Busuu Partners with The Guardian and MacMillan

Busuu.com is an online community for learning languages about which I have posted several times in the past.

Busuu.com just announced new partnerships with the British news provider, The Guardian, and with global publisher Macmillan.

Premium users can now practice and improve their English skills by reading news articles from The Guardian and use the integrated dictionary provided by Macmillan to instantly search for the definition of new words.

Premium members can then post opinions about the articles and be corrected by native English speakers of the busuu community.

These new features are completely online and fully integrated into the existing learning material. News Articles are only available for English-learners

Go to earlier posts about busuu.com

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Catch of the Day - I Education App Reviews - 2/11/2011

I Education App Reviews (IEAR) is a community focused on taking a closer look at the value of educational apps.

I Education App Reviews members contribute reviews of apps in a wide range of educational categories such as Early Elementary, Kindergarten, Middle School, Special Education, College University, and many more.

IEAR offers app-related lessons, tutorials, wikis, podcasts, and a community of over 800 users.

You can follow I Education App Reviews via their RSS feed and #IEAR on Twitter.

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Catch of the Day - WOWmath.org - 2/10/2011

At WOWmath.org you can find hundreds of YouTube videos related to algebra 1, algegra 2, and calculus.

As well as the large video library, WOWmath.org includes branded iOS apps for calculus and algebra 2. You are presented a video of a teacher solving an example problem, then you can do similar practice problems.  All practice problems have completed solutions. These apps are $0.99(US) each through the iTunes app store.

If you would like to make videos like those at WOWmath.org to help your students and then post them on YouTube, the site's creator, Brad Robb, offers a professional development course through Fresno Pacific University that will help you learn how.

Watch a video: How WOWmath.org can HELP Algebra 2 Students

The newest feature at WOWmath.org is a collection of algebra 2 practice quizzes tied to California standards.

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Catch of the Day - EmbedPlus - 2/9/2011

EmbedPlus is a free video-based tool that can help teachers share YouTube videos more effectively.

EmbedPlus allows users to embed YouTube videos with additional DVR-like capabilities that the standard YouTube player does not currently offer:

• Scene Skipping - skip to marked times
• Movable Zoom - magnify the area you point at
• On-Demand Slow Motion - instantly slow down videos
• Instant Replay - easily replay an event
• Your Own Annotations- add your own timed annotations

With EmbedPlus, seamlessly upgrade video for free. Features like scene skipping and annotations could enhance classroom videos. The slow motion and movable zoom functions can offer added accessibility for students with special needs.

Copy and paste the YouTube video's URL. Next, set a number of options such as embed size, start time, scene markers, and annotations. Then an HTML embed code and a short URL are generated. Copy and paste this code into the HTML of your web page and visitors will be able to watch the video using the enhanced EmbedPlus player.

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Catch of the Day - Microsoft Education - 2/7/2011

Microsoft Education offers several free interactive classroom tools to help engage students in a number of subject areas. These tools can be used to encourage individual learning or to create engaging, dynamic group projects.

Microsoft Education provides these tools to help you motivate and inspire your students, engage with multimedia, and work together with students and other teachers.

Some of the tools designed to engage students:

• Auto Collage - create a unique piece of art using this collage-making tool
• WorldWide Telescope - explore the night sky by panning and zooming to distant planets and galaxies
• Songsmith - bring out the musical creativity in your students
• Windows Live Movie Maker - turn photos and video clips into movies and slideshows
• Photo Story - easily create a slideshow with just a few clicks

Tools for collaboration include a free PowerPoint add-in, Mouse Mischief, that lets students use mice to respond, and Windows Live SkyDrive with access to 25 Gb of free, online storage.

These Microsoft Education tools are free to download, and for the most part, don’t require any special training. You and your students should be able to start using them right away.

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