Well folks, the nominees have been announced. Amid a flurry of elbowing, scheming and shadowy wealthy donors (not really, that was an attempt at a joke), the candidates have jumped every hurdle and secured enough votes in the primaries to make it onto the Official Longlist for the 5th Annual All My Faves Site of the Year Awards.
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Bookboon.com is a publishing house with a difference. Every book it publishes is free, instantly available and made as an eBook. If you’re looking for free books for university students, free books for business professionals, or a free travel guide, Bookboon is a fantastic service.
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Team Treehouse – What do you want to learn today? If you were thinking, “Oh, well I really have been wondering how Web Design, Web Development and iOS works”, then this is THE site for you!
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Classroom as Microcosm – “Siobhan Curious is an educator and blogger who teaches college English and writes about it in Montreal, Quebec.
Classroom as Microcosm features links, thoughts, essays and musings on the teaching life, in all its personal, professional and philosophical complexities.”
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How many words do you know? | Word Dynamo by Dictionary.com – Word Dynamo is a high-energy word learning experience that’s made up of a lot of fun and exciting moving parts. Answer 10 quick questions and Word Dynamo will calculate how many words you know. This is called your Word Score. Your Word Score helps you understand where you stand and helps you get study shortcuts for getting smarter. The Word Dynamo Library lets you browse and search for stuff you need to learn, be it insects, puppies, the American Revolution, or macroeconomics.
Grockit – Grockit is a fun and engaging way to prep for tests like the SAT and GMAT, and to improve Math and English skills outside of the classroom. Global leader in the huge market for learning platforms and services. Grockit gives you social, collaborative and personal learning, fueled by adaptive learning algorithms and up-front analysis that identifies and compensates for your learning strengths and weaknesses.
CogniFit – CogniFit Brain Fitness is a revolutionary technology that lets you explore your brain, assess your cognitive skills, train the abilities that are important to you and gives you an efficient mind training. You will instantly know how fit your brain is and what can be done to boost it.
Verbling – Make use of live one on one video calls to learn new languages with the help of native speakers, and teach others your own language. Instantly connect with native speakers worldwide using your webcam!
Codeacademy – HTML, CSS anyone? The bewildering world of programming seems so far fetched to most non-engineers, including myself. But I do know programming brings magic in terms of website appearance and infrastructure. Codeacademy is here to make the frightening and peculiar world of coding a simpler topic to learn. It offers “a better, more interactive way to learn how to program.” Thanks to Codeacademy creators Ryan Bubinski and Zach Sims, learning to code is now more accessible -and fun- than ever.
The lesson framework in Codeacademy is a step by step process that ensures high retention rates and increases your chances of learning while having fun! Although these lessons are quite basic they meant the world to me, a common Java illiterate! And look, I managed to code an alert message as you can see below.
Start with Codecademy’s eight lesson plan, and then sign up to online courses to maintain and perfect your training. You know, I never thought I’d ever say this but programming is fun!
Sophia – Classrooms in the Web 2.0 era have radically changed and now, not only does technology serve as a didactic aid, but also high connectivity and information accessibility of the digital age make traditional teaching and learning methods virtually obsolete. Sophia is a godsend resource for both teachers and learners seeking not only to spice up conventional education, but also to enhance educational success of each and every learner.
As the site’s About Us explains, “Sophia is a social teaching and learning platform that taps the teacher in all of us and enhances the learning process by providing access to a wealth of knowledge, help, instruction, standards-aligned content, and expertise available to learners everywhere.” Find teaching aids and learning material in an abundance of fields, from applied sciences and mathematics to humanities, English and literature and visual arts, just to name a few.
To give you an example, here’s the learning packet (highly rated of course) in biology, explaining the topic of enzymes.
One Life – Aside from being one the world’s leading news providers, BBC is also well known for its natural world and wildlife series and films. One Life is yet another beautifully shot film about planet Earth and its rich diversity of organisms and ecosystems. Brought to us by BBC Earth, the One Life website is the brilliant introductory venue for the soon-to-be-out film.
The breathtaking trailer you will find here is not the usual play and watch video. While watching, you can use your mouse to pause the video and transition to the behind the scenes section (showing videos of the film’s production crew, each telling their inside story about making the film and the animals shown in it). When you’re done, simply drag your mouse upwards and the trailer will play where it left off. This is a mesmerizing experience, and I’m anxious to see the One Life film once it’s out. BBC Earth always delivers top-notch, mind-blowing films with rare shots and unbelievable close ups.
Healthline Body Maps – There’s no way around it. When you see something with your own two eyes, you understand it better than by just reading about it. Healthline, the medical information provider, has partnered with GE Healthymagination to create a software of 3D anatomy maps of the human body so laypersons like you and me could better understand health by literally looking into ourselves.
When exploring a certain part or system of the human body, Healthline will offer interesting articles and tips relevant to that part of the body. So if, for example, I’m exploring the anatomy of women’s abdomen, Healthline recommends reads on digestive health, among other articles.
The 3D Body Maps constitute an appreciated added value to Healthline’s medical info center. Besides, I’ve always found the human body a most extraordinary machine. Healthline’s Body Maps adds a visual navigation tool to further enhance the human anatomy experience. Thanks, Healthline!