Richard Byrne
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/12/15-tools-for-teaching-history-with.html#.WGaHvFWLRdg
Timeline tools:
The timeline is a staple in a social studies teacher’s toolkit. These tools allow your students to create multimedia timelines to share with you and their classmates.
Timeline JS (http://timeline.knightlab.com/) is an open source timeline creation tool. Timeline JS supports inclusion of image and videos in the events on the timelines that you create. To create a timeline through Timeline JS you first create a Google Spreadsheet with the template provided by Timeline JS. After creating the spreadsheet you publish it to the web and insert its URL into the Timeline JS generator. The last step is grabbing the embed code from Timeline JS and embedding your timeline into your blog or website. Watch the video here to learn more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAWbm4gF9lU
Read Write Think (http://readwritethink.org/) offers a bunch of great web, iOS, and Android applications for students. Their timeline creation tool (http://bitly.com/1ym46nY) is a good one for elementary school and middle school use. RWT Timeline is available as a web app (Flash required), as an Android app, and as an iPad app. All three versions make it easy for students to create a timeline for a series of events. In the following video I demonstrate how to use the web version of the RWT Timeline creation tool. https://youtu.be/56VASSQ_F2c
HSTRY (http://www.hstry.co/) is a multimedia timeline creation tool that will work on your laptop, Chromebook, iPad, or tablet. With a HSTRY account you can build timelines in a vertical scroll format similar to that of a Facebook feed. To start the process pick a topic and upload a cover photo. To add events to the timeline just click the "+" symbol and select the type of media that you want to add to your timeline. You can add videos, images, audio, and text to the events on your timeline. There are two features of HSTRY that make it stand-out from the crowd. First, as a teacher you can create an online classroom in which you can view all of your students' timelines. Second, as a teacher you can build questions into timelines that you share with your students. You can even build-in explanations of the answers to your questions.
Mapping Tools:MapStory (http://mapstory.org/) is a free tool for creating mapped displays of data sets. Data sets that are time based, the travels of Genghis Khan for example, can be set to play out in a timeline style on your map. Creating a MapStory might look complicated at first glance, but it's actually quite easy to create a map. To get started select a data set or sets that you want to display on your map. You can choose data sets from the MapStory gallery or upload your own. After choosing your data set(s) select a base map. After that you can customize the look of the data points on your map and or manually add more data points to your map. The notes option in MapStory lets you create individual events to add to your map and timeline. Lines and polygons can also be added to your projects through the notes feature in MapStory.
Scribble Maps (http://scribblemaps.com/) is a fun and useful application for drawing and typing on top of digital maps without having to create any kind of online account. You can zoom in on an area and then type text, draw a circle or a box around an area, you can even doodle stick figures or whatever you like on your map. Maps created by using Scribble Maps can be shared via email or embedded into your website. Scribble Maps Pro (an upgrade that requires a payment) allows you to import KML files, import spreadsheets, and import SHP (shape) files. Importing KML files allows you to add free-hand drawings on top of files that you may have already created for Google Maps or Google Earth. Importing spreadsheets makes it easy to quickly add placemarks to a large number of places.
Google Maps/ My Maps / Google Earth - Google Maps is great for finding and virtual exploring places especially when you switch into Street View. That said, you can learn even more about a location and the world as a whole if you explore the layers of information in Google Earth. Unfortunately, the full value of Google Earth can only be found when it is used on a Windows or Mac desktop. My Maps is Google’s online tool for creating multiple layer maps in your web browser. Google Earth Tour Builder is a tool for creating a story in Google Earth. And Google Earth itself allows you to create your own narrated tours of a location. You can learn how to use all three of those tools in this playlist of videos http://bit.ly/1VtDk9b
Research Tools - Going Beyond Standard Google Searches:
Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) is a research tool that is often overlooked by students. Google Scholar provides students with access to court opinions, patents, and peer-reviewed scholarly works. See the features of Google Scholar in my following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kQXABU73hI
Choosito (https://www.choosito.com/) is a search engine that offers a reading level index for its search results. When you search on Choosito you can select to refine results to reading levels marked as Early Readers, Emerging Readers, Fluent Readers, or Advanced Readers. In addition to reading level refinement Choosito offers an option to sort results by subject area. Choosito's basic search tools including the reading level and subject area filters are available to use for free. Choosito also offers a premium service that lets teachers create collections of resources, manage student accounts, and track students' search habits.
RefMe (http://refme.com/) is currently my favorite tool for creating bibliographies outside of the Google Docs environment. RefMe offers browser extensions, a free Android, and a free iPad app for saving resources and generating bibliographies from your collection of resources. With RefMe students can add resources to their bibliographies by scanning barcodes, entering ISBNs, or clipping web pages, and by manually entering resource information. The following video provides an overview of RefMe’s features https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekr7AaNVyn8
Remind students that Google is not the only search engine. Your school and or local library probably pays for access to a number of academic search engines that will lead students to resources that they would not otherwise find. For an overview of my favorite search strategies to share with students, take a look at this handout http://bit.ly/1PharvH
Video Tools:
Like a lot of other social studies teachers, I love videos. I often joke that I became a social studies teacher so that I could run the filmstrip. (If you don’t get the filmstrip reference, ask someone born before 1980). Here are some tools for creating and sharing videos.
WeVideo (http://wevideo.com/) offers the most features of any of the tools in this list. It is an online video creation tool that I have written about many times over the last few years. WeVideo offers templates that new users can follow to create their first videos. Advanced WeVideo users can skip the templates, use the full editor, and apply themes to their videos by choosing them from the themes menu in the editor. In the video editor you can upload your own media clips or use stock media clips to produce your video. WeVideo's Google Drive app allows you to save all of your video projects in your Google Drive account. WeVideo also offers an Android app and an iPhone app that students can use to capture images and video footage to add to their projects.
Stupeflix (https://studio.stupeflix.com/) allows you to create audio slideshow videos up to twenty minutes in length. You do not need to register in order to create a video on Stupeflix. You can and should register if you want to be able to go back and edit your video after it has been published. To create a video on Stupeflix start by choosing a theme for your video then uploading pictures from your computer. If you don't have any pictures on your computer you can importing some from your Flickr, Facebook, or Instagram account. Once your pictures are uploaded or imported you can drag and drop them into the sequence in which you want them to appear. You can layer text on each image. To add sound to your video you can select a soundtrack for the entire video or layer sound on each image individually. Stupeflix provides a nice gallery of free soundtracks that you can use or you can import your own audio tracks. When you're ready to see your finished product, click the preview button before publishing your video.
YouTube’s video editor lets you create an interactive series of videos by adding annotations to the videos that you own. Adding annotations to videos allows you to create an interactive series of videos. In the following video I demonstrate how to create an interactive series through the use of YouTube annotations. https://youtu.be/kdxFmmX-Zz4
Watchkin (https://watchkin.com/) is a free service that allows you to watch and project YouTube videos without seeing the related sidebar content typically seen on YouTube.com. Watchkin can be used in a few ways. You can enter the direct URL of a video into Watchkin to have the sidebar content removed. You can search for videos through Watchkin and have family-friendly results displayed (if a video appears that is not family-friendly Watchkin has a mechanism for flagging it as inappropriate). Watchkin also offers a browser bookmarklet tool that you can click while on YouTube.com to have the related content disappear from the page. In the video linked at the end I demonstrate how Watchkin works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihqsY2-W4Dk
VideoNot.es (http://videonot.es/) is a great tool to connect to your Google Drive account. With VideoNot.es you can take notes on one side of your screen while watching a video on the other side. Your notes are automatically synchronized with the timestamps in the video. You can share your notes just like you share any other file within Google Drive. In the following video I demonstrate how VideoNot.es works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ8hSs0ZE1g
EDPuzzle (http://edpuzzle.com/) is a neat tool that allows you to add your voice and text questions to educational videos. On EDpuzzle you can search for educational videos and or upload your own videos to use as the basis of your lesson. EDpuzzle has an online classroom component that you can use to assign videos to students and track their progress through your video lessons. Earlier this year EDPuzzle added a Google Classroom integration option. This option lets you send lessons from your EDPuzzle account to your Google Classroom classes.
Mapping Tools:MapStory (http://mapstory.org/) is a free tool for creating mapped displays of data sets. Data sets that are time based, the travels of Genghis Khan for example, can be set to play out in a timeline style on your map. Creating a MapStory might look complicated at first glance, but it's actually quite easy to create a map. To get started select a data set or sets that you want to display on your map. You can choose data sets from the MapStory gallery or upload your own. After choosing your data set(s) select a base map. After that you can customize the look of the data points on your map and or manually add more data points to your map. The notes option in MapStory lets you create individual events to add to your map and timeline. Lines and polygons can also be added to your projects through the notes feature in MapStory.
Scribble Maps (http://scribblemaps.com/) is a fun and useful application for drawing and typing on top of digital maps without having to create any kind of online account. You can zoom in on an area and then type text, draw a circle or a box around an area, you can even doodle stick figures or whatever you like on your map. Maps created by using Scribble Maps can be shared via email or embedded into your website. Scribble Maps Pro (an upgrade that requires a payment) allows you to import KML files, import spreadsheets, and import SHP (shape) files. Importing KML files allows you to add free-hand drawings on top of files that you may have already created for Google Maps or Google Earth. Importing spreadsheets makes it easy to quickly add placemarks to a large number of places.
Google Maps/ My Maps / Google Earth - Google Maps is great for finding and virtual exploring places especially when you switch into Street View. That said, you can learn even more about a location and the world as a whole if you explore the layers of information in Google Earth. Unfortunately, the full value of Google Earth can only be found when it is used on a Windows or Mac desktop. My Maps is Google’s online tool for creating multiple layer maps in your web browser. Google Earth Tour Builder is a tool for creating a story in Google Earth. And Google Earth itself allows you to create your own narrated tours of a location. You can learn how to use all three of those tools in this playlist of videos http://bit.ly/1VtDk9b
Research Tools - Going Beyond Standard Google Searches:
Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) is a research tool that is often overlooked by students. Google Scholar provides students with access to court opinions, patents, and peer-reviewed scholarly works. See the features of Google Scholar in my following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kQXABU73hI
Choosito (https://www.choosito.com/) is a search engine that offers a reading level index for its search results. When you search on Choosito you can select to refine results to reading levels marked as Early Readers, Emerging Readers, Fluent Readers, or Advanced Readers. In addition to reading level refinement Choosito offers an option to sort results by subject area. Choosito's basic search tools including the reading level and subject area filters are available to use for free. Choosito also offers a premium service that lets teachers create collections of resources, manage student accounts, and track students' search habits.
RefMe (http://refme.com/) is currently my favorite tool for creating bibliographies outside of the Google Docs environment. RefMe offers browser extensions, a free Android, and a free iPad app for saving resources and generating bibliographies from your collection of resources. With RefMe students can add resources to their bibliographies by scanning barcodes, entering ISBNs, or clipping web pages, and by manually entering resource information. The following video provides an overview of RefMe’s features https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekr7AaNVyn8
Remind students that Google is not the only search engine. Your school and or local library probably pays for access to a number of academic search engines that will lead students to resources that they would not otherwise find. For an overview of my favorite search strategies to share with students, take a look at this handout http://bit.ly/1PharvH
Video Tools:
Like a lot of other social studies teachers, I love videos. I often joke that I became a social studies teacher so that I could run the filmstrip. (If you don’t get the filmstrip reference, ask someone born before 1980). Here are some tools for creating and sharing videos.
WeVideo (http://wevideo.com/) offers the most features of any of the tools in this list. It is an online video creation tool that I have written about many times over the last few years. WeVideo offers templates that new users can follow to create their first videos. Advanced WeVideo users can skip the templates, use the full editor, and apply themes to their videos by choosing them from the themes menu in the editor. In the video editor you can upload your own media clips or use stock media clips to produce your video. WeVideo's Google Drive app allows you to save all of your video projects in your Google Drive account. WeVideo also offers an Android app and an iPhone app that students can use to capture images and video footage to add to their projects.
Stupeflix (https://studio.stupeflix.com/) allows you to create audio slideshow videos up to twenty minutes in length. You do not need to register in order to create a video on Stupeflix. You can and should register if you want to be able to go back and edit your video after it has been published. To create a video on Stupeflix start by choosing a theme for your video then uploading pictures from your computer. If you don't have any pictures on your computer you can importing some from your Flickr, Facebook, or Instagram account. Once your pictures are uploaded or imported you can drag and drop them into the sequence in which you want them to appear. You can layer text on each image. To add sound to your video you can select a soundtrack for the entire video or layer sound on each image individually. Stupeflix provides a nice gallery of free soundtracks that you can use or you can import your own audio tracks. When you're ready to see your finished product, click the preview button before publishing your video.
YouTube’s video editor lets you create an interactive series of videos by adding annotations to the videos that you own. Adding annotations to videos allows you to create an interactive series of videos. In the following video I demonstrate how to create an interactive series through the use of YouTube annotations. https://youtu.be/kdxFmmX-Zz4
Watchkin (https://watchkin.com/) is a free service that allows you to watch and project YouTube videos without seeing the related sidebar content typically seen on YouTube.com. Watchkin can be used in a few ways. You can enter the direct URL of a video into Watchkin to have the sidebar content removed. You can search for videos through Watchkin and have family-friendly results displayed (if a video appears that is not family-friendly Watchkin has a mechanism for flagging it as inappropriate). Watchkin also offers a browser bookmarklet tool that you can click while on YouTube.com to have the related content disappear from the page. In the video linked at the end I demonstrate how Watchkin works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihqsY2-W4Dk
VideoNot.es (http://videonot.es/) is a great tool to connect to your Google Drive account. With VideoNot.es you can take notes on one side of your screen while watching a video on the other side. Your notes are automatically synchronized with the timestamps in the video. You can share your notes just like you share any other file within Google Drive. In the following video I demonstrate how VideoNot.es works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ8hSs0ZE1g
EDPuzzle (http://edpuzzle.com/) is a neat tool that allows you to add your voice and text questions to educational videos. On EDpuzzle you can search for educational videos and or upload your own videos to use as the basis of your lesson. EDpuzzle has an online classroom component that you can use to assign videos to students and track their progress through your video lessons. Earlier this year EDPuzzle added a Google Classroom integration option. This option lets you send lessons from your EDPuzzle account to your Google Classroom classes.
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