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50 Web 2.0 Tools Every Teacher Should Know About

50 More Tools from Jane Hart

50 Little-Known Ways Google Docs Can Help In Education

The following is a cross-post from OnlineColleges.net. Whether you’re looking into online schools or not, they do a good job at cataloging interesting ways to use Web 2.0 tools in education!
Google Docs is such an incredible tool for college students, offering collaboration, portability, ease of use, and widespread acceptance. But there are so many options, both hidden and obvious, that there’s a good chance you’re not using Google Docs to its fullest capability.
We’ve discovered 50+ great tips for getting the most out of Google Docs as a student, with awesome ideas and tricks for collaboration, sharing, and staying productive.

• Access your documents from anywhere: Whether you’re in your dorm room or the school library, you can access your Google Docs. Take advantage of this to make it easy to do your work on-the-go.
• Use Docs reference tools: Take advantage of the Define option to use Docs’ built in dictionary, as well as a thesaurus and an encyclopedia available for use right in your document.
• Go mobile: Google Docs is available on most smart phones, and has a number of capabilities available on the go.
• Save to different file types: You can easily save your documents and spreadsheets to commonly used file types like DOC, XLS, CSV, and HTML.
• Use keyboard shortcuts: With keyboard shortcuts, you can speed through all of your tasks in Google Docs.
• Use templates: Google Docs has a template gallery for just about anything you can imagine, from an apartment bills organizer to a doc for organizing college visits.
• Convert PDFs to images and text: Use Google Docs to make PDFs easily editable.
• Create forms: Gather research information, ask for opinions, and more by creating Forms in Google Docs.
• Search EVERYTHING: Search through pretty much everything you’ve got by searching Docs and Gmail together, thanks to Gmail Labs settings.
• Autodetect links: Simply add links in Google Docs by having them automatically detected, instead of having to input full URLs.
• Adding video: You can embed video in documents, slides, and more to dress up your presentation.
• Insert photos with drag and drop: Instead of going through the process of attaching, you can just drag and drop files from your hard drive into the document, then wrap text around the photo.
• Create graphs: Visuals are great tools for getting your point across. Using charts in Google Spreadsheets, you can create your very own information-sharing graphs.
• Look up live finance data: In Google Spreadsheet, you can use special formulas to pull live information from Google’s finance service.
• Self-update spreadsheets: In addition to inserting live finance data, you can create a live link to that data for a document that constantly updates itself as accurate.
• Draw in Docs: Using Polyline, snap to guides, and other drawing features, you can easily create the images your documents need.
• Insert facts: Using Google Spreadsheet, it’s easy to insert facts, like the population for a city, which is simply pulled through the Google search engine.
• Simply add equations: Google Docs has found a way to make it easy for students to take notes in class, offering an Equations editor for adding equations onto your pages.
• Embed Docs anywhere: Get a link to your document or spreadsheet, and you can embed or publish it anywhere, including Facebook or a class blog.
• Just share: Get the ball rolling on collaboration through Google Docs by sharing your document through email links.
• Turn it into a webpage: Download your document in HTML, and you can share it as a webpage with a minimal amount of hassle.
• Chat away: In Google Docs, you can see anyone who is currently editing the document, and if needed, send a message to chat with them.
• Team up with anyone: Using Google Docs, you can collaborate on a document with friends, classmates, and professors.
• Share an entire folder: If you’ve got a collection of documents to work on together, just open up a shared folder that everyone can access.

• Work on documents all at the same time: Google Docs allows users to simultaneously work on a single master document, so you can come together with other team members and professors to work on a document at the same time.
• Allow editing without signing in: If you’re sharing a document with classmates who don’t have a Google login, just make it available to edit without signing in.
• Track visits: Using Google Analytics, you can track how much traffic a published document is receiving.
• Set notification rules: Find out about the changes made by your collaborators on any given document by setting up notification rules.
• Use Docs instead of emailing attachments: Rather than emailing revised versions of documents over and over again, you can just use Google docs and see revision histories.
• Kick slackers off of a project: Simply remove collaborators doing more harm than good by clicking None next to their name.
• Freeze to stop editing: If you’ve perfected certain rows and columns in your spreadsheet, just freeze them so they’re not accidentally edited.
• Revert back to old versions: If your group doesn’t like a certain set of changes made, it’s very simple just to revert back to automatically saved previous versions in the revision history.
• Save brainstorm notes for group projects: Get everyone’s ideas all together in one place by using Google Docs for brainstorming.
• Use data validation: Make sure that your collaborators aren’t adding a mess to your spreadsheet by using data validation on shared documents.
• Use color coding: You can change text colors based on rules, like setting green for one classmate, blue for another, and red for yourself.
• Clean up your main Google Docs page: Move items to individual folders, and you can make your landing page a lot cleaner and easy to navigate.
• Insert a bookmark: Make it easy to access other parts of your document, like a table of contents, by inserting bookmarks throughout.
• Create subfolders: For an extra step of organization, create folders within folders.
• Get color coded: Color code the names of your folders for quick and easy identification.
• Get synched: Using tools like Syncplicity, you can get all of your Google Docs synched up with documents from Microsoft Office.
• Create your own shortcuts: Put together shortcuts to launch Google Docs, create a new document, and even access frequently used documents in a flash.
• Print multiple Docs at once: If you need to speed through printing several documents at one time, just download and open them as a zip file.
• Quick View PDFs: When you see PDF files in search results, you can just Quick View them to open them up in Google Docs.
• Check your translation work: Google Docs has added a translation tool, which can easily be used to double check your work when writing a foreign language essay.
• Get a grade before you turn assignments in: Using Flubaroo on Google Docs, you can get quick feedback on your assignment, giving you a chance for improvement before you need to turn it in.
• Write in full screen mode: Make your toolbar, menus, and other tempting distractions disappear by displaying your Google Docs in full screen.
• Automatically correct your common mistakes: If you have words that you just can’t spell to save your life, set up a preference to automatically find and replace your mistakes with correctly spelled words.
• Customize your styles: If you like a consistent look for your documents, set up a customized style so you don’t have to go back and fix it with every new document.
• Work offline: Use the offline feature of Google Docs to work on the bus, plane, or anywhere you plan to go without an internet connection.
• Save web pages to your Google Docs account: Turn any web page into a PDF for viewing later by using the send to Google Docs extension for Chrome.
• Back it all up: Google Docs itself offers a great way to back up your documents, but it never hurts to save elsewhere, right? Back up and download all of your Google Documents and save them to a hard drive for safekeeping.
• Use Google Docs for everyday stuff, too: You can use Google Docs to track expenses, maintain your calendar, and more.

How To Engage With Active Learners In The Classroom

10 Fun Tools To Easily Make Your Own Infographics

People love to learn by examining visual representations of data. That’s been proven time and time again by the popularity of both infographics and Pinterest. So what if you could make your own infographics? What would you make it of? It’s actually easier than you think… even if you have zero design skills whatsoever.
Below are my two favorite infographic-making web 2.0 tools that I highly recommend. They both have pros and cons but in general are great for any beginner or novice designer. If Photoshop is a 4-letter word to you, then these sites are your friend. If you’re a tech-savvy designer and illustrator, it can’t hurt to check out some of the work on these two sites for inspiration.
Click the name of each tool to learn more!

Visual.ly

One of the more popular ways to discover infographics, Visual.ly actually just launched a design overhaul of their website. It’s much more social and easier to share infographics. But since most of us don’t make infographics (yet), let’s focus on the killer tool that Visual.ly does offer: infographic creation.

Dipity

Want to get a beautifully simply visualization of data over time? It’s easy to use Dipity to create certain types of web content in a highly visual format. Consider using Dipity as a tool to map out the history of just about anything by creating multimedia timelines.

Easel.ly

I absolutely love Easel.ly. It was one of the first tools I found that helped me create a few infographics for the Edudemic Magazine. It’s also grown quite substantially over the past few months, yet is still in beta. Therefore, be on the lookout for some more improvements to the web-based software. For now though, easel.ly lets you easily (get it?) create various charts by just clicking and moving the mouse. No data skills required.

Venngage

Venngage (likely named for Venn diagrams) is a double threat. It lets you easily create infographics and other data visualizations but, more importantly, it lets you track the analytics of who is viewing your infographic. Could be great for a classroom of students who want to see who can make the most popular infographic!

Infogr.am

One of the most simple tools, Infogr.am lets you actually import data right into the site and then translate it all into useful visualizations. What could be better than that? I could see this being useful for making large posters showing off attendance, performance on certain metrics, and other classroom-based data streams.

Tableau Public

Made for Windows, Tableau Public lets you (like Infogr.am) bring your actual data into the world of visualzation. I like their maps feature but can see the value of using the tool on a regular basis thanks to the ‘live dashboard’ that lets you monitor all aspects of your design. Great for teachers without a lot of time or for a project-based learning environment that wants to track metrics. Best of all, you can make the infographics into interactive web-based visualizations with ease.

Photo Stats

This one’s an iPhone app that’s worth trying out. It simply analyzes the photos on your iPhone and then turns them into nifty infographics. Pretty simple and could be fun for trying out every once in awhile. Costs $0.99 but would be fun to use for a 1:1 or PBL classroom that takes photos on a regular basis. Good for tracking usage of the iPhone’s camera etc.

What About Me?

Want to show off your social media skills? Intel whipped up a nifty tool that I haven’t seen mentioned in many education blogs so I figured it’d be helpful to share. The tool is called What About Me? and it lets you create an infographic based on your social media accounts. Visual.ly also does this but this tool ties in a few more social networks. YouTube, for example. Great for a classroom of avid social media users!

Gliffy

Want to spice up your next faculty or staff meeting? Gliffy (love the name, btw) lets you whip up flowcharts, floor plans, and pretty technical renderings with ease. It reminds me of Prezi but generates static images. Useful for presentations by both teachers and students.

Piktochart

Saving the best (imho) for last! A favorite of the Edudemic audience, Piktochart is a great way to visualize just about anything. You can drag and drop your way to visual success by using Piktochart’s themes and other ready-made tools. Piktochart lets anyone (even those without design skills) become a graphic designer in no time!

50 Education Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Know About

The following is a cross-post from Online Degrees:

Technology and education are pretty intertwined these days and nearly every teacher has a few favorite tech tools that make doing his or her job and connecting with students a little bit easier and more fun for all involved.
Yet as with anything related to technology, new tools are hitting the market constantly and older ones rising to prominence, broadening their scope, or just adding new features that make them better matches for education, which can make it hard to keep up with the newest and most useful tools even for the most tech-savvy teachers.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of some of the tech tools, including some that are becoming increasingly popular and widely used, that should be part of any teacher’s tech tool arsenal this year, whether for their own personal use or as educational aids in the classroom.

Social Learning

These tools use the power of social media to help students learn and teachers connect.

1. Edmodo: Teachers and students can take advantage of this great tech tool, as it offers a Facebook-like environment where classes can connect online.
2. Grockit: Get your students connected with each other in study sessions that take place on this great social site.
3. EduBlogs: EduBlogs offers a safe and secure place to set up blogs for yourself or your classroom.
4. Skype: Skype can be a great tool for keeping in touch with other educators or even attending meetings online. Even cooler, it can help teachers to connect with other classrooms, even those in other countries.
5. Wikispaces: Share lessons, media, and other materials online with your students, or let them collaborate to build their own educational wiki on Wikispaces.
6. Pinterest: You can pin just about any image you find interesting on this site, but many teachers are using it as a place to collect great lesson plans, projects, and inspirational materials.
7. Schoology: Through this social site, teachers can manage lessons, engage students, share content, and connect with other educators.
8. Quora: While Quora is used for a wide range of purposes, it can be a great tool for educators. It can be used to connect with other professionals or to engage students in discussion after class.
9. Ning: Ning allows anyone to create a personalized social network, which can be great for both teachers and students alike.
10. OpenStudy:Encourage your students to work together to learn class material by using a social study site like OpenStudy.
11. ePals: One of the coolest benefits of the Web is being able to connect with anyone, anywhere. ePals does just that, but focuses on students, helping them to learn languages and understand cultures different from their own.

Learning

These educational tools can help you to make lessons fun, interesting, and more effective.

12. Khan Academy: Many teachers use this excellent collection of math, science, and finance lectures and quizzes to supplement their classroom materials.
13. MangaHigh: MangaHigh offers teachers a wealth of resources for game-based learning in mathematics.
14. FunBrain: If you’re looking for a great collection of educational games, look no further than FunBrain. On it, teachers can take advantage of fun tools for math and reading.
15. Educreations: Educreations is an amazing online tool for the iPad that lets teachers (or students) create videos that teach a given topic. Perfect for studying or getting students to show off their knowledge.
16. Animoto: Animoto makes it simple to create video-based lessons or presentations for the classroom and to share them with students or anyone else.
17. Socrative: Available for computers, mobile devices, and tablets, this student response system engages students through games and exercises on any device they have on hand. Even better, teachers can easily assess student progress and track grades.
18. Knewton: Adaptive learning has been a hot topic in recent months, and with Knewton it’s something that any teacher can access and use. The site personalizes online learning content for each student according to his or her needs.
19. Kerpoof: On Kerpoof, students can get creative with their learning with games, interactive activities, drawing tools, and more that are both fun and educational.
20. StudySync: With a digital library, weekly writing practice, online writing and peer reviews, Common Core assignments, and multimedia lessons available, this site is a fully-featured tool for teaching and learning that can be a big help in the classroom.
21. CarrotSticks: On this site, teachers can take advantage of a wide range of math learning games, giving students practice while they have fun.

Lesson Planning and Tools

Use these tech tools to pull together great lessons and design amazing and memorable student projects.

22. Teachers Pay Teachers: Have great lessons to share? Looking for something to add to your classes? On this site you can do both, selling your own class materials and buying high-quality resources from other teachers.
23. Planboard: Make sure your lessons are organized and that your day runs smoothly with the help of this amazing online tool designed just for teachers.
24. Timetoast: Timetoast is a pretty cool for student projects, allowing them to build sleek, interactive timelines in minutes.
25. Capzles: There are so many different ways that Capzles can be used in the classroom, there’s bound to be an application that fits your needs. What does it do? Capzles makes it simple to gather media like photos, videos, documents, and even blog posts into one place, making it perfect for teaching, learning, or online projects.
26. Prezi: Want to build presentations that will wow your students? Make use of this online tool that makes it simple to do all kinds of cool things with your lessons, even allowing collaboration between teachers.
27. Wordle: Create stunning word clouds using Wordle, a great complement to language lessons of any kind.
28. QR Codes: QR codes (or quick response codes) are showing up with greater frequency in education. If you’d like to get in on the trend, you’ll need a tool to create and manage the codes like Delivr and one to read codes, like any of those listed on this site.
29. Quizlet: Quizlet makes it easy for teachers to create study tools for students, especially flashcards that can make memorizing important information a snap.
30. MasteryConnect: How are your students performing with regard to state and common core standards? MasterConnect makes it simple to track and analyze both, as well as other elements of student performance.
31. Google Docs: Through Google Docs, teachers can create and share documents, presentations, or spreadsheets with students and colleagues as well as give feedback on student-created projects.
32. YouTube: Not all schools allow YouTube, but they are missing out as the site contains a wealth of great learning materials for the classroom. There’s even a special education-focused channel just for teachers and students.
33. TED-Ed: TED isn’t just a great place to find inspiration anymore, the site also contains numerous videos that are organized by subject and can help you to teach everything from how pain relievers work to Shakespearean insults.
34. Glogster:Glogster is a social site that lets users mash up music, photos, videos, and pretty much anything else you’d like. It’s a great way to create learning materials and a handy tool for creative student projects.
35. Creaza: Want to bring your student projects into the 21st century? Creaza can make that possible, offering tools to brainstorm, create cartoons, and edit audio and video.
36. Mentor Mob: On Mentor Mob, you or your students can create a learning playlist, which is essentially a collection of high-quality materials that can be used to study a specific concept.

Useful Tools

These tools can help you to stay connected, organized, and increase the ease of building multimedia lessons and learning tools.

37. Evernote: Capture great ideas, photos, recordings, or just about anything else on your Evernote account, access it anywhere, and keep it organized. A must-have tool for lesson planning.
38. Twitter: There are so many ways Twitter can be used in education. Teachers can connect with other educators, take part in chats, share their ideas, or even use it in the classroom to reach out to students.
39. Google Education: Google offers a number of great edtech resources for teachers, including email and collaborative apps, videos, lesson plan search, professional development, and even educational grants.
40. Dropbox: Easily store, share, and access any kind of data from anywhere with the easy-to-use and free Dropbox service.
41. Diigo: Diigo lets you treat the web like paper-based reading material, making it simple to highlight, bookmark, take notes, or even add sticky notes.
42. Apple iPad: One of the most widely used, though expensive, tech tools being used in today’s classroom is the Apple iPad. With a host of educational apps being developed for the device, it’s become a favorite of teachers and students alike across the nation.
43. Aviary: Aviary is a suite of tools that make it easy to edit images, effects, swatches, music, and audio or to create and modify screen captures.
44. Jing: If you’re teaching kids about tech or just about anything else, a great screenshot program is essential. Jing is one great option that allows teachers to take screenshots as images, record up to five minutes or videos then edit and share the results.
45. Popplet: You and your students can use Popplet to brainstorm ideas, create mindmaps, share, and collaborate.
46. Google Earth: From geography projects to learning about geological processes, Google Earth can be an amazing and fast way to show students anywhere in the world.
47. DonorsChoose: Need funding for a classroom project? You can get it through this site that hooks up needy teachers with willing donors.
48. SlideShare: With SlideShare, you can upload your presentations, documents, and videos and share them with students and colleagues. Even better, you can take advantage of materials that other have uploaded as well.
49. LiveBinders: Like a real-life three ring binder, this tech tool allows you to collect and organize resources. Much better than a binder, however, the site also comes with tools to connect and collaborate and a virtual whiteboard.
50. AudioBoo: Through this tool, you can record and share audio for your students or anyone else.

The Teacher’s Quick Guide To Education Technology

Technology has become an integral part of our daily lives: we use it to learn, to shop, to pay bills, and to entertain ourselves. Not surprisingly, younger generations are heavily influenced by computers in a way that changes the way they retain information and the ways they develop opinions about culture.
Today 70% of children between the ages of 2-5 can operate a computer mouse, but only 11% of them can tie their own shoes. At the start of the 21st century only half of all school classrooms had Internet access, compared to 98% today.
The proliferation and sheer breadth of accessibility that the Internet offers has in many ways redefined the process of “growing up” — this graphic explores this redefinition and provides insight into not just how we learn stuff, but also what we learn from a young age now that we have computers.
Check out this incredibly long but extremely useful infographic from Learn Stuff to ‘learn’ even more!