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This PBL Mania post will explore some of those collaborative Web 2.0 tools that can enhance the PBL experience. Allowing students to network while immersed in PBL is so important. This could include communication and collaboration student to student, student to teacher, and student to expert. Below you will find a small collection of tools that might just help make collaboration even more amazing through the use of the online environment. Whenever using any online tool make sure students are practicing good digital citizenship and responsibility. Also be sure you are aware of your school's AUP and each site's user policy. Now let's take a look at some of these tools.

Many tools; rubrics, assessments, conference forms and more. Based on Mosaic of Thought.

A Site about how to integrate some Web 2.0 tools into Kindergarten. Many of these tools can be used at all grade levels.

Super Teacher tools has a bunch of great teaching tools that allow teachers and students to create games, quizzes, charts and a variety of other useful things for your classroom. The most popular is a Jeopardy Review Game that you can create custom Jeopardy games for your students. EdTechIdeas: I use this site to have my students create review games for other students to play. They must first research a given topic, come up with questions and answers, and then use those facts to create a game

A list that pairs Bloom's Taxonomy with Web 2.0 tools. Awesome visual that shows you what tools you can use to reach higher level thinking.

iPads have exploded throughout schools and classrooms. Their flexibility, versatility, and mobility make them a phenomenal learning tool. As teachers seek ways to integrate these devices, we recommend focusing on specific learning goals that promote critical-thinking, creativity, collaboration, and the creation of student-centric learning environments. Below, you will find a list of objectives, each one connecting to recommended apps and tools.

This 21things4students (21t4s) Project was developed to equip students with 21st Century Technology Skills, for success in their education, jobs, and lifelong learning experiences. 21 Things - We selected 21 areas of Web 2.0 tools, all FREE, for your learning and exploration. Each of the areas is called a "Thing" and you can receive a special badge for each thing you complete. Some "Things" have more than one badge, and some have "Gems" for completing advanced levels. Our Mission - is to provide a fun and project-based experience for you as you build your skills using different Web 2.0 tools available on the Internet.

Some good Web 2.0 tools and sites to help develop 21st century skills 

A tech tool that's great for younger students as well as older ones. Storybird is an online collaborative storytelling tool, and the best part about it is that kids really enjoy Storybird and it can be meshed into nearly any curriculum.

 Quicklyst is a great addition to any student (or teacher) tool box. It makes note taking a breeze, quickly importing definitions and search information into the notes. In a one to one setting (where every student has access to a computer) Quicklyst could be used by students to take notes during discussion, lecture, or any type of whole class learning activity.  In the one or two computer classroom, Quicklyst could be assigned as a student job in your classroom. During the class, the student assigned can take notes that can later be downloaded and sent to students, or printed as a study guide.  The class job should be rotated so that each student has an opportunity to be class recorder. Quicklyst is also excellent for teachers taking notes in staff meetings, professional development, or conferences.  It is such a simple tool to use and has just the right amount of extras (instant definitions) to make it really useful!

This is part IV in a series dedicated to free, online writing tools for kids. 

iRead is a group of teachers in Escondido Union School District dedicated to the idea that digital audio can be a powerful learning tool for all students. iRead will give you a chance to create meaningful, curriculum-centered audio projects with your students. Teachers are using digital audio tools (iPods, mics, Garageband, iTunes,  Keynote, etc. and various accessories) to improve reading processes. Teachers meet on a monthly basis to exchange ideas and strategies. We started in 2006-07 by collecting data about fluency rates - this has been very promising. Click on Visitors to get an overview of the iRead program.

"In a digital world where we can easily "find an app for that" to help solve many problems, rarely do teachers have a one stop shopping place for all their classroom digital needs. There are many individual tools that can aid a teacher in retrieving student's digital work, polling/quizzing students or assigning work, but each of these tools usually requires a separate account. However, there is one, free, Web 2.0 app that brings everything together that you need for your classroom, including a social learning environment. The app that does all of this is called Edmodo. Here are just a few features that make Edmodo so great for teachers and students: A place to assign and turn in work: The teacher can attach any file they may need for an assignment (rubric, worksheet, etc.) and students can upload any file to turn in their work. Links and embed codes can also be used to publish and share work easily.A calendar to help students keep up with important dates: Assignment due dates, dates you'll be out, holidays, classroom birthdays or anything you can think of to post. Studentscan also add their own personal notes to dates that only they can see. The notes the students add to the calendar are not published to the class.A digital library that will replace a student's flash drive: They can upload files into their "digital backpack" and download them when on any computer. The teacher can add necessary files to their library as well.A place to post messages--urgent or not: Only teachers and students can interact with one another, student to student messages are not allowed. This feature is the most powerful and it's what makes Edmodo a "social LEARNING network." This feature looks and works a lot like a "wall" on Facebook.A parent connection: every student is assigned a parent code so that parents can connect with the teacher on Edmodo, check grades and see posts to the class by the teacher and their child.Groups: Teachers can create groups for classes, parents, study groups

A great graphic of web tools to use to support Bloom's taxonomy..with links!

This is part II of a series of posts dedicated to free, online math sites to help students learn their basic facts, and to help teachers help their students.

A wonderful new way to research topics. The students type in the subject, the site 'groks' and returns with a concept map that can be made more complex or simple by dragging the green dot (beside the scientist situated at the top of the screen). Finally, a site that differentiates content for students!  The concept map can be expanded by selecting any of the yellow concept dots, and facts, videos, websites, images, etc. can be found on the right side of the screen. A journal tab beside the graph tab allows student to do some writing to record their learning and can be copied into a Google Doc for later reference.   French Revolution, organelles, succession, polynomials, Jane Eyre, composition . . .  this site has much to offer.   The "Quizzes" tools gives you classroom-ready quiz questions on your search term.   Tip: You can use the little slider at the top of the search results screen to adjust how detailed your results are.  You can go from the ABC chalkboard to the Einstein-y looking fella.

RSS, podcasts, screencasts and more. How can you stay on top of them all? The November Learning team has designed a series of educational handouts that can make any user comfortable with the latest technology tools. Each sheet can be read, printed and passed out as needed. Use them in your next professional development session.

What it is:  Widbook is a new publishing platform for ebooks.  What makes this publishing platform so neat is the social aspect, it allows authors to collaborate and make suggestions.  Each user also gets their own bookshelf where they can subscribe to other author's work. When students start a new ebook, they can choose who can see the book when it is published, choose whether they will accept collaboration for the book, and choose if they want to accept comments for the book.  Actually writing the book is fabulously simple.  All of the onscreen tools are easy to use and intuitive as to their function.  The book can have a table of contents, multiple chapters, and pictures and video embedded right into the book.  When students are finished, they simply save the book and publish it.  The finished book gets a unique url that can be shared.