Image editing online

Jared McGinley sent this site to me some time ago. The one that most interested us was Raven the program that created vector-based graphics. This function is similar to Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand. Unlike JPEGs which are composed of a series of pixels, vector graphics are images that are defined mathematically. This means that they can be resized infinitely without losing any quality whatsoever. Anyone who has tried to resize a 2-inch JPEG or other bitmap image to twice its size will know and appreciate what I mean here.
It appears that these are tools available to use online - the program is not stored on your computer - just available through your logon. And the price is right. :-)

http://aviary.com/

Roberta

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AudioPal for Recordings in ANGEL

The AudioPal site allows you to create audio and then sends you the html code to add the recording to your site. This could be an ANGEL page, your blog, etc. On AudioPal you can:

1. type the text for your message and convert it to speech by selecting one of the 10 or so voices,


2. call the toll free number and record your message by phone,


3. use a microphone to record the message directly in AudioPal,


4. upload a saved mp3 recording.

Watch this AudioPal video to see how it works. This is an easy and quick way to make recordings for your classes in ANGEL. Just remember to click the Source link in ANGEL before pasting the code.

Experiment and have some fun with AudioPal.

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Don't Call the School!

This is a funny recording that I added through Audio Pal (see post). Enjoy.

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Beats Counting Sheep

In Extreme Shepherding, "crazy shepherds fit their sheep with LED vests to create awesome designs on a hill. They recreate a game of Pong, fireworks, and the Mona Lisa. Hard to believe it's real!!"

This one is fun!!

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Getting an Education on the Internet

NPR Getting an Education on the Internet.

In this NPR recording, Kevin Carey discusses the next generation of online education. Carey is the policy director for Education Center, an education sector think tank in Washington. The website explains, "In a tight job market, a college degree has become even more valuable. But not everyone has the time or the money to spend four years in a dorm for a brand name BA. So, thousands of Americans are logging onto Web seminars and taking Internet classes instead."

Thanks to Meg for suggesting this podcast session.

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Google Wave

Some of you have probably already heard about Google Wave. "Google Wave is a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where users can almost instantly communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more" (http://code.google.com/apis/wave/).

View a shortened version of the introductory video here. (I shortened it using ShareSafe, by the way).

Sign-up for Google Wave and/or view the entire video about Google Wave on this site.

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Safely Share YouTube Videos

SafeShare is a free site that allows you to share YouTube videos very cleanly, without the added links, videos, etc. This is a simple alternative to embedding the video. An additional feature is that you can crop the video to show just a portion of it in your course.

You simply paste the URL for the YouTube video and SafeShare does the rest.

Check out this video I found on YouTube. As you can imagine, it had links, etc. that I could not show. After running it through SafeShare, I can "safely share" it here.

http://www.safeshare.tv/v/JPr-2N5pVX0

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Try Audio Pal - Have Some Fun!

http://www.audiopal.com

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Add Images to StudyStack

StudyStack has a new tool that allows users to upload images and then label parts of the image. After labels have been added to the image, students can test how well they know where the labels belong.

The studystack site displays the image with each label replaced with a target. The site asks the user to click a specific target. When students complete the activity they are shown how many targets were clicked correctly and how much time it has taken.

Check out this sample StudyStack with Image. Click the target game button to begin.

If you wish to give participation points or a grade, have students submit a graphic of their score using Print Screen or Jing.

I have my students download and use Jing and they come up with really surprising ways to use it. They seem quite happy to know how to use this tool.

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More about the Grades Link

I am sure all of you enjoyed Eddie's video and information for linking to the individual student's grades. I know I did but after sleeping on it, I thought I would like to add this link to the course homepage. And guess what, it is easy to do!

On the course homepage:

1. Add a nugget for the link. I used "About this Section".
2. Select to edit the nugget.
3. Type a descriptor for the link - "Check your Grades" for instance.
4. Highlight the text.
5. Select to add a link using the Insert Web Link (it looks like a globe with a chain link under it).
6. In the URL field, paste: http://webcourses.butlercc.edu/section/gradebook/student/default.aspx?
7. I set mine to open in a new window.
8. Click Save.

Students can now open their grades from the homepage.

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Link to Access Grades in ANGEL

Thanks to Eddie Andreo for this video explaining how to create a link for students to access their grades. The steps are:

1. Under the Content tab, select Add Content
2. Click to add a Link
3. In the Title field, name your link appropriately (Check Grades Here, etc.)
4. Scroll down to the Link Url field and paste this link:
   http://webcourses.butlercc.edu/section/gradebook/student/default.aspx?
5. Be sure to set your link to open in a new window.
6. Save the link.
7. Rearrange the link to position it as desired.

Thanks Eddie!

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Word Sift

Word Sift is a site for text visualization. Word Sift is easy to use. Just enter your text (copy/paste works great for longer passages) and then click Sift. The words scramble into a tag cloud emphasizing important words. You can sift up to 3 meg.

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Primary Access

Primary Access "is a suite of free online tools that allows students and teachers to use primary source documents to complete meaningful and compelling learning activities with digital movies, storyboards, rebus stories and other online tools". You can create digital stories using their stock footage and include subtitles, time-lines, idea maps, etc. I think it is valuable to give students access to such tools for your course as well as to use in the future for presentation.

http://www.primaryaccess.org/

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Create Interactive Quizzes @ Studiyo

Create interactive quizzes for free and embed them in your ANGEL course at Studiyo.

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Time Glider - online timeline creator

Time Glider is more than a free online timeline creator. A free account comes with:

• a really cool application for visualizing history and project planning!



• a basic image library & uploader



• linking and embedding tools for sharing your timelines

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Wireless Router on Woot

Woot is a website that offers a good - sometimes great - deal on one product each day. Today it is the Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO Router
$17.99
+ $5 shipping
Product:
1 Belkin F5D9230-4 Wireless G/MIMO Router

I just bought one and can't wait to get it. Check out Woot !

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Read the Words

Read the Words allows you to change your text into audio with a couple of clicks. Messages can be typed or you can upload files directly to the web site. You can also create an avatar to speak your words or just create podcasts for your students to download and listen. The avatars can be embedded into your course to add a fun element.


As you can tell by my example, the voice can be distorted so you may not want use pages of text. Short paragraphs seem to work best.

Read the Words is free for 30 seconds. If you need more and longer readings, service prices range from $20 to $50 dollars a year.

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Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is a text messaging survey system that adds interactivity to online and face-to-face courses. Sign up for an account in Poll Everywhere and create a poll. You can then link to it or embed it into your course or Power Point. Students will then enter their answers by texting with their cell or through a web site on a computer. As they enter their answers you can see the poll reflect the changes in real time. You can then create a report for assessment.

Give it a try.
On your cell phone, send a text message to 99503.
In the message space, type in the corresponding number to your answer.

Get a free sms student response system at Poll Everywhere

Once in a while a student will not be able to get through. This seems to be very rare and there is the option of going to the web site to enter your answer.

The price is free for 32 responses at once, 200 responses for $699 per year, and 400 responses for $1,950 per year.

Poll Everywhere is very easy to use. In my workshop, an online instructor made her poll and embedded it into her Angel course within five minutes. Try it! You will like it!

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