I enjoyed how this website was organized allowing for the varied tools to be compiled in an organized format under specific topics that you may want your students to do. I also liked having the brief description about what each tool does and then the rating that has been left by others.
In a way it surprised me as to how many different ways that Google applications can be used in the classroom to promote the students learning. I have used a number of Google applications myself but the way that this website describes the implementation of these applications. I am a fan of Google Maps but never thought about incorporating them into the classroom, I only think about them as being good for finding directions if you become lost. I have also never heard of or used Google Voice. It sounds as though it could be useful, although I am unsure on how exactly it works.
Two of my favorite tools I played around with from this website was Audacity and Mindomo. Mindomo is a relatively easy way for anyone to create concept maps and graphic organizers. This could become a very useful tool in the classroom, particularly for visual learners. I think I like the program inspiration better but Mindomo is a nice online generator for organizers and concept maps. While Mindomo is useful to help the visual learning, Audacity is a fun way to alter and create audio. I was able to play around with some aspects of the program and once you became familiar with the controls and settings it was relatively easy to alter. This could be used as a way to record student dialogues and add it to the back of a slide show or just to create a audio recording for a project.
Overall there were quite a few different tools that I could see myself incorporating into the classroom setting. In addition to the tools that would help promote student learning, there were also tools that I could use to help myself create fun games for the students study while also allowing an easy tool to create the simple quizzes and tests I could use throughout my instruction. Finally I liked how there were a number of different tools that could be used to create rubrics because I am a fan of using rubrics for students to know exactly what is expected of the every step of the way.
Thank you for the overview on the reviews. I looked at a lot of the sites but not really indepth. Just the ones that caught my eye. I am with you on the rubrics I think they are useful for students. I was just subbing in a science class that gave out rubrics for a project. It is great becuase of the expectations was very clear.
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