Week 2 - Cool Tools

Cool Tools

Cool Tools is an excitingly comprehensive site of links to various ICT resources for use in educational environments. The main feature is a list of categories - tools for presentations, collaboration, video, music, drawing, mapping, etc. - which lead to further expansive subcategories and lists. The Presentation Tools section, for example, links to subcategories of 'Presentation Tools,' Publication Tools,' 'Broadcast Tools,' and 'Mulitmedia Posters and Pages.' Each tool has a link to the site which provides the service, and a brief description about the services provided. Some of the sites/tools do have fee structures, and it would be useful to have an indication of this on the Cool Tools site.


Cool Tools also offers a section titled 'Teacher Resources' which links to subcategories such as 'Classroom Resources' (lesson plans for all areas of the curriculum, interactive whiteboard resources, etc.), 'Quizzes, Games and Activities,' 'Professional Development,' and 'Tests and Assessment.' These offer links to other compilation sites with a wealth of ideas for classes of all grades and abilities. It's heartening to see that many educational professionals are so passionate that they freely share their lesson ideas and activities.



The site is easy to use because it is basically a reference tool. All the resources I chose had active links, so the site is up-to-date and well managed. The major drawback is the acid-green background chosen for the site. It's certainly eye-catching, but rather disconcerting after long periods. Another issue is that although the tools linked to from the site can be used in classrooms, they aren't necessarily exclusively education related, so may need to be adapted for classroom use.