Technology Essentials in Education Episode 11:
5 Low or No Cost Tech Tools That Can Save Teachers Time

Hello there, my name is Monica Burns and welcome to Technology Essentials in Education.

Today's episode is titled 5 Low or No Cost Tech Tools That Can Save Teachers' Time with Richard Colosi.

Now I'm excited to chat with Rich today. I've known him for more than a decade. He's a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator and an Instructional Technology Specialist for a K-12 district in Rochester, New York.

He hears from lots of educators about what they're working on, what they're excited about, and what problems they need help solving, and is a fantastic resource for today's conversation.

Now, if you've followed along with my work for a while and you've attended the NYSCAPE conference in New York, then you might recognize Rich. He is the one who organizes the app Smackdown presentations that I've participated in on and off for a number of years now.

And so I knew he would be the perfect person for this conversation. Let's go ahead and dive in.

This episode is brought to you by Jotform. Jotform provides an all-in-one solution to streamline administrative tasks, enhance community engagement, and foster innovation.

Using their no-code drag-and-drop forms and workflows, your teams can securely collect and store data, automate tasks, and collaborate on team resources. Educational institutions are also eligible for a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise. Head to their website to learn more, jotform.com/enterprise/education.

Welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to chat with you today about some low or no cost tech tools that can save teachers time. But before we jump into all of that, can you share a bit with listeners? What is your role in education? What is your day-to-day look like?

Sure. So my name is Rich Colosi. I serve as an instructional technology specialist for a K-12 school district here in Rochester, New York. I kind of am like a bridge between the technical infrastructure and the boots on the ground classroom experience.

My day is really never the same. It could be co-teaching a lesson on digital citizenship, leading district-wide professional development or workshops on AI integration, or regional panel planning for teachers in our region.

One of my roles is really finding the right digital tools to reach every student, whether they're in kindergarten or senior year, as well as some of the professionals and leaders in our district.

Outside of my work, I'm the founder of the YouTube channel EdTech Hustle. This is where my side hustle meets my passion for content creation. It's kind of like a side project that many teachers do outside of their class day.

Since I've been doing this, it's been a great way to interact with teachers all around the world. I try to take some of the websites, innovations, and concepts I come across and translate them into practical, actionable tips for teachers to use.

Our main audience is educators, but I also have content creators, podcasters, and really anyone who loves technology.

Between my role and my side job with EdTech Hustle, my day is a constant cycle of learning, creating, and coaching.

Yeah.

Rich, you are one of my go-to people for new tools or new ways to use different tools. I think part of that is because of your role working with so many different educators, jumping into classrooms.

Thinking about all the different people, particularly in our K-12 spaces, that might have a question for you or want to pick your brain about a tool or a problem they want to solve.

I know I hear this a lot in my work and travels, and I'm sure you do too. People are looking for things that can help save them time.

So when you hear that phrase, save teachers time, which we have in the title of our episode today, what does that look like in your day-to-day work?

Yeah. You hear that all the time, saving time, but to me, it's maybe not about doing things necessarily faster, but about reclaiming the hours that just get lost.

You hear the term friction with tools like Zoom or others. It's about reducing that friction, like eliminating the blank page.

We've all been there, maybe on a Sunday night watching football, staring at a blank screen trying to draft a lesson or write an IEP report. You can use AI to help kickstart that process and have a first draft rather than writing everything on your own.

Other ways include automation that actually works. Instead of grading a huge stack of papers, you have workflows to give you an opening draft.

But the most important thing with saving time is presence. Being there to offload activities that take a lot of time and being able to have conversations with struggling students or relax during lunch without rushing.

It's about repurposing that time because sustaining this profession depends on reclaiming some of those hours in the short instructional day.

I love that framing because we save time for a reason, maybe to save brain capital or reallocate it to other parts of the day, or help with starting tasks that can take too much time if we don't know where to begin.

Today we're talking about low or no cost tech tools that can save teachers time. Let's start with tool number one. What is it and what specific tasks does it help you complete faster?

All right. The first tool is ChatGPT for teachers. I know you've talked about ChatGPT on your podcast for a couple of years, but this is a dedicated version released a few months ago by ChatGPT.

This is a dedicated FERPA compliant workspace currently free for any K-12 teacher until June of 2027.

The big difference is that with the free version of ChatGPT, you're limited in how many times you can generate or add input, and there's a cap on uploading documents.

The big thing is privacy. With the free version, you don't necessarily know if your data will be used for training.

If you pay for ChatGPT, it's $20 a month, so this free version can save teachers around $200.

Many know about large language models like ChatGPT, but this handles differentiation well. Teachers have spent hours rewriting articles for different reading levels, but this can now be done with a few clicks.

For English language learners, you can translate an article into a different language with one click.

It also helps with the emotional labor of teaching, like writing tough emails to parents or figuring out tone and length, which you can offload to ChatGPT to make life easier.

There's a new feature called shared projects where teachers in the same district can share a project and collaborate on the same chat thread.

You can also create custom GPTs for specific tasks with the agent feature.

Many teachers have tools like Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot, but sometimes running things through ChatGPT is valuable.

This version is free for about two years and has data compliance, which addresses privacy concerns.

Obviously, you should avoid putting personally identifiable information in the tool, but it offers a safety net.

I recommend this tool for all teachers. There's a verification process where you take a screenshot of your school ID, and then you're set.

Thank you for differentiating between the two versions because some might think ChatGPT requires payment or is just the consumer version.

In education, we often try the consumer version first, then find an education-specific tool or vertical.

I love that you chose one designed specifically with teachers in mind, even if it has familiar features.

Now what's next and what problem does it solve?

My next tool is Notion. In my role, I see teachers struggling with juggling many platforms, causing tab fatigue.

They have lesson plans in Word or Google Docs, student trackers in Excel, bookmarks in browsers, and notes in shared folders or physical planners.

Notion helps solve that fragmentation problem. It's an all-in-one workspace that can replace several apps.

It's like an interactive notebook where you create sections and pages.

If you have a Microsoft background, you might think it's like OneNote, and it can be, but Notion offers several features.

It allows teachers to create a classroom hub with curriculum, standards, and student trackers.

You can share pages as URLs, like simple websites, with colleagues or parents selectively.

There are templates to save time for organization.

Notion has an educational plan with guest access for up to 100 people, centralized dashboards, reusable templates, and one-click publishing.

If you haven't tried Notion, it's a helpful tool for creating and sharing with your audience, whether students, colleagues, families, or community members.

A quick note from the presenter Jotform: Jotform lets you build forms in minutes like student surveys, homework submissions, and quizzes. You can start from scratch or use free templates designed for education.

Learn more about Jotform and get a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise at jotform.com/enterprise/education.

Okay, now what's the next one on the list?

The next one is Google AI Studio. It's a website powered by Google Gemini initially for developers but educators can use it too.

Text-to-speech features on phones often sound robotic or monotone, and tools like Immersive Reader can't differentiate languages.

Google AI Studio offers multilingual and expressive text-to-speech with up to 24 languages.

You can input a document with paragraphs in English, Spanish, and French, and it will read each in a distinctive accent with expressive voice and pauses.

You can direct how the voice sounds, like an expert or a warm teacher.

This is powerful for ELL students and those needing audio directions that sound like a real person.

I use it to prepare speeches or presentations by copying notes and generating audio files to listen to, which can be more helpful than rereading.

It's free with a Google account. You can create audio files and even two-way conversations like in Notebook LM.

It's a powerful tool that can save teachers a lot of time.

Yes, the examples illustrate the why: saving time while making content accessible, multilingual, and helping study skills or professional learning.

Listeners familiar with Notebook LM's audio overviews can take that experience into this tool.

Now we're heading to the next tool. What is it and who tends to use it most?

The next tool is Microsoft Clipchamp, used by teachers who want to clone their instruction or be digital storytellers.

It's great for flipped instruction, delivering material when you're out or want to present in your own way.

Clipchamp is Microsoft's online video editor. It's easy to use and free for Microsoft A3 or A5 schools.

You just need an Outlook or Hotmail account. Google schools should check with tech departments for licenses.

Clipchamp has a teleprompter that scrolls your script next to the camera, making videos look professional.

There's also screen recording to model how to do things on screen.

Accessibility features include auto-captioning with one click, popular with students including ELL learners.

You can publish videos within Microsoft schools without third-party platforms, sharing with specific audiences like teachers only.

If you can't access it through your school, the free tier lets you export 1080p videos without watermarks.

Clipchamp saves time and makes video editing efficient and accessible for anyone.

I haven't tried it yet but love video, so I'll check it out this year. The subtitles are huge for accessibility.

Many of us now watch TV or movies with subtitles because of social media experiences.

Okay, now take us to the last one on the list. What is it and why did it earn this final spot?

The last tool is Canva Code, part of Canva Magic AI Studio. Many teachers use Canva, but this feature helps save time.

It lets you create little programs inside your Canva designs, like interactive simulations.

For example, I created a water cycle simulation where clicking parts shows changes, which Canva Code generated well.

You can ask follow-up prompts to refine your creation, and now you can modify features inside your Canva project.

If you wish there was a way to create interactive trackers for students or other ideas, Canva Code can help.

You can find it in Canva Magic Studio under the AI tab with a button labeled Code.

It's great when features are hidden in familiar tools, so if you use Canva, it's worth exploring.

Rich, this was fantastic with many great free and low cost tools to explore.

I'll link your info for people to stay connected and follow your work.

For anyone on the move, where can people connect with you and learn more about your work?

The best place to find me is my YouTube channel EdTech Hustle. I'm passionate about making saving time a reality for teachers.

The channel has deep dive tutorials on today's tools and others, with new videos added a couple times a month.

Whether you're an educator or tech enthusiast, I think you'll enjoy EdTech Hustle. You can contact me on X at Richard Colosi.

Thank you so much for your time and great recommendations for educators.

It was lots of fun chatting with Rich today.

Let's make this EdTech easy with a few key points from today's episode. ChatGPT for Teachers offers free FERPA-compliant AI support through 2027 and helps with differentiation, translation, writing tasks, and more.

Notion can streamline planning and organization, while Google AI Studio creates multilingual text-to-speech audio.

Microsoft Clipchamp simplifies video creation with features like a teleprompter, screen recording, and auto-captioning.

Canva Code allows teachers to generate interactive elements and mini programs directly inside presentations.

Make sure to follow along with Rich; I'll include ways to stay connected in the show notes.

Such a fun conversation today. I can't wait to hear what you think about these five low or no cost tools for teachers.

A big thank you to Jotform, the presenter of today's episode. To learn more about Jotform and how educational institutions can get a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise, head to jotform.com/enterprise/education.