137 Tech Resources For Teachers and Students

Back in March of 2009, I received my first guest post submission from Karen Schweitzer entitled 50 Online Reference Sites for Teachers. At the time, she was barely building her online portfolio by sending out guest posts to edublog across the web. As best as I can tell, So You Want To Teach? was one of the first blogs she submitted articles for.

As soon as the article went live, it quickly became one of the most popular pages on the entire blog. In fact, that article alone received some 275 views the first three weeks it was up. At the time, that was huge. For comparison, 14 months later, I posted a guest article 8 Teachers Who Changed History and it garnered 400 views in the first three days it was up. Such is the nature of blog growth along with Twitter and Facebook. But at the time, it was huge.

So I asked her if she would be interested in being a regular guest blogger, and she agreed! Over the course of 2009, she contributed 7 guest posts which included dozens and dozens of amazing links to technology resources, as well as 30 Twitter Tips for Teachers.

Since some of those articles still are among the most popular on the site, I thought it would be convenient to compile all 137 resources she shared with us in 2009 into one big alphabetized list. Enjoy!

4 Shared – This free file sharing network provides storage for music, videos, photos, and documents. 4 Shared offers five GB of free space per user.
21Classes – 21Classes makes classroom blogging easy, safe, and secure by providing free virtual classrooms and blog portals. Class homepages can be used to communicate with students and the fully-functional blogs can be easily monitored and customized.
Academhack – Academhack is an online blog loaded with tips and tricks for introducing new technology into academics.
AFT – The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) provides a long list of scholarships for teachers who want to pursue a masters degree and other education opportunities. The list also includes information about loan forgiveness programs.
All Education Schools – All Education Schools is an online guide to U.S. colleges of education. Teachers can use the site to research schools, education programs, and teaching careers.
American FactFinder – This U.S. Census Bureau site is a great place to find economic, housing, population, and geographic data. Other special features include a reference shelf with digital versions of Bureau publications.
Answers.com – This site provides information on more than four million topics though original articles, community-contributed articles, and leading reference publications.
The Apple – The Apple is a Monster site where teachers can learn, network, and explore education careers. The site offers a degree finder, career articles, job search support, education news, and an “ask the teacher” section.
Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet – This online reference serves as a companion to the book written by Craig Roland. Special features include downloadable classroom materials, links to virtual museums, and a list of valuable web resources.
Artcylcopedia – This free encyclopedia doubles as a search tool to help teachers find images of fine art on the Internet.
Astronomical Almanac – This interactive almanac from SkyAndTelescope.com provides astronomical data that can be customized by location. Data is available for any date between 1600 and 2400 A.D.
Bartleby – Bartleby is a great reference site for teachers. The site’s published materials include encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotation books, and well-known reference guides.
Bibliomania – The reference section of Bibliomania includes free digital versions of popular encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses, and other reference materials.
Bookgoo – Bookgoo is a free web app that can be used to highlight and annotate student documents that were created on or uploaded to a classroom PC. This handy online tool is also great for students who want to share work with each other and get instant feedback.
Bubbl.us – Bubbl.us is a free web app that streamlines the brainstorming process. It can be used to create colorful mind maps, organize thoughts, and share ideas with the classroom.
Calcoolate – This site has an online calculator that is easy to access and use. Calcoolate is also good for distance, temperature, weight, volume, and area conversions.
Chalksite – Chalksite is a quick and easy way to expand your classroom onto the web. This innovative site allows teachers to assign homework, grades, messages, and more.
Children’s Encyclopedia of Women – This online encyclopedia, which was created by third and fourth grade students, includes a wide range of entries, important dates in women’s history, and research sources.
CIA Library – The CIA’s online library includes a digital copy of The World Fact Book, a directory of foreign leaders, maps, historical documents, and many other reference materials that can be used in the classroom.
ClassMarker – Teachers can create professional looking online quizzes on this website. The quizzes can be taken and graded online.
Class Wiki – Class Wiki provides tools that can be used online to support teaching. Simply drag and drop content such as graphics, text, and video to create your own classroom Wiki.
Classroom 2.0 – Classroom 2.0 is an online social network created for teachers. It is an excellent platform to discuss technology, find events, and collaborate with colleagues.
The Clever Sheep – This teacher podcast focuses on sharing web 2.0 technologies and e-learning tools. New podcasts are posted each week. Most last less than ten minutes from beginning to end.
CNN Student News – CNN offers a student news section that includes news stories, videos, kid-friendly quizzes, and other special resources for teachers.
Concept to Classroom – Concept to Classroom offers an award-winning online workshop for teachers who want to learn more about teaching to academic standards. The workshop includes explanations, demonstrations, and advice on implementing standards-based teaching in the classroom.
Connexions – There are several free education-related courses and learning modules available through Connexions including this free course which explores the best practices in online teaching.
Dictionary.com – This site features the largest free dictionary on the web. Entries include audio pronunciation and definitions from trusted sources.
Diigo – Ever wish you could highlight and add sticky notes to the web? Diigo lets you do that. This handy web app also allows you to share your finding with others.
EdHelper.com – EdHelper is dedicated to assembling resources for teachers. The site provides lesson plans in addition to puzzles, word searches, mazes, and other games.
Edmodo – This microblogging site was created specifically for teachers and students. Edmodo can be used to share notes, files, assignments, grades, and events.
EdTechTalk – EdTechTalk is a podcast for teachers who want to learn about the various uses of technology in education. New episodes are recorded each week.
Edublogs – Edublogs is free blogging platform for teachers and students who want to start their own education-related blog. Special features include 20MB of free space, import/export capability, and blogger tutorials.
Education World – Teachers looking for tools and templates to increase productivity in the classroom will enjoy Education World. This site has great features like assessment tools, awards, bulletin boards, calendars, and more.
The Educator’s Reference Desk – An excellent reference site for teachers, The Educator’s Reference Desk offers lesson plans, links to more than 3,000 education resources, and answers to hundreds of frequently asked questions.
Eduslide – Similar to SlideShare, Eduslide allows anyone to find, create, and share educational materials online. Materials can be presented through wikis, blogs, slideshows, and more.
Edutagger – Edutagger is a new social bookmarking site that was created strictly for K-12 educators and learners. It can be used to save, manage, and share websites and bookmarks with students or colleagues.
Empressr – Empressr is a rich media presentation and storytelling tool. Site visitors can browse through current presentations to find learning materials or create their own private and public presentations.
Encyclopedia.com – Encylcopedia.com provides free access to 49 encyclopedias. Other resources include free dictionaries and thesauruses.
Encyclopedia of Life – The EOL is an online reference that details each species of organism on Earth. Each entry includes text, images, and links to additional information.
Engrade – Over 150,000 teachers use Engrade’s suite of tools to manage their classrooms online. The tools allow teachers to post assignments, grades, and attendance books on the web. Engrade can also be used to connect and privately communicate with administrators, parents, and students.
ERIC – The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) is an online digital library featuring education research and information. ERIC is a good place to find information about teaching, learning, and education.
Evernote – This free web app allows you to capture notes, lists, reminders, research, and more. Evernote can be accessed with any Internet capable device, making it easy for students and teachers to access research and notes from home.
The Farmer’s Almanac – The online version of the Original Farmer’s Almanac has many of the same features as the print version. Teachers can also access a word of the day, puzzle of the day, question of the day, and other daily activities.
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) – FREE hosts a large collection of free teaching and learning resources from federal agencies.
First Year Teacher Program – This free online course from Reading Rockets is designed for new K-3 teachers who want to learn more about teaching phonics, speech sounds, and text comprehension. The course includes 10 self-paced modules.
FlashcardExchange – Any teacher that uses flashcards will love this high-tech alternative. FlashcardExchange can be used to make, study, and share flashcards online.
Flash Card Machine – The Flash Card Machine can be used by teachers and students to create and share flashcards online. Cards can be organized and built into customizable sites.
Google Apps Education Edition – The Education Edition of Google Apps is a free suite of products specifically designed for schools and universities who want to improve communication and collaboration. The suite includes free email, messaging, calendars, shared documents, and more.
Google Docs – This free web based suite of tools from Google gives classrooms the ability to collaborate and share assignments online. The suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tool.
Go2Web20.net – This site is a well-organized directory of free web apps and other web 2.0 tools.
GradeConnect – GradeConnect is a free online classroom management system that provides teachers with a secure online gradebook, assignment poster, and email system.
GroupTweet – Teachers who like to communicate via Twitter will enjoy this free Twitter app which allows groups of users to chat privately via Twitter.
Hooeey – This personal web app allows users to record and customize web links. Teachers can comment, tag, and rate links to share with students.
INFOMINE – INFOMINE is a virtual library of Internet resources selected by college and university librarians.
Info Please – This Pearson Education company offers a free encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and other reference materials. Teachers will especially like the FactMonster section of the site, which includes kid friendly resources, games, and quizzes.
International Center for Scientific Research – The ICSR is the world’s first science portal. The site is dedicated to guiding scholars, researchers, and teachers to journals, published research, and other science resources.
Internet Public Library – The IPL is a free online reference and learning environment. Resources that would be of interest to teachers include books, newspapers, magazines, reference materials, subject collections, and a list of trusted research websites.
Johns Hopkins Medical Desk Reference – This online reference from Johns Hopkins is great for health teachers. In addition to an alphabetical list of illnesses and medical problems, the site also provides links to additional resources.
KeepandShare – KeepandShare is a secure file sharing network that’s perfect for the classroom. Students and teachers can store and share files, photos, documents, class calendars, and more.
Kids.gov – Kids.gov is the official government portal for kids. The site provides free lesson plans and classroom activities for teachers in addition to kid friendly information about government, history, social studies, and related subjects.
Language Materials Project – This UCLA site is dedicated to providing teaching resources for less commonly taught languages. Resources are available for a wide range of languages and learning levels.
LearnHub – LearnHub is a social learning network where teachers can contribute their knowledge and learn from people all over the world.
LectureTools – LectureTools is a suite of tools that is free for instructors at any U.S. or Canadian university or college. The tools can be used to share slides, learning objects, and podcasts and to monitor students’ understanding of educational materials.
The Lesson Plan Library – This online library from Discover Education offers elementary, middle school, and high school lesson plans for math, history, science, language arts, and other traditional school subjects.
LessonPlansPage.com – This HotChalk site features nearly 4,000 lesson plans for Pre-K through the 12th grade.
Library of Congress – The Library of Congress provides more than 10 million online resources for teachers, including an online reference service, lesson plans, activities, encyclopedias, and digital collections.
Library Spot – The Library Spot offers a comprehensive reading room, a virtual reference desk, and a directory of online and campus-based libraries.
Merriam-Webster Online – America’s best-selling desk dictionary can be viewed online along with a virtual thesaurus. Other resources on the online version of M-W include a word of the day, word games, spelling bee information, and quizzes.
Mikogo – Mikogo is a free screen-sharing program that allows teachers to have online meetings, conferences, or give students online support.
Mindomo – Mindomo is a web-based tool that can be used to collaborate and create mind maps online. The free version of Mindomo offers professional functionality, import/export features, and private maps.
MIT OCW – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers more than 1,900 free online courses through their OpenCourseWare program that may be of interest to classroom teachers. Covered subjects include anthropology, biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, history, literature, and music among others.
Moodle – This popular software package allows teachers to create free educational courses and websites. Moodle is a good place to teach an online course or create websites for students to study.
MyStickies – A better alternative to traditional bookmarking, MyStickies allows you to add digital sticky notes to web pages. Stickies can be sorted searched, edited, and browsed from any computer.
NCATE – The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is a great place for teachers to learn more about online events, teacher certification, and campus-based education programs.
Netvibes – Netvibes is a free way for teachers to create a customized home page featuring all of their favorite online media sources (i.e. news, weather, blogs, photos, email, and social networks.)
NextGen Teachers – NextGen Teachers is a free online social community for teachers who want to explore and discuss technology in education and the next generation of learning and teaching.
Notely – Although Notely was created for students, this web app can also serve as an online time management tool for teachers who need to get organized. Notely offers a calendar, to-do lists, a homework organizer, course manager, and a note taker.
Nutrition Toolbox – The Nutrition Toolbox from Principal Health News includes a nutrition calculator/database with more than 40,000 entries. This online reference is great for teachers who want to teach students how to calculate the nutritional value of different foods.
NY Times – Teachers can check on current events and search for news stories dating back to 1851 on The New York Times website.
Online Continuing Education – This site provides information on fee-based continuing education courses that can be taken online for credit through colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations.
Online Masters Degree – Teachers who have been thinking about furthering their education but do not have time for a full-time campus-based program can visit this site to learn more about earning a masters degree online.
Oovoo – This free online video chat allows you to talk to up to six people at once. Oovoo is a perfect for teachers who want to conduct online conferences with parents or chat with colleagues.
OpenLearn – The OpenLearn Learning Space provides free education-related learning materials from the UK’s Open University. Although some of the materials are UK specific, the majority would be useful to teachers in any location.
OWL – Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) is an excellent reference site for teachers who need writing and grammar resources. The site even includes a special section for instructors who teach grades 7-12.
PBS Teachers – PBS offers a lot of useful resources for teachers. One of the best is their subject-specific activity packs, which link to helpful resources and supplemental activities.
Phonevite – Phonevite is a free online voice broadcasting system that can be used to send alerts, reminders, follow-ups, and cancellations to parents, students, and other teachers. The system works by sending your recorded message to your social media sites and pre-inserted phone numbers.
PodBean – PodBean is a great place to find educational podcasts and publish your own podcasts online. Podcasts can be published in three easy steps and promoted through iTunes and other handy tools.
Postica – Postica provides a unique way for teachers to share notes, reminders, and files online. The site allows users to create web-based sticky notes, upload files or photos, and email collections to other people without an account.
PracticalMoneySkills.com – Teachers who want to teach their class about personal finance will love the budgeting calculators, savings calculators, loan calculators, and credit card calculators that are available on this site.
ProProfs – ProProfs Quiz School makes it easy to create quizzes, tests, exams, and trivia pages online. Teachers can create a quiz, share it with students, and view results instantly.
Questia – Questia is the world’s largest full-text online library. Not all of the resources on this site are free, but the majority can be accessed at no charge.
Quizlet – Quizlet is a free flashcard creation site that can be used to study, create, and share flashcards. Teachers can create their own flashcards for students or use pre-submitted cards.
RefDesk – This award winning website is one of the largest and most useful reference sites on the web. Ref Desk offers news, fact checkers, reference books, historical information, calculators, converters, and links to other valuable resources.
Remember The Milk – This free web app wasn’t specifically designed for teachers, but it is definitely one of the best ways to manage tasks online.
Scholarpedia – This site is similar to Wikipedia, but features information that has been reviewed by scholars.
Scholastic – Scholastic provides a wide range of lesson plans, units, teaching ideas, and tools for teachers.
Scholastic News Online – Scholastic’s daily news source for kids includes information about current events, lessons, games, quizzes, and downloadable materials for teachers.
SchoolTool – SchoolTool provides free class management software to teachers around the globe. The software features a gradebook, attendance book, calendars, and other resources.
Shmoop – Shmoop is a great new site that is becoming very popular among teachers. The beta site dedicates itself to making reading and writing more fun for both students and teachers.
SlideShare – The world’s largest presentation sharing community, SlideShare allows users to create and share slide shows and presentations. Materials can be kept private or made public. SlideShare supports Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and audio files.
Smithsonian Education – Designed specifically for teachers, the Smithsonian site hosts lesson plans and reference information. Covered subjects include art, science, history, and language arts.
SparkNotes – Although this site is designed for students, it makes a good English teacher reference too. SparkNotes offers free study guides, literature summaries, grammar help, and other educational materials that can be used in the classroom.
Task Coach – The Task Coach is an open source personal task manager and to-do list. Teachers can use it to manage lists and tasks for themselves and classrooms.
TeachAde – TeachAde is an online community for teachers and other education professionals. Members can contribute and collaborate on lesson plans and teaching materials. TeachAde also encourages members to share opinions and ask questions.
TeacherLED – TeacherLED provides a wide range of resources for teachers who use interactive whiteboards in the classroom.
Teacher Lingo – Teacher Lingo is an online community for teachers who want to connect through blogs and forums. The site also offers a place to share lesson plans and thoughts on education.
Teacher Planet – Designed specifically for teachers, Teacher Planet features a free worksheet generator to create worksheets on a wide variety of subjects. The site also offers a free puzzle creator.
Teachers Network – The Teachers Network offers a wide range of how-to’s for teachers. Covered topics include finding a teaching position, professional development, standards-based teaching, classroom management, report cards, and childhood literacy.
Teachers TV – This site features more than 2,000 news and education videos made specifically for teachers. Other resources include worksheets and lesson plans.
TeacherTube – Described as a sort of “YouTube for teachers,” TeacherTube is an online community for sharing instructional videos. Teachers can post educational videos for students or for other educators.
Teaching Today – This site is created for teachers wishing to learn innovative new techniques for teaching. Teaching Today offers articles, lesson, tools, and an online community of colleagues for questions.
TeAchnology – This online teacher resource offers access to thousands of free lesson plans, printable worksheets, classroom games, downloads, and teaching tips.
TeachStreet – TeachStreet is an online learning community. This unique site also allows teachers to promote themselves and their courses online.
TeachStrong – TeachStrong is an online learning community for educators with information, tips, and tools relating to digital technologies.
Tech & Learning – Tech & Learning is an award-winning publication that has served the K-12 education community for more than 30 years. This online resource offers blogs, articles, webinars, forums, and other tools that teachers can use to communicate and educate themselves online.
Thinkfinity – Thinkfinity provides free interactive webinars, online courses, and instructional videos for teachers and afterschool practitioners. Graduate credit is available for some of the courses.
ThinkFold – This structured outlining tool allows you to collaborate with others in real time. Thinkfold is a good way to brainstorm, organize notes, and turn plans into action.
TILT – TILT (Teachers Improving Learning with Technology) is a vidcast that broadcasts technology tips for teachers from other teachers.
TIME for Kids – This weekly classroom news magazine offers online features, lesson plans, quizzes and other powerful teaching tools.
UC Irvine OCW – The University of California-Irvine provides several free education courses through their OpenCourseWare program. Courses include preparation for the California Subject Examinations for Teachers (CSET) as well as instruction for teachers who want to learn more about education theory and teaching gifted students.
Universal Currency Converter – XE’s Universal Currency Converter can convert more than 85 world currencies.
U.S. Department of Education – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education offers information on accreditation as well as an easy-to-navigate accreditation database that can be used to find accredited education programs and schools.
Utah State University OCW – The Utah State University College of Education and Human Services offers a free self-paced course for classroom teachers who want to learn more about conducting research. The course includes ten units, assignments, and suggested reading materials.
VerbaLearn – VerbaLearn is a comprehensive vocabulary building site that uses audio, video, flashcards, and games. It is a great place for teachers to help students improve English vocabulary at home or school.
Vcasmo – Vcasmo is a multimedia presentation tool that works especially well for academic teaching. It supports a variety of file formats and allows synchronization with videos and music.
Virtual Reference Shelf – This website provides a huge collection of web resources compiled by the Library of Congress.
VoiceThread – VoiceThread offers a secure network for K-12 teachers and students to collaborate and share information online. Items that can be shared include images, documents, and videos.
Vyew – Vyew is a free collaboration and web conferencing platform that allows users to chat and share information in real-time. Teachers can use the tool to upload course content and other elearning materials.
Web-Chops – This unique web app makes it easy for teachers to share portions of the web with their students. Web-Chops allows you to collect and organize content from the web and transform it into your own custom pages.
Wetpaint – Nearly 2,000 educators use Wetpaint to create free educational wikis that can be used in the classroom.
Wikipedia – The accuracy of Wikipedia is sometimes questioned, but this free encyclopedia is still a good place to begin researching various subjects.
WiZiQ – Created for teachers and learners, WiZiQ is a free platform that allows users to collaborate on virtual classes, online tests, and other educational content.
Wolfram MathWorld – Thought to be the most extensive math encyclopedia on the web, MathWorld is a fantastic reference site for teachers who need quality information for lesson plans.
World Wide Metric – This site offers a number of different conversion calculators to convert length, distance, weight, volume, pressure, and temperature.
Writewith – This easy-to-use web app can be used to collaborate with multiple people online. Writewith users can upload a document, assign tasks, chat, and track all changes.
Yugma – Yugma is an online web conferencing tool that can be used to communicate with students and colleagues. This free conferencing tool allows you to share your screen with up to 20 people at once.
Zap Reader – Zap Reader is a speed reading program for reading text on a computer. You simply insert the text into the web based program and start reading. Zap Reader users can read up to 300% quicker without losing comprehension.

Joel Wagner

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.