Edublogs is a wonderful blogging platform, based on the WordPress system, but is set up for teachers and schools to blog safely with others in Education. It is also free for a basic account. They also offer a paid Pro and Campus account as well. This week Edublogs announced that they are supporting three new plugins for their platform to those paying subscribers who have the Pro or Campus accounts. The three updates are;

1. PayPal Plugin – This plugin allows you to collect donations and payments right inside of your blog. Payments for field trips, materials, clubs and more are now easy to manage – and are available in over 100 currencies and countries

2. Calendar Plugin – It is now easier than ever to keep everyone up to date and informed by using this new powerful plugin. It is easy to manage events, assignments, birthdays, or exams right from inside your blog’s dashboard.

3. Facebook Like Plugin – This plugin will place a “like” button at the top or bottom of your posts. Since many of your students or blog readers are probably on Facebook, this helps build community and interaction on your blog.

Edublogs have recently upgraded these Pro accounts with 10Gig storage. It’s a growing platform that has morphed through some good changes over the years. It’s stable and consistent, and for an educator who is toying with the idea of a blog, either for themselves or their class, look at what this platform can offer. At about $3.35 per month, with no ads and up to 50 individual blogs, it’s well worth considering.

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Application: ViewPure

This is probably the most down to earth website I have seen. It’s very similar to It’s so basic in it’s presentation but so profoundly simply. And I’d say that’s exactly what the creators of ViewPure want you to recognise. The premise of their site is to take YouTube videos and strip away all the other ‘nonsense’ that you don’t need when watching a tube video in class. There are no coments, no embedding or sharing options, no related videos – just the video you want.

There are three unique features to this site;

1. You copy the Youtube url or ID and paste it into their prompt, press create and you get access to the video.

2. Clicking the ‘Options’ button on the left allows you to tweak a few things. You can create your own url at pureview.com, a password to protect the link, whether you want it wide screen or standard 4:3, a white or black background, and as a final option, you can specify a particular time within the original clip for the video to start.

3. The third feature is an ability to drag the button up into your bookmark bar (or right click and favourite it in IE) so that whenever you are on a YouTube page you can immediately strip the video of all unnecessary elements.

Here’s an example of a video as presented through ViewPure of my kids using a FlipCamera.

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One of the applications on the web that is a lot of fun is Yearbook Yourself. If you haven’t heard about the concept, the site allows you to upload a photo, or take one via webcam and superimpose it over a headshot from a certain year, all the way back to the 1940s. It’s very easy to do, and so much fun for the school staff meeting. YearBookYourself.com – you know you want to. And yes, that is me. Somewhere lost in the ’80s I think.

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Screencasting is a great way to get a point across quickly, visually and memorably. It’s becoming a more and more popular way for people to share their knowledge on a particular subject. But what makes a good screencast? How can you effectively get a lesson or a tutorial across in a timely and memorable manner?

Well, MakeUsOf.com has an article to help you do just that. They’ve included 6 tips which I will include here in summary for you;

1. The Right Apps
2. Setting the Right Resolution
3. The Right Gear
4. The Right Words
5. The Right Format
6. The Finishing Touches

You can find the original article here.

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• New Post At the Hub: Inspirational Video: What Teachers Make – Taylor Mali http://goo.gl/fb/xUey1 #
• Apple holding iPhone 4 press conference this Friday – http://tinyurl.com/28vtr8p #
• 3 Web based tools for creating screencast videos. http://ow.ly/2cdbl #
• Did you know that The Teacher's Hub is on Facebook. For further interactions and discussion why not become a fan? http://bit.ly/dzyzTe #
• New Post At the Hub: 10 Tips For When Someone Follows You on Twitter http://goo.gl/fb/Y6ntN #
• And so the day draws to a close. A good, productive day. Goodnight all. #
• @BorisBerlijn @tech4kinders @jenny_wood @KimberlyRoses @JennyTech @borinda @whartonag @musikmarc @MdeFockert Tnx heaps 4 the RTs UR legends! in reply to BorisBerlijn #
• New Post At the Hub: 50 Really Cool Online Tools for Science Teachers http://goo.gl/fb/OSZHT #
• I just installed the @apture magic search bar. http://bit.ly/9oKsJ6 My Brand. Social Sharing. Engagement. Just scroll down the page #
• "The Teacher's Hub » Teen Chat Acroynm Decoder" – http://bit.ly/azPytL #
• Ten great TED talks that every teacher should watch (thanks @parentella) http://ow.ly/2bEv3 #
• @jdthomas7 Thanks Jeff for the RT; btw, loved your article this morning http://bit.ly/cN8s77 #Smartboard #edtech in reply to jdthomas7 #
• May I introduce Tyler Fowler's Smartboard Channel on YouTube – http://ping.fm/URdBd #
• New Post At the Hub: Tyler Folwer’s Smartboard YouTube Channel http://goo.gl/fb/JqBQm #
• @JennyTech you're welcome. Glad you're enjoying it. in reply to JennyTech #
• The thinking person's guide to Autism – http://ping.fm/Ixluy #
• Based on Google Reader and Twitter, "Feedly" organizes your favorite sites into a fun, magazine-like start page. – http://www.feedly.com/ #
• Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot. – http://ping.fm/U0ht3 #
• Step into the role of an explorer in a futuristic lunar settlement – http://ping.fm/daXaV #
• Free Clip Art Images That Will Grab Your Students Attention and Motivate Them – http://bit.ly/bDk1kt #
• Free CarbonFootprint – Follow the qtns to see if you're environmentally friendly. http://ping.fm/wNAfV #
• New Post At the Hub: Teen Chat Acroynm Decoder http://goo.gl/fb/iGTVh #
• @tech4kinders hi Diane. Great to have you on board. Look forward to learning with and from you. #
• What Book Should You Read Next? Check out the BookSeer – http://bookseer.com/ #
• Great Games to Teach Kids Compound Words – http://ping.fm/T44bg #
• 10 Ways To Foster a Love of Learning – http://ping.fm/l8AMZ #
• URL Void – Scan Websites for Viruses http://www.urlvoid.com/ #
• A great article citing tools for building a PLN for education – http://ping.fm/iEFyaBuilding+a+PLN+for+E #
• 8 Engaging Videos Advocating Better Integration of Technology in Education – http://ping.fm/nJU7j #
• "Being original all the time can be tough, but copying another person’s work and passing it as our own is…" http://tumblr.com/x1qd988s5 #
• Did you know that The Teacher's Hub is on Facebook. For further interactions and discussion why not become a fan? http://bit.ly/dzyzTe #
• Video: Here’s a great video explaining the important need for a PLN. Personal Learning Networks for Educators… http://tumblr.com/x1qd6et0i #
• Did you know that The Teacher's Hub is on Facebook. For further interactions and discussion why not become a fan? http://bit.ly/dzyzTe #
• 25 Free Sites to Teach Writing – The Writing Teacher – Tips, Techniques, and Advice on Teaching Writing – The… http://tumblr.com/x1qd5l6ll #
• "A great game site for learning the capitals and states of the USA" – Learn the States and Capitals Game http://tumblr.com/x1qd5l0ir #
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What happens when someone follows you on Twitter? Should you automatically respond with a ‘follow’ back, or is there more to this Twitter thing than meets the eye? Terry Freedman has written a fantastic article highlight ten things he does when somebody follows him. Quickly, those ten things are;

1. Asking, “What’s in it for me?”
2. Checking the tweets
3. Checking the numbers
4. Searching “Who’s Who?”
5. Check their profile
6. Check if they have a website
7. Look at their website URL
8. Check their website
9. Check their profile or ‘about’ page
10. Home at last – The Follow button

Terry’s written some excellent tips within those points, and I’d like to recommend that you read his thoughts, particularly if you are keen on building up an accurate and valuable PLN. You can find the article at Terry’s website – ICT in Education.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Education is certainly taking its place amongst the realms of the internet. From classroom blogs to fully fledged courses, it’s not just a place for school’s to advertise their wares. One place that allows participants to complete courses via cyberspace is Online Degree Programs. Here’s something from their ‘About Page’

If you are considering going back to school and don’t have the time for a traditional campus life, or if you just desire your education delivered in a different format than in overcrowded lecture halls, then online education is the solution for you. Online Degree Programs is here to help you achieve your higher education goals by sorting through the best schools with the best online programs so you don’t have to.

With everything from entertainment to communication to business going online, it is only natural that education follow suit. Online education is just the thing to bring many people back into higher education, especially those with demanding schedules that do not fit into rigid classroom presence requirements.

However, it’s not just students that they attract or target. Online Degree Programs also have features for educators. One nice resource that they have for Science Teachers is a compilation of 50 online tools. Divided into categories they cover;

• Science tools to use with students
• AP tools
• Websites and resources for Science Teachers
• Calculators
• Online Games
• Google Earth

You can find the complete listing here, as well as a short paragraph of each of the tools offered. A terrific resource, and one that should be shared amongst science faculties of both elementary and secondary schools.

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Just wanted to quickly highlight a great channel on YouTube run by Tyler Fowler. If you use a Smartboard and are relatively new to it and the technology, then may I suggest you take a look at Tyler’s work. He currently has 6 videos uploaded that help users come to terms with what Smarboard Notebook is all about. So far he has videos explaining about the various pens that can be used. Tyler also has a ‘getting started’ video, which I have included below. I hope you take a moment to visit Tyler at his YouTube channel. I’m looking forward to seeing other videos in the future.

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Application: Teen Chat Acronym Decoder

Social networking comes with its own language, and there is nothing more frustrating than seeing a list of letter combinations and not knowing what they mean. If you’ve ever used Facebook, Twitter, other social networking sites, used MSN or even sent an sms, then you will be pleased to know that there is a tool out there to help you decipher what it all means. You may be a parent or a teacher wanting to understand further the online language of your teen or student; this site will help.

The Teen Chat Decoder website exists to simplify and decode the language used online. For example, have you seen, or are you aware of the following;

As parents, when our kids started to use the Internet more and more, we did what any good parent would do – we monitored their online activity.

We reviewed their browser history, or some parental control software product like PC Tattletale. But it was really frustrating when we found that our kids used abbreviations and acronyms in when chatting online or via their cell phones.

Now some acronyms are pretty easy to figure out, like “LOL” (Laugh Out Loud), but many made no sense at all – unless you were 15!

So several years ago we put together what would eventually become the largest “Teen Acronym Only” database on the net. Teen Chat Decoder was designed to help parents understand what their kids were “really” saying online and to help keep them safe.

It’s as easy as following the instructions below;

Not only is it an easy to use online database there are some other great resources. You can download the desktop version which is provided free. There is also the ability to add to the database should your acronym not be found.

Using this application for education and sharpening your knowledge of the ‘teenspeak’ is indispensable. Who knows, your teenage or student may just thankyou.

Link: Teen Chat Decoder

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