Google Hangout - Teacher-Student Communication Google Hangouts is not just a communication tool but a collaboration tool as well. Google Hangout allows instructors and students to connect for a one-to-one session for homework help or a small group through a video chat. In instructor may come across multiple students having the same questions, using a hangout would be a great opportunity to connect this small group to answer similar questions and create a space for the group to interact with each other and the instructor. Students can use google hangout for peer reviews and brainstorming sessions. Having the group together can inspire ideas and give a space to share articles, and creative discussions. Almost everyone has a Gmail account and/or connected to a Google application which makes it easy to access a Hangout right through your email or through a link invite. Google Hangouts are free to use. https://hangouts.google.com/
Google Docs Within Google Docs you will find four tools under one roof, Sheets, Docs, Slides, and Forms. Google docs can be accessed anywhere online and through any device, laptop, tablet, or phone. Students and Instructors can work together on Docs, Sheets, and Slides in real time. A group can be working collaboratively together on a project from anywhere and see the edits and comments that others are creating. Google Docs can be shared with anyone, it is not limited to Gmail users only. All work and changes are automatically saved which is amazing when you are on the go or in a hurry and forgot to save your file to your hard drive. There is also the ability to see older versions of your docs, who created them and the dates they were created. Forms are a great way for an Instructor to create a survey for students to learn more about them and their learning styles. A poll might be created to find out a groups availability to meet or learn students’ knowledge on a topic. Sheets can be used for a group to track progress, assign tasks and create a chart. Using Google Docs is free with a Gmail account. https://www.google.com/docs/about/
Corkboard Is a unique tool that allows users to post notes, websites and locations on their corkboard. Posting is easy through SMS, email, or an iPhone app. Users can collaborate on a corkboard. Multiple users on one cork board will share posts across the group. Notifications can be enabled so you can get an alert for when a new posting has been added. Students can use cork board for group discussions to discuss a group topic. Pictures can be posted and shared and commented on in real time. Corkboard is free to use. http://www.corkboard.it/how_corkboard_works
YouTube Creators YouTube Creators offer tutorials and courses on creating your own YouTube video channel. Their course, Building an educational channel on YouTube, is easy and very helpful to create your video. Content is what will engage your learners, depending on your goal there are categories that may be helpful when planning to create your video. Edutainment, education and entertainment, this category is fun and memorable. Straightforward education and answers – sharing how-to academic subjects or curriculum-based category are often teachers and experts in their area of education sharing their knowledge. Skill-based learning – teaching skills to enhance careers, maybe from a profession in the field that specializes in skill-based learning. The goal of learning through a YouTube educational video would be to “inspire, inform, or empower viewers to advance or change their careers” (YouTube, 2017). Instructors could use YouTube to discuss in depth an assignment, or create a tutorial video. Students can use YouTube to create projects to share with their instructor and other students. Having a visual of a person can build a connection and encourage a student to watch and interact more with the instructor. Creating a video and uploading your video to YouTube is easy and free to use. Your channel can be made public, so anyone can use your video as a resource, and you are now connected globally. Through the comments section, you may receive questions, suggestions, and links to other information. Hopefully, you will inspire others to share their knowledge as well. https://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/
Presentation Tools
Twiddla An online whiteboard that allows instructors and students have remote a tutoring session. Instructors can markup graphics, photos, or use a blank canvas to create their presentations to share with their students. Twiddla is free and you don’t have to sign up to use their service. There are no downloads or plug-ins needed to utilize Twiddla. This tool would be great for creating an engaging visual presentation for students. https://www.twiddla.com/
SlideShare With SlideShare, a dynamic visual presentation can be created and shared with students and colleagues. You can embed videos and music into your presentation as well as add comments. A fun and engaging way to share presentations with a pop! Instructors can create a lecture video and embed it into their presentation, now it’s not just a boring lecture. Showing your students that you can be creative shows some of your personality and can help build relationships. This is a great tool for students to use for their own presentations especially because it has multiple options to personalize it. https://www.slideshare.net/
Powtoon – Animation Presentation Software Instructors and students can create animated presentations and videos that are engaging and fun to watch. There is an app for educators to use and has been proven to be a more effective way of learning compared to a regular video or PowerPoint presentation. To create your video, they offer a drag and drop template that is scripted and ready to use, this saves time and effort. Powtoon is used by large companies to engage their employees, some of those organizations are Google, eBay, Starbucks, Apple, Target, and MasterCard. This is a great tool for a teacher introduction or to use for a Syllabus. The animation and music are engaging and different from your average video recording. https://www.powtoon.com/home/
Task Management Tools
Freecdamp Freedcamp is a task manager for professional and personal task tracking. A simple task list can be created, and subtasks added. Your task lists are private, and the service is free. There are several different viewing options, Kanban board, and Gantt Chart. The Kanban board lets you manage tasks by dragging them into completion columns. The Gantt Chart gives you a bird’s eye view, so you can easily change plans if needed. Freedcamp offers many tools to use with your task lists. Sorting options, reordering your projects, filtering and search options and shortcuts to easily find your tasks. This would be a great tool to keep track of when assignments are due and using subtasks for what each assignment needs. This assignment is a perfect example. I needed to find 10 Web 2.0 tools, so my initial task is just this, then my subtasks are the tools that I find. https://freedcamp.com/
Group Work
Slack Slack is a group messaging application. Groups can organize their project discussion into different channels. Slack also lets you make a voice and video call. Files can be uploaded to a channel and once they are in Slack, they become searchable. Group access to all files and unifies the group's communications. This is a great application to use for collaboration on multiple types of work. I am actually a part of a Slack group. My group uses Slack for communicating ideas to the group, any immediate changes that happen can be sent to the group. Feedback on projects and group planning. It’s free, fun, and easy to use. https://slack.com/
NowComment NowComment is a collaboration and discussion tool for instructor and students. Instructors can create an online discussion for their students. Students may be more inclined to communicate virtually. Collaboration can go a step further than the general class discussion. Through NowComment details can be discussed, other findings and resources shared. Instructors can sort our comments by student’s names and dates which helps them evaluate their overall participation. Documents can also be uploaded to group project work and/or peer reviews on assignments. NowComment is a free tool to use. https://nowcomment.com/
Google Hangout - Teacher-Student Communication
Google Hangouts is not just a communication tool but a collaboration tool as well. Google Hangout allows instructors and students to connect for a one-to-one session for homework help or a small group through a video chat. In instructor may come across multiple students having the same questions, using a hangout would be a great opportunity to connect this small group to answer similar questions and create a space for the group to interact with each other and the instructor. Students can use google hangout for peer reviews and brainstorming sessions. Having the group together can inspire ideas and give a space to share articles, and creative discussions. Almost everyone has a Gmail account and/or connected to a Google application which makes it easy to access a Hangout right through your email or through a link invite. Google Hangouts are free to use.
https://hangouts.google.com/
Google Docs
Within Google Docs you will find four tools under one roof, Sheets, Docs, Slides, and Forms. Google docs can be accessed anywhere online and through any device, laptop, tablet, or phone. Students and Instructors can work together on Docs, Sheets, and Slides in real time. A group can be working collaboratively together on a project from anywhere and see the edits and comments that others are creating. Google Docs can be shared with anyone, it is not limited to Gmail users only. All work and changes are automatically saved which is amazing when you are on the go or in a hurry and forgot to save your file to your hard drive. There is also the ability to see older versions of your docs, who created them and the dates they were created. Forms are a great way for an Instructor to create a survey for students to learn more about them and their learning styles. A poll might be created to find out a groups availability to meet or learn students’ knowledge on a topic. Sheets can be used for a group to track progress, assign tasks and create a chart. Using Google Docs is free with a Gmail account.
https://www.google.com/docs/about/
Corkboard
Is a unique tool that allows users to post notes, websites and locations on their corkboard. Posting is easy through SMS, email, or an iPhone app. Users can collaborate on a corkboard. Multiple users on one cork board will share posts across the group. Notifications can be enabled so you can get an alert for when a new posting has been added. Students can use cork board for group discussions to discuss a group topic. Pictures can be posted and shared and commented on in real time. Corkboard is free to use.
http://www.corkboard.it/how_corkboard_works
YouTube Creators
YouTube Creators offer tutorials and courses on creating your own YouTube video channel. Their course, Building an educational channel on YouTube, is easy and very helpful to create your video. Content is what will engage your learners, depending on your goal there are categories that may be helpful when planning to create your video. Edutainment, education and entertainment, this category is fun and memorable. Straightforward education and answers – sharing how-to academic subjects or curriculum-based category are often teachers and experts in their area of education sharing their knowledge. Skill-based learning – teaching skills to enhance careers, maybe from a profession in the field that specializes in skill-based learning. The goal of learning through a YouTube educational video would be to “inspire, inform, or empower viewers to advance or change their careers” (YouTube, 2017). Instructors could use YouTube to discuss in depth an assignment, or create a tutorial video. Students can use YouTube to create projects to share with their instructor and other students. Having a visual of a person can build a connection and encourage a student to watch and interact more with the instructor. Creating a video and uploading your video to YouTube is easy and free to use. Your channel can be made public, so anyone can use your video as a resource, and you are now connected globally. Through the comments section, you may receive questions, suggestions, and links to other information. Hopefully, you will inspire others to share their knowledge as well.
https://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/
Presentation Tools
Twiddla
An online whiteboard that allows instructors and students have remote a tutoring session. Instructors can markup graphics, photos, or use a blank canvas to create their presentations to share with their students. Twiddla is free and you don’t have to sign up to use their service. There are no downloads or plug-ins needed to utilize Twiddla. This tool would be great for creating an engaging visual presentation for students.
https://www.twiddla.com/
SlideShare
With SlideShare, a dynamic visual presentation can be created and shared with students and colleagues. You can embed videos and music into your presentation as well as add comments. A fun and engaging way to share presentations with a pop! Instructors can create a lecture video and embed it into their presentation, now it’s not just a boring lecture. Showing your students that you can be creative shows some of your personality and can help build relationships. This is a great tool for students to use for their own presentations especially because it has multiple options to personalize it.
https://www.slideshare.net/
Powtoon – Animation Presentation Software
Instructors and students can create animated presentations and videos that are engaging and fun to watch. There is an app for educators to use and has been proven to be a more effective way of learning compared to a regular video or PowerPoint presentation. To create your video, they offer a drag and drop template that is scripted and ready to use, this saves time and effort. Powtoon is used by large companies to engage their employees, some of those organizations are Google, eBay, Starbucks, Apple, Target, and MasterCard. This is a great tool for a teacher introduction or to use for a Syllabus. The animation and music are engaging and different from your average video recording.
https://www.powtoon.com/home/
Task Management Tools
Freecdamp
Freedcamp is a task manager for professional and personal task tracking. A simple task list can be created, and subtasks added. Your task lists are private, and the service is free. There are several different viewing options, Kanban board, and Gantt Chart. The Kanban board lets you manage tasks by dragging them into completion columns. The Gantt Chart gives you a bird’s eye view, so you can easily change plans if needed. Freedcamp offers many tools to use with your task lists. Sorting options, reordering your projects, filtering and search options and shortcuts to easily find your tasks. This would be a great tool to keep track of when assignments are due and using subtasks for what each assignment needs. This assignment is a perfect example. I needed to find 10 Web 2.0 tools, so my initial task is just this, then my subtasks are the tools that I find.
https://freedcamp.com/
Group Work
Slack
Slack is a group messaging application. Groups can organize their project discussion into different channels. Slack also lets you make a voice and video call. Files can be uploaded to a channel and once they are in Slack, they become searchable. Group access to all files and unifies the group's communications. This is a great application to use for collaboration on multiple types of work. I am actually a part of a Slack group. My group uses Slack for communicating ideas to the group, any immediate changes that happen can be sent to the group. Feedback on projects and group planning. It’s free, fun, and easy to use.
https://slack.com/
NowComment
NowComment is a collaboration and discussion tool for instructor and students. Instructors can create an online discussion for their students. Students may be more inclined to communicate virtually. Collaboration can go a step further than the general class discussion. Through NowComment details can be discussed, other findings and resources shared. Instructors can sort our comments by student’s names and dates which helps them evaluate their overall participation. Documents can also be uploaded to group project work and/or peer reviews on assignments. NowComment is a free tool to use.
https://nowcomment.com/