Link to Website:

https://techtoolkit2019.weebly.com/

Project Team: Alicia Hoshor, Jeffrey Burwell, Travis Schrake, Joshua Goodall, Nicholas
Schmidt
Date of Completion: 6/22/2019
Class: EDCT 5011
Group Reflection:
Insight from each team member on what was explored and learned about in the process of
creating the digital tech toolbox

I really enjoyed creating a tech tool box. It allowed me to research and explore effective
tools that can be utilized for both teachers and students. Our group shared roles and
responsibilities by finding two tools for each category (collaboration, communication, and
productivity). I thought it was beneficial for each of us to have the chance to explore every topic.
Additionally, our group was a blend of both middle and high school level teachers which allowed
for new insight and collaborative opportunities. I’m actually really looking forward to sharing
our final product with my colleagues and am impressed with the plethora of resources that both
teachers and students can use in their learning process. Now that we have an abundance in tools,
it is our obligation as educators to fix out how to incorporate them into our lessons and activities
in order to provide life-long learning. ​(Alicia Hoshor)

One of the things that stuck out to me from this project was how streamlined the division
of labor and communication was through google files. Allowing students to work on projects
through this medium will prove beneficial for my classroom. Another notable mention is the
platform we chose to use to present our data. Personally I have worked with slides and prezi, but
I haven’t explored website creation tools. This type of tool is valuable because of its simplicity
and design. As for the project itself, focusing on grade level options instead of subject area
allowed for a new perspective to be utilized. All of the tools that we present are multipurpose and
are limited only by the creativity of the educator. Since we had the opportunity to choose our
tools I feel that it is very likely that they will be used in our classrooms. I for one intend on
saving the link to our weebly so I can revisit these tools at the beginning of the school year to
utilize and share with colleagues. ​-Travis Schrake

One of the things that stuck out to me was how many resources are available if we reach
out to fellow teachers. I was able to reach out to fellow teachers who I work with over the
summer and they recommended Flip grid and debate graphs. I researched both of the websites
and if I ever go back to teaching eighth grade, I will most likely use them in my classroom. The
debate graphs make information so easy to read and makes it look so organized. I will also use it
for my gifted students in science. Having them debate the pros and cons of a scientific issue such
as fracking could be used to access higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. I enjoyed looking into
the tools my fellow group members and other groups tech tool boxes to see if I can find anything
else I can use in my classroom.​ -Jeff Burwell

While working on the tech toolbox, I found myself perplexed by the sheer number of
tools and applications available to educators and students alike. Continuing with this, most of
these tools are multifaceted in their application and can be used to accomplish many goals. Not
only that, but I also was struck by how few of them I had experienced in my time at both the high
school and collegiate level. Outside of PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs I had
encountered none of these in high school and only Tophat in college. In addition, these tools are
clearly very helpful and can be used to a great capacity in a classroom, so it makes little sense
why they had not made a more prominent appearance. The only explanation I could think of is
that those educators before us were not properly informed about how these technological tools
could be implemented in the classroom. As such, the process of exploring and compiling a tech
toolbox is an important one as it allows us to have access to a variety of resources to utilize in
our classrooms in the future. ​-Nicholas R. Schmidt

As I combed through various tech tools for a classroom, I found myself stumbling
upon several sites, apps, and software that I could see myself using in my future. Of course, I
could not outline all of them in this project, but I did end up making a toolbox of my own for
future use and organized it in a similar manner to this assignment. To make sure I did not overlap
with the others in my group, I read over their contributions to the assignment and visited their
sites and found that this collaboration greatly benefited our toolbox and my personal toolbox. We
have discussed the rift between technology and educator abilities in this class before and this
assignment has me wondering if there is not a bigger problem with awareness. Most of the tools
we found were extremely easy to use and would contribute to the effectiveness of a class. There
is such a vast number of technological tools teachers can use in classrooms that would help
bridge the divide in education. This project was put together in such a way that all of our
personal toolboxes benefitted from working together in collaboration. This project showed me
that technological tools are readily available for many facets of education. ​- Joshua Goodall