E-Learning: Webtools
Free Tools for online instruction!
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Web Hosts | HTML Editors | HTML Tutorials | FTP | Message Boards | Quizzes Surveys | Chat | Virtual Offices | Courseware | Web mail | Listserve The first place to look for web hosting is your Internet Service Provider. Most ISPs offer a minimal 5MB of web space. AOL, probably the largest ISP in the world, allows subscribers free web space to create and post a web page. Hometown at http://hometown.aol.com/ AOL's page building is a favorite for many novice HTML users. Note: You do not have to be an AOL member to use this free service. Yahoo! GeoCities at http://geocities.com/ This site has gained a lot of fans since it was taken over by Yahoo! a few years ago. They offer a variety of services, including a web based email address that you can tweak to automatically forward to any email address. (This means that you can keep the same web based address even though you are changing ISPs! List of Free Sites at http://www.freesitex.com/homepage.html to see largest list of free homepage providers. Angelfire at http://www.angelfire.com The fastest growing web site on the net according to Media Metrix (01/98-06/98). Pretty amazing. Why? Because...They give you a URL that's easy to remember, no long names or special characters. They give you the fastest page creation tool on the net. Simple. Elegant. Powerful. They have pioneered the fastest web server technology available at this scale. Tripod at http://www.tripod.com. Tripod is my personal favorite, though it gets a bit overwhelmed on weekends. This is because besides having a built in development system, it also supports external tools such as Netscape Composer or Dreamweaver. It even has built in support for CGI. Check it out! A large collection of free hosts at http://www.1second.com/frewbsts.htm There are many free web hosts online. Some are offered by special interest, or affiliation etc. I haven't visited all the links listed on this site. Feel free to browse around. I notice that some say they host for schools and teaching and student purposes. Some may have online webpage editors like Geocities or Freetown but I just am not aware of which do. Web Page Composers/HTML Editors: (top) Netscape Composer http://wp.netscape.com/communicator/composer/v4.0/index.html This older program is free, and built into the 4.x Netscape Browser. This is a good basic system and will get the job done. Microsoft FrontPage http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/ This program is a favorite for many users. If you already know this system, use it. Some complain that FrontPage adds a lot of extra code to its pages that can cause problems down the line. (This is a problem with MS Word's HTML conversion as well.) However, Microsoft's most recent edition of FrontPage 2000, supposedly cures these problems.Macromedia Dreamweaver http://macromedia.com/downloads/ Once you create an account, you have access to many goodies. These folks offer 30 day free trials of all of the products. You can download the full feature demo files from this site. This is high-powered 'happy nerd' software. Dreamweaver Tutorials are available at: http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/productinfo/lynda_features/ Note: Dreamweaver is the choice of many designers and site managers. If you already know it, or are at an advanced stage in your 'web work' this is the one for you. It does have a very steep learning curve. I would not recommend that you try to learn how to use this software while taking this classOf course, you can use the built in text editor in your operating system (Notepad on PC & SimpleText on the Mac). But, text editors designed for editing HTML are a lot easier to use. They offer short cuts to the basic HTML Commands and some even color code the text to help identify code. Another option is Microsoft Word. You can save your word document in HTML format. This works fairly well. I had some problems with heading formats not translating to HTML format and MS Word stops the process. However, it is an easy way to build tables. There is a problem. The code it generates is extremely complex and sometimes doesn't work properly.
Yahoo! "Build your home page in minutes". Are you brand-new to building Webpages? Then try PageBuilder - it's the easiest way yet to create your site on Yahoo!GeoCities. Just use your mouse to point and click, drag and drop. You'll need to establish a Yahoo! account to gain access to these tools. Well worth it! Coffee Cup Download the trial version of Coffee Cup 6.0. This one is for those who want more bells and whistles! It has numerous javascripts 10 included (40 more upon registration), frame designer includes 8 templates, forms designer and too many other tools to mention. Check it out if you are ready to move from basic to advanced web designs. The cost is low too in comparison to programs such as Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Hot Dog Pro or Cyberstudio. Tucows http://www.tucows.com You'll be able to download most of what you need here! Some call this the world's best collection of Internet software. Matrix Y2K http://www.crystalfibers.com/Matrix Y2K is a Web site studio created for novice and advanced users. It's a complete package for almost every Windows platform. From the author: I have worked about eight months on this new version and i have put in everything you need from a table generator to code inside. Freeware. Step by Step HTML Tutorials: (top) The Basics: http://htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/primers/basics.html New to HTML? Try this excellent beginner's tutorial.Html Tips & Tricks: http://bignosebird.com/html.shtml Beginning and Advanced Tutorial: http://davesite.com/webstation/html/ The Web Designer http://www.cair.org/conferences/CAIR95/resources.html Scroll down the site for several links for general html help. St. Cloud University HTML Tutorial. lrs.stcloudstate.edu/web/tutorial/index.html This site is an HTML tutorial provided by St. Cloud State University that covers everything from the very basic tags necessary to create an HTML document all the way through creating forms to receive feedback from a web source. (Contributed by Debra Carino.) HTML With Style Tutorial http://lrs.stcloudstate.edu/web/tutorials/html/default.asp 30 different tutorial from Basics to Advanced topics. (Contributed by Cheryl Lambert.) NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html Many people use the NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML as a starting point to understanding the hypertext markup language (HTML) used on the World Wide Web. It is an introduction and does not pretend to offer instructions on every aspect of HTML. Links to additional Web-based resources about HTML and other related aspects of preparing files are provided at the end of the guide. WebMonkey Cheat Sheet http://www.hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/ (Contributed by Cheryl Lambert.) FTP - File Transfer Utilities: (top)Once you have created your web page in a HTML format, you must transfer that HTML document and associated images to the web host. Most web hosting facilities offer their own utilities to upload your files. However, here are two file transfer protocol (FTP) utility programs that I find worthwhile. Again, I point you to http://www.tucows.com the world's best collection of Internet software. WebDiner - Uploading and FTP Tutorial http://www.webdiner.com/webadv/begin/upload.htm Here are several file transfer protocol (FTP) programs that I find worthwhile. Tucows at http://www.tucows.com, search for CuteFTP. Or access http://tucows.tierranet.com/ftp95.html Tucows at http://www.tucows.com, search for WS-FTP Pro. Or access http://tucows.tierranet.com/ftp95.html Fetch http://www.columbia.edu/acis/software/fetch/ (Free Version) This is the best Macintosh FTP program around. (Got a Mac, get Fetch!) The new commercial version 4.0 on 15 day trial: http://fetchsoftworks.com/ WS-FTP LE http://download.com.com/3000-2160-10252208.html?tag=lst-0-1 is another popular FTP program used at may universities. This version is available free to government employees, noncommercial home users, and students and staff of educational institutions. CuteFTP http://www.cuteftp.com/products/fms.asp Global scape provides ftp software for both the Windows and Mac platforms. Two versions (standard and pro) are available for trial download. Powerfu, complex, and reliable, CuteFTP is a fine tool. Consider it. Message Boards: (top) World Crossing at http://www.worldcrossing.com/ is a free service for discussion groups offered by WebCrossing. This site has a number of advantages: spell check, html can be used in posts, edit after posting, graphic flags on new posts, highly flexible and customizable. The notable disadvantage to this system is that you have to log into their site and navigate to your discussion area. I've found no seamless way to integrate World Crossing into a webpage so that a back link will function properly. Regardless, the relatively light ad content, and the rich features make this system is my Number One Choice. AssemblyPersonalized Bulletin Boards at http://assembly.nerdworld.com/ Create a place on the Internet where you and your family, friends, clients and co-workers can get together and meet! An Assembly is your own personal place to post, respond to and organize messages. BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) http://bscw.gmd.de/ this is a Unix based system with a few bells and whistles attached. This one is nice because it is non-commercial (no ads!) and based on the ultra stable Unix platform. You can use their public system for free, or license their software for commercial use. Schools and universities may apply for royalty-free licenses for educational purposes. After registering for an account users are able to rapidly go right to work. This one goes on the recommended list (even though it takes some nerd work to get there)! Blogger at http://www.blogger.com/ offers a basic threaded discussion group. Easy to set up and use. You can run multiple discussions here once you set up an account. I've used this system for a collaborative project involving all the US time zones and Europe. Works great! WebAps A discussion board, group email, calendar tools you can choose and use. This has changed since I last visited, so I am not familiar with new additions. WWWBoard http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/wwwboard.shtml, a Perl script-based message board with some of the features found in higher-end products." WWWBoard is a threaded World Wide Web discussion forum and message board, which allows users to post new messages, follow up to existing ones and more. This one might spin the propeller on your Turbo-Nerd beanie. Looks like a good solution if you have your own domain name and serve. Quiz Tools: (top) Quiz Center at Discovery.com http://school.discovery.com/quizcenter/quizcenter.html Quiz Center is a powerful tool you can use to create, administer, and grade quizzes online. Without any Web development background whatsoever, you'll be able to make online quizzes that provide instant feedback to you and your students. This on the fly tool is a free service for teachers involved in distance education and Internet instruction. PuzzleMaker at http://www.puzzlemaker.com PuzzleMaker PuzzleMaker is now part of Discovery.com. This one will create a crossword or other type puzzle. You can then print out or post it students to print out and work. (However, PuzzleMaker won't produce an Internet interactive puzzle. Quia at http://www.quia.com/ Quia is an acronym for Quintessential Instructional Archive. Quia is no longer a free service, however it allows you to:
When you create an activity on Quia, you get your own personal URL (web address) that you can share with anyone--your students, your colleagues, or anyone else in the world! Internet Crossword Creator at http://www.centronsoftware.com/ With INTERNET CROSSWORD CREATOR you can create Crossword puzzles, which you can then turn into interactive Java crossword puzzles for your web pages. Just make the puzzle, choose a font size, colors, and sounds and HTML code is automatically created to drop into your web page. LETS PLAY JEOPARDY! at http://www.uni.edu/walsh/jeopardy.html Jeopardy Game in Psychology. This one has a nice table format for placing your answer categories then links to the Jeopardy question. It also has the Jeopardy music which is a nice touch! (Just make sure you have copyright permission to use the theme song should you create a Jeopardy game for your students.) Web Surveys: (top) Zoomerang: http://www.zoomerang.com/ This commercial site will let you develop and publish your own surveys. Their free service will mean that ads are served as part of your poll. On the plus side, they offer a number of templates and some good advice. SurveySuite: http://intercom.virginia.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/intercom/SurveySuite/ss_index.pl This site is offered $69 a year by the University of Virginia. Data can be downloaded in text delimited format that translates nicely into Excel. Profiler: http://profiler.scrtec.org/ The Learning With Technology Profile Tool provided by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. This tool is particularly helpful for organizational needs assessment. Unique graphic feedback makes this a good way to survey and display information about group skills/ opinions. (Note: This program requires a school account. You may not be able to use it as a general user. However Profiler is anxious to work with educators. ) Survey Monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/home.asp A basic subscription is totally free and includes all of the basic features of SurveyMonkey. There are no annoying banner ads on your surveys. In addition, all of your survey responses remain absolutely private. Please note that basic subscribers are limited to a total of 10 questions per survey. Chat - Instant Messenger Services: (top) AOL Internet Messenger at http://www.aim.com/index.adp works on both MAC & PC platforms allowing you to chat in real time. Couple this up with a well trained speech recognition software and you could have something! You can download the software from this site. ICQ.com http://web.icq.com/ bills itself as the worlds largest Internet online community (their counter boasts 94 million plus world wide). This system requires downloading software and plug-in specific to your machine. Again we're talking propeller beanies and pocket protectors. Be warned: This environment is sort of a Wild West version of chat. All sorts or hard core hackers and Internet fringe culture here as well. Ah but the power of the thing! Check it out! MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.com/ is another useful chat system that is tied to the Hotmail system.You must have a 'spam gathering' hotmail account to use this product. I find it a useful tool. (Add me to your MSN Messenger service with: doconnor7@hotmail.com. However I don't usually login unless I'm planning a specific meeting.) Yahoo Messenger http://messenger.yahoo.com/ If you have a Yahoo account this is the way to go. Yahoo will show you how to add Messenger to your home page. They even provide the HTML code for you to cut and paste into your pages.
Meeting Rooms/ Virtual Offices/Virtual Environments (top) I use the term 'white board' to indicate those tools that act as an area on a display screen that an instructor can write or draw on and enable visual communication to the students. Meeting rooms are virtual office spaces where you have access to a number of tools and chat in real time with other online collaborators. TAPPED IN™ is the online workplace of an international community of education professionals. K-12 teachers and librarians, professional development staff, teacher education faculty and students, and researchers engage in professional development programs and informal collaborative activities with colleagues. Not only do you get all the free tools, you find yourself in a first rate place to network. Many online programs are using TappedIN as a community gathering place. I'd love to see Hayward jump on this bandwagon. There is always a downside: this community takes a special effort to penetrate. You have to learn the vocabulary. If you spend the time here and practice you become adept. Very useful indeed! WebEx Meeting at http://www.webex.com/ WebEx Instant Meetings. Meet on the Web, LIVE! Real-time meetings right in your browser. Share documents and applications. Its easy and its FREE! Attend a live demo Come and see how WebEx works. Let them guide you through this amazing FREE meeting service. The free service is limited in number of participants, obviously the pay-per-meeting allows more participants. This really is a dynamic software service, however it does have a MAJOR limitation: no MAC version. They've been promising a MAC edition for over a year...so far no luck! Groove http://www.groove.net/ is a PC only application that provides a very useful collaborative environment for small groups. Groove works from behind firewalls, and uses shared space on your local drive as the common ground for your meetings. Document sharing, and 'walkie talkie' style voice communications, make this product a very nice solution for collaborative work. All users of Groove will need to first download and configure the software. You then invite each other into the shared space. This is a free, pre-release version of the product and is works quite well. This product supports PCs only. Want to try it? Courseware: (top) Moodle Powerfull Open Source Software. Blackboard http://coursesites.blackboard.com is a powerful courseware system that is gaining popularity with a number of institutions. They have just released version 5 of this courseware. Blackboard offers you a chance to build a class on Bb5 as a FREE service. An earlier version of Blackboard is being taken offline. Instructors who built courses on this earlier version will be offered a chance to port their courses to the new Bb Version 5 -- for a price that has not yet been determined. Campus Crossing http://campuscrossing.com/ This is a new OTL product offered by World Crossing. The World Crossing platform (which is the foundation for Campus Crossing) is very powerful and versatile. Well worth a look! Nicenet Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA2) http://www.nicenet.net/ Nicenet provides the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA2), free of charge with no advertising. (One problem with building your own course on a free site is the served ads.) This is a sophisticated communication tool that brings powerful World-Wide-Web based conferencing, personal messaging, document sharing, scheduling and link/resource sharing to a variety of learning environments. The ICA2 incorporates many new features and responds to requests we have received from our users. Look hard at this one. It is free, it is powerful, and you can teach your classes using their free service. Definitely worth a look! Top Class: WBT Systems at http://www.wbtsystems.com/ Top Class is a web-based delivery system that is catching on at a number of campuses. Top Class is accessible only through the World-Wide Web. Students require access to the web and a browser with support for plug-ins or extensions. Features of Top Class include the following: WebCT at http://www.webct.com offers another web-based educational system that has caught on at a number of schools. As with Top Class, students need only a browser equipped with the plug-ins and technologies for the particular class material. Naturally, they need web access. Web-based e-mail addresses: (top) If you've had to go through the stress of changing your ISP (Internet service provider), you know that the real sticking point is changing your e-mail address. There is an alternative that will allow you to shop ISP services, while maintaining the same e-mail address forever: the web based e-mail account. I have a web based e-mail address at Yahoo (Dennis O'Connor: wiredinstructor@yahoo.com) because Yahoo also provides forwarding service. I've set my Yahoo account up to send my mail to my current ISP. Yahoo is just passing my mail along. (Note:this formerly free service.) If I switch ISPs I can tell Yahoo my new ISP information and not suffer any interruption in service. Folks this is hard won advice...take it from someone who had to change e-mail addresses three times in 6 months! Another advantage of setting up a web based e-mail account is that you can use the address for class transactions like this week's Listserve & Discussion activities. Don't have the mail forwarded to your desktop, check it on the web instead. Yahoo! When you create an account with Yahoo you get free access to webpage hosting, listserves, chat software, and an e-mail account. Nice, all in one solution for this week's assignments! Hotmail.com This is Microsoft's all in one communications solution. Once you have a Hotmail account, you can also download the MSN Internet chat software. This will allow you to hold synchronous chat with other Hotmail account holders. Warning: there is quite a bit of spam sent to Hotmail accounts, some of this spam is rather objectionable. Hotmail does provide a filtering system, but it isn't particularly effective. World Crossing at http://www.worldcrossing.com/ is primarily a free service for discussion groups offered by WebCrossing. As part of their free tools they offer a web based e-mail service (with message forwarding) and a rather nifty chat room service.
Listserves: (top) A listserve is an excellent way to keep in touch with like minded people. If you share an interest like online education, old cars, or French cooking, you'll find a number of listserves to match your interests. Here are a variety of software tools for setting up your own lists. An important distinction should be made between an e-mail list (like that available to you when you click e-mail in our course navigation bar) and a listserve. E-mail is usually person to person. When you subscribe to a listserve you agree to receive messages from everyone on the list. Any message you send in reply also goes to everyone on the list. Adding a link on your webpage that allows visitors to join your listserv can be a valuable communications method. Coollist at http://www.coollist.com/ Just click create a new list and you're on your way! This one was quick to set up. See if you like it. MajorDomo http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/ this is a mailing list manager with lots of power, but you should feel comfortable wearing a beanie and pocket protector! Yahoo Groups at: http://groups.yahoo.com/local/news.html. You'll find the Yahoo service a useful tool. Give it a try! Like what you see? Help us pay for this site by clicking a Google Ad of interest!
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