Technology+ToolBox

Miss Peterson's ToolBox:

In this ToolBox you will find a list of 16 Web 2.0 tools that I have been reviewing and evaluating. All of these tools are great to add to websites and are free to use on the internet.
 * __Student Friendly:__ Is the tool safe? Can it be used in the classroom? Does it have a password? Many of the tools cannot be used in the districts because they are blocked, but if they are safe they can be unblocked for educational purposes. Can this tool be used for educational purposes?
 * __Ease of Use:__ Is the tool simple to use? Can students use these tools without help? Did the tool guide you and give good directions?
 * __Cost:__ Does this tool cost anything to use? Do you have to pay to remove ads?
 * __Comments:__ How can this tool be used in the classroom? What features does this tool have?

Evaluation of Web 2.0 Tools

Bloglines ||  Yes, students would be able to search for infromation. ||  Very Easy || Free ||  Very user friendly and requires no downloads to use the site. || Furl ||  I probably would not have my first graders use this tool. ||  Provides a YouTube video and other step by step directions. ||  Free ||  You can highlight and text and add a comment that says on the web page. || Squidoo ||  Very easy to use for students! You can make a lense for your students to access. || Very Easy ||  Free || Students can access information that might not be approperiate for them. However, the teacher can set up their own page and add only pages they want their studetns to access. || Protopage ||  The ribbon at the top of the page allows students to go right to where they want. Teachers can post all assignments etc. ||  Very Easy || Free, and has adds || I love the colors you can add to the page. You can also add widgets and other elements or links to make it more appealing for students. || edblogs || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Students are able to become the authos of the web page and participate in blogging. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Very easy to use and provides video tutorials and a help and suport center. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Would be a great resource for a classroom web page where paretns and students can access classroom information. You can upload movies, pictures, and share your lessons with others. || Wikispaces || Wikispaces are very easy to use and students can access them in the classroom. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Very Easy, might have to play around to figure some parts out. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free, if a K-12 educator they will take the ads off the page || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Teachers can make these private to only the student in their classroom. You can change the look and design of the wikispage very quicky and can uplod documents for easy access. || Writeboard || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Students can work together to write and edit text and compare what they have written to create a final product. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Teachers can create a backpack to store all the different writeboards that your students create. || Glypho || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> This is a great source for students to publish their work. Students can go through the writing process through drafting, browsing stories, sharing stroies, publish stories, and collaborate with others. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free, requires a login || Teachers could have their students write and add to each others stories. Great to teach the writing process!! || Survey Monkey || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Students could create surveys for their peers. Some part were a little confusing, but it would be cool to see the responses and analyze the data. || Kinda Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free, but you can upgrade || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Great tool for teachers to use to see what types of things interest them. I would like to create a survey to use for reading and see what types of books interest my students. || itunes || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Students can hear music, movies, etc. Great for classroom presentations.I am not sure I have my students access itunes in the classroom. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free, but you have to pay to download music and other files. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Teachers can download music for the classroom that relates to what they are learning at the time. I love using itunes! || YouTube || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> YouTube is great to share videos and post videos for others to see. However, I would not let my studnets explore YouTube in the classroom. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Easy || Free || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Teachers can create movies and add them to YouTube for their students to watch at home. This would be great for parents to see what you are teaching/doing in the classroom. || MS Photo Story 3 || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> This program would be great to use in the beginning of the year for students to get to know one another. This may be difficult for first graders, but would be cool for families to work together to create their story. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free || I would love to create a photo story of all the events that happened in my classroom this next year. Great for memory books! || Allmydata || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> This tool provides online space to save data, backup documents, and share with others. || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Great for teachers who do a lot of work online and can save all their work, movies, etc. || Funbrain
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Web 2.0 || <span style="font-size: 120%; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Student Friendly || <span style="font-size: 120%; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Ease of Use || <span style="font-size: 120%; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Cost || <span style="font-size: 120%; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Comments ||
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Aggregators:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Social Bookmarking:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Search Tools:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Webstart:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Weblogs:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Wikis:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Web-based word processing:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Cretive Writing:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Web-based Spreadsheets: || Students can create and share spread sheets. Great for teaching math! || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Kinda Easy || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Free || <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Teachers can use this tool to graph grades and see student progress. ||
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Assessments, Surveys, Polls:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Podcasting & Screencasting:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Video:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Photo & Drawing:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">File Sharing:
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Webquests & Games:

Presentation Tools : Ms Photo Story 3 || This site offers many educational games. Kids would love to play all the games in their free time. Very interactive!!

Students can create online memories and make presentations for class. Very easy to download and use in the classrom. || Easy

Easy || Free

Free || Great for when you are doing centers in your classroom!!

Teachers can upload pictures and make an end of the year slide show for memory books and parents. ||  ||