2014 was Another Record Year for the Site, and an Excellent Year for Digital Learning
2014 marked the 5th full year of operations for EmergingEdTech (the site launched in April, 2009). This was another record-setting year for visitors and traffic, with over half a million unique visitors and over 1.25 million page views. I couldn't be more grateful for readers like you, who have made this passion of mine such a fun, successful endeavor :).
I'm always keeping an eye on which content, old and new, is bringing in the most readers. This helps to provide a sense of which topics are most important to you – the teachers, technologists, administrators and others who come to the site to explore instructional uses of technology! It also helps to identify which articles are well written and feature titles that attract your interest.
Additionally, statistics indicating how much time readers spend on a page and other information can help me assess the degree to which the articles meet your interests and compel you to read further once you open them. Happily, these top 10 pages appear to be quite engaging and relevant based on the statistics!
The Top 10 Most Visited EmergingEdTech Articles in 2014
1. 6 Free Online Collaborative Interactive White Boards – 2012 Update
This article brings in hundreds of readers on many days (with a total of over 40,000 page views over the course of the year). This was an update to a similar article written in 2010 that was also a top draw. I suspect that the words “free”, “collaborative”, and “interactive” may play a big part in this, but the underlying function – the online white board, is clearly of interest as well. This really is a fun and powerful digital construct!
2. Add Voice Over to PowerPoint Presentations in 5 Easy Steps
The popularity of this article speaks to the continued importance of PowerPoint as an instructional aid. It also indicates teachers' desire to embrace new techniques and create digital content that is self-contained, providing students a richer, more engaging learning content experience. Not coincidentally, another PowerPoint article, “5 Great Tips for Putting the Power Back in Your PowerPoint Presentations“, helped bring in the site's single busiest day, with over 5,000 visits on May 27th of this year.
3. Pros and cons of Digital Devices in the Hands of Young Students
This article, also from 2012, explores the downside of putting digital devices in the hands of very young children. A blind assumption that it is good for very young kids to spend time with technology is not wise. While I am obviously a huge fan and advocate of the power of digital tools in the classroom, I am also clearly not alone in believing that very young students need true social interaction much more than they need digital ‘toys'.
4. Top 11 Trusted (And Free) Search Engines For Scientific and Academic Research
Every now and then you publish an article and its popularity is quite unexpected. This guest post has been just such a surprise to me. Clearly there is a big demand for these academically focused search engines!
5. 8 Great Free Digital Presentation Tools For Teachers To Try This Summer
This is the oldest article in the top 10, published in July of 2011, and still bringing in tens of thousands of readers each year.
6. Create a Custom Facebook Cover Image in 4 Easy Steps with MS Paint
This is one of a few articles on the site that can be of general interest to many (as opposed to being targeted to educators, as the vast majority of our content is). We hit on a topic that it would seem many Web users are interested in.
7. Apple TV In The Classroom – The New Smart Board
One of many popular articles on the site from Franklin Academy Head of School David Mahaley – the inspiring school leader behind the popular annual Teaching and Learning with the iPad Conference and author of Teaching and Learning With the iPad: 20 Days to Expert.
8. 10 of the Most Engaging Uses of Instructional Technology (with Dozens of Resources and Tools)
This article only got published a few months back, in September, so it has done really well to make it into the top 10 most visited articles for the year! This a great piece, getting right to the heart of much of what we focus on here on the site – engaging students so we can help them take ownership of their own learning and succeed.
9. 20 Fun Free Tools for Interactive Classroom Collaboration
The second of 3 entries from 2014 that made the list. (Posts from prior years have had more time to grow links from other sites and get discovered … they consistently make up the bulk of our top 10 year-end lists).
10. And coming in at number 10 … 10 Pretty Awesome Things You Can do With PowerPoint
PowerPoint makes it to the list twice, further attesting to it's enduring functionality and popularity. There really are some cool things you can do with it!
THANKS AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU AWESOME READERS!
Please keep those comments coming and let me know what you want to learn more about in 2015!
