Keeping your blog up-to-date, stylish and packed with interesting content have become much easier with the advent of smart phones like the Android and iPhone. The apps noted below build on my previous posts 11 iPhone and iPod Touch Apps for Enhanced Productivity and Top iPhone Apps for Teachers and Students, and will show you more useful and effective tools that will help updating and tweak blog posts much easier and also show you specific examples of how some of these applications can be used successfully for both teachers and students.

1. Ego

If you’re looking for a quick way of finding out how many readers that visit your blog, Vimeo, Tumblr, Twitter and others, be sure to download the Ego App for the iPhone. A very simple app in many respects (there are other that will provide more detailed analysis of your visiting stats) and that’s why it’s very useful to have as Ego will provide data on daily, hourly and monthly visitor numbers on one screen.

2. JotNot Pro

This claims to work like a scanner for your iPhone and I hesitated a little before deciding to buy this app as I questioned how it could improve the overall quality of a photo I’d taken of a book page, poster etc. There really was no need worrying. Since buying it I have been using it regularly, particularly when reading magazines, books or even if I’ve spotted an interesting quote somewhere. It’s also great for scanning students’ work and then uploading to the Learning Platform or Department website . It does improve your record keeping (and cupboard!) tremendously particularly when it comes to ‘awkward’ or bulky pieces of work like posters and models. Once you take a photo of a section of a book for example (or import a photo), you just choose which area of the photo that should be scanned. The final image is much clearer and larger so scanning a whole book page (or poster) works very well. There are also several settings you can modify to get the image you seek – although I have not needed to do that yet.

3. Dragon Dictation – Free

If you haven’t yet installed this stop reading and download it. It’s that good. And it’s free. Once installed you will be able to send emails, SMS and updates to Social Networking sites like Twitter and FaceBook and all you do is speaking into the phone. Better still, why not put the phone next to you and continue doing other things whilst sending off a host of messages (yes I can multi-task…).

4. Comic Touch

This is a fun app if you want to create images with speech bubbles and captions. It is very good if you’re in education and want students to create comic strips, freeze-frame stories or interesting caricatures. Simply import an image or ask them to take one and then add captions, thought or speech bubbles as well as effects.

5. TiltShift

Perhaps one of my favorite apps and a real Starter-Generator : ) . TiltShift can transform a scene/photo into a miniature world by simulating a tilt-shift lens that tricks your mind into viewing a photo as a miniature scene like a model railroad for example. You can create stunning images for your blog but as a teaching aide it’s simply superb. For example, import an image of a painting and blur out everything except from the main character and get students to guess the artist; take snaps of presentations and focus in on the core message(s); or ask students to decide which elements of a story they feel are the most important.

Here’s one example of a Y9 History starter: What’s happening in this image? Discuss, then show the final image.

6. iBlogger:

For those of you that blog using other than WordPress, iBlogger can help you connect to most other blog engines using your iPhone e.g. ExpressionEngine, MovableType, TypePad, Drupal many more (incl. WordPress). It also enables you to use Pictures, Tags, Categories, Links as well as Location.

7. ByLine

I started using free RSS Reader apps but none of them cached posts including images for offline reading which is very useful if you travel a lot or live in an area with poor network coverage. ByLine solves that problem and syncs directly with Google Reader, divides posts up according to folders, starred items and categories. What’s particularly ingenious about this app is that it enables you to swipe through posts with your fingers and caches pages that are linked in posts! This is very useful.

If you use other ones which would be worth mentioning please add a comment below.

Most Related Post

• Learning whilst Immersed in Web 2.0 Part 2
• Thinking about Game Based Learning…
• Top iPhone Apps for Teachers and Students (and others)

Creativity and Innovation

This fifth post looks at ways in which students and teachers can improve the way they express ideas and communicate their understanding of key issues. I have also mentioned how cross-pollination into different spheres can help improve our practice as teachers – if you find this topic of particular interest please visit EatSleepTeach.com for more ideas.

Create Kaleidoscopes for Learning

I came across the FoldPlay website  in one of @creativetallis‘ Tweets (well worth following for great ideas). This creative tool lets you upload a number of images and then download  a .JPG kaleidoscope of your creation including instructions for putting it together – very cool. There is also a slideshow with still images which shows you step-by-step how to construct it. This would be a great addition to a task for students where they have to convey their understanding of a concept by selecting a number of images that together shape the meaning of that particular concept.

Here’s an example:

Making a Point

In Ideas for Learning and Creativity #3 I added the superb poem/talk by Taylor Mali as it shows how powerful public speaking can be with the right script and preparation (amongst other things). The following clip involves a different type of public speaking and demonstrates that age does not have to be an obstacle to a sincere and compelling speech. Truly inspiring.

Cross-Pollination

I have always tried to keep an eye on what other industries get up to, apart from education, for example how business view CPD, collaboration and the way they present information to customers. This cross-pollination of ideas is essential, in my opinion, so that our teaching practice and pedagogical ideas do not become insular and we can instead progress and explore new avenues. There are many books that can help you explore and make cross-pollination a regular aspect of your work, see this list. I also subscribe to different newsletters/RSS feeds or podcasts to keep in the loop of the ever changing world of innovation. One particularly useful source of information which I was suggested by Scott Hewitt of Real Projects recently, is the Harvard Business School – Working Knowledge . This website gives its readers insight into the cutting-edge thinking and research that is taking place place at Harvard and covers a wide range of topics and interests – well worth looking into even if you’re not interested in Business or Technology as they cover many other areas as well.

ICT and E-Learning

The Creative Beast

It’s hard to think of easy-to-use and cheap methods of producing high-quality media.

This is one of the most simple but creative ways of using text, images and post-its to communicate a message. The potential for using this format is immense whether one uses frame-by-frame animation in Adobe Flash or with a camcorder or digital camera, the results could be tremendous and the creative output for students very positive.

Besty Streeter blogs at Betsy Streeter .

WeToku: interviews made simple

WeToku was set up, according to the founders of this Korean website, because one of the team members, James, insistence that he was a true celebrity but found interviews face-to-face too inconvenient, so they made it easy for him by creating the website. Whatever the reason behind this nifty tool, it is a good resource if you want to invite someone for a meeting or to interview them for blog as you can record and then embed the video immediately afterwards. This has real potential particularly if you’re brave and decided to invite someone you’re inspired by for an interview – can you think of someone, I definitely can! WeToku can really make your blog even more interesting – I have scheduled an interview already.

Here’s an interview with Guy Kawasaki – discussion about the quality of the interviewer’s questions and prep is discussed on the website…

Clever Online PDF/PowerPoint Viewer

Have you ever tried the Google Docs Viewer ? This is a superb tool if you want to display PowerPoint presentations, like in SlideShare but without having to sign up, on your webpages. You can also embed PDF files which is a handy little feature, like this:

If you liked that, you'll like these:

• Engaging WEB 2.0 Tools to use in the classroom
• Ideas for Learning and Creativity: simplicity
• Useful and Effective Twitter Tools

This post follows on from Learning whilst Immersed in Web 2.0 Part 1 where I discuss the origins of WEB 2.0 and why the World Wide Web changed in the way it did around 2004. I also listed 10 WEB 2.0 tools that have helped me in my teaching and some that have been suggested to me on Twitter. This second post will highlight a further 10 tools that have made an impact on pupils learning for many teachers I know. If you find these tools useful why not subscribe to my new series of posts on Ideas for Learning and Creativity?

WEB 2.0 Tools for the classroom

11. Xtranormal

There are many comic and video editors available on the web, but not many that combine the two so well. Once registered you can either create videos online or download ‘State’, their offline video editor (PC only). Xtranormal provides the user with a vast array of different characters, backgrounds, music, effects and pre-made animations that you use to create your movie.

What is especially good about this tool is that you can control the camera as well as character movements and reactions by using the pre-recorded items in the editor. The editor is divided into three main sections which together make up the final movie:

• Direct the Action – camera movements, animations, expressions, reactions
• Write the Script – decide on a single or two characters and then type what you’d like them to say
• Design the Scene – change set, music and background noise

If you want to create a quick movie and you’re not to fussed about camera angles (you can even get the characters to look into the camera – I love that bit) then you only have to select the ‘Magicam’ which sets up auto camera angles for you.

Once the final movie has been rendered you can send it to colleagues, share it on the most common Social Networks and embed it on your school blog or website – it also embeds well on most Learning Platforms. There is also the option of downloading it as a movie file so you can edit it using your favorite video editor.

Here’s an example:

12. Awesome Highlighter

This is a superb tool, particularly for older students, as it can be used to teach them how to underline and read more effectively. It also has the added bonus that everything that has been highlighted is also copied so they later can print off their notes or email them. There is also a firefox bookmarklet so you can highlight on the go and if you register you can also save pages including annotaed videos. Quick and effective.

13. Browzmi:

This tool gives the user the possibility if co-browsing or social browsing sites as well as sending each other instant messages. Google Wave is more powerful of course, but this one is quick and easy to use and only does one thing. This is a very effective for group work and for research, well worth a look.

14. Go Animate!

There are many good WEB 2.0 tools that provide possibilities for students and teachers to create comic books of various kinds, some of which I have already mentioned in other posts for example ToonDoo, Pixton, Memoov and Pikikids. GoAnimate is slightly different as it provides the user with the possibility of creating talking characters as well as full animations. This tools is as featured-packed as Xtranormal but uses more comix-styled graphics. Here’s a simple example of an animation (3 minutes to set up):

15. ShowDocument

If you are looking for an easier to use tool to Elliminate then ShowDocument is a good choice. Although it’s not as powerful as Elluminate, for example lacking many of the administrative features, ShareDocument is  quick to set up and fun to use. Here’s a brief list of what you can share and collaborate at the same time using the Quick Start menu:

• Watch Youtube videos
• Files from your machine
• Google Maps and Docs
• Whiteboard

16. Scribblar

Scribblar shares many of the features of ShowDocument. Unlike the latter students can use audio chat and not only text-based chat (like in ShowDocument) and Scribblar’s Pro account ($99/month) enables you to integrate the entire functionality of Scribblar into your existing website – pretty powerful. Although Scribblar is very good, ShareDocument has a few extra functionalities that makes it just that little better.

17. MovYlo

This surprisingly powerful resource provides you with the tool to create mobile websites. All you need to focus on is to add the content – MovYlo will take care of the rest. There are several features that you can use to produce your mobile site including:

• RSS feeds from e.g. your blog, Youtube, Flickr
• Create newsletters
• Adding mini blog and pages
• Polls and contests
• Videos
• Images

See this example of a mobile site that was set up in less than 10 minutes. For about £3.50/month you get 5000MB of space and your pages will not be covered in ads, which is the only set back of the free option.

18. Mobile Study.org

If you’re looking for an easy tool to help you create quizzies for mobile phones then look no further.

MobileStudy.org is suprisingly effective and with its ‘Add Explanation’ feature you can produce good activities that will support students in their learning by providing them with feedback for each question. The website has evolves since it first started and you can now install each mobile quiz in different ways:

• Install the quiz on a mobile phone via SMS
• Install the quiz on a mobile phone using QR Code
• Download directly to your phone or PDA

There is also installation guidance available on the website. Here’s are a couple of examples:

KS2 French Quiz (PC version) (mobile version)

GCSE Quiz + Explanations (PC version) (mobile version)

19. QR Generator

If you are looking to use mobile phones in the classroom, in school or even for outdoor learning then QR codes could help. QR stands for ‘Quick Response’ as the inventor Denso-Wave intended to have the code decoded at high speed. For more information about QR its history and usage please visit Mobile Barcodes.

QR Generator

This tool is very simple and very powerful so you don’t need to know any coding as the website will generate that for you. You need a mobile phone that has a camera + software that can decode QR codes (most barcode apps do a pretty good job). Here is a list of recommended softwares. I use QR App on the iPhone which works very well and it’s free.

The QR Generator allows you to create a number of different QR images:

• website url
• vCard
• 100 character text message
• Phone number
• SMS
• Email address

As a result you can create a suite of interactive tasks for students to do, particularly if you combine the different tools. For example:

• Setting up a Thinking Skills Mystery using a combo of website urls and cryptic messages which finally ends with students having email their answers to the teachers.
• Hook QRs: teachers stick up images outside the door of the classroom which students can access before the lesson starts
• Revision: create a series of images and add them to the departmental ‘Revision Board’.
• QR Challenge: split class into a number of teams and get each one to create questions that the other teams have to answer
• QR Debate: same as above but get teams from different sets/classes to have a running debate on a key topic over a half-term. Add QR images outside each others’ classrooms.
• PowerPoint aide: students scan the image and can link to a website, article or task instead of having to remember the Url.

Here are couple of examples of code generated by the website just use a QR decoder which is compatible with your camera, take a snapshot and see what happens:

QR website

QR Message

For more ideas about using QR in the classroom and for more articles on QR please visit the brilliant blog Don’t Waste Your Timeby David Hopkins and also watch this example of using QR code in the classroom (worksheets linked to YouTube):

20. FaceBook

This application is blocked on schools’ network and most teachers don’t wish to share their FaceBook profile with students. Judy Hart explained at the NAACE conference 2010 that there is an alternative so you don’t need to add students as ‘Friends’ to your page, just create a Fan Page. This is different to a standard FaceBook page because authors of the fan page can’t add fans as friends. This is a great way of  providing additional opportunities to engage students as autonomous learners by adding resources to your Fan page.

Scroll down to the end of any page and click ‘Advertising’, then ‘Create Page’ and off you go. There are several applications that are useful to add to your Teacher Fan Page e.g SlideShare and Poll to name a couple.

Here’s an example of a Fan Page – at the time of writing I had no Fans…

Mr. Ahrenfelt

Hopefully these two posts have provided you with 20+ tools that can be used in the classroom to help the delivery of lessons, content-generation as well as a series of engaging tools for your pupils.

If you liked that, you'll like these:

• Learning whilst Immersed in Web 2.0 Part 1
• Thinking about Game Based Learning…
• 7 Brilliant iPhone Apps for Teachers and Bloggers

Make assessment concrete

Visual Assessment

Using Active Learning techniques benefit students greatly as discussed in the introduction to this chapter, and creating opportunities for using this method with assessment really does produce excellent results. Students who work with assessments on this level eventually gain a concrete understanding about:
•    the various components of an answer;
•    how to build an ideal solution to a problem/question;
•    how/where they ‘hit’ each Level;
•    different versions of an answer to the same question;
•    exploring links/categorisations, themes and trends.

Build the Answer

Type up an answer in your favourite word processor and place each paragraph on a separate page with the size big enough to be able to read from a few meters away. You could also use sentences in the same way of course. You could use an ideal answer but another way of getting them to really see how they could improve we use a ‘C’ or ‘D’ grade. Discuss the question with the class and what they think they ought to include in an ideal answer; note ideas down on the board.

Split the class into groups of three and give them the (laminated) jumbled answer. Now inform them that they are to construct or piece together an answer using the available material. Students place the answer on the floor and move the various components around until they have reached a possible answer. Discuss students’ ideas and, this is crucial, ask them what they could do to improve it. Allow them a few minutes to return to their answer and give them a few sheets of paper to add details to. Finally get one group to show the rest of the class their example. Discuss.

Activate them!

An alternative to the example above is to involve the whole class (depending on size – max 20 works well). ‘Extras’ can play ‘examiners’. Give each student a piece of the answer (about 12-15 students need to be involved here), give others possible headings or factor/theme cards (4-5 students) and another bunch ‘GCSE Level’ or A-Level criteria cards. Get them to construct the answer together as a group. This generally creates a lot of discussion and it might be easier if the teacher leads this together with the students. When the answer has been laid down on the floor, or students are holding them up, ask the ‘factors/heading’ students to decide which factor is discussed in which paragraph. The final step is for the last group to level the piece.
It is important at this stage to ensure that the class is familiar with peer-marking and comfortable with GCSE Levels or A-Level criteria. Get them to decide as a group where each Level ought to be placed. When they have completed their marking ask them to justify their decisions and then get feedback from the rest of the class. Some students may disagree with the judgments of the marking group so allow the changes to be made if necessary.

Great challenges

Assessment for Learning made Easy

Students become very nervous and frightened by the mere term ‘assessment’. Although some students will rise to the pressure, a large number may actually under perform because it is deemed an assessment.
- Tom, NQT
This example shows how simple Assessment for Learning (AFL) techniques can make students more focused and confident about how to improve. This approach will enable the class to see concrete progress within the lesson as well as across lessons. This is a History example but can easily be modified for any subject.

I taught a mixed-ability year 10 class about protest through history and this particular lesson investigated the key question: What impact did [different protests]…have on law-making and law enforcement in England?1 Some of these protests included Poll tax riots and Conscientious Objecting during WWII.

The Starter:

The starter got students on their feet and students assessed the severity of some protests using an Active Protest continuum2. After discussing the outcome of the task we moved straight to the assessment task which involved analyzing a range of historical sources. We discussed the source material together as a class first, and then the class explored what they needed to do to answer the question successfully. Students annotate the sources in pairs after which an exemplar answer was given to them.

Task 1: Speed AFL!

In pairs, students faced each other and were informed to mark the exemplar answer using the criteria/mark scheme. The first one to find one of the top levels would win. We then discussed students’ responses and they highlighted where the ‘exemplar student’ had achieved a certain Level on the Interactive Whiteboard. There were some disagreements about how the answer moved up the levels.

Task 2: Towards progress!

The class now moved to a more challenging question and the skill had also changed. We treated this question in the same manner as the previous one and then compared the differences between the two questions. As a class we then analysed the mark scheme for Q4 and what they would need to do in order to reach high levels.

Students then answered question four on their own and a time limit was set. In pairs, students marked the other person’s answer using the criteria/mark scheme. Students discussed how their partner’s had reached a certain level and what they thought was particularly good about their answer as well as setting them a target for improvement. We then examined an answer, which was quickly scanned for students to see, and comments were made about the strengths and weaknesses of this particular response. Questions were taken in to mark for the next lesson.

At the start of the following lesson the class peer-assessed, using mark schemes, three responses from grades A-C, starting with grade C. After discussing the answers, assessments were handed back and students were asked to read teacher’s comments and try to meet their targets – examples of meeting the target were either given by the teacher or the student’s answer showed evidence so this area was highlighted.

This way of using assessments is simple, structured and engaging as students feel they can move forward in that lesson and beyond. When a class has experienced this process they enjoy taking assessments because they know that improvement will be concrete and real.

Extract from Exam Class Toolkit : How to Create Engaging Lesson That Ensure Progression and Results

Create living maps with sound, stories and images

One way of creating meaning and relevance behind stories is to use illustrations and photos of various kinds. An even more powerful way is to add sound to a story to really capture a particular moment or event. Imagine including all of these features and then being able to add them to the exact location on a map. This is what MapSkip offers its users: create stories around a particular place.

After registering with the website find a location you wish to write about, for example the Normandy landings in 1944 or examine coastal erosion on the North Norfolk coast, add a ‘marker’ in the shape of a hand and a small box with a form will appear where you can give the place a name. Now you can also upload a photo or drawing, and why not include an MP3 file which captures the fierce fighting during D-Day landings? Another good idea is to create longer investigations with a class and keep adding to the map as you work through a unit, for example as they discover more about an individual’s journey, they can create a very detailed, meaningful and relevant story about this person. Imagination is everything with this tool and students tend to think of 100s of ideas about how they can demonstrate their understanding of a topic or unit. This is a superb educational tool.

Perhaps one of the ingenious tings about MapSkip.com is the fact that you can use it with students as you can set up additional accounts for classes using your email. There is a similar tool called VidMap.com which allows you to add, yes you guessed it, videos to exact locations on a map, also a very innovative tool.

Sophisticated and Imaginative polls

Another poll tool? Not quite. It would be to simple to describe Ask500People.com as yet another poll service. The premise behind this WEB 2.0 tool is based on New Yorker columnist Surowiecki argument that we tend to trusts experts and distrusts the wisdom of the masses but “under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.” His book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few is a real gem. Sorry losing track…anyway, the idea behind the website is to provide real people’s opinions about real issues ranging from questions such as ‘Do you ever turn off your hot water heater to save electricity?’ to ‘Is it possible to look sane with a knife in your hand?’. Voting happen in real-time so you can see answers appearing whilst browsing the site.

It is simple to register and set up questions. It took no longer than 30 seconds to add the question below and use the embed code to add it to this post. You can also add the results bar if you want as well. It’s possible to create a range of different questions e.g. Yes/No, a question based on an image, text answers added by you as well as ranking answers (1-5, stars, Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree etc). One of the real strengths behind Ask500.com is the possibility to check statistics based on location, gender, age, income, education and country.

What do you think? Vote now.

Ask500.com is a truly effective and innovative tool which is very useful at both departmental level to use for Student Voice purposes but also at teacher level where you could get students thinking of a good question about the topic or unit that they are studying to really get them involved more deeply in the subject matter and make them see that learning, attitudes, opinions and interests about issues will never cease. You can also add a brief description or fact box to give voters an idea about the topic before the vote by adding a comment to your own post. By adding a comment you can also include hyperlinks to an external website which could provide more in-depth information.

The Art of Arguing

aMap is short for ‘Argument Map’ and the idea behind the website is very straight forward: to encourage the art of arguing by producing complex debates in a sophisticated visual format. aMap is based around the theory of ‘informal logic’ – the structure of arguing by ordinary people in everyday life. Chris Quigley, who led the team that set up this website has written a brilliant post about the theory behind aMap which is worth reading: How to win arguments and influence people. In a nutshell, the structure of ‘informal logic’ looks like this :

1. Your position: what your think overall
2. Propositions: reasons that support your position
3. Argument: supporting arguments that back up each of the propositions
4. Evidence: supporting evidence to back up your arguments

This process is of course ideal for classroom use as it helps students develop their Thinking Skills, reasoning and critical thinking in a highly visual format – great for demonstrating understanding. aMap is also a particularly useful tool for exam groups such as GCSE, A-Level and graduates students as it provides them with a map of ideas to use in their own writing. It is also beneficial for teachers for use in the classroom as you can easily print your maps and it provides a good writing frame to structure an argument for essays or extended pieces of writing as well as class debates.

Here’s an example from the website:

Creative and Effective Mind-Mapping

I simply love this tool. I think it’s even better than Bubbl.us…don’t take me off your delicious bookmarks just yet (!)… MindMeister offers something a little different which Bubble.us, at least for the time being (see their blog for updates about the new version), does not.

These are the features I particularly love:

1. Work on your mind-maps off-line: with Google Gears off-line library, you can work on all your maps wherever you are. Although Bubbl.us maps can be added to even if off-line (as the main flash files have already loaded) you cannot save the work without going on-line again.

2. Add ideas to your maps on-the-fly: Insert ideas into your default mind map on MindMeister directly from your Mac Dashboard or Windows Sidebar.

3. Easy images into mind-map: Insert images from the default library, have MindMeister insert an image based on the key word of a node or just upload your own photos or illustrations – fantastic!

And many other tools…

Here is one mind-map that I made for a job interview in July (got the job too!): Tom’s Learning Journey. Just click the image on the left to see a larger version. There are many possibilities with this online tool; I have only used the basics!

The only catch, if you want to use the free version, is that you can only store 6 maps. Mind you, you can export your brilliant creations in various formats incl. .pdf or as an image so you could always get rid of a mind-map and keep creating new ones. It is very cheap to upgrade to an educational license (approx 9 pounds per year) though, take a look on the main site.

Interactive Diagram templates galore!

Creating diagrams to use in the classroom or online is becoming more and more popular and they range from excellent to, well let’s face it, rather poor. Exploratree has been developed by FutureLabs which is a leading light in transforming the way technology is used in classrooms, and therefore belongs to the former type of tools – excellent.

By registering you can save and hare your diagrams so I suggest you do that first. The website provides you with a series of interactive thinking guides which are categorised into:

• Map your ideas
• Solve problems
• Explore
• Analyze
• Different perspectives

Example of interactive diagrams

Whereas other tools only allow you to add text and then simply save and print off, ExploraTree gives you the opportunity to add more shapes, text boxes, arrows and even images to your diagrams in a matter of clicks.

This is one of the most sophisticated yet easy online diagram tools I have ever come across and certainly worth exploring further. One particular diagram which I use regularly with my students is an interactive version of Belle Wallace’s Thinking Actively in a Social Context wheel (TASC) as it provides structure to problem solving as well as independent learning projects.

Create cool toons

Online comic book generators such as ToonDoo.com and Pixton.com can provide teachers with an opportunity to really engage students, challenge them whilst at the same time ensure that they progress. These type of websites also allows exam groups to think about audience, purpose, context and argument.

ToonDoo.com This particular website allows the user to quickly register and then produce high-quality and varied comics in only a few minutes. Although there are very few differences between Pixton.com and ToonDoo.com, the latter offers more in terms of usability, graphics and sleekness. I have used both sites with both GCSE and A-Level groups with great results.

See the following links for examples how I have used them:

French Revolution: What should they do with Louis XVI?

Look at these two comics I made at Pixton.com:

• Open Mic Battle: Witte v Stolypin at Pixton.com
• Why did the Uprising of 1953 happen? at Pixton.com

VisuWords

VisuWords and Wordle.net (below) are not what I would regard essential WEB 2.0 tools for classroom when you first look at them. However, I feel that both tools can have some benefit for both students as well as teachers.

VisuWords allows you to look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. You can then produce a diagram of those associations as well as, if you’re geeky, install the software on your own site! The image on the left shows you the associations from the word ‘freedom’. This website is useful to explore big concepts and get students thinking carefully about how words relate.

Beautiful Word Clouds

This interesting website was passed onto me from Tom S. It’s essentially a ‘collage’ tool, excellent for presenting ideas and visualising concepts. Neal Watkin recently asked on Twitter if Wordle inspired design firms with their graphics or if design firms inspired Wordle.net… Here are a few examples:

Key word example

Intro from Innovate with ICT - enhance learning through the curriculum

Hopefully you found some of these WEB 2.0 tools to be a useful and interesting addition to your teaching repertoire? If you have come across other tools that you have used successfully with your students then please share your experience and explain how you used it in the classroom : ) .

Johannes.