Monday, April 30, 2012

COD - 4/30/2012 - Slatebox [Visualization]

Slatebox is a platform for a new generation of real-time applications that run in your web browser and on your mobile device.

Slatebox is an expressive way for students to engage with content, as well as for teams to collaborate. 

Every Slatebox account includes SlateMind, a simple but powerful mind mapping app for building "slates" that represent mind-maps or concept drawings.

Every app built on the Slatebox platform uses push technology to instantly notify all users of any changes in real-time. Every user sees the same things on their screen.

A free Slatebox account includes SlateMind only for a single user who can have unlimited private and public slates. There are three levels of paid accounts which allow more users and access to other apps.

Watch a video overview of Slatebox

A forthcoming version of Slatebox will be custom tailored for education. You can be part of the pilot program. If you are interested in participating, contact tim@slatebox.com.

 DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0  

Sunday, April 29, 2012

What is the "Flipped Classroom"? [Infographic]

You have probably heard a lot of buzz about "flipped classrooms" and have wondered what exactly this phrase means. This info graphic from Knewton will help you better understand this new concept.

Flipped Classroom

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Rearview Mirror 4/28/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

Rearview mirror rev

 

Monday

The purpose of Smithsonian WILD! is to highlight the diversity of wildlife that exists in a variety of habitats across the globe as well as to showcase some of the research conducted by the Smithsonian Institution and its collaborators.

Tuesday

ABC2MP3 is a free online text-to-speech conversion tool enabling you to record natural sounding English-speaking voices from your text.

Wednesday

Goalbook is an online tool designed to help teams of educators, students, and parents collaborate around personal learning plans by providing a single place where everyone can share information.

Thursday

Kikutext is a service that uses text messaging to make it easier for teachers and parents to communicate, so students perform better.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

COD - 4/26/2012 - Kikutext [Communication]

 

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Kikutext is a service that uses text messaging to make it easier for teachers and parents to communicate, so students perform better.

Kikutext believes that increased parent engagement will result in a boost to student achievement.  Kikutext is designed to help you quickly and easily interact with parents.

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Get started by adding your classes. Then invite parents to join and start receiving your updates, customizable messages sent to parents' cell phones.

The customizable status report feature lets you regularly send out quick updates to all of your students' parents.

An archive of full conversations makes it easy to review your past conversations with parents.

Kikutext gives you a proxy phone number so that personal contact information is never exchanged.

Kikutext is free for teachers and parents.

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See other posts about similar services


A Little Something Extra

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My simple surface is an extremely simple and easy-to-use visual outlining tool in the early beta stage of development. Just double-click anywhere on the surface to create a new text item. Create branches with the Tab key and siblings with the Enter key. Right-clicking on an item opens a menu of options.

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My simple surface is free to use and your surfaces can be saved for later access and editing.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

COD - 4/25/2012 - Goalbook [Tools]

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Goalbook is an online tool designed to help teams of educators, students, and parents collaborate around personal learning plans by providing a single place where everyone can share information.

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Goalbook allows every student to have ownership of their own personal learning plan. Students can develop their own goals, self-track progress, and collaborate with their teachers and parents every step along the way.

Goalbook helps special-needs educators track IEP goals and share progress with the team. Administrators can view reports in real-time to ensure that all students receive appropriate educational benefits.

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In a blended learning environment, Goalbook enables educators to set learning goals for students and track progress. Teachers will know what students are working on in lab and can acknowledge accomplishments or review areas of difficulty.

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Watch a video overview of Goalbook

Goalbook is collecting goal banks from respected educational organizations and bringing them together into one searchable Universal Goal Bank aligned to the Common Core standards. Teachers will be able to discover, share, and collaborate on IEP goals using this comprehensive collection of IEP goals.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Learning to be Mentally Tough

Where do kids learn to be mentally tough and resilient today? Have "helicopter parents" crippled the ability of their children to cope with adversity and to rebound from failures and disappointments?

To be mentally tough is to resist the urge to give up in the face of failure, to maintain focus and determination in pursuit of one’s goals, and to emerge from adversity even stronger than before.

This is the opening paragraph from Annie Murphy Paul's TIME Ideas article Can You Instill Mental Toughness?Read more here.

Long ago, when I was coaching football in Virginia, one of my fellow coaches talked often about how his high school coach had preached mental toughness to him and his teammates. He told a story about being caught up in whitewater. Remembering the lessons his coach had taught him about staying mentally tough and not giving up probably saved his life.

Optimistic thinking is one of the keys to being mentally tough, seeing failure as temporary and changeable. Being mentally tough is undermined by feelings that failures are permanent and beyond one's control.

A situation in which I sometimes saw this demonstrated would occur in the many summer basketball camps I worked when I was younger. Often, a girl who suffered a serious injury would be experiencing her first real physical damage. Consequently, because she hadn't yet learned that as bad as it might feel now, it could be fixed and would pass in time, she would see this as a permanent, irreversible catastrophe and react in proportion to this perception. 

I have seen many students who similarly lack the mental qualities to deal with their lack of academic success, and they see their struggles as catastrophic, unchangeable, and beyond their ability to manage or correct them. Sometimes kids experienced their first failures and feelings of "not knowing what's going on" in the algebra and geometry courses I taught. They had sailed through school with little or no difficulty up that point. Then, they had to learn how to cope with frustration and confusion more than with math.

As teachers, we need to work with kids to instill those qualities that will enable them to be mentally tough. We need to help them see that mistakes are normal, that they can learn from their setbacks, that they are temporary and fixable.

But, this won't happen if we fixate on right or wrong answers and not on the process. We should encourage students to learn how to review and analyze their procedure, finding and fixing the flaws. Teach kids that mistakes are not irreversible disasters.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

COD - 4/24/2012 - ABC2MP3 [Tools]

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ABC2MP3 is a free online text-to-speech conversion tool enabling you to record natural sounding English-speaking voices from your text.

Using the ABC2MP3 no-signup option, you can convert up to about 2000 words of text to speech by just clicking on the convert tab. However, if you take advantage of the free sign up, you can directly convert files, plain text, RSS feeds, and web pages.

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Some things you can do with ABC2MP3:

  • record books, articles, web pages
  • proof read your work in audio format
  • convert your study materials from text to voice
  • listen to your recordings anywhere

Upload MS Word, PDF, or HTML files, or write text content. You can also copy-and-paste text, or read a specific website or RSS feed. ABC2MP3 has four voices that can read English-language documents.

ABC2MP3 will convert your documents into a virus free audio format that can be listened to on an iPod or most other MP3 players.

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Go to an earlier post about text-to-speech solutions

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

Life in the Cloud Gets Even Better

Lots of news in the world of cloud storage today!

Microsoft released a new SkyDrive app for both Mac and PC, as well as an update for their previously released mobile apps. The Windows and Mac versions are both available for free. The desk/laptop version of the app appears to work very similarly to the desk/laptop version of Dropbox. You can add files to the SkyDrive folder and they will be uploaded the cloud.

SkyDrive's free storage limit is changing to 7GB, but if you are an existing SkyDrive user you can keep the 25GB you currently have, if you act now.


Google today launched Google Drive, a cloud service that lets you create, share and store your documents online. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC to upload videos, photographs, Google docs and more to Google's cloud, and you can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. A Drive app for iOS devices is in the works.

 

Google Drive includes 5 GB of free storage, and upgrade to 25 GB for less than $2.50 a month. The service will launch with support for Windows and Mac desk/laptops as well as Android devices. An iOS client is in the works.


Less dramatic, but still significant, you can now send a link to any of the files or folders in your Dropbox. Once you’ve saved a file to Dropbox, just make a link to send to anyone you want to share with and they can simply view (but not edit)  most file types online — no download required. But just in case they want to save that file for later, they can choose to either download it or save it straight to their Dropbox.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Monday, April 23, 2012

COD - 4/23/2012 - Smithsonian WILD! [Biology]

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The purpose of Smithsonian WILD! is to highlight the diversity of wildlife that exists in a variety of habitats across the globe as well as to showcase some of the research conducted by the Smithsonian Institution and its collaborators.

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The more than 200,000 images highlighted at Smithsonian WILD! demonstrate the range of applications of motion-triggered 'camera traps' and how these cameras give us an opportunity to see an animal world rarely viewed by most people.

You can use the A–Z Index of Animals which is sorted by animal group, scientific, or common name to explore the site; or search by following the trail of animals that interest you.

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It is the hope of Smithsonian WILD! that "while you are being entertained by the amazing photographs, you will also learn about the animals, their diverse habitats, and what is being done to conserve them."

Smithsonian WILD! plans to accept photographs from citizen scientists as well as professional researchers in the future.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Digital Classroom [Infographic]

This info graphic from OnlineUniversities.com illustrates many of the factors relevant to ebook integration in the classroom.

The Digital Classroom
Via: Accredited Online Universities Guide

The Rearview Mirror 4/21/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

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Monday

Innerbody is an online guide to human anatomy where you can learn about human physiology as you study anatomical charts and models of every system in the human body.

Tuesday

Crescerance provides a customized mobile application built specifically for your school and provides an easy-to-use portal to manage your mobile application.

Wednesday

Interactive Biologyuses 21st century technology to break down the concepts in biology so that a student, with enough discipline, can understand any topic.

Thursday

Screenleap is an extremely fast and simple way to share your computer's screen to any device.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

COD - 4/19/2012 - Screenleap [Tools]

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Screenleap is an extremely fast and simple way to share your computer's screen to any device.

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Screenleap makes it incredibly easy to share your entire screen or a selected rectangle. You can share it with as many people as you like with no downloads, account setup, or cost required. Click on the "Share your screen now!" button, click "Allow" or "Run" in the pop-up, share the URL or code that Screenleap generates with as many people as you like.

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Likewise, those with whom you choose to share your screen can view your computer from their lap/desktops or mobile devices without having to install anything. To see your screen, people with the code can click on the URL or go to the Screenleap website and enter the share code, then click "Join a screen".

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Screenleap is free to all users.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

COD - 4/18/2012 - Interactive Biology [Biology]

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Interactive Biology uses 21st century technology to break down the concepts in biology so that a student, with enough discipline, can understand any topic.

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Right now Interactive Biology is primarily covering topics in physiology and neuroscience, but in time, they expect to include the full gamut of biology topics.

Things you will find at Interactive Biology:

  • Short videos breaking down concepts of biology, one step at a time
  • Lecture videos from high school Biology 1 class
  • Quizzes

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Leslie Samuel is the person behind Interactive Biology. He is the Foundation Science Coordinator in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

COD - 4/17/2012 - Crescerance [Services]

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Crescerance provides a customized mobile application built specifically for your school and provides an easy-to-use portal to manage your mobile application.

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The app created by Crescerance for your school will work on iPhone, Android, and Blackberry phones. Crescerance promises to provide frequent updates and new features to enhance the quality and usefulness of your school's application.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Facebook for School Counselors [Guide]

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The American School Counselor Association and iKeepSafe, an Internet safety advocacy group, have joined to create this guide, Facebook for School Counselors, to help counselors better understand Facebook and social networking.

It is hoped that Facebook for School Counselorswill help you more effectively address and resolve any problems that may arise in connection with student use of social networking through Facebook.

Facebook for School Counselors is a free 9 page PDF download.


 

Google Drive Coming Soon [Storage]

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According to this piece from The Next Web, Google Drive, a cloud storage service to compete with Dropbox, is expected to launch next week.

It's reported that Google Drive will provide 5 GB of free storage in contrast to the 2 GB included initially in every Dropbox account. It's believed Google Drive will work “in desktop folders” on both Mac and Windows.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

Monday, April 16, 2012

COD - 4/16/2012 - Innerbody [Biology]

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Innerbody is an online guide to human anatomy where you can learn about human physiology as you study anatomical charts and models of every system in the human body.

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Innerbody lets visitors view detailed human anatomy charts and gather in-depth anatomy information by clicking on any of ten human body systems: skeletal, muscular, digestive, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, male and female reproductive, and urinary.

The Innerbody mission is to "provide high quality educational content through low bandwidth Internet access to children, parents and schools worldwide."

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The Inner sites have become part of the curriculum at many schools worldwide with more than 4,000 sites linked to them. Monthly, they serve about half a million people with about 12 million page impressions.

The Innerbody website uses Java. Your browser must support Java and it must be enabled.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Minds of Modern Mathematics [iPad]

 

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Minds of Modern Mathematics is a free iPad app from IBM that will help you understand how mathematicians and mathematics have shaped the world in which we live.

Through an interactive journey spanning nearly 1000 years, The Minds of Modern Mathematics tells the story of mathematics and how it has factored into nearly every aspect of human endeavor, from science to music, art, architecture, and culture.

Minds of Modern Mathematics is a digital recreation of a 50-foot-wide wall installation that was part of the 1961 Mathematica exhibition sponsored by IBM.

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Features include:

  • Get a bird’s-eye view of the entire history of math, including the explosion of recent discoveries in Millennium view.
  • See the interplay of ideas between contemporary mathematicians, culture, and history in Century view.
  • 3D Chronological view lets you step through the entire timeline one thing at a time.
  • Discover each mathematician through a high-resolution portrait, detailed personal biography, achievements, related artifacts, and links to online information resources.
  • Explore 495 high-resolution images of artifacts selected and retouched from the original Mathematica exhibit.
  • View a fully navigable, ultra high-resolution version of the original Men of Modern Mathematics poster.

Note: Minds of Modern Mathematics requires an iPad running iOS 3.2 or newer.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Subscribe to EDge21 and Always be Up-to-Date [RSS]

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The best way to follow EDge21 and always know what new items have posted is to subscribe to the EDge21 RSS feed.

This is the EDge21 feed address that you would add to your favorite RSS feed reader:http://cffmv.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

 

The most popular way to follow RSS feeds is with Google Reader. Here are the steps to manually subscribe to a feed in Reader:

1. Click the Subscribe button in your left-hand sidebar

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2. Enter the EDge21 RSS feed URL: http://cffmv.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

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Once you've subscribed to the feed, you'll see the number of new or unread items in parentheses next to the feed's title. Clicking on the feed's title will display the contents of the feed in your primary window.

 

Monday, April 9, 2012

Spring Break

EDge21 will be on

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through April 15. We'll be back on Monday the 16th. Hope to see you then :-)

 

In the meantime, you might like to try Draw Something, the addictive social drawing game.

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