Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Canva presents a simple way to design almost anything with drag and drop technology. Create custom timelines, posters, business cards, infographics, presentations, badges, flyers, charts and graphs, and more using a custom layout or a blank page. Begin by choosing the type of design you want to create. Choose pre-made templates or design your own. Upload images from your computer or your Facebook account. Change your background, add text, and personalize as desired. When complete, choose link and publish to save and download your creation as an image or PDF file or copy the link to share via URL. For creating charts and graphs go to the Features tab. There are iOS & Android apps (free) available for this tool. Canva has recently made the desktop application available for Windows as well as Mac OS. Note: you must register (with email and password) before you can access this site.
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tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (143), graphic design (50), images (270), posters (47), slides (45)

Powtoon is an amazing, free, animated presentation tool. Sign up for your free account then choose from one of many templates available to edit, or start from scratch. Next, start making magic! Create your title and description. Modify slides by changing text, font, image holders, and props. Preview your creation at any time with the play button. Stop and make changes as needed. Change styles easily by choosing a different style within the program. Select from the royalty free music options offered by Powtoon to enhance your presentation. Share the finished presentation via social media buttons on your page to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other popular pages or export to YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then using YouTube may not be your best option. Use the embed code provided to easily embed in your website or blog -- or simply share your Powtoon using the URL provided. Exports are not included with the free membership plan. Email is required to register and use Powtoon.
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tag(s): animation (62), digital storytelling (141), movies (51), multimedia (43), slides (45)

Make beautiful online "multimedia" newsletters (flyers) to display on your smartphone, tablet or computer using Smore. You can arrange your content easily with Smores' drag and drop editing. Add ready-made graphics, images from files on your computer, or images from the web. Quickly embed text, videos, and tweets, too. Choose from several attractive themes. Share your creations via email, URL, Facebook, Twitter, or print it to hand out or hang on a bulletin board. Check to see who has read your newsletter and who hasn't. The free account plan offers three total newsletter credits, 500 contact credits, and 200 email credits.

tag(s): design (83), infographics (55), multimedia (43), posters (47)

This animation tool will help create a video or a video slideshow with pizzazz. Add personal sounds, videos, and other media to create the next level of video for your classes. This tool is great for schools without access to other free video or multimedia creation software. Create 30 second videos including music choices from over 300 soundtracks. A typical thirty second video requires twelve images making this a reasonable choice for projects with middle and high school level students. Also look through their many templates making this video creator easy to use for anyone. Students ages 13+ can set up their own Animoto account if they have a school email, but their account won't be connected to your teacher account, therefore, they will need to email you their completed video links. A better solution for some teachers may be to consider using a "class set" of Gmail subaccounts, explained here; this tells how to configure Gmail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Using Gmail subaccounts will provide anonymous interaction within your class. You will also recieve emails from Animoto when videos are completed and passwords are changed. You can also use the Gmail subaccounts for students under 13, with appropriate parent permission. See this Animoto Blog Post, about how teachers can set up student accounts.
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tag(s): animation (62), images (270), movies (51), photography (131), slides (45), video (257)

Prezi is a visual, "zoomable" presentation tool. It is similar to PowerPoint and Keynote, but there is so much more to Prezi! You can graphically arrange a large amount of content, such as a big idea with its supporting information. It creates very dynamic presentations. See samples by clicking "log in" then "Explore" (instead of logging in). Choose a background, follow the instructions and prompts of the program, and before you know it, you will have your very own Prezi to share. If you like to see directions, watch the quick intro video. You can also view Prezis created by others and use them as templates for your own work. Check out the sample created by the TF Edge team here. This tool works in ANY device's web browser, from iPod to Android to laptop. Collaborate on a Prezi with other Prezi members in real time using the Share function. Have a "meeting" to work on the same Prezi in real time. There is a free "edu enjoy" level of membership (requires a school issued email and verification) that allows you to keep your Prezis private, out of public sharing. The regular "enjoy" membership is free for only one month, and its Prezis are public. After 30 days you will be asked if you want to upgrade or continue with the free Prezi, which has File storage limits for free accounts.

tag(s): graphic organizers (49), slides (45), visualizations (11)

ScreenPal is your old Screencast-o-matic but with lots of new features, and an easier name to type! Use this simple and free tool to create a video recording of your screen to upload and share on a teacher web page, wiki. blog, etc. This is an easy way to create a tutorial from your own computer screen. When you visit sites that have tutorials on how to use their software, you are looking at a screencast. Use this site to communicate specific directions on how to use different applications in and out of the classroom. Audio is not necessary for the screencasts but may be beneficial, depending upon the tutorial. Free features include: unlimited recorder (videos), full video editor, audio recording & editing, access across devices, share and host unlimited videos, publish video channels, and automated captions.
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tag(s): communication (136), tutorials (51), video (257)

Use this terrific online tool for your students to create posters or short reports in a poster format. Create lessons, worksheets, or class pages and instantly publish them online using this free Web Poster Wizard. The teacher sets up an account (for free), and follows simple directions so students can upload images and write about their project or pictures. The site even includes management tools so you can keep separate classes of students and see their work by class.

Plan to spend some time reading through the directions and trying out this tool before you assign it to students. Teachers and students must register and login each time they use this tool. Students can share the URL for their posters with grandparents or parents to show off their good work!

Students will need to know how to locate and upload a file for an image (such as a digital picture) to place it in their poster. If you allow them to use images from the web, the tool asks them to give information on their image source, as well (hooray for ethical use of the Internet!). If you use digital pictures of students, be SURE that you do NOT use full names on the site. You should get parent permission for uploading any student images, even if anonymous.
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tag(s): posters (47)

Want to get in touch with your inner child? Get Scratch! Warning: The use of this application is quite fun and engaging! Scratch is a downloadable program that creates interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. This application can be used for bringing simple ideas and projects to life. It has great use as a paint program without using the animations. Download/install files are available for Mac or PC. Menu tabs include an Idea tab where you will find a Getting Started Tutorial, Activity Guides, Coding Cards, and Starter Projects. FAQs and support pages are also available for help in using the application.

Material created can only be viewed within the program. Drawings are not saved as a JPG or pic file. However, a "snapshot" of the screen can be created by using these keys in Mac: apple, shift, and 4 and click/drag to surround the portion to save. In PC use: control/print screen. These snapshots can be uploaded or used as a picture in other applications.

tag(s): animation (62), coding (88), computational thinking (42), critical thinking (112), design (83), drawing (59), problem solving (226), STEM (262)