How do you annotate?

Annotating things - be that texts, images, videos, etc. - can be a rich and useful learning activity that promotes critical thing and active engagement with whatever is being annotated. In other words: it is a useful learning strategy. Here is a selection of useful tech-tools:

• Video Annotation Tools: VidBolt, VideoANT, or SocialBook. Adeline Koh has a nice article on using VidBolt in the classroom over on ProfHacker.
• Film Annotation with SocialBook - read about it here on ProfHacker.
• Text / Website / Collaborative Annotation Tools: Hypothes.is, nb, Annotation Studio, eComma, Axiom, Diigo, Classroom Salon, or Lacuna Stories.

Lot's of choices here...try Annotation Studio (MIT) or VideoANT (University of Minnesota) to get started. Or consider the opinions discussed in the article and comments by Lee Skallerup Bessette over on ProfHacker and read about Hypothes.is in Nature (3 December 2015).

Update (14 January 2016): Maha Bali has a nice comparison of Hypothes.is vs. Diigo over on ProfHacker.

Map Your Searches!

Okay, so far we have mapped books, paintings, stories, rivers, green degrees, data, caves, snowy winters, refugees, concepts, minds, Mars, gun deaths, poverty, and more.

How about mapping your Google Searches?

Trailblazer, an extension for Chrome, does just that - it keeps track and maps your search history. In other words: it provides you with digital breadcrumbs to find your way back home! Read more about it and ways to include it in your teaching over on ProfHacker.

Noticing Tools STEM Pack

Here's another suite of fun and educational apps for the iPad: Noticing Tools by the New York Hall of Science, for example Playground Physics. Read more over at Co.DESIGN or risk $9.99 to try them out!

Tinybop Apps

Tinybop Apps are interactive 'playscapes' for curious people of every age. The app design and interactive visualizations are simply incredible. Choose from:

• The Human Body
• Plants
• Homes
• Simple Machines
• The Earth (my favorite)
• Robot Factory
• The Everything Machine (review on Co.DESIGN)

Unfortunately they are only available for iOS...sorry Android folks.