Good tech has a puzzle-like or creative quality to it.
Rather than workbook page-like tech for which you fill in the blanks, then wait until the end of the assignment to see if you are wrong or right, good tech leads you along the learning path with clues, hints, re-tries, video, explanations, and opportunity for creativity, construction, and collaboration too.
For example, I really liked Sumdog because students could play with other students as they practiced math facts. It was a fun way to learn information that also included many multi-cultural references. It wasn't perfect, but I've yet to find a perfect tech tool. Sumdog was fun and motivating--students put in a lot of time at home and even during recess to practice.
I like Khan Academy because it leads students through the standards with a large number of multi-modal practice including good interactive models, great use of vocabulary, reading, and multiple ways to look at a concept. Further students progress up as they master each standards--I like that mastery focus too.
I like Symphony Math because it helps students to create and learn with visual models that illustrate quantity and concepts. Symphony also progresses forward as students master concepts, and it's one more way to build skill.
I like Minecraft and SCRATCH because they are engaging, creative, and collaborative tools that can be used across discipline to learn in multiple ways, ways that mirror the types of coding and 3-dimensional models they'll use in almost any field in the future.
I like That Quiz because it is a simple tool for direct practice of discrete concepts, knowledge, and skill.
Google apps are a favorite too because there are countless ways to learn, create, apply, and present knowledge.
I'm sure there are many more good tools out there for learning and teaching math. I'll continue to be on the look out for tools that really help students think, question, master, create, present, and apply math knowledge, concept, and skill. Let me know if there's one you like that I haven't listed.
