Communicate .. Create .. EdTech

Doctopus seems like a viable alternative to Hapara. Doctopus is free (Hapara is currently $4 per student), and although it may not have all the capabilities of Hapara, those who use it claim they can’t live without it!

In a prior post we examined quality tech tools that can be used as a means of formative assessment.  I found another one – Quick Key.


Quick Key took little time to set up, and adding quizzes is very easy.  The app is free, but only available on iOS at this time.  They are working to develop the Android app.  Check out their video below, then give it a try!

Having struggled with reading in my youth, facing the works of Shakespeare was a daunting experience.  Reading and re-reading got me through it, but there was limited understanding and hardly a grasp of subtle context.  Unfortunately, I never developed a love of Shakespeare as a younger reader.

Now, there are apps that help students engage with Shakespeare in a more interactive way.  Check out Shakespeare in Bits, an app for iOS.  It is a multi-media approach to learning Shakespeare.  

iGoogle's 'end of life' is coming up on 11/1/13. Been getting some good responses to this little YouTube video tutorial I created a while back, and thought it was worth re-posting here.

igHome seems to be a fitting replacement for iGoogle, with similar functions and look and feel. The transition, explained in the 4 minute video below, is fairly easy.

One question that comes up is "Who are these guys?" While the site does not directly answer that (unfortunately) with an About page (more than a few people have requested that get added, via igHome's support page), here is a link to their privacy policy, which, in my opinion, looks ok. On that page is also a link to send email if you want to pursue who they are in more depth...

If you use iGoogle as your start page, or as an RSS feed reader, igHome is a good replacement to consider. Don't wait - iGoogle's demise is planned 11/1/13!

• Core-focused: The learning objective poses the question.  It is the essence of what students should examine and know in a course of study. The same question can be re-asked throughout a main subject (for example, Math), but with increasing levels of sophistication.
• Inquiry-based: The question is open-ended and resists an obvious simple or single right answer.  It precludes a creative choice that transforms the search for knowledge.
• Reinforce Thinking Skills:  Requires students to draw upon content knowledge, personal experience, and other information they have gathered to construct their own answers.  It causes students to search for an answer using critical thinking (ultimately using Bloom’s higher order thinking).
• Interdisciplinary: They usually lend themselves to multidisciplinary investigations, requiring for example, that students apply the skills and perspectives of math and language arts to social studies or science.
• Engaging: Should be created to provoke and sustain student interest. Engaging questions are thought provoking, likely to produce interesting student questions, and take into consideration diverse interests and learning styles.

After reading through the information on what makes a quality essential question, a teacher realizes it’s more that identifying the day’s learning objective.  The question pulls the students into the lesson even before the lesson begins.  It sparks interest, makes a connection, stirs debate. Definitely worth the time to consider and post.  Refer to the guide to see samples of effective essential questions.

You can review units for grades 3, 6 and 9 online, but regular access is a very inexpensive ($30/year per grade level group).