Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner

Supporting Universal Access and Universal Design for Learning

Monthly Archives: April 2009

April 27, 2009
by Paul Hamilton
1 Comment

KidsNumbers.com (online resource)

In a world more ideal than the one we have, the emerging principles of universal design for learning would  guide curriculum and determine the range of learning tools available to all learners.  In  an ideal world, I don’t believe that children would be grouped by age for learning purposes.  It’s obvious that children of the same age vary greatly in terms of aptitude, learning style, learning needs and learning “readiness”.

Teachers who adopt a UDL approach in classrooms where children are grouped arbitrarily by age,  need resources that meet diverse learning needs.  That’s why I’m encouraged by a math resource shared by Richard Byrne.

KidsNumbers.com is from the Kids Know It Network.  The developers of KidsNumbers certainly have the right idea.

KidsNumbers.com is the absolutely free math resource designed by teachers, specifically for students and children of all ages. A place where students can practice all aspects of math, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, in a fun and pressure free way.

KidsNumbers isn’t the answer for everyone; but it does offer a systematic approach to learning and re-enforcing fundamental math concepts and skills. This approach will be helpful for some learners.  There are activities, games, and even worksheets that can be printed and completed with a pencil.

This is a great example of the kind of resource that I believe teachers need to have available to help meet the range of learning needs in their classrooms.

April 22, 2009
by Paul Hamilton
0 comments

Schuyler and the new Big Box of Words

Free internet resources take many forms. I was prompted to reflect on this today as I read a blog post written by fellow traveler Samuel Sennott. In his post, Sam shared a video that shows the positive difference that digital technology can make in the life of a child.  As someone who supports the use of technology to help children learn and extend their abilities, I found the video to be an encouraging inspiration.

The internet provides us with a wonderful vehicle for sharing stories that have potential to encourage and inspire.  Encouragement is priceless, and there’s a growing wealth of it available online–completely free of charge.  Each of us has the opportunity to contribute our own encouraging stories and to pass along  the ones that encourage us.  Here’s the delightful story that Sam passed along.

April 13, 2009
by Paul Hamilton
1 Comment

Loose Stitch (online resource)

One size does NOT fit all when it comes to learning; and this is true for every aspect of learning.  That’s why I am delighted by the constantly expanding collection of available Web 2.0 learning tools.  Thanks to the Demo Girl team for sharing yet another terrific tool for recording, organizing, and sharing information.

Loose Stitch is a user-friendly outlining tool that can be used in many ways to support learning.  An individual can use it to record and organize researched information.  Or, it can be used to help keep track of scheduled events or assigned tasks on a project.  As well, Loose Stitch offers convenient ways of sharing  recorded information.  It has been designed to be used collaboratively by a group of people working together on the same project.

I especially appreciate the ease with which Loose Stitch outlines can be embedded in wikis or blogs.  When an outline is changed, the changes are automatically reflected in embedded versions of the outline.  Of course, each outline can also be shared via its  unique URL.

By selecting text in an outline, I found I was able to use CLiCk,Speak‘s text-to-speech to have outlines read aloud in Firefox.

Registration is not required to use the fully functional free version of Loose Stitch, but a “Pro” version is available with additional features.

Please take a look at the helpful screencast put together by Maureen at  DemoGirl.com, and think of ways that Loose Stitch might be used to support learning in your context.  (For enhanced viewing, view in full screen mode and select HD for high definition.)

April 9, 2009
by Paul Hamilton
0 comments

7 Awesome and Free Image Editors – from Friedbeef’s Tech

It’s been nearly two weeks since my last post here.  That’s because most of my spare time has gone into the creation of a website for my church.  That project has gone well, and it’s been gratifying to be able to use a great deal of what I’ve learned while doing this blog.  The church site isn’t live yet, so I can’t share it.

What I can share is one of my favourite blogs that isn’t an edublog.  I’m not sure how I first happened on the blog that James Yeang, of Kuala Lumpur, calls Friedbeef’s Tech: Solving everyday problems with simple technology. I do know that I’ve long been a subscriber.  James never fails to be informative and helpful.  I especially appreciate his focus on freeware, on all things Firefox, and on general “useful tips”.

I was prompted to share FriedBeef’s Tech by the helpful post that James wrote last Sunday–7 Awesome and Free Image Editors.  In today’s world, I believe every learner and every teacher needs to develop effective image editing skills.  James has shared a set of free image editing tools for a variety of purposes and that are appropriate for a broad range of skill sets.  If you are interested in some great free tools, check out James’ post and learn…

  • How to edit images using advanced tools
  • How to touch up photos in your web browser
  • How to do fast, one-click, photo-enhancing tasks
  • How to do heavy image editing in your web browser
  • How to edit, combine, view, or animate images
  • How to do intermediate photo enhancing
  • How to manipulate images with layers