A. Kipta's Blog: February 2009

Friday, February 27, 2009

FlashLoad - video downloader

FlashLoad is a simple tool to Download, Save and Convert Videos and Files from YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, etc. with one simple click. At the mentioned pages it's the problem, that all issued Videos are embedded into the page or into Flash. So they normally can't be downloaded directly. For this, our service provides the possibility to resolve the download link from the page. Simply choose the page, which you want to download from and get a description what you have to do. (Note: Some videos you download have the ".flv" (Flash Video) extension, to play them use the FLV Player you can find in our FAQ-Section)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Terry Anderson: UMUC Orkland Chair Distinguished Lecture Series

PowerPoint presentation and webcast links available on the UMUC page.

clipped from www.umuc.edu

The inaugural lecture in the Orkand Chair Distinguished Lecture Series, presented by the UMUC Office of the Provost, was held Thursday, February 19, 2009 at the UMUC Inn and Conference Center.

The lecture featured Terry Anderson, PhD, professor and Canada research chair in distance education at Athabasca University—Canada’s open university.

Teaching Geologic Map Interpretation Using Google Earth

clipped from serc.carleton.edu

Google Earth is a terrific resource for teaching geologic map interpretation. Google Earth satellite images in many places in the world show bedrock with strong, contrasting colors in areas with little vegetation to obscure contacts and unit relationships. Imagery is seamless, and, in many areas of the world, the level of detail is amazing. Google Earth is free, and students can access Google Earth from their own computers.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Cluztr - social network

clipped from cluztr.com

Cluztr is a social network built around web clicks. Share your clicks with your friends, meet like-minded people and discover new content based on personalized recommendations.

CDBurnerXP - free CD/DVD burner

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

PicoCricket Kit - robotics for kids

"The PicoCricket Kit is similar to the LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ robotics kits. MINDSTORMS is designed especially for making robots, while the PicoCricket Kit is designed for making artistic creations with lights, sound, music, and motion."

Termites - seating chart generator

clipped from tinyrock.com

Software to create seating plans that work. Just like you, it thinks about the relationships between people when deciding where to place them. The result is a seating plan with good relationships together, and bad relationships apart. It's fast! You simply add people, indicate relationships between them, and set the room layout. Then let the Termites take care of the hard work to produce an optimized seating plan.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

School Communication in the 21st Century

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

School Communication in the 21st Century

View more presentations from JDSCIO. (tags: education technology)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

POW-PAK - online web page authoring kit

clipped from www.pow-pak.com

Within minutes any staff member can have a home page online with no knowledge of HTML or web design. They can create and maintain their site without the assistance of the school's tech staff, freeing up everyone's time.

With POW-PAK staff members can make full-featured web sites with pages that include pictures, links, files, calendars, rosters, WebQuests, word searches, blogs, podcasts, custom pages, and more!

Budgets are tight everywhere. POW-PAK is Free. No strings attached. Plus POW-PAK runs on your own web server, so you have total control.

MindBites.com - instructional videos

Some MindBites videos require a modest fee to watch and download. Others are free. Here's a sample, "Let's learn to introduce ourselves in Spanish":

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Build Your Own Notebook - from LAPTOP Magazine

clipped from www.laptopmag.com

If you’ve ever set up a home theater, built a robot, or you just get psyched about weekend projects, then building your own notebook is the next great frontier. Fiddling around with the innards of your very own creation makes the experience worth the time investment, despite the fact that you won’t necessarily save money or get better performance than what you can find on the shelf.

ManyBooks.net - free ebooks for PDA, iPhone, or eBook reader

clipped from manybooks.net

Browse through the most popular titles, recommendations,or recent reviews from our visitors. Perhaps you'll find something interesting in the special collections. There are 23,011 eBooks available here and they're all free!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF

clipped from www.microsoft.com

This download allows you to export and save to the PDF format in eight 2007 Microsoft Office programs. It also allows you to send files as e-mail attachments in the PDF format in a subset of these programs. Specific features vary by program.

This Microsoft Save as PDF Add-in for 2007 Microsoft Office programs supplements and is subject to the license terms for the 2007 Microsoft Office system software. You may not use this supplement if you do not have a license for the software.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Class on SL basic building on PhotoPeach

Monday, February 9, 2009

H.I.P. Pocket Change - U.S. Mint games for kids

"The United States Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change^™ Web site was launched in July 1999. H.I.P. Pocket Change is a fun educational tool for students and teachers that generates interest in coins, the United States Mint, and U.S. history.

H.I.P. Pocket Change will continue to advance as technology advances, to expand its interactive features, and to offer you learning you can count on. So surf by often to see what we're up to"

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Personal Learning Networks - a YouTube video

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Dropbox

Dropbox is a lightweight sharing and synchronization application. I use it to sync a working folder between my desktop and laptop, and as the Dropbox folks say, "it just works!" Features:

* Drag and drop to move files around, just like you normally would

* Any files or folders inside Dropbox will get synchronized to Dropbox's servers and any other computer linked to your account.

* Green checkmarks will appear on top of your files to let you know that they're synced and up to date.

While the free 2 GB should be plenty for everyday use, if you want more, there's a reasonably priced upgrade to 50 GB.

TalkShoe

TalkShoe is a service that enables anyone to easily create, join, or listen to Live Interactive Discussions, Conversations, Podcasts and Audioblogs.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The OpenDisc OpenEducationDisc

"The OpenEducationDisc contains dozens of programs that are used daily in educational and commercial organisations all over the world. The disc only contains programs that are considered useful and suitable for education, and that have gone through thorough testing."

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

My Personal Learning Space

Image by akipta via Flickr

One of my new Twitter friends recently asked if I have a category on this blog for my own writings, or another blog for this. No, I don't, but he got me thinking about it. Today's post is a departure from the usual snippets of cool stuff I find on the Web. Today I'm going to share my personal learning space with you.

Welcome to the cozy corner in my living room. This is my "nest," my personal learning space. This is where do homework, read email, browse Web pages, and listen to podcasts (EdTech Weekly ROCKS!). This is where I chat with Facebook friends and talk on Skype with my University of Maryland University College (UMUC) classmates, and it's where I'm sitting right now as I describe this space to you. There are other spaces, but I'm most comfortable here.

Here's a short list of the elements of my space:

* Comfortable recliner
* Lenovo ThinkPad laptop on a rolling stand
* Toshiba Satellite laptop to take to the library
* Backup media: CDs, DVDs, USB drives
* Fujitsu ScanSnap portable sheet-feed scanner
* Sturdy music stand for holding journals, books, notes, and other study material
* 3-way reading lamp
* Telephone
* My books in two book cases, to the left and right of the recliner
* Coffee!
* Decor

Now that I've mentioned what I have at home, I should also mention that my learning space isn't always so comfy or personalized. I spent two and a half weeks living out of a hotel room on emergency leave when a family member became seriously ill. I didn't have time to think of anything but catching a flight to get to a hospital 900 miles away. I threw some clothes in a backpack and took off. No laptop. No school books. I thought I'd be gone for only three or four days. Wrong!

Most of my communication with my online class during that time was from the hospital ICU "Family Room" computer, an Ubuntu Linux box. The the only application available was Firefox. That was it. Seriously. No client text editor, and, of course, no printer. Box.net, where I store drafts of school work, was blocked. If idle for more than ten minutes, the browser closed and reopened to the hospital ICU home page. On occasion, the computer rebooted itself.

A sign on the wall read "Please be courteous to other visitors and limit your computer time to 30 minutes. Thank you."

I had to read class postings quickly, jot some notes, reflect, and then log back in to reply in short bursts. It was just enough to keep me connected and afloat in the class. Ugly, yes, but I have to say that I really admire the hospital IT staff for this setup. It's a perfect configuration for a computer that gets heavy "kid use" and it needs very little attention. It's locked down and constantly refreshes itself. Very smart. There's a lot more to this story, but I'm going to save it for an article I've promised to write with my classmates who supported me during that very difficult time. The four of us are UMUC Master of Distance Education (MDE) graduates.

I'm glad I set up a good set of tools in Web-based applications in addition to the client software on my computer at home. Thank you, Stephen Downes, for your advice in this wonderful video:

I have a huge list of Web 2.0 tools, so I'll write about them another day.

Sometimes my learning space is my cubicle at work, during lunch or after hours. Sometimes I work from my laptop at the local public library. Nothing, however, compares to my nest, my personal learning space in the cozy corner of my living room. It's my favorite.

What does your favorite personal learning space look like? What tools do you use?

Yes, I know I've blurred "personal learning space" with "personal learning environment." I consider my space, wherever it is, a part of my environment. I also have a "personal learning network." Another day for all that.