7 Tools for Creating Visuals and Infographics

#EduDuctTape Question

What tools can my students use to create visuals and infographics?

This infographic features the #EduDuctTape Question "What tools can my students use to create visuals?" In the response, which is shown on a tablet screen, is the following text "Canva - A great teacher interface and unlimited templates, fonts, photos, videos, graphics, and icons are all in the free education version, along with collaboration and the ability to add graphs or pull in content from other apps. Adobe Spark - Adobe doesn’t offer collaboration or classroom management features, but their free education plans do offer plenty of templates, music, photos, and fonts in their easy-to-use Post and Page tools. Piktochart - This option is great for creating charts from dynamic or imported data and for turning graphics into presentations, but it’s free plan is limited. Venngage - This tool is great for data visualization and infographics, but doesn’t offer a free education plan. Google Slides, Google Drawings, or Microsoft PowerPoint - Easy-to-use, free, and familiar!" The rest of the image shows the logos for the apps and sites that were mentioned as well as some books a cup with 2 paint brushes in it, and a Black girl laying on her stomach and using a stylus to draw on a tablet.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” This quote, typically credited to Albert Einstein (though likely erroneously), perfectly sums up why creating simple visual representations of understanding may be a perfect assessment tool. If a student can demonstrate comprehension of a concept in a simple, visually-appealing graphic, they likely have a firm grasp of it (and also have a knack for a skill that is valuable in our society).

This infographic showcases 7 tools that I think are great for creating visuals!

Check out the infographic to see which one is the best fit for you!

This image shows the Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset book cover as well as a 2nd book open to a page inside of the book

In the infographic, I give a basic overview of each. To learn more about them, check out Chapter 8 of Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset.

Click on the image to sign up for my newsletter and grab the PDF to learn a bit about creating visuals with Canva, Adobe Spark, Piktochart, Venngage, Google Slides, Google Drawings, and Microsoft PowerPoint. And, bonus, if I change my recommendations or add tools to the infographic later, you’ll get an update in your inbox!

This infographic features the #EduDuctTape Question "What tools can my students use to create visuals?" In the response, which is shown on a tablet screen, is the following text "Canva - A great teacher interface and unlimited templates, fonts, photos, videos, graphics, and icons are all in the free education version, along with collaboration and the ability to add graphs or pull in content from other apps. Adobe Spark - Adobe doesn’t offer collaboration or classroom management features, but their free education plans do offer plenty of templates, music, photos, and fonts in their easy-to-use Post and Page tools. Piktochart - This option is great for creating charts from dynamic or imported data and for turning graphics into presentations, but it’s free plan is limited. Venngage - This tool is great for data visualization and infographics, but doesn’t offer a free education plan. Google Slides, Google Drawings, or Microsoft PowerPoint - Easy-to-use, free, and familiar!" The rest of the image shows the logos for the apps and sites that were mentioned as well as some books a cup with 2 paint brushes in it, and a Black girl laying on her stomach and using a stylus to draw on a tablet.

 

 

#EduDuctTape: Dr. Will Deyamport – Effective LMS Use & Schoology Superpowers

#EduDuctTape S04-E68

Dr. Will Deyamport joins the show to talk about effectively building your curriculum in your learning management system (LMS) and a collection of compelling reasons that Schoology might be the LMS for you. Also, Jake answers a listener’s question about design thinking games.

Continue reading #EduDuctTape: Dr. Will Deyamport – Effective LMS Use & Schoology Superpowers

#EduDuctTape 📖 Sketchnote Chapter 13

This sketchnote includes the title "Tissues, Drips, and 8 Years. #EduDuctTape." It shows Jake holding a box of tissues and a faucet dripping water. It includes the text "Making a major change in your practice does not happen overnight. - S. Roshan." and "Focused Persistence, Drip by Drip. - S. Godin" and, finally, "Commitment Now = Habit Later."

Well, it’s the end of an era. My final Jen Giffen #EduDuctTape sketchnote to share. And what better one to end on: the last chapter of my book and the one that was my favorite to write.

Sometimes it feels like writing just pours out of you. This chapter was like that for me.

It includes one of my family’s favorite funny stories–about my daughter when she was 2 years old–one of my favorite things to remind educators of–improving your practice is a marathon, not a sprint–a quote from one of my favorite EdTech voices–Stacey Roshan–and a quote from one of my favorite sources of inspiration–Seth Godin.

This image shows the cover of the book Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset. The cover is blue and shows the title in orange lettering on duct tape. It also shows the text "Your Guide to Selecting the Right Tools for Your Classroom" and includes Jake Miller's name.As always, you’ll have to get the book to hear the whole thing, but Jen’s sketchnote should give you a pretty good idea of what it’s about and a reminder of what you should expect yourself: focused persistence, not overnight reinvention.

This sketchnote includes the title "Tissues, Drips, and 8 Years. #EduDuctTape." It shows Jake holding a box of tissues and a faucet dripping water. It includes the text "Making a major change in your practice does not happen overnight. - S. Roshan." and "Focused Persistence, Drip by Drip. - S. Godin" and, finally, "Commitment Now = Habit Later."

 

4 Animation Creation Tools for Students

#EduDuctTape Question

What tools can my students use to animate?


This infographic features the #EduDuctTape Question "What tools can my students use to create animations?" In the response, which is shown on a tablet screen, is the following text "Animation and Drawing by Do Ink - If you have an iPad, check out this inexpensive app’s pathing tool that automatically animates your text, photos, props, or drawings. It can even change objects’ size and shape. Scratch - This free web-based program from MIT lets you program animations that include images, audio, text, speech bubbles, characters, and their own drawings. Working with littles? Check out the Scratch Jr. iOS app! #StopMotionSlides - Use Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Keynote to create flipbook-like animations by making a series of slides with incremental changes. Using these ubiquitous and familiar app means the learning curve is low. Flipgrid - Drag stickers or images around the screen to record animations. You can even narrate the animation, utilize backdrops, and edit the video. Plus, you can create a stop motion experience by recording and pausing strategically." The rest of the image shows the logos for the apps and sites that were mentioned as well as some books and a blonde girl with a backpack and one leg up in the air as if she's walking.Want to see if your students understand the life cycle of a butterfly, the way a quadratic equation is graphed, or the westward expansion of American settlers? Animations are a great way for them to show their comprehension of complex processes. showcases 4 tools that I think are great for creating animations!

Check out the infographic to see which one is the best fit for you!

This image shows the Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset book cover as well as a 2nd book open to a page inside of the book

In the infographic, I give a basic overview of each. To learn more about them, check out Chapter 8 of Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset.

Click on the image to sign up for my newsletter and grab the PDF to learn a bit about creating animations with Animation and Drawing by Do Ink, Scratch, #StopMotionSlides, and Flipgrid. And, bonus, if I change my recommendations or add tools to the infographic later, you’ll get an update in your inbox!

This infographic features the #EduDuctTape Question "What tools can my students use to create animations?" In the response, which is shown on a tablet screen, is the following text "Animation and Drawing by Do Ink - If you have an iPad, check out this inexpensive app’s pathing tool that automatically animates your text, photos, props, or drawings. It can even change objects’ size and shape. Scratch - This free web-based program from MIT lets you program animations that include images, audio, text, speech bubbles, characters, and their own drawings. Working with littles? Check out the Scratch Jr. iOS app! #StopMotionSlides - Use Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Keynote to create flipbook-like animations by making a series of slides with incremental changes. Using these ubiquitous and familiar app means the learning curve is low. Flipgrid - Drag stickers or images around the screen to record animations. You can even narrate the animation, utilize backdrops, and edit the video. Plus, you can create a stop motion experience by recording and pausing strategically." The rest of the image shows the logos for the apps and sites that were mentioned as well as some books and a blonde girl with a backpack and one leg up in the air as if she's walking.

 

 

#EduDuctTape 📖 Sketchnote Chapter 12

This sketchnote is titled "Beards, Glasses, and Handsome Teachers." It includes the #EduDuctTape hashtag and the subtitle "Know Better. Do Better." It includes a picture of Jake as a teacher with glasses and a beard in a video playing on a laptop. He is saying "Don't forget you need a plan!" In the center of the sketchnote is Jake without glasses or a beard, holding duct tape. He is asking a student "Did you watch? Did you notice anything?!"; and the student is responding "uh... you looked handsome?" On the right side of the image is the Edpuzzle logo and the phrase Bonus: Formative Assessment.

This Jen Giffen sketchnote features one of my favorite stories to tell. You’ll have to get the book to hear the whole story, but let me boil it down to what the image depicts:

I had discovered that many of my students weren’t actually watching the screencasts that were a part of my class.

This image shows the cover of the book Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset. The cover is blue and shows the title in orange lettering on duct tape. It also shows the text "Your Guide to Selecting the Right Tools for Your Classroom" and includes Jake Miller's name.That meant I knew better about what was happening and I needed to do better by utilizing a tool that I was aware of (again, knowing better): Edpuzzle.

Hear the full story in Chapter 12 of Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset.

 

 

This sketchnote is titled "Beards, Glasses, and Handsome Teachers." It includes the #EduDuctTape hashtag and the subtitle "Know Better. Do Better." It includes a picture of Jake as a teacher with glasses and a beard in a video playing on a laptop. He is saying "Don't forget you need a plan!" In the center of the sketchnote is Jake without glasses or a beard, holding duct tape. He is asking a student "Did you watch? Did you notice anything?!"; and the student is responding "uh... you looked handsome?" On the right side of the image is the Edpuzzle logo and the phrase Bonus: Formative Assessment.

#EduDuctTape: Jenallee – Fun Projects with Canva, Buncee, Book Creator, Wakelet, and PowerPoint

#EduDuctTape S04-E67

Jeni Long and Sallee Clark join to talk about fun projects that students can do to demonstrate their learning. The Microsoft Teams Playbook authors share about Canva for Edu, Buncee, Book Creator, Wakelet, and PowerPoint. Also, Jake answers listener questions about word clouds, Jamboard, and Seesaw.
Continue reading #EduDuctTape: Jenallee – Fun Projects with Canva, Buncee, Book Creator, Wakelet, and PowerPoint

7 Video Creation Tools for Students

#EduDuctTape Question

What video creation tools can my students use to demonstrate their understanding?

This infographic is titled #EduDuctTape Question, Chapter 8: What video creation tools can my students use to demonstrate their understanding? It includes a picture of the Educational Duct Tape along with the logos for the apps and sites that are included. The text of the body reads "Flipgrid - Easy teacher management and easy student creation including backdrops, lenses, filters, music, pen tools, screencasting, text addition, images, stickers, and easy editing. Adobe Spark Video - Try this tool’s slides-based editor to create slick, easy, visually appealing videos that include pictures, video, text, icons, narration, and music along with transitions, effects, and collaboration! Screencastify Submit - If you’re willing to forego fancy editing options, this tool makes assigning, recording, and collecting these video assignments quick and easy! Green Screen by Do Ink - The inexpensive Do Ink app offers quality kid-friendly video recording, editing, green screening, and masking on iPads and iPhones. WeVideo - WeVideo is probably the best web-based video editor out there. Perform basic edits for free or green screen, record podcasts, utilize a classroom dashboard, and more in the paid version. Kapwing - Students can add subtitles, text, animations, images, and audio to their videos and even edit, green screen, and collaborate in the free version of this web-based freemium tool! Prezi Video - This fresh take on recording webcam videos adds in visually-appealing overlays, animations, text, images, and more without the vertigo style of their original presentation tool."📹Videos can be awesome assessment tools because they give us the ability to see representations of our students’ thinking and hear their explanations of it simultaneously. It also lets our students tap into their creativity. This infographic showcases a few video creation tools your students could use for this.

Check out the infographic to see which one is the best fit for you!

This image shows the Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset book cover as well as a 2nd book open to a page inside of the book

In the infographic, I give a basic overview of each. To learn more about them, check out Chapter 8 of Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset.

Click on the image to sign up for my newsletter and grab the PDF to learn a bit about creating videos with Flipgrid, Adobe Spark, Screencastify Submit, Green Screen by Do Ink, WeVideo, Kapwing, and Prezi Video. And, bonus, if I change my recommendations or add tools to the infographic later, you’ll get an update in your inbox!

This infographic is titled #EduDuctTape Question, Chapter 8: What video creation tools can my students use to demonstrate their understanding? It includes a picture of the Educational Duct Tape along with the logos for the apps and sites that are included. The text of the body reads "Flipgrid - Easy teacher management and easy student creation including backdrops, lenses, filters, music, pen tools, screencasting, text addition, images, stickers, and easy editing. Adobe Spark Video - Try this tool’s slides-based editor to create slick, easy, visually appealing videos that include pictures, video, text, icons, narration, and music along with transitions, effects, and collaboration! Screencastify Submit - If you’re willing to forego fancy editing options, this tool makes assigning, recording, and collecting these video assignments quick and easy! Green Screen by Do Ink - The inexpensive Do Ink app offers quality kid-friendly video recording, editing, green screening, and masking on iPads and iPhones. WeVideo - WeVideo is probably the best web-based video editor out there. Perform basic edits for free or green screen, record podcasts, utilize a classroom dashboard, and more in the paid version. Kapwing - Students can add subtitles, text, animations, images, and audio to their videos and even edit, green screen, and collaborate in the free version of this web-based freemium tool! Prezi Video - This fresh take on recording webcam videos adds in visually-appealing overlays, animations, text, images, and more without the vertigo style of their original presentation tool."

 

 

#EduDuctTape 📖 Sketchnote Chapter 11

This sketchnote features the title "Panicked Teenagers, Due Dates, and Calendars. #EduDuctTape." A flowchart of images show a bubble with the text "Know Better, Do Better Cycle Revisited" connected with an arrow to a laptop with "8/40 Complete" on it connected by an arrow to a male student saying "I am stressed about your class" connected with an arrow to Jake standing by a calendar. Beside all of this is the text "Remember! Being impressive is not the goal. Being effective is."Recently, I shared a sketchnote about the Know Better, Do Better Cycle. My first “Know Better, Do Better” step was realizing that my teacher-paced course wasn’t working. So I turned it into a student-paced course.  Then, as that sketchnote showcased, I discovered that I wasn’t noticing all students’ questions and struggles quickly enough. So, I added a Google Form.

This new sketchnote shows the next iteration of that cycle. I discovered that some of my students were stressed out by the idea of managing their own pace in my class. This sketchnote hints at my solution: a calendar.

This image shows the cover of the book Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset. The cover is blue and shows the title in orange lettering on duct tape. It also shows the text "Your Guide to Selecting the Right Tools for Your Classroom" and includes Jake Miller's name.The most important part, though, is the reminder on the left: Being impressive is not the goal. Being effective is.

Learn more about this quote as well as the Know Better, Do Better Cycle and the calendar solution in Chapter 11 of Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset.

This sketchnote features the title "Panicked Teenagers, Due Dates, and Calendars. #EduDuctTape." A flowchart of images show a bubble with the text "Know Better, Do Better Cycle Revisited" connected with an arrow to a laptop with "8/40 Complete" on it connected by an arrow to a male student saying "I am stressed about your class" connected with an arrow to Jake standing by a calendar. Beside all of this is the text "Remember! Being impressive is not the goal. Being effective is."

Google Earth and other Geo Tools with the Partial Credit Podcast Guys

#EduDuctTape S04-E66

Three Google Earth Education Experts, Google Innovators, & Trainers—Jeffery Heil, Jesse Lubinsky, and Donnie Piercey join me to discuss different tools and features for exposing students to different geographical areas. The guys from the Partial Credit podcast tell us about Google Earth, Google Earth Voyages, Google Earth Engine, and more!
Continue reading Google Earth and other Geo Tools with the Partial Credit Podcast Guys

7 Simple Audio Recorders

#EduDuctTape Question

What tools can my students use to record audio?

This is an #EduDuctTape Question Infographic featuring a question from Chapter 8 of the book Educational Duct Tape. The infographic shows a picture of the book, icons for the apps and sites included, some textbooks, and a visually impaired student with black glasses and a cane. The text reads "What tools can my students use to record and edit audio? (Simple audio recorders!) Screencastify - Record, edit, and export mp3s with the popular screencasting tool. Vocaroo - Record and share audio directly from the website or download them for use elsewhere. Mote - Google-centric tool for audio comments, Slides audio, and audio notes linked to websites. Flipgrid - Record audio-only responses in the popular video response tool. AudioVoiceRecorder.com - quickly record from any browser and download your audio as an MP3 file. Cloud Audio Recorder - Ad-heavy site lets you export MP3 or WAV files to Google Drive or a download. Padlet - Record audio files that are up to 15 minutes and post them to your wall!🎙 Recently, I shared a set of tools that I think are great if you want your students to record and edit audio. In this post and infographic, I’d like to dial that back with a set of tools that I think are great for simply recording audio.

Each of these 7 tools has 2 basic steps:
☝️Record.
✌️Share.
That’s pretty much it.

🎤 A few of them have some basic editing abilities but for the most part, they all shine because they make it easy to simply record and share audio! Check out the infographic to see which one is the best fit for you!

This image shows the Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset book cover as well as a 2nd book open to a page inside of the book

💡 In Chapter 8 of Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset, I discuss the 7 tools in greater detail, but you can learn the basics about them in this PDF version of the infographic!

📖  More details about each tool (and a few others) are in the book!

Click on the image to sign up for my newsletter and grab the PDF to learn a bit about recording audio with Screencastify, Vocaroo, Mote, Flipgrid, AudioVoiceRecorder.com, Cloud Audio Recorder, and Padlet. And, bonus, if I change my recommendations or add tools to the infographic later, you’ll get an update in your inbox!

This is an #EduDuctTape Question Infographic featuring a question from Chapter 8 of the book Educational Duct Tape. The infographic shows a picture of the book, icons for the apps and sites included, some textbooks, and a visually impaired student with black glasses and a cane. The text reads "What tools can my students use to record and edit audio? (Simple audio recorders!) Screencastify - Record, edit, and export mp3s with the popular screencasting tool. Vocaroo - Record and share audio directly from the website or download them for use elsewhere. Mote - Google-centric tool for audio comments, Slides audio, and audio notes linked to websites. Flipgrid - Record audio-only responses in the popular video response tool. AudioVoiceRecorder.com - quickly record from any browser and download your audio as an MP3 file. Cloud Audio Recorder - Ad-heavy site lets you export MP3 or WAV files to Google Drive or a download. Padlet - Record audio files that are up to 15 minutes and post them to your wall!