Voicethread works with the idea that each picture is worth a thousand words. User can view slideshows, zoom and pan through images, and leave comments through voice, text, audio file, video, or even via telephone). With Voicethread, viewers are encouraged to actively engage in discussions using these commenting tools. All group discussions (or voicethreads) happen on one simple page.

Voicethreads are more organized than the usual live web conferencing interfaces since each comment are posted one at a time and stored in the thread so that future viewers can see them.

The features are designed to work well for educators in a distance learning environment. Students can create digital stories and reports, and teachers can demonstrate their research or prepare remote lectures.

Voicethread demo video:

Features:

• Start group conversations around images, documents, and videos.
• Embed and share voicethreads from your website.
• Comment in one of five ways: voice, text, audio file, video, or telephone.
• Free for educators.
• Draw doodles on top of images and videos.
• Moderator options for voicethread comments.

Check Out Voicethread @ www.voicethread.com

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• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• TalkShoe: Live Talk Shows and Conference Calls
• Plagium: Online Plagiarism Tracker
• Lectr: Educational Video Sharing Website

How it works;

1. Build your topic. Organize it by chapters, days, sections or modules.
2. Package contents it into an interactive online learning application (your Genie)
3. Publish and share your Genie online. Charge users for access.

You can always customize the look of your Genie (text, background colour etc), edit sections and reuse your old Genies to create new Genies. You can sell access to your Genie(s) online through integrated PayPal and Google Checkout payment options.

They offer a free account, which lets you create 1 Genie, store up 15 MB of content and unlimited users. Paid accounts starting from 24$/month and let you build more Genies, more storage and Google/PayPal resale options.

Features:

• Organize your knowledge of a certain topic into a dedicated learning portal (Genie), publish and share it with other people
• Easily manage documents (presentations, white papers) and videos within your Genie portal
• Connect your audience with blogs, wiki, online media and social network community.
• Integrated learning goal management tools – helps users achieve their learning objective.
• Invite friends and colleagues to review your Genie.
• Share privately with selected people or with everyone.
• Monitor individual user usage.
• Duplicate, edit and reuse your old Genie.
• All paid accounts can use integrated PayPal and Google Check out options.
• Sell your Genie(s) on Amazon.
• 100% of profits and commissions made is kept by you (Genie creator).

Check out KnowledgeGenie @ www.myknowledgegenie.com

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• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• Voicethread: Create Powerful Multimedia Slideshows
• Plagium: Online Plagiarism Tracker
• Lectr: Educational Video Sharing Website

In addition to watching videos users may rate them and leave their comments. There is also an option to contribute by adding quality educational videos from other video sharing sites like Youtube.

Features:

• Search educational videos online.
• Browse by categories and subcategories.
• Rate and leave comments.
• Check out recently posted, most viewed and highest rated videos.
• Contribute by adding educational videos from other websites.
• Browser toolbar to add videos from other sites in snap.
• Similar websites: Lectr, AcademicEarth and MBAvid.

Check out WatchKnow @ www.watchknow.org

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• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• SchoolOfEverything: Find Local Teacher On Any Subject
• Plagium: Online Plagiarism Tracker
• Lectr: Educational Video Sharing Website
• BuddySchool: Online Tutors in All Subjects

Community features such as groups help you in discussing any of your presentations beforehand by uploading it and getting vital suggestions on their improvement. Plus you can create a playlist of videos you find useful.

Features :

• YouTube like site for educational purposes.
• Helpful for teachers and students.
• Discuss your presentations beforehand and get suggestions.
• Create a playlist of videos you find useful.
• Similar websiter: AcademicEarth and MBAvid.

Check out Lectr @ www.lectr.com (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

• New: Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Recommended!
• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• Voicethread: Create Powerful Multimedia Slideshows
• Plagium: Online Plagiarism Tracker
• LectureShare : Share Lecture Notes Online

Here’s how it works:

1. You enter a word or text in the big box on the Wordsift homepage and press ‘ Sift ‘.
2. On the next page you get a tag cloud which has important words in the text.
3. You can click on any of the words and it displays Google image search result and visual thesaurus results below it.
4. It also displays more sentences created from that word on the same page.

For more info watch demo video below:

You might also want to check other similar apps for visualizing text and words which we have profiled earlier. These are Lexipedia, VisuWords and Wordle.

Check out Wordsift @ www.wordsift.com (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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• WordAhead: Video Vocabulary Site
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• VocabSushi: The Easy Way To Build Your Vocabulary
• Plagium: Online Plagiarism Tracker
• WordSpy: Dictionary of New Words

To check your content for plagiarism online, simply paste a block of text inside provided form (or submit its online URL) and then click on the “Track plagiarisms”. Wait until Plagium scans through webpages on the Internet and brings a list of websites containing the identical text.

The site doesn’t require users to register in order to use the plagiarism tracker. However, as a bonus regsitered users are able setup alerts for certain text and receive a weekly email plagiarism reports.

Features:

• Free online plagiarism checker for checking whether content from a website or research paper has been used anywhere else.
• Able to handle checks with large blocks of text.
• Supports English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages.
• Setup alerts and get weekly email reports (registered users only).
• Similar websites: The Plagiarism Checker and Copyscape.

Check out Plagium @ www.plagium.com

• New: Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Recommended!
• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• University Of The People: Tuition-Free Online University
• TrackClass: Track & Organize Your School Work
• The Plagiarism Checker: Check Papers For Plagiarism

See who’s learning what in your area and connect with people who share similar interests. Keep track of your current and future subjects in your profile. Invite your friends by sharing your learner page on your social network profiles and other webpages.

If you have a skill you would like to teach, connect with learners in your area by advertising your services for free through the site.

Features:

• Teachers and learners marketplace.
• Advertise your teaching skills to other learners online or in your area.
• Learn and teach any subject.
• Service available in US and UK.
• Free, sign up to get started.

Check out SchoolOfEverything @ www.schoolofeverything.com

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• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• ZAPReader : Practise Speed Reading Online
• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WiZiQ : Virtual Classroom
• ReadSpeeder: Online Speed Reading Tool

You may download pictures to your computer in different sizes or print them out directly from the website.

Furthermore, you can rate, download and print pictures – all without any registration. Although egistered users get an extra option to bookmark and save favorite pictures to personal album for later use.

All of the drawings and photos are free to use for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Features:

• Free educational photos and coloring drawings for kids.
• Browse pictures by categoriessuch as animals, geography, circus etc.
• Download and save pictures in different sizes (small, average, large).
• Print out colouring drawings online.
• Register to save favorite pictures to personal EduPics album.
• Similar websites: TheColor.

Check out Edupics @ www.edupics.com

• New: Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Recommended!
• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• Voicethread: Create Powerful Multimedia Slideshows
• Plagium: Online Plagiarism Tracker
• Lectr: Educational Video Sharing Website

Features:

• Create and share mind maps online.
• Save ready mindmaps in your Ekpenso account.
• Make mindmaps public or share them only with selected group of people.
• Export maps to XML or PDF files.
• Instantly create a duplicate for any map.
• Offline mode: Edit mindmaps offline (requires Google Gears or Adobe Air).
• Mindmap tools: Add nodes and text, change font, background color, undo feature, zoom in/out, etc.
• Login with your OpenID account (What Is OpenID ?).

Another really good mindmapper is Text2MindMap. It can automatically generate maps from nested text lists. Very fast and convenient.

Check out Ekpenso @ www.ekpenso.com

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• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

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• Wowbrary: Get Alerts on New Book Arrivals From Your Library
• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WiZiQ : Virtual Classroom
• WiseMapping: Online MindMapping Tool

Feature Overview

• For Tutors:
• Earn money by offering online lessons.
• Accept any popular payment method (Credit Cards, PayPal, Western Union, etc.).
• Display class schedules and available time slots.
• Receive lesson request notifications on your mobile phone (free).
• For Students:
• Get private lessons from qualified professionals.
• Browse tutors by topic (Art, Spirituality, Business, Humanities, Language, and Science).
• View individual tutor profiles, read user feedback (if available), schedule a lesson, take a test lesson (if available), etc.
• Store chat history and session notes online.

Check out BuddySchool @ www.buddyschool.com

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• MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

• WatchKnow: 1000s of Educational Videos
• WordSift: Visualize Text & Related Information
• WeSeed: Learn The Stock Market For Free Online
• Voicethread: Create Powerful Multimedia Slideshows
• SchoolOfEverything: Find Local Teacher On Any Subject