Prezi is an alternative presentation tool. This presentation tool allows the creator to make a presentation that is not linear. Unlike PowerPoint where you go from one slide to the next, these presentations are set up to travel in any direction you want. From there you can even zoom in to highlight important parts, or include definitions bellow new words in a passage that might be in the presentation. Teachers will find this tool useful for incorporating into lesson, but because it is really user friendly, students can also use this site.
Evernote is a free, downloadable, organizer tool. On the site there are stories and tips for how this tool can be used. One video talk about how students are not just reading from a book and taking notes on paper, but they are looking up more information on the web and typing notes on the computer. This organizer allows students, or others using this tool, to organize and compile their thoughts and resources. Whether they are pulling in a teachers PowerPoint, adding website that were helpful for understanding the topic, their own notes, scanned or uploaded, the students have a place where they can put everything together.
This website allows you to create stories with your photos and words. I think this website would be a great tool for students to use when documenting their work on a project (possible science fair project). Additionally, Tabblo would be a great tool for teachers to use to document all of their students' work. It could be used to show all projects in a classroom to parents, or it could used to show a child's progression throughout the year.
Kizui is a downloadable kid safe web browser. Teachers, or parents, can download this browser and let children roam free on the site without worrying that something inappropriate might come up. This is similar to other search engines with a tool bar at the top that has links tailored to children's interests. On this tool bar you will find links to music, videos, games, homework help, and other things that might they might want to explore. This site is most appropriate for elementary aged students.
LiveBinders is a free, easy-to-use tool for setting up online binders. A simple click creates a binder, and then the user can organize and store related online resources simply by pasting in the link, or by installing and using a LiveBinder button in the toolbar. LiveBinders may be made public or kept private. My mentor teacher was thrilled when I set up a LiveBinder to facilitate our students' access to ancient civilizations resources for a WebQuest.
Create free educational games, quizzes, activities and diagrams in seconds! Host them on your own blog, website or intranet! No signup, no passwords, no charge!
This is the web version of Inspiration.
Think visually, work collaboratively, Webspiration™ is the new online visual thinking tool that helps you capture ideas, organize information, diagram processes, create clear, concise written documents. Publish your diagram or outline to a hosted and protected area of the Webspiration web site. Share the URL with friends or colleagues or use the code provided to embed the document in a web page, blog, or wiki.
The website's introduction is pretty funny to watch. Here you can upload any picture and select the mouth, add audio and then watch the picture talk. At first I was not so sure of the educational benefit and thought that it was just for entertainment. However, if a student is doing a report on a president they could take an image of that president and make him "talk" as an introduction. I think that this could be a creative educational tool after all.
Dabbleboard is an online collaborative whiteboard. It is easy to use and seems like your cursor is just a marker on a whiteboard. It recognizes and completes shapes, so if you pull the mouse in an almost straight line it will complete it as a straight line. If you attempt to make a circle, the program corrects is so that you do have a nice looking circle. There are various colors you can use to help differentiate different subject matters or topics. If you want you can also upload pictures and imagines onto your board. If you have a template you want to reuse you can save it and return to it at other times without have to craft it from the beginning. Since this is a collaborative tool, others can access and edit. Another benefit would be for students who have difficulty looking back and forth from a whiteboard. Print off what you did and put in on their desk in front of them.
Stixy is an awesome website that can be used for so many things. It can be used similarly to this website where you can share websites with others. However, you can also just share notes, photos and uploaded documents from your computer. It can be used in a professional setting, or you can use it to allow your family to see some of the things that you did on your vacation. It is really easy to use and I recommend playing around with this free site to see what you can come up with.
bubble.us is a mental mapping website. This could be used for unit planning for teachers, or a tool for reading comprehension for students. They could show how one event in a story was connect to another. This site is free and done not require a subscription. You can start right away, but you do have the option to create an account.
According to the authors, "this guide was written especially for educators, who want to teach 21st century skills, such as collaborating, communicating, and connecting, through digital storytelling." I haven't read it yet, but it looks like it is interesting and I look forward to reading it. The book costs $8.50, but can be downloaded for free.
Created a website (http://mytestsiteistaken.jottit.com/) in less than two minutes, complete with design options and all. Really very basic options, perfect for little explorers.
Cacoo is a free, easy-to-use online drawing tool that enables the user to create lots of kinds of diagrams. I especially like the "wireframe" style. One cool feature is that, like Google docs, multiple users can collaborate on a drawing.