Edueto

Edueto is an online tool that can be used to create customized student assessment activities. Since we are a Google Apps for Education district, Edueto compliments tools like Google Form Quizzes by offering activities such as sequencing, picture tagging and easy equation editing. Edueto also integrates with Google Classroom. Watch the video below for a brief description of Edueto.

Teachers can either:

• Search the Edueto Public Library for existing activities using limiters like grade and content. A quick link for the public activities is provided so they can be used right away. Some of the public activities may need additional content for high school use. Keep reading for information on how to quickly edit existing activities.

OR

• Create an account to take full advantage of the site. Site features include creating your own activities; tracking your students' progress; seeing the results of your whole class as well as individual students; and as mentioned, integration with Google Classroom. 

To create your own activity, sign up with your Google account. Go to My Library and click on +New Exercise. 

Or click on Public Library at the top of the page to search for existing activities to use right away or customize.

Activities can be created or customized in three easy steps:

1. Choose an activity type (for new activities) - options shown below
2. Fill in your information
3. Share the activity with your students

When editing an activity, click on the "i" in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to watch a video tutorial (note - not all of the activities have a tutorial available). 

Videos and files can also be added to activities. 

Start using Edueto to see how easy creating effective online assessment activities can be. 

Putting the YOU in YouTube

YouTube has many great educational videos. Did you know that it also has: 

• tools to help you keep videos you find organized?
• storage for uploading your own videos?
• video editing tools?

This blog post is all about how to use these helpful features and put the YOU in YouTube.

First, Google Apps for Education users automatically have a YouTube channel (account). You can access this account by:

• going to Drive
• clicking on the grid
• clicking on YouTube - you may need to click on the More option to see YouTube

SUBSCRIBE TO CHANNELS

You can subscribe to educational YouTube Channels. When you find a producer of videos that you like, you can subscribe to their channel by clicking on the Subscribe button. Here are some suggestions:

Best YouTube Education Channels Worth Following in 2016 from freemake.com

Once you subscribe to channels, you can easily access them by clicking on the Guide button (triple lines) in the upper left-hand corner of the screen - you must be signed into your Gmail accout to see them listed. 


UPLOAD VIDEOS
You can also upload your own videos or videos that your students have created for sharing and viewing. When you are in YouTube:

• click on the Create Studio button below your name
• fill in a user name
• click the Create Studio button

This will open up the YouTube dashboard. To upload a video, click the Upload button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Watch the brief video below for more details. Your videos and videos you like can also be organized using Playlists. 

VIDEO EDITING

YouTube has been busy adding even more tools for working with video content! 

Video Editing: YouTube has expanded their video editing tools. They now include basic editing functions to modify clips, insert transitions, sound, images, etc. and an audio library for importing songs and sound effects. Click here for more details.

Annotations: Annotations can be added to videos. Some examples of annotations are speech bubbles, spotlights, pop-up notes and links. Click here to learn more. 

Read the article below for some additional practical tips.

8 Overlooked Useful YouTube Tools by Richard Byrne - FreeTech4Teachers.com (great teacher resource!).

YouTube has educational tools for users at all skill levels. Try one (or a few) out!

Literacy Tools

I have recently revised a page on the media center website that includes a number of literacy tools for breaking down information for students who may be struggling with specific content. For example there are sites that provide articles at different reading levels - Newsela is one example that I've written about previously. A number of the video sources give quick introductions to complex topics. There are also some tools to help modify and teach content. Below are a few highlights. 

CommonLit - This site has FREE fiction and nonfiction texts. You can choose a topic then a discussion question. The site then gives a selection of articles at different reading levels. When using the search feature to find content, filters include grade level, themes, genre and literary devices.

Rewordify - This sites lets you take a selection of text and "rewordify" it: Paste a selection of text or website URL into the the yellow box. Click on the desired button (options depend on what's pasted into the box). The site will then replace difficult terms with easier to understand words. In some cases the results give a couple alternatives, so try texts out ahead of time to start.

There are a number of additional features.

• The Rewordify site has links for classic literature and public domain texts
• It includes activities for learning vocabulary
• You can more quickly create activities and lessons
• Settings can be changed to modify text difficulty and display options
• Sign in to view work, edit, save, share and more