# data[].attributes.headline
6 Ways Google Quiz Forms are Getting Smarter

# data[].attributes.subject
6 Ways Google Quiz Forms are Getting Smarter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Editor's note: For Teacher Appreciation Week, we're highlighting how Google supports teachers-and today, we're announcing six improvements to Quizzes in Google Forms to help teachers save time. Stay tuned here and follow along on Twitter throughout the week to see how we're celebrating.
In the two years since we launched Quizzes in Google Forms, educators have expanded the possibilities of the tool both inside and outside the classroom. Today, we're announcing six new features based on valuable feedback from teachers and designed to help educators continue using Quizzes in Google Forms in creative ways:

1. Quiz answer suggestions: Using Google's machine learning, Forms can now predict the correct answer as a teacher types the question, as well as provide options for wrong answers. If you give a pop quiz on U.S. capitals, this new feature will predict all the right capitals for every single state-and even throw in some curveballs, like Charlotte Amalie and San Juan.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 ways Quizzes in Google Forms are getting smarter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Editor's note: For Teacher Appreciation Week, we're highlighting how Google supports teachers-and today, we're announcing six improvements to Quizzes in Google Forms to help teachers save time. Stay tuned here and follow along on Twitter throughout the week to see how we're celebrating.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Freepik: Download Free Videos, Vectors, Photos, and PSD

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Millions of Free Graphic Resources. ✓ Videos ✓Vectors ✓ Photos ✓ PSD ✓ Icons. All that you need for your Creative Projects. #freepik

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Music Archive: Scott Holmes - Think BIG

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
WFMU Music for Video ccCommunity Golden Festival Murmure Intempo... blocSonic Oddio Overplay Vulpiano Record... ccMixter DinuraCreations Mass Dist Ziklibrenbib Commune Oreille West Cortez Rec... More

# data[].attributes.headline
Session: Tech Tools for Engagement - Google Docs

# data[].attributes.subject
Session: Tech Tools for Engagement - Google Docs

# data[].attributes.headline
Flippity.net: Easily Turn Google Spreadsheets into Flashcards and Other Cool Stuff

# data[].attributes.subject
Flippity.net: Easily Turn Google Spreadsheets into Flashcards and Other Cool Stuff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Flippity.net: Flashcards and Other Resources for Educators and Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create an interactive virtual breakout activity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
February 10, 2016
Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are making some huge leaps into the educational landscape transforming the way teaching and learning are taking place. Educators and teachers are increasingly adopting AR technologies in their classrooms. As extensions of the physical world, AR technologies amplify its dimensions and bring life to its static constituents. There are a variety of ways you can use AR in your class. For instance, you can use them to take your students into virtual field trips, visit world museums, animate and enrich textbook content and many more.

In an earlier post we featured a number of key apps and websites that teachers can use to engage students in educational AR experiences. Today we are sharing with you some interesting AR apps specifically curated for science teachers. These apps can make science learning more fun, engaging and challenging. Enjoy

'Through this free app and a simple printed image, Anatomy 4D transports students, teachers, medical professionals, and anyone who wants to learn about the body into an interactive 4D experience of human anatomy. Visually stunning and completely interactive, Anatomy 4D uses augmented reality and other cutting edge technologies to create the perfect vehicle for 21st century education.'

'Science AR is the Augmented Reality App for schools. Makes the Science AR posters come alive. This App works in conjunction with the Science AR posters. Not in isolation.'

'Zoo-AR is an Augmented Reality application with a variety of animals and insects available for viewing in 3D. Simply download the correct markers and either print them out or view them on another device.'

'Part educational story and part game, the Elements 4D app offers a new, fun way to experience augmented reality and learn about real-life chemistry.'

'SkyView® brings stargazing to everyone. Simply point your iPhone, iPad, or iPod at the sky to identify stars, constellations, planets, satellites, and more!'

'NASA's Spacecraft 3D is an augmented reality (AR) application that lets you learn about and interact with a variety of spacecraft that are used to explore our solar system, study Earth, and observe the universe. Using a printed AR Target and the camera on your mobile device, you can get up close with these robotic explorers, see how they move, and learn about the engineering feats used to expand our knowledge and understanding of space.'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Outstanding Augmented Reality Apps for Science Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
February 10, 2016 Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are making some huge leaps into the educational landscape transforming the way teaching and learning are taking place. Educators and teachers are increasingly adopting AR technologies in their classrooms. As extensions of the physical world, AR technologies amplify its dimensions and bring life to its static constituents.

# data[].attributes.headline
WIRIS editor for online math and chemistry content

# data[].attributes.subject
WIRIS editor for online math and chemistry content

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you visit a page using WIRIS EDITOR with your Tablet or mobile phone the handwriting interface will appear default. However, if you visit the same page with a laptop or desktop computer the classic input will show. User is always free to change between the different interfaces.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kiddle - visual search engine for kids, powered by Google

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kiddle is a visual search engine for kids powered by Google, offering safe kids web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.

# data[].attributes.headline
Organize your resources in an online digital binder - LiveBinders

# data[].attributes.subject
Organize your resources in an online digital binder - LiveBinders

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Organize and share education, small business and non-profit resources into virtual binders. Use LiveBinders for hassle-free access from anywhere.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fast drawing for everyone. AutoDraw pairs machine learning with drawings from talented artists to help you draw stuff fast.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Help Students Get Organized, Track Progress, Take Notes, and more with Google Keep!

Google Keep is a robust G Suite tool that can help teachers and students create and share notes, lists, and reminders. There are so many possibilities that I decided to put together this post and infographic with ideas for how Google Keep can be used in the classroom: 15 Ways for Students to Use Google Keep!

Get the Google Keep CHEAT Sheet

Learn more about how to use Google Keep from my Google Keep CHEAT SHEET (free download), and be sure to check out all of the Google Keep resources I am creating and curating.

Using Google Keep in the Classroom

I love to think of all of the possibilities that Google Keep creates for the classroom. Google Keep is now officially a part of G Suite for Education and integrates sweetly with Google Docs. I have been inspired by super fun posts from Alice Keeler, Matt Miller, Eric Curts, and Stephanie Filardo (see additional resources on my new Google Keep Pinterest Board.)

Google Keep is loaded with fun features that can help students get organized, track progress, take notes, and more. The infographic hits the highlights, but more details are also included below. Use this infographic as a reference and resource.

Download the Infographic

Click here to download a PDF version of the infographic.

15 Ways for Students to Use Google Keep

Below are some more specific details for each of the fifteen ways mentioned in the infographic.
1. Time Management and To Do Lists:
This one may seem very obvious, but helping students learn how to manage their time and get things done is a very important skill. Google Keep will help students track their assignment tasks, set up reminders, so they don't forget and manage their time in and out of class.
2. Bookmarking (use the Chrome extension)
The Google Keep Chrome extension makes it easy to bookmark a web page and add it to your Google Keep notepad. This is particularly useful for saving relevant classroom websites, tutorials, and resources that students need for particular assignments and throughout the year.
3. Vocabulary and Spelling Lists
Google Keep makes it easy to keep lists, so this is a no-brainer! Students can keep their spelling and vocabulary lists and easily access it from any device to study.
4. Location-Based Reminders
Not only does Google Keep allow you to set up time and date reminders to remember all of your due dates, but it will also help you remember to complete tasks when you arrive at a certain location. For instance, students may need to remember to talk to a certain teacher when they arrive at school in the morning. With a location-based reminder, Google Keep will send a notification to your device when you arrive at that location. To learn how to set up location-based reminders, visit this support page.
5. Class Notes
This may seem like another obvious suggestion but think beyond old school class notes. In Google Keep, students can jot down quick notes to themselves about a particular class or subject. They can then share those notes with other students in their group or class. Notes can even be completely collaborative! (Notes are so much more powerful when you share!) Take that one step further when your notes get too long, you can copy over to a Google Doc. Boom! G Suite power!
6. Project Management
As we move to more project-based learning initiatives, it is important to help students and teachers track and manage those projects. With Google Keep, students can easily keep track of each project, tasks, notes, and due dates. These notes can be shared with the teacher so he/she can monitor progress and help students learn how to manage big projects.
7. Genius Hour
Genius Hour moves beyond just managing projects. Google Keep can help students through each stage of the process. Students can use Keep for brainstorming ideas, research, drawing a prototype, tracking progress, reminders and due dates, taking notes, reflection and more!
8. Tracking Learning Goals
No matter what you call them, student objectives, learning targets, or goals, we all know how important it is to help students understand what they are and recognize success when they reach them. Teachers can create notes and lists of learning goals for a particular unit and share with the class. Students can then refer to these throughout the unit, confer with their teacher to ensure they reach them, and celebrate success! Bonus idea: Add badges and images to Keep to gamify the process. (I'm still working on some ideas for this one!)
9. Research Notecards
The research process is not easy, nor is it easy to teach. Number two above suggested using Google Keep for bookmarking, but let's take this a step further. Students can use Google Keep as their digital notecards, not only bookmarking, but adding notes, citations, page numbers, etc. What a great way to help streamline the research process.
10. Reading Logs
Reading logs are great for keeping students accountable and tracking progress. Use Google Keep to log titles, dates and duration, the number of pages, or whatever else you normally have students track on paper.
11. Annotation and Illustration
Google Keep has this super cool feature that allows you to draw, and it will also allow you to draw on top of an image. This means we can annotate and illustrate learning! Think of all the possibilities! Students can demonstrate their learning with a drawing, think through a process by drawing a mind map, or upload an image of a reading passage, life cycle, map, etc. to annotate! Learn more about drawing from the Google Support Center and my Google Keep Cheat Sheet.
12. Daily Habits and Tasks
We have a lot of daily tasks and procedures in our classrooms-the things we do every day, like bellringers and warmups, writing down the agenda, silent sustained reading, journals, etc.. What if we put these into a daily checklist for students to help them create habits? This is also an excellent way to create other types of habits as well, like remembering to take your backpack home, drink water, exercise, etc.
13. Group Projects
Collaboration has always been the number one feature of G Suite. No other product comes close! Google Keep is no different. When it comes to managing group projects, let's give students the tools to succeed. Google Keep can help the group share and create notes, assign tasks, remember due dates, and hold each other accountable!
14. Mobile Voice Notes
Voice Notes is a feature available in the iOS and Android mobile apps (not currently available on the desktop version). This is a great way for students to take notes on the go, on a field trip, record word pronunciations, practice reading aloud for fluency, and more. Plus, voice notes can help some of our students who struggle with writing and typing. Of course, voice recording is also a great way for our little ones to talk about their learning, tell stories, and leave notes.
15. Journaling
Reflection is such an important piece of the learning process! Students can use Google Keep for daily journaling and writing reflections on daily learning, projects, self-assess their progress, and share what they did well and what they could improve upon.

How are you using Google Keep in the Classroom? Please share in the comments below!

Join the Shake Up Learning Facebook Group!
Click here to join our community!
Connect with Shake Up Learning

Click on any of the icons below to connect with Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning on social media.

© Shake Up Learning 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
15 Ways for Students to Use Google Keep [infographic] | Shake Up Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
PinterestHelp Students Get Organized, Track Progress, Take Notes, and more with Google Keep! Google Keep is a robust G Suite tool that can help teachers and students create and share notes, lists, and reminders. There are so many possibilities that I decided to put together this post and infographic with ideas for how Google Keep can ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Oops! This Content is Members Only | Shake Up Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Access to the Members-Only Library requires a Shake Up Learning account. (*Note: This is NOT the same as subscribing to emails. You have to create an account with a password.) NEW USERS: Please REGISTER in order to access this content. EXISTING USERS: Sign in

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a little cheating as some of these features are new so you could not have known!! Google Slides is one of my favorites. I use it to have students GIVE ME information rather than get information. Truly transformative for teaching.

1. Insert Video from Google Drive

When inserting video you are no longer restricted to YouTube videos. This is great news since YouTube is blocked in so many schools. Choose the 3rd option of "Google Drive" when using the Insert menu to insert video.

Sharing Settings

You want to make sure your videos are not private. It is not an issue if the videos are for you and you are the one presenting the slides. However, if you share the slides, the viewer will not be able to see the video if the video in Drive is private. Suggestion to create a video folder in Google Drive and change the sharing permissions to "Anyone with the link can view."

Snagit

One of my favorite favorite things is Snagit. It allows me to take screenshots, make video and magically create GIF's. One option is to save directly to Google Drive. You can now take your screen recordings and drop them into Google Drive.

Screencastify

Use the Chrome extension Screencastify (pay for the upgrade, you want all the features) to make screen recording videos (that include your face and allow you to annotate while you record). You can choose to default your videos to save to Google Drive. Easy Peasy! You can drop these screen recordings into Google Slides!

2. Slash Create

You can create Google Slides many ways. Traditionally you go to drive.google.com and use the NEW button to create new Slides. You can also create them from the App on your phone. Going to slides.google.com was one of my favorite tricks because it was so attractively designed and gives me access to templates.

slides.google.com/create

If you throw /create to the end of slides.google.com it will automatically just create a blank Google Slides on the spot. Hands down the fastest way to create Google Slides!

3. Voice Type Speaker Notes

Hat tip to Christine Pinto for discovering this one! You can now do voice typing in the speaker notes of Google Slides. Super helpful as you should not have your presentation in text on your slides. I try to have zero words on a slide and let images tell my story. I put what I want to say into the speaker notes. Find "Voice type speaker notes..." under the Tools menu.

One of the 4 C's is for students to "Clearly Communicate Their Ideas." How can students clearly communicate their ideas with only images? This increases the creativity and critical thinking too! Students can speak their ideas into the speaker notes, but really have to know their stuff when they present the slides with no words (or maybe up to 5) on the slide.

4. Q&A History

Google was built on collaboration. A culture shift to "we do things together." Using the Q&A feature in Google Slides, audience members can actively participate by asking questions via a link that is automagically created. As the presenter, you can push out the questions to the presentation to allow audience members to guide the presentation or to just answer questions at the end (guess which one I prefer).

When I present I can not always get to all the questions. Even if I can I would sometimes like to revisit the questions. Under the Tools menu is "Q&A history."

5. Autoplay Video

YOU CAN NOW USE VIDEO IN GOOGLE SLIDES WITH A CLICKER! (I am a tiny bit excited!) It used to be you had to click on the video to play it and then click off the video to continue the Slides presentation. A major hindrance when you were giving a presentation with a clicker and extended desktop. NO MORE!

When inserting a video into Google Slides you can now choose "Video options." You can find this under the Format menu, in the toolbar or by right clicking on the video. This opens a side panel with the option to "Autoplay when presenting." You can also choose a start and end time for the video which is so necessary. I usually only want to share a couple of SECONDS of a video in a presentation.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Things About Google Slides You Did Not Know - Teacher Tech

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a little cheating as some of these features are new so you could not have known!! Google Slides is one of my favorites. I use it to have students GIVE ME information rather than get information. Truly transformative for teaching. When inserting video you are no longer restricted to YouTube videos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NEXT.cc is an eco web that develops ethical imagination and environmental stewardship. NEXT.cc introduces what design is, what design does and why design is important through over 100 journeys.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Google is well know for certain tools and services - Search, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Maps, Chrome, and such. These are all powerful and useful tools that are transforming teaching and learning in schools around the world.

However, in addition to those tools, Google has also created a wide range of services, apps, extensions, features, and other tools that are not as well known. Even though these tools may not be as popular or as widely known, they are still very useful in school settings.

These are the "Hipster Google" tools.

In our culture, one of the defining characteristics of the hipster movement is to appreciate things that are not mainstream, to use services that are not well known, or to embrace something before it becomes popular among the masses. With that thought in mind, I have collected a list of tools from Google that the average person may not know about yet.

Of course with any such list, there will be some tools that you do know, but hopefully you will pick up a few new ideas and resources from the bunch. And of course simply by sharing this blog post I am potentially making these tools more well known.

Below you will find my 1-hour recorded webinar covering each of the tools, as well as the session slideshow, and a write-up for each tool with a description and related links. So, jump on them now while it is still cool to say you used these before they were popular!

Video Training (1 hour)

Ngram Viewer is a Google search tool that lets you search for words and phrases in over 5 million books from the 500 years. The results are then displayed as line graphs to show the relative change in usage over time for the different terms.

This can be a powerful search tool for students to explore the popularity of different ideas and topics over time, as well as to see how our perceptions have changed. Students can cross reference changes in word usage with historical events, wars, politics, and more.

To use the tool, do the following:

Go to the Ngram Viewer site at books.google.com/ngrams

Type in the words and phrases you wish to search, separated by commas.

Set the beginning and ending years for the search if you wish to limit it to a certain period in history.

Click the search button.

You will now get a graph showing the change in usage of those words over time.

Google Scholar

Sometimes it is necessary to find scholarly peer-reviewed articles. This can be for a high school student writing a research paper, or for an educator completing graduate work. The content of scholarly articles can be challenging enough on its own, so thankfully Google makes the process a little easier with a tool called Google Scholar.

Google Scholar is a search tool that lets you look specifically for scholarly articles. Here;s how:

Go to scholar.google.com

Type in the terms you are searching for.

You will now get a list of matching scholarly articles.

If you need to narrow down the results, click on the little down arrow in the search box to open the advanced search options.

If you find an article you like, you can also click the "Related articles" link to find more that are similar.

If you want to keep a list of the articles you have found, click the "Save" link.

Finally, if you want the proper citation format for an article, click the "Cite" link and then pick the format you want (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.)

Instant Search Cards

We all know Google is a powerful search engine. However, in addition to simply providing search results for our queries, over time Google has been adding interactive "Search Cards" that give us much more than just links to websites.

For example, if you need a timer for a class activity, simply run a Google search for "Timer" or "10 second timer" or "stopwatch". This will give you a live, interactive countdown timer to use in class.

Or if you need to graph an equation, you can simply search for that equation, such as "y=2x-3" or "graph for x^2" and you will get an live, interactive graph of that equation.

There are way more instant search cards available through Google search. See my earlier blog post " 20 Instant Google Searches your Students Need to Know" for many more examples that you and your students can us.

Google's Image Search at images.google.com is a powerful tool to find pictures, including many helpful tools such as searching by color, size, usage rights, and much more. However, one of the lesser known special features is the ability to do a reverse image search.

Instead of looking for an image, what if you already have a picture and you are trying to find out information about it? Here's how you do it:

Go to Google Images as normal at images.google.com

Drag and drop an image onto the search box.

Or click the "Search by image" button to upload an image.

Google will now compare the image you provided to every image on the internet to try to find a match and provide you with more details.

This can be useful in many ways:

Learning more about a historical image.

Finding the location of where a photo was taken.

Determining what an unknown object is.

Fact checking a questionable image.

Google Trends
Google processes billions of searches every day. As valuable as the results are, there is also a lot we can learn from the searches themselves. Google Trends at trends.google.com is a tool that lets you see what people are searching for. You can even limit the data to certain categories (Business, Entertainment, Health, etc.) or by country.

One of the best parts of the Google Trends service is the Visualization page. This page gives you a grid with real-time top search terms. You can adjust the size of the grid as well as which country the searches come from. For example you can access a 5x5 grid of search topics from the United States at this link:

This can be a great tool for students to see what topics are currently trending in the news in their country, or in other countries around the world. Students can click on any of the search topics to open a Google search for that term to learn more about that topic and why it is in the news.

Although Google's search engine is a powerful tool for finding information, what if you need that information more than just once? To help with that, Google provides a service called Google Alerts that will periodically run your search for you and email you any new results.

This can be useful for a student doing a research project to get the latest updates each day on any new articles or posts related to their topic. This can also be valuable for school administrators to see anytime their school district or school building gets mentioned in the news, so they can stay on top of public interest and concerns.

To create a Google Alert, do the following:

Go to the site at www.google.com/alerts

Type your search term or phrase in the search box just like you are making a normal Google search.

Note: Be sure to put quotes around your search phrase as usual if you want to make sure those words appear in that specific order, such as "Canton City Schools".

Click the "Show options" link if you want to tweak how often you get updates and which sources to search.

You will see a preview below showing you representative results.

When done, click "Create Alert".

You will now begin receiving emails with matching search results based on the settings you chose. You can always return to Google Alerts to edit or delete an alert.

Power Searching with Google

A simple Google search can get you millions of results. But what if you aren't looking for that many? How can you find just the best matches possible?

One way is to learn how to become a power searcher! Google offers two free video courses to teach you all of the tips, tricks, and tools for making the most out of the Google search engine. The courses are:

You and your students can work through these self-paced video classes at: http://www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com/

As awesome as the Internet is, we need to make sure our students are educated on how to use it properly. To help with this Google created " Be Internet Awesome" which "teaches kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence."

This amazing resource can be found at https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/ and includes:

Interland - A free online game students can play and explore to learn about privacy and security, what's real and fake, guidelines for sharing, and appropriate online behavior.

Be Internet Awesome Curriculum - Free downloadable lesson plans covering digital citizenship and safety.

Google Dictionary

As more and more great content is available on the web, our students will be turning to web pages, rather than turning physical pages, to learn new content. But what happens when a student comes across vocabulary they are not familiar with? Do they get stuck and stop there? Do they skip over the word without understanding? Do they need to find an adult for help?

One other option for students is to use the Google Dictionary extension for Chrome.

With the Google Dictionary extension installed, students can simply double-click on any word they are not sure of when reading a web page. The extension will open a pop-up window with a definition of the word. For many words, it will also include a speaker icon to pronounce the word aloud. This can help students to learn about a word they are stuck on.

Additionally, students can click on the extension and type in any word they would like a definition for.

Google Dictionary can be installed from the Chrome Web Store here: Google Dictionary extension link

Google Maps have a wide range of uses outside of simply finding directions. One extension of Maps is the game Smarty Pins. This is a fun activity for an individual student or the entire class to practice research skills and find locations on a map to match the clues given.

To use Smarty Pins, do the following:

Go to the website at: smartypins.withgoogle.com

Choose a category if you want to limit the questions to specific topics, or click "Start a new game" for a variety of questions.

The game will now begin and a clue will be given.

Students may already know the answer, or you can have them do some Google research to find the answer.

When ready, the user drags and drops the marker on what they believe is the correct map location.

The game then tells you how far off from the correct location your are, and subtracts those miles from your score.

When you run out of miles, the game ends.

Google's Tour Builder let's you tell a story with maps! Built on Google Maps, this tool allows you to put together a sequence of locations from anywhere on Earth. For each location, you can add content including:

The address of the location.

The Google Maps view of the location (overhead, Street View, etc.)

A name for the location.

A slideshow of images and videos.

A start date and end date.

A detailed description (including links).

After all of the locations have been put in Tour Builder, you can share the final product with others who can "play the tour" to visit each location and view the content connected to each.
This can be a fun and different way to tell a story, explain events from history, explore geography, visit the sites from a book, and more.

Tour Builder can be accessed at: https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com

In the past Google Earth was a downloadable program that you could only run on a PC or a Mac. Now Google Earth is available online in your web browser. This means you can use it on any device including Chromebooks, PC's, Macs, Android phones, iPhones, and iPads.

Google Earth provides you and your students with a full 3D model of the entire world. You can explore any location on the planet, learn about each location, and even take pre-made tours through the Voyager feature.

Google Earth can be accessed online at: https://earth.google.com

Mapping tools can apply to any subject area, including math. One great connection between maps and math is shapes. Maps can be a great way to find or demonstrate different types of angles, polygons, and more.

A fun Google tool to try this out is Landlines. This is an interactive site that lets you draw a shape, and then Google searches through loads of map images to find a feature in the real world that matches the shape you drew.

This can be a neat way to explore geometry, but also to see how shapes show up in both the natural world and in man-made constructions.

You can play with Landlines at: https://lines.chromeexperiments.com

Google Earth Engine Timelapse

Not only can maps help us find where we are going, they can also help show us where we have been. Google has been collecting satellite imagery of the world for decades. With their amazing Timelapse site from Google Earth Engine, you can see how our world has changed from 1984 to the present.

Simply go to the Timelapse site at: https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse

Search for a location, or choose one of the suggested locations at the bottom of the screen.

You will now see an animation showing the changing satellite images from 1984 through the present.

This is a powerful way to see the impact people have on our world, the development of cities, changes to rivers, glaciers, and other natural formations, and more.

Google Maps Planets and Moons

Google Maps is not just limited to Earth. Using imagery from NASA and the European Space Agency, Google has also created digital versions of many of our solar system's planets and moons, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, Pluto, and more. You can zoom in and out, spin the planets and moons around, and explore many marked features.

To access the planets and moons you can start at the regular Google Maps and simply zoom back and back until you go into space. Or you can go directly there by using the link below:

https://www.google.com/maps/space/

Access Mars

To get an even closer view of the 4th planet from our sun, you can go to Google's Access Mars site. Using images taken my the Curiosity rover, a 3D model of Mars has been created. You can explore all of the places Curiosity has traveled just like you are using Street View here on Earth.

While moving around the 3D terrain of Mars you can click on points of interest to learn more about each location. This tool was built using WebVR so you can experience it on your laptop, phone, or virtual reality headset.

To start exploring head to: https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/

The font you choose for your text can add a lot to the feel of your words, whether that is professional, funny, adventurous, or spooky. Thankfully when using Google tools you have over 800 fonts to choose from to find the perfect match for your message. Also, since these are web fonts, your text will look that same no matter who views it or in what format.

You can access Google's Fonts in two main ways...

First, you can go to the Google Fonts website

Go to: https://fonts.google.com/

Here you can browse and filter through over 800 font families to find what you need.

You can even type in your own sample text to see better what the end result will look like.

The Google Font site also lets you download the fonts to your local computer if you with to use them in non-Google projects.

Second, you can access all of the fonts from inside of Google tools such as Docs, Slides, Drawings, and more.

From inside of a Google Doc, click the font choice menu in the top tool bar.

Choose "More fonts" from the drop down menu.

This will open up a "Fonts" window where you can browse, search, sort, and filter over 800 available fonts.

When you find a font you wish to use, click on it to add it to your "My fonts" list.

You will now be able to use that font in Docs, Slides, Drawings, Sheets, and such.

Another fun game from Google is Quick Draw, This is an artificial intelligence game where you are given 20 seconds to draw a simple item on the computer. While you are drawing, Google's artificial intelligence is trying to guess what you are drawing.

Each game lasts for six pictures. At the end of the game you can click on what you drew to learn more about how Google made its guesses, as well as how other people drew that item.

You can access and play the game at: quickdraw.withgoogle.com

Although the game can be played just for fun, it can open up some good discussions in different content areas:

1. Art - What are the essential elements of design? What makes a thing a thing?

2. Language - How do we communicate with others? How do our preconceived ideas and past experiences influence our communication.

3. STEM - What is artificial intelligence? How is Google using this game to "teach" the AI? What applications could this have in our future?

AutoDraw is a very simple and easy to use drawing tool, with most of the normal features such as drawing, filling colors, resizing, adding text, and more. However, there is one big twist. AutoDraw includes Google's artificial intelligence to help you draw by taking your squiggles and doodles, and offering to replace them with professional images.

Some possible uses might include:

Sketch notes

Infographics

Illustrating a story

Creating a scene

Desktop publishing (flyer, poster)

Creative drawing

You can access AutoDraw at: http://autodraw.com/ (and for more details see my blog post here).

Toontastic

Toontastic is a fun 3D storytelling app for kids, This Google app runs on mobile devices so you can use it on Android or iOS phones and tablets, as well as Chromebooks that support Android apps.

With the Toontastic app you can:

Create 3D animated stories, reports, and more.

Choose from lots of pre-made characters.

Draw and insert your own characters.

Choose from several themed environments.

Add your own narration.

Save and export your final creation.

You can learn more about the program at toontastic.withgoogle.com and you can download the app for free for Android (and some Chromebooks) and for iOS.

3D design is easier than ever now with tools such as TinkerCAD, Tilt Brush, 3D printers, and more. Even though you can start from scratch when designing, you don't have to.

Google's website Poly is a online database of loads of 3D designed objects in categories including animals, architecture, food, nature, people, technology, transport, and more. When you find a object you like, you can download it as a GIF or in OBJ format to import into your own projects or to edit to make your own version.

You can access and browse this awesome database of 3D objects at: https://poly.google.com/

Google Drawings

Although Google Drawings is one of my favorite tools, and I think everyone should be aware of it, I often find that it is still a little-known program for many folks. So for now I will include it on this list of Hipster Google tools, in the hope that soon it will be so well used that it can be removed from the list.

Google Drawings is a design tool where you are given a canvas, on which you can insert shapes, images, text boxes, hyperlinks, lines, and much more. The items can be moved, rotated, ordered, grouped, and edited in many ways. This makes Google Drawings a great tool for:

Everyone loves Google Expeditions. They are immersive virtual reality recordings that let students feel like they are at Versailles, swimming in a coral reef, or climbing a mountain. At the moment though, Expeditions are just for experiencing, not for creating.

Hopefully Google will eventually release an Expeditions Recorder so anyone can create and share their own Expeditions. In the meantime, Google has given us the next best thing with the mobile app Cardboard Camera (for Android and iOS).

With the app you can record a full 360-degree panoramic recording of any location you are. Additionally you can record your voice narrating the experience to go along with the visuals. When done, the VR recording can be shared with others as a link. People can then click the link on their phone, drop their phone into a Google Cardboard viewer, and move around in your 3D VR recording while listening to your narration.

This is a fantastic way for students to create VR reports for famous locations, cultural experiences, field trips, art performances, athletic events, science experiments, and so much more.

You can get the Cardboard Camera mobile app for Android or for iOS.

This tool uses Google's artificial intelligence engine to help you create a meme just by talking to it.

Meme Buddy can be accessed two ways:

Here's how it works:

If you are on the Meme Buddy website, click the "Preview it here" button.

If you are using the Google Assistant app, say "Talk to Meme Buddy".

Now you can say something like "Make a meme of George Washington that says founding fathers know best."

If it does not turn out the way you want, you can just talk to Meme Buddy with natural language to tell it what you want such as "Change to a different picture of George Washington."

When done you can save your image by right-clicking on the picture on a computer, or by tapping "Save Image" on a mobile device.

Androidify

Students can use this website or Android app to create an animated Android-style avatar for themselves for for anyone. This could be a fun way to:

Make a version of themselves to add to a project

Create fun animated versions of characters from history or stories they have read

Make characters for stories they are writing

And more...

Androidify can be accessed in two ways:

This tool is a Gmail lab, which means it is something you have to choose to enable in your Gmail settings. The Canned Responses tool allows you to save commonly used blurbs of text, and then insert them easily into Gmail messages when composing or replying to an email.

I use this tool to save time whenever someone is traveling to my work office to meet with me. I have a Canned Response saved that gives them my address, where to park, which door to enter, and how to locate me in the building. Rather than type this use every time it is needed, I simply insert the pre-written text through Canned Responses.

To install this Google tool, do the following:

Go to your Gmail as normal.

Click the gear icon in the top right corner and choose "Settings".

On the "Settings" screen, choose the "Labs" tab.

Scroll down to locate the lab titled "Canned Responses".

Click the "Enable" option to turn it on.

Finally click "Save Changes".

Once installed, you can save and insert canned responses from the down arrow menu in the bottom right corner of your "New Message" window.

Google Translate Mobile App

Google offers translation options in many of its tools. You can translate a Google Doc into other languages. You can use the Google Search translate tool for quick translation of words or phrases. You can use the Google Translate website at translate.google.com to work on large portions of text or entire web pages.

However one of the most powerful tools is Google's Translate mobile app. It adds many additional features that aide in live, on-the-spot translation. Here's how it works:

First, download the Google Translate app for Android or iOS.

Next choose the language you speak and the language you wish to translate to and from.

You can now use the microphone icon to speak in your language and the app will then speak the translation.

Or you can use the doodle icon to hand write in your language and the app will translate and speak in the other language.

Or you can use the camera icon to point your device at any printed text (such as a sign) in one language and it will translate it live into your other chosen language.

Share to Classroom

If you use Google Classroom then you already know what a time saver it can be, and how it can increase communication and collaboration in your class. To take things one step further, Google created the "Share to Classroom" extension which makes it even easier to create assignments, announcements, and questions, as well as pushing websites out to your students.

Here's how it works:

Install the "Share to Classroom" extension: Chrome Web Store link

Once installed, go to the webpage you want to share with your students.

Next click the extension icon and choose the Google Classroom you want to work with.

Now choose how you want to share the website.

Create Assignment - Make an assignment for the class with the website link included.

Ask Question - Post a question to the class stream with the website link included.

Make Announcement - Post an announcement to the class with the website link included.

Push to Students - If the students also have the extension installed, you can make a new tab open up in their Chrome browser with the chosen website loaded for them. This can be an easy way to help all students get to the same spot for a class activity.

If the students have the extension installed, it also works the other direction. Students can share websites of interest with you. The sites will not automatically open on your computer, but instead will get collected in the extension in the section titled " Received from students".

Google Cast for Education

Another great way to increase collaboration and communication in your classroom is with the " Google Cast for Education" app. It is becoming increasingly common for students to have their own devices in school, whether from a 1:1 program, off of a shared cart, or BYOD. When this happens, a shift occurs in your classroom.

The front of the class is no longer the front of the class.

Students now have in their hands a portal to the collected knowledge of all humanity. That may be a lot more interesting that the dry erase board up front. So as students come across an interesting website, or create an informative slideshow, or find a great subject area video, they should be able to share that with the entire class.

The "Google Cast for Education" app makes it easy for students to display their computer screen on your computer screen, which is then displayed through the projector for the whole class to see. Here is how it works:

First, install the "Google Cast for Education" app - Chrome Web Store link

Next run the app to enter the settings and sharing options.

For "Receiver name" you can enter the name you want your computer to be seen as, such as "Mr. Curts' Computer".

Next click the "Share" button to set up who can share their screen with you.

In the "Add people" box add the Google Classrooms or email addresses for your students.

Save your changes.

As long as you have the app running, students can request to share their screen with you as follows:

The student brings up the page the wish to share in Chrome.

Next they click the "three dots" menu button in the top right corner of Chrome.

Then they choose "Cast" from the drop-down menu.

They will now see a list of computers they are allowed to cast to.

Simply choose the device and a request will appear on the teacher computer.

Another fun Google tool is the educational game Spell Up. In this game students are given increasingly difficult words which they must spell by speaking them aloud into their microphone. If needed you can change the settings to allow keyboard input along with the microphone.

Each correct answer builds their tower higher. As the game goes on the student can unlock additional features such as coins, power-ups, definitions, translations, and more.

You can access and play Spell Up at: spellup.withgoogle.com

Keep has been around for several years, but still is not widely used by many people. Basically Keep is an online note-taking, list-making, organization tool. Besides keeping your grocery list in order (which is a good thing) Keep provides many awesome features for educators and students.

Here are some tips for making the most out of Keep:

You can access Keep on its website at: keep.google.com

You should also get the mobile Keep app for Android or iOS.

On the website or mobile apps you can can add notes, lists, images, or hand-made drawings.

On the mobile app you can also record voice notes which Keep will also translate into text for you.

If you add an image that has text, Keep can pull the text from the image so you have an editable copy of the text.

You can share any of your Keep notes with others for collaboration.

Google Keep also integrates with Google Docs. Anything you save in Keep, you can pull up and insert into Docs. This can be a fantastic ways to save banks of frequently used comments for grading, feedback, lesson plans, standards, or more. To use these notes in Docs:

Click "Tools" in the top menu bar.

Choose "Keep notepad" from the drop-down menu.

This will open a panel on the right side of the screen with all of your Google Keep notes.

For more details, see my blog post " Using Google Keep for Grading Comments in Docs".

Office Editing Extension

Although you are using Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, you may still have to interact with some files that are saved in Microsoft format. These may be some of your old files that would not convert well into Google format, or perhaps they have been sent to you from someone else who needs you to add some info and then send them back.

Instead of having to convert such files into Google format, or having to use the full version of Microsoft Word on your computer, there is an in-between option. Google provides an extension for Chrome called " Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides". With this extension installed you can open Microsoft files in your Google Drive and do light editing on them while they are still in Microsoft format.

You won't have all the tools of Word, nor will you have all of the features of Google Docs, but you will be able to open the files, do some minor edits, and save them again, all the while leaving them in Microsoft format.

If you have a Chromebook this extension is already pre-installed. If not, you can install it from the Chrome Web Store using the link below:

Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides - Chrome Web Store link

For more details on managing Microsoft files in Google Drive, see my webinar: " Using MS Office in Google Drive"

Google Arts & Culture

Google Arts & Culture is a website from the Google Cultural Institute dedicated to collecting and sharing art, photographs, and primary source documents from all over the world and throughout history. Items are organized by themes, artists, mediums, movements, historical events, historical people, places around the world, stories of the day, and more.

With Google Arts & Culture students can get closer to works of art and historical artifacts than they ever could in a museum. The digital items were scanned or photographed by Google using an ultra-high resolution camera so you can see every brush stroke, letter, or detail. Some of the collections even feature 360-degree videos and photos to immerse you in the experience.

This is a fantastic site for students studying art, culture, history, geography, and more. The site can be accessed at: www.google.com/culturalinstitute

Mystery Animal

This fun, online game from Google allows you to play 20 questions with a computer. Google randomly picks an animal, and you have to ask it "Yes" and "No" questions by speaking into your microphone. Google will then answer you back as you try to narrow down the mystery animal.

On one hand this is a fun game for students to test their knowledge of animals, as well as develop their critical thinking skills when formulating the best questions and processing the clues. At the same time, this is an awesome demonstration of artificial intelligence as Google machine learning engine parses your questions to determine how to answer you.

You can play online at https://mysteryanimal.withgoogle.com/ or with any Google Home device.

Analyzing data is a skill all students need to develop. We want our students to be able to collect data, look for patterns, make predictions, and draw conclusions. Better yet, if the data can be real-world data, collected by the students themselves, it will have more meaning and relevance.

One great tool to help accomplish this is Google's Science Journal app. Science Journal is a mobile app that runs on Android devices, iOS devices, and newer Chromebooks that can run Android apps. The app uses the sensors built into your device to collect real-world data. Student can:

Collect data with sensors for light, sounds, motion, direction, magnetism, barametric pressure, and more (depending on the device).

Take notes to go along with the data collected.

Export the data as a CSV file to open in Google Sheets (or other programs) for additional analysis, charts, and graphs.

You can download the Science Journal app using the links below:

In addition to the apps, Google also provides a collection of activities and lessons to use with Science Journal.

Conclusion

Although you may have known of some of these Google tools, hopefully a few will have been new to you, or you have been encouraged to dig a little deeper into some less used tools. If you have suggestions for other Google tools that I left of my list, please take a moment to share them in the comments below.

Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hipster Google - Google Tools You Probably Never Heard Of

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Google is well know for certain tools and services - Search, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Maps, Chrome, and such. These are all powerful and useful tools that are transforming teaching and learning in schools around the world.

# data[].attributes.headline
Spiral - Free collaborative apps for 1:1 classrooms

# data[].attributes.subject
Spiral - Free collaborative apps for 1:1 classrooms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Silver Spring, Md. (Tuesday, July 21, 2020) Discovery Education -the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms-today announced the acquisition of Spiral. Based in the United Kingdom, Spiral provides educators a multiuse platform that supports collaborative learning and formative assessment both in the classroom and the remote environment. Terms were not disclosed.

Discovery Education's acquisition of Spiral supports the company's efforts to keep students connected to learning wherever it is taking place. Spiral's product features compliment Discovery Education Experience's curated high-quality content and existing assessment and student collaboration tools. The addition of Spiral's features to the company's flexible K-12 learning platform will give educators even more ways to facilitate instruction, deepen student engagement, and create high-impact student learning experiences.

"Discovery Education is focused on providing school systems outstanding digital services that connect students to learning in and out of the classroom," said Discovery Education Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy Philip Nanney. "The acquisition of Spiral aligns with our strategy of adding features to our digital services that save educators time and increase student engagement. We look forward to welcoming Spiral to the Discovery Education team."

Spiral is a past winner of the prestigious Common Sense Education Best EdTech Award. Recognized for empowering teachers to create interactive learning experiences either in advance or on the fly, Spiral also enables teachers to probe class understanding in real time through digital multimedia content.

Spiral is the latest acquisition by Discovery Education. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the purchase of Inspyro, a provider of leading virtual reality and augmented reality content also based in the United Kingdom.

"Spiral's team is incredibly excited to join Discovery Education," said Hamish Kennedy, Spiral's Founder and CEO. "Discovery Education shares our commitment to connecting students to learning no matter where they are, and we look forward to working closely on that mission with our new colleagues."

For more information about Discovery Education's digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.

###
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
Contact:
Discovery Education
Stephen Wakefield
Email: swakefield@discoveryed.com
Phone: (202) 316-6615

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Discovery Education Acquires Award-Winning Interactive Learning Platform Spiral

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discovery Education Acquires Award-Winning Interactive Learning Platform Spiral

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Have Students Create Educational "Motivational Posters" with Google Drawings ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have Students Create Educational "Motivational Posters" with Google Drawings - http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/02/motivational-posters.html Two fr... - Eric Curts - Google+

# data[].attributes.headline
Lexile® Analyzer | The Lexile® Framework for Reading

# data[].attributes.subject
Lexile® Analyzer | The Lexile® Framework for Reading

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Warning: It looks like JavaScript is currently disabled. Please be aware that some features of this website will not work as intended.

Skip to main content

The Lexile Analyzer uses an algorithm to evaluate the reading demand - or text complexity - of books, articles and other materials. The Lexile Analyzer measures the complexity of the text by breaking down the entire piece and studying its characteristics, such as sentence length and word frequency, which represent the syntactic and semantic challenges that the text presents to a reader. The outcome is the text complexity, expressed as a Lexile measure, along with information on the word count, mean sentence length and mean log frequency.

Generally, longer sentences and words of lower frequency lead to higher Lexile measures; shorter sentences and words of higher frequency lead to lower Lexile measures. Texts such as lists, recipes, poetry and song lyrics are not analyzed because they lack conventional punctuation.

Free Registration for Educators

Access to the Lexile Analyzer is free for educators who are registered Lexile.com users. Initially, you will have a 1000-word limit. If you'd like to analyze longer pieces of text, you can request access to the Professional Lexile Analyzer®. Please submit your request through the My Account portal. Educators can upgrade for free.
Sign In to access the Lexile Analyzer.
Spanish Lexile Analyzer®

The Lexile Analyzer works the same way for Spanish text. You need to register to use the Spanish Lexile Analyzer. Already registered? Please sign in.

Now More Precise!

Learn how the Lexile Analyzer was recently enhanced to more precisely measures reading materials used in K-2 classrooms.

Find out more

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Warning: It looks like JavaScript is currently disabled. Please be aware that some features of this website will not work as intended. Skip to main content The Lexile Analyzer uses an algorithm to evaluate the reading demand - or text complexity - of books, articles and other materials.

# data[].attributes.headline
8 Enticing Student Design Projects and Tools for Middle School

# data[].attributes.subject
8 Enticing Student Design Projects and Tools for Middle School

# data[].attributes.headline
3 Excellent Educational Tools to Teach Students about Digital Citizenship ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
3 Excellent Educational Tools to Teach Students about Digital Citizenship ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
November 21, 2016
The nonprofit Common Sense media is a great educational platform for teachers and educators seeking to enhance their professional development growth and learn about classroom-tested ways to integrate technology in teaching. A huge part of the resources featured in Common Sense are related to the concept of Digital Citizenship. There are lessons, tips, teaching activities, posters, videos, toolkits and several other materials to help teachers both learn and teach the ethos of digital citizenship. Besides these resources, the site also features three important tools designed specifically to teach kids and students about digital citizenship, two of these tools have already been reviewed in previous posts here in EdTech and mLearning and the third tool (Digital Bytes) is to be featured here for the first time. Check them out below and as always share with us your feedback in our Facebook page. Enjoy

'Digital Bytes teaches teens digital citizenship through student-directed, media-rich activities that tackle real-world dilemmas. Teens learn from the experiences of their peers then create collaborative projects that voice their ideas for making smart, safe choices online. Digital Bytes is ideal for after-school programs, community centers, or blended-learning classrooms that need short, relevant activities that teach digital citizenship and critical thinking about media consumption and creation.'

3- Digital Compass

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Excellent Educational Tools to Teach Students about Digital Citizenship

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
November 21, 2016 The nonprofit Common Sense media is a great educational platform for teachers and educators seeking to enhance their professional development growth and learn about classroom-tested ways to integrate technology in teaching. A huge part of the resources featured in Common Sense are related to the concept of Digital Citizenship.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Fifty Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2016 | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

# data[].attributes.subject
The Fifty Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2016 | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As regular readers know, I've begun posting my end-of-year "The Best...." lists. There are over 1,600 regularly updated lists now. You can see them all here.

As usual, in order to make this list, a site had to be:

* accessible to English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users.

* free-of-charge.

* appropriate for classroom use.

* completely browser-based with no download required (however, I've begun to make exceptions for special mobile apps).

Some sites I'm including this year are primarily geared towards teachers creating content for classroom use, but could also easily be used by students.

It's possible that a few of these sites began earlier than this year, but, if so, I'm including them in this list because they were "new to me" in 2016.
The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2015 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2014 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2012 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2011 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education - 2010 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education - 2009 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education - 2008 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education - 2007
Feel free to let me know if you think I'm leaving any tools out.

Instead of ranking each of the fifty tools on this list in order, I have them organized into three general groups: Useful, Good, and Excellent. The "Excellent" tools are added to the "All-Time" list mentioned previously.

Here are my fifty choices for The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2016:

WebReel lets you create a "reel" - a slideshow - of links to web addresses. You can also write a description of each site in the presentation. It would be an easy tool to use if teachers or students were creating webquests or internet scavenger hunts, which is why I'm adding it to The Best Places To Create (And Find) Internet Scavenger Hunts & Webquests.

Elink is a new tool for collecting and curating web resources. For teachers, I think it would be most helpful in creating Webquests or Internet scavenger hunts - you can leave comments about each site you save.

After quickly registering, Marvel Comics lets you create your own comic that you can print, send, or embed. I'm adding it to The Best Ways To Make Comic Strips Online.

Limnu is a free online collaborative whiteboard that looks pretty good. I'm adding it to The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration.

Wakelet is another addition to the very crowded resource curation market. It does seem fairly easy to use, and you can leave notes to the links you save. Because of those features, I'm adding it to The Best Places To Create (And Find) Internet Scavenger Hunts & Webquests because teachers and students can use it for that activity.

Chalkmotion is an intriguing free tool that lets you either draw or choose "hand-drawn" illustrations to use in a slideshow (you can also add text). The intriguing part comes in when you publish your show - instead of just showing the images, it shows the the process of actually drawing them, too. It can be a little annoying because of the time involved, but also sort of fun. As you can see from the simple one I created, I could see ELLs using it for vocabulary reinforcement. I'm not ready to put it on any "Best" list, but it's worth a look.

Mad Libs, I think, have very limited usefulness with English Language Learners since they really don't promote accurate understanding. However, for ELLs who are in the high-intermediate range, I've found they can be an occasional fun activity that also reinforces parts of speech. Having students create their own versions for their classmates can move this activity to a much more productive level, however, and the Word Blanks site is the easiest tool out there for making them.

Clarisketch looks like an excellent app for ELLs - you can draw and then record audio about it. Unfortunately, it's only available as an Android app. I hope they'll have an iPhone version soon. I'm adding it to The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English.

Google unveiled a new collaborative space called... Spaces. It appears to be a private space where invited users can share posts, photos and links.

Prisma is a new free app that lets you turn your photos into manga. I could see this being a very attractive tool for reluctant writers to use - they can create their own web comics. You can read more about it at TechCrunch.

Participate lets teachers collect different learning resources.

Votesy is a free and simple survey tool that lets you ask one text, image or video-based question. It really does seem super-easy to use, and the polls are embeddable.

Opinion Stage is a free and easy tool for making online tests, polls and lists.

Synap is a new easy tool for creating online quizzes. It will really be useful when there's a large bank of user-created quizzes for teachers to draw upon.

I've been hearing a lot of "buzz" about Versal, which lets teachers create online interactive resources.

NoteBookCast is a simple online virtual whiteboard that can be used by many people at the same time.

ClassKick lets teachers create virtual classrooms with pre-made or original assignments. It's free.

The Learnia lets you create interactive video lessons.

Poll Deep is a tool for...taking polls. I'm adding it to The Best Sites For Creating Online Polls & Surveys.

PullQuote is an easy tool for creating visually attractive quotes online.

FotoJet is a new free online photo editor. I'm adding it to The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects, which I've just updated and revised.

NowComment seems like a good tool for students to use when annotating online documents and they can see the comments of others, too (teachers can create private groups). The reason it's under "Useful" instead of "Good" is because the only way you can annotate a website is by copying and pasting it, and I'm not sure if that's legal or not.

Coggle is a new mindmapping tool. I've added it to Not "The Best," But "A List" Of Mindmapping, Flow Chart Tools, & Graphic Organizers.

Thanks to David Kapular, I learned about a new site where users can create animations. It's called Animatron. You can create five animations for free, but after that the cost is $15 per year. The feature that made it stand out to me was its audio recording capability, even though the sound quality isn't top notch.

Perusall is a new online tool inspired by Eric Mazur. I've previously posted about his work encouraging college instructors to move away from lectures. Perusall is a free site where teachers can assign student readings for homework and where students annotate the text while connecting with other students doing the same thing at the same time. The tool then also supposedly provides some kind of automatic assessment for the student annotations. Teachers can upload anything they want, as well as assigning textbooks that then have to be purchased through the site (I assume that this is their strategy for making money). You can read more about it at This new tool makes the flipped classroom more social. I'm adding it to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress.

Vicki Davis shared a link to a new resource, Write The World, on Twitter. Write The World lets teachers set-up virtual classrooms for free where they can monitor student writing progress and, if they wish, let classmates use it for a peer review process. They can be private or public groups. In addition, the site has writing contests, provides prompts, and encourages students to view each other's work from around the world. I'm adding it to: The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An "Authentic Audience" and The Best Online Tools That Can Help Students Write An Essay.

I learned about Genial.ly from Shelly Terrell's excellent post, Visualizing Learning with Infographics: 23 Resources. Genial.ly seems like a new and useful free tool for creating infographics.

eMargin is a free tool developed by Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom. You can upload any text and have students annotate it, and the same text can be annotated by a closed group. In addition, you can "upload" a web address and annotate it, as well. The lay-out can be a bit funky with websites, but it's still workable. I'm adding it to Best Applications For Annotating Websites.

Creating their own unique English subtitles to funny "foreign language" or silent movie scenes has been a fun language-learning activity done in many English Language Learner classrooms for years. There are several tools that teachers have used for just that purpose, which you can find at The Best Places To Create Funny Subtitles For Silent Movies. Caption Generator lets you do that for any video on YouTube, so ELLs and their teachers can now have even more choices. However, you probably want to use it with caution. Some of the videos that have been captioned and viewable on the site may not be classroom appropriate. However, I assume (thought haven't checked at my school computer) that those videos will be blocked by district content filters. I can't be sure, though.

The new PhotoScan app from Google, for both Android and iPhone, lets you easily convert your old "paper" photos into high-resolution digital images. It's great for personal use, but I'm also finding it helpful for scanning some of the many old photos I've taken over the years that would be good for the classroom.

Most of us are probably familiar with the famous ethical "Trolley Problem" (see The Best Videos About The Famous "Trolley Problem"). Now, MIT has created what's got to be the most engaging online version of the age-old ethical dilemma in its "Moral Machine." Their take on the problem is that you are designing the moral decisions a self-driving car has to make. You're given thirteen scenarios and, after you're done, you can see how your answers compare to those of previous participants. The best part, though, of the site comes next. You can then create your own scenario that others can play! I think it's safe to say that for as long as this site is up, any IB Theory of Knowledge class that has access to technology will be playing it during their Ethics unit.

Pablo lets you create visually attractive quotes and provides access to over 50,000 royalty-free images.

I have a huge The Best Online Sources For Images list (and one needing some revising and updating). And, with all those resources available, Photos For Class has become my "go-to" site for blog and presentation images. It's free and, when you download the image (all Creative Commons licensed for public use), proper attribution is shown with it. It can't get much easier than that....

My Simple Show lets you create free audio "explainers" - about biographies, chemical reactions, you name it. What makes it truly exceptional is the scaffolding and support it provides each step of the way, plus so much of it is automated - down to the selection of images (which you can easily change). You can provide your own audio narration or choose its computer generated voice. It's very, very simple to use and accessible to English Language Learners.

Zooniverse is an amazing site where scholars put up projects that require "people-powered research" - for example, attempting to decode formerly secret Civil War telegrams. It has many projects in multiple subject areas, along with very cool online tools for students to use when doing the research. The site also has lesson plans for teachers to use when introducing students to the site. A site like this offers real purposes for student learning. I'm amazed that I hadn't heard of it before today when Stephen F. Knott sent the tweet about the Civil War project. Further exploration led me to all the site's other features. I'm going to add it to Best Places Where Students Can Write For An "Authentic Audience," but it deserves to be on a lot of other Best lists.

Reader Gabrielle Klingelhöfer shared the site Learning Apps with me, and I'm sure glad she did! It's a free site that lets teachers create virtual classrooms where students can uses lots of different kinds of online exercises and games to learn many subjects. There are tons of already-created exercises divided by subject, and it seems super-easy - and I really mean easy - for teachers to create their own. There are many ESL and regular English interactives. There are tons on other subjects, as well. My only suggestion to the site is that it would be nice to have a further search parameter to divide by language. The other subjects have many exercises in other languages (the site itself appears to be from Germany) and it would just make it a little easier for teachers. But it's really a minor issue for a fabulous site.

Adobe Spark looks like an amazing new free tool that lets you create visually attractive quotes, web pages and videos. Richard Byrne, as usual, has created an excellent video showing how it works.

Wizer lets teachers easily create online, multimedia online "worksheets" (even better, you can use or modify ones other educators have made), give students the url address to the "worksheet" (I'd just copy-and-paste it on our class blog), students quickly and simply register on Wizer, complete the worksheet, and, voila, teachers can easily see each students' work. In some ways, it's like a somewhat less-sophisticated SAS Curriculum Pathways, which I think is the most useful site on the Web for teachers. There, though, only SAS creates the materials.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Fifty Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As regular readers know, I've begun posting my end-of-year "The Best...." lists. There are over 1,600 regularly updated lists now. You can see them all here. As usual, in order to make this list, a site had to be: * accessible to English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users. * free-of-charge.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our screen capture tools help you easily create, edit and communicate with videos and images. Simple and intuitive tools to share your ideas.

Windows, Mac / iOS, Android, and Chromebook | No account required

Easy video communication for everyone

190 countries

Million of users in ourglobal community

Trusted

by Fortune 100 companies, school districts,
and 98 of the top 100 universities in the US

100,000,000+

Videos captured (and counting) since 2006

How can ScreenPal help you?

I need to capture videos and images.

Highly rated by our community

Overall rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 4,516 reviews.

What our community is saying

With ScreenPal I've been able to extend my expertise and automate some of my more routine tasks by creating high-quality video content and feedback, which then frees up my time for more personalized mentorship.

Cal Poly University Professor and founder and CEO of Mentorship Academy

ScreenPal's user-friendly interface and seamless integration into our existing teaching methods made it an obvious choice. From day one, it was clear that ScreenPal was not just another tech tool; it was a catalyst for active learning and collaboration.

Technology Integration and Innovation Coordinator, Arlington ISD

We use ScreenPal internally to create and manage all of the videos we share with educators. ScreenPal makes it easy to create videos with a consistent, branded look and feel, and then to share all of those videos from a central repository.

Chief Program Officer, The Modern Classrooms Project

Join millions of people communicating through video.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At ScreenPal, we don't believe that video recording and editing should be difficult, or cost a fortune. Our simple and intuitive tools help you get the job done easily.

# data[].attributes.headline
Photos For Class - The quick and safe way to find and cite images for class!

# data[].attributes.subject
Photos For Class - The quick and safe way to find and cite images for class!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Search now to download properly attributed, Creative Commons photos for school!

Teachers have told us they need a place to access safe images that are available to be used in the classroom and for educational purposes. Plus, they want accurate image citations. We’ve heard you and created “Photos For Class” to meet your needs for images!

Age Appropriate Images - All images are appropriate for the school setting, thanks to Flickr and Pixabay SafeSearch and our proprietary filters - Read More

Automatic Citation - Downloaded images automatically cite the author and the image license terms - Read More

Creative Commons - All photos shown are, to the best of our (and Flickr's / Pixabay's) knowledge, licensed by Creative Commons for public use

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Photos For Class - The quick and safe way to find and cite images for class!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The World’s easist way to search for safe, creative commons images and cite them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.

# data[].attributes.headline
Buncee | Create, Present and Share Engaging Multimedia Lessons

# data[].attributes.subject
Buncee | Create, Present and Share Engaging Multimedia Lessons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Creativity,
made easy

With over two thousand templates to choose from, you can unleash your creativity in no time. Ranging from education to business to personal use, Buncee Templates gives you a jump start on any creation, but with the freedom to add your personal touch. Choose from our in-house templates, or select a custom template uploaded by your admin on Buncee for Schools and Districts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Buncee | Create, Present and Share Engaging Multimedia Lessons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With over two thousand templates to choose from, you can unleash your creativity in no time. Ranging from education to business to personal use, Buncee Templates gives you a jump start on any creation, but with the freedom to add your personal touch.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
elink is an all-in-one content marketing tool to curate and publish email newsletters and web pages in minutes. Grow your audience and increase engagement.

# data[].attributes.headline
Free Technology for Teachers: Six Audio Recording Tools That Work In Your Web Browser

# data[].attributes.subject
Free Technology for Teachers: Six Audio Recording Tools That Work In Your Web Browser

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As I have mentioned over the last couple of days, last week someone rightly pointed out to me that the Practical Ed Tech Tips playlist on my YouTube channel was getting a bit too long (it has more than 200 videos in it). To rectify that problem I've created some smaller playlists consisting of videos that I've published on various topics within my YouTube channel. One of those smaller playlists features six web-based audio recording tools. The playlist is embedded below. Descriptions of each tool are included below the embedded playlist.

Through TwistedWave you can create and edit spoken audio recordings from scratch. Your completed tracks can be exported to Google Drive and SoundCloud. If you have existing audio tracks in your SoundCloud or Google Drive account you can also import it into TwistedWave to edit those audio tracks. TwistedWave's audio editing tools include options for fade-in, fade-out, looping, sound normalization, and pitch adjustments. The editor also includes the typical track clipping tools that you would expect to see in an audio editing tool.

Mic Note is a free Chrome app that allows you to create voice recordings, text notes, and image-based notes on one concise notebook page. The notes that you record with your voice can be time-stamped by clicking on your Mic Note note page while you're recording. You can also take notes without recording any audio. All notes support inclusion of images and links. The best part of Mic Note is that you can sync all of your notes to your Google Drive or Dropbox account.

Vocaroo is a free service that you can use to create short audio recordings. Creating a recording on Vocaroo is a simple process that does not require you to create an account or have any special browser plugins. Just go to the site and click record to get started.

SoundCloud's Android and iOS apps no longer have the recording features that they used to have, but the browser based version still offers a good recording tool. After recording in your SoundCloud account you can grab the embed code for any of your recordings.

AudioPal is a free service that anyone can use to create short audio messages to embed into blog posts. AudioPal offers three way to create messages. You can record using the microphone connected to your computer. You can record by calling AudioPal's phone system. Or you can create a message by using AudioPal's text-to-speech function.

AudioBoom offers an easy way for teachers and students to create short audio recordings that are matched to images. Android and iOS apps are also available from AudioBoom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Six Audio Recording Tools That Work In Your Web Browser

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As I have mentioned over the last couple of days, last week someone rightly pointed out to me that the Practical Ed Tech Tips playlist on my YouTube channel was getting a bit too long (it has more than 200 videos in it).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SafeShare - The safest way to share YouTube and Vimeo videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Share YouTube and Vimeo videos safely and without distractions! Watch videos without ads and distractions Trim videos to show only the part you care about Share directly to Google Classroom Control the privacy settings of your videos SafeShare makes it easy to generate web pages containing a video from YouTube or Vimeo, but without any advertisements, annotations, or links to other potentially inappropriate videos.

# data[].attributes.headline
15 Tech Tool Favorites From ISTE 2016 | MindShift | KQED News

# data[].attributes.subject
15 Tech Tool Favorites From ISTE 2016 | MindShift | KQED News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"You can zoom in really close, the kind of close you can't get when you're at the museum," Martinez said. The app allows users to see brush strokes in detail, as well as some of the aspects of older art that aren't always visible to the naked eye, like elements that have been painted over.

If students click on the little yellow figure at the bottom (known as Pegman) they can dive into the 3D world of the museum space, affording them a view of other paintings on display in the same gallery. If a user is logged into a Google account, she can also create a gallery of art and even arrange works on a timeline.

World Wonders Project
This app is also part of Google Arts and Culture. Similar to Art Project, it lets students explore famous sites around the world like the Great Barrier Reef or Pompeii. Each site has videos, but also allows the user to dive into a 3D view when she clicks on Pegman. Students can zoom out to see a world map and pick locations all over the world.

YouTube
There are tons of powerful YouTube videos for learning available now, but it can be a giant task to search through everything to find the best clips. Martinez has started to compile a database of YouTube Channels by subject to help educators with discoverability (hint subjects are by tab along the bottom of the document).

If teachers have streaming problems in their schools, or filters that block YouTube, they can download the video from SafeShare.tv and upload to Google Drive.

YouTube Time Machine
This simple tool allows users to search and filter by time period. Unfortunately it depends on users who uploaded videos to accurately tag content. But it can be a useful tool for finding footage from historical moments relevant to class discussions and it's also possible to filter by subject.

Google CS First
Built on Scratch's programming language, this easy tool gives step-by-step instructions to get started and is great for the hesitant teacher who is just beginning to dip a toe into coding. Martinez estimates this works for grades 5th and up because the reading level of the instructions is more advanced.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"You can zoom in really close, the kind of close you can't get when you're at the museum," Martinez said. The app allows users to see brush strokes in detail, as well as some of the aspects of older art that aren't always visible to the naked eye, like elements that have been painted over.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Graham Mayor ... helping to ease the lives of Microsoft Word users.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A collection of tips and add-ins to benefit Word users.