Edshelf News

Edshelf one of my favorite educational sites for curating the web has just teamed up w/ Balefire Labs another excellent curation site to make it easier to find top quality educational apps.  As of right now it is in the beginning stages of this exciting partnership where users will find a Balefire Top Rated badge on certain apps in Edshelf's collection.  Click here for an example.

I highly recommend checking out Edshelf by 

clicking here!!!

LearnBIG

LearnBIG is a new curation site that reminds me of a cross between MentorMob and Edshelf.  This is a excellent site to find 1000's of educational resources on a wide variety of subjects (sites, apps, etc) reviewed by fellow: parents, educators, students.  Best of all a person can save, tag, and curate their favorites into a list.

Here is info straight from their press release...

1.      The site is community-reviewed by parents, teachers and learners.

2.      The format provides an easy way to search, filter and compare results.

3.      LearnBIG offers thousands of resources collected from websites and apps including games, courses, videos, and textbooks for all ages from Pre-k, K-12 and continuing learners. 

Below is a brief demo...



I highly recommend checking out LearnBIG by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational Resources click here.
For my Edshelf collection on Educational Resources click here.

Edshelf

Edshelf one of my long time favorite sites for curating the web has just come out w/ some noteworthy updates.

A user can now rearrange their collection simply by clicking the edit button and then drag-n-drop their tools icon in the order they want it in (think the way a pin is rearranged in Pinterest).  Also, a person can add "tags' to their collections which is a ideal for organizing and curating a list.  Another neat feature is the ability to filter your collections through these "tags".  Finally, a user now has the ability to add notes to a tool and either set it to public/private.

I highly recommend checking out Edshelf by clicking here!!!

Shareor

Shareor is a nice site for social bookmarking that I just found out from Free Technology 4 Teachers. This site is very similar to Pinterest and a nice way to curate the web for educators.  It allows teachers to pin sites to sites, links, videos, etc to boards as well as leave comments (Pinterest anyone?).  The social networking aspect is nice to allow educators to collaborate as well as create and find lesson plans.

I highly recommend checking out Shareor by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board for Web Curators click here.

Edshelf Groups

The terrific curation site for education Edshelf, has just launched a new feature that now allows users to create and participate in groups.  This group feature acts like a forum and allows educators to collaborate by creating posts and then commenting on others.  This is ideal for finding: help, ideas, tools, and more.

I highly recommend checking out Edshelf by clicking here!!

19 Pencils Teacher Reward Program

19 Pencils is a very popular Web 2.0 sites for educators that has been around for a few years.  This is an excellent and easy to use site for finding educational resources and sharing them w/ their class.  The way this works is by having educators create a unique page that "houses" their educational resources that they can share w/ their students in a safe environment.  Basically, it eliminates the need for having students browsing on the web, and also provides a place for educators to find relevant information for their class.

Now 19 Pencils has announced that they will be introducing their Teacher Reward Program in conjunction w/ Chalkfly.  Teachers w/ the most activity on their class pages for the moth of April has the chance to win a free $20 to spend online for classroom supplies at Chalkfly (2 winners will be chosen).

I highly recommend checking out 19 Pencils by clicking here.

For my Pinterest board on Web 2.0 click here.
For my Edshelf collection on Web 2.0 click here.

New Edshelf

The great Ed Tech site Edshelf just got some major updates that I wanted to point out real quick.  This is a fantastic site for curating and finding/reviewing Educational Technology sites and apps.  Anyone familiar w/ this site will now notice a sleeker looking home page that now shows "trending tools" or what is popular on their site.  There is a nicer polished look to a user's dashboard too.  Also, Edshelf makes it easier to now follow and find other users.  However, the biggest new improvement is now the ability to add your own tools.  No longer does a person have to wait to have Edshelf upload a site/app, it can be done by the individual.

I highly recommend checking out the "new" Edshelf by clicking here!!!

*Edshelf is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

My Bucket List

Through blogging and working w/ Ed Tech companies I come across a large amount of educational tools.  To make things easier I have created top 10 lists, curated lists on Pinterest and Edshelf, and also created digital books, to help make things easier for myself and others.  However, I always wanted to create a bucket list if I was starting in a new district/school etc.  Hopefully, people will find this list useful and perhaps a nice way to save districts money.

David Kapuler's Bucket List

Web 2.0 Sites

• 9 Slides - A fantastic site for adding narration or video to a wide variety of presentations.
• 19 Pencils - A great free site for teachers to curate the web and find resources to add to a customized class web page.
• Animoto - One of the most popular sites for education for creating stunning videos and presentations.
• Biteslide - A wonderful free site w/ educational portal for students to create digital scrapbooks and projects.
• BoomWriter - An amazing site for students to create digital books in a safe/secure environment.  These books are then published and can be ordered.  Also, has an educational portal where teachers can create classes and student accounts.
• ClassBadges - A new site for teachers to award digital badges for student accomplishments.
• ClassDojo - A terrific web 2.0 sites for teachers to manage student behavior in a fun innovative way.
• Edshelf - A wonderful site for finding, curating, and reviewing educational web tools.
• Glogster EDU - One of the most popular Web 2.0 sites around for creating interactive posters/projects w/ educational portal.
• Kidblog - A safe secure way for students to create and learn how to blog.
• MentorMob - An innovative site for curating the web into learning playlists to help support guided learning.
• Meograph - A new site for 4 Dimensional digital storytelling.
• PowToon - A fantastic new site for creating stunning animated presentations.
• SpellingCity - The best site around w/ educational portal for teachers to create Vocabulary & Spelling lists for students and integrate them into educational games.
• VoiceThread - Might be the most popular Web 2.0 site around ideal for digital storytelling.

Educational iOS Apps

• The Answer Pad - An amazing web tool and iPad app for capturing and assessing student data.
• Brainstormer - A great iOS app for brainstorming in a visual way that is ideal for generating writing prompts and more.
• Doceri - The perfect all-in-one solution for the iPad that allows teachers/students to create on an interactive whiteboard then record/screencast.
• Educreations - A great free app/web tool to find and create video lessons.
• Experience Life - A beautiful interactive iPad app that is ideal for learning about the different systems inside the body.  Great for MS/HS Science/Biology teachers.
• FluencyFinder - The best iOS Reading Assessment app for teachers.  Ideal for grades 1st-8th w/ instant real-time feedback as well.  New updates will include questions for Reading Comprehension.
• Go Class - A excellent and robust web tool/iPad app for teachers to create lessons on an iPad and share w/ their students as well as track student progress for instant feedback.
• The Grading Game - A fun iOS app to help strengthen one's grammar and writing skills.
• Level It Books - The perfect iOS app for scanning a book barcode to get a Reading Level.
• Nearpod - One of the best all-in-one solutions for the iPad that helps teachers engage and share presentations w/ students.
• Sentence Builder - A iOS app for El Ed students to help build/strengthen their grammar/writing skills.
• Show Me - A great free iPad app for creating and recording tutorials/lessons.
• Story Patch - A fantastic iPad app for digital storytelling that teaches the different parts of a story.
• Teachers Tech - A wonderful iOS app for teachers to find "how to" tutorials/videos on educational Web 2.0 technologies.
• Timeline Maker - A great iPad app for creating timelines.
• Toontastic - One of my favorite free iPad apps to use w/ kids to create to digital stories.

Digital Videos in the Classroom

While there are a number of paid solutions for finding educational videos such as Discovery Streaming (United Streaming) or BrainPOP, there are a number for excellent free solutions as well.

• Backpack TV - A new site for finding educational videos on a wide variety of subjects.
• Explania - A great site for finding educational and instructional animated videos.
• Knowmia - A fantastic place to create and find 1000's of educational lessons.
• Mobento - A terrific place to find educational videos w/ the added ability to search for spoken words inside a video.
• Neok12 - One of the best places to find educational videos, lessons, and games.
• WatchKnowLearn - A great free site similar to Discovery Streaming for finding educational K-12 videos.
• YouTube Teachers - YouTube offers a educational portal for teachers for finding educational videos.

Images for Education

• 3D Toad - A new site for finding interactive educational 3D images.
• Humanline - A terrific new site for finding royalty free educational images.
• Pics4Learning - One of the most popular places for finding images to use in education.

Search Engines

Students browsing the internet for information can be a very tricky issue when having to deal w/ CIPA/COPPA compliance.  That's why a lot of schools use a paid solution such as Nettrekker or something like that.  However, there are some nice free alternatives that can be used in a school setting.

• KidRex - A safe search engine for kids powered by Google.
• Sweet Search - My favorite safe search engine to use by students.
• Top Marks - A nice place to find educational web content.

Content Management Systems

There are a ton of paid CMS solutions that are ideal for education such as Blackboard.  However, this can get rather expensive for most districts.  That being said there are some nice free alternatives that are being used in schools throughout the world.

• Edmodo - A free CMS/Social Network combined into one, made just for education.
• Moodle - Probably the most popular free CMS used in schools.

Mobile Phones in Education

• Cel.ly - A great way to use phones in education such as taking notes, messaging, and more.
• Remind101 - A safe/secure way to text message students and parents.
• SendHub - A fantastic secure way to send group messages to staff, students, and parents.

Educational Online Games

Due to the vast amount of educational sites for games, I decided to provide a link to my Pinterest board here... http://pinterest.com/dkapuler/educational-online-games/

Edshelf

Edshelf was one of my favorite sites of 2012 and excellent for curating educational web tools and apps.  This site allows users to create collections, review, rate, and share the best of what's around for education.  These tools have convenient features such as: images, videos, links, and more.  Also, Edshelf has release a new feature which allows users to embed a collection into a site/blog (see below).

I highly highly recommend checking out Edshelf by clicking here!!!

*Edshelf is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

MyClassroomIdeas

MyClassroomIdeas is a new site that I just found out about from Richard Byrne's excellent blog.  This is a blog very similar to Pinterest in where teachers can share different photos of their room, bulletin boards, projects, etc. by posting them to a board.

I recommend checking out MyClassroomIdeas by clicking here.

For my Pinterest board on Website Curators click here.

Edcanvas

Edcanvas is a wonderful new site that I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers.  This is  a great site for curating the web into an interactive canvas.  This is done through a very easy to use drag-n-drop interface and can include: images, audio, and video.  Best of all, once a canvas is finished it can then be embedded into a site/blog to share.

I highly recommend checking out Edcanvas by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Website Curators click here.