Featured 6-16-2014: ParticiPoll

 

ParticiPoll is an audience polling add-in for PowerPoint that allows audience members to use their own devices to votes.

 

ParticiPoll is easy to use. With PowerPoint, create a slide with up to six answer choices. Use the ParticiPoll menu to set options, then click ‘Insert Poll’ and a results bar will appear on the slide. Press the ‘Start Polling” button, log in, and run your presentation.

 

Direct your audience to your assigned URL to vote and see the live vote count. When all votes are in advance your presentation to see the poll results.

 

 

Features of ParticiPoll:

• Clicker-free system that uses your audience members' devices
• Simple to install PowerPoint add-in
• Drop polls straight into your slides without telling ParticiPoll the questions and answers
• View and download historic poll data and anonymous comments (Pro version)

 

 See a video overview of ParticiPoll

 

ParticiPoll is free to use for unlimited live audience polling in PowerPoint. To access audience comments, historic charts, and to download results data you’ll need to purchase the Pro version at £2.99 (about $5 US) per month or £29.99 ($50 US) for a whole year.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured 5-22-2014: The Math Open Reference Project

 

The Math Open Reference Project is free, interactive math textbook on the web covering high-school geometry.

 

 

The Math Open Reference Project has the goal of providing high-quality digital content free of charge to the end user, while providing numerous benefits over paper textbooks:

• Accessible anywhere, any time.
• Interactive, interesting experience.
• Hyperlinks promote exploration and easy lookup.
• Use the search to look up a word or term.
• Interactive quizzes with instant feedback.
• Lower cost.
• Less weight.

Using interactive tools and compelling animations, The Math Open Reference Project provides an engaging way to learn and explore the subject. A vast library of virtual manipulatives can be used to demonstrate concepts using a computer, projector, and whiteboard. Students can use the same manipulatives themselves outside the classroom.

 

 

The Math Open Reference Project meets the NCTM standards for content and is aligned with the Common Core standards, but also has the potential to adapt to and comply with the standards for every state.

 

The Math Open Reference Project will work with most popular browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. The interactive illustrations use Java and/or Flash, so these plug-ins must be installed on the user's computer.

 

The copyright and license agreement permit any printing for non-commercial use, useful for class handouts.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured 4-28-2014: Scrawlar

 

Scrawlar offers schools free cloud-based collaborative word processing that works on any smartphone, tablet, or computer.

 

Use Scrawlar to create, edit, share, and save documents on any web-connected device. No app, installation, or plugin is needed.

 

 

After creating and saving a document, students have the option to share with any classmates. They can also choose whether other people can edit or just view the original document.

 

As a teacher, create an account for any class. Add your students to your network, each student is assigned a password. Students login using the class code you provide and their unique passwords. No student signup or email is required.

 

Teachers can leave feedback right on documents, and parents can follow along in real-time from anywhere.

 

 

Scrawlar also offers an easy-to-use whiteboard interface that includes basic drawing tools and text.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured 4-14-2014: Quizdini

 

Quizdini allows you to create fast, customized, entertaining activities that will help your students learn more while having fun with bright colors and a playful feel.

 

Quizdini was created by teachers for teachers to be an alternative to the costly and restrictive choices that currently exist in the online educational game market. Quizdini is a still evolving tool designed to allow you to create the material your students will use.

 

 

The games are referred to as quizzes. There are two multiple-choice game types, Quizdini and Vocabulary, question and explanation boxes in the multiple-choice games support the use of HTML, and as such, support links to online content.

 

 

Another game lets students drag-and-drop matching tiles together, an activity nicely suited to interactive whiteboards.

 

Quizzes can be shared with colleagues or students by copying and sharing the game's unique URL from your browser's address bar.

 

 Go to the Quizdini YouTube channel

 

Quizdini doesn't advertise or store sensitive information on your students. They have committed to providing teachers with a simple easy-to-use, easy-to-control system that helps students.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured 3-13-2014: Vyew

Vyew is a free next-generation online collaboration and web conferencing service that brings people and content together.

 

With Vyew you can give a presentation to an entire class or post a document for review by your students in class or at home, facilitating a 'flipped classroom' concept. Vyew is extremely flexible allowing you to bring online collaboration and sharing into your teaching.

 

Vyew allows you to meet and share content in real-time or at anytime convenient to your viewers. Upload images, files, documents, and videos into a room that users can access and contribute to at no matter when.

 

Vyew is web-based, running in your browser, no downloads necessary. Consequently it's compatible with PC, Mac, and Linux. Vyew supports a broad array of file types: doc, xls, pdf, ppt, jpg, gif, png, swf, txt, rtf, mp3, flv, and more. Mix and arrange files any way you like.

Conferencing features include whiteboarding, video conferencing, screen sharing, and VOIP. Collaboration features such as contextual discussion forums, voice-notes, tracking and logging activity can be found. Continuous rooms are always saved and always-on. 

Key features of Vyew:

• Draw/Annotate – full set of drawing, commenting and discussion tools
• Desktop Sharing – Stream your screen in real-time to people in your meeting
• Instant Screen Capture – Take snapshots of your screen and insert them into a meeting
• Video Conference – Up to 5 people can broadcast their video to everyone in the room.
• Publish – Include read-only versions of your meeting on a web site, blog, in HTML emails, etc.

 View a demo of Vyew

 

Vyew promises the free version (unlimited use with up to 10 people) will remain free, however, it is ad-supported.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 2-19-2014 Timerime

TimeRime is a web application that allows users to create, view, and compare interactive timelines.

 

TimeRime timelines can be interactive and multimedia, incorporating text, music, YouTube movies, Google Maps, and so on.

 

 

The TimeRime online community allows people from all around the world to view, create, and compare timelines about anything that relates to time. For instance a timeline about a scientific development, or an historical event.

 

 

Visitors to the website can register for a free account allowing them to create timelines. Timerime Edu Standard offers the following additional features for an annual fee of €149 (about $200 US):

• Your own TimeRime environment with restricted access.
• Access for all students and teachers in your school.
• Unlimited number of timelines.
• No advertisements.
• Teachers have admin rights that allow them to view, edit or delete timelines of students, and to grant and deny access to students.
• Timelines can be saved as pdf.
• Smartboard compatibility.

 Watch a screencast showing how to use Timerime

 

Timerime is available in English, Dutch, and Spanish. Flash is required.

 

 DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0 

Featured: 2-18-2014 TimelineJS

TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables users to build visually rich interactive timelines. Create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet.

 

Make your own interactive timeline in four easy steps:

1. Build a new Google spreadsheet using the TimelineJS template. Drop in dates, text and links to media.
2. Publish the Google spreadsheet to the web to generate a URL.
3. Copy and paste the spreadsheet URL into the generator box on the TimelineJS site.
4. Copy the resulting embed code and paste it into your site where you want your timeline to appear.

Media from a number of sources can be used with built-in support for Twitter, Flickr, Google Maps, YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, Wikipedia, and more.

 

 

 See a video walk-through of TimelineJS

 

TimelineJS works on any site or blog. All modern browsers are supported (as well as Internet Explorer 8+). It is available in 40 languages.

  

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0 

Featured: 2-11-2014 Quandary Game

Quandary is a free, online, award-winning game for players aged 8 to 14, that engages students in ethical decision-making and develops skills that will help them manage challenging ethical issues in their own lives.

 

 

Quandary presents situations relative to building a new colony on the planet Braxos. Players must make decisions in situations that have no clear right or wrong answers but do lead to consequences for themselves, others in the colony, and to the planet Braxos. Players must consider facts, opinions, and solutions as they interact with other settlers in the colony, 

 

Playing Quandary can help participants develop such skills as critical thinking, perspective-taking, and decision-making. The game provides a structure for approaching ethical decision-making without telling players what to think. 

 

 

Quandary is a digital card-based game with three scenarios. Each takes about 10-30 minutes to complete, depending on the speed of the player. 

 

 See a video showing how teachers and students can use Quandary in the classroom

 

 Read a PDF that shows how Quandary correlates to the CCSS for English Arts

 

The game and supporting materials are all free. Quandary will work on any web browser with the latest version of the Flash player plug-in. 

  Quandary is also available as a standalone app for Android and iOS tablet devices.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 1-28-2014 MathDisk

Create your own worksheets to visualize, interact with, and explore mathematics with MathDisk online.

 

MathDisk lets teachers and students explore mathematics in an engaging and interactive way with Natural Math notation, so students can simply type the expressions as they see them in their textbooks. 

 

MathDisk features:

• Type textbook expressions without any need for specialized syntax.
• Use drag-and-drop expressions to easily build 2-D and 3-D graphs.
• Enrich your math worksheet with rich multimedia, such as image effects and videos.
• Explore and correlate math and physics.
• Use step-by-step animation with narration to explain complex concepts.
• Easily share or embed worksheets online.

 

 

MiBook - Math Interactive Book runs on your desktop and is intended for offline use. It incorporates all the features of the online version of MathDisk along with built-in ebook features to customize your products. Create and organize your worksheets into pages, chapters, and books. Import worksheets from web into your local MiBook application. Browse your worksheets offline, edit them, and create new ones anytime.

 

Experience interactive math on tablets incorporating rich user interface elements and high definition mathematical graphs that capitalize on cutting edge 3-D capabilities. The MiBook Explorer apps are available for both Android and iOS.

 

 See an introduction to MathDisk 3.0 

 

MathDisk is a small, self-funded, start-up company which began with a passion for mathematics and an "idea that high-end mathematical software tools should be simple for novice users-like educators and students-to create content, collaborate, and learn effectively."

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 1-22-2014 StrataLogica

StrataLogica brings maps, globes, atlases, and charts to life in an environment where teachers and students can "actively engage with our multi-layered world and easily share content and collaborate in ways never before imagined."

 

Recently redesigned with one-of-a-kind content creation and collaborative features, web-based, and powered by Google Earth, StrataLogica is designed for use on computers, projectors, and interactive whiteboards. It has been used by thousands and has been well-reviewed by both educators and students. 

 

StrataLogica for the iPad is a free app where students can learning about our world with a tap or pinch of their fingers. Version 2.0 brings powerful features for creating content, collaborating, and sharing from the desktop to the iPad.

 

StrataLogica for the iPad features: 

• Tools (marker, symbols, text labels and pushpins) to add your own content onto geography, history, and earth science layers.
• Save and share custom views or presentations with school or district students or colleagues.
• Share content with anyone in the world via Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail.
• Teachers can initiate dynamic collaborative projects with students.
• Access e-book atlases and related student activities.

StrataLogica delivers a unique educational experience. Even without a school account, you can experience a sampling of StrataLogica's interactive layers for free.

 

 See a video overview of StrataLogica for iPad

 

The web version of StrataLogica is supported on all major browsers and operating systems. To view maps in 3D you need the Google Earth Plugin. The StrataLogica app is free and is compatible with iPads using iOS 6.0 or later.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 1-20-2014 Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is a free iPad app that offers a simple new way to create inspired presentations for teaching a lesson or telling a story.

Intuitive touch controls let Haiku Deck users create, edit, and share presentations right on their iPads. Bold, clear visuals have been optimized for mobile displays. Haiku Decks can also be edited online in a browser and synched to your iPad.

 

Haiku Deck features: 

• Choose from a range of stylish, professionally designed themes.
• Multiline text layouts and font color choices for flexibility and variety.
• Powerful image search puts millions of images at your fingertips.
• Create beautiful pie charts, bar charts, and stat charts.
• Streamlined numbered and bulleted list templates.
• Import, crop, and reposition images from your iPad, Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Dropbox, Google Drive, or Picasa.

In-app Public Notes lets you add context, supporting detail, and links to easily create a PDF handout or round out your slide content online. Capture talking points or a script with Private Notes.

 

 

View or present Haiku Decks with an iPad, a projector, a smartphone, or any web browser. Export to PowerPoint, Keynote, or PDF. Share decks via email, Twitter, Facebook, or embed in your blog or website.

  

 Watch an introduction to Haiku Deck
 

Haiku Deck is also available in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. iOS 6.0 or later is required.
  

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 1-14-2014 Nutmeg Education

Nutmeg Education is designed to give teachers an easy way to assess, track and improve student performance and build better Common Core assessments.

Create assessments with questions from Nutmeg Education's repository, or create your own questions. Pick from or create multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank or true/false questions. In the works are auto-generated questions and “interactive” questions, such as responding by clicking on a point in the coordinate plan.

The Live Resource Bank is a collection of Common Core aligned videos, games, and worksheets that can be attached to an assessment. The related Common Core standard appears to students below each question in their quiz results. All of the items in the bank come from free online websites and Open Education Resources  All are rated by teachers and sorted with the best, most-used resources at the top.

  

Students will be sent login details and “New Assessment” notifications via email. Students can take assessments with any web-connected device, or even with paper/pencil.

Students with access to an iOS device can use this free Nutmeg Education app to take your assessments. Students get immediate feedback and access to free tutorials and resources to improve.

 

 

Nutmeg Education supports learning by providing you with data and insights on students' Common Core understanding. 

 

Watch Nutmeg Education: Fostering a National Teacher Community

 

Early adopters will get Nutmeg Education completely free for one year. In a few months, new users will start to be charged for full access to the site.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 12-12-2013 Anki

Anki is a program which has been designed to make remembering things easier. Decrease the time spent studying, or increase the amount you learn.

People who need to remember things can benefit from Anki. It can be applied to study all kinds of content, supporting images, audio, videos, and LaTeX for science/mathematics.

Some possible uses for Anki might include language learning, studying for professional exams, memorizing names and faces, brushing up on geography, and more.

Features:

• The free AnkiWeb synchronization service keeps your cards in sync across multiple devices.
• Anki has a numerous options for customization, from card layout to review timing.
• Embed audio clips, images, videos and scientific markup on your cards, with precise control over how it's shown.
• Anki can handle decks of more than 100,000 cards.
• It's fully extensible with a large number of add-ons available.

 Watch an Ankitutorial

AnkiWeb is a free companion to the downloadable version of Anki and can be used to review online when you don't have access to your home computer.

Anki works on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, any device with a web browser.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0