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It is an advanced Open Source typing tutor and a free download. The 8MB archive is also portable and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Amphetype is described as being layout agnostic that means it does not come with a virtual keyboard, but gives you lessons you can use to practice any keyboard layout with it. The software supports the learner with speed and performance measuring features and detailed statistics. One of the important metrics is that Amphetype also measures viscosity i.e. it measures the "pauses' one takes in between words. More pauses means higher viscosity. A lower rate of viscosity translates into better typing performance. Features of Note:  You can generate text fragments to type from Project Gutenberg or any other plain text source to practice your typing. Review mistyped words and even generate custom lessons to practice difficult words or problem words. A performance tab gives a snapshot of WPM, accuracy, measures performance by session, and plots a graph to show progress. Another alternative Open Source keyboard and language independent typing tutor you can try out is Klavaro. It has ready to use keyboard layouts like Dvorak, QWERTZ, Colemak, AlphaGrip5, and more. There are many options to practice your touch typing. I have usually found that using software tools like the two mentioned above, and my personal favorite - TIPP10, and supplementing them with typing games to be the best way. You can always come back to these tools and bump up your WPM (Words per Minute) to an acceptable figure. Want more practice? Look into the following sites too 

a tag cloud creator which, when putting your text in the box, also brings up Google Images, the Visual Thesaurus, and pulls out the most relevant parts of the text from the tag cloud

Teacher to text to Students

Wiffiti (http://wiffiti.com) allows students to submit a text message to an online bulletin board. Messages can also be submitted to Poll Everywhere, but the Wiffiti board is large and animated and students love the fake names it assigns to their posts. ..

As a teacher you create an account which includes a unique class code. Next, you will begin by adding students to your network. Your students will log in using the class code you created and their password (which you can view and change). Sharing Any sketch created using sketchlot can be shared with any member of your class, using the share feature. Teachers can create math questions, science diagrams or even text for students to view and reply. Students can create their own sketches and share them back with you. You can also embed sketches to your class website, pin them to pinterest or tweet them to twitter!

This a great tool that allows students to use it without a log-in, but allows them to identify themselves when entering to make it easier for you to see the contributions by all; all revisions are kept and the text is highlighted with a different color for each contributor

Pearson's Games Apps for American and World History make learning history fun, quick and easy. The American History Games App includes more than 100 different games on dozens of topics, such as Roots of the American People, The American Revolution, The Civil War, Industry and Urban Growth, World War II, The Civil Rights Era and Challenges for a New Century. The World History Games App also offers students more than 100 different games covering a wide range of global history topics, including Ancient Rome and the Rise of Christianity, The Muslim World, Spread of Civilizations in East Asia, Kingdoms and Trading States of Africa, The Industrial Revolution, and World War II and Its Aftermath. With Pearson's Test Prep Apps for both American and World History, students have access to hundreds of flashcards and quizzes designed to help them review and understand essential questions and knowledge of a lesson or chapter. Personalized feedback and remediation prepare students to succeed on their chapter, unit or end-of-course tests. For a limited time (through January 5, 2012), Pearson is offering educators promotional gift codes to preview up to four of the social studies apps. For details, visit the Pearson website and click on "Free Apps!" Click Here to Visit WebsitePlus: Pearson's myFlashcard Maker App, for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, lets students create their own flashcards or access hundreds of ready-made cards. With text and audio in both English and Spanish, students learn in their own way at their own pace. Activity modes include Study, Review and Quiz with immediate, personalized feedback. myFlashcard Maker Apps are available for high school (U.S. History, World History, American Government, Economics), middle school (American History, Civics, World Geography, World History) and elementary school (American History, Regions of America, Florida Social Studies). Visit the website for more information.

a set of 54 non-fiction stories from Scholastic for K-2 students. The stories are feature pictures and short passages of text that students can read on their own or have read to them by each story's narrator. The collection of stories is divided into eight categories: social studies, science, plants and flowers, environmental stories, civics and government, animals, American history, and community.

a free website that makes it easy to create short (20 second) animated movie clips that can be customized with uploaded faces, customized text, music, movement and more.

Grammarly is an automated proofreader and your personal grammar coach. Check your writing for grammar, punctuation, style and instantly enhance your texts.

"Free Group Texting GroupMe makes life easy for you and your groups. It's your real-life network, in your pocket."

Free text to speech voices. --Alternative methods to process written information. --Can be used to assist non-readers/struggling readers. --Helpful in ESL/EFL classrooms

Spaaze is a free online sticky note service that offers some handy functions for teachers and students. Spaaze allows you to write notes, edit notes and reorder your notes. Your notes can be simple text notes or you can create notes that contain videos, images, or links. Use the Spaaze browser bookmarklet to add a note to your collection anytime you come across an interesting find on the web. The video below gives a good overview of what can be done with Spaaze. Applications for Education Spaaze could be used by students as a personal organizer. Spaaze could be particularly useful for students who don't have their own computers and need to rely on computer labs in order to get work done online. By using Spaaze those students can create notes of what they need to do, what they have done, and create notes about the useful things they find while researching on the web.

TitanPad is essentially a clone of the original EtherPad. With TitanPad anyone can instantly create a collaborative document. You do not have to create an account to use TitanPad, in fact creating an account isn't even an option. To get started just click "create public pad," enter your name, and start typing. To invite people to collaborate, just share the url assigned to your TitanPad. Every collaborator on TitanPad is given a unique color to highlight the text they've added. Try it now on this document that I started. Applications for Education TitanPad could be used as a platform for quickly hosting and recording an online brainstorming session with your students. As accounts aren't necessary you won't lose any classroom time to getting students through a registration process.

a neat site for introducing elementary school students to making simple animated video stories. On the Zimmer Twins site students can create a story from scratch or complete one of the "cliff hanger" story starters. Students do not need to have any drawing skills in order to create a story as all elements are added to the video through a simple drag and drop interface. Students select settings, characters, character actions, emotions, and text styles then drag those elements into the storyboard. Students then arrange those elements and type words into the conversation bubbles where appropriate.

Last over 10 minutes. Totally worth it! Should be mandatory for Driver's Ed!

The Werner Icking Music Archive contains a miscellany of subject-specific musical material. Click on the name of a subdirectory containing scores, sound files, typesetting source files, additional README-files etc., or follow the composer links to enjoy fully all of the Archive's possibilities. The icon  will direct you to score images, the icon  to short informative texts, the icon  to sound files, and the icon  leads you to PDF-files. (To view a PDF file you must Download Acrobat Reader).

Vokis are so much fun to create- choose and edit a character, choose a background, add text or record your voice and you have a Voki to tell your story!  Halloween characters include a pumpkin, skeleton, and vampire.