Engaging Students with Free Online Tools

With my classes, I have been able to incorporate several free apps and online tools throughout the last several years to meet learning objectives.  Using technology can motivate students and enhance student learning.  Free apps and online tools can be used with students to accomplish this.  I have grown accustomed to using different ones regularly with my students.  At the prompting of some colleagues, I offered a workshop to expose other teachers to some of the free tools that I have used with students and for myself.  The following is some of what I shared.

Tools to Access Information

URL Shorteners

URL shorteners are web applications that allow you to shorten URLs so that they are not so long and cumbersome.  They are useful for a variety of purposes:

• Students do not need to write/type a lengthy URL
• Looks neater when shared via email or on the web
• Easier to share via social media

Some URL shorteners that I have used are goo.gl, tinyurl.com, and bitly.com. You simply enter in the URL and the tool will shorten it for you so you can copy it and paste it where you need it.

"Search Engines”

Flickr. Yahoo! Web. 27 Nov. 2014. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectdiscovery/>. CC

These search engines are a little different than what you expect from a typical search engine like Google or Bing.  I have found them valuable for my own purposes, but students see the value in using them, too.

  Instagrok presents students a visual in the form of a web to share results.  Information is sorted by key facts, websites, images, etc.  There is also a feature by which you can alter the complexity of the visual which helps different levels of students.  The best feature is that Instagrok instantly offers topics related to the topic that has been searched.  My students will conduct research by typing the same term into a search engine again and again and again…..  This provides them alternatives to combine with their topics and also gives them the sense that they need to attack research from a variety of angles.

I often have difficulty getting across to students the need to appropriately use images from the internet. They find it so very easy to copy and paste.  Creative Commons encourages the sharing of work by its creator by offering license alternatives to copyright.  These licenses (explain in the chart linked here) permit others to use and build upon the creator’s work.    Creative Commons Search assists in culling images, music, video, etc. from the web that give permissions (under a variety of restrictions) for other to use.  Teaching students to navigate Creative Commons Search has made them far more aware of copyright and the need to value other people’s work.  

Modifying Content

  Some students struggle with reading.  Summarize This shortens texts pasted into the tool.  It is no less complex but rather is truncated so that a student would be working with the same albeit a shorter amount of text.  Students who struggle to read benefit from working with a shorter piece that gets across similar main points as the longer version from which it was born.

  Rewordify works with either text pasted into the tool or with a URL pasted into the tool.  It identifies words it deems as difficult and offers replacements.  Settings can be altered so that the word is replaced while the original term appears with a mouse-over, or the original can remain with a simpler alternative appearing with the mouse-over.  It also offers pronunciation for those complex terms.

Tools for Sharing Information

Each of the following requires signing up for a free account.

  Today’s Meet allows the teacher and the students to have real-time conversations.  Although you can use it without signing up, a login gives the teacher greater controls.  Once you create a “room,” you provide the students with the URL generated from Today’s Meet, and students can leave comments.  The teacher monitors the discussion and can provide guidance for the path the conversation takes.  Teachers can use it to backchannel during a video so that students are processing information and responding to others while viewing.  The conversation during the video can enrich the viewing experience.  Today’s Meet can also be used as a warm-up at the start of class, as an exit ticket at the end of class, or for a review session either during or outside of class.

Another tool that I have used so that students can share is Padlet.  The teacher creates an area which can either be embedded on a webpage or accessed via a link.  Students can post sticky note-like responses to prompts and can include links or photos.  Padlet can be used to have the students crowd-source information, to share perspectives, as an exit ticket, etc.  In this linked example, students create sentences showing their understanding of a vocabulary term.

  The teacher or the student could use Thinglink to produce an interactive image.  The creator can put hotspots on an image which provides links or videos where information can be accessed.  A teacher could use Thinglink to present directions or procedures, as a springboard for student investigations, or simply to present information. Students could also present their own information as a project. I created a Thinglink on timezones for my students as a starting point for investigation.

  Classtools provides an array of tools for teachers to use in the classroom and does not require a login to use.  Tools can be used to engage students in demonstrating their understanding:  Twister creates fake tweets, Fakebook generates a fictional social media profile, and SMS generator creates a fake text message exchange.  There are game generators, critical thinking and writing templates, timers, a random name picker, and myriad other tools that can engage students.  Definitely a site to visit to access a wide range of tools.

  If you have any positive experiences with these free tools or others, please leave a comment. I would love to hear about them.

Evidence of Learning Lags

I was impressed with what my students turned out for their first blog posts.  (You can see them at the Walking With Giants blog.) They really seemed to rise to the occasion for their initial attempt publishing to the world.

At the start of the year, the students investigated digital citizenship and literacy.  Since they had the opportunity to experience an one-to-one environment in my class, I wanted them to be aware of how they should respect and use the computer as a tool.  Their blog post culminated their work, as they reflected on what they had learned.

The students had demonstrated what they had learned through other assessments, but the blog posts really allowed me to see their understanding in a different light.  Although some were still showing misunderstandings, writing for the blog gave an additional chance for students to clarify their understandings.  By incorporating the chance for feedback and revision prior to publishing, students were able to enhance both their understanding and their writing.  It was a valuable process for both students and teacher and one that I will replicate.

Somewhat disappointing, after their learning and reflection, has been the implementation of their knowledge.  Many students pointed out the need to respect copyright laws and acknowledged that have, and should not, simply copy and paste images and the such from the internet.  In practice, however, the students are still falling a bit short.  The inclination to copy and paste images from Google is hard for them to resist.  Even though they know they should take other steps, even though they are being given explicit directions so as to avoid it, they still go immediately search for an image on Google to copy and paste into their work.

Clearly students need more practice in using tools like Creative Commons to find images and other information they can use in their work for school.  They have not been instructed otherwise, until this year, and so, will need to break habits.  

Even though the evidence of their learning is lagging behind what they can state as what they have learned, I hope their practice will make perfect.