By the NJEA Technology Committee
In the uncertain times of a global pandemic, the way we live, work and learn has shifted dramatically to a (mostly) digital environment. The NJEA Technology Committee has shared its top 12 resources, tools and apps to help as you navigate this new space.
PowerMyLearning
powermylearning.org
Subject: A collection of online academic activities and teacher tools
Grade level: K-12
PowerMyLearning is free and offers an exhaustive collection of online activities. Teacher tools allow playlist and assignment creation. Choose from its library, or use your own favorite online resources. It has a high-quality interface and is reliable.
EVERFI
everfi.com
Subject: Digital Citizenship
Grade level: K-12
EVERFI helps teachers, schools and districts bring real-world skills to students. It provides a digital platform, training, and support at no cost. When it comes to digital citizenship, hands-on activities, STEM, and a comprehensive curriculum are available.
Jamboard
jamboard.google.com/
Subject: Jamboard for remote learning with Google Meets and Classroom
Grade level: K-12
Jamboard is an interactive whiteboard system developed by Google as part of Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite. Jamboard works seamlessly when using Google Classroom and Google Meet together.
Kami
kamiapp.com
Subject: Google Classroom extension
Grade level: K-12
Create an engaging and collaborative learning environment with Kami. As a digital pen/paper, students can annotate on digital ebooks and worksheets. Boost students’ creativity to draw freely and annotate with a selection of colors, shapes and text sizes.
EdPuzzle
edpuzzle.com
Subject: Create quizzes for videos
Grade level: K-12
With EdPuzzle, turn millions of videos on YouTube, Khan Academy, Crash Course into comprehension quizzes. Use your own videos or edit online videos to suit your students’ needs, even use voice overs.
Spot the Troll
spotthetroll.org
Subject: Digital citizenship
Grade level: 6-12
Can your students determine if a social media account is real or fake? This website from Clemson University provides a mixture of social media accounts for students to examine to determine if the account is real or fake and then explains how it was determined that the fake accounts are fake.
Factitious
factitious.augamestudio.com/#/
Subject: Digital citizenship
Grade level: 6-12
Factitious provides short news articles and their sources for students to decide if the article is real news or fake news. It even has a pandemic version.
Gnu Image Manipulation Program
gimp.org
Subject: Graphic design tool
Grade level: K-12
This is a free cross-platform image editor available for all operating systems. It provides the tools needed for high-quality image manipulation from retouching to restoring to creative composites.
Smart Learning Suite
smarttech.com/en/smart-learning-suite
Subject: Teaching/learning tool
Grade level: K-12
Intuitive web-based software that allows teachers to create great lessons and that is interactive for students.
Be Internet Awesome
beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/
Subject: Digital citizenship
Grade level: K-8
Be Internet Awesome teaches students the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence.
Goose Chase
goosechase.co/edu
Subject: Educational scavenger hunts
Grade level: K-12
Educators can create digital scavenger hunts that include plenty of templates, and that can be integrated into any curriculum.
Educandy
educandy.com
Subject: Educational, interactive games
Grade level: K-12
With Educandy, you can create engaging activities in minutes. Just enter your words, or questions and answers, and it turns your content into cool, interactive games.
Netstory
netstory.io
Subject: Create your own story
Grade level: K-12
This is a new way of both experiencing stories and creating them. Netstory is a combination of old fashioned text adventures, books and video games with modern browsers to create a new standard for interactive fiction.
Monkey Learn
monkeylearn.com/word-cloud
Subject: Word cloud generator
Grade level: K-12
A word cloud is a visual representation of words that is used to highlight popular words and phrases based on frequency and relevance. This provides quick and simple visual insights that can lead to more in-depth discussions.
Citizen DJ
https://labs.loc.gov/work/experiments/citizen-dj/
Subject: Mix music for projects
Grade level: K-12
Make music using the Library of Congress public audio collections.
CurrikiStudio
curriki.org/currikistudio-overview
Subject: Creative interactive content
Grade level: K-12
Teachers create an enormous variety of interactive exercises for students.