Featured 4-3-2014: Coggle

Coggle is a free, easy-to-use web application for creating beautiful informative diagrams.

 

Coggle users can quickly and easily produce attractive diagrams and share them with others to enhance collaboration. Classmates can work on diagrams simultaneously.

 

Key features of Coggle:

• Drag-and-drop images from your desktop into your diagrams.
• No limit to the number of images you can add.
• History mode lets you go back to an earlier version.
• Track who made what changes to shared documents.

 

The mission of Coggle is to "change the way that people work and collaborate forever, to make you more productive, and to make it easier to share information with others, and to do it in a way that's beautiful, and a pleasure to use."

 

 Watch a video introducing you to the basic controls for using Coggle

 

Coggle is free and promises that it always will be.

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Featured: 2-3-2014 Grapher

Grapher is a free tool bundled with Mac OS X (10.4+) that enables graphing and analyzing implicit and explicit equations in two or three dimensions. The results can be visualized as an animation or image. 

 

Grapher is a graphing calculator, capable of creating both 2-D graphs including classic (linear-linear), polar coordinates, linear-logarithmic, log-log, and polar log as well as 3-D graphs including standard system, cylindrical system, and spherical system.

 

 

You can find Grapher in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder. The easiest way to launch Grapher, though, is using Spotlight.

 

 

To use Grapher, first choose the type of graph you want to create. You can select from a variety of 2-D and 3-D templates. Choose New Equation to create your own equation, or choose New Equation From Template to add parametric equations, differential equations, vector field equations, or series from templates. Select an equation in the equations list to edit or delete the equation.

 

 

Grapher supports multiple equations in one graph, exporting equations to LaTeX format, and includes several pre-made equation examples. It is capable of easily exporting vector art for use in printed documents. QuickTime animation of graphs is also supported in both 2-D and 3-D. 

 View Using Macintosh OS X Grapher Program to plot 3D points 

Grapher’s equation menu includes functions for evaluating equations, performing integration, and finding intersections. You can click any point of an equation to view its evaluation or find an approximate intersection.

 

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Extra: 12-30-2013 MyndBook

MyndBook is for free form note taking. Brainstorm, organize, and review in the way that fits you best.

 

Jot down notes as they happen, organize them later. Note mapping employs both the analytical and the creative sides of the brain. Learn and brainstorm in a visual, non-linear way.

 

 

 See a Myndbookvideo demonstration 

 

MyndBook facilitates review and study. Generate flashcards, outlines, and presentations with just the click of a button. 

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Featured: 12-19-2013 Class Charts

With Class Charts you get data-rich seating charts and streamlined behavior management tools. It is even possible to collaborate with other teachers and work together to address behavior issues.

 

Class Charts lets you optionally include and display key data about each student which can be used to intelligently position students in the classroom to maximize learning. Use icons or photos to identify students.

 

The seating plans you create in Class Charts can also be a behavior management tool which you can use collaboratively with colleagues to track and analyse student behavior. Quickly give behavior points and get detailed reports of behavior for classes or individual pupils. 

 

You can add students individually with the Quick Add feature or you can upload a spreadsheet containing all student data. 

 

 

Class Charts uses industry-standard SSL encryption for data transfer and key database fields, safeguarding student information. They are registered with the Data Commissioner* and all staff have enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks. 

 

 Watch a video overview of Class Charts

 

Class Charts works on any Internet-enabled device, so there is no software to download or install, and Class Charts is totally free to use.

 

*The UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

 

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Featured: 8-12-2013 Sketchlot

Sketchlot is a web-based whiteboard for schools that allows teachers and students to connect, collaborate, and share.

 

 

Teachers create a sketch and share it with their students. The students mark it up and share it back. Any sketch created using Sketchlot can be shared with any member of your class, using the share feature.  Students can create pieces of work using their own devices and share it to you.

 

 

Teachers add students to their own Sketchlot account so no student sign up is needed. As a teacher you create an account with a unique class code. Next, add your students to your network. Your students will log in using the class code and their own password (which you can view and change).

 

 Watch a Sketchlotdemo

 

Sketchlot requires no plugin, installation, or app. It should work on any modern computer, smartphone, or tablet. 

 

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Featured: 7-30-2013 Energy Project Resources

The Energy Project Resources website is a place for teachers to find information about and resources for teaching energy concepts in the classroom.

The Energy Project is committed to helping science teachers support productive learner engagement with energy concepts.

Energy Project Resources has developed several representational strategies to make sense of the principle “energy is never created or destroyed.” In everyday scenarios learners can dynamically track the transfers and transformations of energy:

• In Energy Theater learners use their own bodies to represents units of energy, moving to different regions to indicate energy transfers and using hand gestures to indicate energy transformations.
• In Energy Cubes learners use their small cubes to represent units of energy, moving them around on whiteboards to show energy transfers and flipping them to indicate energy transformations.

Students can describe and negotiate dynamic energy processes with their peers through the use of both of these representations. Learners are encouraged to explore the consequences of energy conservation, verify matter and energy, consider mechanisms for energy transfer, and draw sophisticated energy tracking diagrams.

Many energy processes that are engaging for learners often involve a series of energy acts. These energy acts are separated by snapshots, specific moments in time at which there is a shift in what the energy is doing. Distinguishing and identifying energy acts can be very helpful to students in articulating a more complete and coherent energy story.

The Energy Project is supported by Seattle Pacific University, Facet Innovations, and the National Science Foundation.

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Featured: 7-1-2013 MapStory

MapStory is a free online tool to organize many sorts of knowledge about the world spatially and temporally.

Anyone can become a 'Storyteller' who can create, share, and collaborate on MapStory and ultimately improve understanding of global dynamics, worldwide, over the course of history.

You can browse MapStory or search by keyword. Narrow your search by type (MapStories, StoryLayers, StoryTellers), section, where, when, or who.

Teachers and students are able to create their own MapStories and publish them on the web. MapStories may be about history, important recent/current events, or any number of other subjects.

 Watch What is a MapStory?

The aim of MapStory is to make history, geography, and many other academic subjects more meaningful to your students and their parents. MapStory wants to "empower you to succeed in inspiring the next generations of our global society."

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COD - 11/1/2012 Doceri [iPad Whiteboard]

A special series of posts this week is featuring four iPad apps that can help you use your iPad effectively with an interactive whiteboard. Today's featured app is Doceri.

Doceri for iPad combines screencasting, desktop control, and an interactive whiteboard in one app. Create hand written or drawn projects on your iPad, using sophisticated drawing tools and the innovative Doceri Timeline.

Doceri allows you to backtrack to edit a drawing stroke, an inserted photo, or a hand drawn object at any time. Create, edit, replay, and refine your hand drawn or annotated presentation before you record, or record live during your presentation. Add an audio voice over as you record, or do it later.

When connected using wi-fi or an ad hoc wireless connection to your Mac or PC, you can access and control your desktop using Doceri on the iPad with the Doceri Desktop software on your computer. (You can present without Doceri Desktop via Airplay.)

Connect your Mac or PC to a projector and present anything from your iPad via the desktop software. Doceri’s one touch controls make it easy to control and annotate right on top of your Keynote or PowerPoint presentations, and save it as a Doceri project for future use. 

Still image captures, multi-page PDFs, or audio/video screencasts can be shared by email, iTunes, YouTube, or Facebook. Saving to the Camera Roll lets you share to any service you can connect to from your iPad or computer. 

Watch a video overview of Doceri

The free trial version of Doceri adds a watermark to the images, PDFs, and screencast videos that you share. To remove this watermark requires an in app purchase for $4.99 (USD). Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

>Similar apps you might want to check out:
Whiteboard Lite: Collaborative Drawing (free)
ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard (free)
Splashtop Whiteboard ($19.99)
Jot! Whiteboard Free (free)

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COD - 10/31/2012 Educreations [iPad Whiteboard]

A special series of posts this week is featuring four iPad apps that can help you use your iPad effectively with an interactive whiteboard. Today's featured app is Educreations.

Educreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard with voice recording, realistic digital ink, photos and text, and simple sharing.

Simply touch, tap, and talk to create an engaging video tutorial. You might use Educreations to explain a math formula, create an animated biology lesson, add commentary to historical photos, or diagram a basketball play. If you’re a “flipped classroom” teacher, you can put your lessons on the web so students can watch them before and after class. You can tutor a student who can’t be in your classroom. Embed your Educreations lessons on your blog or website, or they can easily be shared through email, Facebook, or Twitter, so you can broadcast your ideas from anywhere to anywhere.  Students can view the videos on their own devices, or they can be easily presented on an interactive whiteboard.

Features of Educreations:

• Record and replay your voice, handwriting, and drawings 
• Create multiple whiteboard pages
• Choose from 10 different ink colors
• Add text to any page 
• Add photos from the iPad camera, Photo Albums, Dropbox, or the Web 
• Animate images by dragging them around while recording  
• Choose who can view your lessons (with an account) 

Watch a video demo of Educreations


Create a free account and share your knowledge with the world by posting your video tutorials on educreations.com. The Educreations app is free. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

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COD - 4/16/2012 - Innerbody [Biology]

Innerbody is an online guide to human anatomy where you can learn about human physiology as you study anatomical charts and models of every system in the human body.

Innerbody lets visitors view detailed human anatomy charts and gather in-depth anatomy information by clicking on any of ten human body systems: skeletal, muscular, digestive, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, male and female reproductive, and urinary.

The Innerbody mission is to "provide high quality educational content through low bandwidth Internet access to children, parents and schools worldwide."

The Inner sites have become part of the curriculum at many schools worldwide with more than 4,000 sites linked to them. Monthly, they serve about half a million people with about 12 million page impressions.

The Innerbody website uses Java. Your browser must support Java and it must be enabled.

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Catch of The Day - Thinking Blocks - 9/29/2011

 

Thinking Blocks is a group of tools designed to help students solve math word problems accurately and efficiently using brightly colored blocks. Thinking Blocks makes it possible for teachers to easily integrate model drawing into their math curriculum.

Students model mathematical relationships and identify known and unknown quantities. The Thinking Blocks models help students organize information and clarify the problem solving process with a powerful visual image. Students can develop stronger reasoning skills which will facilitate the transition to higher levels of mathematics.

The Thinking Blocks activities provide both guided instruction, Tutorials, and independent practice, Modeling Tool.

The Tutorials sections cover addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, and ratios. Videos show completed examples from each section.  Students may work on specific skills or randomized problems in each category.

The Modeling Tool sections cover addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, ratios, decimals, percent, and algebra. Included are hundreds of word problems or you can enter your own problems. The self-checking feature enables students to compare their own models with those dynamically generated by the program.

Thinking Blocks features:

• Student-driven tutorials
• Numbers and question marks are draggable
• Tutorial programs include a calculator
• Full screen option complements interactive whiteboards

See a video showing Thinking Blocks used to model a ratio problem

Thinking Blocks was developed by Colleen King in 2003 to help students who were struggling with math word problems. Thinking Blocks is free to use in the classroom.

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Catch of the Day - Diagramly - 6/23/2011

Diagramly is another free web-based tool for easily creating many kinds of diagrams such as flow charts and organization charts.

Diagramly is freely and easily accessible. There’s no software to download and install. You don’t need Flash installed to use Diagramly, it's built entirely in HTML and JavaScript and runs in your browser.

The Diagramly interface is very much like a desktop application and is easy to learn and use. Two pretty conventional toolbars featuring familiar icons are docked at the top of the window. On the left is a collection of object libraries including basic as well as more specialized shapes. Simply drag an object out of a library onto the drawing canvas. Diagramly seems fairly quick and responsive.

Watch a video demo of Diagramly

No account registration is required to use Diagramly. Just visit the site and start creating diagrams instantly. Saves go directly to your hard drive and can be formatted as XML, PNG, JPG, or SVG. You can print directly from the app, too.

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Catch of the Day - Diagramo - 6/16/2011

Diagramo is an HTML5-based (no Flash) web tool that allows you to create, edit and share diagrams with a user experience similar to desktop applications.

Diagramo can be used to create organization charts, diagrams, network diagrams, graphs, flow charts, and more.

No browser plugin or extension is needed in order to use Diagramo. Share your work and collaborate with anyone who has a web-connected browser. Export your diagrams as SVG, PNG, or JPG.

Watch a video demo of Diagramo

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