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What?s New in Educational Technology -- October 2025
It is scary out there?? Not just with Halloween ahead of us, but with our current government shut down, many school budgets may also be affected. And, all we can do is wait. Or, what can we do?
This month has some very good sources for improving student engagement. Many with free materials and with only needing teachers to be enrolled. Of course there are step up programs, everyone is entitled to be paid for what they create.
1. Boddle Learning ? Seriously Fun Learning for K-6th grades. Student engagement is important for successful learning. Boddle has been offering K-6 learning oriented materials in English and Math, and now, Science. This is a free resource for teachers to use in their classes. Boddle Learning meets COPPA, FERPA, and other privacy requirements and can be tailored to your states Core Curriculum Content standards. (They meet the national standards by default.) Here is the link to their teacher pages: Teachers Page | Boddle Learning
2. Really Good Stuff ? For Free. A resource of classroom materials, free for teachers. Includes K-6th-grade materials for Math, English, and Science. However, the full website showcases several education-oriented product websites to equip a classroom, including technology devices and school furniture for the K through 2nd grades plus all manner of Science, Math, and English kits of materials for the classroom. However, in the heart of this linked page are free materials for the same age groups. Educational Printables: Free Resources Library | Really Good Stuff
3. CAD (Computer Aided Design) that will work in a browser! If the students in your school are limited to the power of a Chromebook or a tablet, but you want to bring Engineering in STEM to your classes, then this is what you need. (Yes, it will run in other notebooks and desktops as well.)? It is free for Teachers and their Students. ?Onshape Education Plans and Pricing
4. Teaching Content via 30+ AI Tools. Whether you are planning a new course and need a complete plan, materials for parents, i.e., Back to School night, or just a daily lesson plan, the aidemia.co website has it all in one place. This also includes plagiarism checks, grading help, or building presentations. Pricing is vague. It appears that there are monthly and annual plans, with the monthly plan costing $19.99 for the first month. There is also a 14-day trial period, so if it doesn't work for you, cancel and request a refund. There are many features; it is worth a look: Aidemia
5. Build student vocabulary in French, Spanish, and English! In other countries, English is a ?World Language? too. Online tools at the Smash website engage students in French, Spanish, and English. Using these tools, pronunciation is checked while students listen to native speakers. During the same class period, students will practice what they?ve heard through conversation. There are 750,000 sets of materials to engage and stimulate students.
Unique is that your students will also communicate with other students who are learning the same language while being monitored by Smash?s staff of teachers for accuracy (and behavior). Teachers receive feedback on student performance and can see what they are working on and have accomplished. Cost to the school is based on the number of students using the website during the school year. More students mean a lower cost per student. This ranges from $29 to just $9 for a full year. SmashEducation - for Schools
6. CoGrader is an AI-based essay grader. Students are given an online assignment. When they have completed it, CoGrader will grade the essay. Teachers can upload the instructions and the student?s writing (which can be handwritten), and the AI takes care of the rest. The website integrates with Canvas, Google Classroom, and Schoology, which eases record-keeping. CoGrader will also export to other LMS?s.
CoGrader meets all of the student privacy requirements and does not use the uploaded essays to boost the large language model being used. So, it will stay true to the real requirements of grading essays and not be influenced by previous essays. It will also detect most attempts at plagiarism and cheating, including detecting AI-created texts.
There are 3 levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Schools can pay with Purchase Orders and other means. CoGrader | AI Essay Grader | Spend Less Time Grading, More Time Teaching
7. Teacher-Driven AI for the Classroom. One of my complaints about AI is the lack of student involvement; when the AI does the work, writing the essay, for example, student cognition suffers. Curipod, which has an international team and comes from Norway, takes the teacher?s plan and builds resources for the classroom. Teachers present the ideas for the current lesson, then Students sign in with a passcode. AI monitors the student reaction to planned activities and provides feedback for improvement. The AI will present student-centered projects that are worked on in groups. The teacher and the AI track these activities. The AI supplies feedback while promoting student interaction with other students.? Students react well to this approach, and many districts have seen performance improvements. https://curipod.com/
Curipod?s free version has limitations. For example, it is not deliberately aligned to state standards, and state testing is not supported. (The paid version does support state standards.) Also, the AI feedback to students may be limited. However, all versions meet FERPA and COPRA requirements. More information is here: Version Feature Comparison
8. Star Stuff Edu is a Free, Browser-Based coding game! Designed for ages 10 and up (ie, Middle school students), coding experience is not necessary. It is browser-based so the underlying hardware can be a laptop, Chromebook, or desktop PC or MAC. However, it will not run on an iPad or on mobile phones. Lesson plans are available for teachers, and no preparation is required.
It uses a structure similar to MIT?s Scratch and builds on each student?s progress. If a student needs more support, the program provides it. Overall, the coding experience is based on solving puzzles. Algorithms are taught so students think through the problem before proceeding. Here is the link to the Teacher?s page: Educators | Build Problem Solving & Programming Skills ? Star Stuff Edu
9. Teaching Resources for Science Teachers! iTeachly is a community of Science teachers who share their experiences and up-to-date resources with all members. While there are free materials, full membership gets each teacher daily, unlimited materials, that meet Core Curriculum Content Standards. In this way, teachers get current modern materials and some free time back. They cover Life Science, Earth & Space Science, Physical Science, Biology, and Chemistry. For members, iTeachly emails new lessons for the classes being taught. There are example lessons for each science on their website for your review. A full year membership is $497. iTeachly Membership ⋆ iTeachly.com
10. Free Support and Resources for Financial Literacy and Life Skills Teachers. EverFi provides a range of training courses for financial institutions and other companies. As a result, they can afford to provide similar courses, modified by school grade, free for local school districts. The idea is that financial literacy is a two-way street. While everyone needs to understand the underlying factors that affect our economy, what financial institutions use to teach their employees can benefit local schools. At the same time EverFi also provides courses for the local (adult) community and local businesses keeping everyone informed and knowledgeable. This link provides an overview of what is available for schools and students: Click here for the K-12 version of EverFi
11. Have access to Microsoft Teams? Use Microsoft Math Progress to Improve Student Math Skills. The newest coaching software from Microsoft, Math Progress, monitors and measures a student?s math abilities, provides practice problems for improvement. Then it reports what it has found to the teacher through the academic version of Microsoft Teams. As math can be a very different experience dependent upon grade level, Math Progress responds to sample problems created by the teacher. It can also create word problems and generate practice worksheets. This link tells you how to get started using Math Progress: < href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2025/08/an-educators-guide-to-math-progress/" target="blank">The Educators Guide to Math Progress from Microsoft
>November is just ahead of us and with it come the big 3+ days off (5+ days in NJ if you include the annual NJEA convention). So, vote, be respectful on Veterans Day, and enjoy your family and our countries heritage on Thanksgiving Day.
Please forward this email to members of your staff who might benefit from these products. Free apps and resources are useful if they can be integrated into the standards that are expected to be met.
Mitch Ravitz
mitch@tcclass.com
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