Gooru is a new (alpha) site I learned about from Richard Byrne on his Free Technology for Teacher's Blog.

Gooru is still in alpha status, meaning it is not fully open to the public yet, but you can still sign up. Gooru is an online study tool that allows students to explore resources and study guides that are aligned to standards. The materials are in math and science and are from 5th grade up to high school. Resources include digital textbooks, videos, animations, and much more. It also includes social media functions so that students can work, study, and share with others.

There are self-assessments in Gooru that help it adapt to the student, suggesting resources and study guides based on the student's performance.

The resources are all vetted by educational professionals and you can even create custom collections and resources.

The site has resources to learn more about it and how it can be beneficial to educators and students.

Shmoop is a site that provides resources and information to help "make learning and writing more fun and relevant".

The site is written by educators and experts in each area and there are resources, links, information, and activities to help students learn literature, history, economics, math, and science, along with college prep, standardized test prep and study help. There are also teacher resources to help teachers use Shmoop with their students.

Each subject area has an overview, in depth topics, vocabulary, real world applications, links, study materials and practice quizzes.

This is a great resource for teachers to use with their students, or for students to use independently for extra help and practice.

Math Open Reference is a site that has interactive resources and information on different math topics. The pages are easy to read and understand and are a great resource for teachers and students.

The topics include Plane Geometry, Trigonometry, and Coordinate and Solid Geometry.

Talk about interesting timing. As I'm reading about Zen.do on Richard Byrne's blog, I get an email from one of the developers of Zen.do, Jason Urton. He said he had found my blog because he is interested in technology in education and how technology can help students improve critical thinking. He is a Master's degree candidate in Computer science and developed Zen.do as a tool to help students. 


Zen.do allows students to take notes as normal, while it automatically builds a study guide of related flashcards. Students can then review the flash cards as a study tool. There is a built in algorithm to optimize the review time of the students as they use the flash cards. 


It is free and you can create a new sign in or sign in with your Facebook or Google Accounts. 


There is a video demo on the site to show you how it works and it's actually pretty easy and intuitive to use. 


When you open a new document to take notes, it has instructions on what to do right there.  You create your notes and then save them and click "review" and the flash cards are there for you.  The title of the card will be shown, and you try to remember what goes with it. Then you click "show" and it shows you the rest of the information (like flipping a flash card over) and then you click how well you "got it" on a scale of 1 -4. This is used in the algorithm so it knows if it should re-show certain cards. 








Note: Zendo means "meditation hall" in Japanese. Pretty fitting. 


This is a great tool for students to use for note taking and studying. 


The development team, and Mr. Urton specifically, would like reactions or suggestion to the site from teachers and students. They would then uses that feedback to improve the site. 


You can email Jason Urton at:   jason at zen.do  

Wordstash is a web based study tool that utilizes digital flashcards and a dictionary to allow teachers and students to create flashcards. Teachers can create accounts and share lists they create with their students.

It is very easy to use and is free. You can select a theme for your flashcards, create your own flashcards, find already created flashcards, use quizzes and games, and more. The site is linked to a dictionary site, so definitions are easily found and are given in sentences to provide contextual meaning.

The site is free and easy to use. Try it out and share it with your students.

Braineos is a site that students can use to create flashcards and then use them in games to study.

The site is free and very easy to use. Students can also work with their friends and challenge them.

Students can also search for sets of flash cards that have already been created about different topics and use those.

What I like about this is it makes studying a game with competition and the students won't even know they are studying.