SimplyBox is a great way to add some Web 2.0 to your research. This would be esp. useful with group objects where students can then look at what each other group member has found. Use SimplyBox for Education, and get the free app (also has fee-based district or school-wide application that can be hosted and access controlled safely, and boxing from any application). The teacher could start the ball rolling, and have students join in, boxing their own sites and info. Esp. good for visual learners.
This page has three good help videos: Overview, Sharing, and Twittering with SimplyBox. Fairly easy to use, once you get used to it.
"We are a mobile & web platform that effortlessly allows you to record and upload audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear." Can record from computer or iPhone/iPod. Great mobile recording for podcasting. Very easy to use. You can log in with your Twitter account, record or upload a file, send to friends and post to Facebook at the same time. Your file shows up with your profile next to it. Use is fully described by Russell Stannard at http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/audioboo/index.html.
"Plays on most smart phones. Video mails up to 10 minutes. Video stored up to 365 days. No account or downloads." This would e fun for students to use to practice speaking and presentations. Especially good because there is no sign-in. See Russell Stannard's training video at
Put in a Web address and lingro turns all the words into clickable links to a dictionary. You can hear the word read out. Further it remembers the words and lets you review and study them. So far 11 languages, including Dutch and Chinese. A fabulous tool for students--better than a dictionary. See Russell Stannard's training video at
Downloadable app to use Word Magnets on your own computer (requires registration). Sentences are broken up into words that can be rearranged and moved around the desktop to make poetry, re-create a target sentence, or make new sentences and punctuate it. See Russell Standard's http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/magnets/index.html for how to download and use this app.
You can select any pictures in Flickr and add dialogue bubbles to them. Good for projects where students upload their own pictures or select them from a search at Flickr. You can also blog the archived set of pictures. (See Russell Stannard's video on how to encourage students to use Bubblr for writing: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/newBubblr/index.html.)
You can select any pictures in Flickr and add dialogue bubbles to them. Good for projects where students upload their own pictures or select them from a search at Flickr. You can also blog the archived set of pictures. (See Russell Stannard's video on how to encourage students to use Bubblr for writing: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/newBubblr/index.html.)
Over 1,000 recordings to learn English (and other languages) with accompanying exercises, downloadable audio, etc. R. Stannard calls it one of the most useful language learning sites online: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/elllo/index.html.
Similar to Bubblr, but this app produces a book-lik presentation, rather than a comic strip format. You add two pictures per open book page, and add text as a subtitle. Good for projects with students' own photos uploaded to Flickr, or pictures found in a search. (See Russell Stannard's description and tutorial at http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/newBubblr/index.html.)
An online speed reading training tool, this site really helps you improve reading speed. Contains a very limited library for practice, but you can also highlight text in a browser and open the Eyercize tool from an icon on your browser toolbar. Should be quite useful. R. Stannard has a training video on how to use this tool /eyer/index.html>
A screencaster on the Internet--nothing to download. For Mac or PC, you can record anything within a liited frame for 5 min., so this would be nice to help students start running a program or to create their own short presentations. Easy to upload to YouTube, embed on a Website, or download as mp4. See R. Stannard's instructional video
Mailvu is a free video messaging system that looks simple and easy to use. R. Stannard's video helps you get started quickly, and he also discusses how he uses the tools with his students for language learning: you can have students send you video recordings and then comment on them, have students do interviews of each other, describe something, talk about a holiday or their weekend, etc. Mailvu also has apps for Android and iPhone.
A video on how to use Keek to make and share short video messages. Although limited to only 36 secs, this might be a good application for beginning learners, or for a quick pronunciation quiz (you will see who is taking that quiz!) You can also embed a finished recording in your blog or wiki, as well as sending it by email. A good way to have students create a short, practiced conversation. Also has smartphone apps for mobile recordings, RSS feed to follow, and links to Facebook and Twitter.
"A free online Talking Dictionary of English Pronunciation Just mouse over the pink words to hear them spoken "
This tool also links to Google Translate to translate your entry, and you can select from dozens of languages.
Stannard's training video on how to use Windows Movie Maker (Windows 7) is very detailed and complete. Subsequent parts give directions for XP and Vista. He first suggests downloading the free classic version, which has more features than WMM for Win 7.
Shows how you can use Xtranormal to make 3-D characters. Your students can create a movie scenario, write the script, make the characters, select camera angles, add voices (in several languages) in quite long dialogues, and share the movie by email. Stannard takes you through the entire process (about 10 min.) using a Camtasia screencast.