New EDU in 90 episodes

Check out Google for Education, EDU in 90. This YouTube channel offers short videos with news and updates on important topics for educators, administrators, and school leaders.

https://www.youtube.com/googleforedu/featured

This-is-sand

Are you looking for something artistic to do?  How about something that is relaxing as well?

This-is-sand lets you create sand art on your computer or other wireless device.  It is a fun, relaxing activity for people of all ages.  

This-is-sand can also be used to help kids learn to click and drag.  In the settings (near the bottom of the home page) toggle off Auto-Flow.  This will require you to click and drag to get the sand to flow.  Students can work on clicking and dragging while moving the sand all across the screen.  

This-is-sand is available online (https://thisissand.com/), in the App Store (https://apple.co/2QFHz7M) and on Google Play (https://bit.ly/2RPk9NX).  

AVA - Web Captioner

Are you looking for a program that will caption in-person and online conversations?

Ava Closed Captions (Ava.me) is available for Mac, Windows, Web, Android, and iOS devices. With just one click you can display instant captions, no matter what tool you use.

Ava offers free, unlimited automatic captions powered by the best-in-class speech recognition software.  Ava uses AI to transcribe instantly what people say.  With Ava you can caption live conversation, online meetings or even online videos.

Visual Timers

If you have a student that struggles with time management, they may need a visual time to help. Visual timers can also be used to help keep students on task and for some students they are motivating.

Timers can be a stand alone device such as the Time Timer (https://www.timetimer.com/). They are also integrated into Android & iOS devices, and can be visual as well. You can also do a quick search in Google for a timer if you want to have it on a Google Chrome compatible device or to share it up on a smart board for the whole class to see.

Mathshare

In last weeks post I provided a link to the Bookshare YouTube channel. This week I want to discuss Mathshare.

Mathshare is new product from Benetech, the developers of Bookshare. Mathshare is similar to Bookshare, but for Math. 

According to Benetech, as many as 40 percent of students grapple with math. It can be particularly difficult for students with special needs, who can struggle with organization or accessing information. Whatever the learning challenge, Mathshare’s unique step-by-step problem solving approach and built-in accessibility make learning math easier and inclusive for all students.

I do want to point out there is one HUGE difference between Bookshare and Mathshare.  Bookshare has specific qualification requirements.  Mathshare on the other hand is free for any school or student to use!

Check out Mathshare at https://mathshare.benetech.org/

They also have a YouTube channel with some helpful videos.  You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/c/Mathshare

Bookshare: How-Tos on YouTube

I have been promoting Bookshare across our school district for quite a few years now.  We are slowly beginning to provide access to our students who need and qualify for this resource.  

To get the word out even farther, I would like to share some more Bookshare resources.

Bookshare has a YouTube channel that contains webinars, testimonials, tutorials and tips for using Bookshare.  You can find the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/BookshareTeam/videos

Within the YouTube channel there is a playlist of short videos on how to Manage Bookshare Accounts.  You can find that playlist by going to http://bit.ly/3bibcUK

IRIS Center Learning Module: Parents: Supporting Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The IRIS Center, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University had a variety of fantastic learning modules. They are continually adding new modules or updating existing modules. Recently I found out about one called:

Parents: Supporting Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic. (https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/c19/)

This resource offers tips to support your child’s learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is full of great ideas to try and suggestions that might work at home and at school.