Gliffy

Gliffy is an online Diagram creation website that would be a great way for students to create flow charts.  What is great is that no sign up is required and it is free to use.  When you are creating a new document, you choose the format (category) that you would like for your diagram.  It even has the ability to create floor plans/Interior Design.  (I used to have my students create their dream house when doing the French Revolution and discussing the Palace of Versailles, this would work great).  The site has business in mind for the majority of its purpose, but it could still easily be used in the school setting. There is the ability to collaborate on a diagram as well as share it on the Internet. 

To get more features though you have to sign up for a premium account.  This is available for a 30 day trial.  After that, you get a to choose between upgrading to a premium account or keeping the free basic account.  This allows 2MB image upload limit and the creation of 5 public diagrams.  For more information, you can view their product comparison to see if this is something you might be interested in using with your students.

Listphile

Ever created a list for students?  Listphile is a site dedicated to creating list in a database form that you can then access and do several different things with.  You can even create a list in Atlases form (Great for map assignments).  There are also databases that can you can collaborate with others on, as well as some other features.  There is a directory that you can search through list already created.  There is also a categories and tags section so that you can see other lists that people have done.

Each list that you can create can include a picture, information, links, video, etc.  It is a great way to organize a database for your students, or create an area to organize links and resources for your classroom.  For an introduction to Listphile, view their demo page for a video to see what all you can do with the product.  To use Listphile you will need to create an account which requires Username, Password, and email.  The site does require email verification which can make it difficult to use in the classroom setting some times.  In the future their will be a voting option as well, but unsure what that will mean.  To create a list you will provide a Title, Description, choose the Type of List, Determine Rights/License,  Category, and Membership requirements. 

Impact on Education?
- Create a place for students to list results from research on a person, place, or event
- Use the Atlas feature and have students map out historic events and where they happened
- Have students create list of historic events, town descriptions, ways to save money, how to solve math problems, results of scientific experiments.
- As a teacher, create a list to share with students links to resources that they can use in your classroom.

Common Craft Videos

Recently I have become a HUGE fan of the Common Craft Videos.  I always knew that they were useful when it came to getting videos related to Web 2.0 products (Wikis, Social Bookmarking, Google, etc).  When I recently visited their site to use some of their videos for my "Tools for the 21st Century Teacher" handbook I had no idea that there were other useful videos to use in the classroom.

The technology videos are great for explaining Web 2.0 software so teachers get a simple understanding of how things work and why they were created.  The other videos that are available are related to Money, Society, and Going Green.  These videos are great for Business, Economics, Agriculture, Science, Government, and Sociology classes.  It makes understanding complex processes a little easier to stomach, especially for high school students.

So if you teach any of the above subjects, or know teachers in your building that do, pass on this great website for videos that they or you could use to introduce the subject matter to students.  Common Craft has created some really useful videos and would be a beneficial addition to your curriculum.  You can also find several of the videos on YouTube as well.

StoryCorps

Everyone has a story.  Sometimes, everyone has a story to tell.  The problem is that throughout history, there has never been someone or something to document people's stories so that we have a historical perspective from many people.  StoryCorps hopes to improve our ability to document peoples thoughts and lives.

The mission of StoryCorps is "to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives."  Every story will be recorded to a CD for free.  It is also stored at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress.  Recently they released an iPhone App that allows you to listen and share stories.  It only has tips for recording your own, no recording from the Phone yet.

I can see this as a great tool in education.  Especially when you have a guest speaker in class.  Record the conversation and upload it.  Interview family members before they pass away and get stories of their life so that it can be shared with future generations.  It would make a great project in Sociology.

What's Your Story?

National Geographic Image Collection and Shape Collage

I recently became aware of the National Geographic Image Collection while looking around the Internet. most of us remember growing up and looking at National Geographic Magazines in amazement of the pictures that they were able to capture. Now you can obtain many of those same photos on the web.

The pictures are broken down into the following categories: Exploration, Wildlife, People and Cultures, and Science and Climate Change.  When you scroll over the image you get a brief description of who took the picture, where the picture was taken, and what the picture is.  You can also find a history of photography, a video looking "Behind the Pictures," and an area where you can purchase the book.

The National Geographic Photo collection is in Flash, so you won't be able to right click (they do want you to buy the book), but that does not mean you can't take your other photos and turn them into a Shape Collage!  I came across Shape Collage, a free automatic photo collage maker and thought it would be a new way to share groups of photos with students.  Especially since you can create so many different collages.  Below is the image from the front page of Shape Collage as well as a short video tutorial explaining how the site works.  Take a minute and play around with the site to see what you can create.