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Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

One of the most popular resources for teaching basic programming. The platform is web based and simple enough to get started with that students would need little to know instruction to get started. The site offers many resources for teachers and students, and there is also a downloadable version to use when internet is not available.

Canva is a fantastic, user-friendly tool to create professional looking graphics and infographics. After reading this post by Cool Cat Teacher I gave the program a try and really enjoyed it. The tool has stock images available for $1 or you may upload your own for free. Students could use it to make infographics on research topics, business cards, or posters for their businesses.

Canva is a fantastic, user-friendly tool to create professional looking graphics and infographics. After reading this post by Cool Cat Teacher I gave the program a try and really enjoyed it. The tool has stock images available for $1 or you may upload your own for free. Students could use it to make infographics on research topics, business cards, or posters for their businesses.

I think this is a very under-utilized resource in schools today, for both teachers and students. There is so much available on this website. The possibilities that these resources provide teachers are endless. One of my personal favorites that is on this site is Atomic Learning. This provides training resource videos in almost any technology tool you can think of. I have used this multiple times to help me out of a jam when using anything from Movie Maker, to to Excel, to Skype to iPads. The videos are chunked into short, searchable segments that are very useful when you are trying to learn anything about computers and what to do with them. This is a great resource to use in the classroom, both for personal (as a professional) use or for student use. Students are able to search videos independently and use them for assistance, contributing to self-reliance and independence in implementing classroom technology. I am not aware of any similar resources with a database this large, in one location. Although most websites or programs have instructions, sometimes even instructional videos, available to help new users understand the technology, Atomic Learning has them all in one place with easy to use videos that do a great job of demonstrating how to use the particular programs. apps, or instructional technology with your students.

I agree with Tamra and Maria that this is an under-utilized resources. I have introduced and stressed the importance of these databases to students, teachers and other staff for several years. It is too easy to just 'Google It.' I used Atomic Learning when teaching middle school technology explore. One of our 8th grade skills was an understanding of Word, and I let students pick their own topics to study further through Atomic Learning. I just used Gale for peer-reviewed journals. I am also using SIRS to find articles for our Digital Citizenship (Protect It) curriculum. I am not aware of any other collections for education as robust as Iowa AEA Online.

I love AEA Online. Being a former AEA employee, I've become very familiar with it over the years. Like the other ladies who commented before me, it is very underused. I'm not sure whether it's because people are not well enough familiarized with what they have to offer, or because it presents another opportunity for information overload. Regardless, it is a wonderful resource for students and teachers. I used Atomic Learning to help a teacher develop her own skills. I've also recommended it as a resource to our Special Education teachers as a resource to learn when students need reinforcement of new concepts.

This is a great online graphic organizer and flowcharting web tool. It is similar to the desktop program Inspiration.

A mind-mapping service with 1.5 million users and more than 3 million mind maps.

I have used bubbl.us in the classroom before for brainstorming activities. The part that I don't like about it is having to sign up and then you are actually limited on the free account. This is definitely program for student use. I really do enjoy this program, but with 1:1 iPads, we went with Inspiration instead.

I think I will give this one a try! I watched the tutorial and looks easy to organize work, personal and school to-do lists.

I just signed up for this application. As a busy teacher, and now a busy graduate student, I need a place to compile all of my thoughts. Without a 1:1 initiative this would be hard for students to use. It seems best adapted for laptop and computer use. It does teach good skills, however, like breaking up big tasks into smaller tasks, and writing an outline. This system reminds me of Getting Things Done, which is based on a series of file folders. I have tried creating something similar with Evernote. Maybe this program and Evernote would play nicely together? I will give it a try and write a blog post about it if it works.

Digital Citizenship lessons for students and teachers

Thanks, Mekca! We spend very little time teaching Digital Citzenship. I think it needs to be embedded in every teacher's curriculum. There are so many "teachable" moments that present themselves that could be linked to proper social media usage. This is going to be an excellent resource for me to share with my fellow educators.

This is an excellent source for me to use in my Teen Insights classroom. We started with a unit on bullying... then cyberbullying... I think we're missing the point- students just need to learn to be good digital citizens! I will use this source to build my curriculum. I appreciate that the curriculum is geared towards students but that it gives teachers and parents good background as well. Parents are a huge part of cyberbullying problems. Much of the conflict we have in school has to do with something students do online at home and then carry those hard feelings with them to school. I do not have resources similar to these. The video that my curriculum used to show warned students to avoid chat rooms and to only choose names that gave no indication of their age, gender, or location. It's good for students to stay safe, but the world has become much more familiar and personal with technology. Our curriculum needs to adapt to keep up.

Easily simulate your 3D projects in Augmented Reality. Impress your teachers and get a top grade. Express your creativity and get rid of prototyping cost and time barriers.

Rob, I've intrigued by augmented reality since I first learned about it at an EdCamp last winter. Since then I've played around with AR flashcards, Chromville and Aurasma. I can see this application used both by teachers and students. It is my hope to generate some Aurasma's next year that students can demonstrate to the public. This will work to connect student learning to the public and showcase our 1:1 ipad initiative! @travislappe is someone you should follow on Twitter - he's a tech integrationist in South Dakota that has been very active with augmented reality.

I have been intrigued by augmented reality since beginning the VREP program at my school. This resource looks like a user friendly way to introduce the concept of AR into the classroom. I have actually used Poly Fauna for a collaborative project with West Central's chorus. It was a great way to tell a story and adapt a virtual storyboard to music. It definitely expanded the lesson plans I had previously implemented with our peer groups.

This is like Wordle - and you can form the words into shapes. I like that there is a link to "101 Ways to Use Tagxedo" for ideas for teachers (although I would caution teachers to have an educational goal in mind so using the program doesn't become just a "Wow" factor use)

Tagxedo allows you to create word clouds in shapes. It has customizable fonts and a print feature. A nice alternative to Wordle.