BlogBooker

BlogBooker is an excellent site that takes everything from w/in a blog: posts, comments, pics, and creates a nice looking PDF Book. Also, the site has step by step instructions on how to export your blog and upload it to BB.

I highly recommend checking out BlogBooker by clicking here!!

Video ANT

Video ANT is a new (beta) site for annotating YouTube video. What makes this such a great site is how user friendly it is. To get started a person has to title their video, add an email address it gets sent to and then copy in a URL of a video. Then a person has the option to watch the video and annotate as it plays along!!



I highly recommend checking out Video ANT by clicking here.

Thanks to Richard Byrne's, Free Technology 4 Teachers for the tip!!!

Drag on Tape

Dragon on Tape is a wonderful site for editing/mixing video. All this is done through a very user friendly drag-n-drop interface within a time line view. This layout is really ideal and makes for one the better video online video editors around.

I highly recommend checking out Drag on Tape by clicking here!!!



Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo's excellent blog for recommending this amazing site!!!

Blogging 4 Everyone

Blogging 4 Everyone is a simple little course I designed to help introduce the concept of blogging to students & teachers. Not only does this course offer tips w/ a tutorial video, but it lists my top 5 blogging solutions for education:

1. Edmodo
2. Kidblog
3. Gaggle
4. Edublog Campus
5. 21 Classes

Click here to access the course wiki and please feel free to use as you see fit!!!

Gaggle

Gaggle the safe online learning suite just got better w/ the ability to now filter YouTube video. I posted a while back about Gaggle how it was a great solution to filter email, blogging, and message hosting as well as filtering Google Apps.

I implemented Gaggle in my old district and felt that it was affordable solution for districts. Now w/ the ability to filter You Tube, I really think this is a must-see option for school districts.

Click here for more info on Gaggle!!!

Bitstrips

Bitsrips is a comic creation site that is one of the better ones to come around in a long time. Like most similar sites a user selects a character, background, object, and then provides the text, but what separates this from others is there is an educational portal similar to Toon Doo Spaces. This is great for teachers as there is built in filtering, content approval before posting, and private hosting.

I highly recommend checking out Bitstrips for creating comics in the classroom!!!!



Thanks to the excellent blog Life Feast for the tip!!!

Search Credible

Search Credible is a excellent search engine that is a combination of 26 of the best ones around (ie, Google, WolframAlpha, Ebsco, etc). This is an ideal site to use when wanting to use one of these valuable resources in one location.

I highly recommend giving Search Credible a try by clicking here.



For another more detailed review check out the wonderful blog, Free Technology 4 Teachers.

Flisti

Flisti is a great site to use for creating online polls. This is very user friendly and can be shared via social networks w/ a click of a button or embedded into a site as well.

I highly recommend checking out Flisti by clicking here!!



Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo's wonderful blog for the tip!!!

Troovi

Troovi is a excellent site for photo sharing that is very easy to use. All a user has to do is upload their photos and then share the generated URL. Others can then add photos to the collection through that URL.


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

Catpin-Bubble Test

Catpin Productions is an excellent sited designed for teachers who want to create their own multiple choice bubble test sheet. This is ideal for those that want to create a test similar to those scan-tron sheets. What I really like about this site is all the options that a user has such as: button styles, answer sheets, different field requirements, etc etc.

Give Catpin a try by clicking here!!

Thanks to the wonderful blog Edgalaxy for the tip.

Ring Poem

Ring Poem is a site I found out about on Twitter from Larry Ferlazzo. This is a site that offers a service which allows people to post their poems online simply by calling a (toll free) number and leaving a voice recording of their poem. It then gets published online and linked to your phone number.



Give Ring Poem a try by clicking here!!

Top 10 Search Engines

A search engine is a website to designed to search for information on the web and then display a wide range of results. Google has always been my favorite one but recently there have been an abundance of other sites that I've found to be very useful for educators. Below is my list of top 10 search engines other than Google.

Top 10 Search Engines

1. Eyeplorer - A unique and excellent search engine designed around a wheel format that lets a user take notes via an online widget.
2. Oamos - A wonderful visual experience that is unlike anything else around.
3. Quintura - A fun "tag cloud" style site that lets users embed word chains into a site.
4. BevyFind - A search engine that speeds up the searching process by combing different elements into one page.
5. Kngine - An excellent "web 3.0" search engine built on semantics.
6. Spezify - Get visual results w/ a sticky type interface that incorporates all sorts of media content.
7. Scoopler - One of the best real-time search engines on the way w/ a built in button to share results across multiple social networks.
8. Webkruz - Get search results in visual thumbnails w/ blurbs of text underneath.
9. Sputtik - A great way to search for results on the web w/ a variety of content covered in different visual ways.
10. Feedmil - A nice way to search where users can adjust their results via a sliding panel that controls the searching criteria.
    

Reform Symposium

Reform Symposium is a free worldwide virtual conference that will be taking place July 31 - Aug 1st. This was a huge event developed by some of my favorite educators:(I just wish I could've been there to help out 8-( Shelly Terrell, Kelly Tenkely, etc etc. This conference is about innovative practices in education and a "must see" for any educator, administrator, student, etc.

The list of presenters includes a who who from education w/ such highly esteemed names as: Richard Byrne, Siliva Tolisano, Tom Whitby, Alexandra Fransisco, etc etc.

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

Free SFX

Free SFX is a search engine for free sound effects. This site has a bunch of categories to browse through such as: animals, nature, sci-fi, etc etc.

I recommend checking out Free SFX by clicking here.

For a much more detailed review, check out Richard Byrne's excellent blog!!

Story Starter

Story Starter is a site I just learned about from Alexandra Fransisco. This is a great place for writers to go to start a story. Teachers can use this as a writing prompt w/ students and even a way to brain storm ideas.



I highly recommend checking out Story Starter by clicking here!!

Create Debate

Create Debate is a site for creating a debate and then having people vote (a la poll) on any number of topics. The results are then displayed in a graph type form as well as reading the comments left by other people.

I have a feeling this is something I could use for the Edtech group on Educator's PLN Ning community.



I recommend giving CD a try by clicking here!!

Thanks to Alexandra Fransisco for the tip!!

SlideSix

SlideSix is a website very similar to SlideShare for hosting slide shows. Not only can a person upload any: PP, Open Office, or Keynote presentation but they can record audio right from the site. This is ideal when wanting to create a sound track/narration to a slide show and not having to worry about uploading a audio file.

I'll probably be adding some presentations up there shortly!!

I highly recommend checking out SlideSix by clicking here!!

For a much more detailed review, check out Free Technology 4 Teachers!

Answer Garden

Answer Garden is an excellent new tool for a person's website. AG is a gadget that can be embedded into a site (similar to a poll) that people can use to answer question that you create. These answers then get displayed in a visual brainstorming/tag cloud view w/ the top choices standing out as more bold and bigger font (think Wordle).

Answer Garden can be used by teachers to get feedback from students, bloggers for self analysis, etc etc.

I highly recommend checking out Answer Garden by clicking here!!



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

Splashup

Splashup is a site I just learned about from the great blog, Edgalaxy!! This is a site that for photo editing, that is very similar to Sumo Paint or Acorn. Not only can a user edit multiple images, they can adjust the pixel and layers as well.



I highly recommend checking out Splashup by clicking here!!

ViewPure

ViewPure is an excellent site for "housing" YouTube and removing all inappropriate/distracting content (comments, ads, etc.).

Click here to give ViewPure a try.



For a much more detailed review, check out Free Technology 4 Teachers!!

Web 2.0 - A Great Site

Connect, Collaborate, Create is a great site designed to teach educators how to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Not only does this site share a great list of links, but provides: examples, activities, and videos as well.

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



Thanks to Shelly Terrell and Larry Ferlazzo for bringing this to my attention!!

School Clip Art

School Clip Art is a great search engine for finding clip art for education/students.

Give SCA a try by clicking here.



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

TxtBear

TxtBear is a great site for uploading documents to the internet and then generate a unique URL to share w/ others. This can be real handy for teachers or students who want to share large files w/ others rather then embed/type them into a page.

Give TxtBear a try by clicking here.



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

Hear Who

HearWho is an excellent website that I found out about on Twitter from the unheralded, Naomi Harm. This site takes text and then converts it into an mp3 file which can be real handy for students/teachers. Also, there are different inexpensive plans that a person can sign up for.


Give HearWho a try by clicking here.

Memoov

Memoov is an excellent site for digital storytelling similar to My Storymaker. As w/ most sites like this, a person can select a character (edit), add a scene/action, and then add text to create a story. This site is very user friendly and even allows users to record their own voice to add to a character. Once a story is done a person can upload it and share via a URL or watch on a YouTube channel.

I highly recommend giving Memoov a try by clicking here.



I'd like to thank Karen Ogen's blog for the tip!!

Teachers First

Teachers First is a great resource that I just found out about from reading Alexandra Fransisco's wonderful blog, Zarco English. This is a collection of resources (sites, lesson plans, etc) organized by subject and grade level.



I highly recommend checking out Teachers First by clicking here!!

Top 10 Sites/Apps for Creating Screencasts

Creating screencasts has been one of my favorite things to do when working w/ technology. I have used this as a tool for teachers or students to help them w/ troubleshooting or even professional development. Wikipedia states, "Educators are now using screencasts as another means of integrating technology into the curriculum. Students can record video and audio as they demonstrate the proper procedure to solve a problem on an interactive whiteboard."

Top 10 Sites/Applications for Creating Screencasts

1. Screen Flow - Quite simply the best, most robust application for creating screencasts at an affordable price.
2. SnapZpro - While not as many features of Screen Flow, more affordable and easy to use.
3. Jing - One of the more popular free applications for recording screencasts (unpaid version saves as a swf file).
4. Screenjelly - Probably the most user-friendly site to use for recording video and uploading to a number of sites.
5. Camtasia - Great application for Windows that is similar to Screen Flow.
6. Screenr - Excellent free site for recording screens w/ an iMovie type interface.
7. ScreenCastle - One of the best and easiest ways to record a screen and share/embed w/ others.
8. Sequence - Very affordable Mac application for creating screencasts w/ the ability to draw or comment.
9. Screenium - A nice Mac application at a nice price w/ lots of features.
10. Screen Flick - A Mac application w/ lots of export features.
    

Pipe Bytes

Pipe Bytes is a great new site for file sharing. This is ideal when wanting to share something w/ another person because it is: private, no registration required, and sent directly to the recipient.

Give Pipe Bytes a try by clicking here.



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

Your Next Read

Your Next Read is a fun site similar to Book Seer that recommends books. The way this works is a user types in an author or title of a book then waits to see what books it recommends. While the results can be a bit "off" it is entertaining none the less.

Below is a pic from the Michael Crichton title, Pirate Latitudes...



Give Your Next Read a try by clicking here.

Thanks to Free Technology 4 Teachers for the tip!!

Top 10 Applications

From time to time I get asked what applications do I use to accomplish a task or what is that cool looking icon on your dock? This got me thinking (always scary) on what applications do I most often use to accomplish my every day things. In completing the following list I decided not to list any browsers or any apps from the iLife suite.

Top 10 Applications that I use

1. NetNewsWire - This is the application I use to stay current w/ all the news/blogs from the web. A lot of people use Google Reader but for me I've always found NetNewsWire to be more then enough for me.
2. Polaris - A dream come true for anybody that uses Goggle's Blogger as their blogging platform. This is ideal to track network traffic, top hits, referring sites, etc etc.
3. iChat - In order to keep in touch w/ my friends/family I most often resort to electronic means, mainly email. However, when I'm online and not at work I like to use iChat as my instant messaging client of choice.
4. Bean - A simple/easy to use word processor that is a bit more robust then text edit as it can handle pics, etc.
5. Skitch - A fun easy to use photo editor that I use mainly for highlighting and making tutorial screen shots.
6. Screenflow - Not an everyday app that I use, but quite simply the best screen casting tool around.
7. Pulp Motion - Far and away my favorite application for making creative slide shows they don't get much better then this!!
8. PhotoPresenter - A nice alternative to Pulp Motion that is very user friendly.
9. RapidoStart - A great way to organize all of your apps in a visual way.
10. OmniDazzle - A presenters dream, nice to create effects/spotlight around cursor.