Cool+Technology+For+Teachers


 * [|Soundcloud] - I had this idea that kids could submit their homework via audio file (not 20 math problems, but a verbal reasoning of how to attack a problem or discussion of a concept). Then I could check homework while taking a nice long walk! Not sure whether I could do this, but my idea is to have kids tag their uploaded audio homework (like mrwnphshw1) and then I could search for that tag and add all tracks with that tag to a set. Then I could go for a walk and listen to the set and make annotations as I go. Crazy!
 * Wikispaces.com - of course, duh! I transitioned my long time personal web site to wikispaces and now I have around a dozen wikis that I've put up for myself and others. Wikispaces is a quick easy way to make a web site for yourself.
 * [|Google Drive (formerly Google Documents)] - Living in the cloud. It's a place to store files and there are apps you can use to create documents (like Word), spreadsheets (like Excel), presentations (like PowerPoint), etc. In a Google Document (the app that's like Word), they have a nice equation editor that even allows you to type your equations in LaTeX (or just point and click for the wimpy).
 * [|Evernote] - If you're like me, you like to jot down your thoughts in a variety of places. Evernote lets you capture your ideas in audio, with text, with pictures and it makes it easy to do it from your smartphone.
 * [|Remember The Milk] - Great list management site. It's a bit different than Evernote. Instead of notes, you can make lists upon lists upon lists. I like it because you can have multiple todo lists, but then you can have crossbreed lists by tagging items in multiple lists. Also, due dates.
 * [|Youtube.com] - Again, duh! But has to be mentioned. Lots of great video lessons- particularly good for math. Also, you can make your own lessons and upload them for free. Supplemental video sites: [|Vimeo] and [|MathVids]. TeacherTube absolutely sucks.
 * [|Khan Academy] - Lots of great video lessons, but also coaching and assessment tools.
 * [|Piazza] - Realtime discussion forum of sorts. I've used it, it works, but I'm looking for something better. I've been told to look at [|Collaborize].
 * [|Prezi] - The next generation of presentation software.
 * [|Spicynodes] - Mind mapping software with pleasant visual effects. Also considering [|Mind42] which is a bit more plain, but possibly easier to work with?
 * [|ActivInspire] - This software came with my Promethean slate and smartboard. I've used it to produce a couple of prototype Khan-like videos. It works perfectly in that regard.
 * [|Stitcher] - I use this app to listen to podcasts while I walk or while I'm driving in my car. I particularly like Freakonomics, Science Friday, APM Marketplace and More or Less: Behind the Stats. [|Doggcatcher] is also a good podcast player with more features, but it's more complicated to use. I'm thinking of integrating more reading (and/or podcast listening) into my statistics class. This way students could learn more of the story behind a particular problem and I believe that immersion will lead to a deeper understanding.
 * [|Teamtools] - I am considering implementing the flipped classroom this year. In conjunction with the flip, I want students to come in and work together cooperatively. I ran across this book, [|Kagan Cooperative Learning], and I think they have some great ideas. Their teamtools software looks like it could help. I also purchased [|Flip Your Classroom] from amazon.com. It's heavy on pitch and light on implementation details, but I did get some good ideas from the book.
 * [|ClassConnect] - Just heard about this on the Math Dude podcast. Need to check it out. It's a site where you can post and share lessons with other teachers. Sounds a bit like Lesson Planet, but I'm hoping it's a whole lot better.
 * There are a number of sites for posting presentations and I may add some of these to the list when I have time. The problem that I've had with these sites is that the user interfaces that I have seen are so cumbersome, it's difficult to point students to these sites.
 * [|Sketchup] - Immediately answers the question: When will I ever use this in the real world? At least that's true for geometry. Need to think about it for algebra.
 * [|Google Earth] - Again, great for geometry. Need to come up with applications for algebra.

More hardcore stuff (not for the faint of technology):
 * [|Corona SDK] - I'm using this development toolkit to produce apps for Android, iPhones and iPads. You create the app once and it can run on multiple platforms.
 * [|Lua for Windows] - Haven't used it yet, but considering it since I'm working with Lua everyday for Corona.

Stuff that just makes me scratch my head:
 * [|Edutopia]- from George Lucas. Does anyone use this site? What are it's benefits?
 * [|Curriki] - ditto
 * [|Lesson Planet] - ditto