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Cool Tools We All Can Use  

Most of us have neither the time nor the inclination to become programmers or designers. This list contains easy-to-use applications and ideas to support instruction.

Some are standard applications used in surprising ways to do new things. Some are freeware or shareware designed to give instructors a helping hand to create learning tools without having to spend all their time in front of the computer.

If you've found some neat, easy-to-use applications, please share! (caveat: CCSF supports the MS Office Suite. You're on your own with the rest of it!)

Web 2.0

• Blogging in Plain English
• Wikis in Plain English
• Social Networking in Plain English
• Social Bookmarking in Plain English (Use tools such as del.icio.us )

Low Threshold Applications

• Low Threshold Applications - from the TLT Group. What is an LTA? A Low Threshold Application (LTA) is a teaching/learning application of information technology  that is reliable, accessible, easy to learn, non-intimidating and (incrementally) inexpensive. There are lots of great ideas here!

• PowerPoint- Not just a boring presentation tool! PowerPoint is an easy to use program that allows you to include images, sound, and animations to put on the web or use in a classroom.
  
  Here are some examples of PowerPoint presentations used as learning objects for class or for student review.

• Mimi Yu's (University of Nevada, Reno) Japanese courses - Mimi made her PPT presentations on a Mac and saved them as QuickTime files. User needs the QuickTime plug-in.
• TeacherTech's example of PowerPoint - Object pronouns . (The actual PPT presentation is uploaded to the website. The user needs PPT on his/her machine.
• La négation - Elementary French review (prepared for the web using Impatica - appears as a java applet within an html page. The PowerPoint notes can be saved as an additional html page).

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Web Tools

• 4Teachers.org - Many free utilities for teachers. Created primarily for K-12 teachers, instructors in higher ed can find many uses. TrackStar, QuizStar (see below) are only two of many useful tools. There is also an Equity Index : to help you locate resources and tools to assist in meeting the needs of a diverse classroom and more!

• Filamentality from SBC - "Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank tool that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet links, and turning them into learning activities. It combines the "filament" of the Web with a learner's "mentality". Support is built-in through Mentality Tips that guide you along the way. In the end, you'll create a Web-based activity you can share with others even if you don't know anything about HTML, Web servers, or all that www-dot stuff. "

• PageOut - from McGraw-Hill. " You don't have to be a computer whiz to create a web site.  Especially with an exclusive McGraw-Hill product called PageOut® . No prior knowledge of HTML is required, no long hours of coding and no design skills are necessary on your part! "

• TrackStar - "TrackStar is your starting point for online lessons and activities. Simply collect Web sites, enter them into TrackStar, add annotations for your students, and you have an interactive, online lesson called a Track. Create your own Track or use one of the hundreds of thousands already made by other educators. Search the database by subject, grade, or theme and standard for a quick and easy activity. There is a fun Track already made for each day of the year, too! " One of many resources from 4Teachers.org.

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Audio Tools

• Audacity -" Audacity is a free audio editor. You can record sounds, play sounds, import and export WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, and MP3 files, and more."

• Skype - "Free Internet telephony that just works." (from Patricia) Language teachers: Communicate with your students outside of the classroom!

Graphics

• Microsoft Clip Art - Free to Microsoft Office Users. Hundreds of images to choose from.

• Picasa -Free software from Google. Organize and edit your images, make a slide shows, CDs, upload photos to a blog, make a movie from your photos, and more.

• ArtPad Digital Canvas from art.com - Create animations on the web with a "paintbrush", splash, and text tools. (from Regina Rowland)

• Pics4Learning - Images for use by educators (from Morris Bibliowicz)

Online Quizzes

• Hot Potatoes - Quiz generator, free to educators if you make your quizzes freely available on the web. Also saves to WebCT quiz format.

• Quia - Find web-based activities (games, flashcards, quizzes) created by other instructors organized by discipline or create your own. To create your own online materials, there is a small subscription charge.

• Quiz Star - Free for educators. Create online interactive quizzes for your students. From 4Teachers.org

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Just for Fun

• TinyUrl.com - Ever try to send your students the URL of an article and the URL is so long it takes up more than one line in your email? Then, students keep contacting you about the "wrong URL" because they simply clicked and did not copy and paste it into their browser. Well, tinyurl.com solves this problem for you. Paste in a large URL, it provides you with a short one that works!

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Thanks to LeeAnn Stone of SWALLT for the inspiration and many links.