Pretty cramped quarters in afternoon session of the today’s EduBloggerCon08 to join Vicki Davis’s Web 2.0 Smack Down session. We’re sharing favorite tools:

• Poll Everywhere - Starting with What Is Your Fav Color poll. Create, save, open poll and public can vote via cell phone. No need to purchase clickers for your classroom! Have kids take the cell phones out of their pockets.
• Chacha.com - Call ChaCha; ask your question; wait for text message question; they have real people behind the service. Uses in classroom? When you don’t have access to the web. 1-800-chacha
• Animoto - Great free service that allows teachers to download 1-minute video.
• PicLens.com - Allows you to take a set of images from Flickr and create a photo wall. Classroom idea: use sets of pictures for teaching a concept.
• CoverItLive.com - Didn’t realize you can create a panel. Classroom application - you can approve panelists comments.
• Qik.com - via your cell phone, you can do live streams. When you start it, it’ll announce it on Twitter too.
• Handipoints.com - Great for keeping tracks of kids “points” for different things.
• Diigo.com - Vicky is sharing Diigo feature to send bookmark to Twitter and to your blogs (using tags).
• Key Chain idea - teachers add tabs to key chain - with “contact me when you’re ready to learn” message on back.
• Webcast Academy - Training for EdTechTalk
• Make Beliefs Comics - Easy - and no advertisements - and developer will be adding “smaller” characters. No need to login; no need for email address. Students can print out or email it.
• www.ajaxim.com - php program that allows you to create your own im network - great for teaching younger students netiquette.
• doodle.ch - Allows you to solve problem of how to see when you can meet. Doesn’t require login or profile. Voting for selecting meeting date is “egregiously” simple.
• Timebridge - Works with Google Calendar and with Outlook - will send out email.
• taggalaxy.de - takes images from flickr and loads them and assembles them into globe, that’s clickable.
• Webkinz - Use to teach younger kids about being digital citizens. Has chat rooms.
• exalead.com - Backchannels options for students
• Plurk.com - alternative to Twitter - bit more of a learning curve, but has more options.

Very high-energy session!

I’m here in San Francisco at the Web 2.0 Un-Conference that Steve Hargadon energetically and collaboratively put together. The announcement to join the conference came through the Classroom 2.0 ning listserv, with a link to the conference wiki.

Here’s Steve’s overview of Web 2.0:

• Anyone can contribute - and make a difference
• It’s an historic change - it’s a world in which our contribution of material is as significant as our ability to consumer information
• Amazon.com good example of how things have changed: i.e., readers’ ability to add a review. Active example of Web 2.0
• Difference from receiving material to contributing to the web
• “When you write, everybody can hear you” - Quote from participant Andy Pass
• Web 2.0 conversations help refine and improve thinking

Heading off for a discussion of Web 2.0.