New web 2.0 tools appear each day. Many of these tools were not originally intended for classroom use, but they can be powerful learning tools for today’s techno-savvy students and their more adventurous teachers. These sites appear (and frequently disappear) very quickly, launched by creative techno-geeks out there in the world.
Many of these sites require a higher-than-average set of teacher tech skills or extra monitoring to assure student “safety.” TeachersFirst Edge features these "tools on the edge,” and offers ideas for using them safely and effectively as yet another approach to teaching. This is the world your students already know. Try teaching in their vernacular.
If you are feeling adventurous -- or want to see what many teachers and students will be doing in a year or three -- try some of these tools.
If you try one of these tools and find it especially useful or if you know of another tool that teachers would find beneficial, please contact TeachersFirst.
This blog, created by Sean P. Aune, offers a collection of Web 2.0 tools which could be useful in business education, math, family and consumer science, or economics classes. Some of the sites offer ways to save money, create a budget, analyze your expenses, find hidden fees, and more. The four main areas of the site include Business Accounting, Personal Accounting, Personal Budgeting, and Shared Accounting. Each link on the blog includes a brief description of the site.
Be certain to consider your school's Acceptable Use Policy before creating any STUDENT accounts on any of the tools. There are comments (students can both read or add comments), so be sure to supervise their navigating or do this as a class on an interactive whiteboard or projector. For tips on using Web 2.0 sites in your class visit the TeachersFirst Edge Tips. Some of these tools require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 1718
In the Classroom: Use this site to help your students learn how to budget their money and expenses. Read through the descriptions of the 25+ tools and find out which ones may be useful in your subject area. Have students choose one of the tools to create a monthly budget a week or so prior to the start of the month. Have students keep calculations (using the site) throughout their "budgeted month" and see how well they can stick to their own budget. You may want to include this link on your class website so students can access the tools at home. You could also assign students to try more than one tool and compare them. Since students are used to using web tools for everything, challenge them to make the decision about which tool is best.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users and/or blog and wiki owners. These five sources provide Creative Commons images and videos for use in your blog/wiki/web site LEGALLY. Model your ethical use of media by sharing these with your blogging students or using them on your whole-class blog or wiki. The sources include abstract photos and current events new stories, as well as general photos. Each has its own search/browse features. The services include: Voxant Newsroom, PicApp, GumGum, Zemanta, and PhotoDropper. 9629
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Since each site has its own directions, our review team will not explain the how-to's of each here. Some require access to install a plug-in on your blog, such as wordpress. Many school blogging sites do not provide this access. Others permit embedding an image simple by copy/pasting code into your blog or wiki. Two are actually extensions you add to Firefox or Internet Explorer and may require tech department authorization or installation on school computers.
Safety/security concerns: If you do allow students to join a site, be sure to adhere to school policies. As always, we recommend previewing the content available on each site before recommending it to your students. These images sites are NOT education-only, so some image content may not be classroom-appropriate. Have a policy and consequences in place before turning your students loose.
Possible Uses: Art teachers or writing teachers can use the abstract images from the GumGum option as writing prompts or to launch discussion on design principles. If your students have individual blogs, allow them to personalize the "look" using these legal images. Be sure to model thinking aloud about why you are using a legal image source. Use news images or videos from Vixant Newsroom as prompts for current events discussions on your blog or wiki, or assign students to select a news story and write an in-depth analysis of it to accompany the image/video. English or social studies teachers teaching persuasive writing can assign students to use their multimedia skills as they present arguments both verbally and visually on a class "issues" wiki. Younger students can help select images to include on a whole-class wiki or blog then add their own writing about them. A teacher can embed a sequence of photos and ask student to tell the story that explains it. Be sure to include this link on your teacher web page for your tech-savvy teens to use as they generate projects with LEGAL images. Of course you will require them to document their sources.
Teacher's First Edge Review: This free site is for very adventurous technology users. With Apture, you can create a rich multimedia experience to your site, wiki, or blog, with instant access to video, audio, text, and more. Easily incorporate these multimedia objects into a page of your site, providing instantaneous information from Wikipedia, Washington Post, You Tube, Flickr, and many more. Adding these multimedia links creates icons next to your text. Hovering on the icon brings up the related multimedia items for any reader. Since learning and finding information is not linear, the discovery of your information’s deeper meaning occurs with richer context in a shorter time frame. This relevant content remains dynamic within your site. Apture's own example of a page using Apture can be found here. See another: a wiki page with class notes and Apture annotations created by a teacher..
At the time of this review, Apture is in “limited beta” but appears to be automatically accepting all new applications. 9301
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Join the site and wait for verification email to log in. Enter your site/wiki/blog’s URL. You are actually allowed to enter many of these, but try ONE first! The site’s detector tool will then “sense” common blogging software, such as WordPress, and prompt you on what to do next. You must be familiar with embed codes and how to place them into your blog or website. Apture’s video tutorial will help (it also pops up along the Apture dashboard when you first go to your “Aptured” site/wiki/blog). Other the simple directions shown in pop-ups for using Apture in various blog and wiki tools. Instantly add the embed code to the most popular blog and wiki platforms with one click. The code generated is easily copy/pasted into your existing website/wiki/blog. Once the embed code is there, visiting your site/wiki/blog automatically brings up an Apture “dashboard” (small toolbar in the corner) for you to log in and add things to your site/wiki/blog. Highlighting text or another item automatically brings up the site (if a site name or URL) you wish to add. Other material can be located by clicking "add related media." Entering a search term instantly finds related Wikipedia or Washington Post articles, You Tube videos, Flickr photos, and more. Subsequent visitors to your site will see the icons next to any item you have “enriched” with Apture-linked media content.
Safety/security concerns: Membership requires an email address log-in. If students will use Apture with their own classroom blogs/wikis, check your school district's Acceptable Use policy regarding student email and establishing site memberships. A single class account created by an extra email account and password (NOT the one you use for your own teacher-created sites) is an option, assuming students will not vandalize each other’s work.
Apture recognizes your any site/wiki/blog name you have entered into its system each time you go there. Therefore, enter only sites you intend for multimedia use. Do not check “remember me” when you log into Apture or others will be able to add mischievous links to your site from that computer! Apture may not be fully accessible inside your school filtering because of the bandwidth it requires or the sites it pulls up. Check in advance to be sure all portions you plan to use in class will be available at school.
Practical Tips: Demonstrate first on a projector or interactive whiteboard with a teacher account so students see how easy the tool is for those familiar with embedding. This will allow you to discuss reliability of links and appropriateness of content to the audience for their educational projects. Enter additional search terms to add new media through the Apture pop-up dashboard. If you are Apture-enriching content on your site/blog/wiki for students to use independently, think of all the possible questions that your students may have about the content and vocabulary. For example, we know certain words are stumbling blocks for students, yet students are hesitant to find the meanings on their own. Link a Wikipedia or other definition for instant access to the meaning. Since Wikipedia is user-generated content, consider requiring students to link to two or three different definitions/articles so they can see first hand the variability of web information. You will need to be sure that students actually READ what they link and do not simply subscribe to “more links are better” to impress you. Consider asking for justification or critique of the links they include.
Possible uses: On your own blog or class information site, link videos explaining a curriculum topic or definitions so students understand the full context of the sentence. Use Apture to teach about evaluating the reliability of web sources by creating multiple links from the same term on a teacher-created page for students to compare and evaluate. Students can use Apture on a blog or wiki can to link content from the web to the information they are discussing. Special ed teachers may want to work with content area teachers to create enriched versions of key content on a class blog so students can experience a multimedia review. ESL teachers may want to create class blogs or wikis collaboratively with students to add visual stimuli and prompts. Consider having your more able students create some of these pages independently as a gifted project for learning support students to use later. Or allow gifted students to go beyond the usual “connections” to higher level, deeper understanding.
Teacher's First Edge Review: for very slightly adventurous technology users and their students.
Traditional art media become digital with the free ArtRage 2 Starter Edition paint program. Pencil, chalk, paint and marker tools smear, smudge, blend,and flow just like real art materials. You and your students can paint with thinned oils, use wet or dry markers, soften the pencil and control the hardness of the crayon, and much more.
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In the Classroom: Skills needed: ArtRage Starter Edition can be downloaded and installed on machines running Windows Vista, XP, 2000 and Macintosh OS X 10.3.9 or later. Check with your IT department or administrator for download and installation approval and help (if needed). ONly the need to download and install pushes this tool to the "Edge."
The ArtRage 2 interface is simple and intuitive, with large icons which clearly identify tools and options. While the program has a user guide and the website offers a quick start tutorial plus several technique-specific tutorials, fifteen minutes of clicking on icons, exploring the menus and playing with tools will give you a good start creating works of art. Teachers and students who are familiar with standard paint programs included in Windows and Mac machines will quickly grasp the basics and enjoy exploring the artistic possibilities of ArtRage 2. The program supports English, French or German language labels on tools and menus.
Possible Uses: Students can use ArtRage 2 to create illustrations, drawings and paintings for storybooks, book reviews and author posters in English or language arts activities. Math and science concepts can be explained through illustrative drawings, such as a diagram of a flower's parts or the steps in oxidation. Make visual represntations of mathematical operations or concepts such as fractions. Have ELL or foreign language students import images into ArtRage 2, trace and color them to create unique vocabulary cards and posters illustrating new words. Recognize and celebrate your students by importing their digital photos and applying textures and effects to create special birthday cards, awards, bulletin board pictures, and desktop signs. Share students' curriculum-related digital art projects on your class web page, blogs, or wiki (with parent permission) as well as your bulletin board.
There are no safety concerns with this program because it is locally installed and does not involve interaction with the "general public" or social networking.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: For slightly adventurous technology users. This site is useful to create an interactive video (hypervideo) through the use of hyperlinking. Just like hyperlinks in a document, create hot links to notes, websites, and other material you link to from parts of the video. The links appear as little circles (hotspot markers) that are clicked to reveal the information you "attach." Add more information to your video for students to access during the playback. Easy-to-follow directions and quick tours to get you started. When the video is done, you can generate and embed a code in your blog or website. Video can also be emailed. Quicktime and FLASH are required. Get them from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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In the Classroom: Skills needed: Site is free, but you must join to create your own videos. Videos must originate from YouTube or TeacherTube (see editorial comment below). You can always upload your own originals to one of these sites, if you wish to annotate a video you shot for use in class, such as a science demo. Paste the YouTube url into the search function, click on a part of the video you want to label, and add notes to, or link to a website. No special skills needed. A teenager or techno-comfortable teacher will figure this one out in one minute. The only challenge is determining what notes and links to use. Keep a second window open to copy and paste website addresses quickly. Watch the demos for quick learning of how to use this application.
Safety concern: some featured videos available on the site's home page, especially those under "Entertainment," may not be appropriate for school viewing. If your school does not have an actively-enforced student acceptable use policy with specific consequences for accessing inappropriate content, you may want to avoid this page or generate such an agreement for student and parent signatures before allowing students open access to Asterpix. You can always create products of your own and share them directly by URL or by embedding them in your blog.
Does your school block YouTube? Try creating a video using an original from TeacherTube instead. Or follow your school's technology policy to request unblocking of specific YouTube video URLs that are directly related to curriculum.
Editorial comment: Be sure to SHARE the completed examples (and student-made products) with administrators and school decision-makers to demonstrate why school policies should permit such powerful opportunities for teaching and learning. Perhaps you can advocate, at the least, quicker unblocking of specific videos (24 hours or less?) for classroom use or permission for teachers to unblock on a per-computer basis. Your efforts to respect policies while pro-actively advocating for appropriate change will benefit all teachers and students.
Possible uses for annotated videos: Use a video and have students add information to check their understanding, such as to label the actions they observe during a chemistry demo and add links to web pages that explain the underlying concepts. Create teacher-made videos to share individually or on a projector with students of ALL ages to illustrate and annotate concepts that are especially challenging or simply to help students visualize the connections between the words they read or hear and the real world examples. Shoot on-site video at the zoo or at a pond study site, then add annotations later. Use videos already available, but add the explanations using the terminology from your curriculum and allow student so access then for review or extra help. Secondary students will love using Asterpix themselves and will give a new dimension to presentations they create. Teachers can use the interactive video for extra tutorial work, explanations of topics, etc. The possibilities are endless!
Teachers First Edge Review: For moderate technology users. Add some fun to your pictures by making them into puzzles using this free site. This easy-to-use, free site offers choices of flickr picture groups to choose from, such as "Patterns," "Hello kitty," "Water drops," and many others. Choose a picture you wish to "befuddlr." Pieces of the original picture are moved around in a new order. Continue to choose a different combination, change the lines that divide segments of the picture, and even drag a button to your toolbar to "befuddlr" any picture. Once done, use the snapshot function of your computer to take a picture. In Mac, use apple-shift-four to take a snapshot. In PC, use the print screen (Prt Sc key) function to “copy” the picture and then paste it into a document or elsewhere. You are able to submit your own photos to the site (found on Flickr, of course). Learn more about flickr, a photo storage and sharing site, in the TeachersFirst review here. 9922
In the Classroom: Skills needed: to use the pictures provided, simply chose a “group” title, such as water drops, and click to befuddlr it. If you wish to befuddlr your own pictures, you must first upload them to flickr, so you will need to learn that simple tool. Be sure to TAG your pictures so you can FIND them again! No membership or saving are available on befuddlr. Its is an on-the-spot tool.
Safety/Security: Be sure to use your own images or copyright free images and images that are available to be built upon. If students click to choose other pictures from flickr, they could encounter ANYTHING that someone has uploaded, so be sure to guide them to the pictures you want them to use and have a stated policy and consequence for those who wander off into inappropriate places. Flickr does have anti-porn policies, but girls in bikinis, for example, are still available!
Possible uses: Use snapshots of animals, numbers, letters, or other pictures and have students scramble the pieces. Befuddlr a picture on your interactive whiteboard to start a language lesson! Students can create their own and provide hints using a variety of constraints such as no more than 5 words, a poem, using adjectives only, etc. in order to help those guessing the original picture. In Art, create new patterns for analysis. Use befuddled pictures to practice new vocabulary for young ones or for ESL and world language students. Accompany student poetry with befuddled pictures
Teachers First Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users and their students. Now, your students can create their own picture books with just a few clicks. Or if you want, you can read countless other books written by students. The professional illustrations and layout options offer the ultimate in publishing of students' writing.
Watch the Tips and Tricks tutorial to see how the features work. Due to the minor advertising, blogs, and internet retailing, teachers should monitor students closely or use this website as a whole-class activity. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9336
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: Join the site (free) and log in. Registration requires an email address. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Once registered, view the tutorial presentation to learn more about the website.
Safety/Security Concerns: Check your school policies on student email subaccounts (Gmail). You may want to use a teacher account and allow students to use it under your supervision. Be sure to obtain written parent permission before posting ANY student work online. Be aware that their work will “show” in “Recently published books” for others to see.
The opening page for outsiders and members shares featured and popular books, so you will want to preview for possible inappropriate books created by others. As with any site where students can create content, you will want to obtain parent permission before posting student work online.
Possible Uses: Use an interactive whiteboard or projector to share the tutorial presentation and some samples of student-created books. Create a "class book" or have students create individual books. Also, sign up for the free newsletter to receive information on updates at this site.
TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. This online database-creation tool allows you (and your students) to create a database online, including images, links, and more. A "blist" is a "web list." Blists can be shared with others as totally public or by invitation only. They can also be entirely private (accessible only to the person who created them). The tool and was designed for general consumer use, not education, but it has many potential uses in the classroom, for teachers, and parents. As Blist explains it, "A blist can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. Compared with a spreadsheet like Excel, blist is much more visual and intuitive - plus, blist is really social, it's easy to share with other people and groups. What's more, you can also find blists created by other users, so you don’t have to start from scratch." You can view the data through a "lens" or filter (show data that meets certain criteria, such as only the entries from a certain city in an address list, include photos, create groups for sharing the blist, allow others to input their information, import and export with Excel, and more. Here is a sample blist about ways to use blist in the classroom from the TeachersFirst Edge Team. Add your ratings to our ideas or add more ideas for how to use blist!
Be aware that this site is currently in transition. The original Blist is still available. However, they are upgrading and changing their site to Socrata. As this upgrade is completed, TeachersFirst will be reviewing the new site. For now, you can click on a link to take you to the original Blist.
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: If you like directions, explore the links form the home page about ways to use blist. To start right in, create the account (requires email) then start right in. No email verification needed. Explore options under the Dashboard (icon at top right. Explore some blists created by others to see examples (teachers should do this without students, since these are public blists that may not be classroom-appropriate). Create a blist from another model or from scratch using simple drag and drop arrangements. Set the privacy level of your blist to public, shared with specific users, or private. Our example is public, with specific permissions for what others may do. See recent changes to your blist made by others from your dashboard. Explore the options for creating contacts to "share" blists, including emailing a blist to someone (shows as an table in the email). Blist will even save contacts you enter.
Safety concerns: Registered users set their own screen display name or choose "undisclosed." We recommend using generic display names for students so only the teacher can identify them, since "undisclosed" will not tell a teacher which student did which work. Although single blists can be private or limited to groups you create, students can easily see other "popular" blists (possibly not classroom-appropriate), participate in public blists, follow the activity of others, and add others to their "contacts" (a more businesslike term for "friends"). You may want to use a teacher Gmail account and assigned subaccounts to be able to track the activity of students if you allow them to use the site on their own. Other options: a blist user agreement with specific permissions and consequences with parent permission> If you use web 2.0 tools in general in your classroom, you may want to create a single classroom policy in accordance with your school's AUP and simply list the tools your classes will use, having students and parents sign. This will allow you to spell out caveats about public interaction, profiles, posting student work, damaging the work of others, etc. If sharing a blist you created for students to add to (such as a classroom database of independent reading choices), use the URL for direct access to the blist to avoid some of the more "public" areas. These areas will still be easily accessible for curious clickers, however. Some messages during "loading" times encourage exploration. One unfortunate tip we noted unhappily: "Be a voyeur. Click Discover." Teachers with students not accustomed to self-controlled behavior on the web will want to limit use of this tool to teacher-centered or whole-class activities. The tool IS worth learning for just for these!
Possible uses: Teach about data collection and analysis using this tool on your interactive whiteboard or projector. The highly visual, drag and drop interface will make data manipulation work more intuitively for your students to understand. Let them click and drag to create a blist and resulting graphs from surveys the class conducts. If you are comfortable allowing students to use the tool, create an inventory of books read independently with reviews, ratings and more. Students can add to it from home and collect credit for outside readings or find books based on others' reviews. Collect lab data, have groups collect data on famous people, inventors, or historic events. Compare consumer goods. Share important dates and checklists for major projects by allowing student and parents to VIEW (not edit) a database you create. Assign students to evaluate and compare different web resources as part of a class research assignment. See more ideas in the sample blist about ways to use Blist in the classroom from the TeachersFirst Edge Team.
This comprehensive article gives all the details on using gated blogs safely in the classroom, including explanations of blogging basics, a TeachersFirst Step-by-Step on how to start one, complete reviews of several free blogging tools for teachers, and over two dozen ideas for how to use a blog with your students. Make "writing to learn" approachable and exciting. Don't miss the specially-honored TeachersFirst Class Blogs. 6808
In the Classroom: You could use this step by step as the framework for a self-directed or "buddy" professional development project. Share it with your principal or professional development coordinator.
Teacher's First edge Review: For moderately adventurous technology users. Create your own TV channel using Boostcast! Boostcast is a user-owned and user-generated video “home” that you control. Create and manage your own video site with your own chosen name and customized access and features. Boostcast itself is a user-friendly, web-based application that takes very little programming to operate. The site is designed for people to create video collections, possibly for profit, but the potential for classroom use is terrific.
Note: Ads do run on the site, and some may not be school-approriate. Preview and decide if your students can ignore them. Some revenue made through those ads could go to you by attracting visitors. It is unlikely that your school will permit this, but you can always ask!
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In the Classroom: Skills needed: Sign up is free and easy to complete. You must register and remember your login and password. Membership requires an email address. Users will need to be able to locate and upload a video from a computer and use links or embed codes to share. Managing of comments and emails to approve videos is also necessary.
Quick start: After making your site, view the "5 things to do when you start" which is on the front page of your boostcast site. Follow all directions.
How to use: Click on the "Start Your Video Community Now" button and fill out the form. Personalize Your video community by adding a logo or image, changing colors, as well as other options. Invite your friends (parents?) by sending emails from your address book. Friends can join your video community or create their own. Publish pictures, videos, audio tracks, and multiple blogs on your Boostcast site. By clicking the "Share" button, your community can be seen by the rest of the world. If you do not “share” it, the general public will not see it to comment, upload, etc. Share your uploaded videos by using an "Embed code" or a "Direct link code." Make comments on the videos, flag comments, and moderate them. There is messaging between site members. Other options include a search feature, site statistics, and email alerts. You can be alerted about video uploads and any flagged comments. Settings allow approval before videos can be seen on the site.
The controls for the site are on the tabs at the top : "Create my space," "Add video," "Add image," "Add audio," "View video," View image," and "Listen audio."
Safety/Security concerns: Users must register and create a login. If you allow students to self-register, be sure to keep a written record of their passwords for when they “forget.” It may be worth your time to do advanced registration for your younger students or simply use a single classroom account. Individual accounts require email. Check your school policies about accessing or sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to establish Gmail accounts for user registration on any online service.
The red tabs along the top can take you to other Boostcast sites, so students should be advised not to click these. “Featured” content contributed by the general public and may not be suitable for the classroom. You may want to prohibit and/or have specific rules in place for students accessing ads on the page. Uploaded videos and comments from those outside the classroom can be denied. Additionally, by not sharing your Boostcast site, you can keep a classroom site from becoming public. Check your school policies on whether student work may be displayed online and what information is permitted, then enforce that policy with your students.
Possible uses: Boostcast is easy to use and provides an alternative for students needing to upload a video in order to embed code in a website. Create a classroom or school boostcast to house video and audio from projects that students create. Embed these videos anywhere you would want to share the projects. Use the comment feature as a microblogging exercise for students to obtain feedback from their peers. If you shoot videos of classroom events during the year, make parents members of your private Boostcast to see and comment on school-day events they have missed. As students complete their own mock newscasts of informational videos, share them and allow students to peer-evaluate using comments. Or a teacher can place a collection of videos for students to watch on a curriculum topic, such as student-produced examples from a previous year, how-to use lab equipment video made by teacher/students, student-made book review videos (to promote independent reading), student-made math videos such as the ones on Mathtrain reviewed here and more. If you plan to enter the StoryTube competition reviewed here, this is a terrific place for your school to “collect” possible entries in order to select your “best” one.
TeachersFirst Edge Review: for slightly adventurous technology users. This simple and free online tool allows you to brainstorm ideas – no special software! Bubble.us features some highly interactive abilities: saving your mind map as an image, sharing (emailing) your work with a friend, printing your organizer, creating colorful mind map organizers, embedding your work into a website or blog, and working with friends. You are able to "play" at this site without registering; however registration is necessary for saving, embedding, emailing, and other features. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
Here is an example of a bubbl.us map embedded in a page. Click and drag on the background to read more, or try the zoom controls:
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In the Classroom: Skills Needed: If you intend to save, email, or print your organizer you must join the site. Registration is free, simple, and requires an email address. You can start using the “membership” immediately and without confirming the email, though, which makes it quite convenient. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Experiment with the small icons on each “element” to change colors, drag, make new connections, etc.
Once registered (if you choose to do so), you will be taken to the work area. A box marked "Start Here" can be clicked on to type the subject of your mapping activity. By clicking Enter you create a new level (branch) within the map. By clicking Tab you create an additional branch on the same level as the current word. Save and set sharing (read-only or open access) in the area at the right. You can “send” a read-only link via email or copy the embed code from the Menu at lower right), but you cannot find the URL directly from your map. "Send" it to yourself via email to copy the actual URL. You may want to have your class accounts all be “friends” with you for easy sharing or simply have them "email" their finished work to you using the menu button.
Safety/Security Concerns: Check your school policies on student email subaccounts (Gmail), if you plan to have students use Bubbl.us on their own. You may want to use a teacher account and allow students to use it under your supervision. Be sure to obtain written parent permission before posting ANY student work online. Fortunately, there are no “see others’ work” links or other easy access to inappropriate content.
Possible Uses: There are countless possibilities at this mental mapping site. Demonstrate the activity on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and then allow students to try to create their own graphic organizers. Use this site for literature activities, research projects, social studies, or science topics of study. Use this site to create family trees. Have students collaborate together (online) to create group mind maps or review charts before tests on a given subject. Use this mapping website as an alternative to a traditional test, quiz, or homework assignment in literature or social studies: have students demonstrate their understanding by completing a graphic organizer about the main points. Be sure that they RENAME it before they start work to an individual name so you know who did it (they could EMAIL it to you!) or have them print their results to turn them in. See more ideas in the embedded example above!
Teacher's First Edge Review: For serious tech users. Create free comic strips from flickr pictures. Search tags in flickr or search by user to choose pictures then add words in the caption bubbles. If you use flickr reviewed here, you can set up your own tagged collection of images for students to use, as well. Quickly publish, email, or embed your comic strip. This site requires Flash. here. 10052
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Knowledge of use of tags and familiarity with flickr is required. Each picture is labeled with the title and the picture creator’s name.
How to use: Type in the name of a topic in the tag area or the name of a known flickr user. Entering information into both fields is not required. Pictures will appear in the top area. Choose a picture you wish to use by clicking on it. To add another picture, choose the options in "Add frames." Drag a caption bubble onto the picture and type in your caption. Easily delete pictures by clicking the “Delete” button at the bottom of the picture. When finished, click "Publish." Comics can be deleted afterward, and sharing gives the option for sending an email link or using an embed code to include within a website or blog.
Safety/Security: Clicking on "...or visit the archive" takes you to other users’ content. The archive of this site includes changing “featured” content contributed by the general public and may not be suitable for the classroom or may cause a distraction.
No login or password is required, but publishing requires a name to be entered. Be sure to know the rules and safety concerns of your district before entering any student names. Consider creating anonymous ways to enter names in order to track student contributions. All projects are public. Check your school policy for posting student work online. Written permission is always a good idea.
Possible uses: Use this site for students to take pictures of lab experiment steps and explain the experiment or the concepts behind the experiment. Students can create a story using pictures taken from home and uploaded to a class flickr account. Any school subject can easily use the comic strip generator to show knowledge learned in class. World language or ESL/ELL students can create dialog strips. Reinforce vocabulary by having students create strips with characters using the new words. Assess student understanding of concepts by providing a collection of tagged photos on Flickr and having the class create a Bubblr strip on the interactive whiteboard (collaborating for a whole-class or group grade). Share completed strips on your class web page or wiki.
Example created for review: embed code: or link: Angiosperms by Mrs. Maine
Follow the progress of 100 TeachersFirst members as they collaborate and use a safe web2.0 tool with the support of the tool developer and TeachersFirst's teacher-friendly team. The 100 participants receive free, premium pilot accounts to use TRintuition’s workBench and our support to help them build learners in their classrooms. These accounts allow teachers and students to create online collaborative projects using the workBench’s visually-rich and user-friendly tools, possibly even collaborating with classes from other schools.
Both teachers and students can build online or downloadable projects using the workBench. Each free premium pilot teacher account includes up to 45 student user accounts for access throughout 2008. Teachers who are part of the pilot project will be asked to complete at least one classroom-related, student- or teacher-created project (or as many classroom-related projects as you wish!) before November 30, 2008.
This blog documents the project and the idea-sharing from the announcement of the project start in April, 2008 and will remain online as a prototype for collaborative use of technology after the project completion.
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In the Classroom: Teachers who wish to join the project should read the details and sign-up from the blog. Learn more about the TRIntuition workBench from the TeachersFirst Edge review of this tool.
Teachers and students in any subject can use this TeachersFirst Edge tool for slightly adventurous technology users. This online calendar maker allows users (must register---for free)to create and edit online calendars with your own events and including local events (if you wish). Save paper by publishing your classroom calendars online using this free tool! Schools and teachers can use it to share upcoming important events. Classroom teachers and students can use it to plan long-term projects. Groups working on collaborative projects can share a calendar with to-do list and deadlines telling which person is responsible. Teach organizational skills to your students by modeling the tool in class and telling both parents and students about it. Middle schoolers just beginning to take responsibility for their own time management will enjoy creating their OWN calendar instead of being told what to do.
See a sample (look at June, 2007). Notice that there is not a clutter of advertising. 8309
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Join the site (requires an email address, so this is not suitable for younger children. Consider setting up accounts using the teacher's email). Check out the Help for complete directions or simply play with the tools to make calendar events, share calendars, create groups---perhaps the sections you teach or the groups for projects, publish them, add events, etc.
Get the URL for your calendar by "publishing" it. You can make the calendar shared only between certain CalendarHub members (such as students working on a project). Do not include student names, birthdays, etc. on a fully public calendar unless you use first names only and limit the amount of identifiable information about your school. If students use the CalendarHub for group projects, require them to make theirs shared but not fully public for safety reasons.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This creative page allows you to add captions to photographs you have uploaded or found on an online site such as Flickr. Upload your own set of digital images to Flickr ahead of time, then assign the task of creating a captioned sequence to explain a major concept, such as mitosis or narrative patterns. You could also have students create campaign ads, posters of important people, etc. If you limit the photos permitted, you can control some of the "risk" of students' accessing non-classroom content. Be certain you explore the potential areas of risk before trying this lesson. 6950
In the Classroom: Skills needed: locating and uploading digital image files, locating the actual URL for specific images, navigating the tools of Captioner, managing potential safety and "appropriateness" issues of an online environment.
Teacher's First Edge Review: For serious technology users. Use this free online tool to create timelimes embedded with media that can be shared with others. Create timelines that include music, pictures and photos, video and text. Change backgrounds and customize your timeline for a personal and creative touch. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 10022
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Teachers need to be able to identify material to be used in the creation of the timeline and strategies to help students be prepared for student assignments (checklists, goal sheets, or presentation planners). Click "Create" to begin making a "Capzles." Use the buttons on the left to follow the creation process and create with the following: Add titles, description, tags, content and media, set privacy, and share. Watch a video tutorial to learn steps to create a timeline. Click "Explore" along the top to view previously made timelines. Click on "Share" to send email links to others.
Safety/Security: To create an account, enter a login and password. The next screen requires personal information including email. Consider creating a class account for easier access. If students are permitted to have their own account, it is recommended that passwords and logins be maintained for those students who forget. Students must have individual accounts (email required). Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how.
This site includes content contributed by the general public and may not be suitable for the classroom. You may want to send students directly to URLs for their own projects or use the site as a whole-class activity using a teacher-created capzles to spark discussion.
Classroom use: Create Capzles that introduce new topics and content for great student discussion. Students can use pieces of the capzle to brainstorm questions, initiate research, and learn more about the topic. Capzles are an interesting way for students to tell stories about a project, research, or as a class activity. Use to showcase fun items such as "what I did on my summer vacation," "the story of my dog," family, etc. Create Capzles from the point of view of a literary character or historical figure telling his/her story. Remember to teach about copyright, since using copyrighted images in a Capzle would not be “fair use” due to unlimited distribution. Look for images in the public domain or with Creative Commons licensing and model giving attribution for them.
TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. This is one fabulous way for art or photography students to create a FREE online portfolio to share work in your class, share with each other, or submit as an online collection for competitions or college admissions. The users agreement specifies no "group" accounts or users under 13 years old. The free version is limited to 5 projects and 35 images (no videos in the free version), but this is enough to show your "best of the best." You can even choose the actual URL for the portfolio within Carbonmade. The home page has a Flash demo so you can see how the site works. 7819
In the Classroom: Skills needed: join the site (free), browse for files and upload to site, label with captions, project information, other information, and decide about viewing options. Works best with Internet Explorer 6+ or Safari. No special html skills needed. A teenager will figure this one out in one minute. A techno-comfortable teacher will take no more than four minutes! The only challenge is figuring out how to change settings on a project within your portfolio and have them SAVE. Watch the demo.
Share portfolios among neighboring schools or through art teacher associations to inspire your students and help them develop the critical skills to choose their best work and articulate their reasons (Use the "notes" space on each image to tell about it).
Be sure that you adhere to school policies regarding posting of student work. Have students create their accounts ONLY with written parent permission, especially since there is space for a "profile" (which teachers should require students to leave BLANK for safety reasons. Use your teacher email account so there is no danger of having outsiders contact your students. After graduation students may change the settings and use the site in budding art careers! Avoid including any personally identifiable information in descriptions or images. Personally identifiable information can always be shared with potential colleges, etc. via email or letter, rather than posting it to the web.
TeachersFirst Edge Tool: For more adventurous technology users-- and those who are willing to take the time to learn the tool. This fabulous, FREE online tool allows you to create your own interactive "books" to help young readers learn reading strategies to build comprehension. The tool allows you to enter your own text, images, and hints. The finished product is a very polished-looking book in a form that you can save on your computer or burn to a CD and use over and over and over with students for years to come.
Be sure to try the model books and read the tips for writers and illustrators. Click to see a sample we made for you and placed on our site. 8060
In the Classroom: Skills required: joining the site (free), locating or writing your own copyright-free text, locating or creating images for which you have the rights to make more than one copy (Fair Use does not apply!), copy/paste the text and resize/upload the images--following simple directions to create the pages and accompanying hints. Be sure to learn about the three interactive characters who teach the strategies! Publish and download the files of the finished "books" and save on your computer. Extract the zipped files and save locally, on your network, or burn to CD so your students can access them directly.
The uses of this one are endless. If you take the time to get permission from the publisher to use text from some of your textbooks or reading books, you could create interactive versions to use in your classroom or with special ed students. More simply, use student-written stories and artwork (scanned -- or created in Paint)to create the "book." Imagine creating a class "book" at the end of a unit on Communities or Animals, and including images you take with your digital camera. If you copy the CD's, students could sign out the "book" and read it to relatives using their home computer. You can keep the "library" of past books to help future classes. Or ask your middle/high school or gifted students to create books as writing/service project for struggling readers to use.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Imagine being able to give students (or parents)an exact link to a specific quote within a web page. This TeachersFirst Edge tool does exactly that. Why would you want to? Perhaps you want to send students to a certain paragraph for an activity: for reading comprehension, for reading a specific portion of text, or even for highlighting a literary device within a text or poem. Students will no longer waste time, announcing, "I can't find it!" or return to school saying they couldn't do the homework! 7987
In the Classroom: No membership or cost required. Tool can be used in less than 30 seconds. Skills needed: Open TWO windows in Internet Explorer or any web browser. One should be open to citebite; the other to the web page you wish to reference. On that web page, locate and "highlight" the exact passage of text you want to "send" people to see. Copy/paste the passage into the quotation box at Citebite (copy, then change windows). Return to the target web page and copy/paste its actual URL into Citebite. Click "Make Citebite." Copy/paste the new url, indicated after "Your citebite link is:" Note: if the original quote is within a FLASH presentation, it will not copy/paste or generate a Citebite. See this example of a Citebite link to a tip about TeachersFirst Edge tools: http://pages.citebite.com/b1j4l1j7o0ndu
Have your middle and high school students do a web page "credibility critique" on their potential sources by using Citebite before they start a research project. They can highlight passages as proof of credibility -- or lack thereof -- and give you the Citebite links. They will love this easy way to reference a specific portion of a page. You will love the ease of finding it. If you give them a Word document table as a web site evaluation rubric, they can paste the Citebites there, with their comments in the neighboring cell!
Teacher's First Edge Review: for moderately adventurous technology users. Create a panoramic photo without a special camera! Use a normal camera to take the photos. The CleVR Stitcher is the easiest photo stitcher available. Just drag and drop your pictures, click the button, and the application “stitches” them together for you. By joining your pictures, create a stunning panoramic picture. Clevr enables you to embed the image into your website or blog, share the images on various social networking sites, and more. 9619
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Users need to be able to log in to the website, upload and manage pictures from their computer, and use simple tools. You must register with an email and password to log in.
Safety/Security: Students must have individual accounts (email required). Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how. As an alternative, you can create a "class account" that all students can access. Share your panorama on the web in the interactive viewer. Embed it into your blog or website using the embed code.
Possible uses: Create panoramic pictures for blog headers on a classroom blog. Students can plan and take pictures representing their town, area, school, or classroom. Use the pictures to create a panorama for the top of the page. Social Studies teachers may assign students to create panoramas of local history. Art teachers can also assign a design challenge for students to create fictitious panoramas from diverse images. Literature teachers can offer an option of creating a “setting panorama” or “thematic panorama” as a project for visual/spatial students. Of course you will want them to explain their design choices in terms of the literary work.
TeachersFirst Edge Tool: For SLIGHTLY adventurous technology users. This site allows you to create flashcards, and includes sharing and group capabilities. Many teachers will be able to navigate this free site very easily. Enter vocabulary terms and definitions as well as any html (web page language), such as images and charts to create electronic flashcards and quizzes for word study to use in language or other content areas. Create individual sets of flashcards, or invite others to interact and learn the same words. Teacher or students can create groups to share word lists. As with other collaborative tools, the revision history is easily accessible. See this example flashcard list . This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 10072
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Join the free site easily. Membership asks for an email, but email verification is not needed to start using the site. Sharing with friends for collaboration does require the sending of an email invitation however. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how. It is recommended to keep a list of email passwords and logins for students who forget.
Explore the guided tour to learn an overview or find answers to specific use questions. Save your "sets" and decide whether you want them to be completely public, just for you personally, or shared with a "group." Create your own groups for each class or subject. Publish your cards for others to use. Published sets can be altered to create a new and personalized set.
Possible Uses: Teachers in lower grades will want to create cards their students can use and perhaps have more techno-savvy help with the process. Content and English teachers may choose to set up their own network of users. Learning support teachers could suggest that their students create their own flashcard sets to assist learning of the concepts. Use the interactive whiteboard or projector for quick flashcard or electronic testing using your sets as a whole class or in small groups in the classroom. Collaborate with other teachers to create useful sets for all to use. Rotate responsibility each marking period among student groups in your class to create a set for each chapter/unit/week for the rest of the class to use as review. Give a special award (or bonus points) for the most creative, complete set that marking period.
This is a TeachersFirst Edge Entry for ANYONE who wants to know more about new technologies. No special skills needed. Watch and learn. If you are embarrassed to say that you don't know what all the "new web 2.0" terms are all about, this one is for you (and probably for your students' parents, as well). Common Craft uses a very simple, visual method of explaining all the latest technologies so that anyone can understand, using short video clips narrated by a positive and respectful voice. The next time you hear someone talking about RSS feeds or some other new doo-dad, stop here first so you will know what they are talking about. Did you think you were the only one who did not know? Fear not. This site has incredible popularity because there are LOADS of people quietly questioning -- just like you. Videos require Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.. 8729
In the Classroom: Start by looking at "Most Viewed" and "Most Popular Right Now," but don't be afraid to search for other topics that have you wondering. You will definitely want to make this site a Favorite and tag is as "professional" information to keep you informed. Share it on your teacher web page to help out your parents, too!
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. The Washington Post offers this short-term opportunity to create your own campaign interview. Begun in September, 2006, the project invites you and your students to create a video interview using the downloadable question "footage" they provide of an interviewer and insert your own video of the responses. You may submit your completed video back to the Post's site. After a few weeks, the Post will allow you to see others' work and comment to each other.
This would be a great activity to teach video editing, but more importantly to teach about interviewing, political "message," and the election process.
Although this activity was designed prior to the 2006 election, the video clips will work for most any election. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 6947
In the Classroom: As a class activity, you may not want to upload your resulting videos but instead share them in class, depending on your district policies about posting student work to the web. Certainly, you will want to keep student work anonymous. Tech skills needed: ability to download and upload, locating or creating video clips of responses, use of Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, or similar video-editing software, management of larger files, proper citation of sources.
Wondering what Google Docs are? Check out this short video, it is under 3-minutes. Instead of attaching a document to an email, attach an email to a document. Want to learn more? Take a look at this video. There is a link provided to embed the video (perhaps on your class web page when you introduce Google Docs?) . The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 9997
In the Classroom: View this video for both professional and personal use. Administration could share this video with staff during in-service, a great way to collaborate! See more info on ways to use Google Docs in the TeachersFirst review here.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for ANY technology user. Dabbleboard (still in beta) allows you to make whiteboard drawings and graphic organizers in an online space you can share with others. Since more than one computer can "work on" the whiteboard at a time, students in multiple locations can add to the board at the same time -- or come back to a saved board to add to it later. The whiteboard includes freehand drawing, basic shapes (some that even pop in when you come close to drawing that shape), text tools, and simple colors. You can also upload images, drag and resize anything you draw or type, etc. If used as a whole-class activity, such as on an interactive whiteboard, you can save it by clicking SHARE, copying the URL so you can put the link on a class wiki, teacher web page, or blog so students or the class can revisit and change it later. The tool requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Join the site (free), but only if you wish to be able to SAVE dabbleboards. You can share them in real time without joining, but they are lost once you quit. Joining requires an email address. Use your memberships email or check school policies before allowing students to sign up using email. Another option is to create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
Once you join, watch the quick video tour or play with the tools. Be sure you can locate tools to draw, resize, delete, drag, and group/ungroup items. Try uploading an image (make sure you have the RIGHTS to use it!). Your uploaded items remain in your library for later use. Note that to add text you simply click in the whitespace and start typing. It is easier to change text size and color BEFORE typing. To keep a board, simply click NEW. The old board will become part of your library at the left of the screen.
Safety concerns: Once shared, any dabbleboard can be seen and altered by others who know the URL. You will not have any record of who makes changes, so student-to-student "vandalism" is possible. Do not make student drawings "public" unless this is within school policies. Clicking "Make public" will add that dabble board to the public library. Others can copy any "public" work. Note that sharing by URL does NOT make a board public unless you click "make public."
Ideas for using this tool: Assess prior knowledge as you start a unit by generating a class dabbleboard. Save it under your class/teacher account to re-access throughout the unit, adding new topics and content. Make the URL available from your class web page for students to use as review or for learning support teachers to reinforce what has happened in class. Have student groups map out the content of projects. Encourage visual prewriting for the students who "think in pictures." Have students create review organizers or drag and drop activities to share with classmates. Brainstorm together over time or distance by letting students add ideas from home or collaborating from another school. Save your visual notes from a faculty meeting to reopen next time. Allow students to use a dabbleboard as their visual during speeches. Map the sequence of steps in a chemical reaction. Then share the URL for absent students to "see" what happened in class. Annotate design principles directly on top of an uploaded image or have students submit their own analysis of an image by sending you the URL for their dabbleboard. Have young students use a dabbleboard to draw out ideas before they can even write entire sentences. This one has endless possibilities!
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Delicious is a social bookmarking tool. Your high school students (and maybe you?)have probably been using it for a couple of years. Keep your Favorites (bookmarks) on a web page where you can access them from any computer, organize them by "tag" (keyword), and make them public or private. You can share them with others or search for others' choices by tag, as well, as long as the "owner" made them public. You must join to set up an account with a valid email, then you can download a toolbar or make an "Add to my Delicious" link on your links bar so you can add sites as you find them. Many school districts block this site, unfortunately, because the "What's Hot" links available from the Delicious homepage may lead to inappropriate content. Sometimes automated filtering systems therefore block the entire site. 7011
In the Classroom: If you can access the site from school, tag links by the units you teach or by assignment so students can access the public side of your Delicious page and use the links to complete assignments. If you are a truly inspiring teacher, they may even add some of them to their own delicious accounts. Unless your school specifically permits user profiles and accounts for students, do NOT encourage them to set up these accounts from school. If they do, use pseudonyms.
Another possible use is for collaborative projects. If students have their own accounts, they can "collect" links for a group project with a shared tag so others can access them. You may have to help those who have less experience with web tools, and you must be careful about equity issues such as home Internet access. Using a single teacher account IN class prevents these concerns. Another plus: you can add to your Del.icio.us from any inservice you attend and NEVER lose the links!
Tech skills needed: developing a system of tagging that will facilitate sharing and searching (look to see how others do it), adding a link to your links bar, copying the URL of the public side for students to use.
A fantastic and complete site that tells you all you need to know about making digital stories with students. The wide grade level range shows the versatility of the site for use with any student based upon his readiness to tell stories. The site includes everything from goals to resources to the step-by-step process used to create the stories. An example is also shown. Adobe Acrobat is necessary to see some examples. 7094
In the Classroom: Fabulous for use with any subject that can be turned into a story. This is especially good for author projects, history reports, and adaptations of stories. It can be used by teachers from intermediate grades through college, depending on the topic, need, and abilities of the students.
Be sure to explore the many links to see how other schools and students have used digital storytelling.
Teacher's First Edge review: For advanced technology users. Upload a variety of documents in order to embed them easily in a website. Embedding simply allows you to fill a placeholder “space” with content that is actually saved on another web space. Embedded items appear to be part of their new “space,” but can be shown (embedded) simultaneously in many, many places. This site offers a free service that simplifies the upload process. Upload documents of the following types: word documents, excel, adobe pdfs, PowerPoints, and open document formats, as well as a variety of image formats. Also use this site to embed URL's in a site. 9920
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Users will need to be able to locate the files to be uploaded, as well as knowing the specific formats they are working with. Users must be able to manage a login to one of the services used for user verification: AOL, Google, Yahoo, or OpenID. This site does not require registration of its own to use Embedit.in.
Click to upload the file to the site. You will then need to sign in to one of the following accounts: AOL, Google, Yahoo, or OpenID. After signing in, you will be able to see the uploaded item and will be given the code to embed it into the site(s) of your choice. You will need to know how to paste the embed code at the site where the item will be included.
Safety/security concerns: The documents and images are hosted on the embedit.in server. If for student use, logins would be needed for each student to the services mentioned. Alternatively, a class account could be created on one of the services for use by all students with a login shared. Students should be cautioned that the login is for classroom use only and the know consequences of misuse.
Possible uses: Embedding items using a variety of services can be confusing. This free site makes the uploading and sharing of information through embed codes simple and easy. Students can easily upload information to a class wiki or blog for use by other students or to show their knowledge. Documents and images for presentations and contribution of content can be shared. As a teacher, you can provide items to be embedded in student blogs simply by giving them the embed code (copied into a word doc, for example). Student can choose the item they wish to blog about: a video, image, or other web content, and spend their time writing their response to it. Art teachers can share web-based, copyrighted images for student to critique, for example, since you are not TAKING the image when you embed it!
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Fleck allows you to put sticky notes and other annotations onto existing web pages and share them with others. Now you can tell students exactly what you want them to do on a page, point out instances of bias or unsafe Internet practice, etc. You can put effective reading strategies right ON the text of the page. See an example here. Your students can also "fleck" to each other as they work on group projects, noting how they will use information or categorizing what they find.
Fleck uses FLASH and does not work well on TOP of Flash-driven pages. The annotated pages take a few moment to load, even on a quick connection. 8769
In the Classroom: Possible uses:
Student research projects, guided reading of web sites, comprehension questions, guiding questions, annotations for tough vocabulary with younger students, Internet safety lessons, students analyzing sites as part of information literacy lessons, art critiques by you or students, student collaboration and source-sharing, professional notes for your own reading or graduate work, etc. Assign students to "Fleck" a site as an assignment in critical thinking and turn it in by sharing with you.
Skills needed: Join the site and wait for the confirming email (our review team said it took a couple of hours). While you are waiting, click over to the HOME page and watch the "How this works" animation. Then try the link to "So why don't you give it a try." (This trial will NOT be saved!) Enter the URL of a page you wish to annotate at the top of the Fleck screen and click GO. Use the toolbar that appears with the web page to add notes, etc. and SAVE. You can also download an extension for Firefox or bookmarklet for Internet Explorer (to make a Fleck button on your toolbar). Be sure to choose public or private for Flecks you make when you SAVE (can be changed). Share your Fleck by clicking the Share button and emailing a note to your recipients-- or click the "blog" button to get a permalink you can copy/paste to share via email or other means, such as on your web page or an electronic assignment handout.
To use Fleck safely, you can have students use your login account to make their own Flecks. If students have their own email, they can also have log-ins, but you have no monitoring over what they do. For safety's sake, you might want to require all student Flecks to be private and shared ONLY with class members. Since enforcement is tough, start with the teacher-only account and make Flecks for students to SEE. Once you are comfortable with the tool, allow students to use your account. You will not know WHO made inappropriate Flecks, but you can see and delete them from one place. Of course, you will need to test whether Fleck is blocked in your school (we hope not).
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: This is a public site, and some of the "recent Flecks" that show on the HOME page are NOT school-appropriate. TeachersFirst has contacted Fleck about this concern, and they tell us they are unable to "filter" these flecks at this time. We recommend always starting students from your member home page and avoiding Fleck HOME altogether.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This site allows you to upload and share images in an online location. It is not specifically an education site, so it has the drawback of possibly including "inappropriate" content. As a teaching tool, you can upload picture collections and "tag" them with a unique keyword so students can access them for various activities, such as creating sequenced "comic strips," making annotated posters, including photos in blogs, and other electronic projects. This is a great way to make the photos accessible for the students to use. Note: use the DIRECT URL to the specifically-tagged photos ("photosynthesisproject") or create a collection for each project. 6952
In the Classroom: Join the site for free (and make sure you turn OFF all the "send me emails" features). Place photos online for all the projects you expect to do with students. They will remain in place for future years. If you wish to, remove them from "public" viewing when you do not need them. Note: You MUST be the actual copyright holder to upload photos to this site, so use your digital camera, NOT downloaded photos from the web! Skills needed: taking and saving digital pictures, location and upload of photo files, "tagging" them so students can a find them, copying the URL of the tagged group or of the collection, changing the attributes of your uploaded pictures, finding other tools on TeachersFirst or elsewhere to use the photos.
Teacher's First Edge Review: For serious technology users. Want to use video, but do not have access to most sites? Create your own free video site with Fliggo. Allow only the users you wish. Users can upload to your Fliggo site and comment on each other's videos. Have complete control of the privacy of your site and create for the use of you and your students. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. 10023
In the Classroom: Skills required: Ability to create and manage a site. Before creating the site, have a purpose for your site. After creating an account, describe your site, create a site that functions as a community, video blog, or producer site, and set privacy from moderated, open, or closed.
Safety/security: This site includes content contributed by the general public and may not be suitable for the classroom. You may want to advise students to not click on the "Popular sites" link at the top. And discuss consequences, if the rules are not followed. Manage the classroom with checklists, goal/progress sheets, and completing spot checks on student work. Adding members to your site requires an invitation by email. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how. Be sure to discuss with students the proper use of commenting and leaving positive feedback.
Classroom use: Create an environment of video sharing and commenting of student created videos. Identify You Tube videos you wish to show in class by importing from You Tube or Blip.tv. Students can comment on these as well without You Tube comments appearing with the video. Have students upload videos from projects for review throughout the year. Have students create videos as culminating projects for a science unit, historical reenactment, news reports about a piece of lite
This blog, created by Sean P. Aune, offers a collection of Web 2.0 tools which could be useful in business education, math, family and consumer science, or economics classes. Some of the sites offer ways to save money, create a budget, analyze your expenses, find hidden fees, and more. The four main areas of the site include Business Accounting, Personal Accounting, Personal Budgeting, and Shared Accounting. Each link on the blog includes a brief description of the site.
A fantastic and complete site that tells you all you need to know about making digital stories with students. The wide grade level range shows the versatility of the site for use with any student based upon his readiness to tell stories. The site includes everything from goals to resources to the step-by-step process used to create the stories. An example is also shown. Adobe Acrobat is necessary to see some examples.