"When we're working with our K-8 students it is always a concern that students privacy and anonymity be maintained. Most sites require users to register so they can sign in to use the resource. Many educators will create an account and log students in to use a web 2.0 resource in the library, lab or classroom as a variety of sites provide for education accounts. The extra steps necessary to set up such accounts might take time that any librarian or teacher finds hard to locate in their busy day. Surely too a majority of us are quite tired of remembering every username and password we create for ourselves let alone keeping track of those of our students. We also wonder how many footprints we are leaving on the web. Below are some sites that can be used without creating an identifying username, email or password. All sites were tested, Some have examples on the example pages."
Cloudworks is a social networking site for finding, sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas and designs.
A Cloud can be anything to do with learning and teaching. Each Cloud is 'social' in that it is possible to have a conversation around the Cloud. A Cloud could be: a short description of a learning and teaching idea, information about resources or tools for learning and teaching, detailed learning designs or case studies of practice or a question as a starting point for a discussion.
Clouds can be aggregated into 'Cloudscapes' associated with a particular event, purpose or interest. For example you can have Cloudscapes associated with a conference aggregating Clouds about conference presentations or tools and resources referenced. A Cloudscape can be set up for a workshop where Clouds might include workshop resources, tools or activities. Cloudscapes can also be more general for example to stimulate debate about a particular teaching approach. Clouds can be associated with more than one Cloudscape.
Inside Mathematics is a professional resource for educators that features classroom examples of innovative teaching methods and insights into student learning, tools for mathematics instruction that teachers can use immediately, and video tours of the ideas and materials on the website. Inside Mathematics will be aligning its tools and examples to the Common Core.
"Are you looking for practical ways to improve student achievement? Strengthen teaching and learning processes with research-based instructional strategies combined with effective technology use. Twelve core strategies link to 30 classroom examples that show how to apply key research, using technology to engage learners and improve achievement. "
"This quick tutorial explains how you can create a Google Tour yourself, and hopefully upload it here. :) As an example, we will create a tour of the capital cities of my country, Australia."
BlastFollow enables you to follow Twitter users who share your interests en masse. This is accomplished by searching for users who have tweeted with a particular hashtag recently. For example, if you are interested in ISTE 2010 conference, you may want to search for users whose tweets have included the hashtag "#ISTE10". This would be useful if you are using Twitter in your classroom for students to follow a particular class thread.
EasyBib's citation guides for book, journal, newspaper, magazine, website. "Each source includes a number of examples pointing out where a student can find the different things they need for their bibliography - titles, authors, copyright dates, volume numbers, and more."
Serious games are games with purpose beyond just providing entertainment. Examples include, but are not limited to, games for learning, games for health, and games for policy and social change. Designing effective, engaging serious games requires theoretical understanding of learning, cognition, emotion, and play.
Shmoop, a publisher of digital educational resources, has added pre-algebra to its list of free learning guides. The online Pre-Algebra Learning guides contain hundreds of topics with succinct explanations, diagrams, interactive examples, practice problems, and real-world applications. Pre algebra is Shmoop's first foray beyond its core humanities offerings. At the home page click on the pre algebra tab
"This is a new version of the original 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story that was created in 2007. As of Oct 24, 2010 5:18 pm there are 65 Ways! If you are a person that likes watching DVD extras or seeing "The Making of..." I have a story for you, the History of 50+Ways... In this new version, I have made more places for you to directly add to the site, including your own story examples, sources of media, and advice for others you might be interested in a tool you used. See How to Contribute for more details."
I like that this new version has a section on the process of digital storytelling 1-2-3. 1 is Outlining the Story Idea, 2 is Finding Your Media (with a ton of copyright free resources linked), and 3 is finally Picking Your Tool. Excellent resource!