Featured: 11-25-2013 Kahoot!

Kahoot! delivers educational content through asking meaningful questions in real-time, resulting in a social, fun, and game-like environment.

Build quizzes, called Kahoots!, on any device using a simple drag-and-drop tool. Include embedded images and video.

Project the quiz onto a screen or interactive whiteboard to engage and focus students who quickly join through their personal device, seeing their name appear (without needing an account).

Students play against each other, answering questions in real-time through an easy-to-use interface, while you facilitate and discuss the content.

Kahoot! allows learners to both respond and create with any device that has a web browser and works over wifi or 3G/4G. Students can share their knowledge by playing their Kahoot back to classmates. You can assess the quality of student questions, while the other students answer the questions.

 Watch a video demonstrating the basics of the Kahoot! website for the K-12 classroom.

Formatively assess individual knowledge and adapt learning. Kahoot! data provides you with a ‘snapshot’ of each learner's current understanding and tracks longer term progress.

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Featured: 4-16-2013 Widbook [Writing]

 

Widbook is an intelligent platform where authors and readers have the opportunity to share their best digital content with people worldwide.

On Widbook, you can begin a book from scratch or upload your already completed or in-progress content in order to publish it. The Editor Tool enables users to visualize their work and use features such as keywords, bookmarks, highlights, real time chat, and more.

Invite people to make comments and add suggestions to your work. Widbook is a creative way to share content and spread ideas. Give some suggestions to another author or add a comment to a book.

 Watch the video: Widbook - Write, read and share!

Using Widbook, friends can share and post their favorite books, stories, and comments on their social network. Find books, save the favorites onto your bookshelf, and follow the authors.

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Featured: 3/6/2013 YouAndI School [Tutors]

YouAndI School is a social private tutoring service on Facebook connecting experienced tutors with students looking for help.



YouAndI School offers students in-person and/or online tutoring in a variety of formats: one-on-one sessions, group lessons, and online classes. Students can choose what is best for their individual needs. Tutoring is available in many subjects such as academics and test prep, foreign languages, technology, art and music, sports, lifestyle  and business.



As for tutors, YouAndI School provides an opportunity to reach students worldwide. Many tools are available that can help you succeed and grow your tutoring business.

Features for tutors are:

• Easily manage classes and lessons.
• Expand your professional network to search for prospective students.
• Online and offline marketing solutions.
• Safe and simple payment process.
• Efficient student management.

Watch a video: Social and Private tutoring, YouAndI Schoooooool!!!!

Tutors set their own rates. YouAndI School takes a 15% commission on what you are paid by students.

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

11/7/2012 Scribophile [Writing]

Scribophile is an online writing group made up of writers who help each other with insightful critiques and by sharing their writing experiences.

Scribophile works on a karma point system. Members earn karma points by submitting thoughtful critiques for the work of others. If you're not sure how to critique, Scribophile shows you how to do it.

Everyone has to earn karma points before they can post. Members spend their karma points to post their own writing for feedback from the Scribophile community. Each work you post is guaranteed to get at least three long critiques.

With critiques from other writers, a professional writing blog, and writing forums, Scribophile can help improve your writing. Meet and connect with writers from all over the world. Your rights are protected as you have full control over your writing. Only other Scribophile members can read it.

The Scribophile system strives to ensure that every work you post gets insightful critiques from other talented writers.

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COD - 10/15/2012 - Fixoodle [Languages]

Fixoodle is a language learning community where people studying languages can help each other to learn.

If you are trying to learn a language, post to Fixoodle in the language you are trying to learn, then wait for people who speak that language to correct your writing. See how a native speaker might write the same thing.

 

Help others learn by fixing the errors people make in short posts written in your native language. Fixes are automatically highlighted. 

• Original: Fixes are automatic make highlight.
• Fixes: Fixes are automaticallymake highlighted
• Final: Fixes are automatically highlighted.

As a reward for fixing, any posts you submit for correction are displayed higher up in the list of posts awaiting fixes. Translate short pieces of text that people have requested. You can learn from how other people translate, too.

 

 

Fixoodle is social learning with groups, messaging, videos, and friend functions. Get to know people from other countries, find language partners, start language exchanges, and get connected.

 

Watch a video intro to Fixoodle

Through posting, fixing, requesting, and translating, Fixoodle helps you learn other languages and have a little fun at the same time.

 

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

COD - 10/1/2012 - StudyHall [Student Sharing]

Classmates can share and connect with each other using StudyHall, a peer-to-peer learning platform.

StudyHallwas built to put collaboration and productivity tools in the hands of students, combining live interactive features with helpful Q and A course pages.

StudyHall can engage students and enhance the classroom experience. Even when students are back home, but in need of help, StudyHall can recreate the classroom discussion experience.

Sharing a studyhall lets your classmates see what you’ve been studying and read notes that you have taken. Collaborate even after your study session has ended. You can chose to keep some notes private, though.

StudyHallis built only for students. Students will have access to an academic environment that only students can access. StudyHall gives college students a free, sophisticated online tool that enables them to collaborate with trusted peers, without the noise, distractions, and privacy issues other networks.

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COD - 9/20/2012 - EducationWorld [Resources]

EducationWorld is a free and comprehensive resource for educators, a place where teachers can gather and share ideas, and find high-quality lesson plans and research materials.

The original content offered at EducationWorld includes lesson plans, practical information for educators, information on how to integrate technology in the classroom, and articles written by education experts.

Other resources at EducationWorld:

• Website reviews
• Special features and columns
• Employment listings

EducationWorld was founded in 1996, to create an Internet home for educators. It is funded by corporate sponsors and advertisers in order to keep the site free for all teachers.

EducationWorld has received many awards and recognitions, including the Parenting Journal's "Editor's Choice Award" and USA Today's "Best Bet for Educators."

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COD - 6/4/2012 - italki [Languages]

Just in time for summer travel, EDge21's Catch of the Day will this week feature a number of online resources to support foreign language learning.

italki is an online tool for foreign language learning, linking people from everywhere in the world in a community to learn from each other.

italki helps people who want to learn a language connect online and do free language exchanges. italki also helps students find teachers for paid online lessons. Additionally, italki offers many free language learning features, such as questions and answers, group discussions, and multimedia materials for self-study.

italki's features include:

• Connecting native speakers to practice speaking a foreign language
• Helping language teachers offer their expertise to anyone, anywhere in the world
• Offering multimedia and one-on-one lessons for English 
• Giving language learners the ability to communicate online in text, voice, and video
• Using the community to answer language questions
• Developing a platform for sharing free open-source language learning materials
• Recommending other resources on the web
• Providing a space for people from around the world to experience and learn about other cultures

The creation of italki was rooted in the belief that the internet is radically changing the way people learn foreign languages by removing previous barriers to learning so that everyone can have access to language partners, teachers, and materials.

Go to previous EDge21 posts about language learning sites

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

COD - 5/23/2012 - ThinkBinder [Study]

ThinkBinder means to change how students study with their peers. They have constructed a study group environment around a simple, focused set of tools to allow you to work more efficiently.

ThinkBinder believes that group discussions, shared notes, and real-time interactions should be maintained in a private hub uncluttered by e-mail and generic cloud solutions.

ThinkBinder has tools to:

• Discuss. Ask questions, upload videos, share links, and more.
• Chat. Study live with your peers via text and video chat.
• Share. Share videos, pictures, and links directly with their bookmark button.
• Collaborate. Work on problems together with a collaborative whiteboard.
• Manage. Keep your group calendar and files organized in the cloud for easy access.

Watch a video: Meet ThinkBinder

ThinkBinder tools are designed to facilitate seamless communication and collaboration. Sign on and, all in one place, ask a question about homework, work through a problem on a collaborative whiteboard, then video chat with study partners.

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COD - 3/21/2012 - Coursekit [Tools]

Coursekit is a free online tool that enables instructors to manage their courses and engage their students by combining robust tools like a gradebook, file management, communication, and calendaring with social networking features.

Coursekit has a vision of what an online class should look like. Instructors and students are provided with tools to manage their courses and easily interact with one another.

Coursekit has been designed to be easily and quickly set up and implemented. Students and instructors can post links, videos, and files; start discussions; write a blog post; or ask about an assignment.

More features of Coursekit:

• You can make a copy of your Coursekit for another section or semester.
• Export grades as CSV files that can used by MS Excel.
• You can make your course (or parts of it) public or only accessible to the students enrolled in it.

Watch a video demo of Coursekit (no audio)

Coursekit is a totally free, cloud-hosted service.

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

COD - 3/15/2012 - Zopler [Writing]

 

Zopler is a social network where writers, authors and students can easily collaborate on writing stories together as a group.

Zopler members help each other write stories. Start new stories with a title, synopsis, or first line. Then watch your story unfold as others contribute to it. And, you can contribute to other user's stories, too.The idea being writer's block will never be an issue and there will always be helpful motivation to finish your story.

The unique Zopler story pages allow new paragraphs to be inserted within the storyline between existing paragraphs, not just at the end. Writers can also upload graphics and images to illustrate each paragraph. Users can vote for great stories and rate other member's contributions.

Watch the Zopler Introduction video

Zopler membership is free and there is no limit to the number of stories you can write.

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ACLU-MN Guide to Students' Social Media Privacy

This document was created by ACLU-MN

Social Media Rights for Students

COD - 2/27/2012 - Piazza [Community]

 

Piazza, which means plaza in Italian, is a virtual public square online where students can come together to ask and answer questions and explore under the guidance of their instructors.

Piazza makes it possible for instructors to easily answer questions, edit content, and track student participation.

With Piazza, manage out-of-class student questions and answers. Students can post questions on the class dashboard. Then, in the manner of a wiki, students can collaboratively answer the questions subject to instructor moderation and editing. Students can also post private questions that can only be seen by the class instructor.

Instructors retain full ownership and rights to anything they submit or post. Piazza is FERPA-compliant and protects the privacy of students.

Piazza can be used anywhere with free iOS and Android apps available.

You can use Piazza free with no commitment needed and nothing to install.

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

 

COD - 2/16/2012 - ePals [Community]

ePals is a platform designed to show teachers how to use technology strategically to promote meaningful teaching and learning and to bring together teachers and students from around the globe.

ePals hopes to achieve this by "creating a safe and secure content-rich environment that challenges students and educators to research smartly, collaborate with other learners of all ages, think critically, problem-solve, and communicate their learning using various web 2.0 tools."

To this end, ePals provides digital content intended for collaboration and self-directed learning. At the same time, by providing professional development, curriculum, and other resources, ePals helps teachers learn to integrate technology effectively in their classrooms,.

Meaningful content and experiences that require teamwork, digital literacy skills, higher-level thinking and communication are the standard of authentic ePals projects where students and teachers learn and work together.

ePals reaches into 200 countries and territories providing a potent network effect bringing together students and educators based on areas of interest and geography. The ePals network connects students with others with whom they share a common enthusiasm, both locally and around the world.

Watch a video: ePals-The Basics

An innovative set of role-based permissions and policy management technologies give schools and educators the ability to manage what students see and with whom they interact. ePals' policy management technology implements regulatory frameworks, such as COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

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COD - 2/14/2012 - checkthis [Sharing]

Checkthis lets you quickly and easily put your content online: videos, text, pictures, and more, change how it looks, share your link, and get instant feedback.

Everything published on Checkthis is automatically saved to its own unique short and random web address. It can be public or protected with a password. Invite other people to take a look or edit it themselves.

Checkthis features:

• Simplicity - No registration or set-up required.
• Temporary or Permanent - One day, a week, a month, as long as you choose.
• Public or Private - Open your content to the world or password-protect it.
• Collaborate or Not - Each page can have one editor or many.

Watch the video Meet checkthis

Checkthis is for instant web publishing without the clutter.

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