Best student web tools for enabling 24x7 student access.

This list could go on for ever, but here are the major players you need to be with right now. (And some links to those long lists at the end.)


Google Apps.  www.google.com/a/edu This set of tools is a must.  You have email, calendar, Google Docs, blogger, Picasa, sites, video, and more.  Not to mention many additional free add-ins from the apps market place including Easybib, Engrade and more. If you are not a Google Apps school, you should be asking the questions "Why Not"!

Google Chrome.  http://www.google.com/chrome This web tool along with it's extensions and Chrome web store brings a whole new set of resources to students and staff. The extensions and apps make this a must. And with Google Apps, it just works better. (Imagine that.)

Dropbox.com https://www.dropbox.com/ I know Google Apps gives you 1 gig of non-Google files... but dropbox gives you more, and a great set of tools for the computer, phone, web and more.  They even have a great Google Chrome extension.

Evernote. http://evernote.com/ This is a great tool for keeping notes, gathering research information, clipping web sites and more.

Diigo.  http://www.diigo.com This not only allows students to bookmark sights, but you can highlight and make notes on those sites.

Prezi http://prezi.com/ or 280Slides http://280slides.com/ Offer some great online presentation tools. SlideRocket is a must if you are a Google Apps school.  This free service will have you wondering why you ever used PowerPoint.

Animoto http://animoto.com/education  Animoto takes your pictures, turns them into Videos and makes people think you spent hours instead of minutes.  Great tool for you and your classes.

Pixlr http://pixlr.com/ and Picnik http://www.picnik.com/ make online photo editing a breeze.  And many people do not know about PhotoShop Express online , it has some great features too!

Some great lists of Web 2 tools:

Go2web20 has a great list of web 2 tools:  http://www.go2web20.net/

A couple great lists: http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ and another great list contain collections of Web 2.0 tools and sites

Ultimate Web 2.0 list.  Large list of web 2.0 tools listed alphabetically

A list of the best from Richard Byrne  and Richard Byrne's site