activitiescreation

=Activities Creation Tools=

//Note that many of these sites also include activities that you can use ‘as is’.//

Also see Quiz/Test tools.

Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Home (Learning Objects) Wisc-Online https://www.wisc-online.com/ “The site, a collaborative effort of the 16 colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), was designed to use a digital library of learning objects to improve learning for students at WTCS colleges -- it just so happened the rest of the world came along for the ride. About Learning Objects https://www.wisc-online.com/about-learning-objects

"Wisc-Online is a digital library of Web-based learning resources...[which] contains over 2,500 learning objects that are freely accessible to teachers and students at no cost and with copyright clearance for use in any classroom or online application."

Puzzlemaker http://www.puzzlemaker.com/ -- [|Puzzlemaker] is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students, and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword, and math puzzles using your word lists.

Internet Hunt Activities created by Cindy O'Hora http://homepage.mac.com/cohora/ext/internethunts.html

Mrs. O’s Puzzles and Projects http://homepage.mac.com/cohora/puzzles.html

TrackStar http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/index.jsp TrackStar is your starting point for online lessons and activities. Simply collect Web sites, enter them into TrackStar, add annotations for your students, and you have an interactive, online lesson called a Track. Create your own Track or use one of the hundreds of thousands already made by other educators. Search the database by subject, grade, or theme and standard for a quick and easy activity. There is a fun Track already made for each day of the year, too! This site is maintained by the HPR*TEC (High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium.)

Filamentality http://www.filamentality.com/wired/fil/guides.html http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/index.html “Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank interactive Web site that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet sites, and turning Web resources into learning activities. It helps combine the "filaments" of the Web with a learner's "mentality". Support is built-in through Mentality Tips that guide you along the way to creating a Web-based activity you can share with others even if you don't know anything about HTML, Web servers, or all that www-dot stuff.“ The types of tools are Treasure Hunt, Hotlist, Scrapbook, Subject Sampler, and WebQuest.

Examples of various tools - Six Paths to China: Six Strategies for Using the Web for Learning http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/

Example of a Treasure Hunt - Black History Past to Present: An Internet-Based Treasure Hunt on African Americans [|www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/hunt.html]

Example of a Hotlist - Web Page Hotlist: An Internet Hotlist for Starting a Web Page http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/liststartingma.html

Example of a Scrapbook - A Scrapbook on Weather Fun: Web resources for creating a Multimedia Scrapbook on Weather Fun http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/scrapweatherja.html

Example of a Subject Sampler: Math Concepts Sampler http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/sampopcomsamr.html

Example of a WebQuest: Career Exploration WebQuest http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/webcareere36.html

Quia [commercial site] The Quia (pronounced like the car, KIA) site contains a collection of activities appropriate for a wide range of age groups and topics. It also contains templates for creating 16 types of activities such as flashcards, word searches, cloze exercises, hangman games, jumbled words, and “rags to riches” (which is a quiz-show style trivia game similar to “I Want to be a Millionaire”.) You can also create online quizzes using eight types of questions. When you go to the ‘Learn More About Quia Web’ at http://www.quia.com/findout.html you will see that anyone may view the collection of activities, but if you want to develop one that will stay active for more than 30 days or if you want to track user’s work on your activity, you need to subscribe. (An individual subscription is $49 per year.) You can go to the Instructor Zone area of the Quia site and select the Subject Area (or Directory) The direct link is http://www.quia.com/dir/. Explore some of the activities that have already been made. Identify some that you may be able to use in your personal or professional life or that you find interesting, useful, or just plain fun. To create a 30-day free account, go to the Create an Account page from the Home page or at the direct link: http://www.quia.com/newuser.html?createForTrial=true Make a note of the date you sign up so you will know when your 30 day trial period expires!

Quandary [|http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php] “This is a Web site of Half-Baked Software, an independent company, set up with support of the University of Victoria and the UVic Innovation and Development Corporation. A Quandary is an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name Action Maze. Action mazes can be used for many purposes, including problem-solving, diagnosis, procedural training, and surveys/questionnaires.”

Adders [|www.adders.org/freeware/] “This site offers free games and educational programs such as puzzle makers, word games, counting games, and dinosaur facts. It also offers utilities such as data base, drawing program, address book; categories of wallpaper for a website or classroom presentation, and a greeting card maker."

Word Search Generator [|http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/wordsearch/wordsearch.htm]

Web 2.0 Teaching Tools http://web20teach.blogspot.com/ "This site lists Web 2.0 websites and webtools have potential for use college and university teaching."

Gameshow Prep (commercial product) http://www.learningwarek20.com/pages/prodServices/classroom/gsp3/?menu_request=1&menu_name=prodServices They say this is a “powerful software tool to create and play Hollywood-style game shows around any content.”

The Teacher’s Guide by Teacher Created Materials http://www.theteachersguide.com/

SchoolRooms http://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/schoolrooms-/ This is a “new K-12 online multimedia discovery place for South Carolina students, teachers, parents and librarians! SchoolRooms provides resources, built around school curriculum, to assist students with homework and school projects. Search your library’s catalog, educational websites, and selected DISCUS databases all at once.” It is open to any “resident of South Carolina or a student enrolled in a South Carolina school.” You must register for a free account.

Curriki http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome “Curriki is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them. Our name is a play on the combination of 'curriculum' and 'wiki' which is the technology we're using to make education universally accessible.”

FREE - Federal Resource for Educational Excellence http://free.ed.gov/ “FREE makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from the federal government. More than 1,500 federally supported teaching and learning resources are included from dozens of federal agencies. New sites are added regularly.”

One Place SC http://oneplacesc.org/web/guest/home This is “SCETV's Newest K-12 Education Web Portal! Teachers now can search all ETV resources, South Carolina Dept. of Education's Instructional TV (ITV) materials, and the State Library's DISCUS content with one user name and password!” It includes StreamlineSC and KnowItAll

Kerpoof []

Kerpoof (review) [] “KerPoof is a free online multimedia software that allows children to explore their creativity by drawing, making animated movies, writing and illustrating stories, producing pictures and cards and more. … The site also offers teacher resources and ideas for utilizing the multimedia software in the classroom, and is available to view in several languages.”

Kerpoof (review) []