A. Kipta's Blog: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Theory and Practice of Online Learning, 2nd Ed.

Theory and Practice of Online Learning, 2nd Edition, edited by Terry Anderson

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Internet & Technolog education elearning

K12 Linux Terminal Server Project

About the K12 Linux Terminal Server Project (K12LTSP): "K12LTSP is based on RedHat Fedora Linux and the LTSP terminal server packages. It's easy to install and configure. It's distributed under the GNU General Public License . That means it's free and it's based on Open Source software.

Once installed K12LTSP lets you boot diskless workstations from an applications server. You can use old PC's as diskless clients or buy new ones for under $200 each.

All applications run on the terminal server. Workstations are "thin." They have no software or hard drives. Thin-clients are perfect for schools because they are easy to install and require little maintenance. They are reliable and immune to malicious tampering and viruses."

Footnote - social sharing historical document repository

About Footnote: "Footnote.com is a place where original historical documents are combined with social networking in order to create a truly unique experience involving the stories of our past.

The Footnote.com collections feature documents, most never before available before on the Internet, relating to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, US Presidents, historical newspapers, naturalization documents, and many more.

Footnote.com is more than just an online repository for original documents. In addition to hosting millions of records, Footnote supports a community of people who are passionate about a variety of topics relating to history."

Monday, March 30, 2009

PC Decrapifier - yup, that's the name

About PC Decrapifier: "The PC Decrapifier will uninstall many of the common trialware and annoyances found on many of the PCs from big name OEMs. Here is the current list of software and items that the PC Decrapifier can detect and remove. You get to see the list of items it detects and then choose what will be removed automatically."

LaterLoop - read web pages later, on your phone

Image representing LaterLoop as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

About LaterLoop: "You may not have tried it but reading webpages on your phone can work surprisingly well. Whether you’re on the couch at home, taking the morning commute or waiting at the airport, you can catch up on your reading list whenever you have a minute or more. LaterLoop is a free service that’s optimized for iPhones, Blackberries, Nokias and similar smartphones. LaterLoop also has a clean web interface for your regular browser."

FindSounds - audio file search engine

About FindSounds: "FindSounds.com is a free site for finding sound effects and musical instrument samples on the Web. It is a Web search engine, like Google and AltaVista, but with a focus on sounds.

It provides powerful features, yet is simple and easy to use, and suitable for all ages.

Note to parents: audio files containing obscenities are filtered out so this site is safe for children. To learn how to search the Web using FindSounds.com, visit the Help page.

FindSounds Palette is an audio player, recorder, editor, database, search engine, and Web browser, all in one software program. Using this program, you can search more than one million sounds on the Web, and organize and search your own collection of sounds."

Song.ly - find tunes, tweet them

About Song.ly from EverythingTwitter: "Find a link to any mps3 on the web, submit the link to the Song.ly page and then it can put it into your Twitter stream to play from the web."

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Edublogs.tv - YouTube-like videos via Edublogs

Edublogs.tv is an Edublogs project: "Upload your own videos or simply grab them from YouTube (it only takes a few clicks!) to avoid school filters."

Here's a sample, the Cyberbullying Talent Show by The Ad Council, uploaded to the Literacy in ICT group, "A group made up of teachers who are working at infusing technology into their classroom practice."

Microsoft Word 2007 Print to PDF Add-in

"This download allows you to export and save to the PDF and XPS formats in eight 2007 Microsoft Office programs. It also allows you to send as e-mail attachment in the PDF and XPS formats in a subset of these programs."

TimeToMeet - common meeting time scheduler

What is TimeToMeet?: "TimeToMeet is a web-based tool for finding a common meeting time with other people without the tedious back-and-forth of scheduling over email. It uses a quick and visual way of gathering when everyone is available and finds the best times that work for all. TimeToMeet also makes it easy to schedule phone and conference calls. It takes care of any time zone differences so that you don't need to think about them."

Saturday, March 28, 2009

ListMixer - a "waiting room" for bookmarks

About ListMixer: "ListMixer is an easy way to track web pages that momentarily hold your interest. It's handy for tracking blog comments or for pooling timely web pages among friends. No account is required.

Think of ListMixer as a waiting room for bookmarks before they enter your permanent collection. If you decide a page in your Mix is worth keeping for good, we make it easy to add it to your favorite social bookmarking service — just hover your pointer over a link in your Mix, as shown here.

Link editing and deleting options are visible only to you, the account owner. To make this work, visit your account using your bookmarklet — that's when we set our cookie in your browser.

Your Mix is publicly visible, so you can share it with everybody... Put your Mix on your blog using a linkroll. Use our RSS to plug your Mix into, well, anything. Share your unique ListMixer bookmarklet with friends so they can add to your Mix, too. If the party gets too big, just create a new account and start a new party. You can create as many ListMixer accounts as you want."

Scribd - online social document repository

[Thesis] Qualitative Study of Five Authors of Five Blogs on Training and Development

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Academic Work development research

This is an example of embedding a Scribd document in a blog post. I think this is the ideal way to share e-portfolio artifacts on free web site builders that don't offer a lot of storage space. Upload your documents and presentations to Scribd and embed them with a bit of code. The embedded reader is very nice, too. It beats clicking on a link to document and having to open another piece of software to read it.

Seemile - education marketplace

About Seemile: "Seemile.com is a marketplace where teachers or students could sell or buy his/her education worldwide.

At Seemile, you can sell your knowledge content if you make your own lecture files in forms of video or audio.

We offer you a personal online school for free. Upload your lectures at your online school and meet students worldwide.You can decide the price and the form of your lecture. Everything is up to you. You can sell your lecture on any subject."

Buy or sell education? I'm not keen on this idea. I'm uncomfortable thinking of education this way, but I guess offering something for free on Seemile isn't out of the question.

A jpg quiz for cell phone

Liz Boyden: "A jpeg quiz running on a phone. Will also work on ipods or anything that will play back jpeg files sequentially."

Friday, March 27, 2009

Flat World Knowledge - free text books video

About Flat World Knowledge: "We preserve the best of the old - books by leading experts, rigorously reviewed and developed to the highest standards. Then we flip it all on its head. Our books are free online. We offer convenient, low-cost choices for students – softcovers for under $30, audio books and chapters, self-print options, and more. Our books are open for instructors to modify and make their own (for their own course - not for anybody else's). Our books are the hub of a social learning network where students learn from the book and each other. Flat World Knowledge. Because great minds are evenly distributed. Great textbooks are not. Until Now."

FlickrStorm - a Flickr search engine

What is FlickrStorm?: "FlickrStorm is a better search for Flickr! It works by looking for more than what you enter to find related and more relevant images... Be suprised!"

OWL Music Search

From OWL Multimedia: "Owl Music Search compares your favorite songs to thousands of others to find similar songs for you to listen to, enjoy, and purchase.

Similarity can mean different things to different people, so sometimes you'll find what you're looking for, other times you'll be surprised. Either way, Owl will help you discover a whole new world of music.

Owl has currently indexed over 98,980 songs from commercial and independent song catalogs, including the music sites ccMixter, Magnatune, and Jamendo. As our library grows, so does the fun of using Owl Music Search."

Midomi - music search tool

About midomi: "midomi is the ultimate music search tool because it is powered by your voice. Sing, hum, or whistle to instantly find your favorite music and connect with a community that shares your musical interests. Give it a try. It's truly amazing! ...

midomi features an extensive digital music store with a growing collection of more than two million legal music tracks. You can listen to samples of original recordings, buy the full studio versions directly from midomi, and play them on your Windows computer or compatible music players."

Thursday, March 26, 2009

WeFollow - Twitter user directory

Add yourself to WeFollow:

Send your tags in a tweet to @wefollow:

@wefollow #yourtag #yourtag #yourtag (replace '#yourtag' w/the tags you'd like to be listed under, example: #blogger - max 3 tags)

Kontain - free web site builder

About Kontain: "Kontain™ is a free website for you to blog & share photos, videos and audio with friends, family and even beautiful strangers.

[Kontain is] A website designed for novice to intermediate users. You don't need to deal with HTML, CSS or any other technical acronyms to create your own memorable web pages with words, photos, videos and audio. Anyone can start kontaining and sharing in seconds!

Currently in its alpha stage, we released Kontain with a very limited number of accounts. We take feedback very seriously and strive to improve each and every feature."

gFlash - flashcards and tests for mobile devices

About gFlash: "Creating learning content is easy! Create flashcards using our gWhiz Template in Google Documents. Share learning content with friends through their Google Documents account. Share your flashcards with gWhizMobile@gmail.com and we'll make them available to other users in the gWhiz Catalog. Browse our catalog to see what other customers have created and shared. Check out content available via StudyStack and the FlashcardExhange."

I'm trying this app on my new iTouch. Creating a spreadsheet of clues and answers and uploading it from Google Docs is a snap! The 'picture' version of the app is currently $4.99 from iTunes.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Weefi Wifi - make your own wi-fi antennas

About Weefi Wifi: "Welcome to Weefi Wifi, this site contains a big collection of Wi-Fi homemade antennas and how to extend the range of Wi-Fi signals."

BlogTalkRadio - social radio network

What is BlogTalkRadio?: "BlogTalkRadio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using an ordinary telephone and computer hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants that are automatically archived and made available as podcasts. No software download is required. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers. Our network has produced tens of thousands of episodes since it launched in August of 2006."

10 Computer Books Every Beginner Must Read

From Tim Fehlman in his blog, Daily Cup of Tech (DCoT):

"...I decided to put together a list of books that every noobie should have on their shelves! I’ve also copied a brief description of each book so that you can see what you’re getting yourself into."

Excellent recommendations!

Visit Daily Cup of Tech for more tools, tips, and Tim's shared experiences.

I also recommend following Tim on Twitter @DCoT

Poll Everywhere - create text message polls

About Poll Everywhere: "On the surface, Poll Everywhere is a simple text message voting application that works well for live audiences. People vote by sending text messages to options displayed on-screen. The poll that is embedded within the presentation or web page will update in real time. Advanced uses include texting comments to a presentation, texting questions to a presenter, web voting, and SMS interactivity in print, radio, and TV.

You can vote by following the instructions shown on the poll when it is displayed. The poll does not need to be displayed to actively receive votes, but it does need to be "opened" by the presenter on the edit poll page. In the US, you send a text message to the number 99503 that contains a voting keyword, like 1234, or blue."

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

OpenGoo - open source web office

About OpenGoo: "OpenGoo is an Open Source Web Office. It is a complete solution for every organization to create, collaborate, share and publish all its internal and external documents."

This is an install-it-yourself package. I'm waiting for my hosting service, PowWeb, to upgrade to PHP 5, required for OpenGoo.

The Pedagogical Patterns Project

What are Pedagogical Patterns?: "Patterns are designed to capture best practice in a specific domain. Pedagogical patterns try to capture expert knowledge of the practice of teaching and learning. The intent is to capture the essence of the practice in a compact form that can be easily communicated to those who need the knowledge. Presenting this information in a coherent and accessible form can mean the difference between every new instructor needing to relearn what is known by senior faculty and easy transference of knowledge of teaching within the community.

In essence a pattern solves a problem. This problem should be one that recurs in different contexts. In teaching we have many problems such as motivating students, choosing and sequencing materials, evaluating students, and the like.

These problems do recur and in slightly different form each time. Each time a problem pops up there are considerations that must be taken into account that influence our choice of solution. These forces push us toward or away from any given solution to a problem. A pattern is supposed to present a problem and a solution. The problem together with the forces must apply to make that solution beneficial to the problem."

Monday, March 23, 2009

School of Everything - learn and teach online

From School of Everything 'About Us': "Everyone has something to learn. Everyone has something to teach. School of Everything is a website that helps people who want to learn meet up with people who want to teach. The award-winning site is free to join and is available worldwide.

Teachers register online and create a personal page giving information on their lessons, the qualifications offered and the format in which they teach - for example workshops or one-to-one sessions. Potential pupils find a tutor who's right for them simply searching by subject, learning category and location. They can then send them a message, arrange to meet and begin learning their new subject.

Some School of Everything teachers have left jobs in educational institutions because they've become fed up with the administrative burden. Others are 'pro-ams', people who have found a way to make a living from their hobbies and amateur passions. You can charge what you like for teaching, or share your skills for free - and unlike most schools, you can teach or learn whatever want (as long as it's legal)."

Looks interesting, but there are dozens of similar sites ...

EduForge - open source software for education

About EduForge: "Eduforge is an open access environment designed for the sharing of ideas, research outcomes, open content and open source software for education. You are welcome to use our community resources or start your own project space. Registration is free."

PollDaddy - create free online polls

About PollDaddy: "With your free account from PollDaddy you can now create surveys and polls for your website, blog and social network profiles.

Find out what your visitors are thinking today. Create your surveys and polls using our custom templates or create your own. Use our in-depth reporting engine to aggregate, print and export your results."

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Networked Student - YouTube video

About this video: "The Networked Student was inspired by CCK08, a Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes during fall 2008. It depicts an actual project completed by Wendy Drexler's high school students. The Networked Student concept map was inspired by Alec Couros' Networked Teacher. I hope that teachers will use it to help their colleagues, parents, and students understand networked learning in the 21st century. Anyone is free to use this video for educational purposes. You may download, translate, or use as part of another presentation. Please share."

Noteflight - make music, teach music

About Noteflight: "Compose and arrange music online, wherever you are. Share written music with your friends, band, students, teachers. Embed music notation in your own web pages or blog. Do all this and more with Noteflight®.

Noteflight is a new online service that lets written music take full advantage of the web. The Noteflight Score Editor is a full-featured application that displays, edits, prints and plays back music notation in any standard web browser. You can create your own scores, choose to share them with others, or publish them to Noteflight's browsable, searchable online library of music. And it doesn't cost a thing: Noteflight.com is free for individual use.

Runs in your browser: no installation
Powerful, full-featured and easy to learn
Share music effortlessly with anyone, anywhere

Noteflight doesn't just improve on other music notation editors: it makes it easy to share, blog and publish notated music like never before.

Because scores are saved on our servers, they're always available and fully backed up. And Noteflight lets you keep old versions of scores, so you never lose your ideas or your work."