Tech Websites, Alphabetical
Johnell Bentz Keynote 2015
30Hands allows a user to make pictures, annotate them, record a voice explainer
and then packages it all into a video. It’s intuitive and easy to use with no training.
Its simple interface and ease of use make it great for young students, like
kindergarteners. One downside is that the teacher has to manually enter
individual student accounts. http://www.30hands.net/
Adobe Voice is a recently released education product from Adobe that allows
students to narrate a story over an array of digital images. It doesn’t require any
video, rather the tool moves images forward in a cinematic fashion. While schools
often want to teach students about good digital citizenship, including copyright
laws, having a pre-reviewed library can be useful for quicker projects. It can be seen
on any platform since it is web based. https://standout.adobe.com/voice/
Answergarden.ch AnswerGarden is a minimalistic feedback tool. Use it in the
classroom as an educational tool or at work as a creative brainstorming tool. Post it
in a tweet or you can embed it on your website or blog to use it as a poll or
guestbook.
ArtsEdge
This site, associated with The Kennedy Center, shows how art, music, dance, and
history can be incorporated in classroom lessons. The site includes thorough lesson
plans with links to videos. http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators.aspx
Audioboom Share your voice. Record, edit, and upload on the fly.
BiblioNasium is not a mobile app (yet). Similar to GoodReads, but aimed at a
younger audience, the platform allows teachers to pose reading challenges in a set
time period. Students can add books they’ve read and post reviews. Some librarians
have found this gamification approach can make reading more fun and can inspire
young readers. https://www.biblionasium.com/#tab/content-new-releases
Blendspace.com Creating lessons with digital material
Book Creator is only available for iPads, allowing kids to easily create their own
iBook by importing images, multimedia, text, and audio. Its simplicity makes it good
for kids of all ages. Even though it has been around for quite some time, some
educators still call it their number-one tool. One downside is that the output can
only be viewed on iOS devices. http://www.redjumper.net/bookcreator/
CAST.org CAST pledges to work tirelessly to understand the full extent of human
learner variability and to find transformative approaches that make education more
effective for all.
Clear is a simple, gesture-based to-do manager. It’s easy to stay organized, take
notes, make different to-do lists and delete things.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clear-tasks-reminders-to-do/id493136154?mt=8
CrowdFlik is a free app that allows a group of people observing the same event
from multiple perspectives to combine all their photos or video footage together.
Users upload all the collected footage and CrowdFlik stores it in the cloud. Then
users can edit the media clips together into a video containing multiple viewpoints
or perspectives of the same event. http://crowdflik.com/
Denver Art Museum Creativity Resource for Teachers
The museum provides lesson plans based on art from its collection. Search for ideas
by grade level, culture, and skill. Many of the lessons include videos and links to
other learning resources. http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org/
Digital PassPort is a tool for teaching digital citizenship lessons. Created by
Common Sense Media, a non-profit that has been creating digital citizenship content
and curriculum for schools, it comes highly recommended.
https://www.digitalpassport.org/educator-registration
Dipity.com Dipity's mission is to take the most useful information on the Internet
and organize it by time. By providing digital timeline technology, Dipity allows users
to gather real-time sources from social media, traditional search services and RSS to
aggregate them in a single, easy to use, fun to navigate interface.
Discovery Education
Need some fresh ideas quickly? Discovery Education offers free lesson plans in
every core subject area. The plans come with an activity, evaluation tools, a list of
vocabulary words, and links to academic standards. Sign up for one of the virtual
field trips, which allow your students to see new places and hear expert speakers via
video. http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
EasyBib and NoodleTools are both bibliography tools that can help students stay
organized and track their research online. Once a student signs in for the first time
these apps connect him or her to other online resources they’ve stored.
http://www.easybib.com/ http://www.noodletools.com/
Edmodo.com Edmodo helps connect all learners with the people and resources they
need to reach their full potential.
Edpuzzple.com The easiest way to engage your students with videos. pick a video,
add your magical touch and track your students' understanding.
Ed.ted.com TED-Ed’s commitment to creating lessons worth sharing is an extension
of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas.
EduClipper is a popular portfolio tool that allows teachers to manage the portfolio
for a secure environment, but still allows kids to work independently. Students
create their own content, use online resources and mash it all together to create
projects. https://educlipper.net/main.html
Educreations.com Share video lessons with students in a safe and private classroom
environment. Have students show what they know by creating their own videos.
Provide rich feedback on student work.
Evernote is a note-taking and organizational app that has become common in and
outside of education. One nice feature allows users to upload handwritten notes to
better enable users to keep all their thoughts in one place. https://evernote.com/
Expaineverything Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and
interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and
export almost anything to and from almost anywhere.
Flipsnack.com FlipSnack is everything you need to easily publish captivating online
magazines, transforming your pdfs intoonline flipbooks. It works and looks great
across all digital platforms, engaging your customers with interactive experiences
and making it easy to sell directly from the pages of your digital publication.
Files conversion now 10X faster than ever!
Fluency Tutor Fluency Tutor™ for Google is an easy-to-use reading and assessment
tool that helps busy teachers support struggling readers.
https://fluency.texthelp.com/
Green Screen is an app that allows students to combine recorded video footage
with a background of their choice ($2.99). The weatherman standing in front of a
map is a good example of the green screen effect. Many educators report using it in
conjunction with other video apps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlH3h19ablI
Haiku Desk is a free presentation tool with many themes and Creative Commons
images to choose from. Users can import photos, make charts, and generally tailor a
presentation to their own style. https://www.haikudeck.com/
Illuminations
Illuminations is a project designed by the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics (NCTM) and supported by the Verizon Foundation. NCTM serves as a
content partner for Thinkfinity, the Verizon Foundation's free online professional
learning community, where Illuminations is the primary contributor of resources
for teaching and learning mathematics for grades pre-K—12.
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Default.aspx
iMovie is still the preferred tool for many teachers using school issued iPads or
other Apple products in their classrooms. It comes preloaded on the devices, is a
powerful tool and can be used in conjunction with other apps like Green Screen or
Tellagami. https://www.apple.com/mac/imovie/
Infogram, https://infogr.am/ Make charts and infographics in three easy steps.
Inside Mathematics Check out the “problems of the month” section for questions
meant to get students to think deeply about math. There are also assessments for
second through fifth grades, all tied to Common Core standards. The site offers
teaching support with example videos of successful classroom lessons
http://www.insidemathematics.org/
iStopMotion is a fairly simple tool for creating animated videos. Students can
record or import audio and match it up to their visuals. One teacher used this app in
conjunction with Aurasma to create a live diorama in the library. It’s pricier than
most education apps at $9.99 http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/mac/
Join.me allows educators to screen share with students so both parties can control
the same desktop. This tool has allowed her easy access to the problem a student is
working through. There are free and pro versions, but for education uses free offers
lots of useful tools. https://www.join.me/howitworks
Kahoot.it Create and play quizzes, discussions or even surveys (which we call
Kahoots) using any device with a web browser… including a laptop, iPad, iPhone,
iPod, Android, Chromebook, Windows Phone or PC and more
Kidblog offers a free, safe place for younger students to blog. Teachers have control
over all the publishing features and student blog entries are private by default.
Despite the sanitized environment, many teachers feel their student write better for
the larger class audience than they do when they know only a teacher will read their
work. http://kidblog.org/home/
http://www.kizoa.com/ video slideshow creator
Koma Koma is a simple stop-motion animation tool. It only has four commands —
shoot, delete, play and save — so kids can focus on the content without having to
worry about complicated controls. One teacher asked her students to use the app to
record music videos that include claymation and collage. The simplicity allows for
lots of creativity, and it’s free. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/koma-koma-foripad/id635794784?mt=8
Knowmia is a free presentation tool alternative to ShowMe orExplainEverything.
While these tools have similar functionalities, some teachers see them as
progressing in sophistication with ScreenChompbest for elementary school
teachers, ShowMe a good choice for middle school, and ExplainEverything a better
option for high school students. Knowmia includes a class roster list and some
learning management system functions in addition to the presentation tools.
http://www.knowmia.com/
The Learning Network
The New York Times produces this blog that offers lesson plans tied to stories in the
news. Categories include the core subjects, along with topics such as economics,
health, and journalism. Check for age-appropriateness because the blog offers
content for students from third grade through high school. And, yes, there are
crossword puzzles. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/?_r=1
Nearpod is a participatory presentation tool that allows students to interact with
the content while keeping control with the teacher.It’s a good tool to transition
middle-schoolers into appropriate behavior online. They can practice by interacting
with the teacher first. http://www.nearpod.com/
Newhive.com NewHive is a multimedia publishing platform. We provide a blank
space and custom tools to simplify the process of creating rich multimedia
experiences on the web.
Notability is favored by many schools for note taking. It allows teachers and
students to share notes and annotate PDFs. The app costs $1.99
http://www.gingerlabs.com/
PaperPort Notes offers a free alternative note taking tool to Notability. This app
does allow for text notes too. http://www.paperportnotes.com
Padlet.com
PBS Learning Media
You’re probably aware of the dozens of education shows on PBS. Now you can easily
find clips from those shows to share with students, along with support activities and
links to academic standards. You can search by grade and subject matter.
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
Piktochart.com Easy to use infographic creator.
Pixlr Editor and Pixlr Express allow for free, easy photo editing and fun filters and
overlays respectively. http://apps.pixlr.com/editor/
http://apps.pixlr.com/express/
Poems By Heart is a game to help students memorize classic poetry. While many
teachers are moving away from memorization as the most important skill in the
classroom, it can be fun for brain training.
http://www.poemsbyheart.org/poems_by_heart/Poems_by_Heart.html
Poetry, a free app made by the Poetry Foundation, is a wheel that spits out a poem.
It’s a way to broaden students’ thinking about what kinds of poetry they like and
gives them access to a wide range of poetry in different styles.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/mobile/
Postermywall.com Custom poster and photo collage creator
Powtoon.com Keeping your students engaged is hard. PowToon generates
excitement and motivation in any classroom - no matter the age of the student.
Read, Write, Think Classroom Resources Lessons, calendar activities, and more
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/
Reading Rockets Reaching Rockets is a US national multimedia project that offeres
a wealth of research-based reding strategies, lessons, and activities designed t help
young children lean how to read and read better. The reading resources assist
parents, teachers, and other educators in helping struggling readers build fluency,
vocabulary, and comprehension skills.
http://www.readingrockets.org/
ReadWriteThink Timeline allows students to arrange work sequentially.
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/studentinteractives/timeline-30007.html
Remind101 is an easy way to text students through a distribution list. They can see
the message, but have no access to the teacher’s cell phone number.
https://www.remind.com/
Scholastic for Teachers Scholastic was founded in 1920 as a single classroom
magazine. Today, Scholastic books and educational materials are in tens of
thousands of schools and tens of millions of homes worldwide, helping to Open a
World of Possible for children across the globe.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/
https://slidebean.com/ Helps turn your contens into preesntations.
Smithsonian Education This is a great site for teachers who want to dig deeply into
a subject. Find lesson plans in all of the core subjects, along with historical
documents and photographs. Your students can even watch interviews with
researchers who work for the Smithsonian. Check out the “field trips” tab for ways
to enrich off-campus journeys.
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/index.html
https://www.smore.com/?ref=logo Beautiful newsletters in minutes.
SnapSpeed is a free photo editing tool which, in conjunction with a camera phone,
lets a user select a part of a photo and highlight that without discoloring the rest of
the person. It’s a good way to call attention to different parts of a photo.
http://iphonephotographyschool.com/snapseed-tutorial/
Socrative offers free versions of its app for students and for teachers. It’s an easy
polling app that gives teachers an instant assessment of whether students are
understanding concepts in class. Teachers can also create short answer questions in
the app. Polleverywhere is a similar tool. http://www.socrative.com/
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
StripDesigner lets students become comic book writers using their own photos and
templates available within the app. Student can write text bubbles, place them in the
frame and create color gradients for added effect. The app costs $2.99.
http://www.mexircus.com/Strip_Designer/
Subtext allows teachers to upload PDFs and embed questions to help students be
close readers and understand point of view: It also prompts readers to write
comments at the end of each chapter, creating a reading journal. It is free.
http://www.renaissance.com/products/subtext
Symbaloo SymbalooEDU is the visual resource management tool that helps
educators and students organize and share the best of the web. Users save their
resources in the cloud and access them from anywhere with any device
http://www.symbalooedu.com/
Teachnology If you need breadth, this is the website for you. Teachnology has
lesson plans, worksheets, and a bundle of other resources on a range of subjects,
including music, physical education, art, and drama. http://www.teach-nology.com/
Tellagami is a tool to share quick animated messages. Users pick a character,
record an audio message or type text and send it to someone else. It can be used in
conjunction with other tools to make it even more powerful. https://tellagami.com/
ThingLink is a free app that lets a user tag images with audio or video and share
them widely. https://www.thinglink.com/
TimeRime.com TimeRime is a web application which allows people to create, view
and compare interactive timelines. The application is available as an online
community at www.timerime.com, and as a professional software solution, that can
be integrated in other websites.
Voice Dream Reader will take any text, like an online article, and read it aloud. It
has a much nicer computer voice than many computer assisted devices and could be
a good alternative. http://www.voicedream.com/
VoiceThread.com VoiceThread is a cloud application, so there is no software to
install. The only system requirement is an up-to-date version of Adobe Flash.
VoiceThread will work in any modern web browser and on almost any internet
connection.
WhatWasThere is a free, interactive app that tells users the history of the spot
where he or she is standing. It could be a good tool for history teachers.
http://www.whatwasthere.com/