Saturday, January 31, 2009

Photo editing made easy!


Following the graphic and photo theme here is a really easy way to edit your photos, add cool effects without having to have costly or special software. Another fun freebie.

http://www.befunky.com/

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Digital Storytelling

http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/2009/01/digital-storytelling-platforms-and.html

Lynn Marentette has an excellent accumulation for ways to use multimedia in the classroom for storytelling.

Create your own "Tour Guide Map" with Google

OK I think Google should be paying me now :) it's no wonder this Blogger account is free every time I turn around there is something else that makes me want to talk about Google. This time its their maps- you can create your own map with pictures, video and more. Another tool for educators or those who like to record a journey, vacation or other locations. So cool!

FREE Google directory Calls: 1-800-GOOG -411

OK I liked Google before but now OMG!(Oh My Google!)
this is yet another fantastic service!
Use your phone for voice recognised information, text and even mapquest
you gotta try it, add to you cell phone and let me know if this is all it claims.



http://www.google.com/goog411/

Learning Languages in a "flat world"- interactive and fun!

Jane's elearning pick of the Day-
recently wrote a post about a exciting way to learn languages, I previewed the site and found it very engaging and interactive this is great for both classroom and on-line educators, or even for those you dream of travelling abroad.

Mi vida loca - Spanish course

The BBC has produced a fun and interactive course, which is available for free. It draws you into a web of intrigue dealing with real natives and you can't help but learn Spanish! You'll find yourself at the heart of a fast-paced mystery drama, which
starts off in Madrid. Broken down into 22 bite-sized episodes of 10 minutes, it allows beginners to learn Spanish from scratch and more advanced users tom refresh their skills, all at their own speed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/

looking for more languages, French, Italian, German and more

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Just Hear It - Music

Search the world for Music, Legal listening!
Thanks to Liz Davis who recently posted "Just Hear It is an on-demand music discovery service. You can search for and listen to any song in the world without signing up or paying anything. You can create your own playlists and legally stream your songs right from your desktop. They pay for licenses from all the major performing-rights organizations. Just Hear It is currently in private beta, you can search and play music without an account. Members (by invitation only) can also create a media library, multiple playlists and keep track of their play history."

http://justhearit.com/

for more legal, free music:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/08/the-best-places-to-get-royalty-free-music-sound-effects/

Ken Robinson -Do Schools kill creativity?



http://www.ted.com Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

what is web 2.0?


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by aSGuest5407

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Reading -Literacy without barriers

It used to be, that to subscribe to university publications you had to be a student paying tuition or pay high fees. To read books, magazines and professional resources you had to subscribe for a fee. Well there are a few new tools out there, and I'm sure there are more that I don't know about, but these will be of interest to educators in languages and all subject areas.

Daily lit- provide small bits of a book to you a few times a week or daily (you select) so if you don't want to be overwhelmed read a little each day. You can search for free books and some have very low fee. You can have the book sent to you in email, but that's already too busy for most of us so why not set up a Google Reader and you can get your subscription in your reader, it will stay there till your ready. Take a look here. http://www.dailylit.com/tags/all/price/1

Want more than a few pages at a time well try out Google Book Search- Search for books that are full version All are free! http://books.google.com/books?lr=&as_brr=1&q=teens

Looking to get started with that Google Reader?
This bring any web information to your reader for you to review, tag, share and look at when you have time.


A RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators 9 from Will Richardon at Weblogg-ed.com
(file is pdf)
http://weblogg-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/RSSFAQ4.pdf

Google forms for Surveys, Quizes and more..

Here are some video's and resources so you can get started with google forms.

Teachers and Students can make a survey in minutes, the data automatically goes into a spread sheet and you can view a summary of results without even having to create charts. Here is a video posted by.
http://www.classroomnext.blogspot.com/


Well what about a paperless test or Quiz?- watch this...



10 Google Forms for the Classroom
Looking for more ideas,
what about a spelling test, and emotion scale, a reading log, an evaluation form
Take a look at this site and if you click on the links provided you will have a blank form in you google account ready for you to use and customize.
http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Learning to Change, Changing to learn

21 Century Literacies and the Role of the Education



video source: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Statistics, Forms come to life and have meaning.

Google Forms- Take Excel to the next level with Google Forms. You can create a form that will auto enter into spreadsheet!
Do you or your students ever need to create a survey or collect data, want an online form for evaluations, poll, quiz or anything?
Google forms is really easy to use and form can be embed in website or Blog,
Heres a sample of one I made for School Survey on technology and Communication
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pZ2B5zZMFPJn41Jv2xSMafg

you tube how to make google forms-from http://live.pirillo.com


Gapminder- Bring meaning to statistics!
I came across this web site over the holidays, might be of interest to teachers of: world issues, economics, international business teachers. It makes statistics interesting, really!

It is an animated interactive web site that has world statistics over time and you can select specific countries etc.
There are also 2 worthwhile (20 minute) Ted Talks presentations. (watch the video first then check out the site)
http://www.gapminder.org/





http://www.gapminder.org/

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Google Docs- Teacher's in Digital Age need to know!

Google is much more that just a search engine it is an entire resource of information management. Teachers and students can benifit by exploring the many new features of Google. Here are some of my favourite features (so far)
1. IGoogle- customize your search page with all your favourite site feeds.
2. Google Reader - Any one that has an area of interest that they are passionately seeking to learn more about need to set up a reader. Information comes to you. I think this is the single best form of professional developement since my last formal graduate course.
3. Google Forms- Excellent for gathering primary data, evaluations, surveys etc, easy to make and automatically go into a spread sheet. Easy to post on website, blog, or email links directly to those you want to complete the survey.
Here is an excellent resource on how to use Google Forms in classroom.
http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/

4. Google Docs- ducuments, presentations and spreadsheets with a free program and that can be easily shared and posted to websites, develope your work, docs, presentations with others in collaboration or securly kept your items private.
5. Google geers -allows you to view files and work off line.

I teach high school but am totally impressed by the younger generation and how they are using these new tecnologies. Here is an wonderful example of how grade school students in New Zealand are using Google docs in the classroom.



Check out this web site to find out more about Google forms and educational uses in Virgina. http://www.vaopenclassroom.org/

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Comparing what if? to the Connected Student for 21st Century

Watching this video, I'm reminded of the hurdles in education.
Are we moving ahead yet? More importantly how do we get there?

The Networked Student



I recently came across this video in my reader that was posted on
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=843
I agree with the author that education is changing and so is the roll of teachers.
The learning curve is steap and constantly changing for both educators and learners.