Shauna Fisher

For our debate in class this week we had to take a pro or con stance on free tools on the internet for educational use. I was on the con side and man, is it difficult to find someone to say something bad about something that is free. We all know what budgets are and we all look for ways to do things on the cheap and there are a TON of free apps, games, and lesson plans on the Internet. I could spend a day listing them and still not get through most. I subscribe to a blog that is called Free Technology for Teachers that is dedicated to free stuff for us educators. Free doesn't = terrible.

But I do stand by what I said on Edmondo. You get what you pay for, most of the time. There are very nice, very usable tools out there that are worth the money. In the free category you have a lot of junk to sift through to find the gems, but they do exist! I'm not going to go through and put any on my blog today because I know if you Google search for free you will have more than enough to choose from.

I do think about the programs my old school paid for and how useful they were compared to the free stuff out there. Education City was one that our school paid for- it was nice because you could look up the benchmarks for GA and it would show the games aligned with them. I could set up my classroom and generate reports and assign homework. It was nice when the kids wanted to just "play around" in the computer lab because they are games, but they did have a learning goal. I believe that was money well spent.

Bailey watching my sis play Timez Attack

We also had a subscription to BrainPop. I think by now every teacher knows about this site and all the good it does for kids of all ages. There are free videos available but I know I used the quizzes and book suggestions quite a bit and BrainPop Jr. was great for the younger kids. Well worth the money invested.

Timez Attack is another game that you can start for free but our school decided it was worth buying. I've even suggested this game to my sister and friends as a fun way of brushing up on their facts. Again, playing a game so it doesn't seem like learning, even though it is. And it can generate a report card, AND it customizes itself for each child while they play.

So, yes, I do believe that is worth districts putting in a little bit of money to buy useful subscriptions or technology tools. Research should be done first before any money is invested to make sure they are getting what they are paying for- something that promotes educational advancement.

This doesn't discount the free. Enjoy the free. Use the free. Share the good free you find. But make sure it is useful toward your end goal. Don't just use it because it's free.