Hello there!

Thanks for stopping by my Educational Technology blog.

My name is Paul Andrews & I've been working as a professional Learning Technologist since 2004. Presently I'm the Leading Research Fellow at the Digital Solutions Team based within the University Centre Shrewsbury.

The purpose of this blog is to signpost and raise awareness of free digital tools and technologies which can be used by educators to support and enhance education and the job of teaching in general.

If you'd like to follow me on Twitter then you can via @TechieTeacherUK and if you'd like to stay updated auto-magically then you can 'Like' this blog on Facebook.

Thanks for dropping by - I hope you'll enjoy reading my future posts!

Cheers.

Paul.

Web Address: https://getknowt.com/

In their own words: "Our algorithm makes sure learning will never be the same again. First, we take your notes and analyze them using machine learning. On our server, the A.I. determines the best question formats for each sentence. Once it knows the best questions, the algorithm sends it to the web or mobile app for you to take a quiz!"

Web Address: https://www.classhook.com/

In their own words: "ClassHook is the best place to find educational clips
from popular TV shows and movies
AASL Best Websites 2017 Award
TV shows and movies often contain scenes that discuss topics such as Science, Math, Art, Music, and more. While funny and amusing, these scenes also have valid educational merit.

Such scenes not only teach students but also make learning more relevant. Students can associate a concept in class to an image they see in their everyday lives. Bringing television shows and movies to your classroom helps connect students' personal lives to the concepts they are learning in class. As a result, content retention increases, and learning becomes more fun."

Web Address: https://www.glideapps.com/

About: This is a free service that lets you create web-based mobile apps in under 10 minutes by pulling data off a Google Spreadsheet.

Web Address: https://toolbox.google.com/datasetsearch

In their own words: “Dataset Search lets you find datasets wherever they’re hosted, whether it’s a publisher's site, a digital library, or an author's personal web page.”

Web Address: https://www.writereader.com/en

In their own words:  "For more than 200 years we have taught our children how to write and read in the same way. Still, every fifth child today is functional illiterate. Being both parents and passionate teachers, this made us think: Okay, if children can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. And by creating WriteReader we have done just that. Children learn by being motivated, and they are not motivated by putting A, B and C’ in different orders; they are being motivated by telling stories about dinosaurs, Christiano Ronaldo, skateboarding and pink, fluffy unicorns. So we let children write books about their big passions without letting correct spelling slow them down or kill the motivation. A teacher or parent then writes the correct spelling, so focus is on comparing, not correcting. Actually, this is pretty much the way we teach our children how to talk.

Our dream is to change lives by changing writing from being a potentially losing game into a rewarding experience where children share and become proud writers. Be a WriteReader – Just go ahead!"

Web Address: https://ssec.si.edu/weather-lab

In their own words: "Weather Lab is a tool to help visualize how North America’s weather is formed. This lab is designed to model the complex interactions between air masses and ocean currents, but like all models, it represents probable outcomes. Each prediction you make is for possible outcomes during Spring."

Web Address: https://beautifulaudioeditor.appspot.com/

About: "An experimental audio editor.
Copy. Snip. Pan. Record. Flexibly fade volume with envelopes. Apply and move effects (filters, compression, etc.) amongst tracks. And more.
Edit while playing for quick feedback.
Works online or offline.
Create and organize projects in Google Drive. Edit projects anywhere within Chrome or Firefox.
Store projects online or offline (in a local file to load later)."

Web Address: https://gosynth.com/

In their own words: "256 second audio or video soundbytes that you can share anywhere, discover easily, interact with and listen to back-to-back. Free."

Web Address: http://publicdomainmovie.net/

About: On this website, you can find hundreds of films which can be legally watched for free.