Ten Free Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom

– guest post by Karen Schweitzer

Where to Find Free Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom

Teachers who want to put web 2.0 technologies to work for them can find many different free options online. There are tools for creating online classrooms, social networks, student podcasts, web-based flashcards, elearning modules, and much more. Here are 10 free web 2.0 tools for teachers to try in the classroom this year.

Engrade – This popular online classroom community provides a free set of web-based tools for teachers who want to integrate web 2.0 into the classroom. Tools include an online assignment calendar, an online gradebook, an online attendance book, secure online messaging, and instant progress reports. Engrade is a great way for teachers to constantly stay in touch with students, parents, and administrators.

Elgg – This social engine provides all of the tools a school or classroom needs to create their own community site or social network. Elgg is an open source program, which means it is free for everyone to use, and includes an online community where users can learn and share their experiences.

Cramberry – Cramberry is a unique site that makes it easy for students to learn and study new material through online flashcards. Students or teachers can make customized sets of cards that can be printed or studied online. When students choose to study online, Cramberry tracks learning progress, builds study schedules, and shows cards in a specific order so that students can get extra practice with the cards they have trouble with and stay current with other cards.

PodBean – More than 200,000 people have used PodBean’s free publishing tools to create and publish their own podcasts. PodBean’s tools work especially well for classrooms. There is no tech to learn–podcast episodes can be uploaded and published in a matter of minutes.

Eduslide – Teachers can use Eduslide to deliver elearning modules to students inside and outside the classroom. Modules can include multiple lessons with text, slides, flashcards, links to other sites, audio, and video. Teachers can also access lessons created by other Eduslide users.

Writeboard – Writeboard is a free web-based tool that allows students to easily collaborate on a single document online. Different versions of the document are automatically tracked and saved so that old ideas are never lost and can be easily monitored by teachers. Created Writeboards are always kept private and can only be accessed by people with the password.

Web-Chops – This free web tool is perfect for teachers who want to share websites with students but want to get rid of ads and other questionable material. Web-Chops allows users to “clip” any part of a web page and rearrange clips onto a custom page that can be shared with other people.

Yugma – Yugma is an excellent tool for teachers who want to share their desktops with other students in the classroom or conduct parent-teacher conferences online. The site’s free service supports up to 20 attendees at one time and includes 24/7 support through forums, tutorials, and new user guides.

Knowitall.org – Designed specifically for the classroom, this network of education sites can be used to engage k-12 students in learning. Sites include videos, simulations, image collections, virtual field trips, games, and interactive learning experiences.

Arcademic Skill Builders – This site provides free, educational video games that are research-based and standards-aligned. Games can be played alone or with multiple players and provide a safe environment where students can learn and have fun at the same time. While playing a game, students cannot be contacted by anyone outside the classroom.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the author of the About.com Guide to Business School and also writes about online degree programs for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

21st Century Students need 21st Century Teachers

I’m recycling a couple of videos that I have posted in the past, mostly because I believe that they’re worth watching again.  These videos – the original higher ed version of “A Vision of Students Today” by Mike Wesch, the spin-off , called “A Vision of K-12 Students Today”, and “The Networked Student”, created by Wendy Drexler‘s high school students  – bring to mind many thoughts that I find both challenging and encouraging.  Hopefully you will, too.

Students are moving forward, in terms of technology, and they are finding limitless opportunities to explore and create on-line.  Are we making sure that we teach them how to do this wisely?  Are we building on these innate interests and talents?  Are we harnessing the power of technology to optimize their educational experience?

A Vision of Students Today (higher-ed)

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

Networked Student (by students)

A Teacher’s Guide to Twitter

Twitter is apart of my life almost every day because:
–    It’s a great source of news.
–    There are rich conversations among educators and edtech people.
–    People post entertaining, interesting, and very useful links.
–    I enjoy the easy interaction with others from around the world.

Most people start off in a rocky relationship with Twitter.  It doesn’t seem to be as easy or as useful as everyone has said, it takes awhile before you find your niche, and there is an overwhelming amount of information to deal with.  But, just hang on – it’ll be worth it!!!  This is a guide to help teachers, or anyone for that matter, have a smoother and more enjoyable experience.  It is, by no means, the most comprehensive list of tips but hopefully it’ll be helpful.  If you need a little more convincing that Twitter is amazing, check out Mark Marshall‘s post “Twitter – What is it and Why Would I Use it?”. 

Getting Started

• Your picture: you should definitely have some sort of picture – people seem to respond better to actual photos, but avatars, cartoons, or logos are fine, too.
• Your bio: it is very helpful to include keywords here because often, when someone is deciding whether to follow you or not, this is where they’ll get their “first impression” of you.  And, Twitter Grader scans bios for keywords for their ‘search’ feature.
• Your URL: this is important! People will want to know more about you than your bio and what you tweet.  Even if you don’t have a blog or website, you could post a link to your school’s website or another account you have, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Classroom2.0.

Managing your Life on Twitter

Finding People to Follow

This can be the biggest challenge at first.  Not anymore!  Here are some great ways to do it:

• Directories (these are education- and elearning-specific): Jane Hart’s List of over 700 “Learning Professionals on Twitter, A community-kept google spreadsheet of educators (I wish I could remember who set it up – go ahead and add yourself!), Twitter for Teachers wiki
• Twitter Groups: Edubloggers & Teachers
  
• Who are the people that you follow talking to?  Browse their @replies.
• Who are the people that you follow following?
• Who Should I Follow is an app that seems to make good recommendations.
• Twitter Grader – search by keyword, such as “education” or “ICT” (or “rock climbing”!)
• Twitterholic – this shows most followed, by location, so you can find people near you
• Localtweeps – more local tweeple

Not Getting Overwhelmed

You’ll hear people talking about the Twitter “stream”.  This is derived from a beautiful metaphor in which the tweets people send out can be considered drops of water in a stream.  You’re standing on the bank, enjoying the stream as it passes, but you can’t worry about enjoyoing every drop of water that’s there.  Don’t worry about the tweets you missed – I promise that there are always, currently, very interesting things to read.  But – it is nice to catch up sometimes by browsing old tweets on peoples’ profile pages.

Tweeting

You’re limited to 140 characters, but this seems to do the trick.  Here are a couple of links to help with your tweets:

• TinyURL – if you want to tweet a link, but it’s very long, this will shorten it to 25 characters.
• Bit.ly – this also shortens a link, and it allows you to specify part of the new URL.  If you sign up for an account, you can track how many clicks your shortened URLs get.
• TwitterSymbols – fun symbols you can insert into your tweets.

Other Ins and Outs

@replies

If you start a tweet with @(username), this will automatically land in that person’s “@replies” folder.  You’ll notice that if you reply to something someone said, your message will automatically start with this “address”.  These tweets will show up in your friends’ tweet-streams only if they have chosen to see @replies – you can change the settings for this.

DM

This stands for Direct Messages.  These are private messages that most people choose to use to introduce themselves or to bring an elongated “@reply conversation” over to a more appropriate venue.  You can DM someone from your DM folder or from the sidebar of their profile page, but only if they are following you.

RT

This stands for ReTweet.  If you want to share what someone else tweeted, it is only polite to give them credit by including “RT @(username)” somewhere in your message.

“Following” Etiquette [more on this topic in the ‘comments’!]

Some people say that it is polite to follow anyone who follows you, others choose to follow very small, select groups.   I have found a happy balance by following *most* people, but having select groups of people that I really don’t want to miss out on in my Tweetdeck.   There are probably only two types of people that I avoid following:

•   Those who only write mundane, one line messages, like “This coffee is good”.  I want to be able to  have conversations with people.
•    Marketers – there are a ton of marketers on Twitter.   Be wary of someone who’s following 5,000 but only has 18 followers.  Sometimes they’re worth following because they are actually interesting, but do not feel obligated to follow them if they are not.  I find it’s best not to clog up my Tweet-stream with advertisements.

My Favorite Twitter-related Tools

*note: some of these require you to enter your Twitter username and password – I cannot guarantee their security, but I’ll say that I’ve used all of these and have never had any problems (yet…)

• Searching Twitter: Tweetscan – & Twitter Search
• What’s hot on Twitter: Twitscoop
• Who’s hot on Twitter:  Retweetist
• Cool Stats about your account: TweetStats & Twitter Counter
• Who’s following you compared to who you’re following: Twitter Karma & Friend or Follow
• Make a poll to tweet: TwtPoll
• Tweetdeck –  This is a free download that gives you a separate window (your Tweetdeck) that has multiple columns to display tweets concurrently – with a live-feed, too!.  You can choose their content – personalized groups, an entire column just for your DM’s or @replies.  I like to keep it in the background of my computer-work all day.
• Twistori – live-feed for tweets that include “love”, “hate”, “think”, “feel”, “believe”, or “wish” – the result could be called art.
• TwitterMosaic – Create a mosaic with pics of all of your Twitter friends – put it on your blog, or a coffee mug, or a t-shirt.

Useful Links regarding Twitter

Christine Morris put Twitter to use in her class for some real-time research and shares the experience and great tips here.

Here is an extensive and helpful list of ‘100 Tips, Apps and Resources for Teachers on Twitter’.

Twitter for Academia

**21 (and counting) Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom**

Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools

Twitdom –  a Twitter application database, with over 300 tools to play with!
TwitTip –  a blog bursting with Twitter tips
Twitter’s Blog – enough said

@butwait has a ‘Twitter for Newbies’ page here, with TONS of resources.

If you’d like to follow me, click here.

And, if you’d rather read this guide in Portuguese, see Rodrigo Vieira Ribeiro’s blog!

Happy Tweeting!

Bloom’s Taxonomy 2.0

Over the few months that I’ve been blogging, my post on Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy has been the biggest hit.  And, what interests my readers interests me.  Here’s more on the subject:

Probably every classroom teacher in this country has at least come across Bloom’s Taxonomy at some point.  Most of us can recite the ‘level’s by heart, in order from lowest- to highest-order thinking:

Knowledge –> Comprehension –> Application –> Analysis –> Synthesis –> Evaluation

We’ve come to associate certain action words, activities, and types of questions with each level, and we know that the higher the level, the more challenging the approach.  It ‘s helpful to think about where your content falls on this scale.  I must admit that I referred to my laminated ‘Bloom’s Chart’ almost daily during my first year – because it was useful, but also because I couldn’t quite remember it.  Something about it didn’t seem to stick – it seemed contrived, a little archaic, and not very user-friendly.

Enter: Bloom’s revised Taxonomy, ca. 2001, by Lorin Anderson.  From Mary Forehand’s article on Bloom’s Taxonomy:

During the 1990’s, a former student of Bloom’s, Lorin Anderson, led a new assembly which met for the purpose of updating the taxonomy, hoping to add relevance for 21st century students and teachers. This time “representatives of three groups [were present]: cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists”… Like the original group, they were also arduous and diligent in their pursuit of learning, spending six years to finalize their work.

Let’s look at the original and the revised versions side-by-side:

“The graphic is a representation of the NEW verbage associated with the long familiar Bloom’s Taxonomy. Note the change from Nouns to Verbs [e.g., Application to Applying] to describe the different levels of the taxonomy. Note that the top two levels are essentially exchanged from the Old to the New version.” (Schultz, 2005)

6 years to change nouns into verbs and to flip two levels??  I guess Bloom had it almost just right.  Despite the parsimonious revision, the new taxonomy makes alot more sense to me.  It also seems to make alot of sense to Andrew Churches.  If I was still in the classroom, I would definitely toss out my old ‘Bloom’s chart’ and replace it with this:

Notice that the yellow box contains 21st-century-type/web 2.0 skills!  Churches takes the taxonomy and almost completely updates it again – providing digital verbage that you can easily apply in your classroom.  If you’re a forward-thinking instructor and you’re interested in integrating more technology into your instruction, check out ANDREW CHURCHES’ entire paper – BLOOM’S DIGITAL TAXONOMY – here.  He gives great, concrete examples of how to apply these ideas, he lists many free resources that can be used, and he has tons of rubrics for different activities that address the different levels.  Fun read!  Makes me think again about my retirement from teaching…

Do you use the old Bloom’s or the Revised Bloom’s?

The Beauty of Personal Learning Networks

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve already begun building your personal learning network.

Here is a clever video called The Networked Student about how students are doing it these days, and how this new approach to learning will enhance their 21st century skills.  Highlights include using iPods to listen to college lectures posted on iTunesU and videoconferencing with experts for research projects.  It was created by Wendy Drexler‘s high school students (!), inspired by a course on Connectivism offered by Stephen Downes and George Siemens this fall.

It sums up the role of the teacher as this: a learning architect, a modeler, learning concierge, connected learning incubator, network sherpa, synthesizer, and a change agent.  Educators will be solely enablers of searching and discovering, creating life-long learners who will be invested in their own learning.  Every small step you take in your classroom to encourage exploration and collaboration brings us all one step closer to this goal.

Bloom’s Taxonomy for the Digital Age – Integrating Technology

Integrating technology into curriculum has been a popular topic in the blogosphere for some time now.  I’m starting to find more and more concrete, applicable ideas that have the potential to be easily integrated – thank goodness for collaboration.  I feel like we’re getting somewhere.

Check this out –    Andrew Churches’  “Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy v.2.12“.

View this document on Scribd

• He brilliantly updates the 7 scaffolded levels with web-based skills such as searching, bookmarking, blogging, and collaboration and includes rubrics and exemplars of performance.
• He’s actually been talking about this for almost two years.  Here, he offers digital alternatives for normal classroom activities, along with tools that can easily be used.

Another cool find – Stacy Baker’s blog on how she’s using technology in her Biology class.

• My favorite find here, so far, is this amazing rubric that she has her students post on their blog or wiki page, where they have to justify their mastery of different 21st century skills – searching, publishing, reaching out to experts and more (this is the ideal performance).  Here’s the blank version that they have to fill out.

Web 2.0 and Education 3.0 links

I’ve gotten to that point where my list of “interesting links” is so huge, I’d better start picking out my favorites to focus on. Here are some of them:

A Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter – Jane Hart first put out a list of 101people to follow if you’re interested in education and web 2.0, but the list quickly grew into this – 330 and counting!

Soundsnap is a library of sound effects – so cool!  Can be downloaded and added to presentations, etc.

Jing is a tool that allows you to capture any part of your screen – images and even screencasts.  Very helpful for capturing diagrams and graphs to insert into handouts and presentations.

Make Belief Comix might be the easiest and most accessible cartoon-strip creator to use, even for young students.

EasyBib turns information about a source into a formal, MLA bibliography citation!  Even websites!

100 Things You Can do with RSS Feeds

Who knew that RSS feeds could do so much?!?

• Books. Read books with DailyLit. They will send sections to you each day via RSS feed.
• Word of the Day. Get a new vocabulary word sent to you every day with Dictionary.com.
• World News. One of the top news agencies offering world news brings it to you via RSS feed at Reuters.

Check out this list of 100 cool things you can do with them written by Alisa Miller.

If you’re not quite sure what an RSS feed is, watch this:

Integrating Technology into the Curriculum – Web 2.0

There’s an older article on the Edutopia website called ‘Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many‘. I love this quote:

“Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine and transparent and when technology supports curricular goals.”

The comments are much more useful than the article, itself, in terms of how to actually implement this integration. Teachers share their successes, their concerns, and ideas for technology integration that can work for any subject and any grade.

A more recent reflection on this idea also comes from Edutopia, but from the esteemed authors of “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns”, Christensen and Horn.  Their article reiterates this:

“The United States has spent more than $60 billion equipping schools with computers during the last two decades, but as countless studies and any routine observation reveal, the computers have not transformed the classroom…  The key to transforming the classroom with technology is in how it is implemented.”

From this, from hearing Judy Harris speak at the Innovative Learning Convention, and from many other leaders in technology integration, the message is becoming very obvious and very loud. We need to reach a point where using technology in the classroom is as normal as using paper – no need to think about it, it’s just a given part of almost every lesson.

Try something new in your classroom today!

Weebly Rocks! Build a classroom website, or one for each student!

While visiting San Francisco, I had the pleasure of attending a spontaneous party – we were celebrating Weebly‘s 1,000,000th user!

A proud moment in the Weebly office

Not only is this a quality website-building tool that everyone can enjoy but, specifically, many teachers have found that it offers a very easy and streamlined solution for organizing their classrooms. Here are some examples:

A high school math site called Mrs. Tentoni’s Algebra II

A P.E. teacher’s site

A kindergarten teacher’s site, Mrs. Boggess’s Kindergarten Web Page

A friend of mine set up a Weebly page for her son’s class – the teacher and the other parents loved it so much, Camille made a screencast about classroom Weebly’s so that others could tap in to the power of this tool.

Check it out: