5:42 PM
ari sari
I like this idea, and I really like the 3 minute talk on TED. What would YOUR students have to say are the most important news items that will be important 100 yrs from n...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
MindMapper Collaboration Released
I have worked with MindMapper 2009 for some time now and did a review of the product in an earlier post. Today I had a chance to catch up with Patrick Koh from SimTech and had the opportunity to try out their new product called MindMapper Collaboration. With MindMapper Collaboration it is now possible to host a live session over the web and host your mind maps that can be simultaneously worked on during the session.During this morning's session Patrick hosted the session and sent me an invitation via an email. Once I clicked on the Join Session button, my instance of MindMapper 2009 opened and I was able to work on the mind map with Patrick as...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Why so secretive, CIPA?
I'm trying to find the names of some folks who do CIPA audits so I can schedule them for a webinar with the goal being to INFORM the schools. Why is this so hard to do? If the goal is something which is supposed to be GOOD for kids, then why are they so hard to find and to talk to?GRRR...
Linux Applications: Part 4 - Internet
Having switched to Linux a while ago, I finally have settled on a variety of Internet applications that do what I want. I listed a variety of web browsers in a previous post, so this time I will look at other Internet clients.I have been on-line for many years, so this list includes some applications for systems you may never have heard of, but you may want to try anyway and impress friends and family with your 'old school' credentials.IRC Client - XChatInternet Relay Chat (IRC) was the online chat system of choice in the days before Internet messaging apps such as ICQ, AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. There are a number of...
Saturday, March 27, 2010
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Twubs"Twubs are Twitter groups built around content aggregated from #hashtags.View the full social landscape of a Twub with tools such as our Live Tweet Feed which pulls in external images, videos and links, and our Tweetups & Events Scheduler.Start searching for your favorite topics now and take full advantage of these and many more useful Twub features to connect and share with people of similar interests."tags: twitter, HashtagsTypeWith.me: Live Text Document Collaboration!No accounts needed. tags: collaboration, writing, etherpadGoogle ModeratorLet your audience decideGet to know your audience by letting them decide which questions, suggestions or ideas interest them most.Everyone's voice is heardThe voting box at the top of page focuses attention on submissions recently added...
Thursday, March 25, 2010
This is.. hauntingly beautiful
I'm a former music teacher who still has a deep passion for beautiful music. I've often tweeted about listening to Beibl's "Ave Maria" sung by the Turtle Creek Chorale when it comes on my itunes. And, I've posted about Bobby McFarren and about Perpetuum Jazille singing "Africa" that's just VERY cool. And, I've posted about the Youtube Symphony orchestra (and here) and PS22 fifth graders, and the youth orchestra on TED and even a vegetable orchestra. I love beautiful music.So, when I first heard these two pieces I first LOVED the idea of a virtual chorus - singers from 12 countries contributing virtually to a performance. Now THAT is a VERY cool idea. Then I started to watch the video responses to that video and I found myself completely blown away.Here is the first video performance....
Skype Comes to Blackberry on Verizon Network
Verizon released today Skype for select Blackberry's that are running on the Verizon Network. Skype for Blackberry's will run on the following Smartphone:Tour 9630Storm2 9550Storm 95308830 World EditionCurve 8530Curve 8330 Features include: Skype global ratesThe same Skype rates to global landlines and mobiles. No extra cost.Stop counting minutesSkype-to-Skype, IM and global calls from Skype mobile™ don’t use your wireless plan minutes.Free calls includedThe same experience on your Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone means free Skype-to-Skype calls and IMI just downloaded the Skype App and am up and running connecting to all of my Skype contacts....
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Freeware page
Observant regulars may notice that I have removed the list of 'recommended freeware' from the left hand column on this blog, but it is not gone completely. I have placed the list on a standalone page accessible from the menu bar above or via this link.I will be reformatting this page and regularly adding new software to it, beginning with all the recent recommendations for Lin...
Posted in: Freeware
Monday, March 22, 2010
PBS Digital Learning Library Connected on the SAS Portal
I just sat in on a webinar in which the PA Department of Education (PDE), the Public Broadcasting system (PBS), and Penn State's PBS station (WPSU) announced that the Digital Learning Library will be made available through PA's Standards Aligned System (SAS) portal. All the videos will be tightly aligned to the standards so that teachers will be able to search by a standard and locate the videos that match. That alone will help to make the PA SAS portal a very powerful resource for teachers,Something else that was mentioned was that PBS is making these available (perhaps not all, but certainly MOST) with the Open Content "rights." That means that students and teachers can download the titles and even remix them. Now THAT is EXCELLENT!Pennsylvania is making great strides in Education and is...
Sunday, March 21, 2010
MindGenius 3.5 -Gantt View
Last week I downloaded MindGenius 3.5 which added support for Gantt Charts right within the application. I have had the chance to develop some Gantt Charts using MindGenius and wanted to share my ideas about this new feature with you. Overall, you will find the implementation of Gantt Charts in MindGenius 3.5 to be easy and straight forward to use. Most of us who have been following the mind mapping arena have seen that almost all of the major applications have moved to including Gantt Charts as part of their solution. Mind mapping applications are a great tool for brainstorming and sharing information about new projects that are coming on-board....
Kidspiration 3 Workshop
This past Friday I spent the entire day working with elementary school teachers in New Jersey showing them how to use Kidspiration 3 in the classroom. Within a two hour period all of the teachers were introduced to the Picture, Writing, and Math View. The teachers were quick to learn how to use the program and the intuitive interface found in Kidpsiration 3 which really helped them along. With the addition of the Word Guide and the Math manipulatives, Kidspiration 3 is clearly an essential piece of software for the elementary school classroom. Many of the teachers were excited to explore the Activities and Online Lessons to get more ideas on...
Saturday, March 20, 2010
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The Object of History | Behind the Scenes with the Curators of the National Museum of American Historytags: history, museumYouTube - A Vision of 21st Century TeachersInteresting video about the "21st Century teacher" What's nice about this video is that it's VERY easy to do. A script, some posterboards and markers, some easy filming, and editing, and some background music. No special effects. Your STUDENTS can do this, too!tags: youtube, video, 21stcenturylearningOpenDisc | Education"This is the official home page of the award winning OpenEducationDisc. We used to have a separate blog, but we’ve integrated it into the main site and you can now see the latest news for it either directly at www.theopendisc.com or alternatively, browse using the OpenEducationDisc tag."tags: opensourcePosted...
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Convert MySQL date Format to Indonesian Date Format with PHP
Below is A PHP Function to Convert MySQL date Format to Indonesian Date Format.Example : 2010-10-10 can be 10 Oktober 2010Below is the Function to Convert MySQL date Format to Indonesian Date Format with PHPjavascript:void(0) function waktuindo($datawaktu) { $waktu=explode('-',$datawaktu); if ($waktu[1] == '01') //jika 01 maka januari { $bulan='Januari'; } elseif ($waktu[1] == '02') { $bulan='Februari'; } elseif ($waktu[1] == '03') { $bulan='Maret'; } elseif ($waktu[1] == '04') { $bulan='April'; } elseif ($waktu[1] == '05') { $bulan='Mei'; } ...
Posted in: PHPMySQL
Convert Date to Day PHP-MySQL Query
I Found Something Interest from forum that asked about Date to Day Conversion : It's All About Convert Date to Day PHP-MySQL QueryIs there a way to take a MySQL date in the format of yyyy-mm-dd and convert it into the format of something like "Monday, June 6".and those example above.First I Found The Necessary thing is find day from mysql date yyyy-mm-dd format to Convert Date to Day PHP-MySQL Query.and the way is$query = "SELECT `date_col` AS `date_mysql`, DATE_FORMAT(`date_col`, '%W, %M %e') AS `date_text` FROM `table_name`"; date_col --> Column from a table contain date_format yyyy-mm-ddtable name -- MySQL Table NameAfter Get a Day In...
Posted in: PHPMySQL
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Top 5 portable applications
Portable applications are ideal for anyone who uses more than one Windows computer, especially if they don't have privileges to install software. Simply install the program onto a USB pendrive and carry them about with you.Firefox 3.6 PortableThe major advantage of Firefox Portable is that you can take your bookmarks, add-ons and passwords with you. Although, you should be careful with passwords in case you lose your USB pendrive.OpenOffice.org PortableOpenOffice.org is the ideal free alternative to Microsoft Office, offering incredibly similar features and support for all Office file types.GIMP PortableThe best freeware image editing software...
Posted in: Freeware
Tether for BlackBerry
Just the other day I was doing an observation in a school and so I decided to take my Acer Netbook with me to capture the teacher's lesson. While doing the observation I wanted to access some of my files on my GoogleDocs account but was blocked from using the school's Wi-Fi network. Having been aware of Tether for BlackBerry, I decided to do some research and see if it could help me to get on the web using my Blackberry. Tether for BlackBerry is an application that lets you use your smartphone to access the web from anywhere that you have cellular coverage. So when I went to the Tether home page as saw that they were running a promotion of $29...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Safe Mode on YouTube? This is EXCELLENT!
Maybe this is the first step towards getting a version of Youtube available in the schools. First we have to figure out how to set it as a default for all users. Then.. oh boy... this could be a GIANT step for making the videos available. Of course, it'll still take years to get some folks to allow it, but still. This is a wonderful bit of news, as far as I'm concerned....
Monday, March 15, 2010
Adding custom lists to Excel and OpenOffice.org
In the last post I demonstrated how to easily enter lists of numbers, days of the week and months of the year in Excel and Calc (the OpenOffice.org spreadsheet application). Both programs offer the option to add custom lists to this feature. In this post I will show you how to add the colours of the spectrum as a new list.Excel 2003 and earlierOpen up Excel and type the colours of the rainbow into one of the columns, then select the cells as shown below.Pull down the 'Tools' menu and select 'Options', then go to the 'Custom Lists' tab.You should see an entry in the 'Import list from cells' box. Click on the 'Import' button to the right of this...
FlatClassroom Conference heading to Beijing. Can you read this?
Last year I wrote about how the Flatclassroom Project was going to have its summit in Mumbai, India, and how others, including teachers, can't even read about it in our schools. Well, Vicki and Julie just announced that the Flat Classroom Summit for 2011 will be in Beijing, China. They are moving ever forward. I just wish that I could report that our teachers can now at least READ about it. Sadly, I cannot. Oh, it may be true that a school here or there has opened up their filter to allow their teachers and maybe their students to see it, but there are still huge numbers that continue to block it.So, first I encourage you to check out the Flat Classroom Conference link above. You've got time, now, to rally the troops to maybe even take your students there. What an experience for all concerned,...
Sunday, March 14, 2010
MindMeister Revisited
The more I use the web, the more I am moving my documents to the cloud and relying on these services to host my files. Being able to have access to my files from anywhere that I am connected to the web is invaluable to me. More importantly, having the ability to work collaboratively with my colleagues and partners is equally important and a key feature that is generally built into the hosted online software applications. I have used MindMeisiter for several years now and really enjoy its host of features that allow me the flexibility to do my mind mapping quickly in the cloud.MindMeister works quickly in the cloud and is very easy and straightforward...
MindGenius 3.5 Now Supports Gantt View
MindGenius Ltd are delighted to announce the upcoming release of MindGenius 3.5, which has been developed as part of our ongoing commitment to product development and response to customer needs. This release of the mind mapping software contains an integrated Gantt view, providing extensive project management capability within MindGenius without the need to export to other applications and is free to all existing MindGenius V3 customers. A unique and powerful feature of the MindGenius Gantt view is the ability to use the map explorer to focus on specific areas of the project plan. Since it is not unusual to have a project plan of a couple of...
Saturday, March 13, 2010
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YouTube - An Open Letter to EducatorsInteresting monologue about education. Give it a listen. I'd LOVE to hear your thoughtstags: video, learningOutdoctrination: Society, Children, Technology and Self Organisation in EducationVery interesting presentation about Educational Technologytags: video, learningLFE.pdf (application/pdf Object)Interesting read on how tech trends impact eduationtags: pdf, digital literacy, learning, trendsquotes from iWise.comtags: quotes, iWisePosted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are he...
Friday, March 12, 2010
How to quickly enter lists in Excel and OpenOffice
Excel spreadsheets often have a column or a row of incremental data. That is, information in the form of a list of numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc), times (09:00, 10:00, 11:00, etc), the names of months or the days of the week. You could type all this information into the row or column yourself, or you can let Excel handle it for you.To try this out open Excel and type 1 in any cell, and 2 in the cell below it. For lists of numbers you need to enter a couple of numbers so that Excel knows where to begin and what interval to use.Select both the cells (by hovering the mouse pointer over the top of one, holding down the left button, moving to the other...
NJECC Presentation: Reading & Writing Supports
This Tuesday, March 16th I will be presenting at the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative Annual Conference which is held at Montclair State University on the topic of: What's New in the Area of Reading & Writing Supports. My session is from 2:30-3:20 pm and if you are planning on attending it would be great to see you. A lot has happened this year in the field of assistive technology and in the field of technology in general which has resulted in some new and updated technologies that I'm sure you will want to find out about.I have been busy this year publishing some new materials which can be used to support assistive technology in the schools. I recently released a new video called: Assistive Technology: Powerful Solutions for Success which is a wonderful tool for teacher in-service...
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The AUP panel discussion
I was fortunate enough today to have been part of a panel discussion at the PASBO conference in Hershey, PA. The topic dealt with AUP's and how to have them work for everyone. On the panel were an attorney, a well-respected local tech director, and myself.A couple items of note from that discussion. First, it was pointed out by the attorney that the CIPA laws have only to do with money. Failure to meet CIPA requirements means only that your Federal funds are in jeopardy. There are no punitive consequences associated with it. He also said that the CIPA laws are very clear about their intentions (although I wouldn't necessarily agree with them being clear) in that they deal specifically with material that would be deemed pornographic. So, those folks who cite CIPA as a reason for blocking wikis...
Saturday, March 6, 2010
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Alternatives to Windows, Mac, Linux and online software - AlternativeTo.netfind alternatives to softwaretags: software, alternativesYour Personalized Newspaper - MeeHivecreate your own custom newsletter. SImilar to tabbloid, in a waytags: news, newspaperExchange: Glossary ExchangeThe Glossary Exchange. Just like the SCORM exchange.tags: glossary, exchange, moodleExchange: Scorm RepositoryShareable SCORM content for Moodle. Download and use.tags: scormGovTrack.us: Tracking the U.S. Congress"A civic project to track congress"tags: government, congressE-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE"Originally published by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR): Mark R. Nelson, “E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype?”...
Using Context Organizer within Comapping
I have been using Context Organizer for the past year or so and was very excited to see that it is now integrated with Comapping, a web based collaborative mind mapping tool. Context Organizer can quickly pull out keywords and summarize information from URL's, Word documents, and PDF's. I have created a short video tutorial showing you how Context Organizer works within Comapping. If you like what you see go to Comapping and set a free trial account to get start...
Friday, March 5, 2010
Importing a List of Images into PaperShow
For the past year I have used PaperShow extensively in my teaching and when I am doing workshops and presentations. I have primarily used PaperShow as a digital flipchart which has really worked out really well. Recently, I have begun to use PaperShow when teaching my graduate course in Action Research to make my PowerPoint presentations more interactive and engaging which has put a whole new spin on how I am using this innovative and exciting product. Having said this, there may be times in the classroom or in your training session that all you want to do is to be able to show and annotate images and don't really have the need for a full blown PowerPoint presentation. So the question is- is there a way for me to bring in just a list of images that I can then show and annotate? Of course the...
Monday, March 1, 2010
Can't save an image on a web page?
A number of websites are set up in such a way that you cannot save imagesthat they include. Some of these include scripts to disable right-clicking, meaning that you can't bring up the pop-up menu that includes 'Save Image As...'. There are a variety of ways of getting round this, such as disabling JavaScript on your web browser. Other sites are set up in such a way that images are layered, making it difficult to select the right image to save. One solution that works in both cases is to save the entire web page and then delete all the files that you don't need. Firefox offers a simpler alternative: the 'Page Info' window.When you right-click...
Posted in: Firefox
CS Odessa Announces ConceptDraw MindWave
PRESS RELEASECS Odessa announces ConceptDraw MindWave a no charge mind mapping add-in for Google WaveSan Jose, California, on March 1st, 2010 – CS Odessa released a version of its mind mapping tool for Google Wave. This is a no charge add-in to Google Wave that can be used as part of Google Wave to map out a strategy rapidly or brainstorm on a critical topic. The ConceptDraw MindWave for Google Wave tool allows teams to collaborate on a mind map in an interactive flowing manner building a map structure that represents the planned work.The map add-in supports Google Wave playback that allows one to step back through a map. Once a mind map is has...
