Students, Ownership, & Creativity: 35 Resources

Part of the Cool Sites series

My students love creating! They are young learners, but when I worked with high school students they also loved hands-on, creative projects. I include as many as possible, because these presentations show me what my students are passionate about. I’m always wowed by them. Presentations and projects also help the teacher assess their students better than any bubble test could!
With digital technologies, Internet tools, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), educators have easy and quick ways to add presentations as part of the curriculum. These tools motivate students to learn, share, and develop presentation and collaboration skills needed in their future careers. Teaching them how to do this now means we are preparing them for their future effectively! Rarely will a student have to fill out a bubble test for their careers, but trust me many will have to prepare presentations, brainstorm ideas, be creative, and collaborate on teams through ICTs.

Top Sites to Get Students to Create

These are my favorites tools you can use to get your students presenting! Included is a brief description and helpful links to facilitate using these tools more effectively in the classroom. I have also included the links to the free educator accounts for each of these sites.

Prezi-the alternative to PowerPoint. Create non-linear presentations with images, text, video, and cool transitions.
- Prezi as a Presentation Tool wiki– Lists several tips, resources, and examples. You will also find useful information in integrating Twitter and other tools with Prezi.
- Prezi templates
- Work together in real time with Prezi Meeting post with great ideas!
Google Tools for Educators– Students collaborate in real time to create slideshows, drawings, documents, and more that are on the web and can easily be embedded. Google has numerous free apps that make collaboration and creation easy!
- Google Tools Tutorials by Free Tech 4 Teachers
VoiceThread– Integrate slides, drawings, videos, and images. People can leave comments in a variety of formats. See these resources for examples.
- Technology 4 Kids Wiki featuring Voicethread
- 24 Ways to Use VoiceThread in the Classroom
- Voicethread 4 Education wiki– Find schools to partner with for your Voicethread projects.
Glogster– An interactive and multimedia poster.
- Technology 4 Kids Wiki featuring Glogster
- Glogster and Gloster.edu as an Alternative to PowerPoint
- Glogster wiki– lists resources, video tutorials, examples, and more
Zoho Shows– Similar to Google apps, but you also have great drag and drop features! Very useful alternative if you can’t get Google apps in your school. Includes pre-built themes, clipart and shapes.
Animoto– Make videos with creative common images and audio. Upload your own images, video clips, and audios.
Empressr-Upload video, images and audio to create cool slideshows with impressive effects. Use the charting and table tools, import images from Flickr, embed your presentation on your blog, and create a backchannel with Twitter during your presentation.
Masher– Create a video by mixing video clips, music tracks, and images. These can be from your own library or choose from a huge library of audio, video, and music content, which are free to use. Easily embed it in your blog.
PhotoPeach– Slideshows and quizzes with music that embed on your websites or blogs.
JayCut– This exciting video editor launches the full features in February. However, this is really impressive online video editor that you can play with here. Online you can upload images, audio, and video clips. Add transitions, effects, and more. Easily collaborate with others on the same video. You can also edit videos on your smartphone.
Vuvox-Choose from 3 different types of effective presentations- express, collage, or studio. Upload your own video clips, photos, and music and add incredible effects. You can embed this in your blog.
Stupeflix-Mix images, videos, and soundtracks. Add titles, transitions, and themes. There is no library of free music but you can easily embed it. See this great example.
Capzles-make an impressive presentation with your videos, images, and music. Moreover, blog about the experience which goes on a horizontal timeline. Also has a free app for your mobile phone!
Magnoto– A mix between Wallwisher and Glogster. Display your photos, videos, text and audio in unique ways on a cool background. You have the freedom to move the parts around. People can comment on the different pages and subscribe to them.
Scrapblog-Create multimedia scrapbooks. Upload your images and play with the themes, stickers, backgrounds, text features, and frames. Embed this in your blog.
Mixbook– Collaborate on a photobook with friends. Create stories, photo journals, and more with your uploaded images. You can zoom in on photos, add backgrounds, and embed this in a blog.
Ahead– Works like Prezi. This is an online platform for dynamic presentations. Upload videos, audio, images, pdfs, and Word documents. You can embed this.
Yodio– Add narration to slideshows easily through your computer or by using your phone. Embed this easily in your blog.
PanRaven– Create digital stories with your uploaded videos, music, and images. The site has photo editing tools and lets you embed the presentation on your blog.
Slideshare– Upload your PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and pdfs to embed in your blog. You can narrate your presentation.
Authorstream– Upload your PowerPoint presentations to embed in your blog. You can narrate your presentation and play it as a video.

More Resources

Video Editing: 30 Free Tools and Web Services To Get Things Done– Many of the tools featured here and more are further explained in this brilliant article!
Cool Tools for Schools Wiki– Lists many more tools for presentations.
Filmmaker’s wiki– Lists many more tools and resources for creating student films.