possibly the single most useful website ever for a teacher

Timed tasks - in a lesson - no argument - visible to all - free on the web.

Need I say more?

Check this out.

http://e.ggtimer.com/

Challenge Machine

If you have not come across it, the challenge machine is a web based way of easily creating quizes that can be done online. You can challenge classes or friends or anyone and you can rack up points scores. Here is a simple example...

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WYSINAWYG

Go on, guess what it means?

Ive been realising something over the last few days as I have used a variety of online tools claiming WYSIWYG functionality. (I will spare their blushes). I have encountered the following;

• mysterious duplicate snippets of code appearing in widgets on websites
• undisplayable images creating blank spaces on the screen and masking other content
• pages veering out of printable area in browsers
• random colour changing

Browser and plugin differences obviously are partly to blame but one does get the feeling sometimes that the editors were designed for the web as it was about 5 years ago. They just can't handle the volume of linking and embedded code that is the norm these days. Arcane, forgotten early html formatting rules still apply in some of them that dissapeared thankfully with Frontpage.

I don't know.

'What you see is not always what you get'

Picture log in to the Learning Gateway

Many children (and adults) waste lots of time trying to remember passwords for all the websites they sign up for. An alternative that can be useful is picture based log in. Have a look at this screencast to see how it could work;

Capture your screen in seconds

Learning platforms and speed

Further to the comments I have made before about the 'click and wait' syndrome when people are using the web to present something to me is another consideration;

What effect do webpage load times have on usage of learning platforms?

I ask because of a blog I read about some research google have done that says that for every half a second on the load time for their search results they get a 20% drop in traffic.

Wow. Most learning platforms in use are much slower than google. Maybe one of the ways to increase adoption in classroom is to ensure speed performance is a high priority when evaluating learning platforms?

Content is King?

Is it really? That was the moniker of web 1.0 Without killer content websites died away, they were used as sources of factual info as much as anything else. While that is still true to an extent, the advent of web 2.0 has meant interactivity above all. Want people want to do is communicate and collaborate.

Of course that fits right into the educational agenda. The internet is not a textbook. It is not reliably edited, nor is it tailored for a particular course, nor is it ever exactly at the right level. Stuff isnt always easy to find. What the internet can do really well is to facilitate meaningful communication. Look at Facebook - all the people we keep in touch with more than we used to. In a learning context the power of this is in the connections that can be made. The germs of ideas that can be nourished.

Think of teachers moderating forums on a topic after directing students to evaluate a range of web sources. Think of mobile learning; podcast mashups put together on a whim after a topic for fun by a student that becomes a vital part of GCSE revision.

Content is filtered (obviously), communication rules.

Another labour saving web clipper

Grabbing screenshot images is a common task - resizing them and saving them and publishing them can all be chores. Again, one for the macheads but looks like a little tool called Skitch may be able to help. It is very powerful, is a free signup and comes with online storage and sharing spaces so is all web 2.0 and all that. Check out the thumbnail below. It can integrate with iSight too.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

It is made by the same people who produced the excellent Comic Life, Plasq. I can see lots of times when this would be useful for integrating web clips into a learning platform. Perhaps you just want a thumbnail of what a website looks like to use as a link instead of text? Skitch could do it for you. There are many possibilities.

BETT Finds

Was at BETT last Friday. Trends seem to be for web based graphic, audio and video editing- a couple of finds;

Creaza - does a few things, making cartoons, simple video editing etc. Some online stoorage. Says it will integrate with learning platforms in the near future. Worth a look. I'm still thinking about how to actually use it in the classroom.

Truetube - Does your school block youtube? Truetube may be an answer. Upload and edit video online. Moderated content, all of educational value. Website not working well as of 20/1/09 but looked good in demo at the show. I think it was a BETT category winner. WEBSITE NOW FINE 27/1/09

Any other good stuff??

Preventing presentation probelms

I have been frustrated recently when I have seen a number of presentations given about software. The products themselves have been fine but there have been many situations where the presenter has been talking..

"and all you need to do to publish this blog post is.....--- click, wait, nothing happens---- it will just be a second, I think the internet is slow today ---wait longer, awkward silence----- ..just a moment, perhaps if I try it again --audience shuffles and whispers to one another-----...."

Do you recognize that? From a teaching point of view it is exceptionally disengaging. We stop caring about what it is we are learning and our mind is wandering.

So I was considering how I could prevent such scenarios in my own practice where inevitably there is the same element of showing people how to use an online service (or even just a piece of software) How can I guarantee that all link will work and all clicks be responsive?

So I was browsing Janes E-Learning Pick of the Day and one of the tools she found is called Screentoaster. No software to install, just login to the website and record whatever is happening on your screen. Brilliant! You can publish on the web or save the file - which I think is better for me, then I can incorporate it into presentations.

No more awkward silences? Well not from rotating hourglasses anyway.

Carbon cost of Googling revealed

Probably best not to read this BBC news article in our line of work...