This is free and there's no need for an email address. I think I would create the site for each group of students so that I'm in control of the user name and passwords. I can enroll them in an "author" role so they can be in control of the pertinent areas of the page. I think this would be an awesome thing to incorporate into my political parties and election simulation for my class "parties" to create a fake blog for their candidate on the campaign trail. After spending too long trying to create a sample, I realized I'll need more direction with this one. It's not as intuitive as I thought it would be. If anyone has any hints or tips, I'm open.

This is a great collaborative brainstorming tool that will allow all students to contribute, not just those who are willing to put their voice out there. If you like post-it notes, you'll love it! -I'm using it as a brainstorming activity for my students to set up their class goals and "laws" for the class constitution in the first days of school. It's also private in that the students need to have the specific link in order to find the site. I would post that on blackboard.

Teacher created templates for a fake version of "twitter" and there's also a "fakebook" one...

This non-profit group promotes creative ideas across the state of Oklahoma through initiatives to help in education, among other things. "Creative Oklahoma recognizes that creativity must become an overarching and essential mindset for Oklahomans if this state is to thrive economically and socially in the 21st Century. Creative Oklahoma is the only statewide non-profit organization in the nation that encourages and supports creativity in the multiple arenas of Culture, Commerce and Education." Note: It is part of a world-wide community dividing areas into "districts of creativity."

This is from the Bill Gate's backed Khan Academy and houses lots of audio and visual videos on differing topics from math to the humanities. It's worth perusing!

My thought was to have the students embed the videos into glogs or other presentations they create.

This article is proof that many of our grading practices are ineffective yet still being used- proof that another part of education has been unchanged for too long.