If you’d like to use online office tools withs students for their ease-of-use, accessibility and collaboration features but don’t know where to start, you might like to look at the rather comprehensive list over at the Office 2.0 Database.
If you use blogs with your students, you’d probably appreciate a plugin which lets you comment on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. That’s what CommentPress from if:book promises to let you do. The trouble is that is hasn’t been released yet – but according to their blog it shouldn’t be long!
Somewhat understandably, YouTube is blocked in many schools – including mine. Whilst other solutions such as Google Video are still available in some institutions, one has to wonder for how long this will remain the case. What is needed, then, is a site like the two mentioned above but dedicated to educational videos.
Enter TeacherTube! With an interface almost baiting YouTube to sue them, TeacherTube is made by teachers for teachers:
TeacherTube was the idea of Jason Smith, a 14-year veteran educator. Jason has been a teacher, coach, campus administrator and district administrator in public schools. He asked the question, “Why can’t teachers, students, and schools utilize the power of the read/write web for learning?” To overcome barriers, he decided to just create a site and get started trying to help. He turned to his brother, Adam, who is a younger, digital native, with technical skills. Adam used his skills to develop the site and found a web host. Soon, Jason’s wife, Jodie, joined the team to start populating the site with videos and help improve the communication. She too has 14 years of experience in education as a classroom teacher, campus technology integrator, and district curriculum coordinator.
Some of the videos on there are serious, whilst others are hilarious. Check out Mrs Burk, the rapping maths teacher! The only problem I can forsee is that it’s not exactly… cool. YouTube is red hot at the moment; TeacherTube could be seen by web-savvy teenagers as a bit sad. In any case, it’s a noble proposition well-executed and I wish the advertising-funded site the best of luck!
(via A History Teacher)
