Integrating Technology Colleagues
One way members of Integrating Technology, and perhaps other LINCS groups, could help each other is by sharing links to their "digital tool belts", "digital tool benches" and perhaps their "digital tool sheds". These personally curated digital tools and resources that help you as an adult basic skills (including ESL/ESOL) teacher or administrator may be useful to others. Please share a link to yours by replying to this post.
A digital tool belt is a small collection of the digital tools you use frequently. For example, if you are a Google tools fan, this might be a Google Drive with Documents, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and other free Google tools that can be used for teaching and learning. If you are a teacher, it might (also) include, for example, Poll Everywhere, Kahoot, Quizlet, Socrative, Rubistar, Createagraph, and a HyperDoc lesson format
A digital tool bench might include your Weebly, Wix or Google Sites website for your class, or a free shell platform for your students such as Pinterest, Evernote, or LiveBinders, or a learning management system such as Schoology, Edmodo or Mobile LMS. (I have included not only what might strictly speaking be referred to as tools, but also websites for storing learning resources and lesson plans.) Your digital tool bench might be a list or a searchable database of tools and resources, not only everyday digital tools or resources but those used occasionally or worth saving for future use. You might also save these in a spreadsheet, using an annotating URL tool like diigo, or in a searchable database.
Your digital tool shed has other tools, for example when you are doing lesson planning or writing or revising a curriculum, or communicating in real time online with your colleagues. Your tool shed might include free online lists such as the Literacy List, searchable open education resource lesson plan and learning resources websites such as OER Commons, or the new CrowdED Learning Skill Directory announced recently in the LINCS Integrating Technology group. It might also include, for example, real time communications tools such as TodaysMeet, Freeconferencecalls or Zoom meetings.
David J. Rosen, Moderator
LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group