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Free e-book download:  "Silvia Tolisano, author of the excellent Langwitches blog, has an awesome free ebook about digital storytelling. Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators is a 120 page guide to using digital storytelling tools in your classroom. The guide offers clear directions for using tools like Audacity, Google Maps, Photo Story, VoiceThread, and other digital media creation tools. Silvia's directions are aided by clearly annotated screenshots of each digital storytelling tool."

Do you suffer from information overload? Do you find it difficult to organise and process the things you find online so that you can apply them productively in your day-to-day working life? If so then curation tools could transform your experience of the digital world. Increasingly seen as the 'next big thing' of social media, the last year has seen an explosion of different tools which can be used to manage, sort and catalogue material. However the novelty, as well as the choices available, render them confusing - what tool should you use and how should you use it? Furthermore what are the specific uses to which academics can put these tools?

As mobile learning becomes more and more prevalent, we must find effective ways to leverage mobile tools in the classroom. As always, the tool must fit the need. Mobile learning can create both the tool and the need. With safe and specific structures, mobile learning tools can harness the excitement of technology with the purpose of effective instruction. Using QR codes for instruction is one example of this.

Let's explore the idea that there is at least one excellent free learning tool (or site) for every learning problem, need or issue! I want a FREE...

Free/opensource educational tools 

"Would you like to relax your students' tired eyes?  Is it sounds good to convert any written text such as Microsoft Word into spoken words? What about running a PowerPoint presentation and have a narration of the text on your slides? Would you be interested in a list of 19 Free Text to Speech tools?"

"A survey of teachers who instruct American middle and high school students finds that digital technologies are impacting student writing in myriad ways and there are significant advantages from tech-based learning. Some 78% of the 2,462 advanced placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers surveyed by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project say digital tools such as the internet, social media, and cell phones "encourage student creativity and personal expression." In addition: 96% agree digital technologies "allow students to share their work with a wider and more varied audience" 79% agree that these tools "encourage greater collaboration among students" According to teachers, students' exposure to a broader audience for their work and more feedback from peers encourages greater student investment in what they write and in the writing process as a whole. At the same time, these teachers give their students modest marks when it comes to writing and highlight some areas needing attention. Asked to assess their students' performance on nine specific writing skills, teachers tended to rate their students "good" or "fair" as opposed to "excellent" or "very good." Students received the best ratings on their ability to "effectively organize and structure writing assignments" and their ability to "understand and consider multiple viewpoints on a particular topic or issue." Teachers gave students the lowest ratings when it comes to "navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition" and "reading and digesting long or complicated texts.""

Hohli Online Charts Builder is a nice tool for creating a variety of charts for online display. Using the Hohli Online Charts Builder you can create bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, Venn diagrams, scatter plots, and radar charts. Hohli Online Charts Builder is a nice tool for creating a variety of charts for online display. Using the Hohli Online Charts Builder you can create bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, Venn diagrams, scatter plots, and radar charts.

"Don't go crazy with your images. The last thing you need is get distracted by shiny new tools, and the last thing your fans need is too look at photos that look like an acid trip in Las Vegas. Keep it simple and sincere."

Nice post explaining that iPads in Kindergarten should clearly be seen as tools for learning, not toys. Some good ways to use them here...

Tools for remixing the web and learning CSS, HTML5, and Java Script.

Scroll down through this post to see some great free tools to create your own infographics. Could be useful for exhibition etc.

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 proved to be very promising.

I like #5 Limiting Students to What the Teacher Knows- When given a choice students are going to choose tools that they are comfortable with and that allow them to express what they know. You may not have the slightest knowledge of them or how they work. It is impossible to be proficient at every web tool, app and program available. I have poured myself into learning as many as I can. There are many where I would consider myself an expert but that in no way means that they are the best resource for every student.  Don't be afraid to let students use technology beyond your knowledge base and understanding.  Accept that you are student too. Learn.

some useful web tools, like the idea of muzy thoughts

I have written several posts before on the importance of making presentation meaningful and interesting. Not just creating a PowerPoint because it's the easiest tool for you to create a visual representation of your content. Comic books are what I consider to be attention grabbers. After bringing out several samples, you now have the student's attention. It's what you do with that attention that really matters. For this post I thought I would share some great web 2.0 tools that allow you and your students to make comic books. I urge you to make these assignments interesting, and relevant. Make sure that they are strongly tied to important curriculum standards and benchmarks. Just because the form of presentation and activity creation is "fun" does not mean that the substance in the curriculum is not important.

A free tool to set-up discussion and look at activity by user, by thread. 

Great tool for threaded discussions.

Creating videos used to require that you own expensive equipment and software. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. In fact, now there are many tools you can use to create videos online. Here is a collection of great tools for creating videos online.

Over 100 Incredible Infographic Tools and Resources (Categorized)