Exploring Digital Resources
Padlet
Let me start by saying I have heard of padlet but I have never used the program before. When I first opened the program it was very simple to sign up but without a subscription it only allows 3 padlets, the subscriptions were not bad for 2 teachers in the classroom the cost was only 199/year or less then 16.60 per month. Once I opened it, there were several tutorial videos to show how you can use a padlet. It uses pictures to tell a story and as a history teacher this really could be amazing to use. I could use this and have the students post pictures that relate to what we are studying in class with explanations of the pictures presented in their own words. There also seems to be ways to create videos although I did not create one this idea does seem like something I would do for a project in class. I also found an AI part of the padlet, which is becoming more and more a part of programs we use in the classroom, and asked it to create a timeline within 2 min. It created a timeline for the Roman empire, this is something that honestly would have taken me hours to complete and I love saving time when it comes to creating lessons.
Advantages
I feel there are several advantages and disadvantages to Padlet. One advantage is you can have students create their own padlets and use them as a word wall. Another would be as I said before saving time to create pictures. I also believe that padlet will increase engagement in students, in history particularly we analyze a lot of pictures throughout the year, and students can create their own picture wall with their detailed explanations of each picture. I also believe it will help with collaboration between students because of the way students can interact with each other's padlet.
Disadvantages
I believe one of the biggest disadvantages is the fact that it is difficult to monitor what each student puts on other students padlet. This can be monitored by GoGuardian, or by limiting when the students can share but there will always be that possibility. Another disadvantage I found was it was a bit difficult to understand how it works, now I am sure over time it would be easier to understand and create the padlet you wanted.
Jeopardy Labs
This was something I found just searching up educational games. I have always loved using other Jeopardy games but never knew there was a web page where I could build my own. To join the website and use all of its features there is a $20 dollar fee for lifetime use of the website. I found that looking for a specific game a little difficult, but once I refined my search I was able to find what I need for any class that I teach. I also had several to choose from, so if I did not like the questions I could edit it by cloning it and then editing the questions. There was also the option of building, I could choose how many questions that will be in each column and the amount each question will be worth. I love the idea of using this type of game to be used for the end of section review, used before a unit test, or the staar test. The downside is that it can only be used a few times a year and has its limitations versus other games that are now available, but the few times I would use it my kids would love playing it. Overall I would use this website but again very sparingly, too much and the students would get bored very quickly and they would lose interest.
Advantages
It is a great way to review and prepare for a test or a summative assessment. Easy to create or to search for a jeopardy that has already been made by someone else. It also was easy to set up my own game with questions that would challenge my students and better prepare them for the test. It's fun and competitive, this allows competition between the students.
Disadvantages
Again it can only be used a few times a year, it's sole purpose is as a review game. It is limited, and can become boring to kids if used too much. In comparison to newer games such as Gimkit, Blooket, Nearpod, it is very basic, and when students are used to playing Fortnite or Halo it can get very boring pretty quickly.
Mentimeter
Is very much like PowerPoint or Google Slides, but adds the ability for students to interact with the presentation through interactive pieces such as polls, or Q and A sessions. In fact as I started using Mentimeter I found a place where I can import a PowerPoint or a PDF, or connect to Google Slides. On the downside, in order to connect or import the slides I had to buy the basic or pro plans that were available for $10(basic) or $16(pro). When I created a presentation I had the options of starting from scratch, using a template, or importing slides(which needs a plan to do). I started with a template which gave me several options to use for my presentation, and I could personalize the information as I needed. This was helpful having a template that allowed me to put in a quiz mid PowerPoint so I could make sure the students would get it and break it up. There were so many different templates that I could have used such as an open ended question, or word cloud to give the students different stimuli. This is a great program but I feel for the money there are better programs out there for me to use. It did give me different options and that is what I really liked about the program. I like routine but the students get bored when we do the same things and changing it up makes it so much more fun.
Advantages
Mentimeter has so many different ways to engage my students and also gives me results of the questions in real time. This means I can give feedback to my students instantly, which allows me to reteach the areas that I need to. It also makes it fun for the kids by almost giving the kids a brain break without going away from the PowerPoint and staying on topic. It was very simple to put a presentation together and made it easy to integrate everything together.
Disadvantages
I had to buy a plan, the free plan was very limiting. It did not allow me to import my slides or PowerPoints which I rely so heavily on for my classes. It was also very limited on how I could customize my presentation especially with pictures on the quizzes. In order to really use Mentimeter you have to buy a plan, they are not bad, but I honestly would rather spend my money on other apps that allow me more flexibility for the same price.
Edpuzzle
I have heard so much about Edpuzzle but I have never looked into or used it, till now. I knew it was a way to integrate videos into lessons but it went way beyond that. Once I signed up, it gave me a tutorial about how it all works which was really helpful, from how to pick topics, topics, or even how to connect the Edpuzzle directly to Google Classroom. Once I picked a video I wanted to use, which was easy, all I had to do was refine my search and it gave me several videos to choose from. I was able to use the question they had already prepared or create my own. I took their questions and it gave me the option to rewatch that portion of the video if I needed to get clarification to answer the question. This was great especially for some of my kids who get easily distracted. I was also able to upload it to google classroom so I could give this as an independent assignment versus using time in class to watch the video. This is something I will use in class this next year, in fact I already created my intro to World History assignment and posted it to my google classroom for next year.
Advantages
I feel it helps with engagement and has real time tracking of students progress. Edpuzzle also allows you to add it to Google Classroom which allows me to assign this individually to students and means they can work at their own pace. The free account was good but limited to 20 video lessons without limits, the pro plan was only 13.75 a month but it gave you unlimited everything.
Disadvantages
The free version is limited, and once you get to 20 videos it limits the amount of storage you can use per video. There are a lot of videos even when you refine a search and it is a bit overwhelming, especially when you have to watch each one, if you are using another teacher's video, to make sure the questions match what you as the teacher are looking for.
Eduaide.ai
Eduaide is an AI program that is supposed to help create lessons, and assessments. When I clicked on it and saw it was created by teachers I really kind of got excited to see how it worked. Once inside the program I was able to create a lesson for Luther's 95 Thesis and how it was historically significant to the Reformation in only 2 min. It gave me several ideas that I could use in class, not just one lesson but several options for my class to complete. But unlike Diffit or Magic School AI it did not give me a complete lesson with video, worksheets. But, I liked the fact that it gave me prompts and it even created an anchor chart with breakdowns of each topic with the answers already filled in. The great thing is that I could work with just the free version, but if I wanted the pro version with premium tools it is only 4.16 a month. If I needed something in a pinch I would use this program, but it just does not have the same abilities as the other AI programs that I already use.
Advantages
You get so much on the free version, and even if you need the pro version it is only 4.16 a month. It creates lesson plans, helps with creating resources, and activities in a matter of minutes. It is a great assessment creator, just by putting in the specific TEKS and difficulty you choose it creates questions in a few moments, versus hours if I had to do it myself.
Disadvantages
There are other AI programs that have a lot more resources and do more in creating lessons then Eduaide can. Does not have videos or from what I saw the ability to create pictures/worksheets, again like other AI’s have the ability to do. Not very user friendly, the interface is very complicated and took me time to understand how to create a lesson. Just like any AI program there is a chance of inaccuracies, which means if I do not thoroughly go through the lesson I could be giving material that is incorrect.