Class Blogmeister http://classblogmeister.com/
Blurb http://www.blurb.com/
Community Walk http://www.communitywalk.com/
Create and publish community, historical, and personal maps to your weblog, website or wiki.
Google Feed Burner http://www.feedburner.com/
FuzzMail http://www.fuzzmail.org/
Records your dynamic writing and allows you to send it in an email. Changes such as typoes and writeovers are captured and communicated. A more expressive alternative to email.
Geni http://www.geni.com/
Build your online family tree. Unlimited free image uploads, collaborate with others, merge family trees.
Google Docs http://docs.google.com/
Google Maps http://maps.google.com/
LetterPop http://letterpop.com/
MyHeritage http://www.myheritage.com/
QuestionForm http://questionform.com/
Survey creator.
LuLu http://www.lulu.com/
Create and publish your own eBooks.
Plotbot http://www.plotbot.com/
Plotbot has a ‘robot’ iconic character that motivates your students to write a screenplay. The character isn’t all that cute, but the free, collaborative, web-based writing tool is very impressive! The demo alone was pretty cool. Here’s how it works:
You can try the demo without signing in, you can create an account (you are just giving them your email address) or you can sign in via Facebook and give them complete access to your friends on Facebook (I did NOT feel comfortable doing this).
A series of textboxes appear with dialogue to prompt, assist and inspire you to write. It really is fun too. The software tells you where to add dialogue, plot, stage directions, ect… So even if you have no background knowledge about how to write a screenplay, this software walks you through it and is very inspiring. When you can’t think of a word you, the web is right there at your fingertips.
Once you begin a project, the tool automatically thinks you are sharing with the public. You just have to check a ‘privacy’ box to change this, yet you can still share with your friends later. It is kind of like Google docs in the way you do that (you’ll be given a web link to your screenplay).
The Plotbot site keeps track of your edits, other people’s edits, who made them (if you do collaborate online) and when. You can always go back to your original draft if someone changes something and you don’t like it. (Kind of like a wiki in this instance)
Clicking on any element reopens it for you to delete, edit, ect. Just click to edit and write. Also, you can do this in fifteen other languages besides English – pretty cool for ELL students to write in their native tongue!! This tool underlines words you spell incorrectly, which is very nice!
The best part about this tool: it instructs you and guides you through the writing process, particularly ‘rewriting’!!!! It expects you to do it! Actual robot dialogue appears explaining why you need to! How awesome!
How I might use this tool with students: I might group ELL students whose primary language is the same, but who are in separate classes, together using this collaborative writing tool. They could write in their native language and then translate it into English when finished.
I might have my students collaborate to write a new ending for a play, a book, or even a short story we have read. Or I could take an older play, like one of Shakespeare’s and have the kids create a modern version. I could assign a different setting (time and place) for each small group of students. (Like ‘West Side Story’ is ‘Romeo and Juliet’)
I could see this tool as a fun starter – allow the kids to write creatively – then show them how to punctuate dialogue. So the kids would take the screenplay they wrote and transcribe it into a short story, adding punctuated dialogue and transitions to show change in time and place.
This tool allows for free-flowing creativity. The web tool does the structural work, keeping it organized. I think the students would have fun, have less anxiety about writing, and could collaborate without feeling like they are ‘grading’ or even ‘peer editing’ someone’s paper.
Scrapblog http://www.scrapblog.com/
Sketchcast http://sketchcast.com/
Draw, write, doodle, compute: Sketchcast allows you to record your voice while drawing/writing on a whiteboard. Great for creating tutorial videos, explaining a process, and more. Embed on your blog, website, wiki or direct viewers to your Sketchcast channel.
Toondoo http://www.toondoo.com/
Tumblr http://www.tumblr.com/
Email publishing to your blog. Share anything you find or create, even on your iPhone, and post it directly to your blog, photos, quotes, links, dialogues, audio, video, and more. Allows others to join in and post to your blog as well, making this tool mobile and collaborative.
Voicethread http://voicethread.com/
Writeboard http://writeboard.com/
Google Sites http://sites.google.com/
Edmodo http://www.edmodo.com/
http://sync.in/
Type and share in real time.
Click Create a new public note to use the free version of this tool. Sync.in allows writers to make changes that are instantly reflected on everyone's screen, each writer's words highlighted in a unique color. Collaborate on text documents and chat on screen simultaneously. Export documents as HTML or text.
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