Resources and Tools
Here I have organized resources and tools that I use as a learner, educator, and professional.
Resources
Tools
Book Creator
Description
This application can house a "library", or single set, of books, and provides templates to create books in a variety of formats.
Affordances
This application offers templates such as comic books, cook books, fiction, magazine, etc. Multiple people can work on books within the same library at the same time.
Constraints
There are a lot of options which could be overwhelming for novice users.
Camtasia
Description
This application can be used to make video files, GIFs, and audio files. It also has the ability to video screen capture a computer's desktop screen in-full or in-part.
Affordances
The interface is intuitive and offers a wide variety of different options for audio effects, visual effects, transitions, annotations and more. It also has the ability to integrate photos, videos, and audio files. Additionally, there is an option for video files with sound to separate the video from the sound to adjust them as you would like.
Constraints
The application is not free, and it has some complexities that could be confusing for a user who is brand new to video editing.
Canva
Description
This tool allows users to create posters, infographics, social media posts, newsletters, and more!
Affordances
This application is free to use, it has an easy-to-use interface, the controls for manipulating the elements in each creation are intuitive and versatile.
Constraints
There are a wide variety of options and features, it is a little complex and that could be overwhelming for novice users.
Capture (Techsmith)
Description
This application has quick and easy photo editing features that can be used to create graphics for things like walk throughs. I use this all the time to create instructional guides for things like logging into student emails.
Affordances
Currently free to download, intuitive interface.
Constraints
The application requires a login to use, and recording video does not save locally, it uploads it to a cloud storage area for your account.
Genially
Google Jamboard
Description
This application is part of the Google Apps drawer. It works a bit like a white board and slide deck combined, with sticky notes, text and graphic options.
Affordances
The interface is simple and works a lot like commonly used apps (PowerPoint or Google Slides). It can be used collaboratively by multiple users at the same time.
Constraints
Certain items, such as the sticky notes, when a new one is created spawn in the exact same spot for all users, so when more than one person creates a sticky note on the same slide at the same time they all show up on top of each other and need to be separated manually. The Jamboard limits each board to no more than 20 slides.
MIT App Inventor
Description
This cloud-based service makes programming mobile apps for Android phones super manageable by using a Graphic User Interface (GUI).
Affordances
No manual code entry necessary, the GUI interface illustrates object-oriented programming in real time. Once a user is logged in it stores the saved projects to cloud storage it is retrievable anywhere the user can connect to the internet.
Constraints
The GUI interface is not very accessibility-friendly. Troubleshooting internet connectivity issues will be necessary when transitioning between several different networks while working on projects. If the user's internet connection is poor, progress may be lost and revisions may not be readily available until a stable connection is made. Testing with the companion app requires both devices to be connected to the same network and possibly the precise same Wireless Access Point (WAP).
Padlet
Description
This tool is a Software as a Service (SaaS). It is great for groups to work collaboratively or for whole class rosters to contribute to a discussion or post questions to a given prompt on a Padlet wall.
Affordances
This SaaS is free to use. It is also easy and can be used with novice learners or users. The walls are customizable in wordage and graphics.
Constraints
According to reviews, "It can also be difficult to vet inappropriate submissions if you are not vigilant."