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Onelinr - Onelinr
Grades
8 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Create an instant backchannel with this free, simple to use tool. This tool does not have built-in identifiers to show those contributing to the backchannel. Contributors are identified...more
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Create an instant backchannel with this free, simple to use tool. This tool does not have built-in identifiers to show those contributing to the backchannel. Contributors are identified by the handle that they create. Create a new channel by typing into your address bar: "onelinr.com/" followed by the name of your channel. Share your channel with others to participate in the backchannel. The main page contains a list of active backchannels. Be aware that these are not moderated and include the general public.
tag(s): chat (53), microblogging (45)
In the Classroom
Be sure to just share the address to the backchannel YOU created when using with students. You can agree upon a specific way for students to create a handle for use. For example, your subject or class name with student initials or first name. Use as a backchannel on laptops during a video or student presentations. Pose questions for all to answer/discuss in the Onelinr. Ask students to pose their own "I wonder if..." questions as they watch and listen. Keep every student engaged and THINKING as an active listener. The first time you use a backchannel, you will want to establish some etiquette and accountability rules, such as respectful language and constructive criticism. The advantage of backchannel chat is that every student has a voice, no matter how shy.In world language classes or even autistic support class, have students backchannel descriptions of what they see as classmates act out a scene from a video, using new language vocabulary and/or describing the feelings of the actors. In studying literature, collaborate with another class to have students role-play a chat between two characters or - in history class - between soldiers on two sides of the Civil War or different sides of the Scopes Money trial. In videos where issues are discussed, use the Onelinr for student input and questioning.
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Online Dictation - Amit Agarwal
Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites
1 Comments
Use the magic of speech recognition to create emails, dictate notes, or write an essay without ever touching your keyboard. Online Dictation only works in the Chrome browser. Click...more
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Use the magic of speech recognition to create emails, dictate notes, or write an essay without ever touching your keyboard. Online Dictation only works in the Chrome browser. Click "Start Dictation," and grant the site permission to connect to your computer's microphone. Begin talking, and watch your words appear on the screen. Dictation detects many different languages so is useful for many non-English speakers. When you finish speaking, export your text using links to Dropbox, Google Drive, your computer, or send as an email.
Since this tool has to connect back to its own servers to "translate" your spoken words to text, it may not have the sensitivity you expect. It is a good idea to test it first yourself before assigning students to use it. You might want to demonstrate how clearly you must speak to make it work.
Since this tool has to connect back to its own servers to "translate" your spoken words to text, it may not have the sensitivity you expect. It is a good idea to test it first yourself before assigning students to use it. You might want to demonstrate how clearly you must speak to make it work.
tag(s): speech (92)
In the Classroom
Use Online Dictation to dictate homework assignments to post on your class webpage. Demonstrate proper note taking using Online Dictation. Leave this site up in your browser, and add notes throughout your lesson. Save notes to your computer to print and use for future reference. Share this site with students who have difficulty putting thoughts onto paper or students with delayed handwriting skills or processing delays. Let students dictate stories, poems, questions, etc. to print and use. Share Online Dictation with your school's ESL/ELL teacher as a resource for use with their students. Speech and language teachers can try this tool to encourage students to improve articulation. If they speak clearly, their words will "magically" appear in writing!Comments
The concept is great but the execution is disappointing. The text response is slow and often captured only an occasional word or phrase. Most of what was returned in text was gibberish. This program is not suitable for student use.Dwight, , Grades: 3 - 7
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You Can Book Me - Bridget Harris
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
You Can Book Me is an appointment scheduling tool that works within your Google Calendar. Sign in with your Google login, and set up scheduling pages with your availability preferences....more
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You Can Book Me is an appointment scheduling tool that works within your Google Calendar. Sign in with your Google login, and set up scheduling pages with your availability preferences. Enter the length of "bookings" (appointments) along with time zone and language preference. Choose a theme to finish set-up. Customize your calendar further with tools under the advanced options. Options include different availability times on individual dates, a block for your lunch period, or requiring a minimum notice to schedule appointments. Once saved, share a link to your calendar with your custom booking link.
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): calendars (46), organizational skills (129)
In the Classroom
Use You Can Book Me to schedule parent or student conferences to meet mutual scheduling needs. Create events for professional development sessions. Have participants choose a time for attending or presenting at sessions. Schedule student presentations at your evening science fair or other culminating event. Share with your school's Parent Teacher Organization as an excellent scheduling tool for any event. If you advise a club, use this tool to schedule student volunteers to work the photobooth, concession stand, or other volunteer hours. Link this to your Google Calendar and save time, emails, phone calls, and more! School library/media specialists can book their volunteer slots or visiting readers using this tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Appear.in - appear.in
Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Create video conversations including up to eight people instantly with Appear.in. There is nothing to download, and no registration is required. Add a name for your room and click "create."...more
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Create video conversations including up to eight people instantly with Appear.in. There is nothing to download, and no registration is required. Add a name for your room and click "create." Allow access to your computer's webcam and microphone, and your room is all set up. Send the link to others to click and join in. Claim a room to get privileges such as customizing your room's background and locking your room when empty. Appear.in works with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browsers. Appear.in does not currently work on mobile devices. Sign up to receive notification when mobile capability becomes available.
In the Classroom
Connect up to eight whole classrooms across the country for book clubs. Connect experts such as authors and scientists to classrooms of children. Create connected learning experiences with other students, especially those in older grades. Connect world language classes to classes in other countries. Students interested in graphic design can connect with an expert or artist far away and share current work in a virtual critique. Connect students with mentors or older students for help with homework. Teachers can hold "office hours" for homework help and student questions. Whole buildings can collaborate and share professional development with others in their own district and beyond! Of course, you will want to pretest whether this service works in your school since some filters block access to such "interaction."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DropCanvas - Chris Newnham and Heath Axton
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
DropCanvas offers quick and easy file sharing. Simply drag and drop any file onto your "canvas" and it is ready to share. Share using the link for your canvas or ...more
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DropCanvas offers quick and easy file sharing. Simply drag and drop any file onto your "canvas" and it is ready to share. Share using the link for your canvas or send using email or social networking links. Privacy options allow adding a password for viewing and setting an expiration date for your canvas. Inactive canvases automatically expire in three days with no activity when using an anonymous account. Register (FREE) to increase storage and save canvases for up to 14 days with no activity. If you seek a place to KEEP files beyond 14 days, this is not the tool for you. Try Dropbox, reviewed here.
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In the Classroom
When assigning group projects to be done outside of class, suggest that students share work via DropCanvas. This eliminates the need to actually be in the same place at the same time, which can be difficult for students to arrange due to their schedules and their parents' schedules. Use this to have students share files with you. Students can send you any file up to 1GB (or 5GB with registration) with a few simple clicks. Use this as an extra file back-up when transporting files for a grad presentation or other important event. Easily share files and lesson plans with other teachers using DropCanvas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Free Teleprompter - Autocue
Grades
1 to 12
6 Favorites
0 Comments
This handy online tool makes any computer screen into a "teleprompter" (scrolling screen with the text YOU paste in). No membership or login is required. Just open the site and ...more
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This handy online tool makes any computer screen into a "teleprompter" (scrolling screen with the text YOU paste in). No membership or login is required. Just open the site and copy/paste in the text from a word doc (or type it in). Note: there is no way to SAVE it on the site. We recommend keeping your text ready to copy/paste and saved in another document. Set the font size and screen size to large or small. When you are ready to "speak," click the "start prompter" button. Use speed controls at the top of the screen to speed up or slow down your scrolling text. If you are fortunate enough to have a rear projection screen, the text can even be reversed by turning mirroring on. Other options allow for viewing white text on black or black text on a white background.
In the Classroom
Make a sample dialog for students to recite as you project it in a foreign language or ESL/ELL class. Be sure to write in script format so they know who is speaking! Or share this tool with students who need help getting their nose out of their notes when giving speeches or recording videos. They can run it on a laptop only they can see and look out at the audience past the prompter. The comfort of having their text right there will ease many butterflies. Use this site to feed information used in group or individual presentations to the class. Set this up on another computer when recording video and audio recordings. Why use this tool? Information fed through the prompter can be read at a steady and consistent pace. Use this site with emergent readers to practice basic reading fluency. Make oral reading fluency practice more engaging by having students pretend they are newscasters. If you advise the school announcement crew, try this handy tool to make them sound and look more professional. Share this link on your class website for young readers to use to practice reading skills at home or for older students to use to practice building confidence in their speeches.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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FlipQuiz - Marcus D. Burnette
Grades
2 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
Quickly create slick Jeopardy style games using FlipQuiz without a lot of technical know-how. Sign up for your free account to begin your first game board. Save your games for ...more
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Quickly create slick Jeopardy style games using FlipQuiz without a lot of technical know-how. Sign up for your free account to begin your first game board. Save your games for easy access on any device with Internet access. Include correct responses on your game board or leave them off if you prefer. Be sure to save your FlipQuizzes for future use.
In the Classroom
Create Jeopardy style quizzes to gamify review and reinforcement of classroom content. Have groups of students create a quiz to share with the class or with other groups. Use a class account for younger students or those who do not have email addresses. Have students brainstorm what they like about each of the different activities for more analysis on their strengths and weaknesses and how they learn best (metacognition). Have student emcees operate the student-made quizzes on an interactive whiteboard (or projector). Share the quizzes by url on a class wiki so every student can take a try. Learning support teachers may want to have small groups create their own review quizzes, since creating the quiz is a great way to reinforce content. Share a link to any FlipQuiz on your class website or blog for student use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Visme - Hindsight Ineractive
Grades
7 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
This free tool replaces PowerPoint and Flash to create powerful presentations, banners, Infographics, and more! The projects are viewable on any mobile or computer browser, including...more
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This free tool replaces PowerPoint and Flash to create powerful presentations, banners, Infographics, and more! The projects are viewable on any mobile or computer browser, including iOS. This tool is very simple to use and not as complicated as many other tools currently available. Choose your type of creation and then a specific template theme. The Navigation area is along the left side. Customize the various tools by clicking on an item in the Navigation such as Canvas, Slides, etc. The Stage area is found to the right of the Navigation, and various tools, grids, and texts appear above the Stage. Drag and drop items into the Stage and even include vector images. Presenter also includes a free image library and also allows searching Flickr Creative Commons from within the tool. Once placed in the stage, style images the way you want, including animation! Products created by this tool play on any browser or device or can be embedded in a web page or blog. Free accounts allow only three projects.
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tag(s): images (276), infographics (44), multimedia (63)
In the Classroom
Use to create educational slideshows and Infographics to introduce and interest students in a topic of study. Use to generate questions prior to the discussion of topics. Create a multi-image slideshow where students brainstorm how the images are all connected. Have students create projects for class using this easy to use tool. Be sure to include this tool on your blog, wiki, or public page for easy student access. You may want to consider allowing your older students to create their own accounts, depending on school policies. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here. Create a project site for students to upload images and videos found when studying any subject. Find images with various shapes when discussing geometry or shapes in nature. Find pictures of plants or animals for a science unit, etc. World language students can create digital photo stories to narrate using new vocabulary. Present teacher professional development or an end of year display for the school media center.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Jumpshare - Ghaus Iftikhar
Grades
K to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Jumpshare is a tool for sharing and viewing files easily. Create an account with your name, email, and password to begin. Drag and drop files to share. Use the link ...more
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Jumpshare is a tool for sharing and viewing files easily. Create an account with your name, email, and password to begin. Drag and drop files to share. Use the link to browse and find files on your computer. Jumpshare supports 200 file types including images, videos, and documents. Once uploaded, use links to share documents via email or social networking options. Free accounts include storage of up to 2 GB and a limit of 100 MB on individual files.
In the Classroom
Eliminate file sharing challenges during projects with penpals or people from other schools anywhere in the world. Create a class account (or several) for students to upload completed class projects. Share this site with older students to use when collaborating on group projects. Collaborate easily on lesson plans with other teachers by uploading and sharing files from anywhere.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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JogNog - JogNog
Grades
2 to 12
7 Favorites
0 Comments
JogNog offers some free online learning games aligned to Common Core Standards. Easily find games for 2nd grade up to college level by topic or type. Search relevant keywords to ...more
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JogNog offers some free online learning games aligned to Common Core Standards. Easily find games for 2nd grade up to college level by topic or type. Search relevant keywords to find games. Hover over search results to view a short description of each quiz along with the number of levels and questions included. Create a class and share any quiz with a quick click to create a class code and URL link to selected quizzes. The first level of every Quiz is always free. Every review quiz is free. Grade Books and Questions Report provide feedback on class participation and correct responses. Choose the design link to create your own personalized quizzes using your own content or from questions already on the site. Play JogNog on personal computers or any mobile device by downloading the corresponding app. Creating quizzes is FREE at all times. The free trial (offers additional materials) is good for only 30 days.
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tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (170), quizzes (99), test prep (96)
In the Classroom
Make use of this trial just before standardized test time to get the most out of your free JogNog account. Create a free teacher account then choose quizzes for student review of any topics. Create any number of quizzes and share with students for use on any mobile device. Share JogNog with parents to create an account for their student.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Doodle - Michael Brecht
Grades
K to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Doodle is an online tool to simplify scheduling meetings with several participants. Follow the three easy steps to find the best meeting time: set up a poll, invite participants, and...more
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Doodle is an online tool to simplify scheduling meetings with several participants. Follow the three easy steps to find the best meeting time: set up a poll, invite participants, and confirm the date and time. Set up your poll including proposed dates and times including as many time slots each day as you wish. Refine using options such as only the administrator may view responses or limit the number of participants in each time frame. When ready, send invitations using your email service with the Doodle link or connect your address book for invitations to come directly from Doodle. Two links will arrive in your email: one to administer your poll and the other to share.
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): calendars (46), classroom management (149), organizational skills (129)
In the Classroom
Use Doodle scheduling to set up parent/teacher conference appointments, to set up professional development sessions, or to plan school events such as Math and Science fairs. Set up times for guest speakers, Skype calls, or other in-class events easily using Doodle. Share with students to set up study group meeting times. You could even set up in-class writing conferences or extra help by letting your BYOD students sign up for time slots.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Yarp - Agility Fix, LLC
Grades
K to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Send simple invitations or surveys with Yarp. Choose the type, name it, add more information, and choose responses such as Yes/No or other clever possibilities. Click "Let me see it"...more
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Send simple invitations or surveys with Yarp. Choose the type, name it, add more information, and choose responses such as Yes/No or other clever possibilities. Click "Let me see it" to view the survey. Send the link to your Yarplet to others. No membership is required to create Yarplets or to vote! Click "Save my Yarplets" for instructions to keep track of your polls and invitations when moving from one device to another. This tool will work on any mobile browser.
tag(s): data (149), polls and surveys (55)
In the Classroom
Use this tool anywhere a quick, simple poll is required (on any device!). Share polls on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge. This is great as you start a new unit and ask questions about the material. Discuss in groups why students would choose a particular answer to uncover misconceptions. Use for daily quiz questions as a formative assessment. Use a class account to have student groups alternate to create the new poll for the next day. Place a poll on your teacher web page as a homework inspiration or to ask parent questions to increase involvement. Older students may want to include polls on their student blogs to increase reader engagement. Have students create polls for the start of project presentations. Use polls to generate data for math class (graphing), during elections, or for critical thinking activities dealing with the interpretation of statistics. Use "real" data to engage students on issues and current events that matter to them.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ProConIt - ProConIt
Grades
4 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Create a debate or ask specific questions of a group or the entire web using ProConit as a social evaluation tool. Questions can be pro/con, either-or choices, or open-ended evaluations...more
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Create a debate or ask specific questions of a group or the entire web using ProConit as a social evaluation tool. Questions can be pro/con, either-or choices, or open-ended evaluations of a specific topic. Get creative and write your questions to make them even more engaging. You can embed the ProConit topic in multiple web locations, such as websites or blogs, using ProConit's free widget. Get started simply by registering with your email or other social network log-in. The pubic can vote and add their own comments to the ProConits left open to the public. You can also make them private.
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tag(s): critical thinking (111), debate (45), persuasive writing (56), polls and surveys (55)
In the Classroom
Create a class account that you can control if using this tool with students under 13 or if school policies prohibit student accounts. Use ProConIt on your webpage, wiki, Edmodo group reviewed here, or blog and display it in-class on your interactive whiteboard to develop critical thinking skills and evidence to support an argument (a la Common Core). Challenge students to research the topic so they can provide evidence for their stance when writing about their opinion or while refuting another's. Help students develop flexibility in their thinking by having them argue a side they do NOT agree with. Create a class account with a generic password, and have students put initials as an identifier with their opinion.Is there anything questionable or controversial about what your students are studying in science? Studying cells? Try a debate about stem cell production. Studying astronomy? Why not have a debate about UFO's, extraterrestrial beings, the creation of the universe? Why not create a debate about whether math is a feature of the universe or a feature of human creation? For language arts and social science teachers this site is a gold mine! Create debates about politics, famous people in history, famous events in history (like what if's), current events, or social issues your students are interested in. Why not create a debate about whether students think being kind to a bully will make the bully stop bullying?
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
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TES - Wikispaces - Wikispaces
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
1 Comments
Looking for quick web pages that even students can author? Then "wiki-wiki" this way! (Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.) This is the one tried and true wiki to use. Create ...more
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Looking for quick web pages that even students can author? Then "wiki-wiki" this way! (Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.) This is the one tried and true wiki to use. Create your own Wikispaces site by creating a site name. Educators get a free upgrade to a non-ad site, so remember to confirm it is for educational use. Enter your students manually (or upload a list). Students can also create an account and "join" your wiki. Use Settings to manage privacy settings for viewing and editing. Be sure to check out many of the settings that make Wikispaces versatile including the ability to lock pages so others do not edit them. Individual students can have their own page and/or belong to a group page. Check the participation of individual students in the group by checking the history of the page to "see" what each student edited at specific times. Choose traditional Wikispaces which looks like traditional sets of pages on a site. Also choose from the new Wikispaces Classroom (this can be done at any time and can be converted back to a traditional wiki as needed). In Wikispaces Classroom, members of your wiki can be assigned to various project groups the teacher creates. Set the privacy settings for each individual group or for all of them. If private, only members of that group can see their information. Create announcements, calendar events, discussions, and more for individuals, single groups, or all groups. Wikispaces Classroom takes interaction and management of student projects to a new level. As they work on an assigned project, the teacher can view the activity of each student including pages editing and viewing. Follow help videos or simply play to learn the simple wiki editing toolbar and settings. Creating a site has never been so easy. If you have not tried a wiki yet, visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for a step-by-step explanation, starter help, and practical management and safety tips. Be sure to check your district's Acceptable Use Policy. We recommend having parents and students sign a Wiki Warranty (downloadable here ), spelling out wiki behavior and consequences.
tag(s): wikis (20)
In the Classroom
Use this tool to create a collaborative space online with your students in any subject, allowing as many people to edit, make changes, and add new content. In its simplest use, use the wiki to post assignments by creating pages for each unit to place assignments. Enter these in text form, or upload documents/PowerPoints, teacher created videos, and other resources from around the web without having students leave the wiki to view. (Use the widget icon in the toolbar to paste the embed code of the resource you want to use). Weave your content around the many resources that can engage and connect learning in your classroom. When students create learning groups in your classroom, they can also create their own wiki page, documenting their learning within the page. For science, reporting about a lab can also include their digital graph, photos taken throughout the lab, and extensions of learning from the natural world. For Math, extend learning to the world around them such as determining circumferences of a variety of natural objects, etc. then reporting on them with pictures. Give students a problem and create a step by step tutorial on how to solve the problem. Students can embed their movie, podcast, PowerPoint, document, or even sets of images to show the solution. When answering discussion type questions, students can paste the link to the resources that they used. Create a wiki for art classes as a gallery showcase. Use with gifted students as a portfolio space. Use Wikispaces Classroom to create discussions (threaded discussions are to be developed soon) within groups or with the whole class. Discuss current events in Social Studies, ethics in Science or Civics, or create a literature circle in English. The uses of wikis are endless and can serve many different functions. Use for placing all your content on the web (great for absent students or for those who want to get ahead) while also creating some assignments that students can use with their individual pages and other assignments for their team pages. Student pages can be works in progress, allowing students to revisit and revise information whenever they want. Be sure to visit the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for dozens of ideas for using a wiki in the classroom.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
Comments
Easy to use, versatile, free to educators. Can be kept private easily. Easier than PBWorks wiki.Frances, CT, Grades: 6 - 8
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Diigo - Education - Diigo, Inc. 2010
Grades
1 to 12
9 Favorites
0 Comments
This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation...more
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This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.
This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Aditional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
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This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Aditional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.
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tag(s): bookmarks (62), DAT device agnostic tool (170), forum (9), social networking (110)
In the Classroom
Teachers even in very early grades can use Diigo simply to share links with students and parents. To get more ideas on the potential education uses of this site, see this SlideShare powerpoint here. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.Assign students a research topic and allow them to use Diigo collaboratively to collect and share resources. Share teacher-selected options (complete with comments or directions) easily using Diigo. The research and conversations created through highlighting and annotating what they read can greatly enhance both their research skills and their online interaction on academic level skills. Or use Diigo to post discussion assignments on specific articles or even parts of articles using the highlighting tool. Find a relevant article for your subject, highlight the part that you want students to read. (If students are younger, keep it short to reduce the intimidating reality of too much information for kids.) Attach a sticky note with a discussion question for the students. Have them comment on the link in a "class discussion" as a homework assignment. If you are fortunate enough to have all students with computer access in your class and at home, such as in one to one laptop program schools, you can organize many assignments using Diigo. Use this site to help all of your students stay organized. Share this resource with your (not so organized) gifted students to help them manage projects and not "lose" the information they "found somewhere." Post assignments, readings, online interactive labs, and more. The site even allows students to submit responses by adding a comment. Of course others will see what they said, so you may not want the comments to be the only thing they do! If you assign gifted students to do projects beyond the regular curriculum, consider having them curate and annotate a collection of resources on a higher level topic. For example, extend your study of World War II by having them collect web-based primary sources showing the propaganda leading up to the war, political cartoons during the war, and advertisements from the time. Have them annotate the collection explaining each artifact and how it reflects the sentiments and biases of certain groups. That same collection could provide other students a class opportunity to interact with "objects" from the time. If you have contact with other teachers of gifted students, they could collaborate across different schools or classrooms.
Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Scattervox - Scattervox
Grades
4 to 12
2 Favorites
1 Comments
Use Scattervox to conduct a poll visually! For each of the possible items, poll responders click their answer on a graph. The result is an interactive poll that looks like ...more
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Use Scattervox to conduct a poll visually! For each of the possible items, poll responders click their answer on a graph. The result is an interactive poll that looks like an Infographic! To vote: Click on one of the possible items on the right and then click the spot on the graph to correspond to your answer. Once plotted, replace your choices by clicking on the item again and your new answer on the graph. Click "Vote" to record your choices. To "Create Poll": Enter a title, tags, and a description. Label the axes of the graph with two different variables to value the items such as expensive and inexpensive. (There are two different sets of axes to use for rating.) Enter the chart items that will be rated with your set values. Embed your Scattervox or share using email, Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter. Browse the gallery to get an idea of how the tool works. Membership is required to create a poll, but not to vote.
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): critical thinking (111), polls and surveys (55)
In the Classroom
This free tool is a great way to identify a value or rating of various items. Use this in science class to poll students on various types of renewable and nonrenewable energies as cheap/expensive and clean/dirty for the environment. Poll students on types of cars, rating the cost and gas mileage. Follow up with research into the various makes and models. Poll about famous presidents and various influences on the economy and society. Compare characters in various novels in measures of motivation and other characteristics. In younger grades, gather data about students favorite animals and why (such as fluffy/ferocious) or favorite colors and mood. Learn more about your students through polling of various social and cultural topics such as fashion, movies, and songs. Use this to identify misconceptions and resistance to various subject areas. Identify foods and feelings for each specific kind of food in Family and Consumer Science or attitudes towards various sports. Conduct specific polls for Introduction to Psychology or Sociology about various topics and reactions to the topics. Use to poll students on project ideas or to determine reactions to current events. Older students may want to include polls on their student blogs or wiki pages to increase involvement or create polls to use at the start of project presentations. Use polls to generate data for math class (graphing), during elections, or for critical thinking activities dealing with the interpretation of statistics. Use "real" data to engage students in issues that matter to them. For Professional development, rate the various types of technology tools for ease of use/difficulty and high/low value for instruction. Place a poll on your teacher web page as a homework inspiration or to increase parent involvement. Gifted students would love this tool to dig deeply into the multiple facets of issues they worry about.Comments
Michael, NY, Grades: 0 - 12
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Draw It Live - Luis Montes
Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Draw It Live is a LIVE online whiteboard collaboration and sharing tool. There is no membership required. Simply click on the screenshot of the words "Collaborative Whiteboard" to create...more
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Draw It Live is a LIVE online whiteboard collaboration and sharing tool. There is no membership required. Simply click on the screenshot of the words "Collaborative Whiteboard" to create your whiteboard and add a username. Copy the link provided for the whiteboard or enter emails of those you wish to invite. Use the chat area on the left of the screen to discuss your whiteboard with other users as you all draw in real time. Tools provided include text boxes, shapes, colors, and more. Use the Clear the Drawing option to start over without having to go to a new whiteboard link. (Remember to SAVE your whiteboard link as a Favorite or email it to yourself so you don't lose it! You can return later to add more!) Note: this tool works great on tablets using the web browser! No special app needed.
tag(s): colors (80), DAT device agnostic tool (170), drawing (80), iwb (31), painting (66)
In the Classroom
Allow students to create collaborative drawings as responses to literature. They can map out the plot or themes, add labels, create character studies, and more. Share the finished products on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or your class website. Have a group of students create a drawing, that another group can use as a writing prompt. Use a Draw It Live board as a brainstorming or sketching space as groups or the class share ideas for a major project or to solve a real world problem. Use this site with students in a computer lab (or on laptops) to create a drawing of the setting in a story as it is being read aloud. As a creative assessment idea, have students draw out a simple cartoon with stick figures to explain a more complex process such as how a democracy works. If you are lucky enough to teach in a BYOD setting, use Draw It Live to demonstrate and illustrate any concept while students use the chat and drawing tools to interact in real time. If you are studying weather, have students diagram the layers of the atmosphere and what happens during a thunderstorm, for example. Introduce this tool to students who are working on group projects. Or have students use this to work as partners or as a small team to complete complex math problems or equations. Give students a problem by typing it on their board. Then have them work through it together, noting all of their reasoning and steps of work along the way. Have them "turn in" their work by url, or post the url on the class wiki to compare with others. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. This would be a great tool for gifted students (or any students) to collaborate with others outside of their own class, even from other schools. It is simple enough for ANY student to figure out and get started without a membership.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Webnode - Webnode AG
Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Webnode is a free and easy website builder. Create an account. Choose from hundreds of template design options, including personal blogs. Add many site features: photo galleries, polls,...more
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Webnode is a free and easy website builder. Create an account. Choose from hundreds of template design options, including personal blogs. Add many site features: photo galleries, polls, forums, social features, and much more. Webnode saves changes as you make them, so information is stored in real time. Possible uses are only limited by your imagination!
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (89), social networking (110)
In the Classroom
Create a Webnode class website at any grade level for parents and students to stay updated about what is happening in the classroom if your school does not offer a class web site tool. With teens (and in accordance with school policy), try using Webnode for: "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital photos students take), online literary magazines, and personal reflections in images and text. Consider using Webnodes for research project presentations, comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias). The tool requires that a member be 13+, so you will want to create an account for your younger students to use. Using a whole-class account under your supervision, students can create pages documenting experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle, and "Visual" lab reports. Create digital scrapbooks on a class or individual page using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties, Local history interactive stories, and Visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "web pages" as a new way of assessing understanding. For younger students, provide the digital images, and they sequence, caption, and write about them on the class site under your supervision. For older students, provide the steps in the design as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own. After the first project where you provide "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what students can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class product together using an interactive whiteboard or projector. You might consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" long after the unit ends.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google URL Shortener - Google
Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
This tool makes it easy to share a LONG URL with less characters. Copy the address for the site from the address bar. Paste it into the field of this ...more
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This tool makes it easy to share a LONG URL with less characters. Copy the address for the site from the address bar. Paste it into the field of this tool and click "shorten URL." Share this new address with others to easily share the web address. Sign in to your Google account to see how many times the URL is visited.
In the Classroom
Use this whenever long links to sites need to be shared. Share on any printed material, wiki, blog, or site. This shorter address is much easier for students to type into their own computers/BYODs, if the sites aren't already provided on your class website, blog, or wiki. Share this handy resource with parents to use to shorten URLs at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wefollow - Jeff Hodsdon, LLC
Grades
6 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
Use WeFollow to search for Twitter users by interest and sort them by their "Prominence Score," an "objective measure" that WeFollow uses to designate "how established someone is in...more
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Use WeFollow to search for Twitter users by interest and sort them by their "Prominence Score," an "objective measure" that WeFollow uses to designate "how established someone is in the interests they care about." The Prominence score analyzes Twitter patterns to see who "listens" to each person and is useful in finding, following, and learning from prominent people around the world. You can locate experts in any field by entering a search term like "biologist" or "Shakespeare." Find an explanation of this score in the About section. Enter your own expertise information to be part of the ongoing database of Twitter users and their interests! New to Twitter? Learn more at TeachersFirst'sTwitter for Teachers page. Note: As with any tool that involves interaction with the public, searches may bring up unintended results not appropriate for young people. Use this tool under supervision or recommend specific search terms.
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): social networking (110), twitter (49)
In the Classroom
Increase your learning by finding others to follow -- and learn from their tweets. If using with a class, find those who can help with content students are learning. For example, follow scientists, artists, or writers to enhance your class discussion and learn from others outside the classroom. World language classes may want to follow experts on certain cultures. Earth science classes could follow experts on plate tectonics or volcanoes. Library/Media specialists will want to add this to your reference tools to help teachers or students seeking content experts. Be sure to follow the recommendations in the TeachersFirst review of (Twitter). This is a great tool to help students build a personal learning network in an area of interest, especially for gifted students who may have unusual interests and need the challenge of contact and collaboration with "real world" experts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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