Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Organize Anything in a Fun and Sociable Way


Organisr is a free and collaborate way to organize lists, to dos, or ideas.  Users have the ability to create multiple lists that contain color coded items while also allowing users to move any item from one list to the next.  Creating an account is easy; all users need is their name, username, email address, and a password.  Users can mark things complete and then incomplete if need be, and when they are completed, they get marked through.  Users can assign tasks on the list to fellow users as well and determine task color and background color.  If unsure about how you will use the service, there is a sample page that users can utilize to learn how to utilize the service.  Organisr has a simple interface and seems very user-friendly.

I could see teachers utilizing Organisr to organize lesson plans and various activities for their classrooms.  It could also be utilized to brainstorm ideas for lessons and the color codes could be used to match them up. Department heads could collaborate to use the service to determine department based initiatives and make plans for achieving them.  Students could use Organisr to divide up responsibilities for a project and then track completion of the members of the group.  

A Free Search Engine for Learning


Gooru, currently in Beta, allows users to search for educational resources, collections, and quizzes.  At the top of the page, users have the ability to see current featured collections.  Users can also click on categories from the various Core Subject Resources which are divided up by middle school and high school.  With Gooru, users have the ability to customize collections, collaborate with other teachers, upload materials, and find content aligned to Common Core State Standards.

To learn more about Gooru, users can join the Teachers Using Gooru Community to get further assistance.  Each collection could include pictures, articles, videos, and more.  From the collections, students can take quizzes in order to self assess their learning.  There is also a Gooru Collections App available for iPads that allows users to search through the collections, play games, watch videos, read textbooks, and take notes.

Users can create an account for free.  In order to join the beta version, users will need to provide their birth date and email address.  For more information, see the video below

Drop Your Pics and Create a Slideshow


DropMocks is a free service where users can easily drag and drop pictures from their computer and create a slideshow.  Once pictures are uploaded, users have the ability to reorder the pictures and then with the unique URL, users can share their slideshow.  Users can sign in with their Google Account in order to edit and save the slideshows for later.  DropMocks is very easy to use.  See the video below for a quick look at how it works.