Best Websites for Teaching and Learning

Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning   

2010 

The "Top 25" Websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

• Media Sharing
• Digital Storytelling
• Manage and Organize
• Social Networking and Communication
• Curriculum Sharing
• Content Resources: Lesson Plans and More
• Content Collaboration

Media Sharing    

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

• 2.1.4 - Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and und understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess.
• 3.3.4 - Create products that apply to authentic, real-world context
• 4.1.8 - Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning

Glogster
Remember the old the poster board presentations? Well, they are now digital, motivating and very visually exciting. Use these digital posters to create a book review, an interactive front page for a wiki, an innovative topic exploration or any other demonstration of learning using video, graphics, text, etc.

Masher
Are you a little hesitant to create videos? Masher makes it’s easy. You can "mix, mash, and share" video clips, audio files, and photos into polished movies. Students own content as well as media from the BBC Motion Gallery and Rip Curl free for the mashing, and can then be shared on social media sites or via email.

Prezi  
Getting tired of the old linear PowerPoint presentations? Then switch to Prezi and start to create fantastic, brain-friendly presentations. Use the "zebra wheel" to customize, non-linear creative presentations that can kept for online access or downloaded for personal or professional use. Include pictures, videos, and more. Free presentations for anyone and extended options for teachers and those in Education.

Professor Garfield
Are you looking to engage kids in a safe online setting and provide 21st century learning opportunities? Professor Garfield provides an environment where children can safely create, interact, read, engage, and express themselves through a variety of innovative online tools including an e-book reader and comics lab.

SchoolTube
This is the ideal place for teachers and students to share videos online. Create your own channel for your school or share videos with other students and educators. Instructions on how to load, create, and compress videos as well as how to create video contests and TV shows for your school. It's all here in SchoolTube.

Scratch
Targeted to 8- to 16-year olds, Scratch allows students to create and share projects, presentations, stories and best of all – videos games! The emphasis is on multi-media and includes graphics, sound, music, and photos. Supported by National Science Foundation research, Scratch encourages creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.

WatchKnow.org
Don't let you students' videos languish on your computer's hard drive. WatchKnow is a free and easily accessible way to share educational videos with students and staff. Organized for easy searching, you can even search by age, and has the ability for you to download your own videos to share with others.

Digital Storytelling    

International Children's Digital Library
The largest digital collections of children’s book, ICDL contains over 4,400 books in 54 languages representing 64 countries with applications for the iPhone and the new larger screen, iPad.

Jing
Do you need to quickly snap a picture of your screen or record a video of an onscreen action? Jing is the solution; it's free software that adds visuals to your online conversations. Include it in an email, Website, or IM.

Storybird
Do your students like to tell stories? Storybird will help them to create short, visual stories. You can save them, share them and (soon) print them. Use Storybird's beautiful watercolor illustrations to tell your story.

Manage and Organize    

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

• 2.1.2 - Organize knowledge so that it is useful.
• 2.1.4 - Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information.
• 3.1.4 - Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess.

Evernote
Tired of trying to keep track or find your various notes on taken throughout the day and want to be able to organize your thoughts from a variety of sources? Evernote will do this and you can access it from anywhere, even your iPhone.

jogtheweb
Do you want an easy and innovative way to guide students through the Internet? jogtheweb is a web-based tool that allows anyone to create a synchronous guide to a series of Websites. Its step-by-step approach of taking viewers through Websites allowing the author to annotate and ask guiding questions for each page is unique. Give it a try and start creating your own jogs.

Live Binders
This fun and easy-to-use site makes it easy to organize and share sources. Teachers can use it as a presentation tool, plan an interactive lesson, or engage with students on the research process.

MuseumBox
This site allows students to place items into virtual boxes; these items can include images, video, text, and sound. MuseumBox can be used across the curriculum and can help students to describe a person, place, thing, event, idea, or issue. The site facilitates description, debate, investigation, and exploration and development of ideas and issues.

Pageflakes
Create your own personalized homepage with Pageflakes. You can include all of your favorite internet sites and arrange them as you wish on your page. The "flakes" - small versions of the web pages you prefer - could include sites that focus on a specific hobby or interest, a particular subject area, a classroom study topic or current events.

Weblist
Weblist is a great way to gather and organize content based on a theme with the added feature of one URL. Your weblist can then be shared through social media networks or posted on a blog or Website. No time to make your own list, then search their playlist for subjects from music to science and everything in between.

Social Networking and Communication    

• 3.1.2 - Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners
• 4.1.7 - Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information
• 4.3.1 - Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.

Creative Commons
Teach students and colleagues to collaborate as integral partners in the digital evolution as they discover and share content to use, re-purpose and remix with Creative Commons. Here you will find all the resources needed to learn appropriate use of Creative Commons licensing for written, graphic and multimedia content.

Learn Central
Connect with Steve Hargadon and an ever-growing number of educators on Learn Central, the social network for professional development that is ready when you are. Join free webinars and discussions in real time or participate with members asynchronously. Host a group of up to three participants for free. Develop networks with colleagues across town or around the world. Lifelong learning is just a few clicks away!

TED
TED is a remarkable Website sharing ideas from the world's most innovative thinkers and experts related to technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues. Watch, listen to, learn, discuss and spread TED.

• 1.3.4 - Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community.
• 3.1.2 - Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.

debategraph
Seeking diverse perspectives, interpretations or new understandings of topicsand issues impacting our world? Join debategraph, a browser based, wiki-style site, where students can synthesize, evaluate, expand, collaborate, contribute and substantiate their own thoughts and ideas to both sides of the issues. Debategraph utilizes visual depiction to deepen and enrich student understanding for a continuous and robust debate.

Guidelines for School Library Programs: Instructional Partner
"The SLMS collaborates with classroom teachers to develop assignments that are matched to academic standards and include critical thinking skills, technology and information literacy skills, and core social skills and cultural competencies. The SLMS guides instructional design by working with the classroom teacher to establish learning objectives and goals, and by implementing assessment strategies before, during and after assigned units of study."

Curriculum Sharing    

Exploratree
Create "thinking guides" using Exploratree's endless options. You can fill in the guides online or print them out for student use--both options offer the option to save your work for future use. Thinking guides are divided into five broad categories for use by educators and students: map your ideas, solve problems, explore, analyse (they're British!), and different perspectives.

The Jason Project
Are you looking for a way to connect your students with great explorers and great events in Science? You do not have to look any further than The Jason Project! Their free online curriculum is designed primarily for the middle grades but can be adapted to fit any grade level.

National Science Digital Library
The National Science Digital Library includes a variety of educational resources to further STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education. Browse the science literacy maps, short science refreshers, free multimedia downloads, or subject area collections to find just what you need to enhance student learning!

Content Resources: Lesson Plans and More    

Edsitement
Check out this site for great educational material -suggested Websites and lesson plans - in literature/language arts, art/culture, social studies/history and foreign language.

The National Archives' Digital Classroom
The National Archives’ Digital Classroom offers a multitude of resources for the use of primary sources in the classroom. With access to copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teachers can develop their own activities and lesson plans that make historical periods come alive for their students or choose from dozens of resources that have already been developed and are featured here.