Tools for Teachers
TrIntuition Workbench
Website: http://www.trintuition.com/
TriIntuition Workbench allows users to create single pages or full sites, portfolios, and classroom and conference presentations—"any content you could imagine!"—and save them.
TriIntuition allows integrated use of text and images, includes tools for image manipulation, and ample facility for substance-laden content. Easy drag-and-drop tools promote coherent content and graphic quality. Projects can also be downloaded or embedded in a blog, wiki, ning, or ordinary HTML screen. There's no software to download and workBench is compatible with Firefox, Explorer, and Safari.
Founder, Ron Gwiazda, started TriIntuition after 27 years in the Boston Public Schools as a teacher, department head, and curriculum and program developer. According to Gwiazda, his goal "has been to create the software that we wished that we had while in school, software that would allow non-technical teachers and students to collaborate, create and share all kinds of online content."
As a result, the scope of possible projects, ease of use, and technical support are geared to a variety of student and educator needs. Important for classroom use, tutorials explain how to create a classroom group, control permissions and privacy for different kinds of use and access, and talk about how group members may work collaboratively on specific projects.
Workbench tutorials are comprehensive and step-by-step, and incorporate a learning-by-doing approach supplemented with thorough explanations. It's an excellent program for beginners and the advanced alike.
A site blog talks about updates and projects and offers tips and tricks.
The basic free use of the site limits the number of projects and web screens. A special subscription for a teacher and 20 students costs $46 per year (February 2009 quote); additional blocks of 10 students are $15 each. This subscription level offers a variety of tools for group projects. Information about opening a block of school accounts including students, teachers, administrators—any school staff—is available on request.
Educators may also contact TriIntuition about free accounts. Gwiazda can offer large blocks of workBench accounts free to teachers and programs with a keen interest in experimenting with online collaborating, creating and sharing, and will offer tech support as needed.
Third graders through graduate students currently use workBench. Current projects include school and teacher websites, digital publications, and a diverse array of classroom and conference presentations. Examples of the variety of student individual and group work and teacher presentations are available on the TriIntuition website. They are flash presentations accessed and viewed via a browse page.
