future job growth and good salaries. Schools have addressed this idea by extending the STEM acronym with extra letters. We now find STEAM (include the Arts), STREAM (include reading), STREAMIE (include everyone.. I am still waiting to see STREAMIER (more STREAMIE) and STREAMIEST (most STREAMIE)! How big can we make the acronym as we try to embrace the entire curriculum? I think it might be how we define STEM to begin with, which leads to our next question.

3. How does your building, district, and community define STEM? Before bringing in a STEM program, collectively decide on a definition for STEM. I like to think of STEM as a verb and not just four nouns. It is the process of students doing, thinking and connecting throughout the entire curriculum. This is the subject of a future Blog… so be sure to subscribe! Please note that I stated “a building, district, and community definition of STEM”. Everyone should be able to provide a consensus definition. While this might seem obvious, it is not always the case!

4. What does a lesson or unit look like when STEM is infused? Is there a process that the school or district is ready to embrace and provide training on? This should involve some type of inquiry method that allows for student exploration while constraining them to mandated curriculum standards. This might include the 5E’s, a Design Method, Deeper Thinking Processes, Project Based Learning, or Problem Based Learning. It must start at the basic lesson level… before expanding to units of study. In many places, it is a classroom transformation.

5. What does a STEM Classroom look like? I mean this in both a physical and pedagogical way. This does not take a remodel of the school, although large classrooms are nice. How does this physical classroom integrate with the pedagogy? Remember that STEM builds a culture of connected and authentic learning. Before implementation, all educators should visit some STEM classrooms and schools.  If there are not any available, take a look at PBL, Montessori, or Reggio Emilia classrooms. When visiting, spend more time observing students than teachers. Also keep in mind that some technology is needed. Take some time in determining what it is. Order the technology based on lesson needs and standards. Avoid the toys that shine until that need is determined. You will notice your technology dollars being spent much more efficiently!

6. What modification(s) may be needed to the daily schedule? While in the beginning a school may have dedicated STEM time, a goal is to bring a STEM culture to every classroom… everyday!  That schedule change could be a long term goal and may vary among schools. How can classes and students be shared to allow for trans-disciplinary learning? What subjects can be paired together and allow for team teaching? There maybe a need for longer periods of learning. Perhaps teachers can find some ways to connect even in a traditional schedule. It all takes time, so remember … small steps.

7. How do we get ready for assessment in STEM? I like to say that STEM assessment goes beyond the standardized test. As we use an inquiry and collaborative approach it is important to make sure all students are learning content. How do we assess not just the nouns, but also the verbs in our standards? Do we have rubrics that incorporate the 4C’s and other soft skills? I see what I call “STEMie” lessons that are based on few standards and with no assessment. How do we go beyond this? When we are intentional with standards and assessment, the standardized test will be satisfied.

8. What qualities do STEM students have upon graduation at the different levels in education? I often say that we are not preparing students for the specific skills of a career, but rather the universal skills needed to work in any career. We need to determine these skills and qualities as as we build our STEM programs. How do we build these attributes into lessons and units and also into assessment, where the appropriate tools must be determined? As we think of careers, a STEM program must help students determine a career pathway and find passions that engage them.

9. What are a building or district’s community connections for STEM?  Keep in mind that every community is different. The community outside the school’s walls is important for authentic learning. A STEM school must look for connections  that make learning relevant for students. Databases can be created to identify professionals, institutions, business, industry, and government entities that can be partners for real world learning. These partnerships should be a two way street. The real benefactors will be your students!

10. How does a school or district sustain the STEM momentum?  All initiatives start out with a lot of energy. Many times this begins with particular groups and individuals. How do we place this ownership with the entire institution? There may need to be some ongoing in-service along with a retelling of the story. Keep in mind that the goal is to build a STEM culture!

cross-posted at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com

Michael Gorman oversees one-to-one laptop programs and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a consultant for Discovery Education, ISTE, My Big Campus, and November Learning and is on the National Faculty for The Buck Institute for Education. His awards include district Teacher of the Year, Indiana STEM Educator of the Year and Microsoft’s 365 Global Education Hero. Read more at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com.

From our friends at T3: These are the best AR toys on the market today and they are guaranteed to amuse you and your smartphone plenty, while also not take up too much of your time or raid your wallet like a pirate captain. Many of these toys are not just AR-infused either, but injected with educational value as well, meaning that their owner can get smarter while they have insane fun, too.

Why this matters: Augmented reality (AR) and its cousin virtual reality (VR) have become important teaching tools in the K12 classroom, allowing teachers to lead students digitally beyond the classroom walls for authentic learning.  With prices as low as $13.00, these educational AR toys can be a reality in any classroom.  Learn which toys  offer the most engaging educational content and associated apps by reading the full report at t3.com. 

For the 10th consecutive year, Samsung today launched the annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, which challenges 6th – 12th grade public school students and teachers to use STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to address issues in their communities. The 2019-2020 contest kicked off this morning at an event featuring U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, members of Congress, local education leaders and past Samsung Solve for Tomorrow participants where they discussed the role of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the nation today. Public school teachers can apply for this year’s program now through October 23, 2019.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, Samsung is increasing the prize pool by $1 million – awarding $3 million in technology and supplies to classrooms as they advance throughout the contest. Samsung is also increasing the total number of schools awarded and ensuring schools in every state are recognized and receive  learning technology for their classrooms. Details of this year’s contest process:

• 300 state finalist schools from the pool of applicants will be awarded a Samsung tablet for their classroom. From there, each teacher will submit an activity plan detailing the program execution.
• 100 state winner schools will advance in the contest and receive $15,000 in technology and supplies as well as a video kit to help showcase their project.
• 20 national finalist schools will be selected to travel to the final event where they will present their project to a panel of judges. For achieving national finalist status, 15 of these schools will be awarded $50,000 in technology and supplies while the remaining five will be named national grand prize winners. Public voting will also determine one Community Choice winner, who will be eligible to win an additional $10,000 in Samsung technology.
• Five national grand prize-winning schools will each receive $100,000 in classroom technology and supplies.

I have already written during the first week of school about my excitement as I embarked on a paradigm shift in how I, and my students, think about, and record work (grades, activities, reading reflections, etc.). 

Three weeks later my excitement has turned into obsession!

I am SO happy this with new process, that, for a lack of a better, less "buzzy" phrase, it feels as if I am leveraging a Google Sheet template as a "Metacognitive Portfolio". A process that, after years of tinkering, really, actually, forces "thinking about thinking" and curates work effectively.

Not something I read on a blog (like this one) or something I was told to do at a workshop or faculty PD session. 

What I mean is this: Rather than recording grades in our grade book, students keep track of their own progress on standards, while I keep track of progress on a paper sheet, and update quarterly.

BUT in addition to standards tracking, students are tracking ALL of their work in a Google Sheet using sub tabs. 

One tab is for tracking standards performance (autogenerated colors help students reflect reassessment needs). One tab is for links to their activity slides (click here for a previous post about this process). Finally,  one tab is for students to track, in a structured way, reflections on class readings. 

Thus, the three things I grade: standards, activities, and readings, are now curated easily, in one place, for students to not only reflect on performance, but also catalog work.

One place for students to gain awareness of performance, build pride around their body of work, and develop appreciation for their readings curated over the course of the year. 

Simple. No website. Easy. Effective. So far...

Plus, I don't have students coming and asking "what is my grade?". I rather have students asking, "have you graded that yet so I can update to my sheet."

It keeps us both honest in the best possible way. 

MOST IMPORTANTLY, whenever I need to access student work, I go to ONE PLACE to access it ALL! Grades, activities, readings, etc. I love it! 

Less tech. Better tech. 

Click here for the template I pushed out on the first day of class for them to track. They shared it with me, I made a folder of their sheets, and thats it.

I have ALL their work. No folder, just a sheet. I love it! (Can you tell I'm excited??)

See images of the system below, along with an embedded video of me reflecting, in an overly excited way after a day of teaching, on the process. (Note: this might not be life changing to any of you, but I have to share it. Simpler=Better IMO. I have tried so many things and this...this my friends...is something I'm truly pumped about!." 

It's like REFLECTIVE PRACTICE CHRISTMAS or something. :) 

cross posted at www.cyclesoflearning.com

Ramsey Musallam teaches science and robotics at Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa, California, with the aim of fostering inquiry-based learning environments fueled by student curiosity. He presents widely on sparking student curiosity and teaching with technology. Musallam is a Google Certified Teacher, a YouTube Star Teacher, and a Leading Edge Certified Teacher. Watch his TED talk here and read his blog at www.cyclesoflearning.com.

Screencast-O-Matic

Create and share high-quality screencasts without breaking the bank

Pros: The intuitive design makes for a fun user experience, and the paid versions are cost effective and include a full suite of editing tools.

Cons: It takes time to build a content library; a gallery of standards-based, high-quality screencasts would be helpful for time-starved teachers.

Bottom Line: A well-designed screen and video recorder that lets teachers and students focus on creating engaging content from the get-go.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

We have never collected more data about our students and society in general. The problem is most people and institutions do a poor job interpreting data and using it to make meaningful change. This problem was something I wanted to tackle in FH Grows.

FH Grows is the name of my seventh grade class in Fair Haven Innovates. FH Grows is a student-run agriculture business at Knollwood middle school in Fair Haven, New Jersey. In FH Grows, we sell our produce to community members and restaurants online and through our student-run farmers markets. Any produce we do not sell we donate to our local soup kitchen. To get the most out of our school gardens, students have built sensors and monitors using Raspberry Pis. These sensors collect meaningful data about our gardens which we can interpret and then turn our data into action. 

Turning Data into Action

In the greenhouse, our gardens, and alternative growing stations (hydroponics, aquaponics, areoponics) we have sensors that log the temperature, humidity, and other important data points that we want to know about our garden. This data is then streamed in real time, online at FHGrows.com (I’ll also embed the dashboard at the end of this post). When students come into the classroom one of the first things we look at is the current, live data on the site and find out what is going on in our gardens. Over the course of the semester, students are taught about the ideal growing conditions of our garden. When looking at the data, if we see that the conditions in our gardens aren’t ideal, we solve the problem. 

If we see that the greenhouse is too hot, over 85 degrees, students will go and open the greenhouse door. We recheck the temperature a little bit later and if it is still too hot, students will go turn on a fan. But how many fans do they turn on? After experimenting, we know that each fan lowers the greenhouse temperature between 7-10 degrees. Opening the door and turning on both fans can bring a greenhouse than can push close to a 100 degrees in late May or early June down to a more ideal 70-80 degrees. 

Turning data into action can allow for some creativity as well. Over-watering plants can be a real problem for students. After some research, we found that our plants were turning yellow because we were watering them every day instead of just when they needed it. How could we solve this problem and become more efficient at watering? Students built a Raspberry Pi that used a moisture sensor to find out when a plant needed to be watered. We used a plant with a moisture sensor in the soil as our control plant. We figured that if we watered the control plant at the same time we watered all our other plants, when the control plant was dry (gave a negative moisture signal) the rest of the plants in the greenhouse would probably need to be watered as well. 

This method of determining when to water our plants worked well. We rarely ever saw our plants turn yellow from overwatering. Here is where the creativity came in: since we received a signal from the Raspberry Pi when the soil was dry, we played around with what we trigger with that signal. We displayed the moisture data on the dashboard along with our other data, but we also decided to make the signal trigger an email. When I showed students how they could write anything in the body of the email from “the plant,” they decided to write the email message from the plant in first person. Every week or so, we received an email from Carl the Control Plant asking us to come out and water him and his plant friends! We later sold this moisture sensor with an email trigger as a product for our customers who forgot to water their plants at home.

If students don’t honor Carl the Control Plant’s request for water, use data to know when to cool our greenhouse, or take similar actions to protect our plants based on the data they collect can have devastating consequences. It doesn’t take long for a hot greenhouse or lack of water to kill our produce. This is a lesson that is unique to combining data literacy with a school garden: failure to interpret data then act based on their interpretation has real consequences. Or, as I explain it to students, not making a decision is making a decision. When it takes 60-120 days to grow the average vegetable, the loss of plants is a significant event for our program. We lose all the time and energy that went into growing those plants as well as lose all the revenue they would have brought in for us. I love the urgency that combining data and the school garden creates because many students have learned that is better to act on an educated guess than to not act at all. 

Using Data to Spot Trends and Make Predictions 

The other major way we use data in FH Grows is to spot trends and make predictions. Different than using data to create the ideal growing conditions in our garden everyday, the sensors that we use also provide a way for us to use information about the past to predict the future.

FH Grows has about two years’ worth of weather data from our Raspberry Pi weather station. Using weather data year over year, we can start to determine important events like when it is best to plant our veggies in our garden.

For example, one of the most useful data points on the Raspberry Pi weather station comes from the ground temperature sensor. Last semester, we wanted to squeeze in a cool weather grow in our garden. This post-winter grow can be done between March and June if you time it right. Getting an extra growing cycle from our garden is incredibly valuable not only to FH Grows as business (since we would be growing more produce to turn around and sell) but as a way to get an additional learning cycle out of the garden.

So using two seasons worth of ground temperature data, we set out to predict when the ground in our garden would be cool enough to do this cool veggie grow. Students looked at the data we had from our weather station and compared it to different websites that predicted the last frost of the season in our area. We found that the ground right outside our classroom warmed up two weeks earlier than the more general prediction given by websites (probably because it is a protected courtyard, kids guessed). With this information we were able to get a full cool crop grow at a time where our garden used to lay dormant. We will be doing the same this fall to try and get another cool veggie grow before the first frost of the season. Two more growing seasons from our garden thanks to data!

We also used our Raspberry Pi to help us predict whether or not it was going to rain over the weekend. Using a Raspberry Pi connect to Weather Underground and previous years’ data, if we believed it would not rain over the weekend we would water our gardens on Friday. If it looked like rain over the weekend, we let Mother Nature water our garden for us. Our prediction using the Pi and previous data was more accurate for our immediate area than compared to the more general weather reports you would get on the radio or an app, since those considered a much larger area when making their prediction. 

It seems like we are going to be collecting even more data in the future, not less. It is important that we get our students comfortable working with data. The school garden supported by Raspberry Pi’s amazing ability to collect data is a boon for any teacher who wants to help students learn how to interpret data and turn it into action, a skill that will be in demand as we continue to collect massive amounts of data just waiting to be interpreted. 

Until Next Time,

GLHF

cross-posted at Teched Up Teacher

Chris Aviles presents on education topics including gamification, technology integration, BYOD, blended learning, and the flipped classroom. Read more at Teched Up Teacher.

From our friends at Tom's Guide: From classrooms to design shops, 3D printers have found an audience with students, makers and industrial designers. And as you would expect for a product that appeals to everyone from professional designers to educators to hobbyists, even the best 3D printers vary wildly in the features they offer and how much they cost.

Why this matters: STEM teaching and technology in the 21st century K12 classroom are crucial to preparing students for college and careers - and 3D printers are becoming an affordable way to engage learners in STEM topics.  That's why K12 administrators, IT specialists and teachers need to know the benefits, drawbacks and costs of the latest 3D printers. Read the full report at www.tomsguide.com

Innovative educators often use print documents. This may occur when displaying posters, student work, or infographics on a wall or bulletin board. Another common reason for print is when information is handed out, mailed, or back packed home to families.  Usually this material is not accessible to all people including those with disabilities or who speak languages other than English, but it doesn't have to be that way.

Making Print Documents Accessible

People who need assistive technology to read materials--whether because of a disability or because of their needs for translation--have to have digital versions to use with their assistive technology.  For that reason, whenever you create something that's “for print,” you must:

• Host a digitally, accessible copy of print documents somewhere such as on your website. 
• Include a link to this document, or the website where it is hosted, on the printout you provide.

The way you format a print document also affects how accessible it is. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

• Use large print with at least 16 point font
• Use a sanserif font like Arial or Calibri
• Use high contrast of at least 3:1

QR Codes

QR Codes are one way for people with disabilities to get from a printout to an equivalent web page. 

• To generate a QR Code, visit your favorite QR Code generator. Pick one that won't expire. If you're not sure how, check out these tips and these instructions on how to generate a QR Code.
• Once you provide a link, a code is generated that can be placed in a document, along with the phrase, Access a digital version of this < poster, flyer, etc> above the QR code.

Alternative Experience

Keep in mind however, that QR codes may not be a preferred option for everyone. Your best option is to provide access to content in a variety of ways such as:

• Braille copies of your print document
• A large print version of the content
• Have flash drive handy for digital download
• Send the content to your audience digitally via email or text

Inaccessible Digital Platforms

There are still many digital platforms that are lagging behind in their ability to make accessible content. This is particularly true for publishing platforms that create content like brochures, flyers, and infographics.

Alternative Digital Content

The best option is always to generate original content on an accessible platform. If that is not possible, you must provide an alternate, accessible version of the content. This can be:

• An accessible Word or Excel document
• An accessible Google document
• A webpage which contains all of the information provided by the inaccessible platform

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal. 

From our friends at Top Ten Reviews: Finding the best internet filter can be hard. Website blockers have a lot of functions that can be confusing or too obtrusive. This guide will examine all the features of the top internet filters to break down their features - and how they'll help to protect your children from adult content and online predators.  We thoroughly check all the internet filters we've reviews to ensure that our recommendations will keep children safe. 

The best website blocker we found was Qustodio. We love using it because it is easy to install and is super simple to navigate.

Why this matters: The internet offers a wealth of resources for teaching and learning but it also offers a potential minefield of material inappropriate for kids and the classroom.  Internet filters can make the internet classroom-safe, with features such as filter categories, anti-cyberbullying and social media tools, summary reports, and more.  Learn all about the best internet filters for districts, schools and classrooms by reading the full report at toptenreviews.com.

“Children are the most learning-hungry beings in the world.” – Ashley Montagu

This year we will be getting our elementary students (2nd to 5th) to explore their passions and interests with Genius Hour Projects. Genius Hour Projects, also known as 20% Time, involve setting aside class time each week for students to independently work on a project related to their interests or passions. Genius Hour is motivating for middle school and high school students, too!

I collaborated with the amazing Buncee team to create this Genius Hour Project template, which is free to copy, edit, and share. The template makes Genius Hour easier to manage and implement for both students and teachers. All you need to do is create your Buncee account (free for 30 days), create a classroom (this takes minutes if you upload your roster), make a copy of the template in Buncee’s Idea Lab, make any edits, and assign the template to your students. Students complete the template and submit it when they finish. The template is inspired by writings from A.J. Juliani who has several inspiring books to explore.

The template is 13 pages long and helps students narrow down a topic and determine the project details. I recommend including John Spencer’s video, You Get to Have Your Own Genius Hour, in the introduction slide so that students understand what Genius Hour is about. Feel free to share this template with other teachers. Trust me it’ll make the process so much smoother and easier so that more teachers would try Genius Hour with their students.

Challenge: Try a Genius Hour Project with your students this year!

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

I have written in the past about using Google Slides as a lab reporting tool in my courses. Since writing about this process last year I have COMPLETELY embraced this method.

As a I wrote before, images, video, diagrams, etc., can all be captured easily, live conclusion presentations are seamless, hyperlinks to other resources to enhance conclusions can be added, and students can easily alter the template fonts and design to match their own vision for the report (so much more can be said). 

This school year I have decided to streamline the process, adding instructions, embedded video, and rubrics to the slide template students will work in. Click here and here for a few template examples and here and here for associate student products. 

A short post, but given the efficacy of this subtle instructional strategy, I felt it was worth sharing again! 

cross posted at www.cyclesoflearning.com

Ramsey Musallam teaches science and robotics at Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa, California, with the aim of fostering inquiry-based learning environments fueled by student curiosity. He presents widely on sparking student curiosity and teaching with technology. Musallam is a Google Certified Teacher, a YouTube Star Teacher, and a Leading Edge Certified Teacher. Watch his TED talk here and read his blog at www.cyclesoflearning.com.

Catch up on everything new in G Suite for Education from August 2019, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our August 2019 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda and all the awesome resources and G Suite updates from the summer months. This includes 60 new Google updates and 16 Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the August 2019 meeting:

• Connect Google-using educators
• Share the latest Google Apps news and features
• Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
• Share best practices of how Google Apps is being used within schools
• Ask questions and get answers

Note: If you would like to see each of the agenda items with links directly to those spots in the video, open the video using the YouTube link below and then click “Show More” below the video.

 YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NByjSlwTmj0

You can view the full Google Document agenda with links to all the Google Apps updates from the last month, as well as all the resources covered in the meeting in the Google Doc linked below.

 View the agenda - Google Document link

What's New in G Suite (Summer 2019 Edition)

June 2019

• Google releases the "Future of the Classroom Global Report", which examines research-based trends in classroom education - Resource Link
• Chrome Remote Desktop now available on the web in place of the Chrome app - Resource link
• Google releases new underwater Street View image collection - Resource Link
• See changes in Google Docs over time with Compare Documents feature - Resource Link
• Google Sheets gets option to view edit history of a cell - Resource Link
• Google's "Game Builder" program lets you create 3D games, with or without coding - Resource Link
• Google Slides gets new features in present mode including resizing speaker notes, keyboard shortcuts, and more - Resource Link
• Google Earth adds third Carmen Sandiego game - Resource Link
• Google Classroom launches beta for Rubrics - Resource Link, Resource Link
• Gradebook in Google Classroom comes out of beta and is now available for all users - Resource Link
• Google launches "Chromebook App Hub" to share ideas and tools for teaching and learning with Chromebooks - Resource Link
• Google launches "G Suite Certification" for students - Resource Link
• Google Forms updates - Locked mode for quizzes coming out of beta in August, new feature to import questions from other Forms, updated design - Resource Link
• Google launching beta program for syncing grades from Classroom to school SIS - Resource Link
• Google Arts & Culture releases "Art Zoom" with videos of musicians discussing famous artworks - Resource link
• Google launches "Create with Google" site, including new "Audience Connect" add-on for Google Slides - Resource Link
• Google Earth now works on non-Chrome web browsers - Resource Link
• Google shutting down Hangouts on Air streaming option on August 1, 2019 - Resource Link
• Google launching Beta to make non-Google files available offline through Drive - Resource Link
• Google Home can now play sound effects and music as you read Little Golden Books - Resource Link
• Book Creator adds Google's Autodraw integration - Resource Link
• Google Expeditions is now compatible with Chrome OS devices - Resource Link
• Google Images adding shareable GIFs for direct mobile sharing - Resource Link
• G Suite Admin console interface updated with text links, dynamic title bars, and more - Resource Link

July 2019

• Google launching Beta program that allows you to request and review formal approvals on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides - Resource Link
• G Suite Admins can now use Groups to control more settings including Drive sharing and Hangouts - Resource Link
• Google Sheets gets option to remove or select a custom color for chart borders - Resource Link
• G Suite Admin Console getting updates for whitelisting and managing domains - Resource Link
• Google improving active account awareness when opening files with multiple sign-ins - Resource Link
• Google Translate app gets updates including more languages, automatic detection, better translations, new look - Resource Link
• Google adds AR version of Apollo 11 module to mobile search - Resource Link
• Google adds several Google Earth tours to celebrate space exploration - Resource Link
• Google adding 65 new emojis to Android Q - Resource Link
• Google's "Arts & Culture" app adds new "Art of Color" AR experience - Resource Link
• More controls and customizations for headers and footers in Google Docs - Resource Link
• Google launches Gallery Go mobile app to organize and edit photos offline - Resource Link
• Google updates Sound Amplifier app that assists hearing by boosting important sounds while filtering out background noise - Resource Link
• Google’s new shortcuts can now create files in other signed-in accounts - Resource Link
• Google providing free Transformation Reports for K-12 schools to track implementation of G Suite tools - Resource Link

August 2019

• Google Sheets gets new features including Slicers, Scorecard Charts, and Themes - Resource Link
• Google Measure app updated with smarter AR tools and Material Theme UI - Resource Link
• Google Images adds side panel for selected pictures - Resource Link
• Priority page in Drive now available for all G Suite editions - Resource Link
• All Google Classrooms upgrading to Classwork page in September - Resource Link
• CS First adds two ELA aligned coding activities - Resource Link
• Google adds new fonts to help improve reading speed in Docs, Sheets, and Slides - Resource Link
• "Originality Reports" for Google Docs help detect plagiarism and needed citations in student writing - Resource Link
• Google launches "Assignments" to give Classroom features to LMS users and other non-Classroom users - Resource Link
• Google's Socratic mobile app uses AI to help students get resources for subject matter questions - Resource Link
• Google launching beta program to allow creation of shortcuts in Drive - Resource Link
• Live edits in Docs help improve real-time collaboration for assistive technology users - Resource Link
• Improved as-you-type spelling and grammar correction in Gmail - Resource Link
• Grow with Google adds Spanish language resources to Applied Digital Skills, Google Primer, and more - Resource Link
• Google Go app for Android provides easy access to Google Lens and text-to-speech reading for any webpage - Resource Link
• Google Drive mobile app now has the ability to fill out and save PDF forms - Resource Link
• Google launches Professional Collaboration Engineer certification for G Suite admins - Resource Link
• Google Photos can now search for text that appears in images - Resource Link
• Google Search adds elaborate ‘Wizard of Oz’ Easter Egg for film’s 80th anniversary - Resource Link
• Google Slides adds presentation looping and auto advance options- Resource Link, Resource Link 
• YouTube Kids coming to the web with age-specific filters - Resource Link

Show and Tell

• Jake Miller's resources - Educational Duct Tape Podcast - GIF-a-Day
• Digital Wellbeing - Tools to Balance Tech and Life - Resource Link
• Learn your New Students' Faces, Names, and More with Google Slides - Resource Link
• Google Slides template for "Year in Review" student reflection - Resource Link
• Using Wakelet and Google Drawings to create and share PottyPD resources - Resource Link
• How to install CloudReady on an end-of-life Chromebook to continue getting updates - Resource Link
• Netflix Hangouts - Chrome extension lets you watch Netflix inside of a fake Google Hangouts window - Resource Link
• Turn your Favorite Book into a Netflix Series - Resource Link
• Workshop Sign up using Google Forms - Resource Link
• Slide Reveal template - Resource Link
• Google Innovator Project - Helping “THAT” Kid be Successful- DOK - Resource Link
• Slide Translator - Google Slide Add-On - Resource Link
• ConnectHub - Google Innovator Project - Instructional Coaching Tool - Resource Link
• Using Google Forms and Quizlet Live for a "Getting to Know You" back-to-school activity - Resource Link
• Student Voice and Choice with Digital Templates and Menus using Google Slides and Drawings - Resource Link
• How to stop receiving spam events in your Google Calendar - Resource Link

To see the schedule for upcoming Google User Group meetings visit:

 Google User Group schedule - https://sites.google.com/view/geg-ohio/monthly-meetings

cross posted at www.controlaltachieve.com

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow him on Google+ and @ericcurts on Twitter.

From our friends at TechRadar: The best Chromebooks in 2019 are not just more powerful than ever, but also more flexible and boast longer battery lives. That means that they are capable of so much more than their predecessors.

Still, before you sort through the best Chromebooks to find the one that suits you best, it’s worth your time knowing what exactly a Chromebook is. You know, in case a lighter weight operating system and device don’t actually match your needs.

Why this matters:  Fast, rugged and affordable Chromebooks have become the go-to device for many one-to-one computing programs designed to turbocharge kids' learning with engaging digital technology. Choosing the Chromebook that's best suited for your classroom, school or district will ensure the enthusiastic support of students, teachers, administrators and community stakeholders. For the full report on the ten best Chromebooks of 2019, visit techradar.com

FEATURES

TIPS & TOOLS FOR BACK TO SCHOOL

THE BEST BACK TO SCHOOL DESKTOPS AND LAPTOPS FOR 2019
By Frank Pileiro
The best desktops and laptops for the new school year.

PLAYING TO WIN: VIDEO GAMES FINALLY MAKE A LEGITIMATE MOVE INTO THE CLASSROOM
By Chris Aviles
Students learn critical skills through engaging game-based learning.

20 SITES/APPS EVERY TEACHER SHOULD TRY FOR BACK TO SCHOOL
By David Kapuler
Outstanding tools to add to classrooms this fall.

REPURPOSING SCHOOL LIBRARIES AS VIBRANT HUBS AND CENTERS OF CHANGE
By Annie Galvin Teich
Changing pedagogy finds a home.

EXECUTIVE BRIEFS

BACK OFFICE BUSINESS

PRODUCTS

WHAT’S NEW: TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS

EDITORS DESK: Back to the Future

TRENDING: TOP 10 STORIES FOR SEPTEMBER 2019

BIG IDEAS

• Fake news
• #NYCSchools tech conference

Software & Online

ACHIEVE3000 DIFFERENTIATED FICTION
(www.achieve3000.com/differentiatedfiction)

Achieve3000’s Differentiated Fiction is designed for K-8 students. Each story is precision differentiated and contains five to seven engaging “episodes” to inspire and spark a joy of reading in all students. Reading fiction is an effective method of improving vocabulary and language skills while boosting emotional intelligence and social skills.

ADOBE SPARK EDUCATION
(spark.adobe.com)

Adobe Spark now supports live collaboration through the web application. Students and educators can begin a project and invite others to work on it by adding their email and collaborating to make edits. By collaborating in Spark, students have the opportunity to cultivate creative problem solving and visual storytelling skills.

AGE OF LEARNING
(www.ageoflearning.com)

Age of Learning launched Reading Level Assessments and other enhancements to its award-winning digital library and literacy platform ReadingIQ, which helps match children 12 and under with the right books for their level and interests from nearly 10,000 expert-curated titles and includes Accelerated Reader, Lexile, and Guided Reading.

ALIVE STUDIOS CLASSROOMS ALIVE!
(alivestudiosco.com)

Alive Studios has unveiled Classrooms alive! for pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. This research-based supplemental curriculum provides a multi-sensory learning experience where 26 animals come alive in 3D and interact with students to help them learn foundational skills for reading and math. Classrooms alive! promotes knowledge retention and improves student outcomes.

BYTES OF LEARNING ULTRAKEY ONLINE
(www.bytesoflearning.com/ultrakey-online)

UltraKey Online is a media-rich experience using 3D graphic animation, voice-supported instruction and video, all achieved using HTML5 and JavaScript – no installs or plugins. The software has been engineered and proven effective on iPads with keyboards and Chromebooks, during extensive classroom use.

CLASSCRAFT STORY MODE SEASON 1
(www.classcraft.com)

Classcraft: Season 1 is a part of Classcraft’s new “Story Mode,” which is designed to help teachers improve student engagement, foster a positive school climate, and promote social emotional learning (SEL) through a series of stories set within the Classcraft world. Season 1 explores themes of self-discovery and human relationships.

CODE WITH GOOGLE
(edu.google.com)

Code with Google combines Google’s free curriculum and programs that build coding skills—from beginner level to advanced—to help students succeed. Teachers can integrate CS First into their classroom, guide their high school students to the free code learning app Grasshopper to learn Javascript, or share CS scholarship opportunities with students.

ED LEADERSHIP SIMS
(www.edleadershipsims.com)

Ed Leadership Sims offers online simulations that allow school leaders to make decisions and experience consequences in risk-free scenarios ranging from supporting transgender students to budget crises. Their newest simulation scenarios were developed in collaboration with the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, Gwinnett County Public Schools, and other institutions.

FRESHGRADE NEXT
(www.freshgrade.com)

FreshGrade launched FreshGrade Next. The platform gives administrators, teachers, students and families access to a communication system that simplifies interaction and emphasizes engagement. FreshGrade Next is a learning network for the age of instant access, combining elements of lesson planners, portfolios, communication systems and gradebooks into a seamless experience.

GAGGLE AND CONTENTKEEPER
(www.gaggle.net) & (www.contentkeeper.com)

Gaggle has partnered with ContentKeeper Technologies to create Gaggle Safety for ContentKeeper, a solution that empowers districts to provide a stronger digital safety net to protect students on and off campus. Gaggle Safety for ContentKeeper integrates ContentKeeper’s Web Filtering and Security Platform for schools with the Gaggle student safety solution.

GATHERIQ
(www.sas.com)

GatherIQ is a free app and website that teaches students about the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals) for 2030 and inspires them to take action to make the world a better place. The Global Goals address many critical challenges, including poverty, hunger, gender inequality, lack of water and sanitation, and education inequality.

GOODREADER 5 ENHANCEMENTS
(www.goodreader.com)

GoodReader 5 delivers an interface that makes viewing documents on an iPhone or iPad even easier. Users can now view two documents or different sections of the same document simultaneously. This feature is useful for comparing documents such as drafts of contracts or researching for homework assignments.

ITSLEARNING UPDATES
(itslearning.com)

The newest release of the itslearning learning management system (LMS) has improved the workflow for OneDrive and G Suite users, added more security features such as password protection for tests, and made text easier to read. It also adds new functionality for communication and for viewing event details.

JAMF PARENT IOS
(www.jamf.com)

Jamf announced that the Jamf Parent iOS app is now available. The free app empowers parents to manage their children’s school-issued devices, if they’re managed with Jamf Pro or Jamf School. With Jamf Parent, parents can schedule homework, manage one or several kids on the go, and more.

ILLUMINATE ENHANCEMENTS UPDATE
(www.illuminateed.com)

Illuminate Education announced significant enhancements to its eduCLIMBER, DnA, SchoolCity SUITE, Achievement Dashboard and Inspect PLUS products. To better support data-informed decision making, interoperability, efficiency and engagement, Illuminate Education added features such as an enhanced item bank, deeper integration with Google, assessment building, and more.

ILLUMINATE AND FASTBRIDGE LEARNING
(www.illuminateed.com)

Illuminate Education has acquired FastBridge Learning, a research-driven assessment platform that transforms the way teachers measure and monitor student progress. The company provides effective formative assessments and assessment platforms, data that informs instruction, and the ability for educators to build strong systems of support within their districts.

LEXIA LEARNING
(www.lexialearning.com)

Lexia Learning added volumes of new content to accelerate literacy from phonological awareness to comprehension. With three additional levels of activities for grades 3–5 and over 100 new Lexia Lessons and Lexia Skill Builders, the expanded version of Core5 has increased focus on advanced literacy skills for upper elementary students.

LITTLEBITS CLASSROOM
(classroom.littlebits.com/welcome)

littleBits Classroom is a new platform to make lesson planning easy and turn-key for teachers, ensuring more engaging, hands-on STEAM fun for ALL students. The platform includes lesson plans and activities across a wide-spectrum of subject areas, from computer science and math to art design and music.

KINDERLAB ROBOTICS ADVANCED CODING EXTENSION SET
(shop.kinderlabrobotics.com)

KinderLab Robotics announced the Advanced Coding Extension Set, and an accompanying curriculum guide, Ask and Imagine, are now shipping. The Advanced Coding Extension Set creates a bridge between KIBO’s core pre-K to 2nd-grade curriculum and the computer science and engineering work students will do in upper elementary and beyond.

MIND RESEARCH INSTITUTE ST MATH CHATS
(www.mindresearch.org)

MIND Research Institute announced a suite of lessons within its flagship solution ST Math. ST Math Chats are 25- to 30-minute lessons that utilize 1:1 or 2:1 technology to create an interactive learning and sharing experience that begins with visual models or puzzles.

MICROSOFT EDUCATION RELEASES
(educationblog.microsoft.com)

Microsoft Education announced new technology to support inclusive, student-centered learning in the classroom. Windows 10 and Office365 accessibility features including new voices in 50 different languages for Narrator; Immersive Reader is now available in Minecraft: Education Edition; Presenter Coach in PowerPoint gives on-screen guidance on pacing, and more.

NEARPOD
(nearpod.com)

Nearpod launched Time to Climb, a new game-based activity that allows students to compete across various subjects through interactive visualizations to assess comprehension and increase engagement in the classroom. The activity asks students to answer multiple choice questions against the clock, visualizing their progress and understanding through interactive simulations.

OVERDRIVE EDUCATION SORA
(company.overdrive.com/education)

OverDrive Education released data detailing a dramatic increase in reading by K-12 students. Ebook and audiobook reading increased over 240% when students connected their Sora classroom reading app to their local public library versus students solely accessing their school collection.

OZOBOT CLASSROOM
(ozobot.com)

Launching this fall, Ozobot Classroom is a STEAM learning management system that will enhance the classroom experience and help teachers manage lessons and student engagement. This new platform offers teachers a more effective path to introducing coding skills to their students and creates more opportunity for collaboration in the classroom.

PITSCO EDUCATION & SMARTGURLZ SMART BUDDIES
(info.pitsco.com/smart-buddies-notifications)

Pitsco Education, in collaboration with SmartGurlz, announced the launch of Smart Buddies – the newest addition to its K-12 coding and robotics continuum. Smart Buddies is a new coding solution accompanied by a curriculum that focuses on increasing diversity awareness for third- to fifth-grade students throughout the US and Canada.

PUBLICSCHOOLWORKS
(corp.publicschoolworks.com)

PublicSchoolWORKS announced several enhancements to its Staff Training System that will enable school administrators to easily monitor training progress and make decisions based on data to ensure teachers and staff are prepared to meet today’s school safety challenges. The latest enhancements available make training completion data more accessible and actionable.

SQUIRRELS LLC. DITTO CONNECT
(goditto.com)

Squirrels LLC released Ditto Connect for Chrome OS, an app that enables Chromebook screen mirroring to a number of receiver types that are not natively compatible. Ditto allows hardware from competing technology companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft to wirelessly connect for screen and audio sharing.

Hardware & Software

BACK TO SCHOOL PRODUCT SHOWCASE
Check out the latest back-to-school offerings from our Tech & Learning partners.

(www.powergistics.com)
With PowerGistics, schools save time, gain valuable classroom space and save on repairing and replacing devices. The open concept allows teachers to confirm devices are plugged in and accounted for while the unique cord management allows students to manage their own pick up and drop off. Teachers can spend their time teaching rather than worrying about managing devices. Solutions available in multiple sizes and number of shelves in desktop, mobile, stationary or wall mount units.

(www.catchon.com)
CatchOn is an expansive data analytics tool that compiles real-time data on school-owned devices, both inside and outside the classroom, enabling districts to make data-informed decisions about the apps and online tools their educators and students are using. CatchOn’s customizable dashboards allow district and school leaders to see the information that is relevant and actionable for their role. Providing data down to the class level, CatchOn delivers actionable insights that boost achievement and inform ROI.

(www.netsupportsoftware.com)
NetSupport is a market-leading developer of award-winning education IT solutions for schools and districts. Discover how our complete IT Network Management suite, NetSupport DNA, can help you manage school-wide IT, maintain a safe learning environment, and boost digital citizenship; or how our Classroom Management solution, NetSupport School, can help enhance the quality of instruction with real-time management of and collaboration with any student device in the classroom including Windows, Chrome, iOS, Mac, and Android.

(www.gale.com/product-enhancements)
Gale, a Cengage company, is making enhancements across its portfolio of products, improving the functionality and user experience of its research tools to make its content more discoverable. These updates support Gale product users with new, user-driven features that promote exploration and discovery—all within a consistent platform experience. For more information visit: gale.com/product-enhancements.

(www.typingagent.com)
Typing Agent is the leading online K12 keyboarding and technology program for schools and districts. Offering an engaging interface for students, keyboarding curriculums for K-2 and 3-12, that meets Common Core State Standards and reinforces common blends, grade-level words and is completely adaptive, enriching typing videos and exciting gamification features that boost students learning! Typing Agent also offers a Digital Citizenship Curriculum, a Learn to Type Code app, Spanish curriculum, best in class reporting, ADA features and more.

(www.discoveryeducation.com)
Introducing Discovery Education Experience, a simple-to-use K-12 learning platform that combines dynamic curated curriculum resources with on-demand teaching strategies, personalized for your needs as an educator. This collection of real world educational content brings excitement and relevancy to the topics you teach, so all students have opportunities to unlock their true potential.

Hardware

BenQ (www.benq.com) hosted live demonstrations of its family of RP Series Interactive Flat Panels (IFP), Blue Core 4K UHD HDR laser projectors, PointWrite interactive technology, and the newly launched secure and software-free WDC10-C USB-C InstaShow wireless presentation system at ISTE 2019, all designed to make collaboration and learning exciting and intuitive.

Boxlight Corporation’s (www.boxlight.com) MimioClarity, includes either a two-speaker or four-speaker configuration. It is designed to deliver sound proportionally for students not only in the front of the classroom but seated in the back, while amplified front-of-classroom audio will also no longer be carried into adjacent classrooms.

Maxell, Ltd. (maxellproav.com) launched three 3LCD laser projectors. The Maxell MP-WU5603 and MP-WX5603 feature 6,000 ANSI lumen brightness, while the Maxell MP-WU5503 features 5,000 ANSI lumen brightness. These projectors offer 20,000 hours of maintenance-free operation, and up to 50,000 hours with Long Life 2 mode.

POWERUP Toys (www.poweruptoys.com) released STEM kits POWERUP RACERS and POWERUP 4.0. With POWERUP RACERS, students learn the principles of flight while sharpening their problem-solving skills as they fold their own paper vehicle out of a sheet of paper, clip on the POWERUP motor, and drive, float, or fly their creations.

The Pilot X, the mobile addition to HoverCam’s Pilot (www.hovercam.com) series, is a tablet-based, battery-operated, wireless digital teaching station that’s designed for ultra-mobility. The tablet can be charged while docked in the station or be removed to grant teachers more flexibility around the classroom.

Epson (www.epson.com/education) introduced the BrightLink 1485Fi and the BrightLink 1480Fi ultra short-throw interactive laser displays. Leveraging a virtually maintenance-free laser light source, these ultra short-throw, 1080p Full HD laser displays offer new 16:6 ultra-wide display options for turning virtually any flat surface into an instant, ultra-wide interactive digital whiteboard.

Dremel DigiLab (digilab.dremel.com) partnered with Mosaic Manufacturing to bring multi-color and multi-material 3D printing to the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 3D printer. The Mosaic Palette 2 Pro S enables the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 to combine flexible materials, soluble materials, ridge materials and a different colored materials in a single print.

Promethean (www.prometheanworld.com) announced the next-generation of its award-winning ActivPanel. Following extensive user research, Promethean designed the ActivPanel Elements Series to deliver innovation and ease-of-use that matters to teachers and students, as well as the security and manageability trusted by IT professionals and administrators.

The da Vinci Color Mini Printer uses CMY inkjet technology and offers printing in millions of colors, free 3D modeling software, 3D model gallery, and more. Additionally, XYZprinting (http://www.xyzprinting.com/en-US/product/da-vinci-color-mini) launched its STEAM 3D Education Program to give away 300 printers to select K-12 schools. They will accept applications until September 5th.

Epson (www.epson.com). The Moverio BT-300FPV Drone Edition first-person view (FPV) smart glasses are ideal for STEM classroom activities that leverage a drone. Providing a transparent display that makes it easy to view a drone’s video feed and key flight statistics, the Moverio BT-300FPV Drone Edition helps students keep the aircraft in sight.

After two years of competitive evaluations, the New Zealand Ministry of Education awarded Edsby (edsby.com) a contract to build and run the country’s Te Rito National Learner Repository and Data Exchange, formerly the Student Information Sharing Initiative (SISI). Edsby will be rolled out to all 2,500 public schools countrywide.

DFRobot (www.dfrobot.com) creates comprehensive learning kits for students to engage with in the classroom. DFRobot’s robotics kits, created using Arduino/micro:bit/Raspberry Pi and DIY robots, offer pupils a coding-free method of developing skills associated with STEM subjects and bridge the gap between theoretical and practical coding and electronics knowledge.

Casio America, Inc. (www.casio.com) announced the new Superior Series of LampFree Projectors. Ideal for the education market where WUXGA projectors are becoming the standard, Casio’s Superior Series of LampFree projectors offers brightness up to 4000 lumens, full HD resolution with crisp images and vibrant colors and a 1.7X zoom lens.

1 10 Back to School Tips for an Awesome Year!
Ideas and resources—from engaging parents to integrating technology effectively—get your year off to a great start.

2 Five-Star Game-Creating Tool Shines.
The drag-and-drop programming environments allow new game developers to jump right in to create 2D games.

3 Makerspaces 101.
This video covers the basics of a makerspace and includes helpful tips to start your own makerspace.

4 How to Make the Best Use of a Professional Learning Network (PLN).
Use these five suggestions to put your PLN to work for you right away at the beginning of the year.

5 National Study: Which Apps Work Best?
A review of aggregate data determines which programs students are using, how much they’re using them, and how the investment in programs correlates to improved student learning.

6 Six Super-Sweet Social Studies Strategies for Back to School.
Fun social studies activities to kick off the new school year.

7 Top Research Websites, Search Engines, and a Research Choice Menu for K–2 Students.
Recommended search engines and websites help your students become skilled internet searchers.

8 Tech Tools for Active Learning Classrooms.
The benefits of developing active learning skills include improved critical thinking skills, increased retention, and transfer of new motivation, more motivation, and improved interpersonal skills.

9 How to Use Video Portfolios This School Year.
Use video portfolios to encourage students to reflect on their own learning and showcase their accomplishments.

10 Digital Well-Being—Tools to Balance Tech and Life.
Check out this collection of digital well-being resources, including online training, apps, settings, and more.

In 2014 I wrote the original “21 Things” post with the hope that an educator reading it would be inspired to try one or two new things in their classroom. While the post has evolved over time, that continues to be the main driving factor behind this. As trends and technology change often, it’s important to keep evolving and growing as learners and educators as well. Before I present you with the updated 2019 version of the list, a few disclaimers:

1. I know that this is an ambitious list. We need ambition to move the needle in education.
2. While I love my friends in other countries, I’m not as familiar with their laws, so for the purpose of this post, put on your U.S. hat.
3. Yes, technology costs money. Money that we are sorely lacking in education. That said, I’ve tried to differentiate some items on this list require little to no money, just a growth mindset.
4. The purpose of this list is not to shame teachers into trying EVERYTHING on the list. My hope is that it will generate one or two ideas for a teacher to try this year.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to my 2019 version of “21 Things That Every Educator Should Try in the 21st Century”.  Some of these still remain from the original post, but there are also many new items centered around the latest trends. Many of the updates come from trends I’ve seen not only in education but also in the workplace like these Top 10 Skills Needed for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (from the World Economic Forum). Oh, and of course, check out the accompanying infographic at the bottom of the post as well…just be sure to read the full post before passing judgement.

1. Have an online debate

Something that our students (and society) desperately need is the ability to debate in a variety of ways, especially online. With the recent political climate in our country, more than ever we have to teach students how to have critical discourse online without falling prey to name-calling or inflammatory language. Using tools like Padlet or SeeSaw, you can create a “walled garden” of sorts for your students to have an online debate from topics as intense as “who has a harder job: a doctor or a lawyer” to “which is better: thin crust or thick crust pizza.”  Regardless of topic, the point is to model how to interact, make a point with facts, and concede when necessary.

2. Bring an expert voice into your classroom remotely

With so many resources and experts available, it only makes sense to bring in someone from “the real world”. This not only creates interest in the topic, it adds an air of authenticity.  Use Google Hangouts, Facetime, Zoom or Skype to reach out to a content expert to share their thoughts around a particular subject or topic. If you can, record it and post it to your class site or embed it on your blog to generate discussion at home.

3. Augment reality in an old textbook

As witness by the explosive emergence of Merge Cubes, Augmented Reality (AR) is becoming a new way to engage learners. However, buying a bunch of these may not be possible for every teacher. Luckily, on the back shelves of classrooms and libraries exist rows and rows of old textbooks, some of which are still in regular use. By using an augmented reality tool like HP Reveal, Metaverse, or ARLoopa, you can breathe fresh life into those old textbook pages. Take a graph and make it interactive or hover over an image to reveal a more in-depth video on the subject. While AR may seem like “flashy” technology, coupling its use with existing materials can be a cost-effective way to increase engagement and deeper learning.

4. Create an infographic to help review and understand information

Infographics have become a part of everyday society. People are looking for information quickly and visually. Creating an infographic to review content is a powerful way to help those students that are visual learners. Taking this one step further – have students create an infographic as a way to convey their information on a subject. There are many free online tools out there (like Canva) to help with this but my favorite is Keynote. (now with built in icons – it’s what I used to make the infographic for this post)

5. Design and deliver a presentation

This may seem like something every teacher can already do, so I’ll say that this challenge is more about working with students on the art and science of an effective presenting. Being able to communicate a point or idea effectively is becoming more and more of a lost art. The “3-legged” stool approach to balancing a presentation (content, slide design, delivery) can be an invaluable skill for all students going forward in life. To really challenge them, use a tool like PechaFlickr.net (shout out to @cogdog) to have them make up a presentation on the fly. While I prefer the use of Keynote, there are many effect tools out there that students can access to create and present from. One word of advice…take it easy on the bullet points.

6. Have a class social media account for students to post about the day’s learning

Just like the online debates (item #1), social media can be both a tool and a distraction at times. Using a class social media account (Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, etc) that is moderated by the teacher can model how to use social media to share meaningful messages. Create a “social media PR team” that consists of students capturing events happening around the school that are then reviewed and vetted before posting. Doing something like this in upper elementary grades can be an effective way for students to learn appropriate posting behaviors before they dive into the middle school world of social media. Then ask parents to follow the account so they can also get a little insight into the happenings of the school day.

7. Use Stop-motion to explain a challenging concept

One of the most effective and easiest to use features on a device is the camera. With the built-in time-lapse feature, you can capture changes over time like growth of a plant or the rotation of the Earth in comparison with the Sun. Using a free stop-motion app like iMotion, allows your students to take paper, scissors, and play-doh to demonstrate their understanding of a difficult or challenging concept like this video about the digestive system.

8. Integrate more movement into your classroom

Anyone who has seen me present or been to one of my professional learning sessions knows that I love to integrate movement into everything I do. There’s brain science that shows incorporating more movement throughout the day in your classroom can actually help with focus and engagement. Increasing oxygen levels to the brain via periodic movement helps increase attention and retention in your classroom. Make movement a regular part of your classroom routine by using brain breaks and standing discussions to wake your students’ brains.

9.  Take a Virtual Field Trip

Want to check out Machu Picchu? Maybe visit Mars? Why not take your class on a virtual field trip? The increase in ways to see virtual worlds via tools like Nearpod VR and Google’s Tour Creator, have helped bring this access to schools without the high-end cost usually associated with VR.

10. Build your own virtual world

Why just be a passive participant in a virtual world when you can build your own? With tools like CoSpacesEDU, you can code and program and interactive world for your students to visit, or better yet, have them build a world to demonstrate understanding of a concept. Don’t have time to learn all of that code or want a break from the screen? Panoform.com is a great hands-on way to have students draw their virtual worlds with paper and colors before bringing them to life digitally.

11. Bring Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the Classroom

Many teachers already do this with the use of Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa. These “digital assistants” are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to A.I. and are becoming more prevalent in the homes around our country. Some questions to ask your students might include – What impact will these devices have when it comes to future learning? What happens with all the data that is captured when it listens? How might they help us in the future?

12. Fly a Drone (and discuss its impact on society)

Not all of us have access to drones, so flying one in your classroom or outside on the school grounds may not be feasible (or legal in some cases). However, there are several examples around the world now showing us how drones can help us and how they can hurt us. One thing is for certain, these are not going away anytime soon. With that said, a question for students is, what impact do drones have on our privacy rights and what legislation exists out there today around drones?

13. Produce a class audio podcast

Have students create a podcast highlighting classroom activities, projects or students. One of the schools I consult with regularly in the Chicago area does this with their middle school. The “McClure on the Mic” podcast is created and produced by students and literally puts student voice at the forefront. Getting podcasts out there can be challenging, but if you want to get it to the web quickly, post it to Soundcloud or use a tool like SoundTrap.  For the more advanced user, use a podcasting site like Podbean.com and actually get the podcast posted to iTunes.  That way mom and dad can listen to the weekly recap while going on their evening walk or driving to work.

14. Create a classroom full of student entrepreneurs

What better ways to encourage teamwork, collaboration and global thinking that to introduce students to entrepreneurism to solve real-world problems? This past year, one of the middle schools I work with did just that by wiping away the bell schedule and spending time with student teams identifying issues with the school and proposals for how to fix them. Expanding this to local, state or national level help introduce students to the design thinking and project-based learning to solve actual issues.

15. Identify fake news and internet bots

As mentioned with items #1 and #6 on this list, we live in a time where internet bots are used to sway public opinion, sometimes with false or misleading information. We need to help students identify what is real and what is not online. This goes far beyond “fake news”.  It can be something as simple as understanding the angle of a post based on its title to identifying real people versus robots on twitter. The good news (or bad news) is that there seems to be an example of this happening every day in real time.

16. Have a “FailFest” to model risk-taking and perseverance

Many students today do not know how to cope with failure. As parents and educators, we often time protect and shelter kids from failure. As a result, students spend their formative years not knowing how to mess up and recover from it. I often equate it with the analogy of training wheels on a bike. If we keep those training wheels on the bike, they will never fall down. But what if we take those training wheels off when they leave our schools and they fall down and don’t know how to get back up? The concept of a “FailFest” would take more than this paragraph to explain, but basically the idea is creating an atmosphere in your classroom where students can make mistakes, take thoughtful risks, and celebrate failure. Giving students these life skills will encourage their future growth and expand their possibilities of greater life success…a goal no educator wants to fail at.

17. Practice mindfulness in your classroom

There is a lot of hype around mindfulness in schools and an increase in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in schools.  While the impact of mindfulness on test scores may still be open to debate, there is value taking a pause and reflecting on the now. Technology can hinder some of that, but short of banning all tech, we need discover life balance in this new “instant-on” world. Give your students 1-2 minutes to stop, breathe, reflect, and simply “be present” every day. You may find it helps their learning as well as behavior on those dreaded rainy days or test-taking days.

18. Utilize robotics to tell a story

The fourth industrial revolution will definitely feature more and more robots in our world. Use of robotics in the classroom is currently relegated to specialized elective classes or maybe a Friday afternoon of free time in a maker space (see #19). The common misconception around these tools are that they are too pricey and one-dimensional for regular classroom use. By using low-cost robotic technology systems like Trashbots, schools can now have a wide array of materials for building robots and better yet, using them in a variety of subjects other than math and science. Why not program your robot to re-enact a moment in history? Or maybe have it tell a story?

19. Build a maker-space for hands-on learning

A maker space is not a new thing. It used to be called “shop class” when I was in school. However, unlike its 20th century relative, maker spaces today can be built into the classroom environment. They allow room for exploration, design, and iteration. And here’s the best part for schools struggling with funding – they can be almost free and require little to no technology. A trip to the local hardware store can yield some donated materials as a trip up to the attic to dig out those old childhood legos. Much like practicing mindfulness (#17), having hands-on learning activities can increase retention and help encourage creativity.

20. Become an activist for a worthy cause

If the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge can teach us anything, it’s that sometimes a little creativity is all you need to awareness to a cause. Whether it’s helping the fires burning in the Amazon or finding a cure for a disease, our new connected society can be a powerful thing when galvanized for good. Participating in a global project to help gives students perspective on their own lives while helping others with their life challenges. Empathy is a powerful skill that we need to continue to nurture and grow in our students as they become adults in their new fast-paced life.

21. Let your students drive the learning

While you could do all of these challenges by yourself, the real power comes in letting students own a piece of it. I recently did a talk on “Creating and Environment of Curiosity” where I delve into the mindset of the classroom teacher needed to create an atmosphere where students question, ponder, and drive their own experiences in learning.

I realize there are a lot of tools and concepts on this list that can be intimidating to learn, but we shouldn’t feel the pressure as educators to know and understand everything. Use your students for this. They have the curiosity and the digital acumen, it’s our job as the teacher to give them instructional focus and empowerment.  We live in wonderfully connected times.  Despite all of technology’s perceived misgivings and the apocalyptic fears that we are losing ourselves as a society, why not use some of this power for good?

Just know that as a teacher in the 21st century you ultimately hold the key to unleash this creative beast.  So try something on the list this year that may force you a bit out of your comfort zone because there is no better way to learn than trying.

Just be sure to share your successes and struggles when you are finished as learning in isolation helps no one.

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

From our friends at TechRadar:

Brainstorming can be a way to develop new ideas, workflows, and opportunities. However, organizing a disparate range of suggestions into working solutions and actionable insights can be something of a challenge.

This is where mind map software comes into play, providing a way in which to chart all this. While some are available just for individual use for organizing projects, others offer collaborative features.

• 20 Tools for Brainstorming/Mind Mapping
• Tools for Designing Awesome Graphics
• Top 25 Learning Tools For When School is Closed

Why this matters:

Whether collaborating in a staff meeting or planning a lesson for their students, teachers are routinely called upon to brainstorm ideas and solutions. While software can aid in this process, not every mind map software will fit the bill for educators. Learn the pros, the cons, and the costs of the top mind-mapping software by reading the full report at techradar.com

PBS offers a variety of free online educational resources for Pre-K-12 grade educators including the media literacy certification program, PBS LearningMedia and PBS TeachersLounge.  

Educators can access free resources online from the following PBS websites:

• PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification by KQED (Pre-K through 12th grade) – PBS and KQED offer a set of free media literacy micro-credentials that validate and help to build media literacy skills and classroom implementation practices. These competency-based micro-credentials provide the pathway to earning certification as a PBS Certified Media Literacy Educator.
• PBS LearningMedia (Pre-K through 12th grade) – PBS LearningMedia is the destination for direct access to thousands of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources. Resources are aligned to state and national standards, and include videos, images, interactives, lesson plans, articles, primary sources and more. Teachers can browse by standards, grade level, subject area, and special collections, and favorite and share resources with their class and colleagues.
• PBS TeachersLounge – PBS TeachersLounge is a collection of online blogs on a variety of topics including trending news, PBS in the classroom, tech tools, virtual professional learning and voices in education.

bulb Digital Portfolios is giving all teachers bulb+, the company’s premium account, at no charge. 

With a free bulb+ account, teachers can:

• Create personal collections, curriculum and resources. 
• Track professional development and display badges and credentials earned.
• Establish professional learning plans to meet goals and standards.

bulb also announces that free “bulb” accounts will have more features, including:

• Use and create templates.
• Embed audio and rich media files.
• Gather comments and feedback.
• Showcase work in presentation mode. 

Students can create a free bulb account to capture ideas, express knowledge and display skills. Or they can purchase a bulb+ account for $3/month. 

bulb is a secure, ad-free tool; user data is never mined. Visit sign-up for an account at bulbapp.com. 

From our friends at TechRadar: While you’re getting ready to go Back to School, you might find yourself in the market for a Back to school laptop. And, buying a laptop for school comes with its own particular questions you’ll need to think about before you buy. 

Whatever type of laptop you’re considering getting for school, you might want to check out these tips to ensure that you don’t pick something too quickly. It’s easy to forget an important consideration when you’re faced with something that seems on the surface like it’s the perfect choice.

Why this matters: With more and more students (and teachers!) using a laptop computer for both school and home, there are more laptop computer models than ever offering the latest features. But which features matter the most?  And which are worth paying more for? Understanding the laptop features that are most important for you and your students will  enable you to make the most of your purchases. For the complete report on ten key features of laptop computers for back to school, visit  techradar.com

Do you Kahoot? For back-to-school this year, Kahoot has announced some big updates and new features. In this blog post, I’ll take you through five things you need to know about the Kahoot updates this summer.

Regular readers of the blog (click here to sign up) know that I love Kahoot. I’ve shared it in a handful of blog posts and it’s a regular in my presentations on formative assessment with technology. Kahoot gained traction when it first came on the scene because of its highly engaging way to connect students with content in the classroom.

Kahoot Quiz Creator

Kahoot gives teachers an opportunity to set up their own quizzes. After quickly sharing a special code with students, they can join in from their own device or a shared device to answer quiz questions. If you were also an early user of Kahoot, you know that the team has added lots of features the past few years. From an iPad app to quiz creation partners like National Geographic, their tool has evolved greatly.

I give a shout out to Kahoot in my book #FormativeTech: Meaningful, Sustainable, and Scalable Formative Assessment with Technology. It’s a fantastic tool to check for understanding and increase participation in your classroom. There are so many ways to use this dynamic quiz creator. From quick reviews at the end of a lesson, to a way to gauge student interest before kicking off a new unit of study, the possibilities are endless!

Summer Updates from Kahoot

As an early user of Kahoot I’ve found it to be user-friendly and adaptable to many different learning environments. That’s why it’s been a go-to tool in my EdTech tool belt the past few years. Well, this summer the folks at Kahoot made a big announcement. They added new options and improved some favorite features to make it easier than every to use Kahoot in your classroom.

In this blog post, I’ll share three things I think you should know about the big update. I’ve also embedded a video link that gives you a rundown of the video along with an instagram giveaway I’m hosting right now too. Let’s jump into the details!

1. More Intuitive Quiz Creator 

Kahoot lets you create quizzes for students by adding questions and deploying a quiz. Now, not only can you type in your own questions, you can also search Kahoot’s question bank. That’s right, in addition to your own questions, you can add questions taken from the millions of quizzes already in Kahoot’s system.

How does this work? All you have to do is start typing. Then Kahoot will automatically suggest questions for you to add. You can make any changes you like and even swap out images for your own pictures if you want too.

2. Increase Time for Student Responses

When you set up a quiz for students, you have the option to add time constraints for student responses. Sometimes a quick countdown clock can feel stressful for students. Now, Kahoot lets you increase the time allotted for student responses. They now have up to four minutes to respond!

This new update can come in handy when giving problems students might need time to solve. For example, a multi-step math problem could require more time for students to complete. Alternatively, this feature might come in handy for collaborative experiences where students are encouraged to talk out their answers before responding. 

3. More Space for Questions & Answers

The team at Kahoot has also increased the amount of space teachers have to write questions and potential answers. They’ve increased the character count so you can type longer questions and give students answer options that are longer than the space available in the past.

4. Drag and drop to Reorder Questions

Updates to the Kahoot interface include the ability to reorder questions in a quiz with a quick drag and drop. Similar to the updated quiz creation feature, the drag and drop option will certainly speed up your quiz creation. You might also find this update handy when customizing quizzes created by someone else and tailoring them to the needs of your students.

5. Combine Quiz Questions in Kahoo

The summer updates to Kahoot include the ability to combine a variety of question types into one quiz. You can add multiple choice questions alongside true and false questions as you create the perfect Kahoot for your class. See all of the options in this blog post from the team at Kahoot.

In addition to my rundown and the video embedded above, you can learn all about Kahoot’s summer updates from their blog post announcement too. This post from Kahoot includes instructional videos so you can see some of the new features in action.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. She is the author of Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and #FormativeTech (Corwin). Visit Monica's site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

One of the best ways to measure the latest and greatest gear for the classroom each fall is to roam the exhibition floor in June at the annual International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference and Expo, which took place in Philadelphia this year. 

There were over 600 exhibitors in the expo hall, featuring everything from projectors and 3D printers to robots, apps, online curriculum, and more. Laptops are always a popular product—they may not be the most exciting products in the expo hall, but they’re one of the most essential. What follows are some of my standouts:

For Creators

Microsoft Surface Studio 2

The Surface Studio 2 is designed for creation and gaming as well as for mixed and virtual reality. It sports a 28-inch, beautifully vibrant touch screen that can be adjusted at an infinite variety of angles due to the innovative Zero Gravity Hinge. Like any Surface device, it’s also compatible with the Surface Pen for creating art or virtual worlds. If you want to add to your creativity and productivity tool kit, you can add the Surface Dial. The Surface Dial gives users the option to create a customized radial menu of tools that fit their work and business productivity style. Just place the dial on the screen, and this menu appears. The user simply rotates it to change their tool choices and options. These features make this device a versatile standout.

Starting at $3,499.00

CPU Intel® Core™ i7-7820HQ | Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 memory (with i7/16/1TB configuration) | Display: 28” PixelSense™ Display Touch: 10 point multi-touch Resolution: 4500 x 3000 (192 PPI) | RAM: 16 or 32 GB | Storage: 1TB or 2TB solid-state drive (SSD)

For Esports

Esports has made a big push into the education arena. One of the current “top dogs” in the gaming computer sector is Acer, Inc. The Acer booth at ISTE featured a giant screen for watching esports teams battling it out against each other just below. In this booth, the gaming devices of choice are the Acer Predator laptops and desktops. These machines are made specifically for gaming. Acer has carved its niche in esports by offering a variety of different configurations and options Acer also offers a variety of price points so schools can get started in esports without breaking the budget. If a school district doesn’t have the luxury of a dedicated room for esports, the Predator gaming laptops are very capable. Prices start as low as $729 for desktops and $1,299 for laptops—all the way up to over $6,000 for desktops and $2,499 for laptops. 

Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop - PH315-51-71FS
Retail: $1,299.00

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8750H processor Hexa-core 2.20 GHz | Graphics:  NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 with 6 GB Dedicated Memory | Display: 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 IPS | RAM: 8 GB, DDR4 SDRAM | Storage: 1 TB HDD

Acer Nitro 50 Gaming Desktop - N50-600-UR11
Retail: $799.00

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-8400 processor Hexa-core 2.80 GHz | Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB Dedicated Memory | RAM: 8 GB, DDR4 SDRAM | Storage: 1 TB HDD

Chromebooks

This device category continues to feature more rugged and affordable designs for students and 1:1 programs, all the way up to business-class portable workstations. Convertible Chromebooks with pens are giving educators and students the best of both platforms. 

 Asus C204 Chromebook  

The Asus Chromebook C204 is a rugged, thinner, replacement for the Chromebook C202. It looks the same and still features the durability and rubberized chassis with corner bumpers. It’s rated to exceed military-grade MIL-STD-810G durability standards so it can withstand the pressures of the backpack as well as drops of 48 inches. The spill- and tamper-resistant keyboard is responsive and has good key travel. The screen is crisp and bright with an optional anti-glare, 178-degree viewing angle touch screen. The four-part modular construction makes this Chromebook very easy to self-service, especially if you qualify for the Asus Self-Maintainer Program.

Retail: $269.99

CPU: Intel® Celeron® Dual-Core N4000 Processor, 1.1 GHz (4 M Cache) | Display: 11.6" (16:9) HD+ (1366x768) 60Hz Anti-Glare Panel 45% NTSC (Touchscreen Optional) | RAM: 4GB | Storage: eMMC 16GB/32GB 

 Acer Chromebook Spin 11  

The Acer Chromebook Spin 11 is a great Chromebook for both students and teachers. It’s a rugged and capable convertible Chromebook that comes with a Wacom EMR (Electro-Magnetic Resonance) Stylus that delivers impressive accuracy and pressure sensitivity. There are two cameras on the device—one at the top of the screen and the other right above the top row of keys on the keyboard. The 5MP webcam has an 88-degree wide viewing angle so users can watch the Chromebook screen to see what’s being recorded. Finally, this unit comes with a substantial hinge that will last a very long time.

Retail: $352.11

CPU: Intel® Celeron® N3350 1.1 GHz | Display:11.6” AHVA Touchscreen (1366x768) (HD) | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 32GB eMMC 

Dell Chromebook 3100 Education  

Dell’s 3000 series Chromebooks are durable and have configurations that can meet a variety of needs and budgets. Like many Chromebooks, they’re tested to meet or exceed MIL-STD ruggedness standards. The tamper- and spill-resistant keyboards are mounted from the top so they can be replaced easily. These units also have an advertised battery life of 14 hours to get users through an entire day. There are two USB-C ports to support both battery charging and high-speed data transfers. All ports are ruggedized with internal brackets to withstand the rigors of the school day.

Starting at $249.00

CPU: Intel® Celeron™ N4000 Processor (2 Core, 2.6GHz, 4M cache, 6W) | Display: 11.6” HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare Non-Touch (touch available) | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 16GB eMMC

Laptops

Microsoft Surface Go

A standout laptop at ISTE was the affordable, but very capable, 10-inch Surface Go. Starting at $399, the Surface Go is an excellent balance between tablet and laptop. The pen is just as good as the one that comes with its “big brother” the Surface Pro, including pressure sensitivity and programmable buttons. The Surface Go is a great solution to use as an interactive SMART Board replacement when used in conjunction with a wireless projector connection or flat-panel display. Add the type cover and a wireless mouse and you have a complete Windows 10 laptop.

 Retail: $399

CPU: Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 615 | RAM: 4GB – 8GB | Screen: 10-inch, 1,800 x 1,200 (217 ppi; 3:2 aspect ratio) PixelSense touch display | Storage: 64GB eMMC – 128GB SSD

Dell Latitude 3300

The 13.3-inch Dell Latitude 3300 for Education laptop is a well-designed and rugged device for users who still prefer to use Windows devices but don’t want to break the bank. The Latitude 3300 is designed and built to withstand the day-to-day needs of today’s modern learners who need a rugged device for various environments, yet it’s powerful enough for collaboration, creating, and consuming content. The Latitude 3300 has an advertised battery life of just under 17 hours (time varies with usage), so it can definitely fit into any school’s 1:1 program for a full day’s use.

Retail: starting at $619.00 

CPU: Intel® Pentium™ 4415U Processor | Graphics: Intel® Pentium® 4415U Processor w/Intel® HD Graphics 610 | RAM: 4GB DDR-4 Non-ECC | Screen: 13.3-inch HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare Non-Touch | Storage: 64GB eMMC

HP Envy 13t

The HP Envy 13t is lightweight and has a stylish all-metal chassis and very good performance. The Envy 13t can be configured in a variety of ways to support both staff and students. A recent update includes the option to kill the webcam for privacy, as well as a fingerprint reader for extra security. Although this is a relatively thin device, it’s not short on ports. There are two standard USB 3.0 ports and two USB-C ports, one on each side. There’s also a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot. Another great feature is the quality and action of the keyboard. The key travel is excellent for a thinner device. These features make the Envy 13t a very versatile laptop.

Retail: starting at $779.00

CPU: Intel 8th Gen. Core i5 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | RAM: 8GB | Screen: 13.3-inch, 1080p | Storage: 256GB

Frank is the Supervisor of Technology for the Linwood Public Schools in Linwood, NJ. He is an advisor to Tech & Learning magazine where he writes about educational technology, and reviews new educational technology products. Frank also speaks at the local, state, and national levels about educational innovation and instructional technology.

Anyone who is familiar with my work knows that my focus is not on products or materials or supplies for a makerspace and that I have written extensively instead about the research, pedagogy, and best-practices surrounding maker education.  Stocking our makerspaces is a reality though, so for the past several years, I have released my Top Ten Makerspace lists. In this post, I have chosen to focus on an item that we have had in our makerspace since the very beginning- Spheros.  For those who are not familiar with Sphero robots, they are a company that makes undeniably cool programmable robots and educational tools that aim to transform the way kids learn and create through coding, science, music, and the arts.

Seven years ago, when we got our very first Sphero robot, we were enamored by the fact that we could even just control the robots with our phones, and admittedly, it at first, often did not go deeper than that.  Both my students and I quickly discovered, however, that Sphero robots offer limitless opportunities, and can oftentimes lead to deep investigation and discovery, through inquiry.  Along the way, I also read two blog posts written by Ross Cooper, The Problem With Prepackaged STEM Products‘ and ‘How to Transform Step-By-Step Directions Into Inquiry‘, that transformed my thinking about how we can use products like Sphero robots in a makerspace.

One of our favorite Sphero robot activities were when we created Sphero robot art as a part of a photography unit in which students were experimenting with various photography techniques.

As we head into another school year, I have chosen to highlight some other stories about how educators are using Sphero robots in unique and interesting ways.

The students of high school science teacher, Mike Mohammad, designed Sphero Robot Chariots.

Details of this engaging, meaningful, student-centered activity are here.  Another perspective from that project, comes from Andelee Espinosa,  a special education teacher who co-teaches with Mr. Mohammad.  In her blog post, she focuses on the inclusion aspects.

Educator Sean Russell created Project SASsafras, which helps students apply computer coding skills to real-world, hands-on activities, using a Sphero robot, an iPad, and CodeSnaps from Curriculum Pathways.

Educator Jen Kaelin challenged her students by creating various geometric shapes on the floor using tape, and her students created code for the Sphero robot to trace the shape, without losing touch with the tape, in one try.

Fellow New Jersey educator @LionsHistorian has a club called Students Teaching About Technology (STAT), where they embarked on a poaching coding project that a student expert created the criteria for, based on goals she presented.

Educator and #SpheroHero Julie Willcott combines the digital with the analog, and believes that the hands-on with the minds-on deepens the learning. In Physics, her students have used Sphero robots – with differently coverings – to evaluate the impact of friction on motion. They have also dropped the Sphero robot in coverings designed to provide collision protection; the live sensors provide measurements of motion for the falling robot.

English teacher Mr. Richard Perry uses various Sphero robots in his 9th and 11th grade English classes to foster text analysis. The Sphero robots are tied to the analysis of literature such as The Grapes of Wrath, The Martian, and also makerspace research projects.  He began by using Sphero robots as a tool to teach empathy and created a model of the Sierra Nevada mountains and assigned a robot to a group of four students. This group was their family, and they needed to get the robot across the country to California, just like the migrants had to travel to California in the Grapes of Wrath. The vast majority of the groups failed. So they learned that, yes, it was possible to have that much bad luck. The big stand out in the class was that a visually impaired in the class, had the most success!  He examined the model with his hands and was able to determine how to correct program the robot to overcome the challenge. The lesson the empathy that year was magnified because the students were able to empathize with the characters, but also see the value of a member of society that they might have otherwise written off as a liability.

Educator Leah LaCrosse has been using Sphero robots with her students since 2005, tells us on her blog that Sphero robots are not about the coding, and offers a extensive list of resources and activities, including her top ten Sphero robot moments, that are worth taking a look at!

Maker extraordinaire and educator Nathan Stevens has students make wooden mazes for Sphero robots, with 2 successful paths and a few dead ends.  The lengths of pieces of wood are in multiple of 3s and students have to code their way through the maze, but they have to make 3″, 6″, 9″ and 12″ pieces work.  The main part of the experience is the math to make the maze work. He points out that this is a great activity to involve parents.  Students draw out maze on paper and then scale up on the wood.; parents do the cutting.

Computer Science educator Greg Murray and his students used Sphero robots to calculate angles, manipulate mazes, and explore planetary rotations. For an end of the year activity, they built battle bots. Sphero robots were placed under red cups that were designed to knock over an opponent’s bot. Those bots were then placed in an arena. After each round, students could learn from what was observed and adjust their bots as needed. Throughout the lesson, he witnessed students discussing strategy and enjoying themselves immensely.

Every Sphero robot product is a blank canvas for kids to build and create. They are innovative and functional, yet simple and intuitive in design, which is why we have had them in our makerspace since the beginning.

If you purchase the Sphero robot BOLT 15 Pack now, you’ll get access to Sphero Robot Fundamentals, a self-guided 90-day course on all things Sphero!

If you purchase the BOLT Power Pack, you’ll receive their Code Mat and 20 activity cards.

Cross posted at worlds-of-learning.com

Laura Fleming has been a classroom teacher and media specialist in grades K-8 and currently is a Library Media Specialist for grades 9-12. She is a well known writer, speaker and consultant on next-generation teaching methods and tools, and the author of the best-selling Worlds of Learning: Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School

The calendar flips to August, and the countdown begins; the “first day” is nearly here. When the day arrives, it starts with a good breakfast and putting on that “first-day outfit.” This look, for most, has been planned for weeks. Mom and Dad take the “first-day picture” and soon the students will set foot in the classroom for the first day of a new year…then what? Your role as a teacher is to set the culture and tone of your classroom from minute one. It’s essential to make students feel welcomed and relaxed. They spend the majority of their day in the classroom, and the more you can do to make it feel welcoming, the better. Going back to school is an exciting time, and it's essential teachers create a warm and welcoming culture until the day students walk out for summer break. But how? Here are a few low-tech, and no-tech, ideas I always like to recommend to staff on their first day:

Hopes and Dreams Padlet

As the new year begins, students have new or restored hopes and dreams; for the year, for themselves, for what the future brings. Padlet (padlet.com) is a tool where a teacher can create a digital pinboard that can be shared with students and families. Teachers can create and then email the unique Padlet link and families a link it and they are on the page. Idea: Ask students what they “hope” for the year. The answers can give you a baseline for your planning and show students you value them as a part of the class. You could start the year displaying the “Board of HOPES” and have students share theirs to create a culture of togetherness. It may also inspire classmates to help each other reach their dreams.

Suggestion Padlet

Again using Padlet, this time promote student voice in your planning. Idea: Ask students WHAT THEY want in the room. Even ask about the structure of centers or suggestions of books they want to read. Students are walking into YOUR room, but asking them for input in designing the room will allow them to have a sense of belonging right from day one.

Share Your Story

Flipgrid (flipgrid.com) is a wonderful tool for collaborative video posting. Flipgrid is a social learning platform that enables teachers to pose a question and have students respond in a video. The idea is to build a “web” of dialogue in the classroom. Students can even respond to a students answer, using video, if you enable the feature as the teacher.  Idea: You can have a welcome back grid introducing yourself, so students know you and your story before they enter your class. Part of your story could be: Why did you go into teaching? Where did you go to college? What are some of your favorite things? What DON’T you want to see in the classroom? Or just an inspirational message. Then ask your students to do the same with student conversation stories. You can start the year knowing your students, and they’ll know you.

GIF-Me

Anyone with a phone has either used, overused, or seen silly GIFs that make someone laugh or show their excitement. GIFs are so popular that many students might even have a GIF keyboard on their phone. There are many free GIF sites on the web: http://picasion.com/ or http://gickr.com/.  Idea: Pose a question to your students as they get ready to come back to school. It could be as straightforward as What is your back-to-school mood? Email the question to your students and/or students’ families depending on age, and ask them to send a GIF as their answer. Day one could be going through the GIF collection from the students. This is a fun way to start the year and get an inside look, without prying, at how your students are feeling.

Classroom Set-up Day

Taking the Padlet suggestion above one step further, you can send an invitation to students before the first day, inviting them to come in and help you set up the classroom. Let your students bring ideas or something from home, and build THEIR classroom. It never hurts to bring snacks and turn on some music. When you can take the time to plan and laugh together, you build a culture of collaborative learning.

“Drop-off Day”

The first day of school for many students begins with a heavy backpack full of supplies and an aching back. Their excitement to arrive may be more about dropping off their bags rather than meeting their teacher and classmates. Idea: Have a “drop-off day” where students can come in, see the class, and drop off materials or supplies. Allowing students to do this before the first day, let’s them meet you, learn how to find their classroom, find their locker, if appropriate, and not be overwhelmed by a backpack full of supplies on the first day.

All of the above are suggestions as to how teachers can make the students’ first day of school exciting and collaborative. Try any or all if you find them suitable for your own hopes and dreams for the year. That said, a must on the first day is to welcome students at the door, by name, and with a smile.  Students want to know their teacher(s) is/are glad to see them and know who they are. This positive tone will set the stage for a joyous classroom and a feeling that it is THEIR learning space. Rob H. keeps it simple: “I shake every pupil’s hand, welcome them, repeating their name to the class, and share with them that I look forward to working with them, with a big smile.” 

cross posted at techinnovation.live

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 25 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist. His work and experience focus on supporting teaching and learning. Follow Dr. Joseph on twitter at @MatthewXJoseph or read his blog techinnovation.live

Discovery Education has added immersive new assets to Discovery Education Experience, the Math, Science, and Social Studies Techbook, and STEM Connect. New content recently added to Discovery Education’s services include:

• All New Shark Week 2019 Content: In Expedition Unknown: Megalodon, explorer Josh Gates and a team of paleontologists study ancient shark teeth to uncover why giant mega-sharks went extinct. In Extinct or Alive: The Lost Shark, biologists explore the Indian Ocean to find out if the rare Pondicherry shark has returned. And in “Return to Shark Island,” shark scientist Dr. Craig O’Connell examines the sudden increase of bull sharks on Achill Island. All programs are now available in Discovery Education Experience and Science Techbook. 
  
• Step Up to the Plate: Students will explore their impact on the environment, learn about the importance of environmental stewardship, and discover how sustainability plays a role in Major League ballparks around the country in six new videos and activities developed in partnership with Major League Baseball. Now available in Discovery Education Experience and Science Techbook, each video and activity introduces an MLB club and presents a different conservation effort including recycling, local food sourcing, water conservation, and energy efficiency
  
• Engineering and biology programs from Science Channel: More than 50 new programs from Science Channel have been added to the Discovery Education Experience and Science Techbook. Incredible Engineering Blunders: Fixed travels with journalist Justin Cunningham as he documents, and tries to fix, some of the worst engineering mistakes in history.
  
• New Short-Form Videos from CheddarK-12: More than 50 original, short-form videos have been added to the collection of CheddarK-12 series available to Discovery Education Experience and Techbook users. Discovery Education Experience users can find all new programs in the CheddarK-12 channel. 
  
• Investigation and Conservation Content from Animal Planet: In Jeremy Wade’s Mighty Rivers, biologist and extreme wrangler Jeremy Wade helps students using Discovery Education Experience and Social Studies Techbook answer questions about the health, sustainability, and hidden depths of our most important waterways, including the Amazon, the Ganges, the Yangtze, the Mississippi, the Danube, and the Zambezi. 
  
• History Content from American Heroes Channel:  Through Tuskegee Airmen: Heroes of World War II, former pilots from the famed African American unit share their stories of flying some of the most dangerous missions of the Second World War.  This content has been added to Discovery Education Experience and Social Studies Techbook.
  
• Math Videos and Interactives Now Available in Spanish: Math Techbook and Discovery Education Experience users now have access to more than 50 core-concept video clips and interactives in Spanish. The programs cover such topics as functions, Pythagorean theorem, similarity and congruence, and probability. Students will apply their math knowledge to solve real-world problems from biologists, urban planners, and emergency rescue teams. 

Users of Discovery Education’s digital services can find the new content here.

In addition, a new Conservation channel for Discovery Education Experience users will aim to inspire students to take informed action on large-scale issues impacting our planet. The channel will feature videos and images directly from World Wildlife Fund’s vast collection, offering students and educators an inside look at WWF’s efforts to support conservation along six goals: climate, food, freshwater, forests, oceans, and wildlife. 

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital curriculum, content services, and professional learning opportunities, visit www.discoveryeducation.com.

Quick: Name the most popular educational video game of all time. Chances are, you said either Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? or The Oregon Trail. 

Those games are classic—created last century. Due to the lack of production and depth of gameplay, the edutainment industry has never really taken off. Where the edutainment industry has fallen short, large studios with big budgets, or triple-A (AAA) video-game companies, have started to step in. Game-based learning—where teachers teach and assess through video games—is being found in more and more classrooms. For those looking to incorporate game-based learning in the classroom, here are the top 10 video games that put the quality of the game first but also offer some educational value.

1 - Minecraft: Education Edition

Minecraft: Education Edition is the reigning champion of game-based learning. The game retains the open-world, sandbox charm of traditional Minecraft while incorporating educational tools and lessons that are very engaging. Minecraft first added lessons in their Chemistry update, which challenges students to “discover the building blocks of matter, combine elements into useful compounds and Minecraft items, and conduct amazing experiments with new lessons and a downloadable world.” Their most recent update, Aquatic, added a new underwater biome to explore. It comes with a host of lessons to incorporate into your classroom. Using the new camera and portfolio, students can capture all their learning in Minecraft and export projects to use in a variety of cool ways. 

2- Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed is a long-running, popular series of video games in which players go back in time as members of the Assassins’ Guild to stop the Templars from exerting control over history. The core games in the series are probably not appropriate for school, but the game’s developer, Ubisoft, has creating a non-violent, educational version of the game with Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Origins takes place in Egypt and features 75 historical tours that range from five to 25 minutes long. They’re set in the game’s open world and cover mummies, cultivation, the Library of Alexandria, and more. 

3 - Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines is like SimCity on steroids. Cities: Skylines is a highly detailed, in-depth city building simulator that encourages system thinking as students have to balance wicked problems brought on by systems—such as taxes versus citizens’ happiness, waste management, traffic, zoning, pollution, and much more. Beyond system thinking, Cities: Skylines is great at teaching civil engineering, civics, and environmentalism. 

4 - Offworld Trading Company

Congratulations! You’re now the CEO of your very own trading company on Mars. The problem is, the other CEOs want to drive your company into the ground so they can control all of Mars’ valuable resources. Can you defeat the competition as you refine basic materials into more complex sellable goods and take control of the market? Offworld is a real-time strategy game that’s great for teaching the basic principles of economics like supply and demand, markets, finance, and opportunity cost. It comes with a fun tutorial that helps students get started on the road to economic success. 

5 - SiLAS

SiLAS is an innovative video game that helps students with social-emotional learning through digital role play. First, students pick an avatar and then act out a social situation in the video game with a teacher or peer. The interaction is recorded live as students play it out. Students and teachers can then play back the interaction to analyze their performance. SiLAS’ onboard curriculum aligns with Universal Design for Learning and Multi-Tiered System of Support standards, but SiLAS is also flexible enough for teachers to use it with their own curricula. SiLAS’ patent-pending technology and focus on active learning separate it from other social skills programs, which are typically paper based and consumed passively. SiLAS’ active lessons have been shown to promote greater engagement, resulting in the development of social skills that carry over into the real world. 

6- Rocket League

I recently started the nation’s first middle-school esports team. My students compete against other schools in Rocket League. While Rocket League may just be cars playing soccer, the game can be used to teach students all of the lessons they would learn from traditional sports such as leadership, communication, and teamwork. Rocket League is a great game for schools looking to start an esports team.

7- DragonBox Math Apps

One of two edutainment video games on this list, DragonBox Math Apps are the best math-as-a-video-game offerings out there. From basic math through algebra, these apps offer the most fun students will have while learning math. 

8 - CodeCombat

CodeCombat, the second edutainment video game on this list, stands out as the best game to come out of the Hour of Code movement. CodeCombat teaches basic Python through a traditional role-playing game (RPG) format. Players level up their character and equipment as they defeat enemies through coding. Fans of RPGs will be delighted by CodeCombat.

9 - Civilization VI

Civ VI is a turn-based strategy game where players control one of dozens of civilizations—such as the Romans, Aztecs, or Chinese—that are trying to carve out their place as the greatest civilization ever. To go along with the riveting, award-winning game play, Civ VI does a masterful job working in educational content around each civilization. Because players can play out historical events on top of the educational game play, Civ VI is a history teacher’s dream game. Civics, religion, government, political science, economics, and math teachers would also get a lot of mileage out of the game. 

10 - Fortnite

Yes, Fortnite. Teachers can try to fight Fortnite’s popularity, or they can embrace what students love and use it to engage them with what they need to learn. This can be done without even using Fortnite in school. Fortnite-themed writing prompts may reach the most reluctant learner. And those who know a little bit about the game can create some great math problems. For example: a topic of debate in Fortnite is the best way to land. The faster you land, the more likely you are to live because you’ll get a weapon sooner. Want to start an engaging debate with your students? Ask them: “Once you jump out of the Battle Bus, what’s the best angle of approach to take if you want to land at Tilted Towers first?” It may sound obvious (a straight line), but it’s not. There are game mechanics, like gliding and fall rate, that need to be taken into account. Another example: Fortnite is played on a 10 x 10 grid, 100-square map, with 100 players. Each square on a Fortnite map is 250m x 250m, making the map 2500m x 2500m. It takes 45 seconds to run across a single square horizontally and vertically, and 64 seconds to run across a single square diagonally. With this information, how many math problems can you create for students? You could even teach them how to use this information to calculate when they should start to run for a safe zone.

Chris Aviles is a teacher at Knollwood Middle School in the Fair Haven School District in Fair Haven, New Jersey. There he runs the renown Fair Haven Innovates program he created in 2015. Chris presents and blogs about a variety of topics including gamification, esports, and passion-based learning. You can keep up with Chris at TechedUpTeacher.com

“The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”- Charlie Munger

The new school year is approaching fast. I will miss spending all day with my toddler, Savvy, but I am looking forward to trying new ideas with my elementary students. I work with all grades at my school and this is my second year with this group of students. I am now equipped with new procedures, web tools, activities, grading strategies, and classroom management strategies to make this an even better year than last year! I also am excited with new ways to transform the learning space and some strategies for strengthening relationships with students and their guardians.  I have taught now for over 2 decades in more than 20 countries with learners of all ages and the 10 tips below have helped me be an effective and energized teacher. I hope you will find them useful as you begin your year with new learners! Scroll down to see the infographic with these 10 tips!

Tips and Resources

• Walk in motivated– You will have the rest of the year to get bogged down, stressed, and in the dumps. What’s wrong with walking in believing you can really make a difference to your learners? Click here for resources to avoid teacher burnout.
• Engage parents– Contact parents  with positive messages about their children to let them know you believe in their children. Some great tools for engaging parents include Class Dojo (this is what many teachers at my school currently use and love), Bloomz, Remind, Class Tag, and Gsuite for Education Apps and Tools. For parent digital newsletters you can try Buncee, Canva, or Smore. Also, feel free to copy and and edit my parent newsletter as you like! I share in this post how to Find more great tips here!
• Change the classroom environment– In chapter 24 of The 30 Goals Challenge, I talk about different ways to change your classroom to enhance the learning. Take students outside, use learning stations, use mobile devices, or makerspaces. Encourage learners to take part in creating their own learning environments:
     Have them graffiti on butcher paper on the wall
     Have them post their inspirational quotes on the wall
     Have them help design the bulletin board, calendars, or your virtual learning spaces!
• Get to know your students– I teacher over 400 students and getting to know their names can be tricky. Here’s a post with great tips to learn their names and help others learn their names. It is also important students learn about each other. Digital storytelling and culturally responsive teaching is a great way to do this!
• Be preventative and proactive when it comes to classroom management– My class is full of routines, procedures, expectations, student leadership roles and responsibilities. Building relationships between students and also with me really helps maintain my classroom. Classroom management tips and strategies are discussed in chapter 19 of The 30 Goals Challenge.
• Unbind yourself from textbooks– You know what your students need to learn so feel free to pick and choose what will work in the book and try having students be the main content creators of materials. Find more than 20 strategies to engage learners with the knowledge in the textbook here.
• Build a teacher survival kit– I knew a teacher, who carried in her purse, masking tape, scissors, a small cushion ball, and other supplies for emergencies. This was her kit, which made her flexible to change her lessons or get kids moving in case of fire drills, student restlessness, etc. I talk about this more in detail in chapter 9 of The 30 Goals Challenge. Find more resources here!
• Cultivate relationships– Check out my icebreakers for children and icebreakers for teens and adults. Find plenty more get to know you activities on my Icebreakers page.
• Integrate technology effectively– Pedagogy first then technology. Find more tips on my page, Survival Tips for Integrating Technology and my post, Putting the “T” in STEM! 60+ Resources for Teaching Children with Technology! When we use technology it should:
      Support students ownership of learning
      Allow students to be content creators
      Engage and motivate students to be continuous learners
      Support effective communication, especially with peers worldwide
• Have fun!– Students should leave your class feeling that math, science, reading, writing, etc. can be fun so that they continue the exploration and learning outside your class! Check out my posts about coding, creating digital games, TPR, or using games in the classroom!

Infographic

Challenge: Try these ideas in your classroom and share your tips with us in the comments!

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

www.dellemc.com/k12 ■ Starting at $619 ($892 review unit as configured)

The 13.3-inch Dell Latitude 3300 for Education laptop is a well designed and rugged device for teachers who still prefer to use Windows devices but don’t want to break the bank. The device for this review came with 4 GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8 GB), a 7th Generation Core i3, 2.3 GHz processor (upgradeable up to Core i5), 128 GB solid-state hard drive, 1080p touchscreen, Dual Band AC wireless, and USB Type-C charging. It also sports all of the necessary external ports such as HDMI, two USB 3.0 and C ports, micro-SD, 3.5mm audio, and RJ-45 port. 

The Latitude 3300 is designed and built to withstand the day-to-day needs of today’s modern learners who need a rugged device for various environments, yet it’s powerful enough for collaboration, creating, and consuming content. It has an advertised battery life of just under 17 hours (the time varied with my usage), so it can definitely fit into any school’s 1:1 program for a full day’s use.

The device starts up and logs in quickly and seems very responsive to everyday classroom tasks and collaboration. The solid-state hard drive starts programs and accesses data very quickly. The track pad can be adjusted to meet the user’s individual needs. 

One feature that makes this unit stand out is the available support package. Dell SupportAssist is an automated support feature that gives users 24/7 access to technicians as well as onsite service for both hardware and software issues. The system automatically detects hardware and software problems and sends system alerts by email when they occur. For any school that needs to manage a fleet of computers, this can be a time- and money-saving feature. 

Although the Latitude 3300 has several hardware configurations, the most creative features are in its design and build. This laptop is lightweight and durable. The case and components are not flimsy and the shell does not feel like cheap plastic but has a nice look and feel, with rubber trim for drop resistance. The computer runs fairly cool and is well ventilated. The touch screen is bright and responsive in a variety of lighting scenarios. 

This unit is designed to be used in and out of the classroom, with the right ports and collaborative features for use in a variety of learning environments. Plus, it can stand up to the rigors of the backpack and the locker. Add in the optional SupportAssist features to make your school technician’s job a little easier, and you have a winning combination. 

The Dell Latitude 3300 bridges the gap between a solely cloud-based computer and a networked Windows PC. This product can meet both the cloud and standard Windows environment needs of any student or teacher. Its rugged design, long battery life, configuration, support options, and price make it an excellent option for schools.

OVERALL RATING:

The Dell Latitude 3300’s rugged design, long battery life, configuration, support options, and price make it an excellent option for schools.

TOP FEATURES

• Rugged design.
• Lightweight & durable.
• Long battery life.

Just in time for back-to-school season, Apple has refreshed two of its most affordable MacBooks for 2019. 

MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar

The $1,299 starting model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro has been updated with an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, and finally gains the Touch Bar, Touch ID functionality and T2 Security chip of its more premium siblings. This starting model also now features a True Tone display. The rest of the Pro's specs remain largely unchanged, with the laptop housing 8GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645.

The main differences now between the entry-level MacBook Pro and pricier model is two Thunderbolt 3 ports versus four ports, faster performance and more powerful Iris graphics.

MacBook Air Gets True Tone

Apple's latest MacBook Air also got a price drop and minor spec bump. The laptop now starts at $1,099 and has gained a True Tone display. This model also packs an 8th Gen Core i5 chip, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of SSD storage and Intel 617 graphics.

College students can snag these laptops for even cheaper, as the new Pro costs $1,119 for school-bound buyers while the starting Air costs just $999 via the Apple Education Storestarting today. Both laptops also include a free pair of qualifying Beats Studio 3 headphones.

With the arrival of these new entry-level Macs, Apple has stopped selling both the 12-inch MacBook as well as the previous generation MacBook Air. The death of the 12-inch MacBook is no surprise, though many Apple fans still prefer the older MacBook Air due to its deeper-travel keyboard.

Apple is rumored to abandon its divisive Butterfly keyboards by the end of the year, so those who yearn for those classic MacBook keys may want to wait a few months to see what shakes out. 

To find out which 13-inch MacBook is best for you check out our MacBook Pro vs Air (2019) face-off.

cross posted at laptopmag.com

The new school year has started and resolutions are top of mind. Sure, this could mean kids pledging to tackle their homework before the quarterback or spending a fortnight on the science fair instead of a fair part of after school hours on Fortnite. But the real resolution on teacher and admin’s mind has more to do with pixels and OLED panels.

In the world of displays, Full HD once boasted the sharpest picture a teacher could hope for. But new players have upped the game to 4K Ultra HD levels. Crisp images with endless detail reinvigorate lesson plans to engage little minds. Four times the pixels, with a total res of 3840x2160, equals visual clarity and a wow-factor— particularly for work stations where kids sit close to the screen. Even from 12-20 inches, individual densely packed pixels melt together for a seamless image. 

Classrooms upgrading to 4K from 1080p Full HD will only feel a serious impact when viewing material made for those 8 million pixels. To truly take advantage of the display’s visuals; access 4K/Ultra HD content on Amazon, Netflix, YouTube’s HDR Channel and nature travel programs such as those by Jacob + Katie Schwarz — or by building an educational 4K Blue-ray Library. For larger displays, 4K is assumed to become the new standard so investing now rather than opting for soon-to-be-outdated makes sense for the long term budget.

Photography students will love finally being able to access all of the information their trusty digital lenses are capturing. Students with special needs or little ones who struggle with focus and attention issues will love the immersive nature of close image fields sans pesky grids and the distraction of visible pixels. But while “4K” sounds exciting and unbeatable — other factors beyond resolution can impact the projector's overall picture quality. Aspects like higher quality optics/lenses, higher light output and contrast ratios go, longer lamp life, lower noise and better color should also be considered when picking the perfect projector. 

“Ultra HD is the next natural step forward in display technologies, offering consumers an incredibly immersive viewing experience with outstanding new levels of picture quality,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. The consumer electronics industry’s designation for Ultra HD products also defined the core characteristics of Ultra High-Definition TVs, monitors and projectors for the home. Minimum performance attributes include display resolution of at least eight million active pixels, with at least 3,840 horizontally and at least 2,160 vertically. Displays will have an aspect ratio with width to height of at least 16 X 9. To use the Ultra HD label, display products will require at least one digital input capable of carrying and presenting native 4K format video from this input at full 3,840 X 2,160 resolution.

From projectors to displays, here are four options to help your students gain clarity into their studies.

Casio 4K Ultra HD Projector

XJ-L8300HN

http://www.casio.com/products/projectors/4k-hd-projectors/xj-l8300hn

This lamp-free model features 5000 lumens brightness, with potential for advanced image-processing tech and high-speed switching of more than 4 million DMD (digital micromirror devices) with the installation of a DLP chip. The ability to project 8.3 M pixels and achieve 4K Ultra HD res will paint a pretty picture on any classroom wall.

ViewSonic

ViewBoard IFP7550 Flat Screen Display

https://www.viewsonic.com/us/ifp7550.html

Another option to amp up the clarity, this display offers 4K Ultra HD resolution and immersive 20-point touch screen. The 75” interactive flat panel lets multiple users write or draw on the screen with their fingers and styluses. The display’s built-in quad-core processor and multiple connectivity options (HDMI, VGA, RS232, RJ45, and USB ports) provide annotation and multimedia playback without the need for a PC. Can be placed on a wall mount, or optional trolley cart. T&L Judges loved both the display and casting software when awarding this an ISTE Best of Show nod.

Sony 4K Projector SXRD

VPL-VW295ES

https://www.sony.com/electronics/projector/vpl-vw295es

This HDR compatible projector offers native 4K image display, 1,500 lumens brightness and Reality Creation for enhanced detail. Bonus for those looking to future-proof, the built-in 3D transmitter that supports 3D video in a variety of formats, and can even convert your 2D movie classics to high-quality simulated 3D immersive video.

Epson BrightLink 

697Ui Interactive Display

https://epson.com/For-Work/Projectors/Interactive/BrightLink-697Ui-Wireless-Full-HD-3LCD-Ultra-Short-throw-Interactive-Display/p/V11H823022

T&L Editors gave this Full HD interactive projector a 2018 Award for Excellence for its competitive price, whiteboard screen sharing and ability to project onto a wall painted with whiteboard paint and using dry-erase markers so outlined images remain even after the projector is turned off.

It’s been an awesome week! Jump started it on Monday working with a small group of middle school and elementary teachers in the great state of Arizona. And am bookending it today and tomorrow with the fantastic staff at Rockdale County schools outside Atlanta. It doesn’t get much better than working with social studies folks who are passionate about their work.

And the super crazy thing?

They all start with kids next Monday. Next. Monday. As in, four days from today. Seriously? I would be so freaked out – worried about all the different things that need to get down to kick off the school year. But both groups have jumped in with both feet – learning new things, sharing their ideas, playing with tech tools.

But it got me thinking. Maybe you’re in the same boat, ready to shove off with kids already next week. If you are, this post is probably a few days too late. But I’m hoping that for most of you, you’ve got at least one or two more weekends before your first student contact day.

To help energize your first awesome week with kids, here are six great ways to kick off the school year. Use what you can. Adapt what you can’t.

What not to do

But before we get too far along with what we know works, it’s probably a good idea to think about what doesn’t. I’ve mentioned Fourteen Things You Should Never Do on the First Day of School before but it’s still a great reminder of what it looks like when we’re doing it wrong. Mark Barnes suggest that your goal should be a very simple one during the first few days of school:

You have many days to assess students’ strengths and weaknesses. You have months to discuss high stakes testing and standards. You’ll spend weeks probing the textbook.

The first day of school should be dedicated to rapport-building and to joy.

Your goal should be that students go home that night and tell their parents: “I’m going to love history class because my teacher is awesome!”

So what should we be doing the first week?

Kids need to be in groups. They need to be solving problems. They need to get a taste of some social studies and play with some social studies tools. They need to know that it’s okay to fail. Find out more about them. They should practice a few critical thinking skills. Maybe a little tech here and there. Have fun.

Need some specifics? Start with these six:

1. Try a digital scavenger hunt

I love the idea of a #FlipHunt, even if I’ve never ran one with kids. Use Flipgrid to create a digital scavenger hunt. You create the Tasks to engage your students and challenge them to show what they know with video responses. Learn more about what this might look like from the #FlipHunt inventor, Kathi Kersznowski.

Not super comfortable with Flipgrid? Try the free Goose Chase app. Each GooseChase game has a list of missions for participants to complete. You can create your mission list using our bank of 100+ tested missions or by designing your own from scratch. Text & GPS missions are also possible.

2. Social Studies Boot Camp

Jill Weber teaches high school social studies in Maize, Kansas and is the 2016 Gilder Lehrman History of the Year. Several years ago, she decided to kick off her year teaching middle school by holding a week-long social studies Boot Camp that focused on historical thinking skills, types of evidence, problem solving, and collaborative learning.

She wrote a guest post that highlights all of her stuff, including handouts and lesson plans. You know you want to jump in on this cause . . . well, it’s awesome. Get all of the goodness here.

3. Geo Goodness

I love Google Earth and all of its bells and whistles. But the following activity is a great way to hook kids using just the basics of GE that is very simple to implement. Heck, you can use Google Maps if it makes things easier.

I call the activity “Where Are We?” and can be used to introduce a variety of history or geography units. Get the walkthrough here.

Then head over to this cool list of famous landmarks seen from different perspectives. Do a little bit of the same thing as with the Where Are We activity. This time kids have to guess what landmark we’re looking at. Require them to prove it using other photos that they scavenge from the interwebs. Feel free to have them do some extra research to create their own list.

Or check out Smarty Pins and  Geoguessr. Both are fun, cool, and somewhat educational geo games. Making them perfect for the first week of school.

I have always been a huge fan of the this activity. Heck, we used it this week out in Arizona. Cause it works. Every time.

Go here to get info about the original version and the modified version. You’re welcome.

5. Memes

Give kids a bare bones scope and sequence of your content for the semester or year. Have kids pick one topic, person, event, or place from that scope and sequence. (Okay to work in groups of two? Absolutely.) Give them 10 minutes to become experts on that topic, person, event, or place.

Their task? Create a super hilarious and historically accurate meme and post it for contest viewing. Print them out (or use a tech tool such as Wakelet, Padlet, or Google Docs) and have kids arrange them chronologically, thematically, or heck . . . .by most super hilariousness.

Perfect for highlighting your content for the next few months. Gets kids up and doing. Solving problems. Cracking wise. Perfect first week activity.

Get some inspiration and specifics here.

6. Play with some art

Start by dividing your kids into groups of three. (Or two per group depending on your odds or evens.) Each group needs an internet friendly device. Direct them to the very fun site:

Quick Draw names an object or idea and asks you to draw it using a trackpad, stylus, or mouse depending on your device. (iPads or touch screens work best, just saying.) You have 20 seconds to draw it in such a way that another part of Quick Draw can guess what it is. (Trust me. It makes sense once you do it.) If you can’t draw the object in 20 seconds, it automatically jumps to the next one.

You’re given a total of six things to draw.

I’m sure you’re starting to see where this is going. You’ve got teams of kids. A contest. With tech. Let the fun begin.

Each group alternates drawing objects so everyone gets a chance to show off their artistic abilities. (Good luck drawing animal migration in 20 seconds. Just saying that came up in Arizona.) Maybe give them a practice round before you start eliminating kids.

The point to this is to get them thinking about art in the social studies. I especially love the idea of having kids create fan fiction versions of iconic paintings. Browse through this article about about recreating Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms. Then explore an extension of that idea at ForFreedoms. Have kids create their own versions of Rockwell’s work. Then dig into more art options here.

Explore these very cool Library of Congress interactive apps and tools.

Have a great first week of school!

cross posted at glennwiebe.org

Glenn Wiebe is an education and technology consultant with 15 years' experience teaching history and social studies. He is a curriculum consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, blogs frequently at History Tech and maintains Social Studies Central, a repository of resources targeted at K-12 educators. Visit glennwiebe.org to learn more about his speaking and presentation on education technology, innovative instruction and social studies.

“Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”- Mattie Stepanek

Relationships are the most important factor in your effectiveness as a teacher and your student’s success! Knowing students and them confiding in us and working with us and their peers helps us figure out their interests, strengths, insecurities, struggles, and passions. It doesn’t matter how behind your students are, strong bonds lead to student success. Building relationships is continuous but you don’t have to dedicate hours of your curriculum. The following teambuilding and get to know you activities often take less than 5 minutes and have helped my students build strong bonds with each other and me! See illustrated examples in the slideshow.

Fostering Peer-to-Peer Relationships in the First 5 Minutes

We must also continuously foster peer-to-peer relationships. I teach multiple grades in elementary and I have noticed how mean students can be to each other, especially since they are used to trash talking each other in video games they play daily. I do a lot of team building within the first 5 minutes of class. Students follow a procedure where they walk into my classroom and sit down on lined duct tape and prepare for the warm up.

• When I notice a class especially mean to each other I explain to them, “Most of you are going to be in classes together over the next 5, 6, 7 or more years so you might as well learn how to get along and help each other. Life is hard enough without friends to get you by.” Then I will divide them in pairs or small groups of 3 and ask them to invent a handshake/dance in pairs before they are dismissed to their seats.
• Sometimes I divide the class in 2 lines across from each other and walk them through high fiving each other as they say, “GG, good game, great work” or other nice comment. We do this after a discussion about being a great team player.

More Get to Know You Activities

• Copy my Get to Know You Bingo handout to print and edit here. This is the one I plan on using during the first week of school.
• This is the digital Get to Know You Bingo for 1 to 1 settings. It is more colorful. Feel free to edit the colors and clipart.
• Find tons of get-to-know you activities and icebreakers I’ve created here.
• These are get-to-know you activities specifically for young learners and children.
• These are get-to-know you activities for teens and adults.

Challenge: Do a teambuilding or get to know you activity at least once a week to continue cultivating relationships! Some of these take 5 minutes or less.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.