Like the many thousands of teachers and students all over the world who are exploring the vast collection of Web 2.0 tools found on the web to support and enhance learning, many parents are also interested in finding out what these tools have to offer to both themselves and their child. We will begin a series of workshops for any Nagel parent who has little or no experience with Web 2.0 tools but wants to learn more. Each workshop will introduce participants to a pre-selected category of tools:


**Content creation tools-PhotoStory, Animoto, VoiceThread
**Communication tools-Twitter, Edmodo, Edublogs, Skype
**Collaboration tools-Google Docs, Elluminate, Diigo
**Information Management tools-Evernote, OneNote, Fastdial, Symbaloo


For a description of each tool, scroll down to the bottom.

To sign up for a session, click on this link:
http://fs2.formsite.com/Curriculum1/form68/index.html


Prior to each workshop, parents will receive a link to an overview of the category tools. Upon arriving at the workshop, a brief review of each of the tools will be shown, followed by a more in-depth focus of one of the tools. Participants will have plenty of time to work with a partner to learn how to use the application in an appropriate educational setting. Parents will walk away with a list of online resources to support further exploration of the tools. Laptops will be made available to each participant. A maximum of 15 participants will be allowed for each workshop. (More workshops will be added if needed.)

November 30 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Media Center
Information Management Tools
Evernote
OneNote
Fastdial
Symbaloo

December 13 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Media Center
Communication Tools
Twitter
Edmodo
Edublogs
Skype

January 12 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Collaboration Tools
Google Docs
Elluminate
Diigo

January 20 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Content Creation Tools
Photostory
Animoto
Voicethread

Toolbox
Evernote
Evernote is software designed for notetaking and archiving; a “note” can be text, a full webpage, a photograph, a voice memo, or a handwritten “inki” note. Notes can also have file attachments. Notes can then be sorted into folders, tagged, annotated, edited, given comments, and searched. The goal of Evernote is to give everyone the ability to easily capture any moment, idea, inspiration, or experience whenever they want using whichever device or platform they find most convenient, and then to make all of that information easy to find.

OneNote
Many of us carry a notebook or notepad around to take notes for business, school, or personal projects. But can you easily find — and decipher — the info you need? Is it convenient to share your notes with others? Take control with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007, the easy-to-use note-taking and information-management program where you can capture ideas and information in electronic form. Insert files or Web content in full-color, searchable format or as icons that you can click to access.

Fastdial
Why use text bookmarks when you can access your most frequently visited websites though much more appealing thumbnails? Fast Dial is a Firefox add-on that creates a local webpage with thumbnails of your favorite websites. You can then set this site as your homepage and have these selected links always at sight every time you launch the browser.

Symbaloo
SymbalooEDU is a tool to organize and share the best of the web with others.Symbaloo is a visual Bookmarking and Sharing tool on the web. By creating their own favorite webmixes, people can easily access their favorite websites, news feeds, search engines, radio stations and/or widgets. By sharing and publishing their webmixes others can find the best information about all different subjects.

Twitter
Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters in length, but don’t let the small size fool you--you can share a lot with a little space. You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline, and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media content.

Edmodo
Edmodo is a private micro-blogging platform built for use by teachers and students for use in the classroom. It provides a way for users to share notes, links, and files. Teachers also have the ability to send alerts, events, and assignments to students.

Edublogs
Edublogs lets you easily create and manage student and teacher blogs, quickly customize designs and include videos, photos and podcasts. It’s a safe, easy and secure way for students and teachers to reflect and share their learning with many different people.

Skype
Skype is software that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet. Calls to other Skype users are free. Besides calling people, you can instant message, transfer files and video conference with people from around the world.

Elluminate
Elluminate is a web conferencing program that “rents” out virtual rooms where teachers and students can talk and share with others from around the world.

Diigo
Diigo is a social bookmarking website which allows signed-up users to bookmark and tag web pages. It also allows users to highlight any part of a web page and attach sticky notes to specific highlights or to a whole page. These annotations can be kept private, shared with a group within Diigo or a special link can be forwarded to someone else.

Photostory
Microsoft PhotoStory is free software that allows users to create a show and tell presentation from their digital photos. The software allows for adding narration, effects, transitions and background music to create a movie file with pan and zoom effects.

Animoto
Animoto is software that produces videos from user-selected photos, video clips and music. It analyzes the photos, video clips and music, using them to generate a video similar to a trailer. The song is analyzed, producing a unique video every time.

VoiceThread
VoiceThread is a tool that allows people to post media artifacts--a document, a slide presentation, a video, or a collection of photos--for community feedback. Commentators can add remarks by means of a microphone, webcam, keyboard, or telephone. The resulting Flash-based animation contains the original artifact and the commentary on it.