KC_Reviews

These are my reviews of websites and web tools that can be used in the classroom.

1. **__// Schoology //__** : A social networking and collaborating website used in schools to make communication with students and parents quick and easy. This makes me as nervous as using facebook and twitter in the classroom, due to privacy and content concerns. This can be a great tool if it is diligently managed and used only as a tool for easy communication about assignments, not a about issues or concerns a teacher, student, or parent may have. I think this would be most beneficial for students in middle or high school. [|www.schoology.com]

2. **//__Kerpoof__//** : Besides having a great name this website could be really great for elementary level students. They can create their own stories, pictures with spelling words and movies. The students simply have to drag and place most of the elements. It is really simple, but without direction the students probably will get lost. There are a ton of things to do on this website so to keep it academic and not just play; be sure the students are given clear direction and know exactly what they can cannot use at that time. I can see this easily turning into a free for all and nothing getting accomplished. [|www.kerpoof.com]

3. **//__Glogster__//** : A great tool that saves on paper. Glogster allows students to create posters online that can then be shared with the class. This would be great mostly for upper elementary and higher. I think the younger grades would struggle with some of the technology involved. I like this because it cuts down on paper and allows students to be creative without being creative themselves. It allows the students to be graded more on their content then on their artwork. I do not like this because it makes it easier for students to simply copy and paste. [|www.glogster.com]

4. **//__Voicethread__//** : This so cool!!! You can or students can take pictures, make slideshows, write about them and talk about them. That's right we can add actual voices to the picture slideshows. On top of that students or teachers can add comments to the pictures to add to or critique the pictures. This could be used as presentations or as a "powerpoint" for teaching concepts. I can see this potentially getting out of hand with the comments, but if managed correctly this could be an amazing tool for classrooms. Teachers could use this at any level; if you want students to use this I would say upper middle school and high school would benefit the most. [|voicethread.com]

5. **//__Voki__//** : This a website that can change text into voice. This would be great for students who cannot speak or read. They can join conversations in different ways and feel like they are part of the group without feeling dumb. You can personalize the Voki and you can do any text. I think this taps into what the students are doing outside of school and will help them to personalize their learning. It also helps the teacher to personalize their teaching to each student. I think this could take up a lot of time so teachers need to be careful not to use it too much. This would be good for the younger grades and for special education. [|www.voki.com]

6. **//__Thinkquest__//** : This would be great at any level, the teacher could run it or the teacher could have the students run the creation. Thinkquest is an online project based website used to have students from around the globe interact. The teacher will assign a topic and the students will make web pages to fully illustrate their ideas, using pictures, videos, lists, votes, discussions, and anything else they can think to do. This can be used only in your classroom or can be opened up worldwide for others to help create and illustrate the topic. I think this is pretty cool, but it also looks to be a bit complicated and the teacher will need to fully understand how the website works before they are able to assign it to students. [|www.thinkquest.org]

7. **//__ Bitstrips __//**: A cartoon creation website that allows students to create characters that look like real people that could be from the past, present, or future. They are able to create cartoons that can illustrate a topic in a creative way that gets students involved and excited. This would be great for younger students as it is very user friendly and fun. One downfall is that the creation of the characters and scenes can take the students a long time because there are so many choices. [|www.bitstrips.com]

8. **//__ Jing __//**: This is a cool website that allows you to capture whatever you are doing on your computer (pictures or videos) and share them instantly via email, over the web, or save it to your computer to share later. This would be really great if you are trying to plan a lesson and found the perfect video or picture and want to show it to your class. So what is the difference between this and just saving, this allows you to site your sources and can add to the picture or video in any way you might want. [|jingproject.com]

9.**//__ Prezi __//**: This is a presentation tool, similar to powerpoint and google docs presentation. This is a better version because it allows for students to be a little more creative and to have much more interesting and fun presentations. This could be a very quick presentation or made into much more complicated and long presentations. Prezi is a bit more complicated than powerpoint, but I think that it will allow students to be a bit more creative. [|prezi.com]

10. **//__ Bubbl.us __//**: A brainstorming website where students can create mind webs, share the webs, and have others add to the web to make it better. This is a great way for students to work collaboratively. This is great for students to plan out the writing of a paper or for starting a unit. This website does not have a lot of use, but it is great for the limited uses. [|bubbl.us]

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