Top Ten Web-Based Tools

My friend Barbara Blackburn is working on another book. This one is for principals. Barbara asked me for a list of my “Top Ten Web-Based Tools.” As it turns out, I composed a post on this blog for most them, so here is my list. I have added clickable links to the ones which will take you to posts where I have discussed them.

1. Blogs—These are my windows to the world. I maintain a personal blog to communicate about my passion time management and organization, another to communicate with employees within the school system, and a third to communicate with the community and rest of the world. I use Blogger (www.blogger.com). For those in education, Edublogs (www.edublogs.com) is an outstanding free source.
2. RSS (Really Simple Syndication)—Time does not permit me to check each of the blogs I like to follow. A free program called “intraVnews” (www.intravnews.com) sends the posts straight to my Outlook Inbox.
3. iGoogle (www.google.com/ig) —I think of it as the "dashboard" I see every time I boot my computer at the office, at home, or on my laptop. I like being able to access my most common bookmarks and other tools from any computer in the world.
4. Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/) —Being able to save "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" has always been a great feature of a web browser. Being able to see my "Bookmarks" from any computer and share Bookmarkers with those who share my interests takes the concept to a whole new level.
5. GoogleDocs (http://docs.google.com)—This tool gives me a "parking place" on the web for documents I want others to view and for documents I want others to be able to edit.
6. Jott (http://jott.com)—With one touch of a speed-dial key a can speak a 30-second message which will be transformed into an e-mail message for the recipient.
7. TeacherTube (www.teachertube.com)—Now, the presentations we create for our own purposes can be seen be everyone.
8. PhotoBucket (http://photobucket.com) —Instead of posting a large number of individual photos to our blogs, we can now produce a slideshow in a very small space.
9. Animoto (www.animoto.com)—This ridiculously easy tool takes a collection of pictures and turns them into a flashy presentation.
10. Podcasting—This tool basically lets you create your own radio program which can be uploaded to a blog or website. Getting really good with this tool is an upcoming project for me. “Audacity” (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) is a free program which provides a great beginning for anyone interested in podcasting.