MAISD Tech Integration

A big thanks to Randy Lindquist, Tech Director at MAISD, for this tip!

Cobocards, short for Collaborative Cards, is a free online tool that allows users to create virtual flash cards for whatever they need. After creating an account you can print them and study offline, edit them again and again, compare with older versions, check the status of your knowledge, upload pictures and graphs, share your flashcards with friends, set a deadline for exams - everything you can do with traditional flash cards - and more.

Create Flashcards
Create your own flashcards with two clicks. You can use different styles (bold, italic, red/green colour, underline). Add pictures to your cards easily.

Study Flashcards
You can study your cards alone or online with your friends. Just use Skype or the integrated chat functionality and see how easy it is.

Print Flashcards
Print individual flashcards or all of them in two steps and learn them offline wherever you are.

Work with a Team
You can comment on each flashcard, track the status of your knowledge, track changes, study online with friends and send messages to them.

Publish Flashcards
You can publish your flashcards. Everyone who receives the link to your cards can import them to their account.

Check out the Cobocards site for a virtual tour and find answers to FAQs on the Cobocards wiki. Developers have plans to introduce a professional version with more functionality for a small fee but say the basic version will always be free.

ARKive is a site with thousands of images and videos of endangered species, freely accessible to all online for private research and internal educational purposes. It has won numerous conservation, education and communication awards since its launch by Sir David Attenborough in 2003, and has now profiled over 2,500 of the world’s endangered species, using over 3,000 movie clips and 18,000 photos.

A section of the site ARKive Education provides educators with free downloadable multimedia resources including PowerPoint presentations and video files for the classroom, divided by grade level and curriculum topics, suitable for geography, biology, environmental education and citizenship lessons.

ARKive currently offers seven RSS feeds so that you can read the latest news in their newsletter, browse the latest images and videos uploaded to the site,  enjoy the photos in the Flickr ARKive group, view ARKive YouTube, or become a follower of their Twitter feed.

Finally, there is a Google Earth plug-in available so that you can use the ARKive layer in Google Earth.

Mac users know how easily you can use PhotoBooth to take fun, creative photos with the camera built into their laptops. If you don’t have a camera built into your computer (or if you don’t have a Mac), the next best thing is Cameroid. This online tool allows users to take photos using a webcam right in a browser.

There are a number of frames, scenes, and effects to use with the photos and Cameroid allows the user to download the images to their computer. Did I mention it’s free?

On the web site, Spelling City describes itself by claiming that it is an online spelling program that makes practicing for spelling tests fun. This is certainly true, and it is because of this that the site is quite valuable to teachers and parents. If the goal is to simple practice spelling, students can select from any number of existing lists on the site and then choose from Test Me, Teach Me, or Play a Game.

This tool becomes even more useful if a child’s spelling list is uploaded. This can be done by a parent, a teacher, or even the students. Once the list is uploaded, (after creating a free account) parents and students can access the list and practice their spelling at home. The practice and testing is worthwhile but the games are motivating

Here’s a slideshare presentation from Jane Hart, CIPD Conference April 23, 2009.

How To Make E Learning Work

View more presentations from Jane Hart.

Frequently when I’m doing a workshop my participants need dummy text. In the past I’ve created a page of text for them to copy and paste. Last week one of the teachers in a workshop told me about the Lorem Ipsum Generator site for “Greeked”, or dummy text. They use it when they need text for his yearbook class.

On the site’s main page, you first input the number of paragraphs, sentences, or words you want. Next you choose the length of the sentences and/or paragraphs. Text can be displayed as a list or in html format. Finally, click the Generate button and your text is ready for you to copy and paste in your document. Quick and easy!!

Wow! My bags are unpacked and I managed a long nap Sunday afternoon, but my head is still swirling with all of the new ideas that I picked up from the conference. From the pre-conference workshops on Wednesday to the closing Keynote with Tim Magner on Friday, it was a fantastic experience. We had the highest attendance in seven years!

If you were unable to attend, go to the MACUL Space at http://maculspace.ning.com. Ben Rimes has created a Launchpad for users with links to the Conference Blog, Session Discussions, Workshop Discussions, Guerilla Discussions, Conference Attendee Information, and the Conference Schedule.

Even if you were able to attend, I’m certain you’ll find the links above very useful…and this is a great way to continue the conversation and learning from the conference!

If you teach Current Events, this online tool might be worth checking out.

TimeSpace: World by the Washington Post is an interactive map that allows you to navigate articles, photos, video and commentary from around the globe. Discover news hot-spots where coverage is clustered. Use the timeline to illustrate peaks in coverage, and customize your news searches to a particular day or specific hour. (Many Washington Post stories appear at midnight; others are published throughout the day as news happens). Click the ? in the upper right for help.

Attention all teachers, librarians, parents, and people passionate about literacy!!!

Five bloggers, all members of an online community which promotes children’s books and reading, have come up with a great idea for a project they’re calling “Share a Story - Shape a Future.” Here’s the description of it from The Book Whisperer’s (aka Donalyn Miller) Blog:

“This is an ensemble effort not only to celebrate reading among those of us who already love books, but to encourage each other to reach beyond ourselves and do it in a way that we are neither judging nor instructing others. This is a venue for communicating practical, useable, everyday ideas.”

The event begins March 9, 2009 and lasts one week. Each day they will have a group of bloggers sharing ideas around a specific theme. There are a number of book giveaways and free downloads that will be announced by the various hosts as they get closer to the kickoff. Here is the tour schedule.

Day 1: Raising Readers

hosted by Terry Doherty at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, the Reading Tub blog

Finding Time at Home - Tricia Stohr-Hunt @ The Miss Rumphius Effect

Making Time in the Classroom - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone

Helping a Reader in Need (remedial readers) - Sandra Stiles guest post on Scrub-a-Dub-Tub

It’s Bigger than the Book: Building Strong Readers at any Age with a Daily Dose of Read Aloud - Cathy Miller interview on the Share a Story - Shape a Future blog

Keeping Gifted Readers Engaged - Donalyn Miller @ The Book Whisperer

Day 2: Selecting Reading Material

hosted by Sarah Mulhern at The Reading Zone

The ABCs of Reading: Infants, Toddlers & Preschoolers - Valerie Baartz on The Almost Librarian

How to Help Emerging Readers - Anastasia Suen @ Easy to Read blog

Helping Middle Grade Readers - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone

Booklists and Read Alikes - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone

Using Non-fiction - Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading, hosted by the Stenhouse blog

Day 3: Reading Aloud - It’s Fun, It’s Easy

hosted by Susan Stephenson at the Book Chook blog

Ten Terrific Tips from Read-aloud Queen, Mem Fox - on the Book Chook blog

Conquering Stage Fright - Interview with Sarah Mulhern/The Reading Zone @ the Book Chook

Reading Aloud With Kids: A Dad’s Perspective - hosted by Steven and Brian at Book Dads: Fathers that Read

Using Technology for Read Alouds - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone

What to Do When the Reading is Done - Aimee Buckner, hosted by the Stenhouse blog

Reading Aloud with Independent Readers - Donalyn Miller @ The Book Whisperer

Day 4: A Visit to the Library

hosted by Eva Mitnick at Eva’s Book Addiction blog

From Cozy to Cool - Library Spaces for Everyone - Eva @ Eva’s Book Addiction

Lions and Marble and Books, Oh My - Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production

How to Make the Library Work for YOU - an interview with Adrienne of What Adrienne Thinks About That conducted by Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

The World Beyond the Library’s Walls - Melissa @ Librarian by Day

Day 5: Technology and Reading - What the Future Holds

hosted by Elizabeth O. Dulemba at Dulemba.com

Audiobooks with Bruce Coville of Full Cast Audio and Mary Burkey of Audiobooker

E-books with Harold Underdown of The Purple Crayon and Sheila Ruth of Hornbook

Podcasts with Andrea Ross of Just One More Book! and Cheryl Rainfield of cherylrainfield.com

A resource of links to audiobooks, e-books, podcasts and webcasts @ Dulemba.com.

Through Share a Story - Shape a Future they hope to build a community of readers, by sharing ideas and encouraging each other. When the event opens on Monday, March 9, 2009, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to join them and share your ideas.