Adobe Express

What is it? Adobe Express (formerly Spark) is an incredible creation tool that is very easy for both students and teachers to use. Adobe Express is also a web-based creation tool allowing students to create graphics, web pages, and videos. If you've used Adobe Spark tools before, Adobe Express combines Page, Post, and Video into one website.  If you...

Adobe Spark Page (iPad)

What is it? Adobe Spark Page is a web-based tool and an iPad app which allows the creator to make a digital web story. This is a fabulous resource to create newsletters, reports, or storytelling projects. There are multiple templates and styles to choose from.  Select a template and customize fonts, colors, video and imagery, or start from scratch. ...

Adobe Express: AI Photo Video (iPad)

What is it? Adobe Express (Formerly Spark Post) is an iPad app used to create graphics, infographics, collages, or social media posts. There are multiple templates and styles to choose from. Select a template and customize fonts, colors, video and imagery, or start from scratch. Browse the templates to get ideas for class projects! Read more about A...

Adobe Spark Video (iPad)

What is it? Adobe Spark Video is an iPad app used create brief videos by using images, text, music, and audio recordings. Adobe Spark Video may also provide you with an alternative to making a Google Slides presentation or iMovie video. It is very easy to use and it has a variety of templates that will provide you with many ideas for your class proj...

Apple Classroom

Apple Classroom is a classroom management and monitoring tool for use with a classroom full of Apple devices - iPad or Mac. It allows you as the teacher to see which devices are in the room, open (and lock) students in an app of your choosing, open a website or iBook for all students, and even monitor and display their device to the classroom. Apple...

Book Creator

What is Book Creator? Book Creator is an iPad app and a Chrome app for MacBooks that allows students to create an eBook they can share with a public audience. Students can create pages with text, images, drawings, video, and audio. There are also comic book-style templates that you can use to create amazing looking projects. Additionally, a teacher ...

Canva for Education

What is it? Canva is a tool that allows you to create all sorts of projects such as infographics, presentations, flyers, posters, brochures, invitations, and just about any other graphic image you'd like to create! Shakopee Schools now has Canva for Education which means we all have free accounts and it can be used by all students and staff in the d...

Chatterpix Kids

What is it? Chatterpix Kids is an iPad app ideal for students in Early Childhood and elementary. With Chatterpix Kids, you can take a photo of any object and make it talk! Students can record 30 seconds of narration and there are options to use filters and add stickers. Why use it? ChatterPix Kids is a fun and easy app that can be used across subjec...

Desmos Activity Builder

What is it? Desmos Activity Builder allows you to create interactive digital activities then watch students work in real-time. You can create slides with a question prompt or task and assign the activity (slide deck) to your students by creating a Desmos Class.  Desmos Activities are a math teacher favorite because you can build graphing tasks with ...

Explain Everything

What is Explain Everything? Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard app that you can use to create and record digital presentations. As the name suggests, you and your students can use it to explain a concept and export it as a video. In addition, Explain Everything will open many different file types so you can use files such as images, PDF...

Flip (formerly Flipgrid)

Flip no longer available: Flip is currently only available to use inside Microsoft Teams. The iOS app and Canvas Integration have been disabled. What is Flip? Flip is a video-based reflection tool. It allows you to create a class called a Group. Once you have a Group, you can create prompts called topics. Students respond to topics via video. It can...

Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is a cloud-based 3D CAD/CAM tool for product development that combines industrial and mechanical design, collaboration, and machining.  Each student will need to create an Autodesk ID on the Autodesk Education Community - https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview. With this Autodesk ID students can log into Fusion 360 and a...

Google Chrome Extensions and Add-ons

Extensions are software programs that enable users to customize the Chrome browsing experience. Click below to learn more about Extensions (helper programs) Add-ons (additional features for specific google applications) and our Shakopee Bookmarks button. Chrome and Google Application Add-Ons Add-ons must be pre-approved by technology in order to ins...

Graphics and Infographics

What are graphics? Graphics are images that use the power of images to create a memorable impression. An infographic is an image that combines pictures, text, and data to create a memorable and easy to understand summary of a topic. Why have students create graphics? Our brains were made for processing images, and there is a lot of evidence that lea...

Green Screen by Do Ink

What is it? Green Screen by Do Ink is an iPad app which gives you the ability to create "green screen" videos and photos. By using layers, add backgrounds and additional graphics to a pre-existing photo or video. Why use it? Do Ink lends itself to activities for students both collaborating and individual projects, captures student creativity and voi...

iMovie

What is iMovie? iMovie is an easy to use, yet powerful video editor. You can use it to combine images, videos, and sounds to create professional looking movies or "trailers." The app has transitions, sound effects, and theme music that you can use or you can import it from other sources.  Why is iMovie a great tool?  iMovie is a great tool for creat...

Loom

What is Loom? Loom is a Chrome Extension you can install yourself and a desktop app you can install from Self Service on MacBooks. Click here to learn how. Loom allows you to record your screen with (or without) picture-in-picture of your talking head. Videos are automatically uploaded to the Loom website and stored in the cloud. Why use Loom? You c...

Lumio (Formerly SMART Learning Suite Online)

What is Lumio? Lumio (formerly SMART Learning Suite Online) is a tool that teachers can use to create interactive digital lessons. Teachers can import their existing SMART notebook files, PDFs, PPTs, and even Google Slides to a Lumio presentation and then add activities for students to complete from their own device. There are also templates and rea...

Minecraft Education

What is Minecraft Education? Minecraft Education Edition is an open-world game that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive environment where the only limit is your imagination. Students can use blocks, signs, and their creativity to demonstrate their knowledge in a 3D environment. Why use Minecraft Education? Minecra...

Notability

What is Notability? Notability is a note-taking and PDF annotation tool. It allows you to start from scratch on a note or open existing PDFs, add text, handwritten notes, shapes, and pictures. It can also be used to scan documents or insert pictures to create PDF files, which then can be annotated. Why use it? Notability is a great tool to reduce th...

QuickTime Media Player

What is QuickTime Player? QuickTime Player is the default media player for video files on MacBooks. More importantly, QuickTime can be used to record audio, video, and screen recordings. It can be used by staff of all grade levels as long as your have a MacBook. High School students can also use it on their MacBooks. Why use QuickTime? QuickTime is ...

Royalty-Free Music for Projects

What is Royalty-Free Music? Royalty-free music is music that you can use for class projects. It gives you the freedom to share your work freely on the Internet as an original creation, assuming you follow the required attribution of the source. Most of the sources listed below simply required that you give credit to the creator of the song used simi...

Screen Capture

You may need to take a screen capture (or screenshot or grab; different terms, same idea) of your Apple’s desktop or laptop’s screen.  Apple has a screenshot page that lists this info.  Here’s  the two most basic and commonly-used commands. Copy your entire screen Command-Shift-3 Screenshot of a portion of your screen Command-Shift-4; click and drag...

Screencasting

What is it? Screencasting is the process of recording what is on your computer screen, which often includes a voiceover.  Why use it? You can use screencasts to create instructional videos or tutorials by, for example, recording yourself talking through a Google Slideshow. Or have students create screencasts to explain a process, walk through their ...

Shadow Puppet EDU

What is it? Shadow Puppet EDU is an iPad app that enables users to tell digital stories using photos, videos, audio recording, and text.  Photos can be used from the camera roll or searched within the app. You can also use the drawing tool while recording to emphasize a particular part of the photo or story you are telling.   Key words can appear on...

Smore

What is it? Smore is a tool that allows staff to create beautiful, interactive, and multimedia-rich newsletters to send to students and families. Because we have a district-wide license for all staff, you can also create templates and shared folders to increase collaboration and consistency. Click here to see an example of a Smore newsletter. Why us...

Toby Chrome Extension

What is Toby? Toby is a way to manage and organize your browser tabs for quick and easy access to frequently visited websites. Organize your tabs, organize your life!  Why is Toby great tool? Reducing open tabs in Chrome minimizes clutter, increases productivity, and helps your computer run faster. Toby is a great alternative to using bookmarks beca...

Formative Assessment Tools

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning during the process and to provide feedback on how to improvement. There are many tools that you can use to gather formative data. You can use them to either determine concepts/skills that need to be retaught to the entire class or target interventions with small groups of students. Belo...

Royalty-Free Images and Videos

What are Royalty-Free Images and Videos? Royalty-free images and videos are media that you can use for class projects. It gives you the freedom to share your work freely on the Internet as an original creation, assuming you follow the required attribution of the source. Most of the sources listed below simply required that you give credit to the cre...

Clever

What is Clever? Clever is a program that syncs data between Infinite Campus and other educational tools to create accounts for students and staff. It can be used in elementary classrooms to access tools such as Benchmark Universe, Xtra Math and BrainPop. Additionally, younger students can use Clever Badges to make signing in easier. Each student has...

LockDown Browser

What is LockDown Browser? Respondus LockDown Browser is an application that can be used to for quizzes in Canvas. It allows the teacher to require that students open and use LockDown Browser on an iPad, MacBook, or Chromebook. When students use LockDown Browser, they cannot open other applications, take screenshots, copy/paste, or get to other parts...

Gimkit

What is Gimkit? Gimkit is a tool that allows teachers to use a set of questions to create a game. Students participate solo or in teams to accumulate money and players with the most money win. These games can be done live in class, online remotely, or as homework. As they answer questions correctly, they earn money that they can then use to purchase...

Natural Reader

What is Natural Reader? Natural Reader is a website, app, and Chrome extension that allows students and staff to have documents read out loud. It also can display closed captions that highlight the words as they are spoken and those captions can even be displayed in a dyslexia font. The documents can be pictures taken within the app or they can be i...

Vernier LabQuest Stream

Vernier LabQuest Streams are devices that allow you to collect data using an anemometer, barometer, and other probes. Select the device below that your students will be using to collect data for experiments for detailed directions. iPad Directions 1. Download the Vernier Graphical Analysis GW app from Self Service. 2. Open the app and tap on the + t...

Saber Digital Learning Toolkit

Tools for Live Instruction: These tools are great to use during live instruction, especially during focus lessons. These tools allow you to introduce topics, gain formative data, and monitor student progress live in-the-moment.  Tool Name General Description Links to Resources Premium Features? Lumio Lumio allows you as the teacher to display your G...

ClassLink LaunchPad

Overview LaunchPad provides a single location to access district resources from SIS\HR\Classroom resources to job role/special project links.  There is a web portal and iOS app. Shakopee Schools LaunchPad URL is  https://launchpad.classlink.com/shakopee Many apps will support a single sign on and list will be maintained here:  https://techtools.shak...

Freeform

What is Freeform? Freeform is a collaborative whiteboarding app that works on iPads (16.2 or higher) and MacBooks (13.1 Ventura). You can add images, text, sticky notes, shapes, icons, and even documents to a board and then share it and collaborate live with anyone. Freeform could be used by students to work together in brainstorming on a topic, sol...

Accessibility (MacBook)

Apple has purposefully built many accessibility features into their devices to improve the experience for a wide range of users. Some of the accessibility resources described below are native to the MacBook and some are Chrome extensions that students can download. This is not an exhaustive list. The focus of this article is identifying specific lan...

Accessibility (iPad)

Apple has purposefully built many accessibility features into their devices to improve the experience for a wide range of users. Some of the accessibility resources described below are native to the iPad and some are apps that students can download. This is not an exhaustive list. The focus of this article is identifying specific language and readin...

Turnitin

What is Turnitin? Turnitin is a plagiariasm, peer review, and feedback tool. Turnitin automatically verifies how similar written submissions are to other sources on the Internet as well as submissions from other Shakopee students. It checks that proper citations were used. It gives a percentage probability that work was written by artificial intelli...

Artificial Intelligence Toolkit

Below is a list of recommended tools. They have been vetted by the technology department and any Google or Microsoft Sign-ins have been enabled. Many of these tools are changing rapidly and adding paid/premium features. The district does not currently pay for any of these tools and likely will hold off until AI tools become more established. There a...

Figjam

What is Figjam? Figjam is a collaborative whiteboarding tool that is a great replacement for Google Jamboard. It can be used K-12 and there is an app for students who have iPads. Students and teachers can collaborate on an infinite whiteboard to brainstorm, create diagrams, plan projects, or even complete icebreaker activities. Figjam has tons of te...

StudyMate

What is StudyMate? StudyMate is a tool that students and teachers can use to create flashcards and review games. It is fully integrated with Canvas. Teachers and students can create “projects” that include facts, definitions, and/or questions to be included in the review games. Any teacher-created set created in a course is available for students to...

MagicSchool AI

What is MagicSchool AI? MagicSchool AI has been adopted by Shakopee Public Schools for the 2024-2025 School Year. It contains a library of AI-powered tools that educators can use to save time on administrative tasks as well as enhance instruction in their classrooms. Educators can also create “rooms” for students to utilize tools within the platform...

Google Vids

What is Google Vids? Google Vids is a new tool that is built directly into Google Drive. It allows students and staff to create videos using templates or edit videos you recorded or created with other applications. It functions very similarly to Google Slides and can be edited in a similar fashion, worked on collaboratively by students, and shared o...