Show and Tell 2.0
As the parent of a 1st grader, “Show and Tell” homework is a regular occurrence in our home, and the task of finding something suitable to match the “letter of the week” is often a challenge. This afternoon, while helping my daughter search for a stuffed zebra, she asked me if I ever got to do show and tell at work. “You should try it sometime, Dad,” she said. “It’s fun but not as easy as it sounds.”
Since I don’t predict that “Show and Tell” will become a regular part of faculty meetings anytime soon, I’ve compiled what I would “bring” if given the chance. Some of the resources may be quite familiar, others are relatively new; all are free, most are cross platform, and I’ve found all of them useful in and out of the classroom.
Dual platform sound recorder and editor. Great for podcasting and can export to .mp3 via the free lame encoder.
Dual platform 3D creation suite. Has a bit of a learning curve but documentation is readily available.
Use Google, Yahoo, Flickr and other search engines to find Creative Commons-licensed media that can legally be shared and reused.
Arguably the best social booking tool available. New users may wish to refer to this recent post for more information.
Billed as the world’s largest K-12 connected learning community, ePals connects students and teachers from 200 countries and territories.
Ad-supported, Windows-only browser toolbar for recording streaming audio as .mp3. Very handy if you ever need to record a Skype conversation.
Besides being a top-notch search engine, there’s Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Reader, G-Mail and a host of other tools and services.
H: Historic Tale Construction Kit
A web-based tool for creating “historic tales” in medieval comic book fashion. Easy to use but the font may cause problems for younger students.
For all intents and purposes, Apple owns the “i” moniker and with iTunes they’ve bridged the Mac/PC divide.
Dual platform tool that captures image and video from your computer. Finished video can then be shared in emails, blogs, or IM.
Online site for collaborative video creation; even offers tips for better film making.
One of the oldest education sites on the Internet, there is literally something here for everyone.
Create, publish, and download content for iPods. The free account comes with 50 MB of storage.
Social networking site that recently began offering ad-free networks for educational use in grades 7-12 (ages 13-18). New users may wish to refer to this recent post for more information.
Multiplatform, multilingual office suite that is fully compatible with Office and offers more features than Microsoft’s “Student and Teacher” edition.
Windows-only download that lets you “print” to PDF from any application.
Visual search engine that organizes results in “clouds.” Younger students might be better served using Quintura for Kids.
Online tool that lets you find, customize, and create rubrics for a variety of assignments.
Cross platform programming language that lets kids (and adults) create and share interactive games, stories, animations, music and art.
Create, publish, and share your own comic strips; ideal for younger students.
A live, interactive broadcast platform that lets anyone with a camera and internet connection broadcast to the world.
One of the most popular tools of 2007, VoiceThread combines images and narration into digital storytelling.
Easy to use wiki for collaborative projects. Teachers can request a free “Plus Plan” for educational use that is ad-free.
Explore, create and share timelines online. Good selection of ready-made timelines.
Enter the URL of a YouTube video and it will be downloaded to your desktop as a .flv file.
Firefox extension that helps you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Best suited for older students in a 1:1 environment.
Obviously there are many other free tools that I could have selected; this list could easily have stretched from Animoto to Zamar. If you were going to do “Show and Tell” with your colleagues, what would you bring? If you have a great resource or two (or perhaps a full A-Z list of your own), leave a comment and tell us all about it!
January 28th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Thank you for including Quintura in your list! You can embed the Quintura search engine onto your blog by clicking Embed it! on both http://www.quintura.com and http://kids.quintura.com and copying & pasting embed code onto your blog.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Thanks so much for the great list of resources. And such a novel way of completing it. I learned about quite a few new toys.
January 30th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Wow. I’d like to add my thanks for the list. Great show and tell. I’m tagging this entry.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
What a great list! I’m familiar with many, but some are new. Glad to have new things to check out. Thanks!
March 20th, 2012 at 6:08 pm
16. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is fantastic blog. A fantastic read. I will definitely be back.