This graphical interactive novel will definitely connect with today's students. Check it out.
“'Inanimate Alice' has proven to be popular across a broad range of ages as well as with a broad range of viewers, including both book-lovers and gamers. Because the level of interactivity starts out low in episode one, increasing with each subsequent episode in order to reflect Alice's own growing abilities, we've found that we can take an audience unfamiliar with multimedia fiction with us. Educators like 'Inanimate Alice' because of this; students from primary to post-graduate level find the work engaging. Today educators face a quandary. On the one hand there are anxieties about the reliability of internet sites and concerns regarding how to educate students to make informed online decisions. On the other hand there are, for example, government initiatives like the National Curriculum in England and Media Literacy outcomes in Canada which emphasise the important role technological skills play in all sorts of learning environments. But how can teachers successfully integrate new media literacies into the classroom?
'Inanimate Alice' is easily assimilated into learning environments; its use of multimodality (images, sounds, text, interaction) enables students to see storytelling in a new, multi-sensory light. 'Inanimate Alice' is a new media fiction that allows students to develop multiple literacies (literary, cinematic, artistic, etc.) in combination with the highly collaborative and participatory nature of the online environment.”
Check out this technology device used to develop storytelling: iStori.es - http://www.istori.es/ "the authoring tool for teachers, primary and secondary school students, university undergrads and, in fact, just about everyone. If your students relate to Alice they are going to love working with iStori.es. iStori.es is a supremely easy-to-use story-telling device that requires no manual. All of the instructions necessary to create dynamic output are available from the on-screen wizard. Load up some pictures, add text, music and sound effects and BOOM! you have your own interactive story in minutes."
If you haven’t seen www.glogster.com/edu , you must take time to enhance your classroom toolbox. Glogster is an interactive on-line poster maker that will bring creativity and enthusiasm to the forefront in the classroom and for homework projects. Students can combine pictures, graphics, text,and audio/video to create an on-line interactive poster. When completed the glog can be hosted on the Glogster site or embeded into a blog, wiki, personal website, or facebook page. There is almost endless possibilities for curricula adaptations. Once the students start realizing the audio/video connectivity, they can start to create full scale multimedia projects that could include podcasts and other presentations. Check out this YouTube video about Glogster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40zmLiFqjG8&feature=channel_page Facebook application http://www.glogster.com/news/16-12-08-facebook-application
Acronym Interaction, Expansion and Extrapolation Engine by Lore Sjöberg
Tired of practicing your blank stares for when someone says they need a TCP/IP-based LAN set up and a USB-to-SCSI adapter ASAP? Do you wish you could throw around acronyms with that same casual attitude that pisses you off so much? Here's your chance. With this tool, you can enter any combination of letters you like (from 2 to 6) and we'll expand them into a handy, technical-sounding, completely made-up phrase that borders on the plausible.
SketchUp and 3D Printing the Disney Concert Hall - Sweet Onion Creations
Another company has come out with a solution for making 3D prints from Google Earth. This time the solution is actually based on SketchUp 3D models. The company is called Sweet Onion Creations, and they describe how to click on a 3D model seen in Google Earth (or any found in the Google 3D Warehouse) and using their "3D printing" service get back an actual physical model. Here's a video they've made showing how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLiReajlXrg
Slide share is a great way for online educators to share powerpoint and keynote programs with both student and parents. This is a video that explains the basics:
http://www.geogreeting.com/main.html The surface of the earth holds a message for you. You just need to look a little closer... Investigating the Earth from the sky will find some surprising tools for classroom teachers. This is a great way to develop geographical skills.
Google Earth Interface Perceptive Pixel, Inc. was founded by Jeff Han in 2006 as a spinoff of the NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences to develop and market the most advanced multi-touch system in the world.
Social Networking and communication. Times are changing rapidly with today’s technologies. It used to be if you wanted to talk to a friend or colleague that you picked up a phone. Then the later part of the 20th Century brought bulletinboard, listserves, instant messaging, and chatrooms into focus. Today the tools for the 21st Century have provided a wealth of tools to connect, collaborate, and share information and experiences with others.
Some of those 21st Century tools are: Bookmarks (Del.ici.o.us ) SMS Messaging Chats (audio & video) – iChat Av, Skype, Voice thread, various web-based apps Video Streaming Blogging Podcasting Nings Digg -- Stumbleupon -- Technorati Tagging, Folksonomies
What are some of these tools? Digghttp://digg.com/about Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg— they are set up to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content, and we’re changing the way people consume information online.
Stumbleuponhttp://www.stumbleupon.com/ Channel surf the internet with the StumbleUpon toolbar to find great websites, videos, photos, and more. StumbleUpon learns what you like and brings you more.
Technoratihttp://technorati.com/ Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google and Yahoo. As of June 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. [1] The name Technorati is a portmanteau, pointing to the technological version of literati or intellectuals.
Tag (metadata), a keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information. (Wikipedia) Tagging- The idea of “tagging” content is suddenly everywhere. With Flickr and del.icio.us and Technorati embracing the concept of tags, suddenly it’s getting some broad acceptance.
Folksonomy (2004)- Folksonomy (also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging) is the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content. In contrast, to traditional subject indexing, metadata is generated not only by experts but also by creators and consumers of the content. Usually, freely chosen keywords are used instead of a controlled vocabulary. [1] Folksonomy is a portmanteau of the words folk and taxonomy, hence, a folksonomy is a user generated taxonomy. Two widely cited examples of websites using folksonomic tagging are Flickr and del.icio.us. The term folksonomy is generally attributed to Thomas Vander Wal. [5] It is a portmanteau of the words folk (or folks) and taxonomy that specifically refers to subject indexing systems created within Internet communities. (Wikipedia)
1. First start by going to Ning.com and sign up for an account with NING. Then click on the button that asks you to start your own network. 2. Choose a name your network and choose an address (most choices can be changed but not the web address). 3. Create and enter a description of your ning’s activities and upload a logo (if you want). 4. Then choose the features you want to start with for your layout. Don't panic- you can change this at anytime. Just think about how you want your participants to interact: writing stories and commenting in BLOGS, having debates or conversations in FORUMS and etc. 5. Choose your color scheme for your layout pattern. 6. Choose to make it public or private. You will be able to change this choice later. 7. Choose what questions your participants will answer in their profiles. 8. Click Launch! You are now ready to go live! 9. You are now up and running. Everything can be altered and changed by using the MANAGE toolbar at the top. Now why don't you invite your friends to join you?
In summary this is what you need to think about beforehand. Name: Address: _______. ning.com click create your network. Go to next step Next add details: Tagline Description: Keywords: collaboration, macintosh, Apple, MacUser, Web2.0, graphics, multimedia Decide which features are included and where laid out. Drag and drop into one of three columns. Click on next when you have decided on format Next step is to decide on color theme and change the various colors and fonts to taste
Last decide about information about members……public or private Send out information (can even import address book Decide what none members see when they come on the page and your automated message Next stage… decide on questions to ask members (ex. Do you have PS or elements?) Get a summary of what you decided as a summary
Now launch your site and start connecting with your colleagues and students. A word of caution when working with students. Using first names and/or initials will protect their privacy.
Just when you think you have no time to spare, it’s time to give yourself a break. This fun website will enthrall you for hours and hours. However, there are lots of great examples for teachers to use in their classrooms to support their curricula.
I find myself checking back on this site when I just want something refreshingly unique.
A historian and philosopher of science, George Dyson takes a clear-eyed and deeply researched view of our recent scientific past -- while showing where it may lead us.
George Dyson tells stories from the birth of the modern computer -- from its 16th-century origins to the hilarious notebooks of some early computer engineers.
It is Summer and time for some fun. This website will provide tons of visual fun. Enter a tag word that you might find on flickr, say.. Winter. Then sit back and watch as it displays (on a global ball) that tag category and related tags (categories) as satellites to that main tag. Click and drag uour mouse to rotate this globe or later screens.
Be prepared the fun starts now.
However, classroom teachers and librarians can use this tagging concept to help students develop effective search strategies.
Wordle ( http://wordle.net/ )is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. Here is one that I created with my del.icio.us bookmarks.
Here is another one created by someone and saved to the gallery on Wordle's homepage. Title: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
This tool will come in useful with many classroom tasks.
http://search.creativecommons.org/ This site will help you find photos, music, text, books, educational material, and more that is free to share or build upon utilizing Creative Commons enabled search services at Google, Yahoo!, blip.tv, Owl music search, and Flickr. You can also access this tool via the Firefox web browser. " Why is this important?
Copyright applies fully and automatically to any work -- a photograph, a song, a web page, an article, pretty much any form of expression -- the moment it is created. This means that if you want to copy and re-use a creative work you find online, you usually have to ask the author's permission.
This "all rights reserved" protection is a good thing for many authors and artists. But what about those who want you to use their work freely without permission -- but on certain conditions?
This search service helps you quickly find those authors and the work they have marked as free to use with only "some rights reserved." If you respect the rights they have reserved (which will be clearly marked, as you'll see) then you can use the work without having to contact them and ask. In some cases, you may even find work in the public domain -- that is, free for any use with "no rights reserved." "
Every educator needs some time off to stay fresh. Many of us are also to busy to watch the tv programs when they are scheduled. Try Hulu http://www.hulu.com/
This website allows you to watch all kinds of TV shows.
There is always time for comics. Sometimes they add the humor a teacher needs to get a point across to the class. Students also like to use them for projects.
It seems like there is always a student project that has to be pulled together and produced in some manner. It could even be a yearbook or class field trip. Many teachers want to publish poems and stories written by their students. The variety of needs is outstanding. Last year when I was at MacWorld I saw a company entitled, Blurb. www.blurb.com The company produces books for individuals or groups in softcover or hardcover on beautifully printed clay based paper. I thought it was too good to be true so I set myself down and put together a book and had it published. The process was really pain free and speedy. The result was also very satisfying. If you want to see it, check out my art blog at http://brushcolor.blogspot.com . There is a link to it on the blog.
One of the best factors for classroom teachers is the fact that Blurb will market it for you. For instance, a classroom teacher puts together a book on the poetry of a group of students and has it published. The teacher doesn't have to collect money and hand out books. The parents and grandparents can get a copy or as many copies as they want from Blurb. More importantly Blurb handle all the shipping, etc.
There is another company that also does a similar service. Lulu http://www.lulu.com/
