Saturday, December 31, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/31/2011 (p.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Friday, December 30, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/31/2011 (a.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Free Coloring Pages & Sheets for Kids @ Crayola.com - Official Site

Free Coloring Pages & Sheets for Kids @ Crayola.com - Official Site: Crayola.com has over 1,000 free coloring pages for you to pick from. New coloring pages are being added every month!

A. Kipta's Blog 12/30/2011 (p.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Crayola For Educators

Crayola For Educators: 2011/2012 Grant Opportunity: Champion Creatively Alive Children™ is a collaboration between the National Association of Elementary School Principals and Crayola. Principals who are members of NAESP may apply for a grant (valued at $3,000) to develop an innovative, arts-infused education program.

A. Kipta's Blog 12/29/2011 (p.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/29/2011 (a.m.)

  • Global connectivity, smart machines, and new media are just some of the drivers reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and the skills we will need to be productive contributors in the future. This report analyzes key drivers that will reshape the landscape of work and identifies key work skills needed in the next 10 years.

    tags: future skills trends jobs workforce

  • What are the jobs of the future? The demographics of an aging population suggests health care will be big, say some. Data science is scheduled to explode, suggest others, or maybe anything computer-related is a solid bet. But let’s be honest, predicting exact job titles set to soar or the fates of specific sectors is nearly impossible.

    tags: skills future trends

  • There is a lot that may be wrong with SOPA, but putting the power to censor the Internet into the hands of the government is chief among citizens' concerns. The law would force Internet Service Providers and search engines to cut off access to infringing sites as well as give the government the ability to stop payment to those sites.

    tags: copyright intellectual_property piracy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Holidays Around the World

Holidays Around the World: From Alaska to Wales many people celebrate at this time of the year. Take a look at the various traditions and customs - some may be similar to yours while others are very different.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

New Year Party Ideas

"New Year - a time to say "Adios" to the year gone by and say "Hi" to the year ahead. New year is the time for merriment and parties, drinks and dinner, right? Every person wants to celebrate the coming year in an own special way. But to plan out a perfect New Year party is not an easy task. That's why, here, at TheHolidaySpot, we provide you with some great ideas to throw New year's party bash. Check them out! If you like them, click here to send this page to whoever you want."

Read more at the link below.

Source:
New Year Party Ideas
http://www.theholidayspot.com/newyear/party_ideas.htm

A. Kipta's Blog 12/27/2011 (p.m.)

  • Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) is a design-based service learning program which ties student learning to local community agencies in need of engineering and computing solutions.

    tags: science engineering

  • The protection of cyberspace, the information medium, has become a vital national interest because of its importance both to the economy and to military power. An attacker may tamper with networks to steal information for the money or to disrupt operations. Future wars are likely to be carried out, in part or perhaps entirely, in cyberspace. It might therefore seem obvious that maneuvering in cyberspace is like maneuvering in other media, but nothing would be more misleading. Cyberspace has its own laws; for instance, it is easy to hide identities and difficult to predict or even understand battle damage, and attacks deplete themselves quickly. Cyberwar is nothing so much as the manipulation of ambiguity. The author explores these topics in detail and uses the results to address such issues as the pros and cons of counterattack, the value of deterrence and vigilance, and other actions the United States and the U.S. Air Force can take to protect itself in the face of deliberate cyberattack.

    tags: security cyberspace cybersecurity cyberwar

  • The University of Florida Map & Digital Imagery Library houses the largest and most complete collection of Florida aerial photographs (~160,000 photos) outside of the National Archives. These photos document the dramatic changes in Florida's land use between 1937 and 1990. Originally intended to assist farmers in accurately assessing their farms and to provide information on crop determination and soil conservation, today these images provide some of the oldest land use/cover information available. They are used extensively in agriculture, conservation, urbanization, recreation, education, hydrology, geology, land use, ecology, geography, and history.

    tags: photography

  • Our vision as a land-grant institution is to foster accessible, effective STEM teaching and learning at local, state, and national levels, thereby preparing a highly able citizenry and STEM workforce to tackle pressing global challenges.

    tags: science stem

  • Using Genetics Mini-lectures and Podcasts to Make Time for Active Learning

    tags: science genetics

  • Activities in the RTF are guided by a Workbook written specifically for that purpose. The Workbook is divided into modules containing instructions for conducting a variety of practical exercises. New modules are added and existing ones updated periodically, with several currently being re-edited and updated (modules with asterisk). Listed below are the active modules, with links to both html and MS-Word formats for complete working copies. Most students complete Modules I-X, and then do some or all of the remaining ones depending upon available time, requests of the faculty sponsor, and demands of the specific faculty research project.

    tags: science chemistry

  • Detailed analysis of the structures of three of the four classes of biological molecules (proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids) and the forces that shape them.

    tags: science biochemistry biophysics

  • A video instructional series on Earth science and astronomy for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 7 one-hour video programs and coordinated books.

    tags: science astronomy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Monday, December 26, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/27/2011 (a.m.)

  • The Apache™ Hadoop™ project develops open-source software for reliable, scalable, distributed computing. The Apache Hadoop software library is a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using a simple programming model. It is designed to scale up from single servers to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage. Rather than rely on hardware to deliver high-avaiability, the library itself is designed to detect and handle failures at the application layer, so delivering a highly-availabile service on top of a cluster of computers, each of which may be prone to failures.

    tags: big_data hadoop distributed_computing cloud_computing

  • Are educational iPad apps valuable for learning? Until recently, no studies had put iPad learning apps to the test. This month GameDesk released a study led by USC Prof. Michelle Riconscente on Motion Math, an iPad fractions app for elementary-school aged children. The study evaluated whether playing Motion Math led to increases in children’s fractions knowledge and attitudes. Over 120 participants played the game for 20 minutes daily for five days, for a total of 1 hour and forty minutes of game play. Among the main findings were that fractions knowledge increased an average of 15%, and participants gained confidence in their fractions ability and reported liking fractions more after playing the game. Changes on all outcome variables were statistically significant compared to a control group.

    tags: ipad learning research

  • I hesitate when I hear vendors sponsoring academic research: "In a landmark study, a USC professor studied 122 fifth-graders from two schools and four math classes to assess the effectiveness of an iPad app for improving students’ fractions knowledge and attitudes. The study is the first to document learning and motivation gains achieved through iPad game play. ... 5th graders fractions test scores improved 15% after playing Motion Math, for 20 minutes over 5 days. This was a significant increase compared to the control group. Students’ attitudes and confidence towards fractions improved an average of 10%. Virtually all students rated the game as fun and that it helped them learn."

    tags: ipad learning research

  • Each app image is clickable, and you will be taken to the Android Market to learn more about each one.

    tags: android apps educational

  • MITx will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will: organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace; feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication; allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by MITx operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

    tags: oer ocw open_courseware online_education

  • Textbooks are a multi-billion dollar industry -- an estimated $3.5 billion for the K-12 market alone. But the growing availability of digital content and open educational resources (OER) is giving schools the opportunity to bypass some of the traditional expenses of textbook purchasing. It's also giving teachers the opportunities to build their own textbooks.

    tags: textbooks oer

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Earth Calendar

Earth Calendar: The Earth Calendar is a daybook of holidays and celebrations around the world. For the purpose of this web site a "holiday" is any day that recognizes a cultural event, and not necessarily a day when businesses are closed.

A. Kipta's Blog 12/26/2011 (p.m.)

  • The Java Morse code translator translates to and from Morse code and can play the Morse to you as sound. It runs on your computer and therefore is very quick. You have full control over the speed, pitch and volume of the sounds.

    tags: science

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/26/2011 (a.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Education World: December Holidays Around the World: Lessons

Education World: December Holidays Around the World: Lessons: 'Tis the season! This week, Education World offers ten lessons about December celebrations, observances, and activities from several cultures. Included: A Hanukkah game, a Kwanzaa recipe, and an activity that involves students in diagramming similarities and differences in holiday celebrations!

A. Kipta's Blog 12/25/2011 (p.m.)

  • This is a book about simple radios.  Simple receivers, simple transmitters, simple tools for building them, and simple toys you can make with what you have learned.

    tags: science radio

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

YouTube for Schools - YouTube

YouTube for Schools - YouTube: Sign up for YouTube for Schools to bring the power of video to your classrooms for free. Access thousands of free high quality educational videos on YouTube in a controlled environment.

A. Kipta's Blog 12/25/2011 (a.m.)

  • Sargent-Welch is part of the science education division of VWR International. We are a full-line, all-discipline, supplier of science education equipment and apparatus. "Full-line" means that we can equip a school science room completely from the benches and furniture to the expendable supply items. We are a distributor of major brand name equipment and supplies in the science education field. In business for over 150 years, Sargent-Welch is your one-stop science education supply source.
  • Your source for science supplies that make teaching science easier! Since 1862, WARD’S has been the leading supplier of the highest-quality science education materials for high school-and college-level biology and geology classes, and life, environmental, earth, and physical science studies in grades 5 through 9.
  • Offering solutions that simplify science education, Science Kit is committed to helping all teachers effectively reach every student. Because we understand the unique challenges facing educators, our philosophy revolves around providing services and products as individualized as the specific needs of each school, teacher, and student. We offer convenient, cost-effective Custom Kitting services; a vast offering of professional development workshops; and thousands of tools to maximize teaching effectiveness, including our exclusive “teacher developed, classroom tested” products. In addition, every Science Kit product is supported by superior service, ensuring you always receive the highest caliber of quality. Proven for success: Science Kit is committed to supplying you with resources to enhance the classroom experience for teachers and students. An interest in student involvement and teaching convenience is echoed in every Science Kit product, tool, and service.
  • Your science students will go crazy for chemistry! – At Educational Innovations, we offer everything from easy to use chemistry kits to inspirational activities that teach the wonders of chemistry first hand. Start a chain reaction of learning using hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers, amazing growing beasts, self-siphoning slime, or Color Changing Silicon Putty! Chemistry students will be amazed by our assortment of Liquid Crystal Sheets or Thermochromic (heat sensitive) Paper. Find new and interesting uses for our light activated glow-in the-dark pigment powder. Educational Innovations carries everything from the most useful Graduated Transfer Pipets to Periodic Table Playing Cards and the Educational Innovations exclusive Chem Time Clock designed by professor Bassam Shakhashiri of the University of Wisconsin. Educational Innovations has a huge selection of chemistry lesson plans & science fair projects in chemistry for your classroom & home school curriculum. If you don't see what you are looking for call or email our team today!
  • Here you can find varieties of science project ideas, instructions, and information. You will also find some science kits that you may use as your science project. Kits will save you time and money. 
    tags: science
  • A group of project advisors at ScienceProject.com identified the 10 best science projects for the school year 2005-2006. Not surprisingly, most of these projects are related to energy, environment and health. Selections are based on the educational value, attractiveness, versatility and availability of materials and equipment or kits.
    tags: science
  • Street Tech is a personal technology site. We offer honest views and reviews on technology from our many years of experience in the digital trenches. We're known to rant about what sucks and rave about what doesn't. We love technology but know the smell of bullshit when it arrives as the latest "killer app."
  • The goal of this site is to provide all the necessary tools for students to conduct research and to present their findings. Site provides a Quick Click to Search Engines, annotated Research, Writing, and Style Guides (MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, CGOS, CBE, Harvard), and Worlds of Knowledge housing some of the best education Web sites in a Virtual Library arranged by the Dewey Decimal Classification System. The DDC was created by Melvil Dewey in 1873 and was first published in 1876. Web sites in this virtual library are organized somewhat loosely by subject according to recent editions of the DDC. The site also provides guidelines on: How to write an A+ research paper, How to effectively deliver a presentation, How to format a research or term paper, How to quote passages, How not to plagiarize, How to write Footnotes and Endnotes with examples on writing First Footnotes and Endnotes in MLA Style plus a Footnotes Sample Page and an Endnotes Sample Page.
  • Twellow.com is currently grabbing publicly available messages from the Twitter.com micro-blogging service. We then analyze and categorize each of the users responsible for those messages into the various categories found at Twellow.com.
  • Make electricity from fruits (Fruit battery),  Compound Machines ,What foods contain starch? Make a volcano model, Make an electric bell, Electric Motor, Electromagnet projects, Electric Generator , Magnet Levitation , Electricity and Conductivity Projects, Make an Air Propulsion Motor Boat, Make a radio, Make a simple electric circuit, Finger printing (be a detective), Make electromagnet, Make electricity from potato, Which battery last longer? DNA double Helix, Grow household bacteria, Compound Machines, Biology projects, Chemistry projects, Electromagnet projects, Electricity projects, Plants projects, Floating Magnets (Magnet Spring), Saltwater Battery, Advanced Saltwater Battery, Wooden Generator, Experiment Solar Energy, Make a Solar Car
    tags: science
  • Welcome to the world's largest web site for Science Project ideas, information and support. Everyone can access this web site for ideas, but only members can get support and access the members section for more project details.
    tags: science
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Holiday Clip Art and Images

Holiday Clip Art and Images: Explore this collection of free images and clip art for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and winter. Feel free to copy, download, and print these images for use in the classroom.

A. Kipta's Blog 12/24/2011 (p.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Popular Front Snowdays

Popular Front Snowdays

Need a Snow Day?

Friday, December 23, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/24/2011 (a.m.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Official NORAD Santa Tracker

NORAD Santa Tracker


Each year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks Santa as he delivers Christmas presents to children around the world.

A. Kipta's Blog 12/23/2011 (p.m.)

  • Much of mentoring is about helping your client learn from experiences that they have, but what impact does this have on the way you mentor, how can you find out how they like to learn the best, and how can you put over information in a way that helps someone learn in a more effective way? These are the concepts we will be looking at in this session. The resource has been developed through the Learning from WOeRK project and seeks to support learning in the work place. For an overview of all related modules and resources please visit http://cpdoer.net/collections/ URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10293/1299



    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License

    tags: mentoring education

  • What do I need to score on my next test to be on track for an A? There's an app for that.

    tags: app iphone

  • These days the Internet makes it much easier to find the right college to suit any student’s needs. Social media sites now give students access to speaking with previous students of a particular school to learn about student life, the college in general, or even learn more about available accommodation nearby.

    tags: higher_education

  • Although we learn every day, in everything we do, whether it is in what we read,  watch or listen to, or in the conversations and discussions we have with other people, at some time or other people started believing that the only important learning happens in a formal setting, e.g. in a school classroom or a university lecture hall. Hence in the workplace most Training Departments have tended to focus their efforts on creating and delivering formal courses and workshops – and in the process have pretty much disregarded all the other learning that takes place, continuously and informally, as people do their jobs.

    tags: social_learning training education

  • It is clear that a huge number of people who have been using social media for personal purposes and are now using the very same tools to address their organisational performance problems – usually because enterprise systems just don’t provide them with the functionality they need. Forrester estimated this was around 47% business users in early 2011 and was likely to rise to 60% by then end of the year. There are two key areas where this is happening and how it is having an impact on organisational learning. Extensive use of public social media sites like YouTube, Slideshare, Blogger, Wikipedia, etc, means that workers are now using these types of tool to support the creation, co-creation and sharing of content within their own work teams. Extensive use of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc means that workers are using these and similar tools to build networks of trusted colleagues (both internally and externally).

    tags: social_learning training education

  • I have seen several lists of educators on Twitter, like this one and recently I discovered this wiki which organizes us by subject area. It inspired me to create a list that could be sorted across different criteria like country, state, subject or grade level. In an attempt to create a more malleable list I made a Google form for educators to fill out. I then made the corresponding spreadsheet public, so that anyone can sort it. If you haven't already, please complete the form and add yourself to the list. I took the data that we have collected so far and used Many Eyes to create a treemap of the results. If you click on the image below you can see the results so far.

    tags: twitter teaching education

  • Internet for Education is a free online tutorial to help university students develop their Internet research skills. Learn how to make discerning use of the Internet to help find information for your coursework and assignments.

    tags: internet tutorials education

  • Welcome to the Virtual Training Suite - a set of free Internet tutorials to help you develop Internet research skills for your university course. All of the tutorials are written and reviewed by a national team of lecturers and librarians from universities across the UK. These interactive, teach-yourself tutorials take around an hour to complete. Simply work through the material in your own time at your own pace.

    tags: internet tutorials

  • Through Jorum, you can find, share and discuss learning and teaching resources, shared by the UK Further and Higher Education community.

    tags: learning teaching resources

  • JISC Digital Media exists to help the UK’s FE and HE communities embrace and maximise the use of digital media - and to achieve solutions that are innovative, practical and cost effective.

    tags: digital_media tutorials

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/23/2011 (a.m.)

  • At Google, philanthropy is a core value. This year we gave more than $100 million to various organizations around the world -- including $40 million in grants that celebrate the giving season by supporting four causes that we consider particularly important: science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education; girls' education; empowerment through technology; and fighting human trafficking and modern-day slavery. We invite you to celebrate the giving season along with us by learning about these organizations, the great work they're doing, and how you can support them.

    tags: google charity

  • Playing clips from Mortimer Adler's dvd version of How To Read A Book, as well as a short excerpt from Rev. Edmund Opitz' talk, The Liberating Arts, I outline for the audience a few essential skills that are required in order to obtain the most from a Trivium-based education. As the Trivium deals with the substance and structure of thought and language, it can be said to be a universal education, relevant to all human beings regardless of time and place.

    tags: learning

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Free printable Christmas stickers

"Free printable Christmas stickers, Christmas printables, and Christmas crafts Use these teacher resources to encourage student homework success, better home school performance, as a classroom management system, for motivation at home, to give to teachers, to reward students or just collect them.  They are useful for scrapbooks or decorating albums.  Click on any of the previews and you'll get a print preview screen.  If you like the stickers click the print button and you're all set."

Read more at the link below.

Source:
Free printable Christmas stickers, free Christmas printables and winter printables
http://www.stickersandcharts.com/christmas.php

A. Kipta's Blog 12/22/2011 (p.m.)

  • Even though a crucial part of our jobs involve design, the prevailing instructional design models are based on systems thinking. Systems thinking promotes an analytical or engineering type of mindset. But we also need an approach to help us synthesize, innovate and create. In many design fields today, people who are required to create on demand use a design thinking model for this purpose.

    tags: instructional_design isd addie

  • As a fledgling voice of reform in higher education, Salman Khan is an oddity. He cannot name any higher education accrediting agencies off the top of his head. He advocates for competency-based credentialing, but has never heard of Western Governors University. He is capable of talking on the phone for a full hour without using the word “disruptive” once. Until recently, he was an analyst for a hedge fund. Here is what Khan does know: algebra, statistics, trigonometry, calculus, computer science, biology, chemistry, astronomy, physics, economics, and finance -- well enough, at least, to demonstrate the concepts via brief video tutorials on Khan Academy, his free learning website. What began in 2006 as an attempt to tutor his young cousin from afar has evolved into a 2,700-video library with millions of monthly visitors.

    tags: informal_learning youtube tutorials

  • The command that starts Microsoft Outlook is Outlook.exe. A command-line switch is the addition of a forward slash (/) followed by the switch name and any parameters the switch has.

    tags: microsoft_office outlook tech_tips

  • Last Friday Santa opened up the Ho Ho Hotline and teamed up with Gmail to send personalized holiday phone calls to anyone you know who has been nice (or naughty, for that matter) in the U.S. or Canada. In just a few days Santa has made hundreds of thousands of calls to your friends, family and loved ones, and received many a message from you at his Google Voice number (855-34-SANTA).

    tags: google phone

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/22/2011 (a.m.)

  • This guide provides an easy and relatively quick way to PXE boot windows which means you can install Windows over the network with PXE without the need for a CD drive. While the previous guide allows you to slip stream updates and add extra programs it took a LONG LONG time to do, especially with all the downloads it needed to do, this one just installs a vanilla XP, nice and simple, and a lot quicker

    tags: windows computing tech_tips

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

ShareHolidays


"Welcome to the simplest solution for do-it-yourself holiday cards, invitations and other holiday related stationery. Our site offers pre-designed, high quality templates for all of the major holidays including Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and more. 2010 marks our 8th year of building the ShareHolidays collection. We're dedicated to providing you the tools you need to plan the perfect holiday -- from coordinating sets of holiday stationery to original and unique clipart. If you don't find an image, card or template you really want, please ask for it! Email us at StartSharing@shareholidays.com any time to share your great holiday ideas. Our goal is to make the holidays easier for you. We've assembled a team of talented designers that create new holiday designs according to what you need. Our collection covers the latest trends, as well as traditional designs. New images, templates, and how-to instructions are constantly being added to ShareHolidays.com. And, as always, we welcome your ideas for how we can make your life easier and more fun this holiday season! Are you a blogger, designer or a member of the media? Feel free to visit our Press & Media Center for more information including the latest press releases, background information on our site and our parent company and more."


Source:
Cards, Invitations, Clipart and Letter Templates for the Holidays | ShareHolidays
http://www.christmastimeclipart.com/

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

DigitalTips - just in time for after Christmas

http://www.digitaltips.org

"DigitalTips.org is your ultimate guide for electronics products you want or already own. You'll find buying guides, tips and how-to videos for audio, digital TV, digital imaging, home networking, car and wireless electronic products. DigitalTips.org is produced and managed by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Did you know you can recycle TVs, cell phones and computers just minutes from your home? Reduce clutter and protect the environment. With a multi-room audio video system, it is possible to listen to music and stream video to every room in your home. Learn about the features and benefits of these products. Did you know that you can receive over-the-air high definition TV signals with a properly set outdoor antenna? Locate the best reception point for your home."

A. Kipta's Blog 12/20/2011 (p.m.)

  • You’ve perfected your resume, found a great job listing, and landed your dream interview. Now what? Here are 10 tips for making your interview a success. Just remember these things NOT to do:

    tags: jobs

  • The Welsh language - Cymraeg is part of the Celtic family of languages, and remained with the Celtic people when they fled westwards to an area now known as Wales. The fact the welsh language continues today is testimony to the pride of the Welsh nation. Many customs have also surveyed one being the art of giving Love spoons by the men of Wales - and dates back to the 17th century. The men who carved the spoons were not the landed gentry, and what ever they lacked in formal education, they made up for in abundance by developing there natural skills and creativity. He would spend many hours decoratively carving the handle of the wooden spoon and present it to the young girl in the village as a token of his love and affection. Again like the welsh language the custom continues today. Love spoons are used to commemorate many occasions: births, christenings, birthdays, engagements, marriage and anniversaries.

    tags: art history craft

  • Start > Run  ... regsvr32.exe ole32.dll ... Restart Outlook. Rebooting often works as well.

    tags: tech_tips troubleshooting

  • In 1975 Roger Phillips began his life’s major work of photographing and publishing pictures of the World’s garden plants. Using modern photographic techniques, Roger set out to develop an encyclopedic collection of books to show the difference between plants as diverse as mosses, roses and annuals. His first book ‘Wild Flowers of Britain’ was a huge success, selling 400,000 copies in the first year. He has since written 20 additional volumes (often with his co-author Martyn Rix) selling over 4.5million copies worldwide.

    tags: reference nature

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Monday, December 19, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/20/2011 (a.m.)

  • Some do-gooders stuck up signs noting that one bottle of soda takes "50 minutes of jogging" to burn off, and look what happened: When researchers taped signs saying just that on the drink coolers in four inner-city neighborhood stores, sales of sugary beverages to teenagers dropped by 50 percent. That tactic was more effective than a sign saying that the drinks had 250 calories each, or a sign saying that a soft drink accounts for 11 percent of recommended daily calories.

    tags: health food exercise

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Feels Like Christmas - free mp3 music

http://feelslikechristmas.com
"Feels Like Christmas exists primarily to offer you high-quality Christmas music in the form of legal MP3 downloads... for free*! A lot of other music (and more coming soon!). Instrumental, singer/songwriter, traditional, contemporary. All free to download and listen to, load up on your iPod, burn on a personal CD and to share with friends. So where's the free music?? Your best starting point is to choose one of our available Christmas music categories: Traditional Instrumental, Traditional Vocal, Contemporary Instrumental and Contemporary Vocal (or, you can just jump directly to a category). In addition to personal listening, we've heard from many who have made it part of a personal holiday greeting (e-card or email) to friends and relatives and those who have played it as part of their organization's holiday celebration. By the way, if you are a musician who has some quality music that you'd like to see made available on this site, you can find out more info here."

Sunday, December 18, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/19/2011 (a.m.)

  • Welcome to Moodle Tutorials. Educating Educators. Moodle Tutorials offers: High Resolution Tutorials, Complete Dedication to Moodle, Faster Video Uploads, Ability to Get .swf Directly Published :-)

    tags: moodle tutorials

  • To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.

    tags: teaching isd instructional_design

  • Skype is a free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom and their students to a world way beyond their campus. With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures, and expand their knowledge in amazing ways. Teachers and parents can also benefit from Skype in the classroom. Read below to learn how you can take advantage of the power of Skype in your classroom.

    tags: skype teaching

  • Carl's Electronics has the largest selection of in-stock electronic kits, robotic kits, test equipment & more.  Our low prices, quick delivery, and easy & secure shopping experience keep our customers coming back for more.  Serving hobbyists, schools, government, & corporations since 1996.

    tags: electronics kits diy robotics

  • Welcome to TeacherFiles.com - Source of free educational resources for teachers to use in their classrooms. Our pages are full of resources, ideas, clipart, activities and lesson plans. All the resources available here are absolutely free.

    tags: clipart resources teaching

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Collaborative writing software online with Writeboard. Write, share, revise, compare.

Collaborative writing software online with Writeboard. Write, share, revise, compare.: "Want to collaborate on some copy? Want to pass a memo or letter by someone else for editing before you send it? Want to work with your business partners on some text for a proposal? Want fellow students to contribute to a group paper? Want to collaborate with a client on wording for their project? Sharing writeboards is easy — simply enter someone's email address and they'll get an invitation with a link to view and edit the writeboard."

Saturday, December 17, 2011

REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits

"REAPER is digital audio workstation software: a complete multitrack audio and MIDI recording, editing, processing, mixing, and mastering environment. Record audio and MIDI from multiple inputs simultaneously Layer recorded tracks and takes over previous recordings Edit recordings in almost any imaginable way Hundreds of audio and MIDI processing effects included, or choose from thousands of third-party effects All editing and effects are completely non-destructive REAPER works with almost any hardware and can be used in combination with a vast universe of other software and plug-ins. Take advantage of REAPER's full functionality using only your current computer and a microphone, or use REAPER to drive an entire professional recording studio"

Read more at the link below.

Source:
REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits
http://www.cockos.com/reaper/

Friday, December 16, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/17/2011 (a.m.)

  • Cobbler is a Linux installation server that allows for rapid setup of network installation environments. It glues together and automates many associated Linux tasks so you do not have to hop between lots of various commands and applications when rolling out new systems, and, in some cases, changing existing ones. It can help with installation, DNS, DHCP, package updates, power management, configuration management orchestration, and much more.

    tags: linux installation pxe

  • The most common way to do network installations is network booting via PXE, which requires setup of a TFTP server and DHCP configuration

    tags: linux kickstart installation pxe

  • In his 1996 book Curriculum as Conversation, Arthur Applebee argued that much of the school curriculum of the time was based upon 'false premises and reflect a fundamental misconception of the nature of knowing. They strip knowledge of the contexts that give it meaning and vitality, and lead to an education that stresses knowledge-out-of-context rather than knowledge-in-action. In such a system students are taught about the traditions of the past, and not how to enter into and participate in those of the present and the future.' (p. 3) It is clear that in the 15 years since the book was published, little has changed. I have asked this question before, but I will ask it again. Are we preparing students for the past, or for the future?

    tags: knowledge learning

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Dabbleboard - Online whiteboard for drawing & team collaboration - Interactive whiteboard software

Dabbleboard - Online whiteboard for drawing & team collaboration - Interactive whiteboard software: "Who uses Dabbleboard? Dabbleboard is used by anyone that uses a real whiteboard, in business and education. Our users include designers, developers, consultants, salespeople, teachers, students, etc. What makes us different? Our innovative interface lets you draw almost as naturally as you would on a real whiteboard, enabling you to quickly and spontaneously share your ideas. Is this for web conferencing? Sort of. You can conduct presentations, chat, and -of course- whiteboard with Dabbleboard. But if you need desktop sharing, file sharing and more, try our AlmostMeet product. Why do I need a whiteboard? We need verbal as well as visual means to communicate effectively. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a whiteboard lets you draw pictures quickly."

A. Kipta's Blog 12/16/2011 (p.m.)

  • Ivy Tech has long stood for promoting affordable, open-access education and training programs. Our chief goal is to enhance the development of Indiana’s citizens and communities along with strengthening the state economy. For that very reason, one in three students at Ivy Tech takes an online class each semester. And while many student learners are now accustomed to plugging in, a large number of our faculty and administrators have traditionally relied on in-room interaction for planning purposes.

    tags: online_learning distance_learning

  • As more and more educators join Twitter, the conversation will grow and become more enriching. I am a fan of #elemchat and #edchat. The moderators of the discussions post questions and everyone can respond but sometimes people just sit back and read the answers. If we are diving head first into these discussions in this social network format, how will our students benefit? In the end, what we do during professional development should be beneficial to our students and ourselves.

    tags: twitter

  • Mr. Kaplan, who runs one of the highest-achieving schools in the state, has been evaluating teachers since the education commissioner was a teenager. No matter. He is required by Nassau County officials to attend 10 training sessions, as is Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High School here, who was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State. “It’s education by humiliation,” Mr. Kaplan said. “I’ve never seen teachers and principals so degraded.”

    tags: testing assessment

  • A longtime friend on the school board of one of the largest school systems in America did something that few public servants are willing to do. He took versions of his state’s high-stakes standardized math and reading tests for 10th graders, and said he’d make his scores public.

    tags: testing assessment

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Spell with flickr

Spell with flickr: "The story of Spell with flickr: Krazy Dad (jbum) made a note once using the letters from the One Letter group with the Flickr API. I decided to try making something similar as a way to learn Flickr's wonderful developer tools. Along the way, it got VERY popular. I still feel like it could be better, but it gets the job done. I have made the source code available for free. It's not coded very well, my first time parsing XML(ish) with PHP(4), and also my first time doing caching of remote resources (funny story, I had a bug in this script that bypassed the cache each time - when I got really popular, flickr felt the strain, and temporarly disabled my API Key). I'm still thrilled with the response it has gotten, and welcome any suggestions or comments. You can reach me on my blog at metaatem.net, or email me at kastner@gmail.com."

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/15/2011 (a.m.)

  • Motivations for collecting and preserving books go beyond their easily digitized, printed contents. Books are valued for their physical qualities as works of art, their binding and typography. Every old book has a unique provenance and association. And then there is the look on the shelf of books from the same era brought together again, like a long-awaited family reunion in the afterlife. For collectors there are also the memories of great discoveries: Using one's expertise (not a handheld device) to recognize and appreciate treasures that others have neglected.

    tags: history libraries books

  • The Cambridge Digital Library has opened its virtual doors by posting more than 4,000 digitized pages from its collection of Sir Isaac Newton's papers, the University of Cambridge announced this week. Online visitors can now browse through the scientist's college notebooks and early papers; his notes on optics; his so-called Waste Book, a notebook he began using in 1664 when he fled Cambridge because of the plague, and which contains some of his breakthroughs in calculus; and an annotated first edition of his Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica, often called the Principia, which made him famous for his work on the laws of motion and gravity.

    tags: library history digitized documents archives

  • There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer. Some of the most amazing projects in the world have seen the light of day only because of the contributions of these selfless individuals. The same holds true for hundreds of open source projects from Fedora to Mozilla to WordPress. What motivates these people to become part of an open source project? Not money, or at least not only money. What benefits do these "unpaid workers" reap from their participation in such projects?

    tags: open_source volunteer

  • The Arduino is a fantastic example of multiple things--a platform for rapid prototyping (a crucial component of the open source way), a hacker 'scratching his own itch' (I need a platform for my students) in public where other people could adapt his creation for their own wildly different uses, a way to lower the barriers to access of technology creation.

    tags: open_source arduino

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

SurveyMonkey: Free online survey software & questionnaire tool

SurveyMonkey: Free online survey software & questionnaire tool: "We're the world's leading provider of web-based survey solutions, trusted by millions of companies, organizations and individuals alike to gather the insights they need to make more informed decisions. But you know all that. Here’s a bit more about the Monkey: Who we are We're a smart, passionate group of people who work really hard so you don't have to. We strive to make our tools powerful enough for professional researchers, yet easy enough for a survey novice. And we pack our solutions with over 10 years of experience in survey methodology and web technology so you can be confident in the quality of the data. Our Mission: We want to help you make better decisions. That’s it. That’s all. That’s what drives us. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to get at the knowledge you need to make smart, informed choices. And after 10 years, we’re still challenging ourselves to deliver simple, powerful solutions. We’re dedicated to making even the most advanced research design easy enough for anyone – and everyone – to use."

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A. Kipta's Blog 12/14/2011 (a.m.)

  • "Popcorn Shakespeare's" ingeniously simple user experience: watch video of a Shakespeare performance, then move your mouse away at any point to pause the playback and get help with specific terms or passages you don't understand. (e.g., "What does 'Hie thee hither' or 'the golden round' mean?") You can also dig deeper into context or notes from your instructor or peers. But its more than a glossary tool. You can also navigate the video by clicking directly on portions of the the text (similar to Mark Boas' work with hyperaudio). Specific terms and passages also get their own URL, so you can skip directly to specific scenes for further study.

    tags: open_source video education

  • The largest growth of open source in schools has been the adoption of an increasing number of Web 2.0 applications. Most of these are hosted on Linux servers, running Apache and PHP. While most educators are unaware of this growing trend that does not stop them from using these resources.

    tags: open_source moodle gimp education

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.