Top 10 Social Networks for Education

"A social network is a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige. (Wikipedia)" Being a huge advocate of social networking and Web 2.0 in general I decided to list my favorite networks for education that targets technology literacy.

Top 10 Social Networks for Education

1. Twitter - Far and away one of the most popular social networks around. This micro-tweeting platform is used worldwide and especially in education (search hash tags; edchat or edtech).
   
2. Classroom 2.0 - Created by Steve Hargadon and used by thousands of educators on a daily basis. This site alone changed the way I viewed education and ignited my passion for Web 2.0.
   
3. Facebook -nuff said!!
   
4. Plurk - A social network similar to Twitter w/ a timeline view and fun karma based platform.
   
5. Educator's PLN - Built by Thomas Whitby, this social network is one of the fasting growing around and some of the top technology based innovators can be found here.
   
6. Learn Central - Sponsored by elluminate, Learn Central is an ideal place for educators to host/learn through Learn Central's virtual conferences.
   
7. ISTE Community - International Society for Technology & Education is a great place for educators to come together and collaborate on technology issues.
   
8. Edutopia - A very popular organization created by the George Lucas foundation.
   
9. Collaborative Translation - Created by well renowned educator James O'Reilly, CT is a great place to learn/share innovative ideas.
   
10. IT4ALL - Integrating Technology 4 Active Life-Long Learners is a nice place for educators to share ideas on best practices for technology integration.
    

NewsCred

NewsCred is a site I just found out about from the excellent blog, Zarco English. This is a site that kind of reminds me of the Mac app Times, in where it allows a user to customize their own reading of a newspaper experience.

Not only is NewsCred a great site for creating your own unique newspaper, but it allows users to create their own stories and then share them w/ others as well. These features alone make it definitely worth a look for educators who want their students to create their very own paper.

I highly recommend checking out NewsCred by clicking here!!

21st Century Workshop

Naomi Harm, one of the truly innovative and special educators around is conducting a workshop on 21st Century Tools using Google Apps. The list of Google Apps is endless and she shares practical easy ways to increase your technology literacy.



I highly recommend checking out this site by clicking here!!!

Book Lamp

Book Lamp is a wonderful new (beta) site that is very similar to Book Seer or Your Next Read. This is a site where a user must register first before they can use the service. Once logged in a person can browse for a author or book and then watch as their results come up in real time. Book Lamp then recommends which books should next be on your must read list.

I highly recommend checking out Book Lamp by clicking here!!



Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for the tip!!

Google Realtime Search

Google has just unveiled a new spin-off of there famous search engine, Google Realtime Search. Below is a pic on a search of the term, technology integration.




Give Google Realtime Search a time by clicking here!!

Work Sheet Works

Work Sheet Works is a wonderful site for creating handouts for any number of subjects such as: math, english, geography, etc.

I highly highly recommend checking out this useful website by clicking here!!



Thanks to Alexandra Fransisco for the tip!!

Snag Learning

Snag Learning is a wonderful site for educational videos on any number of subjects. Also, each video has a number of questions to help engage student's learning. Another nice feature is the ability to embed preview of a video on your site or blog.

Give Snag Learning a try by clicking here!!

Thanks to Richard Byrne's excellent blog for the tip!!

Brikut

Brikut is an interesting site where people can view stories and then add comments to them. Also, a person can post links to them as well. This could be a good site to use to teach students the importance of collaborating via comments.

Give Brikut a try by clicking here.



For a much more detailed review check out Larry Ferlazzo's excellent blog.

Blogs Wikis Docs oh my!!!

Blogs Wikis Docs is a great chart that I found out from wonderful blog, Langwitches. This is a excellent comparison chart for deciding when to use a blog, wiki, or document.

I highly recommend checking out this useful resource by clicking here!!!

Wikibooks

Wikibooks is a cool site that I just found out about from Zarco English. This is a collection of text books on any number of subjects that can be edited by the readers, just like a typical wiki. While this is a very intriguing site it does bring up the question how reliable is the data. However, there is a drop down button where people can rate the accuracy of content as well as other areas.

I highly recommend checking out Wikibooks by clicking here!!

Twisty Noodle

Twisty Noodle is a great simple site for creating worksheets and pages for students to color. A nice resource for the younger students.

Give Twisty Noodle a try by clicking here!



Thanks to Alexandra Fransisco for the tip!!

Kidopo

Kidopo is a fun site for arts & crafts for kids. It has pages that teachers can print out for students to color or use their online coloring page too (think Crayola Digi-color). Also, there is a nice list of links that students/teachers can enjoy for games and other "craftsy" tools.



Give Kidopo a try by clicking here!!

Top 10 Sites for File Conversion

While most new computers can convert some file types (especially on a Mac), there are still a bunch that need help. This really seems to be the case when going cross platform from a Mac to PC. So, I decided to compile a list that contains a variety of different file conversion types.

Top 10 Sites for File Conversion

1. Comet Docs - Easily one of the best visual sites for converting files that is very user friendly. Plus, has over 50 conversion options w/ the ability to do file analysis and comparison.
2. Zamzar - One of the most popular and easy to use conversion sites around.
3. DocsPal - A nice site for converting tons of different files, results are downloading via unique URL.
4. Vixy - A great way to convert/download videos onto a computer or mobile device.
5. YouConvertIt - Easy to use site for converting multiple files.
6. Cellsea - Converts video files of up to 25 MB in size.
7. OCR Terminal - Convert scanned images into usable data such as: TXT, RTF, or Doc.
8. Carryout Text - A great way to convert text to speech; nice for converting blogs, emails or documents.
9. HTML to PDF - Fast and easy to use, convert any web page into a PDF.
10. Text 2 Mindmap - Excellent site for converting text into a Mindmap/outline.

Skloog

Skloog is a fun site for bookmarking that I just found out about from Zarco English, one of my favorite blogs. I like to compare Skloog to SpeedyMarks which organizes bookmarks via nice visual thumbnail of the site. This is very similar to how the start-up page for Safari or Chrome works for a user's history.



Give Skloog a try by clicking here.

Audio Puzzler

Audio Puzzler is a new (alpha) site that helps people strengthen their listening and typing skills. It's a very unique puzzle that is based on typing the audio that is played and then arranging sentences.

I highly recommend giving Audio Puzzler a try by clicking here.



For a more detailed review check out the wonderful blog, Life Feast!!

Print What You Like

Print What You Like is a handy little website that I just found out about from the excellent blog, iLearn Technology. This site is great for printing out a web page especially those w/ a lot of content or one that is very cluttered. The reason for this is that PWYL lets users edit the page they are printing by either removing the background, pictures, or adjusting the font size.

Give Print What You Like a try by clicking here.

Tip: I tried this on printing a very busy Wall Wisher page and it worked great!!

Top Ten: Digital Book

I decided to create a digital book based on a compilation of my top ten lists. This is a free download that anybody can use by either going to Bookrix or by downloading it from the sidebar on the right.




Enoy!!!

Ghotit

Ghotit is a free online spell checker that I found out about from Larry Ferlazzo's great blog. This is a nice site that claims to make assistive technology accessible. Ghotit is very easy to use and free for educational use.

I highly recommend giving Ghotit a try by clicking here!!

Critical Past

Critical Past is a great site that I just learned about from iLearn Technology. This is a site that is dedicated to showing excellent historic photos and videos. It works very much like a search engine and I find this to be a wonderful resource for history students/teachers.



Give Critical Past a try by clicking here!!

Fluid Surveys

Fluid Surveys is a site I just found out about on Twitter. This is one of the most robust online poll/survey creators around w/ a very nice drag/drop interface. Also, FS has a great number of user options, such as the ability to export results (pdf, powerpoint, excel, etc) embed into a site, and create templates. This is a paid site like most survey creators are but the free version should be more then enough for most educators.



I highly recommend giving Fluid Survey a try by clicking here!!!

Wrttn.in

Wrttn.in is a site I just learned about from Larry Ferlazzo's great blog. This is a nifty little online note pad that has some nice features such as the ability to create public/private URL's and generate an embed code to put into a site.

Below is my example...



I highly recommend giving Wrttn.in a try by clicking here!!!

Kids Tube

Kids Tube is a site I just learned about from Free Technology 4 Teachers. This is a site similar to School Tube where kids can share video in a safe and monitored/controlled environment. This is done by the Kids Tube staff which is represented by parents and grandparents.




I highly recommend checking out Kids Tube for all video sharing/viewing needs by clicking here.

Zoom.it

Zoom.it is a site that is very similar to Closr.it that is designed to have people upload photos then create zoom-able pictures out of them via URL or embed code.

Give Zoom.it a try by clicking here!

Thanks to Zarco English for the tip!!

Blog for Money

It has been no secret that times have been trying lately as I continue my search for employment. That being said, my wife came across a PT job that allows people to work from home while getting paid to blog on what they love most, for me that would be "web 2.0".

Having some apprehension but figuring I had nothing to lose I decided to send the company a post of mine w/ a link to my blog. A few days later I was contacted by their recruitment manager inquiring if I wanted to work for them PT as an independent contractor.

Although, I'm not sure how things will turn out, I will start sending them some of my posts to be published through their site. However, I want to assure people that I blog for the love of it not and for money. I will always keep this blog up and running and continue to collaborate w/ others as my PLN is a treasure more valuable then words can describe.

This is an exciting opportunity for me and for others who love to blog and I encourage them to click here for info on how they can pursue the same thing. I need to do what is best for my family and perhaps this is one way for me to help provide for them.

I want to give a heart felt thanks for everyone's support as my readers mean so very much to me.

If anyone has any questions please email me, and if anybody has any experience w/ blogging for money I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks again!!!

Drips

Drips is a site I just found out about that allows people to paint like Pollock using either the mouse or their webcam and microphone (really neat!!).

I highly recommend Drips for those who like creating digital art. Click here to give it a try!!

Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys/Polls

According to Wikipedia, "a survey/poll is a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population." This is a tool that I have used on many of occasions to reflect on students and teachers thoughts about a given subject. While this can be done on paper, a more convenient way is to do it online on one of the sites below...

Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys/Polls

1. Strutta - Not just a site for creating polls but online contests as well. Strutta is ideal w/ it's educational instance which allows teachers to moderate all student content before being posted online.
2. Runpolls - A very easy site to use w/ a drag & drop interface.
   
3. Flisti - A simple poll creator that allows users to share w/ popular social networks.
4. Obsurvey - A great site w/ a wiki-style interface that allows users to create surveys w/ different styles of questions (multiple choice, true/false, etc.).
5. Survey Monkey - One of the best online sites for creating surveys. The free version offers 10 questions per survey, up to a 100 responses, and real-time results.
6. Polldaddy - Similar to Survey Monkey, w/ a nice user interface.
7. Vorbeo - A very easy to use site that lets users embed a poll directly into their blog/website.
8. Text the Mob - A nice site to use w/ a large audience that allows people to text in their responses via a mobile device. Built-in filtering soon to come which would be ideal for schools.
9. Insightify - A great collaborative website for creating online surveys.
10. Yarp - A fun site to use for creating simple surveys that generates a unique URL.
    

Scuttle Pad

Scuttle Pad is a social network designed for kids ages 6-11. While I'm not sure how I feel about young kids using a social network, it is obvious that it plays a huge role in today's society and if it is going to be done, Scuttle Pad appears to be the way to do it. For example, all pictures are reviewed before being posted, kids can only choose from a preselected word list, and only first name and cities are allowed to be revealed. This might just be the solution that parents/teachers are looking for.

Give Scuttle Pad a try by clicking here.



I'd like to thank Richard Byrne's wonderful blog for the tip!!!

Wordia

Wordia is a very cool site that I just learned about from my good online Plurk buddy, Skip Z. This is a site that states, "Wordia brings words to life through video." However, Wordia is much more then a bunch of words linked to video, instead it is a place where teachers can create student accounts as well as share links through their favorite social media networks.



Click here to give Wordia a try!!!

Cloud Canvas

Cloud Canvas is drawing/painting site that I just learned about from Free Technology 4 Teachers. This is a site that is very similar to Splashup or Sumo Paint where there are a bunch of editing tools, layers, and colors/gradients for users to choose from.



I highly recommend checking out Cloud Canvas to meet all of your drawing/painting needs by clicking here!!!

Super Teacher Worksheets

Super Teacher Worksheets is an excellent resource for teachers that supplies worksheets in almost every subject: math, english, science, social studies etc.

Give Super Teacher Workseets a look by clicking here!!

Thanks to Kathleen McGeady's wonderful blog for tip.

I Write Like

I Write Like is one of my favorite new sites that I had the pleasure of learning about from Alexandra Fransisco. This is a site where people copy/paste in one of their writings and then click on an analyze button. The site then analyzes their work and matches it up w/ a famous author. You can even embed the results into a site/blog!!

Below is who I was matched up w/ from one of my blog posts, and to think I was hoping for J. R.R Tolkien. ;-)



Click here to give I Write Like a try.

Mind Map Art

Mind Map Art is a great site for art work dedicated to different mind maps.

Below is an example of a time machine mind map...



Thanks to the wonderful blog Zarco English for the tip!!!

Exploratorium

Thanks to Lee Kolbert for introducing me to Exploratorium an excellent resource for educators as it is an online (and real) museum that focuses on science, art, and human perception. It's really hard to describe this site other then it is a collection of links, activities, videos, etc that educators and students can enjoy alike.

I highly recommend checking out the Exploratorium by clicking here.