048 – NoRedInk, Vocabulary.com, & Google Certification

Episode 48 of the EdTech TV Podcast visits “older” technology that may not get a highlight as often in the days where there’s a new toy to play with every week. Also: a brief review of Google Certification.

Revisiting Old Tech – NoRedInk, Vocabulary.com, Kahoot

There’s a lot of great technology out there that can help students, but that often don’t get mentioned because it’s not the newest or the shiniest thing to play with. In the future, I hope to spend more time featuring some of these stalwarts of EdTech. Today I’m focusing on some of the tools that are in my own field, but can easily be adapted to help students understand content across a wide variety of fields.

NoRedInk:

NoRedInk is an online platform that helps students improve their grammar and writing skills by helping them build confidence through relevant content and instant feedback. Check out the intro video here:

Vocabulary.com:

Vocabulary.com serves a pretty obvious function – to help people build their vocabulary. What many might skip over is how robust the site is. Take a look at this overview, and consider having your students work on their own to build personalized vocabulary lists in your field.

Kahoot:

Kahoot is not quite old, but it is well known, and is often dismissed too casually by teachers who are looking for the latest and the greatest. Consider keeping Kahoot in the toolbox for regular access. It’s engaging for the students, and keeps them on task.

Check out my previous post about Kahoot:

Kahoot It for Warm Ups and Follow Ups

Google Certified Educator

I recently went through the Google Certified Educator’s program through the Google for Education Training Center I was certified for Level 1 and Level 2:

Believe it or not, I never bothered to get Google Certified before. The training on Google’s site was awful, but the test itself was pretty cool and useful. Not a lot of new info if you’ve been working with GAFE/GSuiteEdu for a while, but a couple of worthwhile nuggets. They’re still trying to push G+, which is… Well… Regardless, I’ll give #2 a try next

A post shared by Brent Warner @ EdTech.tv (@edtechtv) on Jun 17, 2017 at 8:16am PDT

Aaaand there’s Level 2‍I enjoyed this one more – better focus on classroom application. Glad I did it

A post shared by Brent Warner @ EdTech.tv (@edtechtv) on Jun 19, 2017 at 9:17pm PDT

Certification is a worthwhile pursuit, but it’s worth knowing that if you already consider yourself fairly tech-savvy, that it may not contain a lot of new information for you. On the other hand, it’s a good way to show that you have developed a skillset, and you can use that skillset to specifically better the practices in your classroom and at your school site.

Non-Tech Rec

I prefer small binder clips like these that can hold together papers for one assignment for a single class. Color coding the binder clips for different purposes can save a lot of time and effort.