Cosketch - online virtual white board you can share with others

Scribblar - online whiteboard

Twiddla - free online team whiteboarding and collaborating

NASA, one of my favorite sources for great, free, quality science resources, has a Virtual Field Trip of their Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL).

The student picks an avatar, and then Curtis, the virtual tour guide, shows the student around the JPL, explaining what the mission is and what they do. There are links to NASA mission web sites and much more.

It's a fun, creative way to learn more about NASA, the JPL, and science.



Related:

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Education ResourcesHere are a lot more great, free Educational Resources from NASA

Twiddla is a free service that lets you hold online meetings. There is no setup or signup to use it. You can mark up websites, graphics and photos or use a blank virtual whiteboard. It works on any browser or operating system.

It's great for virtual meetings, conference calls, help sessions, study sessions, etc. for teachers, schools and students.

There are paid versions with more features. It's always free for education.

Here are some screenshots of it in action.

Discovery Education is an excellent resource for educators. They have great fee-based products (Streaming, Assessment, Science and more) and over 30 free resources available for educators. The Discovery Educator Network is also a great resource for educators where they can connect with other educators and share resources and information. They also provide excellent, free, professional development through out the year. These sessions are held online and there are in-person events to coincide with the online program. 


The 3rd Annual DEN SCIcon will be held this coming Saturday, January 28th. The DEN SCIcon provides participants with effective strategies for transforming science classes through effective integration of digital media content. The conference is live and online so you can join in from home. There are also in-person events around the country, hosted by the local DEN Leadership Council (made up of educators). See below for more in person events. It is all FREE.


You must register whether attending online, or an in-person event. 


The agenda is listed below and you can register for the online sessions here: http://links.discoveryeducation.com/scicon2012


This is a great opportunity to gain some great ideas and resources for free. I've participated for the last two years and it was well worth the time. 

The Virtual 4T (Teachers Teaching Teachers about Technology) Conference is a free, virtual conference open to all educators around the world. It provides an opportunity for educators to connect, network and learn from each other. Most sessions are targeted to K-12 education, but could be applied to higher ed.

Preconference workshops begin Saturday May 19th and the opening Keynote is Sunday May 20th at 7pm. The conference continues through to 8pm on Wednesday May 22nd with all sessions running live and then being archived.

They are currently invited educators and others to submit conference session proposals.

Registration is required to attend even though it is free.

This is another great, free opportunity for educators to share what they know and learn from others.

This is the second year it is being run.

The conference hashtag on Twitter is #4tvirtualcon12

Discovery Education is an excellent resource for all educators. They have over 30 free resources available, have a thriving educator community in the Discovery Educator Network (DEN), and have some of the best educational products. Every year, they also run virtual conferences.

This year's fall Virtual Conference is "Tech or Treat" and will have some great presentations from some very talented and knowledgeable educators. Discovery Educator Network also has some in-person events where people can go and participate in the online conference with a group of educators. In some cases, the in-person event also includes other presentations and activities in addition to having access to the virtual conference.

From the Discovery Educator Network Blog:

Get your crazy costumes ready, and mark your calendars! The fall virtual conference Tech or Treat has been scheduled for Saturday, October 22, 2011 from 9am to 3pm ET. Join us for an hour or stay all day.
We have a spooktackular day of professional development (and PRIZES!)  planned for you. Join us online, or join one of the local events our Leadership Council members are planning.
In-Person Events (MORE coming soon!)
Meridian, CT (Register here)
Palatka, FL (Register here)
Atlanta, GA (Register here)
Mandeville, LA (Register here)
Branson, MO (Register here)
Port Chester, NY (Register here)
Poundmaker Cree Nation, SK Canada (Register here)
Knoxville, TN (Register here)
Pasadena, TX (Register here)
McKinney, TX (Register here)
Muskego, WI (Register here)
Schedule (all times are eastern)9:00 am The Monster Mash-Up with Traci Blazosky, DEN Guru
10:00 am No Tricks, Just Treats with Nancy Sharoff, DEN Guru
11:00 am Digital Storytelling: Get it Write! with Joe Brennan
12:00 pm The Collective Brain with the DEN Team
1:00 pm Spotlight Session with Wes Fryer
2:00 pm Treat Yourself to A Story with Dean Mantz, DEN Guru

Register here to attend online. Keep an eye on the blogs for more information about the in-person events and the session descriptions.

Registration Now Open for Virtual Conference! FETC is a great virtual conference that is free and easy to access.  It will be held on October 27, 2011 and is all online. There are always  some great sessions and there is even a lounge to chat with other  educators and a vendor area to find out information about new  educational products. You can download presentations and materials  and even view product demos from the vendors.  I've attended in the past and always learned something new and exciting.

Virtual Fetal Pig Dissection is a great site from Whitman College that allows teachers and students to experience the learning of doing a fetal pig dissection without the expense (and smell).

The site is designed to supplement an actual dissection lab, but students and teachers can use it alone also.

The site is picture based, with descriptions and annotations on the pictures.




Great for schools who don't have the money to do actual dissections.

Google Art Project is a fascinating web site that has photos of art from museums from all around the world.

The pictures are very high quality and you can even zoom in. Besides viewing the artwork, you can also take a virtual tour of the museum itself. The virtual tour reminds me of Google Street View.

There is a "visitor's guide" for the museums and floor plans to help you navigate. The artwork pictures are incredible quality and resolution. It is truly amazing.

Each piece of artwork has in information tab on the right that has the type of painting, artist, size, audio commentary on the piece, viewing notes, history and more.

You can even create your own "collections" of art.

This is a great way to experience and view great artwork without leaving your home or classroom and is also a "art classroom" on the web.

Here's an example of one of the pieces of artwork. "Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Garden"

The FETC Virtual Conference is Thursday, April 28th, 2011 from 10:30am - 6:00pm (ET).

This is a great, free, online conference with some great resources, presentations, and networking. There is also a virtual exhibit hall with vendor reps and information. The virtual conference is easy to navigate and contains video presentations, discussion forums, vendor sites, and more. There are downloads available and everything is archived for future reference. Attend all of it, or just pop in when you have time.

Some of the vendors even have drawings for freebies (which is always nice)


Some of the sessions are from or based-on sessions from the live FETC event just held.

What a great way to learn and connect and get new ideas and resources for your teaching.

Don't forget about TeachMeet New Jersey this weekend too!

Cosketch is an online, virtual, free white board that you can share with others. It is very easy to use and there is no registration required. There is even a bookmarklet available to allow you to insert your drawings into website forms.

To use Cosketch , you go to the site, click "start here" and it takes you to the work page. The web address is unique to that sketch and you share that with whomever you want to see the sketch.

Then, you start drawing. There are lines, curves, circles, rectangles, text and multiple colors.




This is great for teachers working online with students, students collaborating on work, and even professional development.

MEDtropolis is a very interesting site that I found a few years ago. The site tagline is "A webspace built for the latest health information that will educate and entertain kids and adults alike."


The site has information about different medical topics, such as bariatric surgery, diabetes and more.


But, the really cool part of the site is the Virtual Body. The Virtual Body is literally a virtual tour of the human body. You can explore the Brain, Skeleton, Heart, and Digestive tract. Each part can be explored and manipulated and some sections even have narrated tours.

50 Amazing Museum Exhibits You Can Enjoy Online is a site with a list of 50 different museums and exhibits that can be viewed online. The list is separated by categories - Art and Culture, History, Natural History, and Science and Technology - and includes links to such museums as the Louvre, Museum of Modern Art, Colonial Williamsburg, National Museum of Natural History, and NASA. 

Virtual Tech Forum is an online, FREE, virtual educational conference being presented by Tech&Learning Magazine. They are taking their excellent live conference, TechForum, and making it virtual.


This looks to be an excellent day of learning and sharing. Please join us!!


Date: Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
Time: 11am - 7pm EDT


Description:

Discovery Education is presenting the Discovery Educator Network Fall Virtual Conference on Saturday, October 23rd at 9am. FREE!

The virtual conference is a great way to get some free professional development, learn about new things, and make new connections with other educators. You can attend online, at home, or there are even some in-person regional events hosted by DEN Leadership Councils.

There will be presenters from around the DEN (Discovery Educator Network) and some special guests.

I have attended these in the past and they are very good! I highly recommend them.

TechForum is a series of educational conferences presented by Tech&Learning Magazine. Virtual TechForum is a free, online, virtual conference. It is being held on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010.

The virtual conference is a great way to attend a conference, for free, without cost or travel. The Virtual TechForum will have sessions on Web 2.0 in the classroom, 21st Century Literacies, Cool tools for communication and collaboration, administration topics, and some IT sessions. The virtual conference has live video sessions with chat, on-demand video sessions, exhibitor/vendor area where you can find out more information about products and chat with the exhibitors, and an area to chat with other attendees.

I have attended virtual conferences before and got a lot of information and resources and added some new people to my PLN. They are easy to "attend" and well worth your time.

Go here for more info or to register: http://techlearning.com/section/VirtualTechForum.aspx

WiZiQ is a site that provides free hosting for online classes and learning.