9Slides is a wonderful site for adding narrations/video to a presentation. This is very easy to do, supports a wide variety of files (PPT, Keynote, etc), and works great on mobile devices. Also, a finished presentation can be embedded into a site or blog.
Photocat is a new fun site for editing photos. A person can edit photos, retouch images, and even make collages. Also, there is a iPhone app which makes editing nice and easy on the go.
Gooru Collections is a wonderful free iPad app for finding educational resources for Science and Math 5th-12th grade. This is done by searching through a variety of videos, games, quizzes, and more.
Lecture Spy is a wonderful site for educators to host and upload all types of files for students to use, such as: audio/video files, presentations, images, and more. Also, this is a nice secure site for discussing and viewing course work material.
SpellingCity is a wonderful site for teachers to help students strengthen their spelling and vocabulary skills. This is done by searching through or creating your own word lists that can then be imported into interactive learning games. Also, there is excellent free iOS app that interacts w/ users of the SC site.
Showbie is a wonderful site/iPad app that I found out about from Edshelf. This is an app that interacts w/ the Showbie site where teachers create classes and assignments. Once this is done students can then use the iPad app to share files and turn in assignments. Teachers can then evaluate student work using their Showbie iPad app as well.
FluencyFinder is a wonderful iOS app for assessing student reading levels. This is done through a very easy to user interface where teachers print out Reading passages Grades 1 - 8 and then have students read along while marking their mistakes on their mobile device. Best of all students are created on their mobile device and all student and data tracking is done automatically which then generates reports.
The Answer Pad is a great free iPad solution for assessing student data. This is done by registering and interacting w/ a free iPad app that allows teachers to create student accounts and answer sheets, and then assess student data.
Boom Writer is one of my favorite Web 2.0 site and is a very innovative way to integrate technology into a curriculum. This is done by having a class grades 3-8 create a digital story through an online competition in a safe environment. Students create chapters and then vote on which chapters should be included in the finished product. Once a book is completed it can then be published and a copy can be ordered. Right now BW offers a free class copy for new teachers that sign up. 
Online Audio Cutter is a handy little site I found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers. This site site allows users to edit/cut audio from YouTube and Sound Cloud clips by pasting in a URL.
Chegg is a great site for students to buy, rent, or sell textbooks. Also, it is a nice site that has a homework hub for helping students find help in textbooks.
Weavly is a new (beta) site for creating excellent looking mashup videos. This is done by uploading video, audio, or images and then mixing them together. The video editor is very easy to use via drag-n-drop and looks something not unlike iMovie HD.
Vivapitch is a free application-add on for Powerpoint and Android. Basically, it replaces the need for a presenter to give handouts as Vivapitch allows users to interact w/ their presentations on a mobile device. This is ideal for people giving presentations, keynote, or wants to engage their audience.
Jumbalees is a fantastic site for parents and kids to learn and read entertaining stories involving characters called, Jumbalees. These books are available as storybooks or on the Kindle, and there are even some free digital ebooks too. This site also allows people to learn more about the characters as well as play educational games/printables such as: connect the dots, word search, maze, etc.
Recycle Hero is a great Android/Google Play app that was formerly known as the iOS app Trash Chaos. This is one of my favorite games for my kids that teaches them about recycling in a fun and engaging way. There are lots of levels, characters, and worlds to play through. Other versions such as iPad, Nook, Kindle, etc will be here this friday.
Visualead is a cool site that I just found out about for creating visual QR codes. This is done by uploading an image, cropping what part of that image you want to turn into a QR code, add a link, and click generate. QR codes are fun to do w/ students for an engaging activity that can use a wide variety of mobile devices.
Miracle of Life is one of my favorite Health apps (English/Spainsh) for the iPad I've ever seen. This is a beautiful looking app that is educational and very informative about the human growth cycle. This app covers all 3 stages such as: fertilization, gestation, and growth, and is ideal for parents, Health teachers, and those looking to teach their children about "growing" up.
Skillshare is a site I first heard about on the news and is a great site for offering an online class to share knowledge or to take a class as well. This is done through a innovative online interface and offers a style of "hybrid" learning.
SendHub is an excellent free site or app for teachers to text parents/students for free. This is done by creating a unique SendHub # that can be used from any computer, cell phone, or iPhone app. It's ideal for sending notifications to groups or students/parents.
Silk is a fun site for creating digital art that I found out about from Larry Ferlazzo's excellent blog. All a user has to do is click and drag the mouse around the screen to create some cool looking designs. A person can change the color of their picture as well and no registration is needed. Once a picture is completed it can then be shared or emailed to others.
It's that time of year again to nominate your favorite people, sites, communities, etc in Education and Technology. What makes these awards nice is that people can only get eligible for these awards are being nominated and voted on by our peers.
Sandbox is a iOS browsing app that is ideal for an educational setting. The only way a site can be reached is by a teacher "whitelisting" a site in the browsers setting. This way no inappropriate sites can be reached and students can stay on task. Also, a Plist can be created to administered for a wide number of devices.
GrammarBase is a nice online tool for checking grammar, spelling, plagiarism, and more. All a user has to do is copy/paste text and then click check. Then for a fee GB will fix all the problems.
The Periodic Table of Comic Books is a site after my own heart. Being an avid comic book collector growing up in the 80's I had to check out this site recommended by Free Technology 4 Teachers. This is a great site for viewing elements that have been in comics. All a person has to do is click on an element to see a thumbnail of the comic, and then click the thumbnail to view the whole page of that comic. It's very interesting, fun, and nostaglic for those comic book fans.
Chegg is a great site for students looking buy, rent, or sell textbooks, among other things. Right now they are offering free online coupons those looking for a discount.
5 Dice is a free iOS app ideal for teaching order of operations in Math. This is a great app that is a lot fun and quite challenging at times. A person can use this app to practice their order of operation skills as well as use the handy white board to work out problems before answering the questions in the game. I really think this app can be a handy tool for teachers, parents, and students looking to learn or strengthen their skills in learning order of operations.
Story Builder is an interesting site to get people to create a story in a unique way. W/out having to register a person can start creating a story using a template, selecting music, and then adding text between characters. These finished stories can then be shared via a link or embedded into a site.
It's that time of year again where I get to write my favorite post. This year instead of doing just my top favorite sites I'm going to include Apps due to the shift in education to mobile learning and the "flipped classroom". While last years post included lots of educational networks, this year has lots of curation sites as well as writing/grammar sites. I I hope you enjoy this post as much as I had writing it.
Story Math is a interesting site for learning math through digital storytelling that I found out about from the innovative Kelly Tenkely. The way this works is by choosing 1 of 3 stories that students can interact w/ by reading and watching an animated video to solve problems. These problems focus on different math concepts such as geometry and algebra.
Edshelf the excellent resource sharing/collecting site for Ed Tech tools has just totally redesigned their web interface. It has a brand new polished look that is easy to navigate and users of Printerest will feel right at home. The home page has fantastic collections of popular resources based on category, as well as keeping their familiar looking lists such as: editors picks, recently added, and recently reviewed.
I've posted about Meograph before and excellent site for four-dimensional storytelling. They've now created a portal for the education sector designed for using in schools.
Three Little Pigs is wonderful interactive digital story ($1.99 iOS/Android app) by Kids Academy, a great developer of mobile apps. This app has 3 different modes: Autoplay, Listen & Play, and Read Myself. Once the story starts a person can interact w/ the characters and objects by the screen by touching them or by tilting your mobile device (iPhone/iPad). Also, a person can blow into the microphone to mimic the Big Bad Wolf as he blows on the houses.
ReviewForDev is a site I've known about for awhile but decided to do a post after receiving an email on it. This is a fantastic site that any iOS App developer should know about. This is a great place for developers to get their app reviewed before or after it's release in a unbiased way. Also, this is a ideal place for promoting special give-away contests, etc. Finally, this is a great place for people to review/test apps before they are released and even get paid for their reviews.
SpellingCity is a fantastic site for all Spelling & Vocabulary means. This is done by finding or creating your own word lists (that can be imported) and then integrating them into educational games. This is an absolute great resource for teachers that also offers a free iOS app.
theLearnia is a new (beta) site for educational videos. This is done through a social network aspect that allows teachers to upload videos into "lessons" and then share w/ students. Users can then discuss via public/private messaging about the video. This is an ideal site for online learning.
EdShelf is a site I blog about quite often and one of my favorite new sites of the year. This is a great place for users to curate the web into lists as well as: rate, find, and organize new sites/apps. Edshelf is very user friendly, offers in depth reviews, as well as provide videos and links for Ed Tech products.
SurveyFace is a nice online site I found out about from one of my readers for creating surveys. There are lots of great features for users to like such as: templates, reporting, real-time results, and more. Best of all this SF is free!!
SendHub is a site I've covered before that is ideal for creating another line for your phone for free. This is great for education as it allows teachers to send texts to groups of students, parents, etc for free from any online device.
Problem-Attic is a site I just found out about through an email which is ideal for finding thousands of test questions that a educator can customize to meet their needs.
Colingo is a new (beta) site for learning English. This is done in a fun environment through the use of video. Also, these videos are hosted on YouTube and online classes are are offered all day by native English speakers.
Penpal News is a great free site for MS/HS students for engaging in online dialogues on real-world issues.
InSkilled is a innovative site that engages learns by allowing them to collect, share, and learn online content. This is done in a unique way where users collect information such as websites or videos and curate them into online lessons. These lessons can then be shared w/ others. Another great feature is the ability track and see how much time you've spent on a lesson as well as other detailed information.
