There are various ways to make notes or write documents using Web 2.0 tools. You can use Blog and Wiki tools individually or in groups to make notes or write stories and you may wish to look at this section to see what is available. The tools listed on this page, however, are designed specifically for the purpose of making notes and word processing. Generally speaking you can create a new document or upload an existing document in a range of different formats.

1. Buzzword - This is the adobe version and you would expect it to be a market leader. That said, I tried on several occasions to create an account and was unable to do so. A pity.

2. Zoho Writer - This is another tool from the Zoho family. It looks and works in a similar fashion to Microsft word but is free and also gives you the option to collaborate with others. You can share through e-mail or by sharing a username and password. Once published others can leave comments on the document but cannot edit the published doc.



3. Zoho Notebook - I reviewed Zoho Notebook earlier as a Multimedia scrapbook. It allows for text, images, video and links to be gathered onto the page. There is no print function although you can export the document onto your hard drive and print from there. Collaboration is achieved through e-mail.

4. Google Docs - One of the first ever tools I used was an online word processor known as Writely. This product was eventually bought by Google and became known as Google Docs. You need to have a Google account to use this tool and collaboration is achieved trough e-mail or a shared user name and password. You can publish the documents for others to view. I use tools like this for a number of purposes. Students have created shared notes on a topic, they have used the space to prepare for a debate with another school and finally I have also posted questions for the group to answer as a summary of a topic. The big advantage of an online word processor is that students can collaborate on the same document even from home. I sometimes get different students to use different colours as in the example below. In my view this is still one of the best word processors available.



5. Writewith - Your e-mail does not need to be validated before use. As with most word processors you can begin from scratch or upload an existing document. This is not the best looking word processor in the world but it does have two important features that make it worth trying. First collaboration is available either through e-mail or sharing the URL of the document. Where others only allow viewing at the URL, this tool allows editing. In my experience it is quicker and easier to share a URL with other students than to e-mail invitations. The second feature is a chat box to the side of the main doucment. This means students can chat about the doc as well as make changes to it. Click Here to view an example and feel free to edit the document.

6. Your draft - If sharing and speed are the most important factors then this tool is worth a look. No log in is required, just give your document a name and you are away. Sharing is through a URL and you are given two, a read only and a read/write version. This gives you some control over other contributors. Simple and effective layout similar to Microsoft word and the finished document can be shared. Click Here to view an example.

7. Evernote - There is a free and paid version although I think the free version should have enough feaures for the majority of classroom uses. You must validate your e-mail before you begin. This is a much more sophisticated tool and you can also download it to your desktop or mobile phone to sync your information. You can save information by typing notes, clipping web pages, snapping photos of anything you see, recording audio clips. That said the web version does not seem to support the clipping options so unless you install the download it will remain a basic word processor.

8. Reqall - You need to validate your e-mail before beginning. This site enables you to collect notes and photos. There is also a to do list which may be useful for group work. Rather than being designed as a note taker, this site is intended to collect together reminders. In this respect it may not suit everyone's taste. Perhaps may be of most use as a tool to organise group work.

9. Versionate - This site compares itself to wiki sites such as PBwiki. However, I have included it here as it has the look of a word processor rather than wiki. Collaborators are invited by e-mail although if you make the file public it can be edited by sharing the URL. As well as creating hyperlinks as in any normal document, you can attach a file to be viewed by anyone reading the page. Viewers can also leave comments about any page. I think it would work particularly well as a place for a group to gather together their research in one place. You can upload a wide range of documents including PDF.

10. Writeboard - This tool does not require a validated e-mail to begin. Its great strength is its simplicity, you can launch a writeboard in 20 seconds. The downside is that you have very basic editing functions to change the appearance of your text. However, if the task is to create a collaborative document rather than a good looking one then this is definately worth a look. Collaboration is through e-mail invite or alternatively through sharing the URL and password for the document. Click Here for an example. (Password: darren) Click Here to see a second example which is a group script writing exercise with a Yr 8 class. Note especially the ability to leave comments and discuss.

11. Wordle - Technically not either a word processor or note taker but an interesting tool for anyone working with words. This tool creates a word cloud from a list of terms you insert. I would advise creating the list in word and copying and pasting into wordle as it doesn't save the original word list if you wish to change it later. If you have a two word phrase use"~" to create the space between the words. You can control the colour and layout of your wordle and it is saved online. If you wish to use it elsewhere you will need to take a screen capture of the image.



12. Luminotes - A wiki notebook - The notes are collected on the same page like separate paragraphs and can be scrolled through. This may become a bit tiresome if there is a lot of information although the title of each new note is collected in an index on the left. (Most wiki tools give each page a title or a tab and only display one at a time) I found no button to add images diretly although you can attach files which would fulfill the same function. That said, the exampple on the homepage shows text and image together on the same page. There is the ability to link pages together although I didn't quite see the point. Finally your page can be shared through e-mail for collaboration.

13. Helipad - You can begin the tool without validating your password. You create notes in a simple text format with a heading. These are then displayed on your home page where they can be sorted and searched. You can apply some simple themes to the notes which may help to colourcode them. Sharing is simply by giving someone the URL to your note. Anyone with access to the URL can edit a shared document. This is quite a basic but functional note taker for text only notes. The one flaw is that you cannot have a group note taking area. However, if the group shares the same password and email address then it will act as a group note taking tool.



14. Just2Easy - You can begin without validating your e-mail. An interesting tool this is a word processor/simple web page maker. It is quite simple to use although looking at some of the examples produced it is difficult to get a very professional looking finish. However, it does allow you to create some interesting web pages using the forms tool such as jigsaws and text box inputs to scaffold a task. Click Here for an example about whether dogs make good pets.

15. Notecentric - This tool has been around for a while and is well worth a look. However, the log in was not working the day I tried it so I was unable to review.

16. Stikipad - In process of changin servers but worth a look.

17. Thinkfree and Openoffice - These two tools offer you a full free version of typical Microsoft office tools. They can be used online or downloaded to use on your desktop.

18. Etherpad - This site is currently in closed Beta but if it lives up to the hype it could be worth a look. Etherpad's main selling point is that it aims to allow several users to edit the same document with each keystroked almost instantly updated. Anyone who has ever tried synchronous editing of a document knows the difficulties that ensue so this could be a development worth watching.

19. Google Notebook - This tool runs as a stand alone programme or a browser extension. It allows you to copy and paste text and pictures from pages you are visiting and in this respect I think the browser extension is likely to be more useful as you will not need to be going backwards and forwards between the notebook and browsed pages. There is also a collaborative function to share your notebook with others. I didn't test the collaborative function and presume it works on an asynhcronous basis.

20. Springnote - This is a wiki-based note taking tool. Private or public notebooks can be created and there are templates available which help imprive the presentation. As such what you end up with is a wiki-type website which also enables you to add multimedia elements to each page. Why would you use this over a stnadard wiki? I think the usability is probably the key with a simple editor to allow you to add the different elements to each page.