Tool Name

Diigo

ULR

https://www.diigo.com

Type of Tool

Social bookmarking, Knowledge sharing, Organization, and Research

tool

Tool Description

Diigo is a digital researching tool that allows users to bookmark and

tag webpages. In addition, it allows users to highlight any part of a
webpage and attach sticky notes to specific highlights or a whole
page. These pages can then be put in specific folders or tagged. Or if
one comes across a website but does not have time to immediately
read it, one can put it in a read later folder. It is essentially a multitool for personal knowledge management. An added benefit is it
allows users to go paperless or reduce paper waste. It is accessible
from anywhere (provided there is an Internet connection) and allows
its users to share amongst individuals or groups lending itself to
collaboration in the classroom.

Ease of Use

This tool is easy to use.

Server Location

USA

Age Restrictions

None

Grade Recommendations

Intermediate students, junior high, senior high, and adult learners.

Grades 4-12 + adults

Privacy

Diigo member accounts are secured by member-created passwords

and Diigo uses reasonable measures to protect member information
stored in their databases.
Diigo will not disclose personal information to any third party unless
they are required to do so by law. Diigo servers are in the United
States and therefore subject to the Patriot Act. Any BC teacher using
this tool must inform parents and/or students of the privacy risk and
get informed consent before using it.

Users can further secure their account through the personal

preference settings. They can also choose to make their lists private or
public.
Teachers with an educator account can create a private group for
students and the profiles will be, by default, private.

Educational Settings

Could be used by online synchronous and asynchronous classes as

well as in the face-to-face classroom environment.

Tool Best Used By

Students and teachers.

Other

Diigo enhances learning experiences of students by encouraging

group collaboration and making organizing and saving web resources
faster and easier. Teachers have access to tools for setting up groups
of students, highlighting key information and commenting.

Recommendation

Would recommend this tool.

Tool Name

Duolingo

ULR

www.duolingo.com

Type of Tool

Engagement / Skill practice

Tool Description

Duolingo is a free language learning platform that uses gamification to

increase student engagement. Each lesson includes a variety of
speaking, listening, translation and multiple choice challenges.
In-lesson grading gives users instant feedback and instruction on how
to improve when mistakes are made. Hearts keep the lesson alive
(kind of like lives in video games). Users lose hearts when they
answer incorrectly. When they are out of hearts, they must start the
lesson again. As long as they do not lose hearts, they keep progressing
to the next lesson.
The platform also keeps track of how many days in a row a user uses
the program and encourages the user to set a goal to spend a certain

number of minutes on the lessons per day (the user sets the number
of minutes he/she wishes to commit to).
Email notifications can also be set to provide users with reminders to
practice. This tool is accessible on a variety of devices: computers,
laptops, IPhones and android apps.

Ease of Use

This tool is very easy to use.

Server Location

USA

Age Restrictions

None that I could find

Grade Recommendations

Junior high, senior high, and adult learners. Grades 7-12 + adults

Privacy

Users do not need to make an account to use this tool, however, if

they do not, the tool will not keep track of their progress. To create an
account, users must provide an email address and passwordname is
optional.
Duolingo does email the user for various purposes, but the user is able
to opt out of these notifications. When used in an educational setting,
the teacher should go over these settings with the students and opt
out of most of them.
Duolingo is located in the United States making it subject to the
Patriot Act. This means the company may share user information if
under a legal obligation to do so. As BC educators are bound by FIPPA,
they would need to advise the parents and/or students of these
privacy concerns and obtain informed consent before allowing
students to use this tool.
Students can connect with their friends on this platform by providing
their friends email addresses or names. This could be used to provide
some friendly competition among classmates, however, because this
is not a fenced in system, teachers should ensure that they discuss
Internet safety with students before allowing them to use this tool

Educational Settings

Could be used by online synchronous and asynchronous classes as

well as in the face-to-face classroom environment.

Tool Best Used By

Students

Other

This tool would be great to help students strengthen their language

stills. As it is not set up for teachers to enroll classes, students would
have to share their progress with the teacher (screen shots of levels
completed or something similar).

Recommendation

Would definitely recommend this tool to language teachers.

Tool Name

Lingro

ULR

http://lingro.com/

Type of Tool

Engagement, Skill Practice, Translation

Tool Description

Lingro is a project that aims to create an online environment that will

allow anyone, in reading a foreign language website, a quick and easy
means to translate words they do not understand.
The tool is simple to use. Simply paste in the URL of the web page you
wish to read. The website looks the same within Lingro, but all the
words become clickable. When you come across a word you do not
understand click on it to see the translation in the language of your
choice.
An important technical note is that Lingro cannot read words within
Flash interactives.
This is an open source project and one does not need to create an
account to use the tool. Creating an account provides the benefit of
keeping track of the words the user has looked up. These can be
added to word lists and practiced as flashcards thus helping the user
remember the new vocabulary.

Ease of Use

Very easy to use

Server Location

I cant find any direct information on the server location, but many of
the staff are Americans, so it would be a good guess that their servers
are located on US soil. I have sent the company an email, but have not
yet heard back from them.

Age Restrictions

None

Grade Recommendations

Grade 9 with reservation, grades 10-12 and adults

Privacy

This tool can be used without creating an account making it safe for all
users. There are no chat tools or ways to connect with other users.
To create an account, one only needs to input a username and
password. An email address is optional, but not necessary. There are
no other requests for personal information.
Although I do not yet have confirmation from the company, it looks
like servers are most likely outside of Canada. If an educator wanted
students to create accounts, he/she would need to obtain informed
consent.

Educational Settings

Synchronous and asynchronous online classes

Tool Best Used By

Students

Other

This would be a great tool to use in immersion classes where students

are learning in a second language, but the class may be content heavy
and there may be a lot of vocabulary students are unfamiliar with. It
would also be helpful for more advanced second language learners. In
my opinion, this tool is best geared towards high school students and
adults.

Recommendation

I would recommend this tool as long as students already had a decent

grasp of the second language they are learning (more senior
students).

Tool Name

Storybird / Storybird Studio

ULR

https://storybird.com/educators/

Type of Tool

Engagement, Storytelling, Building Literacy Skills

Tool Description

Storybird is a visual storytelling community. This site works with

artists from around the world who upload their portfolios onto
Storybirds platform. Users then choose the art they wish to use,
sequence the pictures and add text to create a story. Once the stories
are complete, they can be published and shared across social
networks and embedded on blogs.
The largest demographic on Storybird are teachers and students. The
site is free to use, however, teachers can upgrade to Pro memberships
that give them more classroom tools and support a larger number of
students. The free teacher membership includes 75 student accounts
and lets kids create an unlimited number of books. Upgraded
memberships also allow for free PDF downloads of created books.
Otherwise, users can pay $1.99 to download a story as a PDF. They
can also order print versions of their stories at a significantly higher
cost. The money made from the printed PDFs and print version of
books allows Storybird to pay the authors royalties for the reprinting
of their images.
Within a classroom setting, students can discover others stories,
create individually or collaborate with others and teachers can use the
application as an engaging way to present.
Most users quickly fall in love with the high quality of the art work.

Ease of Use

This tool is easy to use.

Server Location

Canadian company, however, in some cases the personal information

that they collect may be stored or processed outside of Canada and
may therefore be subject to the legal jurisdiction of those countries.

Age Restrictions

None

Grade Recommendations

K-12

Privacy

Storybird is designed to be a safe place for children. Users must

provide an email address to set up an account but no other personal
identifiable information is required. All stories that are shared publicly
are reviewed before appearing in the library and if inappropriate
material is found, the story is pulled.
Using Storybird Studio (the educators version of Storybird) further
protects students as social interactions are classroom-contained and
teachers can easily monitor student activity.
Storybird is a Canadian company, however, in some cases the
personal information that they collect may be stored or processed
outside of Canada and may therefore be subject to the legal
jurisdiction of those countries. This means that Storybird may be
required to share any personal identifiable information collected
about its users and saved on servers in other countries if required to
do so by law. BC educators must therefore comply with FIPPA by
explaining the safety concerns to parents and/or students and obtain
informed consent from them before allowing students to use this tool.
In settings, email notifications for various reasons can be turned off to
further protect privacy.

Educational Settings

Could be used by online synchronous and asynchronous classes as

well as in the face-to-face classroom environment.

Tool Best Used By

Students and teachers.

Other

There are so many beautiful illustrations that one could spend a lot of
time simply going through the art work. When used in an educational
setting, I would consider limiting the art work students may choose
from to make the process more efficient.
This tool could also easily be used in an immersion or second language
setting.

Recommendation

Would definitely recommend this tool.

Tool Name

TED-Ed

ULR

http://ed.ted.com/lessons

Type of Tool

Presentation, Engagement, Lesson delivery

Tool Description

TED-Ed is a free educational website for teachers and learners. Their

platform allows users to take any useful educational video (TED Talks,
YouTube videos, etc.) and create customizable lessons around the
video. Users can distribute the lessons publically. Teachers can track
the progress of a class or individual as they work their way through
the lesson.
Not only can teachers create their own lessons, but they can adapt or
edit any lesson already on TED-Ed.
The lesson features include: a lesson title; a lets begin section to set
learning objectives for the lesson; the video which is featured in the
watch section, but can also play while working through the lesson;
Think, which are multiple choice and short answer questions (the
students receive instant feedback on the multiple choice answers);
the Dig Deeper section which provides online resources for
discovering more about the topic; and Discuss which allows questions
and topics that learners can discuss as a group. The Customize This
Lesson, allows instructors to add context, questions, discussion
items, and follow-up suggestions to any video on TED-Ed or YouTube
video. Meet the Creators is where one can find the profiles of the
experts who made the specific lesson.

Ease of Use

Very easy

Server Location

USA

Age Restrictions

Must be 13 years of age to use

Grade Recommendations

Grades 9-12, adults

Privacy

When creating an account, the user is required to provide an email

address and first and last name. They also have the option of creating
an account through Facebook Connect.
Any public activities the user participates in on TED.com are visible to
other users. Users should therefore refrain from sharing any personal
information. TED-Ed is not responsible for the personal identifiable
information users choose to share publically.
Users may sign up for newsletters which are sent out using the email
address provided. TED may also send out e-mail communication about
changes to the site, or other information provided the user has opted
in for that information.
Accounts may be deleted by contacting TED. When accounts are
deleted, all profile information that has been provided will also be
removed.
This company is located in the United States and would thus be
subject to the Patriot Act. According to FIPPA legislation in BC,
educators would need to inform the parents and/or students of
privacy issues and obtain informed consent before asking a student to
sign up to use this tool.

Educational Settings

Asynchronous or synchronous online classes or flipped learning

Tool Best Used By

Teachers create, students use to learn

Other

Recommendation

Would definitely recommend

Tool Name

Wikispaces

ULR

http://www.wikispaces.com/

Type of Tool

Collaboration / Engagement

Tool Description

Wikispaces Classroom is a social writing platform for education where

students can create, share, and collaborate on projects and express
their learning. The tools allows for students to work either individually
or in groups. It can be set up as either an open (general public can
view and/or participate) or closed system (only those within the class
have access). It allows for instant teacher monitoring
It is a central place for teachers to manage all activity, resources,
conversations and projects in the classroom. It helps to keep both
teachers and students organized. There are a variety of tools to allow
for assignment creation, sharing of resources, making announcements
and fostering discussion and community.
Wikispaces Classroom is free for both educators and students.

Ease of Use

This tool is moderately easy to use.

Server Location

USA

Age Restrictions

None

Grade Recommendations

Intermediate students, junior high, senior high, and adult learners.

Grades 4-12 + adults

Privacy

This is a fenced in system. All the students need is an email address to

register. Names are not necessary...students could use an alias if there
were concerns. Wikispaces never shares email addresses with other
companies.
Wikispaces is an American company and thus is subject to the Patriot
Act meaning that if they will share private information they have on
file if they are required to do so by law. BC teachers need to let
parents and/or students know about this privacy risk and obtain
informed consent from them.

Educational Settings

Could be used by online synchronous and asynchronous classes as

well as in the face-to-face classroom environment.

Tool Best Used By

Students and teachers.

Other

This tool can be used as a learning management system by the

teacher. It can help keep the students organized, have reminders
about tests or other due dates, etc. and be a place to keep
assignments.
This is a great collaboration tool for students. They can work on
assignments or projects together online. The tool keeps track of who
contributes what and the teacher can provide immediate feedback to
students.

Recommendation

Would recommend this tool.

Tool Name

Zaption

ULR

https://www.zaption.com/

Type of Tool

Presentation, Engagement, Lesson delivery

Tool Description

Zaption is a web app that allows teachers to use video an as

interactive teaching/learning tool. The teacher can choose a video
from YouTube or Vimeo, or use a private video and add text, quizzes,
discussions and images allowing deeper active learning to take place.
The videos can be embedded into a variety of learning management
systems. It tracks every click and provides instructors with detailed
analytics showing whos completed the tour and every student
response.
This tool is free to use but can be upgraded to Pro for a cost providing
additional tools. This tool is similar to TED-Ed.

Ease of Use

Very easy

Server Location

USA (San Francisco)

Age Restrictions

If under 13 years of age, may only sign up via Google or Edmodo.

Grade Recommendations

K-12, adults

Privacy

Personal information that Zaption collects from their users are name
and email address. They may occasionally send promotional emails
about new products or special offers. They may also contact users for
market research purposes to help them customize their website
according to customers interests.
Users can opt out of promotional emails etc. by simply clicking the box
that indicates that they do not wish that any of their personal
information to be used by anybody for direct marketing choices. This
option may be exercised at any time.
Zaption will not sell or lease personal information to third parties for
any reason unless the person has given express permission or the
company is required to do so by law.
This company is located in San Francisco and would thus be subject to
the Patriot Act. According to FIPPA legislation in BC, educators would
need to inform the parents and/or students of privacy issues and
obtain informed consent before asking a student to sign up to use this
tool.

Educational Settings

Asynchronous or synchronous online classes or flipped learning

Tool Best Used By

Teachers create, students use to learn

Other

The classroom setup only works with the Pro-Classroom subscription

for $79/year. This version has more interactive elements including
discussions, advanced controls for viewing, sharing and organizing and
allows for the creation of student groups and to track group progress.
Videos can also only be integrated into learning management systems
with this version. Teachers can try this version free for 30 days.

Recommendation

Would recommend, but see other for additional information.