Tools with potential - the amber lights

Some of the other tools Mandy introduced were interesting, but I felt that they either didn't meet the needs of the learner groups I will be working with on placement, or that there were other issues, such as subscription charges to be paid. That is not to say that they cannot be used in the future - who knows where my teaching adventure will take me?  I will be keeping an open mind for all of them.


Explain Everything is a whiteboard and screencasting tool which allows you to integrate content from myriad sources and incorporate social media for easy sharing. It allows teachers and learners to create multimedia projects to explain concepts, or to illustrate tutorials.

I never got to grips with this app, but I can see the potential, particularly with younger learners.





QR codes - I had seen these, but did not know how they worked. Now I know, they are great for linking to masses of information without diluting the main message on a poster, or page. I found this page, which generates codes which can then be embedded into posters, webpages, blogs, and many other places. I can see this being a useful tool for posting links to articles and websites which may be useful for students to access when researching or completing assignments. QR codes could also be placed on presentation slides to be scanned. You can see some examples of how QR codes can be used here. Although these are primarily marketing examples, the potential for use in other areas can be seen. To read a QR code, you need to download a QR reader, which are free in most app stores.


Phoster is a simple design tool which allow you to create posters, invitations, and cards by using images, QR codes, and other types of media. There are preloaded templates to use, and features such as font select and visual effects to produce a slick and professional looking piece of work. Phoster is limited in what it can do, but can be a great starting point for those who want to use their devices to create posters. As with all such tools, the level of creativity is up to the user. More information on how Phoster works can be found here.




Prezi is a fantastic alternative to Powerpoint. It's a cloud based presentation tool, which uses a single canvas rather than a series of slides to tell a story, or present an idea. Text, images, video clips and other types of media can be used to create a digital, non linear presentation, parts of which can be zoomed in and out of, according to the needs of the audience. I have to say that I adored this tool when I first saw it, particularly the non linear aspect. I can see this being incredibly useful in HE, when in tutorials, or when introducing complex concepts which may require repeated explanations or reinforcements. As with so many excellent tools, there is a subscription fee, which can be a disadvantage. The dynamic nature of the canvas, and the zoom tool can be disconcerting for viewers, and care must be taken not to overuse this feature.There are some great examples of how Prezi has been used to create presentations here and here.


SpicyNodes - a lovely way to present hierarchical information. Adam, one of my fellow student teachers showed us how to use SpicyNodes in one of our ICT lectures, and it was a very visual and logical way to present information. His presentation is here.
As with Prezi, I can see potential with SpicyNodes, and will be exploring it further.







Glogster is another multimedia tool, which allows you to create interactive posters containing video clips, images, speech, hyperlinks, and text. I used this to create a page on debates for a homework activity, and I thoroughly enjoyed using it. Unfortunately, as with Prezi, it is a subscription based tool, and I created my page using the free trial option. I have posted a screenshot of the page, but the interactive elements are unavailable. There are a huge number of images and themes to choose from, and again, you are only bound by your own imagination. The Glogpedia contain thousands of posters created by users from all over the world which can be interacted with to show the many features available.

It's a real shame that you can't see all the elements I added to the poster. There was an audio clip of the definition of debate in the top right hand corner, a link to a Youtube video, hyperlinks to to other websites in the question mark and the pinboard images, text from other websites on the Post-it notes, and images which expanded as you clicked on them. Glogster is very similar to Explain Everything in many aspects, but the fact that I was able to manipulate Glogster far easier than Explain Everything gives it the edge for me.