Sliderocket is an internet based presentation software that can be utilized by anyone with access to the internet. As files do not have to be stored within a specific hard drive, on a CD, or in a USB device, Sliderocket is perfect for use in an educational setting.

Educators have always realized the importance of collaborative school projects as tools to help shape communication and coordination skills in students.

With Sliderocket, all a student needs to collaborate with their classmates on a project is an internet connection. All files and assets acquired are stored in the “cloud” on-line which means every student assigned to a particular account has full access to their project at any moment.

SlideRocket has a few assets (graphic and photographic) built-in to their program, but for any research paper or project, a student can bring in photos from Flickr and import videos from YouTube.com to create a true multimedia presentation.

Photos, graphics, clip-art, and video can also be uploaded from any PC into the asset library. A free account includes 250 MB worth of virtual storage space, which should be more than ample for any school related assignment.

When the project is complete and ready to be turned in, student’s can create a personalized link and send their teacher an e-mail invitation to view their finished presentation. Unless a creator decides to publish a presentation on a blog or web-page, the completed work remains 100% secure and can only be viewed by third parties with an invitation.

SlideRocket is a secure application that can bring the idea of group presentations back into schools and education at large while providing students a unique opportunity to experience the growing trend of “cloud computing.” Giving a technologically advanced twist to classic school reports and projects ensures that student’s are prepared for not only their future educational challenges but the technological challenges of the future as well.

Evernote.com is a site that will be infinitely handy for any student taking a class requiring research. It is the internet equivalent of the bulletin board and more, allowing students to virtually clip and organize web-site articles, facts, and pictures.

A technologically inclined student can also use a version of Evernote on an iPhone, Palm Pre, Sony Ericsson or Blackberry cell phone as well as with Windows Mobile and the iPod touch, which will allow them to store information acquired within physical books or displays in an electronic format.

In an educational context, Evernote is a perfect tool to assist in crafting a report, research paper, or science project. For instance, if a student were to be assigned a research paper on George Washington, Evernote could be their organizational hub.

Any internet research on Washington could be quickly catalogued by copying and pasting a new Evernote into their virtual notebook. This can be done from any PC using the Evernote browsing window. Research materials obtained online at either home, school, or the library will be accessible online at all times.

All new notes retain information relating to the source URL, and each user has the ability to add specially assigned personalized tags (such as subject name) to the notes (these features will ensure key information remains at hand to aid in filling out footnotes and forming a bibliography).

If a student visits a museum or exhibit to acquire information about their topic, photographs can be snapped and added to Evernote. Evernote contains a unique photo searching tool that will scan a picture of sufficient quality for any words present and will identify them in a search of a user’s notebook. This allows quick sifting of all information, which leaves more time for actual research and presentation of a paper or report.

For the student user who may still be operating on a dial-up connection, Evernote can also be ran as a desktop application on Mac or PC. At launch, the program can synchronize with Evernote.com or be ran with the notes already stored.

With so many different methods of access available, from mobile to internet to desktop, Evernote.com can be utilized by almost every student and is a definite asset when putting together a comprehensive school paper or project.

Creating a family tree for a school project can be streamlined by using an online service. Not only will this allow quicker construction of the actual tree, but it also provides an opportunity to stretch the benefits of the project across many different school subject areas including history or social studies, math, and computer labs.

Geni.com is a very comprehensive web-site to use in the family tree creation process. It contains all of the features and tools any person or student needs to create a virtual map of their lineage while maintaining a clean workflow and easy access. The focus of the project can remain on creating a family tree, not on using a web-site.

After signing up (which only requires first and last name, gender, and an e-mail address), the creation process begins immediately. The name provided at sign-on is automatically generated as the building block for the family tree. Adding additional family members is simplistic and the program allows a user to choose how they tie into the family (brother or sister, spouse, or parent) which automatically creates the proper connecting lines to other family members.

If a student happens to have a blended family with divorced parents, step-siblings, or deceased relatives, no awkward situations will occur as Geni.com has these possibilities featured within their system. Every child can have their family tree limbs sprout naturally instead of having to make due with a nuclear family mold.

In addition to the typical family tree, which is usually a history class or social studies project, Geni.com also provides tools which will allow the work to overflow into other courses. Take for instance, the statistics tab at Geni.com.

This portion of the web-site takes all of the gender and birth date information fed into the family tree and aggregates it into family statistics. Statistics are a fundamental part of math and the free graphs at Geni.com present information on gender distribution, average life expectancy, and number of children. This material can be incorporated into math lessons on reading graphs, ratios, and averages.

A final benefit to using Geni.com for a class project on family trees is the easy customization of the privacy settings. When children use the internet, an immediate concern is always privacy. Geni.com has privacy controls that allows any profile to have its sharing options toggled down to where only immediate family (people who are listed on the family tree) can access the member’s profile. This is an especially important feature as it provides solid protection of a child’s identity and limits access to information.

Considering the multi-curricular advantages to creating family trees utilizing technology, a virtual family tree is a valid choice when planning out a class project. Geni.com provides all of the tools any student needs to map out their family’s past while also providing privacy settings to protect user information.

Twitter has become a pop culture sensation within the past year, and as such it as acquired users from every demographic of society and every level of business. Not surprisingly, more and more educators and educational institutions are also turning to Twitter as a new tool to further goals and facilitate the rapid relay of information.

Many colleges are already well-versed in using Twitter to further information on their school, but secondary and primary schools are only now beginning to consider the service as a way to reach their pupils and parents. There are many different topics that could be very easily addressed in a micro-blogging format to a school-wide audience.

One prime way Twitter can be utilized is as an information booth. No matter how many memos are issued over the course of the year, there always seems to be confusion over school information.

If your school uses an online school calendar with an RSS feed capability like Tandem for Schools, the school administration can integrate the school’s Twitter account with the calendar’s RSS feed (with a tool like Twitterfeed). This would distribute tweets out to all followers of the school’s Twitter account.

Timely “tweets” at pre-arranged intervals before each event could remind students and parents about upcoming events. Reminders could be sent a week before, three days before, and on the day of the actual event. If school has to be closed or canceled due to inclement weather, a twitter blast can works in conjunction with phone calls and an online calendar.

Teachers can also utilize Twitter as a way to further their student’s independent learning. Many children are not likely to randomly begin searching out historical facts and videos while they are online, however, if they (or their parents on their behalf) received a tweet with a link to a specific educational web-site or an informative video that ties into current topics at school, they would be more likely to click through – especially if extra credit or bonus point promises were part of the tweet.

A further benefit, and perhaps the most important one, that educators and schools utilizing twitter offers is the ability to instill in students that while social networking is about maintaining connections with people you know, it is also a tool that can be utilized to acquire necessary information and to further learning and development.

Additional Links on Twitter In Education
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education

Photo by keiya

YouTube recently made available a new channel on their site called YouTube EDU. The channel is the result of work by Google employees using their time to make academic content from universities on the popular video site more easily available. The videos are further separated by school. Popular school channels include Harvard Business School, the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Purdue University and UC Berkeley. The academic relevance of each school’s channel varies, but the amount of academic content is tremendous.

The lecture topics run the gamut from guitar lessons to anthropology lectures to an MIT course on quantum physics. For viewers seeking out lectures on specific topics, YouTube EDU provides a search utility that filters out non-educational content. Many of the lectures are full hour-length classes on film. The UC Berkeley channel offers up an hour and a half guest lecture by the Dalai Lama among 600 other videos.

Lectures have been posted on YouTube for years, but several YouTube EDU university channels have grouped together lectures to create entire courses. Yale University’s channel boasts 13 full courses, each with 20 to 25 hour-long videos. Offering full courses in easy-to-use chronological order undercuts the fractured nature of making single lectures available out of context. YouTube EDU offers over 200 of these full courses.

A similar site was launched recently called Academic Earth. It also provides free video lectures from top schools across the nation. While watching these videos is not quite the same as being in the classroom or engaging in discussion, the sheer amount of quality education available for free is a landmark achievement and attests to the value of technology in education.

Here is one of the more popular lectures series on YouTube titled “Physics for Future Presidents”:

Google Docs is an office software suite that you can access through a web browser. Users can create and share documents with the online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editors. Google actively tries to recruit teachers to use Google Docs in the classroom and boasts specific advantages over traditional office software. The first is that teachers have the capability to share documents with their students during the writing process. This allows teachers to comment and provide feedback on projects before they are complete, and is more in line with the The National Council of Teachers of English assertion that writing should be taught as a process with continual drafts and revisions.

Another advantage of Google Docs is the ability to share documents. This is especially useful for group projects. Students can all have simultaneous access to a presentation, word document or spreadsheet and teachers can access document records to ensure that each student has made real contributions to a project.

Teachers also use Google Docs to track attendance and grades and share this with other teachers responsible for the same students. Shared spreadsheets can be used for quizzes and tests. Google shares creative ways that teachers have used the docs. One teacher had her students use the collaboration feature in real-time during a presentation. One student delivered the presentation aloud and the audience was able to share thoughts without interrupting. Another teacher had peer reviews take place outside the classroom. When a student was finished a draft, peers could read and comment on the draft from home or study hall, reducing the in-class time necessary for revisions.

Google Docs has many other features, but perhaps the greatest advantage is the price tag. It doesn’t have one! All of Google Docs features are free to use for anyone on any scale. A step-by-step guide, “Using Google Docs in the Classroom” is available here.

Quibblo is a user-driven survey, poll and quiz site where any registered user can participate in, create or modify quizzes, polls and surveys. After a user has created a quiz, poll or survey, they submit it to the world where other users can participate, rate, and comment. All of the quizzes and surveys on Quibblo are user-generated and can be embedded into any other site for external use. Quibblo’s format presents useful applications for students, teachers and administrators.

Students can also use a Quibblo poll limited to their class population to vote on senior class gifts. Student council representatives can use a Quibblo poll to uncover the most pressing issues for their constituents. Teachers can create quizzes for students to take in wired classrooms or at home; for credit, or to collect information about present levels of knowledge before beginning a class unit. Teachers can also use a Quibblo poll or survey to receive feedback on classes or teaching techniques from students, to hold a vote on an upcoming class trip or theater production. A survey or poll conducted at home or in a wired library encourages students’ sense of having a stake in their own education while improving the chances of candid responses by offering more anonymity than a “show of hands” approach.

School administrators may find Quibblo to be useful beyond teachers and students. A Quibble can be embedded in any website, so a survey or poll could be set up on the school site to receive feedback from parents and guardians on school activities, extracurricular functions, school lunches, graduation ceremony dates, or any other school program. A survey or poll not only allows administrators to quickly get access to the opinions of parents and guardians, it also helps to foster parental participation and an open discussion. As it is, a large number of the quizzes, polls and surveys on Quibble are posted by students and revolve around non-germane issues like celebrity and music, but this does not undercut the opportunities that Quibblo provides to democratize decision-making and bring new technology into the classroom.

Note: It can be difficult to copy the embed code for a poll or quiz. I had to click several times before the site finally copied the code.

Education.com has the message, “Bringing learning to life,” and their site does just that. The main tabs on Education.com are the “homepage,” just ASK, activities, worksheets, school-finder, e-learning, and, currently, back to school. Each tab has unique content.

Just ASK is a question and answer page that allows members to submit questions about a variety of topics. The questions can be answered by anyone and occasionally inspire a great deal of community input and discussion.

The Activities tab contains a selection of craft and project suggestions. Each craft contains a recommendation for the grade level it is tailored for and, when applicable, a subject heading to assist in fitting the project into a lesson plan. Clicking on any project brings up a handy supply list, a photograph of the project, and clearly explained instructions for the craft from beginning to end.

The Worksheets and Printables section of Education.com is a great resource for teachers. Much like the crafts, the worksheets feature grade level and subject recommendations for utilizing the pages. The worksheets can also be searched for keywords or separated into various grade levels for even more direct access.

The School-finder is a handy feature that allows any parent to search out education options in their district, city, or state. The site evaluates elementary, middle, and high schools and searches out both public and private offerings. This section offers tips and links to articles on topics such as getting involved at schools, standardized tests, and No Child Left Behind.

The E-Learning tab contains information on educational software, children’s books and audio books, games, and homework. Some of these services require a charge to access the material but many do not, such as the audio book suggestions for children. A great seasonal section is available underneath the Back-to-School section. This tab contains a variety of articles on pertinent topics including separation anxiety, school lunches, and getting organized.

Education.com contains a broad mixture of content that will prove handy to teachers as they seek to expand their children’s educational horizons.

Note: This site does contain banner advertising, which can be easily ignored during the quest for content.

FunBrain.com is a fun and splashy educational web-site that is kid-friendly from the homepage and on throughout the site. It is a online destination full of primary colors and clearly labeled links which help to keep the focus on the activities provided and the educational benefits therein.

The main core of FunBrain.com is its vast collection of free, educational online games. These games are not typical learning games that contain highly basic problems while having overly animated game play. The games on FunBrain.com are structured to let a child choose the intensity level they want to play at to best develop their mind while having fun. For example, the game Math Baseball contains four level options and the ability to choose addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or all four, as well as the ability to toggle on and off “Algebra Style.” With all of the settings at the most advanced, even most adults would be hard pressed not to break out a pencil or a piece of paper to “do the math.” A child can stay educationally engaged with such a game off and on for years!

FunBrain.com not only contains a wide variety of math games, but also learning games focusing on other subjects as well. Their English selections focus on labeling parts of speech, identifying the correct plural form of various words, and “rooting out” root words.

When a child gets tired of playing games, they can peruse some of the literature provided on the site, including copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Amelia Writes Again. Both books can be read entirely for free on FunBrain.com.

Parents can access an area that allows them to download some of the games to their PC which allows children to play even when internet time is over!

Teachers can access curriculum guides, game finders, and flash cards to incorporate into their lessons on the teacher’s home page at FunBrain.com. FunBrain.com can be used as both a fun recreational web-site and as an engaging learning tool for children. The activities provided on the site will challenge kids at several different grade levels and provide entertainment while doing so.

Warning: this site does contain some commercial messages, especially for cereals.

YouTube has popularized the trend of individuals publishing video content to the web and children are now more tech savvy than any prior generation. However, a quick visit to YouTube leaves little doubt that a large portion of their content is either half-baked, innappropriate for minors or a combination of both.

SchoolTube provides a user-generated video portal with features to ensure that content is relevant and appropriate for students. All submissions to the site are moderated by teachers and by the site itself. When a user submits a video to the site, it will not be published until a verified teacher has approved it and SchoolTube moderators have confirmed that it complies with the school’s guidelines and the site’s content policies. As the name suggests, the site is designed around the need for a safe community for school-related videos. Video categories on the site include community service, speech & debate, sports, ceremonies and arts & entertainment. Students use the site to show off achievements to their friends and family, to publish school video projects and to compete in contests that the site hosts. Teachers use the site to publish their students’ work, to hear other teachers share teaching strategies, and to share their own. Additionally, the site maintains a channel specifically for teachers to learn how other teachers are using SchoolTube and similar technologies to improve their classrooms. Administrators use the site to share with the community videos of sporting events, school performances, graduation and other ceremonies. Parents use the site to follow changes taking place in the school and to see their children take part in school activities.

SchoolTube hosts contests in categories like journalism, health awareness, music and theatre performances, and presentations on history lessons and science experiments. Participants have the chance to compete and learn from other contestants on a national level. Contest winners earn money towards the school budget. With SchoolTube, it has never been safer or easier to showcase student talent.

One apparent drawback of this site is that they are advertising supported which can be an issue for schools since commercial messages are being directed toward students. However, this may be the only way they can afford the high bandwidth costs for streaming video. Similar sites like TeacherTube are also ad supported.