Thursday, December 15, 2011

EduBlog Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of the EduBlog Awards Blog. Click This for the complete list and Winner's List.Check out some of the winners below that I wanted to "highlight".

Best New Blog - Technology with Intention


Best Student Blog - Jaden's Awesome Blog

Best Teacher Blog - Brunswick Acres Art Blog

 Best Librarian Blog - Try Curiosity!

 Best School Administrator Blog - A Principal's Reflections

Best Educational Wiki - ICTmagic

 Best Ed Tech/Resource Blog - Free Technology for Teachers

Tech Tools 4 Teachers

Tech Tools 4 Teachers is pretty awesome! It's a wiki resource on technology tools such as Blogging, Globster, Google Apps, iPads & iPods, Podcasting and Edmodo and much, much more for teachers. Speaking of Edmodo, if you haven't heard of this awesome tool for educators, Edmodo is transforming the way that teachers and students connect, engage and learn both inside and outside the classroom.To get started, check out Edmodo's Website to learn about the 20 Ways To Use Edmodo in the Classroom and R. Byrne's post on 15 Ways to Use Edmodo in the Classroom. Click This too to check out Edmodo's Blog!



iPad Academy

Got an iPad? Then "Get Schooled & Skilled On the iPad" with iPad Academy! On this site, you can expect to find awesome iPad Tips & Tutorials, App Tips & Tutorials and more. Stay in the know with iPad Academy!


APPitic

APPitic, a site I stumbled upon today, is a directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADSs) to help with teaching and learning. These apps have been tested in a variety of ways.

Using the tool bar at the top of their home screen, you may choose SPED/Autism, Preschool, Themes, Multiple Intelligences, Bloom's or Tools categories. It's layout is crisp and clean with details of each app. Click This now!



Amazon Appstore for Android

Here's something cool for those of you who are "powered by Android".

Amazon Appstore for Android offers a paid app a day for FREE. Yesterday's free app was Butter Lion Memo, an app for cute and simple notes. Today's free app is Wordoku (regularly $1.00), a game similar to sudoku but with words.  If you want the featured app, you have to grab the app that day. Once you click download for the app, it'll ask for your email or mobile number and then give you this neat video to walk you through the process on installing your new FREE app.


How to download or remove apps
3 Ways to Install Applications on Android Without the Market

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Pinterst in Education

According to Pinterest, their website lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

To get started,you will have to request an invite. If you know someone already on Pinterest, you can shoot them an email, text, etc. and ask them to shoot you an invite. From what I've seen, Pinterest is mostly for crafters and designers but what about educators? I can definitely see it on that aspect since I found some pinboards specifically for the education field. I'm sure there are tons more but below are a couple. Just do a search for pinterest for education and I'm sure you'll get plenty of hits. Or even better, create your own. Start pinning now!

   



iSpring

In my search to convert someone's PowerPoint to Flash, I re-stumbled across iSpring. I use to use it faithfully some years ago but when I upgraded my computer, I completely forgot about this handy, free tool. When you download and install it, iSpring becomes embedded in your PowerPoint application.


With the FREE iSpring application, you can:

  • Convert .PPT, .PPTX, .PPS, .PPSX files to Flash
    (.SWF)
  • Add Flash movies and YouTube videos
  • Keep PowerPoint animations, trigger animations, styles, audio, video in Flash
  • Create a single Flash (.SWF) file with all resources embedded

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Share Your Screen...Quickly!

Sharing your screen just got that much easier! Thanks to Richard over at FreeTech4Teachers, I learned about Quick Screen Share, a handy tool for sharing your screen with others. No registration required, nothing to install if you already have java, works on windows, linux and mac, allows you to remotely control the mouse and keyboard and the best thing of all...it's FREE. Yep, I said FREE!

Although it's still in BETA, I foresee this sticking around and being very useful for not only the business world but for the educational world as well. It's a side project from the This free service is a side project from the creators of Screencast-O-Matic.com. If you haven't checked out their site, click on over to check it out.

Simply go to Quick Screen Share, choose share my screen and type in your name. Grab the copy code and email it to the person you want to show your screen to. This link is a ONE time link.

 

Monday, December 12, 2011

Appy Holidays!

"Appy Holidays" is ending soon so if you haven't picked up any apps for the holidays, Click This to get on over there. ENDS TODAY!



Check out iLuv Drawing Animals - Learn how to draw 40 animals

iLuv Drawing Animals - Learn how to draw 40 animals

Check out this drawing app in the App Store. For a limited time, you get $2 off. For only a buck, you get 40 super cool and super cute animals. This wonderful app takes you through each step with friendly voice instructions. App includes a paint bucket, 6 brushes, 22 vibrant colors, 30 colorful backgrounds, editing tools, an easy interface and sharing tools.

Cover Art

iLuv Drawing Animals - Learn how to draw 40 animals

MyVijan LLC

Category: Education

Updated: Dec 07, 2011

27 Ratings


Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. 


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Human Calendar

Are you are blogger? Check out the cool Human Calendar Widget and Website. Even submit your photos to the creator of Human Calendar for review and possible posting.




Apps in Education

I stumbled across this blog a few days ago. It's called Apps in Education. This Visual Arts teacher has some pretty interesting posts. A friend and colleague asked me yesterday about Dropbox (a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs and videos anywhere and share them easily) and coincidentally this blogger wrote a post about Dropbox today. 10 Tools for Getting the Most from Dropbox

While you're checking out his Dropbox post on ways to use this tool, check out some of his other post as well. You'll find yourself learning a little something and becoming more techie too. He has them all catergorized into Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Music, Art and even Physical Development and  Teachers and Special Needs.




Smart Apps for Kids!

Ron, over at Smart Apps for Kids, has an awesome website that I've failed to feature here on Click This.  I've mentioned him several times but I think it's time I gave you "the skinny" on his importance. Ron was an average Dad who saw the need to really dig deep into an app to see how educational it really is - after all just because an app states it's educational and just because it's listed under the educational category in the App store - we as educators know that doesn't make it appropriate for teaching and learning.

Ron has devoted his time and energy in seeking out the best apps for his kids and ours, whether that's our own children or the kiddos we embrace in our classrooms. So now that you know a little about Ron, I'd have to say he's not that ordinary Dad I previously mentioned. He's a "SMART" Dad that the educational world should be thanking. So thanks Ron for your "quest to find the best educational apps for the iPad and iPhone"! Click on over to his Smart Apps for Kids site and check out his hard work for yourself. Once you do, you'll be hooked just like me.

Here is a little info about his site:

Smart Apps for Kids (taken from his about page - notice that huge increase on his Facebook page - Ron organized and operated a "monstrous" Open House App Friday - and I mean monstrous in a good way...totally awesome)

* We've experienced an 870 percent increase in visits and 1328 percent increase in page views since June, 2011.
* Visits from Facebook have increased from 667 in July to 11,818 in November (1746 percent).
* The site is ranked in top 10 (first page of search results) for more than 50 education/kids app Google searches, including numerous No. 1 rankings.
* We have more than 10,400 followers via Facebook, Twitter, RSS and email subscription.
* Smart Apps For Kids has received more than 440 thumbs up at StumbleUpon with a 94.1 thumbs up/thumbs down ratio.





Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Scoop.it!

Creating online magazines just got easy!

Scoop.it is a FREE publishing-by-curation platform. The makers of Scoop.it make curation a simple new form of expression on the Web. For the education world, it's completely free. For businesses and companies, there is a monthly fee. Thank goodness you're in education, huh? Below you'll find a teachers scoop.it page on seasonal freebies and another one of tools for learners. If you're interested in creating you're own, Click This!



Here's a Scoop.it page that focuses on Seasonal Freebies for Teachers.

And here's another one that focuses on Tools for Learners.

And here's one that I'm loving. It's a scoop.it page on iPads in Education.

I know I tend to focus on iDevices (iPads, iPods, iPhones) cause hey, I'm a Mac! So here's another scoop.it for those who love Android. It focuses on Android for Education.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Earth Touch

Earth-Touch brings multimedia of the Earth (including wildlife and the environment) into the offices, homes and daily lives of people around the world by using cutting-edge technology. They strive to to both educate and entertain as they raise awareness and provoke reaction to a range of environmental matters.

This South African company has a head office in Durban and a satellite office in London, UK. Below is a link to their main site and one to a specific area (I chose dolphins). View awesome media online or download it to your computer. Click This for more info on Earth-Touch.


 

Sound Cloud...Let it rain!

All over the internet that is!

With SoundCloud, anyone can create sounds and share them everywhere. Recording and uploading sounds to SoundCloud lets people easily share them privately with their friends or publicly to blogs, sites and social networks.

With one click, share your creations with Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare. Access your data  anywhere using iPhone and Android apps, as well as other sharing apps.

 



Bye Bye Slide!

Slide, an online tool that lets you use photos and other digital content to publish and discover the people and things that matter to you, has announced that it's shutting down on March 6, 2012 due to the their products no longer being as active or used as they originally hoped.

While this is sad news for their thousands and thousands customers, the company is offering you an easy way to export your data stored on their sever. I just transferred it with one click. You can either download or move it over to Picasa. Good Luck and be sure to do it before they March 6th shutdown date. 


Are You Ready for Some...FOOTBALL?

This is the last week of the NFL Play 60 Superbowl Contest for Kids. You have until December 8th to get your kiddos online and have them to pledge to play 60 full minutes and answer two simple questions. Specific answers are important and only 25 to 75 words per question are needed to complete the contest.

Click This to get started on your chance to win.


Gmail's Facelit

For those of you who use Gmail, get ready for their new look coming really soon. They promise a cleaner, modern look with new themes, improved conversation view, more control, simple search and filters and more customization of how you view things. To learn more, log in to your account and click the learn more button at the top of your email list...

or Click This!


Friday, December 2, 2011

Tapikeo...Let Your Voice Be Heard!

According to Tapikeo, there app allows you and your children to easily and quickly create your own audio-enabled picturebooks, storyboards, visual schedules, memory aids, audio flashcards, and more using a versatile grid style layout. I heard about it from Smart Apps for Kids on FB. The first line of his review - Bottom Line: A must-buy for whatever you're trying to teach. So I had to check it out because they're running a price break on it through the weekend. Within in minutes of browsing the site, I pulled out my iPad and purchased it for just 99 cents in the App Store (it's regularly 2.99 if you want the iPad HD version or you can get the iPhone version for FREE). The company's video tutorials will definitely win you over. So many awesome features and ideas for parents and teachers.



gzaas It!

This neat little online tool allows you to create full screen messages. gzaas is a web service to create marvelous huge messages! And to associate them to links that you can paste anywhere! The following screen shoot is a gzaas and it states what a gzaas is according to it's creators. You can make it full of text or short with very few words. gzaas makes it possible to post a message in a powerful way which is what the company set out to do..."provide full screen messaging with awesome fonts for social networking and NOT be boring!"This could be used as a great attention getter for students so click this to check it out.



This is a screenshot of their gzaas for dummies tutorial. Super simple, even for the technically challenged.


Where to gzaas! A gzaas is a link. So you can paste anywhere you want:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Blog post & comments
  • Forums
  • Street wall?
Here's my first little/big gzaas. I added a launcher to this gzaas which is the preceding message that gives, at many times, sense to a gzaas:
Teachers aren't paid enough... http://gzaas.com/LeF3dYb.