In today’s post, we have assembled a collection of some useful web tools and apps that support the ethos of inquiry-based learning. Using these tools will enable students to engage in a wide range of learning tasks that are all driven by a sense of inquiry and questioning.
1- VideoNotes
VideoNotes is a free web tool that allows students to take notes on a video they are watching. The notes are synchronized with the video being watched. The good thing about VideoNotes is that it is integrated into Google Drive which means that students will be able to save their notes directly to their Drive account and access, edit, and work on them anytime they want. All the notes are time-stamped.
2- Edpuzzle
Edpuzzle allows you to use only what you need from any video, insert audio notes or record over a video with your voice, and add questions at any point in the video .
3- PixiClip (update: no longer working)
PixiClip provides you with a whiteboard where you can add images,text, videos, drawings, annotations and many more. PixClip also offers a nifty recording feature that allows you to record your talk while working on the whiteboard. Once your PixiClip video is ready you can then share it through popular social media outlets lie Facebook or Twitter or email its link to your students directly.
4- Explain Everything
Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere. Using Explain Everything, you will be able to create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage.Add existing photos, objects, import PDF documents from local storage, Google Drive, Dropbox or insert a fully functioning web browser window.
This is by far the most popular of them all. MindMeister is a very good tool students can use to create mindmaps and brainstorm complex topics. Mind maps can include a wide variety of multimedia including: text, images, icons, links, and attachments. It also supports offline editing and syncing. Mind maps can be exported to Word, PowerPoint, PDF, and in the form of an image.
9- Prezi
Prezi is a powerful web tool that allows you to create visually appealing presentations. You can start with a professionally designed template from Prezi’s library then use images, text, videos and zooming features to enhance your presentation. You can also collaborate with colleagues to build presentations. Prezi is available on iOS and Android so you can create or edit your presentations on the go, then auto-sync across all your devices with ease.
10- Glogster
Glogster is a web tool and mobile app that allows users to create free interactive posters, or Glogs. A “Glog”, short for “graphics blog”, is an interactive multimedia image. Glogster empowers educators and students with the technology to create online multimedia posters – with text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings, data attachments and more.