Showing posts with label educational web tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label educational web tools. Show all posts

Great Teacher-tested Games to Engage Your Students

10:41 PM    

December 7, 2014
Games can be fun and addicting. Well-designed educational games can make the act of learning just as fun and addicting. Here are some teacher-tested games to engage your learners and get them craving more. Parents may like these for holiday enrichment too.



Mathtopia
 Addictive like Candy Crush, but nutritious Math Facts for the brain.
 Learning organic chemistry is tough, but this teacher-created app makes a difficult subject much easier to understand.
A simple grammar game from Grammar Girl, who you may have seen on the Oprah Winfrey Show or Reader's Digest.
 A teacher-created puzzle-solving game to help develop mathematical conceptual thinking skills.

A collection of simple learning games and digital storybooks for kids 2 to 7, from ABCs to tracing to addition.


Want more? Check out these collections of tools.

Game-Based Learning - Math 
This is  curated by fifth grade teacher Monique Haug.
This is Curated by middle school language arts teacher Cary Fields.

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9 Excellent New Educational Web Tools for Teachers

9:33 PM    

September, 25, 2014
It's been awhile since I last updated you on the new educational web tools that have been recently launched. Things have been pretty hectic here particularly that I am a full time PhD student now and it gets increasingly hard for me to find a balance between blogging here and my studies but I am doing my best to keep up with everything.

As you know by now THE New Educational Web Tools is a series of bi-weekly posts in which I feature a compendium of new web tools that have some educational potential for teachers. I curate the list based on the reviews provided by other educational bloggers. So here are the titles you might have missed in the last few weeks:


1- Inifinit



Infinit is a beautiful and free peer-to-peer file-sharing application that allows sending unlimited size in just a matter of seconds through a single drag and drop. It aims to enable creatives to be more productive by using a tool that simplify their daily work: 
  • Productivity: A 4 seconds sending process - Drag.Drop.Done - 
  • Peace-of-mind: Disconnecting from the Internet doesn't cancel your transfer 
  • Fast: Our peer-to-peer technology allows transfers to be up to 30 times faster than the competitive solution 
  • Secure: Data are encrypted end-to-end to ensure the users’ privacy

This is a cool tool that students can use to create storybooks.The site provides empty templates for students to use when creating their stories. Students can also upload pictures, draw, illustrate, and share their finished storybook with others.

3- Otus

Otus is a platform that allows teachers to create virtual spaces for their classrooms where they can share materials with their students ( e.g assignments, polls, quizzes…etc). Otus also offers a neat featured called bookshelves that teachers can use in their virtual class to store reading materials.

4- Nasa Kids' Club

Nasa Kids Club is website that offers a wide variety of interactive games and activities for young learners.The purpose behind these games is to enhance students thinking skills and problem solving.
5- Heganoo

Heganoo is a tool that lets you create beautiful maps with your personalized rich-content points of interest. When you are done with creating a map you can then share it with others using QR code, email, social-networks or embed it right in your website or blog.

6- Word Tamer

This is a great tool to train students on writing by engaging them in an interactive process of story writing using a wide variety of materials like characters, settings, plot ..etc

7- Newsuem Digital Classroom


This innovative website is a free, cross-disciplinary classroom resource featuring interactive timelines, archival videos and downloadable historic front pages through our lenses of historical connections, media literacy and civics. Comprehensive yet flexible lesson plans are designed for middle, high school and college teachers and students.

8- LibrAdventures

LibrAdventure is a mapped literary atlas that allows you to track and explore major authors based on the locations and events that made an impact on their lives.
9- Annotary

Annotary is a good bookmarking extension to use with your Chrome. Annotary allows you to bookmark webpages, highlight parts of the page and annotate them using sticky notes.

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Enhance Students Productivity with These Web Tools

11:05 PM    

August 26, 2014
There is a growing number of tools for students offering benefits from organizing assignments to creating study groups to taking notes. Here are some notable options for your students to consider.

ClassOwl 

ClassOwl was founded by a group of Stanford sophomores wanting to improve the hectic academic experience. Teachers and students are constantly faced with the challenge of staying organized and up-to-date with assignments and deadlines. ClassOwl is a simple solution for teachers to help keep students on track.

 A free resource to create online discussion forums and study groups for university students. Piazza is an online platform that facilitates interaction among. Using Piazza you will be able to:
  • answer students’ questions once for all students to see
  • your students can engage with classmates in online discussion
  • you can post class related announcements
  • you can post class files, resources and the class syllabus
  • you can conduct polls to get a sense of where students stand
  • you can receive/send private messages from/to students on 
  • more sensitive subject matters

Students can use this website to host and record collaborative brainstorming sessions.


Surfmark is an online research application that encourages critical thinking and helps students learn how to synthesize and integrate knowledge around topics. It is a powerful research tool currently available on iPad that also teaches the process of doing research properly.


A surprisingly simple yet powerfully visual to-do organizer students can use for all their tasks.

Want more? Check out these collections of tools

Student Tech Tools 

This collection is curated by middle school social studies teacher Drew Ackerson.


This one is curated by grade school teacher Kelley Sovol.

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A Nifty Web Tool for Teachers

10:23 PM    

August 13, 2014
Here is an excellent web tool I want to bring to your attention. Often times websites go down for a variety of purposes. Some for maintenance reasons and others for an internal bug or malfunction. However, sometimes it becomes confusing whether the site is down for everyone or it is down just for you. For instance, a few months ago and while I was browsing the net I came a cross a YouTube video that upon clicking on it led me to a dead link. I initially thought the link was broken but later on when I tried to watch another YouTube video in a different platform the same thing happened. Only then I realized there was an issue with YouTube but I was not sure whether it was down for only me or for everyone else. I had to conduct a quick search on Google search engine to find out the answer. If I had know about Down for Everyone or Just Me, things would have been much easier.



Down for Everyone or Just Me is a web tool that lets you easily and quickly know whether a website is down for everyone or just for you. The procedure is pretty simple. Just type in or paste the URL of the website you want to check into the box as shown in the screenshot above and click on "or just for me". Down for Everyone or Just Me will then tell about the status of that website.

Courtesy of Learning in Hand.

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4 New Ed Tech Updates Teachers Should Know About

6:27 PM    

July 22, 2014
There have been some interesting updates in the EdTech world this summer. In case you haven't been in the loop , below are the major EdTech tools that have been updated. I will also be sharing a follow-up post with more updated EdTech tools next week. Stay tuned.

1- Google Drive

There are several cool new features that have been added to Google Drive and which I think every teacher should know. Check out this post to learn more about these new updates.

2- ClassDojo

ClassDojo has also released two new important updates: The first one allows teachers to share classes with each other. The second feature lets teachers share reports with their colleagues and school administrators.

3- ThingLink

ThingLink has also released a new feature called ThingLink for Video. This new feature is  still in beta phase but you can request  an early access to try it. ThingLink video allows you to easily add interactive elements to public videos on YouTube. This is a great way to add rich layers of information and resources to videos you share with students. You can for instance add links to websites where students can read more on the topic of the video, or add links to other videos. You can also annotate your video by adding text and hyperlinks.

4- Kaizena

Kaizena is a free tool that allows users to add audio comments to Google Docs. Kaizena has also added a new feature that enable users to add audio comments to Google Slides. Learn more about this new update from this post.

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A Must Have Resource for Finding Educational Sites, Apps and Services

7:33 PM    

July 24, 2014
Graphite is one of the amazing platforms that connects teachers with technology. Graphite is a free website from Common Sense Media that  provides reviews of the latest exciting innovations in educational technology, everything from video games that help students learn algebra to lectures they can watch online.


Graphite provides teachers with a one central location where they can go and find tested and trustworthy learning resources and web tools to use in their classes.The web tools and mobile apps shared on Graphite are expertly rated by a dedicated group of leading education specialists. Using the search functionality on Graphite you will be able to look for and filter learning resources by subject, grade, skill level and Common Core standard.

Another great feature of Graphite is the community work that has been going on there. In this community, teachers interact with each other and share resources they have tried with their students. They also share how they used web tools in their classes, what their students think about them and many more.

Watch the video below to learn more about Graphite



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Useful Tools and Apps to Help You Assemble Your Classroom Curriculum

11:22 PM    

July 18, 2014
Here is a list of educational tools you may not have heard of, but may be useful when assembling your classroom curriculum.
 

Project Gutenberg 

A library of over 45,000 free ebooks in various formats, like EPUB, Kindle, HTML, and plain text.

In this reverse image search engine, you submit an image to find where it came from, high resolution versions, and more.

Annotate videos or create slideshows of pictures and text, then share your animated lessons or digital stories.


A free GPS-aware app from Google that alerts with info you as walk near places of interest. Great for traveling!
 
 Students and teachers can keep a digital portfolio of photos, videos, notes and other documents with this app.

Want more? Check out these collections of tools :

AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 


 This collection is  Curated by assistant professor and teacher-librarian Joyce Valenza.

This one is Curated by High School library department chair Michelle Luhtala.
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Free Web Tools to Engage Students in Creative Learning

4:33 PM  ,  

July 10, 2014
After posting about "Developing Critical Thinking through Web Search Skills", today I am sharing with you this wonderful 7-page guide featuring some of the excellent tools from Microsoft to engage students in creative learning and meaning making in the classroom. The guide is completely free and is available for download from the link below.



The tools included in this guide are all free and for the most part they do not require special training or advanced technology knowledge to operate them. These tools are also designed in such a way to help motivate students to express their creativity or achieve personal success in an area that truly  interests them. From art to music to science, these applications have something to offer students in nearly every grade.

Some of the things students can do with these free tools include:
  • Make classroom lessons more memorable using a movie (tool: Windows Live Movie Maker)
  • Turn a photo collection into an intriguing 3D viewing experience  (tool: Photosynth)
  • Share a digital photo story (tool: Microsoft Photo Story).
The guide featuring all of these tools together with tips and activities to use in class is available for free download from this link.

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Excellent Web Tools for The 21st Century Learner

5:50 PM    

July9, 2014
Today while I was browsing my Google Plus feeds I came across this wonderful work by Pip Cleaves. This is a slideshow presentation in which Cleaves features a plethora of web tools to help educators and teachers (who do not always work in the app world) create  effective learning designs. These tools are arranged into six main categories:

Image credit:Pip Cleaves

Collaboration
These tools are to enhance collaborative work and interdependent performances:
Knowledge Construction
These tools are to help learners seek new venues of knowledge using a mixture of web search, content curation and content presentation.
Self- regulation
These tools help learners control and organize what they learn.
Real World Innovation and Problem Solving
In this category are featured a set of websites that provide learners with innovative and challenging ideas, projects, and thinking designs.
ICT for Learning
This category provides some examples of ICT ( Information communication technology) tools deemed important for learning.
Skillful Communication
These web tools are to enhance and develop skillful communication of digital content


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The Best Educational Websites for Teaching and Learning in 2014

12:19 AM    

July 3, 2014
The American Association of School Librarian (AASL) has recently published its 2014 report of the best websites for teaching and learning. As you probably know, every year AASL releases a list of the best educational websites and applications that foster teaching and learning. The criteria AASL uses to select these websites include a set of qualities these  websites should enhance. Among these qualities are " innovation creativity, active participation, and collaboration". Also, websites that make it into AASL annual list are free, web-based, user-friendly, and are geared towards encouraging a sense of exploration and discovery in learners. You can check the list of 2013 and 2012.




Here is a round-up of the best websites for learning and teaching of 2014. Check out the original post for more details on each of these tools.
Media sharing
Digital Storytelling
Manage and organize
Social Networking and Communication
Content Resources
Curriculum Collaboration

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