Notely.com is a fantastic site designed with the 21st century learner in mind. It is a site dedicated to helping the student organize all notes, homework, schedule, calendar, and planner.
The marketing copy directly from notely .com.
“Notely is a collection of online tools designed to help all you crazy busy students out there to organize your hectic lives. Whether you're in University, College or High School Notely has the tools to help you get organized and achieve better grades.”
“Notely is designed from a student's perspective to help you get organized. I designed Notely with all the features a student would need, note taking, calendar, to-do list, task list and an upload area. So Notely makes it easy for students to get organized.”
This site is completely free, the founder and builder of the site only asks for donations of five dollars or more. The donations only allow you to view the site with no ads. I for one am certainly fine with ads on a website, so I did not donate.
The note-taking feature is basically an online word processing tool. The notes feature allows you to add images, text, and even equations.
There are many different features to notely.com. On the dashboard you will find a calendar, courses tab, notes tab, tasks tab, to dos, journal tab, links tab, contacts, whiteboard tab, and even a tab for friends! Then there is another fantastic feature, the ability to input grades and quizzes. The student can also make their own mindmaps and ask questions of other users.
The dashboard is setup perfectly with your nearest events, to do’s, tasks, and recent activity. This allows you to see exactly what needs to be done and when. Great!
Overall this site was even better than expected. I had only thought the site would contain a word processor for notes, but boy was I wrong! Please take the time and check it out!! You will not be disappointed.
COMMENT #1
From Janice Ratka's Blog
I found another new web 2.0 tool today called eyePlorer. It is a web search engine with some really cool features. It is much more like a mind-map than a traditional search engine. It also has a place to store notes as you go along, if you choose to log in. It is a free tool (as you’ve already noticed, that is one of my favorite words), and can be used anonymously, if you don’t want to log in. I noticed that when I was an anonymous user, there was way more advertising, and some of it would have been inappropriate for younger kids, so that would be something to watch out for if you are working in that type of environment.
Now, I know some people will have a problem with this, so I have to be sure I am up-front about this; eyePlorer is powered by Wikipedia. There it is, right out in the open. I know that there is sometimes a question about the reliability of Wikipedia, but before you dismiss eyePolorer, please take a look. One of the features of this tool is a nice little toolbox that automatically provides a search on the topic you have chosen either as a web search, image search, or even a Twitter search! So, even if you are Wikepedia-phobic, this tool is a great way to get started on your search. It really helps you visualize what topics are related to your initial search, helps you narrow down your topic, while giving you great little tidbits of information as you go. Once you’ve decided where you really want to go, you can always revert to your favorite trusted sources to confirm or build with.
I can see this as a very useful tool for anyone doing research on almost anything, students and teachers alike. You might think when you first look at the tool that you are limited to the topics it suggests on the initial graphic, or the A-Z topic list that is populated according to the topic heading you chose. That is not the case, though. I tried two search topics that were not on the list, and got back great results both times.
MY COMMENT
Such an awesome tool!! The look of the site is really interesting! I like the mindmap look, as I find myself mindmapping all of the time!! I will certainly be taking advantage of this search site!! Great stuff as always!!
COMMENT #2
From Erin Roe's Blog
Web 2.0 tool: Kerpoof
Kerpoof is a website owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company. One of the reasons I was interested in this site was because it has so many different ideas to offer not only children, but parents and teachers too. Kerpoof is a site where kids can chat, make artwork, make an animated movie, tell a story, and much more.
Who is Kerpoof for? (www.kerpoof.com)
Ages 3-5
At this age, Kerpoof is typically visited with an adult or older sibling and with their help, can usually navigate most of Kerpoof's activities. Kerpoof is a great way to build motor (and mouse) skills and to foster creative thinking. You can also turn any picture you make on Kerpoof into a coloring page for off-line coloring. More than 400 pre-made Kerpoof coloring pages can be found at www.coloring.bz.
Ages 6-8
With a few reading skills under their belts, children can start to take full advantage of the Kerpoof creativity suite on their own. These kids will appreciate the ease with which they can make all sorts of fun creations on Kerpoof
Ages 9-13
As kids develop more analytical reasoning skills and social interests during these years, several of Kerpoof's activities will become richer experiences for them. The Make a Movie activity has been designed to teach some of the basic ideas behind computer programming and is a great way for kids to learn what a powerful tool a computer can be (www.kerpoof.com).
While I was playing with the site, I found it very easy to navigate around. Drawing pictures were very easy, and I am not an artistic person! It was almost like KIDPIX, but a little easier to use. As I continued to play around, I found a site dedicated to teachers. There were lesson plans for specific lessons and grade levels. There were even ideas geared to younger grades!!! I decided to sign up for a teacher account and they have a very serious terms and conditions policy. They are very serious about having a site for kids, and keeping it safe for all children. They monitor everything that is posted to the site and urge adult supervision at all times while on the site. I am very excited to use this site in my classroom. I believe that my students will be able to use this site very easily. I am thinking of using this site in my action research project!
Walt Disney Company. (2008). Kerpoof studio. Retrieved on November 12, 2009, from www.kerpoof.com.
MY COMMENT
I loved this site!! So visually stimulating!! That is so cool that you could use the site for your class and action research!! I also think that just about anything that disney does is going to be fantastic, and this does not disappoint. I like the security aspect of it, especially if kids are going to be chatting with each other!! Awesome find!!
COMMENT #3
From Henry HD's Blog
When preparing students for life in the corporate world, there are so many small details that simply get overlooked. One of these details is the importance of networking and making strong and valid business connections. With only two years under my belt in the corporate world, I have learned that one of the greatest (and oldest) ways to make contacts is through the use of business cards.
It is always a good idea to keep a few tastefully designed business cards on you at all times. You never know who you maymeet, and how they may be beneficial to your professional life.
While having business cards readily available is the old fashioned way of networking, there is a new web 2.0 tool called BusinessCard 2 which allows you to create and share virtual business cards.
This tool would be great to utilize at the high school or undergraduate levels to teach students how to market themselves in the best way possible. Each student in the class would be responsible for creating a business card, and sharing it with the rest of their classmates. Once the virtual business cards had been shared, student would then critique one another on style, design, layout, etc.
This lesson provides the opportunity to teach students that in business, reputation is everything. You have to know how to market yourself, in order to become successful.
MY COMMENT
Great find!! I really like the idea of virtual business cards. Not only do they help save the planet by not using any other resources, but they certainly align with the 21st century digital native learners!! I worked one out for myself, and it turned out really cool!! Great tool!!
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