Within HRE 590 - Innovations in E-Learning. We have been asked to identify different websites within various Web-Based Genres that we find useful now or in the future within our jobs.
Here is what I have found this far:
Photo editing/sharing
Picasa – http://www.picasa.google.com/
There are a lot of different websites, downloads, and software that you can use to edit photos. I have not personally used them all, but I have used Picasa some and I believe it is fairly user friendly. Part of the reason I say this, is that my father-in-law, not a major computer person, uses Picasa to do some photo editing. He has always loved to take pictures, and has in the past year moved to digital photography. He started playing with Picasa to edit some of his photos – without my help! It is a great program for someone that is just starting to do some photo editing on their pictures.
Flickr – http://www.flickr.com
Flickr allows users to set up accounts which allows them to share photos that they have taken or created with others. One of my husband’s cousins has a Flickr account that allows us to all see some of the various photos that he has taken at different events. It is a great way for others to see what you have created or taken.
Multimedia Sharing – Video
Jing – http://www.jing.com
Camtasia – http://www.camtasia.com
Jing & Camtasia are great ways to create videos on your computer using software/websites that you are using. Jing allows you to not only take/create videos on how to do something or show someone something on your computer but you can also create screen shots/screen captures of your computer to help others when showing them how to work websites or new software. They both also allow you to either save your info to the web for later use or to your computer.
Radio/Music
Pandora – http://www.pandora/
Yahoo Music (formerly Launchcast) – http://player.play.it/player/yahooplayer.html
Personally, I love to listen to music while doing some of my work and so do several of my students. We do not allow them to use their ipods or mp3 players at school, as a result, the students all want to play their own music on their computers in my room. As a compromise, I have agreed with them that if they are working on what they are supposed to be, I will be happy to play music while their work off my computer. By using one of these sites I can play a variety of music for the students. They all know that the music all has to be “school appropriate” and if something comes up that I deem inappropriate, I will change it. Also, we play different things. That is why I like these sites. I play a variety of music by changing the stations that we listen to – today may be country, tomorrow rock, another day classical. Not only do they all like it, but they all seem to work better.
Video databases
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/
TeacherTube – http://www.teachertube.com/
Both of these sites, you can find a plethora of videos that could be used in the classroom. With TeacherTube, the videos are all videos that could be used within the classroom. With they YouTube videos, you do need to make sure they are all appropriate before you use them,but there are videos on a wide variety of topics. I have several students that are “experts” when it comes to posting videos on YouTube. There are a lot of students that we have that really enjoy making videos and posting them.
Discovery Education - http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Great site with a lot of videos and accompanying material that can be used within classrooms. You do have to have a subscription – which not all schools have – in order to get all of the content. If you have the ability to get a subscription it is a great site with a lot of great resources.
Development/Portal Applications
Google – http://www.google.com/
Google as a search engine is one that most of my students use, but there is much more to Google than just being a search engine. I really enjoy Google Reader and Google Documents. Google Reader is a much easier way to keep track of different RSS feeds over going to each website to check its updates. Google Documents is also a great way to manage documents without having to worry about flash drives or email. I have started having my students set up Google Document accounts so that they can have an easier time working on papers at school and at home. We have shown them how to upload their documents to their account that they can open at any location and work on. We have also shown them how to use the different applications within the website to work on assignments without having to have any specific software – other than the internet – on their computer. The students are realizing that using this is much easier than emailing documents back and forth or having their flash drives scanned by our computer tech each time they bring it to school!
Social Networks/Social Worlds
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/
Honestly, I have not used this within my own classroom, due to my district’s rules and regulations on these types of sites within the school. However, I do use Facebook. I really enjoy keeping in touch with relatives, current and former classmates, and former students.
Ning – http://www.ning.com
Social networking site that allows you to join user groups created based on interestes. There is a page for University of Illinois Global Campus even!
Rate My Teachers –http://www.ratemyteachers.com
Rate My Professors – http://www.ratemyprofessors.com
Rate My Professors & Rate My Teachers are sites where students can give their own rating of what they think of a specific teacher or administrator. Some of the features include: a rating scale for how Easy, Helpful, and Clarity for their lessons and within Rate My Professors, they also have how interested the student is in the topic. With both sites, the students are able to also leave specific comments about what they thought about the given teacher/professor
.Multimedia development tools/games
Financial Football – www.icba.practicalmoneyskills.com/games/trainingcamp/ff/
Financial Soccer – http://www.financialsoccer.com/
Both of these games I use with my Consumer Education students. The students are able to play against each other in a football or soccer game, where they have to use prior knowledge to answer the questions. Depending on how they answer the question, depends on how well their team does in the game. I have noticed that even my students that are not into sports tend to get highly involved in the game because they want to win. It is amazing to see the kids get involved in something where they have to think and use the knowledge that they have been gaining in class.
Social bookmarking
Del.ici.ous – http://www.delicious.com/
Honestly, I have not been using my Del.ici.ous account as much as I should, but I do really like it. It is so much easier to add different favorite websites to this account over adding them to every computer that I use. You can also use this to share your bookmarks with others easier.
Webpage creation
Kompozer – http://www.kompozer.com
Webs.com – http://www.webs.com
Both of these sites give you the tools needed to create basic webpages. Kompozer is a downloadable software that you can use, while webs.com is a website that can be used to create your own site. I have worked with both, and both are fairly simple to use, they won’t give you all the bells and whistles, but are good for beginners.
Sketchcast – http://www.sketchcast.com
Sketchcast's is a screen capture tool that allows one to develop on their website from the following categories, tutorial, fun, art, or other
Mobile Commnication
Palm Pilot/Palm Phone/PDA – http://www.palm.com
PalmPilots/Palm Phone/PDA’s are now all combined into the “Smart Phones” versus the traditional PDA’s that they first started out with. Now with the last Palm PDA and their new Smart Palm Phones you are able to not only keep track of a calendar for where/when you are supposed to be places, but you are also able to surf the web, email, and much more.
User Created Content / Collective Intelligence / Collaborative Webs
Wikipedia – http://www.wikipedia.com
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allows users to help change and edit content in order to help keep it up to date.
PB Wiki/PB Works – http://www.pbworks.com
PB Wiki which is now PB Works is a great way to create a website for collaboration with groups. We have used in several of our classes within UIGC. One person creates the site and a allow access to others to also edit content on the site. The site can be either private or public depending on how it is set up, but either way not anyone can edit the content.
**Note: This listing will be udated as I find other sites that I find useful.