You are on page 1of 13

Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use

Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

Visit the Survey of Cloud Tools on Google Forms and/or http://bit. ly/1bhhGz4

1. The New Hive URL: http://thenewhive.com/
Description of Tool: The New Hive is a cloud based service that allows you to create online collages with images,
media and text. You begin with a blank canvas that allows you to design with images, videos, audio files, and text.
You can quickly re-size and re-position the elements on your pages by dragging and dropping them. The pages that
you create on The New Hive can be made public or private. For interest sake, there is a gallery of the The New
Hive creations, and the service does promote itself as a community of creators to share creative pursuits.
Category Presentation

Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://newhive.com/lib/doc/tos.htm
l
Privacy URL: same
For educational purposes, The New Hive is a safe service, and it is interesting to note that The New Hive is
still in an invite-only beta phase so you will have to request an invitation to try it out. The Terms of
Service state that they do not derive profit from data mining and advertisement, and there terms of
services are set to protect the user. There basics are as follows: You own your information. You agree
that all information/data/pictures you post are your own creation or you are allowed to use them. You
refrain from using the site in any way that could be interpreted as hateful/derogatory. Most of all, We
want You to have fun. Students must be 13 years old in order to use the site.
In terms of privacy, the users owns everything he/she creates within The New Hive, and the default
sharing setting is full privacy, except your public profile, homepage and your public posts. They do not
collect information about their users, online habits. If a user chooses to create public posts, he/she will
be sharing their data under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Engagement
Students may find the creative experience quite rewarding
Students are able to embed the project into their own blog in order to receive feedback from peers
Students are given the freedom to be creative, nothing is predefined for them.
Ease of Use
This is a free online tool
The tool is a simple drag and drop application
Students will need to create their own accounts and wait for the invite in order to begin working with The
New Hive

PROS CONS
Easy to use, it is free
Overall, the product looks greatit is an
impressive visual display
Pages can be under the private or public
domainthis is a personal choice
As students would begin with a blank canvas, they
will require a basic understanding of design
principles
Students must wait for the invite in order to begin
using the service








Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

2. Animoto URL: http://animoto.com/create
Description of Tool: Animoto is a cloud-based presentation tool that allows teachers to create beautifully
orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your photos, video clips, text and music for their classroom.
Animoto syncs with your images through Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, SmugMug and/or uploaded
personal files. Animoto allows teachers and students to add voice-over and add music to the video. Choose music
from the Animoto collection of music or upload a personal music selection. Animoto provides options to share
videos or embed video into classroom blog posts. Educators may apply for a free Animoto Plus account for use in
the classroom. The educational accounts expire every six months, and a new code is required to renew an
account. Educators are able to create up to 50 accounts for student use.

Category Presentation tools/slideshow/video editing tool

Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://animoto.com/legal/terms
Privacy URL: http://animoto.com/legal/privacy_policy
Animoto does not collect personally identifiable information, unless you specifically provide it to them. Educators
are directed to create student accounts and to ensure that the student does not provide any personally
identifiable information to Animoto. Animoto does recommend that teachers create a master gmail account that
allows you t o receive emails on behalf of the student accounts. The email notifications allow the teacher to see
what videos students have completed and keep an eye on student activity. Link to this page:
http://bit.ly/1exAA5H
Engagement
Students are able to communicate their learning and demonstrate creativity through use of Animoto.
The video showcase is an impressive product and as a result, students add to higher levels of engagement
and motivation.
Students are able to share/post their video in blog or on Youtube

Ease of Use
Easily set-up a classroom and students are able to begin creating an impressive product
Easy to use with students. There are no video editing skills required; just choose a style, upload video,
images and create text and publish a professional looking video


PROS CONS
It is free for educators
Allows teachers to set up relatively classrooms
in order to keep personal information private
Product is easy and fast to learn to use.
Animoto does it all the production design for
you, which aids in promoting creativity.
Effective in making a unique and engaging
digital presentations (incorporating images,
video clips, music and text), such that students
are able to focus on the content in each movie
rather than focusing their attention on the
production side of movie making (editing).
There are a variety of styles/formats and media
Possible copyright issues with students
uploading images, music, video to their
presentations.
Privacy could be an issue as students may be
uploading videos to YouTube, or personal
websites.



Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

resources to choose from on the website
If students dont like the video theyve created
they can remix their video using the same
images and audio until theyre satisfied.
Provides opportunities for students to share
their work by uploading their video on YouTube
(or SchoolTube, TeacherTube) or embedding it
into a website (authentic audience).



3. TED-Ed URL: http://ed.ted.com/
Description of Tool:

What if you could capture that one brilliant lesson, amplify it and put it in a place where teachers and students
can use it all over the world?
-TEDs Chris Anderson

TED-Ed is a website that is dedicated to turning TED videos and videos from YouTube into lessons for sharing. It is
a free and open resource site that allows teachers to select from a remarkable library of lessons and flipped
lessons. Teachers are able to choose from the prepared lessons, flip TED-Ed lessons, and/or create their own from
the extensive TED library of videos and from YouTube videos. Once a teacher has flipped a lesson, a new and
unique URL is published, and from here he/she may choose to share the lesson publicly or privately, to a select
group of users. Since the URL is unique, and for the benefit of the educator, it can measure the progress of any
participant it is shared with; measuring participation and accuracy of the students answers. The lessons are
designed for students to initially watch the video; to think as they are answering multiple choice questions
(real-time feedback is provided); to dig deeper and explore additional resources; finally, students are provided
with a couple guided discussion question to complete in the discuss section of the lesson.
Category Instructional Videos/video sharing

Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
https://www.ted.com/termsofuse
Privacy URL: http://www.ted.com/privacy
From TED-Eds Terms of Service website, anyone who is 13 and over may join TED.com by providing basic
information (first and last name, email address, country of residence). If a student is under the age of 13,
he/she may not create a TED account.
I found it interesting that TED reserves the right to remove anyone who uses language to promote :
pseudo-science, conspiracy theories, zealotry, proselytizing, self-promotion, product-hawking, and new-
age fluff; any content that is written in txtspeak, all-caps, or otherwise lazy grammar; content posted by
members using joke names or non-names; disrespectful, distasteful, unconstructive, or illegal content. As
a teacher, I would definitely provide this information to my students before engaging in any activities on
TED-Ed.
Any use of TED Talks has to follow the terms of our Creative Commons license "Attribution -
NonCommercial - NonDerivative"
As written in the privacy policy, TED-Ed collects two kinds of information: Personal information that the
user supplies and information that is gathered automatically as a result of tracking activity on your
account.


Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

Engagement
On their own, the TED-Ed videos are very engaging, but the flipped approach provides more opportunities
more interaction and engagement with the video.
Using a flipped TED-Ed lesson could help to improve lessons, as it allows teachers to bring new, fresh
ideas and expert voices to a class discussion.
The flipped lesson allows for reflective learning, and more hands-on project time in class.
Ease of Use
Once students have set up an account, they are able to easily access the lesson by following the URL
provided, and work through the lesson with ease.
The interface is sleek, intuitive and professional looking.
The lessons are laid out in an uncomplicated and explicit manner.
It is relatively simple for educators to create a customized lesson around a TED or YouTube video.
PROS CONS
TED-Ed is a free service
Already, over 45,000 flips have been created
Provides for expert voices in the classroom
TED-Ed lessons allow students to interact and
engage with videos
TED videos usually deal with intriguing and
fascinating subject matter, and the lesson adds
focus to the video
The TED-Ed website provides for not only TED
video to be flipped, but also YouTube videos,
which adds magnitude to the already wide
selection of choices available on TED.

The TED-Ed flip should not replace good
teaching pedagogywhere lessons should be
about doing not consuming material.
Inquiry-driven and project-based lessons
provide more personalized learning for
students, and we must not confuse TED-Ed
with providing good quality teaching to
studentsit is simply an add-on to a lesson, it
is born out of a traditional form of assessment
where the student watches a video, takes a
quiz and writes a brief response.

4. VoiceThread URL: http://voicethread.com/products/k12/ or
http://voicethread.com/
Description of Tool: VoiceThread is collaborative, multimedia slide shows platform that allows users to bring their
voice to a conversation by sharing information, impressions, interactions, stories and opinions. Users are able to
move through slides and communicate their ideas by leaving an audio comment, text file or video. The slide show
will hold images, documents and videos. With VoiceThread, you are able to embed in a website to show and
receive comments. VoiceThread connect students with each other through sharing of ideas and opinionshelping
to lessen feelings of isolation and disconnection that are often felt with online classrooms. VoiceThread may be
shared with select users or shared publically with the world. Overall, VoiceThread is an excellent platform for
teaching, collaborating and learning in an online classroom.

Category Blogging/Audio Editing

Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://voicethread.com/termsofuse/
Privacy URL:
http://voicethread.com/support/howto/Privacy_and_Security
/
Terms of Use are similar to many of the cloud tools, in that a student must be at least 13 years or older to
register and use the service. If a student is younger than 13, he/she must have the explicit permission of a
parent or guardian to use the service.
Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

Copyright: (A Whats Yours is Yours Policy): VoiceThread recognizes that your content is yours alone,
however, with any content that is made available for the public, youve now granted VoiceThread
worldwide and a royalty-free and non-exclusive license.
Privacy: K-12: VT licenses only allow the world to see the students identity names
Engagement
Deeper Responses: allows student to thoroughly reflect on a response, as they have the opportunity to
reflect on a response before they post it, which often lends itself to a more considered response.
Increased participation in a discussion as students who may not have contributed in a f2f class are more
open to participating when they are able to reflect on a response.
Authentic audience brings purpose to assignmentswith VoiceThread, students are able to collaborate
with each other, other classes, and with experts in the field
Creative way to have students to collaborate, share ideas, information, impressions, stories and opinions
VoiceThread provides a venue for creativity and inspired learning.
Ability to personalize the education experience for every student

Ease of Use
VoiceThread is a free service
Easy to operate for students, but students will need to sign up with their email address.
Intuitive set-up and easy to use for teachers
Teachers share the VoiceThread link with students

PROS CONS
Centralized discussion to keep it focused
Deeper Responses: provides an opportunity
to reflect, resulting in higher quality input
Increased participation
Makes for an engaging and interactive
discussion and collaboration forum
VoiceThread works well--it seems to have a
reputation for being a solid and reliable cloud
tool
Easy to use: only brief introduction and
instruction would be needed for students to
begin using this tool
Free service
Opportunities for an authentic audience

Unless supervised, there is the potential for
students to make negative comments on the
VoiceThread.
Students must be prepped to write comments
before adding their voice to VoiceThread,
otherwise comments could come across as
either too short, rambling, off-task or
inappropriate.


5. Weebly
URL: http://www. education.weebly.com
or http://www.weebly.com

Description of Tool: Weebly is an extremely user-friendly web application that is perfect for creating student
websites, a classroom website, and student e-porfolios within a protected environment. With Weebly for
Education, a teacher is provided with bulk creation of 40 student accounts, which can be managed and protected
by the teacher. Weebly offers an intuitive website building platform with powerful multimedia features, and
students can easily create their own websites and blogs with little technical skills. Multimedia tools such as
embedding video, music, maps, and html; creating image galleries and slideshows; adding surveys and polls, etc. all
Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

work to add a professional touch to the website. With the blogging features you area able to create an unlimited
number of moderated blogs within the website; blogs are an excellent means of communication among students,
allowing them express their thoughts and opinions and receive replies from other students. One feature that
really works for me is the assignment formstudents are able to upload their assignments directly to the
websiteso much for lost work!

Category Blogging/e-portfolio

Terms of Use & Privacy Terms of Use URL:
http://www.weebly.com/terms-of-
service/
Privacy URL:
http://www.weebly.com/privacy/
Weebly does not sell personal information, but they do use this information for improving their services.
They collect personal information, such as email and username when you register, but with the Weebly
for Educators site, a teacher is able to set up 40 websites for studentswithout students providing any
information to Weebly.
Students under the age of 13 are prohibited from creating or using accounts through Weebly.com.
Students under the age of 13 may, however, may use Weebly through special student accounts created by
their teachers through education.weebly.com, provided the teacher has obtained signed parental consent
from the student's parents.
A student could set up Weeblys Social Media features and Widgets, such as Facebook or Twitter. These
features may collect information (IP address, cookies) and they are either hosted by a third party or
hosted directly on our Site. Any interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of the
company providing it.


Engagement
Students have control over their own website, which may extend to a sense of pride of ownership and
accomplishment.
Creating a website will inspire students creativity and imagination.
Through written reflections on class discussions, and within their own blog, opportunities to reflect with
classmates may result in higher quality output from students
Makes for an engaging and interactive discussion and collaboration forum
Opportunities for an authentic audience
Ability to personalize the education experience for every student

Ease of Use
Setting up a Weebly blog is fairly intuitive and user friendly; students are able to set up their own blogs
with limited technical expertise and it is a perfect tool for creating student e-portfolios, and websites for
assigned projects
Weebly is also an excellent tool for teacher websites; with Weebly, a teacher is able to post all
assignments, add a class calendar, provide content information, and receive uploaded assignments, etc
it is essentially an LMS for the class.
Students are easily able to comment in a discussion forum and comment on other students blogs.

PROS CONS
As a hosting provider, Weebly does not place
any advertisement on the website, which
makes it an excellent option for educators.
Students and teachers will not become
overwhelmed with an excessive number of
The user management is limiteda service like
Wordpress is better for managing personal
blogs, and it has more features than Weebly
(limited widgets)
Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

tool and there is no requirement for
technical expertise
Free platform, that does not bombard you
with pressure to upgrade
Extremely user friendly and intuitive design
A broad range of templates are available for
use and users can personalize the templates
with add-ons and images/video
Students and teachers are able to create an
engaging and professional-looking website

6. Google Drive/Docs URL: http://docs.google.com
Description of Tool: Google Drive is the cloud-based file storage system that houses Google Docs. With Google
Drive, you are able to access your files with a device, provided there is internet access. Google Docs is a free web-
based office suite found within Drive that allows you to create, edit, and import documents online. The documents
may be shared for viewing and collaborating with other Google members. Google Docs is compatible with word
processing and presentation software, and it has five applications: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations,
drawings and forms
Category Online Collaboration


Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/poli
cies/privacy/
Privacy URL: same
As many of Google services require a Google Account for set-up (Gmail), they do collect a variety of
personal information from the information users give to them, and through information they get from use
of the services. As well, Google will ask you to create a publicly visible Google profile if you are to take
advantage of all their features/services. Google collects information about device specific information,
log on information, location information, local storage (browser web storage and application data caches)
and through cookies. According to the website, they use this information to improve services, develop
new services, to offer users tailored content, and protect Google and their users.
The minimum age requirement to own a Google account is 13 years old

Engagement
Students will appreciate the ability to collaborate simultaneously with other students
With Google Docs, students are able to get instant feedback through the commenting and messaging
options, this allows the teacher to steer students in the right directionultimately, heading in the path to
success
With peer editing and collaboration, students are able to engage in powerful learning experiences with
peer-to-peer discussions

Ease of Use
Google is a free online tool
Users will need to create accountsset up a Gmail accountbefore using Google Docs
Easy to create, share and edit documents
Program is available online, so students do not need to download any programs or software
Students save work in the cloud, and the work is constantly saved, so they is no fear of losing valuable
data
Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

PROS CONS
Collaboration is often considered an essential
21st century skill, and with Google Docs
students are able to effectively communicate
and collaborate with peers and teachers
through peer editing, collaborative writing and
other collaborative projects
With Google Docs, teachers are able to leverage
student success and learning through formative
assessment practices, where teachers are able
to provide ongoing feedback and to aid in the
process of writing, not just with the finished
product.
Google Docs is a free service, it is easy to use
and readily accessible with the internet
Since Google Docs are in the cloud, students
work will always be accessible, provided there is
internet servicethis helps to alleviate the
anxiety of having to hand-in work and the
possibility of losing work.
Privacy is a concern with student information,
and some people feel insecure about saving
private information in the cloudthe amount
of personal information stored on Google
Drive/Docs needs to be managed to ensure
personal information is not accessible to the
public
When uploading information, the formatting
may be lost or messed-up
Users must be 13 years old to use the service
and will need signed consent under 18 years
of age


7. Mind42 URL: http://mind42.com/guide/editor/collaboration
Description of Tool: Mind42 is a collaborative mind-mapping tool to create, manage and edit mind maps. It is a
web application, so it must be accessed online, and you do not need to install any programs. There is no
downloadable app version available. A special aspect of Mind42 is the ability to collaborate on a mind map. The
collaborative aspect of Mind42 provides wonderful opportunities to connect and share ideas with others. Where a
student grants others the right to view or edit their mind map, and theses users are then sent an invitation. This
collaboration could happen simultaneously and all editors of the same map can create new topics, or deepening
existing thoughts, and the changes that are made happen instantaneously, in real-time. Publishing the mind map
is the best way to show mind maps to others. Students could either publish a link or then share the link to others,
or they could embed the mind map into their website/e-portfolio.
Category Mind mapping

Terms of Use & Privacy Terms of Use URL:
http://mind42.com/terms
Privacy URL: same
With Mind42, advertisements are on the site but users may opt out of advertisement cookies from Google
or cookies from other third party vendors for cookies from other third party vendors.
http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html orhttp://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp
Simple sign-upservices only requires minimal personal data (name and email). This information is
collected on the website.
No mention of a specific age for using this service


Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507


Engagement
Simple tool to use, and the users guide is clear and straight-forward
Easy to create, share and edit documents
The tool is available online, so students do not need to download any programs or software
Students save work in the cloud, so they is no fear of losing valuable data
Ability to personalize the education experience for every student
With Mind42 data is available for export in various formatsin order to download a backup copy, or
export an image of the mind map to put it into a Word a document; it is also possible to embed the mind
map to your homepage or blog


Ease of Use
Students will appreciate the ability to create, collect, and visualize ideas and information
Aids in stimulating the creative process
With the ability to collaborate, students engage in powerful learning experiences with collaborators
PROS CONS
Students will appreciate the ability to create,
collect, and visualize ideas and information
Aids in stimulating the creative process
With the ability to collaborate, students engage
in powerful learning experiences with
collaborators

Mind 42 is still a powerful mind map creator;
though doesnt seem as rich with features as
other mind-mapping tools (paid competitors)
Lack of off-line editing capabilities
Revision restoring limited to the map creator

8. Prezi URL: http://prezi.com
Description of Tool: Prezi is an interactive tool that makes it easy to develop dynamic and non-linear presentations
that aid in making lessons interesting and understandable, and is a great alternative to PowerPoint. The
presentations are made and stored in the cloud. With Prezi, the zoom and pan features allow you to move in all
directions and provide focus from the overall details to the smallest detail; essentially allowing one to bring clarity
and focus to what is important. This cloud tool allows for online co-creation and collaboration; allowing students
to brainstorm, edit, design, structure and present ideas together (in real time). With Prezi, one is able to import
video, images, sound from your own file or import through YouTube and other acceptable formats.

Category Presentation tools/slideshow/video editing tool

Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://prezi.com/terms-of-use/
Privacy URL:
http://prezi.com/privacy-policy/
In order to have an account, users must be 13 years of age or older to use the Service, with a letter of
consent. Prezis privacy policy states that it will never knowingly solicit, nor will it accept, personally
identifiable information from visitors or users known to be under thirteen (13) years of age. The Prezi
Service is intended only for those who are at least 18 years old or who have obtained the consent of
their parent or guardian to use the Prezi Service.
With Prezi one is not required to provide any personal information to Prezi unless you choose to access
features of the Service which require such information. Prezi follows the industry standards to protect
information that is submitted to them.

Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

Engagement
Prezis visuals are stunning and may keep your students interested and focused on the content
It is fun to create a Prezi, and students may experience as sense of accomplishment from creating a
professional looking presentation
Ability to personalize the education experience for every student
Ease of Use
Students are able to use predefined templates which are simple to use and offer different fonts and
colours
There is an excellent help section for any question that may arise and many videos accompany the how-to
questions.
Prezi offers a free educational subscription
Prezi allows you to insert rich media into your presentation
PROS CONS
Prezis non-linear format creates an impressive
visual impact. The panning and zooming
features offer an interactive and engaging
experience for students, and with the zoom you
are able to focus on important points
Prezi allows you to transfer (import) your
existing PowerPoint presentations to the Prezi
format
With Prezi, you are able to embed the
presentation in blogs/websites or simply share
the presentation link with others, and with this
embedded link on student websites, they are
able to receive feedback from their peers
Prezi is a great tool for a collaborative and
synchronous classroom sessions or group
projects. Students can collaborate in real time
with (up to ten) others, in the classroom or at
home, on building and brainstorming a
presentation on a shared virtual whiteboard
Prezi allows you to continue altering, changing
your presentation, even after it has been shared
with others
Prezi is stored in the cloud
Prezi allows for student creativity and ingenuity
to shine through
An app is available for use on your iphone/ipad
Prezi allows you to set a timer to allow others to
view the presentation without having to click
through it
In addition to the benefits listed above, Prezi
offers a free educational subscription
Possible copyright issues with students
uploading images, music, video to their Prezi
presentations
Privacy could be an issue as students may be
uploading and/or sharing presentation to
Prezi or to their personal websites
It can be frustrating moving around the
canvas
The zooming and movement can make some
feel nauseous
You need the Internet to access and use Prezi
There is no image editing options
There are some limits with the templates:
fonts
The visual effects could overpower the actual
message of the presentation

Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507


9. Powtoons URL: http://www.powtoon.com/edu-home/
Description of Tool: Powtoons is a free (for Educators) animated presentation tool that promises to supercharge
your presentation and videos. The application allows users to put together professional quality presentations
that tell a great story with a simple drag and drop tool. Powtoon claims to address all the frustrations that people
have with Power Point and keynote and add animation and killer design. The application easy to use and focused
on quality; teachers and students do not need to be tech savvy or have any design skills to create a great looking
presentation. Powtoons has various design styles to choose from, and you have the option of adding a voice over,
music or both. Once you have finished creating a video, you are able to share it over YouTube, Facebook, Google+,
Twitter or embed it into your website.

Category Presentation, Animation & Video Editing

Terms of Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://www.powtoon.com/terms-and-
conditions/
Privacy URL:
http://www.powtoon.com/blog/privacy-
policy/
Powtoons collects personal information during registration (name, email address and perhaps a credit
card). You may, however, visit the site anonymously.
Powtoons uses this information in order to: personalize the experience, improve the website, improve
customer service
Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance: Powtoon is in compliance with the requirements of
COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), and do not collect any information from anyone under
13 years of age. The website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old
or older. Users under the age of 18 may only use the "for Education" version of PowToon. Students may
use PowToon with parental permission and teacher supervision or using the account named student
account according to that accounts specific terms of use.
Engagement
Added with students creativity, these animations will look fabulous.
Students will be keen on sharing their video, and there are many ways to share: YouTube, Facebook,
Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, exported or embedded.
Teachers and students are able to create great content that is visually engaging, captivating and fun to
make; and visual learners will love this tool.
The ability to express ideas in a succinct, clear manner is crucial, and Powtoons provides an engaging and
fun way to share ideas and story
There are numerous creative uses of this product: Students can create videos to show processes,
explanations of complex concepts, review new learning, teach others, explain processes, tell stories, or
present research.
Ability to personalize the education experience for every student
Ease of Use
The application allows even novices to create professional looking presentations
Users can easily put together design quality presentations in a very little time
Only requires an email set-up to begin. Students may use a student account that is provided by the
teachers with specific permissions
PROS CONS
Free for educators
Easy to use and manipulate
Captivating, creative and engaging tool for
teacher and student use
Limited length of video for free version is 5
minutes.
I would like to see more choices for
backgrounds and animation
Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

Forces you to tell your story in a clear and
succinct manner.


10. myHistro URL: http://www.myhistro.com
Description of Tool: myHistro is a unique combination of timeline and map creation tool, complete with video,
text, and pictures (and app); it allows students to combine maps and timelines seamlessly into one great
presentation of information and understanding. myHistro works as a way to share stories; where
students/teachers begin by creating an event along with the time and place. All the events that are created can be
gathered together to tell a story. Stories can be viewed in many ways, by events on a timeline, in chronological
order with a page flip feature (like an album), or as a story summary of chronological events. Completed
timelines can be embedded in blogs and class websites. The great feature with myHistro is that students are able
to work collaboratively on a timeline project, and they are able to invite others to share in the learning experience.
Click here to understand how and why teachers should use myHistro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gki3aSrUZ6Y

Category Timeline

Terms of
Use &
Privacy
Terms of Use URL:
http://www.myhistro.com/terms
Privacy URL: http://www.myhistro.com/privacy
myHistro members must be 13 years of age or older
User Content: You are solely responsible for the Content that you post on the Services. In addition, you
represent and warrant that you have the right to post the Content and you will not post any illegal or
prohibited Content and will not infringe, misappropriate, violate or contravene any third party rights
(including, without limitation, any intellectual property rights).
myHistro collects personal information when you register, such as name, email address and date of birth.
When you save other Personal Information in your profile they will collect any such information you
enter. When you contact myHistro email, they will collect your email addresses and any information
contained in the email you send. myHistro collects passive data such as clickstream data for all users,
including a user's IP address, operating system, and page views.
Engagement
Great potential for students to study, analyze and write about history in an intuitive waytelling their
story chronologically, by mapping out a fictional story, or creating a story map for their own writing,
etc
Accessible for creating new projects or editing existing ones from anywhere on any iOS or browser with
connectivity
Simple tool to use, and the users guide is clear and straight-forward and it is easy to create, share and
edit documents
The tool is available online; students do not need to download any programs or software only need to
save work in the cloud--no fear of losing valuable data
An interactive and collaborative tool; students can create projects together
Creative way to have students to collaborate, share ideas, information, and stories.
Authentic audience brings purpose to assignmentswith myHistro, students are able to collaborate with
each other and share with the public for feedback
Students may begin to visualize history in new ways, and it may spark interest such that students may be
inclined to explore historical events in more detail
Ability to personalize the education experience for every student
myHistro provides a venue for creativity and inspired learning
Ingenious presentation tool (with a projector) rather than PowerPoint
Survey: Ten Cloud Tools for Educational Use
Michelle Kennedy
OLTD 507

Excellent tool to help visual learners with review. For example, teacher/students could post facts and
events in a timeline throughout school term and use the completed version for review
Ease of Use
Simple registration for users 13 years and aboveit does require an email.
A completed myHistro can be embedded in a class blog or website for students to access (limits visiting
multiple sites or having to login), also able to send timelines to students
There are a number of myHistro stories that you can borrow to share with your students
myHistro has an app available for ipads
Excellent help section for users: http://www.myhistro.com/help
The application requires limited technical skills in order to create professional looking timeline projects
Users can easily put together a quality timeline in a very little time
PROS CONS
Simple registration and easy to use
App available which allows for the construction of stories,
events and collections, each of which can also be
categorized with tags.
Visually impressive and excellent tool for visual learners
Embed in a class blog or website for students to access
Opportunity for personalized learning
Many timelines and stories that you can borrow to share
with your students
myHistroextended is a test feature for Edmodo, which
generates online assessments (tests) http://prezi.com/96t-
wjdxvm_r/how-to-review-and-grade-tests-on-myhistro-
extended/
Does not seem to be an app for
android devices
Could be some concerns over privacy
risks with students (sharing
information with the online world)

You might also like