February 26, 2025 • 17 mins
Today on the Educational Duct Tape podcast, I’ve got five edtech updates that might impact your classroom and one educational strategy that’s new to me. I’ll start with the bad news first, which is Bitly adding ads to short links (not cool, Bitly) and then get into the good news, like a new educator-made alternative to Bitly and an AI teaching assistant from Padlet. Plus, handy updates from Pear Assessment and Quizizz that could save you some serious prep time. And then that educational strategy called Talking Chips. Curious yet? Press Play!
#EduDuctTape Episode 118
Edu News I’ve Got My Peepers On:
- Import Tests Directly into Pear Assessment! - peardeck.com/product-updates/pear-assessment-october-2024
- Make Differentiation Easier in Quizizz! - support.quizizz.com/hc/en-us/articles/29285279744153-Differentiate-for-Every-Student-s-Needs-With-Accommodations-on-Quizizz
- Boosting Student-Led Discussions with Talking Chips - catlintucker.com/2023/07/station-rotation-model-talking-chips/
- Bitly Adds Ads to Free Links—Time to Switch? - support.bitly.com/hc/en-us/articles/32874287800333-Why-are-there-ads-on-my-links#:~:text=Bitly%20is%20now%20using%20ads,Confirm%20your%20purchase.
- Need a Bitly Alternative? Try Edushare.ing! - edushare.ing
- Padlet TA: Your New AI Teaching Sidekick! - padlet.help/l/en/article/fg48s9q3ap-what-is-padlet-ta
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today on the educationalduct tape podcast.
(00:01):
I've got five ed tech updatesthat might impact your classroom
and one educational strategy.
That's new to me.
I'll start with the bad newsfirst, which is bitly adding ads
to short-links, not cool bitly.
And then I'll get into the goodnews, like a new educator -made
alternative to bitly and an AI teachingassistant coming to us from Padlet.
Plus handy updates from Pearassessment and Quizizz that could
(00:25):
save you some serious prep time.
And then that educational strategy Imentioned, which is called talking chips.
Are you curious yet?
Well, let's get into it.
Welcome.
Welcome in friends.
Welcome in educators.
Welcome in duct tapers.
(00:45):
I'm so glad that you're here.
If you're new to theshow, my name is Jake.
This is the educational duct tapepodcast, a show where we talk mostly
about educational technology and talkabout it from the educational duct tape
metaphor, which says that educationaltechnology is a lot like duct tape.
It's just a tool that we useto solve problems, even though
it's the focus of the show.
It's not the focus of the way wethink about things in our classroom.
(01:08):
We think about what we're tryingto achieve for our learners, what
goals we're trying to meet, whatproblems we're trying to solve.
And we often, not always, butoften, use educational technology
as a tool, like duct tape.
To solve those problems, the showhas been on the air since December
of 2018, which means a long time.
How long is that?
Like seven, no, six and a halfyears or something like that.
(01:29):
And I've got to tell you, uh, this pointin the show right now, I'm going to
be real and honest with the audience,with the duct tapers out there.
Uh, listenership is at the lowest it'sbeen, uh, since some of those earliest
days when the podcast was kind of unknown.
Um, And you know what?
It's okay.
I'm going to keep going.
If it's helping you folks out there.
And I know it is because some of youreach out and tell me that it is, I'm
(01:52):
going to keep making it no matter what,but I would love to see the statistics
and downloads get back to where they werebefore, because that to me, if they're low
means that there are educators out therethat used to benefit from my guests on
my show and the news that I share on theshow that are now not benefiting from it.
Now, some of them.
I have wrote off into the joyoussunset of retirement and that's
(02:14):
wonderful and I'm happy for them.
But I know that's not whereall of the listeners want.
I think some folks arejust missing out on it.
So please tell your friends aboutthe Educational Duct Tape Podcast.
Interact with the show usingthe hashtag on social media
so people find out about it.
Rate or review the show in ApplePodcasts wherever you listen so
that people see that it is a showthat people enjoy and learn from.
(02:37):
from do whatever you can to helpeducators find this community so they
can have some fun with us and learnsome strategies and some ed tech
tools to use in their classrooms.
I do whatever you need to do.
If you want to buy a white t shirt andbe dazzle, ask me about the educational
duct tape podcast on the front of it.
I would be.
Ever so grateful forever.
Grateful to you for doing that.
(02:59):
Cause people are going to ask youabout the podcast and then you're
going to tell them about it.
And if you do, please send me a pictureof yourself wearing that bedazzled shirt.
I mean, if you want to likespring break is coming up soon.
If you want to go rent one of those, like.
Airplane spring break banners.
It flies over the beach that sayseducational duct tape podcast.
I could send you some highresolution, uh, graphics for
(03:20):
the show to put on that banner.
Maybe we could get some folks,um, on, on spring break at Myrtle
beach or wherever to tune into thisshow, whatever we've got to do.
Oh, Jake's going off alittle off the rails here.
Okay.
So today is one of our.
Alternating episodes wherewe don't have a guest.
So this is what I'm doing in this currentiteration of the podcast to give me a
(03:40):
little bit of time to get episodes out.
So next week, hopefully I'll beback with, uh, an amazing guest
to share with you some wisdom.
Today, I've just got some edtech and education updates.
I've got six total things andlet's go ahead and dive into them.
When I was teaching science afew years ago, Edulastic was my
go to for summative assessments.
(04:01):
I use it for all of mysummative assessments.
Nowadays, Edulastic is known as PearAssessment, it's the same company as
Pear Deck, and it just got an upgrade.
If you've been hoarding years worthof tests in PDF form or Word docs or
even images of tests.
You're going to love this.
So Pear Assessment just rolled outa new feature that lets you import
(04:23):
those directly into their system.
No more manually copying and pastingquestions like I did just a few
short years ago, here's how it works.
You upload your test andPear Assessment automatically
extracts the questions for you.
That means less timeformatting and more time.
Actually using the assessment data tosupport your learners because that's what
(04:43):
assessments should be for is data that youtake action on to support your learners.
So now you could focus on thatbecause you don't have to spend so
much time formatting the questions.
This comes alongside PearAssessment's new dashboard, which
is designed to let you create,import or assign tests even faster.
So it's a whole new dashboard, redesigna user interface overhaul if you are
(05:05):
nostalgic for the older dashboard.
No worries.
There's a toggle to switch back to it.
If you'd like some vintage ed tech,I guess I actually have not used Pear
Assessment since before the name change.
So it's been a couple of years and thatmeans I have not tried out this new
import feature yet, so I would loveto hear from you if you've tried it.
How well does it work?
Does it handle math equations well?
(05:25):
What about images thatare within your tests?
Does it do these things effectively?
Is it really saving the timethat it sets forth to do?
Hit me up on Bluesky or on x at#EduDuctTape and let me know or
at speakpipe.com/eduducttape.
You can leave a voice message about it.
Next up, if you are a Quizizz userlike me, here's some good news for you.
(05:49):
There is a brand newaccommodations feature that
makes differentiation way easier.
easier in Quizizz.
So what I used to have to do wascreate one version of the quiz for
most of the class and then copyit and make a different version of
the quiz for the rest of the class.
So say, for example, if I had a learnerwho I needed to reduce the number
of multiple choice options, I takethe original one and just manually
(06:11):
eliminate some of those options.
But now you can actually assignaccommodations kind of like
automatically automatically.
Two individual studentswithin the same activity.
So you make one activity anddifferent students can have
different accommodations in there.
So you might choose to give somestudents extra time per question
or enable a read aloud feature forothers, uh, or reduce the number
(06:33):
of answer choices for a few more.
And the nice thing is thateveryone's playing at the same
time within the same game.
And unless students are being super nosy,which, they're students, so they might be,
but unless they're being super nosy, theywon't know who has what accommodations.
And you see all of thosescores all in one place.
Now I do have some mixed feelings here.
I will say, so first I'm a big believerin UDL (universal design for learning),
(06:58):
which says that if something likeread aloud, for example, is essential
for some, but beneficial for all, whynot make it available universally?
So.
I'd say in my classroom, I would turnthat feature on for the whole class.
And the kids who don't want to use readaloud don't have to, but it's there for
everybody to be able to access the kidswho absolutely need it and the kids
who might just benefit from it, eventhough it's on a requirement for them.
(07:21):
But something like fewer answer choices.
Yeah, I could see why thatshould be individualized.
So I think I would probably justbe going to this with that UDL
mindset, sometimes putting in placeaccommodations just for certain students.
Other times I'd be turningthings on for everybody.
The second thing I have somemixed feelings about here is the
way that the features lock in.
So it's nice that you could setan accommodation for a certain
(07:43):
student for all activities.
So if one student needs reducedanswer choices every time,
you could turn that on once.
And set it and forget it.
And it'll always be on.
And that is nice.
That is convenient.
That saves you some time, butsome students may need additional
scaffolds in certain situations, likemaybe science class, for example,
but not in others, like maybesocial studies class, for example.
(08:04):
So if these accommodations are setto stay in place every time a student
uses Quizizz, that's handy for you,but make sure you're reflecting
regularly and adjusting based on whatthat learner needs in that moment.
So I'm a big Quizizz fan,but I have not tested these
accommodations features just yet.
If you have, I'd love to know,can students easily tell what
(08:26):
accommodations their peers have?
Is it convenient to turn them on and off?
Does it work well for you?
Does the read aloud feature sound natural?
Let me know what you think.
Again, you can interact withthe show on Bluesky or on X at
#EduDuctTape, or leave me a voicemessage at speakpipe.com/eduducttape.
Next up, our third piece is a non techieupdate, even though I typically podcast
(08:51):
almost exclusively about ed tech stuff.
I also do a lot of learning and thinkingand working with teachers on really
just pedagogy and teaching strategies.
So one thing that's completely nontech related that I recently learned
about was a recommendation from Dr.
Catlin Tucker.
And if you know her work and Catlin'sbeen on the show before, so hopefully
you've heard her episodes on the show.
(09:11):
But if you know her work, you know thatanything she posts is going to be good.
So this post was a little over ayear old, but it was new to me and
it related to one of the biggestchallenges with student led discussions.
So that is making sure.
Everyone actually participates in adiscussion, not just the most talkative
students and in Catlin's post, sheshared a simple but powerful strategy
(09:33):
called talking chips that helps balanceparticipation while encouraging student
led conversations that are engaging anddoing it in a station rotation model.
So that means with the teacher notactually present, this strategy helps
make these discussions more effective withjust the students managing it themselves.
So here's how it works.
Uh, you give each studenta set number of chips.
(09:55):
They could be like poker chipsor paper slips that are different
colored, whatever you have on hand.
And every time they contribute to thediscussion, they place a chip in the
center, just to model deliberatelysaying I shared in the discussion.
And then once they run out of tokens,They can't speak again until everyone
else has had a chance to use theirs.
This keeps the conversationmoving, ensuring equity, and
(10:15):
builds key communication skills.
So, the icing on the cake here, to me,uh, is the built in reflection piece
that she suggests in the post, wherestudents assess their contributions
and set goals for the next discussion.
I think this is one of the most importantthings in our classrooms, is building
kids, uh, reflective muscles, thatmetacognitive muscle of thinking about
how they're showing up in class, sothat they Can work on getting better.
(10:37):
Self assessment andreflection are so important.
So she suggests buildingreflection in here.
This strategy appears to be asuper easy to implement strategy.
It doesn't require teacher oversightconstantly, which is the power
of it, and it looks like it stillleads to meaningful conversation.
So I'm curious, have you tried it?
Will you try it?
If you do try it, I'dlove to hear about it.
(10:58):
Or if you have another method, uh,that you use to encourage balanced
discussions without constant teacheroversight, uh, please let us know.
Uh, again, you could share at#eduductape or on speakpipe.
Link is in the show notes.
Okay.
Back to some techie stuff.
So this one's the bad news of the show.
Um, here is a heads up from Bitly, whichis my favorite short link service, um,
(11:23):
or URL shortener service, um, or shouldI say my ex- favorite short link service.
So Bitly has been my favoritefor years because you could, uh,
pick, you know, type in what youwant the end of the link to be.
You can make QR codes.
It has a really useful Chrome extension.
It has good statistics on how manytimes your links have been clicked on.
(11:43):
I find it really easy to use.
Uh, but recently they made a changeto the platform that's created a
bit of a stir in education circles.
So now any links created with Bitly'sfree version, will first send users
to a preview page, which becauseit's the internet and it's 2025,
that preview page includes Ads.
(12:04):
So I don't know about you, but I'mnot a big fan of displaying ads to
students, especially ones I can't vetfirst to make sure they're appropriate.
Plus let's face it, having anextra click just to get to a
resource is pretty inconvenient.
So bottom line, if you use bitly links inyour class it's probably time to either
stop using bitly altogether and switch toa different one or upgrade to a paid plan.
(12:28):
So have you seen this happen yet?
Have you actually seenthese preview plans?
I have not seen a preview page yet.
Uh, it must be coming soon.
Um, so I'm curious if you've seenit, did it throw you off or worse?
Did it mess with your students?
Did they see a preview page?
What were the ads like?
Uh, let me know, again: #EduDuctTape on Bluesky or X or (12:42):
undefined
over on the show's speak pipe.
Next, if that bitly news has youscrambling for an alternative, I've
got your back or actually educator andpodcaster Brent Warner has your back.
So Brent just launched a brand new,totally free URL shortener called
edushare.ing edushare.ing, which isspecifically designed for educators.
(13:08):
So here's what you get with edushare.ing.
There's no ads.
Because seriously, wedo not need more ads.
Uh, there's no login orregistration required.
Uh, and he's offeringunlimited use, totally free.
And Brent says that he's noteven accepting donations.
I asked about it.
I said, can we donate and supportyou, you know, owning this, um,
domain that's allowing you to do this?
(13:28):
He said, Nope, no donations.
He just wants to pay itforward for other educators.
So one quick note though,before you start using.
EduShare.
ing with students.
Double check that your district hasn'tblocked it yet, or that it's not
automatically blocked as a new website.
Uh, I tried to use it in apresentation the other day at a
high school and found that it wasblocked on the school's network.
So I had to switch and use Bitly for theday anyhow, because it was still blocked.
(13:52):
So, uh, you might need totalk to a district, uh, tech
person to have that unblocked.
So if you've tried it though,I'd love to hear about it.
Is it a, good tool, a good option, orhave you found another good alternative,
or do you prefer something else otherthan Bitly because of these changes?
Uh, I'd love to hear your recommendations.
So hit me up with thatfavorite short link tool.
All right, let's switch gearsslightly with our last one.
(14:14):
So we've talked URL shorteners,but here's something that does
way more than just shorten links.
Padlet recently introduced PadletTA or TA like teaching assistant.
It's a new AI powered assistantthat helps streamline lesson
prep and other classroom tasks.
So here's the deal with Padlet TA,which is currently in beta, by the way.
(14:35):
So just be aware that it's in beta.
It generates lesson plans.
It generates presentations, worksheets.
Rubrics and activity ideas all on demand.
It also provides handy tools likea short link creator and a QR code
generator, which for now, at leastdon't include any landing pages or ads.
(14:55):
And this is great news for those ofyou reeling from the change in Bitly
where the free links now are havinga landing page that has ads on them.
Uh, this Padlet TA also has an AIimage generator, a text leveler, a
smart group maker, a name picker, anda multiple choice question generator.
So lots of tools in there.
And the best part is it's totally free.
(15:17):
Though, if you look at the site, itsays it is currently totally free.
So that word currently, uh,makes me a little nervous that
it won't always stay that way.
At least for now, though,it is totally free.
One more important reminder.
Anytime you're using AI tools, always vetthose AI generated resources carefully
before using them with your students.
We want it to save you time.
(15:39):
We don't want it to make the output worsethan what you would have created, though.
So, AI can create some greatstuff, but it still requires a
teacher's eye for quality control.
Curious though, have you used Padlet TA?
If you have, what did you think of it?
Does it save you real prep time?
Is it creating good resources or is itjust a shiny new thing that actually
isn't doing really that great of a job?
(15:59):
So let me know your thoughts.
#EduDuctTape or over on SpeakPipe.
All right.
That's all I've got for today's ed techupdate roundup and some education news.
I really want to hear from you though.
Which of these tools or items areyou excited about, or which ones
do you have some hesitations on?
What are you thinking about?
This kind of stuff?
(16:19):
What's, what's percolating inyour brain about this stuff?
You know the drill.
Reach out on Bluesky or X using#EduDuctTape or record a voice
message at speakpipe.com/eduDuctTape.
That does it for today.
Uh, thanks for tuning in.
Please make sure you subscribe.
So that when we come back next weekwith a guest, you will be ready.
As soon as that episodedrops in your podcast app.
(16:41):
Thank you.
Have a great day.
Today on the educationalduct tape podcast.
(00:01):
I've got five ed tech updatesthat might impact your classroom
and one educational strategy.
That's new to me.
I'll start with the bad newsfirst, which is bitly adding ads
to short-links, not cool bitly.
And then I'll get into the goodnews, like a new educator -made
alternative to bitly and an AI teachingassistant coming to us from Padlet.
Plus handy updates from Pearassessment and Quizizz that could
(00:25):
save you some serious prep time.
And then that educational strategy Imentioned, which is called talking chips.
Are you curious yet?
Well, let's get into it.
Welcome.
Welcome in friends.
Welcome in educators.
Welcome in duct tapers.
(00:45):
I'm so glad that you're here.
If you're new to theshow, my name is Jake.
This is the educational duct tapepodcast, a show where we talk mostly
about educational technology and talkabout it from the educational duct tape
metaphor, which says that educationaltechnology is a lot like duct tape.
It's just a tool that we useto solve problems, even though
it's the focus of the show.
It's not the focus of the way wethink about things in our classroom.
(01:08):
We think about what we're tryingto achieve for our learners, what
goals we're trying to meet, whatproblems we're trying to solve.
And we often, not always, butoften, use educational technology
as a tool, like duct tape.
To solve those problems, the showhas been on the air since December
of 2018, which means a long time.
How long is that?
Like seven, no, six and a halfyears or something like that.
(01:29):
And I've got to tell you, uh, this pointin the show right now, I'm going to
be real and honest with the audience,with the duct tapers out there.
Uh, listenership is at the lowest it'sbeen, uh, since some of those earliest
days when the podcast was kind of unknown.
Um, And you know what?
It's okay.
I'm going to keep going.
If it's helping you folks out there.
And I know it is because some of youreach out and tell me that it is, I'm
(01:52):
going to keep making it no matter what,but I would love to see the statistics
and downloads get back to where they werebefore, because that to me, if they're low
means that there are educators out therethat used to benefit from my guests on
my show and the news that I share on theshow that are now not benefiting from it.
Now, some of them.
I have wrote off into the joyoussunset of retirement and that's
(02:14):
wonderful and I'm happy for them.
But I know that's not whereall of the listeners want.
I think some folks arejust missing out on it.
So please tell your friends aboutthe Educational Duct Tape Podcast.
Interact with the show usingthe hashtag on social media
so people find out about it.
Rate or review the show in ApplePodcasts wherever you listen so
that people see that it is a showthat people enjoy and learn from.
(02:37):
from do whatever you can to helpeducators find this community so they
can have some fun with us and learnsome strategies and some ed tech
tools to use in their classrooms.
I do whatever you need to do.
If you want to buy a white t shirt andbe dazzle, ask me about the educational
duct tape podcast on the front of it.
I would be.
Ever so grateful forever.
Grateful to you for doing that.
(02:59):
Cause people are going to ask youabout the podcast and then you're
going to tell them about it.
And if you do, please send me a pictureof yourself wearing that bedazzled shirt.
I mean, if you want to likespring break is coming up soon.
If you want to go rent one of those, like.
Airplane spring break banners.
It flies over the beach that sayseducational duct tape podcast.
I could send you some highresolution, uh, graphics for
(03:20):
the show to put on that banner.
Maybe we could get some folks,um, on, on spring break at Myrtle
beach or wherever to tune into thisshow, whatever we've got to do.
Oh, Jake's going off alittle off the rails here.
Okay.
So today is one of our.
Alternating episodes wherewe don't have a guest.
So this is what I'm doing in this currentiteration of the podcast to give me a
(03:40):
little bit of time to get episodes out.
So next week, hopefully I'll beback with, uh, an amazing guest
to share with you some wisdom.
Today, I've just got some edtech and education updates.
I've got six total things andlet's go ahead and dive into them.
When I was teaching science afew years ago, Edulastic was my
go to for summative assessments.
(04:01):
I use it for all of mysummative assessments.
Nowadays, Edulastic is known as PearAssessment, it's the same company as
Pear Deck, and it just got an upgrade.
If you've been hoarding years worthof tests in PDF form or Word docs or
even images of tests.
You're going to love this.
So Pear Assessment just rolled outa new feature that lets you import
(04:23):
those directly into their system.
No more manually copying and pastingquestions like I did just a few
short years ago, here's how it works.
You upload your test andPear Assessment automatically
extracts the questions for you.
That means less timeformatting and more time.
Actually using the assessment data tosupport your learners because that's what
(04:43):
assessments should be for is data that youtake action on to support your learners.
So now you could focus on thatbecause you don't have to spend so
much time formatting the questions.
This comes alongside PearAssessment's new dashboard, which
is designed to let you create,import or assign tests even faster.
So it's a whole new dashboard, redesigna user interface overhaul if you are
(05:05):
nostalgic for the older dashboard.
No worries.
There's a toggle to switch back to it.
If you'd like some vintage ed tech,I guess I actually have not used Pear
Assessment since before the name change.
So it's been a couple of years and thatmeans I have not tried out this new
import feature yet, so I would loveto hear from you if you've tried it.
How well does it work?
Does it handle math equations well?
(05:25):
What about images thatare within your tests?
Does it do these things effectively?
Is it really saving the timethat it sets forth to do?
Hit me up on Bluesky or on x at#EduDuctTape and let me know or
at speakpipe.com/eduducttape.
You can leave a voice message about it.
Next up, if you are a Quizizz userlike me, here's some good news for you.
(05:49):
There is a brand newaccommodations feature that
makes differentiation way easier.
easier in Quizizz.
So what I used to have to do wascreate one version of the quiz for
most of the class and then copyit and make a different version of
the quiz for the rest of the class.
So say, for example, if I had a learnerwho I needed to reduce the number
of multiple choice options, I takethe original one and just manually
(06:11):
eliminate some of those options.
But now you can actually assignaccommodations kind of like
automatically automatically.
Two individual studentswithin the same activity.
So you make one activity anddifferent students can have
different accommodations in there.
So you might choose to give somestudents extra time per question
or enable a read aloud feature forothers, uh, or reduce the number
(06:33):
of answer choices for a few more.
And the nice thing is thateveryone's playing at the same
time within the same game.
And unless students are being super nosy,which, they're students, so they might be,
but unless they're being super nosy, theywon't know who has what accommodations.
And you see all of thosescores all in one place.
Now I do have some mixed feelings here.
I will say, so first I'm a big believerin UDL (universal design for learning),
(06:58):
which says that if something likeread aloud, for example, is essential
for some, but beneficial for all, whynot make it available universally?
So.
I'd say in my classroom, I would turnthat feature on for the whole class.
And the kids who don't want to use readaloud don't have to, but it's there for
everybody to be able to access the kidswho absolutely need it and the kids
who might just benefit from it, eventhough it's on a requirement for them.
(07:21):
But something like fewer answer choices.
Yeah, I could see why thatshould be individualized.
So I think I would probably justbe going to this with that UDL
mindset, sometimes putting in placeaccommodations just for certain students.
Other times I'd be turningthings on for everybody.
The second thing I have somemixed feelings about here is the
way that the features lock in.
So it's nice that you could setan accommodation for a certain
(07:43):
student for all activities.
So if one student needs reducedanswer choices every time,
you could turn that on once.
And set it and forget it.
And it'll always be on.
And that is nice.
That is convenient.
That saves you some time, butsome students may need additional
scaffolds in certain situations, likemaybe science class, for example,
but not in others, like maybesocial studies class, for example.
(08:04):
So if these accommodations are setto stay in place every time a student
uses Quizizz, that's handy for you,but make sure you're reflecting
regularly and adjusting based on whatthat learner needs in that moment.
So I'm a big Quizizz fan,but I have not tested these
accommodations features just yet.
If you have, I'd love to know,can students easily tell what
(08:26):
accommodations their peers have?
Is it convenient to turn them on and off?
Does it work well for you?
Does the read aloud feature sound natural?
Let me know what you think.
Again, you can interact withthe show on Bluesky or on X at
#EduDuctTape, or leave me a voicemessage at speakpipe.com/eduducttape.
Next up, our third piece is a non techieupdate, even though I typically podcast
(08:51):
almost exclusively about ed tech stuff.
I also do a lot of learning and thinkingand working with teachers on really
just pedagogy and teaching strategies.
So one thing that's completely nontech related that I recently learned
about was a recommendation from Dr.
Catlin Tucker.
And if you know her work and Catlin'sbeen on the show before, so hopefully
you've heard her episodes on the show.
(09:11):
But if you know her work, you know thatanything she posts is going to be good.
So this post was a little over ayear old, but it was new to me and
it related to one of the biggestchallenges with student led discussions.
So that is making sure.
Everyone actually participates in adiscussion, not just the most talkative
students and in Catlin's post, sheshared a simple but powerful strategy
(09:33):
called talking chips that helps balanceparticipation while encouraging student
led conversations that are engaging anddoing it in a station rotation model.
So that means with the teacher notactually present, this strategy helps
make these discussions more effective withjust the students managing it themselves.
So here's how it works.
Uh, you give each studenta set number of chips.
(09:55):
They could be like poker chipsor paper slips that are different
colored, whatever you have on hand.
And every time they contribute to thediscussion, they place a chip in the
center, just to model deliberatelysaying I shared in the discussion.
And then once they run out of tokens,They can't speak again until everyone
else has had a chance to use theirs.
This keeps the conversationmoving, ensuring equity, and
(10:15):
builds key communication skills.
So, the icing on the cake here, to me,uh, is the built in reflection piece
that she suggests in the post, wherestudents assess their contributions
and set goals for the next discussion.
I think this is one of the most importantthings in our classrooms, is building
kids, uh, reflective muscles, thatmetacognitive muscle of thinking about
how they're showing up in class, sothat they Can work on getting better.
(10:37):
Self assessment andreflection are so important.
So she suggests buildingreflection in here.
This strategy appears to be asuper easy to implement strategy.
It doesn't require teacher oversightconstantly, which is the power
of it, and it looks like it stillleads to meaningful conversation.
So I'm curious, have you tried it?
Will you try it?
If you do try it, I'dlove to hear about it.
(10:58):
Or if you have another method, uh,that you use to encourage balanced
discussions without constant teacheroversight, uh, please let us know.
Uh, again, you could share at#eduductape or on speakpipe.
Link is in the show notes.
Okay.
Back to some techie stuff.
So this one's the bad news of the show.
Um, here is a heads up from Bitly, whichis my favorite short link service, um,
(11:23):
or URL shortener service, um, or shouldI say my ex- favorite short link service.
So Bitly has been my favoritefor years because you could, uh,
pick, you know, type in what youwant the end of the link to be.
You can make QR codes.
It has a really useful Chrome extension.
It has good statistics on how manytimes your links have been clicked on.
(11:43):
I find it really easy to use.
Uh, but recently they made a changeto the platform that's created a
bit of a stir in education circles.
So now any links created with Bitly'sfree version, will first send users
to a preview page, which becauseit's the internet and it's 2025,
that preview page includes Ads.
(12:04):
So I don't know about you, but I'mnot a big fan of displaying ads to
students, especially ones I can't vetfirst to make sure they're appropriate.
Plus let's face it, having anextra click just to get to a
resource is pretty inconvenient.
So bottom line, if you use bitly links inyour class it's probably time to either
stop using bitly altogether and switch toa different one or upgrade to a paid plan.
(12:28):
So have you seen this happen yet?
Have you actually seenthese preview plans?
I have not seen a preview page yet.
Uh, it must be coming soon.
Um, so I'm curious if you've seenit, did it throw you off or worse?
Did it mess with your students?
Did they see a preview page?
What were the ads like?
Uh, let me know, again: #EduDuctTape on Bluesky or X or (12:42):
undefined
over on the show's speak pipe.
Next, if that bitly news has youscrambling for an alternative, I've
got your back or actually educator andpodcaster Brent Warner has your back.
So Brent just launched a brand new,totally free URL shortener called
edushare.ing edushare.ing, which isspecifically designed for educators.
(13:08):
So here's what you get with edushare.ing.
There's no ads.
Because seriously, wedo not need more ads.
Uh, there's no login orregistration required.
Uh, and he's offeringunlimited use, totally free.
And Brent says that he's noteven accepting donations.
I asked about it.
I said, can we donate and supportyou, you know, owning this, um,
domain that's allowing you to do this?
(13:28):
He said, Nope, no donations.
He just wants to pay itforward for other educators.
So one quick note though,before you start using.
EduShare.
ing with students.
Double check that your district hasn'tblocked it yet, or that it's not
automatically blocked as a new website.
Uh, I tried to use it in apresentation the other day at a
high school and found that it wasblocked on the school's network.
So I had to switch and use Bitly for theday anyhow, because it was still blocked.
(13:52):
So, uh, you might need totalk to a district, uh, tech
person to have that unblocked.
So if you've tried it though,I'd love to hear about it.
Is it a, good tool, a good option, orhave you found another good alternative,
or do you prefer something else otherthan Bitly because of these changes?
Uh, I'd love to hear your recommendations.
So hit me up with thatfavorite short link tool.
All right, let's switch gearsslightly with our last one.
(14:14):
So we've talked URL shorteners,but here's something that does
way more than just shorten links.
Padlet recently introduced PadletTA or TA like teaching assistant.
It's a new AI powered assistantthat helps streamline lesson
prep and other classroom tasks.
So here's the deal with Padlet TA,which is currently in beta, by the way.
(14:35):
So just be aware that it's in beta.
It generates lesson plans.
It generates presentations, worksheets.
Rubrics and activity ideas all on demand.
It also provides handy tools likea short link creator and a QR code
generator, which for now, at leastdon't include any landing pages or ads.
(14:55):
And this is great news for those ofyou reeling from the change in Bitly
where the free links now are havinga landing page that has ads on them.
Uh, this Padlet TA also has an AIimage generator, a text leveler, a
smart group maker, a name picker, anda multiple choice question generator.
So lots of tools in there.
And the best part is it's totally free.
(15:17):
Though, if you look at the site, itsays it is currently totally free.
So that word currently, uh,makes me a little nervous that
it won't always stay that way.
At least for now, though,it is totally free.
One more important reminder.
Anytime you're using AI tools, always vetthose AI generated resources carefully
before using them with your students.
We want it to save you time.
(15:39):
We don't want it to make the output worsethan what you would have created, though.
So, AI can create some greatstuff, but it still requires a
teacher's eye for quality control.
Curious though, have you used Padlet TA?
If you have, what did you think of it?
Does it save you real prep time?
Is it creating good resources or is itjust a shiny new thing that actually
isn't doing really that great of a job?
(15:59):
So let me know your thoughts.
#EduDuctTape or over on SpeakPipe.
All right.
That's all I've got for today's ed techupdate roundup and some education news.
I really want to hear from you though.
Which of these tools or items areyou excited about, or which ones
do you have some hesitations on?
What are you thinking about?
This kind of stuff?
(16:19):
What's, what's percolating inyour brain about this stuff?
You know the drill.
Reach out on Bluesky or X using#EduDuctTape or record a voice
message at speakpipe.com/eduDuctTape.
That does it for today.
Uh, thanks for tuning in.
Please make sure you subscribe.
So that when we come back next weekwith a guest, you will be ready.
As soon as that episodedrops in your podcast app.
(16:41):
Thank you.
Have a great day.
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