Quick overview: Less is more! Three on-line tools that aim to keep “information overload” to a minimum.
Viewpure: When presenting YouTube clips, do you find that all the comments and suggestions for other YouTube videos distract your students? If so, try using the Viewpure website to show a YouTube video on a minimal clean white background. To use this tool, simply copy the URL of any YouTube video and paste it into the “enter YouTube URL” box found at www.viewpure.com. Need step-by-step instructions? Then watch this video.
Printfriendly: Do you ever print out webpages but don’t like wasting gobs of ink and paper on ads and blank pages? Copy the URL of any website you’d like to print and paste it into the “enter URL” box found at www.printfriendly.com. With Printfriendly can even remove parts of the text or images you don’t want included. Need step-by-step instructions? Then watch this video.
Readability: Do you have students that have trouble focusing when there’s too much clutter on the screen? If you’re using Firefox of Chrome, then you can install the free Readability extension which will transform any webpage into plain text on a white background with a click of a “read now” button that will be installed in your browser’s toolbar. No copying and pasting URLs required. This extension is safe to install and is widely recognized in the education community. Readability can work in conjunction with your iPad, smartphone, or Kindle with a “read it later” function. Need more info? Here’s a video with more information.
(Sources: 101 Free Tech Tools by SimpleK12 and Best High School Education Apps by Dr. Alice Christie @ ISTE 2012, San Diego)
