40 Web 2.0 applications for the classroom

@weirdisister_ann

Tools of the trade• Annotation & Note taking Tools• Writing Tools & Blogging• Brainstorming & Mind mapping• Collaborative Authoring• Communication Tools• Course managers• Creativity Tools (to Demonstrate Student Learning)• Curating• Feedback from Students• Presentation Tools• Productivity Tools• Questioning Tools• Screencasts• Timelines• Additional Resources

All these tools are free with premium (paid for) versions also available.

ANNOTATION & NOTE TAKING

Adobe Reader XI

• Adobe Reader comes with a full set of commenting tools. – Add sticky notes– Highlight text– Place comments anywhere on your PDF document– Search your notes

• Free version download: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html

Evernote

• Capture everything– Save your ideas, things you like, things you hear and

things you see, make notes• Access anywhere– Works on nearly every computer, phone and mobile

device• Find things fast– Search by keywords, tag or even printed and

handwritten text inside images• Download at: http://evernote.com/

Microsoft OneNote

• Digital notebook – A single place to gather your notes and

information– Powerful search capabilities – Shared notebooks to manage information

overload – Collaborate with others more effectively– Useful to take notes during class– Available across various devices

BACK CHANNELING

Today’s Meet

• Receive feedback from everyone in your lecture • Adjust your lecture to your students’ feedback• Alternative to Twitter• Discussions are private• Use online• Gives every student a voice – Allows shy students to also ask questions – Simultaneous feedback to gauge understanding

• Available at: http://todaysmeet.com/

Twitter

• Receive “real time” feedback using the #hashtag• Stimulate discussion and feedback• Available on most mobile phones• Stream is public• Display on a separate screen• Microblogging– Students need to think about being concise

• Available at: http://twitter.com/

BLOGGING

Blogger

• Easy to use Blog platform • Forms part of Google • Get students writing about their content • Effective to reflect on work covered in class• Use to develop student portfolios• Blog can remain private or public• Good for students beginning to Blog• Available at: www.blogger.com

PageOrama

• Create one page at a time– Choose page name– Write your title– Write your page content– Edit page content

• Faster than blogging • Page does not have to be maintained as with a blog• Use to get students to provide feedback on a certain topic• Allows to students to do a short written activity on a topic

provided or discussed in class. • Available at: http://www.pageorama.com/

Wordpress

• Choose between a Blog or a Website• More advanced version• Connected to social networks to assist in

building an online persona– Great benefits for journalism students

• Get students to create a page of their interest, music, politics or current affairs and watch their writing style develop.

• Available at: http://wordpress.com

BRAINSTORMING & MIND MAPPING

Bubbl.us

• Simple tool start mind mapping• Uses simple mind mapping principles • Effective for briefly summarizing content • Available at: https://bubbl.us/

MAPMYself

• More organic mind mapping tool– Effective for more visual learners

• Effective to organize ideas

• Available at: http://mapmyself.com/

Spiderscribe

• Mind mapping tool• Allows for the inclusion of links, images, files, text &

calendar events• Allows for collaboration• Share the maps online• More comprehensive than other mapping tools• Allows for the demonstration of various research

elements• Effective for students to demonstrate research• Available at: http://www.spiderscribe.net/

COLLABORATION TOOLS

Google Docs

• Students can collaborate on – Documents – Presentations – Spreadsheets

• Effective for group activities inside and outside the classroom

• Lecturer can provide feedback and comment on document

• Students can work together on the same document • Documents can be shared with anyone • Available at: https://docs.google.com/

VoiceThread

• Online collaboration tool• Load resources online (to create a voicethread)– Videos / pictures / presentations / documents

• Share the voicethread with your students • Students are able to comment, critique, debate

and ask questions • Effective to gauge understanding and to engage

students in a ‘non threatening’ environment • Available at: http://voicethread.com/

COMMUNICATION TOOLS

Google talk

• Part of Google interface• Available across devices • Allows students to engage with classmates and

lecturers• Connect with students without sharing your

phone number • Students are able to see if you are online or not.• Available at: www.google.co.za/talk/

Skype

• A free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom.

• Meet new people• Talk to experts• Share ideas & collaborate with others• Open classroom to guest speakers & industry

experts• Available at: https://education.skype.com/

Twitter

• Remind students of due dates and assessments• Get students to follow specific people and to note trends in

industry• 140 characters encourage students to be concise – allowing

students to provide feedback• Students are able to stay current with events and provide

feedback on these• Create your own learning space• Live tweets of an event as it happens for real time feedback• Application is mobile• Engage with students outside the classroom• Available at: https://twitter.com/

COURSE MANAGERS

CourseSites

• All the online teaching tools you need in one place• Effective tool for the Blended Learning environment • Interactive, Free Online Learning Platform• Add a web–based component to lecturing• Create your own page “address”• Engage students Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace • Post and update course material• Interact with students• Promote collaboration• Assess and improve performance• Create webinares• Available at: https://www.coursesites.com/

Edmodo

• Social media platform– Leverage social media to engage with students

• Create a digital classroom • Share resources with students • Students engage with their classmates• Groups available to allow collaboration with other educators • Set assignments and provide feedback

– Effective for assignment drafts• Set a variety of quizzes and polls to gauge understanding

– Useful for mock tests • Available at: www.edmodo.com/

CREATIVITY TOOLS(TO DEMONSTRATE STUDENT LEARNING)

Glogster

• Interactive posters– Includes text, videos, sound & images

• Connect with your students and view their progress on their Glogs– Also comment on the Glogs

• Effective for visual learners to present work– Alternative to linear PowerPoint presentations

• Effective tool to summarize learning• Glogs can be embedded into websites or blogs• Allows for social sharing • Available at: http://edu.glogster.com/

Thinglink• Create multimedia images• Get students to access credible information on the Web your

module• Students can create a thinglink to tell a story or to

demonstrate their understanding of a topic in a creative way.• Prepare a lesson using this tool for specific learning objectives

– Using the wireless network• Use an image and insert a video, text, podcast or URL link to a

specific web page. • Embed into a website• Available at: www.thinglink.com/

Windows Movie Maker

• Video editing software• Combine voiceovers, music, video clips and images

into a movie• Get students to use software to create their own

content do demonstrate their learning• Can effectively be used to explain a difficult concept

to peers• Software compatible with YouTube uploads• Free download at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows-live/movie-maker-get-started

CURATING

Paper.li

• Create an online newspaper• Effective to encourage students (in my case journalism

students) to read• Allows one to curate on any topic you find interesting based

on your social media network and other online content. • Information are presented in more bite size pieces

– Newspaper can be published daily, weekly or monthly.• Use content from twitter or RSS feeds to publish• Also has a bookmarket that allows one to add specific

information from the net• Available at: http://paper.li/

Pinterest

• Visually stimulating curation site • Pin information from all over the web onto one pin

board• Effective to get students to engage with content

online and to share with others • Linked to facebook and twitter to share

information • Use it to get students to compile their research in

a fun and interactive way• Available at: http://pinterest.com/

Scoop.it

• A Topic-Centric Curating tool• Scoop it searches the web based on key words supplied by the curator • Effective to collect information relevant to formative assessments • The curator accepts or discards information

– Or use the bookmarklet to add information directly from the web,• Allow students to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant

information• Research is stored in one place for future reference • As an educator you can follow your student and suggest alternative

sources and comment on scoops• Students can also trawl other scoop it pages to find relevant

information• Available at: http://www.scoop.it/

FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS

Google forms

• Use Google forms to obtain feedback from students • Simple online form that can be mailed to students • Results organized in a spreadsheet• Use it for quizzes that can be mailed to students • Effective to tool for students to use for assignments

were surveys are required • Effective tool to demonstrate student

understanding of questioning techniques • Available at: http://

www.google.com/drive/start/apps.html

Poll everywhere

• Instant audience feedback• Easy way to gather live responses in any venue• It works internationally with texting, web,

or Twitter• Simple and flexible• Wireless network recommended• Embed the poll into a PowerPoint presentation• Available at: http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Survey Monkey

• Most popular online survey tool. • Send free surveys, polls and questionnaires • Gives access to survey questions and

professional templates• Allows for informal feedback from students to

reflect on one’s teaching • Generate relevant data for teaching portfolio• Available at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/

PRESENTATION TOOLS

Slide Rocket• Online PowerPoint tools

– Needs to connect to the internet• Available on mobile devices • Allows one to embed polls, twitter feeds and data from Google

docs• Allows for collaboration• Share slides/presentations with ease

– No more large e-mails • Embed presentation into a webpage• Effective to include in a student’s online portfolio• Alternative to PowerPoint for students not running Microsoft Office• Available at: http://www.sliderocket.com/

Prezi

• A visual journey– More visually stimulating than an ordinary presentation– Lecturers are more stimulating and memorable– Embed videos, images and links – Provides an overview of entire lecture– Share presentation online for students to download

• Mobile – available in the cloud• Works online and offline• Requires flash to run• One is able to upload current PowerPoint slides to edit into a

Prezi presentation• Available at: http://prezi.com/

SlideShare• Share presentations online

– Makes lecture slides accessible anytime, anywhere, anyplace • Slideshare is mobile • Load presentations online and share link to digital media:

– Manually, twitter, LinkedIn, facebook• Download presentations on almost any topic• Embed in blogs and websites • Improve own presentation skills• Create slidecasts• Effective way to encourage students to share material

– Receive critique and to defend their content • Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Diigo

• Social Bookmarking site– collaborative research tool, and a social content site

• Diigo is mobile• Highlight text and attach sticky notes to specific parts of web

pages. • Highlights and notes remain even when you navigate away from

the page• Allows for privacy control: private, public, or shared with a group

– Share you “Diigoed” page with anyone • File annotated webpages in one place• Effective for collective research

– Image the possibilities for group work• Available at: http://www.diigo.com/

Dropbox

• Stores information online – One can access it anywhere from mobile devices

• Mange your own material and make it more accessible to other lecturers and students

• Sycs to other applications like Evernote• Share information (folder) with students and visa versa

– Store additional copies of notes– Share PowerPoint slides– Student can submit tasks and assignment drafts

• Available at: https://www.dropbox.com/

Google Alerts

• Set e-mail alerts for specific topics • Google alerts bring the information to your inbox• Enter a query that you’re interested in• Google Alerts checks for new results for your query:

– Searches the Web, News and Bloggs • If there are new results, Google Alerts sends them to you in an email• Easier to keep track of research• Assist students in setting up a query to gather research for tasks and

assessments.– Consider creating a task that will assist students in identifying appropriate,

accurate and relevant information – Delete or edit alert once activity has been completed

• Available at: www.google.co.za/alerts

Google Drive

• Very effective for educators using Google extensively – Alternative to dropbox

• Encourage each student to create a gmail account• Upload and share resources with students – directly to their

drives• Share tasks and notes with students• Collaborate on all Google documents• Access Google drive anywhere (mobile)• Share different documents or folders with specific students or

groups• Edit access to information once activity is complete• Keep information stored for use with another group of students • Available at: https://accounts.google.com/

QUESTIONING TOOLS

Socrative

• Online application• Student response application • Best suited for mini-assessments • Available on any device• Short answer questions or MCQ• Multiple choice questions are automatically graded• Receiver a detailed report on completion of exercises• Space rocket race

– Fun way to engage students in a competitive and fun way• Available at: http://www.socrative.com

Quizlet• Online learning tool• Offers 6 different approaches or “tests”

– Flashcards - Flip through material to familiarize oneself with it– Learn Mode allows a student to track their progress and review

the things they got wrong.– Match words to their definitions– Speller asks students to type what you hear– Prepare for the actual test with an automatically graded quiz.– Space Race: Earn points by typing in words before their definitions vanish

off the screen.• Allows for collaboration • Is effective inside and outside the classroom• Available at: http://quizlet.com/

ProProfs Quizmaker

• More advanced online assessment• Add videos, pictures and other media to tests• Timed tests• Tests are randomized to prevent cheating• Tests are scored• Provides students with feedback• Very effective for revision exercises• Accessible across devices• Available at: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/

SCREENCASTS

Screencast-o-matic

• Free online software to create screencasts• Up to 15minutes for free version

– Paid for version allows for unlimited recording time• Create tutorials for students • Create videos of difficult content for students to view

later• Download videos to computer and share using Google

drive or Dropbox• Automatically converts videos for YouTube uploads• Available at: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

TIME LINES

Dipity• Interactive, multimedia timelines• Allow viewers to comment on, or edit your timeline, making

collaboration so much easier.• create a timeline that includes additional resources;

– like websites and videos, attached to each event– share specific resources with students

• The "add source function" allows you to feed other online account data, such as Flickr, Tumblr, FriendFeed, Twitter and other RSS feeds into your timeline.

• Display the information as a timeline as a flipbook or a list of events, • Share your Twitter feed with students

– Dipity will update the timeline with every tweet • Embed the timeline into a website or blog• Available at: http://www.dipity.com/

TimeToast

• Interactive timelines• Easy to use • Limit to events after year 0 as BC is not

supported • Get students to create a timeline themselves in

order to remember dates and events• Use it as an easy activity for students to show a

summary of the dates and events • Available at: http://www.timetoast.com/

ADDITIONAL TOOLS

Additional resources

• For more applications in education please look at the following links: – By category:

• https://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/w/page/17801672/FrontPage

– Most popular web tools that every lecturer should know about:• http

://www.slideshare.net/janehart/top-100-tools-for-learning-2011?from=ss_embed

– Top 100 learning tools for 2012: • http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-100-tools-2012/

– Other tools to explore: • http://pinterest.com/esheninger/web-2-0-tools-for-educators/