Recently in Clip Art & Other Enhancements Category

What makes Web 2.0 different than the "other web" stuff?  The difference is in the interactivity and ability to change outcomes based on the the user decides to do.  For example, Quiz Board App is a jeopardy-like game.  Teachers can download the app and use it to design games for their classes.  The ability to configure something is easier with this type of web interface.  For a complete list of apps available on the quiz board site, click here.

Another Web 2.0 app is SkyTruth.  This app uses remote sensing to produce detailed consequences of a variety of human activities from oil spills to mining projects.  There are links to news articles, maps and trackers.

At Michigan State University they are exploring Rich Internet Applications for Language Learning or RIA.  There are links for ideas and projects as well as apps for worksheets and quizzes.  The idea behind RIA is to use apps as tools.  The same tool can be used by an advanced Spanish teacher, an introductory Japanese teacher, and a remedial ESL teacher. This is because the programs provide function, not content. Because all of these teachers might want to use the same function, the same tool can be used by any language teacher.  The most interesting idea was using the app DropBox to move work between students and teachers.  This app is free for up to 2GB of stored data.

 

Final exam time always makes me either nostalgic for the olden days before computers OR grateful that there are so many cool tools for students.  Either way, I found these on a very interesting website, Make Use Of.

PinkMonkey

PinkMonkey is very much like Sparknotes and Cliffnotes, except that it has slightly more detailed summaries.

FlashCardExchange

Known as the “worlds largest flashcard library”...you can create your own Flash Cards or study using the hundreds of pre-made flashcard sets covering a variety of different subjects.

LectureFox

LectureFox is a great place to go for free university lectures. Choose a category and see a list of lectures from various colleges, including MIT and Yale.

PrintablePaper

With PrintablePaper, you never have to worry about running out of “special” paper. As long as you have a printer, you can print graph paper, lined paper, and even Cornell paper. Download 400+ different papers, all for free.

Evernote

Evernote is a note taking application. Get notes synced to the desktop, the web, and even your iPhone.

For the rest of the applications...read on.

In the the July issue 2008 issue of The Atlantic, an exceptional and provocative article by Nick Carr, asks "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"  Carr writes: "The human brain is almost infinitely malleable..." James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind "is very plastic...The brain...has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions."

Do we really want to think like Google or speak like Twitter or converse like e-mail? And yet we increasingly do, as the Internet reshapes the world in its image. Continue reading...

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Most certainly Youtube has transformed how people communicate a wide variety of messages.  We have a President who delivers a weekly video chat and a Hollywood celebrity who has 1000000 people following his tweets.

Digital native kids who have grown up texting ask, r u 4 ppl 2?  And then risk arrest?

Food for thought....read on.

Make Beliefs Comix is a new website where children and adults can create their own comic strips.  They can select from 10 fun characters with different moods -- happy, sad, angry, worried and write words for blank talk and thought balloons to make their characters talk and think.  There also are story ideas and prompts to help users create graphic stories.

This site can be used to teach language, reading and writing skills and to facilitate self-expression and storytelling. Some educational therapists use it with deaf and autistic people to help them understand concepts and communicate. Parents and children can create stories together, print them to create comic books or email them to friends and family.  Others will find the site a resource to be creative, calm down and have fun.  The site is free with no advertising.  WooHoo!

Imagine yourself teaching to the world. That's what Teacher Tube is...a Youtube for teachers. Here are some of the recent videos....

Perimeter Rap

Using Tablet PCs in Spain...eportaje sobre el uso de los tablets PC en lo que ha dado en llamarse Aulas Autosuficientes. José Antonio Blesa y alguno de los niños, nos cuentan su experiencia. Desde Ariño (Teruel) en España.

Kindergarten Class Celebrates the Letter B

Divers