Working with Google Maps is simple enough, but users will (of course) need to establish a Google account in order to create a map. After signing in, the first step is to provide the map with a title and description, as well as establish privacy and share settings; the map is already in edit mode. Text can be entered in plain or rich text—great for inserting links. Users will see three icons in the left corner of the map: a hand (navigation tool), a marker pin (with over 90 icons), and a jagged line (to draw lines and shapes). To create a marker, select the corresponding icon and select style and click on the desired location on the map. After entering a title, users can select the rich text format to not only insert hyperlinks but also add images to the marker by selecting the image's URL address. In addition, you can embed a Google Video or YouTube clip by copying the embed code and pasting it into the description field. To create a line, users can simply click at the beginning point, click at subsequent locales, and double click to finalize the desired route. Creating lines using existing roads may be a useful for tracing travel and trade routes.

Two more tool options are found at the top of the left bar, above the title of the map: "collaborate" and "import." The collaborate function—which allows users to invite others to help create and edit a map—is ideal for group projects. Teachers can also use this function to collaborate with colleagues teaching a similar course. Either way, Google Maps facilitates collaborative learning and helps teachers extend and refine their lessons through an interactive medium that promotes critical decision making. The import option allows users to add map data from a KML, KMZ, or GeoRSS file. This is a very useful tool if teachers are able to find good historical "overlays" for their maps. A brief search for historical KMZ files yielded several good imports, such as battles of the Civil War, significant cities of the Civil Rights Movement, and U.S. presidential elections (using search terms like "historical maps KMZ" or "KMZ historical places" is a good way to start . . . but the development of these types of files is still growing so it may take some searching). Google Maps does have some glitches. Creating routes using the "line drawing" tool is tricky. Starting points do not always appear where you click to select, and editing an existing route is difficult; the pointer on the screen does not always match the marker boxes designed to click and drag to a new point on the map. In creating our own map, we also ran across an interesting problem. We created a map with markers and descriptions, but when we accessed it at a later date, the information appeared but all the markers on the map disappeared. Furthermore, the links in the information panel were no longer active. We would recommend creating a database on an Excel spreadsheet first, using columns such as "latitude, "longitude," "name,", and "icon." Then you can convert the Excel document into a KML file by using an online site such as Earth Point, which does an excellent job of providing a step-by-step process on how to create a "KML-friendly" Excel spreadsheet, lists the various ways to enter longitude and latitude coordinates, provides the numbers for hundeds of different marker icons, and also has a feature where you can make the conversion on the Earth Point site. A new KML file will be downloaded onto your computer, which can then be imported in Google Maps. Voila! All the markers appear, with descriptions in place.

[Note: it is highly recommended to use the decimal format for coordinates. Excel spreadsheets only accept negative values in the decimal-coordinate format. Any location in the Western and Southern hemisphere is a negative coordinate.] Although such a process sounds tedious, we found that this extra step is useful if you want to continue editing a map, or, more importantly, if a glitch causes the information on Google Maps to disappear. You can import the KML file into your Google Map at any time and replace the old one. Consider the KML file a Google Maps "backup" file.

Luckily Voki allows users to practice creating an avatar without enrolling or creating a new account. You can choose characters from various categories and several obvious historical personas are available like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and modern-day political figures. Each avatar can be customized by head, clothing, accessories, and various voice options. Users can also select background images and resize the avatar in relation to the player window. After selecting the voice option, users can enter text and listen to the voice that is created. Likewise, if users want to record their own voice they can also playback their recording until satisfied.

Once the Voki avatar is created, users can publish their creation. By registering an account with Voki, all Avatar creations are saved under the user's account for continual access. If users forego the registrations, the finalized avatar does contain a unique URL link (which should be copied down for later access.) Users can also use the embed code to immediately post or bookmark the avatar in whichever social network site they prefer.

Whether users want to embed their avatar on their own site, in an email, or a course blog, these creations can liven up any history class.

Although registering is not required, it is free and easy to do via Padlet's own registration portal, or using a Google (or Open ID) account. Once users are registered, they can create their first bulletin board and (in the top left corner) edit the title and description of the "wall." Teachers can create a topic, or simply post a question for students to answer. Users can also edit the image associated with the wall, which functions as an identifying logo. (Students looking to create a World War II wall could use, for example, a propaganda poster like Rosie the Riveter as the logo.) Lastly, users can select the design template and set access privileges (which includes a custom URL ID).

After the wall is established, users can add a "post-it" note by double-clicking anywhere on the wall. Text, audio, video, and images can be posted to the wall (videos and images automatically display a Zoom picture when clicked on—a temporary pop-up window for viewing.)

[Note: Do not place any "sticky notes" too close to the wall title and description. If the top of the sticky note is hidden underneath the wall title and description, it can be hard to move the note.]

Registering with Little Bird Tales (LBT) is quick and easy; the focus on small learners means that privacy concerns are respected: the site contains no ads, merchandising, or external links, and only requires a valid email to sign-up. LBT also offers a teacher account, which is accessible via an email request (teachers should provide the same email used to sign-up). Before working with students, teachers should be aware of the technical specifications, such as supporting browsers, image file size, and storage capacity—the FAQ page addresses these points fairly well.

Once an account is activated, creating a digital tale is fairly simple. Click on "create a new tale" to construct the tale cover. Users can either draw an image—using the built-in art pad—or upload a saved image (note: minimum image size is 600x420 px). Add a title, submit author information, and a record an audio introduction to finalize the tale cover. Users should also test microphone quality for volume and clarity before proceeding with new pages.

Each subsequent page follows the same procedure, and the size of the final project is only limited by the tale box capacity in your account. The main difference from the cover page is that students can enter text for their product—an ideal feature that reinforces reading and writing, while providing students a "script" for their sound recording. Page order can be easily rearranged at any time by dragging each page into the desired order in the sidebar found on the right.

Users can resume editing their tales by logging back in, selecting "My Tales," and clicking on the notepad icon. Other icons on the "My Tales" screen include a play option (to see the video in progress), an email icon to share the video, and a trash icon to delete the tale project.

Once the video tale is completed, users proceed to step three in order to share the tale via email—regardless of whether users choose to keep the video private or make it public. Users who choose to make the video public can do so by clicking on the account homepage (house icon) and selecting "public" under the cover page image (note: Little Bird Tales moderates all videos before they become public).

Pre-planning is a helpful first step in creating your video project. Gather all images and video clips and save them in a desktop folder. If a particular soundtrack serves the needs of the project, make sure the sound clip or song is in .mp3 format. Finally, on a piece of paper, sketch out the storyboard for the video—in particular the placement of text in the video. Animoto offers a handful of different account types that vary in price from personal to business.  The "Professional" account priced at $22/month ($264/year) is the most common and offers HD quality videos, more than 25 professional fonts, and pre-built storyboards.

After users open an account, the first step is to upload photos and videos via three options: from files on the computer, from Animoto's own collection of photographs, or from another website. Uploading images and videos from the computer allows users to select multiple files and conduct a batch upload. Once images and videos are uploaded, users can click and drag images at will in order to construct a desired sequence. Other features allow users to spotlight certain images or videos for a more focused display during the final presentation, add text slides, rotate and/or duplicate images, and delete any unwanted selections. It is worthwhile to note that one of Animoto’s biggest drawbacks is the limit placed on text entries. Text restrictions may prove to be frustrating for users, but one simple way to bypass these limits is to create a PowerPoint slide with the desired text, save that PowerPoint slide as a .jpg image, and then import the file as a picture into Animoto. Step two directs users to add a music file, or soundtrack, to the video either through Animoto’s own selection of songs or your own .mp3 files. Users can also select at which point the music begins. The final step is the editing process and finalization, where users can establish the speed of transitions, the design template, and select whether the video is short (30 seconds) or full length. After all selections are made, users go to the final section where the credit information is provided for the title of the video and the creator(s). Here is where Animoto users will find a second frustration: once everything is ready to go, users select “create video” and the process of finalizing the video can often take quite a while. Nevertheless, Animoto emails video creators once the video is finalized . . . so you don’t have to wait around. (Update: Animoto’s site updates may have fixed the speed delay in finalizing videos.)