Qrait is a brand new tool that is not quite open to the general public yet, though I received an invitation two days after requesting one.

It describes itself as “A realtime curation platform designed to fulfill the needs of content curators and reduce information overload for the rest of us.” I don’t quite understand what that means, but I do see that it can be used to easily create Internet Scavenger Hunts and Webquests. It lets you create a “molecule” filled with “atoms” (the call each topic a molecule and atoms the different parts of the collection). You can insert a website and notes into each molecule, which will also show a screenshot or even a video. The task for each can also be described. And it’s easy to move the “molecules” around.

And, then, best of all, you can embed your whole “molecule” wherever you want, including on a class blog or website.

I’m adding it to The Best Places To Create (And Find) Internet Scavenger Hunts & Webquests.

Let me know if you can think of other ways to use in the classroom…

I already have the Aviary Flash-based photo editor on The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects list.

Today, though, they unveiled an HTML 5 photo editor.

I don’t really understand the difference, but I’m adding their new one to the previously mentioned “The Best…” list, anyway.

Imgur is a super-simple photo-sharing site that you can use to upload photos or insert image url addresses. It can come in particularly handy in the classroom because of it’s ease in creating albums where you can title individual photos and write captions — all without registering. Students can categorize photos and describe them.

I learned about it through a Read Write Web post, which compares Imgur negatively to another new site, but I find Imgur far superior.

I don’t have a “The Best…” list yet where Imgur would fit in exactly but, because I would use it primarily for students to categorize and describe photos, I’m going to add it (for now) to The Best Social Bookmarking Applications For English Language Learners & Other Students. Other apps on that list have a similar categorization feature for images.

ookaboo is a new site for free images.

Paul Houle, its founder, writes:

Although I started it just last July, Ookaboo already has 510,000 images of 283,000 topics… and it gets better all the time because it adds 8,000 new images each day. Unlike many “free photo” sites, all images in Ookaboo are public domain or creative commons and can be used freely for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. I think it’s perfect for students and teachers to use for schoolwork, handouts, web sites and other creative projects.

I’m adding it to The Best Online Sources For Images.