ifttt

If THIS this THAT

you are all probably familiar with autoposting options in things like blogger and twitter where you can 'command' them to post tweets or blog posts to other media. For example, my eteaching tweets automatically post to the elle tronic facebook page.

IFTTT takes this to another level completely. for example...if you want to put tagged pictures directly into dropbox then you can create a 'recipe' to do that. I have set it so that wordpress posts from one of our PD blogs go automatically to our FB page (easier than doing it from within wordpress to be honest). I've also set it so that any YouTube videos I upload will automatically be embedded into a new blog post. (martin)

Storify

Despite it sounding very much like a digital storytelling tool, storify is much more (or perhaps less...not sure) than that because it organises and links web based info together to create a collection (or narrative). You can  weave links, facebook pages, youtube clips, twitter feeds and so on and connect them with text. This is the one I just made: http://storify.com/eteachingx3/augmented-reality

to use it in the way that we have been talking about digital narratives would take some creativity but it stands up very well against other media sharing tools like edcanvas. The best thing to do, of course, is have a look for yourself- I'm sure you're much more creative than me. http://storify.com/ (martin)

random.org

there's something a bit ...well random... about this site. It has several free services including list randomizer which can be used for targetting questions (put student names in and whoever is at the top, or 5th or whatever gets the question). Elsewhere we have discussed the merits of dice and playing cards in the classroom. Random.org picks cards or rolls dice or flips coins (according to your own preset parameters). Maths teachers especially could get a lot from this. Not sure I'd fully trust a password generator though! (martin)

Message to 325 Acton group

headmagnet, storybird, popplet

Here are a few things I have been playing with the last hour or so when I was supposed to be marking.

http://headmagnet.com/ flashcard maker- sort of quizlet lite- easy to use with simple interface- good for memorising stuff – especially good for language learning- see samples on site

http://storybird.com/ is a lovely storytelling tool –especially good I’d imagine for ESOL teachers- you have to build a story around a set of pictures rather than having a story in mind- good for creativity.

I made one but (one big downside of the free account) it is queued for moderation- can take up to 5 days. http://storybird.com/books/just-because-i-tweet/ the author can see it of course  and if students wanted an immediate copy that could always use the snipping tool 

Popplet free gives you 5 free popplets- it’s a sort of mind mapping tool that’d work well for presentations- here’s an example- http://popplet.com/app/#/159352 collaboration is possible but involves invites etc.- possibly worth it if you like the look and feel which I think is quite funky. (martin)

micropoll

This is a ONE QESTION poll where you only have to click ONE RADIO button….so please take 30 secs to do it.

If you haven’t seen it before I made this using ‘Micropoll’ which is a free tool that enables you to do just this.

http://micropoll.com/t/KE9igZQkPe

classtools sms generator

Just took a few minutes away from my hectic schedule (etc. etc.) to have a play with the new class tools tool which is the SMS generator.

This is what I made: http://mcthfc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/bloom-texts.html

This is where I made it.

http://www.classtools.net/SMS/

edcanvas

I have been playing with a new (to me) tool this afternoon. it is pretty easy to use and work out. You can sign in direct if you're logged on to Google and it's a way of collecting resources together very easily...youtube clips, links, your own resources and images

you search and drag direct onto the canvas. Then send the link to students and they can go through the materials and interact by using them and/or commenting on them

here's my example: http://edcvs.co/YeHrnq it's about comic strip makers

Finding the URL of an individual blog post and pasting into Google Docs assessment sheet

This video shows how to find the individual URL of a blog post and how to paste in an assessment sheet. The assessment sheet show is in Google Docs, but the paste is the same as in an assessment sheet in box.com