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Phil Bird’s Classroom 201X

August 25, 2010

Phil Bird’s website Classroom 201X is a fantastic resource essentially for the EOSL and functional English teachers, but educators of all persuasions will find a gem hidden in its pages. Phil (who’s located in the UK) writes primarily about the tools he encounters in his EOSL role; his latest post was an indepth comparison between Prezi and PowerPoint. The other resources that he offers can be found as pages across the top menu bar.

His SmartBoard Resources provide a plethora of links and ideas, as well as connections to Smatboard software, including the Beta Smartboard Express. The Software Toolbox page is a great overview of about nine programs (only one of them has a cost), with links and ideas that will help particularly with Literacy teaching. The final page, Teaching Links, covers different categories, again giving some great links including Blogs, Twittering Teachers and Professional Development resources.

Phil has put in a fantastic effort in getting this site full of rich content. I suggest you set aside half an hour or more and explore Classroom 201X. You can also find Phil on Twitter using @pysproblem81

Popularity: 5% [?]

: Resources

: classoom, education, educators, elearning, interactive whiteboard, Resources

An Open Letter To Educators

August 16, 2010

by Mark

Here’s a great video to help start your week.

Popularity: 7% [?]

: Reflections, Video, Web2.0

: classoom, digital citizenship, education, educators, technology, Web, Web 2.0

Three New Plugins for Edublogs

July 22, 2010

by Mark

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.

Popularity: 6% [?]

: Resources, Web2.0

: blog, classoom, collaboration, education, educators, Resources, Web 2.0, website, writing

Searching? Try Goofram

May 19, 2010

by Mark

Now this is a great idea. And I like great ideas. Goofram, besides sounding rather obscure is actually a website that allows you to search Google.com and WolframAlpha.com at the same time.

My search for “US Presidents” yielded the screen screen, where Google results were on the left, while WA results were on the right.

For younger students searching on topics, there will be the issue of disseminating the information and working out what is best for their needs, however this is a great tool in allowing information and links appear. For more on Wolfram Alpha, I recommend this article at Wikipedia that covers the nature of this very impressive website resource. You can also click ‘More’ on the WA toolbar at the top and then follow the ‘New To Wolfram Alpha’ link to try first hand some things that Wolfram can do.

Popularity: 8% [?]

: Resources

: classoom, education, google, Resources, search, Web 2.0, Wolfram Alpha

Great Whiteboard Games

May 18, 2010

by Mark

Just pointing you today in the direction of some great games that are based on TV shows. Bright Hub has an article where they review 5 games for use on the IWB. Games such as Deal or No Deal, Millionaire and Smarter Than A Fifth Grader will be instantly recognizable. Have a look at their description of each game and download away! (Link)

Popularity: 10% [?]

: Resources

: classoom, interactive whiteboard, Resources

Better than Wordle? Try Word Mosaics

April 14, 2010

by Mark

Application: Word Mosaics

We all love Wordle and we have found heaps of uses for that particular web app. For the classroom they are great. They’re eye catching, fun and a great visual aid. However, there is another application which is just like Wordle, but adds another dimension. Word Mosiacs is part of the Image Chef website and just like Wordle will list randomly words that are inputted. The twist comes when you can then put those words into shapes. Here’s one that I made in a matter of moments – ‘Nothing Without Joy’ is mantra that my boss often uses and was, for some reason, the first thing that came to my head. I like the avenues of sharing your creations. You can Facebook it, Tweet it, MySpace it (what?) and even embed into blogs or other web pages. You can also save the image, something that Wordle can’t do at the moment.

I suggest that you have a look for some fun and visually stimulating effects that take word usage another step up from Wordle.

Popularity: 26% [?]

: Literacy, Resources, Tools

: classoom, education, educators, images, Literacy, photos, pictures, Resources, reviews, teacher, technology, Wordle

20+ iPad reviews

February 1, 2010

by Mark

A few days back Steve Jobs announced Apple’s intention of releasing the iPad, a 9.7 inch touch-screen computer that looks a little like an oversized iPod touch or iPhone. Now that the dust has settled, here’s a roundup of reviews from across the globe.