Favorite Web Based Tools for the Class

In today's world of budget cuts and - ummm - NO MONEY, the need for free technology tools for classroom use is so important. From Google apps to story telling tools, photo editing tools, online mind mapping, slide and audio tools......the list just goes on.
What are your favorite tools?
Here are some of mine:
Slide Tools:
Bubbleshare
Video Tools:
One True Media
Joggle
Jaycut
Vuvox
Vuvox Collage
Voicethread
Animoto: Make sure you sign up for the "Education version"
Comics Tools
Kerpoof
Comics Sketch
Piki Strips
Timeline Tools
XTimeline
Example of XTimeline by my students, CLICK HERE

I'm eager to hear what you all like to use. Lets create a master list and share with everyone.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katy Scott on March 6, 2010 at 3:46pm

I agree! Thanks for these resources -- there's definitely a few new ones I'll have to check out.

I started a blog to try to help teachers integrate technology on a budget. Some of the best sites I've found are listed there, at http://digitaldollar.edublogs.org/resources/

Permalink Reply by Winfred Supple on May 10, 2010 at 8:27am

Thanks for the info. Keep it coming!

Permalink Reply by Jill B on April 3, 2010 at 10:51am

You could add glogster.com to your list. Ofcourse my school district blocked it, but Glogster opened up an edu version. I think the web address is edu.glogster.com. It's one of my favorite web 2.0's.

Permalink Reply by Vicki Reid on May 1, 2010 at 8:57pm

Have you tried Prezi? It is really cool.

Permalink Reply by Kelli L. Frazier on June 7, 2010 at 7:22pm

Very nice!

Permalink Reply by carmin karasic on May 2, 2010 at 12:46pm

My favorite web based tools are Google Earth, VoiceThread, Google Docs, and Ning. (But I have to replace Ning, since it not going to be free much longer. Any suggestions?) I teach online 'technology in education' classes. My students are graduate students. We use Google Earth for digital storytelling. We used VoiceThread to introduce ourselves at the beginning of the class, and later for a class debate. We prepare for the debate using 2 separate Google docs for the 2 debate teams. We use Ning throughout the class as the primary discussion and community area -- it is much better at engaging my students and creating a sense of community than Blackboard! On a more general level -- not exactly favorites, but fun or useful: geotagging with Flickr, Diigo for group research & discussion about the research, and screenr for making demo video clips.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Williams on May 5, 2010 at 8:25am

Hi Carmin,
One free alternative I have found is Mixxt, at Mixxt.org, yet I have not tried it yet. Now that Ning is getting rid of its free plansI haven't decided what I am going to do yet... whether paying 2.95/month for something inferior to what I have created at Broward byte, or try to find something else.
If you try out Mixxt I am eager to hear how it is.

Permalink Reply by carmin karasic on May 5, 2010 at 9:43am

Yes -- the 3 bucks isn't much -- but, like you, I don't like that I am getting less than I have now...
I will check out Mixxt. I just looked at Grou.ps (http://grou.ps/ ) and Spurz ( http://www.spruz.com/ ) ... Anyone tries either? Spurz widgets seem to slow it down - but they welcome Ning refugees. Grou.ps looks great & boasts that it has all that Ning has AND MORE for free... but maybe its too good to be true...

This Mashable article pointed me toward Spurz and Grou.ps
http://mashable.com/2010/04/18/ning-alternatives/

Permalink Reply by Jeff O'Hara on May 5, 2010 at 11:26am

You can add http://www.edmodo.com to the list :) I'm the founder of Edmodo if you have any questions.

Permalink Reply by Anjali Rajan on May 10, 2010 at 1:53am

There is so much to learn here! Thanks for all the resources listed in this discussion.

Most of my favourite web based tools are already listed here. :-) Voicethread, vovox jaycut..and the list can go on and on...
Recently I tried www.prezi.com and found it interesting. I have started using it instead of PPTs. Example
I also find wallwisher an interesting tool..i have used it as a tool to announce class awards and to display group work.
Example

Busy bees award

I read about 3B 3D rooms and tried downloadng it...tough luck...it just didn't happen. Has anyone here worked with 3B 3D rooms, How useful are they? ...Is it user friendly?

Permalink Reply by carmin karasic on May 10, 2010 at 2:56am

The great things about prezi is that it makes visually captivating presentations AND it is FREE for educators. I use it too.

Permalink Reply by Anjali Rajan on May 10, 2010 at 4:39am

Very true...visually captivating presentations..I love the zoom in and zoom out effect. Prezi can be very useful in getting students to organize ideas or arrange things according to hierarchy. I got my ESL students to create a story using prezi.... outlining the major happenings in a story. The whole process was interesting ... students communicated with each other to organize and plan the prezi, look for relevant pictures or media and then link up all the content by creating a 'path'. Prezi was effective ..students had many questions...a lot of how..n where...? ( a positive sign that they were working and learning was happening) ...Prezi is really an amazing tool... It's free for educators..that's the icing on the cake :-)