Plicker

Plicker is described as an assessment tool that was created by a teacher who was wanted to make a quick and easy way to check a student's understanding. This tool allows teachers to collect formative assessment information without having to get the students to use their devices or paper and pencil. Plicker can be used on the go, and it is free to use! The type of learning that takes place in Plicker is through games and lessons. Plicker is really easy for students to use. The teacher creates Plicker cards for the assessments, and the student just rotates a card to show their answer. The cards come in different sizes and larger size fonts for students as well.

Plickers can be used in many innovative and interesting ways within the classroom. I found a blog by a teacher named Laura Candler who provided lots of ways that she uses Plickers in her classroom!
One activity that she performs is called, "Team Plickers Showdown" The showdown is a strategic game for practicing and reviewing academic content in teams. Ms. Candler also uses Plickers for lunch count and attendance. She creates a generic lunch count question with up to 4 responses and changes the lunch choices each day. She uses the lunch count numbers for attendance as well after the tardy bell rings.

Here is a link to read more ways you can use Plicker in the classroom: https://www.lauracandler.com/innovative-strategies-for-plickers/

Animated Video

Chatterpix Kids is one of the many apps out there right now for children to use. This particular app is free and directed towards children ages 6-12.  Chatterpix Kids is very simple to use. You can make anything talk on the app including pets, friends and your own drawings! The app allows you to record your own voice, and you can make the mouth of the picture you choose move by simply drawing a line over the mouth. You can also add stickers to the picture as I did below with the butterflies, glasses, lips and crown.

Below is a video that I created using the app titled, Chatterpix Kids.

When it comes to using animated video in the classroom, the benefits are endless. Animated videos can make learning enjoyable and understandable. Animated videos can be used as support tools in the classroom because it can complement other ways of learning and dive deeper into the topic. A teacher can use animated videos to show live action. For example, historical events and biological processes can be great videos to show to students in the classroom.

In K-2 grade classrooms, students can relate to the animated characters. Animated videos can also teach empathy for students and the videos are a useful tool in order convey information, interact with students and create a powerful social emotional learning platform! Below is a link I found that describes in more detail about how animated videos are beneficial in the classroom.

http://inservice.ascd.org/10-reasons-to-use-animation-in-the-classroom/

VGo

VGo is best described as a tool that helps a person to replicate themselves in another location. This tool also gives the person the ability to move around as if they were physically there. An individual would be able to see, hear, talk, go anywhere and interact. VGo is 100% remote controlled. You don’t need to make a call, you just go to the location remotely. According to the website, www.vgo.com, some users describe VGo as their personal “avatar” and that the tool embodies the remote person.

VGo is being used in schools presently, and students can use the tool if they are not physically able to go to school because of illness, an accident or medical condition. VGo has the child go to the traditional classroom setting and it is operated by the student. Student are able to do the following with VGo:

• -          Receive the same instruction as their peers
• -          Move around/between classrooms independently
• -          Socialize with friends in the hallways and at lunch
• -          Participate in a full school day with their classmates.

The VGo is priced at $6,000 - $7,000, and there is a $100 annual service contract fee. If an individual needs additional charging pads for VGo, those are priced at $500. A 12-hour battery (which is an upgrade for the machine) is $200. VGo weight about 19 pounds and has a 6 hour battery. If one were to by the machine with the 12 hour battery, this would have the machine weighing at 26 pounds.

VGo is a useful tool to have in a school classroom. However, the price of the machine can be a lot depending on the funding of the school system. On the VGo website, teachers have expressed how practical the machine is in the classroom. One teacher stated how the home bound student in her classroom was able to be a part of school life again. She used to use the webcam on her laptop, but now with VGo she is able to have the student be a part of the classroom with the students. Instead of only interacting with the teacher.

Top Hat & Nearpod

Top Hat	Nearpod
Price: 1 semester = $26            1 year = $36            4 years = $75	Price: Silver Package = free            Gold Package = $120/year per teacher
Features: Free access to textbooks, free assignments, upload slides easily, add interactive questions, launch polls, mark attendance, BYOD to sync to app in class	Features: Polls, slide shows, interactive quizzes, virtual field trips, assign homework, add last minute activities
Notes: $10 for tests, fees are for students, professors are free	Notes: Fees are for the teachers to pay

Top Hat and Nearpod are both educational apps that are great to use in the classroom. Top Hat seems to appeal more towards a college or university class. Nearpod is geared towards elementary or secondary grades.

Top Hat has an interesting feature that allows the professor of a classroom to take a view of the class and the app will automatically take roll. The app also allows the students to use the discussion feature as the professor is going over notes. Students can also use the discussion feature anonymously, and the professor can sync your device with the lecture so that you can move along with the lecture as it is being taught. All tests and assignments can be integrated throughout the app. Another great feature is that textbooks are uploaded for free (with the exception of the app price), so that a student can access this material any time.

Nearpod allows a teacher to have access to thousands of lesson plans. This app is an interactive classroom tool that engages students with lessons. Teachers can create presentations, quizzes, polls, videos, images, drawing boards and web content.

Both apps seem fairly similar. However, they are geared toward different audiences.

RealSense Technology

RealSense technology feature 3D cameras that include three lenses, a 2D Camera for regular photos and videos, and an infrared camera/laser projector. The infrared part of the camera is use to see distance between objects. The infrared part also separates objects from the background layers so that there is better facial and gesture recognition. These cameras also feature front-facing, rear-facing and snapshot.

So, what does this mean for images, gesture control, video, scanning 3D images and collaborating?

RealSense is great at scanning faces and turning them into something else. There is an app called FaceShift that will scan and replace your real face with an avatar during a video chat. The app mimics all facial gestures. However, if you stick your tongue out, it will not detect this since it doesn’t scan the inside of your mouth.

Intel has also come out with a prototype tablet that can scan people’s torsos and then 3D print them on a crystal paperweight! See the picture below.

Another app named Personify, will automatically remove the background and replace it with a graphic or a white space. RealSense depth-sensors help with this feature.

The RealSense Snapshot camera adds depth information to any photo that it takes. For example, you can take a picture and measure the distance between two points by drawing a line with your finger. The software will also tell you the radius of objects in the picture. There are also features of photo layer editing and focusing.

RealSense has completely transformed the way we use cameras. This software is historical in a way because we are able to use technology more intimately now than we ever were in the past.

Nearpod

Link to Nearpod: https://nearpod.com/

According to the Nearpod website, this app is best described as, “An interactive classroom tool for teachers to engage students with interactive lessons”. The app allows teachers to create presentations that can include quiz’s, polls, videos, images, drawing boards, and web content. After a lesson is created, the app will generate a code that the teacher can share with students so that they can access the lesson on any mobile device as well.

I am not a teacher, but I created a presentation on this app titled, “Music and History”. Instead of using Microsoft Powerpoint, I utilized the presentation tools within Nearpod. Creating the presentation was very easy, and I felt that the tools were simple to use. I was able to input pictures from the web and audio clips. Below is a picture from my lesson.

Nearpod is not just a teacher driven app. Students can also utilize the app with the “Draw It” feature. This allows students to take control and draw their answer on a device such as their cell-phones or a school issued chrome book. Open-Ended Questions is another feature on the app that allows students to write their own answer after a teacher poses a question or sets up a scenario.

Nearpod is truly a great app to use if you are a teacher. There are so many tools and features within the app that can benefit the teacher and students.

Seesaw

The free educational app known as Seesaw is best described as, “a platform for student engagement.” Teachers are able to upload photos, videos, drawings, text, PDFs and links. Seesaw engages students, improves the quality of student work and teaches key tech skills. Seesaw created an efficacy study to assess student engagement and development of 21^st Century skills, classroom management and student assessment, parent engagement and involvement, and teacher satisfaction. The results displayed 98% of teachers felt that Seesaw helped them use technology effectively in their classroom. 94% of teachers state that Seesaw made it easier to show evidence of student learning at parent-teacher conferences and on progress reports.

Seesaw was made for students, teachers and family members to collaborate. By Seesaw promoting these 21^st Century skills, they are helping students thrive in today’s world. This app is easy to use when sharing student work and sharing with families. It is important to note that nothing is shared on the app without teacher approval. As previously mentioned, the app is free. However there are extra tools included if a teacher or school wanted to pay for the app.

Link to Seesaw: https://web.seesaw.me/