I recently came across a product that is similar to Wall Wisher, a product I reviewed in an earlier post (Wall Wisher: Web 2.0 Wonder or Worry?). Stixy, like Wall Wisher makes it easy to organize your thoughts/words on flexible web-based bulletin boards. You can create customizable tasks, appointments, files, photos, notes, and bookmarks on your Stixyboards, organizing them in any manner that makes sense to you. You can then share your Stixyboard(s) with students or colleagues.

Currently there is no easy way to embed a board on a web page or blog, which could in fact serve as a greater security measure and curtail possible abuse of the product. As a board creator you have the option of inviting individuals to collaborate on a board or you can invite individuals to simply view a board…you provide users with the board address via email or a link on your webpage. I thought these boards would be pretty useful as homework boards. Create a new board each week (or day of the week) and post supporting website links, handouts, etc. along with assignments on the virtual board just as if it were a bulletin board in your classroom.

I actually like the appearance and interface of Stixy a little more than I like the interface of Wall Wisher and the tools (called widgets) that comprise the product are colorful, easy to work with, and flexible in regard to editing and posting. The image below links to a sample board I created while experimenting with the application. I have assigned permissions to this sample board so that you can experiment with the tools that are available with Stixy.

Do you wish that you could take advantage of some of the new-fangled applications that are available on the web? Do you feel like you are too busy to learn a new application? Today I am going to share some super easy apps that have little to no learning curve. Give the following apps a whirl and let me know what you think using the comment link at the bottom of this post.

1. A while back I shared and reviewed several Web 2.0 applications that can be used to help organize your life. I don’t know about you, but organization is an ongoing challenge for me; it seems I am always striving to stay on top of all the demands of my life. I was very excited and pleased to find Superminder.com, a fast and easy app that makes it simple to track important dates and tasks. Signing up to use Superminder.com was fast and easy. Simply input a valid email address and create a password. You will need to verify your email before you can create a reminder since your reminders will be sent to the email you use when you sign up. You can also have reminders sent to your cell phone, though I did not elect to use this option. If you have any questions about using this product I would suggest that you watch the screencast found on the left-hand side of homepage. I promise…you will be up and running in no time when you use this application and you do not have to have a high computer user IQ to use it!




2. I love Photoshop and use it daily, but sometimes I just need to crop an image quickly and don’t feel like opening a program to complete my crop. Easycropper to the rescue! Simply upload an image, specify a size, drag the resulting box over your image and voila! Your image is cropped and ready to save to your computer. No registration required! Fast, easy cropping at your fingertips! This would also be a great application to use if you are working from a remote computer that does not have an imaging program you are familiar with.




3. I like to add special characters to my documents from time to time and sometimes I would like to include a tilde or symbol to my writing. When I’m working in Word it can be a pain going through the steps of adding a symbol, etc. It’s an even bigger pain adding a symbol to an online post or website I am designing. The CopyPasteCharacter site makes symbol insertion in any document simple and fast. You don’t need to register. Simply go to CopyPasteCharacter, click on the character you would like, go back to the document you were working on and paste….your symbol is in your document, twitter message, etc. Life is good and so is symbol insertion! (this function didn’t seem to work in my blog entry, though it worked great in Word and Twitter).




4. I learned about Wordnik while reading Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day (thanks Jane). This application is an online dictionary on steroids. Simply enter a word and you will be treated to photographs relating to the word, definitions, antonyms, synonyms, an icon that will pronounce the word, and so much more. Wordnik is quick, easy, and so much more fun than that huge classroom dictionary…try it!




5. You have a large file that you want to email a friend…ooops it’s too large for the server…now what do you do? You are presenting a PowerPoint at a faculty meeting in a neighboring school and just learned you can’t use a thumb drive…now what do you do? RaviShare to the rescue! “RaviShare is a service which lets you share large files without having to use FTP servers or any other time consuming methods of file transfer. Simply select a file, click upload and wait for a link that you can share via Twitter, e-mail or other social networking websites.” Registration is not required, but you will have to keep track of your file location and you are limited to a 300 Mb file size. I recommend that you register so that you can upload files sizes up to 500 Mb and maintain 10000 Mb of storage space. More importantly, you will have a remote URL upload address, so you can manage your files online. Please note…free and registered account files are deleted after 30 days.

Yesterday I shared three Web 2.0 organizational tools that could be used in schools by teachers, administrators, and/or students. Today I will share some additional resources that could be used to organize and ease your lives. Please check with your Technology Coordinator prior to implementing any of these Web 2.0 tools on a large scale and test them prior to sharing them with students. Although I review these resources with security and safety in mind, some school policies and filtering systems are more conservative than others.

Toodledo is another to-do tool that makes it easy to permanently store and access all those lists and to-do’s so you can relax, knowing that you won’t forget anything. Toodledo is similar to Doris (see yesterday’s post) only it has more bells and whistles. You can use folders, subtasks, due-dates, priorities, tags, contexts, goals, notes, time estimates and other information to easily organize, search and sort through your tasks. “For those of us who are procrastinators, Toodledo has a special tool that analyzes dates, priorities, time estimates, and other characteristics to create a customized schedule of the best use of your time.” I’ll be honest, I didn’t take time to check out that special tool…I’ll check it out later .

I did take time to work with the goal setting feature, however and feel it could be used as a tool to help students think about their short and long term goals. Once you have established goals you can attach your goals to various tasks on your list, assuring you don’t lose sight of your overall goals. If you work with middle school or high school students this goal setting feature would be great to share with your students. The notebook feature included with Toodledo could be used very effectively as students work on research projects and the booklet feature really sets Toodledo apart from other to-do applications I have reviewed. Users can use the booklet feature to print out a small book that includes their hotlist, their top 110 most important tasks, and a section for written notes…this is a very cool feature…take time to check it out.

Toodledo also makes it easy to collaborate with other people and share to-do lists. Each account has a unique user id code that can be shared or kept private. You can use the collaboration option to privately share tasks with individual people or groups of individuals. The user has complete control over who has permission to read and/or add tasks to your to-do list.

Wridea is a simple and easy tool that makes it easy to record and save ideas….a great tool to use with interactive whiteboards for brainstorming. It’s easy to create categories and organize your ideas. Wridea could also be used as a basic project management tool. Create a page for each project and different categories for each work type. Sign up is simple and quick. You can also set up a unique web address for your account during the registration process. Try Wridea as you brainstorm or assess prior knowledge while introducing a new concept in class. Try out the tool and see what you think…remember each idea includes an option to expand and add details, as well as a collaboration option. As a side note…I don’t recommend the “idea rain” tool…it was too fast for my liking, but see what you think.

I’m going to end my post today with mySchoolog an app that has been developed specifically for student use. This free online tool is offered to students in 15 languages so foreign exchange students could even take advantage of this organizational tool. Students can enter all their classes and individual assignments/grades for each class. mySchoolog also features a variety of tools such as calculators, log charts, etc, and file storage so students can access school related files from anywhere. Students can set up a virtual schedule and planner and will be alerted regarding items on their your to-do list (as long as they log on the day they are scheduled). There is also a notes system, so students can upload all their notes and assignments to the site. On the down side…students do have access to their email when using this tool…you will want to work with your Technology Coordinator to assure students are not using this organizational tool to usurp the school filtering system if student emails are not permitted in your district.