Of all the social bookmarking services I’ve looked at, I think I like Diigo best. I particularly like the ability to highlight and annotate shared web pages. I’m not yet using Diigo to full advantage, and this post is not really about Diigo.

I want to point out the visual way you can share lists of websites. In special education, we’ve long known that many people with “special needs” require visual supports in order to learn effectively. I believe, however, that most of us learn better when visual supports are available. So, I’m discussing a tool here that may be of value to almost anyone. It’s definitely worth a look.

Webslides is Diigo’s very slick option for creating and sharing sets of bookmarked websites as interactive slideshows. With Diigo, I can organize my bookmarks into lists. Any list can then be shown as a “webslide” presentation.

Each website on a list is represented by the actual page that has been bookmarked. Seeing the page provides far more information than just seeing the website’s address in a list! The slideshow is interactive in that it can be paused and you can go directly to the website via a live link in the bottom left corner of each “slide”. The slideshow can advance automatically, and you choose how long each slide is viewed. Or, you can move through the slideshow manually, and you can also choose to go back to any previous slide.

Clicking the button below will take you to the slideshow of my list of 55 websites that that I think support science curricula. I would appreciate your comments on this format if you check it out. (If you are reading this post in a Reader, you may not see the button . Please click here instead.)

Slideshows of listed websites can be shared in several convenient ways. Each slideshow has its own URL, and that can be shared. A widget, such as the button I’ve used here, can be embedded on a website, wiki, or blog. Or, the slideshow itself can even be embedded, but I found the slideshow too large to embed effectively on this blog. Embedding the full slideshow worked much better on a wider wiki page.

]]> http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/05/25/webslides-on-diigo-online-resource/feed/ 9 http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/05/17/flypaper-downloadable-program/ http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/05/17/flypaper-downloadable-program/#comments Sat, 17 May 2008 15:01:15 +0000 Paul Hamilton http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/05/17/flypaper-downloadable-program/ CAST rightly says that a universal design for learning (UDL) requires multiple means of representation, multiple means of expression, and multiple means of engagement. Without multiple options, we simply cannot meet the diverse range of learning needs and learning styles that are present in EVERY classroom. The sad news is that options are still severely limited in today’s typical classroom.

The good news is that, with the technology available today, there is a plethora of tools available to provide numerous options for every learner. Because most of the emerging tools are free of monetary cost, because they are readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and because they are easy to use, there is no excuse for teachers who do not use these tools or make them available to the learners they support.

Flypaper is a versatile presentation tool with an infinite range of potential uses by learners and teachers–to engage, represent, and express. Flypaper is easy to learn and use. It is a downloadable program for the PC, so it can be used off line when an internet connection is unavailable. Still, you can easily share your work online in the Flypaper “community”, or embed it wherever else you want to. Flypaper has made it easy to turn your presentation into a flash file, and you can even upload it directly to Youtube from within the application.

In a Flypaper presentation, you can include virtually anything you choose–text, graphics, audio, video, action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. I particularly like the fact that it is convenient for the presenter to add voice narration. A presentation may be a single page, or it may contain multiple “chapters” with as many pages as you want.

Flypaper encourages you to download “models” created by other users, and to use these models as templates for your own work. Flypaper offers tutorials for new users, as well as user forums. There is also a well organized 114 page user manual in pdf format.

I’ve embedded an example of a Flypaper presentation here that merely hints at the potential of the application.

Animoto Education Program It was love at first sight when I discovered Animoto late last summer, and I’ve had a great deal of fun with it since. I wrote about Animoto back in October, and then in January. The free version of Animoto allows 30-second videos, but after making only a few 30-second creations, I willingly put down the $30 for an “All Access Pass” that allows me to put together and download an unlimited number of “full-length” videos for a period of a year.

Now, teachers are being offered the All Access Pass free of charge, along with the same pass for each class member.

Animoto is an application that allows you to use digital photos to create videos easily and quickly. The shots are “animated” according to the accompanying music that is selected. You can choose from a variety of music tracks built into the program, or you can upload your own sound track. (By uploading your own track, you have the option of including spoken narration.) Finally, if you aren’t satisfied with your movie, you can “re-mix” and create a new and different version with the click of a button.

The potential classroom uses of Animot0 are limited only the imaginations of learners and teachers. Please take a look at Voices of the World, a project where schools from around the world have worked together and used Animoto to share their national anthems. You can also check out an Animoto example, created in the UK by Doug Belshaw to stimulate interest in a secondary school history course.

As an itinerant, I don’t have my own class to work with; but I do present at, or participate in, numerous workshops for adult educators. Sometimes it’s fun to put together an Animoto video to share before the workshop is over. The first embedded example below is from a Linda Burkhart workshop in Vancouver in January. The second example illustrates a personal use of Animoto–to package and share family memories. This one was of a special day we spent recently with our son and grandchildren.

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Loyal subscribers will notice that it’s been a while since my last post. I’m probably more sorry about that than you are. That’s because there is just so much that I’d like to write about! Sometimes, there are neither enough minutes in an hour, nor enough hours in a day. I’m back with one of those resources that has really grabbed my attention because of the potential it offers to all learners. Thanks once again to Molly, everyone’s favourite Demo Girl, for sharing it and for demonstrating what it can do.

Twiddla bills itself as a free “web-based playground” that requires no set up. Twiddla is indeed an online tool that offers a real time collaborative white board where people can work together to accomplish a variety of tasks with all manner of digital media. I think there’s also potential to use Twiddla as a presentation tool, as a study aid, and for creative expression.

For collaboration, Twiddla offers a whiteboard that can be shared by multiple users, as well as built-in audio and/or text chat that allows people to communicate conveniently while working together. In addition to putting whatever you want on the virtual whiteboard to brainstorm, or to create an effective presentation, you have the opportunity to bring web pages into Twiddla and to mark them up. It seems to me that marking up web pages is a terrific study aid for the learner or teacher who is doing or sharing online research.

Twiddla’s user interface is straightforward and extremely easy to use. Molly’s screencast at DemoGirl.com shares some additional features and does an excellent job of showing how it all works. I’ve embedded that here for your convenience. If you want to see a larger version of the screencast, you can do just that by going directly to DemoGirl.com.

Mixbook is one of a growing number of online applications that facilitate the creative sharing of digital images. Mixbook is different than most because of its book-like format, and because of its convenient options for including text. With this application, you can create books of up to at least 100 pages. Mixbooks can be created and shared online for free, but with Mixbook you also have the option of purchasing a hard copy of your book. Paper Mixbooks can now be shipped anywhere in the world.

I believe there are many occasions in the “classroom” when it would be powerfully motivating to be working toward the creation of an actual book. I think this might be especially appropriate for collaborative projects involving either entire classes or small groups. For example, a class might like to work together to create a “year in review” book, a special report on a class field trip, or even an anthology of student poetry.

For classroom use, I think it is especially helpful that any Mixbook page may contain images and/or text. Pages may contain only text, only images, or almost any imaginable combination of text and images. This allows for tremendous flexibility in presenting projects of all kinds. The screenshots below show only the first 48 possible page layouts from the nearly 200 that are available.

I have not yet ordered a paper Mixbook, but I have worked on a couple of online Mixbooks. It is a snap to use sets of photos from Flickr to create a Mixbook. Although I was unable to conveniently embed a published Mixbook here on my Edublogs blog, I had no difficulty embedding it on a pbwiki page. [See below for new info on embedding in Edublogs.]

The screenshot below shows the cover of a Mixbook I put together with a set pictures of the Comox Glacier, a defining landmark of the community where I live. If you wish to see the original in Mixbook, click here. If you’d like to see how it came out when embedded on a pbwiki page, click here.

[After I wrote this post, Andrew Laffoon of Mixbook, has posted instructions for embedding Mixbooks on Edublogs. He plans to add the instructions to the Mixbook site.  Hopefully, he'll also be able to streamline the process. For now, click here if you want to know how. It may also be helpful to know that Andrew blogs about Mixbook blogs here.]

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

Larry Ferlazzo finds and shares more Web 2.0 applications with practical classroom value than anyone else I know. Quite often, when I read one of Larry’s blog posts, I immediately try out something that he has written about. I did that just now, and I want to supplement what he wrote with an illustration of one way the application may be used. As an itinerant consultant, I’m “on the road” and away from home this evening , so I used the application to create and send a card home to my wife. I can envisage countless ways of using this app in the classroom.

Postalz is a service that enables you to create and “send” postcards online. This is a typical Web 2.0 application in that you can share your work in a gallery, send it to friends via email, or embed the creation elsewhere on the web. You also have the option of keeping your work private, and available only to designated friends. Comments and “friends” are facilitated within the Postalz network. Also typical of this sort of application, you need to register and sign up for a free account.

As you create your “postcard”, you can choose from backgrounds, themes, and banners. You can add text, and even include “handwriting”. Or, you can link your Postalz account to your Flickr account to import digital photos as backgrounds for your cards. That’s what I chose to do for the card I just made, and which I’ve embedded below. I used a picture I took from here, on the BC mainland, of the sun setting over Vancouver Island, where my wife is.

This is the sort of application that engages me. It may just engage some of your students who are otherwise less engaged than you’d like.

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

I’m particularly fond of Web 2.0 applications that offer me the opportunity to express myself effectively with a variety of media. Prior to the advent of affordable digital technology, I was completely incapable of putting together anything presentable. I do not have the aptitude to be an original creative artist in any traditional medium. Now, however, if I put in some time and effort with readily available online tools, I can hold my head high when I share my graphic or multi-media work.

In my own k-12 years, I would have given my left arm to have access to digital options for creative expression and presentation that are now available. As educators, we need to ensure that ALL learners have ready access to the tools they need to be successful communicators. For many, success and a satisfying sense of accomplishment are achievable only with some of the new digital tools that are becoming available.

Glogster is an online option for presentation and for sharing creative effort. I believe this application has a wide range of potential classroom uses. Glogster’s slogan is “Poster Yourself”, and it has provided a platform for creating single page “posters” that can incorporate a variety of media–graphics, text, audio, and video. Although each “glog” is a single page, you can include links to other glogs.

Glogster encourages users to share their work “with friends all around the world”. Work can be shared in Glogster’s own gallery, via email, or embedded on other web pages. As long as there isn’t audio or video content, work can even be printed on paper to be put up on the wall at school or the kitchen fridge at home.

Glogster may be a bit busy and confusing at first glance, but it’s really delightfully easy to use. Image, audio, or video files can be uploaded and then dragged, dropped, positioned, sized and edited right on the glog. There is a substantial built-in library of “walls” for the background. There is also an extensive collection of graphics that can be added. Many of these graphics are animated.

The only glitch I encountered with Glogster was an embedding challenge. I wasn’t able to embed a glog in this Edublogs blog or in another WordPress blog. I was able to embed it on a PBWiki page, but I was unable to reduce the large format. Still, all the other usual Web 2.0 ways of sharing work are available. Glogster also encourages users to tag their work.

For an example of a well executed and creative piece of work on Glogster, please follow this link to the “tree of knowledge” The simple greeting below was created in Glogster, but I had to take a screenshot in order to include it here. Here’s the link to the full-size version on Glogster.


FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

With my focus on free here, this is an unusual post. I’m writing about a paid service today. I don’t think I’ve done that before, and it’s unlikely to happen again in the near future. I’m just such an Animoto fan that I want to share a new service now available from Animoto.

Animoto Downloads are now available as Quicktime MP4 movies. This service, however, is only available for “full length” Animoto videos which cost $3 each, or to those who have paid $30 for a full year of unlimited access. I had so much fun with my initial experience creating the free 30 second Animotos that I plunked down the $30 for a year’s worth of fun. With my “All Access” pass, now I can even download the short videos I made prior to paying for my subscription.

Once downloaded, student created Animotos can now be uploaded and shared on Teachertube. The availability of downloads is also significant for teachers who work in school environments where Animoto is blocked. These teachers can now create Animotos away from school and then bring them into the classroom as video files. Indeed, it is helpful for anyone who wants to be able to share an Animoto when unable to be online. I think it is also helpful in some situations to be able to embed an Animoto as a Youtube or Google video.

I’ve embedded, as a Google Video, the Animoto I created about the four-generation Christmas at Our House this year. I’m proud to show off my children, grandchildren and some of the rest of the extended family who were with us. (If you don’t hear the sound, you may need to adjust the volume slider.)

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff!

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

It’s impossible for me to keep up with all the online applications you can use for digital storytelling. Over the past few days I’ve been having fun with one called PhotoShow. This one is probably relatively new because it didn’t make it onto Alan Levine’s October list of 50 Web2.0 Ways to Tell a Story. I quite like PhotoShow, and think it deserves some attention. Here’s a sample that I put together in about 15 minutes–with the cooperation of some of my closest relatives.

PhotoShow is fairly typical of applications for creating online slide shows. You bring in pictures, choose from available themes and presentation modes, choose musical accompaniment from a a range of genres and moods, and add captions if you wish. The choice of themes is not extensive, but each one I’ve tried has created an effective and engaging presentation.

I think PhotoShow is perhaps easier and more straightforward than many of the alternatives I’ve explored. It would be even better if you could upload your own music and if you could import more than one picture at a time from online photo sites such as Flickr. You can do multiple uploads from your own computer.

PhotoShow has also made it easy to share your slideshows. Options for embedding on blogs, wikis, or other web pages are especially convenient. Of course, embedding here in the Edublogs version of WordPress was less stratightforward, and I needed help from Patricia Donaghy to turn off the auto play function.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff!

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners and their teachers.

This is a holiday season for people of different faiths and traditions around the world. I’ll be celebrating Christmas, and I’m very much looking forward to it. Here’s a free resource that facilitates using your own photos to create and share online greeting “cards” with digital photos.

Picnik is an online photo editing application. A premium version is available for paid subscription, but there many editing functions and features available for free. The function I like best is the convenient option of adding text. Currently, there is also a free collection of Christmas shapes that can be added to your pictures.

Another feature of Picnik that I appreciate is its ability to link directly to my Flickr account. I can edit photos that I’ve uploaded to Flickr and then either replace the original or create a new file and add it to Flckr. You can also link Picnik to photos that you have in Picasa Web Albums, facebook, photobucket, or webshots.

Here’s a Christmas card for you that I’ve created with Picnik.