tell a (tech) story

Storybird is another fantastic resource from Russell Stannard, one of many online storytelling tools we've come across, this is probably the most beautiful. The artwork is really stunning and it's a wonderful creative writing resource no matter how old you are. Get creative, tell a story and share it with friends - what are you waiting for?

know it all?

a fantastic resource for students and teachers WatchKnow is a collection of thousands of videos organised so you can find stuff at just the right level.
From WWII to the Hungry Caterpillar, Tornadoes to Long Division there's something for everyone to learn by watching!

show it all

My Jugaad is a great tool for displaying information - whether it is cool websites on delicious, the latest from google news or your own list of websites (maybe relating to a classroom topic) - it quickly and easily creates a great autoplay slideshows of websites.
We use it in the library with our big display screen - for highlighting great websites for projects, promoting our resources or display the days news - why not hook it up to your smartboard and see what the students think?

bubblicious

Bubbl Us is a fantastic online brainstorming tool for you and your friends/students/colleagues - use it to expand your thinking, prepare for a project or explain an idea. You can share, print, email, embed so it's a great way of thinking 2.0!

jogging without leaving your seat

JOG THE WEB is a fantastic way to explore a collection of websites. Put together sequence of pages, add your own text, maybe ask some questions. A great way to explore websites and teach information literacy skills. Use it to gather information for a whole unit or just to evaluate a group of resources. Quick, easy and fun!

hyper cool

HYPERWORDS is a Firefox/Chrome add on that lets you take a piece of text, search for it online (including images, video, dictionaries and maps).  You can also convert numbers (such as a currency) or translate a word.  All without leaving your browser page.  You can even share via email, blogging, Twitter or Facebook.

Watch their Youtube demo!

wish upon a wall

some teachers are already using the wonderful WALLWISHER for their classes - an online noticeboard where you can post sticky notes - great for sharing ideas or brainstorming by yourself.

here's a great tutorial from russell stannard
and a slideshow of ideas for using wallwisher in education, put together by tom barrett (using google docs)

picture yourself

bored of your facebook, blog or twitter profile picture?
want a different look?
here are 3 suggestions for re-creating your image online

Face Your Manga
allows you to create a manga
style character

Wimp Yourself
make yourself into a Wimpy Kid!

Voki
goes a step further and gives you a talking avatar!

colour your world creatively

Multicolr Search Lab
is a superb new way of searching for creative commons images - by colour
choose a single or multiple colour and get a fantastic collection of beautiful images
from flickr creative commons - this would be especially great for visual art

alternative presentations

fed up of death by powerpoint? here's another way you can put your points to an audience
with xtranormal you just choose the scenery and characters, put the text in and it makes a movie
you can also add camera positions, expressions and movements.
it does take a while for the film to 'process' so make it as complete as possible before you publish

collaborative presentations made gorgeous!

great news on twitter today - a new addition to one of my favourite web tools - Prezi Meeting
this allows you to create presentations collaboratively and would be great for students (or teachers) working in groups
here's a video that explains all

look and wonder

two years ago saw the release Life photo archive hosted by Google - enabling us to access these amazing, beautiful, inspiring and thought provoking images - free to use for education - and wonderful to explore

no more glue!

bored of sticking bits of paper on posters for an assignment or display?
want to try something a bit more professional looking and save paper?
glogster enables you to create stunning online posters very easily
you can embed your own images or videos, or use those from the site, along with any text
it's a great way of presenting information
once you're done you can share your glog with a weblink or even print it out (A4)

neat tool for visualising events

BBC Dimensions

is a fantastic site which enables you to layer over the size of an event  or place with somewhere you're familiar with (using for instance the school or your own postcode)

so if you want to see how big the 1969 Moon Landings were, or the size of the recent flooding in Pakistan, juxtaposed with a satellite map of Sportlaan, this is a great site for getting everyone thinking!

ed and tech

another thing worthwhile exploring over the summer holidays is EDUTECHER
this is a website with tutorials of how to use technology tools (such as wallwisher, museumbox and even how to get the most from your smartboard). 
the site also has recommended links grouped by subject - great for discovering tools that are relevant for teachers and students alike.
and yes there is even an iphone app.

tech tutorials

teacher training videos
looking to brush up your tech skills over the break?

take a look at these great tutorials, created for teachers
by lecturer Russell Stannard.

from twitter to glogster, wallwisher to delicious

these videos take you through everything you need

to know about loads of great web 2.0 stuff

sharing photos the easy way

PICASA from Google is a fantastic tool not only for both organising your photos on your desktop but also sharing them.

After installing the software to your pc (mac users have iphoto), picasa will scan your hard drive for any images and put them together in one easy to access place. From here you can edit the photos - cropping, adjusting tone, red eye reduction etc. It even has a face recognition tool which enables you to tag all your friends and family (or students).

All this is very useful but isn't the best part. Picasa enables you to choose photos to upload to a webalbum - very simple and easy to use. Once you've uploaded the photos (which you can make private or public) you can send a link to the album - thus not clogging up people's inboxes with huge image files. You can also embed a slideshow into a website (this is what i did on my own personal website). Here's a slideshow of Batgirl's latest adventures.

Want to know more? here's the overview of features from google.

yum yum yum - Delicious

Why have your bookmarks/favourites stuck at home on your computer when they can be available online for you to use and share. Delicious is my top web 2.0 tool, really couldn't and wouldn't be without it. 
Rather than huge long lists of websites you've saved, Delicious lets you tag the stuff you love, making it easy to organise and find later. You can even import stuff that you've already got. 
It's also a great way of finding great websites (well if someone has bothered to bookmark it, it might well be useful!)
There is even an iphone app for hardcore geeks.
Take a look at my bookmarks below - new stuff is added all the time!

prezi

Many of you have already seen PREZI.

I find it a really great presentation tool - it's non-linear nature means you can move around easily, go back to a previous point or skip ahead if you're running out of time.
It also encourages you to keep your text short - no more death by powerpoint!
take a look at the prezi showcase for some great ideas, you can also see a couple of simple ones I've done embedded on the new library website

word clouds but not as you know them...

Tagxedo

is a fantastic new word cloud creator with the special difference that you can use shapes (even from your own images).

Here's one I created from the ISA website in the shape of a dove.

Another tool inspired by the wonderful Wordle.

for all your stuff...

one of my favourite tools at the moment is DROPBOX
this is a place to put your documents, photos and videos online so you can access them from any internet connected computer - no more usb pens or emailing files!
you can also share a folder with someone by email, really handy for working collaboratively
there's even an iphone app!