Useful Internet Applications for the Classroom

Word Clouds: http://www.wordle.net/

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater
prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds
with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.
Possible uses in instruction: Summarizing articles, highlighting key points in PowerPoint,
summarizing course notes
Visualization Tool: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/
The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that
blossom with meanings and branch to related words. Its innovative display encourages exploration
and learning.
Possible uses in instruction: vocabulary development, definitions
File Conversion: http://www.zamzar.com/
Zamzar allows users to convert files without downloading a software tool. Users can type in a
URL or upload one or more files from their computer to convert file(s) to a different format.
Possible uses in instruction: file conversion, video extraction
Concept Maps: http://mywebspiration.com
Webspiration™ is the new online visual thinking tool that helps you capture ideas, organize
information, diagram processes and create clear, concise written documents whether working
individually or collaboratively.
Possible uses in instruction: highlight main points for class, brainstorming activities
Screencasts: http://screencastle.com/
ScreenCastle is a Java-based tool for recording screencasts from your web browser. If you've got
Java installed on your computer all you have to do is visit ScreenCastle and click the big red
record button. A window will pop up asking you to select the area of your desktop that you want
to record and decide whether you want to capture audio from your microphone.
Possible uses in instruction: Demos for repeated activities (MyMC), demonstrate grading
policies, review quizzes
[Honorable mention: JingProject.com]
TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/
TinyURL is a web service that provides short aliases for redirection of long URLs
Possible uses in instruction: URL shortener for online assignments
Created by Andrew Ryan and Gloria Barron for the Center for Teaching and Learning at Montgomery College – ctl@montgomerycollege.edu