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Tools to elaborate your project.
Tools to elaborate your project.
If we want to work out an idea in small groups, we quickly reach for pen and paper. The big advantages: everyone looks at the same paper, everyone follows the speaker's reasoning and everyone can build on the ideas that are already on the sheet. With A Web Whiteboard this can all be done digitally. In other words, you can have groups of students at different locations work on the same (digital) paper at the same time. Drawing, writing text, sharing images and then keeping everything available or even sharing it as a PDF file.
Google is - understatement - no longer unknown. The possibilities for cooperation are endless. Many schools now also work with G Suite for Education. If all partners (teachers and pupils) have school accounts at G Suite for Education, a collaboration becomes very obvious. The results of this collaboration (Docs, Sheets, Forms, Sites...) can all be embedded in the TwinSpace, the project space for eTwinning projects.
Miro **
Miro **
At first glance, Miro looks a lot like A Web Whiteboard, but the possibilities are more extensive. Not only do you have the option to work together on a digital whiteboard, but also to set up a joint planning. This planning is given a visual appearance and can be followed up by everyone. If the planning needs to be adjusted, this is possible. Everyone is always aware of deadlines and tasks that have already been performed.
Trello ***
Trello ***
If you have set up a schedule for your project, it is nice to have everyone perform their tasks properly and on time. With Trello, you can keep track of things. This tool is a flexible and visual way of organising everything with everyone. At a glance you get an overall view of the planning, the tasks that have already been completed or that your students are still working on. In addition, you can also indicate how important or urgent each subtask is. Trello helps everyone to stay calm.
Pixabay *
Pixabay *
A picture sometimes says more than a thousand words. That is why we certainly recommend the use of your own photographic and visual material in eTwinning projects. Sometimes teachers or pupils want to use images from the internet. This is possible, but only if it is permitted by law and the material is therefore not subject to copyright. Pixabay is an online community where you will find a lot of images (photos, vectors, illustrations) and even videos that are free to use. You can enter search terms, specify the search by print orientation, category, size and colour.
Unsplash *
Unsplash *
On the Unsplash website you will find free to use high-resolution photos. It's a matter of finding out which website you prefer, because there are some differences in the offer of Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash. Also on the latter website it is allowed to use the photos freely, although the makers of the site mention that they appreciate it if you mention Unsplash when you use their material.
Freepik **
Freepik **
If you want to go a step further, there's Freepik. This website contains a collection of vectors, PSD-files, icons and photos. If you know a few things about vector processing, this is definitely the place to be. If you're just looking for suitable images for your project, then you're sure to find something to your liking here as well. Attention: you will be asked to mention the author of the work. Fortunately, Freepik helps you in a handy way.
The name Negative Space may not sound like, uh... positive, but offers high quality free to use photos. The offer is not as extensive as that of other similar providers, but new material is often added. Nice extra: if you scroll all the way down the website, you can search for photos by colour.
Flickr is a photo community where a lot of (semi-)professionals can show their talent. Beautiful photos to look at, but most of that material is of course protected by copyright. If you click through on the site, you will find Flickr: The Commons. This is a gigantic collection of publicly accessible photography archives. If you are looking for the latest snapshots, you have to look elsewhere (e.g. Unsplash or Pixabay), but prints from the old days can be found here. Idea for your eTwinning project: let your pupils dig into the past of the partner class.
Incompetech **
Incompetech **
Maybe your students made a video or an animated film and would like to add some music to it? That's possible, but here too, everyone should be aware that there is such a thing as copyright. Incompetech is a collection of high-quality music that unfortunately was not bundled in the most beautiful website. You'll have to try a little before you find what you want and the collection is rather small because everything is made by one person. Still, it's worthwhile to go there and listen. Don't forget that you have to mention the author and name of the music when using it. You can just copy that mention from the website.
Bensound *
Bensound *
Bensound is another one-man project where you can find free music. The offer is rather limited, but of very high quality. Moreover, the website is very easy to use. Also with this website you will be helped to correctly mention the author in case you would use his music in your own project.
The name of this site reveals everything. You'll find a collection of old music ( mainly dating from before the 40's) that has become public domain in the meantime. This is especially about jazz, blues, big band, classical music and so on. It can be nice to get a background tune for your project.
A free archive full of music, that's obvious. The Free Music Archive website is clearly structured and contains a number of interesting search functionalities. You can choose for specific Creative Common licenses, but also for a certain duration of a song. In addition, you can choose from more than 15 genres. Don't expect any earworms, but after some research you will probably find a suitable melody as a background for a video or slideshow.
Wouldn't it be nice if your students could let the students of the partner school experience what your classroom looks like? Or are your students megalomaniacs and do they want to introduce the whole school? Or their village or city? VR Tour Creator is a free tool that allows everyone to create their own virtual tours. These tours can then be viewed with a Google Cardboard or simply in the Chrome web browser. Not only can you upload your own 360° photos, but you can also use Google Maps. There you can search for locations and add 360° Street View photos to your Tour. Sounds more difficult than it is. Definitely give it a try!
Boomwriter **
Boomwriter **
Imagine an eTwinning project where you want your students to work with students from a partner class. The idea is that they write a (non-)fictional text together. Google Docs is a great idea here, but Boomwriter is definitely worth considering because of some useful features. In this tool you create a writing assignment and assign student accounts to the assignment. You determine not only the assignment and deadline, the maximum number of words, the different sections that a task can consist of and even a glossary of your own (which the students should use in the writing task), but also can you team up the students. In addition, you maintain an overview of the individual achievements of the students. As a teacher you give individual feedback to your students and when both teacher and student are satisfied with the result the work is released. The good thing is that all participating students can then vote for the best writing work without knowing whose work they are judging. Then the teacher can release the chosen work and all authors can continue writing a new part of the story or report.
Do your students like to write? Yes? Then cherish them! If your students don't match with letters and inspiration very easily, you can try Storybird. Pupils start from a visual impulse and are thus positively triggered to start writing. You can also let your students create poetry by allowing them to combine words that are offered by the tool itself. You can choose between a story of a page (a poem), a story of several pages or a story of several chapters. Oh yes, Storybird is of course also a great tool to try out with your students who like to write! ;-)
If the Storybird tool is not flexible enough for your project, you might want to get started with StoryJumper. Your students can really turn their story into an (online) book. Not just any book, but one that they can fully design themselves. They determine the colours, fonts, images (including works of art that they have drawn, painted...), they create their own characters and even add sound. Ideal for students to speak in a foreign language, don't you think? StoryJumper stories can be shared online. If you have some money left, you can choose to have the stories printed in book form.
Twine **
Twine **
If you want your students to build a story, how do you make sure that they a) stay motivated, b) keep an overview, c) are able to build up a complex structure and d) create something interactive? The answer: twine.org. With this rather simple tool you can realize a), b), c) and d). It takes some trial and error, but once you get away with it, it is very motivating.
PowerPoint is now known to everyone as a presentation tool. Apple users prefer Keynote, and Google fans go all the way to Google Slides. But did you know that you can do much more with these 'classic' presentation tools? Let's say you let your students create an interactive story together with the students in your partner class. A story in which the reader determines what the next step might be. This can be done very easily in Google Slides, for example. If you want to know how this works, you can watch this demo and before you know it, your students are creating and experiencing their own adventure.
PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides. Do I need to introduce another player? Yes, I do. Beautiful.ai is a relatively new player in the market for presentation tools. This tool wants to distinguish itself on 3 levels: it is fast, beautiful and helpful. Fast, because design and animation are available as customizable ready-mades. Beautiful, indeed. The graphical possibilities of this tool look very good. Helpful because the tool makes suggestions to make slides attractive or meaningful. Definitely worth a try.
It's with Photoshop like with "The Sorrow of Belgium" by Hugo Claus. Everyone knows it, but nobody has full knowledge of it. This impressive tool does what you can only do as an expert in Photoshop: remove the background. And you can do it for free! Remove.bg does this completely automatically. Nice idea for your eTwinning project: cut yourself out and move virtually to a new location, for example an important building near your partner school. Piece of cake!
Toontastic ***
Toontastic ***
The human being is a storyteller. And fortunately also someone who likes to listen to stories. Let your students tell stories and make the connection with the online world. This is possible with the app Toontastic. What you can create with this app is simply spectacular: 3D, drawing yourself, creating animations, inventing adventures, describing scientific experiments... The possibilities are endless. I bet your students will be particularly creative with it.
Animaker **
Animaker **
Sometimes (or usually?) a classic presentation tool like PowerPoint doesn't say enough. Even though we know that the content should be more important than the form and even though the tool is a support for what you have to say, sometimes it can be just a little bit more. Fortunately, there are a lot of tools that can help us with this and one of them is Animaker. It helps you make all kinds of short videos ranging from infographics to short stories to text animations and birthday messages. The free version is limited, but will suffice in many cases. Important note: in the free version you can't download films.
The title of this website is partly misleading. You will indeed find here (completely free and legally downloadable) integral comics, but much more. You can look for historical pamphlets, jokes books, pulp, (adventure) stories... Everything dates back to the old days and looks very charming. So if you're looking for fine prints, pamphlets on a particular theme or an authentic story for your eTwinning project, you're sure to find what you're looking for at Comic Book Plus.
Are you looking for a work of art, a book, a video, a sound clip to use in your eTwinning project? Europeana might be able to help you with this. This website brings together some 60 million items from some 3500 museums, libraries and archives in Europe. But Europeana is more than just a large database. For example, you have a section entitled 'Free to use images' and themed collections (migration, sport, 1914-1918...). The possibilities for your project are endless. Let your pupils choose a painting as a profile picture, let them tell a story that is a series of historical photos, let them perform a dance choreography based on a sound clip. Heritage is alive!
eSafety is a very important cornerstone for eTwinning. Students often click quickly and without hesitation on buttons and internet links. Fortunately, in most cases it all goes well, but it might be a good idea to make everyone alert for phishing. This is a form of Internet fraud in which malicious people try to obtain personal data from Internet users in an illegal way.
This Google phishing quiz will help you identify certain emails. First you have to create a false name and e-mail address. Then you get to read a series of e-mails that are sent to your fake e-mail address. You now have to choose whether this message is legitimate or a phishing attempt. After you have made your choice, you will immediately receive an answer with an explanation. Not easy!
Have you ever thought about writing poems with your primary school students? This can be done in a fun way with Theme Poems, a very simple web tool that lets your students think associatively first and finally have them write short poems in a certain form. The choices are limited, but it can be a nice task to let your students get creative with language. The end result can be printed and saved and shared as a pdf.
Writing assignments. Many pupils just hate it. But what if you could add an element of competition? This is possible with The Most Dangerous Writing Prompt.
If you want your students to write the beginning of a joint eTwinning story, or if you want them to brainstorm about fine eTwinning project ideas, then you should definitely try this tool. The principle is to set a minimum number of minutes or words. Students can then start writing until they reach that limit. But if they hesitate too long, their work irrevocably disappears. Really exciting, even for those who don't like to write. Bonus: if you don't have any inspiration yourself, you can let the tool suggest a first sentence. Which eTwinning partner will pull out the best story of 75 words?
You want your students to be free to choose the subject they want to talk about together with a partner class. Fine. But for many students, this freedom is difficult, they often function better if you impose restrictions on them. With the website Wonderopolis you can impose this 'restriction'. Your students can search in more than 2400 articles on a wide range of topics (Can parrots really talk? How did the planets get their names? What is a paleontologist? Can you make electricity with water? ...).
Soon you' ll learn from your eTwinning students!
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