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Fun way to engage your audience. Requires texting, so school policies will dictate whether you can use this with students in the classroom. You could also try using it outside of the classroom. Live poll results can be featured within your PowerPoint, which is very engaging. Adults also enjoy this so using it at parent nights can be a clever way to show your teachers/admin understand technology while making sure they are keeping their focus on you and not checking their Facebook pages on their phones. Faculty might also like to see the possibilities of this tool. It is free within certain parameters. I have the paid version only because I needed it for a particularly large group - if you choose this option, be aware that the next year's charge is automatically placed on your cc after one year.

Use stock photos, video, and music or upload your own. Your images are coordinated with music to make a video that is great to insert in everything from websites to presentations. I used one as preview for a play to show all the behind-the-scenes work the students did. Free videos up to 30 seconds - or pay to have full length videos. Students can use Animoto to create their own videos- great for music class - but can be an interesting tool for anything from vocabulary to science. The one below is actually a mock-up I made showing waht a vocabulary exercise might look like.

Simulations of scientific processes for middle and high school level content. Topics include semi-conductors and cellular respiration. Students can submit their assignments or print them out after they have completed working through a module. The website also provides options for teachers and students to create their own simulations. Free, open source tool.

Rather than get into all the possible uses, I will just explain how I have been using my account. I choose to follow or get tweets from many different individuals and institutions that post education-related information. I also look for new sources of information here - my favorites might get transfereed into my reader if they have a feed and I think reading through all of their posts would be valuable. Many of the tweets have links to new posts, articles, or studies that I may want for reference so I will retweet them. I have linked my twitter and diigo accounts so my diigo records those links in my bookmarks. I do this on my mobile, since Twitter is blocked at my school, but since Diigo is in the cloud it all ends up together. I have worked with students and teachers on trying to tweet an idea - to capture the essence of something, but we used pencil and paper/word processing because of the block. If you are interested in who I follow - I am @txchat

Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Easy to collaborate or submit assignments for viewing. Create forms that can be used as surveys to collect information.

Wikis are very easy to use and they allow for collaboration and organization. You can use a wiki to post information or answer questions. Wikis are suitable for publishing assignment dates or content. Students can use a page to work together on a project. Wikis can be good spaces for eportfolios, too. Like websites and blogs, other media can be embedded. This video talks about wikis in general.

Students can make and share their own flash cards. Teachers can use these for their classes as well. A teen made this site - he gives his intro tutorial in the video below.

Browse the results of the US Census by topic like education, employment, agriculture or ethnicity. The information can be broken down according to periods of time across the nation or within a state. Once you have accessed the information you want - you can use it yourself or try their interactive maps that are specific to your requests. Good US history resource, MS +.

Flikr is the BEST way to find a photo to illustrate your point. If you are posting a photo in any public way, you will need to be aware of what you can and cannot post according to copyright law. Flikr has made it easy to find what you need with their Creative Commons section. Under the advanced search tab, you are easily able to select photos that you can use on your website or blog. The site is very easy and fun to peruse. I use it for nearly every project that would benefit from an image, personally and professionally. *Teachers do need to be aware that there may be some inappropriate content for students on this site that may be accessed even during a routine search. Try it yourself to get a sense of how well it would work in your community.

Add content to a picture - label it, color it, include lines and shapes, and add links to closeup pics. Lots of possibilities with the editing tools. Could be used with diagrams from science, maps, historical photos or artwork. Easy to embed or share. Below is a picture annotated to give more information about JFK's assassination.

Find lesson plans and embeddable digital tools to work with the concepts of chords, frequency and rhythm.

Make a customized word cloud with different shape templates. The one about is an example - a maple leaf shape with the lyrics of "O, Canada!" Other fun with images like writing in flowers or putting your name on a baseball jersey. Enjoy!

Write what you like - personal or professional, short or long. Add pictures, or links, or not. It can be private or public. Subscribe to others' blogs using a Reader (Google has one). When you read others' blogs, comment or write a new post about it on your own blog and link back to theirs. Students could use a blog as a journal for writing, post their reflections and evaluations on their work, or use it as a Design Folder to keep track of all their work on one project. Blogs can be made to be project specific and only function for a month or two. However, many schools are experimenting with using them as digital portfolios. You might like to have more than one blog, to address different things. http://wordpress.org is another popular blogging site.

"SMILE's learning activities, tools, and services are available to all but are designed especially for those who teach school-aged children in non-classroom settings (like museums, zoos, aquaria, and afterschool or outdoor education programs). SMILE is dedicated to bringing the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities developed by informal science organizations around the country to the wider informal educator community, while encouraging that community to both use and contribute to SMILE's growing collection."

Fun, free photo-editing with refined results