Instructify

If you read Instructify every day, it’s safe to say you like finding nifty tools for your classroom. Believe it or not, there are more places than this one to find out about these resources (wait, don’t leave! Come back!).

Vicki Davis, owner of the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, is one such teacher who enjoys spreading the word about useful ed-technology. This Thursday, August 28 at 8 p.m., you can talk to her live and sort-of-in-person via Second Life in her presentation, “New School Year: Cool Tools Here.” Davis will share some of the tools and tips she (and hopefully you too) will use this coming year.

Davis’ session is part of “The Future Is Already Here,” a series of interactive professional development sessions from USDLC (you might remember their session, “BANNED in the Bookhenge” from earlier this year). The series is designed to give teachers a chance to hear from and talk with outstanding teachers who integrate technology such as Web 2.0, 1:1 computing, robotics, or serious gaming / 3D Web into their everyday teaching.

If you’re not sure about this whole social networking through Second Life thing, you can still take part through Internet radio and chat at  www.Literacy2Learn.org. USDLC plans more of these events throughout the year, so keep checking back. Isn’t it nice to know there are so many places to find out about great tech resources for teachers? All I ask is that you don’t forget about Instructify. -BILL FERRIS

Cool Cat Teacher Blog

The Future Is Already Here

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Can’t get your school district to pony up the cash for an expensive interactive whiteboard with a clicker system? Well, you can take care of the whiteboard part of that set-up here, but how to get the response system? Thanks to the folks at Poll Everywhere, all your students need is a cell phone.

• You can set up a poll with different responses.
• Then, have your participants send a text message to “41411″ with their vote (Cast ####) as a text message.
• You’ll then get results that you can share (on your Wii-remote interactive whiteboard).

Another online tool for polling using cellphones is Wiffiti, which shows results as a as a really neat visualization (shown above). Here’s how:

• Set up a screen at Wiffiti, then have participants call in
• Send a text messages to 25622 (this also spells 2LOCA).
• Start your message with the at sign ‘@’ and the screen code, for example txt: @myscrn2 Hello everybody!
• Sign your messages, txt name John Doe any time, and it will remember your name.

Wiffiti is better for open ended responses situations.

So stop confiscating your student’s cell phones, and start putting them to use in the classroom. -ALICE MERCER

Have you ever needed the answer to some pressing question, but found yourself no where near a computer and yielded only a cell phone to get your answer? I know I’ve been there many times, especially when traveling, and while you can sometimes text message search engines (or call a web-savvy friend), you can’t always get the answer you need. After being in such a predicament, I’ve often resolved to finally getting a smart phone, but now I don’t have to!

ChaCha  is a service that allows anyone with a mobile phone to text 242 242 (CHACHA) or call 1-800-2CHACHA and ask any question in conversational English and receive an accurate answer as a text message within a few minutes. It basically makes any cell phone a “smart phone,” and the idea is genius really: they don’t use a search engine algorithm with automatically generated responses, but rather a network of knowledgeable human “guides.” And since ChaCha uses people to respond with answers, you can easily reply with follow-up questions as if you are exchanging messages with a friend.

So let’s say you can’t remember who Gabriel falls in love with in Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd (it’s Bathsheba Everdene, by the way), or you need a quick weather update, or you just need to find the closest vegetarian restaurant to your current location, you can just call or text ChaCha and get a great answer quickly.

The service is totally free, too (except for any text message or minute fees  that may apply based on your cell phone plan), so you don’t have to worry about encountering any hidden costs when you get your phone bill. So make your cell phone a bit smarter, and maybe make yourself a little smarter while you’re at it! -LAUREN FROHNE

ChaCha

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Power up Your Phone with gWhiz

Why shell out big bucks for a scientific calculator when your computer can run circles around it? Powerful free calculators abound on the Internet. F’rinstance, take Calculator Tab, a sleek, stylish online calculator loaded with features and bereft of a price tag.

At first glance resembling a cheapo giveaway calculator, Calculator Tab reveals a bevy of functions if you simply pull on the many tabs surrounding it (hence the name). Figure sines, cosines, exponents, all that stuff you’re trying to teach your students, Calculator Tab has it tucked away in its tabs, so your kids won’t be slowed down by gawking at more functions than they need. Handiest of all, Calculator Tab also has a pop-up version so you can use it to crunch numbers in another open program. When you complete your calculations, Calculator Tab’s memory can store an infinite amount of numbers for an infinite amount of time, too.

Now that cell phone technology has advanced so much, it’s possible that students could use a Web phone and connect to an app like Calculator Tab rather than buy a scientific calculator (yeah, I know, school firewalls, cell phone policies, etc. Someday this kinda thing will be normal, I tell you). Calculator Tab packs a lot of power, and looks good doing it. -BILL FERRIS

Calculator Tab

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Want to take your class on a trip to the Grand Canyon to see the Colorado River? How about a trip to New York City or Paris, France? Can’t afford the gas you say? Well not to worry. With Google Earth 4.3 you can take your students to any location on the globe without leaving the comfort of your classroom, or filling up your gas tank!

If you haven’t used it before, Google Earth is a Web-based program that uses satellite imagery to show places all over the world. All you need to do is download the free program and you are ready to get started. If you have used Google Earth before, version 4.3 has some great new features to take advantage of as you travel around the world. Some of these include photo-realistic buildings, swoop navigation from space to street-level, numerous layers that can be turned on to show anything from locations of volcanoes to the weather. With Google’s new street view, you can place your students virtually on almost any main street in the country. You can show your students how day and night work on our planet by using the dawn to dusk views with the sunlight feature. Take your students to any landform and not only see the 3-D image, but also view all the sight-seeing pictures and information provided by numerous professional organizations to help make this learning experience more memorable.

The new Google Earth 4.3 is out of this world - and if that is your next destination, just click on the outer-space feature and you can explore our solar system in the same way you explored our planet. -MONIQUE ST. LOUIS

Google Earth 4.3

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Sure, your phone plays music, surfs the Web, sends email, and has GPS capability (and you can, you know, talk to people with it, too). That stuff is cool, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what these handheld powerhouses can do. Now, with one simple download, you can give your phone some extra power you can use in the classroom thanks to gWhiz.

gWhiz is a suite of mobile learning tools that includes a powerful graphing calculator, a personalized reference library, and a flash card application. If Little Johnny wants to email his friends the graph of a tricky equation, he can do it straight from his phone. Create custom reference guides for an upcoming test on state capitals. Students will be able to get a lot of mileage from these apps, and they’ll always be within easy reach.

Now, the bad news. Right now, gWhiz is only available for BlackBerry phones. They’re working on adding more phone compatibility, though, including Google’s upcoming Android mobile phone platform. Maybe by the time summer vacation is over I can add gWhiz to my Motorola Razr (or maybe not). If you don’t have a BlackBerry, you may want to check back in a few months to see when gWhiz will be compatible with your phone.

Schools can really benefit from enhanced phone technology, since these devices are small, increasingly powerful, and within the price range of many students’ families. Applications like gWhiz can leverage this technology to create a powerful learning tool within the palm of every student’s hand. -BILL FERRIS

gWhiz

I’d really like to use some mind maps. I know I can benefit from using one, but I really don’t have the time to sit down and think one up and then design it and then oh great its 3 a.m. and I’ve got to wake up for work in a few hours.

Pay a visit to Mindomo. Now you’ll be free to stay up late working while filling actual content into the thousands of already created templates - spread out across several different topics and several different languages. -NICK YINGLING

Mindomo

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Read at Work is deceptive, underhanded and sneaky. Fortunately, its also very educational and fun. Designed to look and act like a Windows desktop, this application goes widescreen and mimics everything on a normal desktop, and presents folders containing various short stories, poems, and classic works. The fun comes in when you click on one of the titles and a fake PowerPoint presentation pops up. The original texts are placed in various blocks of graphs, bulleted lists and charts for your reading pleasure.

It appears that the application was developed by bibliophiles at the NZ Book Council who had no time to read classic works of literature at their desks. Nonetheless, it’s well constructed and an interesting way to read literature. If anything, you might be able to use this to inspire your students to new ways of approaching literature. Or if you are, yourself, an overworked bibliophile desk jockey, you might like to catch up on your reading without getting caught. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Read at Work

As if Firefox couldn’t get more useful for teachers and students, now you can use it to solve algebraic equations. Studenthacks.org has the scoop on the Math and Algebra Expression Simplifier and Solver, a handy tool that’s pretty much what it sounds like. But the best part is that you can install it into your search bar in Firefox (and yeah, Internet Explorer, too).

To simplify or solve an equation, simply type it into your browser’s search bar (you can also enter it at the solver’s main page at Algebra.com). The Math and Algebra Expression Simplifier and Solver will then simplify or solve your equation.

The creators ask that you please keep in mind this simplifier/solver is still a work in progress, so it may not quite be able to solve everything you throw at it - yet. You should also keep in mind that many mathematical expressions are tough to type on a standard keyboard, so entering equations is an exacting process. On the other hand, when typing is the hardest part of using a tool, that’s a pretty good sign. This is one plugin that makes a complicated subject like algebra a little simpler. -BILL FERRIS

Math and Algebra Expression Simplifier and Solver - Firefox/IE Plugin via studenthacks.org
Math and Algebra Expression Simplifier and Solver via Algebra.com

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Johnny Lee, a YouTube personality and “human-computer interaction researcher” is changing the way we use existing technology through simple modifications, and he’s sharing it with everyone. This amazing demo proves that using something as inexpensive and highly obtainable as the Wii Remote, he can create an interactive whiteboard. Lee explains that while the whiteboard isn’t exactly the quality of it’s $3000 likeness, you’ll still get “80% there for about 1% of the cost.” He notes that teachers are able to access this technology for use in their classrooms, and many already are.

Lee makes no qualms about making this sort of technology available for anyone who wants it. He’s put the software on his website, and at the time of this demo, it had been downloaded half a million times. View the demo for the full extent of what other uses Lee is finding for the technology, and visit his website if you want to learn more. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Johnny Lee’s $40 Interactive Whiteboard

Johnny Lee Computer-Human Interaction Researcher

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50 Handy Tricks
File this under “Grab Bag.” Instructables presents this list of 50 Handy Tricks encompassing nothing in particular. You’ll learn how to do everything from taking blink-free photos to making a bow-and-arrow out of skis. Not necessarily teaching-related, but a creative soul like you can certainly figure out a way to build a lesson plan around reupholstering your couch with duct tape, can’t you?

10 virtually instant ways to improve your life
Want to add some quality to your quality of life? The folks at Stepcase Lifehack have some ideas, most of which can be summarized by the word, “relax.” Avoiding drama, not being a perfectionist, and not taking things personally will all help you make a fitter, happier and more productive life for yourself. -BILL FERRIS

Photo credit: Kaptain Kobold on flickr

I hate RealPlayer. HATE! When it’s not bombarding me with ads, it’s installing spyware on my machine or nagging me to upgrade to RealPlayer Pro despite the suckitude of the free version. I uninstalled it for good two years ago and haven’t missed it. Except, that is, when I find that one-in-a-hundred video that’s only available in RealPlayer format. Being a stubborn jerk, I do without the video, cutting off my brain to spite their software.

As a teacher, chances are you already have this nagware on your machine already, either installed by someone else, or because you don’t want to deprive your students of educational or insightful videos. I applaud such sacrifice. Fortunately, you don’t have to let RealPlayer run your computer into the ground anymore thanks to the free and functional Real Alternative.

It’s simple: install Real Alternative, and it’ll play any Real-formatted audio and video files. However, Real Alternative’s most impressive features are what it won’t do - namely install a bunch of spyware or bug you about upgrading. If you’ve got RealPlayer installed, it’s probably asked you three times to upgrade since you started reading this article. For your sanity, for your computer, and for the children, please uninstall RealPlayer right now and give RealAlternative a shot. -BILL FERRIS

Real Alternative

One of the neatest projects I ever did for a college literature class was to interpret a novel through a digital collage — and not just because it got me out of writing a paper. Creating a visual representation of the themes and motifs in the book let us tell a story through images rather than words and made us think about how the story would look if it were, say, a painting (not to mention, we didn’t have to write another paper).

If you’ve wanted to integrate digital collages and photo editing and sharing into your classroom lesson plans, but can’t find room in your already tight budget to invest in one of those expensive software programs, then look no further than Splashup.

Splashup is a free, full-featured online image editor that allows users to create new images, edit existing images and manipulate layers with all kinds of filters and brushes. The interface is easy to use and resembles Photoshop, Illustrator and other familiar photo editors. It’s basic enough for novices to get the hang of, but has sophisticated features that even professionals can appreciate. And did I mention it’s FREE?

What also separates Splashup from its competitors is that it seamlessly integrates with photo sharing sites, including Picasa, Flickr, and Facebook; which means you can import photos from those sites, edit them, and then export them right back for immediate sharing capabilities. You can even save your work in Splashup and come back to it later to edit it some more from another computer — oh, the wonders of data portability!

So, get those new media assignments on your syllabus ASAP. I promise your students will appreciate the change of pace — and not just because they don’t have to write another paper! — LAUREN FROHNE

Splashup

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I recently had to create a time line for a project. Not knowing what else to do, I cobbled one together in Excel like a caveman. Literally three days later, I heard about Mnemograph, which would have made my time line look a lot better, and would have required a lot less effort.

Mnemograph makes creating a time line easy. Your time line can cover any duration, from a couple of hours to several hundred years (great for history projects). To add an entry, just add the date or time and the event description, and you’re all set. You can also import images to give your time line a more historic flair.

Mnemograph is kind of a one-trick pony, but that single trick is pretty valuable if you need to plan a project or illustrate some historical milestones. One milestone I’ve hit is that, thanks to Mnemograph, I won’t have to hack these things together in Excel anymore. -BILL FERRIS

Mnemograph

I have long held the belief that a British accent is the best way to sound intelligent and credible. The problem that I run into is that my impersonation of a British accent is so bad that I end up looking less intelligent and credible to people who hear my attempts. I need to think of a solution!

Exploratree is a great place to help me with my project. Not only do they offer a multitude of interactive thinking-guides, but they are also UK-based. Here in the States we call this sort of thing “mind-mapping,” so when you refer to these resources with Exploratree’s terminology you’ll ooze with intelligence and credibility.

The ability to share resources online lets students log in and contribute to a group project anytime, anywhere. Think about how much time you might set aside for your students to work on group projects during class time. Now think about what you can get done in all that time that Exploratree just helped you claim back. –NICK YINGLING

Exploratree

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