Learning in Hand Issue 37

Issue 37 • June 4, 2025

Today I'm finishing up hosting a three-day virtual camp for Arizona teachers called Camp Plug and Play. I've been part of this event through the Arizona K12 Center for 20 years. While this year's camp is online, it's usually held in Tucson.

Camp Plug and Play has spotlighted all kinds of tools. Back in 2006, we featured Palm Pilots. Over the years, teachers have eagerly explored tools like Flipgrid, Skype, TodaysMeet, Edmodo, and Glogster. These tools were once classroom favorites, but all of them have since been discontinued.

Even when a tool fades away, there’s almost always another way to get the job done. For example, several online whiteboards have stepped in to fill the gap left by Google Jamboard, which stopped working on January 1, 2025.

Collaborative Canvas Choices 🧾

If you’re still mourning the loss of Google Jamboard, you’re not alone. Thankfully, there are some solid replacements that are not only similar, but in many ways better. I’ve rounded up three standout options for teachers: Padlet Sandbox, FigJam, and Canva Whiteboard.

All three let you add sticky notes, shapes, videos, images, and drawings. You and your students can collaborate in real time, and each platform has its own quirks and helpful extras.

Padlet Sandbox is great for visual thinkers and multimedia projects. You can use a laser pointer, switch between Draw and Play modes, and even start with a template.
FigJam shines when you want to organize and structure collaboration. It has sections you can hide and reveal, plus a spotlight tool to guide attention.
Canva Whiteboard brings the design power of Canva into your teaching. It’s perfect for adding visual flair and sorting sticky notes in creative ways.

Whether you’re brainstorming, reviewing, or facilitating discussion, these tools give you a flexible digital space for learning. This chart compares the key features of each. Click to see it full screen.

Deep Discovery with AI 🔎

ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity have a Deep Research mode that searches, gathers, analyzes, and synthesizes information from multiple online sources. Deep Research produces a detailed report that includes citations.

Deep Research is especially useful for tasks that require lots of browsing and multiple tabs. It’s great for when you need current information, comparisons, multiple web sources, or a comprehensive overview of a topic.

If your prompt is simple or you're asking something that doesn't require much exploration, then Deep Research likely isn’t necessary. It’s not the best choice for quick brainstorms, short writing tasks, or when you already understand the topic well.

Example prompt for Deep Research: “Research the similarities and differences among Blooket, Quizizz, Kahoot, and Gimkit, including the free and paid versions of each. Include a chart for easy comparison.” Click to see this chat with Gemini.

Deep Research takes much more time than a regular chatbot reply, so feel free to step away and return later to check the results.

Once you have your report, you can…

Ask follow-up questions.
Request a summary.
Create a quiz, infographic, or website.
Listen to two hosts discuss and review the research in an Audio Overview (Gemini only).

Tips for Deep Research

Specify a time period for the sources.
Clarify the report’s audience.
Add your own files to be included in the research.
Include relevant context in your prompt.
Always double-check for accuracy.

Remarkable Resources ✨

I’ve come across dozens of AI tools made for teachers. Each one puts its own spin on how to support our work. While I usually prefer using a plain old chatbot like ChatGPT or Gemini, there’s definitely value in tools built specifically for educators.

Recently, Aryan Bhadouria gave me a demo of TeachShare, a platform he co-founded with fellow students at the University of California, Berkeley.

Aryan and his team designed TeachShare to help teachers save time and create instruction that’s grounded in solid teaching practices.

The TeachShare Creator starts with a simple question: “What can we help you teach?” You enter a topic, choose a grade level, and pick standards. From there, things get interesting.

Here’s what makes TeachShare stand out:

Add a source like a website, video, or file to give your lesson content to build from.
Use “Enhance my request” to turn a basic idea into a detailed prompt that reflects how real teaching and learning work.
Choose the phase of instruction you’re designing for: Introduction, Practice, Review, or Assessment.
Add a research-based boost by focusing on strategies like Scaffolding, Discourse, Inquiry, Game-Based Learning, Metacognition and Self-Regulation, or Gradual Release of Responsibility.
The output appears on editable pages that look a lot like something you’d create in Canva. They include headers, text boxes, diagrams, images, and more.
Student response areas are built right into the pages.
You can move, resize, and edit every element to fit your needs.
It produces a Teacher Guide with answer key, sources, classroom tips, and differentiation ideas.
LaunchPad is where you can differentiate the resources you’ve created.
When you're done, you get an interactive link for students, or you can download a PDF or post to Google Classroom.
Students can submit their work for feedback. You can open their responses in the Autograder, which is currently being beta tested.

TeachShare is a thoughtful tool that combines AI with good instructional design. When you sign up, your Premium trial lasts 14 days. After that the answer key, automatic grader, ability to download, and customization options disappear. To continue Premium, $8.25 monthly or $99 annually.

Odd One Out 🧐

I’ve added a new tasty treat to my list of Digital Snacks.

Odd One Out from Emojipedia challenges you to spot the emoji that doesn’t belong. You’ll scan a grid of 60 emojis, searching for the one with a subtle difference before the timer runs out.

There are 15 quick rounds, and your final score is based on how fast and accurately you play.

Replays and Resources 🤩

Quizizz and Forward Edge sponsored the 8th National Tech Coach EdCamp on May 15. Hundreds of instructional coaches and media specialists from across the country came together to learn from some of the best in the field. Sessions were led by volunteer educators who are both experienced coaches and outstanding presenters.

If you missed the live event, you can still access recordings, slides, and resources in a well-organized spreadsheet. Topics include gamification, coaching strategies, accessibility, AI-powered assessments, and blended learning. It’s definitely worth browsing.

Tame Those Tabs 🧹

Safari on your iPhone or iPad can hold up to 500 open tabs. Since tabs don’t close automatically, it’s easy to end up with a big collection of them over time.

Safari freezes inactive tabs to conserve system resources. But, when it’s time to tidy up, closing each tab one by one can be a bit of a chore.

To close all your tabs at once, press and hold the Tabs icon (⧉) in Safari then tap Close All Tabs.

You can also set Safari to automatically close tabs you haven’t viewed recently. Open the Settings app, tap Apps, tap Safari, and adjust the Close Tabs option from Manually to After One Day, After One Week, or After One Month.

If you’ve closed the tab for the 2024-2025 school year, you might have the time to go back and go through past issues of the Learning in Hand newsletter. Scroll down on the Newsletter webpage to see Issues 1 through 36.

Smiles from Iowa,

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Al was used to revise and proofread text in this newsletter. It was also used to generate possibilities for section titles.