Great Web 2.0 Resources
Here are some really great Web 2.0 Resources for Students that can help students with their school work, getting organized, and using other Web 2.0 resources.
Edmodo is a site that many teachers in our district are using. Students can track assignments on the class calendar, see what assignments are due, and participate in class discussions.
Dweeber is a homework collaboration site that also has tools to help students learn better. It is described as a homework social network. Students sign up, for free, and can add their friends, known as "dweebs" to their network. Students can work on homework together and help each other out. It even as a virtual whiteboard so that they can work together just as if they were in the same room. There is a message center, study sessions, and even a place to post links to web sites that you find helpful in doing your work.
This is a great resource for students who can't get together physically to work on homework or projects.
Evernote is a great, free resource that allows you to easily capture information using whatever device or operating system you use. It then makes this information accessible and searchable from anywhere. Their tagline: Remember Everything.
You can capture task lists, notes, web pages, white boards, business cards, pictures, and even clip web pages to Evernote.
You can download a desktop version of the software, for free, which will sync to the Evernote web server, or you can just access it through the internet on their web page. You can also access it through a mobile device. They have downloadable applications for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Windows Mobile devices. You can also access their mobile website on any web-enabled phone.
You can create new notes via desktop, web, or mobile version. You can also use your camera phone or web cam to take a snapshot and Evernote can even recognize the text in the image. You can also email notes, clip web pages, record audio notes, and scan papers, receipts and more into Evernote.
Their website has easy to follow instructions and help sections. Students can use Evernote to take notes in class, share notes with other students, capture notes off of a whiteboard or poster using their smartphone camera, and much more.
Dropbox is a service that allows you to sync your files on your computer with their system as a backup. This also allows you to access the files anywhere. You can also sync the files across multiple computers. This means that you have automatic backup of your files and 24/7 access to your files. I have it set up to sync a folder on my home computer and school computer so I don't have to worry about having multiple versions or forgetting a flash drive.
There are also Dropbox apps for iPhone, Android, iPad and there is one coming for Blackberry. There is an independent app for Palm webOS, but you can also access the mobile site from any web-enabled phone. Imagine being able to access all of your files on your smartphone!
One feature that is very nice is the fact that it works with network drives like we use in my district. Some of the other cloud file storage and sync systems can't work with network drives. I was very happy to see this was able to be done with Dropbox.
Students can use this to access and back up their files anywhere. They can also share files with each other which is useful when working on projects.
