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Cool Tools for the Classroom

Page history last edited by D. Doctor 13 years, 6 months ago

  


There are hundreds of free web 2.0 tools available.  These are ones that I would suggest you take the time to look at and perhaps use at some point.


A question that is often asked is how can these companies offer these tools for free. A  number of reasons.  It's a good way to introduce your product to the public and give away basic services for free while offering upgraded "premium" versions at a cost.  Some companies' costs are also supported by advertising which can be annoying when using with students.

 

Many of these sites offer chatting, have advertising, require e-mail accounts and personal information.  Read the Terms of Use, and check out the site thoroughly before using with your students.  Keep in mind that in most cases, according to the web sites' Terms of Service, students must be over the age of 13 in order to create an account.

 

Look for an "educational version".  Some sites offer special features for teachers in addition to a regular account.

 

Start off by going to edutecher - a subject-organized list of links to Web tools.  You can even download it as an app on your iPod/iPhone.


 

 

Audio


Voki

Create an animated avatar.  You have to create an account with e-mail and birthdate in order to save your avatar.  For ages 13+ with parental permission.  Terms of Service.  Education version is now available with lots of teacher resources.  http://www.voki.com/Voki_for_education.php

 

Vocaroo

Try using Vocaroo with a microphone plugged into your computer.  After you record, you'll be able to hear your recording. You have  to go to the actual site to be able to record and send your recording thru e-mail.

 
 

Powered by Vocaroo

VoiceThread

  Create your own slideshow and you and others can comment by text, audio or video.  Then, embed into a webpage.
  With thanks from VoiceThreads for Education
 

Books and Social Publishing

 

Bookglutton

   
 

Scribd

60 million readers, millions of documents, 35 billion words.

   

Collaboration - Documents

 

Adobe Buzzword

Create, share, review and revise documents collaboratively.

Google Docs

Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms.  Create, share, review and revise   documents collaboratively.  Upload existing documents, including pdfs.

EtherPad

No password needed, synchronous shared notepad with all revisions stored - Real time collaborative text editing.

Zoho

Has several productivity and collaboration and business apps, including wiki, docs, show, sheet, creator(database)

Comics

 

Bitstrips

14 years of age or older or, if you are under 14, parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to the terms and has agreed to your using the site.  A penname, e-mail and password is required in order to save the comic strip, or you could just do a screenshot.

Go Animate

Create animated cartoons.

Conversion Tools

 

Calcoolate

Calculator for unit conversions including temperature, distance, weight, volume, area, currency.

Zamzar

Free online file conversion with a 100mb maximum file size.  Image, document, music and video file formats. 

No signup required for the free account, but an e-mail account is required for the resulting conversion.

iResize.com

Online image resizer.

 

Resize2mail

Online image resizer.

Drawing

 

artpad

Here's an example of what you can do with this online drawing tool.

  http://artpad.art.com/?klt97q1dirpg

File Sharing

 

drop.io

Private realtime sharing and collaboration with 100 mb free storage

   

Graphing

 

Lucid Chart

Online collaborative flowchart application.  Account required - free for basic pkg.

 

Images and Photos

 

Aviary Tools

Many creative apps to use online to create exciting images.

SumoPaint

 

Use this link to access the online image editor without creating an account.

Picnik

A photo-editing site where you can perform basic tasks lsuch as cropping and red-eye removal. Or, use more advanced tools, like exposure control.  Picnik also offers plenty of fun tools with filters that mimic certain types of film and paper. You can also add borders, text bubbles and other silly stickers and text.  No registration is required.

 

Big Huge Labs

Create all sorts of fun things from Big Huge Labs - Movie posters, puzzles, magazine cover, pocket album and much more.  Lots of advertising here but for a small fee, it can be removed.

Mosaic Generator

Have some fun with this online image-mosaic creator!

Mind Mapping

 

 

Text2Mindmap

Simple mindmap web software; doesn't require user to register or log in. Basic as a result, but perfectly workable.  Instructions for use are listed directly on the page - 'do as you map' - ability to save your work as a jpg.

WikiMindMap

Make a MindMap.  A tool to browse easily and efficiently in Wiki content, inspired by the mindmap technique.   Select en.wikipedia.org for the English version.

Movie

 
   

Xtranormal

Make a movie.  In order to publish movie you need an account    - for those 13 years or older and a valid e-mail account is required.

Terms of Use

Animoto  (ed site at http://education.animoto.com)

 

Took just a couple of minutes to put this video together.  Simply create an account, upload a number of pictures, choose your music and effects and  Animoto puts it all together for you.

 
Fliqz has shut down their service. To access this video, email support with this video id: 35a85a09eeb249e98024240dbe5b75f0

Productivity

 

The Pocker Mod

Make your own personal organizer

TinyURL

If you ever use a Web site with an address too long for students (or you!) to remember, you can easily shorten the URL by following the directions at this site.

 
Enter a long URL to make tiny:

Quizzes/Polling/Surveys

 

Polleverywhere

Text message (sms) polls and voting, audience response system

polldaddy

http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/B5E6A037D6C39BE7/

Google Docs

Use the form option to create a survey and obtain summary results in chart form.

   

 

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