District+Provided+and+Recommended+Sites

Resources provided by the district
Burleson Independent School District provides many resources for teachers and students that eliminate the need for using less secure and possibly questionable sites. When a site provided by the district will meet the curricular needs of the teachers and students, it must be used instead of using an outside site. When a teacher believes there is a need to use a site that is neither provided, nor approved by the district, he/she must complete the social media site approval request form and obtain approval, before using the outside site.

District Provided sites and resources
BISDBlogs using wordpress is provided for all district employees who wish to blog for elementary classes. FirstClass Communities includes a blog for secondary use.
 * Blogs **

Teacher web pages FirstClass is our teacher approved webpage creation application provided by the district. Campus web pages are created in Drupal
 * Web pages **

FirstClass also provides a wiki, blog and a social media environment.
 * Wiki and Social Media **

Moodle is provided for wikis, forums, content management and for blended classrooms. It also provides a place for images and video to be shared.
 * Course Management **

Podcasts can be uploaded to the district Podcast server
 * Podcasting **

netTrekker netTrekker is the District purchased and approved Web Search Database. Teacher should require students use netTrekker as their first resource for searching the web. Students must show that netTrekker did not give enough information before asking to use Google or other web search engine.
 * Web Searching **

District approved or recommend sites, when used appropriately
Gaggle is to be used when elementary student email is required. Gaggle also allows students to blog, with teacher set up and store files. We currently use the free version with ads. Teachers must request email for his/her students.

Twitter - Schools and District organizations or department can have a Twitter for communication purposes

@http://www.linkedin.com for professional networking

Google Docs Burleson Google Docs can be used to create surveys and shared collaborative documents. A @burlesonisd.net email address must be used to create an account, but collaborators without a @burlesonisd.net email can be invited.

VoiceThread

Video Animoto http://animoto.com/education/ schooltube teachertube Qik.com - streaming video

Polling Polleverywhere.com

Audio and image editing http://www.aviaryeducation.com/Burlesonisd/login#

Wikis for elementary wikispaces.com pbworks.com