Go!Animate (goanimate.com)
I'm teaching Multimedia Communication this semester and had assigned a short animation project with Xtranormal. This free software was used to explain everything from quantitative easing to switching to Geico, and I had a hunch the students would enjoy using it as much as I did. I designed the course in May and was horrified to find out that Xtranormal was quietly turned off at the end of July, and my course began mid August.
Immediately I began searching the Internet for another user-friendly, free, cloud-based animation tool. Since the Multimedia course has no prerequisite, I needed to find something that students of all technical abilities could learn very quickly. After trying a few, I decided to use Go!Animate as a replacement for the Xtranormal assignment.
Go!Animate is similar to Xtranormal in that it allows you to easily open a free account and create a simple cartoon (we blogged about Xtranormal a while back). You can choose scenes, characters, and add text that the characters will automatically speak. The free version of Go!Animate has a limited selection, but there's enough free stuff to facilitate a wide range of creative stories.
I knew right from the start that students would catch on to the platform easily because there's a tutorial that automatically pops up when you begin your first cartoon. A little character shows you step by step how to use the basic tools and navigate the program. The popups asking if you'd like to upgrade your account is a little tiring, but I can't blame them for wanting money.
Go!Animate allows you to have characters interact with objects and walk/slide/appear on to and out of the screen. You can also easily change facial and physical expressions and zoom in as characters speak. (These options were not available with Xtranormal.)
To test Go!Animate, I created a video for students explaining Bellarmine University's move from Blackboard to Moodle:
The Moodle Move Movie by apostels on GoAnimate
This video took about an hour to rough and another hour or so to revise. I used only a few of the many tools, but this project helped me feel comfortable enough to have the class give Go!Animate a try for an assignment. Since this was the first time using it in class, I kept the topic open to see what they could do with the program. Many of my students are working with clients, participating in internships, or helping in family-owned companies, so naturally they wanted to use the program in conjunction with that. Some students just wanted to share a story or try something creative. A few used my storyboard to help plan their animations.
Students had one week to create their cartoon and share them with the class. We had some class time to spend designing our animations after class discussions (our class is in a computer lab), and this time was valuable as students shared what they found with those around them. I heard statements like "How did you do that?" and "This is cool!" a few times. None of them had used the program before, and they all seemed to enjoy the process. A few students ran into problems with the special effects and some had issues with characters not showing up in previews, but we didn't run into any devastating problems.
When the assignments were due, we all watched them together as a class. We were pretty amazed at the range of genres represented: music videos, video games, PSAs, sitcoms, advertisements, classic children's cartoons, and scenes from movies are the ones I remember off the top of my head. I'll be using Go!Animate in the Technical Communication class I'm teaching next Spring, but I can also see Go!Animate used in classes across the disciplines.
There are some limitations with the free version of Go!Animate that may affect an assignment. First, videos must be less than two minutes long, so it's probably not a good alternative to a 10 page research paper. Second, free versions can only be embedded or viewed at the Go!Animate site. (You cannot download or post free versions to YouTube.) Third, the range of voices, accents, and characters are pretty limited. However, the range of scenes, characters, and objects increases greatly when you open up your wallet.
I really liked that Go!Animate allows you to revise a project while it's posted. The URL to the animation stays the same when you save changes. (Of course, if it's posted on YouTube you're out of luck on that one.) Students submitted URLs to their animations, so it's easy for me to view the projects when I'm grading. I also like the storyboard function in the animation process. You can change scenes or simply copy a scene to create a new action. This display reminded me of YouTube Video Editor and Microsoft's Movie Maker, two programs I feel very comfortable using.
Next time you want to have a creative and fun project as part of a classroom experience, try Go!Animate.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Prezi Revisited: Using Zooming Technology to Flip a Classroom
Prezi (www.prezi.com)
Now I know that Emily and I talked, briefly, about Prezi in one of our first blog posts, but this incredible website continues to evolve. I have found a few ways to use this site to flip my classes (using online environments to "lecture" to students and class time to discuss, problem solve, and create projects), and students--for the most part--enjoy the program so much they use it in other classes.
First, just to make sure we are all on the same page, Prezi (www.prezi.com) is a free, cloud-based program that allows a user to create dynamic, "zooming" visual presentation aids. Think PowerPoint meets Google Earth. If you've watched many TedTalks, you've probably seen a Prezi in action. So we know it's used to help the visual learners in the audience; that's a given.
What's really exciting, though, is that this website can be used to facilitate class presentations, brainstorming sessions, and questions and answers both inside and outside the classroom.
Prezi Meeting allows all of this to happen through the ability to share a Prezi with a group of people who can then edit the display in real time. As one person enters the Prezi, a little avatar (see left), appears with the person's name. The avatar moves to wherever the person is editing. Right now, up to ten people can join a meeting at the same time (like a night club with a strict fire code--only ten can dance at a time).
You might think a ten person limit is a problem, but it isn't really. It depends on how you set up the assignment. Here's how I've been doing it. I'll create a visual presentation aid to structure a classroom session using Prezi. This Prezi can have an embedded lecture or TedTalk as well as some main points to think about from an assigned reading.
Once the Prezi is created, I'll invite the students to "edit" it. (Tip: make a copy of the lecture and share the copy with your class.) For homework, students enter the Prezi, watch the videos and post questions based on their assigned readings next to the place where we will be talking about that topic in class. Students can even add topics to the Prezi if they find something interesting.
Before class begins, I like to keep the Prezi open on my computer screen. I can see students popping in from time to time to write questions. I can read the questions before class, and other students can see what questions are being posted as well. Since students can visit the Prezi at their leisure, there never seem to be more than four or five in a Prezi at a time, so the ten limit doesn't bother me.
To keep tabs on participation, students are required to put their initials or names by their questions. Then, when I'm using the Prezi to guide our class time activities and discussions, I have the questions posted right on the screen. I can answer the question or ask the class to answer the question when I get to that place in the Prezi.
I also use Prezi to facilitate brainstorming sessions. I divide students into groups of four or five. One student creates a blank Prezi and invites the group (and me) to edit. Students can then post their ideas and offer feedback. I can drop in and provide feedback as well. Emily and I really like how students can post images and videos as well as text.
Here's a Prezi that discusses how I used the program to facilitate a brainstorming session outside of class. (This is from a conference poster session. Yet another way to use Prezi.)
Those are just a few ways to use Prezi Meeting in your class to facilitate more online activity. Feel free to share other ways you are using Prezi to flip a class.
Now I know that Emily and I talked, briefly, about Prezi in one of our first blog posts, but this incredible website continues to evolve. I have found a few ways to use this site to flip my classes (using online environments to "lecture" to students and class time to discuss, problem solve, and create projects), and students--for the most part--enjoy the program so much they use it in other classes.
First, just to make sure we are all on the same page, Prezi (www.prezi.com) is a free, cloud-based program that allows a user to create dynamic, "zooming" visual presentation aids. Think PowerPoint meets Google Earth. If you've watched many TedTalks, you've probably seen a Prezi in action. So we know it's used to help the visual learners in the audience; that's a given.
What's really exciting, though, is that this website can be used to facilitate class presentations, brainstorming sessions, and questions and answers both inside and outside the classroom.
 |
| My (customized) Ninja Prezi. |
You might think a ten person limit is a problem, but it isn't really. It depends on how you set up the assignment. Here's how I've been doing it. I'll create a visual presentation aid to structure a classroom session using Prezi. This Prezi can have an embedded lecture or TedTalk as well as some main points to think about from an assigned reading.
Once the Prezi is created, I'll invite the students to "edit" it. (Tip: make a copy of the lecture and share the copy with your class.) For homework, students enter the Prezi, watch the videos and post questions based on their assigned readings next to the place where we will be talking about that topic in class. Students can even add topics to the Prezi if they find something interesting.
Before class begins, I like to keep the Prezi open on my computer screen. I can see students popping in from time to time to write questions. I can read the questions before class, and other students can see what questions are being posted as well. Since students can visit the Prezi at their leisure, there never seem to be more than four or five in a Prezi at a time, so the ten limit doesn't bother me.
To keep tabs on participation, students are required to put their initials or names by their questions. Then, when I'm using the Prezi to guide our class time activities and discussions, I have the questions posted right on the screen. I can answer the question or ask the class to answer the question when I get to that place in the Prezi.
I also use Prezi to facilitate brainstorming sessions. I divide students into groups of four or five. One student creates a blank Prezi and invites the group (and me) to edit. Students can then post their ideas and offer feedback. I can drop in and provide feedback as well. Emily and I really like how students can post images and videos as well as text.
Here's a Prezi that discusses how I used the program to facilitate a brainstorming session outside of class. (This is from a conference poster session. Yet another way to use Prezi.)
Those are just a few ways to use Prezi Meeting in your class to facilitate more online activity. Feel free to share other ways you are using Prezi to flip a class.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Face the Social Media: Facebook is a useful tool in the classroom
Facebook (www.facebook.com)
If you have a pulse, you've probably heard of Facebook. As Emily and I walk around the technology-rich environment of the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity (our place of employment), we often find students working on a class project in one monitor window with Facebook opened up on another window.
We also see students walking to their next class with their heads down, looking at their phones, checking status updates, and messaging their Facebook friends.
Facebook has their attention, and we need to use this in the classroom.
Now, I know what you may be thinking. "I'm spending my time trying to keep students off their Facebook accounts when I'm teaching, why would I use that website in my class?"
Here's why: Facebook works great in the classroom. In my experience, students are happy to see the instructor use this website as opposed to BlackBoard--where communication is more tedious.
One reason instructors don't like the idea of using Facebook is that they don't want to "Friend" their students. That's a concern I have as well, but when I teach a class the first thing I do is set up a Facebook group and ask the students to join.
Facebook groups allow people who are not "Friends" to share a virtual space in which they can communicate, share links, videos, and pictures, and actually message each other when questions arise. As the administrator of the group, I can limit the group to members of the class and can restrict posts to only be viewable to the members of the group. In other words, groups allow some level of privacy.
If a student doesn't have a Facebook account, it's easy to create one. And if privacy is an issue, it's easy to create a fun account. For example, I created one for Bebe Giraffe--the Noel Studio mascot.
Here's how it works. I'll post a link on BlackBoard or our class Blog to the Facebook group I created. I usually title the group "ekuclass" or something like that. During class, students will click on the link and then click on a button that submits a request to join the group. I'm notified when someone asks to join, and I can accept or reject the request.
Once everyone is in, we can use the group to post links to things like Prezi Meetings, post questions that we have about assignments, posts videos and pictures that complement what we learn in class, and post class projects for feedback.
As an instructor, I really enjoy seeing students provide peer review on assignments (in the form of "comments"), and I often use the "like" button as a way to generate quick feedback to figure out what student project was the class favorite. I also enjoy posting "polls" to see what the class thinks about a particular concept.
However, my favorite thing about Facebook is that more often than not, when I see that a question has been posted, another student--or several--have already posted answers before I can.
Now that's a dynamic environment.
If you have a pulse, you've probably heard of Facebook. As Emily and I walk around the technology-rich environment of the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity (our place of employment), we often find students working on a class project in one monitor window with Facebook opened up on another window.
We also see students walking to their next class with their heads down, looking at their phones, checking status updates, and messaging their Facebook friends.
Facebook has their attention, and we need to use this in the classroom.
Now, I know what you may be thinking. "I'm spending my time trying to keep students off their Facebook accounts when I'm teaching, why would I use that website in my class?"
Here's why: Facebook works great in the classroom. In my experience, students are happy to see the instructor use this website as opposed to BlackBoard--where communication is more tedious.
One reason instructors don't like the idea of using Facebook is that they don't want to "Friend" their students. That's a concern I have as well, but when I teach a class the first thing I do is set up a Facebook group and ask the students to join.
Facebook groups allow people who are not "Friends" to share a virtual space in which they can communicate, share links, videos, and pictures, and actually message each other when questions arise. As the administrator of the group, I can limit the group to members of the class and can restrict posts to only be viewable to the members of the group. In other words, groups allow some level of privacy.
If a student doesn't have a Facebook account, it's easy to create one. And if privacy is an issue, it's easy to create a fun account. For example, I created one for Bebe Giraffe--the Noel Studio mascot.
Here's how it works. I'll post a link on BlackBoard or our class Blog to the Facebook group I created. I usually title the group "ekuclass" or something like that. During class, students will click on the link and then click on a button that submits a request to join the group. I'm notified when someone asks to join, and I can accept or reject the request.
Once everyone is in, we can use the group to post links to things like Prezi Meetings, post questions that we have about assignments, posts videos and pictures that complement what we learn in class, and post class projects for feedback.
As an instructor, I really enjoy seeing students provide peer review on assignments (in the form of "comments"), and I often use the "like" button as a way to generate quick feedback to figure out what student project was the class favorite. I also enjoy posting "polls" to see what the class thinks about a particular concept.
However, my favorite thing about Facebook is that more often than not, when I see that a question has been posted, another student--or several--have already posted answers before I can.
Now that's a dynamic environment.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
No (reflection without) Your Meme
QuickMeme (www.quickmeme.com)
After a challenging project, or during the composition of a prolonged communication product, I often ask my students to reflect on their thoughts and concerns about the process of communicating with others. My usual approach is using a freewrite assignment that they can complete during a few minutes of class time.
While these reflections are informative and can help me as I revise my assignments, the writing is very private by nature. It's handwritten on paper and written primarily for me. This semester I attempted something different. Instead of the standard hand-written-words-on-paper reflection, I had them create a meme (pronounced "meem") to explain their feelings about the assignments and/or share their thoughts about the end of the semester.
Emily recommend I use quickmeme.com, and the class really seemed to find the program accessible. As it turned out, no one in my class had created a meme although they had all seen them on their social networking sites. They had 10 minutes to find a picture, add the words to created their meme, and post their memes on our Facebook group.
The result was lots of fun and some compelling class discussion. As memes were posted on Facebook, I would project the image. While some of the memes were more effective than others, the class learned how to create a meme, and I learned what they were going through during these last few weeks of the semester.
Most importantly, the class learned they were not alone. We are all feeling stressed and overwhelmed at the end of the semester. Instructors and technology associates included. Now...I need to get some grading done.
After a challenging project, or during the composition of a prolonged communication product, I often ask my students to reflect on their thoughts and concerns about the process of communicating with others. My usual approach is using a freewrite assignment that they can complete during a few minutes of class time.
While these reflections are informative and can help me as I revise my assignments, the writing is very private by nature. It's handwritten on paper and written primarily for me. This semester I attempted something different. Instead of the standard hand-written-words-on-paper reflection, I had them create a meme (pronounced "meem") to explain their feelings about the assignments and/or share their thoughts about the end of the semester.
Emily recommend I use quickmeme.com, and the class really seemed to find the program accessible. As it turned out, no one in my class had created a meme although they had all seen them on their social networking sites. They had 10 minutes to find a picture, add the words to created their meme, and post their memes on our Facebook group.
The result was lots of fun and some compelling class discussion. As memes were posted on Facebook, I would project the image. While some of the memes were more effective than others, the class learned how to create a meme, and I learned what they were going through during these last few weeks of the semester.
Most importantly, the class learned they were not alone. We are all feeling stressed and overwhelmed at the end of the semester. Instructors and technology associates included. Now...I need to get some grading done.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Can you see me now? Visualizing thesis topics on Many Eyes.
Many Eyes (http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/)
This IBM experiment has quite a few fun options for visualizing data, and Emily and I have enjoyed playing with different ways to "see" numbers. Like most of the other sites listed on this blog, Many Eyes is free and cloud based. All you do is upload a excel-style spreadsheet, enter data by hand, or pick a data set that someone else uploaded. While interesting, I haven't used this website in class and haven't blogged about it because I don't do a ton of work with hard data. That changed with the President's State of the Union.
I was speaking with a class of ESL students about graphs and pulled up Many Eyes. We started looking at the variety of visualization possibilities and discussing what visualization would work best for what kind of data set. From scatter point charts to word clouds, the range of possibilities is stunning, but we noticed, pretty quickly, that someone had uploaded the President's speech. The class was interested in seeing what topics were of concern to the President in his speech, so we started to explore.
We opened the already-created word cloud and saw some words were clearly larger, indicating that these were spoken frequently.
Right away we noticed "jobs," "energy," and "tax" as we discussed the cloud in class. Under the cloud we found a link to the actual data file--basically the speech in a text document. Once we were there, we clicked on the visualization link below the speech and were offered a wide range of new charts to visualize the speech. We selected "word tree" and entered the word "jobs" in the search bar. This is what we found:
From this visualization we could easily see in what context the word "jobs" was being used in the speech. It occurred to me then, that this website would be an excellent way to find topics for research. Students could upload a text document, visualize the data, and figure out different approaches to the text.
Whether you use this website in class or not, I would encourage you to have fun and play with this site. If you are working with information by state or country, I would highly encourage you to see what Many Eyes can do to help you visualize and share information with others.
This IBM experiment has quite a few fun options for visualizing data, and Emily and I have enjoyed playing with different ways to "see" numbers. Like most of the other sites listed on this blog, Many Eyes is free and cloud based. All you do is upload a excel-style spreadsheet, enter data by hand, or pick a data set that someone else uploaded. While interesting, I haven't used this website in class and haven't blogged about it because I don't do a ton of work with hard data. That changed with the President's State of the Union.
I was speaking with a class of ESL students about graphs and pulled up Many Eyes. We started looking at the variety of visualization possibilities and discussing what visualization would work best for what kind of data set. From scatter point charts to word clouds, the range of possibilities is stunning, but we noticed, pretty quickly, that someone had uploaded the President's speech. The class was interested in seeing what topics were of concern to the President in his speech, so we started to explore.
We opened the already-created word cloud and saw some words were clearly larger, indicating that these were spoken frequently.
Right away we noticed "jobs," "energy," and "tax" as we discussed the cloud in class. Under the cloud we found a link to the actual data file--basically the speech in a text document. Once we were there, we clicked on the visualization link below the speech and were offered a wide range of new charts to visualize the speech. We selected "word tree" and entered the word "jobs" in the search bar. This is what we found:
From this visualization we could easily see in what context the word "jobs" was being used in the speech. It occurred to me then, that this website would be an excellent way to find topics for research. Students could upload a text document, visualize the data, and figure out different approaches to the text.
Whether you use this website in class or not, I would encourage you to have fun and play with this site. If you are working with information by state or country, I would highly encourage you to see what Many Eyes can do to help you visualize and share information with others.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
YouTube. You edit. You need to try this.
YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor)
We've been working with a few different video editing software, and finding one that works for students accustomed to Macs, PCs, and Chrome books has been a challenge. Some students, we find, don't even have access to there own computers, so editing video can be a real challenge. Until recently.
YouTube's video editor is a great, entry-level, cloud-based software that allows students to create simple videos. After creating a free account, students can upload clips of video footage they collected and simply drag them into place on the timeline. They can also drag transitions into place and utilize creative commons video and royalty free music if needed.
Once the footage is in place, an audio file can be selected and typed words can be added to the clips. Right now there is no way to add your own voice-over to the video, so any audio you record on the clips will have to suffice. Once the project is done, just hit publish and it's on YouTube.
This video shows just how easy this tool is to use.
We've been working with a few different video editing software, and finding one that works for students accustomed to Macs, PCs, and Chrome books has been a challenge. Some students, we find, don't even have access to there own computers, so editing video can be a real challenge. Until recently.
YouTube's video editor is a great, entry-level, cloud-based software that allows students to create simple videos. After creating a free account, students can upload clips of video footage they collected and simply drag them into place on the timeline. They can also drag transitions into place and utilize creative commons video and royalty free music if needed.
Once the footage is in place, an audio file can be selected and typed words can be added to the clips. Right now there is no way to add your own voice-over to the video, so any audio you record on the clips will have to suffice. Once the project is done, just hit publish and it's on YouTube.
This video shows just how easy this tool is to use.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
It's Glog, Glog, it's better than bad, it's good
Glogster (http://www.glogster.com/)
I've been looking for a WYSIWYG cloud-based software that allows you to easily incorporate visuals, text, video, and audio files on one page. Glogs are like virtual poster boards, and I can't wait to use these in the classroom.
Right now, it seems as though the software has been updated and some people appear upset, but I have no problem figuring out how to create, move, and edit my project. In fact, I plan on using this website to showcase the zombie card game I designed at a QEP symposium.
While Glogster's primary market is elementary school children, the visual possibilities seem to be promising for college students. I think the program has potential as a way to introduce students to visual rhetoric in freshmen level writing and communication courses.
My plan is to have students use this program to present their final projects to the class. Since they are completing a community outreach project outside of the classroom, students are required to talk about their experiences using videos, photos, and audio files. Glog will allow the groups to create virtual posters that will help them organize their experiences, and share their projects to people outside the class.
The free plan gives you everything you'll need to create dynamic posters. Give Glogster a try.
I've been looking for a WYSIWYG cloud-based software that allows you to easily incorporate visuals, text, video, and audio files on one page. Glogs are like virtual poster boards, and I can't wait to use these in the classroom.
Right now, it seems as though the software has been updated and some people appear upset, but I have no problem figuring out how to create, move, and edit my project. In fact, I plan on using this website to showcase the zombie card game I designed at a QEP symposium.
While Glogster's primary market is elementary school children, the visual possibilities seem to be promising for college students. I think the program has potential as a way to introduce students to visual rhetoric in freshmen level writing and communication courses.
My plan is to have students use this program to present their final projects to the class. Since they are completing a community outreach project outside of the classroom, students are required to talk about their experiences using videos, photos, and audio files. Glog will allow the groups to create virtual posters that will help them organize their experiences, and share their projects to people outside the class.
The free plan gives you everything you'll need to create dynamic posters. Give Glogster a try.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Maps and Photos and Files, Oh my: The possibilites are off the chart with Historypin
Historypin (http://www.historypin.com/)
While I haven't been able to use this in program in a class yet, the possibilities seem so limitless with Historypin that I wanted to share it with you now, while your syllabus for next semester may still be in development--like mine.
Historypin is an online collection of photographs, audio, and video files that are primarily organized by the place where they are taken/recorded. As people upload files to the map, they are also able to date them and write a little story about what is taking place.
Right now, the collection seems rather USA and Europe heavy, but I'm sure as time goes by we'll be able to find more files available. In any case, Historypin provides a few rather obvious teaching/assignment opportunities.
Next semester, my class will be writing, speaking, and filming a ghost tour of EKU's campus, and Historypin will allow us to create a collection of photographs to tell this story digitally. We will also create a tour using Historypin.
Another classroom use could be to see photographs of the time and place in which a novel is set. Writing topics could be generated by actually seeing the objects the author mentions or by seeing the damage occurred by natural disaster or warfare.
Then, of course, there is application for a history, geography, and architecture classes. There are so many directions you can take with this program. Try it out and see what you think.
While I haven't been able to use this in program in a class yet, the possibilities seem so limitless with Historypin that I wanted to share it with you now, while your syllabus for next semester may still be in development--like mine.
Historypin is an online collection of photographs, audio, and video files that are primarily organized by the place where they are taken/recorded. As people upload files to the map, they are also able to date them and write a little story about what is taking place.
Right now, the collection seems rather USA and Europe heavy, but I'm sure as time goes by we'll be able to find more files available. In any case, Historypin provides a few rather obvious teaching/assignment opportunities.
Next semester, my class will be writing, speaking, and filming a ghost tour of EKU's campus, and Historypin will allow us to create a collection of photographs to tell this story digitally. We will also create a tour using Historypin.
Another classroom use could be to see photographs of the time and place in which a novel is set. Writing topics could be generated by actually seeing the objects the author mentions or by seeing the damage occurred by natural disaster or warfare.
Then, of course, there is application for a history, geography, and architecture classes. There are so many directions you can take with this program. Try it out and see what you think.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Screen Captures made easy: Jing your monitor's images and videos
Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing/free/)
Tired of Print Screen? I sure am. Don't get me wrong; it can be useful, but Print Screen is a pain when you want to create usable jpegs, editing out all the random desktop clutter you have on the screen, and then saving the image as a low-resolution file suitable for only for online and low-quality printed documents.
Jing just might be the program you are looking for. This free program downloads in minutes and provides an easy way to capture images and video files on your computer. The video file captures sound and images; just draw a yellow box around the area you want to capture. The free version allows you to download the recorded file on your computer as an .swf file, which works well for online applications like Prezi and play in just about any browser.
The trickiest part about Jing, in my case, was actually finding the program. Because of my desktop image, I had a hard time finding the little yellow half-circle discreetly hiding at the top middle of my computer screen. Just hover over the yellow half-circle and you get three options. The tool that draws a box (just select video or picture), a history tab which shows you things you've already captured, and a settings option.
Jing also provides a simple too to highlight areas, write on an image, and draw arrows, which is a wonderful tool for teaching students how to upload or edit files in a new program. You can also record yourself using a program and have the video file available for your students to download.
Jing is also a helpful tool to capture simple flash animated advertisements for research purposes or live edits or meetings being conducted online.
Tired of Print Screen? I sure am. Don't get me wrong; it can be useful, but Print Screen is a pain when you want to create usable jpegs, editing out all the random desktop clutter you have on the screen, and then saving the image as a low-resolution file suitable for only for online and low-quality printed documents.
Jing just might be the program you are looking for. This free program downloads in minutes and provides an easy way to capture images and video files on your computer. The video file captures sound and images; just draw a yellow box around the area you want to capture. The free version allows you to download the recorded file on your computer as an .swf file, which works well for online applications like Prezi and play in just about any browser.
The trickiest part about Jing, in my case, was actually finding the program. Because of my desktop image, I had a hard time finding the little yellow half-circle discreetly hiding at the top middle of my computer screen. Just hover over the yellow half-circle and you get three options. The tool that draws a box (just select video or picture), a history tab which shows you things you've already captured, and a settings option.
Jing also provides a simple too to highlight areas, write on an image, and draw arrows, which is a wonderful tool for teaching students how to upload or edit files in a new program. You can also record yourself using a program and have the video file available for your students to download. Jing is also a helpful tool to capture simple flash animated advertisements for research purposes or live edits or meetings being conducted online.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Brainstorming with Edistorm: Perfect for high-tech classrooms
Edistorm (http://www.edistorm.com/)
We've probably all brainstormed using a chalkboard or white-board, but have you tried doing this online? Consider using Edistorm. The classroom I teach in offers laptops to students as well as Internet access, so I decided to try Edistorm and found the program very useful.
Edistorm is a free, cloud-based program that utilizes a large, blank canvas and virtual Post-it notes. (Although you can also add videos and photographs.) I created a "storm" (it only takes a minute) before class began and invited the entire class by email. I would recommend having students create accounts before you need to use this program in the classroom. Then collect their user names and share the storm with them by typing in their user names. (This will make the process a little smother than my experience.)
For class that day we were coming up with topics for an informative speech. I had the students type in ideas and share them with the group. While they were typing in their ideas, I had the storm projected on the large screens in the classroom. This allowed me to walk around and talk about the ideas I saw appear on the screen. The students seemed to enjoy the process, and I know I did.
We then voted on ideas we liked--each person gets 10 votes. Edistorm allows you to sort the virtual Post-it notes by its rating and even allows you to see ideas that didn't get votes. Using the large screens, I was able to sort the ideas and initiate class discussion on what patterns we saw emerging and what speeches would be the most engaging.
At the end of the day I got an email from Edistorm giving me a report on who typed what idea. This was so helpful that I decided to use the same storm the next class period. I had the students use Edistorm to share their central ideas for the speech with the class. I then had students vote on their top 10 ideas and comment on all the others. Edistorm allows you to add comments to a note, so students typed in questions and ideas to share why they didn't find a particular speech topic as engaging as the others. Again, I got an email that day listing who commented on what idea.
It was so interesting to see how a student would ask a question on a note and the person who posted the note would respond. There are 24 students in my class and, by the end of the class, each student had feedback from multiple peers. We could also see what ideas were the most popular and what ideas needed to be more focused.
The downside to this was that some students had used their votes the day before, so they had to comment on more ideas than other students. Next time I'll delete the notes from the old storm before I create a new one.
Once they had their central ideas down, I used Edistorm once again. I had each student type in a one or two word note that pertained to the topic of their speech--words like film industry, music production, autism. Once all these ideas were posted I was able, with help from the class, to group topics that seemed related. These groups of four became "tribes" who were then seated together to form peer-support teams.
I really enjoyed using this program and intend to use it again in the future.
Here's a short tutorial on how Edistorm works:
We've probably all brainstormed using a chalkboard or white-board, but have you tried doing this online? Consider using Edistorm. The classroom I teach in offers laptops to students as well as Internet access, so I decided to try Edistorm and found the program very useful.
Edistorm is a free, cloud-based program that utilizes a large, blank canvas and virtual Post-it notes. (Although you can also add videos and photographs.) I created a "storm" (it only takes a minute) before class began and invited the entire class by email. I would recommend having students create accounts before you need to use this program in the classroom. Then collect their user names and share the storm with them by typing in their user names. (This will make the process a little smother than my experience.)
For class that day we were coming up with topics for an informative speech. I had the students type in ideas and share them with the group. While they were typing in their ideas, I had the storm projected on the large screens in the classroom. This allowed me to walk around and talk about the ideas I saw appear on the screen. The students seemed to enjoy the process, and I know I did.
We then voted on ideas we liked--each person gets 10 votes. Edistorm allows you to sort the virtual Post-it notes by its rating and even allows you to see ideas that didn't get votes. Using the large screens, I was able to sort the ideas and initiate class discussion on what patterns we saw emerging and what speeches would be the most engaging.
At the end of the day I got an email from Edistorm giving me a report on who typed what idea. This was so helpful that I decided to use the same storm the next class period. I had the students use Edistorm to share their central ideas for the speech with the class. I then had students vote on their top 10 ideas and comment on all the others. Edistorm allows you to add comments to a note, so students typed in questions and ideas to share why they didn't find a particular speech topic as engaging as the others. Again, I got an email that day listing who commented on what idea.
It was so interesting to see how a student would ask a question on a note and the person who posted the note would respond. There are 24 students in my class and, by the end of the class, each student had feedback from multiple peers. We could also see what ideas were the most popular and what ideas needed to be more focused.
The downside to this was that some students had used their votes the day before, so they had to comment on more ideas than other students. Next time I'll delete the notes from the old storm before I create a new one.
Once they had their central ideas down, I used Edistorm once again. I had each student type in a one or two word note that pertained to the topic of their speech--words like film industry, music production, autism. Once all these ideas were posted I was able, with help from the class, to group topics that seemed related. These groups of four became "tribes" who were then seated together to form peer-support teams.
I really enjoyed using this program and intend to use it again in the future.
Here's a short tutorial on how Edistorm works:
Friday, September 23, 2011
Forget Clip Art: Go Back to the Drawing Board
DoInk (http://www.doink.com)
Creating a flash animation (swf file) used to be practically out of reach for many college students, until now. DoInk provides a user-friendly, cloud-based, free platform to create simple animations. One perfect use for these files is with Prezi. Now you can create moving words, shapes, people, images and have them imported into your Prezi presentation. These repeating animations can be quite effective at re-capturing or holding an audience’s attention. Another way to use this program is to create a form of kinetic typography, perfect for visualizing a short poem or haiku. Since you can create an account and an illustration in a typical class period, DoInk would provide a perfect class assignment. Once you create an illustration or animation, you can download it as a swf file, embed it in a website, or link to it. It took me about 10 minutes to create this animation below (just hit the play button):
questions by apostels, made at DoInk.com
odosketch (http://sketch.odopod.com/)
While Microsoft Paint and Google Drawing provide an easy way for students to create their own clip art for presentations and documents, the results are usually a little basic. Though these programs are helpful (Google Drawing even allows collaboration), they can really frustrate those who are more artistically inclined. Enter odosketch. This ingenious website provides users with a dozen or so pencils and colors and a sheet of paper (all digital of course). Once the illustration is drawn you can share the file on a website or blog via an embed code. The result is an eye-catching animation of the drawing in progress. If you are more interested in a standard, still-frame jpeg-like version of the drawing, just take a screen capture of the finished drawing and paste it into your document or PowerPoint. The site works wonderfully with touch pad computers. The best thing about this site is there is almost no learning curve. Check out this animation featured on the site to see the potential odosketch offers (refresh your browser if the drawing is already completed):
Creating a flash animation (swf file) used to be practically out of reach for many college students, until now. DoInk provides a user-friendly, cloud-based, free platform to create simple animations. One perfect use for these files is with Prezi. Now you can create moving words, shapes, people, images and have them imported into your Prezi presentation. These repeating animations can be quite effective at re-capturing or holding an audience’s attention. Another way to use this program is to create a form of kinetic typography, perfect for visualizing a short poem or haiku. Since you can create an account and an illustration in a typical class period, DoInk would provide a perfect class assignment. Once you create an illustration or animation, you can download it as a swf file, embed it in a website, or link to it. It took me about 10 minutes to create this animation below (just hit the play button):
questions by apostels, made at DoInk.com
odosketch (http://sketch.odopod.com/)
While Microsoft Paint and Google Drawing provide an easy way for students to create their own clip art for presentations and documents, the results are usually a little basic. Though these programs are helpful (Google Drawing even allows collaboration), they can really frustrate those who are more artistically inclined. Enter odosketch. This ingenious website provides users with a dozen or so pencils and colors and a sheet of paper (all digital of course). Once the illustration is drawn you can share the file on a website or blog via an embed code. The result is an eye-catching animation of the drawing in progress. If you are more interested in a standard, still-frame jpeg-like version of the drawing, just take a screen capture of the finished drawing and paste it into your document or PowerPoint. The site works wonderfully with touch pad computers. The best thing about this site is there is almost no learning curve. Check out this animation featured on the site to see the potential odosketch offers (refresh your browser if the drawing is already completed):
Friday, September 16, 2011
Silver Lining: Cloud Storage for Easy Data Access
Dropbox (www.dropbox.com)
Dropbox is an easy-to-use, simple means of accessing your data anywhere.
It's as easy as uploading it to your account on the website, or as easy to as dragging and dropping into a folder on your computer.
Signing up for Dropbox gives you 2 gigs of storage free (or, if you accept a friend's referral, 5) with paid options to increase your storage. Your data is available wherever you have an internet connection (through the website) or wherever you download the Dropbox program or app. I have a work Dropbox account that I access through the website, and a personal one that lets me see my files on my desktop at work and my desktop at home, and additionally on my iPod Touch. When you use the program or app, your data is available whether or not you have an internet connection, making it easy to access your data when you need it most. It also offers functionality to share files with other users, making it great for collaboration of both files and folders.
Skydrive (http://skydrive.live.com)
Skydrive is part of Windows Live, which controls many old and new Microsoft services (including Hotmail and Xbox Live). The most useful benefit to this service is that, if you're already part of Windows Live, it's the same username and password to access your Skydrive as it is to access your Hotmail. Skydrive at its most basic is a combination of both Google Docs and Dropbox, offering simple but effective versions of Microsoft's own Office products in a web browser to create new documents, spreadsheets, and presentations while also offering 25 gigs of free file storage (with a 100mb upload limit per file).
Skydrive offering the functionality of Microsoft Office is perhaps the greatest strength of this particular service. Many of the features are present and able to be used, and there is a built-in export feature to the current Office product. 
Currently it supports Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote. Like Dropbox it offers sharing options to other users, or keeps your data private.
Dropbox is an easy-to-use, simple means of accessing your data anywhere.
Skydrive (http://skydrive.live.com)
Skydrive is part of Windows Live, which controls many old and new Microsoft services (including Hotmail and Xbox Live). The most useful benefit to this service is that, if you're already part of Windows Live, it's the same username and password to access your Skydrive as it is to access your Hotmail. Skydrive at its most basic is a combination of both Google Docs and Dropbox, offering simple but effective versions of Microsoft's own Office products in a web browser to create new documents, spreadsheets, and presentations while also offering 25 gigs of free file storage (with a 100mb upload limit per file).
Currently it supports Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote. Like Dropbox it offers sharing options to other users, or keeps your data private.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Publish, don't Perish: Create a Website in Minutes
Wix (http://www.wix.com/)
This easy to use website allows you to create Flash websites by simply typing and clicking on areas you want to modify and edit. To help you get started, Wix provides you with many free templates that are easy to customize. Once you select a template, you can alter the photographs, buttons, fonts, colors...just about anything by simply clicking on the area you want to change. The entire process is quite intuitive. You can save your progress as you edit the site, and, when you are done, select “publish”and go live. The url will begin with wix.com, but you can select your own url after that. Remember to think about search engine optimization when creating a site name. Shawn created this site and launched it in about an hour using a template for a coffee shop. Not too bad for someone who hasn’t worked with Flash in about two years. Wix allows you to move the entire page to your own personal website, but you’ll have to pay monthly for that service.
Google Sites (https://sites.google.com)
Create a simple website perfect for communicating with large groups of people using Google Sites. To begin you can select a template or create your own page from scratch. Again, like Wix, Google sites begin with the sites.google.com/site but you can choose your own url after that. One thing we really like about Google Sites is that you can have multiple editors for the same site, which is very handy if you are having a class design a website for a local non-profit. The entire class can edit and share the site with the client, and then the client can easily keep the site updated after the class is over. Using Google Sites is similar to using a document editing software like OpenOffice or Microsoft Word, so the learning curve is almost non-existent. It’s also easy to embed photos from your Picasa, YouTube, or Google Doc account. Not too bad for a free website.
This easy to use website allows you to create Flash websites by simply typing and clicking on areas you want to modify and edit. To help you get started, Wix provides you with many free templates that are easy to customize. Once you select a template, you can alter the photographs, buttons, fonts, colors...just about anything by simply clicking on the area you want to change. The entire process is quite intuitive. You can save your progress as you edit the site, and, when you are done, select “publish”and go live. The url will begin with wix.com, but you can select your own url after that. Remember to think about search engine optimization when creating a site name. Shawn created this site and launched it in about an hour using a template for a coffee shop. Not too bad for someone who hasn’t worked with Flash in about two years. Wix allows you to move the entire page to your own personal website, but you’ll have to pay monthly for that service.
Google Sites (https://sites.google.com)
Create a simple website perfect for communicating with large groups of people using Google Sites. To begin you can select a template or create your own page from scratch. Again, like Wix, Google sites begin with the sites.google.com/site but you can choose your own url after that. One thing we really like about Google Sites is that you can have multiple editors for the same site, which is very handy if you are having a class design a website for a local non-profit. The entire class can edit and share the site with the client, and then the client can easily keep the site updated after the class is over. Using Google Sites is similar to using a document editing software like OpenOffice or Microsoft Word, so the learning curve is almost non-existent. It’s also easy to embed photos from your Picasa, YouTube, or Google Doc account. Not too bad for a free website.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Presenting...Online Presentation Tools
XtraNormal (http://www.xtranormal.com)
XtraNormal takes the complicated process of creating an animated video and simplifies it to a user-friendly type based platform. The free version of this site allows you to make short, simple videos that students seem to really enjoy. For example, Shawn created a video of superheros discussing why it's important to read the class syllabus. The class enjoyed it and the video only took a few minutes to create. Just pick a collection, choose your characters, and type in the narrative. Once you complete your video you can preview it, but give yourself about four hours for it to render. Completed videos can be embedded on your blog, website, or Facebook account. XtraNormal provides additional credits for educators, but you'll need to fill out this form: http://xtranormal.zendesk.com/requests/new.
Prezi (www.prezi.com)
Prezi is a great alternative to PowerPoint because it allows you to visualize the connections being made in the topic you are discussing. PowerPoints are linear. Once you change the slide, the information is gone. While this is helpful to show before and after sequences, they don't encourage the viewers to make connections as the speech continues. Prezi, on the other hand, allows speakers to create smoother, or at least more animated, transitions between the main points of a speech. Videos are also a pleasure to use in Prezi because they are embedded in the presentation. Prezi offers basic templates to use if you are just getting started, but we encourage you to experiment with the design wizard to create a presentation that really works with your topic. If you are doing a group presentation, try Prezi meeting, which allows several people to work on a Prezi at the same time. Finished Prezis can be downloaded as a .swf file (flash file) or embeded in a website. One thing that we find helpful is that Prezi is cloud based, meaning your Prezis can be accessed and edited on any computer, and presentations can be given on any browser with an updated Flash player.
XtraNormal takes the complicated process of creating an animated video and simplifies it to a user-friendly type based platform. The free version of this site allows you to make short, simple videos that students seem to really enjoy. For example, Shawn created a video of superheros discussing why it's important to read the class syllabus. The class enjoyed it and the video only took a few minutes to create. Just pick a collection, choose your characters, and type in the narrative. Once you complete your video you can preview it, but give yourself about four hours for it to render. Completed videos can be embedded on your blog, website, or Facebook account. XtraNormal provides additional credits for educators, but you'll need to fill out this form: http://xtranormal.zendesk.com/requests/new.
Prezi (www.prezi.com)
Prezi is a great alternative to PowerPoint because it allows you to visualize the connections being made in the topic you are discussing. PowerPoints are linear. Once you change the slide, the information is gone. While this is helpful to show before and after sequences, they don't encourage the viewers to make connections as the speech continues. Prezi, on the other hand, allows speakers to create smoother, or at least more animated, transitions between the main points of a speech. Videos are also a pleasure to use in Prezi because they are embedded in the presentation. Prezi offers basic templates to use if you are just getting started, but we encourage you to experiment with the design wizard to create a presentation that really works with your topic. If you are doing a group presentation, try Prezi meeting, which allows several people to work on a Prezi at the same time. Finished Prezis can be downloaded as a .swf file (flash file) or embeded in a website. One thing that we find helpful is that Prezi is cloud based, meaning your Prezis can be accessed and edited on any computer, and presentations can be given on any browser with an updated Flash player.
Collaborate Online: Easy Places to Share Ideas
Google Docs (docs.google.com)
Google Docs is a collaborative Microsoft Office alternative. With Google Docs you can easily share documents, spreadsheets, forms, drawings, presentations, groups of files and even single files. With customizable privacy options, from completely open to completely closed, you and your collaborators can edit each object while others are working on it...or, as the owner of the object, you can let them only view as you make your changes.
Everything is saved to the Google cloud so it is accessible anywhere you have an internet connection, or easily downloaded. Many of the features are the same as Microsoft Office including comments, word count, and spell check. An easy and cheap alternative to those without Office or an amazing collaborative tool between you and students or you and your colleagues.
Blogger (www.blogger.com)
Blogs carry a stigma of being an “online diary”. While this was certainly true, particularly when the accessibility of the internet began to reach more and more people, today blogs can also carry out a cousin of that doctrine: they are an extremely efficient mode of communication and collaboration. We designed our seminar around the idea of the blog as a collaborative tool. Shawn designed the blog and the posts, and I came back later to edit and flesh out content. Not only did we collaborate but we’ve presented our information in a clear, effective manner using the tools Blogger has to offer. The posts are tagged to make information easy to access and we have embedded the numerous videos, documents and pictures necessary to the presentation. Blogs can be used to assign homework, convey information, re-post lectures, or build a class project.
Blogger (www.blogger.com)
Blogs carry a stigma of being an “online diary”. While this was certainly true, particularly when the accessibility of the internet began to reach more and more people, today blogs can also carry out a cousin of that doctrine: they are an extremely efficient mode of communication and collaboration. We designed our seminar around the idea of the blog as a collaborative tool. Shawn designed the blog and the posts, and I came back later to edit and flesh out content. Not only did we collaborate but we’ve presented our information in a clear, effective manner using the tools Blogger has to offer. The posts are tagged to make information easy to access and we have embedded the numerous videos, documents and pictures necessary to the presentation. Blogs can be used to assign homework, convey information, re-post lectures, or build a class project.
Yes! It's Arts and Crafts Time!
Google Art (www.googleartproject.com)
The Google Art Project has used its software to digitize and make available art from some of the greatest museums in the world. Its mapping software, popularized by Google Maps and its street views, lets you “wander” the museum as though you were there.
What you could not do at the museum, however, is zoom in on the detail of the works. See the individual brushstrokes. Read information about the art and the artist. Make a collection of paintings to suit your needs. View the history of the painting itself...how the museum came to acquire it. The level of detail Google has put into its art project rivals a trip to the museums where these works are housed, making it an invaluable resource for art or other humanities classes, and also a great primary source.
Ball dropping (http://balldroppings.com/js/)
Ball dropping is part of the Google Chrome project, which has expanded traditional html. This free interactive website gives you the ability to create music and play with gravity at the same time. The site works by dropping a ball down the side of a blank screen. You control how "heavy" the ball is and how fast the balls fall. By drawing simple lines, you can control where the ball bounces. As the balls hit the lines, they create a sound based on how high or low the line is on the screen.
Ball dropping (http://balldroppings.com/js/)
Ball dropping is part of the Google Chrome project, which has expanded traditional html. This free interactive website gives you the ability to create music and play with gravity at the same time. The site works by dropping a ball down the side of a blank screen. You control how "heavy" the ball is and how fast the balls fall. By drawing simple lines, you can control where the ball bounces. As the balls hit the lines, they create a sound based on how high or low the line is on the screen.
Informative Tools: Online learning and serendipity
Ted Talks (http://www.ted.com)
Ted has thousands of compelling speeches available on a wide variety of topics. Ted stands for "Technology, Entertainment, and Design," but topics also include science and motivational speeches. Chances are, if there is someone who is cutting edge in a topic you are teaching, Ted Talks has a video of them explaining their work to a general audience. Ted Talks are embeddable in your website, and you can even download them as they are part of the Creative Commons movement. The site also features translations and subtitles--which is quite helpful for students who are struggling with a speaker's accent. While we were looking for a Ted talk to embed in this site, we discovered Salman Khan's talk about his online learning resource. See below to learn more.
Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org)
Khan Academy, the brain child of Salman Khan, seeks to bring education to anyone via the power of the internet.
What this means for you as an instructor is two things. It’s an amazing reference for your students if they have problems, because these videos are designed for them. But it’s also a great place for education students to learn to develop lesson plans and use the videos to explain sections of their lesson plans. Currently Khan Academy leans heavily towards mathematics but it does contain videos on sciences, humanities, and test prep resources. The videos are mainly housed on youtube which makes them even more accessible. This is a great resource to encourage learning and greater understanding on many levels.
Ted has thousands of compelling speeches available on a wide variety of topics. Ted stands for "Technology, Entertainment, and Design," but topics also include science and motivational speeches. Chances are, if there is someone who is cutting edge in a topic you are teaching, Ted Talks has a video of them explaining their work to a general audience. Ted Talks are embeddable in your website, and you can even download them as they are part of the Creative Commons movement. The site also features translations and subtitles--which is quite helpful for students who are struggling with a speaker's accent. While we were looking for a Ted talk to embed in this site, we discovered Salman Khan's talk about his online learning resource. See below to learn more.
Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org)
Khan Academy, the brain child of Salman Khan, seeks to bring education to anyone via the power of the internet.
What this means for you as an instructor is two things. It’s an amazing reference for your students if they have problems, because these videos are designed for them. But it’s also a great place for education students to learn to develop lesson plans and use the videos to explain sections of their lesson plans. Currently Khan Academy leans heavily towards mathematics but it does contain videos on sciences, humanities, and test prep resources. The videos are mainly housed on youtube which makes them even more accessible. This is a great resource to encourage learning and greater understanding on many levels.
Capture Tools--beyond print screen
KeepVid (http://keepvid.com/)
This website enables you to harvest video off of YouTube and other popular video sharing websites, allowing you to see these videos without Internet access--perfect for research projects and for conference presentations. You can choose from four or so formats, depending on the video, as well as different resolutions--in case file size is an issue. All you have to do is copy the URL of the video and paste it into KeepVid's website. Follow the directions and the video is yours.
Web2pdf (http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/)
Exactly what it says. It converts websites into pdf documents. What this means for you as an instructor is that you can save sites for use in instruction...whether for handouts, examples, information...anything you could normally do with a document is now something you can do with a website. The website is now available offline and can be read not only in paper but also on many mobile devices, such as a Kindle or iPod Touch. An invaluable tool that can only expand the reaches of your instruction.
As a bonus, here is the web2pdf of our blog here, current as of August 30th. It is hosted on Google Docs.
This website enables you to harvest video off of YouTube and other popular video sharing websites, allowing you to see these videos without Internet access--perfect for research projects and for conference presentations. You can choose from four or so formats, depending on the video, as well as different resolutions--in case file size is an issue. All you have to do is copy the URL of the video and paste it into KeepVid's website. Follow the directions and the video is yours.
Web2pdf (http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/)
Exactly what it says. It converts websites into pdf documents. What this means for you as an instructor is that you can save sites for use in instruction...whether for handouts, examples, information...anything you could normally do with a document is now something you can do with a website. The website is now available offline and can be read not only in paper but also on many mobile devices, such as a Kindle or iPod Touch. An invaluable tool that can only expand the reaches of your instruction.
As a bonus, here is the web2pdf of our blog here, current as of August 30th. It is hosted on Google Docs.
Top 10 under-utilized websites for instructors: an introduction
Welcome to "incredible websites for instructors." This blog is the product of a Noel Studio for Academic Creativity seminar (Incredible Websites for Instructors: Top 10) led by Technology Associate Emily Bayma and Communication Coordinator Shawn Apostel.
As we scoured the Internet in search of the best, most useful websites to use with assignments, group projects, and creative inspiration we thought the best way to compile and share these sites would be via a blog. Hence "incredible websites for instructors" is created.
We also felt that this blog would be a wonderful way to share new websites that we discover. So, while this blog will start with our Top 10 under-utilized websites, stay tuned for more websites to be posted.
As we scoured the Internet in search of the best, most useful websites to use with assignments, group projects, and creative inspiration we thought the best way to compile and share these sites would be via a blog. Hence "incredible websites for instructors" is created.
We also felt that this blog would be a wonderful way to share new websites that we discover. So, while this blog will start with our Top 10 under-utilized websites, stay tuned for more websites to be posted.
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