Woopid: Video Tutorials

Watch free video tutorials related to computers, software, and gadgets. There are videos for Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu. And, the videos cover just about everything from Microsoft Word to Google to configuring a router. This site is definitely worth a look technology novices and gurus alike.

Visit http://www.woopid.com/

Woopid also has a blog at http://blog.woopid.com/

YouTube Without Distractions

If you are showing YouTube videos to a class of students, chances are they don't even notice the comments and other links on the page. But just in case you find it to be a distraction to them, you can use a new tool called "quietube".

Visit http://quietube.com/

Drag the little button to your tool bar. Then, go to YouTube and click the button while a video is playing. The video will open in a window all by itself without any other distractions on the page.

This works on some other video websites as well.

Google Docs: New Drawing Feature

You can now add drawings within your documents on Google Docs. To start drawing, go to the "Insert" tab and choose "Drawing" from the drop-down menu. It is that simple.

YouTube EDU

Yesterday, YouTube launched YouTube EDU. YouTube EDU is a volunteer project designed to be an "educational hub" that provides access to lectures, student-made videos, and sporting events from different universities. So, you can go to http://www.youtube.com/edu and access lectures from MIT, Yale, Stanford, and Duke just to name a few. For more information you can visit YouTube's blog entry from yesterday.

Free Interactive Whiteboard Links

This site just came to me via my Twitter network. The Educational Technology Center, which is located at the National Science Center in George, has compiled a list of useful sites that can be used with Interactive White Boards (Promethean, SMART, Polyvision, etc.). The resources are provided for free to educators worldwide.

There are resources for the following disciplines: math, science, social studies, language arts, art, music, and physical education.

http://www.ettcnsc.org/Instructional_resources/other/interactive_whiteboard_links.htm

This site is definitely worth a look.

Something to see.

This was sent by some other technology teachers. Maybe you can see some educational use.

http://roxik.com/pictaps/

Free Act 48 Credits

As part of Microsoft's Partners in Learning Program they have partnered with CaseNEX to offer Act 48 hours free of charge for Pennsylvania educators. The 48 hours are free to schools in Classroom for the Future and Project 720. Everything for these classes is completed online.

To register for the classes, click this link.
http://casenex.com/casenet/jsp/registrationPages/classregPAPiL.jsp

You will need you PPID. If you don't know it, click this link.
https://www.perms.ed.state.pa.us/Screens/wfPublicAccess.aspx

District CFF Newsletter

I have released our first printed CFF newsletter in the district. Before now, I always just posted resources to my wiki and blog. However, I have received some interest in having a printed "digest" version. So, I am going to compile the most useful resources and stories on a bi-monthly basis to be printed and placed in the teachers' mailboxes. The first newsletter was sent out this past Tuesday. I am also going to be saving the newsletters as PDFs and posting on the district website. To see the current newsletter, click the link below.

February/March 2009 Newsletter

Here are some ideas I have about the newsletter.
1. I might make it a monthly newsletter next year.
2. In the interest of saving paper, I might eventually release it only in PDF format so teachers can print it if they so desire.

AuthorStream - Share PowerPoints

Authorstream allows you embed PowerPoint presentations in your blog, wiki, or website, or save them as videos on an Ipod or Youtube. Different from some other sharing methods the presentations remain the way you created them. Any animations, timing, music, etc. that you added will remain intact. So, if you had a presentation you delivered in class, you could post it online for students who missed a day of school (or for students who need to see things more than once). To embed a presenation on your site, all you have to do is copy the embed code after you upload the file.

http://www.authorstream.com/