Student Use and Best Practices of Technology in the Classroom

Here is a list of websites that are really neat for projects or for just plain having fun.  We may be using some of these in the classroom, so take a little time to check them out.

1. Alexander, N. (2012). Edmodo.com. Retrieved from http://www.edmodo.com/home

Edmodo - This is place similar to Facebook, but it is very secure and it allows the teacher to give assignments and the students can submit their electronic assignment on here too. Teachers can also give polls to the students to answer, give the students badges for good work, delete posts that are inappropriate and do many others tasks. Parents can also get a code to be connected to the Edmodo page for your class, and they can see the assignments, notes and tasks you have submitted. There is also an app that can be downloaded and used.

2. Wiggio. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://wiggio.com/

Wiggio - Is a web tool that allows students to be in charge of all of the things they need to do. They can join a group (I am creating a group for each class) and there is a calendar option to keep track of games, practice, homework, assignments, etc. and they can set it to receive an email or a text message to remind them of an event. Also, students can collaborate with others on a project, they can chat and work as a group online and do not have to worry about finding time or a way to someone else's house. They can even collaborate and share with others and not even have to be online at the same time. This is a great tool to help students and classes.


3.  Feinberg, J. (2011). Wordle. Retrieved from http://www.wordle.net/

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

4.  Xtranormal. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.xtranormal.com/

Animated movies made easy!  Xtranormal instantly turns your words into a 3D animated movie.  It is that simple.  This is very easy to use, and there are free versions and there are paid versions.  For class and regular use, free is the way to go.

5.  Animoto. (2011). Retrieved from http://animoto.com/

Create stunning videos!  Turn your photos, video clips, and music into stunning video masterpieces to share with everyone. Fast, free, and shockingly easy!  This is very easy and fun to use, and will be great to create any number of projects for class or for yourself to share with others.