The development of Web 2.0, or the Read/Write Web, has produced a number of free resources that allow students and teachers to publish and collaborate online. One of my favorite sites to use with students is Wikispaces.  Wikispaces is a web service that allows teachers to create a wiki in which students may contribute content....
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We all know the typical method of timeline creation in schools. “Draw a line, add some dates and document events in chronological order”.  Students will typically use poster boards, markers and possibly cut out images. The students in Mr. Papa’s grade 8 social studies class in our district are putting a new spin on...
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The Technology Enhanced Learning in Science Foundation (TELS) is a funded consortium of seven universities, a non profit educational organization and several public schools around the country.  They have released a web-based tool for science instruction called WISE (Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment. Here is a snippet directly from their site: “WISE is a free...
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Our middle school hosted our first every digital story academy awards ceremony this month. This event was developed as a way to showcase and promote the wonderful digital stories and multimedia projects our students are creating in their classes. I first introduced digital storytelling in the district two years ago. Teachers attended professional development...
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There is a new phenomenon occurring in classrooms, workshops and meetings. It is called back channeling. This refers to participants in a event communicating and collaborating with technology to take notes, ask questions and reflect in real-time. A great tool to accomplish this is the website Today’s Meet. In order to get started you...
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If you are looking for a creative way to provide content, procedures, or announcements to your students then look no further! With VOKI you can create your own customized digital avatar.  Here is a description from the site: “VOKI enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking...
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My Story Maker was developed by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. It can be found at http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/.  Students will create their own online book that can be viewed online or printed out as a PDF file. The process is simple. Students will start by naming their story. They will then select characters, settings and...
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Have you visited http://www.wallwisher.com yet? It is a Web 2.0 site that is fairly new. Wallwisher allows anyone to create a Wall. Each wall may contain digital post-its. A post-it may contain up to 160 characters of text and links to images, audio or video. The post-its may be organized on the wall anyway...
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MYBYTES is an interactive website sponsored by Microsoft. It contains a free and easy to use Music mixer that allows for the creation of your own music track. The finished track can be downloaded as an MP3 to be used in a digital story. Completed tracks can also be shared on the site for...
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Have you ever heard of a Glog? Would you like to learn how to take a traditional project like a poster and create a 21st century, online version of one? Do you think your students would be interested in learning how to create an online poster with text, images, video clips, sound, graphics and...
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