cool-tools

VocabGrabber is a visual organizer  to display synonyms of a word in a graphic way.  This visual Thesaurus could be helpful in introducing new vocabulary and terms to students in the classroom, and later for students to find alternative words when writing.  

PowToon is an online business presentation software tool that allows you to create free, cool, and awesome animated video explainers as an alternative to using powerpoint.

Magazine devoted to educational technology. Good resource for staying up to date on some of the latest edtech trends and issues.

I found an online program call Groupboard Collaborative Whiteboard. This program allows up to five individuals to collaborate on a whiteboard online. It can be used on the computer, iPad, or Android. Up to fifty people can participate in Groupboard, but it will cost $9.99 a month. This would be a good program to incorporate in the classroom for small groups. There is a chat feature that enables students to converse in the private chat room. Students would be able to work on projects outside the classroom using this program to communicate. "It's a desperately needed tool for online learning and you have done a remarkable job at making it flexible and affordable" - Jeremy Nash @ class.com "Groupboard is the app we have had the most success with...very affordable for the features it offers" - Nathan Stevens @ncsu.edu Groupboard is a free online whiteboard that you can place on your web page by simply copying a few lines of HTML code.

Have you all checked this out? Here's the blurb from their site: "Easy to customize. No coding.50,483,006 users and growing. Select a Template 100s of fully customizable HTML5 templates available in every category.Choose yours and create something totally original. Over 45,000 new people join every day Wix gives you everything you need to create a stunning free website, right at your fingertips.We make it fun to create your own site - it's hassle-free, and you don't need any coding skills." I can imagine teaching students all about audience awareness and purposeful communication while having them develop websites. I think I'm going to register and give it a shot. I'll let you know what comes of it!

Google sites is a free way to create and share webpages. Info can be shared with students and parents via websites created through Google Sites.