With this post, I’m beginning to publish my end-of-year “The Best….” lists.  Because of fulltime distance learning craziness, it will probably take me longer than usual to get them all out.

There are  2,200 regularly updated lists now.  You can see them all here.  You can also find many of them organized a bit differently here.

As usual, in order to make this list, a site had to be:

* accessible to English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users.

* free-of-charge.

* appropriate for classroom use.

* completely browser-based with no download required (however, I’ve begun to make exceptions for special mobile apps).

Some sites I’m including this year are primarily geared towards teachers creating content for classroom use, but could also easily be used by students.

It’s possible that a few of these sites began earlier than this year, but, if so, I’m including them in this list because they were “new to me” in 2020.

You might want to visit previous editions of this list, as well as other Web 2.0 resources, here.

Feel free to let me know if you think I’m leaving any tools out.

Instead of ranking each of the tools on this list in order, I have them organized into three general groups: Useful, Good, and Excellent. The “Excellent” tools are added to an “All-Time” list you can find at previously mentioned links.

I’ve also created some Web 2.0 – related Best lists this year:

MAYBE – OR MAYBE NOT – THE BEST TOOLS FOR CREATING YOUR OWN TEACHING VIDEOS

THE BEST ONLINE TOOLS STUDENTS CAN USE COLLABORATIVELY TO CREATE PROJECTS – PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ADD YOUR FAVORITES!

Here are my  choices for The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2020 – Part One. They are divided into three categories – Useful, Good, Excellent:

 

USEFUL

Quick Diagram lets you create…diagrams.  I’m adding it to Not “The Best,” But “A List” Of Mindmapping, Flow Chart Tools, & Graphic Organizers.

Charttt lets you easily make…charts. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Creating Infographics.

Camp Target lets you plan out a road trip. I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where Students Can Plan Virtual Trips.

Richard Byrne recently wrote about a new tool called Whiteboard Chat.  It seems to have a few more bells and whistles than Whiteboard.fi, but I prefer simplicity.

Walling looks something like Padlet. I’m adding it to The Best Online Virtual “Corkboards” (or “Bulletin Boards”).

DoneDave looks an easy – and free – website builder.  I’m adding it to The Best Ways For Students Or Teachers To Create A Website.

Whiteborb is a super easy and accessible site where you can draw and share your creations. I’m adding it to The Best Art Websites For Learning English.

Fablement is a new free tool for writing, and reading, “choose-your-own-adventure” stories. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories.

ToonClip lets you easily make simple animations. I’m adding it to The Best Ways For Students To Create Online Animations.

FunApero is a video conferencing tool that lets you play games with your friends.  I’m thinking that some games might be useful for ELLs.

Insert Learning looks likes a potentially useful Chrome Extension to turn any webpage into a fillable worksheet.

Netstory is a new tool for creating and reading interactive fiction (choose-your-own-adventure stories). They bill it as super simple to use but, for the life of my, I couldn’t figure out how to write a story once I got into its editor. And they have no tutorial or explanation anywhere visible on its website. I’m tentatively going to be put it on The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories and assume that someone will figure it out and explain it to me.

Kunster is a new app that converts any picture into a rendering done in the style of famous artists.  Transform your photo in the style of an iconic artist is from Google and is pretty cool, especially if you are going to teacher the styles of artists.  They both came out this year.

TAGX allows you to create video highlights and annotate the interesting parts of a video. I’m adding it to A POTPOURRI OF THE BEST & MOST USEFUL VIDEO SITES.

Involve Me is a tool for creating classroom quizzes. You can create ones for free that have only one-hundred students or less taking them. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Create Online Tests.

Google has just unveiled something they’re calling YouTube Video Builder. It looks like it’s a fairly automatic tool for creating video advertisements of 6 or 15 seconds each. It’s in beta, so you have to apply for access. I periodically have students create video advertisements (for example, to illustrate the use of fallacies), so it might or might not be a tool worth exploring for education.

Panopto is an online presentation system I’ve been hearing good thing about….

Monkey Learn is a new word cloud generator.  I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About “Word Clouds.” You can learn more about it from Richard Byrne.

Kuote lets you create visually pleasing quotes. I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Creating Visually Attractive Quotations For Online Sharing.

Once is a new free and very simple tool that lets you make slideshow-like stories that seem to be designed for mobile, but can be viewed on the web, too.

Storillo is a collaborative writing platform for students that offers both free and paid virtual classrooms. You can learn more about it at this Common Sense review. I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress and to The Best Sites For Collaborative Storytelling.

Chart It is a new tool that lets you create….charts.  I’m adding it to The Best Tools To Make Simple Graphs & Charts Online.

Pixilart looks like a cool online drawing tool.  I’m adding it to The Best Art Websites For Learning English.

Reverb Record is a new tool where you (and students) and easily record audio.  I find these kinds of tools great for students to record something they wrote and add it to the written narrative on a class blog.  I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English.  Thanks to Richard Byrne for the tip.

Stringflix lets you make collaborative videos.

The Image Annotator is a new tool from Class Tools that allows you to…annotate images. Class Tools has lots of neat…tools and is on The “All-Time” Best 2.0 Tools For Beginning English Language Learners list.  You can learn more about the Image Annotator at Richard Byrne’s blog.

Squawk lets you turn your tweets into videos for Instagram.

Say Without Worry is a new site for creating Word Clouds. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About “Word Clouds”

 

GOOD 

Curriki Studio is a new free tool that lets teachers create a huge variety of interactive exercises for students.

Web Stories is a new “plugin” from Google that lets you create interactive stories. However, it also appears that anyone can use it for creation by going here. It’s a site called Visual StoriesThis was Google’s announcement about it.

The Library of Congress is creating a new tool called Citizen DJ that lets you use its curated audio sounds to create hip hop. You can read more about it at The New York Times’ article, Library of Congress Unveils New Digital DJ Tool. I’m adding this post to The Best Online Sites For Creating Music.

Video Puppet looks like a neat tool for using artificial intelligence to create videos from your slides and text.  I’m adding it to The Best Tools That “Automatically” Create Presentations.

You Know lets you upload texts and create private or public discussion groups about them – for free. I’m adding it to The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress and to The Best Online Tools For Collaboration — NOT In Real Time.

Cloud Stop Motion lets teachers create free virtual classrooms where students can easily create stop motion videos. You can read more about it at Richard Byrne’s blog. I’m adding it to The Best Ways For Students To Create Online Animations and to  The Best Sites Where Students Can Work Independently & Let Teachers Check On Progress.

 

EXCELLENT

Whiteboard.fi as an easy and cool class whiteboard tool.  It’s great for formative assessments and for Pictionary!