Google Apps Education Suite

Google announced on Tuesday that they have put together a suite of Web 2 tools specifically for education. These are all existing Web 2.0 tools that many Web 2 savvy teachers have been using for some time, however Google are now marketing then as a package of educational tools to meet the needs of your school - all based in the cloud. This is what they are saying;

Google Apps just got smarter: Google Announcement - January 25, 2011 at 9:00 AM

The education technology space has seen an explosion of new offerings in the past few years. What has been missing is a centralized platform for schools and universities to easily evaluate and utilize web apps. Today we are excited to launch an education category in the Google Apps Marketplace designed specifically to help schools and universities easily discover and deploy new web applications that integrate with their existing Google Apps accounts.

The new education category includes over 20 applications from 19 vendors ranging from learning management systems (LMS) to student tools and teaching aids – all of which integrate with Google Apps for Education. Each app can be accessed through single sign-on and the Google universal navigation bar and many offer deeper integrations that synchronize with Google Calendar and Documents.

This new education category will make it easier for schools to have more web apps at their fingertips, including popular existing apps such as Aviary, Grockit, and LearnBoost as well as the new apps launching today.

Google suggests that as more tools are identified they will be added to the suite of Education based tools on the marketplace. These include web applications by Blackboard, Knewton and the Khan Academy. To read the full announcement check out the link below.

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-apps-just-got-smarter.html

Interactive Youtube Videos

Knewton GMAT have developed a series of interactive learning videos on Youtube. The nature of the videos allows for the students to choose the ending of the video. This feature also allows the video to be used as a multiple choice quiz. These are great for setting up procedures or explaining concepts that your students may need to re-visit in order to understand them correctly. It is also another way for students to have access to their own learning resources 24/7.

Knewton has even been generous enough to give instruction on how to make these yourself on their blog. They do suggest there is a learning curve but one that would be well worth it.

http://www.knewton.com/blog/edtech/education-edtech/2010/12/15/how-to-make-an-interactive-lesson-using-youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLPq4AcH-bc&feature=player_embedded

Yebol - Top Ten Search Engines

No. 10 - Yebol


Yebol is a semantic search engine that will not only understand your query but also venture into categories or even explore various meaning of a particular word or phrase. For example a Semantic engine could take STAR and give you categorised results such as Astronomy, Astrology, Celebrity etc. A traditional engine would put all the results in one list, Yebol then presents each of the finds from your search into categories; news, twitter, videos, images, top sites, categories or related searches.

http://www.yebol.com/

Kngine - Top Ten Search Engines

No.9 - Kngine

Kngine is supposed to be a Web 3.0 Search Engine (i.e. revolutionary Semantic Search Engine and Question Answer Engine) designed to provide customized meaningful search result, such as: 

• Semantic Information about the keyword/concept, 
• Answer the user’s questions, 
• List of things, 
• Discover the relations between the keywords/concepts, and 
• link related information together such as: Movies, Subtitles, Photos.

http://www.kngine.com/

Feedmil - Top 10 Search Engines

No. 8 Feedmil

A long tail real time, spam free search engine for the discovery of topic based blogs, podcasts streams and discussion forums from public and social networks.

http://feedmil.com/

Touchgraph - Top Ten Search Engines

No. 7 - Touchgraph

TouchGraph allows for the creation and navigation of interactive graphs. Ideal for organising links, or mindmapping. If you search a lot (to collect information for blogging, research and inspiration), you may know that in many cases “words” are not enough to help you find what you need. Often, you really don’t know what exactly you are looking for or you can’t describe it in words – in this case, you need other search tools apart from Google. The TouchGraph Browser is a new tool that visualises the connections between web sites in order to give you a better picture of your search.

http://www.touchgraph.com/

Veiwzi - Top 10 Search Engines

No.6 - Viewzi

There are more ways to present information than in a simple list. Lists are great for some things. But when you are searching for a video or an mp3? With Viewzi, you can get results all arranged into unique “Views”, each custom-tailored for that content. It’s the right data, presented in the right way. This is a nice way to view sites quickly whilst looking for sites that meet your requirements.

http://www.viewzi.com

Live Plasma - Top 10 Search Engine

No. 5  - Live Plasma


A visually rich application that shows the relationships between movies, bands, actors, etc. An interesting and novel method for finding similar movies, music, directors etc. Basically you search an artist and it creates a mind map. After the search term is submitted, it's immediately surrounded by other artists; the closer they are, the more similar they are in style to the target. The user can search, map, discover new movies or artists then save and share their maps.

http://www.liveplasma.com/

Quintura - Top 10 Search Engines

No. 4 - Quintura

Quintura is a context based search engine  that uses data clustering, visualisation and context management that works together to create a visual search experience. It is both visual and intuitive and features an interactive word cloud that allows for more refined searches.

http://www.quintura.com/

Spezify - Top 10 Search Engines

No. 3 - Spezify

Spezify is another inspired search engine, one that I have posted about once before. This search engine falls into the category of a Visual Search Engine. It creates a collage of quotes, images, posters, photographs, text, twitter feeds and songs that are all pulled from various media search engines. Th is form of search engine is actually called assistive search technology.

http://www.spezify.com/

Oamos - Top 10 Search Engines

No. 2 Oamos

Oamos pings other search engines in order to find current, relevant links to your search term. It then presents the findings as a continually changing series of graphics. Each graphic is a link to the website that the image is from. The format the the information is presented in has 16 different variations depending on the type of info you are searching. 

http://www.oamos.com/

Eyeplorer - Top 10 Search Engines

No. 1 - Eyeplorer

Isn't it funny how we just use the same things all the time, often because that is what we learnt on. Many people have Google as their Internet Preferred Search Engine. We don't always do this because it is better, we do it because that is what we have always done.

http://eyeplorer.com/

Blog Booker

I love this idea. I only wish I had found it earlier. BlogBooker allows you to produce Pdf blog books from all your blog entries and comments. These can be generated from any blog running on Wordpress, Livejournal or Blogger. The whole process takes about 3 or 4 minutes. Once your exported file is submitted the file is verified and then all your images are linked and found and the whole thing is assembled as a book.

This is great for teachers who regularly use blogs but for whatever reason need printouts. Not everyone is comfortable marking online or sometimes your Subject Co-ordinator requires evidence of learning. This is the answer.

The musings and reflections on your students blogs can become real books, cherished and shared, kept as momentos or records of the learning process, learning experiences or just of their school year.

http://www.blogbooker.com/

Mutapic

Mutapic is an online picture generator. It is a free tool you can use to rapidly create original artworks. logos or symbols. Simply pick an image to start with, chose another to combine with the original and click on the green button to start. You can continue to click the green button until something appeals to you. This application is great for developing artwork ideas for students who are struggling to come up with their own idea.

http://www.mutapic.com/

The Graffiti Creator

This is one of the Web 2 tools that we used with a Graffiti unit I discussed earlier where we used Geotagging and Flickr. This was really an introduction to graffiti styles and a kind of how to tutorial. We really wanted to get the students to understand that Graffiti artists have rules, and even a code of conduct. Many young artists want to see this form of expression as a legitimate artform. This really is more of an art application than a game. You can see your name or any words for that matter in a variety of graffiti styles. Once you have chosen a style you can then customise it with your own colour scheme, variations galore. No two pieces will look the same. Great effects.

http://www.graffiticreator.net/