Group items tagged

Tons of assessment tools

A brilliant, 'must try' web tool for group to text/voice chat, with a collaborative whiteboard, document viewer and more, all in real time. I'm really loving this tool at the moment for joint language lessons with my school's Chinese partner school. No sign in require, however register for free for extra features. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Draw Island is a free online tool for creating drawings and simple GIF animations. Draw Island offers you your choice of four canvas sizes on which you can draw. Draw Island offers two canvas sizes for creating simple GIF animations. To use Draw Island just head to the site and select a drawing tool. You can draw free hand (or should I say free mouse?) or select pre-defined shapes to use in your images. When you're done drawing just click the save button to download your drawing or animation

Online drawing tool, quick and easy to use, with version for iPad and iPhone. No sign-up required.

Looking for tools to flip your classroom or for a blended classroom? Don't miss this article that outlines and reviews 5 tools for recording lessons.

"Want to make exemplary rubrics in a short amount of time? Try RubiStar out! Registered users can save and edit rubrics online. You can access them from home, school, or on the road. Registration and use of this tool is free, so click the Register link in the login area to the right to get started now."

rubric creating and sharing database

Create rubrics for any activity

PDF guide to Moodle tools

Poster of the functions of Moodle

PINBALL is here to help you kick start new ideas, to get your thoughts flowing freely, and to develop your creative talents. Bounce your ideas around by using these fun and simple tools, and who knows what ideas might pop up.

A collection of BBC tools for students to organising thoughts, sparking ideas and planning ahead. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

One stop for teachers looking for tech tools. Click on Edutech.TV, and many of these tools have how-to videos. Nice.

"The website's main purpose is to help educators and schools around the world effectively integrate technology, including the wonderful tools on the vast World Wide Web, into the classroom. eduTecher provides links to thousands of Web Tools and provides concise information on how these tools may be useful in the classroom setting."

Cell Phones in education - blog post by Wes Fryer at www.isteconnects.org

Presentations about the uses of cell phones to support learning both inside and outside the traditional classroom have been popular as well as contentious at educational technology conferences in the past year. I first become aware of the wide variety of constructive ways cell phones can be used to support learning through Liz Kolb's presentation for the 2007 K-12 Online Conference, "Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools." Liz is the author of the blog "From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning," and published the book "Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education" with ISTE in 2008. This past week, at the eTechOhio conference in Columbus, I heard Ohio technology director Ryan Collins' outstanding presentation "Cellphones in the classroom? Yes way!" In his session Ryan identified seven different ways cell phones can and are being used to support learning:

This is a new page  of the Directory showing SOCIAL tools particularly targeted at (or very useful) for the primary, junior, middle and secondary school classrooms. (The rest of the Directory also provides useful tools)

This is a list of free applications and tools that you can find online. Students can use these to create multimedia projects, collaborate with others, conduct research, and present their findings. It is a long list, but by no means exhaustive. Please contact 21stcenturylit@gmail.com to suggest other tools to add to the list.

A superb 'Must Try' HTML based collaborative whiteboard site. The tools are wonderfully simple. No log in required. Just share the page link to work collaboratively. Combine with a tool like Skype to share a lesson across classes, schools or even countries. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

I've long said that professors who want to explore teaching with technology should begin with a social media tool rather than a Learning Management System. Web 2.0 tools are simple to use, invite student collaboration, and are usually less administratively clunky and complex than an LMS.One of the easiest and most powerful tools is the regular old wiki. Wikis are simply web pages that can be edited by their users. Instead of only carrying content from the administrator, they harness the power of crowdsourcing to create a powerful communal resource.

"We all know that students find it far more challenging to answer word problems than simple equations. In Math Shake, learners practise the vital skill of solving word problems in a fun, focused way. Learners engage their critical thinking skills as they use the keywords to change word problems into equations and use interactive learning tools to visualise, image and work out their answer. Not only do learners have a range of learning tools at their fingertips, they can share their thinking by recording their working.Teachers and parents can also use Math Shake to teach learners with the interactive tools; including tens frames, number matrixes, fraction parts, number lines and counters. "

SOME FAVORITE TOOLS When selecting tools for students, carefully consider the following: Advertising - Be careful that if there are ads, that they are appropriate for your students.  Log-Ins - Can you set up a class login, generic login, or must all students have their own?  Be clear on what is required by the site and have that established before your students try to use it. Save/Share - Is there some feature that allows students to share their work with you and others? COPPA Compliant - Review COPPA regulations on all sites to determine if students under 13 years old should be accessing the site.

This week's Tool offers a student self assessment and behavior evaluation. Use this week's Tool to promote student achievement and parent involvement. This Tool of the Week comes from Teach Smart: Practical Strategies & Tools for Educators .

"Picturing the 1930s," a new educational web site created by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in collaboration with the University of Virginia, allows teachers and students to explore the 1930s through paintings, artist memorabilia, historical documents, newsreels, period photographs, music, and video. Using PrimaryAccess, a web-based teaching tool developed at the university's Curry Center for Technology and Teacher Education, visitors can select images, write text, and record narration in the style of a documentary filmmaker. They can then screen their video in a virtual theater. PrimaryAccess is the first online tool that allows students to combine their own text, historical images from primary sources, and audio narration to create short online documentary films linked to social studies standards of learning, said Glen Bull, co-director of the Curry Center. Since the first version was developed in collaboration with U.Va.'s Center for Digital History and piloted in a local elementary school in 2005, more than 9,000 users worldwide have created more than 20,000 short movies. In creating digital documentaries, students embed facts and events in a narrative context that can enhance their retention and understanding of the material, said Curry research scientist Bill Ferster, who developed the application with Bull. Besides increasing their knowledge about the period, "Picturing the 1930s" enhances students' visual literacy skills, Ferster noted, adding that PrimaryAccess "offers teachers another tool to bring history alive."

"A superb online whiteboard suite of tools, including a random name picker, classroom sound level indicator, display a QR code, drawing and text tools, traffic lights, timers, clocks and dates, and even a fab exit poll tool. You can even change the background, including your own images to display extra resource information, or use your computer camera to show live video like a visualiser."