Useful sites (weekly)

  by  mikefisher821  

• Teens Find Innovative Ways to Control Their Facebook Presence ”Ever heard of “Super-logoff” or “whitewalling”? They are ways to designate what some teens have been doing in order to have total control over who posts what (and when) on their Facebook page:”

• Digital Culture & Education: Classroom perspectives – Digital Culture & Education In this issue we present articles that push the boundaries of research on digital cultures, teaching, and technologies in fruitful and generative directions.  Researchers and practitioners in this issue present case studies and analysis of practical classroom use of copyright literacies, learning management systems, mobile/cell phones, social video, Twitter, and Google Reader.  The articles demonstrate how the affordances of digital culture have shifted our understandings of how pupils learn as content can be accessed, designed, and shared.  Despite the affordances of digital culture, teaching and learning—with and through digital technologies—requires effective pedagogy.  Digital technologies are not ‘teacher-proof’ tools; they require thoughtful and thorough integration into pedagogy, in a manner that reflects carefully articulated instructional and learning goals

• Media Awareness Network (MNet) | Reports and Publications The Digital Literacy in Canada discussion paper is a response to the Government of Canada’s Digital Economy Consultation, launched in May 2010. The paper calls for federal leadership in the creation of a national digital literacy strategy to ensure all Canadians have the necessary skills to use digital technologies to their fullest potential.  

• Roald Dahl – The Official Web Site  This is the official web site of author Roald Dahl. A great site to visit for fans of all ages. It contains Dahl’s biography, books, and special links to peruse and enjoy.

• Mobile Digital Storytelling with StoryKit, Storyrobe, and SonicPics #edapp « Moving at the Speed of Creativity Post from Wes Fryer. An overview of StoryKit, StoryRobe (both free), and SonicPics (small cost) on iOS devices (iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads)- Some great apps for creating digital stories

• Blekko Tries to Filter Out Web Search – NYTimes.com NY Times article: New search engine Blekko aims to show search results from only useful, trustworthy sites

• Sir Ken Robinson, Daniel Pink and David Pogue the Creativity World Forum #cwf2010 « Moving at the Speed of Creativity Wes Fryers notes from Sir Ken Robinson’s presentation at the 2010 Creativity World Forum in Oklahoma City. “Sir Ken is part of our morning panel along with Dan Pink and David Pogue. My notes from their panel discussion after Ken’s remarks are also included”

• TEFL Non – Stick Teaching | EFL Classroom 2.0 – Teacher Talk post about 25 ways to be a good teacher

• e-Learning Stuff » Blog Archive » Adobe Photoshop Express – iPhone App of the Week 

• Violating a Creative Commons License | edte.ch Interesting case over in the “interesting ways” world.. resources built up through widespread teacher use. Australian company, Edsoft, using our “Interesting Ways to use an iPad in the Classroom” resource as a handout at a sales event. You can see the image clearly showing how they have used it, breaking the terms of the CC license. 

• 40 Astounding Examples of Abstract Photography | Inspiration Some great examples of photography 

• 30+ Outstanding Websites of Higher Education Institutions | Vandelay Design Blog These College and Uni sites contain huge amounts of information and they managed to design an attractive and usable websites. Links from this post take you to more than 30 outstanding sites for your inspiration. 

• Global Education Conference – Home The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities 

• Bookapedia The blog for a NZ school book club. Links to their website for hosting the Bookapedia Book Battles project. 

• 10 best Android tablets in the world | News | TechRadar UK  These are worth a look if you are wondering about how the Andriod tablets will compare to the ipad. Article about 10 best Android tablets in the world In Depth: Which Android tablet is best for you?” 

• Using new visualizations to tell your story – Official Google Docs Blog This blog post gives information and examples about the new charts and graphs that Google Docs offers using new visualizations to tell your story  

• 10 iPad / iPhone apps for primary school teachers – TEACHING APPS: iPhone – iPAd, iPhone, Android, AIR – Edgalaxy: Where Education and Technology Meet. 

• And the Most Popular Way to Read an E-Book Is … | Epicenter | Wired.com 

• DeweyDigger An innovative way to discover what the Dewey Decimal Classification system involves!By clicking on one of the Dewey classifications, you are then presented with a range of topics that would be found under that classification. Clicking on one of those you are then presented with a range of options to dig further. 

• Make a word cloud – WordItOut Much like Wordle, this tool creates word clouds out of any text that you paste into the text box. The application allows the word cloud to be customized by size, font, and color scheme. Word It Out also allows the user to ignore certain words and thus keeps them out of the word cloud. It can be used without a login, although the saving option requires an email. You can work around this option by right clicking to save as jpeg and/or screen print.

• Australian humour – Australia’s Culture Portal  This article describes the nature of Australia’s unique sense of humour and how this developed. It also contains a brief overview of how humour has been used in literature, film, television and radion. Links to relevant online resources are provided. 

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Useful links (weekly)

  by  Will Lion 

•  In the context of web context: How to check out any Web page — Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard Great tips for any journalist on how to find necessary context for what you’re reading online. An excellent guide to how to dig in a website and find out who owns it. basic investigative techniques to you know who’s behind what you’re reading online.

• Time-Saving Twitter Tools to Help You Work Smarter | A Zesty Buzz

• Top five iPad rivals

• Create floor plans, house plans and home plans online with Floorplanner.com A simple floor plan design tool. Use it to create and share interactive floor plans online. With simple drag and drop tools you can make accurate plans within minutes all on scale. Floorplanner BASIC is free for personal use

• Free Royalty Free Music, Free Sound Effects Another good source of free sounds and music for multimedia projects. It hosts hundreds of sounds and music that you can download, reuse, and remix for free.

• International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) Portal A site that offers actual scores for copyright-free music. It has thousands of scores free to download.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Nieman Reports | The Future of Storytelling: A Participatory Endeavor At the Center for Future Storytelling, researchers envision how technology can give people more control over TV programs they encounter and stories they follow.

Useful sites (weekly)

• Linguee – The web as a dictionary – German/English Linguee is part dictionary and part translation tool. Recently it has added Spanish, French and Portuguese comparisons with English and has plans to add Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Italian next year.

• School Principals and Social Networking in Education tags: school networking principals social networking social media education

• Inside the Brain: An Interactive Tour This highly interactive site describes the parts of the brain and their functions and how they are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. It provides detailed diagrams and solid descriptions for a variety of ages.

• M.T. Anderson Author M.T. Anderon’s site

• The Great War | PBS PBS provides a detailed look at World War I and its affect on the world at large. Content includes comprehensive interviews with expert historians, an interactive timeline, an interactive gallery complete with detailed maps, and commentary on the overarching effects

• Extreme Adventures site Justin Dath’s adventure packed series. Includes games puzzles and ifo about the books

• Stay Smart Online  “Stay Smart Online provides all Australian online users with information on the simple steps they can take to secure themselves online. This includes information and advice on how to secure your computer and your transactions online. This website contains a free alert service that provides easy to understand information on the latest cyber security threats and vulnerabilities, a free interactive education resource for primary and secondary school students, videos with useful tips on protecting your computer, a self assessment tool for small businesses, and information for parents.” Yehnay

• Bullying. No way! Bullying. No way! is developed and managed by all Australian education authorities for use by Australia’s Government, Catholic and Independent school communities.

• How a book becomes a cover – the Saltwater Vampires cover story part II | between the lines Part Two of 2 recent posts on Penguin’s Between the Lines site traceing the fascinating journey of a cover, in this instance Kirsty Eagar’s Saltwater Vampires. You can see the final product here, the outcome of a lengthy process with many drafts discarded before selecting this as the one.

• How a book becomes a cover – the Saltwater Vampires cover story by BTL crew member Davina | between the lines Part One of 2 recent posts on Penguin’s Between the Lines site traceing the fascinating journey of a cover, in this instance Kirsty Eagar’s Saltwater Vampires. You can see the final product here, the outcome of a lengthy process with many drafts discarded before selecting this as the one.

• Survey and comparison of fantasy novel cover art, 2008/9 – Boing Boing

• Censorship in the classroom: Finding the right book | Eve’s Fan Garden One teacher’s account about choosing and using a book with a class although one parent had grave reservations about it and cme into the school to discuss it. Interesting process

• Interactive mystery story aimed at digitally savvy teens – Books, Arts & Entertainment – The Independent

• Charlie Higson’s top 10 horror books | Books | guardian.co.uk

• middlespot.com Middlespot is a visual search engine that lets you explore the results of your searches in a visual fashion. Sources available for search are: Web, Images, News, Amazon and Twitter. Middlespots allows you to create as many workpads as the search terms you want to explore. Results will be displayed inside a gallery where you can zoom and re-arrange elements.

• “The Hunger Games” vs. “Twilight” – Laura Miller – Salon.com Laura Miller discusses which young-adult crossover hit series has the most empowered heroine.

• Gapfillers The site is an E-learning site for advanced learners of English to improve English language skills. It offers resources you can use to develop and improve your English language skills for work,study or personal achievement!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Useful sites (weekly)

• Empressr – The Best Online Rich Media Presentation Application Empressr is a rich media presentation tool where you can tell your story anyway you like. Add photos, music, video, and audio, and share it publicly or privately. Post a link or embed your presentation. Empressr also has great charting and table tools. 

• 5 Fantastic Ways to Use Wallwisher in the Classroom – SimpleK12 

• Bloom Taxonomy Book Review Questions  This is a good list of example questions for each level of Bloom’s (not the revised version) that could be used in a book review activity.

• About the series | A 21st Century Education Film Series  The twelve first-person films that make up this series explore three related themes, each in its own way at the center of current debate about what works, and what’s needed, to help students succeed during school and in life.

• Widgets for Teachers, Educators and Students – Edutweets widget  A widget that aggregates a bunch of different twitter conversations that teachers are having on twitter. It’s a great way to display what your PLN is saying right from your blog. 

• Free Social Studies worksheets, Games and Projects This site contains free U.S. history games, Ancient civilisation quizzes, U.S. history quizzes, geography games and quizzes, and free social studies worksheets.

• Family History Education – My Place In History – MyPlaceInHistory.com A website that teaches children about family history and has family trees for people like Don Bradman and Albert Einstein. Free site that requires registration – this isn’t too difficult. It states that it is for Year 5 and 6 but could be used by other year levels. Units of work and other resources are included.

• Teaching With Infographics | Social Studies, History, Economics – NYTimes.com Interactive Maps (Infographics) for Social Studies, History, Economics

• Romanov Family Albums – a set on Flickr  romanov, family albums, Russian history, dynasty, 1915

• iPads in Education  This site is “concerned with using Apple’s iPad for teaching and learning. Although this is based in the UK, the site’s content will reflect practice from other counties and contexts in order to explore and learn from a wide field.” Of particular interest is the iPad vs netbooks page

• iPad4Edu  A place to ask questions about using the iPad in education.

• YouTube – TheScholasticChannel’s Channel Scholastic’s website. Support for book reviews, author information etc.

• Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: How New Media is Transforming Storytelling: A New Video Series Recently posted on Vimeo a fascinating series of short videos on the future of storytelling. The videos juxtapose the perspectives of some key thinkers in this space, including Clay Shirkey (NYU), Joshua Green (UCSB), Ian Condry and Nick Montfort (MIT), Dean Jansen from the Participatory Culture Foundation, Joe Lambert from the Center for Digital Storytelling, and, hmm, Henry Jenkins (USC), among others. Each video is between five and ten minutes long and tackles some of the ways that shifts in the media environment are changing the nature of stories and storytelling.

• Make a Free Website or Blog | Lifeyo A free website and blog platform that is an easy-to-use platform for the first time user. Recently, Lifeyo has added a couple of features to make their platform even better. The new feature of most interest to educators is the addition of a multiple author capacity. Now you can add contributing editors to your website. You can add editors by selecting “add editors” from the “share” menu then typing in the email addresses of your new editors. The other new feature recently added is the addition of customizable fonts and design elements.

• iSearchNotes.com – Search Student Notes This tool is a free service designed for college students to record and share notes in a searchable database. Students can take their notes directly in iSearchNotes using the integrated word processing platform. Notes can be tagged by subject area, course title, and or the course instructor’s name.

• Chatterous – group chat using the web, IM, email or phone  This is a free platform for creating your own private or public chat rooms. Many other services also allow you to create your chat rooms. What makes Chatterous different is that you can join Chatterous rooms via cell phone, IM (Google Talk), or email. Should you decide to make your chat room public, Chatterous rooms can be embedded into your blog or website. My sample Chatterous chat room is embedded below.

• Don’t Believe the Type Think Before You Post — Sharing Personal Information Online. How to stay safe online and what to report. Information about knowing and understanding the dangers of sharing and posting online with good PSA’s

• Paper Rater: Free Online Grammar Checker, Proofreader, and More  Paper Rater is a free service designed to help high school and college students improve their writing. Paper Rater does basic spelling and grammar checks, but the real value of Paper Rater is that it tells students if their papers have elements of plagiarism. Paper Rater scans students’ papers then gives students an estimate of the likelihood that someone might think that their papers were plagiarized.

• DOC Cop = Accurate + Fast + Free + Simple + Plagiarism Detection  Thos tool offers a free service for checking small documents and a free service for checking documents against each other. Doc Cop also offers a fee based service that will check large documents and do a more comprehensive check than that offered for free. 

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Useful sites (weekly)

• 22 Filmmaking Apps for the iPad & iPhone A filmmaking site with a good range of resources relating to screenwriting, production etc.

• Video: Eoin Colfer on Artemis Fowl | Books | guardian.co.uk  The creator of Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer, talks about living with a criminal child genius, comparisons with JK Rowling and bringing down the curtain on the character who made his name

• Eoin Colfer to bid farewell to Artemis Fowl | Books | guardian.co.uk  In an interview Eoin Colfer says he will write one more book featuring the child criminal mastermind, and reveals rough storyline for his final adventure

• Electronic reading devices are transforming the concept of a book – latimes.com  Electronic reading devices are transforming the concept of the book and reading experiences. Digital tools can now go beyond screens that merely talk and play videos and can connect readers to authors and online fan communities.

• Lines on Plagiarism Blur for Students in the Digital Age – NYTimes.com  NYT article on “unwitting” student plagiarism from online sources Many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious academic misdeed.

• Schools Online Thesaurus  The Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT) provides a controlled vocabulary of terms used in Australian and New Zealand schools. Revamped site

• Top Ten Social Media Competencies for Teachers – Home – Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog  This list of Social Media Competencies for Teachers was based on a list for Librarians 

• Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk  Image gallery from Wired that shows some interesting steampunk gadgets, ideas and themes

• Twiducate.com – Social Networking For Schools  An instant social networking site for schools -students, teachers and administrators. Allows you to share links, resources, questions, ideas, reflections, etc. with students.

• Parent Advice – Improve YouTube’s Safety With One Click – Common Sense Media  Video clip showing how to enable YouTube’s own safety mode. A good one to use with parents.

• Book Trailers for Readers – home  A good book trailer site. Information on how to make videos to recommend books and shows student made book trailers

• only2clicks – Bing  A  simple and visually appealing startpage that allows you to find and then organize your favorite websites onto one tab-supported page. .

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.