Disclaimer: Most of the tools pictured above are either FREE or have an inexpensive membership fee. Not all of the tools listed above will be accessible by the students due to district page blocking, or because they require an address in order to register online to use the tool.

What are Web 2.0 tools? Web 2.0 tools are web sites and applications that focus’ on allowing people to work together and share information with each other online. Web 2.0 pages tend to involve the user more in the creative process, tend to be more engaging, and are more animated then the typical web page. Web 2.0 success is closely tied to communication with social networking communities, and the sharing of information.

Capture images, or make short videos Image capture tool allows the user to crop or select how much or how little of the screen they want to capture. Once the image is captured, the user can add text, arrows, and more before saving the image as a PNG (portable network graphic). Shareable via the web, , blogs, Twitter, and more!

assignaday.4teachers.org Teacher created digital calendars. Can be used to remind students (and parents) of assignment/project due dates, meetings, test days, etc. Allows the teacher to write detailed information about assignments, projects, etc. Teachers have the option of sharing calendars with other teachers in cooperative groups. Students and parents have the option of either viewing the calendars online, or printing out calendars.

The user pastes an excerpt from a text, and the VocabGrabber creates a list of it considers the most usable words from the text. The user can select a from the created list and see the definition, the synonyms for that word, and how the word was used in the context of the text. You can filter the list of vocabulary words by relevance, subject, alphabetical, number of occurrences in the text, or how familiar the word is in the written English language.

Digital brainstorming Ideas are “written” onto sticky notes. “Storms” can be either public or private. If set to private the user can choose who to invite to view, and write on their “storm”. Export “storms” into PDF or XLS files.

bubbl.us Create digital bubble maps. Maps can be printed, exported, shared online, or embedded into presentation, blogs, websites, etc.

Create digital bulletin boards where students can leave “sticky note” comments on the wall. Wall authors manage what comments appear on the wall, and which ones are to be deleted. Visitors to the wall can upload images, video, or audio to their “sticky notes”.

Create interactive, digital timelines. Users can upload images to the timeline, as well as add detailed descriptions of the events. After timelines are created they are stored on the webpage. Users can also print out a copy of their timelines or embed their timelines onto blogs, Twitter, presentations, etc.

edu.glogster.com Creates online posters. (single page websites) All projects are saved online. Projects can be set to private, or public viewing. Glogster has a library of contains numerous backgrounds, symbols, graphics, etc. Students can upload images and videos into their presentations. Student created Glog on Alexander Calder.

Create cartoon comic strips! Bitstrips comes with a database of characters, backgrounds, props, word bubbles, effects, and character outfits. Users can choose the number of boxes wanted for their strip, and they can create their own characters.

Digital storytelling and presentations. Works like a PowerPoint presentation, but are more animated. Users can either create a presentation using the Empressr software, or users can upload PowerPoint presentations and edit those presentations in Empressr. Embed completed presentations onto websites, blogs, or other social networking pages. Store completed presentations on the Empressr website. Presentations can be published on the Empressr webpage, or presentations can be embedded or sent via to selected individuals. This presentation is an example of an Empressr presentation.