Cincinnati Inc.'s SAAM 3D printer (formerly NVBots) provides a 3D printing hardware and software solution. While it can be pricey for education, it has some really neat features that make it particularly conducive for the education space. There is an online user-based interface that allows students to upload designs, which then get submitted to your appointed administrators to approve before getting added to the queue. On the hardware side, there is an automatic bed-clearing mechanism that clears a job when complete, and automatically starts the next, which allows continuous printing from the queue without user intervention. It is not a "set and forget" solution, however, and will still require someone with the skill and interest in tinkering in order to maintain the machine, clear jams, and occasionally replace parts.
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Root (now a product of iRobot Education) is a coding instruction robotics platform that tries to solve the problem of evolving from drag-and-drop programming into text-based programming. The octagonal robot is loaded with sensors, has magnetic wheels that can drive vertically on white boards, and a white board marker holder and eraser that can move up and down programmatically. The programming interface is available in a browser as a basic graphical environment, a more sophisticated graphical environment, and a text-based environment. It can translate code from one level to the next, moving students more smoothly from basic to advanced concepts.
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TinkerCAD is well known in education circles for introducing students to Computer-Aided Design concepts. Its lesser known partner software, TinkerCAD Circuits, provides a wonderful test environment for experimenting with circuits. Whether you want to keep students from burning out LEDs, depleting batteries, or if hardware is hard to come by, this software gives you and your students the ability to learn about and build complex electronics with an easy-to-use and intuitive interface. An Arduino simulator is also included, for learning Arduino hardware and software in a virtual, "hard to break things" environment. Circuits can be saved in the cloud, and accounts are free. This is definitely a worthwhile tool to explore.
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Onshape is a cloud-based, collaborative, professional-level CAD system. Like Google Docs for CAD - it gives students an unprecedented level of sophisticated functionality completely from within a browser. Educational accounts are free. With great power, however, comes a higher learning curve. There are good tutorials built in, but your students are more likely to succeed if you are already proficient with this software. The modeling paradigm is more similar to SolidWorks than to AutoCAD, but it is certainly worth learning. Target this at high-school students and above - younger students may be overwhelmed by the sophisticated nature of the software.
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Google Hangouts, FaceTime and Skype are the well-known tools for video conferencing, but they are also well-known for the flukes and bugs that interfere with their natural use. In my experience, Zoom has provided easy-to-use, high-quality, minimal-interruption access to video conferencing and screen sharing. With great power comes great cost, however, and zoom's most powerful features come with the membership tiers above the basic (free) tier. It's still worth exploring, even if you're dependent on the free version. The world knows this product much better since the COVID-19 pandemic!
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Google Drive, and the related "G Suite" set of browser-based apps (Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, etc...) have revolutionized the edtech space. You probably already use it, so I don't need to sell you on it. I do need to caution you, however, to pay attention to how Google promises to protect your data (or not). Their privacy policy guarantees that G Suite for Education users have their content protected "in the core G Suite for Education products." Be aware of how you use the products outside the "core" products, and be sure to read their policies if you are in a decision-making role in an educational institution.
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easel.ly is a tool for creating infographic-style images. The free version provides a basic and somewhat limited set of icons, images, and templates, which expands hugely with the paid version. If you're looking to create infographics that look like the ones you're used to seeing in the media, easel.ly provides a good start. If you're looking to create infographics for widespread distribution, you probably want to look into the paid version. You can see a few examples of infographics made with this tool on my Wicked Problem Project and QuickFire pages.
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iMovie has democratized the incredibly sophisticated world of video editing. While the software is limited to MacOS and iOS products, it is the most powerful free software available for video. Not only is it powerful, but the interface is very easy to use. Final Cut Pro (Apple's professional video editing software) provides a substantially more sophisticated suite of tools, but for the casual YouTube video producer, iMovie can get the job done. Because it is such a broad consumer product, tutorials and instructions are easy to find.
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