Featured 7-15-2014: Biblionasium

 

Designed to engage, encourage, and excite young people about reading, BiblioNasium is a free, social network for children in elementary and middle school.

 

 

BiblioNasium includes the tools to function as a literacy partner, helping teachers efficiently develop and propel an effective, challenging, independent reading program.

 

Differentiate reading programs to meet students' individual needs by monitoring reading logs, creating reading challenges, and helping students expand genre choices and tailor reading lists. Build and manage programs by group, class, grade, and individual student.

 

 

More that you can do with BiblioNasium:

• Track what each student is reading and at what level, using Lexile® measures provided onsite.
• Virtual bookshelves help kids keep track of what they’ve read, what they like, and what they plan to read.
• Kids can share book recommendations and books, building conversation and connections around reading.
• Mascot and reading coach Chip Manzee motivates and entertains kids, challenging them and rewarding good reading behavior.

 Tour the Biblionasium website

 

BiblioNasium has taken measures to keep information safe. Only approved friends and the registered educator can see a student’s name and school.  Other signed-in users can see the student’s anonymous username, books, and other non-personal information. No users can see student information without authorization.

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Featured 7-1-2014: The GLOBE Program

 

The GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) program is a worldwide hands-on science and education program for primary and secondary schools.

 

The vision of the GLOBE program is to promote and support students, teachers, and scientists collaborating on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system.

 

Participation in the GLOBE program is open to teachers in participating countries who become trained in GLOBE scientific protocols. These teachers mentor students in taking, reporting, and using high-quality data and using these data to perform investigations.

 

 

The GLOBE program works in partnership with NASA, NOAA and NSF Earth System Science Projects in study and research about the dynamics of Earth's environment.

 

 Visit the GLOBE program’s YouTube channel

 

Since its start on Earth Day, 1995, 112 countries have participated in the GLOBE program. There are more than 66,000 GLOBE-trained teachers representing over 24,000 schools around the world. More than 10 million students have participated and contributed more than 100 million measurements to the GLOBE database.

 

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Featured 6-12-2014: TypingClub School Portal

 

The TypingClub School Portal gives you the ability to completely manage your students' typing progress. You can setup your classes, design engaging typing lessons, and track student progress.

 

Customize lessons and create lesson plans using the TypingClub School Portal. Then assign lessons to your students within a user-friendly interface.

 

The student interface is designed to be clean, simple, and engaging. Helpful instructions guide students through every step. Students receive continuous feedback and are motivated to repeat each lesson to mastery before proceeding. You also have the option to add your own instructions to each lesson to further guide your students.

 

 

The TypingClub School Portal allows you to track the progress of your students class-wide and individually with a rich set of analytics data.

 

 Watch Improve your Students' Typing with Typing Club

 

The TypingClub School Portal is available in free and paid versions. The free version includes an unlimited number of students in up to three classes for two teachers, as well as access to Create/Customize Lessons, Lesson Plan Marketplace, and Typing Games.

 

 TypingClub School Portal's free iPad app, lets students use their iPad to sign into their account and continue practicing. Whether students use a browser or iPad to practice, you will still be able to view and track their activities.

 

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Featured 3-3-2014: Lightning Grader

Lightning Grader is a web application that allows educators to quickly and easily create and grade assessments and generate robust reports about student, class, and school performance.

 

Lightning Grader furnishes three different styles of assessments, including flexible assessment, giving educators the ability to personalize questions. Essay questions offer four different-size text boxes for students to enter their responses, all student work can be viewed online.

 

Assessments can be printed on paper then automatically graded by simply scanning them through a regular copy machine and uploading the files to the system. After that, Lightning Grader does all the work.

 

 

With the Rich Text Editor feature, educators can quickly and easily choose from an extensive list of functions and math equations making it easy to create math and science questions.

 

Questions can be aligned to state and Common Core Standards with just a click of the mouse.

 

 Watch Lightning Grader | iPad Grading

 

Launched in 2012, Elijah Stambaugh, a former junior high school math teacher, invented Lightning Grader as an efficient way to improve his students’ performance without the tedium of grading stacks of papers.

 

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Featured 2-24-2014: ZipGrade

Grade multiple-choice tests with ZipGrade using your iPhone's camera as a scanner.

 

ZipGrade is a fast, accurate, cost-effective way to grade tests in the classroom or wherever you may be.

 

You can grade, analyze, and store as many as 20 tests per minute on an iPhone 5. By giving teachers the ability to grade papers quickly anywhere, ZipGrade provides rapid feedback that can be used to better focus lessons and assignments.

 

Download free answer sheets in several formats and sizes from ZipGrade.com and print as many copies as you wish.

 

 

Results are organized for reporting and exporting as PDF and in Excel-readable format. Results are stored by students, subject, and quiz.

 

 See ZipGrade V1.1 In Action

 

ZipGrade is a free download from the iTunes App Store, with a 100 quiz demo; 27 languages including English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Chinese. Requires iOS 7.0 or later.

 

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Featured: 1-7-2014 ChronoZoom

ChronoZoom is a free, open source timeline tool that allows teachers and students to create powerful interactive timelines that reveal new perspectives on history.

 

 

Unlike conventional timelines, ChronoZoom allows you to zoom in and out between a timeline that covers decades and one that covers billions of years. View Big History in a whole new way. Browsing through history on ChronoZoom lets you explore an array of historical data including articles, images, video, and audio.

 

 

ChronoZoom can help put historical events in perspective. There is a tendency to think of time solely in linear, sequential terms, thus hiding the scope of the breadth of time. If you use ChronoZoom to zoom from the Industrial Revolution all the way back to the Big Bang, you can see how that depth provides an entirely new way to visualize time and history. 

 

 Watch ChronoZoom: A Timeline for Big History

 

A great many resources have already been created in ChronoZoom. The timelines, exhibits, and tours have been created by authors from many disciplines, and express unusual and compelling views of history.

 

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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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Extra: 12-8-2013 FindTheData

The purpose of FindTheData is to help people find the data they need to make factual comparisons and intelligent, informed decisions. 

FindTheData is the ultimate research hub. They collect the best information available, product information, education data, or business statistics, and much more.

Then all that information is delivered using tools that help people make sense of it all, from visual icons to smart filters to scatterplots.

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Featured: 8-1-2013 Sensor Tools

Sideric Sensor Tools lets students perform classroom physics experiments using their own smartphones.

Sensor Tools uses built-in sensors and Internet connectivity to turn the phone into a personal instrument for physics experiments, collaboration, and learning.

Version 1.2 of Sensor Tools includes two modules:

• Motion Tracking - for capturing, analyzing, and plotting the motion of a falling ball or a glider on an air cushion track, for example. 
• Light Refraction - for analyzing the refraction of light from one medium to another and determining the index of refraction.

All data, graphs, and video/photo material can be easily exported to Dropbox and/or shared via email.

Sensor Tools is $2.99(USD) in the Apple iTunes Store. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad with iOS 5.0 or later.

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Featured: 7-29-2013 QuestBase

QuestBase is a free, cross-platform application that provides the tools you need to create and manage your assessments, tests, quizzes, and exams, both on-line and printed.

 

QuestBase helps teachers create self-grading quizzes, assign them to students, assess their performance, and analyze results.

 

Teachers and tutors can grade students quickly and monitor learners' performance. Collect information and get results in less time.

 

Some of the main features of QuestBase:

• Manage on-line and printed exams, quizzes, and surveys.
• Import questions and mix several question types into assessments.
• Publish tests on-line.
• Grade answers automatically, manually, or just save them.
• Quick results with statistics and charts.
• Print questions, even in random order.
• Deliver secure exams.

 

QuestBase does not require you to install any software or configure anything. Create assessments using any device with an Internet connection and access them from anywhere. They can be printed on paper automatically, even in multiple versions, and with a modern, professional, attractive layout.

 

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Featured: 7-11-2013 WISE

WISE (Wireless Interactive Scanning Examinations) is an iOS application that grades and stores multiple-choice quizzes, tests, and exams, on your device.

WISE puts a mass of information and processing technology into your hand. Originally, WISE was the idea of two colorado public high school teachers, it has been created and tested by teachers for teachers.

Teachers can print bubble sheets directly from the app straight to a supported printer and be ready to go. Use a pencil or blue/black ink. As long as the bubbles are filled in the WISE app can recognize it.

WISE is fast and accurate. Scan quizzes, tests, and exams of up to 100 questions with 99% accuracy in seconds. Results are automatically organized by course, class, and student.

Other key features of WISE:

• Immediate Feedback: Teachers can instantly grade assessments and provide feedback to students.
• Mobile: Grade at any time from any location. Keys and scores are securely stored on your mobile device to be accessed from anywhere.
• Data Analysis: Data is immediately analyzed through score reporting.

 View the WISE App Video

WISE is free to download and use for up to 100 scans. After that, it is available on a monthly subscription basis at $1.99 (USD) or $19.99 for a year of service.

WISE is compatible with iPhone 3GS or newer, iPod touch (3rd generation or newer), and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

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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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Featured: 6-5-2013 The AnswerPad

The Answer Pad is a browser-based student response system with two main components: Go Interactive and The Answer Sheets, and the option to use mobile devices.

Go Interactive engages and connects with students in the classroom for formative assessment that can be used to drive instruction.

Go Interactive provides seven different ways to take a snapshot of student understanding in the classroom. The Draw feature allows students to draw their answer or annotate on a customizable template such as an axis or graph paper. Teachers can upload their own custom graphics, too.  Having just been released in May 2013, Go Interactive Template Gallery offers a collection of different backgrounds that can be sent out to the students.

The Answer Sheets let teachers set up an online electronic answer sheet for paper tests using any of the eight different question types. The Answer Pad scores the tests and quizzes for you.  Students can also use a scratch pad to show their work. You can then view the scratch pad

The Answer Pad offers reports by skill, by class, and by student using a built-in, robust reporting system for item analysis. School and district implementations are available for aggregate reporting.

The Answer Pad is browser-based for teachers. Students may use a free iPad app, TAPit Free, or a browser. Teachers wishing to use the TAPit Free app with students must register for free.

 Watch an overview of The AnswerPad

The Answer Pad is free for one teacher to use in one class of up to 36 students. For multiple classes, more students, and other features, you must upgrade to AnswerPad+ ($10 annually per teacher).

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