What is the site about?

Edtech is short for educational technology and it is really big in the technological start up scene. In fact MOOC sites such as Khan Academy, Coursera and Udacity are considered as edtech start ups. Edshelf is considered as an edtech start-up  that reviews technology  which supports the delivery of education. They focus on edtech aimed mostly at primary and high school, but also touch on technology that can be useful in delivering learning and development. Most of their reviews focus on mobile apps which can be accessed on Android and IOS devices. Here is their stated mission.

Our mission is to make a positive impact in the world by making education more efficient and effective. We strive to enable educators to do what they do best, teach and inspire.

So what are the benefits of Edshelf?

It is a great site for discovering apps and technology out there that can better support education. From my perspective it is a great site for learning about new ideas to apply in our day to day work.

How does it work?

You register with the site and get put on an email list. Periodically you get sent newsletters about some of the latest apps that teachers and educators are using. The site gives a brief introduction to the apps but also allows people who have used them to comment about them. It almost acts like a niche social network for edtech.

If you are registered on the site you can create a personalized collection where you store app reviews that you are interested in so anytime you go on the site you can access app reviews and their websites if you need to learn more about them. Here are some of the features that you have access to as a registered member:

• Ability to search for apps using different filters
• Create your own collection of apps which you can access later
• Add a tool or app that you've found useful

Below are some screenshots of the site.

Here is the site's front page:

Here is an interface that allows you to add a tool or app to the site:

Here is an interface that allows you to search for tools on the site:

You may be wondering whether Edshelf is actually useful for learning and development. The edtech sector is experiencing so much innovation and we can learn a lot from there that can be applicable to what we do.

Have a look at Edshelf and let me know what you think.