Educational websites and portals help different educational sectors by giving access to relevant

information and resources to each community served. These websites give access to students and
teachers to other resources and facilities, including learning materials, current events, lesson plans, and
opportunity to perform guided searches.

Some examples of Online educational websites and portals:

AWS Educate- AWS Educate is a global initiative created by Amazon.com, one of the world’s largest
tech giants. The platform has a strong education-to-career focus.
Aws.amazon.com
 The AWS WW Public Sector team just launched the AWS Educate program on May 14th.
 With the dramatically increasing demand for cloud employees and individuals entering the
workforce with relevant experience, AWS Educate provides an academic gateway for that
next generation of IT and Cloud professionals.
 AWS Educate is Amazon's global initiative to provide students and educators with the
resources needed to greatly accelerate cloud-related learning endeavors and to help power
the entrepreneurs, workforce, and researchers of tomorrow.
 There is no cost to join and AWS Educate provides hands-on access to AWS technology,
training resources, course content and collaboration forums.
 Teachers and students apply to this website in order to access the following:

 Grants for free usage of AWS services

 Labs, tutorials and training on AWS products

 Open source course content provided by top professors and AWS

 Collaboration tools and a community of cloud experts

COURSERA- Coursera was founded by Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng with a vision of providing life-
transforming learning experiences to anyone, anywhere
https://about.coursera.org
 Coursera partners with more than 275 leading universities and companies to bring flexible,
affordable, job-relevant online learning to individuals and organizations worldwide.
 This offers a range of learning opportunities—from hands-on projects and courses to job-
ready certificates and degree programs.
 Today, Coursera is a global platform for online learning and career development that
offers anyone, anywhere, access to online courses and degrees from leading universities
and companies.
 113 million learners and more than 7,000 campuses, businesses, and governments have
come to Coursera to access world-class learning—anytime, anywhere.
edX- EdX is a trusted training and learning network. Founded by Harvard and MIT, edX is home to more
than 20 million learners, most of the world's top-ranking universities, and industry-leading firms.

 edX is a mission-driven, massive open online course (MOOC) provider. We partner

with the world’s leading universities and organizations to offer high-quality online
courses to learners across the world.
 The majority of edX courses are entirely free to access and most offer an optional
paid verified certificate track with graded assignments and the opportunity to work
towards a certificate for a fee that varies per course. The Verified track awards a
certificate after you successfully pass the course. Verified certificates are a great way
to showcase the skills and knowledge you've gained, and can help advance your
professional or academic career.

Khan Academy- Khan Academy provides practice activities, instructional videos, and a customized
learning platform that empowers learners to study in and out of the classroom at their own pace.
 Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning
dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the
classroom. We tackle math, science, computing, history, art history, economics, and more,
including K-14 and test preparation (SAT, Praxis, LSAT) content. We focus on skill mastery
to help learners establish strong foundations, so there's no limit to what they can learn next!
 Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by
Sal Khan.

TED ED- TED-Ed is TED's program on youth and education. The goal of TED-Ed is to bring out and
promote the thoughts of teachers and students around the world. It encourages learning — from creating a
growing library of original animated videos, providing teachers with an international forum to develop
their interactive lessons, helping interested students around the globe introduce TED to their classrooms,
acquiring presentation literacy skills, and promoting creative leadership in the global network of TED-Ed.

Online Communities
Many educators are turning to Facebook or Twitter for the latest strategies, materials, ideas, and
news in teaching. But did you know that just for educators, there are hundreds of online
communities? You will network with fellow teachers through these social networks, extend your
personal learning network (PLN), discover and share tools, and build peer-to-peer relationships.
We've assembled a list of our favorite online teacher groups.

Online learning communities are essential to achieving a productive environment for online
learning. That is why they're so popular, especially in not only in higher education but also in
other grades primary and secondary. Community participants in online learning create an
interactive canvas of diverse reactions and feedback.

You find ways to explore, learn, evolve, build skills, and look for intellectual
understanding-something you wouldn't do themselves. Such learning interactions instill a sense
of belonging and camaraderie that inspires and motivates online learners to persevere.
Nonetheless, most teachers are unable to include learners in the discussion board because the
learners are pursuing the courses in their time room.

There are also ways you can use to slowly create involvement and, eventually, a real
sense of community. What you need is to make improvements in the design of your course like
group learning activities. Some examples

SOME EXAMPLES OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Classroom 2.0 - The social network in the classroom for those involved in Web 2.0, Social Media, and
Participatory Technologies. Participate in meetings, obtain updates for activities, and get in contact with
colleagues.
 is an online community for people interested in Web 2.0 tools and Social Media in
education. With nearly fifty thousand members, the site is an excellent opportunity for
educators to expand their professional learning networks. It is a space for teachers to share
what is working in their classrooms and help each other make the shift to teaching 21st
century literacies.
 Classroom 2.0 facilitates interaction by providing all the familiar social networking tools.
The community features personal profile pages, a forum with thousands of active
discussions, a place for members to create their own groups around specific topics,
webcasts, live chats, a Diigo group for sharing links, a site wiki, and more. Classroom 2.0 is
bursting with ideas and conversation.
 There are over seven thousand discussion threads in the Classroom 2.0 Forum. Topics
include requests for help on setting up class projects, requests about professional
development opportunities, prompts regarding specific tools, and open-ended questions
about the implications of using Web 2.0 tools and Social Media in our instruction. There is a
forum search feature to help users sift through the posts, allowing you to look for
discussions by tool, subject, or area.

Edmodo for Teachers - Need suggestions for a lesson in Common Core, Science, or languages? Only
ask; in minutes, our global educator network will share the tools. We have protected you no matter what
your grade level and subject area.
 Edmodo is an educational network that aims at providing teachers with tools to help them
connect and communicate with their students and parents. Via the Edmodo app or website,
teachers can share content, texts, videos, homework and assignments with their students
online.
Discovery Educator Network- The Community of Discovery Education is a network of action centered
on linking educators to one another's most important tool. No matter what your responsibility in
education, you deserve a positive learning atmosphere that will help you develop your practice, provide
valuable networking opportunities, promote the sharing of great ideas and concentrate on the joy of
teaching and learning.
  Trusted by educators for over a decade, the Discovery Educator Network connects
educators to teaching resources, learning opportunities, and professional peer networking
— all within a thriving global community.
EdThena- Video resources designed to improve teacher professional development through observation in
the classroom and online collaboration.

Common Sense Educator- Common Sense Educators form a group of like-minded people who believe
in the power of learning transformation technology and believe that digital citizenship is an integral
cornerstone of effective digital teaching. Everyone who is an educator-whether a teacher in the classroom,
a tech instructor, a librarian, a teacher in the home school, a restoration teacher, a parent coordinator, or
more-may become a common-sense educator.

Educator Innovator- Educator Innovator offers an online forum for educators and organizations that
support open learning and that exemplify linked learning through their passions and spirits.
 Educator Innovator, powered by the National Writing Project, provides an online hub for
educators and organizations who value open learning and whose interests and spirits exemplify
creative and Connected Learning: an approach that sees learning as interest-driven, peer
supported, and oriented toward powerful outcomes.
The Current- The Current is Educator Innovator 's open publishing website and provides a forum for
sharing resources and stories about what we as educators observe, do, and reflect on connecting learning
and teaching.
Teaching Channel- Teaching Channel is a vibrant online community where teachers can observe,
exchange, and learn different strategies to help each student grow
 Teaching Channel is a multi-platform service founded in 2010 delivering professional
development videos for teachers over the Internet. In addition to showcasing inspiring
teachers in videos, Teaching Channel also hosts a community for educators to share ideas,
best practices and enhance their knowledge.

Educators Connect- EducatorsCONNECT is an online community where teachers can socialize, develop
friendships, exchange teaching tips, experience in classrooms, lesson plans, career opportunities, etc.

Edudemic- Edudemic covers up-to-date research, news, and educator tools

 Edudemic publishes articles and tips related to teaching and learning tools as well as the
impact of technology in the education industry.
Better Lesson- Check over 1 M of instructional services that high-performing teachers from around the
country contribute. You can find full lesson plans and modules, along with a wide range of innovative
educational materials. You can also incorporate your tools for instruction.
 Create Student-Centered Classrooms with Personalized Professional Learning- We know that
students don’t all learn the same way or on the same day, so why do we expect educators to?
 Support both teachers and leaders with a professional learning program that’s built from
differentiated learning experiences throughout the school year to create meaningful changes for
students in every classroom.
 Layered Experiences to Support Continuous Learning
 Achieve Meaningful Outcomes With Research-Backed PD- Every BetterLesson learning
experience is tied to a measurable outcome that gives educators actionable goals and a clear way
to measure progress. Educators will work towards their chosen outcomes throughout the school
year as they continually try new strategies, measure the results for students, and use that data to
build the next stage of their plan.
Teacher Tube- TeacherTube is an online community for educators and others who wish to share teaching
videos. Members will rate the videos and participate in group forum discussions.
 TeacherTube is a video sharing website. It is designed to allow those in the educational
industry, particularly teachers, to share educational resources such as video, audio,
documents, photos, groups and blogs. The site contains a mixture of classroom teaching
resources and others designed for teacher training.

TeachAde- This online community was explicitly developed for teachers and offered a forum for
educators to communicate, share resources, and ask questions. TeachAde-TeachAde is an educational,
social network. Members will find lesson plans, audio, video, and other multimedia tools, and share them.

Educational sites and portals are designed to aid and not replace teachers in the teaching-learning
process. It is through this premise that one must master the nitty-gritty and technical know-how
of accessing various educational sites and portals as well as in connecting with online learning
communities and resources.

As future teachers, you are now given the power of technology to optimize the teaching-
learning process. Make sure that you use this power to the fullest! Congratulations, you may now
proceed to the next part of the lesson.