QuestGarden - easily create webquests

QuestGarden is a online website that you allows you to create "webquests" for your classroom.  

If you are unfamiliar with what a webquest is, a webquest is a what it sounds like - a quest on the web.  When you put a webquest together, it requires students to go out and seek information about a certain topic.   I put together a webquest when I was student teaching Economics over labor unions and my kids really liked the variety of activities that was incorporated in it.  Feel free to check it out by clicking on this link here. 

This is a great way to teach or reinforce a certain topic you want to go over with your students because it allows the students to go out and do the research and it allows you, the teacher, the ability to break down the lesson into different required parts (Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion), as per the given example above. 

What is also cool about creating webquests in QuestGarden is that QuestGarden allows you to download your webquest into a zip folder - that way if you ever need to download the files for the webquest you can do so as you please.    

Most of the resources I live to share are free to use, however, QuestGarden does have a minimal (very minimal) cost to use.  For $20.00 you can have a 2 year membership to create and share webquests with your students and fellow teachers.  The return you will get from the $20.00 membership will definitely pay off.  When I was done student teaching, most of my students told me that this was one of the best activities they had done in awhile.  

You can register for a free 30 day trial with Webquest today and try it out.              

Easy Notecards - create and share flashcards

What is Easy Notecards?

Easy Notecards is a free online website that allows you to create flashcards and share them with your students or fellow colleagues via link or embed into your website or blog.  

What is great about Easy Notecards is that it allows you other options to utilize the flashcards than just flashcards themselves, you can also create a quiz, matching game, or a bingo game.  

If you need to as well, you can print out the flashcards and have a physical flashcard set.  

From a teacher's standpoint, I could see this working really well with students due to it's different options of sharing and different options of studying.  With the ability of making studying into a game (quiz,matching game, bingo) it allows students ways to break up their study time and look at it from different view points.  

Here's a example of what a embedded note card set looks like (click on the green arrow to go to the next flashcard):

With the option of being able to embed any flashcard set, you could easily put this in your classroom website or blog for students to study at their leisure.

I highly recommend Easy Notecards for your classroom, you can create a free account by going to the website, www.easynotecards.com.  

Livebinder it Tool

Livebinders is a excellent way to gather and organize information.  You can create separate binders for whatever topic you may be working on--i.e. education, finance, cooking, etc.  

If you are searching on the web and run across a website or article that you find interesting or useful, Livebinders gives you a very handy tool to simply click and save the URL into one of your livebinders, the Livebinder it tool.  Here's the "livebinder it" extension I use for the Google Chrome browser:

When you click on the extension, it will provide you with the ability to organize the content into a livebinder you've already created or you can choose to create a new one.  You can also choose whether to put it as a new tab or put it as a subtab into a existing tab:

What is also nice is that Livebinders also provides another handy tool, the "livebinder it button" for your website or blog.  If you have anyone who visits your blog or website and you want to give them a way to save a blog post or article you have posted, you can add the "livebinder it" tool to provide them the means to save that content.  Here's a screen shot of it on my blog:

These tools are definitely something that you should utilize to make your life so much easier online.  And, of course, this is free from livebinders.com, just as the website itself is free. Check it out! 

Learn Boost Lesson Planner

Recently, I wrote about a lesson planner from Teaching Channel.

Learn Boost also has a similar lesson planning utility which allows teachers to gather resources (urls, state standards, attachments) all at one central location into your learnboost account.  

Here's what the basic template looks like:

Again, best part of this...it's free!

Lesson Planning with Evernote

Lesson planning is a huge component of any educator's classroom.  We have to breakdown the instruction into several considerations to give our students the best means of learning the objective--i.e. what is the objective of this lesson, what resources will I/students use, what activities will be incorporated, etc.  Once it is all said and done, a lesson plan can be bursting with content and resources--which can be quite overwhelming for the teacher.  Wouldn't it be nice if we had a "central hub" to gather all of our resources for quick and easy access?  Enter Evernote.  

The more I get hands on with Evernote, the more I'm finding out about the extensive ways in which Evernote can be used in education.  One way that Evernote is making a teacher's life easier is by making lesson planning much easier and streamlined.  Two educators that are apart of my PLN on Twitter, Melissa Seideman and David Andrade, are also huge fans of Evernote.  I recently asked if I could share their experiences with using Evernote and they agreed.  Here's their testimonies:

Melissa Seideman:

Lesson Plans

The first set are screen shots are of my lesson plans. I got the idea of lesson plans using Evernote from twitter and I will never go back to any other type. I organized each class into a separate notebook and I created notes for each unit. The hardest part was setting up the lesson plans but once it was set up it's so easy to just enter information. 

Here are Melissa's screen shots for lesson planning:

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

Example 4:

I find Evernote for lesson plans to be one of the most time saving technologies I have implemented into my classroom. I have my lesson plans on every device thanks to Evernote. I can make a change with a simple click on my phone, ipad, or computer. Every change syncs and keeps me organized. I am also making notes in each lesson to change if I teach the same course next year.  I have also shared my lesson plans with members of my department as well as my principal. I highly recommend using Evernote for lesson plans. 

Using Evernote for Student Portfolios

My seniors are doing a final portfolio project using Evernote. The project is very detailed with each step of the project. It took a few days of getting students adjusted to working in Evernote rather than opening word, but the progress is beautiful. They shared their project notebook with me and I can see every change as well as the progress each student makes.   I attached a few student projects. I also created a shared notebook that I shared with them such as my how to guide, what if I am absent, and a sample portfolio layout. This project is truly digital in every sense including the directions for each project work day. 

Here's Melissa's screen shots for student portfolios:

Example 1

Example 2:

Example 3:

 Example 4:

Example 5:

Evernote is a great way to teach our students to be digitally responsible, organized, and literate. My hope using Evernote they will find other uses for cloud computing as well as ways to successfully use technology outside of school in the real world. 

You can connect with Melissa on Twitter or on her blog (Twitter: @mseideman, Blog: Notanotherhistoryteacher)

David Andrade

Evernote is my main lesson and resource organizational tool. I have notebooks setup for lesson plans and lesson resources, along with notebooks for things to do, things to research, and things to share. My lesson plan notes are set up by unit and have the objectives, links, resources, and attached files (like handouts and lab packets). I also have notes setup by week that I use to keep track of where each class is and to schedule my plans out. I can easily share resources and information with my students or colleagues. I have notebooks for faculty meeting notes, ideas for future lessons, Android tips and resources, technology support, and personal notebooks for financial notes and account information, recipes, travel plans, and much more.

In the image below, you can see my lesson plan notebook. It has my schedule for each week with what I am going to do in each class, each day. I also have notes with my unit and lesson plans, links to other resources, notes, and I have attached the files I use with each class.

Lesson Plan objectives:

David's post on winning Evernote premium for himself and his classes for a entire year:

I just won a very cool contest Evernote hosted for educators. Along with 9 other teachers, I won a year of Evernote premium for me and all of my students, along with training and support to implement it with my class.

I have been using Evernote myself for years and always share it with my students, but this will be my first year really using it with them. I'm learning more about sharing notebooks and setting up groups and classes with Evernote. The first webinar from Evernote was great and we have a Yammer group for support, as well as more training from Evernote throughout the year.

Students have already been using Evernote to take notes and upload files from me and attach them to their class notes. Many are also taking pictures of notes on the board and uploading them to Evernote. I'm also having them submit assignments to me via Evernote. Each class has a notebook and the students tag anything they send me with their name for easy sorting. This will become their online portfolio. Students can share notes with me or email me files right into Evernote. 

They are getting so used to it already, that when I say "where should you save this?" they automatically answer Evernote. 

You can follow David on Twitter or his blog (Twitter: @Daveandcori, Blog: Educationaltechnologyguy)

I highly recommend you follow Melissa and David, they have shared some great things involving a vast area of education.  

What do you think?  Give Evernote a try.  

What is Study Blue?

We live in a world where everything is digital.  Everything to paying bills online, finding news articles, and yes, even studying.  Teachers and students now locate and share their content online, making the learning experience more engaging.  Online tools such as Evernote, Livebinders, and Google have provided ways for teachers and students to gather that content and present it online.  However, when  it comes time to study, what digital tool is there to facilitate that need?  Enter Study Blue.  

    

Study Blue is essentially what I like to call "21st century studying" or what Study Blue calls "your digital backpack".  Studying has evolved beyond opening a text book and looking for key terms in the glossary, we now incorporate pictures, audio, and technology into the studying experience.  

My StudyBlue Livebinder:

  

Study Blue for Educators

U.S. Election Volcabulary Flashcards

5 free mobile apps to capture student work

Mobile technology has provided new opportunities for students and teachers to both capture and organize data.  With the advent of mobile technology in the classroom, students can do a number of things like capture notes from their spirals or the whiteboard to capturing pictures/video of a project they've been doing in class.        This allows students to both share and reflect upon their learning.

Here are 5 mobile apps to capture student work:

1.  Evernote (IOS, Android, Blackberry)

Evernote is a mobile app that is cross-platform friendly--so regardless if your students prefer the Iphone, Android, or Blackberry they will be able to install the app and use it.  With the Evernote app, students can take picutres of classroom activities (not to mention activities assigned outside of class) or they can take audio notes as well.  So if you have your students taking notes in a spiral or journal, they can make them into digital notes with the Evernote app and have access to them 24/7.  More importantly, once they've created the new note from the app, they will have it access to it on any other device which they have downloaded Evernote or they can simply access it from the main website www.evernote.com.  

2.  JotNot (IOS)

Jotnot is a very impressive mobile app which makes pictures or "scans" very crisp and clear.  Depending on how new your mobile device is (which I still have the Iphone 3GS so the camera on it is not as good as some of the new models) taking pictures may not exactly be as clear as you want--especially when reading text.  With JotNot, you can take a picture and change the settings on it to make it clearer to read.  

The only downside to the free version of JotNot is that can't share via Evernote or Dropbox--that is only with the paid version ($1.99).  With the free version, you can still save the image to your phone's photo library and upload it into Evernote or Dropbox app from there.    

3.  Whiteboard Share (IOS)

Whiteboard Share is a app that I just recently started experimenting with.  Essentially, with Whiteboard Share you can take a photo and share via Evernote or email.  The main benefit of this app is that it when the image is uploaded into Evernote, it makes the text more readable (evernote.com).  

The other benefit to using Whiteboard Share is that it gives you a "zoom" feature on the camera, which the standard camera on the Iphone (3GS model at least) doesn't allow for that. 

4.  Pinterest (IOS)

Pinterest is quickly becoming a fun and easy way to both capture and share photos.  With the Iphone app you have access to your previous "pins" and can take photos directly from the app and assign them to a "pin board" for easy organization.  The pin boards can be a easy way for students to organize photos into different categories (i.e. Group projects) and be able to reflect on what they did later on.  

Only downside with Pinterest is that at this time you still have to submit a invite in order to start using it.  That being said though, once you submit your request for a invite it only takes a day or two for it to process.  Other than that, you can send a invite to people who don't already have a Pinterest account via email or Facebook.

Updated 8/12/12:  Pinterest recently went open to the public, meaning no longer needing to request a invite! 

5.  Voicethread (IOS)

Voicethread is a very engaging tool that students can utilize in the classroom.  With the Voicethread Iphone app, you can take a series of pictures and categorize them into different "threads" and make them into a type of "slideshow" presentation.  

What sets this apart from the other apps is that once you take the photo, Voicethread allows you to make comments on it either by voice, text, or video.  So instead of students just making a caption description of the photo, they can also take audio notes or even actually video of them describing what is going on in the picture.  

Honorable Mention:

CamScanner (IOS, Android)

CamScanner is also another excellent app that students can use to capture there work.  With Camscanner, you can take a snap shot from your Iphone or Android device and save it as a PDF or upload directly into your Evernote account.

Thanks to Melissa Seideman (@mseideman) for suggesting the app!    

  

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a cross-platform app, Evernote is the way to go.  Of course, if students have the Iphone or even a Ipod Touch they have a few more options to choose from (for now at least). I'm sure that there are a few that I may have overlooked, which ones would you recommend?