CI401Su2010

- Authors: Reglio, Saal, Costello, Stroh - Group #5 - Tool Name: Starfall - Tool URL: http://starfall.com - Category: educational reading site -Tags: education, reading, phonics - Grade level use: pre-school - 3rd grade - Topics/Discipline: pre-literacy through early literacy practice, supplement - Tutorial information: none found, user learns through practice - Possible uses: small group, individual phonics practice - Basics: The user accesses a range of phonics skills on the homepage. After selecting a skill, the user selects an activity to practice the skill. -Positives: This site is visually appealing, easy for young children to navigate, provides auditory cues for sounds/symbols, is not too busy to the eye. -Negatives: The songs/rhymes do not change often enough. For a frequent user, this may become monotonous and steer them away from the phonics lessons or activities.

- Authors: Reglio, Saal, Costello, Stroh - Group #5 - Tool Name: CoolMath4kids - Tool URL: http://coolmath4kids.com - Category: Math games/puzzles -Tags: education, math, puzzles - Grade level use: elementary - Topics/Discipline: Math practice, remediation or acceleration - Tutorial information: At the top of the page is a tab to practice before selecting a category - Possible uses: To introduce Math concepts, small group or individual practice - Basics: The user selects a Math skill set ranging from puzzles, flash cards, to geometry. A few of the skills are timed while others allow for opened responses. -Positives: All skill areas can be accessed via the homepage, it is visually reinforcing to the user, has an adequate amount of problems to practice before a saturation effect takes place. -Negatives: The site is very busy, has lots of movement, and is distracting to the eye.

- Authors: Reglio, Saal, Costello, Stroh - Group #5 - Tool Name: I Know That - Tool URL: http://iknowthat.com - Category: On-line multi-media -Tags: education, science, math, history - Grade level use: pre-school-5th grade - Topics/Discipline: research, skill practice, educational games - Tutorial information: There is not a tutorial, user learns as they attempt - Possible uses: Research across curriculum, remediation, acceleration - Basics: If the user is not a member, he can choose areas available. If he is a member, via the teacher/school, he can login in and go directly to his grade/class login content. -Positives: This site would be a nice tool to have as a favorite for a child who is a researcher, or needs either acceleration or remediation. With the student login, it is easy to navigate through the site. -Negatives: Difficult to access which resources are available to non-members vs. members.

- Authors: Reglio, Saal, Costello, Stroh - Group #5 - Tool Name: Watchknow - Tool URL: http://watchknow.org - Category: Educational media site -Tags: media, science, social studies, math, language arts - Grade level use: Pre-k - high school - Topics/Discipline: free on-line educational videos - Tutorial information: Found on the homepage is a button that provides a video demonstration on usage - Possible uses: cross-curricular, small group, individual, whole class, at home - Basics: The user can either type in a topic into the search box or choose from a variety of subject areas. After narrowing the subject, the user chooses a skill, from there the user selects a video to play. -Positives: It contains over 15,000 video clips which are cross-curricular and multi-aged. The site is easy, for an adult to navigate. -Negatives: An adult is needed to edit for content and age appropriate video selections.

Authors: (Group 1)Tim Sennett, Bulfer, Carl, Gourley Category: tutoring website Grade level use: junior high, high school Topic/discipline: math Tutorial information: help students find videos and games to review class lessons Possible uses: If a student needs more practice on a topic or lesson, they can watch a tutorial video or do practice problems at their own pace. Basic explanation: The tutorials, video, and lessons can be demonstrated by a math teacher and a shown paper, or through games. Positives: Many times will show lessons at a slower pace for the student. Has math from Algebra to Calculus. Negative: The tutoring questions sent in by the student will take about a half a day, at times, to get a response.

Authors:(Group 1) Sennett, Bulfer, Carl, Gourley Category: blog Grade level use: all levels Topic/discipline: math and technology Tutorial information: find books, topics, lesson plans for teaching math; blogs for connecting with other math teachers Possible uses: finding a creative lesson plan for a given math topic Basic explanation: A math teacher can connect with other teachers, or their ideas put on this website, to use in their classroom. Positives: Easily move throughout the website to find information. Negatives: There is a lot of information on this website. You need to be specific on the topics you want to use.

- Authors: Reglio, Saal, Costello, Stroh - Group #5 - Tool Name: Smarttutor - Tool URL: http://smarttutor.com - Category: Educational site - Tags: Education, reading, math - Grade level use: k- 5th grade - Topic/Discipline: Can be used to supplement a phonics based reading program - Tutorial information: Provides tabs for appropriate reading grade level. Also provide both visual and auditory cues for where to place the cursor. - Possible uses: to supplement a reading program, provide remediation, home-school use - Basics: The first step is to click on an appropriate grade level, choose a skill set, follow both the verbal/visual cues to proceed through reading tasks. - Positives: This tool is both visually and auditorally engaging. It provides immediate feedback for both correct response and error correction. Its use is child friendly. -Negatives: To the side of the homepage are options for information on purchasing a reading software program.

Authors: Kaufman, Belcher, Knowles, Duffy (Group 4) Tool Name: Online Books Page Tool URL: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu Category: Online Library Tags: Online Books Page, Online Library, All Levels, English, Science, Math, Social Science, Technology, Journalism, Writing, Music, All topics Grade level use: All Levels Topic/discipline: English, Science, Math, Social Science, Technology, Journalism, Writing, Music, All topics Tutorial Information: No actual help link or tutorial, but there is an FAQ link at the bottom that has a little bit of useful information Possible uses: Research Basic explanation: Online library of books available online in various formats from various sources. Positives: Free content available for researching, large catalog Negatives: Not that easy to use all the time, broken links in some of the results, not as polished as some of the other tools available today

Authors: Kaufman, Belcher, Knowles, Duffy (Group 4) Tool Name: Blogger Tool URL: http://www.blogger.com Category: Blogging Tags: Blogging, Blogger, All Levels, English, Science, Math, Social Science, Technology, Journalism, Writing, Music, All topics Grade level use: All Levels Topic/discipline: English, Science, Math, Social Science, Technology, Journalism, Writing, Music, All topics Tutorial Information: Help Links located at bottom of page for all users Possible uses: Blogging Basic explanation: Users can create and customize a blog to detail information they wish to add to it, can also read and comment on others blogs. Positives: Easy use, customizable, large community, can connect it to other sites (login using google user name instead) Negatives: May be blocked by some districts, have to set up blog how you want it (can be time consuming)

Authors: Kaufman, Belcher, Knowles, Duffy (Group 4) Tool Name: Del.icio.us Tool URL: http://del.icio.us Category: Social Bookmarking Tags: del.icio.us, Social Bookmarking, Technology, Science, Business, High School, Politics, Government, Health, News, Research Grade level use: High School, Middle School Topic/discipline: Technology, Business, Government, Health, Science Tutorial Information: Support Links located at bottom of page for all users Possible uses: Social bookmarking, research, news Basic explanation: Searchable index of user submitted bookmarks that change as they are submitted by users Positives: Easy use, content is current and always changing, content searchable by tags or keywords Negatives: May be blocked by some districts, very plain site but can be difficult to navigate at first

Authors: Kaufman, Belcher, Knowles, Duffy (Group 4) Tool Name: Newsvine Tool URL: http://www.newsvine.com Category: Social Bookmarking Tags: Newsvine, Social Bookmarking, Technology, Science, Business, High School, Politics, Government, Health, News, Research Grade level use: High School Topic/discipline: Technology, Business, Government, Health, Science Tutorial Information: Help Links located at top of page for all users Possible uses: Social bookmarking, research, news Basic explanation: Searchable index of user submitted news stories that are categorized by topics Positives: Easy use, content separated by categories Negatives: May be blocked by some districts, may have to search through a lot of information to find what you really want, a little bit hard to read some fonts and find certain features of the website (help for the website is a small button on the top right side that is very easily missed)

Authors: Kaufman, Belcher, Knowles, Duffy (Group 4) Tool Name: Technorati Tool URL: http://technorati.com Category: Social Bookmarking Tags: Technorati, Social Bookmarking, Technology, Science, Business, High School, News, Research Grade level use: High School Topic/discipline: Technology, Business Tutorial Information: Help Links located at top of page for all users Possible uses: Social bookmarking, research, news Basic explanation: Searchable index of user generated and/or submitted content including blogs, focus on technology, business, entertainment and lifestyles Positives: Easy use, content separated by categories Negatives: May be blocked by some districts, may have to search through a lot of information to find what you really want

Authors: (Group 1)Sennett , Bulfer, Carl, Gourley Category: blog Grade level use: all levels Topic/discipline: all classes Tutorial information: Help teachers and parents stay connected and promote their childs education. Possible uses: networking, journals, blogs Basic explanation: Give some ideas and discussion topics to help the teacher and parent work together to better the students education. Discuss how the teacher should instruct each level of student. Positives: It has some good ideas for the teacher to better handle and improve parent involvement in the classroom. Negatives: None. It is a good site for discussion about the classroom atmosphere itself instead of what lessons are taught.

Authors: (Group 1)Tim Sennett, Bulfer, Carl, Gourley Category: teacher forums and activity links Grade level use: all levels Topic/discipline: science Tutorial information: Help link science teachers together to find classroom and field trip activities. Possible uses: Find and share classroom activities as well as staying current on upcoming conference and meeting. Basic explanation: A science teacher could use this site to find different presentations and conferences that they could use to aid in their classroom material. Other website links are also given to connect to other classroom activities. Positives: The state conferences and presentations are provided for teachers as well as websites for classroom activities. Negatives: Many of the connecting websites are not useful for classroom activities and are more for the teacher and conferences

Authors: (Group 1)Tim Sennett, Bulfer, Carl, Gourley Category: publish games and lesson plans Grade level use: all levels, but mostly jr. high and high school Topic/discipline: math and some science Tutorial information: links to many websites in math, and many games using math lessons. Possible uses: To introduce or review a topic or lesson in math through the use of games and activities. Basic explanation: A student, parent, or teacher can use this site to find lessons in math for better understanding. This can be done with games, puzzles, or activities. The student or teacher can also create their own game or activity and post on this site. Positives: Some games are good for reviewing lessons. Negative: Many games are difficult to use and don't have much mathematical concepts. Hard to relate to specific math topics.

Authors: Group 1 (Bulfer, Sennett, Gourley, Carl) Category: interactive whiteboard Grade level use: All levels Topic/discipline: Language arts, science, social sciences, math, technology Tutorial Information: There is a video tour which explains how to use the tool. Possible uses: This tool can be used with a projector or on a whiteboard, allowing the user to create drawings and diagrams with text. It is an alternative to whiteboard software which some may find easier to use. Basic explanation: This is an online collaboration tool that is designed to be used with a whiteboard, though it is not necessary. Users can share drawings and invite others to collaborate online. Positives: Fast, easy, and flexible to use. Previously made drawings can be re-used and adapted. Negatives: There is a free plan but it costs to add other features.

Authors: Group 1 (Bulfer, Sennett, Gourley, Carl) Category: study tools Grade level use: All levels Topic/discipline: Language arts, social sciences, math, science, technology Tutorial Information: FAQ section with help and support sections as well as space to submit suggestions or comments. Possible uses: Reviewing and practicing information in any content area Basic explanation: Teachers and students can create flashcards for any subject which they can then share with others. Registering on the site also allows users to access a database of flashcards. Flashcards can be printed or used online along with accessibility through an iPod application. Positives: Teachers can create multiple accounts under one email address if students do not have their own email addresses. The flashcard database can be searched by subject, level, title, or author. Negatives: This tool is free but does solicit donations made through PayPal.

Group 3: Sarah Vaughn & Sara Reich Category: comic strips Grade level use: junior high, secondary Topic/discipline: any Tutorial Information: How to videos included Possible uses: use for mock-up before doing a video, pictures for learning vocabulary, Basic Explanation: Allows students to create comic strips Positives: Great for visual learners and students who like to tell stories creatively Negatives: Education accounts available but schools still have to pay

Group 3: Sarah Vaughn & Sara Reich Category: videos made from your own photos and video Grade level use: junior high, secondary Topic/Discipline: any Tutorial Information: brief video to introduce the site Possible Uses: good for summative projects or portfolio work, also good for projects like book trailers Positives: The end product looks good and very little is required Negatives: This site does videos well but there seems to be very limited variation

Group 3: Sarah Vaughn & Sara Reich Category: Interactive time lines Grade level use: junior high, secondary Topic/Discipline: any Tutorial Information: good examples to see what you can create organized by categories, fairly intuitive Possible Uses: good for summative projects or portfolio work Positives: Looks nice when completed, allows for the addition of videos and music Negatives: site may contain material from others that is not school appropriate (check site and inform parents), an email address is needed to create a time line, have to pay for many features