Google Docs

Create and share your work online with Google Docs. You can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and forms and access anywhere.

Google Docs also allows for real-time collaboration so you can create your document together without having to be in the same room. Very handy particulary for all those busy people out there.

So create an account with google and start exploring!

Teacher Tube

Teacher Tube is You Tube for teachers - there are many USA based users but some from other countries - you will find interesting 'how to videos' and tips and tricks for using technology in the classroom. I get an email once a week that has the featured videos - which is a good way to keep track of what is pretty hot in the way of teacher videos - if anyone is doing cartoons with their children then there was a very interesting how to draw cartoon characters with a cartoonist - well worth watching - and the kids could watch it too.

Wordle

For an interesting way to share learnings you can cut and past a word processed document into Wordle.

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Delicious

No I'm not talking about what I just ate for dinner but an online social bookmarking site that allows you to tag, save, manage and share webpages in one central place online. You can then access these saved webpages from any computer, anywhere, anytime.

What's more with Delicious you have the added advantage of being able to network with your peers and share your favourites with others simply by adding people to your network or checking out the most popular tags.

Tags are just a way of organising your information. They are a bit like creating an index so you can easily manage and find the information/web pages you require.

Check out this introductory clip from TeacherTube Delicious social bookmarking in Plain English

The main advantages of using delicious are easy access to your favourites  and the fact that it allows you to share your favourites with others. Once you've created an account you will need to add these buttons to your tool bar so you can access delicious easily.

Do you already have an account with delicious? Want to add me to your network? Search for "nattynats" on delicious and start connecting to an online community today.

Powerpointlessness?

The Powerpoint: a useful educational tool yet limited in its offering in this age of innovation and choice...

"Powerpointlessness" is a term coined by Jamie McKenzie in 2000, and is defined as "any fancy transitions, sounds, and other effects that have no discernible purpose, use or benefit." (McFedries, 2001)

The issue I have with powerpoint is the overuse of it I guess...
10 years ago it was all "oooh and ahhhh and wow!!!' given its visual nature and early technical gadgetry.
10 years on and we have options - flexible, awesome options.

I stumbled upon a fantastic new presentation tool a few weeks ago.
http://prezi.com
This cool cyber toy is, basically, a massive cyber canvas with the capacity to add content - text, images, video links etc, add a 'path' ( the order you want to view the items) and Bob's your uncle!
What is new is that it is not linear and sequential - you can set it to spin, flip, zoom, pan out and basically make learning dance!!
I look forward to sharing with you next week!!

Have fun,
Louise W


McFedries, P. (2001) The Word Spy http.www.wordspy.com (accessed 9 August 2010)

So... what is a Blog?

I often refer to blogs as an online communication tool.

They are a quick an easy way for ordinary people like us to launch a website, share their ideas, opinions and seek an audience across the World Wide Web.

Participation in a blog is an opportunity to share with a group of people who have a common interest be that digital photography, knitting, sociology, academia or just the chance to get up on your 'Soap Box' and rally for support.

Click here for more information about the use of blogs in education from DET (WA)

Image created by Salvatore Vuono

You can search for blogs to join easily by searching in google.

If you are looking for blogs related to the classroom then try using the search term 'classroom blogs' and see what comes up.

Happy blogging everyone!

Welcome

Hello Tech Users,

This blog is aimed at sharing the cool web tools and applications you may come across and how these can be used in the classroom.
Information technology engages the students because it is often a visual and interactive experience for them.
By sharing and pooling our resources that helps us learn too.

So please if you've got something to share add a blog post or post a comment and let's all have some fun playing and experimenting with these new tools.

Ready, set, blog!

Natalie