Picking the Right Ed-Tech Tool Toolkit
Infusing educational technology into your classroom can be a wonderful way to boost student success that might otherwise take a lot of time and energy. However, choosing the right tool to听expedite certain tasks in a targeted way can be tricky.
At the OTL, we want to support instructors by providing tools that can help you to make informed decisions as you discern the best educational technology tools for implementation in your classroom, while also mitigating data privacy risks for you and your students.
We have generated a catalogue of OTL-reviewed technologies aimed to evaluate an array of available teaching tools for their safety, uniqueness of functionality, accessibility, and whether they are highly effective in achieving innovative pedagogical goals. This catalogue includes a list of technologies within each phase of our stoplight rating system. Each rating stems from a robust review of data-privacy concerns and pedagogical understandings.听
This toolkit covers:
Goals
Safety
Equipping faculty to better understand the process for evaluating the security of educational technologies.
Pedagogy
Guiding faculty to learn how to choose the right tool.
Consistency
Orienting faculty towards top ranked products as determined by IT Technology Review & the OTL.
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Disclaimer
The OTL does not accept legal liability or responsibility for the use of any of these tools as adopted by instructors. Please refer to the Educational Technology Stoplight ranking system below to better understand the risks related to student privacy and relevant local and federal regulations, and consult the official DU Tech Review process through IT for those technologies that are supported by the university.
Due to the constantly changing nature of privacy policies and technology features, this is a living document. We will strive to monitor and maintain records to the best of our abilities, continuing to add, change, and update as needed. At minimum, all DU-enterprise level (Blue) technologies should undergo a full IT Technology Review every 5 years and an OTL privacy and pedagogy review every 3 years.听
Stop Light Rating System
Red technologies are not supported by DU. DU does not accept the liability for the use of these tools. DU also does offer technical support. Instructors using this tool need to be aware of the liability in regards to FERPA standards and other relevant student privacy regulations.听
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Yellow technologies are not widely supported by DU. DU may or may not have a 3rd party vendor security agreement for the use of these tools. 听However, some uses of this tool may be appropriate for teaching if certain conditions are met. DU does not directly offer technical support, but may consult on pedagogy. Please check with your department processes for meeting relevant student privacy regulations.听
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Green technologies are appropriate for teaching at DU. The tool does not pose a risk to student privacy or FERPA regulations. DU does not directly offer technical support, but may consult on pedagogy.听
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Blue technologies have cleared the rigorous DU technology review process, obtained a FERPA agreement, and DU has accepted the liability for the use of these tools. DU offers technical and pedagogical support, as well as institutional licenses for the use of these tools to staff and faculty. Tools may also offer integrations with other technologies.听
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To go deeper on the OTL's evaluation of ed-tech tools, check out our report!听
Perusall
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Perusall is an online social annotation tool for students and instructors to leave comments and engage in discussions around course readings and other instructional materials.
as a collaborative tool to engage in course readings for all teaching modalities.
Packback
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Packback is a social learning discussion platform designed to flip the traditional, instructor-led discussion, so students ask the questions.听
for building online community by allowing students to generate, respond, and interact with one another through questions and discussions.
Canvas
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Canvas is DU鈥檚 primary learning management system for all academic courses. Canvas can be used to facilitate online discussions, submit student assignments, host learning materials and syllabi, and support collaborative learning.
to facilitate group projects, group assignments, and group discussions for all teaching modalities.
Media
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Kaltura and Zoom both allow DU faculty, staff and students to create videos and screencasts, audio voice overs, and an optional camera view of the presenter.
to record videos covering course lectures, create screencasts showing students how to use a particular technology, or develop video instructions for assignments and activities.
UDOIT Accessibility
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
UDOIT is a course wide accessibility checker in Canvas that scans your course, generates a report of accessibility issues that could impact students' ability to learn, and provides resources and suggestions.
to check the accessibility of any Canvas course!
Microsoft 365 OneDrive
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
OneDrive can be used to create Cloud assignments where instructors can create editable templates in programs like PowerPoint, Word, or Excel, that can be shared with students using Canvas.
Use OneDrive Cloud assignments to create a PowerPoint gallery showcase of student work, create collaborative note documents, or develop editable templates for students to interact with.
Nearpod
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Nearpod is an online tool that allows you to add interactive elements to your PowerPoint slides and pre-recorded lecture videos.
to add mini games to gamify PowerPoint presentations or create short knowledge checks between topics covered in a lecture.
Top Hat
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Top Hat is an active learning and engagement platform that provides the ability for instructors to incorporate interactive content, create interactive slides, graded questions, videos, discussions, polls, and more.
as a student response system, to manage real-time formative assessment in face-to-face courses.
Mentimeter
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Mentimeter is a presentation tool that uses quizzes, polls, and word clouds to engage students for in-person and virtual classrooms.
by having students submit responses to real-time conversations and create a word cloud out of their responses.
Brainscape
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Brainscape is a cloud based adaptive flashcards platform. The tool is designed for learners who must ingest a lot of knowledge into their brain over time, specifically naming its success with preparation for midterm and final exams.
is a great option for creating flashcard style study tools and is especially useful for courses that require memorization of lots of terms/concepts.
Digication
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Digication is an ePortfolio platform that provide students with a space to reflect on their curricular and co-curricular experiences, curate evidence of skills, and display their knowledge through media.
Learn more about Digication for developing a final project, making connections across courses or academic experiences, or presenting a cumulative portfolio of work related to a program or course experience.
Flip
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Flip is a video discussion platform to help faculty and students engage in dynamic conversations about course content.
for interactive video discussions in online courses.
Harmonize
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Harmonize is a media-rich online discussion tool that allows students to communicate, interact, and engage with one another.
for language courses to allow students to practice oral communication skills, adopt real-world discussion prompts, or create a space for digital community building.
Kaltura
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Kaltura is a campus-wide video management system for faculty, staff and students.
Consider using to create video assignments for students, provide video feedback on assignments, and more!
TurnItIn
鉁 Integrated with Canvas
Turnitin is a plagiarism detection and prevention tool that compares student work to an online database to help identify potential instances of academic misconduct. It generates Originality Reports, has an AI checker, and provides space for feedback and annotations on student submissions.
can be useful when checking the originality of student work and to provide feedback on submitted assignments. However, It should be used carefully and responsibly.
ChatGPT
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives from users.
ChatGPT can be used as a study aid, writing support tool, language practicing tool, and support for generating ideas, among others. It can also be used to help generate prompts and rubrics, lesson plans, and outlines for teaching materials for instructors.
Grammarly
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Grammarly is a digital writing assistant that offers grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style suggestions to help users improve the quality and clarity of their written communication.
is a useful tool for helping students with lower-order writing concerns, and can help them refine their writing, catch sentence-level errors, and compose more professional written work.
Kahoot!
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Kahoot! is a digital game-based student response system that allows teachers and learners to interact through competitive knowledge games using existing infrastructure, like students鈥 smartphones.
Use to create fun study games, check students' knowledge on assigned readings, or develop exit tickets students respond to before leaving class.
Peardeck
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Peardeck integrates with Microsoft Office to help teachers create engaging PowerPoint content that fosters deeper student engagement for lectures.
allows teachers to create quizzes directly in PowerPoint and displayed in real-time.
Padlet
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Padlet is a digital bulletin board that is collaborative and interactive where you can create a single or multiple 鈥渨alls鈥 for various posts.
is useful for running virtual icebreakers, creating a space for group collaboration, or setting up a virtual brainstorming or general questions space for your class.
Flippity
鉂 Not currently integrated with Canvas
Flippity is a website that offers a multitude of free games. Each game comes with instructions and a template with sample data already included that can be swapped out with course information.
Use to create gamified knowledge checks, develop study tools for midterms or final exams, and help students with memorizing important concepts.