Web+2.0+Tools

=The Fifty Tools= Below you will find 50+ web tools you can use to create your own web-based story. Again, the mission is not to review or try every single one (that would be madness, I know), but pick one that sounds interesting and see if you can produce something. I have used each tool to produce an example of Dominoe story and links are provided, where available, to examples by other people. Please share your own examples or thoughts [|in the discussion area of this wiki].

But before rummaging around the toolbox, have you done your prep work? Do you have your story idea or presentation concept outlined, developed? This should be on paper or in a document file or scribbled on the back of a napkin, but do not rely on making it up as you go! If not, go back 2 spaces and do this now. Next- do you have your media assets available, your images, video clips, audio files-- if not go find your media now.

Slideshow Tools
Generates content that allows linear playback of a series of images, some with ability to add audio. But these are primarily organized around photos or graphics.

1. Bubbleshare http://www.bubbleshare.com/
Create from uploaded images, clip art library, records 30 second audio/video captions for each image. Overlay comic bubbles with text. Code to embed in blogs, web site. Options to have prints made as books, posters.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Electionsnips] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|Yangoon Mandalay Amarapura] by Sergi & Lucia
 * [|BLC2007 - MIT] by Dave Thompson

2. Fabrik (beta) http://filmloop.myfabrik.com/
Upload images or search/upload flickr for images by tag. Slideshows with transitions. No text/captions. Share via email, embed code.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)

3. ImageLoop http://www.imageloop.com/
Upload images from computer or flickr or upload PowerPoint files. Select from animated templates. Publish to blog or MySpace. RSS, comments.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Japanese Nature] by davedavai (note film effects)
 * [|My Family]by busygee

4. One True Media http://www.onetruemedia.com/
"...effortlessly combine photos and video clips with words and music to personalize your story. Quickly share with our Online Slideshow or get as creative as you want with our Video Montage." Upload images and audio for story track. Embed in blogs or directly post to YouTube/Google video, mySpace, Google Groups. Great template choices.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Mystery Tour] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|My Montage] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|The Around Manhattan] by Margaret
 * [|My Final Tribute to Smudge] by sharon

5. RockYou http://www.rockyou.com/
"RockYou! creates and distributes the most popular self-expression widgets on the web" where widgets are slideshows, image effects, and more. Publishes to MySpace, Facebook, blogs.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|World Travler]

6. Slide http://www.slide.com/
"Slide lets you use photos and other digital content to publish and discover the people and things that matter to you." Import from many sources, has a good library of templates, backgrounds, effects. Can add music from library but not your own audio.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Max and me in Bruny Island beach] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|Vietnam Wall] by whslibrarian
 * Tourism and Hospitality (THED) Project wiki
 * [|Engadget Gadgets] by Engadget

7. SlideFlickr http://slideflickr.com/
"SlideFlickr will help you create and embed Flickr slideshows in less than 10 seconds" for putting slideshows in your own site. Generate from flickr users, sets, groups, tags. Attach audio via mp3 url. Embed in blogs, web sites, facebook.
 * Dominoe (embedded version)
 * [|Being There (set)] by CogDogBlog
 * [|Favorited Photos] by Ladybanana

8. flickrslidr http://flickrslidr.com/
Embed a slideshow created from a set, group, or user in flickr. No audio.
 * Dominoe (embedded version)

9. Slideoo http://www.slideoo.com/
creates horizontal slide shows from flickr sets ) no text or audio. Very, very easy to use. Thanks to [|Tim Lauer]
 * Dominoe (embedded version)

10. PhotoShow http://www.photoshow.com/
"turns photos into musical slideshows" - wide range of elegant templates, add captions. Audio only from music on site. Audio from list of music only.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Monkeys in the Family by Paul Hamilton]
 * [|Realization of a Dream]
 * [|Tibet 2007]

11. Slideroll http://www.slideroll.com/
Create slideshows via a movie timeline- add transitions, Ken Burns like effects, titles, captions, music. Direct import photos from flickr.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Searching] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|Kuai] by sgdirka
 * [|Spray Paint Art] by perducha

Timeline Tools
The main organizing metaphor for these tools is by time/date that can explored in any order. Events are placed on a timeline, and might include text, hyperlinks, images, etc.

12. Dandelife [|http://dandelife.com]
Generate a timeline of any kind of event in your life, write as blog-like entry, apply tags, attach images, videos, bookmarks form other web service sites. Not the easiest tool to use!
 * [|Dominoe Timeline], [|Start of Story], (embedded version)

13. OurStory http://www.ourstory.com/
Write a 'story' which is what happened on a date in time, add pictures, video, and OurSotry creates a timeline. Imports flickr photos.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Change the World]
 * [|Baby Yoche's Story]

14. xtimeline http://xtimeline.com/
Powerful and well designed timeline. Attach images or embed media to any entry, provide source info (for historical timelines?), tags. Can import data from Excel/CSV files.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Jorge's Travels Through Europe] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|My Extensions] (by Tasmania workshop participant)
 * [|Burma] history
 * [|History of Mobile Phones]

Mixer Tools
These may overlap with the Slideshow tools, but generally these ones offer a larger variety of media types that can be "mixed" and end products that are not necessarily linear.

15. Voice Threads [|http://voicethread.com]
Weave uploaded or flickr imported images into a media presentation with multiple voices. Record audio, video, or add text or drawn annotations. Others can add video, audio, and text comments as well.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|One Busy Day] by minilegends- a choose your own anbventure story by school kids in Adelaide
 * [|Great Book Stories] educators using Voice Threads to introduce great stories
 * [|Tour of Desktop photos] and [|Sci Fic Cover Fakes] (Flickr Set Demo) by CogDogBlog ([|embedded versions])
 * [|My House As a Film Set] by Dean Sahreski

16. VUVOX http://www.vuvox.com/
"turn your photos, video and music into professional quality presentations that can be easily shared with friends and family. " search images in flickr, google, upluad youtube video, embed code (see [|MasterNewmedia review]).
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|My puppy, Hugo]
 * [|Digital Shootout Bonaire 2007]

17. VUVOX Collage http://www.vuvox.com/collage
Collage provides a rich interface for creating highly visual presentations along scrolling horizontal strip, with imported pictures, audio, and video plus tools for creating hotspot links to web sites or to open other slideshows (note currently in private beta).
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Balancing Act] by Barbara Ganley
 * [|Images of Guinea]

18. FLEKTOR http://www.flector.com/
"allows you to quickly and easily create, remix, and share your photos, videos, with others via email, on mySpace, or in your blog." Upload images and audio to create Photobooks or use advanced editing tools to create a video (see [|MasterNewMedia review]).
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Mike Teaches You The Computer]
 * [|Ice Cream]

19. Mixercast http://www.mixercast.com/
"Create professional multimedia experiences by mixing your images, video, and sound easily with our unique templates and share across the web in one click." Powerful editing, import photos, audio, video form sites or direct upload- many templates and editing options including text overlays with hyperlinks. Can also record video from web cam.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Chronicle of an Artist- My Visit to North Carolina] by Studio Rising Star
 * [|cilcle of life]

20. Zude [|http://en.gnomz.com/]
Zude is more of a personal web portal, a place you can add media, web sites, text, and customize the layout. Media can be added simply by dropping them in from another web browser window. The feature site is quite broad, and at the same time, rather complex to use. Lots of right clicks to get menus.
 * [|Dominoe]
 * [|Travel to Italy]
 * [|Derek's Skateboard page]

Comic Tools
Create your own comic strips or cartoons using imported media or available images. You might need ability to sketch, and these are generally shorter pieces, and were much more of a challenge to fit a story into.

21. gnomz http://en.gnomz.com/
This is a fairly low level tool that will not create any visual masterpieces, but there is an interesting challenge in trying to compose with a limited tool set. It creates those pixel flat icon like figures. You create a cartoon avatar, and you pull from a library of others, and enter their speech or thought bubbles, as well as select backgrounds. The site is a bit challenging to figure out since it is in French, but click the flag in the top right to toggle the site to English.
 * [|Dominoe] (as best as I could with limited art!)
 * //Note most of the content on this site is juvenile or inappropriate. Link at your own risk.//

22. ComicsSketch http://www.mainada.net/comics/
A tool for people who can actually draw! Create all content via pen and color tools.
 * [|Dominoe]
 * [|Time for Tea!] by TrevUK
 * [|The Seed] by te3de3

23. Toondoo [|http://www.toondo.com]
Create your own 1, 2, or 3 panel cartoons using a library of cartoons, text bubbles. Images can be uploaded and manipulated with simple tools. Created "doos" can be combined into "ToonBooks", embedded in blogs, etc. A lot of versatility.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Hang On!] by Micadz
 * [|The Spambot!] by Danayel

24. Kerpoof http://www.kerpoof.com/
A fun to use cartoon tools with stock shapes and character bubbles. No import of media, no audio, no ability to create links or embed code.
 * [|Dominoe] (screen shots loaded into a flickr set, only way to get content out!)

25. Bubblr http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/
Pick flickr photos by tag or user name and put on a timeline, overlay bubbles with text.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Nelson Mandela]
 * [|Elephants]
 * [|Beth's Birthday Card]

26. Comiqs http://comiqs.com/
Turn photos, "doodles", and text into a multipane comic strip. Import photos from flickr or upload from desktop. Add bubbles, text.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|The Recruiting Life]
 * [|A Day in the Life of a Squirrel]

Scrapbook Tools
Less a story from point A to B, scrapbook tools provide ways to artistically organize media around a theme, which then again, can easily be a story. Often these can handle more varieties of media, but also become more complex of an interface.

27. Tabblo http://www.tabblo.com/
an application to put together photos and words with styled templates into a visual collage, also creates slideshows, permissions for views, import form flickr, print services (posters etc)
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version n/a)
 * [|Equinox Marathon Trail]
 * [|I love Winter!]

28. Scrapblog http://www.scrapblog.com/
Create multipage collections of photos (import from 5 photo sites), decoration "stickies", videos from Youtube, and publish to several blog sites.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Visit to Kamloops]
 * [|Discover Ontario]

Map Tools
These tools are useful for stories or presentations that are tied to locations over a distance, such as a travel trip or a historical accounting. See also http://www.storymapping.org/ and [|Find a Story... Map a Story... Tell a Story...]

29. Mapwing http://www.mapwing.com/
A tool really designed for created linked tours or annotated drawings/maps- generate a base map by importing or drawing, add nodes, each with a view looking in 4 directions, captions, link together.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Coral Reefs] by Mrs. Hagenbuch's project for science. Created by Jeniece, Brittany, Allison, and Chevy.
 * [|Harrisburg University tour]
 * [|Installing a Pipe Organ]

30. Google My Maps http://maps.google.com/ http://www.googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/
Associate steps of your stories with locations on a map. Editing each one allows annotation of locations with mages (e.g. using links from flickr), and other rich text features. Now they provide cut and paste code (via the "Link to this Page") so you can embed the maps in any web page
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|America's Highway: Orak Histories of Route 66]
 * [|"Life Map" of the Hawaiian Musician Israel Kamakawiwoole]
 * [|Google Lit Trips]

31. Wayfaring http://www.wayfaring.com/
Annotate a map with three kinds of tools- a waypoint (one that can be used in multiple maps), a note, or a path/route. The flow of the story is less apparent, unless one does it with a combination of routes to show a path.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Places I Like in Cape Town]
 * [|A Typical Day] (in Cambridge, U.K. By Dr B)

Flickr Tools / Ideas
Not strictly a tool per se, but there are many different ways to use flickr itself as a platform for creating/sharing stories in interesting ways.

32. Flickr Tell a Story in 5 Frames http://flickr.com/groups/visualstory/
"Tell a Story in 5 Frames has two important parts. The first part is creating and telling a story through visual means with only a title to help guide the interpretation. The second part is the response of the group to the visual story."
 * [|Dominoe]
 * [|The Transformation] by Frizztext
 * [|Paper v. Plastic] by miss.mumford

33. Flickr Six Word Story http://www.flickr.com/groups/sixwordstory/
is "a photo with a Six Word Story in the title section of a Flickr photo. Be as inventive as possible. Have those few words tell the whole tale, and let the picture be its visual interpretation."
 * [|Dog Found. Lost, Found Me.] (Dominoe in 6 words!)
 * [|He ached to paint beautiful grafiti.] by pam_ullman
 * [|He couldn't put humpty together again] by gadgetgirl
 * [|The Sea Resided Within Her Eyes] by --archangel--

34. Flicktion http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/flicktion/
Flickr+Fiction = Flicktion. Take any single image and write a short story built around that image. Save in flickr with the tag "flicktion".
 * [|Dominoe]
 * The original doorbell concepts by Andrew Losowsky are no longer available, after they were published into a book, [|The Doorbells of Florence]
 * [|Green Background].
 * [|Subway Tunnel]
 * [|A Peaceful and Perfect Moment] by Mike Mather

35. Linking Flickr Notes http://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/269039506/
Using any set of flickr photos, you can link them together via hypertext links embedded into flickr notes - the popups that appear when rolling over an image. You could weave a story together linked linearly or branching, by using these "hotspots" on images
 * [|Dominoe] (look for "next" links in upper right)

36. Pictures with Stories Flickr Group http://www.flickr.com/groups/stories/
"Your photograph must be accompanied by a story. The story must be at least five sentences long and MUST be true - no poems or fiction please. Tell us something about your photograph, why you took it, the story behind the photograph." This is a loose fit in the 50s as it is more aimed at sharing te thoughts behind a picture.
 * [|Dominoe] same story used as flicktion but added to this new group
 * [|Jenifer Hanen, Pink on Blue]
 * [|not in the mooood for conversation.]

Audio Tools
There are numerous audio storage / podcast generation tools, but the ones here were selected because they offer ties to other media forms, but are built primarily around the main content as sound.

37. Podcast People http://podcastpeople.com/
This is more of a tool to create podcasts including audio, video content as well as traditional "blog" posts. It could be used to serialize a story into small segments.
 * [|Dominoe]
 * [|FSRC]
 * [|T.A.L.R. Redux '07]

38. Blabberize http://www.blabberize.com/
Rather simple and crude, but can be effective! Upload a picture of a frontal view of a face, mark the key points of the mouth, and record the audio. It creates a simple animation of the mount moving to the sound of the voice.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|My Back Hurts]
 * [|The Wrath of Khan]

Video Tools
The video tools allow upload, editing, and remixing of video to create new content, playable through a web page.

39. Jumpcut http://www.jumpcut.com/
A powerful video editor, almost like iMovie in a web page. Import images form flickr/facebook, upload video/audio, apply transitions, titles, effects. Pretty close to iMovie in a browser but not viable for longer videos.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Looks can be deceiving] (student video)
 * [|Red Pill or Blue: It's Up to You!]
 * [|New school acting like the old] (student project)

40. Splashcast http://web.splashcast.net/
"The SplashCast service enables anyone to create streaming media ‘channels’ that mix together video, music, photos, narration, text, as well as RSS feeds, PowerPoint presentations and PDF documents." rather versatllve in the places where it can fetch media (uploads or from other sites such as flickr, YouTube). Easy, well prompted interface.
 * Dominoe embedded from uploaded PPT / embedded from YouTube video mix
 * [|English Feed Channel]
 * [|TED Talks Channel]

41. eyespot http://eyespot.com/
Offers a timeline editor to mix (and remix) media including images, videos, and audio. Includes titling, special effect, transitions, but audio is background, cannot by synced to images.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Head Trauma Nightmare Remix]
 * [|Ellis Island]

43. BubblePLY http://www.bubbleply.com/
Load a video form any URL (e.g. YouTube, Blip.tv) and then annotate with text "bubbles"
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Huygens Landing on Titan]
 * [|Martin Luther King speech]

44. Motionbox http://www.motionbox.com/
Tool for uploading, sharing videos with features to create playlists and remixes of your own videos.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|DV FilmCamp]
 * [|Have a Perfectly Behaved and Trained Dog]

45. Animoto http://animoto.com/
This tool analyzes an uploaded set of images and creates a "professional" music video based on a secret artificial intelligence logic. Very easy to create elegant picture shows.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Rachel Boyd's examples] (primary school teacher in Nelson, NZ)
 * [|Ewan McIntosh's example] (places where he works, even more examples in the comments)

46. JayCut http://jaycut.com/
Powerful features! Import photos, audio, video, and make a movie on a multi-track timeline plus transitions and effects
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|World Journey]

Presentation Tools
Built around a familiar desktop tools for creating slide decks, these tools offer similar features, and more, in a web interface.

47. Empressr http://www.empressr.com/
Interface allows import of images, video, text overlays, etc.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)

48. Spresent http://www.spresent.com/
Offers a PowerPoint like editor all in a web site. Import images (desktop, flickr), upload a PPT, movies from YouTube, audio via URL, use templates, etc. Audio can be synced to slides.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded)
 * [|John Coltrane] (in spanish)
 * [|All About the iPhone]

49. Thumbstacks http://www.thumbstacks.com/
Create simple, PowerPoint-like presentations with simple templates, imports photos from flickr. Very buggy.
 * [|Dominoe]
 * [|Solution Watch demo]
 * [|Mashable demo]

50. Slideshare / Slidecasts [|http://www.slideshare.net]
It's YouTube for PowerPoint. Upload Powerpoint/Keynote/PDF content and converts to Flash easily embedded in other web sites. Provide a URL for an audio track, and you can sync it to create an audio narrated "slidecast"
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Into the Storm]
 * [|Rayman Ravin Rabbids]

51. Zentation http://zentation.com/
Might be called a mashup- it allows upload of Powerpoint files to Slideshare and synchronization to video uploaded to Google video.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|What Old People Do For Fun]
 * [|What Curriculum Consultants Do] (Dean Shareski)

52. Viewbook http://www.viewbook.com/
"an online service to create and share albums, portfolios and presentations on your viewbook domain". Upload up to 500 images, create albums of images with text captions, share via a link or copy/paste embed code. No audio.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Mélanie Baillairgé portfolio]
 * [|mamabart]

53. Zoho Show http://show.zoho.com/
Part of the Zoho suite of online productivity tools, Zoho Show provides a clean PowerPoint like interface for creating slide shows. Or you can directly import a PPT file (< 10 Mb) and publish without any extra work.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Old Wine in New Bottles] by paulallison
 * [|Twister] by sridhar
 * [|Grand Canyon] by jfwc

54. Vcasmo http://www.vcasmo.com/
Synchronize a series of image slides to a video soundtrack. Import video from YouTube or upload. Includes tools to enable other language captioning and Creative Commons licenses.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|High-Performance javascript: Why Everything You’ve Been Taught is Wrong]
 * [|Inbox Zero action-based email]

55. MyPlick http://myplick.com/
Upload a presentation file (PPT or PDF) and an audio file, use the sync tools, and create an audio narrated slideshow / presentation. One of the best interfaces for syncing audio to slides.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Lynn's China Trip]
 * [|Subte - Audiovisual Wolko 1]

56. Google Presenter [|http://docs.google.com]
It was only a matter of time. The Google Tool provides import of PPT files, and a clean editing interface. Presentations can be live shared with invited others or published.
 * [|Dominoe]
 * [|The River] (by Tasmania workshop participant)

57. WebSlides http://slides.diigo.com/
Something really different. Turn a list of web sites (bookmarked) into a nicely pesented web slide show. Notes can be added, content can be tagged, and it has an audio track.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)
 * [|Transforming Education Through Technology]
 * [|Funny Things Found on the Web]
 * [|TechCrunch 40]

//If you have specific feedback, questions, or just some kibbles to share, please post your thoughts to the discussion area for this wiki page.//

=New Tools= Below are a few tools that came to my attention after developing the workshop, or just have not had time to Dominoe-ize, but may certainly be as viable as the ones above.

Sketchcast http://sketchcast.com/
Record a series of drawings with or without audio, and play back as video in your web site or blog. I need more time to practive drawing

Showbeyond http://www.showbeyond.com/
"a multimedia slidecast creator, online publishing platform and story sharing community." Had trouble creating account.... Thanks to [|Larry Ferlazoo]

circaVie http://www.circavie.com/
create timelines with video and audio.... looks very interesting and need to add soon. more thanks to [|Larry Ferlazoo]

preezo http://preezo.com/
presenter rool

SlideRocket http://sliderocket.com/
collaborative presentation creator

dipity http://www.dipity.com/
collaborative timeline tool, works with YouTube content

=Cutting Room Floor= Here are tools I tried, but had little success with. Maybe someone else has a different experience, but these did not cut it! That does not mean they are automatically not worthy, as tools constantly evolve and there is always the possibility of "user error" on my part.

Snapjot http://www.snapjot.com/
"Digital Scrapbooking for Groups" - buggy, crashed, could not create any material

YouTube Remixer http://www.youtube.com/ytremixer_about
A beta tool to create remixed versions of YouTube videos uploaded to your account. Failed to publish four times, did not recognize uploaded clips. This tool is not ready for prime time.

My Maps+ http://www.mymapsplus.com/
Provides tool to embed a map created in Google's My Maps into any other web site, Google's new tools has this functionality
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)

Smilebox [|http://www.smilebox.com]
No mac version- does not meet criteria to work on all computers.

Piczo [|http://www.piczo.com][|/]
Assemble a "site" where you can add a variety of media types, and also has features of a social networking service. Tool behaved inconsistently when I tried it.
 * [|Dominoe]

TouFee http://www.toufee.com/
They are now charging for an account, you gotta be free to be one of the 50 Tools.
 * [|Dominoe] (embedded version)

Presentation and Data Sharing

 * [|Slideshare]
 * [|Spresent]
 * [|Swivel]
 * [|Polldaddy]
 * [|iQuiz Maker]
 * [|GapMinder]
 * [|GeoHive]
 * [|WorldMapper]
 * [|circaVia]
 * [|skrbl]

**Concept Mapping and Mash-Ups**

 * [|Gliffy]
 * [|Bubbl.us]
 * [|Mindmeister]
 * [|Mindomo]
 * [|VoiceThread]

Visit the Google Tools for the Classroom Page and Wikis in Education Page for more information


 * [|Gradefix]
 * [|MyNoteIT]
 * [|Backpack]
 * [|Schoopy]
 * [|Wizlite]
 * [|Notemesh]
 * [|Soople]
 * Wikispaces
 * [|PB Wiki]
 * [|Google Docs]
 * [|Zoho]

Some of my favorite [|Web 2.0 Resources] -
> [|43 Things] > 43 Things is great for making a list of goals. It’s a way of connecting with other enthusiasts interested in everything from watching a space shuttle launch to grow my own vegetables. > > [|Allmydata] > Allmydata harnesses the power of grid storage technology to securely store your email, photos, music, movies and more. > > [|Backpack] > Make a page out of an idea. Then add free-form text, to-dos, notes, photos, files. Share pages with other people. Set email and mobile phone reminders so you don't forget. > > [|Basecamp] > Basecamp is a unique project collaboration tool. Projects don't fail from a lack of charts, graphs, or reports, they fail from a lack of communication and collaboration. Basecamp makes it simple to communicate and collaborate on projects. > > [|BlinkList] > Import and manage Your Bookmarks - in the Blink of an Eye. Create Watch lists to See What Your Friends Are Discovering Online. Follow the Wisdom of Crowds and Discover What's Hot Now. > > [|Blogniscient] > We categorize and rank blog articles and blogs in real time, providing up-to-date information on the hottest blog entries. > > [|CalendarHub] > Create a Calendar That You Can Access from Anywhere. Keep it private, share it with others or publish it on the Web > > [|Central Desktop] > Central Desktop is ideal for teams and businesses that operate in distributed locations or virtual office environments. > > [|clipmarks] > Clip and save just the stuff you want from any web page. Create your personal online collection of clipmarks. Tag them with keywords, add your own comments and share them with friends. Search the Public Clipmarks to see what's being clipped and who is clipping it. > > [|Democracy 2.0] > Democracy 2.0 is a political science research project dedicated to effecting Pervasive Democracy and direct, nonpartisan resolution of community issues in U.S. states and localities. > > [|Digg] > Digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allow an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do. > > [|del.icio.us] > del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's. Use del.icio.us to keep links, share favorites with friends, family, and colleagues, discover new things. > > [|Findory] > Our personalization technology builds a homepage for each reader, recommending content based on what they've read and what new content is being published. We crawl through thousands of news and blogs articles so you don't have to. > > [|Flickr] > Flickr - almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world - has two main goals: 1. We want to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them. 2. We want to enable new ways of organizing photos. > [| flickr_setup.pdf] > > [|Frappr] > Frabbr is a dynamic mapping tool that allows users to plot specific points and collaboration with their community. > > **[|Furl]** > Furl is a social booking service provided by LookSmart. It is similar to __del.icio.us.__ > > [|gabbr] > Instead of having multiple blogs across multiple sites, gabbr allows bloggers from all types of blogs to submit their thoughts for discussion in a centralized location. The blog entries are also mirrored on the original blog authors website. > > [|Gmail] > Gmail is an experiment in a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that you should never have to delete mail and you should always be able to find the message you want. > > [|Google Maps] > Maps are great for getting around, but online maps could be a lot better. So Google decided to make dynamic, interactive maps that are draggable — no clicking and waiting for graphics to reload each time you want to view the adjacent parts of a map. > > [|Kiko] > Slow, featureless online calendars are so Web 1.0. Kiko is a cool new web calendar that delivers all the functionality of desktop calendar software, and all the convenience of online access. And it's free! > > [|meebo] > We hope that meebo makes everyone’s online life a little easier (and more fun!) by aggregating all of your IM accounts in one place, cleaning up all of your chat windows into a single window, and the best part -- no software. > > [|memeorandum] > The Web is humming with discussions on politics and current affairs. memeorandum is page A1 for these conversations. Auto-updated every 5 minutes, it uncovers the most relevant items from thousands of news sites and weblogs. > > [|My Stickies] > My Stickies is a browser extension that allows users to create the digital equivalent of a sticky note and link it permanently to a web page. The stickies can be tagged for easy sorting and your stickies can be shared collaboratively. The dashboard is the central page. > > [|Netvibes] > Netvibes.com is a customizable web 2.0 homepage solution. This service is free and gives you the user the ability: To create a personalized page with the content you like. To put together data feeds and services from web 2.0 applications with a very simple interface. To access your page anytime and from any computer. > > [|Omnidrive] > Omnidrive is what you expect hosted storage to be - easy to use, accessible from anywhere and unrestrictive. Omnidrive will make your life easier by allowing you to store, access and stream your files from almost any web connected platform. > > [|Protopage] > Protopage = personalized news + sticky notes + bookmarks, all on one page. Use it to catch up with news from hundreds of sources. Put color coded sticky notes, todo lists and reminders. Keep your frequently accessed bookmarks. Share parts of your page with friends, or keep it private. > > [|Rallypoint] > Rallypoint is a powerful online collaboration service that can be used to create, organize and share your company's knowledge. It enables you to build web-based documents and pages to share with your team members or other teams. > > [|reddit] > A source for what's new and popular on the web -- personalized for you. We want to democratize the traditional model by giving editorial control to the people who use the site, not those who run it. Your votes train a filter, so let reddit know what you liked and disliked, because you'll begin to be recommended links filtered to your tastes. > > [|Remember The Milk] > Remember The Milk is the easiest and best way to manage your to-do lists online. Sharing, publishing, notes... we've got it all. Receive reminders via email, instant messenger, and SMS. It's free. > > [|Shadows] > Shadows is a social bookmarking service for discovering, sharing and managing information on the web. Shadows supercharges this information with a "Shadow Page" — a community blog for any web page that includes views, ratings, tags, and comments by you, your friends and the Shadows community. > > [|start] > this site is not an officially supported site. it is an incubation experiment and doesn't represent any particular strategy or policy. for other incubation experiments, see [|http://sandbox.msn.com.] enjoy! > > [|Stumble Upon] > StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of 1,566,029 other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend. > > [|Ta-da] > Ta-da makes it easy to... Keep track of all the little things you need to get done, Make lists for other people (co-workers, friends, family), Share lists with the world ("My favorite movies of 2004"), Subscribe to your lists in RSS so you're always on track. > > [|TailRank] > TailRank finds the best content from thousands of blogs so you don't have to. TailRank is a small startup based out of San Francisco which has plenty of cool ideas and too much free time. > > [|Topix] > Topix.net was founded in 2002 with the specific mission of providing users the ability to quickly and easily find targeted news on the Internet. With thousands of news sources continually releasing stories twenty-four hours a day, finding relevant news can often be a time consuming task. > > [|voo2do] > Advanced task and priority management for busy, ambitious individuals. voo2do tracks priority, due date, and time estimates for each task. There is no notion of "lists" in voo2do— tasks can be grouped by project, but you can view and edit a bunch of projects together. Voo2do does not yet support sharing your tasks with other people. > > [|Writeboard] > Writeboard makes it easy to... Write without fear of losing or overwriting a good idea Compare different versions of a document Collaborate with colleagues on copy, proposals, memos, etc. Subscribe to documents via RSS and be notified of changes. > > [|Writely] > Writely allows you to edit documents online with whomever you choose, and then publish and blog them online. > > [|Xdrive] > 5GB to unlimited gigabytes of online storage. Accessible from any web browser. Easy, efficient file sharing. Protect critical data from crashes and viruses. The best solution for storing and sharing online. > > [|Zoho] > Online tool to create a document, edit in your way, and share with anyone. Access Anywhere, Share, don't attach, Generate PDF/DOC/HTML, Create and edit document in your way, Load your existing documents, Multi lingual Support, No more duplicates, Post to your Blog. > > [|Zoto] > On Zoto, you can safely store an. organize an unlimited number of digital photos, with total control over who has access to which of your photos. You can share your photos with family and friends through albums and slideshows. You can quickly and easily publish photos to your blog.
 * [|Meebo] and [|Meebo Rooms] - Aggregate all your chat accounts and embed chat rooms onto your blog, web site, or wiki.
 * [|GeeSee] - Create private and public chat rooms and embed the widget onto your web site, blog, or wiki.
 * [|ScrapBlog] - Create private and public online "scrapbooks" that incorporate images, video, narration, audio, and hyperlinks.
 * [|MindMeister] / [|Gliffy]/ [|Mindomo] / [|MindMeister] - Create and collaborate in real time or asynchronously on mind maps and graphic organizers. Incorporate various web tools and hyperlinks.
 * [|SplashCast] - Create your own media channels and shows by incorporating video, images, podcasts, blogs, and other web resources.
 * [|SlideShare] - Post your presentations - collaborate through message, comments. Embed your presentations on your web site, blog, or wiki. Create [|SlideCasts] that mash-up your presentations with podcast.
 * [|PollDaddy] - Create your own polls and embed them on your web site, blog, or wiki.
 * [|Ning] - Create and customize your own social networks.
 * [|Pageflakes] - Personalized start (home) page that customizes RSS feeds - great to use as current event extensions on class learning.
 * [|Fauxto] / [|Picnik] - Online photo editor that is very similar to Adobe Photoshop.
 * [|Eyespot] / [|Jumpcut] / Cuts - Online video editors.
 * [|TeacherTube] - YouTube for educators and students.
 * [|Swivel] - Data sets, graphs, charts, etc. All can be embedded and manipulated.
 * [|Flickr] - Online photo hosting, blogs, groups, tagging and geotagging, etc.
 * [|Google MyMaps] - Create personalized, annotated, customized maps using Google Maps - embed photos, video, hypertext, etc. Share your maps with others.
 * [|Diigo] - Social annotation - Share your bookmarks with others, create collaborative groups, add annotation to your bookmarks, highlight data, and share it all with others! (can create public and private bookmarks and annotations)
 * [|Wikispaces] - Free ad-free wikis for teachers!
 * [|VoiceThread] - Annotate and collaborate with photo stories.
 * ==Applications==

> [|http://www.43things.com/>>]What do you want to do with your life? Discover what's important, make it happen, share your progress. Find your 43 things. [|Learn more…] > > Write down your goals. People have known for years that making a list of goals is the best way to achieve them. Why is that? First, getting your goals in writing can help you clarify what you really want to do. You might find you have some important and some frivolous goals. That is OK. You've got space for 43 Things on your list. Not every one of them has to change the world (but save room for the ones that might). > > What do you want to do with your life? It is not an easy question to answer – and you shouldn't have to answer alone. Browse 43 Things to find out what others want to do. You might find some goals you share. Click the “I want to do this” button to add a goal to your list. Got an idea for a new goal? Just type it in the text box on the homepage or at the bottom of any page on the site. Bam. Now, it's your thing. > > We all have stories about what we care about. Writing down your progress on a goal can help someone else learn about something you both want to do. When you see a goal you've achieved, click on the “I've done this” button and share a story about how you did it. > [|http://www.thefutureschannel.com/>>]To produce and distribute high quality multimedia content which educators in any setting can use to enliven curriculum, engage students and otherwise enhance the learning experience. > > To connect mathematics, science, technology and engineering to the real world of careers and achievement, so that students can envision a context and purpose for what they are learning allowing them to envision their own successful futures. > > To provide a channel through which professionals from the sciences, engineering and technology sectors can reach their future workforce prospects and interest them in their fields. > [|http://www.gaggle.net/] > > How it Works for Teachers: > Each teacher receives a master account on the Gaggle server. Teachers can send and receive email from this account just like the students or they can have the mail forward to a secondary email address. > > The teacher accounts give access to the special monitoring and control sections within the Gaggle Network. As a teacher, you can view the contents of your students email. You can review any message which the students have sent or received. You will also have the ability to suspend the students account and change their password and screen name. > > Gaggle has a built in monitoring system to watch for suspicious mail. Any student email that looks questionable will be sent to the teacher's "Blocked" folder. The teacher has the opportunity to review the message before deleting it or allowing the message to be sent. > > Email messages are monitored for specific words or phrases. The address of the sender/receiver is also monitored. Follow these links if you want to learn more about the [|Content Monitor]or the [|Address Monitor]. > [|http://gliffy.com/] > > The easy way to add diagramming capabilities to the popular Enterprise Wiki. The diagram editor in your web browser. Since Gliffy runs in your web browser, there is no need to download any additional software to use it. By leveraging new web technologies, Gliffy brings you a familiar desktop application feel in a web browser. Features such as **copy,paste and undo** are all a part of this advanced web application. > [|http://chatcreator.com/chatbox/] > > Add chat to your site. To create your chatbox which is easily embedded in any web page, type in the desired name of your chatbox which will appear on top. Select your favourite background color. > [|http://www.jot.com/wiki/wiki-overview.php>>]Get a wiki your way — for work or for life, hosted or on-site. Use JotSpot's wiki in work and in life. A wiki is a website designed for collaboration. In a wiki everyone can edit, update and append pages with new information, all without knowing HTML. Wikis can be either publicly accessible or privately secure. > [|http://www.pageflakes.com/>>]Your personalized startpage: News, photos, music, bookmarks, blogs, weather and much more. All on one page that you can customize as you like! > [|http://www.furl.net/home.jsp>>]Furl saves a personal copy of any page on the Web and lets you to find it again instantly, from any computer. Share the sites you find, and discover useful new sites. Start building your Personal Web. > [|http://voo2do.com/] > > Voo2do is completely free (with no limits) and there's **nothing to install**. > **What makes [|voo 2 do]different?** > Unlike most online to-do lists, [|voo 2 do]tracks priority, due date, and time estimates for each task. There is no notion of "lists" in voo2do— tasks can be grouped by project, but you can [|view and edit a bunch of projects together]. Voo2do supports some basic [|sharing of tasks]. [|learn more »] > > Do you: work on many different projects, constantly jot down ideas to work on later, need to prioritize, need to know where your projects stand and what you should work on next? > [|http://www.netvibes.com/] > > Welcome to Netvibes! > This is your personalized page, you can now modify everything: move modules, add new RSS/ATOM feeds, change the parameters for each module, etc. Your modifications are saved in real-time and you'll find your page when you get back on Netvibes.com. If you want to be able to access your page from any computer, you can sign in (at the top right) with your email and a password. The content is available from the "add content" button at the top left of this page. Check the Netvibes blog to stay tuned about new features on the site. > [|http://www.bloglines.com/] > > A web-based personal news aggregator that can be used in place of a desktop client. Create a personal Bloglines page loaded with the freshest news about the things you love **. Free and Easy** > > Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content. With Bloglines, there is no software to download or install -- simply register as a new user and you can instantly begin accessing your account any time, from any computer or mobile device. Bloglines is a window to a whole new world of dynamic content that is being created and distributed over the new "live" web. You can make your own personalized news page tailored to your unique interests from our index of tens of millions of live internet content feeds, including articles, blogs, images and audio. Bloglines shields you from the confusion of news feed standards -- RSS, Atom, and others. Bloglines allows you to search for, read and share any updates from your favorite news feed or blog regardless of its authoring technology. Bloglines provides you with the tools you need to begin creating your own clip blogs and blogrolls. Become a publisher, share your thoughts and opinions! And it [|Get started today!]. > [|http://www.powergramo.com/] > > PowerGramo is a powerful realtime recording solution for Skype. You can record and replay any Skype call easily and simply. Record incoming calls, outgoing calls or both. Save your recorded calls securely. Share your calls with friends. Get started in less than 3 minutes! Totally free for download. > > Recordings are securely encrypted. Optional password protection means you are the only one to access them after you login Skype. It's also very simple to share your recordings with your friends. PowerGramo provides the options to save in the popular small audio format instead of the standard large wav file. > [|http://www.pandora.com/>>]Can you help me discover more music that I'll like? > > Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs. We created **Pandora** so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you. > [|http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1391/pandora_how_to_rip_save_music_mp3] > > Pandora is an amazing music service. If you want to actually save the music to your hard drive to keep forever and forever, these steps will allow you to do it easily. Burn straight to mp3 with tags, titles, and sorting intact. Brillant!
 * **43 Things**
 * **The Futures Channel**
 * **Gaggle**
 * **Gliffy**
 * **Chat Creator**
 * **JotSpot**
 * **Page Flakes**
 * **Furl**
 * **Voo2Do**
 * **NetVibes**
 * **BlogLines**
 * **PowerGrammo**
 * **Pandora**
 * **Pandora : save the music to your hard drive**

Part 1: Tools
//Note: I did not list all of the note taking solutions I am aware of as I’ve already made a [|roundup of 50 notetaking tools] here at Solution Watch, but I will add a few new student specific ones that I have recently come across.// That about does it for part one of the series. If there are any services that you feel should be on this list, please comment and let us know about them! If you are interested in more services in any of the above categories, feel free to contact me as I have only mentioned ones that I personally felt were best for educational use. Also, I just want to make a last note that red arrows throughout the article indicate personal favorites of mine but do not mean they are the best options for you. I recommend looking at a category that you need improvement on and find what product will best fit your needs, then go from there. Hang tight for part two of the series and enjoy!
 * Organizers**
 * **[|Stu.dicio.us]**: Student organizer and social notetaking tool where students can create a schedule, track their grades, manage a to do list, store files for classes, and write public notes in an outline-like format. Stu.dicio.us also allows students to connect with friends and soon will include Facebook integration. More on [|Stu.dicio.us].
 * **[|Gradefix]**: Best described by Gradefix, “Gradefix intelligently organizes and prioritizes all of your homework so you are always on top of it.” Students that use Gradefix create a study schedule used to best spreadout and prioritize homework throughout the week in hopes to decrease stress and improve grades.
 * **[|Chalksite]** (Teachers): Chalksite is a system built for teachers, students, and parents providing teachers with an easy to use central point where they can communicate with students and parents, post assignments and grades, send messages, and manage a website for their courses. More on [|Chalksite].
 * **[|Engrade]** (Teachers): Similar to Chalksite, Engrade allows teachers to create an account and have direct communication with students and their parents. Teachers can manage student grades, track attendance, schedule upcoming homework, and provide students and parents progress reports.
 * **[|mynoteIT]**: (New release came out the other day) An online note taking tool for students including a WYSIWYG note editor, assignment reminders, grade management, to do lists, and more. Students can also share notes with friends and receive feedback through commenting on notes.
 * **[|Haiku LMS]** (Teachers): Haiku has yet to launch, but its feature set sounds promising making it worth mentioning. Haiku provides a system for teachers where they can create a public website for their classes, manage content, list assignments and announcements, track grades, and more. Sounds like a similar application to Chalksite.
 * **[|CollegeRuled]**: Academic organizer, class scheduler, and message board area for students. Students can either create a schedule or connect to their Facebook schedule with CollegeRuled and take notes and manage a to do list for each class. //Note: I have not been able to test CollegeRuled as it requires an .edu email address.//
 * **[|Backpack]**: Backpack is an all around great organizer including note taking, file storage, to do lists, a calendar, and more. An example use could be that students can create pages in their organizer for each class and manage notes on class discussions as well as upload related files and class documents.
 * **[|PocketMod]**: This isn’t really a “Web 2.0″ product, but I felt it’s worth mentioning. Pocketmod is a small tool for creating disposable paper organizers using print out templates covering just about anything from note paper to reference sheets. It’s perfect for students that prefer keeping organized on paper. Also, it’s just helpful to carry around with you for whenever you may need to jot some things down.
 * **[|JotSpot]**: JotSpot is a free wiki allowing users to create and share documents, spreadsheets, calendars, and more. It is my top pick for a wiki and provides a great set of features. Users can even install other applications from an application gallery to extend their wiki with project managers, to do lists, photo galleries, and other applications. It may be a little on the advanced side for students and teachers, but if your tech savvy, have at it.
 * Gradebooks**
 * **[|Teacher!]** (Teachers): Teacher, formerly known as Teacherly, is an online grading tool for teachers where they can create classes, add students, and track grades for all assignments and test scores. I would imagine it would work out fine for students as well wanting to track their own grades in classes. Unfortunately, Teacher is not accepting new users at this time but you can signup to be notified when they do and check out a demo in the meantime.
 * **[|Stu.dicio.us]**: Built into the Stu.dicio.us organizer comes a very simple grade manager allowing students to assign grade categories (homework, quiz, tests, etc.) and grades to each of their classes.
 * **[|mynoteIT]**: Students with an mynoteIT account can login and access their classes where they can add grade sections and grades. What’s nice too is that unlike Stu.dicio.us, mynoteIT gives the student a clear look with letter grades rather then just percentages and averages.
 * **[|Chalksite]** (Teachers): Designed for teacher, student, and parent communication, Chalksite provides teachers with online gradebooks where they select their class and simply fill in grades for each assignment that they have sent to their students. Students and parents can then login to their account to view their grades.
 * **[|Engrade]** (Teachers): The Engrade online gradebook is built to be flexible to a teachers needs where they can add assignments, create weighted grading categories, customize grading scales (A, B, C, Pass, Fail, etc.), and more. Students and parents can also login and view their grade report.
 * For Teachers, Clubs, and Management**
 * **[|Groupvine]**: A service designed to help bring group members together to keep track of events, tasks, and news. Great for students in clubs, professors teaching specific topics, and campus management. For a screencast, view [|Screeniac].
 * **[|Nuvvo]**: Teachers wanting to teach online can use Nuvvo providing them with their own online learning portal. Teachers can can add courses that anyone can find and enroll in as well as charge for the online courses. They can manage students, class curriculum, quizzes, and more importantly, learn pages (allowing for headings, text, files, images, and video) that their students will be reading throughout the course.
 * **[|Schoopy]**: Built to strengthen community communication, Schoopy provides a system in which teachers can manage participating teachers, students, and parents and send messages, ask questions, keep up with assignments and even take quizes. Communities/Schools also can create a public website making it easy for students and parents to keep up with recent updates.
 * **[|Tuggle]**: Tuggle, launching Fall 2006, is a web-based organization tool for student leaders to manage groups, online payments, bulk email and texting, and more.
 * **[|Chalksite]**: A web package developed for teachers to help create a class website and a central point of communication with students and parents. Manage class assignments, student grades, and even a public blog.
 * **[|Engrade]**: “Engrade is a free online gradebook that allows teachers to manage their classes online as well as post grades, assignments, attendance, and upcoming homework online for students and parents to see.”
 * **[|Haiku LMS]**: Haiku has yet to launch, but its feature set sounds promising making it worth mentioning. Haiku provides a system for teachers where they can create a public website for their classes, manage content, list assignments and announcements, track grades, and more. Sounds like a similar application to Chalksite.
 * **[|Zoho Challenge]**: Online test tool where you can easily create tests, send tests to candidates (students, in this case), and view results with visual reports and straight forward grading (pass or fail).
 * Mathematics**
 * **[|Calcoolate]**: Calcoolate provides users with a simple calculator with advanced expression support, mathematic functions, and history for viewing past calculations.
 * **[|Calcr]**: Similar to Calcoolate, Calcr is a web-based calculator with mathematic expression and function support as well as history logging in a very minimalist design.
 * **[|Create a Graph]**: Create a Graph is a free tool by Students’ Classroom that aims to make it easy for students to create bar graphs, line graphs, area graphs, pie charts, and point graphs. Navigate through its easy to understand visual interface to add data and customize graphs.
 * **[|e-Tutor Graphing Calculator]**: Advanced web-based graphing calculator allowing students to enter one or more equations and view them with position/intersection indicators and zooming functionality.
 * Resume Building**
 * **[|Emurse]**: Great service built for job hunters that want to create, send, and share a professional resume. Users can view their resume’s statistics, send out their resume via fax and ground mail, and receive a public or private web address. One of my favorite applications of the year. More on [|Emurse].
 * **[|hResume Creator]**: Helpful tool for the tech savvy crowd that want to create a [|Microformat] [|compatible] resume for their website. Simply fill out the hResume form covering basic resume information and retrieve an HTML file which you can use to copy-n-paste into your website. You can then style the resume as you wish with basic CSS if your not thrilled with the default appearance.
 * **[|Amiko]**: Amiko does not appear to work or be officially launched yet, but I have been keeping an eye on it for the last month or so and hope to try it out soon. It appears to be a service that allows users to create and manage an online resume although it’s feature set does not look all that promising compared to Emurse. //Note: The signup form doesn’t seem to work for me and I’ve tried reporting it as a bug, but the bug form did not work either. I’ll keep my eye on it.//
 * To Do’s and Note Taking**
 * **[|25 To Do Lists to Stay Productive]**: Solution Watch roundup of 25 web-based task managers that can be helpful for students wanting to keep track of homework and upcoming quizzes. Be sure to check visitor comments for more.
 * **[|Fifty Ways to Take Notes]**: Another Solution Watch roundup including over 50 ways to take notes using various web-based tools in seven categories.
 * **[|NoteMesh]**: Best described by NoteMesh, “There are plenty of notes services out there; NoteMesh is a different way of thinking about your notes. Collaborate with your classmates to create a unified set of notes for your class. It’s like Wikipedia for your notes.” //Note: School email address required when registering.//
 * **[|Notecentric]**: Notecentric is a new notetaking site designed to help university students have their notes wherever they are and easily share them with fellow classmates. You can add multiple classes to your account and save notes to them using a WYSIWYG editor. //Note: School email address required when registering.//
 * **[|NoteTango]**: Free and collaborative note sharing site, launched just days ago, that allows students to create and share notes online and search notes created by other students.
 * Learning and Research**
 * **[|EasyBib]**: An “automatic bibliography composer” that lets users enter sources and fill out a simple forms to be given MLA style bibliographies. I’ve used this multiple times in the past for research papers.
 * **[|Ottobib]**: Similar to EasyBib, Ottobib is a simple bibliography tool that allows users to enter multiple ISBN numbers for books at a time and retrieve the bibliographies in MLA, APA, AMA, or Chicago/Turabian format.
 * **[|Nuvvo]**: Nuvvo offers a service where students can search for courses to enroll in online on any just about any topic. It’s a fun and easy way for students to learn and they can select from free or paid courses.
 * **[|Diigo]**: Social annotation and bookmarking service where users can bookmark sites and add highlights and notes to them. Great for research. In fact, I used Diigo to help organize bookmarks and notes for this post.
 * **[|Wizlite]**: “Wizlite allows you to highlight text (like on real paper) on any page on the Internet and share it with everybody (or just your friends).”
 * **[|Mindpicnic]**: Similar to Nuvvo, Mindpicnic offers a service where users can create courses and find and study interesting courses full of media, links, flash cards, and more.
 * **[|Answers.com]**: Excellent site for researching anything at all. Make a search and receive results from dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other information sources.
 * **[|Wikipedia]**: Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia under a Wiki platform that is written and maintained by volunteers. It has possibly grown to be todays largest reference site and encyclopedia on the Internet.
 * **[|Del.icio.us]**: Social bookmarking site where users can save bookmarks and organize them with tags. Users can also take advantage of their del.icio.us network allowing them to add friends to their account and keep track of bookmarks left by each friend.
 * **[|Zotero]**: Next-generation research tool for Firefox that is currently in private beta. With Zotero, users can capture citation information, store media and websites, take notes, and more all within their browser. //Note: Zotero is in private beta and I have not had the chance to try it out and will keep my eye on it.//
 * **[|Newsvine]**: I could have picked any ol’ news site for this post, but Newsvine is, in my opinion, the best news source for students. It’s a clean and friendly social news site containing articles from the Associated Press, ESPN, and New Scientist as well as user contributions. Students can browse the site comfortably, rate news articles, participate in article discussion, and even start their own news column where they can write and publish articles. More on [|Newsvine].
 * Media Sharing**
 * **[|Youtube]**: YouTube has quickly grown to be one of the most popular websites on the Internet. I personally use it for entertainment, although you can find a great deal of educational videos as well as create an account to upload your own videos for free. Students can research the site (may come across inappropriate content here and there) and even create projects with video and share them on the web.
 * **[|Google Video]**: Similar to YouTube, Google Video allows users to search, upload, and share videos online for free. I’m a fan of YouTube, but Google comes on top when it comes to quality educational videos. Google Video even has an [|educational category] providing hour long videos and [|caption/subtitled videos] (new).
 * **[|Flickr]**: Explore, upload, and share photos online. Includes commenting and neat note functionality where users can add blocks of notes on the photos themselves for others to see.
 * **[|Eyespot]**: Neat site where users can actually create video mixes online and share them with others. You can add up to 100 clips or photos to a movie as well as add transition effects and video effects. Reminds me of videos I had to create back in High School for Graphic Communications class. More on [|Eyespot].

Part 2: Office Applications

 * Word Processing**
 * **[|Writely]**: Online Word Processor allowing users to create and edit documents collaboratively online, import Word documents, publicly or privately share documents, publish to a blog, and more.
 * **[|Zoho Writer]**: Similar to Writely, Zoho Writer is an Online Word Processor where you can create, share, and collaborate on documents. Users can also publish to a blog, import and export documents, and make documents public.
 * **[|Writeboard]**: Writeboard is a collaborative writing tool where users can write, share, revise, and compare their documents online with others. It is not an advanced system featuring a WYSIWYG editor, Ajax, and flashy effects, but that’s what I like about it. Writeboard is a personal favorite of mine and as a matter of fact I am using it right now for this very post. It includes version control with text comparing and is great for essays and writeups of any kind. More on [|Writeboard].
 * **[|ThinkFree Write]**: ThinkFree Write is a free word processor that, at this time, is probably the closest you can get to an online version of Microsoft Office with features and appearance in mind. You can perform formatting options, create tables, add a header/footer, and spell check as you type just like your average desktop word processor. Pretty impressive. You can also open and save Microsoft Word and OpenOffice documents as well as share documents online with others. //Note: There are two versions of ThinkFree Write: Quick Edit (Ajax-based) and Power Edit (Java-based).//
 * **[|AjaxWrite]**: Lightweight word processor that can read and write Microsoft Word and other standard document formats, display multiple documents at once in tabs, and feature basic formatting. However, feature wise, it just does not cut it for me. What I do like about it is that it’s very quick and there are no signups – get in and get out.
 * Presentations**
 * **[|Zoho Show]**: Web-based presentation tool to create, edit, publish, and show presentations. Zoho Show is very feature packed allowing users to create presentations full of text, images, shapes, lists, and pre-formated content templates. Users can also import their existing PowerPoint and OpenOffice presentations, view presentations online, and export as HTML.
 * **[|Thumbstacks]**: With Thumbstacks, create and share web-based presentations over the web. Thumbstacks provides a clean and easy to use presentation builder, although not as feature rich as Zoho Show, and allows users to export presentations in HTML format.
 * **[|SlideShare]**: Great new service, currently available by invitation only, that consists of an YouTube-like site for Powerpoint and OpenOffice presentations displaying presentations through Flash players. Users can even place the Flash presentation players on their own websites. I’ve been waiting for a site similar to this for some time now; perfect for students and educators wanting to store presentations online for sharing and receiving feedback.
 * **[|Empressr]**: Empressr is an Ajax and Flash-based service that lets you create and share presentations online. One advantage on the feature side is that it uses Flash and Ajax rather than HTML and Ajax allowing you to add more media then other tools including audio and video, although I personally prefer HTML presentations.
 * **[|ThinkFree Show]**: Excellent Java-based presentation application that feels much like Microsoft Powerpoint. Create rich presentations and play them through the online editor or by graphic. You can also save your presentations for viewing in Microsoft Powerpoint and share them with others online.
 * Diagrams and Mind Mapping**
 * **[|Mayomi]**: Mayomi is a free flash-based mind mapping tool that lets you map out ideas, projects, research topics, or anything else that can be dug into. Great for students when it comes to writing essays. More on [|Mayomi].
 * **[|Gliffy]**: Draw and share diagrams online using Gliffy. You get all of your basic functionality that you would in an offline diagram application but with a few extra bonuses like working online collaboratively and dynamic publishing of diagrams. Create flow charts, floor plans, technical diagrams, and more.
 * **[|mxGraph]**: mxGraph is a very impressive JavaScript based diagramming library where users can create advanced diagrams within their browser. The only catch is that it is not a hosted solution where users can create and save diagrams. It is a library in which companies, and probably schools, can use under the mxGraph license. I’d love for it to be a hosted solution, like Gliffy.
 * Spreadsheets**
 * **[|Google Spreadsheets]**: Create, store and share spreadsheets on the web. Includes real time editing and chatting with others as well as import and export options. Google Spreadsheets is my web-based spreadsheet application of choice, although on the negative side, it does not provide chart functionality.
 * **[|EditGrid]**: “An online spreadsheet featuring real-time-update and extensive collaboration features.” EditGrid has support for more then 500 functions, includes remote data update, access control, and more.
 * **[|iRows]**: Create and share spreadsheets online, create charts, include dynamic information, and upload and save Excel, CSV and OpenDocument files. More on [|iRows].
 * **[|Zoho Sheet]**: “Zoho Sheet is a web based alternative to traditional spreadsheet applications, like MS Excel or Openoffice Calc. It provides basic spreadsheet functionalities coupled with web based features like sharing, tagging, publishing and more.”
 * **[|Num Sum]**: Possibly the first web-based spreadsheet service launched that introduced social spreadsheets where users can tag their spreadsheets and share with others.
 * **[|ThinkFree Calc]**: Java-based spreadsheet application that has the look and feel of Microsoft Excel. Users can share their spreadsheets and work on them collaboratively online.
 * **[|Numbler]**: Simple online spreadsheet solution with great real-time editing and chatting with multiple users. Nice and clean interface although not as feature packed as some of the other options.
 * Calendars**
 * **[|30 Boxes]**: 30 Boxes is an online calendar that I feel works great for students due to its simplicity and sharing options. It also features RSS subscription to automatically populate the calendar with feed items on the day they were published – great for tracking teacher blogs and academic feeds. Furthermore, users can access their calendars on the go with [|30 Boxes Mobile].
 * **[|Google Calendar]**: A bit on the advanced side, but once you get used to it, you’ll find it’s quite powerful. Users can create multiple calendars; view by day, week, or month; share their calendars with the web or a select few; subscribe to other shared calendars; and more. More on [|Google Calendar].
 * **[|Spongecell]**: “A free and easy to use calendar for you and your friends.” Features a simple drag and drop interface where events can be created and viewed on calendars in multiple formats. Users can also share their calendars with others.
 * **[|CalendarHub]**: CalendarHub offers a great service for personal and group use offering a simple drag and drop interface, calendar subscribing, reminder notification, and more. More on [|CalendarHub].
 * Miscellaneous**
 * **[|Scanr]**: Scanr is an interesting product great for those without access to a scanner. Scan, copy and fax whiteboards, documents, and business cards with just a camera phone or digital camera! Great for research at the library and creating a backup of printed class handouts on the computer.
 * **[|eFax]**: Although this may not be that useful for students, I felt it’s worth mentioning. eFax lets users receive faxes through email for free simply by providing them with a temporary phone number that senders can use to send their documents. eFax is free for receiving faxes but will cost you to send them out ([|eFax Plans]).
 * **[|Gmail]**: Generally, most colleges and schools provide email, but if you’re an High School student, chances are you weren’t given one. I’d personally recommend Gmail for its features and space, however you may have trouble using it in schools due to its chat functionality.
 * **[|Google Page Creator]**: Users can create quality sites without learning HTML or any other technical knowledge, although they can use them if they wish. You get 100MB of space for //yoursite.googlepages.com// and can upload files and attach gadgets to your pages. Here’s an [|example site] I created in just a minute with Part 1 of this series. Dead simple, but presentable.
 * **[|Zoho Creator]**: Can’t find a product that does what you want? Try creating your own. Zoho Creator allows its users to structure a database, insert and connect data, and publically share it with others.
 * 1) [|Box.net] - Free online file storage and sharing. There is also a paid service as well, but a free account will give you 1GB of online storage.
 * 2) [|Google Docs] (Writley) - Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allows you share and collaborate online. Why pay for Microsoft Office, when this is free?
 * 3) [|Del.icio.us] - Social Bookmarking tool. Let’s face it, in college you are going to be using more than one computer. Here your bookmarks are organized by your tag, all in one place.
 * 4) [|Meebo] - Allows you to access Instant Messengers from anywhere. Meebo is an AJAX-based chat client where you can use AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo, MSN Messenger, Jabber, ICQ, and more. No download is needed, so it's convenient when using different computers.
 * 5) [|Flickr] - share and organize your photos online.
 * 6) [|Wikipedia] - free online encyclopedia. Though it has been under debate as of late on whether it can be used as a valid reference in research. Many professors have banned students from using Wikipedia as a cited resource. Still, Wikipedia is a good tool for finding information quickly.
 * 7) [|RateMyProfessor.com] - Great way to check out prospective teachers.
 * 8) [|Stu.dicio.us] - Student organizer and social note taking tool where students can manage schedules, grades, to-do lists, collaborative notes and files. Also see [|MyNoteIt].
 * 9) [|BackPack] - Backpack is an all around great organizer including note taking, file storage, to-do lists, a calendar, and more.
 * 10) [|YouTube]/[|Google Video] - great for storing your videos, viewing [|educational lectures and videos], and for killing time.

Notetaking
More and more students are bringing laptops to class. Owning a laptop is a requirement for all first-year undergraduates at the University of Denver, for example. The proliferation of portable computers means that note taking doesn't have to happen with a pad and pen. The following web apps will help you take and organize your notes.
 * [|NoteMesh]
 * [|ShortText]
 * [|Yahoo! Notepad]
 * [|YourDraft]
 * [|Stickies]
 * [|NoteTango]
 * [|JotCloud]
 * [|NoteCentric]

Mind Mapping
Now you have your notes, you need to put them together. The following mind mapping/flow charting tools will help you get your thoughts in order so you can go from raw notes to polished dissertation.
 * [|Thinkature]
 * [|MindMeister]v
 * [|Gliffy]
 * [|Kayuda]
 * [|Bubbl.us]
 * [|Mindomo]
 * [|Flowchart.com]
 * [|Comapping]
 * [|Mind42]

Studying
So you've got your notes, and you have them all mapped out and organized, but you still need to fill in some blanks. There are a number of online study aids that exist to help you find the answers you need.
 * [|Wikipedia] - Wikipedia should probably never be used for serious academic research, but it is a great "jumping off point." I often use Wikipedia to get quick background info on unfamiliar subjects and point me in the right direction for more in depth study.
 * [|Yahoo! Answers] - When searching the web fails, someone on Yahoo! Answers may be able to show you were to find the information you're after.
 * [|AnswerU] - AnswerU is like Yahoo! Answers for college, sadly not the most academic of sites, but you could certainly try your luck.
 * [|SparkNotes] - SparkNotes are (mostly) free, online CliffsNotes for a large number of books. They also do test prep, mathematics, science and a number of other subjects. Of course they can't really substitute for actually reading a book, but they can help you if you're having trouble figuring out Emily Bronte. (And it turns out that many [|CliffsNotes] are now online for free as well!)
 * [|Google News] - Google News, especially with their new [|archive search], can be an invaluable research tool if you're researching a recent historical or current event.
 * [|College-Cram.com] - Free online study guides for science, math, language, and business topics.
 * [|Tutorlinker.com] - When all else fails, hire a tutor.



Bookmarking
With all that online studying you need a way to keep track of what you've read. Online bookmarking tools are a great way to do just that.
 * [|del.icio.us] - There are a large number of social bookmarking apps, but del.icio.us is king among them. If you don't like it, try [|Furl], [|Ma.gnolia], or [|Blinklist].
 * [|Clipmarks] - Save just a selection of a site. Don't like Clipmarks? Try [|Web-Chops] (and read our [|reviews of both sites]).
 * [|Wizlite] - Highlight text in online documents the way you would in a text book. Don't like Wizlite? Try [|i-Lighter].

Collaboration
Why study alone when you can get help from a friend? There is power in numbers.
 * [|Facebook] - The quintessential college network can be used for more than just planning parties and dating. Facebook can be used to keep in touch with classmates, share and discuss notes, and create study groups.
 * [|Stikipad] - A collaborative wiki service that you can use to keep track of group notes on a project.
 * [|Backpack] - All your notes, lists, and ideas in one shared space.

Calendars
Juggling your class schedule, extra cirricular activities, study time, and social life can be a challenge. The calendar apps below might help.
 * [|30 Boxes]
 * [|CalendarHub]
 * [|HipCal]
 * [|Spongecell]
 * [|Yahoo! Calendar]
 * [|Google Calendar]

Calculations
What college arsenal would be complete with out a calculator?
 * [|Calcoolate]
 * [|Calcr]
 * [|E-Trutor Graphing Calculator]
 * [|CalcResult]



Sharing notes between classmates has been practiced since college began. Nowadays with computers, you no longer have to worry if your buddy Mike is going to spill soda all over them, lend them to his girlfriend or lose them entirely. As long as you can keep yourself from checking Facebook every two seconds, taking your notes on the computer will allow for easy editing and back ups, in case anything **Mike** happens to them: College students nowadays need to remember something. We were blessed even eight years ago when we were still using Microsoft Encarta from a CD-ROM, never mind the countless ways to research things on the internet now. My parents always remind me of how they had to find things when they were in school - books. I just laugh, flip open my laptop and start finding quotes, statistics, dates and names like I find drunken wall posts on Facebook: Writing is a core component to your success at college, which is why high school has it drilled into you. I probably wrote two hundred of those five paragraph essays before I came to college but then I found out freshmen year that they wanted us to write ten page research papers, not tiny-midnight-bang-em-out five paragraphers. It was a shock to the system, but I have survived so far by using these tools: Aside from anxiety, having to study has produced some of the best known excuses for procrastination the world has ever seen. I’ve heard students who could reason their way through a hostage situation before they could bring themselves to sit down and work the books. Ninety Nine percent of cases, doing the actual work takes less time than thinking about it and coming up with excuses not to do it: There are two sides of the coin when it comes to college tutors. You can either be one and make good money or you can need one and get better grades. Either way, college tutors are an important part to academic or financial success. With video conferencing and all of these note sharing applications, students are no longer campus bound and restricted to their own local tutors: College is going to pass you by quicker than a freshman pledge doing the naked quad run. So it’s important to stay on top of your game and keep yourself organized so you can get work done efficiently and still have enough time to pledge. Organizing your class schedule, meetings, campus events and homework shouldn’t be a difficult task and with these Web 2.0 applications will actually be fun. Taking a little time to plan each day will result in both less stress and higher grades:
 * [|NoteSake:]**[|NoteSake]
 * [|NoteMesh:]** With a different and more collaborative take on notes, [|NoteMesh] is a Wikipedia-like application where classmates work together to create a unified set of notes. Each individual class lecture or discussion is given its own page where students are invited to work together and add or edit notes as they like. It functions the same as Wikipedia where editing is open to the community in the effort of producing the most accurate and useful set of notes.
 * [|NoteCentric:]** Providing both an online note taking application and a place to store and organize your notes, [|NoteCentric] works perfect for students who need access to their notes from multiple computers. In your account you are able to add both classes and events to take notes on in a continuous or one time basis.
 * [|Wikipedia:]**[|Wikipedia][|Wikipedia]
 * [|Schoolr:]** Rather than jumping from Google to Wikipedia or Dictionary to Translator, visit [|Schoolr] to see a collection of the top search engines any college student would use while conducting research. All on one page, the search engines include Google, Wikipedia, Dictionary, Thesaurus, Acronym, Urban Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Citation Builder, Book Summary, Text Translator and a Unit Converter. That should provide a pretty good start to your research.
 * [|Footnote:]** For those looking for a more comprehensive search engine that will provide copies of original and historical documents, [|Footnote] provides access to both free and paid documents from dozens of major categories such as Early America, Civil War, WWII and more. This service is more well suited for serious research projects, in particular anyone working on final thesis papers and the like.
 * [|Ottobib:]**[|Ottobib]
 * [|Ninjawords:]** If you are looking for a fast, smart dictionary, [|Ninjawords] provides an easy way to look up any definition. Just type your word in the search engine and [|Ninjaword] will auto correct any misspellings and record all of your previous searches.
 * [|Zoho Writer:]** For a really simple way to create and access your word documents from any location, check out [|Zoho Writer]. The service allows you to store, share and collaborate on all of your papers. You can even upload existing documents from Microsoft, open office and image files.
 * [|Quizlet:]**[|Quizlet][|Quizlet]
 * [|Rememberize:]** Another online flash card system, [|Rememberize] uses the Leitner method, which tests questions you get wrong more heavily, to help you master foreign languages, science data, history dates and more. Their tag based search system makes finding yours and other’s flash cards, well, a flash.
 * [|Brain Tune:]** Focused more on sharing topic specific flash cards, which they called catalogs, [|Brain Tune] enables its community to compile a highly relevant and expansive database of flash cards. They also display stats on individual community members’ overall performance, indicating how many total questions you have answered correctly.
 * [|BuddySchool:]**[|BuddySchool][|BuddySchool]
 * [|Cramster:]** Rather than pairing students and tutors one-on-one, [|Cramster] is a community where students with questions can post them for other community members and experts to answer. The system is based on karma points which can be traded in for free months of membership. The basic services of the website are free, but limited, so the more help you give other, the more help you will be able to ask for.
 * [|Tutorz:]** The largest network of tutors on the web, [|Tutorz] allows students to search for, contact and review tutors in their area. Each tutor works independently, so the subjects covered is quite vast. They have over 10,000 tutors listed in their database and cover most all major college areas.
 * [|MySchoolLog:]**[|MySchoolLog][|MySchoolLog]
 * [|Stu.dicio.us:]** Pull together a great note taking platform, grade calculator, task manager, document organizer and link it all up to Facebook and I bet you will get something like [|Stu.dicio.us]. Although it is an organization powerhouse, I am really impressed with the note taking features such as shortcuts (ex. type govt and they spell out government), Cornell note taking and automatic Google/Wikipedia links inserted for any reference words.
 * [|CollegeRuled:]** Although we have [|already done a post on CollegeRuled], we thought we would mention again this class schedule application. Easily create, print and share your class schedule, even on Facebook, with your friends.

Other Tools

 * [|EasyBib] - A tool to take the pain out creating a bibliography.
 * [|OttoBib] - Enter the ISBN of a book, and automatically have your bibliography entry created in MLA, APA, Chicago, BibTeX, or Wikipedia style.
 * [|Zotero] - A Firefox extension that lets you "collect, manage, and cite your research sources" from within your web browser.
 * [|Google] - Google really is the killer research app. You can do simple math, currency conversion, get answers to questions (like "what's the population of albania?" -- it's 3.6 million), search the text of books, look at satellite maps of the place your studying, and of course, search the web. Just check out [|all the stuff it does]. (And [|all the stuff it might do] in the future.)

chosen [|Vi.sualize.us] as my fourteenth pick. It’s a “social bookmarking” site like del.iou.us, but for images. You can save, categorize, and write a description of images on the web. It provides countless lesson opportunities. My pick for the thirteenth best Web 2.0 application is [|Sketchcast]. You can “draw” on a whiteboard and record an audio explanation at the same time. You’re given a url for your creation and/or you can embed it into a blog. Others can leave comments about your Sketchcast, too. It’s particularly good to demonstrate how to solve math problems. Number twelve is [|Footnote]. Footnote allows students to access thousands of primary source documents and photos, and easily create online history reports. Their urls can then be posted, and students can also leave comments on their peers’ reports. My pick for the eleventh best are really two connected sites — [|SMILE] and [|CLEAR]. They’re both from Michigan State University, and allow teachers (and students) to easily create clozes, drag-and-drop exercises, and sequencing activities. They also allow you to use audio and video with the activities, and will host them as well. The tenth best is [|CircaVie]. I think it’s the easiest online application for creating timelines and incorporating images. It can be used in any number of lessons. [|ESL Video]is the ninth best. It’s super-easy to take pretty much any video off-the-net and create a quiz to it. It’s designed for ESL/EFL students, but it can also be used by and for mainstream students. Number eight is [|Fleck]. Fleck let’s you take any webpage and create virtual post-it notes to “paste” on them. They’re great for students to demonstrate their use of reading strategies. Number seventh is [|One True Media]. It’s a very easy way to create slideshows on the Web, and add text, music and images. My pick for number six is [|Community Walk]. Students can put many sites on a map with descriptions and images (which can be easily grabbed off the web). Students can use this to describe field trips, report on historical events, and do other mapping applications. There are a lot of these kinds of sites, but I’ve found Community Walk to be the easiest to use. The fifth site on my list is [|Daft Doggy]. It allows you to create website tours — a series of websites where you also leave your own descriptive text or instructions on each page. You can use it to create Internet scavenger hunts. Visitors can also leave comments. The site’s creator has a different part of his site where you can easily make voice recordings, and plans to connect that ability up to the webtours soon so visitors can leave audio comments. When that happens, Daft Doggy should move even higher on this list. The fourth-ranked site is called [|Show Beyond]. This is similar to VoiceThread (number three) in allowing audio narration of slideshows, but doesn’t allow audio comments like VoiceThread. You can also add music and text. It’s particularly good in District’s, like ours, that block streaming media (like VoiceThread). The third-ranked site is [|VoiceThread]. You can upload pictures and create an audio narrative to go along with them. In addition, audio comments can be left by visitors. VoiceThread also provides a great deal to teachers by allowing them to get their premium services for free, including allowing them to create a zillion VoiceThreads for free. Happily, they’ve finally incorporated the feature of allowing you to include images off the web just by inserting its url. Number two is [|Bookr]. It would be difficult to create an easier application to make slideshows with captions on the web. The only drawback to it is you can only use images off Flickr, and not others on the Web, but that’s a small price to pay for such an accessible application. And now, my choice as the best Web 2.0 application for Education in 2007 is [|Tumblr]. This “micro-blogging” site upgraded their service this year. It’s a great place for students to easily post a whole lot of their work. Students can have individual or group “Tumblrs.” A student can also share their password with a small number of students who can leave comments.

6950 || //Skills needed: locating and uploading digital image files, locating the actual URL for specific images, navigating the tools of Captioner, managing potential safety and "appropriateness" issues of an online environment.// ||
 * || [|**Captioner**] - **Flickr Toys** ||
 * Grades 6 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This creative page allows you to add captions to photographs you have uploaded or found on an online site such as Flickr. Upload your own set of digital images to Flickr ahead of time, then assign the task of creating a captioned sequence to explain a major concept, such as mitosis or narrative patterns. You could also have students create campaign ads, posters of important people, etc. If you limit the photos permitted, you can control some of the "risk" of students' accessing non-classroom content. Be certain you explore the potential areas of risk before trying this lesson.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This creative page allows you to add captions to photographs you have uploaded or found on an online site such as Flickr. Upload your own set of digital images to Flickr ahead of time, then assign the task of creating a captioned sequence to explain a major concept, such as mitosis or narrative patterns. You could also have students create campaign ads, posters of important people, etc. If you limit the photos permitted, you can control some of the "risk" of students' accessing non-classroom content. Be certain you explore the potential areas of risk before trying this lesson.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7819 || //Skills needed: join the site (free), browse for files and upload to site, label with captions, project information, other information, and decide about viewing options. Works best with Internet Explorer 6+ or Safari. No special html skills needed. A teenager will figure this one out in one minute. A techno-comfortable teacher will take no more than four minutes! The only challenge is figuring out how to change settings on a project within your portfolio and have them SAVE. Watch the demo.//
 * || [|**Carbonmade: Your Online Portfolio**] - **nterface** ||
 * Grades 8 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. This is one fabulous way for art or photography students to create a FREE online portfolio to share work in your class, share with each other, or submit as an online collection for competitions or college admissions. The users agreement specifies no "group" accounts or users under 13 years old. The free version is limited to 5 projects and 35 images (no videos in the free version), but this is enough to show your "best of the best." You can even choose the actual URL for the portfolio within Carbonmade. The home page has a Flash demo so you can see how the site works.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. This is one fabulous way for art or photography students to create a FREE online portfolio to share work in your class, share with each other, or submit as an online collection for competitions or college admissions. The users agreement specifies no "group" accounts or users under 13 years old. The free version is limited to 5 projects and 35 images (no videos in the free version), but this is enough to show your "best of the best." You can even choose the actual URL for the portfolio within Carbonmade. The home page has a Flash demo so you can see how the site works.
 * **In the Classroom:**

//Share portfolios among neighboring schools or through art teacher associations to inspire your students and help them develop the critical skills to choose their best work and articulate their reasons (Use the "notes" space on each image to tell about it).//

//Be sure that you adhere to school policies regarding posting of student work. Have students create their accounts ONLY with written parent permission, especially since there is space for a "profile" (which teachers should require students to leave BLANK for safety reasons. Use your teacher email account so there is no danger of having outsiders contact your students. After graduation students may change the settings and use the site in budding art careers! Avoid including any personally identifiable information in descriptions or images. Personally identifiable information can always be shared with potential colleges, etc. via email or letter, rather than posting it to the web.// ||


 * || [|**CAST UDL Book Builder**] - **CAST** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Tool: For more adventurous technology users-- and those who are willing to take the time to learn the tool. This fabulous, FREE online tool allows you to create your own interactive "books" to help young readers learn reading strategies to build comprehension. The tool allows you to enter your own text, images, and hints. The finished product is a very polished-looking book in a form that you can save on your computer or burn to a CD and use over and over and over with students for years to come.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Tool: For more adventurous technology users-- and those who are willing to take the time to learn the tool. This fabulous, FREE online tool allows you to create your own interactive "books" to help young readers learn reading strategies to build comprehension. The tool allows you to enter your own text, images, and hints. The finished product is a very polished-looking book in a form that you can save on your computer or burn to a CD and use over and over and over with students for years to come.

Be sure to try the model books and read the tips for writers and illustrators. Click to see a [|**sample we made for you**] and placed on our site. 8060 || //Skills required: joining the site (free), locating or writing your own copyright-free text, locating or creating images for which you have the rights to make more than one copy (Fair Use does not apply!), copy/paste the text and resize/upload the images--following simple directions to create the pages and accompanying hints. Be sure to learn about the three interactive characters who teach the strategies! Publish and download the files of the finished "books" and save on your computer. Extract the zipped files and save locally, on your network, or burn to CD so your students can access them directly.//
 * **In the Classroom:**

//The uses of this one are endless. If you take the time to get permission from the publisher to use text from some of your textbooks or reading books, you could create interactive versions to use in your classroom or with special ed students. More simply, use student-written stories and artwork (scanned -- or created in Paint)to create the "book." Imagine creating a class "book" at the end of a unit on Communities or Animals, and including images you take with your digital camera. If you copy the CD's, students could sign out the "book" and read it to relatives using their home computer. You can keep the "library" of past books to help future classes. Or ask your middle/high school or gifted students to create books as writing/service project for struggling readers to use.// ||

7987 || //No membership or cost required. Tool can be used in less than 30 seconds. Skills needed: Open TWO windows in Internet Explorer or any web browser. One should be open to citebite; the other to the web page you wish to reference. On that web page, locate and "highlight" the exact passage of text you want to "send" people to see. Copy/paste the passage into the quotation box at Citebite (copy, then change windows). Return to the target web page and copy/paste its actual URL into Citebite. Click "Make Citebite." Copy/paste the new url, indicated after "Your citebite link is:" Note: if the original quote is within a FLASH presentation, it will not copy/paste or generate a Citebite. See this example of a Citebite link to a tip about TeachersFirst Edge tools: [|**http://pages.citebite.com/b1j4l1j7o0ndu**]//
 * || [|**Citebite**] - ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Imagine being able to give students (or parents)an exact link to a specific quote within a web page. This TeachersFirst Edge tool does exactly that. Why would you want to? Perhaps you want to send students to a certain paragraph for an activity: for reading comprehension, for reading a specific portion of text, or even for highlighting a literary device within a text or poem. Students will no longer waste time, announcing, "I can't find it!" or return to school saying they couldn't do the homework!
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Imagine being able to give students (or parents)an exact link to a specific quote within a web page. This TeachersFirst Edge tool does exactly that. Why would you want to? Perhaps you want to send students to a certain paragraph for an activity: for reading comprehension, for reading a specific portion of text, or even for highlighting a literary device within a text or poem. Students will no longer waste time, announcing, "I can't find it!" or return to school saying they couldn't do the homework!
 * **In the Classroom:**

//Have your middle and high school students do a web page "credibility critique" on their potential sources by using Citebite before they start a research project. They can highlight passages as proof of credibility -- or lack thereof -- and give you the Citebite links. They will love this easy way to reference a specific portion of a page. You will love the ease of finding it. If you give them a Word document table as a web site evaluation rubric, they can paste the Citebites there, with their comments in the neighboring cell!// ||

8729 || //Start by looking at "Most Viewed" and "Most Popular Right Now," but don't be afraid to search for other topics that have you wondering. You will definitely want to make this site a Favorite and tag is as "professional" information to keep you informed. Share it on your teacher web page to help out your parents, too!// ||
 * || [|**Common Craft**] - **Common Craft Productions** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge Entry for ANYONE who wants to know more about new technologies. No special skills needed. Watch and learn. If you are embarrassed to say that you don't know what all the "new web 2.0" terms are all about, this one is for you (and probably for your students' parents, as well). Common Craft uses a very simple, visual method of explaining all the latest technologies so that anyone can understand, using short video clips narrated by a positive and respectful voice. The next time you hear someone talking about RSS feeds or some other new doo-dad, stop here first so you will know what they are talking about. Did you think you were the only one who did not know? Fear not. This site has incredible popularity because there are LOADS of people quietly questioning -- just like you. Videos require Flash. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge Entry for ANYONE who wants to know more about new technologies. No special skills needed. Watch and learn. If you are embarrassed to say that you don't know what all the "new web 2.0" terms are all about, this one is for you (and probably for your students' parents, as well). Common Craft uses a very simple, visual method of explaining all the latest technologies so that anyone can understand, using short video clips narrated by a positive and respectful voice. The next time you hear someone talking about RSS feeds or some other new doo-dad, stop here first so you will know what they are talking about. Did you think you were the only one who did not know? Fear not. This site has incredible popularity because there are LOADS of people quietly questioning -- just like you. Videos require Flash. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * **In the Classroom:**

6947 || //As a class activity, you may not want to upload your resulting videos but instead share them in class, depending on your district policies about posting student work to the web. Certainly, you will want to keep student work anonymous. Tech skills needed: ability to download and upload, locating or creating video clips of responses, use of Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, or similar video-editing software, management of larger files, proper citation of sources.// ||
 * || [|**Create an Interview Video**] - **Washington Post** ||
 * Grades 7 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. The Washington Post offers this short-term opportunity to create your own campaign interview. Begun in September, 2006, the project invites you and your students to create a video interview using the downloadable question "footage" they provide of an interviewer and insert your own video of the responses. You may submit your completed video back to the Post's site. After a few weeks, the Post will allow you to see others' work and comment to each other. This would be a great activity to teach video editing, but more importantly to teach about interviewing, political "message," and the election process. Although this activity was designed prior to the 2006 election, the video clips will work for most any election.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. The Washington Post offers this short-term opportunity to create your own campaign interview. Begun in September, 2006, the project invites you and your students to create a video interview using the downloadable question "footage" they provide of an interviewer and insert your own video of the responses. You may submit your completed video back to the Post's site. After a few weeks, the Post will allow you to see others' work and comment to each other. This would be a great activity to teach video editing, but more importantly to teach about interviewing, political "message," and the election process. Although this activity was designed prior to the 2006 election, the video clips will work for most any election.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7011 || //If you can access the site from school, tag links by the units you teach or by assignment so students can access the public side of your Delicious page and use the links to complete assignments. If you are a truly inspiring teacher, they may even add some of them to their own delicious accounts. Unless your school specifically permits user profiles and accounts for students, do NOT encourage them to set up these accounts from school. If they do, use pseudonyms. Another possible use is for collaborative projects. If students have their own accounts, they can "collect" links for a group project with a shared tag so others can access them. You may have to help those who have less experience with web tools, and you must be careful about equity issues such as home Internet access. Using a single teacher account IN class prevents these concerns. Another plus: you can add to your Del.icio.us from any inservice you attend and NEVER lose the links! Tech skills needed: developing a system of tagging that will facilitate sharing and searching (look to see how others do it), adding a link to your links bar, copying the URL of the public side for students to use.// ||
 * || [|**Del.icio.us**] - ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Delicious is a social bookmarking tool. Your high school students (and maybe you?)have probably been using it for a couple of years. Keep your Favorites (bookmarks) on a web page where you can access them from any computer, organize them by "tag" (keyword), and make them public or private. You can share them with others or search for others' choices by tag, as well, as long as the "owner" made them public. You must join to set up an account with a valid email, then you can download a toolbar or make an "Add to my Delicious" link on your links bar so you can add sites as you find them. Many school districts block this site, unfortunately, because the "What's Hot" links available from the Delicious homepage may lead to inappropriate content. Sometimes automated filtering systems therefore block the entire site.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Delicious is a social bookmarking tool. Your high school students (and maybe you?)have probably been using it for a couple of years. Keep your Favorites (bookmarks) on a web page where you can access them from any computer, organize them by "tag" (keyword), and make them public or private. You can share them with others or search for others' choices by tag, as well, as long as the "owner" made them public. You must join to set up an account with a valid email, then you can download a toolbar or make an "Add to my Delicious" link on your links bar so you can add sites as you find them. Many school districts block this site, unfortunately, because the "What's Hot" links available from the Delicious homepage may lead to inappropriate content. Sometimes automated filtering systems therefore block the entire site.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7094 || //Fabulous for use with any subject that can be turned into a story. This is especially good for author projects, history reports, and adaptations of stories. It can be used by teachers from intermediate grades through college, depending on the topic, need, and abilities of the students. Be sure to explore the many links to see how other schools and students have used digital storytelling.// ||
 * || [|**Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling**] - **Bernard R. Robin, Ph.D.** ||
 * Grades 5 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| A fantastic and complete site that tells you all you need to know about making digital stories with students. The wide grade level range shows the versatility of the site for use with any student based upon his readiness to tell stories. The site includes everything from goals to resources to the step-by-step process used to create the stories. An example is also shown. Adobe Acrobat is necessary to see some examples.
 * |||||| A fantastic and complete site that tells you all you need to know about making digital stories with students. The wide grade level range shows the versatility of the site for use with any student based upon his readiness to tell stories. The site includes everything from goals to resources to the step-by-step process used to create the stories. An example is also shown. Adobe Acrobat is necessary to see some examples.
 * **In the Classroom:**

8769 || //Possible uses: Student research projects, guided reading of web sites, comprehension questions, guiding questions, annotations for tough vocabulary with younger students, Internet safety lessons, students analyzing sites as part of information literacy lessons, art critiques by you or students, student collaboration and source-sharing, professional notes for your own reading or graduate work, etc. Assign students to "Fleck" a site as an assignment in critical thinking and turn it in by sharing with you.//
 * || [|**Fleck**] - **Fleck.com** ||
 * Grades 3 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Fleck allows you to put sticky notes and other annotations onto existing web pages and share them with others. Now you can tell students exactly what you want them to do on a page, point out instances of bias or unsafe Internet practice, etc. You can put effective reading strategies right ON the text of the page. See [|**an example here**]. Your students can also "fleck" to each other as they work on group projects, noting how they will use information or categorizing what they find. Fleck uses FLASH and does not work well on TOP of Flash-driven pages. The annotated pages take a few moment to load, even on a quick connection.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Fleck allows you to put sticky notes and other annotations onto existing web pages and share them with others. Now you can tell students exactly what you want them to do on a page, point out instances of bias or unsafe Internet practice, etc. You can put effective reading strategies right ON the text of the page. See [|**an example here**]. Your students can also "fleck" to each other as they work on group projects, noting how they will use information or categorizing what they find. Fleck uses FLASH and does not work well on TOP of Flash-driven pages. The annotated pages take a few moment to load, even on a quick connection.
 * **In the Classroom:**

//Skills needed: Join the site and wait for the confirming email (our review team said it took a couple of hours). While you are waiting, click over to the HOME page and watch the "How this works" animation. Then try the link to "So why don't you give it a try." (This trial will NOT be saved!) Enter the URL of a page you wish to annotate at the top of the Fleck screen and click GO. Use the toolbar that appears with the web page to add notes, etc. and SAVE. You can also download an extension for Firefox or bookmarklet for Internet Explorer (to make a Fleck button on your toolbar). Be sure to choose public or private for Flecks you make when you SAVE (can be changed). Share your Fleck by clicking the Share button and emailing a note to your recipients-- or click the "blog" button to get a permalink you can copy/paste to share via email or other means, such as on your web page or an electronic assignment handout.//

//To use Fleck safely, you can have students use your login account to make their own Flecks. If students have their own email, they can also have log-ins, but you have no monitoring over what they do. For safety's sake, you might want to require all student Flecks to be private and shared ONLY with class members. Since enforcement is tough, start with the teacher-only account and make Flecks for students to SEE. Once you are comfortable with the tool, allow students to use your account. You will not know WHO made inappropriate Flecks, but you can see and delete them from one place. Of course, you will need to test whether Fleck is blocked in your school (we hope not).//

//IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: This is a public site, and some of the "recent Flecks" that show on the HOME page are NOT school-appropriate. TeachersFirst has contacted Fleck about this concern, and they tell us they are unable to "filter" these flecks at this time. We recommend always starting students from your member home page and avoiding Fleck HOME altogether.// ||

6952 || //Join the site for free (and make sure you turn OFF all the "send me emails" features). Place photos online for all the projects you expect to do with students. They will remain in place for future years. If you wish to, remove them from "public" viewing when you do not need them. Note: You MUST be the actual copyright holder to upload photos to this site, so use your digital camera, NOT downloaded photos from the web! Skills needed: taking and saving digital pictures, location and upload of photo files, "tagging" them so students can a find them, copying the URL of the tagged group or of the collection, changing the attributes of your uploaded pictures, finding other tools on TeachersFirst or elsewhere to use the photos.// ||
 * || [|**Flickr**] - **Flickr** ||
 * Grades 5 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This site allows you to upload and share images in an online location. It is not specifically an education site, so it has the drawback of possibly including "inappropriate" content. As a teaching tool, you can upload picture collections and "tag" them with a unique keyword so students can access them for various activities, such as creating sequenced "comic strips," making annotated posters, including photos in blogs, and other electronic projects. This is a great way to make the photos accessible for the students to use. Note: use the DIRECT URL to the specifically-tagged photos ("photosynthesisproject") or create a collection for each project.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This site allows you to upload and share images in an online location. It is not specifically an education site, so it has the drawback of possibly including "inappropriate" content. As a teaching tool, you can upload picture collections and "tag" them with a unique keyword so students can access them for various activities, such as creating sequenced "comic strips," making annotated posters, including photos in blogs, and other electronic projects. This is a great way to make the photos accessible for the students to use. Note: use the DIRECT URL to the specifically-tagged photos ("photosynthesisproject") or create a collection for each project.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7213 || //Demonstrate the skills and steps on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or simply allow your "digital native" students to work through the directions. Since no two computers are alike, it is strongly recommended that you or a student-assistant try a "practice run" to make sure your computers have all the right plug-ins and permissions. Then watch your students go to town! Share the products on a projector or burn them to CD. We were unable to find information on the site about copyright and whether you have permission to share them on a web page. This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry, though it is not difficult to use. Skills needed: drag and drop video elements, follow directions in Help, downloading files, unzipping and saving (directions provided)// || [|**See user comments on this resource.**] - 7125 || //Skills needed: join the Gliffy site (free), play with the tools and toolbars to create diagrams, access help and FAQ to collaborate, publish, or embed diagrams in your blog or other web page. Easy to medium difficulty. Note: collaborators need individual email accounts to gain access. If your students do NOT have personal email, you may want to create group email accounts on Yahoo or GMail for which only YOU know the password and can log in for groups to work in class in order to avoid the safety and school filtering issues of student email access. This would also be a great tool for group projects in YOUR grad classes!// ||
 * || [|**From Cave Art to Your Art**] - **Sanford** ||
 * Grades 5 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| Challenge your students' creativity and personal reflections about art: both their own and art through the ages. Use this site to CREATE their own videos with images from their own artwork, text, and video clips provided by the site. There are suggestions for structured video topics or you can suggest other ideas. The site provides clear, step-by-step instructions for students to complete their videos. The files can even be downloaded and played on any computer. Art teachers and computer teachers alike will love the possibilities of this project-site. If your students maintain electronic art portfolios, they will certainly want to add a video from this online production studio. REQUIRES FLASH!! Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * |||||| Challenge your students' creativity and personal reflections about art: both their own and art through the ages. Use this site to CREATE their own videos with images from their own artwork, text, and video clips provided by the site. There are suggestions for structured video topics or you can suggest other ideas. The site provides clear, step-by-step instructions for students to complete their videos. The files can even be downloaded and played on any computer. Art teachers and computer teachers alike will love the possibilities of this project-site. If your students maintain electronic art portfolios, they will certainly want to add a video from this online production studio. REQUIRES FLASH!! Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * **In the Classroom:**
 * || [|**Gliffy**] - ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the moderately curious technology user. Research verifies the power of graphic organizers in promoting strong thinking skills and comprehension for all ages. Gliffy is a FREE online tool for creating graphic organizers without purchasing ANY software. Individuals or groups can create the organizers or the class can create them together, such as in a brainstorming session on a projector. You can assign students to "map" out a chapter or story or assign groups to create study guides using this tool collaboratively. Your students are certain to enjoy this tool and be forced to THINK in the process. You can export the graphic organizers to a blog or "publish" them on the web -- all for free. [|**See an example of a published diagram/organizer made by our editors for more ideas.**]
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the moderately curious technology user. Research verifies the power of graphic organizers in promoting strong thinking skills and comprehension for all ages. Gliffy is a FREE online tool for creating graphic organizers without purchasing ANY software. Individuals or groups can create the organizers or the class can create them together, such as in a brainstorming session on a projector. You can assign students to "map" out a chapter or story or assign groups to create study guides using this tool collaboratively. Your students are certain to enjoy this tool and be forced to THINK in the process. You can export the graphic organizers to a blog or "publish" them on the web -- all for free. [|**See an example of a published diagram/organizer made by our editors for more ideas.**]
 * **In the Classroom:**

8030 || //A "tour" and simple to understand directions make this site easy to use. Have your students set up collaborative groups for projects, lab data, and more. Or set them up yourself, giving them specific passwords to access their "space." Skills needed: join Google Docs, take the tour, experiment with collaboration tools, upload and download files.//
 * || [|**Google Docs**] - **Google** ||
 * Grades 6 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TF Edge entry: If you have not heard about them, Google's online collaboration tools are a must for slightly adventurous technology users and for those in schools where students are allowed to log into their own accounts for web services. With Google Docs, users can create, edit, reformat, upload, and share documents they've created in WORD or other office applications. They can also look at their editing history. Perhaps the best feature is the ability to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets with anyone or with a selected group. Groups share editing capabilities, making collaboration much easier. Users can publish newly created, uploaded, downloaded, or revised documents and spreadsheets as well as making links to them on personal blogs. Easy directions and familiar-looking pages make exporting and importing documents simple; Google also helps users keep them organized.
 * |||||| TF Edge entry: If you have not heard about them, Google's online collaboration tools are a must for slightly adventurous technology users and for those in schools where students are allowed to log into their own accounts for web services. With Google Docs, users can create, edit, reformat, upload, and share documents they've created in WORD or other office applications. They can also look at their editing history. Perhaps the best feature is the ability to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets with anyone or with a selected group. Groups share editing capabilities, making collaboration much easier. Users can publish newly created, uploaded, downloaded, or revised documents and spreadsheets as well as making links to them on personal blogs. Easy directions and familiar-looking pages make exporting and importing documents simple; Google also helps users keep them organized.
 * **In the Classroom:**

//Users are normally invited to "join" via an email message. This may be problematic in the many schools that do not permit student email access at school. Note that notifications sent by Google Docs may also land in "junk mail" folders or be blocked by spam filters. We suggest that you experiment with a small group of students to determine what will work in your particular situation. One option is to set up the groups with the teacher as a "member" but have students work from home, using their personal email addresses, for group projects. Make sure you are protecting the safety of student work and identity and are within your school's Acceptable Use Policy.// ||

7323 || //Although the site appears to be primarily for college groups, our editors contacted the folks at Groupvine, and they assured us that they welcome high school groups, as well. Skills needed: register to request a group space, follow simple tour and instructions to create groups, to-do lists, calendars, etc. If you plan to have students use the site independently, we recommend demonstrating it on an interactive whiteboard or projector so all are in agreement on how you will use the tools within your organization. If students will be posting, we strongly recommend using initials or first names only. Once your club or group is using the site, you may end up answering questions from other club advisers who are interested in doing the same.// ||
 * || [|**Groupvine**] - **function technologies** ||
 * Grades 9 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry: for more adventurous technology users. Groupvine is a free (for now) tool for groups such as student council, clubs, teams, or even academic project groups to organize their files, maintain a common calendar, and organize "to-do" lists. If you are a club adviser or ask students to complete long-range group projects, you should consider using Groupvine.
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry: for more adventurous technology users. Groupvine is a free (for now) tool for groups such as student council, clubs, teams, or even academic project groups to organize their files, maintain a common calendar, and organize "to-do" lists. If you are a club adviser or ask students to complete long-range group projects, you should consider using Groupvine.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7192 || //Skills needed: Join the site (free). Read and play (limited help given)to Add items, edit them (including a review), add or edit shelves, drag items to shelves, etc. Show students how to enter a book and review on a projector, then mark your class library in Favorites on the classroom computer for them to make entries as they read! .[|**See our editor's sample library from the "public" side.**] Power users can even add "widgets" to the class blog from the GuruLib. There's a challenge!// ||
 * || [|**GuruLib (beta)**] - ||
 * Grades 1 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. GuruLib is a great way to organize and annotate your classroom library. If you can find the ISBN number on your books or UPC codes on CDs/DVDs, you can enter the full information on these items into a library that students can use to find favorites to borrow (you can even sort them only shelves according to related units you teach). Another idea is to have students use this site (and your single log-in) to enter titles, authors, and reviews that classmates can read. Since "borrowing" an item requires having an account (not a safe idea with your students), why not allow all students to use your account and create a "shelf" for each student's initials?. Then students can drag books he/she has signed out from the classroom. Students can enter reviews (Sign with initials so others know who wrote it) and even comment on the reviews left by others. What a great way to promote reading in a motivational way! Parents and others see the site from the public side. If parents join GuruLib, they can even comment on the reviews their children wrote. Think of the excitement!
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. GuruLib is a great way to organize and annotate your classroom library. If you can find the ISBN number on your books or UPC codes on CDs/DVDs, you can enter the full information on these items into a library that students can use to find favorites to borrow (you can even sort them only shelves according to related units you teach). Another idea is to have students use this site (and your single log-in) to enter titles, authors, and reviews that classmates can read. Since "borrowing" an item requires having an account (not a safe idea with your students), why not allow all students to use your account and create a "shelf" for each student's initials?. Then students can drag books he/she has signed out from the classroom. Students can enter reviews (Sign with initials so others know who wrote it) and even comment on the reviews left by others. What a great way to promote reading in a motivational way! Parents and others see the site from the public side. If parents join GuruLib, they can even comment on the reviews their children wrote. Think of the excitement!
 * **In the Classroom:**

7266 || //The site requires a log-in, so you may want to set up a single account and password based on your "extra" email account (always recommended for joining all these great web-based tool sites). When your students are finished with their projects, you can simply change the password. Skills needed to use this tool: join site (free), copy/paste links, create tags (keywords), reorder list items, start new lists (all very easy by clicking on text links). TeachersFirst Ede staff strongly suggest that you create a sample playlist to start and model the process to your students. They will catch on fast. You will also need to prevent them from altering profiles or creating unmonitored accounts and profiles, for safety reasons.// ||
 * || [|**H2O Playlists**] - **Berkman Ctr for the Internet and Society, Harvard Law School** ||
 * Grades 9 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry-- for more adventurous technology users. Create an online collection of annotated links and materials for academic research or have your students use this site to collect sources and materials for a collaborative project. A "playlist" is a set of links with explanations and tags that you (or students) can use to initiate self-directed research or that students could use to prepare or present content. Have students make a "playlist" on a research topic, such as the Vietnam War, displaying and speaking about the resources in a class presentation on a projector. You can monitor the progress of collaborative research by checking their playlists-in-progress. Students who have Internet access at home can add to the playlists from any computer. Playlists can be published and shared. You can also find other playlists with the same tags, extending the reach of your research.
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry-- for more adventurous technology users. Create an online collection of annotated links and materials for academic research or have your students use this site to collect sources and materials for a collaborative project. A "playlist" is a set of links with explanations and tags that you (or students) can use to initiate self-directed research or that students could use to prepare or present content. Have students make a "playlist" on a research topic, such as the Vietnam War, displaying and speaking about the resources in a class presentation on a projector. You can monitor the progress of collaborative research by checking their playlists-in-progress. Students who have Internet access at home can add to the playlists from any computer. Playlists can be published and shared. You can also find other playlists with the same tags, extending the reach of your research.
 * **In the Classroom:**

8122 || //Skills needed: Visit the site and observe how the shared examples work. If you find one you like, you can get the link (try the little disk icon) to go directly to it. If you are feeling more adventurous, try creating one of your own, perhaps for calculating the class average on a test. Your web-savvy students will love this tool for collaborative lab reports or graphs of statistics. For safety's sake do not use any student names or information if you share calcs online.// ||
 * || [|**instacalc**] - **instacalc** ||
 * Grades 6 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for technology users who like math and like to "play." This online tool lets you create(or "share" someone else's existing) online calculations/spreadsheets. You can also display instant graphs of the spreadsheet contents. The spreadsheets are displayed in terms that ordinary people can understand and allow you to "plug in" numbers to see instant results. Some of the shared calculators already online are surface area and volume of geometric solids, interest calculators, body mass index, and more sophisticated business functions. The best way to see how the site works is to read through their "tour" then click to browse through the examples, especially the shared ones. Even if you never create your own, this tool is great!
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for technology users who like math and like to "play." This online tool lets you create(or "share" someone else's existing) online calculations/spreadsheets. You can also display instant graphs of the spreadsheet contents. The spreadsheets are displayed in terms that ordinary people can understand and allow you to "plug in" numbers to see instant results. Some of the shared calculators already online are surface area and volume of geometric solids, interest calculators, body mass index, and more sophisticated business functions. The best way to see how the site works is to read through their "tour" then click to browse through the examples, especially the shared ones. Even if you never create your own, this tool is great!
 * **In the Classroom:**

6981 ||
 * || [|**K12Online Conference 2006**] - **K12Online Conference organizers** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for adventurous technology users. This first-time online conference for those interested in the use of web 2.0 tools in education generated instant excitement among ed-tech geeks and teachers alike. If you hear about it before the conference in Oct/Nov 2006, you can join in. Otherwise, the conference blog will stay online indefinitely for you to learn how other teachers are using these amazing tools: blogs, wikis, podcasts, and more.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for adventurous technology users. This first-time online conference for those interested in the use of web 2.0 tools in education generated instant excitement among ed-tech geeks and teachers alike. If you hear about it before the conference in Oct/Nov 2006, you can join in. Otherwise, the conference blog will stay online indefinitely for you to learn how other teachers are using these amazing tools: blogs, wikis, podcasts, and more.


 * || [|**Mindomo**] - ||
 * Grades 1 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TF Edge Tool: for the moderately adventurous technology user. Create collaborative mind maps (graphic organizers) using this online tool. See [|**an example**] created by our editors. The example gives some ideas for uses of this online graphic organizer tool. The tool requires Flash. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * |||||| TF Edge Tool: for the moderately adventurous technology user. Create collaborative mind maps (graphic organizers) using this online tool. See [|**an example**] created by our editors. The example gives some ideas for uses of this online graphic organizer tool. The tool requires Flash. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].

NOTE: There is an advertising area at the right side of the screen on this free tool. TeachersFirst has been in communication with the Mindomo creators to assure that the ad content will not be alluring or inappropriate in the classroom. They are extremely responsive and interested in making their online tool practical for teachers. 8178 || //The site requires membership (basic level is free). Have students create graphic organizers in cooperative groups as a study guide for unit content, to collect information for a group research project, or show examples of an important concept. Share and compare the organizers on an interactive whiteboard or projector in class and allow classmates to suggest changes. Skills needed: join the site, practice with the tools (don't miss the notes feature!). Save up to 7 "private" maps and an unlimited number of "shared" maps.//
 * **In the Classroom:**

//Make a map available online by saving and clicking "yes" for sharing, then clicking the Save by URL icon. This will copy the URL onto your computer's clipboard so you can paste it into a word doc or even your teacher web page. Imagine sharing several student made "study guides" in the days before the unit test.//

//Note that maps that are shared can be seen by the public, but not altered. You specify members who may collaborate and make alterations. For students to collaborate using this tool they must have individual memberships, requiring an email account. These memberships must be activated from their email. So, if students do not have email that is accessible from school, classroom use BY STUDENTS will be severely limited. Editor's note: we asked the Mindomo folks about spell check and student safety issues. They are still developing this tool, so they MIGHT address these issues at a later date.// ||

7246 || //Skills needed: join the site (free) using YOUR teacher email or a yahoo or gmail account. This editor has an email account used strictly for memberships to such sites and uses the same user name and password for all. Set a username and password. Tools are very mush like Excel. Remember your user information. Students can use it or you can set up accounts for student groups so you can monitor their activities, if your district policies suggest this.// ||
 * || [|**NumSum**] - ||
 * Grades 4 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Share and collaborate on data for projects using this online collaborative spreadsheet tool. Group projects can share their data as they collect it, such as students who do animal counts in their backyards or water analysis in various locations. If you prefer to use it in class, students can all enter data from an experiment they do in the lab so you can compile a larger aggregation. Join for free. You can also see and collaborate with other schools a nd people ( be careful to protect student identities and location). Find interesting ideas by playing with the "search spreadsheets" feature.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Share and collaborate on data for projects using this online collaborative spreadsheet tool. Group projects can share their data as they collect it, such as students who do animal counts in their backyards or water analysis in various locations. If you prefer to use it in class, students can all enter data from an experiment they do in the lab so you can compile a larger aggregation. Join for free. You can also see and collaborate with other schools a nd people ( be careful to protect student identities and location). Find interesting ideas by playing with the "search spreadsheets" feature.
 * **In the Classroom:**

8576 || //If you use this tool as a teacher-only or whole-class account, you can keep a digital/timeline scrapbook of class events throughout the year. Make a time line using local, national, or international current events. Or look back in time and create a historical time line, scanning old pictures or using copyright free images from the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. Other ideas: artists musicians, writers from a certain period in history, the twentieth century in different countries, World War II timeline, Civil War timeline, timeline of insect stages, timeline of rock cycle, of a plant or tree, timeline or life cycle of migratory animals, personal timelines-- suitable for younger students only if they work with a parent's account. Elementary students could even interview grandparents and create a class timeline about their grandparents for Grandparents' Day. For collaboration, link up with another classroom in another town (or another country) to build a time line that shares events in each local area so students can see what was happening at the same time in another location, maybe in the opposite hemisphere (compare weather ans seasons!).//
 * || [|**Our Story**] - **Wisdom Ark, Founder Andy Halliday** ||
 * Grades 4 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For moderately adventurous technology users. Designed for families to record a time line of events in their lives, this online tool serves the classroom teacher as an electronic time line for a collection of "stories." Each event on the "playable" timeline is a "story." See a quick sample [|**here**]. Free membership allows you to add "stories" with up to six uploaded images each (no more than 3MB per image). You can also pull in photos from your Flickr or Yahoo picture account. The timeline is intended to be shared with others by URL. If you simply want them to see the timeline, you can provide the link (URL) via email or from your teacher web page. You can invite others to add, if you wish. You must be a member (free) to add to a story or timeline. **See below for a special TeachersFirst member opportunity to request FREE premium membership.** This resource was featured in a recent New Teacher Hotline Podcast as one of the [|**Tech Toolbox**]resources. Hear more about it on the [|**podcast**].
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For moderately adventurous technology users. Designed for families to record a time line of events in their lives, this online tool serves the classroom teacher as an electronic time line for a collection of "stories." Each event on the "playable" timeline is a "story." See a quick sample [|**here**]. Free membership allows you to add "stories" with up to six uploaded images each (no more than 3MB per image). You can also pull in photos from your Flickr or Yahoo picture account. The timeline is intended to be shared with others by URL. If you simply want them to see the timeline, you can provide the link (URL) via email or from your teacher web page. You can invite others to add, if you wish. You must be a member (free) to add to a story or timeline. **See below for a special TeachersFirst member opportunity to request FREE premium membership.** This resource was featured in a recent New Teacher Hotline Podcast as one of the [|**Tech Toolbox**]resources. Hear more about it on the [|**podcast**].
 * **In the Classroom:**

//To have students log in on their own (13 years and older please), they will need individual email accounts. Our editors did notice that "fake" emails seem to allow you to establish membership. This does not comply with the user agreement, however, and your students may forget passwords. They will be unable to receive reminder emails with false addresses. Keep a record!// //Some safety/content concerns: There is advertising on the side of the Ourstory pages (free version). There is also an "Explore" button which allows you to see random timelines by the general public (most are tame, BUT there is no control. Others can also COMMENT on timelines created in the free version. TeachersFirst recommends using a teacher account and carefully monitored spaces unless you have a written agreement and parent permission for students to use the full tools of the site with their own memberships (13 and over). You can limit problems by allowing students to take turns adding to a whole-class account with a single log-in. You can set the account to only show the changes with your approval.//

//The TeachersFirst Edge team has arranged with OurStory to explore classroom-friendly solutions. TeachersFirst members may email to support(at)ourstory.com and mention your TeachersFirst membership in the email to obtain a FREE premium account to OurStory. The premium account will allow you to set up individual stories for each of your students all from one log-in ("create a new profile"), block comments on a public story, use OurStory without advertising, and set up "privacy circles" for small group projects. Premium accounts also have more space for photos and can include videos. We will contact teachers using these free accounts for a quick follow-up later in the school year to learn more about possible site improvements and share great ideas for classroom projects.//

//Skills needed: Join the site (free or email a request for free premium version), Read through HELP, if needed. Under Settings, carefully choose approval levels and email notification, as well as personal URL for your story. Click Add Story to create an event("story")/item on your timeline. Upload or link to pictures (you could tag a set on Flickr for the project), continue adding and share the URL for others to see. Invite them to be allowed to add to the story. Adept users can Export the timeline to a blog or set up RSS feeds for changes so you know what is happening to YOUR Story and those your students are working on. Two recommendations: Under Settings, turn OFF "post image recommendations" to avoid image suggestions from Yahoo. Warn against the unsafe option of "Submitting a story to be Featured" on the story view page.// ||


 * || [|**PocketMod**] - ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users (NOT difficult!). This VERY simple tool lets you or your students make simple, folded small booklets that fit in a pocket. You choose what will appear on each page: from blank space to lines to calendars or checklists. Then print the single sheet (and run copies!) for a student "organizer" useful for homework assignments, long-term project deadlines, checklists, even student-made study guides. Students use the booklets the old fashioned way: by WRITING in them; but the clever, customizable format lets you teach organizational skills in a way that works. REQUIRES FLASH!
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly adventurous technology users (NOT difficult!). This VERY simple tool lets you or your students make simple, folded small booklets that fit in a pocket. You choose what will appear on each page: from blank space to lines to calendars or checklists. Then print the single sheet (and run copies!) for a student "organizer" useful for homework assignments, long-term project deadlines, checklists, even student-made study guides. Students use the booklets the old fashioned way: by WRITING in them; but the clever, customizable format lets you teach organizational skills in a way that works. REQUIRES FLASH!

See a [|**sample PocketMod checklist, notes, and calendar booklet**](with a separate page of folding directions) and [|**one made from a PDF of the Pennsylvania Science and Technology Standards**], converted using the free downloadable software. 7400 || //Skills needed: go to PocketMod and follow simple drag-and-drop visual screen to create the PocketMod from their many organizer options. Print and fold (NO Acrobat Reader required). More skilled users should consider downloading the free "PDF to PocketMod" converter that will take any pdf document and format it to the small, foldable format. If you have handouts in pdf format or can make them from your scanner/copier, you can make ANYTHING into a PocketMod. The converter assumes you have Acrobat Reader.//
 * **In the Classroom:**

//Possible uses: have students design their own study guides before a chapter test or maintain a project checklist to be submitted along with the completed project to build better organizational skills. Warning: Students will quickly learn that PocketMod is a great way to make CHEAT SHEETS. Be forewarned of student cleverness!// ||


 * || [|**podOmatic**] - **podOmatic** ||
 * Grades 1 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Create simple audio podcasts using this online tool and the free space they provide. Simply put, this tool lets you create and place sound recordings online for people to listen to and/or download from a web site. The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it from school.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Create simple audio podcasts using this online tool and the free space they provide. Simply put, this tool lets you create and place sound recordings online for people to listen to and/or download from a web site. The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it from school.

What can it do? You can record sound directly with the microphone built or plugged into your computer and make it available for people to listen to online or download to their MP3 player. [|**See and hear a sample we made for you.**] Some possible uses: You record your homework assignments or directions; students create "you are there" recordings as "eyewitnesses" to historical or current events; students create advertisements for concepts studied in class (Buy Dynamic DNA!); students write and record their own stories; language students or beginning readers record their fluency with reading passages; allow parents to hear their child's progress reading aloud,etc. 8094 || //Skills needed: Join site (free), attach a mike or use a built-in computer mike, create the podcast by clicking a record button,(you may have to tell your computer to "allow" nonsecure items over and over), carefully select or **SKIP** many sharing mechanisms for safety's sake, limit any identifiable information with the podcasts, choose a background for your podcast page, share the link only with your students and parents. If you have students record podcasts as assignments, you may need multiple accounts because the free accounts have limited file space. An elementary teacher might have enough space for 25 students to keep a limited number of products, depending upon length. The site will tell you how much space each podcast takes and how much you have left.// ||
 * **In the Classroom:**

8811 || //This tool is amazing on interactive whiteboard. Teach simple concepts, such as area,on the board or have students at computers create their own floor plans or maps to reinforce concepts of proportion, direction, and more. Students can even collaborate from home or continue over several days, since the files can be saved on the system. If you wish to save drawings on Project//Draw, create a single class log-in using an "extra" teacher email account and have all students use that log-in, as well. [We recommend that every teacher keep a secondary email account just for memberships.] Make sure you specify some standard ways for students to name files so you know who created them!
 * || [|**Project//Draw 0.6**] - **AutoDesk Labs** ||
 * Grades 4 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: no special skills needed, just a little willingness to "play"! This product-in-development (beta) is an online vector drawing/technical drawing tool for geometry, science, engineering, and more. Vector drawings are far more precise because they are based on mathematical formulas (which you cannot see, of course), instead of the "little boxes" of pixels. Free membership allows you to save and re-access drawings later, all via the web. You can also export drawings to be saved on your own computer is several file formats. The drawing grid allows you to make floor plans, circuit diagrams, flow charts, project mock-ups, or simply demonstrate geometry concepts. Our editors noted that the way to make a shape "no fill" is to set its transparency to 0.0. A little experimentation will help you figure out the drag and drop tools. The tool works best in Firefox 1.5+ or Internet Explorer 6+. Editors' note: we tried the "upload an image" feature and found it "glitchy." You should not count on that feature.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: no special skills needed, just a little willingness to "play"! This product-in-development (beta) is an online vector drawing/technical drawing tool for geometry, science, engineering, and more. Vector drawings are far more precise because they are based on mathematical formulas (which you cannot see, of course), instead of the "little boxes" of pixels. Free membership allows you to save and re-access drawings later, all via the web. You can also export drawings to be saved on your own computer is several file formats. The drawing grid allows you to make floor plans, circuit diagrams, flow charts, project mock-ups, or simply demonstrate geometry concepts. Our editors noted that the way to make a shape "no fill" is to set its transparency to 0.0. A little experimentation will help you figure out the drag and drop tools. The tool works best in Firefox 1.5+ or Internet Explorer 6+. Editors' note: we tried the "upload an image" feature and found it "glitchy." You should not count on that feature.
 * **In the Classroom:**

Safety note: students who log in and venture throughout the support site behind this will eventually find some bulletin boards where people are discussing features of the program. These discussions are largely technical and do not involve "social networking," but you should be aware of them. Also, since this tool is "in beta," you should not assume that drawings will remain online indefinitely. If you wish to keep one that is complete, download it and save it locally. ||

8257 || How would you use this in your teaching? Create a set of RSS feeds for current events or a specific curriculum topic such as weather and make them available for an in-class activity, complete with directions. World language, world cultures, or geography teachers can profile a location on the globe, complete with local weather and news. Make separate tabs for separate activities. Students can access them by password or publicly from outside of class, as well. For primary grades, make simple instructions right on the desktop for a computer center activity. Use color coding of the instructions to differentiate for different children (Sam, I want you to do the yellow one). If your school permits students to set up accounts on web services, have groups make Protopages on an assigned topic, collecting and organizing resources, images, and information: "A Protopage Guide to Cells" or "Shakespeare's Times." Gifted and highly-able students will go crazy!
 * || [|**Protopage**] - **Protopage** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For very comfortable technology users who need more sophisticated capabilities than your TeachersFirst home page. This online tool creates a highly visual "home page" that can incorporate multiple elements simply by dragging and dropping them in place. Not unlike Google's personalized homepage, the elements look like little sticky notes or boxes, but there is far greater flexibility and a wider variety of content readily available. You can also make the page local (simply use it as the "home" on your classroom computer), shared by a select group (passworded), or completely public. You can easily make a theme or unit page for quick access of resources, complete with directions.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For very comfortable technology users who need more sophisticated capabilities than your TeachersFirst home page. This online tool creates a highly visual "home page" that can incorporate multiple elements simply by dragging and dropping them in place. Not unlike Google's personalized homepage, the elements look like little sticky notes or boxes, but there is far greater flexibility and a wider variety of content readily available. You can also make the page local (simply use it as the "home" on your classroom computer), shared by a select group (passworded), or completely public. You can easily make a theme or unit page for quick access of resources, complete with directions.
 * **In the Classroom:**

Skills needed: Join (free). Check out the Intro, Overview, and Quickstart to see how it works. Play to your heart's content, including making tabs. Learn about RSS feeds and other Widgets-- including sticky notes. Share the URL with those you wish to have use it. Note: this works on Internet Explorer 6 and higher and on Firefox. If your users are on older web browsers, the developers recommend upgrading. This may be a problem for some. Check with your end-user computers before you spend too much time making the perfect Protopage!

If you allow students to create their own Protopage, you will need to have very specific rules about content, since there are non-educational elements available. ||

7599 || Use this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector to demonstrate art elements. You can also use it for advanced searching for images to fit a certain design need. Remember to see the Creative Commons licensing information on flickr if you plan to copy/download the images.
 * || [|**retrievr**] - ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly more adventurous technology users. This unique image site allows you to make a quick sketch in a small area (you select the color and line size for the "pencil"). It then searches through thousands of images shared on flickr (See our [|**separate TF Edge review and explanation of flickr**]) to find an image similar in art element to your sketch. It matches up line, shape, and color. Matches are not exact, but they are amazingly close, providing ample opportunity for your students to "see" images with these elements in common. You can also upload an image and ask for a "match," using the "search by image" option. What a fabulous way to see and compare images side by side!
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for slightly more adventurous technology users. This unique image site allows you to make a quick sketch in a small area (you select the color and line size for the "pencil"). It then searches through thousands of images shared on flickr (See our [|**separate TF Edge review and explanation of flickr**]) to find an image similar in art element to your sketch. It matches up line, shape, and color. Matches are not exact, but they are amazingly close, providing ample opportunity for your students to "see" images with these elements in common. You can also upload an image and ask for a "match," using the "search by image" option. What a fabulous way to see and compare images side by side!
 * **In the Classroom:**

NOTE: flickr can possibly have images not suitable for classrooms, though this editor has not run across any. Use retrievr under supervision. Skills needed: select color and line size, draw in the small sketch space, upload an images, if desired. (The sketch option is easy enough for a young child to try. The latter requires knowing the name and location of the file you wish to upload). Have fun with this one! ||

8605 || Skills needed: Join (free). Email address is optional. Determine whether you have the copyright to the file(s) you wish to upload. You may ONLY upload files to which you hold the rights. Locate files on your computer and upload them. (Read FAQ for file types that are permissible). Choose options for that file: tags, private/public, etc. Create groups, such as for your class or group projects. Determine rights of the groups---who uploads? Who administers the group? You can also bulk upload. There is also a "collections" feature within your account, possible for different types of work, different student authors, etc. If you have a class log, click "more options" at the left of a document display to copy code and embed the actual Scribd file in your blog---a SAFE way to share it without sending students to Scribd.
 * || [|**Scribd**] - **Trip Adler, Jared Friedman, Tikhon Bernstam** ||
 * Grades 9 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge tool: for moderately adventurous technology users. This online file storage and sharing space allows you to upload Word documents, Excel files, pdfs, PowerPoint files, and other formats and keep them in a place where others (or just you) can access them. Scribed provides tools to convert between file types, for example to make a Word document into a pdf (readable in Acrobat Reader on most computers)or even to convert it into a SOUND file (MP3). The sound conversion apparently takes some time, as our editors found when uploading a sample. The default set-up makes files public when you upload, so you are, in effect, "publishing" them to the web, but you also have options to make them "private," i.e. limited access via a private URL for that document, or to make them only available to a certain "group." You can create or join groups, as well. Our editors made a sample that is "private," but available via [|**this link**]. The site uses FLASH, so be sure you have the plug-in.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge tool: for moderately adventurous technology users. This online file storage and sharing space allows you to upload Word documents, Excel files, pdfs, PowerPoint files, and other formats and keep them in a place where others (or just you) can access them. Scribed provides tools to convert between file types, for example to make a Word document into a pdf (readable in Acrobat Reader on most computers)or even to convert it into a SOUND file (MP3). The sound conversion apparently takes some time, as our editors found when uploading a sample. The default set-up makes files public when you upload, so you are, in effect, "publishing" them to the web, but you also have options to make them "private," i.e. limited access via a private URL for that document, or to make them only available to a certain "group." You can create or join groups, as well. Our editors made a sample that is "private," but available via [|**this link**]. The site uses FLASH, so be sure you have the plug-in.
 * **In the Classroom:**

How would you use this? As a productivity tool for yourself, you can make all your own files available from any computer, so you will never say, "I left it on my desktop at home." This is handy for itinerant teachers or forgetful students. Having pdf versions of handouts available with a few clicks makes it easy to share them with students via email or links on your teacher web page. As an instructional tool, you will first need to manage some safety issues. Scribd is a site for the general public, a]so the texts available can have objectionable subject matter. "Browsing" Scribd is not an option for the classroom unless they launch a Squeaky-clean education version. If more mature students want to maintain (and even share) a writing portfolio to accompany college applications or simply document their growth as a writer over time, this tool is great, It will even save "versions" of documents to show writing process. There are some other ideas in our [|**sample document**]. For safety reasons, we recommend a written Scibd policy for your classroom requiring parent permission for using the site, maintaining limited access for class members of selected "collaborators," such as a partner class from another school, and strict NO BROWSING, NO COMMENTING, NO JOINING GROUPS unless they are known to the teacher. The simplest way to control this is to have all students use ONE account (that you can monitor) and create individual collections or "tag" their work with their initials or some other unique identifier. This would allow everyone to "keep" work there, so you can open drafts on a whiteboard, access writings from a few months ago for comparison side-by-side, etc.

A "possible uses" list: Share handouts or study guides (yours or student-made) Share permission forms, lab report formats, assignments, calendars, project rubrics and details, science fair documents, collaborative writing or group projects. Create an online literary magazine "dropbox." Encourage student responsibility by suggesting they maintain their own file repository on Scribd so they ALWAYS have their homework. Help students "hear" their own drafts read aloud (if the audio conversion works quickly enough). Share all lab data from a science experiment so students have a large data set to analyze. Then share their lab reports. Have students "turn in" any assignment to your group (if you and their parents think they are trustworthy on the site alone). The list goes on and on... ||

8666 || Skills needed: Join the site (free). Membership requires an email address, but appears to work just fine with a "made up" address (warning: email notifications for forgotten passwords will not work if you pretend!). Watch the sample sketchcast, if you wish. Create a sketchcast (be sure to plug in a mike and check "with voice" if you want sound. When finished, name it, and publish it. You can copy/paste the URL from the page that shows the Sketchcast to share it, click to email it to someone, or copy/paste the code they provide to embed it in your blog. Edit or delete from the My Account page.
 * || [|**Sketchcast**] - **Richard Ziade** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. This simple-to-use online tool allows any user to create a "recording" of a drawing without without narration. Simply draw on a "whiteboard" space on the computer screen (and, if you wish, record yourself talking as you draw). The finished product is available as a mini-video (recorded in Flash) that can be shared via URL or embedded in a blog or wiki, much the same way people share YouTube videos. See [|**a sample**] created by the Edge editorial team with some ideas for ways to use a Sketchcast. Requires FLASH.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. This simple-to-use online tool allows any user to create a "recording" of a drawing without without narration. Simply draw on a "whiteboard" space on the computer screen (and, if you wish, record yourself talking as you draw). The finished product is available as a mini-video (recorded in Flash) that can be shared via URL or embedded in a blog or wiki, much the same way people share YouTube videos. See [|**a sample**] created by the Edge editorial team with some ideas for ways to use a Sketchcast. Requires FLASH.
 * **In the Classroom:**

Some concerns: there is no way to keep your sketchcast private. Any visitor to the Sketchcast site can see it or link to it. They can also COMMENT on it--possibly a problem as you try to protect students. Also, your students can see any Sketchcast that has been made on the site, so content may NOT be appropriate to all classrooms. (Stick figures can be suggestive or scary, too!). There is a link to report any abuse of the site. The Edge team recommends some combination of a student-user agreement, signed by parents as well or close monitoring if you choose to use this in class. The safest way to SHARE Sketchcasts you make for students is to embed them in your blog so they will not "see" the rest of the Sketchcast site. NEVER allow students to create user names or Sketchcasts that are identifiable by unscrupulous outsiders. One other limitation is the difficulty of drawing with a mouse. If you have access to graphics tablets, these would really help. You might also try "drawing" with your finger with the site open on an interactive whiteboard!

Ideas to use Sketchcast: allow students to submit assessment quizzes using sketchcast instead of written essays (especially those with writing disabilities); create teacher-made explanations of concepts or math processes for students to access and play from your blog for review; Allow young ones to draw and talk about animals they have learned about (on the interactive whiteboard, then embed their videos in the class blog; have students talk about musical notes or symbols as you draw them and record for later review; allow students to do prewriting for assignments in Sketchcast; challenge students to create a visual explanation of an abstract concept, such as democracy or energy. The options are endless. ||

8553 || Skills needed: Join the site (free). They say it requires email, but it works with a "nonsense" address, so students COULD set up a quick account. We recommend using a single class account with the teacher's email so you can monitor content. It appears that multiple computers can log into the same account at the same time. Once on the site, SKIP the profile info (not required) and friends, and go right to "draw something." Use very simply tools to diagram a process (photosynthesis?), build an art drawing to show how simple geometric shapes can interact as the basis for complex drawings, or illustrate a simple allegorical story with basic shapes (The Dot Meets the Line?). Use Replay to watch it.
 * || [|**sketchfu**] - **Matt Rubens and Andrew Chen** ||
 * Grades 6 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Create simple drawings (or elaborate ones) and share them in animated form using this online tool. The VERY simple drawing tool space records your drawing actions, allows you to replay to see it in quick motion, and "publishes" the result on a web page. The site is designed as a social drawing space where you can view others' work and share your own, but students could use it just for class--and so could you. See a silly [|**sample diagram**] made by our editors. This site requires FLASH. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Create simple drawings (or elaborate ones) and share them in animated form using this online tool. The VERY simple drawing tool space records your drawing actions, allows you to replay to see it in quick motion, and "publishes" the result on a web page. The site is designed as a social drawing space where you can view others' work and share your own, but students could use it just for class--and so could you. See a silly [|**sample diagram**] made by our editors. This site requires FLASH. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**].
 * **In the Classroom:**

When you are ready, click "publish" and copy the URL they provide (skip the email part) so you can show the animation on your interactive whiteboard or place the link in other presentations. You can also DOWNLOAD the still image.

Safety concerns: Since the site has drawings by anyone, we do not recommend allowing students to browse freely. You never know what people might "draw"! Share the site on a supervised computer or an interactive whiteboard or projector to avoid adventurous curiosity in class. Let the students do that at home under someone else's supervision. The site policies state that content should be rated "PG."

How would you use this? Challenge students to use the tool to explain complex processes in simple graphic terms. Since text is very difficult, you may want them to narrate their animations themselves. Art teachers will want to browse some of the beautiful drawings done by others on this site and share the animations to show techniques of building color, shape, cross-hatching ,etc. to make an image. (There is an opacity variation tool, but you have to "earn" it---our reviewers did not get that far). ||

7009 || Upload photos to a teacher account and allow students to create "stained glass" collages from your collection. You can document a field trip, illustrate a concept or process, such as "autumn," "healthy eating," or photosynthesis. Demonstrate first on a projector or interactive whiteboard, if available. Some other ideas to illustrate: lab safety, food groups, mammals, acceleration, branches of government, etc. The only limit is your imagination! You can also make great collages for an open house PowerPoint show or for your web site (assuming you OWN the rights to the images). ||
 * || [|**Stained Glass Collage**] - **FX Palo Alto Laboratory** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Create printable, downloadable, emailable, or online versions of photo collages in a stained glass style using this free online tool. You must join (free) to make an account. You can upload digital pictures or transfer them from Flickr (see TeachersFirst Edge for more info on Flickr). The products can have all sorts of uses or simply be an artistic project. Be sure to read About Stained Glass Collage for tech info and ideas.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Create printable, downloadable, emailable, or online versions of photo collages in a stained glass style using this free online tool. You must join (free) to make an account. You can upload digital pictures or transfer them from Flickr (see TeachersFirst Edge for more info on Flickr). The products can have all sorts of uses or simply be an artistic project. Be sure to read About Stained Glass Collage for tech info and ideas.
 * **In the Classroom:**

6917 || You may need tech support to help you install the program on a school computer. There is an extensive wiki (user-contribution help section) to answer your questions about using Stellarium.
 * || [|**Stellarium**] - **Stellarium Open Source Software** ||
 * Grades 4 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for users who are able to download and install software. Stellarium is a free, open source planetarium software for your computer. You must download the software and install it on your computer to create a planetarium-like experience right in your classroom. (Open source software is free to allow software developers to collaborate and improve on the products. This is the newest trend in web development). The download and install are not difficult, but you should ask someone for help if you are uncomfortable.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for users who are able to download and install software. Stellarium is a free, open source planetarium software for your computer. You must download the software and install it on your computer to create a planetarium-like experience right in your classroom. (Open source software is free to allow software developers to collaborate and improve on the products. This is the newest trend in web development). The download and install are not difficult, but you should ask someone for help if you are uncomfortable.
 * **In the Classroom:**

Try it on a projector in your classroom or even on an interactive whiteboard where students can draw and highlight items "in space." When you find successful strategies for using the software, be sure to participate in the wiki to share them. Or [|**contact TeachersFirst**] to let us know more about ways to use Stellarium, so we can share them with other teachers! ||

7451 || Any teacher using this site should register under the his/her own name and limit use to areas that have been previewed before class to avoid inappropriate content. The best use is by marking items as Favorites and beginning your class visit in your Favorites to avoid "popular" content that might be awkward for parents, students, and you to justify in a classroom. If your students have been collecting data (sightings of migratory birds, lab experiment data, daily temperatures, etc), you can upload them and manipulate them on this site, comparing to other data uploaded by others. Teachers of math, statistics, science, even reading can use and teach data analysis from graphs. Share this one with your "geeky" teacher friends and figure it out together!
 * || [|**Swivel**] - ||
 * Grades 7 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: For the most adventurous technology users. This new start-up web 2.0 tool (born Dec 2006) is "a place where curious people explore all kinds of data." Users register to join (free) to upload and/or manipulate data of all kinds: from comparisons of "What a Couple of Hundred Billion [dollars] can buy," to sports stats to election stats to less school-appropriate topics such as drinking. Why risk it? You will find terrific examples (and non examples) of how data can be shared visually, manipulated, and reported to help explain a concept. You can upload you own datasets, tag them, and see how others collaborate. Even simpler, you can browse graphs already made on the site, mark them as part of "your" stuff (Favorites) and visit them on a screen to discuss which graphs provide meaningful data and what they show, exactly.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: For the most adventurous technology users. This new start-up web 2.0 tool (born Dec 2006) is "a place where curious people explore all kinds of data." Users register to join (free) to upload and/or manipulate data of all kinds: from comparisons of "What a Couple of Hundred Billion [dollars] can buy," to sports stats to election stats to less school-appropriate topics such as drinking. Why risk it? You will find terrific examples (and non examples) of how data can be shared visually, manipulated, and reported to help explain a concept. You can upload you own datasets, tag them, and see how others collaborate. Even simpler, you can browse graphs already made on the site, mark them as part of "your" stuff (Favorites) and visit them on a screen to discuss which graphs provide meaningful data and what they show, exactly.
 * **In the Classroom:**

Skills required: join the site (free), browse datasets or upload your own (several formats possible), mark Favorites, create tags, create graphs from one or more datasets, all by "playing with the tools. No clear "Help" is available. There is a [|**tour**] to give you the big picture of how the site works. Finally, you may want to link to one of your graphs (such as from a PowerPoint show) or display one on a web page. ||

7079 || Use Tabblos for professional-looking, student-made projects (perhaps pay to print the BEST one?) to illustrate concepts, show steps in a process, document a lab experiment, Tech skills needed: ability to upload pictures (for which you OWN the rights), Tagging photos and finished Tabblos, reading step-by-step directions and Help to master simple drag and drop, template selection, text editing, etc involved in making the Tabblo, copy/paste of URL to share a Tabblo, careful reading of sharing options. Our advice: start small and think about management issues if you are allowing students to upload photos. It might be easiest to provide a set, tagged with your class name, for the first time you use this tool. The students are guaranteed to ask for another Tabblo activity! ||
 * || [|**Tabblo**] - **Tabblo Inc.** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Tabblo allows you to make very professional-looking posters, brochures, photo layouts using an online tool. Join the site for free and use photos you "borrow" from Flickr, other Tabblo users, or uploaded from your own digital image collection. The hitch: you cannot PRINT OUT the finished Tabblo results from the web page. You CAN share it online (they'll give you the link) or pay to have it printed. Why bother? Primary teachers may want to use this site as a way to share images of a classroom special event with parents (by email invitation to view it online). Since you can designate your images and finished Tabblo as PRIVATE, there is no safety concern. Older students can actually make Tabblos of their own from images you provide or images they take with a digital camera. Our editors made a [|**sample for you to view online**]. We used their sample images, so the content does not really "make sense." Be sure to read the TEXT of the sample Tabblo for more ideas on how to use the tool in the classroom.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. Tabblo allows you to make very professional-looking posters, brochures, photo layouts using an online tool. Join the site for free and use photos you "borrow" from Flickr, other Tabblo users, or uploaded from your own digital image collection. The hitch: you cannot PRINT OUT the finished Tabblo results from the web page. You CAN share it online (they'll give you the link) or pay to have it printed. Why bother? Primary teachers may want to use this site as a way to share images of a classroom special event with parents (by email invitation to view it online). Since you can designate your images and finished Tabblo as PRIVATE, there is no safety concern. Older students can actually make Tabblos of their own from images you provide or images they take with a digital camera. Our editors made a [|**sample for you to view online**]. We used their sample images, so the content does not really "make sense." Be sure to read the TEXT of the sample Tabblo for more ideas on how to use the tool in the classroom.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7064 ||
 * || [|**TeachersFirst Class Blog Awards**] - **TeachersFirst** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| See classroom blogs created by outstanding educators to facilitate student understanding of curriculum, encourage writing as expression, and promote good writing skills. TeachersFirst Class Blogs are nominated for this award by the TeachersFirst editorial staff and/or by others who visit our site and nominate a class blog they consider to be worthy of this award. [|**Nominate a blog you know and respect.**]
 * |||||| See classroom blogs created by outstanding educators to facilitate student understanding of curriculum, encourage writing as expression, and promote good writing skills. TeachersFirst Class Blogs are nominated for this award by the TeachersFirst editorial staff and/or by others who visit our site and nominate a class blog they consider to be worthy of this award. [|**Nominate a blog you know and respect.**]

7237 || This is listed as a TeachersFirst "edge" entry, but our step-by-step walk-through takes the edge off and makes your wiki a walk in the park. Check it out now, while there is still FREE teacher wiki space available from our recommended wiki tool. ||
 * || [|**TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through**] - **TeachersFirst** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| There is nothing twicky about a wiki. Learn about this new online teaching tool: what a wiki is, how you might use it in your classroom, how to explain it to parents and administration, and how to get started. There are over 50 examples of activities you can do with a wiki and links to a free tool to get started. We even give you the downloadable handout to send home.
 * |||||| There is nothing twicky about a wiki. Learn about this new online teaching tool: what a wiki is, how you might use it in your classroom, how to explain it to parents and administration, and how to get started. There are over 50 examples of activities you can do with a wiki and links to a free tool to get started. We even give you the downloadable handout to send home.
 * **In the Classroom:**

8499 || Skills needed: Register(free). Registration asks for an email address, but abc@123 works just fine. There is no email validation process. Log right in. Play with the "Create Your Own" tools to make a TOONDOO or TOONBOOK, including locating characters, resizing, re-ordering, entering text, etc. IF you are feeling adventurous, try upload an image to include. When you are ready, publish the product, publicly by sharing the URL or to opt for a limited audience.
 * || [|**ToonDoo**] - **Jambav** ||
 * Grades 3 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Create your own one to three panel comic strips or --even better- have your students create them using this simple online tool. The libraries include many cartoon figures, voice bubbles, and more. You can also upload your own photos using the Imaginr(or pieces from them) and create your own characters using the Traitr. For a longer story, make a TOONBOOK instead of a single TOONDOO strip. See a [|**sample**] made by our techno-savvy editors in just a few minutes. The "published" products can be shared online with the world, shared with a limited audience (probably the safest for students), or kept completely private (visible only to you when logged in).
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Create your own one to three panel comic strips or --even better- have your students create them using this simple online tool. The libraries include many cartoon figures, voice bubbles, and more. You can also upload your own photos using the Imaginr(or pieces from them) and create your own characters using the Traitr. For a longer story, make a TOONBOOK instead of a single TOONDOO strip. See a [|**sample**] made by our techno-savvy editors in just a few minutes. The "published" products can be shared online with the world, shared with a limited audience (probably the safest for students), or kept completely private (visible only to you when logged in).
 * **In the Classroom:**

Potential safety concerns: If you are having students create their own TOONDOOS, you will want to prohibit their accessing the links to "popular" TOONDOOS and others available to the public, since the site is open for anyone's idea of "funny" content. Our editors did not see anything objectionable, but you never know.

How can you use this in the classroom? Once you have laid the ground rules, have students create strips with characters explaining a science concept. Or show the steps in a process or procedure, such as the water cycle. Older students can create political satire cartoons. If you have students work from your account, you can provide the "raw materials" of some digital pictures for them to make cartoon explanations of lab safety procedures or nature species. Even little ones can write sentences. Have them work with a partner---and LIMIT their choices to 3 character options so they do not keep changing their minds! ||

7331 || Skills needed: join the site (free), upload and tag your photos. type information, print cards. ||
 * || [|**Trading Card Maker**] - ||
 * Grades 4 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for more adventurous technology users. Create photo trading cards using images you upload or store on Flickr. Imagine having your students create study aides about famous people using images they draw and scan or photos of themselves impersonating the famous people, such as presidents, explorers, authors, and more. If you celebrate reading by having an "author's tea," why not follow up y asking students to make trading cards for the authors they "met"? Use a similar approach for famous historical figures or even for geometric shapes you photograph with the digital camera. If students write their own "biographies" of the shapes to study from, they will learn for sure! They can even trade each other for favorites.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for more adventurous technology users. Create photo trading cards using images you upload or store on Flickr. Imagine having your students create study aides about famous people using images they draw and scan or photos of themselves impersonating the famous people, such as presidents, explorers, authors, and more. If you celebrate reading by having an "author's tea," why not follow up y asking students to make trading cards for the authors they "met"? Use a similar approach for famous historical figures or even for geometric shapes you photograph with the digital camera. If students write their own "biographies" of the shapes to study from, they will learn for sure! They can even trade each other for favorites.
 * **In the Classroom:**

8892 || Skills needed: Join the site (free). We recommend that you tour the examples, then start a new project and/or view the tutorials accessible through a question mark in the top left corner. Make sure you spot the ways to SAVE your project, view and use the site map that is generated for you automatically, and obtain both a URL and a downloaded copy of your project. Projects do NOT save automatically! Safety and logistics issues: all users must set up an account with an email address. One email address is permitted to have multiple user names and passwords associated with it. If your students do not have school email (and most do not), you have three options: 1. Create a single, whole-class account using an "extra" email account of your own. Note that you do not need to be able to access the email from school to get started (no confirmation routine). This works fine for a few projects or a whole-class project. 2. Create multiple username accounts (one for each student or group), all using your "extra" email account as their email. This will send the username/password reminders to your email for record-keeping. Remember that in the free version, each account is separate, so you cannot "share" images, etc. without uploading them to EACH account. 3. Create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. [|**Here**]is a blog post that tells how. If you teach multiple sections, use numbers and have each class period use the same set of numbers. There are "sabotage" risks. See the second page of our editor's [|**trIntuition example**] for solutions to that. Such Gmail subaccounts will come in handy for just about any web 2.0 tool you use in class, so the effort is worth it. Just keep a record of WHO is using which account!
 * || [|**trIntuition's workBench**] - **trIntuition** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for adventurous technology users. This amazing tool allows users to create web pages and full web sites without any special software, using online drag-and-drop tools. The resulting pages are polished and professional far beyond what you would expect from an online tool. The free version allows you to create single pages or full sites, including uploaded files, and save them. Viewers can access them online (via a unique URL you request) or from downloaded files you can easily create. See a sample our editors made [|**here**]. The sample includes many ideas for ways to use this tool with your students. For better examples of the visual possibilities, look at the gallery of examples trIntuition workBench offers. They are superb! You and your students can access the tool from any online computer that has the necessary version of Flash: both Mac and Windows. A premium level of membership provides the ability to set up groups and collaborate, but it does cost money. The free version is still quite impressive. One distinct advantage of the ability to download a finished product is the fact that OFFline projects using copyrighted materials can still fall under Fair Use, assuming you limit the number of actual copies. You can also avoid any school policy concerns about posting student work online by keeping it within your school or network. To be able to use ALL tools, be sure you have Flash 9 or higher. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**]. If you are not allowed to install software, fear not. All but a very few tools and all finished products work in Flash 7. If you can see the TeachersFirst "What's New" on our home page, you can use the workBench!
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for adventurous technology users. This amazing tool allows users to create web pages and full web sites without any special software, using online drag-and-drop tools. The resulting pages are polished and professional far beyond what you would expect from an online tool. The free version allows you to create single pages or full sites, including uploaded files, and save them. Viewers can access them online (via a unique URL you request) or from downloaded files you can easily create. See a sample our editors made [|**here**]. The sample includes many ideas for ways to use this tool with your students. For better examples of the visual possibilities, look at the gallery of examples trIntuition workBench offers. They are superb! You and your students can access the tool from any online computer that has the necessary version of Flash: both Mac and Windows. A premium level of membership provides the ability to set up groups and collaborate, but it does cost money. The free version is still quite impressive. One distinct advantage of the ability to download a finished product is the fact that OFFline projects using copyrighted materials can still fall under Fair Use, assuming you limit the number of actual copies. You can also avoid any school policy concerns about posting student work online by keeping it within your school or network. To be able to use ALL tools, be sure you have Flash 9 or higher. Get it from the [|**TeachersFirst Toolbox page.**]. If you are not allowed to install software, fear not. All but a very few tools and all finished products work in Flash 7. If you can see the TeachersFirst "What's New" on our home page, you can use the workBench!
 * **In the Classroom:**

Possible uses for trIntuition workBench? Portfolios; college application "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital pictures students take); online literary magazines; personal reflections in images and text; research project presentations; comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias); science sites documenting experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle; "Visual" lab reports; Digital scrapbooks using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties; Local history interactive stories; Visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Imagine building your own online library of raw materials for your students to create their own "webscreens" as a new way of assessing understanding: you provide the digital pictures, and they sequence, caption, and write about them (younger students) or you provide the steps in a project as a template, and they insert the actual content of their own. After a first project where you provide "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what they can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class product together using an interactive whiteboard. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" long after the unit ends. ||

8177 || Skills needed: locate the online video and copy the URL. Open the Vixy site and paste the URL into the converter. Click to convert to AVI for windows or Mpeg4 for Mac, then download the file. Save the file to your local computer, then transfer to your portable device (USB or CD). The complication: Windows will require the DivX plug-in to play as an offline video file, such as in Windows Media Player. There is a link from Vixy to download it, but you may not be allowed to install it on your school machine. You could bring the install file to school on CD and ask your tech department to install it for you, if your machine does not already have it.
 * || [|**vixy.net (beta)**] - **The Vixy project: Takuma Mori** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For the most adventurous technology users. This online tool can convert online videos such as the ones you find on YouTube into a portable format you can play at school when filtering blocks access to the regular video site. You will likely have to do the conversion on a home computer and bring the file to school on a USB storage device or CD. With the rapid growth of YouTube as a participant forum, the content is most always blocked by school filtering, yet SELECTED videos may have real usefulness in the classroom or even in professional development settings.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For the most adventurous technology users. This online tool can convert online videos such as the ones you find on YouTube into a portable format you can play at school when filtering blocks access to the regular video site. You will likely have to do the conversion on a home computer and bring the file to school on a USB storage device or CD. With the rapid growth of YouTube as a participant forum, the content is most always blocked by school filtering, yet SELECTED videos may have real usefulness in the classroom or even in professional development settings.
 * **In the Classroom:**

Why bother? YouTube and similar sites provide videos that are powerful tools in political campaigns and social commentary. Such videos may be worth the effort for your American Government or history class. YouTube also hosts artistic films and examples of literary genres applicable in the English classroom, as well. Sharing these videos, licensed under Creative Commons Share and Share Alike Licensing, is LEGAL, especially for your classroom use. ||


 * || [|**VoiceThread**]- **VoiceThread** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Voicethread allows you to upload images (from your digital camera, scanner, or even paint program), then allow students to record their own comments and/or narration about the images. TeachersFirst is providing the link to the VoiceThread home page but suggests that you first read [|**this forum post**] about FREE Pro level memberships being offered for classroom teachers now that Voicethread is out of beta. You can click to go to the home page from there. VoiceThread explains how to set up a classroom account and has some ideas for classroom use, as well. Some uses we suggest: elementary classes can create or take pictures, then ask each child to talk about the images. After a field trip, you can assign groups of students to explain the digital pictures you take and how they relate to curriculum topics. In art class, students can critique works of their own or of fellow students. In language arts classes, students can scan and comment on writing pieces as part of a reflective phase of the writing process. Or post an image as a prewriting activity and allow students to respond orally in an idea-generating phase. In social studies, have students provide a picture of a grandparent then narrate what they learned about that grandparent from interviewing him/her. This would work well for local history projects (pictures of local sites) or war veteran stories, as well. Speech/language, ESL/ELL or early childhood teachers will use this tool to promote vocabulary development and oral expression.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Voicethread allows you to upload images (from your digital camera, scanner, or even paint program), then allow students to record their own comments and/or narration about the images. TeachersFirst is providing the link to the VoiceThread home page but suggests that you first read [|**this forum post**] about FREE Pro level memberships being offered for classroom teachers now that Voicethread is out of beta. You can click to go to the home page from there. VoiceThread explains how to set up a classroom account and has some ideas for classroom use, as well. Some uses we suggest: elementary classes can create or take pictures, then ask each child to talk about the images. After a field trip, you can assign groups of students to explain the digital pictures you take and how they relate to curriculum topics. In art class, students can critique works of their own or of fellow students. In language arts classes, students can scan and comment on writing pieces as part of a reflective phase of the writing process. Or post an image as a prewriting activity and allow students to respond orally in an idea-generating phase. In social studies, have students provide a picture of a grandparent then narrate what they learned about that grandparent from interviewing him/her. This would work well for local history projects (pictures of local sites) or war veteran stories, as well. Speech/language, ESL/ELL or early childhood teachers will use this tool to promote vocabulary development and oral expression.

Of course, you should be sure that you have the RIGHTS to the images you upload. Fair Use does not apply when you put an image on the web! This site requires FLASH. 8315 || Skills needed: join the site (free) and set up student identities. TeachersFirst does not recommend using actual pictures of the children. Let them draw a picture or take a digital picture of an object that somehow represents them (middle schoolers will love that idea!). Use first names only. You need to know how to locate and upload saved pictures. You WILL need a microphone, either plugged into your computer or built in. They can be purchased for less than $10 at a discount or electronics store. TeachersFirst recommends that you explain the VoiceThread projects via a note sent home and get parent permission to post student work to the web, even anonymously. Then invite parents to share in the results (The VoiceThread classroom page tells you more about this). ||
 * **In the Classroom:**

7037 || Show students the relative size of different web sites and how sites are organized as a visual comparison to the linear nature of a book. Letting them "analyze" a web site will help them to see why it is important to preview a site, just as you would a textbook, before simply clicking around. Once you are comfortable with this tool, share it on a projector or interactive whiteboard to explain it to middle and high school students. You may want to use it each time you send students to a site for a webhunt. Note: some sites, such as TeachersFirst, use a different type of code and will not fully "show" using this tool because they are dynamically-generated. Skills needed: copy and paste a full URL, some knowledge of web design useful. ||
 * || [|**Websites as Graphs**] - **Sala** ||
 * Grades 4 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This site is not difficult to USE, but it may be difficult to understand the resulting graphs until you play with it a bit. You simply paste in the full URL for a web site and click Show the Graph. It takes some time, but the site will generate a graphic image showing the organization of the web site you entered. There is a color key to explain the different parts in terms of the html code used to make the page (this is for geeks). Even if you do not understand the colors, the various clusters show overall site organization and size of the site you are analyzing.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This site is not difficult to USE, but it may be difficult to understand the resulting graphs until you play with it a bit. You simply paste in the full URL for a web site and click Show the Graph. It takes some time, but the site will generate a graphic image showing the organization of the web site you entered. There is a color key to explain the different parts in terms of the html code used to make the page (this is for geeks). Even if you do not understand the colors, the various clusters show overall site organization and size of the site you are analyzing.
 * **In the Classroom:**

7312 || Skills needed: Navigating a wiki (like any other web page), independent viewing of videos and listening to podcasts, reading and following instructions. Consider using this wiki as a challenge/framework for an individualized or team professional development plan. If your team can create a wiki book, you can set one up for your students to add to and edit, as well. Suddenly the options open up. Maybe your students can create a wiki book on an explorers, planets, or causes of the civil war? Perhaps your physics class can create a wiki review book that can remain for next year's class? Remember that TeachersFirst has wiki basics and links to a FREE wiki tool in our [|**Wiki Walk-Through.**] ||
 * || [|**Wiki Support for Teaching and Learning**] - **Tony Whittingham** ||
 * Grades 0 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This wiki is actually an online course page with explanations of how to do podcasts, how to design electronic instruction using podcasts, blogs, wikis, and more. The site apparently is part of a course in New South Wales, but the content would allow you to move step by step through building a "wiki book" of instruction and several other projects.
 * |||||| This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This wiki is actually an online course page with explanations of how to do podcasts, how to design electronic instruction using podcasts, blogs, wikis, and more. The site apparently is part of a course in New South Wales, but the content would allow you to move step by step through building a "wiki book" of instruction and several other projects.
 * **In the Classroom:**

8565 || Skills needed: Join the site--free. It requires an email address, though no validation via email is needed, so there is no "test" to be sure the email works. Our reviewers tried a "fake" address, and it worked. Create and save sheets using the browser edit mode (or Excel--see security note above). "Invite" others to work on the same sheet. Remember to SAVE. Some pros and cons: Our editors using the browser-based editor could not find out WHO made changes and no apparent way to "revert" the file if someone messes it up. The site home page says it is possible to revert to a previous version, but this may only be when using the full Excel program. You CAN also make copies (versions) manually.
 * || [|**Xcellery (beta)**] - **collaborall** ||
 * Grades 6 to 12 ||
 * **- permalink** ||
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Create and collaborate on Excel spreadsheets using this online tool. You have choices to create and edit using the actual Excel program (with macros enabled) or edit in your browser--a more secure option for those concerned about macros. A user can create or upload an excel sheet and share it with others as a read only OR editable sheet. No more need to email versions around and have multiple users adding and changing versions that become impossible to "merge." The free membership seems just fine for schools. See a sample by logging in as [[mailto:[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto::::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com]]]]]]]]]]]]" with password "test." You can even add to the TF sheet to play with the tools. Or click the "demo" log in to experiment with sheets created by other curious users like you.
 * |||||| TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Create and collaborate on Excel spreadsheets using this online tool. You have choices to create and edit using the actual Excel program (with macros enabled) or edit in your browser--a more secure option for those concerned about macros. A user can create or upload an excel sheet and share it with others as a read only OR editable sheet. No more need to email versions around and have multiple users adding and changing versions that become impossible to "merge." The free membership seems just fine for schools. See a sample by logging in as [[mailto:[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto[[mailto::::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|::"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com|[[mailto:"tf@tf.com|"tf@tf.com]]]]]]]]]]]]" with password "test." You can even add to the TF sheet to play with the tools. Or click the "demo" log in to experiment with sheets created by other curious users like you.
 * **In the Classroom:**

How to use it? Your students can maintain a single set of lab data for analysis of an experiment repeated by several students. They can also maintain a simple flat-file database of information, such as flora and fauna observed in a plot of land at your school or facts about inventors or authors. Anything you can do in Excel, you can do in Xcellery. You can also email an invitation to "real" people to join in.

Some safety suggestions: unless your school uses student email addresses, do not allow students to set up individual accounts. Make a few "class" accounts that students can use, but make YOUR account the controlling one for all the sheets. That will allow you to change access at any time to "read only," such as when the deadline for work has passed. Be sure to demo how to use the site on a whiteboard or projector the first time for uniformity of use. Secondary students working on group projects, club fundraisers, etc. can also benefit from this tool as long as they stay within school acceptable use policies in using it. Note that this product is still in "beta," so features and pricing are subject to change.// ||