Straight from FETC 2010: EdTech Resources you need!

Well, I have to say day 1 of the FETC conference was a blast! It was great to finally get down there, attend some sessions, meet some awesome people, and find some great resources. The first session we attended was the Brown Bag Shootout – where three speakers (Leslie Fisher, John Kuglin, and Hall Davidson) all spilled their favorite edtech resources – exactly what I like to hear!

So, reporting for you are all the great tools I learned about today! The first one I want to tell you about became so completely relevant today – as I realized I NEEDED it badly. Evernote. With Evernote, you can type a note, snap a photo, clip a webpage, grab a screenshot, basically anything, then Evernote will organize it, process it, index it, and make it SEARCHABLE. You can add tags, or organize your notes in different notebooks. This is my favorite part: Evernote makes printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable. Whoa. I think this one is a keeper. Check out Evernote here.

The next one from this session that I loved is Zamzar. This site makes converting files as easy as you could possibly make it. Just last week I was so annoyed trying to find a way to convert files. You constantly have to download programs to your computer just to realize it doesn’t do what you want it to do. Who even wants to deal with that mess? Not me. From Zamzar’s site you can browse your computer for a file, upload it, and it converts it directly from there. OR get this – you can enter a URL (say a video from YouTube), and it converts it! You just enter your email address, and it sends you the file. If that’s not simple enough – it’s free. Doesn’t get much better! Check out Zamzar here.

The next goodie has to do with creating polls. I think we could easily say that basically every kid has a cell phone. So, incorporate technology AND get your polls flooded with data using Poll Everywhere. With Poll Everywhere, your students can text their answer to the poll and it will update automatically! Check out Poll Everywhere here.

This next was SO fun to see. It’s the Discovery Time Warp. This is actually a TV series, but it is a great education tool. They do record experiments, then slow down the video to break it down, and show you the science behind the experiment. Cool! Be sure to check out these videos here: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/time-warp/ The Water Balloon one was pretty cool!

Some other great tools they talked about:

• Google Earth
• Yelp
• Orbicule
• Jing
• SlideRocket (this one isn’t a freebie, folks, but it looks cool)
• Etherpad (not free either, but hang tight – supposedly there is a Google Docs integration coming soon)

Enjoy and stay tuned for more goodies covered at FETC!