Blog 21-Web 2.0 Educational Sites

Prezi:
A free power point system that is non-linear. You can create it how you want to and does not have to be in any specific order. The slide's flow instead of going strictly one way or the another.

Weebly:
Allows you to create you own website. This website is free and monitored. You have to be at least 13 to join unless the teacher/parent creates it. It is not technical and you can drag and drop elements to build your website. This way they can be easily arranged and re arranged.

Storybird:
This website is used to create and publish stories. You can view other people's stories and well as comment on them. When making a story, it has themes with pictures which can easily selected and dropped onto a page. Text is added by simply typing in the box given on the page. Before publishing, parents/guardians can review the story to make sure it is appropriate.

Symbaloo:
Symbaloo is a visual homepage website. The web page is customized by having different tab/links on the background. It is good for children because it limits them to use specific sites. It is also good for ELL because the tabs have pictures as well as words on the links.

Wikispaces:
This is similar to blogging, but you can choose different levels of blogging. The different levels of blogging depends on what it is going to be used for. Some different types that can be chosen are professional websites, education websites, and k-12 websites. All created websites are monitored through Wikispaces.

Edublogs:
This website is similar to Wikispaces. One of the only differences are the way it is organized. It uses picture navigation that appears to be more "friendly" to use.In the space, you can set up a linked blog in which all students can contribute and collaborate.

BitStrips:
Comic or character creator in which students can have a journal of their every day lives. This helps teachers see what is going on outside the classroom so teachers can help the students inside of the classroom.

Edmodo:
This is like facebook and blackboard combined. Students can view grades, vote, check when an assignment is due, get alerts from the teacher, ask questions and get answers, turn in assignments, and post pictures. This website is free. Teachers can create a classroom, add students, and have parents view if they would like. The website is completely secured and controlled by the teacher.

Story Jumper:
Students create website through the parents web address. As students create stories, they can add their own pictures, music, and words. The artwork is in a lot more detail than story bird. However, everything they do the parents know about through an email is sent to the parent after editing is done. Their story can as well be shared with family and friends or printed.

My favorite website is BitStrips. Some of the other story telling websites are very kid friendly, but the pictures are very limited. This means in some cases the stories may have to be changed to match the pictures.This website is very creative in letting the students have complete control over how the pictures look by being able to edit every aspect of the picture.  This website is very kid friendly and easy to use.