Slides for our ISTE NECC 2010 presentation on Web 2.0, cloud computing, and the tools Wix, Squarespace, Doodlekit, Jotform, Prezi, and Google Sites.

1. Getting Your Message
Across: Exploring New
Online Website Editors
Anastasia Trekles & Helen Jancich
Purdue University Calumet
Hammond, IN, USA

2. What the heck is “the
Cloud” anyhow?
Internet based computing
All resources, software,
and information is
available on-demand on
the Internet
Few or no files are needed
or kept on your personal
computer, meaning that
you can work from
anywhere

3. The Cloud can give you some great tools for
publishing online...
SquareSpace.com
Google Sites
Wix.com
Doodlekit.com
Jotform.com
Prezi.com

4. The Cloud and the
Classroom
Workspace and publishing for Working with cloud resources
student work, portfolios to create and publish
concurrently improves digital
Provide a place to aggregate literacy skills
classroom resources,
documents Gives teachers an opportunity
to teach students important,
Individualize educational fundamental, and lifelong
resources and instruction lessons about Internet safety,
Provides nearly unlimited data security, privacy (and the lack
storage and access to a wealth thereof), and ethics
of information from anywhere
See http://smart.com.ph/SmartSchools/SmartTools/CloudComputingInSchools.htm

5. SquareSpace
http://www.squarespace.com
Easy to use blog and website tool
Very customizable with many sophisticated templates
and galleries
Can aggregate data from social networks (i.e., Flickr,
Twitter, RSS feeds)
Able to import existing blogs
iPhone/iPod/iPad app available

6. SquareSpace
http://www.squarespace.com
The down side: Cost
No free version although 14-day trial is available
Basic account: $8/mo (use offer code TWIT or TECH to
receive 12% monthly discount)
Custom domains, more storage, and additional
stylesheet options available in the $14/mo and $20/mo
accounts

7. Editing a SquareSpace page
http://www.squarespace.com/total-creative-
control/

8. iPhone/iPad
Post and preview your site from your mobile
device

9. Creative or traditional...
SquareSpace has a template for everyone

10. Google Sites
http://sites.google.com
Free service allowing the publishing of sophisticated
websites
Choose from a variety of starter themes and edit
everything from text and graphics to tables and more
Blog-like format allows for full integration of other
Google products, including search, Picasa (images),
Maps, Calendar, and Docs
Many available extra gadgets and widgets

11. Google Sites
http://sites.google.com
The down side: Not for very young students or
computer beginners
Requires some exploration to get used to navigating
and editing your site
See http://www.scribd.com/doc/12740926/Google-
Sites-Tutorial or http://www.google.com/nonprofits/
sitestutorial.html for a good tutorial on using Google
Sites

12. Our Site on Google
http://sites.google.com/site/istenecc2010/

13. Edit Text and Objects
Edit the Sidebar and
Navigation of Your Page
All with this little toolbar!

14. Wix.com
http://www.wix.com
Create beautiful Flash-based websites without knowing
anything about Flash, ActionScript, or programming!
Simple drag-and-drop interface
Many attractive templates to choose from, or you can
create your own
Each website contains a great deal of built-in
functionality for that “professional” look and feel

15. Wix.com
http://www.wix.com
The down side: Not many templates for education, not
ADA compliant
Primarily designed as a tool for personal homepages,
artists and photographers showing off their work, and
small businesses advertising their products, Wix.com
does not “cater” to education users
Flash by its nature is not fully accessible to users with
disabilities or users of mobile devices like iPad and
iPhone

16. Visit Our Wix site!
http://www.wix.com/stacitrekles/ISTENECC2010

17. The Wix.com Editor Screen

18. DoodleKit
http://www.doodlekit.com
Creates fun, attractive websites and content
management (blogs, news pages, etc.) with many
useful features
Available in both free and paid versions, each with
different features
Those who understand HTML and CSS code can
create their own code, or use the Advanced Editor
(extra free download)

19. DoodleKit
http://www.doodlekit.com
The down side: Free version contains some ads, does
not work well on a Mac
Advanced editor can crash Firefox and does not
appear to open correctly in Safari
Despite problems that will surely be rectified over time,
Doodlekit is a very attractive, easy-to-use blog and web
publishing tool

21. JotForm
http://www.jotform.com
Only for forms, including contact sheets, polls, signup
entries, quizzes, and more
Many extra features, including survey and rating tools,
password and signup tools, and even options for
having users pay you through PayPal or Google
Responses come to you via email
Share forms via a JotForm URL or by copying and
pasting code into your website

22. JotForm
http://www.jotform.com
The down side: You must have a website before you
can use JotForm forms
JotForm also cannot store responses in a database -
you may only receive responses in email, where you
can then copy entries into your own spreadsheet or
database

23. JotForm’s main interface - note the tabs along the left with
different tool options. Simply drag and drop items from the
left menu into the content area

24. Prezi
http://www.prezi.com
Primarily for presentations only
Provides a rich, attractive visual aide for any
presentation - a unique alternative to PowerPoint
Relatively simple, intuitive interface
Free education account provides additional storage
space and option to download and view your Prezi
offline

25. Prezi
http://www.prezi.com
The down side: Not ADA compliant
The only problem with Prezi is that it is Flash-based,
and thus not accessible to users using screen readers
or some mobile devices
Otherwise, it is an excellent service!
For an example Prezi, check out Staci’s recent
presentation on the digital divide at SITE 2010: http://
prezi.com/ocjihsiew7in/

27. The Prezi interface uses this wheel to add items,
change the presentation path, and run your Show
When you want to edit an item on the page, click on it and use the
wheel to resize, move, edit, or delete. You can copy and paste
text, videos, links, and insert pictures or PDFs from your computer.

28. Other Favorites
Jing (Flash-based screen capture software): http://
www.jingproject.com
Weebly (free blog with discussion and other tools): http://
education.weebly.com/
Glogster (online posters): http://edu.glogster.com
SurveyMonkey (surveys and forms): http://surveymonkey.com
MapMash (map mashups and data visualization: http://
www.mapmash.in
Slideshare (presentation sharing): http://www.slideshare.net

29. Summary
In the end, it’s the not the tool but the message
Teachers and students can publish their messages online easily
in lots of ways: e-portfolios, assignments, WebQuests, reports,
inquiry-based projects, stories, and more!
Many tools out there do the same things slightly differently -
some may meet your needs at any one time better than another
The key is to build a list of your personal favorites and choose
the tool that can best get the particular job at hand done!

30. Thank you!
Staci Trekles -
atrekles@purdue.edu
Helen Jancich -
hjancich@sbcglobal.net
Slides on Slideshare: http://
www.slideshare.net/andella
Purdue University Calumet -
http://
www.calumet.purdue.edu/
education