All the pictures and news shown on this eMagazine are the property of their respective owners.

• We don't hold any copyright about these pictures and news.
• These pictures have been collected from different public sources including different websites, considering to be in public domain.

If any one has any objection to displaying of any picture and news, it may be brought to our notice by sending an email to support@rsc-northwest.ac.uk & the same will be be removed immediately, after verification of the claim.

The maps below cumulative reader/viewer statistics...

Clicking on the maps will take you to the various media resources.

- from Jan 2009

 

- from June 2009

 

- from Sept 2007

 

- from Sept 2007

Links that have been included in previous eMagazines...

To visit the shared links go to http://www.only2clicks.com/pages/acljohn/ or use the live pages below...

The advent of mobile phone internet access has signaled a change in the job description of the average web developer. Designing websites for a (relatively) simple desktop browser is now only one part of web development, and web developers must adapt to the surge in popularity of the smaller, mobile format.

So to help make sure this little transitional phase runs as smooth as possible, Fuel Your Creativity has collated a list of top tips to ensure you’re fully prepared and equipped to take things mobile.

Read the blog at http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/13-tips-to-improve-your-sites-accessibility-from-mobile-devices/.

If you have 50 minutes to spare, watch the video clip in this blog where Tim Ferriss covers a wide range of topics, from posting frequency to blogging tools and community building. 

Go to http://www.dailyblogtips.com/video-how-to-build-a-high-traffic-blog/. 

FORTHCOMING NIACE EVENTS

Engaging the Learner:

Enhancing the range of reading experiences

Friday 11 September 2009, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 10:00am - 3:40pm

NIACE has developed a range of materials with the aim of encouraging practitioners working with adults, (including families), to introduce more reading for pleasure into their sessions. The work was developed in partnership with The Reading Agency's Vital Link programme and NIACE's campaigning work for Quick Reads in order to promote wider use of reading for pleasure in a range of settings. The events aim to draw attention to the new materials and offer a hands-on opportunity to engage with the materials

Audience

• Skills for Life practitioners
• Practitioners interested in developing their use of technology in the teaching of reading
• Union Learning Representatives
• People working in Offender Learning

Event fee per person: £150, NIACE members fee: £99

For further details look up http://www.niace.org.uk

Enquiries to NIACE Events Team - Tel: 0116 204 2833

E-mail: gurjit.kaur@niace.org.uk

Below is the end result of experimentation with DinkyPage which you can also see online at http://dinkypage.com/jhi

To create your own web pages go to http://dinkypage.com/.

Like most other free website building platforms, Jimdo allows you to pick your own subdomain. For example, my Jimdo site is http://acljohn.jimdo.com/. What makes Jimdo such a good option is the wide array of templates, layouts, background options, and editing options. On many free website builders once you pick a template or design you're locked into all of the pre-defined parameters of that template unless you know HTML and CSS. Jimdo is different because it allows you to tweak the predefined templates and designs.

Aside from the design options, Jimdo has some other integrated elements worth mentioning. Jimdo offers you the option to create a blog as an element of your website. You can also take advantage of email management options within Jimdo.

To learn more about Jimdo, go to http://www.jimdo.com/

or watch the short video embedded below...

If you are thinking about using web2tools for research, administration or teaching then make a quick start with the web2practice user guides.

The web2practice guides explain how emergent web technologies like RSS, microbloging, podcasting and social media can enhance your working practice.

Find out more at http://web2practice.jiscinvolve.org/.

Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEy3HF4NLoo or the embedded clip below

• ProProfs

  • Take a look at GeoNet in the eGame section of this eMagazine

ProProfs offers users a free service for creating polls, quizzes, and flashcards. Any poll, quiz, or flashcard set that users create can be embedded into a blog or website etc.

In the quiz section of ProProfs users can create...

• a "scored quiz" - designed for asking questions that have a clear right or wrong answer. Scored quizzes can have up to five answer choices. You can include an answer explanation to be displayed after the question has been answered. All quizzes can have images and videos included in the questions or
• a "personality quiz"

Practitioners could use ProProfs to create a quiz to display on their course's blog or website or VLE etc. The quiz could be used by learners for self-assessment prior to a quiz or test. A ProProfs poll could be used to take an informal, anonymous survey of learner' understanding of a topic.

Find out more at http://www.proprofs.com/.

Page after page of this unsettling Photoshop effect, applied to well-known people- for example Roger Moore...

To view more, go to http://www.freakingnews.com/Celebrities-Upside-Down-Pictures--2433.asp.

Wordle is one of my favourite tools for creating visual representations of the most commonly used words in a document or on a website. I've featured Wordle many times in various publications in the past.

Three times a week Guess the Wordle posts a new Wordle. Then based on the Wordle visitors can guess what the topic of the Wordle is.

Practitioners could create their own Guess the Wordle, which could be a subject/content specific warm-up activity to use with their learners.

Go to http://guessthewordle.pbworks.com/ to see examples of Guess the Wordle.

So young yet already incredible! View below or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs.

See so much more to see at http://evianliveyoung.digitalfactory.pro/#/landing/home.

Although aimed at schools, Matt Lovegrove has created a useful and straightforward guide on how to use Audacity to podcast.

Matt runs his own radio show has done a sound job in demystifying the process of...

• recording an audio file,
• exporting it as an mp3 file and
• posting it on the web.

Why not check out Matt's guide and have a go yourself by visiting http://sonningcommonprimary.co.uk/scpsradio/make-your-own-school-podcasts/.

The Google Earth Blog is one of my many favourite resources <http://gearthblog.com/>.

Ideal for learning about new Google Earth...

• developments,
• applications, and
• tools.

Now Google Earth Blog has its own YouTube channel where practitioners and learners alike, can find most of the videos featured on the blog. The Google Earth blog also posted a list of other places to find videos related to Google Earth.

Visit this YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/gearthblog.

The Google Earth Blog videos could be a good resource for CPD as well as for learners' learning. All of the options in Google Earth can be overwhelming for a new user, these videos may help clarify some confusion for new users.

Try this as an example...

or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AQXvHSf3yQ.

• GeoNet
• PhotoMunchers
  • Also take a look at My Mini City in the Geography Section.
    
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

GeoNet is a geography quiz game from Houghton Mifflin that offers learners more than just the state or country identification questions typical of geography games.

GeoNet has a category of games based on...

• a world map and
• a map of the United States.

Within each category are six types of quiz game questions. Each quiz game has two levels.

Go to http://www.eduplace.com/geonet/geonet.html to try it out.

Nik Peachey has flagged up yet a another resource in his Daily English Activities Blog <http://daily-english-activities.blogspot.com/>

PhotoMunchrs is a website that combines words and images into a simple game. An ideal resource for Key Skills, ESOL, EFL, ESL etc., for learners to improve their vocabulary.

• Visitors to PhotoMunchers will see a 6x5 grid of 30 images
• At the top of the grid, in green text, they should see a word
• To play the game...
  • use your arrow keys, on the keyboard to move the Photo Muncher to any images that are connected with the word.
  • When positioned on such an image they must press the space bar
  • If correct the image will disappear and they will score a point. If they are wrong one of the 3 lives is lost
  • Find 7 example images and 'players are moved onto the next level with a new word.

To play PhotoMunchers go to http://imagine-it.org/flickr/PhotoMunchrs.html.

P.S. Nik has included links to other activities for learners to improve their vocabulary

 

 

• Celebrating Diversity
• Computer learns sign language
• eDemocracy and Citizenship symbols
• Spesoft: Text-2-mp3
• TechDis: YouTube Channel
• Xerte
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

A learner's view...

Celebrating Diversity from myriahmichaux on Vimeo.

What are you or your organisation doing to help learners overcome barriers?

Researchers made progress enabling a computer to teach itself British Sign Language by analyzing video footage.

The scientists from the University of Oxford and University of Leeds first programmed a machine vision algorithm so the computer could identify the shapes of hands in the video.

Read the full article and watch a video at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17431-computer-learns-sign-language-by-watching-tv.html.

Clip art and mp3s for eDemocracy are available at the InspiredServices website.

The symbols can be used on their own or, as shown below with the associated mp3 files...

The symbols have three main uses...

1. On buttons used on websites...
   
2. As Titles on forms etc...
   
3. As content indicators...
   

Register for free use/downloads at http://www.inspiredservices.org.uk/freelogin.html.

Convert text into MP3’s that can played on an iPod (or equivalent).

Step 1: Get a Good Free Text to Speech Program
There are many Text to Speech programs that I have tested and included in previous eMagazines Spesoft's Free Text To MP3 Speaker is the latest I've found.

Spesoft also allows users to...

• choose different voices,
• adjust the speed, pitch and volume of the voice as well as
• tweak the recording quality.

Everybody seems to have different preferences, so users may just want to play around with the settings.

To find out more and/or to download visit http://www.spesoft.com/spesofttexttomp3.aspx.

Note: This is free and therefore affordable for all!

TechDis's YouTube Channel currently holds 5 clips...

• Mobile Learning
• Reasonable Adjustments
• Accessibility of eBooks
• JISC TechDis Resources for Content Creation
• Books are brilliant

Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/JISCTechDis#play/uploads to view the clips. 

Many practitioners will have followed the evolution of the Xerte Online Toolkits.
Below is a quick update from JISC TechDis for this season of staff training opportunities.

1. The free and open source Xerte Online Toolkits can be downloaded from http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte/downloads/xertetoolkits.zip and installed on a server to give colleagues an easy way to create "highly accessible content with minimal skill requirement" Note: when I tried this some time ago this wasn't my experience but I'm assured lots have changed - note to self 'revisit Xerte'.
   WARNING - some IT teams have been mistaking the Xerte software (a complicated developer programme) with the Xerte Online Toolkits (a template driven tutor focused program). Ensure the correct download by using the url above!
2. There are brand new high quality teacher-training focused resources on the JISC TechDis website at http://www.techdis.ac.uk/getxerte. These show users how to get started and how to have step by step guides to some of the really popular interactivities.
3. If users want to try before installing they can have a go on the JISC TechDis sandbox - http://www.techdisplayxerte.info gets you to the right page and then login with...
   the id=techdis and
   the password=jisc.
   Full instructions on the downloadable guides at http://www.techdis.ac.uk/getxerte. The sandbox works best using FireFox - IE is 90% ok but every so often gives a code gobblydegook page on entry - clear it by refreshing and logging in again.

• Interactive Whiteboard Survey - Request from Daniel McCaffrey
  

Although every care has been taken in the preparation of this eMagazine, no warranty is given by the author, John Dalziel, or the Regional Support Centre-Northwest as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained within it and neither the authors nor the RSC-Northwest shall be responsible or liable for any errors or omissions.

Hello

My name is Dan McCaffrey, and I am the JISC Regional Support Centre South West's e-Learning Advisor for Higher Education. I am currently undertaking a Masters (MA Ed) at the University of Plymouth, and am conducting a small piece of survey based research on the current use of Interactive Whiteboards and ancillary technologies in the post-compulsory Educational context. I wonder if you would be prepared to take a few moments to complete the questionnaire <InteractiveWhiteboardsSurveyIMP.doc>, and e-mail it back to me? Alternatively, a web hosted version (to complete online) is available here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JfMTWurbvsznPX4gyscRbg_3d_3d

I append the Word based version of the survey <InteractiveWhiteboardsSurveyIMP.doc> and some more details on the survey <SurveyMoreDetails.doc> for interest. Your response would be very greatly appreciated. Likewise, if you are able to pass this onto any Colleagues who you think may be interested in participating, please feel very free to do so. You can return the Word based survey to: danmccaffrey@rsc-south-west.ac.uk

If you require any further information on the research or project, please feel free to get I touch.

Many thanks, Dan McCaffrey

eLearning Advisor-HE
JISC Regional Support Centre South West

danmccaffrey@rsc-south-west.ac.uk
07834 678160

• Firefox 3.5 Portable Available for Download
• m-Leaning, enabling accessibility
  
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

Windows only: Firefox lovers have no doubt already updated to the recently released Firefox 3.5 for its new features, but if you are more the portable type, Firefox 3.5 Portable Edition is officially available for download.

This portable version is from PortableApps.com, makers of the popular, previously included in the eMagazine, Portable Apps Suite; bringing all the goodies of Firefox 3.5 to your USB drive. Users may still need to perform a little tweaking to get their extensions working with Firefox 3.5, but apart from that the portable version looks like it's ready to go.

Find out more at http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable.

Back in April James Clay delivered the morning keynote at the RSC Eastern Mobile Learning Event, Dave Foord provided the closing keynote. James has managed to find the time to edit, encode and upload the video to his blog at http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/m-leaning-enabling-accessibility/.

• LSC's 'reckless' plans left colleges in deep debt, say MPs

England's biggest quango criticised for financial mismanagement which led to promises of £2.7bn more funding than it could afford-

-article by Jessica Shepherd

Read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/28/learning-skills-council-quango-debt.

The June issue of the Spotlight science magazine is available.

Written for Intute by science writer David Bradley, Spotlight contains topical science articles and news features.

This issue has articles on...

• meteor bombardment of the early Earth,
• a new material for preventing barnacles from sticking to ship’s hulls and
• a new source of natural gas.

Go to http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/spotlight/ to find out more.

• EduApps - a case study in sustainability
  

EduApps is a collection of open source and freeware Windows programs that can be run directly form a USB memory stick.

OSS Watch engaged in a detailed consultation with EduApps as part of our strategic project work and as a result we have a clear understanding of their attitude to sustainability and open development. 

Steve Lee tells the story at  http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/cs-eduapps.xml.

FiTES - I'm inviting you to Find, Try, Evaluate and Share.
You are the experts in your field of work, management, administration, practitioners etc., and you know what works for you! By sharing not only will you raise the awareness of your colleagues but you should also benefit from their submissions.

Share your resources by completing the form available at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p6ZzsRcFe4Rh71c9ArHs2OQ&email=true. or use the embedded form below...

 

• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Alistair McNaught, Senior Advisor JISC TechDis service
• TED Open Translation Project - Colin Gallacher
  • Take a look at Twazzup in the Reference/Research section - Kevin Hickey
    

A big thank you to Alistair McNaught for flagging this up on the Apollo Mailing List. In his words...

"From Utah State University - a collection of online interactivities demonstrating a wide range of basic maths and numeracy skills. You can buy a desktop version or go online and use the web version for free. Pity about the title (national library of virtual manipulatives) but otherwise it's perfectly normal and seems very good."

As I'm sure you will agree "Mathematics is not a spectator sport" and too much of current instruction fails to actively involve learners.

One way to address the problem is through the use of manipulatives, physical objects that help students visualize relationships and applications. Computers can now be used to create virtual learning environments to address the same goals.

 

The Utah State University team have created exciting new approaches to interactive mathematical instruction.

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a resource from which practitioners may freely draw to enrich their mathematics/key skills/family learning/ classrooms. I also feel that the materials are also of importance for those engaged in Initial Teacher Training.

Find out more and get engaged by visiting the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives at http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html.

A big thank you to my colleague Colin Gallacher for bringing this to my attention...

There are few things on the Web more educational and/or more thought provoking than TED Talks. TED, the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference, brings together some of the world’s brightest people, which in turn has produced hundreds of amazing lectures and presentations, most of which are available free via http://ted.com/.

However, they’re not accessible to all; every talk is in English, which excludes billions of people that don't speak English.

TED’s goal is simple: for every video to have a fully translated text version in as many languages as possible.

Visit http://www.ted.com/translate to find out more and/or to view a clip in the language of your choice.

By the way, when all the translations are completed, every video will have subtitles, language-specific destinations (thus you can share a specific translation), and the ability to browse by talks.

By far the coolest thing about this push are the time-coded transcripts, which makes it possible for a non-English speaker to jump to any point of the video with ease. Every sentence in every transcript can be clicked. Clicking on it will take you to the corresponding section of the talk. It’s amazingly useful and could even be helpful for brushing up on a language as well.

If you are a member of the Microblogging service Twitter, you can now receive updates from the JISC RSC-Northwest by following us at http://twitter.com/JISCRSCNW

Below is a live feed using Scoopler <http://www.scoopler.com/>

When I was teaching science my learners were directed towards Scientific American; it is highlighted in schools, further education and public libraries. I've revisited the on-line offering and discovered the Scientific American podcasts.

There are four series of podcasts created by Scientific American...

• 60 Second Science,
• 60 Second Psych,
• 60 Second Earth, and
• a set of longer podcasts (timewise) called Science Talk.

The podcasts can be downloaded and used in teaching and learning, when appropriate; they could be an appropriate educational, interesting, and entertaining way to start a science session. Learners may hear something that they want to explore further.

Find out more at http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/ and use the hyperlinks to visit the other podcasts available.

Effective Practice in a Digital Age is designed for those in further and higher education whose focus is on designing and supporting learning: academic staff, lecturers, tutors and learning support staff, facilitators, learning technologists and staff developers. What unites this diverse group is their interest in enhancing the quality of learning and teaching, and a curiosity about how technology can assist them.

Find out more and/or download the publication at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/effectivepracticedigitalage.aspx#downloads.

Ray Fleming has in his words...

"After a little bit of prompting, and a few requests, I’ve pulled the chapters of the “Good Blogging Guide” into a complete PDF booklet."

The whole thing can now be downloaded as a PDF, to read at your leisure, and share with colleagues and/or learners.

The Chapters are...

• Writing for your audience
• Have an objective
• Getting onto page one of Google
• A blogging Code of Practice
• No lawyers please
• When (if) things go wrong

Download the publication at http://blogs.msdn.com/ukfe/archive/2009/07/31/the-good-blogging-guide-pdf-version-now-available.aspx.

The July issue of the Spotlight science magazine is now available. Written for Intute by science writer David Bradley, Spotlight contains topical science articles and news features.

This issue has articles on...

• a new detector for explosive devices,
• the world’s smallest droplet of acid, and
• non-carbon nanotubes.

Access this publication at http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/spotlight/.

The best practices of e-business are revolutionising not just technology itself but the whole process through which services are provided; and from which important lessons can be learnt by post-compulsory educational institutions. This publication aims to move debates about ICT and higher education beyond a simple focus on e-learning by considering the provision of post-compulsory education as a whole.

Download the publication at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/erevolutionfull.pdf. 

A beginners’ guide to Twitter is a brief look at:

• What is Twitter?
• What can Twitter be used for?
• Ways of Twittering
• Why has Twitter been so successful?

Available as a pdf at http://www.intute.ac.uk/blog/2009/07/28/a-beginners-guide-to-twitter/.

• ArtsEdge: Podcast Directory
• Google Images Update
• Manuals Online
• Rare Book Room
• Search Operator Words explained
• Speech Accent Archive
• The Internet Bird Collection
• Twazzup

• Also take a look at Wartime cosmetics archives in the Genealogy-History Section

Arts Edge, produced by the Kennedy Centre, is a collection of podcasts, lesson plans, and links for teaching music and culture.

The podcast directory is where visitors will find an eclectic collection of podcasts featuring music ranging from Jazz in DC to Music from China. The "Teach" section of Arts Edge is a good place to find lesson plans for teaching music and culture.

Visitors don't have to be music practitioners to take advantage of the offerings from Arts Edge. Anyone, like Literature or History practitioners, that needs to incorporate lessons on culture and or music can use the podcasts and lessons offered by Arts Edge.

Find out more at http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/podcasts/artsedge.html.

I'm not going to enter the debate about should they or shouldn't they but, Google Images is the first place that a lot of people go to find images.

The problem with this until now has been that users could not easily filter results by licensing rights.

Google has introduced a new image search filter that will allow users to filter image search results by usage rights.
To use the new usage rights filter option...

• select "advanced image search" on the main Google Images page.
  Once in the "advanced image search" page, you will find the usage rights options at the bottom of the page.
• In the usage rights menu users can select one of four options...
  • Labeled for reuse
    Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and/or modify the image in ways specified in the license.
  • Labeled for commercial reuse
    Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes, in ways specified in the license.
  • Labeled for reuse with modification
    Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and modify the image in ways specified in the license.
  • Labeled for commercial reuse with modification
    Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes and modify it in ways specified in the license.

The new usage rights filter for Google Image search is a great feature to introduce to learners. The filtering options are written in such a way that it is very clear which images students can or cannot use in the creation of their digital presentations.

Try it out by going to the Advanced Image Search at http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search.

Where have I, where did you, put it?

Ever lost the manual for a...

• cellphone,
• DVD player or
• any other consumer product?

Now it can be found and download with one click at ManualsOnline.com.

ManualsOnline contains over 300,000 free downloadable manuals for different product categories including cellphones, cameras, laptops, household appliances and others.

Just visit http://www.theusermanualsite.com/.

This virtual library allows practitioners and learners to not only view but read hundreds of rare and historical copies of books, from Shakespeare to Galileo.

The "Rare Book Room" site was constructed as an educational site to allow visitors to examine and read some of the great books of the world.

Take a look yourself at http://www.rarebookroom.org/.

Rockwell Schrock's Boolean Machine, embedded below, is a simple way of demonstrating how operator words (and, or, not) function in a search engine.

Schrock's boolean machine is a simple way to show learners how the terms "and", "or", "not" affect the outcome of a search. It is a simple program to use. To use the boolean machine simply hold your mouse pointer over each word and you will see an explanation of how each operator word affects the search outcome.

Use the embedded version below or go to http://kathyschrock.net/rbs3k/boolean/#.

English is spoken by so many people all around the world but, because there are such a range of different accents, this can make it very difficult to understand.

The speech accent archive uniformly presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds.

Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and they are carefully transcribed. The archive is used by people who wish to compare and analyze the accents of different English speakers but as Nik Peachey suggests, in his Daily English Activities Blog on Friday, 24th July 2009, used appropriately speech accent archive can help ESOL, ESL, EFL learners aware of the differences; this can, in turn, help them to understand more. It is about raising awareness not about changing their accents.

Take a closer look, sorry that should be listen, at http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php.

Note: The archive was constructed as a teaching tool and as a research tool. It was meant to be used by linguists as well as others who simply wanted to listen to and compare the accents of different English speakers. The Speech Accent Archive allows users to compare the demographic and linguistic backgrounds of the speakers in order to determine which variables are key predictors of each accent.

The Internet Bird Collection is a website dedicated to everything birds.

The Internet Bird collection is a comprehensive library of bird...

• sounds,
• videos and
• photographs

...that is available to the general public free of charge.

The library currently lists around 10000 bird species. Users may...

• search for birds,
• browse them by...
  • families,
  • genera,
  • species,
  • regions, and
• view most popular bird listings.

Each bird listing contains a short description of a bird accompanied with related photographs, videos and audio sounds. Most of the content on the site is submitted by bird enthusiasts.

To find out more visit http://ibc.lynxeds.com/.

Another search engine specifically for Twitter. Along with Scoopler, that I included last month, twazzup enhances twitter as a collaborative tool for education.

Take a look at http://www.twazzup.com/.

Thanks to Kevin Hickey, FE Adviser, for flagging up this search engine.

Overview of Resources, in this month's eMagazine, that could be use in Art...

• OLAS creative Arts
  
• Pencake
  
• PsykoPaint
  • Take a look at Celebrities Upside Down pictures in the eBreak Section and
    
  • NGA Kids in the Family Learning Section.
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section.

The National Gallery has launched a new outreach programme encouraging young men detained in Feltham Young Offenders Institution to engage with the creative arts.

The programme, named Inside Art, will be undertaken by groups of 18- to 21-year-old men at the institution and will include sessions on sculpture, drawing, painting and gilding. It is the first programme to be run in Feltham's new art academy.

Inside Art will culminate with an exhibition of the young men's work at the National Gallery in 2010.

Find out more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gallery/2009/jun/12/feltham-young-offenders-art-national-gallery?picture=348786169.

PenCake is a web application that allows users to easily draw and send out personal ecards.

Users can...

• add any colour to their ecard,
• insert shapes
• insert text,
• change the thickness of the brush

...and do much more.

Once satisfied, users can...

• save it and
• email it.

Users can also browse and send eCards created by other artists and even see how they were created using the “replay” option

This could be a nice activity for Family Learning and, although I haven't  had time to try it out, should work very well on an interactive whiteboard.

Try it out at http://www.pencake.com/. 

Give images an original painting feel by checking out PsykoPaint.com.

By using this online tool learners can now turn photographs into paintings just by grabbing one of the provided brushes...

• strokes,
• polygons,
• particles,
• shapes,
• ribbons,
• geometrics etc

...and start painting on top of an uploaded image.

Blend modes like...

• darken,
• hardlight,
• multiply,
• overlay, and more are also available.

The colour selection is done automatically, users basically select the item and apply it.

When completed users can download it to a computers or publish it on the PsykoPaint gallery for everyone to see. Users can also check out the public gallery to see what others have produced.

Like any media, it takes time and practice...

Check it out at http://www.psykopaint.com/.

Overview of Resources, in this month's eMagazine, that could be use in Catering...

• Take a look at Designer Lokesh Dhakar: Coffee in the Design Section
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section
    

Overview of Resources, in this month's eMagazine, that could be use in Design...

• Designer Lokesh Dhakar: Coffee
• Grunge Textures
  
  • Take a look at Celebrities Upside Down pictures in the eBreak
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

Designer Lokesh Dhakar wanted a visual way to represent the composition of different styles of espresso preparations:

"I‘m new to the world of fancy coffee drinks. With the vast number of ordering options and new words with accented characters to pronounce the coffee shop ordering experience can be intimidating. I've created a few small illustrations to help myself and others wrap their head around some of the small differences."

After researching espresso drinks Lokesh Dhakar put together a visual chart showing everything from straight espresso through the multi-ingredient caffé mocha.

The entire chart is available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/two-eyes/1285147549/sizes/o/ and features nine espresso-based drinks.

GrungeTexture is a web resource that lists a free collection of high quality background textures focused mainly on weathered and worn surfaces.

Anyone can download and use them without restrictions.

Users can...

• search images,
• browse by categories; 18 currently
• view popular and latest additions.

Each image includes additional information such as...

• size,
• user rating,
• number of views and
• related tags.

There are currently 1338 high resolution images.

Go to http://www.grungetextures.com/ to find out  more.

Overview of Resources, in this month's eMagazine, that could be use in Engineering...

• ASCEville
• Concrete Crusher in Action
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

ASCE, the American Society of Civil Engineers, has created a website for learners of all ages to learn about various aspects of civil engineering.

ASCEville is an interactive website that learners can use to find out how civil engineers, in the USA, plan sewer and transportation systems in a city. Learners can also learn about the basics of building design.

Beyond the splash page, that does take a little time to load, learners can meet "real civil engineers" and discover their dream job in engineering.

For practitioners, ASCEville offers resources and links to lesson plans.

ASCEville could be...

• a good resource for practitioners of maths and science to use to show learners the types of jobs done by civil engineers.
• useful as an introduction to city planning and design.
• useful for comparison with civil engineering here in the UK.

Visit http://content.asce.org/asceville/index.html to find out more.

A video clip, where you'll see a column of solid concrete going up against over 1.4 million pounds of force; watch the video below or go to http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=307_1247260320.

There is also a Health & Safety issue here as there is absolutely no safety barrier between the concrete and the observers.

Overview of Resources, in this month's eMagazine, that could be use in Family Learning...

• All Systems Go!
• Awen: Freebies
• Help Kidz Learn
• Math eBook
• NGA Kids
  

• Take a look at Math Tool Chest in the Mathematics Section

• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

If Family Learning or Science practitioners are looking for an interactive resource to review the four major body systems then they should head over to All Systems Go! 

Users will meet Arnold who is in need of help to get his organs put correctly back into his body!

Once users click on the start button the name of an organ will appear at the bottom of the page and players must drag all of the organs that belong in that system into Arnold’s body.  Be careful, though, because if users drag the wrong organ into Arnold all of the organs will move back to the box.

Try it out for yourself at http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html.

Awen is offering ten free interactive activities designed specifically to use with an Interactive White Board.

• Just click on an image and then
• Double click on the application that you want to run (windows or mac). 

Users can also print out instructions for ten playground games.

Visit http://www.b-dag.com/freebies to find out more and/or to download the activities. 

I've mentioned Help Kidz Learn before but Help Kidz Learn has added three new activities.

A mouse, mouse emulator, touch screen or interactive white board accessible...

1. colouring book.
2. bubble popping game.
3. piano.

Go to http://www.helpkidzlearn.com/index.html# to try them out.

Math eBook is a collection of mathematics tutorials and worksheets.

There are tutorials available in print and video form ideal for family learning and/or key (functional) skills. Worksheets are available as PDF downloads or learners can use the worksheets in their online interactive form.

I do like the quote from the website...

" We do not encourage our readers to take print out as we want to save trees, very few people know 1 ream (500 sheets) uses 6% of a average size adult tree (and those add up quickly!)" 

Math eBook could be a good general mathematics resource for practitioners and/or learners. The worksheets in PDF can be edited and used for classroom practice or homework assignments. In the virtual form, the worksheets could be a good review tool for learners preparing for an assessment.

Take a look at  http://www.mathebook.net/.

I've just returned from Washington DC (USA), where the National Gallery of Art have produced Seven online interactive art activities for family learning and/or Initial Teacher Training.

Using these activities learners can...

• explore elements of digital photograph editing,
• explore elements of colour, and
• experiment with different styles of painting.

Three of the featured activities are...

• Brushster - where users mix and match colors to create abstract art.
• Dutch Doll House - an interactive exhibit in which users explore the 17th century home and studio of a Dutch artist. and
• Collage Machines - there are two, give users a platform for creating collages of art samples.

The National Gallery of Art's website has other resources that family learning practitioners and learners may want to explore. The National Gallery of Art's videos and podcasts take watchers and listeners behind the scenes of the gallery's exhibits. They also give access to lectures and talks with scholars and artists. The National Gallery of Art has dozens of online tours of the gallery's collections. Each tour includes the images accompanied by descriptions of the works and brief biographical information about the artists.

Find out more at http://www.nga.gov/kids/.

Overview of Resources, in this month's eMagazine, that could be used in a number of curriculum areas...

• iColorFolder
• Kuku Klok
• Photovisi
• World Images Kiosk
  • Take a look at TED Open Translation Project in the Over2U Section and
  • Google Earth Blog: YouTube Channel in the eCPD section.
    
• Why don't you suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

When there are too many folders on a drive it’s hard to find the ones you are looking for. Many Managers, Practitioners, Administrators, Learners etc., have that very problem;so why not use colour to make folders stand out from among the sea of yellow folders. That way users can quickly locate folders at a glance (Apologies to those who are colourblind).

I use an open source software called iColorFolder. It allows me to choose from up to 7 different colours and optionally several different folder icons.

iColorFolder integrates with the explorer context menu - just right click on any folder and choose a colour.

To download and/or find out more go to http://icolorfolder.sourceforge.net/.

KuKu Klok is an Online alarm clock, yes I know there are many, that Users simply...

• set the clock and
• pick an alarm sound – there are five fun, but somewhat annoying sounds. 

KuKu Klok can be used on an interactive White Board as a practitioner friendly way to remind learners when they are participating in an activity with a time limit.

Try it out yourself at http://kukuklok.com/. 

Photvisi is a fun, easy to use site that allows users to create some collages using their photographs.

There is no registration, simply create and save (or take a screen shot) - very easy. The collage below is an example of a Photvisi that I created of pictures from "Pub Strolls".

Users are given 18 different templates to create their collage. A great way to visually review or introduce a lesson or simply document an important event.

Try it out for yourself at http://www.photovisi.com/.

The World Images Kiosk hosted by San Jose State University offers more than 75,000 images that practitioners and learners can use in their academic projects.

All of the images can be used under a Creative Commons license that requires you to give proper attribution when necessary. Images can be found by...

• using the search box or
• by browsing through more than 800 portfolios and groups organized by subject.

As I've noted many times before, finding images that learners can use for digital presentations can be difficult. Resources like the World Images Kiosk can be a valuable resource as practitioners and/or learners know that they can use any image they find in the collection. Images could be used to initiate VoiceThread conversations, used in Animoto videos, or, if users have to, slide presentations.

Go to http://worldimages.sjsu.edu/ to find out more.

Overview of Geography Resources included in this eMagazine...

• Bookmaplet: Address Mapping
• Map Folding Techniques
• My Mini City
  
  • Take a look at Google Earth Blog: YouTube Channel in the eCPD Section Section
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

Bookmaplet is a handy browser bookmarlet which lets you quickly view a map of any address users find online without having to leave the page you are on.

To set up just...

• drag provided bookmarklet onto a browser

Whenever an address is located on a webpage users can...

• highlight it using a mouse
• click the Bookmaplet,

...a small pop-up frame will appear in the top right corner displaying the location of the address on a Google map...

Go to http://www.bookmaplet.com/ to set it up on your browser. 

"One of the first considerations in the care of maps is its proper folding."

This website highlights two different map-folding methods that should improve any users map credibility; it's the protection method that needs looking at closely. Not only does it provide you with a very small, easy to peruse map, but it's also a clever way to make a 16-page mini-notebook from a sheet of printer paper.

With a little planning, a template could be made for a wide range of publications.

To find out more go to http://www.map-reading.com/appendb.php. 

Looking for a city simulator that introduces learners to real-life challenges facing city development and planning including unemployment, sanitation, overpopulation, and natural disaster? Well look no further, My Mini City does not require practitioners and/or learners to download or update any software, it is a completely web-based application.

As an entirely web-based application it has an advantage over other city simulators on the market today.

A good teaching resource for...

• Geography and Social Studies practitioners will like the fact that My Mini City includes simulations of a  number of real life problems, making learners account for number of geographic, economic, and political concepts.
• Earth Science practitioners will like My Mini City's sanitation, population, and natural disaster simulations.
• Language practitioners will like My Mini City's French, Spanish and English options.

Find out more and or try it out at http://myminicity.com/.

Overview of Genealogy - History Resources included in this eMagazine...

• A Vision of Britain Through Time
• Timelines TV - British and American History Videos
• Wartime cosmetics archives

• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

A History of Britain's changing places and lives is put online.

The JISC-funded A Vision of Britain Through Time website has been launched, giving access, often for the first time, to over two centuries' worth of...

• facts,
• figures,
• surveys,
• maps,
• election results and
• travel writing

...showing how 15,000 UK places have changed.

Find out more by visiting http://vision.port.ac.uk/.

 

Timelines.TV is a website companion to a BAFTA award-winning television series.

On Timelines.TV visitors will find...

• four series of documentary videos arranged chronologically. There are...
  • three series about British history; social, political, and imperial and
  • one series about the American West in the 19th Century.

Users can...

• browse for videos using the timeline at the bottom of the homepage or
• use the drop-down menu at the top of every page. 

I've only had time to watch videos from the British History series, but if the rest of the videos are as good as those that I've watched, Timelines.TV is a high-quality production.

As well as being a resource to supplement practitioners' classroom instruction, Timelines.TV provides a model for learner projects. Practitioners can encourage learners to use online tools, like Animoto, to create their own history videos. Then use other tools like XTimeline to organize and display the resulting videos.

Find out more by visiting http://www.timelines.tv/.

The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) and the London College of Fashion announced a collaboration that has seen the photographic archives of three important cosmetics companies made accessible online for the first time.

The archives of Gala, Miner’s and Crystal, three prominent cosmetics companies operating during and after the Second World War, are held at London College of Fashion and have been digitised and made freely accessible through the ‘Enhancing VADS’ project, funded as part of the Enriching Digital Resources programme from JISC.

The collection is available at http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/LCFGALA.

Overview of Key Skills Resources included in this eMagazine...

• Multiplication Practice
• Word Magnets
  • Take a look at Math Tool Chest in the Mathematics Section
    
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

An online activity from http://www.learnyourtables.co.uk/ that will help learners practice and reinforce their multiplication tables.

There are three options available for practice including...

1. Drag and drop- drag equation to match the answer
2. Enter an Answer- provides an equation with keyboard to enter an answer and
3. Assessment- same as Enter an Answer however it gives learners a score at the end.

In addition learners can practice either single or mixed tables. The Drag and drop option works very well on interactive white boards.

The Word Magnet resource, that I've included in an earlier eMagazine, includes some new features which will make the software even more effective.

For example...

• users can now remove any unwanted magnets from the board.
• improvements have been made to the 'colour coding' option. (Selecting the box containing an 'X' will retain any changes to the colour of the magnets as they are moved around an interactive whiteboard.)

Word Magnets can be used to:

• Display and colour code key words and ideas
• Improve spelling by breaking words into individual letters or phonemes
• Remove and replace words to improve vocabulary
• Improve grammar by colour coding nouns, verbs, adjectives and so on
• Quickly alter the order of words in a sentence
• Drag words into groups
• Put words or ideas into rank order
• Create a time line
• Create a simple scoreboard which is easy to update
• Display calculations and let learners add and drag the answers
• Create a seating plan

A number of optional backgrounds have been added to the resource which will hopefully help with sorting activities, revision lessons and so on.

Pressing the 'Up Arrow' key will now display a 'print friendly' white background to your Word Magnet board.

Try it out yourself at http://www.triptico.co.uk/flashFiles/wordMagnets/WordMagnets.html. 

Overview of Mathematics Resources included in this eMagazine...

• Math Tool Chest
• Maths worksheet generators
• Wolfram Mathworld
  • Take a look at National Library of Virtual Manipulatives in the Over2U Section and
  • Multiplication Practice in the Key Skills Section
    
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

The Math Tool Chest is a collection of eleven mathematics games and activities written in both English and Spanish.

The games and activities are designed for learning about the basics of mathematics including...

• Tables
• Coin Toss,
• Spinner,
• Number Line,
• Counter,
• Graphs,
• Fractions,
• Attributes,
• Place Value,
• Money (USA) and
• Pattern Blocks.

Math Tool Chest could be a good resource for...

• key skills (Numeracy) Learners.
• learners learning Spanish mathematics terms - switch between English and Spanish
• ESOL, EFL, ESL etc., as audio is produced with "mouse-overs".

Note: At the time of going to press, it works better in IE7 than Firefox

Find out more and/or try it out at http://macmillanmh.com/math/mathtoolchest/mtc_online/.

The Math Worksheet website offers a mixture of free and paid worksheet generators.

The free section of the site offers practitioners twenty-three worksheet generators covering all aspects of key skills numeracy. There are a few options for customizing these worksheets. Most of the options regard the number of problems that are on each worksheet.

Some of you may be surprised that I've included this 'dead-tree' tool but try as we might to create paperless classrooms, sometimes practitioners and learners alike still have the urge to reach for a worksheet (old habits die hard, I guess). One of those times when a learner may need extra practice and/or extension work.

Find out more at http://themathworksheetsite.com/.

Wolfram Mathworld, a predecessor of Wolfram Alpha that I've mentioned in an earlier publication, lives up to its strap-line of being "The Web's Most Extensive Mathematics Resource."

It is a clearly thought out resource of mathematical terms, concepts, and visual references; a maths version of Wikipedia, but it's not open to the public editing it.

Users can...

• enter a concept in the search area, and it's quite good at matching up the relevant information. Or
• use the left-side menu bar to navigate to their area of interest.

Mathworld has got everything from number theory to recreational maths. The Interactive Entries area contains...

• animated GIFs,
• interactive lessons, and
• several other resources make this a great place to both send learners for explanations and also for practitioners to get ideas for their own presentations of mathematical concepts.

Find out more at http://mathworld.wolfram.com/.

 

Overview of Media Resources included in this eMagazine...

• Podsafe Audio
  • Take a look at Celebrities Upside Down pictures in the eBreak Section
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

Creating podcasts and videos can be a great way to get learners engaged. But one of the common concerns that practitioners have is locating music that can be used without violating copyright.

PodSafe Audio could be could be just what they are looking for; a place to locate and download free music for multimedia presentations.

PodSafe Audio is a community of musicians who create music and share it for the purpose of fair-use in podcasts.

Visit http://podsafeaudio.com/jamroom/index.php?t=browse_song&g=Podsafe+Mashup to listen and/or download. 

Overview of Science Resources included in this eMagazine...

• 100 Incredible Lectures from the World’s Top Scientists
• Biointeractive Virtual Labs
• Freezeray
• Insect Images
• Interactively explore the Apollo 11 landing site
• Internet Pathology Library
• Star Size Comparison HD
  
  • Take a look at Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot in the Thoughts-Beliefs Section and
  • All Systems Go! in the Family Learning Section
    
• Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

The title says it all. Lots of science lectures from leading thinkers. Some scientists (Dawkins, Hawking, etc.) listed here are household names.

Take a closer look at http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2009/06/18/100-incredible-lectures-from-the-worlds-top-scientists/.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute are involved in a lot of important biological research, and they also make the results of this research available to the public in many ways. One way is through the Biointeractive Virtual Labs.

As the name of the site suggests, users can access five virtual, interactive labs...

• The Transgenic Fly Virtual Lab,
• The Bacterial Identification Lab,
• The CardiologyLab,
• The Neurophysiology Lab and
• The ImmunologyLab.

These virtual labs introduce learners to some very advanced biological techniques.

• Selecting one of the virtual labs to access an interactive environment with two components.
  • The interactive portion, where you are "doing the lab" - talking to patients, moving things into test tubes, etc.
  • The "lab notebook," which has quizzes, informational guides, and notes.

Each of the virtual labs is self-contained and very learner-directed; they could be used as either a whole-class activity, or an enrichment activity for more advanced learners.

A way to expose learners to some cutting edge research techniques that don't quite fit your learning provider's laboratory budget;

Check out these virtual labs at http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/index.html.

 

Freezeray is a bank of imaginative, highly visual teaching-aids.

There are several interactive lessons/activities for...

• Physics,
• Chemistry,
• Biology,
• Investigations,
• Scientific Literacy and
• Technology 

Users will need to have Adobe Flash downloaded to access these activities.

The resources are designed to be used as rich sources of visually stimulating material making use of both animations and drag-n-drop interactivity.

Find out more by visiting http://freezeray.com/index.html. 

Insect Images is the result of the efforts of a large number of people.

The overall objective of Insect Images is: to provide an accessible and easily used archive of high quality images related to insects and entomology, with particular emphasis on educational applications.

Insect Images have strived to provide accurate and correct identifications, taxonomy and descriptions. However, they recognize that invariably errors will occur and urge visitors to be the final quality control option.

To find out more visit http://www.insectimages.org/.

I work with colleagues who don't remember the first walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, in fact they were not even be born then, but they can re-live the first moon walk with a new interactive feature on NASA’s website. This new feature lets visitors experience what only 12 people in the history of mankind have experienced.

On the Explore Apollo 11 landing site users can...

• pan around the landing site,
• go inside the lunar lander Eagle, and
• visit other locations around Tranquility Base.

Users can also listen to the audio of the Moon to Earth radio communication. I think it is great fun.

Try it out at http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_landing/index.html.

The Internet Pathology Library for Medical Education, is a project produced by the combined efforts of Mercer University School of Medicine and The University of Utah.

The entire library consists of snapshots taken by pathology students of human organs taken in various states of disease (after the person has died, obviously.)

This popular web resource includes over 1900 images along with text, tutorials, laboratory exercises, and examination items for self-assessment that demonstrate gross and microscopic pathologic findings associated with human disease conditions.

To find out more visit http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html#MENU.

There are several videos available showing a comparison of the largest stars. I like this particular clip, I hope you like it...

You can access this online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q.

Overview of Sports-Leisure Resources included in this eMagazine...

• Golf: Lesson Finder
• Tennis: Player Developmant Digital Library
  
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

A clear interface with lots of information.

Golf.com has a section called “Lesson Finder”: <http://www.golf.com/golf/generic/0,31317,1887947,00.html>

Visitors can select from a variety of different topics, including “basics”; there is a wide selection of videos and articles to learn about how to...

• swing a golf club,
• get the shot you want, and
• learn more about the game.

These videos and articles are all certified and submitted by GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 golf teachers.

To find out more go to http://www.golf.com/golf/.

The USTA Player Development Digital Library is an online resource for those who want to learn and/or improve Tennis. The site provides around 80 video clips of the best players (Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Sybille Bammer…) in the world executing various shots including...

• Serves,
• Returns,
• Ground strokes, and
• Complete Points.

The great thing about these video clips is that users can control and manipulate them, by...

• slowing down,
• advancing frame-by-frame,
• speeding up or
• pausing.

This way users can view players' technique and use it to establish proper fundamentals in all of their strokes. Additional comments explaining the stroke mechanics are also provided. 

Find out more by visiting http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/pdmediabooks/players.asp?section=players&page=1.

Overview of Thoughts-Beliefs Resources included in this eMagazine...

• Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot
• Miniature Earth
  
  • Why not suggest a resource, that you use or feel has potential, in our Over2U section

This is taken from Carl Sagen's book. Having him read to you is something else.

"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish this pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known"
– Carl Sagan.

Enough said, look and listen...

Or view at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M.

A very powerful, thought provoking video called The Miniature Earth.

To view...

• Go to http://www.miniature-earth.com/index.html
• Click on the preferred language
  • English,
  • French,
  • Spanish, etc.–
• and watch. 

The world is far to large for many learners to get to grips with "stuff"! The premise of the movie is to demonstrate what the world would look like if the population was reduced to only 100 people. 

The statistics are very eye opening.  This is an ideal video to share with learners to elicit conversation about world hunger and poverty and the need to accept differences in our cultures and beliefs. I think the video is very powerful indeed.

The online image editing tool Aviary <http://aviary.com/home>recently announced another new method for easily creating screen captures of webpages without having to install any software.

To use this method simply...

• type "aviary.com/" before the url of the page you're viewing.
• this will launch the Aviary image editor at which point users can...
  • draw,
  • highlight, and
  • crop the screen capture.
• When editing is completed, users can save the screen capture to their computer.

To read full instructions on how to use Aviary to create screen captures go to http://aviary.com/blog/posts/capture-any-webpage-just-add-aviarycom-in-front-of-the-url.

This little trick from Aviary is worth sharing with colleagues and/or learners that need to create screen captures.

To find out more about Aviary watch the video clip below and/or go to http://aviary.com/home.

Loogix is a free online gif animator which can help practitioners and learners alike, create powerful GIF animations out of ordinary photos.

The resulting GIF image could be created using a single or multiple pictures.

Sign up isn’t required and users can start directly by...

• uploading pictures.
• Add effects like...
  • Radial Blur,
  • Blur,
  • Swirl,
  • Motley,
  • Guggle,
  • Movie,
  • Negative and
  • many more to the image,
• hit generate animation and that's it!

The animated image can be downloaded or shared directly on popular social networks.

To find out more and/or to try it out, go to http://www.loogix.com/.

Here is one I made earlier...

Image Chef allows users to create some very unique, one of a kind logos, word art, image effects, etc.

Once created it allows users to embed their creation into a blog wiki or practitioners could take a screen shot to add it to their Notebook Lesson.

Check out all the fun things you can make at Image Chef by visiting http://www.imagechef.com/.

Here is one I made earlier...

Microsoft has been very social with their Office 2010 introductions, and YouTube is full of introductory videos to Office 2010.

Check out the ones that most likely matter most to you at http://www.youtube.com/user/officevideos.

Ript is a research tool that allows users to organize their thoughts, tasks, inspirations, ambitions and so much more.

Have you...

• ever made a list?
• torn a page from a magazine?
• bookmarked a Web page "for future reference?

Then Ript may well be a tool for you; get more done, in less time... with less stress.

Rip just about anything.

• Ript is part scrapbook, part "to-do" list,
• Ript mimics the actions of ripping, piling and arranging scraps of information. If you can see it on your computer, you can "rip" it. Simply drag and drop images and text from the internet or your computer and arrange them however you please - making it easy to compile, print and share your handiwork.

Download and/or find out more at http://ript.com/.

Here are some images I Ripped earlier...

Take a look at the quick start help at http://ript.com/quickstart.

Screenjelly records a user's screen activity with their voice so they can disseminate it, to colleagues and/or learners, as a video via Twitter or email.

My first attempt  can be viewed at http://www.screenjelly.com/user/acljohn. or http://www.screenjelly.com/watch/f_74o9Xon7c.

To sign up and make your own video go to http://www.screenjelly.com/.

Note: Users will need a Twitter Account

SupaLogo is a simple and quick 'text' logo maker that enables users to create nice logos with few clicks.

Users can easily customize these logos in terms of...

• text
• colour,
• outline,
• size,
• font
• gradient

To use just...

• enter desired text into provided field
• use the optionsbutton to customize the logo
• when satisfied download it as png file or use snippy or other screen capture tool

No sign up and it is free at http://supalogo.com/.

As usual here are two I made earlier...

 

"I've tried Twitter and found that it just isn't my thing, how can I (if I can) delete the account."

You can indeed delete the account and if like you readers want to delete their account or, have an extra account that they don't use, they can delete that as well. It does mean that your Twitter ID becomes available for others to use.

Just...

• Go to Twitter and login to your account.
• In the upper-right corner, select Settings.
  
• Select the Accounts tab.
  
• Go to the bottom of the page and click the Delete my account link.
  
• When the confirmation dialog box appears, click the Okay, fine, delete my account button.

It is as easy as that!

My posterous Blog provides a 'drip-feed' of eMagazine items, throughout the month.

Either subscribe to the RSS feed or visit http://acljohn.posterous.com/ for your daily update.

N.B. Notification of publication also via Twitter (search for #wdlih or go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23wdlih)

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