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Tech in the Classroom

Tech in the Classroom is a recurring feature that examines widely available technology, software and gadgets and how they might be used in a school setting. What favorite gadget or tool are you using in the classroom? As this new content area grows, let us know what products you’d like to read about.

 

Tech in the Classroom: Lego Mindstorms EV3
Far more than a toy, the Lego Mindstorms EV3 is a robot with real computing power.

Tech in the Classroom: Audible.com
Amazon's Audible.com is an extensive digital library of high-quality audiobooks, including over 150,000 titles and growing.

Tech in the Classroom: Robot Turtles
This board game teaches kids ages 3-8 about computer programming.

Tech in the Classroom: Strotter Across Case
This wearable mobile desk makes it possible to control an iPad presentation while walking around.

Tech in the Classroom: Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
This computer game lets students design roller coasters using real physics.

Tech in the Classroom: Brookstone Virtual Keyboard
This neat little box projects a virtual keyboard onto any surface.

Tech in the Classroom: Google Chromebook
These inexpensive laptops run the Chrome browser and offer more laptop functionality than a tablet.

Tech in the Classroom: 6-Word Memoir
This teacher-developed interactive workbook series for students prompts them to express themselves and discover their world in only six words.

Tech in the Classroom: EduCreations
This online tool works with the iPad, letting teachers and students create videos that provide instruction on a given topic.

Tech in the Classroom: Plotogon
Plotagon lets anyone create an animated movie directly from a written screenplay.

Tech in the Classroom: PressReader
A news aggregator that delivers full-article content to tablets and smartphones whether or not they’re connected to the Internet.

Tech in the Classroom: Remind101
The service allows teachers to send a private text message to all the students in the class without the hassle of sending the same message multiple times. 

Tech in the Classroom: Asus Dual-Band Router
The RT-AC68U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router produces a short-range WiFi signal from a dedicated Internet connection.

Tech in the Classroom: EleMount
At first glance, the EleMount looks just like any other mobile device mount. What sets it apart is the way it mounts devices. Unlike traditional suction cups and claws, EleMount uses a proprietary adhesive that simply sticks to both device and surface with only a slight application of pressure. Want to move the mount or change the device it’s holding? Just lift it or the device, and it disengages its grip with no sticky residue.

Tech in the Classroom: Gripcase
Gripcase is a durable foam option for a child’s iPad (generations 2-4) and/or iPad mini case. Complete with a sturdy handle that surrounds the connected interior case, the Gripcase’s unique design allows for easy portability and high durability.

Tech in the Classroom: No Cyrus
This is an extension for the Google Chrome browser that blocks any and all mentions of Miley Cyrus on the Internet.

Tech in the Classroom: Able2Extract
Here’s an application that can convert PDFs into Word, Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, Autocad (DWG, DXF) and Open Office files. It can also convert to image formats (jpeg, bmp, png, tiff, etc.), HTML and a host of other formats.

Tech in the Classroom: UniFi
A dedicated WiFi service tailored to specific building and campus requirements, UniFi provides schools with a localized high-speed wireless Internet connection.

Tech in the Classroom: Iris ID Cam
This is a biometric terminal that controls visitor flow into a school while tracking student and faculty attendance.

Tech in the Classroom: VIRTmac
VIRTmac (Visual Interactive Revolutionary Tactile Magnetic Classroom) is a modeling kit that uses magnets on classroom blackboards to display the structure and processes of cells and molecules.

Tech in the Classroom: AppCrayon
AppCrayon, an app/device combination, is a tangible writing tool that works in conjunction with software to help younger students learn to write.

Tech in the Classroom: Interactive Dell
This is an interactive exploration of the outer, middle and inner ear models.

Tech in the Classroom: Dell Ophelia
This is a device roughly the size of a typical Flash drive that when plugged in, converts any television or monitor possessing an HDMI port into a full-fledged Android PC.

Tech in the Classroom: AVer TabCam
Here’s a mountable camera that allows the user to wirelessly stream video of textbooks, artifacts, science experiments or even student presentations, and then displays them live through the iPad.

Tech in the Classroom: Scratch
This is a programming tool for ages eight and up that allows users to create video games, interactive stories, animations and more.

Tech in the Classroom: YouTube Edu
YouTube.com/EDU offers everything that educators could ever want or need from an online video resource. This site is a literal “classroom of the world.”

Tech in the Classroom: Raspberry Pi
Geared towards engineers, tinkerers and techies, this bare-bones, credit-card sized computer serves as a tool for teaching the fundamentals of computer science.

Tech in the Classroom: Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Mini
This is a lightweight miniature keyboard that also serves as a protective case for the iPad Mini's screen.

Tech in the Classroom: LeapPad2
Here’s a tablet designed specifically for early elementary-aged students.

Tech in the Classroom: Plagtracker
This is a free service that teachers can use to check any student assignment for plagiarism.

Tech in the Classroom: Earbud Yo-Yo
The Earbud Yo-Yo is an earbud holder and organizer that eliminates tangled webs of earbud wires.

Tech in the Classroom: My Passport Edge
This is a new, ultra-thin portable hard drive for both Mac and PC computers.

Tech in the Classroom: EchoAge
A rare administrator-specific tool, EchoAge allows schools to partner with private individuals to raise money.

Tech in the Classroom: SOM
This is a presentation recording tool for Mac or PC.

Tech in the Classroom: BookBook
BookBook for iPad is a handmade, one-of-a-kind, hardback leather case for the New iPad (3rd generation) and iPad 2.

Tech in the Classroom: iVideo
iVideo Converter is a fast, award-winning, free program that allows users to download and convert online videos.

Tech in the Classroom: ProfPros Quiz Maker
ProProfs is an advanced quiz maker offering more features than you might expect from a free product.

Tech in the Classroom: Sparkfun MiniBot
The ProtoSnap Minibot offers a low-cost introduction to robotics for middle- and high-school students and educators. The Minibot is an Arduino-compatible platform ideal for experienced Arduino users as well as those just learning to program. And since it's built on the ProtoSnap architecture, once users have exhausted the potential of the kit as-is, they can break it apart and use the components to make other robots.

Tech in the Classroom: Animoto
Animoto is a video creation service (online and mobile) that makes it easy and fun for anyone to create and share videos using his/her own pictures, video clips, words and music.

Tech in the Classroom: Britelink Headphones
Using Bluetooth technology, the headphones send and receive audio from any connected device. Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices with high levels of security.

Tech in the Classroom: Livescribe Pen
Livescribe isa ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder. When used with Anoto digital paper, it records what it writes for later uploading to a computer, and synchronizes those notes with the audio it has recorded.

Tech in the Classroom: Penveu
This is a small, handheld tool that has the functionality of a mouse and can digitally write on any surface, from almost any distance. It can write in different colors, erase and highlight anything in a presentation.

Tech in the Classroom: CronoZoom
This is a “zoomable” timeline of timelines augmented with multimedia features. Packed into a single Web page, ChronoZoom represents literally the history of everything since the Big Bang, presented in a visual, navigable package.

Tech in the Classroom: Learning Spot
 
This is digital lesson plan content that is specifically designed for use with interactive white boards as well as Mac and PC computers.

Tech in the Classroom: Diigo
 
Diigo is a cloud-based program that allows users to highlight, annotate and save entire Web pages for use later.

Tech in the Classroom: StudySync
This is a Web-based supplemental curriculum. Aligned to the Common Core and aimed at middle-school and high-school students, StudySync enlists broadcast-quality video, digital media, mobile platforms and social learning to advance reading, writing and critical thinking

Tech in the Classroom: PresentationTube
PresentationTube Network provides a video presentation recorder and video sharing and streaming network that facilitates the process of producing, publishing and sharing quality, accessible and interactive video presentations

Tech in the Classroom: Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is an engaging, award-winning second-language program that correlates to state and national standards.

Tech in the Classroom: SpaceChem
Students take on the role of a Reactor Engineer working for SpaceChem, the leading chemical synthesizer for frontier colonies. They must construct elaborate factories to transform raw materials into valuable chemical products. They have to streamline their designs to meet production quotas and survive encounters with the sinister threats that plague SpaceChem.

Tech in the Classroom: Apple TV
Apple TV is a device that wirelessly streams content from the Internet to your television. When paired with the AirPlay feature of iOS devices, Apple TV can wirelessly display, in real time, what the mobile device is displaying.

Tech in the Classroom: OpalCalc
OpalCalc takes the concept of a PC calculator and one-ups it by allowing the user to insert natural language as part of the sum, along with multi-line support that allows users to go back and adjust previous calculations.

Tech in the Classroom: Mobile HotSpot
A device about the size of a credit card (depending on make and model) that provides Internet access to areas that do not have it.

Tech in the Classroom: VisiTimer
This unique timer displays an image rather than a series of numbers

Tech in the Classroom: Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
For the first time in history, people around the world are able to view the actual Dead Sea Scrolls without having to travel to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Tech in the Classroom: GoogleMaps
Google Maps is an online mapping service that provides street maps; a route planner for traveling by foot, car, bike or public transport and an urban business locator for numerous countries around the world.

Tech in the Classroom: LANSchool
LANSchool 7.6 software allows teachers to integrate technology while eliminating student distractions.

Tech in the Classroom: RenWeb
RenWeb is a school management system that can be used to organize and store important school information including contact info, grading, progress reports and parent communications.

Tech in the Classroom: GradeKeeper
GradeKeeper is a school management system that allows users to keep track of grades, seating charts, progress reports and more

Tech in the Classroom: Discover, Learn and Play
Discover, Learn and Play is an online music curriculum designed to take students from instrument selection through song performance.

Color It by Numbers
A digital coloring program available for both Mac and PC, Color It By Numbers lets students “color” using a mouse to control a virtual brush.

OtterBox Tablet Cases
OtterBox addresses the concerns of education officials who are wary of the beating young children can deliver to school equipment.

iPad App Store
This installment of Tech in the Classroom explores the possibility of using the iPad App Store in the classroom.

Adobe Creative Suite
This package of software allows you to create everything from documents to Web sites, and includes Photoshop, the industry-leading photo-editing software.

Tech4Learning
Tech4Learning is a suite of software products aimed specifically at elementary-school aged children.

Classroom "Jeopardy!"
Using any other digital projection device, teachers can transform their classroom into the set of the television show “Jeopardy!” 

BlogTalkRadio.com
BlogTalkRadio.com lets anyone sign up and do a podcast or radio show over a phone.

eBeam Engage
This interactive whiteboard device combines more than ten multimedia and navigation tools in one sleek console to make content delivery effective and fun.

The Online Books Page
This site offers over one million legal, free books of all types including classics, reference books and other books that would be useful in a classroom setting.

Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is a black-and-white electronic reading device that allows you to carry thousands of books with you, downloading from either a WiFi connection or through 3G service.

Skype
A free videoconferencing program, Skype allows any two people with an Internet connection and computers with Web cameras to participate in a two-way online chat.