Write Comics

Write Comics is a fun site for creating your own digital comic. Like many other similar sites all a user has to do is add some characters, choose a scene, and then add some dialog to create their digital story. Although, not as robust as say Pixton or Comic Master it still is a nice site to use.

Give Write Comics a try by clicking here!!

For a more detailed review check out the excellent blog Life Feast.

Ookaboo

Ookaboo is a new search engine for finding free images.

Give Ookaboo a try by clicking here.

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

Top 10 Website Creators

Having a website for a teacher is an ideal way to share information w/ parents and the community. Not only does this facilitate collaboration but it can help teachers improve their own technology proficiency. Most districts have some sort of preset application that staff uses for creating a website but for those that do not I have compiled my top sites for creating a website. Keep in mind that most website creators are free but for a fee can increase the options that they have as well as the ability to eliminate ads etc.

Top 10 Website Creators

1. Weebly - A excellent site for creating a classroom website or blog that has a secure educational environment. Also, very easy to use (drag-n-drop) and the ability to password protect your site as well.
   
2. Wix - Is a flash based website creator that a wonderful user interface that is all drag-n-drop.
   
3. Google Sites - A great way to make a collaborative/group website w/ a polished look. Very user friendly and lots of nice look templates to choose from.
   
4. Yola - A nice website creator w/ lots of features. However, more features can be unlocked via a paid subscription.
   
5. Webs - A great site to either create a personal website or a group one as well.
   
6. Moonfruit - A fun way to create a simple and elegant website that has lots of social networking integration.
   
7. Webstarts - Another nice drag-n-drop site for creating websites w/ all the fixings: ability to add photos, video, audio, etc etc.
   
8. Edicy - Fast and easy way to create a wonderful looking website.
   
9. Jimdo - Fun and easy to use site to create a nice website w/ lots of features.
   
10. Sitekreator - Mainly a paid website creator but lots of nice visuals to choose from.
    

Noterr

Noterr is a nice site for creating online sticky notes that can be shared via a link. It's really simple and is useful to have if you rather use something online then a desktop application.



Give Noterr a try by clicking here.

For a more detailed review check out Free Technology 4 teachers!!

Top 10 Safe Search Engines

The other day upon reading my email I received one from an educational list serv requesting safe search engines for students. After thinking about it and already just doing a list on Top 10 Search Engines other then Google, I was able to come up w/ a number of them that meet this very need.

However, keep in mind when dealing w/ students and surfing the internet it's important to remember that no site is really 100% safe even when dealing w/ filtered search engines. Although, when choosing to use search engines w/ students I would definitely recommend starting w/ the following sites below...

Top 10 Safe Search Engines

1. Sweet Search - A group of experts (that includes librarians & teachers) evaluate all content from this search engine.
   
2. Top Marks - A great site developed in the UK by teachers who approved everything on this site.
   
3. Quintura for Kids - An innovative search engine for kids that displays results in a cloud based style. Also, has apps for mobile devices.
   
4. Kid Rex - Is a wonderful search engine designed around Google's safe search. Also, it has a very nice visual appeal for kids.
   
5. Ask Kids - A search engine designed for kids ages 6-12.
   
6. Yahoo Kids - Previously known as Yahooligans, Yahoo Kids is a fun site for kids to gather information on the internet.
   
7. Famhoo - A family friendly search engine that filters all content.
   
8. One Key - Developed in 1996, One Key in collaboration w/ Google does a nice job of creating a safe search engine.
   
9. Google (safe search) - Google has a nice safe search setting which can be locked into place at the browser level for those that use Firefox.
   
10. Nettrekker - A great paid site for searching the web not only for students but for teachers as well.
    

Qwiki

Qwiki is a new (alpha) site that is the ultimate "information experience". The best way to describe it is a search engine where the results are different areas of interactive media, such as: audio, video, etc. I like to think of it as a cross between United Streaming and Voice Thread. The reason for this is when a term is searched, the result is an interactive piece of media where the user has control over it (think the way a Voice Thread is controlled).

What I'd like to see in future releases is the ability to embed one of these "information experiences".



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

A special thank you to iLearn Technology for her review.

Top 10 Sites for Creating Quizzes

There is an abundance of online tools that allows teachers to create tests & quizzes in a few simple steps. Technology has changed the way in which students are being assessed and graded. That being said, I have decided to list my favorite sites for creating quizzes that can help assist teachers in their teachings.

Top 10 Sites for Creating Tests & Quizzes

1. Google Docs (forms) - An ideal way for teachers to create tests/quizzes and then embed them into their site for students to take. Also, very user friendly and instant reporting!!!
   
2. Zoho Challenge - A very nice suite of tools that allows users to create quizzes w/ a nice polished look.
   
3. MyStudiyo - Create online multimedia quizzes w/ this innovative site. As w/ most quiz sites a user can either post their quiz online or embed it into their site (ideal for education).
   
4. Quibblo - A fun/easy site for creating quizzes in a social networking environment. Quizzes can be rated, shared w/ others, and even embedded into a site.
   
5. Testmoz - A great site for creating quizzes w/ 4 question types. Also, this site is very user friendly and is taken by generating a unique URL.
   
6. ProProfs - A bit more robust then the other sites but still nice for creating quizzes. The paid version offers up more features such as student tracking, privacy settings, etc etc.
   
7. GoToQuiz - A very simple site for creating a quiz that generates a unique URL for others to take.
   
8. ClassMarker - Another nice site for creating embeddable quizzes, similar to ProProfs. The paid version opens up a lot more options for the users.
   
9. Braineos - A fun site for creating flash card based quizzes on a number of different subjects.
   
10. QuizStar - Create classes w/ students to take online quizzes.
    

Rock Melt

Rock Melt is a new browser that was designed by the people that brought us Flock. This is a browser that is built around social media and any user of Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, will feel right at home. This is because of innovative interface that allows users to control the content which goes on their browsing window's edges. Imagine being able to chat w/ your FB buddy's while tweeting and browsing a different web page all on the same screen.



I highly recommend checking out Rock Melt by clicking here!!!

2010 Edublog Awards Nominations

The Edublog Awards are once again upon us and below is my list of nominees. I wish everyone the best of luck and look forward to seeing the results.

To vote for your own nominees click on the link below...
http://edublogawards.com/

Best Individual Blog - Shelly Terrell's Teacher Reboot Camp
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/

Best Individual Tweeter - Shelly Terrell
http://twitter.com/ShellTerrell

Best Resource Sharing Blog - Larry Ferlazzo's Websits of the Day
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/

Most Influential Blog Post - Kelly Tenkely's iLearn Technology
Twitter Academy - http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=3298

Best Educational Wiki - Ozge Karaoglu
http://ozgekaraoglu.wikispaces.com/

Best Educational Webinar Series - WEMTA Wired Wednesday
http://www.wemta.org/programs/wired_wednesdays.cfm

Best Educational Use of a Social Network - The Educator's PLN
http://edupln.ning.com/

Best Librarian Blog - Buffy Hamilton's The Unquiet Librarian
http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/

Lifetime Achievement Award - Naomi Harm
http://blog.innovativeeducator.us/

Snip.ly

Snip.ly is a nice new (alpha) site for annotating news articles on websites and then sharing them. What makes Snip.ly so great is how easy it is to use and no registration is necessary.

I highly recommend giving Snip.ly a try by clicking here!!

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

RockYou

RockYou is a fun site for creating online slideshows/presentations. Like many similar sites all a user has to do is upload photos, add effects, and then choose how they want to share their presentation.

I recommend checking out RockYou by clicking here!!

Grapholite

Grapholite is a new (alpha) site that I just learned about from Free Technologies 4 Teachers. This site is ideal for making online graphs or flow charts. It reminds me a lot of Cacoo or Lovely Charts in how it uses a drag-n-drop interface and is very user friendly.

I highly recommend checking out Grapholite by clicking here!!

Enter the Group

Enter the Group is a great site that reminds a lot of the CMS, Moodle. It is designed to make group projects easier by using online technologies that combines: calendars, email, message boards, etc. Also, ETG has a nice polished look that is very user friendly.

I recommend checking out Enter the Group by clicking here.

For more similar resources check out Shelly Terrell's wonderful blog.

The Isil Boy Daily

The Isil Boy Daily is a new online newspaper that I found out about on FB from, strangely enough, Isil Boy 8-) After giving it a look, I have to say it is one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. She takes all her resources from her blog/PLN, etc and presents them in this nice innovative format.



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

For other sites to create newsletters/papers click here.

Testmoz

Testmoz is an excellent site for generating online tests/quizzes that I found out about from a wonderful new blog, B's Life w/ English. W/ Testmoz a user can create tests that are either multiple choice, T/F, or fill in the blank. Another great feature is the ability to password protect your tests so strangers can't take it. Top it off w/ nice detailed reporting and you get a great site.



I highly recommend checking out Testmoz by clicking here!!

BridgeURL

BridgeURL is a site that takes multiple URL's and then provides one link for them, similar to the way Fur.ly works. This is ideal and simple way to share a bunch of links w/ students.

Give BridgeURL a try by clicking here.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for the tip!!

For an example of a link I created w/ a bunch of free tech resources click here!!

Top 25 Sites of 2010

With the end of the year right around the corner I decided to dedicate a post to my favorite websites of the year. At first I wanted to do a list of 10 choices, but after looking through the 100's of posts that I've done throughout the year I had to up that total to 25. Depending on feedback I might even do a top 100 or 50 if there is a demand.

Top 25 Sites of 2010

1. Kidblog - A great way for schools to have kids blog. No student email is required and everything is monitored before being posted online.
   
2. Sweet Search - Excellent search engine for students as everything has been reviewed by educators before hand.
   
3. Cacoo - A nice site for creating online charts/graphs w/ a built in chat feature for collaboration.
   
4. 21 Classes - A nice way to get student's blogging in a safe/secure environment.
   
5. Story Jumper -Excellent site for digital storytelling that has lots of educational resources for teachers.
   
6. Middlespot - Is an innovative website for social bookmarking that allows users to collect sites in a visual way.
   
7. Education Eye - Is a fun site for brainstorming w/ this visual search engine.
   
8. Kizoa - A great site for creating animated slide shows w/ lots of different content to choose from.
   
9. Drag on Tape - A very user friendly site that uses a drag-n-drop interface to edit/mix video.
   
10. Shwup - Is a great site for making collaborative slide shows.
    
11. PreZentit - Very similar to Shwup this is a nice looking site for making collaborative slide shows.
    
12. Quintura for Kids - A search engine for kids that acts a bit like a tag cloud where results can be embedded into a site.
    
13. TodaysMeet - Create a real-time, private, back channel chat that brings in tweets from Twitter.
    
14. MeMoov - A very user friendly site for digital storytelling that allows users to record their voice for narration.
    
15. Wordia - Brings words to life through the use of video.
    
16. Encyclomedia - A video encyclopedia where results can be embedded into a site.
    
17. Zooburst - A great site for for digital storytelling where a user can make an online 3D pop-up book.
    
18. Jay Cut - A site similar to iMovie that allows users to edit or create a video.
    
19. Splashup - Looks like Photoshop and is a great way to edit photos and manipulate layers/effects.
    
20. Comic Master - A fun site for digital storytelling that has a drag-n-drop interface.
    
21. Knowcase - Create collaborative outlines w/ this easy to use site.
    
22. Cloud Canvas - A great site for photo editing and drawing/painting similar to Splashup.
    
23. Magic Studio - A great mult-media site for uploading photos/documents/video and then editing them.
    
24. Googlios - A way for students to create digital portfolios online using Google Tools.
    
25. We are Teachers - A social network for educators where lots of ideas and lessons can be found.
    

Blekko

Blekko is an interesting search engine that uses slash tags to help filter search results. After doing a search on technology integration/web 2.0 I was surprised to see the results.

Give Blekko a try by clicking here!!

Thanks to the blog Tech-Lou-ology for the tip!!

Hollur

Hollur is a new social networking site that has been getting a lot a buzz online lately. This is done by recording your own voice to leave posts. Those audio messages can then be embedded into a site.

I highly recommend checking out Hollur by clicking here!!

For another review, check out Larry Ferlazzo's blog.