This document provides information about several online tools for education: - Today's Meet allows for backchanneling during presentations through online discussions. - MindMeister is a free mind mapping tool that allows collaborative brainstorming and organizing ideas. - Prezi is an alternative presentation tool where elements zoom and pan across a canvas rather than using slides. - Poll Everywhere facilitates instant polling from texts or a website to gather audience feedback in real time. - SumoPaint is a free and basic image editing program that teaches computer skills through creating graphics.

1. LC Sharefest
“COOL Resources”
Val Garton

2. • Today’s Meet (backchanneling)
• MindMeister (mind-mapping)
• Prezi (presentation)
• Poll Everywhere (online polling)
• SumoPaint (image editor; paint tool)

3. • http://www.todaysmeet.com
• Backchanneling (having a real-time conversation
online while the main event or speaker is
presenting)

4. What It Does
• Backchanneling gets your audience actively
involved in what is being presenting. If a group
of people were watching a movie together, they
would probably be discussing it and making
comments as they watched. It helps us process
what we’re hearing and watching if we share our
thoughts and questions with others along the
way. With Today’s Meet, the audience can
comment back and forth to each other on their
laptops, phones, or iPads, during a presentation.

6. Why It’s So Great
• Do you ever wonder if your students are
really watching the movie you’re showing or
if they’re just daydreaming, doing homework
or passing notes?
• With backchanneling, they can discuss the
movie while they’re watching it. You can
watch the discussion yourself, join in, and
even save it and print it!

7. • I tried this with my high school computer
class as we watched a TED video. I was
thrilled to see the students actually
commenting about what the TED speaker
was saying, questioning, agreeing -
actually holding a focused discussion with
each other! They seemed even more
attentive to the video, because they
wanted to enter into the discussion with
each other. My most talkative students
were posting the most comments, but all
students said they preferred doing this
to watching passively. I was also amazed
at the quality of the comments and that
everyone stuck to the topic!

8. • I think this would also be good to use when
students are presenting in front of the
class. Often by the third student, the rest
of the class is weary and inattentive.
Backchanneling keeps everyone actively
engaged and you can print off the
comments as feedback for the students
presenting!

9. How to Use It
• Today’s Meet is FREE, FAST, & EASY! There’s
no registration for you or the students!
• Just go to www.todaysmeet.com. Create a
“room”. Choose to delete the room in 2 hours or
as long as 1 month.
• A short url will be generated based on the name
of your “room”.
• You’ll need to hold the presentation or show the
movie in a computer lab or provide laptops,
iPads, or have student use cell phones.

10. Tips & Techniques
• Write the url on the board.
• Tell your students that you can see
everything that they write and can save and
print it. Tell them to use their correct
names.
• Have them just say “hi” to see how it works.
• Require them to make at least 2 comments,
to coax them all to participate.
• As they enter their comments, their name
will appear next to the comment.

11. • http://mindmeister.com
• Mind-mapping Tool

12. What It Does
• Mindmeister is a free online tool for
mind-mapping (concept-mapping):
brainstorming, planning, and
organizing your thoughts.

14. • I’ve used Mindmeister with middle school
students several times. I’ve used it when
collaborating with a class in NYC. The other
teacher and I wanted the students to create
PowerPoints together that compared rural
and urban life. We had the students get into
groups with one “writer”. They wrote topics
they thought of that could be compared by
both schools in MindMeister. Then they
wrote examples, which branched off from
each topic. When the mind-maps were
complete, each group chose one of the topics
to explain in their PowerPoint project.

15. • Students can use it to organize their
thoughts when planning or prewriting. The
bubbles can easily be edited or rearranged
and grouped to put ideas in categories.
• The best feature, I think, is that several
people can work on the same mind-map at
the same time! This promotes
collaboration.

16. Why It’s So Great
• Instead of having your students brainstorm
out loud or on paper, have them do it with
Mindmeister - either by themselves or in small
groups. Then they can be anonymous and the
ideas they see will help to generate more
ideas.
• The Mindmeister mind-maps can be embedded
in a wiki or blog. Students can then access it
from the wiki or blog to log in and edit.

17. How to Use It
• Mindmeister is FREE, but you need to have
an account. With elementary and middle
school students, I set up a “class” account
using a “class” Yahoo email account I made.
• Students can log in under that one account
and create different maps or work on the
same map.
Demo Video

18. Tips & Techniques
• It’s best not to have too many students
working on the same map at the same time.
It’s best to have them in groups, with only
one person doing the writing.
• You may need to go in and “clean up”,
deleting any stray empty bubbles or
dragging groups of bubbles around a bit to
make it look nicer.

19. • http://www.prezi.com
• Unique presentation tool

20. What it Does
• Presentation tools, like PowerPoint, move
from one slide to the next. Prezi
presentations move from one text box,
image, or YouTube video to another,
zooming in and out across the “canvas”,
sometimes even twirling upside down! This
provides a unique viewing experience
(providing the viewer isn’t prone to motion
sickness).
Watch a Prezi!

21. Why It’s So Great
• Prezi provides a great alternative to PowerPoint. It’s
fun to make and fun to watch. Kids LOVE Prezi! I
have done Prezi with 4th graders - 12th graders. It
can be easy to make, yet older students can make it
more complex.
• Several students can work on the same Prezi, making
it a collaborative tool.
• Prezis can be downloaded or linked and embedded in
wikis and blogs so others can watch them.

22. How To Use It
•Prezis are made up of text boxes, images,
and videos connected in a numbered path.

23. •Sign up for a FREE educational account. If you are
using it with younger students, set up an account you
will use for your “class”, using your email or a “class”
email account with a password they will remember.
Students will sign into this “class” account and make
their Prezis there.
•Older students can create their own FREE
educational accounts.
•Watch the tutorial video with students before they
use it for the first time to give them an overview.

24. Tips and Techniques
•First: Have students write their information
somewhere before starting their Prezi. Then they
can copy/paste it in the text boxes.
•Second: Have students complete all the text boxes,
keeping them close together, but not arranging them.
Next, have them format the background and text
with one of the themes or a blank canvas.
•Third: Add images. (They can search within Prezi’s
link to Google Images.) Then link to any YouTube
videos.

25. Tips and Techniques
•Fourth: Students should create the path to
determine which text box is shown first, second, etc.
•Last: Students can move the text boxes around, and
make some larger or smaller, and rotate some.
•A fun effect to try is to make a word large. Then
make another word very small. Fit the smaller word
or phrase inside a letter of the big word. Do this
LAST. It is difficult to edit text boxes after this.

26. •http://www.polleverywhere.com/
•Instant polling from text or website

27. What It Does
• Poll Everywhere allows you to create a poll in
30 seconds to get feedback from people. It
can be done on the fly, and people can
respond by texting from their phones or
typing their answer on a computer or iPad.
• You can ask yes/no questions or even
multiple choice.

28. Why It’s So Great
• It’s FREE, with no registration or logging in so you
can have your poll ready in 30 seconds!
• It replaces clickers or response systems, which
can take a long time to set up or learn how to use.
It’s great for quick polling or assessment.
• It allows students to answer anonymously.
• It makes great use of the cell phones high school
students bring to class anyway!

29. How To Use It
• Create the poll without even signing up. Just click on the
button to “create your poll”. Give it a name. Type in your
question and the multiple choice answers.
• A simple url is created using the name of your poll, along
with a number to text to and numbers to include in the text
to indicate your answer.
• As each person sends their text or enters the number of
their answer, the bar chart on your screen adjusts to show
the number of responses for each answer. Your audience
watches as the results are tabulated live!

30. Tips & Techniques
• You may want to not reveal the answers or results
until they are all in, in case students wait for the
majority to vote or for the correct answer to be
shown before texting their answer themselves.

31. • http://www.sumopaint.com
• Image editing software for creating or
modifying graphics

32. What It Does
• Sumopaint is a FREE alternative to PhotoShop. It has
similar, though limited tools. It uses the same process
and tools - even the method of using “layers” which can
be shown, hidden, and combined, like Photoshop.
• It allows you to create artwork and graphics from
scratch. You can also import images and modify them by
selecting portions of the image and applying special
“effects”. You can combine images, smudge, use a stamp
tool to stamp out parts of images, and add text.
• Files (.sumo) can be downloaded and worked on later, or
images can be exported (.jpg, .png)

33. Why It’s So Great
• Using image editing (painting) tools like the lasso
selection tool, paint brush, bucket, etc. and
understanding the difference between word
processing, drawing (objects), and painting (images
that are part of the background) helps students to
use the computer for creating. Students can make
professional looking ads and images for posters and
brochures, and other desktop publishing projects
with SumoPaint.

34. • SumoPaint teaches students computer skills they
can transfer to other programs. Creating with
technology and programs like Photoshop help
develop higher level thinking skills. Plus, it’s fun!
It’s FREE. It’s online, so students can do it at home,
too!
• I have used Sumo Paint with 6th grade students.

35. How To Use It
•There are tutorial videos and a help menu
to figure out how to use the tools.
•Students should create a
new layer and work on
that layer, rather than on
the background.
•Clicking on the “eye”
means that the layer is
visible. Layers can be
combined to make images.

36. •Double-clicking the tools or clicking on the tool
and looking at the buttons at the top of the
screen, shows more options. These options can
be: a variety of paint brush shapes and sizes,
colors and designs.
•The arrow tool allows you to move the image.
•The free transform tool allows you to resize
the image.

37. Tips and Techniques
•Students will need reminded about making a new layer
and working on the layer, rather than the background.
•Remind them to click on the layer they want to work on
and have the “eye” on the layer visible.
•To bring in an image, use “File menu > Import to layer >
From my computer.”
•To save or export what they were working on, use “Save
to my computer”.
•When they have completed an image, chose to “flatten”
the image. Then use “Save to my computer.”