This is a question asked over and over again, each benchmark along the way as technology is learned and applied in lessons. If you are like most educators today, complexity must be avoided at all costs. As you long to apply a new technology, a couple questions need to asked first.
- How are you already using technology?
- What are your goals for incorporating technology?
- How can you use technology to make your lessons more engaging?
Since 2007 I participated in and completed our district’s TILT program, Teachers Integrating and Learning Technology through Billings Public Schools. I explored technology in the TILT program and began to realize just how much is ”out there.” Even after eighteen months of study, confusion kept me from making the connections necessary to truly bring my classroom into the 21st Century, as I longed to. Encouragement from my awesome facilitator (Thanks, Desiree Caskey!) kept me searching for what would work for me. What I discovered is how understanding one program lends itself to learning the next. One exciting thing is the way these webtools are evolving, becoming even more synonymous or, if you will, fluid. This is great news for educators who want to “dip their toes” into technology and bring these highly motivating tools into their classrooms.
As educators we are plagued by many obvious factors running throughout the school year, such as assessments, records and (of course,) the ever-looming standardized testing cloud each spring. Instructors need a “down-to-earth” plan to follow. To start learning a tool only to stop, again and again, creates a weary teacher who is uninterested in participating in technology.
With all the webtools out there, exactly where should one begin?
- What tools actually work?
- How and where do I begin?
- Could you “just gimme the facts?”
If you are looking for solutions for getting organized this school year, I have five suggestions. Get your school year “off and running” with these organizational tools: Livebinders, Symbaloo, Dropbox, Evernote, and Delicious.
LiveBinders keeps you connected.
LiveBinders is a technology tool useful in collecting information and keeping it all together. Use it for keeping your favorite sites or activities at your fingertips. As I write this, I am adding these webtools to LiveBinders. I hope you’ll add my binder “TechQuest” to your own library shelf.
With Symbaloo everything is just one click away.
Symbaloo is a favorite of mine. It is set as the homepage for all my browsers I use: Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Not only is it so useful, it looks great with the wallpaper designs. This will be a tool you will most appreciate.
Dropbox allows you to store most anything online.
Dropbox is online storage in the clouds. This means you have access to it at all times, on any device, and it syncs information, regardless how it is added. Add your documents, files, videos and share with colleagues. Now you can create lesson plans or units and store them online. Open them whenever you need to use them or update them, wherever you are.
Keep organized every day with Evernote.
Evernote is my absolute favorite webtool! It’s like organizing every note I have, every piece of information I need to look at another time. I don’t lose anything. And, are you ready for this? It is the perfect student documentation tool out there. You can record audio, upload pictures, or add text. Scan all those loose receipts and organize your life.
Access your bookmarks anywhere with Delicious.
Delicious organizes my bookmarks and keeps them handy for me to use. Also, it provides “add ons” for my browser to allow me to quickly add it to my collection. I can search for popular bookmarks on any topic. With Delicious I can socially bookmark with my friends.
Article taken and revised from Tech Quest for Educators by Dorie Lambert.
