The Ditch Summit may be over but we can use what we learned all year long! In this episode of the Ditch That Textbook podcast, Matt and Karly recap some of their favorite ideas shared by our Ditch Summit spotlight sponsors including tool updates, tech tips and templates you can use right away. Matt also shares ideas from his session AI in the Classroom: Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond.

News and updates:

Adobe Creative Express has some great updates!⁠

Matt’s back in the classroom! You can follow Matt’s on Twitter ⁠⁠Twitter.com/ @jmattmiller⁠⁠ to see some pictures, thoughts and updates

Big idea: AI in the Classroom: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond

How can AI help me right now?

AI can give us ideas and save us time (Thought Partner). AI can be a Thinking Partner/Collaborator Example. AI can create lots of examples. Diffit.me⁠. AI can provide feedback ⁠Curipod.com⁠. AI can be a fantastic accessibility tool ⁠Goblin.tools⁠

Where is AI Headed? How will it impact education?

Read: ⁠6 ways to prepare students for an AI future⁠  Read: ⁠Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World⁠ and ⁠The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma⁠

Tech tips:

Use the audio feature in ⁠Book Creator⁠ for prereaders or those learning to read or those learning a new language.  Read ⁠Growing authors: 15 ways to use Book Creator to publish student writing⁠ for more ideas.

Chromebook Accessibility Features are built into the device! Learn more: Turn on Chromebook accessibility features

Quick Teaching Strategies:

Gamify class with ⁠BookWidgets⁠! With some of the widgets (like pairs matching) you can have a reward word. You can make this an exit ticket where students have to show you or whisper the reward word to you as they head out the door.

Record with ⁠ScreenPal⁠ for directions, for students who are absent, for a day with a substitute teacher or anytime you need to clone yourself to be in two places at once!

Template of the Week:

FigJam Trading Cards! Creating your own trading card is such a fun way to build community and learn about one another. Have everyone create their own card to share a picture and a little bit about themselves with one another.  Read more ⁠How to use FigJam in the classroom: 20 ideas + templates - Ditch That Textbook