This page contains various online tools that I believe will be useful when teaching a course, both in a traditional classroom and online. 

Grade Level: Secondary

Subject: Math

1. Category: Collaboration
2. Name: Slack
3. Link: https://slack.com
4. Reason: Slack is a great way to communicate with others during a project. To use Slack, you sign up as a “team”; Slack will then monitor and aggregate all communications between team members. Slack supports open and private communications, as well as document sharing. A great feature of Slack is that it integrates into other communications programs, such as Gmail and Twitter. Using Slack will help students keep track of their communication when working on a project, and will make it much easier for them to find an older conversation or message if it is needed later.

1. Category: Graphic Organizer
2. Name: Graphic Organizer for Geometry Proofs
3. Link: http://pvhs.fms.k12.nm.us/teachers/jlong/07772D9F-00757F35.9/Graphic%20Organizer%20-%20Proofs.pdf
4. Reason: This graphic organizer would be very beneficial to students writing proofs in a high school geometry class. The logical statements are organized according to their use, and although the organizer is already filled in, the students would still have to know how to apply the information, and which steps they need to take to solve a problem. This graphic organizer, while very helpful, does not write the proof for the students. It merely helps them with remember what it means when angles are corresponding, for example. It is up to the students to write the proof. Eventually, I might create a blank version of this graphic organizer, and give it to my students to fill out as they wish.

1. Category: Online Presentation
2. Name: Google Slides
3. Link: www.google.com/slides
4. Reason: Google provides some wonderful pieces of online software, and Google Slides is no exception. It has all of the features that I would like my students to be able to access. It is free, easy to use, and allows for real-time and remote collaboration.

1. Category: Blog or Wiki
2. Name: edublogs
3. Link: http://edublogs.org
4. Reason: Edublogs is a free blogging website that is designed for both educators and students. It allows for users to post text, images, and links, and is relatively simple to use. The blog has some major limitations in the free version, but that is actually partially why I would use it. I do not want my students to spend extraneous time on the look of their blog, when they should be spending time on the content. There are not many options regarding the appearance of edublogs, which is exactly what I want. Additionally, using edublogs will help my students become aware of file paths, both on their own local computer and online.

1. Category: Video Creation
2. Name: Stupeflix
3. Link: https://studio.stupeflix.com/en/
4. Reason: Stupeflix is an free online video creator, which is simple and fast to use. Students can create videos by uploading images, video clips, and text., or by finding different types of media online. There are several transitions and themes that can be selected to streamline the creation process. Additionally, students can add a soundtrack by uploading audio or by using the built-in audio library. Stupeflix is incredibly simple, and produces an attractive video, which can be downloaded and shared after completion. If my students need to make a video, this would be my first choice to do it.

1. Category: Instructional/Educational Videos
2. Name: Khan Academy
3. Link: https://www.khanacademy.org
4. Reason: Khan Academy has great videos and online lessons about seemingly every topic, including mathematics. I would be doing a great disservice to my students if I did not include these videos as part of an online course. Additionally, the videos and lessons are groups by topic in a logical, useful sequence, and often include a quiz for students to test their own understanding of the content material. Khan Academy is fantastic, and it would be foolish not to utilize it.

1. Category: Social Bookmarking
2. Name: Diigo
3. Link: https://www.diigo.com
4. Reason: Diigo is a free, easy to use online annotation service that is a great way to bookmark websites and to organize them as desired for easier recall later. Diigo allows for a user to tag websites as they are book marked, and they can search for websites by these tabs at a later date, which is incredibly useful if a large number of sites have been used. Additionally, it is very simple for a user to share their Diigo, either in its entirety or just specific tags, with other individuals. Diigo works great for social bookmarking, so I would greatly encourage my students to use it.

1. Category: Word Processing
2. Name: Google Docs
3. Link: https://apps.google.com/products/docs/
4. Reason: Much like Google Slides, Google Docs offers the same real time and remote collaboration, but in the context of a word processor. It can be used to create documents that are attractive and correct, with features such as a large font library and built-in spell check. Additionally, being able to utilize cloud storage for a document is a great help, because it frees the user from having to carry their device with them to ensure access.

1. Category: Screencasting
2. Name: ScreenCastle
3. Link: http://screencastle.com
4. Reason: Screencasts are becoming an increasingly common form of online video, in particular for tutorials. ScreenCastle is a way to quickly record the screen from within a web browser. You simply go to the website, click record, make the screencast, click stop, then copy and paste the newly created links at the bottom of the page. If my students need to make and share a screencast, this is perhaps the simplest way to do it.

1. Category: Sound Resources
2. Name: SoundBible
3. Link: http://soundbible.com
4. Reason: SoundBible provides a wide variety of sounds, all for free use, in both .mp3 and .wav formats. The sounds are mostly sound effects, which can be selected, downloaded, and inserted in any multimedia project, such as presentation or video. SoundBible is a great place to easily find high quality sound clips that can greatly enhance a student’s work. While there are other website that offer the same or similar services, I have found that SoundBible is the most reliable in terms of quality and availability.

1. Category: Graphic Resources
2. Name: iStock
3. Link: http://www.istockphoto.com
4. Reason: iStock contains an incredibly large amount of images, both photographs and illustrations, that can be found and used free of charge. It is possible to search for any type of image or to decide on subtypes, such as photos, when trying to find an image for a project. Additionally, some video and audio is provided, which can help to streamline the creation process even more. Why I suspect that most of my future students will immediately use Google to search for graphics, I will encourage them to use iStock, since it can be more easily organized.

1. Category: Website Creation
2. Name: Wix
3. Link: http://www.wix.com
4. Reason: Wix is an easy to use, free website creator. It has numerous templates, which can be highly modified. Wix supports all of the standard type of media, and can allow for the rapid creation of a sleek, professional looking website. I would suggest that my students use Wix if they are looking to create a website that is more than a blog.

1. Category: Graphic Editing
2. Name: Pixlr
3. Link: https://pixlr.com/editor/
4. Reason: Pixlr is a free, online image editor, than can be used to perform the same functions as programs such as Paint, Gimp, and Photoshop. Since it can be used in a web browser, it can be used with lower power computers such as netbooks. This can be very beneficial to students who do not have access to a powerful computer. Also, since the edited images can be stored online, it is possible to resume working on a image from a different location and computer than was first done. This will help my students to take advantage of some of the benefits offered by cloud computing.

1. Category: Online Whiteboard
2. Name: Web Whiteboard
3. Link: http://www.webwhiteboard.com/
4. Reason: Web Whiteboard is a way to quickly create, share, and save an online whiteboard. The board updates in real time on all of the computers that are accessing. I would use this web tool when explaining content to a student or entire class, assuming that this feature is not built in to the CMS that I would be using. One of the biggest benefits of Web Whiteboard is that the boards can be saved and reopened later. This is tremendously beneficial, in that it allows for previous lessons and discussions to be quickly revisited in their original form, which is something that is nearly impossible to do on a physical whiteboard.

1. Category: Video Conferencing
2. Name: GoToMeeting
3. Link: https://www.gotomeeting.com
4. Reason: GoToMeeting is a way to attend videoconferences by using a web browser based application, as opposed to a program such as Skype. It works by setting up a room, then sharing the access link with other people. This would be a great way for students to collaborate in small groups in real time with a video component, which can be incredibly useful when working on a project with visual elements. Additionally, it can be a more personal form of communication between an educator and students, since they will be able to see each other. While the free version has some limitations, I would still suggest to my students that if they need to videoconference and cannot use Skype, then that GoToMeeting should be their second choice.

1. Category: WebQuests
2. Name: Zunal
3. Link: http://zunal.com
4. Reason: Zunal is a great website to both create and view previously created webquests. It is simple to use, and can be used as a way for the educator to make learning more interactive, as well as a form of assessment if the students create the webquest. I would prefer to have my students create the webquests as a summative project, so that I can better see that they understand the material, not just that they can regurgitate information from links that I would provide.

1. Category: Virtual Field Trips
2. Name: Discovery Education
3. Link: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/Events/virtual-field-trips/explore/index.cfm
4. Reason: Discovery Education provides a wide variety of virtual field trips, which can all be accessed for free. The field trips are done as videos, and can be watched live or later as archived video. If a trip is watched live it is possible to participate by asking questions through a chat window next to the videos. I would use these virtual field trips to help show my students what is possible with the math that they are learning about. For example, I would virtually take my students to a field trip about spaceflight when discussing topics such as quadratic equations.

1. Category: Online Game
2. Name: Hoodamath
3. Link: http://www.hoodamath.com
4. Reason: Hoodamath has a variety of free online game for all grade levels, for just about every expected topic in a mathematics course. For example, there are games that cover everything from transformations to putting equations into slope-intercept form. I would use these games as both an initial anticipatory set and as a form of review. The games are fun, and they will greatly help to ensure that my students remain interested and engaged in the learning at hand.