TOO COOL (PERFECT FOR SCHOOL): We've got our favorite edtech teacher and administrator tools for the week right here, as highlighted in our Instruct newsletter. By the way—got a favorite S’Cool Tool you like to use? We would love to hear and share your recommendations! If you’ve got a tool that makes you or your students sing from the proverbial mountaintops, fill out this form to let us know. It might just get featured! Note: We append privacy flags to tools that collect personal information. If a tool collects personal information from students, parents or educators should create an account for users under 13.
Free!—DataUSA—We’re geeking out this week over DataUSA, a platform that allows students to search the vast troves of federal census data. The tool organizes and visualizes the data in an easily digestible and, frankly, beautiful ways. The subsections alone could fill S’Cool Tools for weeks. There are maps organized by median age and smoking prevalence; searchable subcategories by industries and occupations; and different courses of study ranked by popularity. If the data seems overwhelming, check out the stories compiled by the team behind the tool. Everything here is free to download and repurpose. We’ve spent hours looking up facts about places with the tool.
Free!—Quizzy—Create online multiple choice quizzes for students to review material. Each quiz receives a unique URL; students can take the quizzes at their own pace. The tool provides instant feedback to students. Teachers can print any quiz they create on the platform. Upside: Students need not provide personal information to use the platform. Downside: There’s no way to record students’ individual scores.
Free!—XtraMath—Videos and activities for students to promote mastery of basic mathematics facts. Students watch video lessons then complete practice activities. Teachers and parents get the recorded results. Notable about XtraMath: It supports teachers giving instruction in six languages including American Sign Language—an essential for SPED teachers. Privacy flag: XtraMath spells out its privacy policies exceptionally clearly here. It collects some personal information from parents and teachers but takes extra steps to avoid collecting student info.
Hat tip to FreeTech4Teachers for pointing out Quizzy and Xtra Math.
