Shape Collage-So simple to use yet so effective!!

Shape Collage - Free Automatic Photo Collage Maker

You can join or just check out the Shape Collage flickr group

Flamingo Collage

It's a fair collage

Download Shape Collage at http://www.shapecollage.com/

For those who want more....Shape Collage + Gimp

For those who want even more...Shape Collage + After Effects

Search engines for kids

            GoGooligans pops up a page to help you organise your notes when searching.

                                                             

         Study Search                                                               

 Ask Kids 

                                 

 Yahoo

Boolify

Boolify: Basic Operation video                                                                                                                                                  

Meta search engine. GO FETCH!!

               Dogpile

Graphics and what graphic artists can produce amaze me.

The Face of 7 billion: 7,000 human figures each representing 1,000,000 people from National Geographic


It is a work that took more than ten years


Click on the link to zoom in and see what the graphic is made up of.


What is 7 billion? video by National Geographic


"Solving the challenges presented by a population of seven billion will take collaboration on a global scale."

Next generation textbook with inbuilt provision for assistance....

Inkling from Bulent Keles on Vimeo.
Inkling is the next generation textbook technology built on apple platform for the iPad, a learning network that combines social platforms with learning capabilities.

Crocodoc is a free tool worth investigating.....

"Crocodoc makes it easy to view and comment on PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations." Crunch Base 

View and comment on any document

Review a Word document, fill out a PDF form, mark up an image,
and more... All with Crocodoc, all online, all for free. 

View sample document

Crocodoc video

Crocodoc video

Crocodoc intro

Using Crocodoc for collaborative homework marking -NikPeachey -

This video shows how Crocodoc can be used to mark up and correct students' written work. This can be done collaboratively live online with the students or by two or more students working together.

With Crocodoc you can:

View PDFs, Office Docs, & Images

Documents display beautifully in your browser. No Flash or plugins required.

Add Comments & Markups

Add comments, highlights, drawings, and other markups to documents and images

Share and Embed Anywhere

Invite others to collaborate in real-time or embed documents on your website or blog

For more info:

CrocoDoc: Read, Annotate, Share, and Collaborate on PDF Files Online provides many helpful howtos and guides.

 

Crocodoc’s new viewer aims to banish Acrobat from the office  Venturebeat 

Crocodoc Launches HTML5-Based Document Viewer With Annotations, Embeds, And Its Own API

2/16/11 by Jason Kincaid

Crocodoc Closes Angel Round, Launches Revamped Document Collaboration Tools

7/14/10 by Jason Kincaid

Crocodoc Sets Its Sights On Adobe Acrobat With New Update

3/19/10 by Jason Kincaid

YC-Funded Crocodoc Makes It A Snap To Share And Mark Up Documents

2/25/10 by Jason Kincaid

Great advancement!! Help with attribution is on its way!!

Creative Commons
To be a responsible digital citizen requires a person to be informed of their rights and responsibilities. 
One of the rights is that no-one is allowed to copy your work without your permission.
That is "copyright".  
Even if you give your permission for someone to use your work they must give you recognition as the owner of the work. That is called "attribution". In creative commons there are choices to be made by the owner of the work.
What is Creative commons? 


There are other licensing agencies to investigate as well:  Viscopy, 
                                                                                   APRA/AMCOS and the
                                                                                   Australian Copyright Council.

Watch the video below to understand more about this concept  called "creative commons".


Visit Judy O'Connell's blog Digital Citizenship for Schools- 
In  her Greasemonkey for flickr post Judy writes:
"Alan Levine has written a Flickr Attribution Helper – a browser script that embeds easy to copy attribution text to creative commons licensed flickr images. Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox browser. Once Greasemonkey is installed, you have the ability to add all sorts of magical things to the functionality of your browser."

Livebinders are a great collection and organisation tool.

Livebinders
I have created a number of livebinders to help support teachers 
Some of them include: Persuasive texts
                                  Phonics
                                  Book Trailers
                                  Kids book trailers
                                  New Teachers" survival kit
                                  Glogster
                                  Quest Atlantis
                                  blogED and blogging tools
                                  Copyright
                                  Online Stories
                                  Tooth Tally
                                  Grammar
                     Livebinders4teachers : This workspace was created for educators to share and categorize livebinders by subject, grade-level, and whatever else makes sense.  Please feel free to add binders, pages, and new sections.
Livebinders Tips and Tricks

Searching for information using pictures- so easy- so useful!!

 Google Goggles is a downloadable image recognition application.
Google Goggles lets you use pictures taken with your mobile phone to search the web. It's ideal for things that aren't easy to describe in words. 

OPEN

SNAP

WAIT

Try taking pictures of books & DVDs, landmarks, barcodes & QR codes, logos, contact info, artwork, businesses, products, or text; it can recognize up to three items at a time. Google Goggles is a fantastic tool for tourists, art gallery enthusiasts, people who love to read good books...

The best position to take pictures of images is the left landscape.

Future uses from Wikipedia

Google is currently working to make the system able to recognise different plants and leaves, which can aid curious persons, those wishing to avoid toxic plants, and botanists and environmentalists searching for rare plants.

Khan Academy shares thousands of videos for your students.

Khan Academy  now have on the order of 2,200 videos covering everything from basic arithmetic all the way to vector calculus . They have a million students a month using the site, watching on the order of 100 to 200,000 videos a day.
 These resources can be very effective as revision or reinforcement tasks, a backup for students who miss a lesson or for students who need further input to fully understand certain concepts. 



Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com


See what is available:Browse the library

Start at the very beginning. The software will build your streak. It builds profiency with unlimited problems until you get 10 in a row, in a game like framework. Students can earn badges to encourage and motivate them.There are hint facilities available and the software allows students to work at their own pace. There is plenty of feedback for teachers and parents to view. These resources should be used as part  of a balanced course. 

Film Making-Green screen

If you are looking to create films try these 22 filmmaking apps from iPhone and iPad 

Teach Yourself to Teach with Tech: The first 10 | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

Teach Yourself to Teach with Tech: The first 10 | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

The beginning of a series Nik Peachey is writing. Check out his blog address at the bottom of the page.

iPad proves to be a very helpful educational tool, especially for autistic children.

The iPad was shown in use at the Center for Communication Enhancement at Children's Hospital Boston, where it has been used to assist children with autism.

The video also highlighted how the iPad has been put to use in education, allowing students to interact with content in a new and unique way.

Related articles

• Using EEGs to diagnose autism spectrum disorders in infants (physorg.com)
• EEG Complexity Predicts Autism Risk (medgadget.com)
• Electrical Brain Activity May Spot Autism Risk (webmd.com)

Your child can build their own story with ease.

 Little Bird Tales

allows a child to upload their own art work, sketches, drawings, photos and add their own voice to create a story. They can then share this with their friends and family.

• Encourages creativity and self expression
• Helps reinforce reading and writing skills
• A GREEN alternative to books
• NO ads, NO merchandising, NO external links
• Made with kids in mind!
• It's Fun and it's FREE for everyone!

Digital Media -New Learners of the 21st Century

Featuring the foremost thought leaders, innovators and practitioners in the field, 

Digital Media is a startling preview of a 21st Century education revolution.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

3rd graders leave comments as if they are a rain forest animal!

This lesson is presents a great example of a persuasive text for young ones to experience and next provides a research task and then the students are expected to post a comment on the class blog as their animal persuading the loggers to save the tree.

from: Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog

First runner up in the 2010 Edublog Awards for 

                  Best Class Blogs

The Great Kapok Tree 

The story takes place in the rain forest of the Amazon. Throughout the story, rain forest animals try to persuade a logger to leave the kapok tree. The kids will love hearing about all the animals trying to convince the logger to save the tree.

This review is from: The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest (Hardcover)

This is a beautifully illustrated fable of interdependence in the rain forest. As a teacher, I use this story to teach about ecosystems here at home. Even though it is appropriate for younger children, I read it to my outdoor school students (5th-6th grade) on the day we study ecosystems to help them understand the inter-relationships we see and study in the field. I like to bring the story to life by giving the animals special voices (lots of hissssing for the snake, chattering for the monkeys, squawking for the birds, etc.) At first the students laugh and are amused by the voices, but when the tree frogs talk about ruined lives and being left homeless, they begin to get more serious, and by the time the sloth asks "How much is beauty worth? Can you live without it?" they are fully engrossed. After reading the story, I send the students out to find a "magic spot" to do a writing assignment: write their own story of "The Great ______"..

Related articles

• What are the trees cut down in the rainforest used for? (greenanswers.com)
• The Rain Forest (creativewriting12.wordpress.com)

Try this special browser!! I love it! So user-friendly!

Zac Browser is a totally free software package. ZAC-Zone for Autistic Children.  It is the first Internet browser developed specifically for children living with autism. It includes:

• A drawing board

• New sites

• New videos

• Compatible with the latest Flash

• Increased speed of the videos

• Color changes of the Browser

• "Smiley" in another category

• Added "Zac Crash Recovery"

• Shortcut to The Autism News

• Shortcut to our new forum

You will find a mass of important information along with the latest discoveries and open discussion on the autism spectrum.

Welcome to the official Zac Browser site – Zone..

What is it all about? Audacity??

 Audacity is free pc recording software available on the web.  It contains many features and allows you to make high quality audio recordings. 

 Audacity Tip SheetAudacity Tutorial 

DigiGogy by Mike Fisher

 A new digital pedagogy: DigiGogy from Mike Fisher:

Digigogy is a paradigm shift.

Where pedagogy is about methods to instruct, Digigogy is about those methods, but with a technological frame.

Fisher states: "The Digigogy Collaborative is dedicated to the development of 21st Century Fluencies within a strong pedagogical framework to enhance professional practice and to ultimately do what is in the best interest of students. 

This certainly includes a multitude of cutting edge technologies, with an emphasis on collaboration, conversation, critical thinking, and global connectivity." 

Explore Mike's version of  Digital Bloom's Visual

Record what you say and write with a Smartpen .

Image via CrunchBaseTeaching and Learning with Livescribe Pens

Writing in Math Goes to the Movies

Echo vs Pulse Smartpens and the core differences.

 12 Ways Educators & Students Are Using the Pen Today

-Watch some fabulous videos to demonstrate each of the strategies

 Livescribe Echo vs Pulse Smartpen  includes information about Livescribe Paper and other Livescribe Accessories.

                                                          Image by fishgirl7 via Flickr

Related articles

• The Evernote-Livescribe Connection (evernote.com)
• Daily Education & Technology News for Schools 01/29/2011 (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)
• Livescribe's smart pen synchs speech with writing (sfgate.com)
• Evernote - Livescribe Pairing is a True Reeses Moment [Macworld 2011] (cultofmac.com)
• Review: Livescribe Echo smartpen (gadling.com)

Only thirty years old and already considered very old!

 Can you remember using these technologies? Maybe you were even  excited to learn about these technologies when they were new....