12 Essential Technology Tools for Education

I found this article last week about the "Twelve Essentials for Technology Integration" by Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers. He includes free sites for:

• creating documents and presentations
• communicating
• creating collaborative projects
• alternatives for YouTube

This is a digital article which means you can turn the pages right on your laptop, zoom into the pages to read them full size, and click the links Mr. Byrne has embedded into it.

I tip my hat to you, Mr. Byrne, for creating a concise, informative document that many teachers will find beneficial.

Digital Avatars for Website: Oddcast PhotoFace

Oddcast PhotoFace is a website I came across the other day that allows you to upload a headshot of your face and it will turn it into a digital avatar for you that can be posted to Facebook, downloaded, or embedded into websites. Once the image is uploaded, you can change your race, facial expressions, hair color, and facial hair (for men). In addition, you can add audio with a microphones, text-to-speech, or call it in by phone.

Way Cool Science Sites for Your Class

Are you in need of some WAY COOL science sites for your class? Here are a few of my favorites:

Discovery Channel’s Volcano Explorer: Find volcanoes around the world; go inside a volcano, build your own and watch it erupt.

Volcano Maker: Build a volcano and watch it erupt. After you build your volcano, click the keywords to learn about the parts of a volcano. Cool sound effects. Very dramatic.

CNN’s Anatomy of a Volcano: Short, but effective, description of how a volcano erupts.

National Geographic’s Forces of Nature: Tornadoes, Volcanoes, Hurricanes, and Earthquakes, OH MY! Each section of the website has information and an interactive section. Facts and fun in one!

Explore Mars Now: Realistic images allow students to simulate what it could be like to explore Mars with robots and vehicles.

The Virtual Body: Interactive tour of the different systems of the human body. Available in English or Spanish. There is also a choice for a “narrated tour”.

Fossil Dig: Aimed at elementary school kids, this interactive dig is takes you along as you search for fossils.

Rock Flashcards: This site reads the name of the rock to you as it shows a picture of the rock.

NOVA ScienceNOW: science videos and interactive activities

Explore Butterflies! Build a butterfly habitat

3D Ant Farm: Need I say more?

EdHeads - Activate your mind: weather, simple machines, virtual knee surgery, hip replacement, etc

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Create a website: Easy, Quick, and Fun with Weebly.com

While reading Darren Draper’s blog entry about Google Sites, I followed a link that he recommended for creating quick and easy webpages. He mentioned that he thought it was easier to create a site on Weebly.com than on Google Pages, which completely intrigued me since I thought Google was pretty darn easy. So, I clicked on Weebly to check it out. The result? WOW! Thank you Darren Draper!

Weebly.com has an easy drag-and-drop interface that allows users to create a website in minutes. There is also an interactive demo that walks you through the process to get you started. Basically, Weebly will provide you with a series of tabs to click on: “Elements” (where you add content), “Design” (pick a theme), “Pages” (to create new pages), and “Settings” (to manage what you have created). You also have the option to create a blog in Weebly. I haven’t tried this feature since I blog on this site. Users have the choice of buying new domains if they want or hosting their existing domains for free on Weebly. I love it! What a great alternative for people who do not want to deal with HTML code and managing content sites.

Fun Educational Websites for Kids

There are so many websites, and so little time. How do you find websites worthy to share in your class? First, network! If you find a good site, post it to your del.icio.us account, an online website where you can share your favorite websites with anyone. Here are some of my favorites:

1. While bbc.co.uk is located out of England, it has several content based games that range from simulations to trivia to drill-and-practice. One of the my favorite game-based simulation is The Pyramid Challenge, where you are playing the role of the head-of-state in charge of building the king’s pyramid. You need to make several decisions: location of the pyramid, what building materials to use, how many workers to employ, and so on. If you make the right decisions, your pyramid is constructed. It’s not as easy as it looks, and you learn many facts along the way. However, BBC has the best games and simulations for middle school and high school that I have seen as of yet.

2. Another site of interest is Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun! The site has several clean, motivational games to help kids learn new vocabulary words. ESL learners can use this site to reinforce new words and practice English in a fun way.

3. Scholastic is well-known for their book orders, but they also have an extensive website of lessons and games for all subject areas and ages. While the games are advertised for Pre-K through 12, I have consistently heard from middle and high school students that the games seem too young for their classes. Check it out and be the judge.