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...

"Blogging is a social and recent phenomenon after all, meaning that my definition for it might be different from yours, and both of them be right."

Twenty seven readers of the DailyBlogTips blog decided to take the challenge to define what a blog is. Go to http://www.dailyblogtips.com/27-definitions-for-blog/ and you will find a quote from their answers, with a link to their own posts.

Daily Writing Tips has already covered Five reasons why blogging improves your writing. But once you've polished up your skills, and grown used to writing frequently and receiving feedback, blogging can also help you get paid for your writing.

Read the full blog and follow the useful links at http://www.dailywritingtips.com/five-reasons-why-blogging-leads-to-writing-jobs/.

Those interested in the science of learning may be interested in The Biology of Learning (including tips that could help maintain our brain's ability to adapt.)

Find out more by visiting http://www.lumosity.com/blog/the-biology-of-learning/. 

"Podcasting in education has huge potential, but I feel quite a few teachers are put off because they think it's a complicated business and that you need to be really good at computers to make a podcast. This video will show you how anyone can start their own podcasts in five easy steps."

Read the full blog, watch the video and use the links at http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=367. 

Find out about José Picardo's top five tips by visiting his blog at http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=199.

An excellent CPD video clip is included.

Take a look at the eGuide flyer about the Training Programme 2008-2009 844KB pdf.

More information and dates are available at http://www.niace.org.uk/Conferences/TrainingCourses/eguides.htm.

In the north west eGuide Training is being offered 3 times; the dates/schedule for each 3 days of training is...

1. 27th and 28th November 2008 with the 3rd day on 9th January 2009 (Liverpool)
2. 2nd and 3rd February 2009 and the 3rd day on 3rd March 2009 (Manchester)
3. 23rd and 24th April 2009 and the 3rd day on 22nd May 2009 (Liverpool)

...a quick and simple online tool to help users pick the best time for a meeting.

Features...

It is 

• FREE
• easy to use
• productive - figures out who can attend on which dates and notify users with a list of the best times and dates, leaving you more time to get 'stuff' done
• fast - no sign up.

Try it out and/or find out more at http://www.diarised.com/.

It isn't the software it's how you use it!

ididwork can be considered as a project management tool which lets users create a detailed log of their work and keep a track of it. In case they are working in a team, ididwork lets users connect with their team members and track their work logs too. Users can also track their team members’ work in real time and hence keep up-to-date with their project. It has a nice user interface and lets users add work logs easily.

I feel this has potential within the Work Based Learning Sector (and others) where...

• User = Assessor/Verifier and
  
• team members = Learners

I'm sure there are many other uses but take a look at http://www.ididwork.com/.

Possible educational features...

• Learners can easily add work logs and entries
• There are Individual learner as well as a group account facility
• Assessors/Verifiers can track work progress through tags and graphs
• Real time tracking
• Learners can present a work report to an Assessor/Verifier and get informal grades without the Assessor/Verifier requiring to create an account (Ideal for an external verifier)

A website that lets you send self deleting emails that get automatically deleted at a predetermined time.

To send a self deleting online message...

• just type in the text,
• specify the number of times a message can be opened and how long do you want the message to exist after it has been opened and
• click “Send”.
• No registration or sign-up needed.

Recipient receives an email with a link to your message, once he/she reads the message it will self destruct.

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

KickNotes can be used for sending...

• Sensitive Messages
• Personal Contact Information
• Announcements
• Invitations
• Temporary Advertising

plus many more. 

Features:

• Map any address list on top of Google maps.
• Map as many address lists as you like.
• Customize maps further by adding markers for each address, hiding certain points etc.
• Make maps public and share them with colleagues/learners.
• Change addresses in your spreadsheet files and have them automatically synced with MapaList.
• Download marked maps as KML and view them in Google Earth.
• Send map to your mobile phone.
• See a sample MapaList map here.

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

Or look at the Tips-n-Tricks section in this eMagazine 

Many learners, especially those within 'Work Based Learning', want to Store, reference and organize their notes and be able to use it on any computer where they can get access!

Many staff, colleagues, etc. may also want to Store, reference and organize their notes and be able to use it on any computer where they can get access!

Tiddly Back Pack Is a portable personal wiki that may provide the answer.

• No fees, no charges
• Download and start using straight away. (I would keep the download and work with a copy!)

Tiddly Backpack has the usability of a Web2.0 application...

You can...

• carry it about on A USB stick.
• email it,
• ftp it,

...it's all in one file.

Try it out for yourself by downloading it from http://www.tiddlybackpack.com/.

Note: I personally prefer TiddlyWiki as it offers greater flexibility (and probably because I've used it for much longer); if you decide to evaluate Tiddly BackPack you will find the notes on wiki markup <http://goessner.net/articles/wiky/> a great help.

Click the image below to watch a demonstration...

An online service that lets you create personal web based maps that can be shared and distributed online.

Lets say you need to show you friends your next walking route...

• go to UMapper,
• create your map,
• add your personal annotations,
• place marks, lines, polygons etc… , and
• share it with any one you want; forward a link or embedding it on your blog. 

UMapper works with map providers such as OpenStreetMap, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google and others

Features:

• Create customized maps online.
• Create as many maps as you like.
• Add customizable marks, lines, notes, polygons, get related wikipedia articles.
• Share via emailing a link or embedding the map on your blog or personal webpage.
• Share your map on view only or wiki (anyone can edit) bases.
• Explore the Most Popular, Map Wikis , Newest public maps
• Export created map data to Flash ActionScript 3.0 or KML
• No sign up or registration needed, however note: if registered you can keep a track of all your maps in one place.

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

Also check out map creation guide at http://www.umapper.com/maps/explain/.

• Pro Profs Quiz School
• Using technology for assessment

Perfect for tests, training, recruitment, assessments, trivia or just plain fun quizzes!

Features include:

• Social sharing through customizable widgets which allow YouTube-style quiz embedding on any blog, e-learning system, and social networks like Facebook.
• Yahoo Flickr integration for a limitless image library for quizzes.
• Interesting aggregate analytics & trends reports, with precision down to a stored snapshot of each attempt.
• Google Maps integration for visualization of where quiz takers are located worldwide.
• Customization controls for color themes, content & style.
• Many other features including multiple question types, quiz types, authentication controls, grading features, RSS feeds & more…

Try it out for yourself or find out more at http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/.

PS - It is FREE

A prototype search facility, which has been developed to help you search for technology supported assessment resources from across the Academy/JISC collaboration network, can be found at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/collaboration/technology_for_assessment.

Included are hyperlinks to popular searches such as...

• Computer-assisted Assessment (CAA)
• eAssessment
• ePortfolio
• Feedback
• online assessment and
• plagiarism

Note: JISC have a similar facility available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus/partnerships/he_academy/jiscacademysearch.aspx.

Source 'Geeks are Sexy' <http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2008/08/27/cartoon-i-fired-you-over-3-weeks-ago/>

I'm sure we all know some old chronologically enhanced people who are afraid of touching remotes of any kind, the following cartoon by Roz Chast will really make you smile.

A fun web application, which I'm sure has educational potential, where you can manipulate Japanese and Latin characters to produce drawings.

Drag'n drop letters from the given pallet then rotate and rearrange them to create an art of your own.

When you have finished users can share whatever they have created with colleagues, peers, learners etc. Users are also able to browse and rate most popular and recently added drawings by other users.

Features:

• Create artistic drawings from Japanese and Latin characters.
• Share drawings you created with others.
• Browse drawings produced by other FontPark users.
• Watch replays for your favourite drawings to see how they were created.
• No sign up or registration.

Find out more at http://fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/.

My initial effort...

which can be viewed at http://fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/permalink?id=gmpivqr2w1myocg.

Did you ever get that chain email that claimed that as long as the first and last letter of a word are on the same place, you can still read the word with the other letters scrambled?

Even if you didn't get it, you should still enjoy Readingtest.sytes.org.

• This site will allow you to take that email's claim and put it to test on your favorite websites.
• Just tell the site what website you want to scramble up and see the results for yourself.

It's amazing how quick the site can take any other website and scramble up the words. Another amazing thing is how, in general, the text is still understandable with the words scrambled up.

According to the site, the orders of letters on a word don't really matter, as the human mind only reads words as a whole, not every letter individually.

If the site doesn't interest you, you'll at least be able to freak people out by showing them their websites all scrambled up.

Try it out at http://readingtest.sytes.org/. 

Go to http://0xteto.com/cleaner/clean.html for the online monitor cleaner, or click the image below...

Did you think only Sikhs wore turbans? Then Turbanizer will bust that myth for you and turbanize you!

Turbanizer is a fun image tools available online which lets you modify your image and puts a turban on your head.

• Upload your photo from your computer or from sites like Facebook and flickr
• resize it through a slider and
• get the best suited turban from a good collection of fancy turbans.

Note: Make sure that your photo has your face facing the front and it’s not greater than 2 MB in size. After you upload it , it gives you the option to increase the closeup of your face through a horizontal slider. Then you can select a turban from the right hand side menu and resize the turban too, using a separate slider so that it fits your head

Try it out at http://turbanizer.com/index.htm I did...

To quote the website...

"Racism is driven by being afraid of the unknown. People that do not wear a turban need to connect with the turban to understand it. Turbanizer.com helps by allowing anyone in the world to visualize themselves in a turban. If someone insults your turban, just TURBANIZE THEM!"

or in my case...

" Turbans are the most cost effective and fashionable way to conceal the effects of aging including male pattern baldness. No need to spend thousands of dollars on hair transpants. Just wear a turban." 

Clicking the image above will take you to the website where it does what it says on the picture!

I had a play and here are some of my images (Sadly some are very close to reality!)...

I've put this in the eBreak section because it is a fun application, however, it is also ideal for...

• digital imaging course where cameras can be used by learners to take images of each other (Ideally it should be a head and shoulders portrait with the student face on to the camera.)
  
  • Learners can then Create a yearbook for their class.
    Get the learners to select the year when they were born and then convert their portrait to a person from that year.
    This could be followed up by asking learners to research important events from that year; using Wikipedia to do a search on the year.
• key skills - communication; Give the learners a list of 3 - 5 years and get them to create an image of themselves in each of those years (you could get them to do this at home).
  
  • They can practice communication by emailing the images or bring them to class to 'show and tell' the other students which year suits them best and why they would like to have been around in that year.
• Family Learning: Comparing Lives - parents/guardians taking pictures of son/daughter and vice versa. Pictures can then be done for the years they were born (2 pictures)
  • Comparing lives with those of their parents may also be interesting. Ask the children to find out what year their parents were their current age. Then ask them to create an image of themselves from the same year. The children could then write a text about or discuss how their lives are different from the lives of their parents at their age.

...and I'm sure much more!

Visit http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ to find out more. 

Ideal resource for those involved in...

• Initial Teacher Training
• Teaching in schools
• Family Learning etc.

Visit http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhn2vcv5_106c9fm8j to find out more for yourself!

A constantly updated web directory that aggregates and lists the best free photoshop tutorials available on the web.

Users can...

• search for tutorial,
• browse them by categories
  • 3D Effect,
  • Abstract Effect,
  • Drawing Effect,
  • Photo Effect,
  • Text Effect,
  • Texture & Patterns and
  • User Interface Design and
  • rate.

Additionally, if registered users can make their own tutorial collection by bookmarking tutorials they like the most.

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

• ‘Eco Ego' Online Computer Game for Family Learning

A new game that is meant to teach (or rather visually demonstrate) the excesses of environmental and household consumption. ‘Eco Ego’ is a quirkily animated foray into the nature of ecology; cute graphics and well-intended message.

The Eco Ego game lets users make choices on what the protagonist does during a daily routine, and then shows if and how those actions positively or negatively affect the environment. For instance, when going to market, kids have to choose if the protagonist rides a bike or drives a car, and if they use a plastic bag or reusable bag. The choices melt the ice and kill the plants, or allow things to flourish.

Children can then get an idea about what actions are no-nos or yes-yeses.

A good tool to have in the classroom (perhaps on an interactive whiteboard with class choices via a voting kit)– children can see immediate results of actions, and then think about consequences while at 'break' where they can all go outside to run around and play in the trees.

I would advise downloading the game as online the control panel and text isn't that easy to read (plus you have to sit through adverts before it loads).

Download and/or try it out at http://www.9mine.com/play/game_3336_Eco%20Ego.html.

• No items this month

• The art of being virtual
• Universities face cash crisis

The Number 10 website has been relaunched for the social networking age...

Incorporating content from its pages on...

• the image sharing site Flickr, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/downingstreet/sets/>
• mini-blog Twitter <http://twitter.com/downingstreet> and
• video site YouTube. <http://www.youtube.com/user/DowningSt>

Features include...

• Number 10 TV, <http://www.number10.gov.uk/number-10-tv>
• a collection of videos; and
• a continuation of the Prime Minister's electronic petitions service: <http://www.number10.gov.uk/communicate>

Find out more by visiting http://www.number10.gov.uk/.

• No item this month!

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...

This month's submissions are...

• Explore a bigger map - Bill Pearson (Reaseheath College)
• Handheld Satnav Resources - Bill Pearson (Reaseheath College)
• TagGraph - Bill Pearson (Reaseheath College)

Bill Pearson from Reaseheath College says...

"My 2 favourite discoveries this month are: http://wheresthepath.googlepages.com/exploreabiggermap.htm where you can see nice big Ordnance Survey maps

and this page: http://wheresthepath.googlepages.com/wheresthepath.htm
where you can compare OS maps with Google Satellite photos."

WOW! What wonderful resources; I know I will be using both when I go walking at the weekend! A must for anybody who uses UK maps in their work!

Bill Pearson from Reaseheath College says...

"If you've got a handheld satnav device you'll like

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/draw and

http://www.everytrail.com.

My first attempt is here: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=40198"

I don't have a handheld satnav but looking at these I'm very tempted! They can still be used to plot trips, walks, routes etc. as evidence, or just a record. Record - Visualise - Share ! Many potential uses; thank you Bill!

Bill Pearson from Reaseheath College says...

Have you seen:http://taggraph.com I think it's better than Tag Galaxy.

I must say Bill, I do like it but the visual impact of Tag Galaxy is still the winner for me! What do you think?

12seconds.tv allows friends and family learners to record and share short video updates about what they are doing or where they are. You They can use a webcam or a cellphone. It's a FREE, easy, and fun way to stay in touch communicate.

Possible uses...

• Functional Skills (Communication)
• Modern Foreign Languages/ESOL
• Oral assessment
• Business Admin
• Customer Service
  • Contact Centre Skills.

...and many more.

Why only 12 seconds?

In their words..."Because anything longer is boring. The scientists here at the 12seconds dodecaplex have conducted countless hours of research to determine the precise amount of time it takes for boredom or apathy to set in during typical Internet video viewing. Our patent pending Electro-Tear-Duct Prongers have determined that exactly 12 seconds of video is the ideal amount of time to keep anything interesting"

Learners are encouraged to be concise with responses to assessment questions.

Find out more at http://12seconds.tv/.

See openculture's large Foreign Language Lesson Podcast Collection at http://www.oculture.com/2006/10/foreign_languag.html.

In this blog post, Eleena de Lisser, who runs Voices en Español, a bilingual blog and conversational Spanish podcast draws on her experience and offers an overview of the best free podcasts that will teach you Spanish.

Read Eleena's post at http://www.oculture.com/2008/08/learning_spanish_with_free_podcasts_the_lay_of_the_land.html...

Video games wizard, Second Life World Builder and Preston College teacher Bob Brown takes you on a tour of the amazing revolutionary online video game Second Life.

Read the full article and watch the video at http://www.lep.co.uk/outandabout/Ask-the-experts--tour.4303734.jp.

Johnlocker.com is an extensive educational video library that will allow you to learn about any topic you can think of.

Teachers and learners will both benefit from the many videos that can be viewed through the site. The many documentaries that can be seen online will allow users to learn more about topics as diverse as sports and science. This makes the site a great resource that can be consulted when you want to learn more about any particular subject.

There are many long documentaries hosted by the site, not just snippets.

Once you create an account, you'll be able to mark videos as favorites and share them with colleagues, learners etc. (much like YouTube).

In their words...

"By harnessing the power of social communities and video sharing, JohnLocker.com is able to provide the best documentaries and educational videos found on the web. It is our goal to make the process of watching, adding, rating, and discussing the videos as simple as possible."

This site could become the educational equivalent of YouTube for students and teachers.

Take a look for yourself at http://www.johnlocker.com/.

Want a complete library at your finger tips and for free!

PDFGeni is a dedicated pdf search engine for PDF ebooks, sheets, forms and documents; all of which are freely available on the web.

It can be used to search for any subject. I have had a look for a few things and found lots of free materials.

Really useful stuff and all free at http://www.pdfgeni.com/.

Visit http://www.rsc-northwest.ac.uk/acl/eMagArchive/newsletters.html to access the online version of our 'printed magazine'.

Readers will be able to view the latest issue (Volume 7 Issue 3)...

• in its online interactive format
• or download a pdf version

Content in this issue include...

• Learning for living & Work Projects
• 40 facts about Federated Access Management (FAM)
• Supporting Providers in choosing and using ePortfolios
• eProgress Review
• Langdon Lecturer prompts new video sharing project
• Learning Innovation Grants - £4m for Phase 4

Note: the newsletter is now edited by John Davey - Information & Communications Officer jdavey@rsc-northwest.ac.uk

• FlickrBabel: Multilingual Search on Flickr
• Welcome to Internet for Image Searching

Do you, or your learners, use Flickr as a primary source to find images?

FlickrBabel is a web application that lets you get extended and better results when searching for images on Flickr.

When you perform a search, FlickrBabel...

• generates translations of your query into other languages,
• scans Flickr database and
• brings you the results.

In addition to the automated translation and search, it also allows you to see the images taken near or at particular location.

Try it out at http://www.flickrbabel.com/en/index.php.

Would your learners, and/or you, like to learn how to use the Internet to find images for your teaching/learning work, both efficiently and legally?

Then go to http://vtsdev.ilrt.org/tutorial/imagesearch and use this free, interactive tutorial to improve image searching skills.

Learners may not sure what HTTP, RSVP, KGB, PHP, CSS or any other abbreviation stands for?

They should check out Abbreviations.com. It is a search engine where users can easily search, browse and find meanings for almost any acronym and abbreviation.

In their words:

"Abbreviations.com is the world's largest and most comprehensive directory and search engine for acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms on the Internet. Abbreviations.com holds hundreds of thousands of entries organized by a large variety of categories from computing and the Web to governmental, medicine and business and it is expanding daily."

Features:

• Lookup what acronyms, abbreviations stand for.
• Search, browse alphabetically, filter by category such as Computing ,Governmental, Medical, International etc.
• Create and keep your own list of acronyms.
• Become an editor and contribute by adding new definitions.
• Supported Tools : Widget for Mac, Custom button for Google Toolbar, Firefox search plugin, IE addon.
• No sign up or registration required.

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

 

On the Husbands and Dads site, users find tips on everything from fatherhood to how to deal with marriage.

The information is interesting and provides tips needed to have a successful parenting experience.

The articles cover anything from actual parenting tips to things like "Top 10 Most Underrated TV Dads". The site strikes the right balance between educational information and entertainment, which should appeal to a wide audience of males looking for help in their parenting.

If users find an article interesting, they can give it a positive rating in order for it to be ranked between the most popular articles. In this list, you'll find the most helpful articles, according to visitors who have rated them positively. Over all, dads who are trying to become better at parenting should take a look at this site as one of their information resources.

In their words...

"Are you a husband or a dad? Where do you go to find resources and information to help you learn and grow in your role as a husband or dad? Our hope is that you will come here, to HusbandsandDads.com".

A potential resource for Family learning, Childcare, etc at http://husbandsanddads.com/.

 

This resource has sixteen sections...

1. Basics of Algebra
2. Equations
3. Ratio & Proportion
4. Inequalities
5. Absolute Value
6. Exponents
7. Polynomials
8. Factoring
9. Rational Expressions
10. Rational Equations
11. Linear Equations
12. Functions
13. Systems of Linear Equations
14. Radicals
15. Quadratics and
16. Applications

Useful resources which can be used by learners 24/7.

How about getting learners to produce their own videos like these? 

• Divide learners in to groups of three and give each group a similar problem to solve and tell them that they will be creating their own video to put on the Internet to help other learners.
• Ask them to prepare their video by breaking their problem into steps
• Have them write the steps on a video storyboard
• Have learners record their instruction videos.

Find out more at http://www.algebasics.com/index.html.

At Coolshowcase.com, users will be able to find great digital art submitted by digital artists, graphic designers and photographers.

The pictures are divided into different categories, which include:

• 3D,
• Animation,
• Caricature,
• Comics, and
• Digital Art, among many others.

This site provides a great way for up-and-coming artists to submit their work to be viewed by others.

To become a part of the site, you have to create a profile. This will allow other artists who share your interest to contact you and see your art. You can choose to think about this site as a sort of Facebook for artists. You can meet people that share your same influences or gallery owners who might want to expose your work.

This site should be taken into account by artists who want the world to see what they can offer to the world of art.

Take a look or contribute at http://www.coolshowcase.com/.

Note: this is early days and some sections have little in the way of content.

Visual poetry is poetry that combines motion graphics, film or video, music and of course, poetry. This offers an exciting format where poets, motion graphic artists, actors and other artists can reach out to the public and show off their skills and talents.

Naturally, PoetryVisualized.com allows members to show off their creations.

They have plans that go beyond merely being an online collection of fantastic short films. Their first project will be a motion picture of the visual poetry world where they will take the best short films and put them together, with commentary, as a full length feature film. That film will be submitted to the major film festivals, sold on their web site and distributed world wide. All income from that film will be divided up among the contributing artists and PoetryVisualized.com.

Take a look at http://www.poetryvisualized.com/index.php or look at a sample embedded below...

Or look at "A Dream Within A Dream" - a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849 - http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/69/A_Dream_Within_A_Dream/.

The Nationwide Consultancy for Adult Learning (NCAL) Ltd has been developing a library of tools that it has used to support its client base of learning providers preparing for inspections. NCAL has now made much of this library of resources available to learning providers to use for free!

In NCAL's words you can...

".... browse through up to 60 well tried and tested items including forms, checklists, staff development presentations, diagnostic tools, sample policies and many more".

"...The materials have been developed and refined over the years to be used as templates which our clients can adapt and customise to their own house-style. Many of them have played a part in the achievement of grade 1s!"

The wide range of tools and templates in this library, mostly in Microsoft Office formats, are downloadable and can be changed to meet your own organisations needs. They could enhance the Quality Improvement area of your staff intranet or Virtual Learning Environment.

Categories span...

• Equality and Diversity,
• Leadership and Management,
• Learner Journey and
• Quality Improvement

Find out more at http://www.ncal.co.uk/home/index.html.

 

Se Hace which, liteally translated means that’s how you do it but really means well done! or good work!

AsíSeHace.net has been created by José Picardo and is intended to help GCSE and A Level students of Spanish practise their vocabulary and grammatical understanding through interactive exercises. José Picardo has taught Spanish for several years at Guildford High School and currently teaches at Nottingham High School.

This website does not follow a particular textbook but instead it is divided into the topics outlined by current British examination boards. Although this website has been devised with GCSE and A Level in mind, it will, of course, be useful to anyone learning Spanish, whether you are in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.

Find out more at http://www.asisehace.net/. 

TESconnect, the Times Educational Supplement revamped website has launched during August and many of you, I'm sure, will be delighted to see that the popular staffroom forums and resource bank can now be tracked via RSS.

• Click on the orange icon and paste the feed address into your reader.

It saves so much time!

Access resources and/or RSS feeds for resources at http://www.tes.co.uk/resourcehub.aspx?navcode=70.

In their own words...

"Yolango.com is a new way for English language learners from around the world to immerse themselves in a wide variety of authentic and interesting videos. What makes Yolango different from other sites, however, is that all of our videos have been carefully transcribed and captioned. What's more, Yolango captions are clickable, enabling users to receive definitions, usage examples and world level translations in 13 different languages for words they don't know or would like to study further. Every video at Yolango also offers several challenging interactive games that build users' listening, vocabulary, spelling and comprehension skills. Users compete to earn points and rise to the top of the Scoreboard."

Note: Yolango.com is currently in Alpha release.

Anybody visiting the site can watch the clips and read the transcriptions, but if you register and log in you can also get access to cloze exercises ('fill in the blank'), comprehension questions and vocabulary definition type exercises.
Students are graded on these exercises and get the results on a scoreboard. The collection of clips available are varied and there are many that would be ideal for Business English students as well as EFL and ESL.

Take a look and find out more at http://www.yolango.com/. 

 

A Web based tool that lets you...

• upload an image from your computer  or any webpage, 
• add comments,  and
• share it with others. 
• You can add text, highlight and underline your images.

The application is really simple to use and doesn’t require you to sign-up for an account.

Features:

• Add comments to any image and share with others.
• Upload image from your HD or the web.
• Add comments to as many images as you like.
• Share with others by forwarding an email.
• No sign up or registration required.

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

GoAnimate takes story telling using online cartoon strip makers that little bit further by allowing you to spark life into your characters and create short animations.

Go to their website, watch the intro video and have a play, it’s ever so easy and intuitive. This would really appeal to learners of all ages...

Take a look at my first effort at http://goanimate.com/go/movie/0RdKS4KobOrI.

Check out the 'New Teacher' as well at http://goanimate.com/go/movie/0ookkxDCJnF4/1. (It made me smile)

There are a number of tutorials on YouTube to give you ideas on how to produce your own professional looking animations in a matter of minutes using a range of different templates and characters.

To view the YouTube Video clips go to http://www.youtube.com/user/GoAnimate. 

 

Three new features, since I last took a look, to tell you about...

1. Speaker notes for presentations
Seasoned presenters...

• keep their slides simple and
• use slides to help illustrate their points, not to present all of their information.

They jot down their talking points, examples, and supporting evidence in speaker notes.

To help you do do this in Docs, they've added speaker notes. You can print these speaker notes in advance, or pop them up in a separate window when you present.

2. Inserting YouTube videos into slides
Videos can help you make a point, command the attention of your audience, or even add humor to your presentation. Now in presentations, you can insert one or more YouTube videos onto your slides and play the videos while you're presenting.

3. View presentations & spreadsheets offline, too
You should now see an "Offline" link in the upper right hand corner of Google Docs.

When first announced, offline access was limited to viewing and editing word processing documents. Now, they've added view-only offline access to spreadsheets and presentations as well.

You won't need to worry about an unreliable internet connection as you walk up to the front of the room to give your next presentation. Just click on your Google Docs desktop icon and know that your presentations and spreadsheets will be stored on your computer, at your fingertips.

They still only support English language access, and Google Apps users shouldn't expect to see offline Docs unless their domain admins have opted in to getting this new feature. To learn more about offline access, check out the Google docs Help Center at http://documents.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=13768.

Pixlr a new and quick online image editing  application that lets users...

• upload an image from their hard drive,
• perform  almost all basic image editing  tasks
  • crop,
  • resize,
  • rotate,
  • apply layers,
  • adjust filter and colors etc… and once finished
• save it back on to their computer. 

Overall, the application has clean and simple interface with a multifunctional editor.

While Pixlr can not in anyway replace Photoshop, it is still quick and responsive online image editor worth visiting.

Find out more and have a play at http://www.pixlr.com/.

PicFont is a web application which lets you add/decorate images online by adding text in various formats on top them.

You can upload images...

• from your computer or
• from the web by providing the URL of the image.

After uploading it, you can...

• choose the canvas size and
• type the text and
• customize the fonts,
  
  • text colour and
  • background colour.

You can then apply it to your image by clicking on the generate text button.

When completed, you can download the modified image as well.

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

Here is my first attempt...

SuperLame Word Balloon Engine is an application which lets users add customized speech bubbles to pictures and make them look funny and better more informative.

It has a nice graphic user interface with, initially, an arrow pointing towards upload image if you haven't uploaded an image.

Speech balloons can be added to the image by clicking on add a balloon.

It also lets you...

• change font,
• shape and
• border of the balloon.

Further it lets you

• save and
• email the picture.

Note: SuperLame recommends you to keep the size of images less than 2 MB.

Overall a nice tool to add value to pictures available at http://www.superlame.com/engine.php.

...and my usual first effort...

If you're one Word 2007 support call away from a nervous breakdown, these tips may help. Susan Harkins addresses the most common areas of confusion and offers practical advice for helping users conquer the steep learning curve.

Read the full TechRepublic article at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=407.

I'm constantly using a spreadsheet that requires me to clear the values but retain the formulas; it can be a real pain to go through and select each field individually for deletion. Can I do this in just a few steps?

PS I use Office 2007.

Excel 2007 does allow you to do just this, as you requested, in just a few steps.

1. Open the Excel worksheet containing the values and formulas.

2. Press Ctrl+G to bring up the Go To dialog box.

 

3. Click the Special button in the bottom-left corner of the box.

4. In the Go To Special dialog box, select the Constants radio button. Now check the Numbers checkbox underneath Formulas. Make sure that the Text, Logicals, and Errors checkboxes are unchecked.

5. Click the OK button.

6. All fields containing values and not formulas will be highlighted. Press the Delete key on your keyboard to clear out the values.

"I would like to set up a spreadsheet for projects and wonder if there is an easy way to 'notify' upcoming mile post due dates? I'm using Office 2007"

It is relatively easy to set up a worksheet to provide this handy reminder that deadlines are getting close. Below are instructions on how to use 'conditional formatting' to flag items in a specific timeframe.

Excel's conditional formatting feature lets you see at a glance which projects are 'coming due'. For example, if you list your projects and their corresponding due dates in an Excel Spreadsheet; when you open the sheet, all projects due next month should be marked according to your selection. I tend to use Light Red Fill with Dark Red Text but it is up to you!

1: on your Excel spreadsheet you will need to enter the labels and formulas as shown below...

Note: when you type the enter or tab key these formula will no longer be visible the end product should show the actual dates like this (this example was done on the 26th August 2008...

IF you do not get dates, but a string of numbers, highlight column B and format the cells as dates.

2: Enter the Projects and the 'due dates' e.g.

3: Select the Due Dates as shown below

4: On the Home Tab Select the Conditional Formatting icon; Highlight Cells Rules and Between, as shown below...

The Between dialog box opens...

5: Click the icon after the first window; this closes the dialog box and allows you to select cells on the spreadsheet; select cell B4 and then type +1

The dialog box will look like this click the icon to return to the main Between dialog box which should look like this...

6: Click the icon after the second window; this again closes the dialog box and allows you to select cells on the spreadsheet; select cell B3

The dialog box will look like this click the icon to return to the main Between dialog box which should now look like this...

7: Click the dropdown button to open the menu where you can select the format you wish to use (I leave it on Light Red Fill with Dark Red Text)

8: Click OK

9: In the example I've used the Projects due next month are highlighted...

MapaList is web service for mapping address lists onto Google Maps. Using MapaList you can pull an address list (spreadsheet) from your Google Docs account,map it on top of Google maps, and then share it with others.

Here is how it works?

1. Upload the spreadsheet with the list of addresses to your Google Docs account. I labelled the first two columns Name and PostCode then added data under the headings.
2. Sign-up with MapaList
3. When requested, grant it access to your Google Docs account.
4. Point MapaList to the the spreadsheet with the list of addresses you want to map.
5. Follow step-by-step guide to map the address list.