Resources for Digital Technology

(Please note: ASLA does not endorse or promote any products listed on the sites linked below. The links are provided for information only)

Last updated 20 July, 2021. See the latest entry.

Resources for Teaching Online
While this site has been developed to support online learning in the event of school closures and its value for this scenario is enormous, it is also useful for online teaching in general, whatever the reason.

30 of the Most Useful Education Apps for Teachers and Students
App technology is continuing to change the face of education with innovative new ideas all the time. This list provides  you with 30 of them for your own classes to use every day.

School Library Journal’s top 10 apps for 2017
The past few years have brought a steady stream of engaging games that incorporate logic, spatial awareness, and strategy into the mix: productions that schools and parents can confidently load onto devices for children. This year’s list reflects that trend while highlighting the range and quality of apps reviewed in SLJ’s app column, Touch and Go, during the past 12 months.

30 creative ways to use Padlet for teachers and students
Padlet can be used by students and by teachers. With padlet you can create an online post-it board that you can share with any student or teacher you want. Just give them the unique Padlet link. Padlet allows you to insert ideas anonymously or with your name. It’s easy to use and very handy.

Digital Technologies Hub
Unpack the Digital Technologies Curriculum one step at a time. Find great lesson ideas linked to the curriculum, explore strategies and advice from Australian primary and secondary schools and more. This site is hosted and maintained by Education Services Australia Ltd (ESA) for the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.

A list of student design projects, using digital tools
Here are some great projects for middle-school students to test their design mojo. Along with them are the perfect online tools for making them happen. 

Kathleen Morris Primary Tech 
Find a wealth of ideas covering digital citizenship, publishing online, global collaboration, research skills, and edtech.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Computer Education: Machine Learning - AI for KidsA comprehensive page from HP with history and background, as well as links to resources and articles.

Makerspaces

Tinkering Child
Learning never stops and seeing a challenge or a problem to solve allows my ‘tinkering’, ‘fixing’ and ‘making’ to kick in. Being a Teacher Librarian for the last 15 years has been extremely rewarding, taking that love of constructivist pedagogy into a Makerspace and learning Robotics and Coding.

Road Tested / Solving Authentic Problems in Makerspaces
So you created a makerspace and stocked it with all the modern tools for students to prototype and create. Now what? Jason Kern, Chief Innovation and Learning Officer of All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, Texas, advocates the solving of real problems in the Makerspace environment.

Let Teens Lead in Makerspaces
Insights into providing successful Makerspace environments to teens.

Assessing Learning in Maker Education
A look at how maker education is assessed and how assessment is evolving to measure more than just content. This article also provides links to more insights into assessment of these activities.

Coding Environments

Code.org
This is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. The site provides free courses for students in grades K-12 and professional learning for teachers. Code.org organizes the annual Hour of Code campaign. 

Scratch
When people learn to code in Scratch, they learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas. With Scratch you can program your own interactive stories, games and animations. Scratch helps young people to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge.

15 STEM YouTube Channels for Exciting STEM Learning
15 of the coolest and most popular STEM YouTube channels you’ll find. Have fun exploring, learning, and flipping out over STEM.

Computational Thinking - Part 1 | Computational Thinking - Part 2
Part 1 provides 10 ways to promote CT across the curriculum.
Part 2 provides over 50 Resources to teach CT across the curriculum.

***New***  App Development Tools and Games for Kids to Learn Programming
From Verizon, a source of information about coding, links to courses and platforms for beginners and background information and tips to get kids interested in programming.

Photography and Filming

Green Screen for the library
Elizabeth Kahn from Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy shares her story of how she implemented a green screen on the library at PFTSTA.

 14 Smart Ways to Use Smartphone Cameras in the Classroom
We can make good use of the ever increasing capabilities of smartphone cameras in education, not only with students but in our own photographing of evidence of learning, activities and environments.

Early Childhood

ScratchJr
Available as a free app. Young children can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. It provides and excellent introduction to coding with Scratch.

Bee-Bot Emulator
This interactive site provides opportunities for students to practise and demonstrate their skills of directionality, planning, sequencing, counting just as if they were working with a 'real' Bee-Bot.

Bee-Bots in the Classroom
Bee-Bots are a wonderful tool to teach students the fundamentals of computational thinking. Its commands develop students understanding of sequencing, computational thinking and the mathematical concepts of coordinates, distance, and location.

Daisy the Dinosaur
This is a free app for iOS devices which introduces youn children to the basics of computer programming. It has a drag and drop interface that children can use to animate Daisy to perform a range of movementd that can be combined in any way. Thy intuitively grasp the basics of objects, sequencing, loops and events by solving this app's challenges.