Educational Freeware – Find free online and downloadable programs for teaching

 

 

 

 

I just came across a rather interesting site. One that I’m sure I’ll find many fun technology tools that can be used for education – Educational Freeware. This site has links to a variety of free things to use for teaching. Some are downloadable and others are web based online things. Either way, I’m sure that this will provide a variety of resources for teachers.  I’ll be exploring some of them soon. 🙂

http://www.educational-freeware.com/

Looking to Use iPads in the classroom? Try this blog.

Here’s a great blog that discusses many ways to use iPads in the classroom.

http://cvipads.wordpress.com/

The iPad is great for teachers and students. Teacher apps like TeacherPal are great for tracking grades, taking attendance and creating seating charts. This app also addresses how students use the iPad apps and provides numerous tutorials. Check it out. 🙂

Moodle – A Way To Create An Online Course For Free

Here’s one web technology that may come in handy for education.

http://moodle.org

It is a way to create an online course. Teachers can post tests and other documents, videos and links for students. I haven’t done too much playing around with it yet, but it does seem to have everything you’d need for an online course. Teachers can keep track of students’ progress because the assessments’ answers can be preloaded. Students can get feedback right away. You can even set up tests so students can have multiple attempts to take the test. (And the highest grade is kept.) Moodle also has an option for discussion boards. Teachers and students can post discussion questions and receive answers and feedback.

Again, I haven’t done much exploring with this yet. It will take some work to figure it out, but it is open-source which means it’s free.

Create Online Learning Materials with Sophia

I’m really excited about Sophia. It’s a very different web technology specifically designed for education and focuses on teaching and learning online.

http://www.sophia.org

With this site, users create educational “packets” that teach other users about something. For each packet, “teachers” input objectives and a brief description about what will be learned through their packet. Then they can add videos, links to other sites, PowerPoint presentations, etc. Users can also create and join multiple groups (private or public) for better sharing of knowledge.

Learning packets are given two types of reviews. The first are general reviews that answer the “was this helpful?” and “did you like it?” The other is the “academically sound” review. Users with advanced degrees or certified teachers can sign up to be an academic reviewer. These people watch other learning packets within their specialty areas and judge whether or not the information included in the packet is academically correct. This prevents people from learning wrong information about a given topic.

Ideas for a classroom:

• While it may be impractical for a teacher to put up all lessons, it may be useful for students who are absent for or want to review an important lesson. This would provide students a place to go that could answer the common questions teachers must answer as students work on a project or assignment.
• Students can use this site to prepare for class presentations. If a lesson is to do research on X time period, for example, students can upload their materials prior to (or after) presenting to the class. If students are expected to take a test based on other groups/individuals’ information, this can provide an archive and place for students to review prior to a test.
• This site also provides students with a global audience. They will know that others may see and learn from their learning packets, ensuring that they will work harder to ensure all information is accurate and engaging.

While I haven’t added any of my own packets yet, I’m sure I will be doing so soon. If you try it out, feel free to add me as a friend.

http://www.sophia.org/users/kristin-dragos