Bitly

Bitly is a URL shortener.  It's purpose...take long URLS and make them short URLs.  Bitly is a very easy to use tool that is also a very useful tool in the classroom.  I have used it in the past with teachers when they want to share a URL with their class but don't want to make them write down a gigantic address.  Another feature that I really like is the ability to bundle several links together so that you can share just one link to a page with several links (great for resources projects for students).  Recently, Bitly overhauled their site in a major way (still have the weird blowfish looking thing on the homepage) and even introduced some great new features.

Bitly has now built in a social bookmarking feature that is called Bitmarks.  Bitmarks are bookmarks that you save to your Bitly account similar to Diigo or any other social bookmarking site.  These saved sites can be shared or kept private to your account.  What this means is that you can now share a link to a bunch of bookmarks on a topic, e.g. SMARTboard resources.  They have also added the ability to collaborate on bundles with other users.  In addition, Bitly has created an app for iOS users that allows you to create and access your Bitmarks on the go.

Now What?

Bitly is a great way to save all of your links and websites in one place.  This makes it much easier when you want to share them with another teacher or a class of students for an upcoming assignment.  For someone like me who is already using Diigo this will remain a place for me to share shortened URLs but it's nice to see that Bitly is expanding their product to include bookmarks now as well.

Mentor Mob

Mentor Mob is a web curation site which allows teachers to group content into a meanginful lesson (think webquest) called a playlist.  For more information about the basics, check out my previous post or watch the video below.  Recently Mentor Mob rolled out a new feature that is pretty cool which allows for commenting by the viewer of the playlist.  This is a great way for students to ask questions about the information or add their thoughts to the conversation.  Teachers can use this feature to leave comments for their students or answer questions that have been left by viewers.  If you are looking for other ways to curate the web you can check out Pinterest, Side Vibe or Bag The Web which all do a nice job of putting content into a manageable package for sharing with your students.

Mentor Mob

Inquiry based learning is an excellent way to get students to independently discover and synthesize information. The old school method of encouraging this type of exploration was through the use of webquests.  Today, Mentor Mob is helping to make this task much easier.  The purpose of Mentor Mob is to allow you to collect various parts of the web and present them in one neat little package. I loved how easy it was to create a playlist on Mentor Mob and you can even import your own files (.doc, .ppt, .pdf and more) into the playlist.  Once the playlist was completed I could embed it or share it with a link or even post it to my social networks. Check out the playlist that I created on web browsers.


Now What?

Mentor Mob is an excellent site for sharing a lesson with your class.  I would definitely use this tool to assist with sharing resources for a project or guide their reading and viewing for a homework assignment.  Ultimately, it is a great way for you to eliminate the aimless searching that occurs online.  You could even take it a step further and have your students create playlists to share with the class.

Side Vibe

SideVibe is a browser extension (didn't work for me in Google Chrome) which allows you to annotate over web pages and then share those annotated websites with students.  Students can then answer questions that you pose about the content on the site and all of this data is collected for the teacher on the SideVibe website.  Students do not need any special programs or downloads because they will only be viewing the teacher's annotated web pages.  Note that with your free teacher account you only get 50 student log-ins.  To upgrade your account it is $5.99 per month which will give you unlimited students and the ability to chat with students.  Below is a video overview of  SideVibe:



Now What?

SideVibe seems to be an updated version of a "webquest".  I like the idea of everything being on the web for students so that they do not have to go back and forth between paper handouts and their computer.  As the teacher you can also track and review your student's work from your dashboard on  SideVibe.  Diigo is also similar in a sense because you can bookmark websites and write notes on those sites using stickies.

Quick Screen Share

Anytime that I post a video where I'm demonstrating how to do something on the computer I am using a website called Screencast-o-matic which is free and simple to use.  Recently I came across a blog post about how that site is now offering users the ability to share their screen with someone else in order to show them something on the computer using what they call Quick Screen Share.  To use this site, you click on share your screen and then enter your name.  Quick Screen Share will then provide you with a unique web address to share with the person joining your screen.  When that person uses that link they will see your screen and your movements...it's that simple!  Another website that I have used that is similar is Join.me which I've written about in the past.

Now What?

Screen sharing websites are an excellent way to show someone how to do something on the computer or share a file without giving it to another person.  You can also help students with something on their computer when a written set of directions isn't cutting it.

Twiddla

http://www.twiddla.com/images/logo-corner2.png

Twiddla is a neat web application which has brought the term "team whiteboarding" into our classroom.  Basically the premise of twiddla is to allow multiple users to meet in a web-based playground where they can view/edit/discuss a wide range of items including original thoughts, websites, uploaded files, images and more.  One of the best parts about Twiddla is that each person can use this site as a guest so that students without an e-mail address will be able to use this service as well.

Check it out using this site right here by clicking the logo below:

 

Now What?


Twiddla is similar to other web based meeting sites but it does not require any downloads or plug-ins, firewall access or javascript.  Students can use this site to work collaboratively on a project from their respective houses.  As a PD facilitator, I can see this being used to offer web based professional development for several schools at once.