Deb Norton Tech

I've been thinking about integrating some new technologies into our classroom this year.  The possibilities seem endless!  I don't want to bite off more than I can chew, so I'm going to focus on a few at a time.  To get started, I have bookmarked a few possibilities on Symbaloo .  Click here to see my "Tools to Integrate" Symbaloo.    Today I'm going to showcase a few of my bookmarks. #1 Nearpod - this is an app for the iPad that allows the teacher to create multimedia interactive lessons and then share those lessons with students.   This video really explains well all that Nearpod can do.  What I'm most excited about is the ability to create interactive quizzes within the lesson. #2 Ptch - this is also an iPad app that allows a person to create slideshows and add music and captions using their photos and/or videos on their iPad.  I've already created several slideshows and I found this app very easy to use.  I like th...

I first heard about Screenleap from a blog that I follow, The Whiteboard Blog.  You can read the article here .   Screenleap allows a person to share their computer screen with anyone without any logins.    Yesterday, my mom needed some help with her Nook, so I decided to give Screenleap a try.  I went to Screenleap.com and sent my mom the link I was given to share my screen.  My mom just had to click on the link in her email and she could then see everything I was doing on my computer.  I went to Barnes and Noble and showed her what she needed to know. I also tried Screenleap with my son, Robert.  He opened the link I sent him on his iPhone.  It worked perfectly.  Screenleap also works on an iPad.   With a free account you can share with 2 people. With a paid account ($15 per month) you can share with up to 30 people.  So if you ever need to help someone with a computer question, try sharing your comp...

I tried a new Web 2.0 tool today called Smore .  This tool allows a person to easily make a flyer and then get the word out via social media or embed the flyer into a website. I decided to create a flyer sharing different things that came across my online desk (aka RSS feed) for the week.  So without further ado, here is my first Smore! I find the Smore Flyer to be quite impressive and I only used a few of the available tools for adding content.   I see myself using Smore in the future, both with students and for my personal and professional use.

Yeah!  I have found a new and improved way to get a photo from my iPad directly to my laptop. In the past, if I would take a photo on my iPad and then want that photo on my laptop, I would email the photo to myself.  But now there is an awesome new app called Bump .  With Bump you can simply take a photo from your iPad and literally bump the iPad with the spacebar on your computer, and the photo will appear on your computer.  You need to open the URL http://bu.mp and the photo will then be available for sharing or downloading.  This is much faster than emailing a photo to yourself.  This app also works with an iPhone or Android phone.   All of the screenshots below were "bumped" to my laptop with the Bump App. This app will be very convenient for our students when they want to get photos from the iPad onto their laptops.  I highly recommend using the Bump app. 

Recently Edudemic listed the top 10 Incredibly Powerful Teaching  Tools of the Future: Click here to read the article. Number 1 on the list is Visual Learning.  Falling under this category is an application called Augmented Reality.   Augmented Reality is a new type of technology that is finding its way into classrooms.   The simplest example of augmented reality is when you see the yellow lines on a football field that really aren't there, but appear on top of the field. Augmented Reality digitally layers information on top of images, videos, or even buildings and products. Common Craft has a useful video for understanding augmented reality. I have already used augmented reality when I used QR codes with our students.  QR codes add additional information to a document. Click here to read my post about QR codes. This coming school year, I would like to incorporate more augmented reality into my lessons.  Here are two apps fo...