Top 100 Sites and Apps of 2013

Here is my favorite and most popular post of the year, my Top 100 Sites/Apps of the year! Continuing with the trend from last year, readers are going to find more and more apps on the list and fewer sites, as the flux in mobile learning and BYOD (bring your own devices) continues to rise. Also, you'll notice that there are a lot of learning tools for Digital Storytelling & Math. I believe the reason for this is because storytelling is a learning tool that can be used by a wide range of educators for any subject, and Math is a very popular subject with lots of diverse ways to go about teaching it. I hope you enjoy this list and, as always, thanks again for reading!

* Indicates an iOS app.
**As always any site/app that was listed on a previous year's list will not be listed on this one.

Buncee - A fantastic new web tool for creating presentations or digital stories that can be embedded into a site/blog. Also, this is a great way to "flip a classroom" and through an educational portal allows educators to create student accounts.
Geddit - This is a wonderful educational tool that allows educators to assess student learning on any mobile device. A student clicks on an ascending bar graph to determine his or her level of understand while teachers get their results in real time.
EDpuzzle - Is a excellent new site that allows educators to edit/crop a video and then "flip a classroom" by adding questions to assess a student's understanding. Best of all, there is a feature to record your own audio to add audio notes or narration to a video.
Educators App - An innovative site that turns teacher's webpages into a mobile app for iOS or Android. This is ideal for those mobile learning and those schools that are 1:1 or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Best of all, as a teacher updates their site, the mobile app updates as well.
eduClipper - A terrific site for creating a digital pin-board for curating and sharing educational content. Also, allows for teachers to create student accounts which is ideal for education.
*Book Writer - A great iOS app for digital storytelling. This app allows students to add text, images, video, and even record their own audio narration for creating digital stories. A finished story can then be printed out via PDF or exported into iBooks.
AR Flashcards - One of the most popular sites for Augmented Reality that allows educators to print out flashcards on a wide variety of subjects to bring objects to life.
*Mystery Math Museum - MMM is one of my all-time favorite iPad apps for Game Based Learning. This app designed for kids 6-12, has them helping a ghost rescue dragonflies throughout 8 museums by solving basic math equations.
*Level It Books - A wonderful iOS app for scanning a book and getting a Reading/Lexile level. Also, has the ability to maintain a class roster with a student's reading level as well as create a digital library of books for a teacher's classroom.
Quadblogging - An innovate approach to blogging that has 4 schools sign-up and blog in a "quad." A school will blog while the others view/comment and then rotate around while a educational moderator checks to make sure everything is running smoothly.
UtellStory - A fantastic site for digital storytelling that allows users to upload audio, video, photos to tell a story, as well as the ability to embed a story into a site/blog. Also, UtellStory has a educational portal for allowing educators to create student accounts.
Quandary - Is a free educational site/iPad app that is ideal for game-based learning. The game focuses on a student's ethical and critical thinking skills while engaging them in a sci fi/fantasy themed setting.
*30hands - One of the simplest and easiest iOS apps for digital storytelling. This app allows students to add a picture and then record an audio narration to tell a story.
Blendspace - Is an excellent site for collecting digital resources and then sharing them students. Also, a educator can create online quizzes and assess students in real-time using these digital resources.
*StoryLines for Schools - An innovative iOS app that helps students generate their creativity and sentence building skills. The way this works is similar to the game "telephone" where a student types a sentence and then watches as another draw a picture of that sentence. When that is done another titles that picture and types their own sentence and the process continues until the StoryLine is complete.
iPracticeMath - A wonderful new site that is an all-in-one stop for a students' and teachers' math needs. This site has online activities in a wide range of topics such as: algebra, division, decimals, and more. Also, there are lots of educational resources, worksheets, glossary, and even student tracking with detailed reporting for registered users.
*SlideIdea - Is a terrific iPad app for creating engaging presentations/slideshows. An educator can either create a presentation from scratch or use one of the many downloadable templates. Once a presentation is done a teacher can share them with students through the use of unique ID code. Also, an educator can use SlideIdea to poll, ask questions, or assess their students, and is great for Differentiated Instruction.
*Brainstormer - A fun iOS app for generating writing prompts by spinning a wheel in three different categories: theme, setting, and location.
eduCanon - A great site, similar to EDpuzzle, that allows educators to edit a video and add quizzes. This is ideal for differentiating instruction as well as for flipping a classroom.
Alchemy SmartBinder - A excellent site for creating a digital lesson with any kind of content. Once this lesson is created it can be shared with students via a URL and can be used to flip a classroom.
Super Teacher Worksheets - A fantastic resource for educators where they can find worksheets, printables, puzzles, and more to print out for students. Also, this is a great place to find puzzle and activity generators as well as common core aligned worksheets as well.
*Animoby - A wonderful iPad app that turns an iPad into an interactive whiteboard. A user has a wide variety of tools to write, type, draw or annotate over an object. Also, Animboy is great for creating a digital lesson as a user has the ability to record their voice which makes it ideal for creating a flipped lesson.
Wikispaces Classroom - While Wikispaces has been around a long time, Wikispaces Classroom is a new spinoff of the great site. WC gives educators a place to have students create digital content in a safe controlled space. Also, it can be used in many different educational ways such as: social networking, assessing students, project based learning, and more.
*Story Creator - A fantastic iOS app for digital storytelling that allows students to their audio narration to a story. A real cool feature is the ability to enable text to be highlighted as a student reads text.
*Jack and the Beanstalk a Mathematical Adventure - This is an excellent iPad app for Game Based Learning that focuses on different concepts of Math in the unique take on the Jack and the Beanstalk tale. Students will learn about different Math concepts such as: counting money, telling time, and recognizing shapes, while practicing their reading of Jack and the Beanstalk.
RoomRecess - One of my favorite new sites for educational online games for grades K-5. These games focus on a wide range of subjects such as: Math, Reading, Word, Typing, etc.
LaunchpadEDU - Is an excellent educational portal to support the use of Launchpad iOS apps in education. This site has lots of educational resources such as: lesson plans, resources, worksheets, and more.
*Daisy the Dinosaur - A wonderful iPad app that teaches the kids the basics of programming by having them drag-drop commands and watching as Daisy preforms them.
*Science Heroes 1: Digestive System for Kids - Is a fun iOS app from one of my favorite educational app developers, Yogome. This is a game that focuses on all 5 phases of digestion through 15 levels of play.
*Toonia Storymaker - A great iPad app for digital storytelling. Students have a choice of up to 20 characters to choose from as well as seven different themes to build their story. Also, Toonia has high replay value as students are able to unlock features as they build their story.
*Hopscotch - An iPad app that reminds me a lot of the site Scratch for programming. This app has students assembly blocks of code and then watching as characters preform their moves.
*Story Wheel - An innovative iOS app for digital storytelling that has students spinning a wheel and then recording a story to the picture that comes up. Once a story is completed it can then be shared online or published to iBooks.
*Write About This - A fantastic iPad app for creating or finding Writing prompts aligned to Common Core Standards.
Google Connected Classrooms - Is an interesting new site by Google for educators to take their students on virtual field trips. These field trips are all done through Google Hangouts inside of Google+ and has students visiting such places as: museums, zoos, memorials, and more.
*Math Heroes 1: Basic Operations - The second iOS app by Yogome to make this list that is excellent for basic math skills. Math Heroes has students traveling through over a 100 levels while practicing their basic Math skills (division, subtraction, etc.) while unlocking secret power-ups and features.
Google Play for Education - Is a new online story dedicated for education in seamlessly bringing educational Android apps to Google devices.
Rewordify - Is one of the most interesting sites I've come across this year. This site allows students to enter text (or copy/paste) and then with a click of a button "rewordify" their sentence. This is a great way to learn how to paraphrase or even work on vocabulary by highlighting words.
eLearning Infographics - This is probably the best site around for finding educational infographics on any number of subjects. Also, a user can print out, submit, or even embed an infographic as well.
Brickflow - An innovative site for creating presentations by turning hashtags into digital stories.
*Tabtor - An excellent iPad app/program that helps students learn Math. This is done by having students watch video tutorials on a given subject and then writing their answer on an iPad. This is a great way for educators to "flip their classroom" and differentiate instruction.
SchoolsWorld - One of my favorite new sites for finding safe educational videos.
*Tangram Chess - The second app on this list by one of my favorite Math app developers, Math File Folder Games. This excellent app has students trying to recreate shapes by rotating, reflecting, or translating them to the other side of the chess board. Also, this game is blue-tooth enabled allowing multiplayers players across multiple devices.
ClassXP - An innovative new site that uses Game Based Learning to help motivate students to get better grades. The way this works is by giving a student a dashboard/digital environment to create an avatar and watch as they progress through the year by monitoring their grades and earning experience points (XP). As student earn experience points they can use these to get badges as well as other digital "goodies".
*Easy Studio - Is an excellent iPad app for creating custom animations. Easy Studio uses a very user-friendly stop-motion technique to have students create step by step creations.
The Time Tribe - A fun, engaging site that uses game -based learning to immerse students in adventure through the past learning about different cultures and ways of life.
StoryToolz - A wonderful site for finding/generating word prompts as well as finding other beneficial writing tools (i.e., word count, readability level, etc.).
Free Tiiu Pix - A great place for finding safe educational videos and slideshows.
*ChemDraw - A nice iPad app for HS/College students for students studying Chemistry. This app lets students create and draw molecules and their chemical reactions.
YouTube Time Machine - A fun site that allows users to use YouTube to travel through time and view favorite videos by year and subject.
Graphite - One of my favorite new sites for finding educational sites/apps reviewed by educators.
*Gummii - A fantastic iPad app that has students creating an avatar and solving Math equations in a Minecraft style 3D world.
*Cloudart - An excellent iPad app for creating word clouds.
The Lost Function - Is an in-depth math game that has students interacting with a number of characters to solve Math equations to progress further in the game. This game takes place in a fully immersive 3D environment and has students solving a wide range of problems such as: decimals, fractions, and more.
TypeKids - A great site for students to learn Keyboarding/Typing. This game has 30 levels for students to complete as they improve their Typing skills and unlock other educational games.
*Experience Life - A beautiful iPad app for Health/Science/Biology teachers looking to introduce the different internal systems of the body. This interactive app focuses on systems such as the: senses, nervous system, and musculoskeletal system.
NuSkool - Is an interesting new site for students 6-12th grade for learning Math, Science, English, etc through pop culture based lessons.
*Flowboard - A wonderful iPad app for creating stunning presentations that can be embedded into a site/blog.
Brainscape - An impressive site/app for creating multimedia style flashcards that can be shared to mobile devices.
*Shadow Puppet - A nice iOS app for digital storytelling that allows students to add audio narration to a photo. A finished story can then be embedded into a site/blog.
Submrge - A cool new site for learning about Gamification (Game Based Learning) in the classroom. Submrge reviews recommends in detail what games are good for the classroom as well as how they can be integrated and what Common Core Standards they may be aligned to.
Voki Classroom - Voki is a site that has been around for along time that allows users to create a talking avatar. Now, they've released an educational portal that allows teachers to create student accounts and assign/manage Voki based assignments.
Science4Us - A wonderful Science curriculum for K-2 students that focuses on different subjects such as: Earth, Space, Matter, etc.
LivePrezo - A fantastic site that turns presentations interactive. The way this works is by taking a presentation in PDF format and then making it interactive by supply a unique code that students can use to login to. Teachers can then ask questions while students answer and assess them in real-time.
Balefire Labs - Is one of the best new sites around to find detailed educational app reviews.
*The Human Body by Tinybop - One of the best apps around for teaching students about the human body. This interactive app covers such areas as the: heart, eyes, lungs, etc.
Quest - An innovative site/Windows app for creating interactive text based adventure games (i.e. Zork) and great for learning the basics of programming/scripting.
SimCity EDU - A new site based on SimCity that is perfect for Game Based Learning. This is a great way for students to play the popular PC game in a safe environment, as they build cities cans learn about: Math, Science, Economics, and more.
Power My Learning - A wonderful site for students to find educational games, activities, printables, and more. Also, a educator can create a playlist for students or even find activities based on Common Core Standards.
BrainRush - A great site for creating flashcard style games that can be used for differentiating instruction.
*Tellagami - Is a fun iOS app for creating a talking avatar that can then be placed in a story. It reminds me a bit of a Voki and great way to integrate digital storytelling into the classroom.
Fotor - A very powerful and user-friendly site for editing photos.
Weavly EDU - A great site designed for classrooms to have students create video and music mash-ups/presentations.
*Phrasalstein - A fun iPad app that helps students learn vocabulary and phrases in a mid-evil/horror setting. The way this works is by having a student select a verb and preposition and watch as an animation occurs.
*Basher's Presidents - A nice little iOS app for learning about the US Presidents as well as play a game of putting them in the correct order.
Lucidpress - A excellent new site for creating multimedia collaborative documents.
Mathalicious - Is a wonderful resource for Math teachers as it provides lots of resources and lesson plans aligned to Common Core Standards for solving real world Math problems.
Taught It - A nice free site for educators to share all sorts of media (documents, photos, videos, etc.).
Code Monster - A cool site for students wanting to learn how to program in Javascript through 58 interactive lessons.
*Playback - A great iPad app for creating screencasts that can then be shared via Dropbox or exported into an mp4 file.
Explania - A fantastic site for finding educational animated videos on a wide variety of subjects that can then be embedded into a site/blog.
Metta - A great site for creating video lessons that can be used for Guided Learning or "flipping a classroom".
QuestBase - A wonderful site for educators that allows them to create: quizzes, tests, puzzles, etc, and then publish them online for students take. This is a great way to assess students in real-time and a teacher can even password protect their work.
Math Live - Is a innovative site for teaching different areas of Math such as: numbers, patterns, shapes, and more. The way this works is a student watches an animated video (think BrainPop) and then takes a quiz to reinforce learning.
Educade - A great place for educators to find a wide variety of resources such as: lessons, videos, apps, and more.
*Sight Words Hangman - A fun iOS iOS app that is great for students learning how to read, vocabulary, and word recognition. Best of all a teacher can review all word lists and even generate reports.
EasyDefine - A fantastic site for uploading a list of words and getting a definition, synonym, flashcard, and more.
Screenhero - This is a great site/application that allows users to not only share their screen with others, but take over the other person's computer to help them troubleshoot problems.
appoLearning - A great site for finding detailed reviews (on a 100% scale) of educational apps.
NicerTube - A fun way to share YouTube videos and remove all comments/links.
Copyright Kids - A excellent resource for students, parents, and teachers looking to find out about all issues pertaining to copyright.
TeachQuest - A new social network for educators to share resources and collaborate with parents.
*QR Code Maker - A nice simple iOS app for creating QR codes that can be used in the classroom in many ways, such as: scavenger hunt, flipping their classroom, or mobile learning.
ScootPad - Is an excellent site/app that is ideal for adaptive learning that aligns with Common Core Standards. Also, this is a great way for educators, parents, and students to collaborate online as well as track student/analyze student data.
Teacher Gaming Network - This is a cool new social network that is dedicated to Gamification in the classroom. TGN allows educators to create educational games and share them with their students or embed them into a site/blog.
Smart Kit - A nice site for finding safe educational games and puzzles in a wide range of subjects.
Jukeboxlessons - A new site for educators wanting to teach or tutor online done through Google Hangouts or Skype.
*GazziliMath - A fun iOS app for youngsters and preschoolers learning about Math. This beautiful looking interactive app focuses on such concepts as: counting, number sequence, addition, and subtraction.
Lessonwell - A interesting new site that allows educators to create digital lessons based on different types of media (photo, videos, audio).
Memofon - A wonderfully simple site for brainstorming and creating mind maps. All a user has to do is fill in an outline and watch as the mind map is created.
Chem Pro - A great iOS/Android app for learning about Chemistry. This app has over 80 video lessons, an interactive periodic table, and flashcards to help students learn about Chemistry.

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at dkapuler@gmail.com and read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com