Websites
Mind maps
Cmap Tools Build interactive, collaborative mind maps with text, video, and weblinks. Used by many high school teachers and college professors for advanced project work and EAP writing.
Mayomi A free flash-based mind mapping tool that lets you map out ideas, projects, research topics, or anything else that can be dug into. Great for students when it comes to writing essays.
Mind 42 A free mind map maker with an emphasis on the collaboration. Google instant messenger is built-in and if you are a Wikipedia fan there is also an option to attach an article.
bubble.us This easy and free online tool allows you to brainstorm ideas, save your mind map as an image, share with students, and create colourful mind map organisers.
Slide show presentations
Sliderocket Create a stunning-looking PowerPoint-style multimedia presentation which can then be viewed and shared online. A great way to introduce topics in the classroom.
Shwup With cool effects, students can build video slide shows with their photos. They can then be embedded into a blog or downloaded as an MP4 video.
Slidestory This tool allows you to record a narration with your slide show. Post on the web for students or classmates to see.
Images
Flickr A nice tool to get a stream of images on any topic. Make content available to your students only.
Phasr You can visually illustrate a sentence with this tool. Students type a sentence and then look for a Flickr image to go with each word.
80 Million Tiny Images Visual dictionary of Google images, where you can also label the images.
Videos
Google Video Allows users to search, upload, and share videos online for free. There is even an educational category providing hour long videos.
Vimeo This video-hosting site has a clean interface, includes HD video uploads, and videos can be kept private. A respectful atmosphere lets you and your students’ creativity thrive.
JayCut This is not just a video-hosting site. You can actually edit your uploaded video and store it online.
Avatars
Voki Allows students to create wacky avatars, then record themselves speaking.
Mashface Upload a photo of yourself or a famous individual, then use a webcam to add your voice and lips to that person. This could be perfect for getting into the mind of a famous person being studied in history or other subjects.
Cartoon strips and animations
Go!Animate Takes storytelling using online cartoon strip makers a little bit further by allowing students to spark life into characters and create short animations. A super tool to foster creativity and engage students.
Xtra Normal For creating text to speech animated movies. A useful tool for social development.
MakeBeliefsComix Encourage writing, reading, and storytelling. With this tool, students can create online comics.
Hot Potato An easy tool that’s free to educators. Build your own crosswords, matching exercises, short answer, multiple-choice, and jumbled sentences. Makes homework prep a breeze.
ToonDoo A web application that allows students to create their own comic strips. Highly motivational, it allows students to express themselves in a more creative way.
Collaboration tools and file-sharing
Simple Solver Very easy to use tool for collaborative projects, brainstorming and problem solving. Students will enjoy using this for group discussions.
Box.net You can easily share files using this tool. It is very easy for students to use as well.
Glogster Students can create multimedia online posters or ‘glogs’, which can then be shared on the Internet.
Yugma A free web collaboration device that lets you instantly connect to students and colleagues all over the Internet. A way to communicate and share content and ideas using any type of application or software.
Writeboard A place to create shareable, web-based text documents. Write solo or collaborate with others.
Data visualisation
Wordle Turns any given text into a word cloud, then picks out the most common words and gives them prominence by increasing their size. Behind this simple concept lies many possibilities for use in the classroom.
Educause Learning Initiative Concise information on emerging learning technologies. ‘7 things you should know about Data Visualization 11’ focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use it for a no-jargon, quick overview.
Flare Open source software for creating visualisations that run in the Adobe Flash Player. From basic charts and graphs to complex interactive graphics, the toolkit supports data management, visual encoding, animation, and interaction techniques.
Google Public Data Explorer Makes large datasets easy to explore, visualise and communicate.
Google Docs Create charts, presentations, diagrams, wireframes, schematics and more. They are all stored online making collaboration easy.
InfiView Really great for large, complex and live data, as it visualises the data in a clear, graphical way. Connect InfiView with real time data (of any size, even infinite), and present anything from social and geo-location, to diagrams and maps, in a web browser.
Information is beautiful A fantastic library of visualisations, infographics and diagrams.
JISC – data visualization tools Really comprehensive link to a huge range of further data visualisation technology.
Read, Write, Web Another great library of data visualistion tools.
Visual complexity Amazing library of social network visualisations and many other topics.
Social networking
Penzu Keep an online journal using this site. This can be useful for both students and teachers.
Ning.com This site allows you to create your own social network; consider using this as a private social network with your students.
Wikispaces Create a public, online wiki for free. This is great for group assignments and class collaborations.
Twitter We all are pretty familiar with Twitter. Teachers are trying this out more and more with their students to instantly post and receive short messages.
Class Blogmeister This blog site was set up specifically for educators and students. There are a number of privacy controls that are already built-in.
edublogs A free blog-hosting site for educators and students of all ages.
Flashcards and quizzes
Anki This is what is called a spaced repetition system (SRS). It can help students remember things by intelligently scheduling flashcards. This helps when trying to learn a lot of information at one time.
Quizlet More than just flashcards and very easy to use. Get students started with good study habits.
Ediscio Another collaborative flashcard tool. This one gives you learning statistics.
Engagement
Ted.com A series of talks by a variety of striking people. The goal is to bring people from the worlds of technology, entertainment, and design together.
Tizmos An online space where you can place thumbnails of sites. Very useful if you want students to go to certain places only, and it can also cut down on random searches.
SimplyBox Research can help students learn more about the subjects they're studying. Teachers can help them to think ‘outside the box’ with this tool.
Issuu Lets you upload Office or PDF documents and turn them into a collage type album with pages that turn. Students will love this for their special assignments.
For a targeted, comprehensive range of resources specific to the VCE Information Technology Course, go to http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/infotechindex.html and click on Resources.
