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...

Last Call for your Votes: Get on Board

Becta, the organisation which promotes the best use of technology in education, has now launched the exciting Next Generation Learning Awards and entries are coming in thick and fast. Ultimately Becta will look to reward all types of learning provider in the FE and Skills sector and seek to identify those nationwide who are fully confident in the use of technology.

In total there are seven awards up for grabs that recognise and celebrate those leading the way in the use of technology to transform organisation and learners experiences in...

• further education,
  
• work-based learning,
  
• adult and community learning,
  
• offender learning,
  
• specialist colleges and the
  
• voluntary sector.

The entries deadline of 9 July 2008 is fast approaching so if your learning provider is already using technology in innovative or exciting ways to improve the way you learn then make sure you nominate them for a Next Generation Learning Award.

More information about taking part...

• can be found at http://www.becta.org.uk/nextgenerationlearningawards

or

• alternatively by ringing the Becta Awards team on 024 7641 6994

or

• e-mailing nextgenerationlearningawards@becta.org.uk.
  

These awards are part of an initiative that Becta hopes will transform our education and training system for the better, enabling people to get better results, creating a more highly skilled workforce to benefit the UK economy so what are you waiting for?

Get on Board!

I seem to be revisiting Blogs this month;

• How strong is your capacity to learn?
• Can you...
  • leap complex concepts with a single bound?
  • Master a new language faster than a speeding locomotive?
  • Roll your eyes at hyperbole without even blinking?

Perhaps you are a super learner.

Read more of Jeff Cobb's blog entry at http://blog.missiontolearn.com/2008/06/5-traits-of-the-super-learner/. 

A Blidget is a widget that displays your blog. (As can be seen above)

Put a Blidget on your website!

People can easily get your Blidget using the Get Widget link we place beneath it.

Widgetbox will also feature your Blidget in the Widgetbox gallery, the world’s largest widget gallery and a destination for millions of users looking for widgets.

Make your own Blidget at http://docs.widgetbox.com/developers/blidget/.

Yes I know Nik Peachey's blog had appeared here before but this entry is well worth a visit.

Go to http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/05/creating-wiki.html to find out why. 

This video will help you to understand 'Geocaching'...

...then visit http://web.mac.com/jnxyz/mlearn/Home/Entries/2008/6/3_GPs-based_spatial_learning.html to read about the potential of geocaching in education.

Note: If you think, as I did, "there wont be much in my area"; think again! There were 4113 geocaches near Liverpool! WOW!

Joe Dale offers practical tips and advice on using ICT to enhance the teaching of modern foreign languages

Read more or subscribe at http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/. 

• What is the best way to give feedback on a piece of work produced in Google Docs?
• What formatting tools are most appropriate to use when leaving comments?
  
• How do you organise 30 to 60 pieces of work handed in to you?
  
• How do children hand in work?
  
• What new possibilities does this process uncover?

Read Tom Barrett's blog where he explores his ideas and experiences of ICT in his classroom.

Imagine how post-16 learners must feel when they have experienced this and continue their learning in further education (HE, FE, ACL, WBL etc)!

Do we meet their expectations?

Go to http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/06/29/marking-work-in-google-docs/ to read what Tom has to say. 

I subscribe to an RSS feed for this Blog, finding the content both interesting and useful. For those Learning Providers who are using or considering using blogs and/or encouraging learners to use blogs in innovative ways (ePDP Portfolios perhaps) this entry may be useful...

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/the-bloggers-glossary/ 

The UNU Media Studio, we are told, was established in March 2003 and works in collaboration with a global network of partners to develop and share open educational resources. Through a small team based in Tokyo, the UNU promotes innovation in the building of interactive content and video documentaries that engage, entertain and educate.

Take a look at both the blog and the website...

• Blog at http://www.mediastudio.unu.edu/en/
  
• Home page - http://www.mediastudio.unu.edu/en/home/
• Or their YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/UNUChannel.
  

The JISC e-Learning Programme will be running its third international Online Conference Innovating e-Learning 2008 between 4^th – 7^th November. The theme for this year’s event is Learning in a Digital Age - Are we prepared?

 Theme 1: Embracing the future now asks us to assess how prepared we really are for models of learning and teaching appropriate for a digital age. Questions posed by this theme include:

• How can we use technology in ways that enrich learners’ experiences and enhance curriculum design and delivery?
• What impact might curriculum redesign have on learning and teaching in the subject disciplines?

Theme 2: Going boldly into the dark explores the uncertain but stimulating possibilities technology will bring to learning and teaching in the future. Disruptive and mobile technologies in the hands of IT literate learners are already changing current practice. What is coming next on the horizon? Questions posed by this theme include:

• Who will drive the learning process? What is the future of the relationship between learners, their tutors and institutions?
• What are the benefits and issues around learning in immersive worlds?
• How can institutions plan for the future?

Keynote speakers include Gilly Salmon, Professor of E-learning & Learning Technologies, University of Leicester

Last year's Innovating e-Learning online conference was voted a success by 322 delegates taking part from 12 countries: 'I've done a few online conferences, and this one  has by far been the best organised and most worthwhile in terms of quality of discussion.'
Keith Smyth, Napier University.

Register your place now for this year's event. Booking is open at www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference08. Cost: £50 per delegate. Programme to be confirmed.

GOOD NEWS TROUPES!

Dear RSC Advisers

This is just a quick email to let you know some good news. We have recently tendered for the E-Guides training programme 2008 - 2009 and been successful.

We are now in the process of updating the materials, preparing publicity and booking venues for E-Guides events from September 2008 onwards.

We will send you further details as soon as we can.

In the meantime please let people in your region know that we will announce dates as soon as possible and that if they would like to be added to the waiting list to email e-guides@niace.org.uk.

People on the waiting list will be emailed directly as soon as dates are available.

Thanks

Kind Regards

Sarah Perry
Research Assistant
ICT & Learning Team
National Institute of Adult Continuing Education

HP's templated documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are available for free, so you don’t have to build everything from brochures to letterhead from the ground up.

Hewlett-Packard offers a broad range of free templates for business use online.

The “Business Identity Kits” that HP offer may be of special interest. They are offered as unified ensembles that coordinate designs for your letterhead, envelopes, brochures and more.

Visit http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity/office/ and find out more.

Note: The are many other similar sites including Microsofts own.

CloudPrint is a tiny PDF Printer program for your Windows desktop that lets you print documents to PDF, and instantly store and share them online.

• Download and install the virtual printer driver on your PC.
• Once installed, a new ‘Print with CloudPrint’ option will be added to your print menu (in all programs).
• When you print documents using the CloudPrint “virtual printer” they will be converted to PDF and stored on CloudPrint's server.
• CloudPrint will ask you for your mobile number so that it can send you an SMS message (free) when your doc is ready.
• You’ll also get a unique code to retrieve and download the document.
• Documents can be retrieved from any computer, all you need is the document code.

CloudPrint Features:

• Your documents are accessible and available to be printed out from any PC that has internet.
• Store and print as many documents as you want.
• CloudPrint works only in US, Canada, UK and Europe.
• Convert webpages to PDF by sending an SMS with URL link to +4477814 88791.
• Convert webpages to PDF via email.
• Share converted documents with colleagues/learners.
• Enter your address or post code and find public printers within 50 mile vicinity.

Find out more and/or try it out at http://www.cloudprint.net/.

What is The Internet Pinboard?

"It’s a very very very BIG pinboard! Much like a regular pinboard or notice board found in your home, office and local store, but way BIGGER with a massive global audience and global appeal. Anyone can post almost anything and it’s FREE for non-commercial use. It’s a really cool, new visual way, of discovering new kinds of stuff from undiscovered artists to the very best and important internet content. The actual pinboard is currently an editable 1.6 gigapixel image but we have developed in-house technology on top of the Zoomify viewer that enables us to quickly edit and deploy multi-terabyte images over the internet!"

See if you can find our pin (Number 11) at http://www.internet-pinboard.com/Pinboard.html.

• Do all the recipients of your email attachments have Microsoft Office?
• Do you have Microsoft Office 2007?
• Do you worry that recipients of your emails may not be able to view the attached documents?
• Do you worry that the attachments may be blocked because the files are too large?
  
• How can you ensure all attachments can be viewed by all recipients?

iPaper@Scribd may be the solution you have been looking for; it is a new service (from Scribd) that makes it easy for you to email document attachments to others and ensure that everyone is able to open and view them.

• Just add ipaper@scribd.com to CC field in your email and iPaper will do the rest.
  
  • All attached documents will be automatically converted to iPaper format and forwarded to each recipient.
  • Recipients can view attached files directly in the browser, the only requirement is internet connection.
    This way you never have to worry whether recipients can view the documents.

If you sent to your colleagues and/or learners a Microsoft Word file via iPaper@Scribd, not only they will be able to view the file online but also download it to their computers.

Currently iPaper@Scribd supports following document formats:

• Word (doc, docx),
• PowerPoint (ppt, pptx, pps),
• Excel (xls, xlsx),
• PDF (pdf, ps),
• Open Office (odt, odp, sxw, sxi, etc.), and
• Text docs (txt, rtf).

If you already have a Scribd account make sure that your email address matches the email on file in your Scribd Account. That way, all files you send will be automatically added to your Scribd account as private documents.

Find out more at http://www.scribd.com/ipaper@scribd.

Here is a simple utility for Windows- administrators/practitioners/learners who have trouble remembering what they were doing or were planning to do:

NextAction. The idea of NextAction is simple: it gives you a floating, editable window that stays on top of the rest of the clutter on your desktop. Context menus, accessed by right-clicking the NextAction window,let you control things like font, color, transparency, and floating behavior.

I've used it for the two or three things that I'm trying to keep in mind or to jot down phone numbers I need to call back etc.

"Stop trying to juggle seven things at once -- keep them in your ever-present mental backup system.

Everything about NextAction is designed to ease your burden:

• Saves automatically
• Gets out of your way automatically
• Responds to keyboard or mouse
• Floats above other windows

Think of it as a way to keep yourself on course despite the ups and downs of life."

NextAction is free from http://timesnapper.com/NextAction/.

Protonotes is a service that provide a simple and elegant solution to a collaboration need - annotating web sites that are works in progress with sticky notes. (http://www.protonotes.com/)

Re-launched about a month ago, from its previous incarnation as an Internet Explorer based tool, Mike Padilla’s now cross-platform Protonotes lets site designers and developers add annotation capability to a web site, service, application or prototype by simply dropping in a few lines of Javascript code.

I thought I'd try it in eXe to see if it would be useful as a feedback/collaboration/review/etc additional tool.

Once the code is added to your pages, any visitors to the site are able to add, remove and edit notes (see the black toolbar above) without the need for any additional software, browser extensions or client applications. It’s also possible to wire in a MySQL database to store notes, in case you want to keep things inside a controlled environment.

If you can operate a Post-It note, you can use Protonotes!

Go on give some polite feedback.

Try if for yourself

This page has Protonotes installed on it. You'll see the Protonotes menubar at the top of the page. It's very easy to use:

• To create a new note, click "New Note".
• To resize a note, click the dragger in the bottom right corner of the note and drag.
• To delete a note, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the note.
• Notes have two statuses - reviewed and completed. Click their checkboxes to change their status.
• To hide the notes on the page, click "Hide Notes".
• To show the notes on the page, click "Show Notes".
• To see all the notes created on all pages for a group, click "Index". This demo account is only installed on this page, so you will not see other pages listed.
• To collapse / expand the menubar, click the small blue arrow either on the left (when bar is closed) or on the right of the menu bar when open.

The Excellence Gateway community, is the place where those involved in further education and skills provision can get together to exchange advice, information and support.

It can be accessed by going to http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=100803.

The Adult & Community Learning user community can be found at: http://excellence.qia.org.uk/community.aspx?community=51.

It is a public community for adult learning providers planning to participate in the LSC funded Capital to Motivate eLearning programme. The programme is funded by LSC and managed by NIACE. More information http://www.niace.org.uk/ictcapital

This public community has been set up for the Offender learning and Skills sector, to: Review useful resources Discuss ways of using resources Discuss common issues Provide peer support for OLAS practitioners

The OLAS User Community can be found at: http://excellence.qia.org.uk/community.aspx?community=52.

A Work Based Learning user community has been added to the QIA Excellence Gateway to support improvement in the quality of delivery of independent providers.

Objectives are:

• To improve the access to useful information
• To improve the knowledge and understanding of the independent provider sector
• To give independent providers an opportunity to influence decision and policy makers
• To ensure a fairer distribution of the support activities
• To improve providers knowledge and understanding of on-line communities
• To increase the usage of the QIA website and the resources

Topics so far include LIG, Management Information and Train to Gain.

The Work Based Learning user community can be found at: http://excellence.qia.org.uk/community.aspx?community=49.

Where is my user guide?

So much time wasted looking all over the place for the instruction manual to tune the tv-set, find the printer cartridge replacement how-to, the meaning of the blinking led on the dashboard. How many user manuals available only on cd-rom, on the internet?

On this site you will easily be able to find the required instruction guides and user manuals that you need.

• Go to http://safemanuals.com/

• Enter the brand and/or the product reference and
   
• click on the "Search" button:

Go to http://tinypaste.com/00549 to see an overview and an end product! 

Try it out at http://tinypaste.com. 

• Dictation website
• Mobile Study

Listen and Write - Dictation website features a quite a number of audio files all of which can be accessed through quite a cleverly designed dictation activity.

• Users get to listen to parts of a sentence and they then have to type the words of the sentence.
• They are able to listen over and also get some help by setting the activity to auto complete the words as they type them in (This cuts down the frustration learners, especially those whose first language isn't English, of not being able to spell what they can hear).

Self motivation is built in as learners "get a score" as they go and so can work against themselves to try to "improve their score".

Anyone who registers can...

• ...link to an audio file for use in the activities.
• ...also take on the task of adding the transcript etc; can be a great way of sharing the workload.
• ...add some of their own audio and transcripts that they want learners to work on

A good free listening/keyboarding practice for learners which can be set as "listening/keyboard practice homeworks", for learners to do on their own.

This site has huge potential for language and/or keyboard skills development.

Take a look, have a go, sign-up/in at http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio.

Thanks to Kevin Hickey, eLearning Adviser (FE), for flagging this site...

1. Choose a Quiz name...
2. Add an intro...
3. Add questions & Answers...
4. Invite learners or colleagues to download.

What can I say? These two video sound tracks have been made entirely from the sound effects of the two operating systems...

Try playing them together...

On the 16th May 2008 while checking my RSS Feeds, I came across a very interesting article in the Daily Writing Tips Blog. It was basically an article about a message where the letters of each word were all scrambled.

The first and the last letters were kept intact, but between them they were all mixed. Surprisingly enough, as with the person who had written the blog, I could read it perfectly. Below you will find the message. Can you read it?

"fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghi t pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it." 

Source Unknown 

Source http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/.

1. Tilston Lock, 2. Swans / Cygnets, 3. Lock Instructions, 4. Cheshire Cottage, 5. Bunbury Top Lock, 6. Bunbury Mill, 7. Bunbury Locks, 8. Bottom Lock, 9. Beeston Castle, 10. Bunbury Church, 11. Bunbury Mill, 12. Returning for a sandwich and a drink, 13. Spot the antlers

As it says... "I guess sometimes you're just better off staying at home!"

Source http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2008/06/01/geek-gang-signs-wont-make-you-look-any-cooler/. 

Recycle Michael has gone on holiday and Landfill Bill has been given the task of cleaning up. He must throw the recycle-able items in to the correct bins before the land gets covered in rubbish. The longer you play the quicker the items will come. The more items you put in the bin without dropping, the higher your multiplier will be, and the quicker your score will go up. Keep an eye out for the swinging bins and the rubber ducks for extra points!

Matmi and ASDA presents Landfill Bill...

This is what I would call a clever web site! It has been created by the New Zealand Book Council. Read at work!

The site creates a replica of a Window's PC desktop environment, and, within the folders, you’ll find texts that can be read while at work perhaps!

As if you would!

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

If you are looking for some internet content that will unquestionably make you smarter, check openculture's list of 225 Free Courses from Great Universities. 

Go to http://www.oculture.com/2007/07/freeonlinecourses.html. 

Nikon has now set up a free Digital Learning Center that offers tutorials and tips for taking a range of different pictures -

• portraits,
• travel photos,
• nature photography, etc.

Questions that get addressed include...

"How can I take better portraits?"

"How can I take photos at dusk without having them look completely dark?"

"How do I get true-to-life skin tones?"

"How can I get the moving figures in my photos to look like they're in motion and not frozen?"

"My portraits have red eyes. How can I prevent this?" etc.

Take a look at http://www1.nikonusa.com/slrlearningcenter/index.php.

Note: This article is included to raise awareness of the tutorials and tips and isn't an endorsement of Nikon products.

"Lights, Camera, Movie Maker"

Support at http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/. 

The LIG phase 4 prospectus and supporting documentation are now available on ALP’s eLearning website: http://alp.qia.oxi.net/lig4.

The on-line application form will be available from 24th June 2008.

Final date for the submission of the bid application form is midday 8th September 2008.

“E-learning can be a powerful means of creating open educational resources accessible to everybody thus counteracting a divided knowledge society. In this regard, the Assembly calls on member parliaments to support the so-called “open source” movement in software development and initiatives for open educational resources – freely accessible on the Internet, and to adopt measures to combat the digital divide in order to close the gap between those who have access to ICT and the acquisition of ICT skills and those who do not, thus ensuring digital literacy for all.”

Source... 

Links...

• http://www.mediastudio.unu.edu/en/2008/06/12/realising-the-full-potential-of-e-learning/ and...

If you and/or your learners spend your days immersed in the web, you will know there are a lot of ways to try to get the news that matters, from...

• mainstream news sites
• social networks
• RSS feeds etc.

• The warmer the color, the quicker the story is on the rise. Cooler colors denote negative velocity.
• Sources are refreshed every 15 minutes.

The site does this by grabbing information from Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, and Hackernews, and combinining the votes from all four sites to get measures of importance and velocity. Hyper-linked headlines are then arranged on a single page, with the size of the box representing importance and color showing whether it’s moving up or down the charts.

The result? A page that you can quickly scan down to whatever level of obsession you choose. This alternative visualization is worth a look.

Go to http://oursignal.com/ to take a look.

Dear colleagues

If you are currently delivering online courses or using online materials within your learning provision, we would like to invite you to complete a survey regarding your provision.

The survey will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete, and the results will be analysed to feed into a publication that NIACE is currently producing concerning online learning, and to inform the future needs of our online course provision.

We would like to hear from all sectors of post-16 education, and can assure you that individual names and organisations will not be published in any format, and data submitted will only be viewed by NIACE personnel.

The survey can be found on our Moodle at http://moodle.niace.org.uk/moodle/mod/feedback/view.php?id=6648 by selecting ‘Login as a guest’.
You do not need to register on our Moodle, but you may be sent an automated email after accessing the survey which you can ignore.

Thank you in advance for your time and commitment.

Ali Close

Senior Project Officer
ICT and Learning team
National Institute of Adult Continuing Education
Renaissance House
20 Princess Road West
Leicester
LE1 6TP

07747 488432
(NIACE switchboard 0116 2044200)

• Adult skills scheme 'on target'
• Skype testing full-screen video
• Workers can ask for training time
• Young to get £7,000 for training

A £5bn scheme to boost the literacy and maths skills of 2.25m adults in England by 2010 is on target, a watchdog says.

Between 2001 and 2007 1.5m adults got the equivalent of a good GCSE in maths or English under the Skills for Life scheme, the National Audit Office said.

Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7438483.stm. 

Internet phone company Skype is testing a new version of its cheap call service that supports high quality video conferencing for the first time.

Skype 4.0 beta can stream full screen, high resolution video calls over a standard broadband connection.

Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7461000/7461018.stm. 

England's workers are to be given a new right to request time off for training relevant to their job.

Ministers expect an extra 300,000 people a year to receive extra training as a result of the new law which could be in place by 2010.

Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7459853.stm. 

More than one and a half million young people in England are to become eligible for £7,000 each to spend on improving their qualifications.

The offer is open to 18-to-25-year-olds who want to boost their education to GCSE or A-level standard.

Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7448213.stm. 

• Facebook a valid educational tool
• How our adult literacy initiative has changed people's lives
• 'How short-sighted New Labour has become'
• How to be a student
• Is Train to Gain is good value for taxpayers' money?
• Qualification in podcasting launched
• Report calls for more work to improve numeracy skills
• The vision is clear

David Lammy, the minister for skills, on the government's success in helping adults with their English and maths skills...

"Earlier this week my department announced that we have helped more than 2.25 million adults with their English and maths skills, delivering our 2010 target two years early. While the government reaching a target is hardly "hold the front page" news, for those who can now challenge the shop assistant for short changing them or read a book for the first time, improving their maths and English skills has quite literally changed their lives."

Read the full article at http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/opinion/story/0,,2287461,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=8.

• Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)

Goodbye CEL, goodbye QIA; Hello LSIS!

A new improvement body dedicated to the development of the further education and skills sector was officially named on Tuesday 10 June 2008.

The new organisation will be known as the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) – LSIS will bring together the work of CEL and QIA to support leadership development and excellence in the sector.

Read the Full Article at http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/lfi/DNWA-7FGK3T.

The Learning Zone currently provides rich audio-visual material for use in primary and secondary schools and colleges.

The short videos have been selected to match the curriculum; they can be used in many ways, from the stimulation and engagement of students to the delivery of very specific learning points.

The material, at the time of writing this article, is somewhat limited but, as you would expect from the BBC, of excellent quality.

See for yourself at http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/. 

Content includes...

• Skills and Tutorial
  • Debt
  • Effective Communication
  • Managing a Business
  • Preparing for employment in Travel and Tourism.

The Center for Digital Storytelling is rooted in the art of personal storytelling. They assist people of all ages in using the tools of digital media to craft, record, share, and value the stories of individuals and communities, in ways that improve all our lives.

Many individuals and communities have used the term "digital storytelling" to describe a wide variety of new media production practices. What best describes their approach is its emphasis on personal voice and facilitative teaching methods. Many of the stories made in their workshops are directly connected to the images collected in life's journey. But their primary concern is encouraging thoughtful and emotionally direct writing. 

Digital stories are based around certain themes...

• Community
• Education
• Family
• Health
• Identify
• Place

A UK directory to locate quality podcasts from over 450 carefully selected podcast channels for educational use - ideal for teaching and learning activities with children, young people and educational professionals.

"In our podcast directory, you can freely access a variety of educational content from over 5000 podcasts from different podcast channels, including a range of audio, enhanced and video channels to illustrate examples of "educational podcasting" to support effective teaching and learning in schools, colleges and universities"

Find out more at http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/. 

Unforgettable stories from everyday people, produced and directed by Tony Kahn

To...

• find out more and/or
  
• listen to/download the mp3s
  

RSA Vision, is what appears to be the start of an exciting series of video lectures from the world’s most inspiring thinker...

See for yourself at http://www.thersa.org/events/vision. 

Space toilet...

Chris Hadfield, a space shuttle astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency explains about bathroom design.

Stanford has officially launching its YouTube channel.

You can peruse the video collection that provides access to some complete courses, including...

• Clay Carson's African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle and
• Leonard Susskind's two courses on modern Physics - Classical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics.

...also featured are many individual speeches/lectures that currently have a strong inclination toward science and business.

See for yourself at http://youtube.com/stanforduniversity. 

iTunes U is a specialised area of the Apple iTunes store that allows Higher Education institutions to make audio and visual content available for download and subscription.

In order to take advantage of iTunes U, users must first have iTunes installed on their computer. iTunes is available for both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

TCD is the first university in Ireland and one of the first in Europe to launch its own iTunes U site that features free access to audio and video files.

Go to http://itunes.tcd.ie/ to find out more. 

The Open University today joins Stanford, MIT, Yale and other world-class universities in publishing materials via Apple’s iTunes U service.

As of Tuesday June 3, leading course materials are available for free download via Open University on iTunes U.

More than 300 video and audio files drawn from current courses across the University’s broad curriculum are now available to download for playing on a Mac, PC, iPod or iPhone.

Go to http://www.open.ac.uk/itunes/ to find out more.

iTunes U is a specialised area of the Apple iTunes store that allows Higher Education institutions to make audio and visual content available for download and subscription.

In order to take advantage of iTunes U, users must first have iTunes installed on their computer. iTunes is available for both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

University College London is putting lectures onto iTunes.

Educational content is already available in the United States through the non-charging "iTunes U" section of the music downloading service.

But European universities are now joining, providing video and audio material for students to use on iPods or computers.

The service will include recordings of lectures from leading academics.

Go to http://itunes.ucl.ac.uk/ to find out more.

What is iTunes U?

iTunes U is a specialised area of the Apple iTunes store that allows Higher Education institutions to make audio and visual content available for download and subscription.

In order to take advantage of iTunes U, users must first have iTunes installed on their computer. iTunes is available for both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

UCSF, one of the leading medical schools in the US, has launched a Memory & Aging Channel on YouTube, whose purpose is "to educate ...

• patients,
• caregivers and
• health professionals

...about the various forms of neurodegenerative diseases.”

The diseases covered here include Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal dementia and Creutzfelt-Jakob.

Find out more or view the video clips at http://www.youtube.com/UCSFMemoryandAging. 

20 episodes listed at http://pienews.blogs.com/verbcast/episodes/index.html. 

The VERBcast was, we are told, the first full course in Europe delivered entirely by podcasting, and at the end of the four week trial period the programmes were released to the public via the iTunes Music Store. Since then the episodes have been downloaded over 35,000 times across the world!

One of Alec Couros' students produced this video...

...on why we as teachers/trainers/etc., should use technology in the classroom. Take a look. (http://selingma.edublogs.org/2008/06/19/tech-task-6-digital-video/)

Video Annotations are a new way for you to add interactive commentary to your videos!

Use them to:

• Add background information about the video.
• Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene)
• Link to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video
• All of the above!

You control what the annotations say, where they appear on the video, and when they appear and disappear.

Find out more at http://youtube.com/t/annotations_about.

Here is an interactive example...

If you can't see the example go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=SzEvcS01Cl0

To find out how go to http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/topic.py?topic=10534

To download the May edition of the Becta TechNews as a PDF* file go to:

http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/technews/may08.pdf

In this edition analysis pieces include:

• Context awareness;
  
• Handheld games consoles;
  
• Robots in education;
  
• Online reporting

The next edition of TechNews will be published this month.

TechNews archive

An index of downloadable TechNews analysis pieces and back issues is now available on the TechNews web page at:

http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&rid=11280

Note: *You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view TechNews. To download a free copy please visit:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

TechNews can also be downloaded from the Becta website in PDF, .doc and .odt formats at: http://www.becta.org.uk/technews

I wasn't sure where to include this but I decided to include it here...

Online Bibliography Formatter

• Select, from a drop-down menu, your bibliography source (book, websites, emails, etc.),
• tell EasyBib how you found it and
• click on the Next button.
• Repeat the process for each of your references.

When fiinished, you can...

• either save the formatted citation list online and edit it later
• or download it to your PC as a Word file.

Features:

• Supported formats: APA & MLA (Modern Language Association) formats supported.
• Print out ready bibliography list.
• Download and save citation list as a Word (RTF) file.
• View, manage and edit bibliography list online.

EasyBib is found at http://www.easybib.com

PDF Search Engine is a simple and straight forward search tool for finding ebooks/pdf documents. You can either search from the website or if you use Firefox as your browser, use the provided search extension and add it to your search bar.

The search engine seems to work well. I tried a number of searches for JISC Publications and in all cases found what I was looking for.

A very useful tool. Go to http://www.pdf-search-engine.com/index.php to try it out yourself.

The June 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...

• temperature behaviour of quantum systems,
• potential uses of amyloids, and
• a newly discovered planet.

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

...to obtaining textbooks in alternative formats

This guide is for anyone who needs to source text books in an alternative format for a reading impaired learner. A potentially a complicated area.

Disability law protects disabled learners by requiring the educational institution to make appropriate provision. 

Read more and/or order a hard copy at http://www.techdis.ac.uk/getaltformat. 

Specifically designed for...

• library staff,
  
• learner support staff and
  
• subject tutors and
  
• lecturers supporting disabled learners.

To late for you to ask a question now but worth a visit. Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/DowningSt.

Does what it says in the name...

Download and/or listen at http://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/.

Includes titles such as...

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
• Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Classic Short Stories Vol 1 by Various
• Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly
• White Fang by Jack London
• The Four Million by O. Henry
• American Indian Folklore and Fairy Tales
• Typee by Herman Melville
• The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
• Dorothy and the Wizard by L. Frank Baum
• War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• Jekyll and Hyde by R. L. Stevenson
• Buffalo Bill by W.F. Cody
• Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow by W. Irving
• Autobiography of Frederick Douglas

etc.

Note: Some of the Audio books are 'Human Narration'  others 'Advanced text to speech'

LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

Find out more at http://librivox.org/. 

The Blast poetry tool is now live as a BETA version.

The BBC would like it testing and feedback on what you think.

Create your own slide show by using the poems, images and video provided in the Blast poetry tool.

Find out more and/or try it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/writing/tipsandtools/poetryengine/.

Topics are automatically updated web pages, each one covering a different person, country or subject.

The bbc.co.uk/topics project aims to bring together content from across the BBC, showing visitors the most relevant content they have to offer on a range of specific topics. They've just a small sample of topics to begin with, but they inform us they will be adding many more soon.

Current topics (at the time of writing this article) include...

• PLACES
  • Afghanistan - Argentina - Australia - Belgum - Burma - Chad - China - Egypt - Germany - Haiti - Hong Kong - India - Iran - Iraq - Italy - Jamaica - Kosovo - Liechtenstein - Nepal - Peru - Russia - Spain - Sudan - Tibet - Turkey - Zimbabwe
• PEOPLE
  • Charles Dickens - Daniel Radcliffe - David Cameron - George W Bush - Gordon Brown - Hugo Chavez - JK Rowling - Martin Luther King - Nick Clegg - Nicolas Sarkozy - Nigella Lawson - Prince William - Shakespeare
• SUBJECTS
  • Air Travel - Anti-social Behaviour - Autism - Books - Cancer - Car Travel - Climate Change - Countryside Issues - Crime - Deforestation - Dogs - Elected Assemblies - Fashion - Globalisation - GM Food - House Prices - Immigration - Inflation - MRSA - Nasa - Nato - NHS - Nuclear Power - Polution - Rubbish and Recycling - World War 1 - World War 2

View/read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/topics/.

Here is a sample, the Books Topic under Subjects...

"Media is fun and our kids love it. We also know that kids now spend so much time absorbing its messages and images that it has become "the other parent" in their lives. We started this organization because we know families need trustworthy information to help manage their kids' media lives. We're posting our beliefs here so that all our users can know the underlying principles that guide our philosophy and mission"

Go to http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ to find reviews of movies, TV shows, games, and more.

Micro fiction...

common ties, invites authors to answer one of 20 questions.

1. What door do you wish you never opened?
2. What is your most obsessive thought?
3. What is the stupidest thing you have done?
4. What is the one thing your parents don't understand about you?
5. What is the worst advice you've ever received?
6. What is your deepest secret?
7. What is the most shocking thing someone has confessed to you?
8. What were the strangest circumstances under which you have been intimate?
9. What happened on your worst date?
10. What was your worst social or professional faux pas?
11. What is the strangest or funniest thing you have seen or overheard?
12. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?
13. What is the most gracious act of kindness you have witnessed?
14. What is the nastiest thing you have ever said or done?
15. If you could change one of your habits or quirks, which would it be?
16. What was your most memorable encounter with a celebrity?
17. What is the worst betrayal you have ever experienced?
18. What is the greatest risk you have ever taken?
19. What do you wish you had the courage to do?
20. Open Question: Submit your own question and answer.

They want all answers to be true, but are also looking for quality writing – no more than 50 words.

They pay $50 for each piece they accept and publish their favorites (they call them “jeles”) every Friday.

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

Another unit converter/calculator but with a large range of conversions available.

ConvertWorld lets you convert pretty much anything starting from basics like...

• currency (US, EUR, CAD, etc.),
• weight units (KGs to LBs), and
• length (KM to Miles)

...to...

• time zone claculator,
• data storage units and
• shoe size converter.

There are nearly 40 conversion calculators here including...

Acceleration - Angle - Area - Bandwidth - Capacitance - Currency -Data storage - Density - Dynamic viscosity - Electric charge - Electric current - Electric potential - Electrical conductance - Electrical - Energy - Force - Frequency - Fuel consumption - Illuminance - Inductance - Kinematic viscosity - Length - Luminance - Magnetic field strength - Magnetic field - Magnetic flux - Numerals - Power - Pressure - Radioactivity - Shoe size - Speed - Temperature - Time zones - Time - Torque - Volumetric flow rate - Volume - Weight

ConvertWorld website is available in 28 different langauges. So if English is not the native language of your learners, they can switch the interface to something else.

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

Kigose is a website designed for students and teachers to find educational resources.

• Kigose only includes public websites that are for educational purposes only.
• Educational websites that need subscription are excluded.
• The list of the websites included are suggested by
  
  • teachers,
  • parents and
  • students.

Database per May 2008

70 educational websites are included for web search.
6 websites are included for image search.
7 websites are included for video search.
21 websites are included for story search.
4 website are included for sound search.
23 Websites are included for teacher search.

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

A lovely, albeit a bit cheeky, site for kids found at http://www.innocentkids.co.uk/.

Remember there are other drinks... ☺

The Name. Yes, GWAP is a little weird as a name. Partly because we're a little weird ourselves, and partly because it's impossible to get a decent domain name. GWAP stands for "Games With A Purpose."

A collection of 5 basic word games (Well suited to the ELT / EFL / ESOL / Key Skills classroom; see more details below) which can be played in collaboration with an online partner (The website automatically finds you one).

The Purpose we are told...

"The games on this site all have a common purpose: to make computers more intelligent. As you play the games, you are teaching computers things that they don't know yet. Please help them learn!"

The site's selection of five rather addictive games are:

• The ESP game. You and your 'site-generated partner' both see an image and you have to type in as many words as you can that you associate with the image, until you and your partner both come up with the same word ( that's the ESP bit). Great vocabulary practice. You play for about about 3 mins and get a score at the end.
• Tag a Tune. You and your 'site-generated partner' both hear a tune and you both have to type a description of the tune. You then have to decide if you were both listening to the same tune or a different tune. Writing practice, against the clock and with points awarded.
• Verbosity. You and your 'site-generated partner' take it in turns to see and describe a word. Your 'partner', who can't see the word, has to guess it. When you are describing the word you have specific sentences that you complete as clues. Develop vocabulary skills and help learners develop the abilities required to explain new words which they don't understand.
• Squigl. An image based game. You are provided with an image and a word; hold down the mouse button and outline the place on the image where you see the object of the word. Vocabulary building.
  
• Matchin. You and your 'site-generated partner' see two images and you both click on the one you like the most. If you click on the same one, you get points. Not over educational but not all games need to be!

Grammar might not be the most exciting of the topics, but learners need to master the basics of it.

Test their skills with the 20 questions at http://www.dailywritingtips.com/grammar-test-1/!

Top-notch professional skills combined with the right attitude and behaviour towards your clients can contribute to elevating your performance level in the salon, in the short, medium and also long term...

Find out more at http://www.hair-be12.com/accueil_v2.aspx.

Or watch the video overview at http://www.hair-be12.com/popup_video.aspx?

JohnLocker.com is a 'portal' for accessing Educational Video Clips on topics that include...

• History,
• Science,
• Music,
• War,
• Religions,
• Politics,
• Conspiracies, and more!

Users can add, rate, and discuss documentaries and educational videos found across the web.

If users want to submit a movie to JohnLocker.com, all they need to do is...

• click on "Add Videos"
• copy and paste a URL from any major video host (Google Video, YouTube, MegaVideo, Veoh, and 50 others!)
• click on publish, and

the video is instantly entered into their database.

See for yourself at http://johnlocker.com/.

MSN-Sympatico have published an article that covers the ins-and-outs of learning a foreign language online.

It highlights...

• ...free resources that you can access on the web
• ...free language dictionaries,
• ...flash cards,
• ...interactive games,
• ...language learning communities,
• ...international news and radio shows,
• ...formal university courses

This site houses resources which have been generously donated by practising teachers who are members of a Yahoo group called 'mflresources' [modern foreign language] and who want to 'share the workload'.

You are requested to  join the Yahoo group...

..."please sign up to benefit fully from this site by 'giving' as well as 'receiving'! Thank you".

Take a look at http://www.mflresources.org.uk/. 

NHS Choices puts learners/users in control of their healthcare.

This website has been developed to help users make choices about their health, from lifestyle decisions about things like smoking, drinking and exercise, through to the practical aspects of finding and using NHS services when they need them.

It draws together the knowledge and expertise of:

• the National Library for Health,
• NHS Direct,
• the Information Centre for Health and Social Care,
• the Healthcare Commission and many other organisations.

Go to...

• http://www.nhs.uk/video/Pages/medialibrary.aspx for the media library

and/or

• http://www.nhs.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx for NHS Choices homepage to find out more.

The NHS Direct pregnancy and childbirth zone includes everything learners/users need to know about conception, pregnancy and childbirth.

There’s an interactive pregnancy calendar, videos, and in-depth articles about trying for a baby, diet and exercise, labour, antenatal care, and much more.

Find out more at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pregnancy-and-Childbirth-Zone-NHS-Direct/7646060847.
 

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from their archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Go to http://www.ted.com/index.php/ to see for yourself.

Step forward a visual interface, which I must say I like. Take a look at http://www.bestiario.org/research/tedsphere/; TEDsphere offers a different way to enjoy this amazing knowledge highlighting the relations between talks content.

In India, there are seven institutes dedicated to training some of the world’s top scientists and engineers and making the country an up and coming world power.

They are collectively known as the IITs, or the Indian Institutes of Technology. And now some of the IIT courses are being made available in English on YouTube for free.

The main web page is at http://www.youtube.com/user/nptelhrd.

The web page that lists the available content is at http://www.youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=nptelhrd.

Here is an example video...

Tutpup is a free education web site for children aged 5 to 11.

"Our aim is to provide simple, fun, competitive games that help children learn and gain confidence with Maths, English and other basic skills and knowledge."

Take a look for yourself at http://tutpup.com/.

What is WhatDoTheyKnow for?

To help you or your learners find out inside information about what the UK government is doing.

How does the site work?

Users choose the public authority that they would like information from, then write a brief note describing what they want to know.

WhatDoTheyKnow  then sends their request to the public authority. Any response they make is automatically published on the website for them and anyone else to find and read.

Why would Users bother to do this?

Adults pay taxes, and then government does things with the money. All sorts of things that affect their life, from healthcare through to national defence. Some it does badly, some it does well. The more we find out about how government works, the better able we are to make suggestions to improve the things that are done badly, and to celebrate the things that are done well.

Why would the public authority bother to reply?

Under Freedom of Information (FOI) law, they have to respond.

280Slides is an online presentation viewer and builder tool.

Using 280Slides practitioners and/or learners can...

• ...create Powerpoint presentations online,
• ...download presentations to their PC,
• ...upload and view existing presentations online, and
• ...share them with colleagues and/or tutors/assessors/verifiers/etc.

The really nice thing - the presentations that you create with 280Slides can be easily downloaded and edited using Microsoft Powerpoint.

No download required, the only thing you need is a web browser and an internet connection.

Note: The application has pretty much all the features necessary to create simple presentations online.

For example, features include...

• Create, view and share PowerPoint presentations online.
• No limit on the number of presentations users can produce.
• A number of different presentation themes and layouts.
• Slide formatting: change font size, add bullet points, etc.
• Being able to...
  • ...Import photos and movies to presentations from Flickr and YouTube.
  • ...Upload photos and videos from users PCs.
  • ...Save and download ready PowerPoint presentations to any PC (PowerPoint 2007 format).
  • ...Publish or share presentations with others.
  • ...Embed Presentation viewer along with the presentation into a blog and/or website and/or ePortfolio etc.

Adobe has launched Acrobat.com - a newly-branded Software as a Service offering that combines some pieces they had already released with some new bits. When you visit the Acrobat.com home page, you’ll find a variety of components, including..

• the Adobe Buzzword word processor,
• a limited version of the Adobe ConnectNow conferencing solution, supporting three users,
• the ability to convert documents to PDF, and
• file storage and sharing (with 5GB of free space).

The integration between the various parts needs further thought; for example you can’t open a PDF in Buzzword, or view your Buzzword documents in the “My Files” area.

Sign up (FREE) and try it out at https://acrobat.com/.

Try it out for yourself at http://watereffect.net/ (Upon reflection, very easy to use; sorry!)

An 'art' generator that runs in your browser.

Use your mouse to select from the 20 dynamic brushes provided, experiment; investigate click-n-drag, move-n-click-n-move-n... and see what you can produce. I have a feeling that most users, after some practice, are likely to end up with something nice.

Make sure to swap brushes from time to time though. If users are happy with the result they can save the 'painting' on their PC. There are no ads or sign-up.

Try it out at http://bomomo.com/. I did...

Dumpr is a photo enhancer web application where users can quickly add photo-effects to images and afterwards share them on their ePortfolios etc.

• Upload a photograph (or access it from a web URL)
• choose the effect you want to apply (Rubik’s Cube, Jigsaw puzzles, Photo to sketch, Museum etc).
• Once it’s ready you can download it to your computer or used the embed code to add it to your online profile including Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, learning objects, eXe documents (see below), ePortfolios and so on.

Features:

• Add effects to photographs and share them with colleagues/learners/assessors etc.
• Upload the images from a PC or web page (Supports .PNG and .JPG images)
• Free account offer effects like Rubik’s Cube, Jigsaw puzzles, Photo to Sketch, Alien Vision, Amazing Circles, LOMO, Museums Art, Celebrity Pics, Photos in Photo, Reflection, Easter eggs.
• Flickr Integration : For practitioners and/or learners with Flickr accounts they can upload enhanced photos to Flickr directly from Dumpr.
• Download and save enhanced photos to a computer.
• If you want to upgrade (a cost incurred), Premium account user gets a wider choice of photo effects.
• Free Newsletter: Exclusive tutorials, creative ideas, digital camera tricks etc.

Try it out at http://www.dumpr.net/.

And yes, I did open a free account and have a 'play'...

Art Museum by dumpr.net

Created with dumpr.net - fun with your photos

Created with dumpr.net - fun with your photos

An online currency conversion tool where learners can check daily currency exchange rates for over 20 major currency units as shown in the image above.

To check exchange rates, simply...

• select the currency you need,
• enter the amount you want to convert, and
• click the convert icon.

By default ForexFlower shows the rates up to 3 decimal points but if necessary you can move it to 5 decimal points.

Note: - Exchange rates are updated every weekday; Exchange rates are pulled from Federal Reserve Economic Data database.

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

GMSA Pathways is an online enquiry service will help your learners/potential learners to find out more about hundreds of degree level courses available to them across Greater Manchester. Greater Manchester learners will find courses for which they are sure to be made an offer or guaranteed an interview.

Whatever their search, they can be confident that universities and colleges will welcome their application.

They simply enter their current qualifications, grades and where they would like to study and GMSA Pathways will find the courses that are right for them (or you perhaps!). 

Go to http://pathways.gmsa.ac.uk/ to try it out. 

PageOne, in conjunction with Kidderminster College, has developed an open source Moodle interface module called MoodleMobile. This will allow Moodle VLE users to send and receive SMS messages directly within Moodle using JANET txt.

MoodleMobile is free to download and users will be able to use their JANET txt messaging bundle with the module.

To find out more information regarding this and other developments...

• please have a look at http://www.pageonejanettxt.com/

• or e-mail janettxt@pageone.co.uk

PosteRazor, free open source software, allows users to turn regular sized pictures into a printable, multi-page poster.

Download PosteRazor, and find out more, at  http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/.

If you want an excellent overview of how to do this, visit and watch Daniel Davis' video tutorial on his Tinkernut website, http://www.tinkernut.com/archives/97.

As usual, I had a go and the result was excellent; good tutorial and the PosteRazor software is so easy to use! 

If your favorite picture is too large for your social networking profile page, website, or wherever you need a custom size photo, MyPictr is the website you need.

Mypictr lets you upload the image and quickly crop it to the desired size.

All you need to do is select the website where you want to upload the photo and it will show you the dimensions you need.

Features:

• Quickly resize pictures and/or make profile pictures for your online profiles.
• Support profiles for more than 30 social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Digg, etc.)
• Download the resulting images to your PC or get them by email.
• Privacy: your image remains online only for 10 minutes and permanently deleted afterwards.

Try it out at http://mypictr.com/.

Supporting learners who are not very good with numbers or measurement units?

• SensibleUnits is an online application that takes standard...
  • weight,
  • height,
  • length etc.

measurements and converts them into real world items such as...

• CD cases,
• Football fields,
• MacBook laptops,
• London buses and so on.

Quite handy if you want to get an idea about how big or heavy the object is.

Visit http://www.sensibleunits.com/ and enter the size or weigth of an item and it will instantly come up with a short list of objects.

Note: A Great idea, however the problem is it sometimes it tends to give you 'units' your learners might not know about.

Here is an example aimed at the English market...

I think we all know what a teabag is! :-) 

Create your own Macromedia Flash Vocabulary Training Aids
with easy to use FREE tools

Spellmaster.Com games provide stimulating activities in a wide range languages. They can also perform a vital part in motivating, entertaining and educating students, take a look at http://www.spellmaster.com/.

Allows users search public flickr accounts and to create beautiful interactive 'tag solar systems'...

and 'globes'...

with pictures from flickr, simply enter a search tag and 'solar systems of that tag plus associated tags from Flickr will be displayed; click on the 'sun' and images will be pulled in.

Click on the images to view them larger, and/or spin the globe to see more.

If you want to display your own photographs then you need to add a unique tag!

Try it out at http://taggalaxy.de/.

Note: 1: clicking on another 'planet' makes it the centre of the solar system 2: when at the centre of the 'solar system', clicking it will bring in the images 3: the images are from public flickr accounts.

Create teaching & Learning 'Cartoon Resources' by registering, for FREE, at http://www.toondoo.com/.

Or take a look at the teacher training video below my first effort or go to http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/toon/index.html.

As you will see, if you visit http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/06/upload-your-pdfs.html, users are now able to...

• upload,
• preview and
• share PDFs in Google Docs.

(While you can't edit them yet, you can copy & paste text.) 

An AuthorSTREAM presentation on podcasting by Dianne Smith that is well worth a look.

It has some tips on how to use Audacity, particularly multi-tracking.

Or view at http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/diansmit-70438-podcasting-education-ppt-powerpoint/.

Don't forget that in our eBook Library you will find...

• The Initial Guide to Podcasts http://www.rsc-northwest.ac.uk/acl/BookCase/library_section7.htm and
• The Using Audacity http://www.rsc-northwest.ac.uk/acl/BookCase/library_section1.htm

TASI (the Technical Advisory Service for Images) has just published an advice document, "Using Flickr to Organise a Collection of Images"

Flickr is worth considering as a possible alternative to setting up an in-house image database, whether Learning Providers and/or Practitioners have a small number of photographs they would like to share privately with a few colleagues, or a larger collection they need to make more widely available.

The document explores both the useful features, as well as highlighting Flickr’s limitations, pointing out areas where particular consideration needs to be taken.

The document can be...

• ...viewed at http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/using/flickr-organising.html and/or
  
• ...downloaded at http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/using/pdf/flickr-organising.pdf 

is a toy an online tool for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide.

What is interesting, for me, is that the clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text; i.e. the bigger the word the more it has been used within the text.

You can tweak the resulting clouds with...

• different fonts,
• layouts, and
• color schemes.

The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like.

You can print them out,

or

save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your colleagues/learners etc.

Could it be used at a marketing tool, or for producing visual representation of set tasks to aid assessment? Any other ideas?

This is one I made from the SERVICES web page on our website.

Try it for yourself at http://wordle.net/.

PS This was last month's eMagazine...