Many sites that are beneficial for education require that a student has an email account to login. This is very frustrating for educators that have to worry about district policy and CIPA/COPPA compliance to maintain student safety/privacy. So I compiled a list that had a educational portal that allowed an educator to create a student account or that is safe for use in education. Since then, a number of new sites have been released that accomplish this as well, persuading me to create an updated list. This list is in alphabetical order.
- Animoto Plus - One of the most popular web tools/apps for creating slideshows with free educational portal for schools.
- Answer Pad - A fantastic Student Response and Assessment System that uses an innovative graphical interface to help turn a teacher's classroom paperless (by doing testing on mobile devices) and assess students on any number of subjects in real-time using a free mobile app with digital portfolio capabilities.
- Been for Education - A innovative site for collaboratively browsing the web with your class to incorporate different styles of teaching (i.e. Guided Instruction, Blended/Flipped Learning, etc.) Best of all, educators create/monitor all student account activity.
- Biteslide - A fantastic site where educators create student accounts for making stunning slide book presentations that are ideal for Project Based Learning.
- BoomWriter - A terrific site for grades 3rd-8th that has students collaboratively writing a story/book while voting chapter by chapter on which one should be included. Educators get to create the student the accounts and a finished product can then be published online and ordered.
- Buncee for Education - A wonderful site/app for creating beautiful/interactive presentations that can be embedded into a site or blog and educators can make and track the student accounts/assignments.
- ClassDojo - Widely used in classrooms throughout the world ClassDojo is an excellent free site/app that allows educators to manage student behavior and notify parents via the computer or mobile devices.
- Diigo - A very popular social bookmarking/annotating site that allows educators to share links with students for Guided and Project Based Learning.
- Drawp for School - A wonderful drawing app that integrates with a web portal where educators can create student accounts and share assignments/projects via the cloud or iPad.
- Edmodo - A safe learning environment for teachers and students. A great all-in-one solution for education.
- EDpuzzle - One of my favorite safe site that does not require a student email to take a digital video and "make it your own". This can be done by editing, cropping, adding a voice, etc. Educators also have the ability to embed a quiz into the video for assessment and Flipped Learning.
- Flocabulary - A interesting site that allows teachers to share an educational account which allows access to educational hip-hop videos for learning and assessment.
- Gaggle - A great platform designed to making the web/mobile devices safe for students through built in filtering and more.
- Glogster EDU - A popular Common Core Aligned digital platform that allows educators to create student accounts for making interactive posters, signs, presentations, etc.
- GoAnimate for Schools - A excellent COPPA compliant site for making animated videos in a safe/secure environment.
- Google Apps for Education - nuff said...
- Kidblog - Quite simply the best blogging platform for students that does not require a student email to sign up.
- Kubbu - A great site for educators to make quizzes, crosswords, and puzzles and then analyze results without the need of student email addresses for accounts.
- LessonPaths - Formerly known as MentorMob EDU, a fantastic site for creating learning playlists that can be use for Project Based/Guided Learning, a Flipped Classroom, and more.
- Little Bird Tales - A fun site/app for digital storytelling with lessons that are aligned to Common Core Standards.
- Metta - A fantastic site that can be used by students without the need of an email address for digital storytelling/presentations. Educators can use it to Flip a Lesson or for Blended Learning by embedded a poll or quiz into a video.
- Mixbook for Educators - The educational portal for the great site for creating all types of digital/real books (i.e. yearbooks, scrapbooks, calendars, etc.).
- Musicshake Edu - A great way for students to create legal, copyright music right from the browser.
- Nanoogo - A fun site where students can create presentations, artwork, and more in a safe environment. Also, educators can monitor all student/class activity but a parent's email address is needed for a student to sign up.
- Myths & Legends - One of my favorite sites for digital storytelling in a safe environment set to a fantasy theme.
- PhotoPeach - A nice site for creating interactive slideshows where educators create/manage the student accounts and control all privacy settings.
- Pixton for Schools - A nice/safe site for students for creating digital comics where they login with a unique code. This is a fun tool can be used for any curriculum for any grade level.
- Primary Access - A cool site for creating digital presentations that can be embedded into a site/blog without the need of a student email address.
- Scrawlar - A cool new web whiteboard/word processor where students don't sign up and can share/save/collaborate via the cloud.
- SideVibe - A innovative site that takes bookmarks and turns them into lessons where teacher creates the class and students join via a unique code.
- Socrative - A wonderful Student Response System that students use for educational games and exercise on mobile devices.
- SpellingCity - The best site around for Spelling/Vocabulary with educational portal and where educators can integrate word lists into educational games.
- Storybird for Schools - A terrific Literacy tool that educators can use to engage student's Reading/Writing skills.
- StoryJumper - A nice site for digital storytelling where students login with a unique code and even oder a copy of their book.
- ToonDooSpaces - A great site for digital storytelling in safe/private environment.
- Verso - A innovative site/app where educators can create Flipped Lessons that students can respond to.
- VoiceThread - A very popular Web 2.0 resource for educators and students to create dynamic presentations with narration and then embed them into a site.
- Weebly - One of the most popular sites for students to create web pages in a safe environment where teachers manage their accounts.
- Zimmer Twins - A fantastic site for digital storytelling in a fun cartoon style site; that offers lots of options for how to use with student accounts.
- Zoho Wiki - A great resource for students to create a wiki or for educators to create online courses, lessons, presentations, and more.
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
