Tag: website

Lunarpages Free Education Web Hosting

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Lunarpages Free Education Web Hosting2550 views

 

What it is:  Lunarpages is a web hosting web service that offers free hosting to k-12 educators and schools!  The free web hosting is intended to be used by teachers only (individual student web hosting is not available).  Lunarpages will provide a free web builder, free unlimited phone and email support, unlimited email addresses and FTP accounts, 500MB of storage, 20GB data transfer, and one free domain name registration for each account.   The only stipulation?  You must have a banner ad somewhere on the site that says that Lunarpages donated the site…thats it!  

 

How to integrate Lunarpages into the classroom:  Lunarpages hosting is an excellent option for those of you who enjoy building your websites with software like iWeb.  It is also an excellent option for a class website built with the web builder Lunarpages provides.  Classroom websites are an outstanding way to communicate with parents and students about the goings on in your classroom.

 

Tips:   The free web hosting is only available for k-12 public schools. Learn about how to get your free web hosting with Lunarpages here.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Lunarpages in your classroom.

Daft Doggy

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Daft Doggy2499 views

 

What it is:   I found Daft Doggy several months ago and put it in my “explore more” folder.  The Daft Doggy site is in beta version and it isn’t obvious upon first visit what exactly it does.  Today I had a little bit of time to go and explore the site more and I am glad I did!  Daft Doggy is a free service that lets you record web browsing sessions, play them back, and share recorded sessions with others.  It is very simple to use (only 2 clicks to start recording!)  You type in the starting point URL and Daft Doggy keeps track of all subsequent URL’s along the way.  Daft Doggy doesn’t record everything you do, it only remembers each separate URL you visit in a sequence, it does this both within the site or a separate external site.  When students or teachers view the session, a blue bar at the top of the page shows the URL along with reverse and next navigation.  Each recorded session is assigned a unique link making it easy to share with students or other staff.  After you have recorded the sequence of sites, you have the option of labeling each site and even adding a voice recording that will play when that site is being viewed.  

 

How to integrate Daft Doggy into the classroom:   Daft Doggy is a great way to lead students through a series of activities on the web.  Younger students especially who would have trouble keeping track of and typing mulitiple URL’s would benefit from a lesson recorded with Daft Doggy.  Daft Doggy is also perfect for whole class instruction with a projector when mulitiple sites will be visited.  The recorded session will keep you on track and keep you from having to type in multiple URL’s while teaching.  As a computer teacher and technology integration specialist, I like Daft Doggy for the ability to make quick guides for students and teachers as well as tutorials.  The Daft Doggy recordings are quick and easy to create making them ideal for quickly answering web questions or leading colleagues/students through websites.  Make your own online virtual field trips or webquests for students using Daft Doggy.  Student projects can also be enhanced with Daft Doggy.  Students can create web presentations with site to share with peers.  This would also be a great site to use as students are researching.  Instead of trying to remember the exact search words and links they used to find a site, they can record their research so that they can re-trace their steps at a later time if needed.  So cool!

 

Tips:   This beta site definitely doesn’t have any frills, it is very basic but it gets the job done easily and quickly.  To get started just create a login and you are ready to go! 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Daft Doggy in your classroom.

Glogster EDU!

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Glogster EDU!3511 views

 

What it is:  I wrote a post last week about a site called Glogster, since that post Glogster has introduced Glogster EDU!  Glogster for Education is a site that lets students combine graphics, photos, videos, music, and text into a great web 2.0 online poster.  Glogs are an outstanding way to enhance learning, wikis, and blogs.  Glogster EDU offers support and help with creating school accounts and keeping Glogs private.  

 

How to integrate Glogster EDU into the classroom:    As I mentioned last week, Glogster is a creative way for your students to display knowledge.  Students can create Glogs for absolutely any subject.  Glogster is wonderful for book reports, history, math concepts, science, and literature.  The ability to embed Glogs into wikis and blogs is outstanding and makes Glogs even more versatile.

 

Tips: Send Glogster EDU feedback about features you would like to see specifically for education…they have committed to updates based on your feedback!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Glogster EDU in your classroom.

Glogster

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Glogster3310 views

What it is:   Glogster is a great creativity site who’s tag line is “poster yourself”.  A ‘glog’ is basically an online poster web page.  Students can combine text, pictures, graphics, video, and audio to create an interactive online poster.  Glogster has a very simple to use interface.  The final glog can be hosted by Glogster or you can embed it into a wiki, blog, or class web site.  

 

How to integrate Glogster into the classroom:  Glogster is an awesome way for your students to display knowledge.  Instead of creating a poster for a presentation, students can create an interactive glog to display information.  Glogster can be used for history, math, language arts, book reports, science, social studies, and for public service announcements.  In fact, I am having a hard time coming up with a subject that couldn’t use Glogster in some capacity.  Students can create these online posters to display any knowledge or learning.  You really have to see this site, the creativity that it allows for will get your wheels spinning.  Once you start using Glogster with your students, you are going to think of all kinds of new applications.  Because Glogster has the ability to handle audio, students can create podcasts (using Audacity, Garageband, G-Cast or Gabcast) and upload the content into their glog.  So cool!  I really love that students can share their school work and accomplishments online with classmates, family, and friends.  Give your students an authentic audience and their work will dazzle you!

 

Tips: You can check out a quick sample glog that I created here about Internet Safety.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Glogster  in your classroom.

Flowgram

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Flowgram3067 views

 

What it is: Flowgram is a website that makes it easier to teach your students online.  Flowgram has a simple platform that makes is easy for anyone to package and share anything on the web.  Flowgram can combine slideshows, documents, pictures, screencasts, websites, audio, video etc. with your voice narration.  This makes it simple to teach any concept using the web.  Flowgram requires no download, it runs directly from your Internet browser.  Recipients of the Flowgram can fully interact with anything that is on the Flowgram (webpage links, video, etc.).  Flowgrams can be sent via email, linked to, or embedded in a blog or website for viewing.   

 

How to integrate Flowgram into the classroom:  Flowgram is a wonderful way to create interactive tutorials for students learning any technology concept.  Beyond that, Flowgram makes it easy for you to take your students on virtual field trips on any subject.  What I love about Flowgram, is that it meets individual student needs.  Students can work at their own pace and interact with any part of the Flowgram as many times as they need.  It would also be a great place to create reviews for tests, and perfect for students who have missed school.  Teach your students to make Flowgrams and start your own library of student created tutorials on any subject.  Students teaching students is powerful!  Because you can narrate Flowgrams, they are wonderful to use with students who struggle with reading and navigating the Internet on their own…it is like having you sit right next to them, leading with your undivided attention.  

 

Tips:  I have started creating a weekly Flowgram for teachers at my school called Tenkely’s Tips.  I will be creating a new page with a collection of the weekly Flowgrams.  Feel free to check them out! :)

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Flowgram in your classroom.

 

 

EdWeb 2.0

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on EdWeb 2.04190 views

 

 

What it is: EdWeb 2.0 is web hosting designed with teachers in mind.  Teachers can create a free teacher website in an hour or less!  With EdWeb 2.0 teachers can create a classroom site with multiple blogs, podcasts, quick polls, videos, files, forms, announcements, calendars, add photo albums, separate information by subject area, and so much more.  The sites can be customized with your own theme, or choose from one of EdWeb’s ready made themes.  A classroom website is a great place to communicate with families, give students a place to go when they have questions outside of your classroom, and keep yourself organized.

 

How to integrate EdWeb 2.0 into the classroom: Post all of your class announcements, important dates, homework assignments, links, podcasts, videos, copies of papers sent home, etc. on your class website for a convenient way to stay in contact with students and families.  The site is simple to create and takes no time at all.  This is a great hour long weekend project that you and your students will appreiciate all year long.  

 

Tips: EdWeb 2.0 sets you up with a fully functional demo account first.  This allows you to play around and see if you like EdWeb 2.0, if you decide you want to use the website for your classroom, you make the site live (this is free).  This saves room on EdWeb’s servers for those who just want to take a look but don’t end up using EdWeb.  

You will see an option for pricing on the EdWeb site, this is an upgraded account with some additional features.

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using EdWeb in your classroom.

Animoto for Education

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Animoto for Education4907 views


What it is: There are some really neat online tools that I find that live in my Google Notebook for a long time (I have upward of 800 links for educational websites yet to post to iLearn Technology…and growing daily!) Some get pushed aside for my newest cool find, and some move to the bottom of the list because, while they may have educational value, they are not intended JUST for education and may have some questionable user created content that I wouldn’t want my students to stumble on. Animoto was one of these sites for me. It is an amazing and COOL tool but wasn’t necessarily geared just toward education. I got a fun email today that Animoto now has an education only site! Animoto for education is a site where students can create compelling and impressive digital content quickly and easily. It is the perfect addition to your classroom’s digital storytelling kit. It is very intuative and easy to use, in no time students have digital videos that they created! This is also an amazing place for you, the teacher, to create a video that will bring your lessons to life. You can post or embed videos on your class site or even, are you ready for this?, download for in class presentations. Animoto for Education makes it simple to mix audio and visual for a dynamic, unique presentation in no time. It is so easy to use that students could create a complete animoto presentation in one computer class.

How to integrate Animoto for Education into the classroom: Animoto for education is a great place for you to teach from. Make any lesson come to life with audio and visual, use at the beginning of the day as a ‘teaser’ for what your students can look forward to learning each day or use to teach complex concepts in history, math, science, or character education. Students will respond to new media in the classroom. Allow your students to display knowledge of a concept using Animoto. Use Animoto for Education for a beginning of the year get to know you activity. Students can each create an Animoto showcasing who they are through pictures and music. Animoto presentations are quicker to create than traditional PowerPoint type presentations making them ideal for digital storytelling in the classroom setting. Because Animoto is completely web-based, students can create videos from school and continue working on them at home. The ability to download videos is outstanding…students could save their work for offline viewing too!

Tips: Children under 13 can’t sign up for their own account. To use Animoto for Education with your students you can register your students with dummy accounts using dummy email addresses. Animoto is private to your school. This means that other people can’t come accross student videos or contact students through the site.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Animoto for Education in your classroom.

Updated Websites

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Updated Websites2242 views

Over the past week I have been re-vamping my websites.  Tenkely.org is a site that I created for my students to use.  I have pages for first through fifth grade with links to all of the sites that we use in class throughout the year.  I also have a page for parents about how my classroom runs and tips for keeping kids safe online.   The teacher site for tenkely.org  has also been completely re-done.  I added TONS of new goodies for teachers.  Obviously, I created these sites with my students and colleagues in mind but I hope that they are a source of inspiration for you too!  I am already keeping tally of links that aren’t working right so if you run across any, leave a comment so I can get them fixed up.

Wetpaint millionth site

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Wetpaint millionth site1798 views

WetPaint wiki creator is running a new promotion.  If you, or someone you refer, or are the creator of the millionth site Wet Paint is going to award a package to enable you to be green for a year!  So, if you haven’t created a wiki yet, now is the perfect time to head on over to WetPaint and give it a try.  WetPaint makes it seriously simple to understand and create your own wikis.  Think word document easy…really!  Click on the link below to give it a try 🙂


Create your wiki now

Bloust

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Bloust2396 views


What it is: Bloust is a free website builder for teachers. It is extremely simple to use and allows teachers to easily broadcast important class information, communicate and collaborate web 2.0 style with other teachers within the Bloust community, organize classroom documents, and much more! Bloust also offers a place for students to organize their school life, network with their school friends on Bloust’s private student community, and develop and join clubs.

How to integrate Bloust into the classroom: No matter what age level you teach, having a classroom website can greatly improve school to home communication and extend the student learning day. Bloust makes it very simple to create and maintain a website…truly! Even those who have never created a website before will be able to quickly create and update their site. Try it out, I think you will be impressed! When you have your website ready to go, think about adding content such as: the weekly spelling list, homework assignments, important upcoming dates, links to great sites that correlate with your curriculum, make the site dynamic, a place your students will want to come back to!

Tips: When signing up be sure to check your Spam email folder for the registration email.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bloust in your classroom.