Piktochart

Picktochart  http://piktochart.com  

Another infographic tool

Research in Google Drive

Chrome Easy Bib

EasyBib Chrome Add on
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/easybib/cbpiiblghhnlalifiaddecedaeaijdpe

My reactions to this is exactly that of  Joyce Valenza's.  I teach citing and evaluation using EasyBib, and demonstrate to students that  the need to check the automatically filled in  spaces for accuracy gives them a chance to evaluate sources credibility for themselves, as they look for who really belongs in Producer/Sponsor slot.

Meograph

Meograph 

http://www.meograph.com

A more robust timeline generator that allows geographic placement, too.

Classroom idea: Book reports on historical fiction.

History Pin

http://www.historypin.com
This tool lets you upload images  to a location and  add your story.  Sort of like Google Earth, but browser based,


Classroom idea:  American History-  using Library of Congress images form Flickr

Flickr: The Library of Congress' Photostream 

to tell story of  theme (war, industrialization, immigration, etc...) across America.

 

Project Based Learning

Buck Institute for Education's PBL checklist is very helpful .

http://www.bie.org/images/uploads/useful_stuff/Essential_Elements.pdf

Infogr.am http://infogr.am/beta/

I worry a a bit about reducing information into bits, because I think we lose comprehension and insight that way.  So I hadn't given this tool much thought when I  saw it on Free Technology For Teachers.  When I consider informational literacy, though, I see the benefit of this tool as a presentation technique for students. And when I see infographics like this

Classroom idea:  Students compare economies of different nations using graphic stats.

WeVideo

WeVideo.  This works best with Chrome. Once I accepted that I could not expect every browser to do everything, I find myself using Chrome more and more.  This is a nice video maker  that I see great possibilities for, not least being its connection to Google Drive.

Classroom idea:  Storytelling, digital narratives, prayer.

Zinio

Zinio http://www.zinio.com is a mobile reading app that lets one view print content digitally.  You can purchase a single magazine or a subscription.    Many magazines also let you  view some content for free. 

Classroom idea.  Students use zinio to research and present advertizing strategies.

Math Mistakes

Math Mistakes http://mathmistakes.org/.  Thanks to dy/dan for leading me to this.  A very interesting blog about mistakes made in math with prompts to help reader solve the error.  I love it.

Classroom idea:  Create a similar curation of common mistakes for your own class.
Reading this regularly seems like a great way to improve your own teaching skills.

Invitiation to World Literature

 Invitation to World Literature http://www.learner.org/courses/worldlit/  is  produced by Annenberg Learner and offers  streaming video of  discussions of very important world litearture,

Classroom idea:  Things Fall Apart http://www.learner.org/courses/worldlit/things-fall-apart/watch/

Quest

Quest KQED multimedia series at  http://science.kqed.org/quest/
offers a good collection of articles of interest in science, including biology, chemistry and the environment.  With continuing emphasis on students gaining the ability to read, understand informational text, these are a good resource.

Classroom idea: Use these as a model for students to produce their own curation with explanation.

Use the RSS feed http://science.kqed.org/quest/feed/   for student reading assignments.

MentorMob

MentorMob http://www.mentormob.com 
I saw this tool on Joyce Valenza's excellent blog Never Ending Search.
I dislike making step by step instructions, because so often the steps change.  This  tool seems to me  to counteract that  flaw, because it lets the crowd update the instructions, so theoretically if steps change, someone will catch the error and change the instructions, And maybe that someone won't be me :)  I think this may work best with videos, but below I made a step by step lesson plan., which had mostly text instructions

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Classroom Ideas:
 This might work well as a supplement to lesson plans for substitute teachers, especially if  there is much to show from various sources.
This might work well as pathfinder in research projects.  In fact, I am going to try this out.

In chemistry classes, this might be a tool for students to explain specific chemical reactions.

In Math classes, this might work in combination with Kahn Academy.

Evernote

Evernote http://evernote.com/
has been a tool in my box for a long while.  It is a great way to save, organize  and curate sites across devices.  I love the Firefox add on web clipper,

 which lets me clip a page, or a section , and organize and annotate the clip very quickly.

I really like the ipad app, which lets me use my ipad to take pictures and add them to my various collections.
Classroom idea:  If you have an ipad, you can use Evernote and your ipad camera to quickly make a record of a students project, or presentation. Create notebooks on Evernote  for each student. Add your images and quick notes. Then when you access the work  later, you have a visual record of what you originally saw.

Picmonkey

Picmonkey

http://www.picmonkey.com/

 has been my go to photo editor since the demise of picnik,  It is a very handy tool for adding text and effects to photos.



Classroom idea;  Encourage students to acknowledge their sources by requiring a creator caption on all used images.  Picmonkey makes this easy.

Xtranormal

Xtranormal http://www.xtranormal.com/  
lets you create animated movies to tell your story
Here is one I did.
Pocahontas and Queen Elizabeth Discuss Website Evaluation
by: joantracy
Classroom Idea; Have your students use this tool to create animations that demonstrate their knowledge on a subject.

Google Search Education

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/
Lesson Plans to help students become better searches.

Classroom idea:  Could these lessons be fit into any research project?

Present me

Present me  http://present.me/  lets you upload a slide deck and record yourself presenting these slides by video or just audio.   The fee account lets you do 3 15 minute presentations a month.


Classroom idea:

1.  Gives student the opportunity to hone their presentation skills. 
2. Reward the best of classroom presentations by allowing students to record their presentation and present it online on your Moodle.. 

TED-Ed

http://ed.ted.com/



Many times I don't post something I know I will hear about again and again ( avoiding the echo chamber).  However, I have been  looking at TED Ed and think I should  acknowledge it . It is really flexible, and the ability to create lessons from any You tube. is pretty amazing..  This can really be a great supplement to teaching.

Thinglink

http://www.thinglink.com/
I have looked for an easy way to link portions of an image and this tool is the easiest I have found .  It lets you upload or choose an image from Flickr,Facebook or  the web.  You then can select portions of that image and  add description and links. You can also record and  add video. 






Classroom Idea:
 Health and PE. Students take pictures of athletes and link body positions to appropriate stretches and strengthening exercises.

Art: Students studying an specific artist could choice her most repernattive work and tell her story interactively.

Thanks to http://www.freetech4teachers.com

Whiteboard Apps for iPad

Using the ipad as a whiteboard to explain  a concept to  your students  and making a video that can then be embedded on your Moodle  or site is a simple but I think effective idea.
Here is a quickly created example of such a use:


http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/np/522346/?s=AWrK9h&ref=appemail

Three apps I have used are

 Educreations iPad app:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/educreations-interactive-whiteboard/id478617061?ls=1&mt=8

Explain Everything
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/explain-everything/id431493086?mt=8&affId=2101540&ign-mpt=uo%3D4




  

and Show Me http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/showme-interactive-whiteboard/id445066279?mt=8&affId=2101540&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Slide Rocket

Slide Rocket http://www.sliderocket.com/ is another tool to quickly share and collaborate on  presentations.  Works with Google Apps

Classroom idea:
 Group project presentations made easier

Visualizing Cultures

Visualizing Cultures
Free Technology for Teachers  led me to this site, which  presents the culture of Japan via images.

Classroom idea : Image presentaions of history or nonfiction.

Explania

Explania http://www.explania.com/en

Nice collection of animated videos.

Burlington High School Principal's Blog

http://www.patrickmlarkin.com/

Lots of information on 1:1 and iPads

Searching for content

 Ambiently http://ambiently.com/ 

Here is a bookmarklet that " semantically connects webpages of similar or related meanings
together."


Lately, I have been thinking about how we read online. And how we search, and how we gather information.  I am not sure I want to introduce a tool that links a searcher away from the page, but this is one that allows the subject to remain constant, at least.