I love reading Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day blog. If you haven't seen it before, you really should check it out. Larry is an English, Social Studies and ESL teacher in California, and he has an uncanny eye for new and exciting web 2.0 tools for the classroom. Recently, he posted a blog post with his 50 Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education in 2016. It's a great read. Here are some of my favorites from the list of tools he highlighted.

Content curation is an increasingly important skill for both teachers and students. We already have lots of great options on this front like Diigo, Flipboard, Symbaloo and more. WebReel follows in the same vein but has a great visual appeal. Take a look at this example WebReel and watch the video below for more information.

Larry describes Pindex as a Pinterest for Education. It is the brainchild of Stephen Fry, (yes, that Stephen Fry), and it lets teachers create boards that they can assign to students. You can even add quizzes to check for understanding. You can also use boards that other teachers have already created and assign those to your students. The video below has a somewhat unique overview :)

This was one of my favorites. Genial.ly is a free website for creating images, infographics, presentations, micro websites and more. It includes a variety of engaging visual effects and animations that you can use to make your content come to life. It is a fantastic way to present content. Check out this example infographic and watch the video below for more information. Did I mention it's free? :)

Backed by the New York Times, The History Project is an intriguing site that lets you curate and organize a variety of content on a specific subject and present it as an interactive timeline. You can add images, audio, video and social media posts. It could be a great way to build some ideas and content around current events or historical events, especially when you can collaborate on projects with others. Learn more at https://www.thehistoryproject.com/

I like NotebookCast because it is free and multi-platform. It is a collaborative online whiteboard tool that can be used in just about any modern browser, regardless of your device. It has a line and shape tool, as well as the ability to draw freehand. You can also upload images and take advantage of the built-in chat tool.

These are just five of fifty tools that Larry discusses in his 50 Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education in 2016 so be sure to head over to his blog to read about the other 45 that you are missing out on!

Jonathan Wylie, Digital Learning Consultant, Grant Wood AEA - @jonathanwylie

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There are a few ways to add friends in Snapchat!

1. Add by username. Just type it in!
2. Add friends by snapcode: Take a picture of their snapcode. Tap 'Add by Snapcode' and choose the picture.
3. My Friends will show you which of your contacts are on Snapchat!
4. Add 'Snappers' nearby! All Snappers that want to participate in adding should tap 'Add Nearby'.  

Be safe!  There are many inappropriate Snappers out there! Be cautious of who wants to add you!

Happy Snapping!

~Mindy Cairney, @TeamCairney
Digital Learning Consultant

Have you tried the NEW Google Sites? On November 9, Google released the updated version to all EDU domains that are on the fast track release schedule, so I thought this would be a great chance to take a look at some of the latest features and enhancements, as well as to answer some questions about the future of your existing Google Sites that were created under the old platform. Here's what you need to know.

There are a couple of ways you can create a new Google Site. You can go to sites.google.com/new or you can go to your Google Drive and click the New button and select Google Sites. This fixed a huge problem for me, namely the lack of any option to organize my Google Sites. In the new version, your Sites live in Drive, so they can be organized into folders or shared in exactly the same way that you do with your other files in Google Drive.

One of the biggest complaints I used to hear about the old Google Sites was in relation to how hard it was to navigate and find the features that you want. That has changed dramatically in the new version. The menus have been simplified or automated so that all the important features are now easy to locate via a sidebar on the right-hand side of your screen.

From the Insert tab you can add text, images, HTML embed codes, or upload files. You can also add Google Drive folders, YouTube videos, maps, calendars and other files stored in your Google Drive. Each element can be resized by clicking and dragging the frame around each object. You can move it around the page by snapping it to some handy guidelines. Dragging objects around also lets you put two things side by side like text next to an image or two or more videos.

From the Pages tab, you can create new pages for your navigation. The page templates are gone, so there are no more Announcement or Filing Cabinet options, but for the most part, these can be recreated with the new features in Google Sites. You can drag and drop pages to rearrange them in the order you want them to be in, and select a page to be set as your homepage. Both horizontal and vertical navigation options exist in the new Google Sites and can be chosen by hovering your mouse in the top left hand corner of your Site and clicking on the gear icon.

From the Themes tab, you can choose from one of six stylish new themes. Each theme has its own color palette to choose from, and three font styles. So, although it might not look like there is all that much to choose from, the number of variations you can create with these options is more than you might think.

Click the images below for a closer look at the new menus.

There are three header types - large banner, banner and title only. You can access those by moving your mouse over the header. Google has included a number of images you can choose from for a header, or you can upload your own image. A nice touch here is the readability adjustment tool that automatically adjusts the text color in your header so that it can be read easily regardless of the image you choose for your header. In my tests it worked well for most images, but there are still going to be times when you might just be better choosing a different background.

Another nice addition is the ability to background accents to elements like text boxes. You can access those by hovering your mouse over your text and clicking the palette icon that appears on the left hand side of your screen. This lets you choose between Regular, Emphasis 1, Emphasis 2 or an image as a background for your text. This can let you create some very stylish pages that can really make your content pop. Examples of that can be seen in the gallery below.

On the toolbar at the top of your screen you will find the new undo and redo buttons. Those will be a big help for people who are exploring the new Google Sites for the first time. You can also see a preview of your site and how it will appear on different devices by clicking the eye icon. Sharing settings can be set the same way as before, but there is a new Publish button that enables you to work on changes and push them out when you are ready, and not as soon as you make them.

By now, you are probably wondering what this means for your existing Google Sites. Here is what Google has to say on that very subject:

• In 2017, Google will provide and recommend options to domain administrators to migrate your sites from the classic Sites to the new Sites.
  
• Beginning in 2018, Google will send a timeline and instructions regarding the gradual process to shut down the classic Sites. The specific date for the shutdown of the classic Sites has yet to be set, but Google will inform domain administrators at least one year in advance of that shutdown.

So, there is a lot to like in the new Google Sites, but there are a few things I would still like to see added to this version of Google's website builder. For instance, the new Sites can only be accessed on a desktop web browser. There is no mobile access to the editor and no mobile app has been released at this time of writing. I would also love to have a blogging option. If they added a blog page template, I think that this could be a true competitor to Weebly or Wordpress.com, but as yet, this option does not exist. Finally, I would love to have the HTML editor option that we had in the old Google Sites. It was a little limited because you could not do much with the theme, but the added flexibility to customize the HTML on a page was certainly something I used more than I thought I would.

Is there something you miss from the old Google Sites? If so, what is it? Leave a comment below, and be sure to click the feedback button in the bottom left-hand corner of Sites in order to let Google know too! In the meantime, check out this playlist of tutorials from steegle.com on how to use the new Google Sites.

Jonathan Wylie, Digital Learning Consultant, Grant Wood AEA - @jonathanwylie

For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+. We even have our own podcast you can listen to and a Makerspace video show!