I’m delivering an INSET session soon on technology in the classroom and I’m focusing on websites that are useful for lessons. Some of these are fairly well-known now but it’s being delivered mostly to non-ICT specialists so I’m afforded that luxury.
Prezi
Probably the most well known, Prezi is a flash-based alternative to the dreaded Powerpoint. It makes use of an ZUI which creates pleasing visual transitions which is good for keeping interest and doing cooler things than Powerpoint affords.
Wallwisher
Wallwisher is a virtual noticeboard where you can add post-its. It’s great for plenaries and anywhere you need to get feedback from students without breaking out whiteboards or bits of paper. It’s also really convenient as you can check it at a later date. As below, they are available to embed so you can embed them on your website or VLE.
ClassDojo
This is my newest discovery, ClassDojo. It’s currently in Beta but that pretend kind, not the kind where it’s full of bugs. It’s a Behaviour for Learning tool where each student gets their own avatar (a point of contention as some boys will inevitably get pink ones and changing requires paying) and they get points based on positive or negative aspects of their behaviour. Example positive actions are participation and helping others, example negative actions are disruption and late. One of the nice features is that these are configurable. It also has an mobile version to use on your phone as you’re presumably walking around the classroom but it doesn’t want to load for me on Android and it’s probably quicker to walk to me desk than get my phone out.
I’ve so far used this to good effect with a Y8 class and less so with a Y10 class predictably. It’s hard to say whether the eagerness to see their monster gain points would only be temporary but nevertheless it’s a really cool little website to try out.
DROPitTOme
This is my favourite site currently, but probably likely to be sensitively omitted from the INSET due to it competing with the Academy’s VLE. It’s a really simple website, it’s a front-end to your Dropbox account that lets people upload files into your Dropbox. There’s nothing I’ve used so far that can match the work flow of having students upload files with no hassle and have them arrive on my home computer when I start it up.
A notable mention goes to Google Docs and Mediawiki for collaborative document editing and creating wikis respectively but despite both being awesome, the premise of both is really simple and no explanation necessary if you’ve used them at all.
I think that’s all for now as I’m only supposed to fill 30 minutes but I may add more if any come to mind.
