“Teaching 4th Grade Students using Wolfram|Alpha” - Wolfram|Alpha Homework Day: Teaching 4th Grade Students using Wolfram|Alpha
Wolfram|Alpha is an amazing resource...
YouTube - Wolfram|Alpha Homework Day: Teaching 4th Grade Students using Wolfram|Alpha
(Via Wolfram|Alpha Blog.)
Geography: “20 Fascinating Ancient Maps”
http://associatesdegree.org/free-edu/fascinating-ancient-maps/
An awesome collection that is worth a look! Click on the link above the photo to see 19 more.
“Acquia Debuts Drupal for Free”: My Thoughts…
This is pretty exciting news especially since I use Drupal for my classroom website! (I flushed out last year's content and have been updating slowly this month. Been playing around with design and CCK features; awaiting the big move to an updated install). It could mean improvements in the future such as a one click update module (I have hoped for this for a LONG TIME) just like the WordPress InstantUpgrade plugin that I love. I looked around a little to find some business information on Acquia and it was nice to find out who is running the show over there.
Acquia Readies Commercial Drupal CMS
"Acquia is headed up by Dries Buytaert, the founder and still a lead developer of Drupal."
(Via GigaOM.)
This is a good thing, in my opinion, because it hopefully means that there will be significant initiative to push out updates/improvements to the community instead of keeping them proprietary and closed source.
At least this is what I hope!
I just installed Acquia's flavor of Drupal on my hosted server (the same that hosts this blog) and already I really like the administration panel across the top of the page.
Later on I will have to copy over some of the modules I use over at my classroom website to see how well they function.
Still looking forward to the DrupalEd update that should be coming soon. I will wait until then to make my decision on which version to start pulling my content over to.
"Acquia has announced the availability of Acquia Drupal, a free and commercially supported distribution of the popular Drupal open source social publishing system. They also unveiled the Acquia Network, which offers subscription-based access to technical support and remote network services that simplify the development and operation of Drupal Web sites. Entry level subscriptions to the Acquia Network will be free of charge through the end of the year.
For those that aren’t overly familiar with Drupal, it’s an open source web development and content management platform that publishes, manages and organizes a wide variety of content on websites. Tens of thousands of people and organizations are using Drupal.
With the release of Acquia Drupal with its streamlined packaging of Drupal and a support system via the Acquia Network, there will definitely be a tremendous increase in Drupal developers and websites powered by this Drupal.
All subscribers to the Acquia Network will gain access to the Acquia Network’s subscriber forums, remote network services such as software update notifications, uptime monitoring, Mollom spam blocking, and Acquia Drupal documentation.
What all this means is that many more companies, especially enterprise class entities, will be much more willing to dip their toes in the Drupal pool now that there’s a commercial grade package available that includes tech support. If all this sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking about Linux and how similar its path has been to the corporate world. At one point, only extreme geeks used Linux, until some big names like IBM and Novell started proving technical support plans with their Linux offerings. That allowed larger companies to try Linux much the same way they will try Drupal thanks to the Acquia partnership and support offering.
It seems like the natural evolutionary progression for all open source projects to go from a handful of geek’s using it in their basement to the corporate enterprise once a commercial package with tech support is distributed. It will be interesting to see what kind of websites and social networks are born from this marriage between Acquia and Drupal."
(Via Mashable!.)
iTunes U for K-12
Pretty exciting news came my way via Kelly Dumont.
iTunes U, a wonderful free service full of rich content from universities and community colleges across the nation, is now spreading to K-12!
Kelly has a great post on his blog where he talks a little bit about the program.
"I believe this project will be somewhat of a game changer. Here K12 ed will have a central gathering place for resources, be they audio, video, text-based, etc." - Kelly Dumont
In order to check out some of the schools and state programs who were part of the the launch you can find the K-12 link within iTunes. Once you have launched iTunes and the iTunes Store all you need to do is click on "iTunes U"
Then click on "K-12"...
After you have navigated your way through you can select one of the schools or organizations from the list. For right now the list is short but I am sure the list and interface will grow with time.
Here is a look at Michigan's MILearning page...
While you are checking out the K-12 content you should definitely take some time to explore the university content. Neat stuff!
Yahoo! Teachers Beta: Invites
Just received this email from Derek Baird from the Yahoo! Teachers team and I wanted to pass it along to my readers.
Hello Everyone!
We've been working hard integrating all your great "sugs" (and fixing bugs) from our summer workshops and getting Yahoo! For Teachers Beta ready to launch.
We are looking for more teachers to join our beta program. If you know an educator who is interested in joining us, have them shoot an email to: yteachersinvite@yahoo.com Feel free to share this information in a newsletter or in a blog post.
If you have any questions, or need help with Yahoo! For Teachers, please don't hesitate to let us know!
Thanks!
Derek
If you have any questions about the program feel free to comment!
Very Neat Plugin from Flickr for your WordPress Blog!
I saw this new plugin mentioned by Tim, so I decided to test it out from within my WordPress account. The installation of the plugin went smooth and once I migrate everything over from Blogger to here I am looking forward to utilizing it! I really love the way it automatically places in the citation. At first I did not like how it only showed 5 pictures at a time, so within the options pane I found that you can increase the number of photos shown as well as change the selection to display the "most interesting" photos first.All the instructions for using the plugin can be found here.WordPress + Flickr + Creative Commons = Awesome New Plugin for Bloggers
"Adding photos to your blog is one of the best ways to enhance your content and attract attention to your writings. The only problem is that finding quality photos to use can be difficult. Bloggers end up going with one of three options: stealing, buying, or using Creative Commons licensed photos. Now, that third option just got easier with the introduction of the Photo Dropper WordPress plugin. This new plugin searches flickr for Creative Commons licensed photos for you to add to your WordPress blog.
There are millions of Creative Commons photos in flickr's database, but finding the right one can take time. The new Photo Dropper plugin simplifies the process by adding a panel to the 'Write Post' screen that allows you to search flickr's database for Creative Commons photos.After entering in your keyword and clicking 'search,' the plugin will return photos from flickr matching your search terms. Underneath each photo are four links. Three links, 'S', 'M', and 'L', allow you to post that size photo into your blog. The fourth link will open the flickr page in a new window, so you can double-check the licensing requirements if necessary.
The photo which is placed into your blog automatically has text appended underneath it that says 'photo credit' and links to the user who is licensing the photo. The small Creative Commons logo precedes the text as well.
Photo Dropper also offers an option for commercial users. In the Options section, they can check the 'commercial' check box to exclude photos whose license contains a non-commercial limitation.You can download Photo Dropper for free from here."(Via ReadWriteWeb.)
Library of Congress- Flickr Images
The Library of Congress has recently launched a photo pilot program on Flickr where they are posting over 3000 high quality images from their most popular collections. Not only are these images available on Flickr, they are also available there with no copyright restrictions. According to the Library of Congress article they hope to address some challenges that they face...
If all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity. In many senses, we are looking to enhance our metadata (one of those Web 2.0 buzzwords that 90 percent of our readers could probably explain better than me).
http://www.loc.gov/blog/?p=233
Below I have included a couple of my favorite images from the collection. Enjoy and explore for yourself!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179130295/in/set-72157603671370361
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179130295/in/set-72157603671370361
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179195370/
Needless to say this one caught my eye in the "News in the 1910s set"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2162723195/in/set-72157603624867509/
Planbook for Windows
Well not quite yet...
It is in the Beta testing phase right now, and Jeff has been working hard to respond to the suggestions that we have been sending him. This software package will allow teachers to create their lesson plans digitally, without having to hassle with a spreadsheet program. The publishing options, calendar functions, and the ease of input has impressed me. I keep reminding myself that the software is still in testing phases, all created and maintained by one person! I still will be using Excel for writing my lesson plans until more functionality is added in the upcoming beta releases. Just this weekend, Jeff updated to Beta 2 and fixed one of the bugs I was having with my weird schedule. He also added a "To Do" list and search functions. He has been absolutely wonderful with all of the testers. I am excited for when the product is finished. I plan on purchasing a copy to help support it.
Where’s Waldo
I committed the cardinal sin of blogging, lack of posting! Many apologies. The school year started on the 5th for me and I have been going full steam since! Also I bought a house on the 7th. My free time has been limited. When I am not working on the house, planning for my class, or working on my graduate school work, I am with my wife and son... at Lowe's. They should include in the disclosure information how many trips you will need to take to a home improvement store before you can move in. The first weekend I think we had 7 total visits. Obviously you can tell we are first time home buyers!
Two quick pics of the house project...
Floor Before, tearing out the carpet (It smelled like a 20 year old Cat)
Floor After (Refinished! No more animal mess stains.)
What woke me up, out of my blogging slumber, was a mention on one of my favorite podcasts, The Ohio Treasure Chest Podcast. There I was, sitting in the teacher lounge today grading papers and waiting for Open House night to start, listening to my fancy new mp3 player. I was listening to the latest OTCP show when Eric began to share his favorite blogs. He mentioned el/ed/tech! I could not believe it. Thank you Eric, it is an honor!
The Ohio Treasure Chest is an excellent resource for educators of every level. I have shared it with many of my fellow staff members and frequently use the site to find resources to support my instruction. The podcast is professional, informational, and I always leave with a new resource following Eric's review.