Teacher Tech Tools

This page contains a symbaloo with teacher tech tools and resources to inform your use of these tools to make global connections and create global learning experiences for your students.

The Symbaloo above provides a vast assortment of digital tools you can use to connect with other global early educators and create global learning experiences. They are labeled and grouped by category. Suggestions and tips for using these tools in your classroom, as well as general information about what these tools are used for are listed below:

  1. Social Media Tools
  2. Collaboration Tools
  3. Publication Tools
  4. Video & Audio Tools
  5. Presentation Tools
  6. Portfolio & Data Collection Tools
  7. Open Source Tools
  8. Good To Know
*Note: When using any of the tools below or any tool on the Internet, please be sure to check your privacy settings and make sure you have parent/student and administrator permission to post anything either privately or publicly! 

Social Media Tools

1) Twitter:
Value? Twitter can be used to connect with other early educators around the globe to learn about their pedagogical practices and to build a supportive PLN.

  • Tools to Manage Your Tweets:
    • Hootsuite - one of many third-party platforms that allows you to schedule tweets, sort your lists, and organize your followers
    • Paper.li article - Use paper.li to promote articles and connect with more global Twitter followers (2/12/11)
    • Storify- This is a great way to tell stories through tweets and other social media data about what’s happening in your classroom or to reflect on a Twitter chat.

2) Facebook:
Value? Another platform to connect with educators and classrooms around the globe, as well as international organizations like iEARN.

3) LinkedIn:
Value? A professional social network where you can connect with other teachers and exchange perspectives and ideas on global collaboration by joining LinkedIn Group discussions. 

4) Pinterest: 

Value? A curation site that allows you to compile websites, images, and video on the web and share them with other teachers. Pinboards about #globaled and #ecetech can provide inspiration for global collaboration projects.

5) Google+ :
Value? Your Google+ feed can be a good curation of current articles and news about #globaled in early childhood and you can use it to have video “hangouts” with up to ten other educators to discuss global learning in your classroom. 

Social Media Resource Articles:

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Collaboration Tools

1) Google Suite:
Value? Google tools can make global collaboration much easier by allowing you to share and edit documents, slideshows, spreadsheets, and forms in real-time with colleagues in different locations. These tools can also help you organize your projects (e.g., Google Calendar) and understand teachers in foreign countries (i.e., Google Translate). 

2) Symbaloo:
Value? Symbaloo is a great way to compile global resources/websites for your students and it’s also a great way to compile tools to share with other global educators.

3) Lino/Wallwisher:
Value? Virtual sticky notes can be a great way to collaborate and share ideas, video, and pictures via the Internet. Create a board about a topic and post it on your blog or Twitter to ask for feedback from other teachers around the globe.

4) Skype:
Value? Skype allows you to have a conference call with up to 25 other people and to have one-to-one video chats in real-time with other teachers around the world. Use it to connect with educators to brainstorm new global learning experiences and share feedback.

5) Mindmeister:
Value? A virtual mind-mapping tool, Mindmeister can allow you plan out your global learning experiences for the classroom and make a map of your global PLN to look for new connections. Share your map to collaborate with other teachers to plan global lessons.  

Collaboration Resource Articles:

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Publication Tools

1) Blogging Resources:
Value? Creating a  personal, teacher blog can allow you to post information, videos, maps and other items documenting the global learning experiences children have in your classroom, as well as your own thoughts and reflections. Teachers around the world can subscribe and follow your blog for updates and to share their reactions to your projects and ideas. 

2) Blogging with WordPress:
Value? WordPress is an easy-to-use blogging platform that allows you to create free blogs using a wide selection of themes and widgets. Use it to create a blog or site to share resources, post your thoughts on connecting with other teachers and classrooms around the globe and exploring the use of tech in early childhood settings.

3) Posterous:
Value? Another digital publication space, Posterous is great for posting pictures and video embedded in text about your reflections on creating global learning experiences with your students
4) Glogster:
Value? A digital presentation tool that you can use to compile weblinks, video clips, audio files, pictures, and text in one place. Use it to create a portfolio or online poster about a specific topic under discussion in your classroom and share it with other teachers around the globe.
5) Shelfari/Goodreads:
Value? Social, online bookshelves – these tools are a great way to share with parents and other teachers what books you are reading in your classroom and to recommend books to other teachers that might be specific to your country or topic expertise. 
6) Wikis:
Value? Wikis allow you to create a digital collaboration space to share tech tools, ideas, teaching resources, and project work with other teachers. You could start/join a group of teachers in creating a wiki to be shared around the globe to post videos, pictures, and discussions about creating global learning experiences in the classroom. 

7) Scribd:
Value? A great publication tool that allows you to upload PDFs and different documents to the web to embed in websites and blogs. An easy way to share documents and presentations with parents and teachers around the globe.
8) Wix:
Value? Wix is a simple, free website creation site where you can document the learning occurring in your classroom through global projects and also collect resources to share and discuss with other teachers. Wix allows you to add flash and interactive items more easily than other sites like Blogger or WordPress.  

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Video & Audio Creation Tools

1) Audacity:
Value? A free, easy to use audio recording tool that is great for making podcasts and other recordings that you can share with teachers around the globe.  

2) Garageband:
Value? A mac software program that can be used similar to Audacity to create podcasts or other audio recordings to share with other teachers. 

3) iMovie:
Value? This tool for Mac computers is a great way to compile video clips and/or pictures from a global learning experience to post on your class or teacher blog or send to a partner class in another country. 

4) YouTube:
Value?  Search the site for demonstrations of projects or teaching approaches used around the world; use videos as inspiration for or components of global learning experiences; and share your videos of your own teaching. 

5) Vimeo:
Value? Vimeo is a great platform for posting videos. They can then easily be shared with parents are other teachers around the globe. 

Presentation Tools

1) Voicethread:
Value? Voicethread is a great way to collaborate and converse with other teachers around the globe. Post a VT to start a group discussion on a global ed topic or to exchange ideas for creating global learning experiences. 

2) Prezi:
Value? Create dynamic presentations of the work you’re doing creating global learning experiences with young children to share with parents, teachers, and classrooms around the world. 

3) Slidespeech: 

Value? Slidespeech can allow you to create a presentation and then easily translate it into another language for other teachers or parents. 

4) Present.me:
Value? A great tool to turn PowerPoint slides into verbal presentations online, including video. Great for sharing ideas and presentations with a more engaging audio/video around the world.

5) Slideshare:
Value? Another presentation tool that allows you to upload and share presentations online. Use it to share your ideas and thoughts with administration and teachers in other areas about your work in your classroom with global collaboration projects. 

Globally Connected Learning
Presentation Resource Articles: 

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Portfolio & Data Collection Tools

1) Google Reader
Value? This aggregation tool is a great way to compile all of the blogs and websites you follow relating to (global) education, early childhood, and technology so that you can stay up-to-date with new tech tools and teaching ideas around the world. 

2) Dropbox:
Value? A cloud storage tool, Dropbox allows you to easily share files with teachers around the world so you can collaborate on documents and presentations and exchange videos about your teaching. 

3) Diigo:
Value? A different type of web aggregation tool, Diigo allows you to save and organize all of your favorite websites in one, social space so you can share them with other teaches.

4) Evernote:
Value? An easy way to capture ideas, pictures, video, web clips and more. Evernote allows you to sync data across multiple devices and provides a great way to create student portfolios to document their global learning experiences. 

5) Skitch:
Value? An easy-to-use photo annotation and editing app that is connected to Evernote. A great tool to use to add writing and drawing to screenshots to explain websites you’re exploring and photos you have taken in your classroom to demonstrate the global learning that is occurring. 

6) Pearltrees:
Value? A social content curation service that provides a unique combination of content curation, community interaction, and sharing of content, Pearltrees is a great way to capture your favorite websites and articles to share with other teachers.

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Open Source Learning

1) iTunesU
Value? A great tool, free tool you can use to learn more about other cultures and global education topics to infuse in children’s global learning experiences in your classroom.

2) Coding
Value? If you’re interested in learning more about coding to have more freedom in designing your own websites, this site will walk you through different code languages for free.

3) MIT OpenCourseware
Value? Another open source platform to expand your own knowledge of global issues and world cultures. 

5) More Resources

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Good to Know

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