Scribd is a great online storage solution for pdf, doc, ppt, jpg, etc., type files. Upload them to your free account, which includes unlimited storage, the file is converted to flash and you can directly link to the file URL or embed in your web page/blog.
http://www.scribd.com
Got to be getting and using this tool, and RSS feeds in general - like the kids say, email is only used by adults.....;-)
Google Reader
Voice Thread
Might want to keep your eyes and ears on this new Web 2.0'ish type of application. Very interesting with audio, pictures, text, drawing, etc., in a collaborative and shared environment.
Voice Thread
Voice Thread
Poll Everywhere
You got to love this puppy - let students vote or take tests with cell phones - just like texting your vote to American Idol.....;-)
Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere
php Surveyor
phpSurveyor is an open source and on line surveying tool, run under Linux and Unix environments. In use by many Arizona schools, the tool is robust in functionality. It can provide the security of "tickets/tokens" for one time use and secured respondents, and handle question types from multiple choice, ranking, matching and the sophistication of branching (complete list of question types). Results are instantly available to the administrator or author of the survey, or results can be downloaded in a spreadsheet format.
You can take an on line demo of phpSurveyor to see it in action. An interesting application of the tool is that it can be deployed in an automatically graded test mode to students.
You can take an on line demo of phpSurveyor to see it in action. An interesting application of the tool is that it can be deployed in an automatically graded test mode to students.
Open Office
Open Office is a Open Source product, initiated by Sun Microsystems, and features the full suite of Microsoft Office type applications, including; word processing, spreadsheets, and slide shows. However, Open Office is free. Applications within Open Office can save in a format that can be directly opened in Microsoft Office, be it used in a Macintosh, Windows, or Linux platform.
While covering the basics of Microsoft Office, Open Office also includes database, drawing and mathematical equation functionality. The software is very robust and enjoys a wide following of users and developers.
I regularly use Open Office and its derivatives, and would be glad to show you how you can significantly save annual fees, without losing functionality in your environment. Open Office currently runs on the Windows and Linux platforms. The new Aqua (non-X.11) version of Open Office (3 Beta) for Mac OSX is out and it's sweet.....;-)
Squid Guard
Squid Guard is a free, fully functional version of web filtering software for K12 enterprises. With the advent of CIPA (Children's Internet Privacy Act), K12 organizations need to filter web sites to be eligible for E-Rate funding. However, software, such as web filtering is expensive. For example, Paradise Valley Unified School District is saving approximately $70,000 each and every year by using the Open Source web filtering solution, Squid Guard. Do the math schools and school districts, it adds up fast.
Deployed on top of the Squid Proxy Server, Squid Guard comes with a pre-defined set of "black list" sites (sites that are blocked due to questionable content). Additional blocked sites can be added, and "white lists" (sites that can be let through to particular schools) are also available. By capitalizing on the subnet of your network, a fully customizable version can be deployed, resulting in applicability of sites for grade levels and VLAN's.
Squid Guard is robust, stable and scalable for various sized organizations. At PVUSD, a CD image of the installation and configuration settings are maintained for disaster recovery, resulting in but a few minute disruption should a hardware failure occur.
Deployed on top of the Squid Proxy Server, Squid Guard comes with a pre-defined set of "black list" sites (sites that are blocked due to questionable content). Additional blocked sites can be added, and "white lists" (sites that can be let through to particular schools) are also available. By capitalizing on the subnet of your network, a fully customizable version can be deployed, resulting in applicability of sites for grade levels and VLAN's.
Squid Guard is robust, stable and scalable for various sized organizations. At PVUSD, a CD image of the installation and configuration settings are maintained for disaster recovery, resulting in but a few minute disruption should a hardware failure occur.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia - the mother of all online, collaborative projects (MySpace notwithstanding). With the speed at which intellectual capital is developing and being shared, it's about the only way I can keep up with getting an understanding of new terms and concepts. It is built on top of a Web 2.0 technology, using open source Wiki's. The world participates - I even wrote some of the content....
When there, search Project Based Learning and look for "21st Century Project Based Learning - iPBL".
Del.icio.us
If you haven't used "del.icio.us", you should. It's another one of those absolutely wild, collaborative, Open Source solutions out there. Keep your bookmarks from whatever computer you're on and they're always available to you. Subscribe to other's bookmarks - create structures to share amongst groups.
My list of Bookmarks.....enjoy....
My list of Bookmarks.....enjoy....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
