Technology+Tips+and+Links

**//180 Technology Tips//** is a daily 5-minute lesson on all things technological. Each day you receive a tidbit of information about MS Office apps, the Internet, and hardware. Of course, the tips are all archived on the site as well. []
 * Here's a very useful service.


 * Don't have Photoshop? Can't adjust, resize, fix your digital photos? Try Picnik.com - its free!**

This is a stupidly easy photo editor that allows you to fix exposures, resize, crop, and deal with photos on all platforms and all online. I'm already thinking of how teachers can use this in the classroom every day! The URL: []

HERE'S SOME MORE SITES OFFERING FREE PHOTO EDITING...

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Change the LOOK of your photos with Make Retro. []

Have you ever wanted to **convert files** without the need to download software? Me too - its annoying when you want to show a video in class, but can't because of the filters .... so ...they convert the file at Zamzar. It's a file conversion site that converts to lots of different file extensions. Once you're done, they email you the file! It'll convert all kinds of files, too! The URL: [|http://www.zamzar.com]

[|Wolfram|Alpha] is quite simply one of the most stunning semantic engines you've ever seen. It's so much more than a search engine - it takes the accumulated knowledge of our society and makes it instantly programmable for the user. It has only just been launched so if we're lucky, we'll be able to use it immediately. Watch the 14 minute screencast - all of it. You'll be glad you did...

[|**COMPUTER SABOTAGE - A LESSON PLAN**] Kelowna teacher, Sharon Affeld, discovered an interesting approach to computer glitches. When computer teacher Tom Guy found his students coming to him with every minor glitch that occurred in the computers in his lab, he decided to give the kids a "crash course" by sabotaging a computer each day and putting the students on the case.

Peter Mackay who runs The Teacher ListI says that he has "shamelessy lifted this one from 180 Technology Tips. **[|MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW)]** is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity. You won't get a degree from them, but you can take in all the same content!"

[|**Marilyn Western's Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers**]- tutorials, articles, free downloads - lots to keep you busy here.

[|**Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers**] - this site is easy to navigate and full of fantastic ideas for technology integration.

[|**TONS of Tips! -- Five Great 'Teacher Tips' Sites on the Web**] - an article in Education World with great ideas and links.

[|Animoto] produces TV & film- quality music videos using your photos in just minutes. Simply upload your images & choose a song as the soundtrack to your video. Animoto will then analyze every nuance of the song, producing a totally unique video each time. No two videos are ever the same. Videos can then be e- mailed, downloaded, exported to your favorite social networking site, burned to DVD, and placed on your website or blog. []

is a wikispace which covers an enormous range of web 2.0 tools which can be used in the classroom or with your own wiki. A must for all wiki users!
 * CoolToolsForSchools**

**[|AlternativeTo]** is a new approach to finding good software. Tell them what application you want to replace and they give you suggestions on great alternatives! The "blog posts" are generated by you through suggestions, comments and votes.

[|**Spezify**] - a new visual search engine that aggregates search results from multiples sources including Yahoo, Flickr photos, Twitter, Wikipedia, Amazon, eBay, etc. and then arranges all these results in one large & interactive collage. You can navigate individual results on this collage in either direction with your mouse or keyboard. Other than having a unique layout, the typography and colors used to represent different sources of search data makes the results all the more appealing. You'll want to preview your results before using them in class in case of inappropriate images. **HAVE A LOOK!** it's amazing.

**EVERNOTE** allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere – at no cost. [] //Mac users of course can simply use the **shift/command and the number 4 key together** to capture anything on their screen and use it anywhere.//

//Have a look at this site - some really wonderful web 2.0 Tools here!// //[|**100 Web Tools to Enhance Collaboration (Part 1) by Ozge Karaoglu**]//

This interesting article I came across the other day. //"14 Technologies Educators Should Watch in 2010//" is an article in which tech vets go toe-to-toe on the latest tools that can improve instruction, boost productivity, or just help make users' lives a bit more organized." __[]__
 * 14 Technologies Educators Should Watch in 2010 **

**FREE SOUND LOOPS** Boasting more than 6000 sounds and samples, Free- Loops.com has a wide range of sound effects from drums to animals. [|http://free-loops.com]

Recently my son needed a Word file converted to pdf (yes, Word will do that but the links seemed to be “lost”) so we searched and found **FREE PDF CONVERTER** [] Its easy and quick - you upload the file and it converts it and sends it back as an email attachment. Nifty!

**CLUSTY** - We all know Google but have you tried other Search Engines? Here is a search engine I'd not used before. It is useful because it clusters the search results along the left-hand side to help students find what they were really seeking. Try it out- it can’t hurt. __[]__

**OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE** I don’t know how many use open source software but have a look at this site. It's a possible option for schools, classroom teachers and students who find the high prices of industry software to be a challenge. The mission of this group is to provide easy access to high quality open source alternatives to well-known commercial products. __[]__

Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list. __[|http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom]__
 * 100 WAYS TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA IN A CLASSROOM **

**SHARING LARGE FILES ONLINE** This collection of services make it easy to host gigantic files and send them to a friend, family member, or business associate. There are free and paid versions on this list - but some of the free ones will be of use to students and teachers. []

[|MICROSOFT LESSON PLANS FOR STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS] You can introduce or reinforce technology skills with these lesson plans. They're ready to use as is or you can customise them to fit your teaching and learning goals.

[|TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION SITE]Activities, software, discussions, presentations on Technology Education

[|VIRTUAL MANIPULATIVES] This collection of IWB resource for primary/elementary Maths from Glencoe/McGraw-Hill is a flash-based set of interactive tools up to year 8. It includes standard math items, as well as graph paper, algabra tiles, beam balance, fraction blocks, and other backgrounds. It is listed in the Whiteboard Blog.

**[|The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators]**a Comprehensive Introduction to using Technology in All K-12 Classes

**The GLOBAL VIRTUAL CLASSROOM** is a free online educational program to promote communication, collaboration and understanding among students around the world.

A few years ago The Virtual Classroom was "The Ultimate" in computer projects.

The major projects of the GVC are the annual Contest and the Clubhouse Program. During the Contest, teams from schools from around the world compete in an effort to build websites that best meet contest objectives. Each team is made up of students from schools in different countries working together. The websites are judged on the quality of their content and presentation, effective collaboration, and a focus on helping others through knowledge or activities. The contest runs from October through April, with winners announced and cash prizes awarded in May.

The Clubhouse is a non-competitive flexible program focused on collaborative learning. Projects can include any topics such as: language class exchanges, environmental research, collaborative science projects, and discussion groups. This program can begin at any time and last months or multiple years.

Whether students participate in the GVC contest or the interactive GVC Clubhouse, they will all be “winners” of an expanded worldwide perspective through the broadening experience of the Global Virtual Classroom.

[] || I have created a page with links to [|**Educational TWITTERS**] here - have a look even if only to satisfy your curiousity about this recent phenomena. Free online Typing Game - not something I'm all that keen on but you may find it useful for some students. []

[|**12 Google Shortcuts**] Geared towards travellers, this site has uses for the classroom too. Did you know the plain ol’ Google search box you use every day is good for a whole lot more than you’re likely asking of it? Check it out below...

Is similar to the Google shortcuts above, here are some interesting Firefox ones that I didn't know. If you're not using Firefox yet, I'd suggest giving it a try - you can Google it for the download... Using FIREFOX? //**If you're using Mozilla's FireFox, then this [|cheat-sheet reference] whether you're new or experienced will be of use to you - there are a few secrets in this for everyone!**//
 * [|FIREFOX SHORTCUTS]**

Fast Keys for Macintosh Users - learn and use these keyboard combinations to get shortcuts to just about everything. []

**Fast Keys for Windows Users** - shortcut keyboard combinations to parovide an easier and quicker way to navigate and use software programs. [|http://www.computerhope.com/shortcut.htm]

Looking for [|**WORD SHORTCUTS**? Try these]

Don't have Photoshop? Can't adjust, resize, fix your digital photos? Try [|**Picnik.com**]- its free! This is a stupidly easy photo editor that allows you to fix exposures, resize, crop, and deal with photos on all platforms and all online. I'm already thinking of how teachers can use this in the classroom every day! or try...[|**Pixlr, an online image editor**] that does layers and requires nothing but a browser. It has a lightning-fast startup and a few of the commands seem to take a moment but it's very powerful.

**PIXresizer - Free Image Resizer** - for Windows PIXresizer is a photo resizing program to easily create web and e-mail friendly versions of your images with reduced file sizes.Resize numerous images at the one go! []

**Photo Gadget** is a free tool designed to eliminate the use of complicated and expensive software in such a simple task as resizing pictures. Its purpose is to make the process of resizing many pictures at once incredibly easy. [] **MAC USERS - SIMPLY USE iPHOTO**

[|**Podcasting links**]- a great list of links to sites that offer Podcasts as well as ones with tutorials on how to creat a podcast. [|**Create Your Own Podcast**]- how to do it in 8 easy steps In the year 2014 the New York times has gone offline The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned What happened to the news? and what is **EPIC**? Take a few minutes to view this masterpiece.
 * [|EPIC 2015]**

FOR A BIT OF FUN -try this with your class- [|**Kerpoof**], where you can make movies, greeting cards, images, stories and send via email or keep on your account. The best bit is that it's run for teachers and you can create class sets. Another great point is that the children's work is transferred as a flash file and can be edited later.


 * VOICETHREAD - [|https://voicethread.com/#home]** This online application has been around for a while but I recently had call to explore it again and also check out to see if it could be accessed through the NSW DET line. It definitely can be accessed by teachers but appears to be blocked by the DET at present. I know an approach is being made to the unblocking section to see if private sites (ie ones set up for your class etc) can be unblocked for school use.

Voicethread is basically a tool for communicating around media (pictures, videos, documents, slideshows etc). At its simplest you can upload a photo (or a number of photos or pictures), add some comments (either written or spoken) and then ask others to view and add their comments (again written or spoken). You can even draw on the picture whilst you talk to point out a specific detail!

I can envisage some great classroom applications – students commenting on a work of art, someone else’s painting, share work with other schools etc etc There are plenty of examples and ideas on the site. The VoiceThreads you and your class create can be private (so only people you invite can see then and add comments) or you can share them with others you choose or make them fully open to the public. The VoiceThread website is great.[| https://voicethread.com/#home]

focus of the photo, the artist simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered with macro lenses making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is. There seems to be some agreement that this technique was used in last season's CSI episodes regarding "The Miniatures Killer" - and this will make it easy to create your ownusing Photoshop. []
 * Tilt-shift miniature faking** is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature scale model. By distorting the

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 * REDKID.NET -** Have a look at this nifty site. Choose a photo, add your message and you have a sign! There are several possibilities here, including the extension activity of creating a sign from any photo which would include developing the typeface for its use.

DOWNLOAD NOTES ON: Using Photostory Using Garageband Using Sony Acid Using Photoshop Changing Paper size in Word (for Mac)

Tips and Tricks for Mac Users

Basic Shortcut Keys for Mac

Using iMovie to create a Digital Story

WORD Shortcuts

Wonderfully creative social media icon sets abound on the web, and many of them are free for commercial use. But finding the one that perfectly compliments your design (or perhaps inspires a theme in its own right) can be a tiresome process of searching and browsing resource blogs. IconFinder makes the process a bit easier. It’s a search engine for icons submitted by users, with detailed information on their graphic formats and licenses — nearly all of which are free and available for commercial use. The interface provides a convenient way to download icons right from the search results. __[]__
 * ICON FINDER **

[|FIVE LESSONS FOR TEACHING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY] Five simple lessons which anyone can do - worth a look at even for "experts"

[|**TECHNOLOGY LESSON PLANS**] Looking for some new and innovative ways to integrate technology into your classroom? Have a look here - lots of ideas, tips and guides to assist you. ||