According to AASL, the 2012 Best Websites are…
Jun 28th, 2012 by Cathy Jo Nelson
So Saturday morning at 8:00 AM, my AASL committee culminated its year of work with the announcement of the 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. I have friends tell me all the time they are so tired of conference sessions focused on lists of sites or apps, but I hate to admit I genuinely like them! Each time I attend them I always find new sites or apps that will meet my needs better, or have direct application to something I can use with kids. I guess I’m a sucker for the new, innovative, different, or fun, because I am always looking!! So it was a true pleasure to work on this committee, explore different sites, and offer up my opinions.
The “Top 25″ Websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.
- Media Sharing
- Digital Storytelling
- Manage & Organize
- Social Networking & Communication
- Content Resources
- Curriculum Collaboration
Here is the “Projeqt” we used to lead the session and introduce the winners, created by Chair Heather Moorefueld-Lang. Projeqt is one of this year’s winners by the way!!
This year’s session was special because it was promoted more, given a larger room, and our committee’s selected sites made AASL reach 100 named sites considered “best.” Our attack was to have a recorded interview with at least one winner from each category to play in the session, interviewed with video (Skype, Jing, other). The committee attending divided up the sites to provide insights in the session. I had four to talk about! To help make it even more special, our committee chair April Moorefield-Lang rounded up party favors, noise makers, confetti, and more so that at the naming of the 100th site, we could really celebrate. I recorded a bit of that here:
Our session was well received, and Twitter was just a flying during the session with the release of each winner. It was definitely fun, and I look forward to participating next year. So, you want to get a jump start and nominate sites for consideration now? Click here.
Great list! I have bookmarked it and plan to use it once school begins. Thank you for sharing!
One of my favorite sites is JogNog. My students use this site in my classroom. I was so impressed that I shared it through social media platforms. Now, I have the opportunity to work with them part-time after school in the area of social media promotions.
This site is an online learning experience where students answer questions on all subject areas. As they answer questions, they build a virtual city. http://www.jognog.com.
This site also saves time for teachers. JogNog Quick Quiz allows you to create an online quiz in literally 60 seconds or less. This video will show you how. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_60PKEZRsI. FYI, JogNog Quick Quiz is free!
Cara
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