Cleaning Up a Cluttered Tool Shed: Curating Your Arsenal of Tech Tools

One of my life goals is to live in a tiny house. The concept of having only the best things, the most essential things is really important to me. I don't want to have a bunch of clutter or useless items still laying around.

Source: https://i.imgflip.com/tj584.jpg

If you looked at my arsenal of tech tools though, I would need a mansion to house them. I went through the number of apps and realized that for every app I use, I am also using valuable instructional time to teach it and let students get used to it. The worst part is that a lot of them do very similar things. One may just be flashier or newer. Maybe I heard about one at a conference and just had to use it with my students.

This was what my digital tool shed looked like.
Source: http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/140623m.jpg

The problem is that, while I want my students to be resilient and flexible, able to learn new technology quickly, I am also worried that we're unintentionally creating a new form of an achievement gap in our classrooms, one that is based on whether or not students have developed a digital literacy and skill set prior to coming to our classroom. If we aren't addressing this or being conscious of it, we can create an equity issue despite increasing the access to technology.

It was due to this realization that I decided to curate my arsenal of tech tools that I use in my classroom. Instead of focusing on which tools would be best for which content, I focused on the different methods I would need to use to gather the most important data. I started by identifying the different times that I would need to gather data, and then I selected the most important types of data I would need to gather. Here's what I came up with.

1. In-the-moment assessment data

This was for data that I would need to gather during a lesson, not at the end. I would need to use it to create hinge-points in my lessons to differentiate instruction or tasks. 

Necessary methods:

1. Flipped/Blended Learning: I do a lot of content delivery with video, so I needed a tool that would track student understanding while the video was playing. (Winner: PlayPosit)
2. Direct/Whole Class Instruction: When I'm teaching a lesson, I need some sort of way to have a teacher-paced assessment tool to gather both multiple choice and short responses intermittently throughout the lesson. (Winner: NearPod)
3. Backchannel Discussions: When I'm teaching, I like to include a backchannel discussion for students who don't like talking in front of their peers. This allows me to see what students are thinking during the lesson. (Winner: Google Slides Q&A)

Why backchannel discussions are valuable.
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2. At-the-end assessment data

This was for data that I would need to gather after I've given a lesson. These tools are more focused on allowing me some time to process the data after the fact, both for individual students and the class.

Necessary Methods:

1. Gamification: I knew I needed an engaging platform that allowed me to review content with the class. I also wanted something that added a slight level of stress (time-based) because it can increase retention. (Winner: Kahoot)
2. Traditional quiz: While I try to emphasize creativity and constructivism as often as possible, there is definitely still value in a traditional quiz as a quick check for understanding. I separated this section from the gamification section because sometimes the game-based atmosphere decreases the accuracy of student responses. (Winner: Socrative)
3. Writing-based: As an ELA teacher, I will obviously need to gather longer written responses, as I'm sure many other subjects will do too, so I needed an efficient way to gather this writing. (Winner: Google Classroom/Docs - Classroom for shorter responses with questions, Docs for longer pieces of formal writing).

The purpose of the tool is important!
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3. Ongoing assessment

I like to find ways to allow students to record a number of different notes, thoughts, answers, etc. throughout an entire unit or course. I needed something that allowed students to organize their notes and ideas in an efficient manner. (Winner: Evernote)

BONUS: Creativity

I am adding these as a bonus because you can survive without them. However, once your students have mastered the previous tools, this can allow them to be more creative with their assessments and learning.

1. Sound: Instead of having students submit a written response, why not a recorded oral response? (Winner: Vocaroo)
2. Video (animated): It definitely takes more time to build the video, but student buy-in is much higher, and you can use the video and share it to extend their learning beyond the classroom walls. (Winner: Moovly)
3. Drawing: You can learn a lot by having a student illustrate their learning. It also, in my experience, improves their ability to see connections between concepts. (Winner: Sketch.io)

MVPs: The Do-it-alls

Some tools specialize in one of the areas, but there are a couple that are more versatile than the rest. Here are the three tools that can be most versatile in the classroom.

1. Socrative - Socrative can be used as a game, teacher-guided activity, or traditional quiz.
2. Nearpod - Nearpod can be used as a slideshow, quiz, poll, guided lesson, etc. The cool thing about Nearpod is that it also incorporates the option to draw.
3. Google Apps - Okay, I know this is cheating, but if you haven't worked with them much, start spending time with them. They are becoming more and more a staple of the education system.

Final Thoughts

The piece of this that is most important to take away isn't the list of tools; it's how to identify what you need and then to find tech to support that. Start with the need. Start with what you want to do. Then, find the best tool for that and stick with it. If we are teaching high-level concepts, our students should be struggling, but if we confuse them with too many tools, we make their learning more difficult, not easier or more effective.

Other tools or ideas? Post them below!