Embedding Web 2.0 Tools

[GideonWilliams]

Web2.0 tools are software features freely available on the web that you can embed on a Canvas Page. The benefits of using the tools is that they can increase engagement and enthusiasm in learning as many of them offer opportunities for students to interact directly with the resource. The resources can help personalise learning and also allow students to share their ideas on page. Students become more active participants and less passive consumers.

Below is a developing list of the tools that can embedded on a Canvas page which is by far the most engaging and effective way to use them.

Feature	What it does	Embedding..
AnswerGarden	Simple feedback tool. Students respond to question. Repeated answers are magnified on screen	Embeds fully
EtherPad	Student Collaborative writing - playback feature to see how conversations develop. Awesome for crowdsourcing exam answers with teacher making comments.	Embeds fully
ConnectFours	Based on British TV quiz. Try to find answers that have something in common then work out what they have in common	Embeds fully but must add in 's' to http code
OpinionStage	Opinion Poll (and other features). Very visual. Can add images. Results shown on screen.	Embeds fully
NoteBookCast	Real time, multi-use whiteboard. Students draw on screen. Range of tools. Good for planning, brainstorming	Embed website by adding <iframe> code
TubeChop	Crop a YouTube video from start and finish and then embed on your Page	Embeds fully but must add in 's' to http code
Desmos	Graphic Calculator and Simulation tool. Create formula for graph and allow students to alter variables to see how graph changes. Desmos also works really well as an External Tool via the Redirect Tool - just untick the Force open in new tab (For External Links Only) option - see Algebra 2	Embeds fully also great as Redirect Tool feature
GoConqr	Create amazing mindmaps that can be animated to show how they were developed (also has many other features)	Embeds fully when made public
Padlet	Collaborative 'crowd sourcing' of ideas. Students create entries on a blank board. Can add text, links, images, video etc. Upload Office365 documents and play them as embedded features. Now with Draw feature that allows drawing with stylus. Note: Padlet now only allows 3 free padlets plus whatever you had already set up	Embeds fully
Quizlet	More than just flashcards. Whole range of testing features from this activity. Best translation feature on the market. Superb for languages. Can also add images to cards.	Embeds fully with dropdown link to other activities
H5P	Amazing interactive tools. Best ones on the web. Huge range of multimedia features you can add in from quizzes to presentation - see my other blogpost and comments for more details	Embeds fully but need javascript to resize
ProProfs	Free Quiz making site. Create timed Wordsearches, Crosswords, Sliding tiles, Jigsaws, Scrambled words and Hangman. Resizes on different pages too. Wordsearch works well. Embedding features of the others less so - rather disappointingly. However. the one below.....	Embeds fully but must add in 's' to http code. Can also delete extra chunks
EducaPlay	A HUGE improvement on ProProfs and offering a far superior range of tools including: Wordsearch, crossword, scrambled word, scrambled sentence (good for ordering), grouping task, matching task, interactive map (labeling task - brilliant!) and Video question (questions appearing on a YouTube video timeline)	Sign up and create your quiz then embed on your site. You can remove the additional links.
Tricider	Tricider is a voting platform with a difference. Type in a question/suggestion you want to vote on.Students can then suggest ideas to back this up whilst other students can write the pros and cons of each idea. At any stage, students can vote for the best idea	Fully embeds with options to change iframe dimensions at bottom of page. Need to add an 's' to http code.
LearningApps	Free Web 2.0 quiz/feature generator. Embed or download as SCORM for gradebook? Matching, Group, Number line, Ordering, Puzzle, Crossword, Pairing, Word search, Image labelling and much more. Looks amazing! A few issues with working on iPad (dragging features). Superb.	Fully embeds. You may want to alter the height to avoid scrollbars
DotStorming	Voting feature. You can allow students to vote multiple times (up to 10). Voting board can be image based or text (cards) or both! Students see how many votes each item has. Options to include Chat feature or have name of person who voted (I keep this anonymous by asking students to select a number between 1 and 1000!) You can store boards for later use - Example here	Embeds via the Share button.
pHET Simulations	These are utterly astonishing. High quality simulations for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology and Maths.  Amazing  variety and variation within simulations. Models are chosen well eg Conservation of Energy from KE to PE is based on a skateboarder on a ramp. Options for this include energy transfer to Heat via friction.  The electrical circuits model also allows you to explore pupil misconceptions with ideas such as pd and current. Many simulations also include graphical analysis and you can choose a range of ways to present the information. Lots of HTML5 options too.	Click on EMBED button, embeds as iFrame
Jigsaw Planet	OK, it maybe aimed at junior age students but it's a great little website. Upload your image. Choose the number and style of jigsaw pieces and rotation and then Create. Satisfying click when you link pieces.	Embedding via the EMmbed button as iFrame.
StudyStack	Free Flashcard site. Doesn't do just flashcards but allows you to create 10+ other quiz games from the same set. The Target game works really well as does the Test feature.	Embeds via the Embed button as iFrame - no adverts!
Elevation Map	Plotting elevation as a 2D map on Google style map. Essential for Geography students. Click the magnifying glass and enter your destination. Click on the pen icon in the Global Elevation box. Click the starting point on the map. Drag the line to where you want to go or click different locations to plot a journey. Double click to enter. This creates the Elevation Map. Move the pointer along the elevation and it shows where you are on the map. You can also change the base map from the menu on the left hand side.	Embed the tool by copying and pasting the iFrame embed tag - width set to 100%
PhotoSnack	Now adding this to the list. Create amazing picture slideshow galleries for free which you can embed on a Canvas page. The free account lets you have 100 images and the range of options for the slideshow is very good - autoplay, different transitions, thumbnail gallery and music backgrounds!!!Can also view the slidesow full page. Here is an example of one I made: PhotoSnack | Testing slideshow by gideonwilliams   Obviously with any images hosted on a different site you need to be mindful of personal data and safeguarding issues.	Embed to Canvas page - width is set to 100% and so is height?!? You need to change height to about 600 pixels
AWW App	Some of the best suggestions come when you are not looking for them. This came from an idea for a native whiteboard feature for Canvas https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/9120-whiteboard-for-submissions?sr=search&searchId=ea0fd19a-96....  APP in an online whiteboard that is very responsive. Create an account first. You can embed the board via Collaborations button. Not able to comment more yet as you get a 14 day free trial will all features so need to see what changes after then!	Embeds as iframe - width set to 100%  and height to 650px which can be altered. Would suggest adding a border to create definition

Do you know that you can do a sort of similar thing with PowerPoint 2016 (Office365)?

Have a read of this post to find out more - Fiddling whilst PowerPoint turns 

[jbrady2]

 @GideonWilliams ​ Thanks for creating this post.  I am always looking for new and interesting tools to experiment with or inform faculty about, and there are some in the list that I had not heard of before, so I look forward to having some free time in the near future to try them out.

[GideonWilliams]

Cheers Jeff. Will try to keep adding. The EducaPlay site I added today is amazing...

[stephanie_pope]

This is an awesome go to reference...and I really appreciate the functionality tips!

[GideonWilliams]

Thanks Stephanie. I have a Canvas Module of all of them in action. I should put it into Commons to share.

[stephanie_pope]

That would be great!

[GideonWilliams]

Now done :O)

[Bobby2]

 @GideonWilliams ‌ thanks for this fab list. So many cool tools for teaching and learning. Nice to know that these have been well tested before we have a go. Thanks for having the passion and giving the time to experiment for us.

[GideonWilliams]

Thanks for that Bobby!

[shellysmith]

  @GideonWilliams ‌ is this your most up to date list?  It's terrific so thank you.  

[Bobby2]

This is GOLD Gideon.

Thanks for keeping it updated.

It will be well shared.

[stacy_lambert]

Thanks  @GideonWilliams ‌ 

I use quizlet all the time as a language teacher and can recommend it. The games are easy to understand and the flashcards are great for flipped learning / revision and the voices are pretty good in general. 

Great list, cheers!

[GideonWilliams]

They are great. Spoke with someone from Quizlet at a conference with some ideas for developing them further eg some formatting features that would encourage better use in Science and Maths. Have been told that the voice translation for languages is one of the most accurate that people have heard. The embedding element is brilliant and the ability to pick and choose a particular learning options too.

If you have not yet done so, please have a look at www.sugarcane.com for flipcards. Reason they are not on the list is they don't embed but they are hugely impressive.

[stacy_lambert]

Thanks Gideon - will do!

[jenna_townsend]

 @GideonWilliams  Thank You so much for posting these ideas! I am presenting at the Utah Coalition for Educational Technology (UCET) conference this year on cut-and-paste HTML for making a more visual Canvas page and would love to provide this list as a bonus resource--the teachers looking to make their Canvas pages more visually appealing are also the ones looking to add engagement and variety with embedded tools.

[GideonWilliams]

Absolutely - please use these and refer to them any time. 

If you would also like some examples of the tools being used then I can probably put together a course with the features on there as pages. I think I had a course like this in Commons when I first posted this but it was a while back.

Happy to update but probably be over the weekend if OK?

Thanks for the Badge - you did have to - a pleasure sharing the stuff. I also do a lot of embedding of Office365 resources on Canvas but not sure these are regarded as free? There is a post about Microsoft Forms somewhere on Canvas....

[jenna_townsend]

I found your resources on Commons--thank you for your permission to use them! The Office365 resources sound nice, but I work in a purely Google district. However, I know there will be some people from a purely Microsoft district in attendance at UCET, so maybe I'll look into what you have and share them as an FYI for people who are interested. With your permission of course!

[GideonWilliams]

Of course. Am glad you found them. Was not sure they were still there. I will try to update them.

[sue_valdeck]

 @lucija_medojevi ‌This is something for you to look into for your presentation on Web 2.0 tools and Canvas.

[creisch]

I posted a Padlet into a quiz. The Padlet functions just fine, but the problem is that when anyone accesses the quiz, it immediately jumps to the question with the Padlet in it (towards the end of the quiz), and I can't figure out why. I'd gladly go in and alter the HTML code if I knew what exactly I was looking for. 

Any ideas?

[GideonWilliams]

Hey Carla, I cannot say I've ever used a Padlet in a quiz so this is new to me. I will try it out this weekend to try to replicate. Just to check, how many questions to do you have, what sort of question is the Padlet in and what question number is it?

[creisch]

Thanks for your quick response!

There are 13 graded questions in this quiz, and the question with the padlet is #12. I also have a bunch of text-only "spacers" throughout with explanations and such. 

I put the Padlet in a true/false question only because I wanted the students to click on "true" to indicate that they had at least attempted to post something in the Padlet (there was a question for them to answer in the Padlet). Their participation is anonymous, of course, but by giving a point value and having them click something, I have a better chance of them participating. I also tried this in my sandbox course by inserting the Padlet in a text-only question and it didn't make a difference. 

I inserted the Padlet by using the embed code from the site and then using the HTML editor. I also tried it by using the "insert/edit media" button but that didn't make a difference. 

[creisch]

I may have found the problem. I changed the Padlet to another format, and when I tested it again, it did not jump to that last question. I had been using the Padlet format "Backchannel" and then changed it to "Grid" (but apparently any of the other four would have been fine), and then it no longer jumped to that question when I previewed the quiz. 

I still do not know what it is about that one format that caused the glitch. I could not see any differences in the HTML code between the two formats. 

[Bobby2]

Great problem solving  @creisch 

[creisch]

Thanks! I couldn't let it go because it was really bugging me.   

I also realized that every time I accessed that particular Padlet on the Padlet web site (not the one embedded in the quiz), it kept prompting me to turn on notifications-- something I had not seen with the other Padlets I created. That may have been part of the glitch as well. I'm just going to avoid that "Backchannel" format from now on and my Padlets should run without a hitch. 

[GideonWilliams]

Yup, I second that...

[Boekenoogen]

This is a great resource for all. I have come back to this bookmark a few times to look for new ideas to pass on to our faculty. 

[kmmslp]

This is really helpful. I've spent countless hours making my own interactive slides using ppt and sharing through OneDrive because my innovative ed folks told me there were no interactive tools that could be embedded.  I'm wondering if anyone here has any favorites, preferably for higher ed courses.  Thank you. 

[GideonWilliams]

An update to the post a few years later....!

If you liked H5P I would strongly recommend CurrikiStudio - CurrikiStudio - It has ALL the H5P tools free plus you can design projects that contain multiple quizzes.

Canva Home - Canva is an astonishing online tool plus the premium version is FREE to all schools. It has an excellent integration feature Canvas LMS Teacher Guide - Presentation (also free!).

Gibbly https://www.gibbly.co/ may quite possibly be the first free AI generated question quiz. You can choose different levels of ability adn the solo version is great as it gives you feedback. Whilst not a Web2 tool, it appears you can embed it very nicely on to a Canvas page using iFrame Generator - Free Online iFrame Code Maker Tool (iframe-generator.com)

Quizalize https://app.quizalize.com/ is a much overlooked Quiz engine. Their free version now includes AI assistance from ChatGPT and also a great feature of guided feedback should a student make an initial mistake. You cannot embed it but any quiz tool that is this quick and easy to use deserves to get a mention!