Edvertisement: PowToon

PowToon in a web based presentation tool. It is simple to use tool has powerful animation effects, resulting in quite beautiful animations. PowToon allows you to upload voice-overs, and has a library of background music.

Using in the Classroom

The obvious use for PowToons is presentations, and students find it simple to use.
Our year 8 ICT used PowToons for an anti-bullying task. Using easy to find tutorials, they produced presentations of the quality below.

Getting Started

To start, go to www.powtoon.com. This is a freemium service and you can sign-up for free using your Google account. The free account has some limited services, but provides plenty of material for students to use.

The video below shows you how to use PowToon.

Google Educator Certification - Docs and Drive (Session 3)

Today with our Google session we will be looking at Lesson 4 of the Docs and Drive Level 2 training.

This lesson introduced Google Sheets, which is the Google Apps spreadsheet tool. Since the lesson assumes a little understanding of spreadsheets, first we might look at what spreadsheets are.

We will continue to take notes on our collaborative document, and don't forget to share classroom ideas.

Edvertisement: Chrome Apps and Extensions

Google Chrome is the world's most used browser for many reasons, and two of those reasons are Apps and Extensions. So what are they?

Apps

Apps are in-browser applications. That means that they are build in the web infrastructure (HTML 5, java etc), but more and more are becoming usable off-line. They are comparable to phone apps, programs that run within the Chrome.

An example of the Chrome App is the Biodigital Human which is a 3D anitomical model in which lets you explore all the body systems. You can turn systems on and off, zoom in, turn labels on and off. Look at the video below to see what I mean.

Extensions

Extensions are little add-ons which make Chrome easier to use. They may provide you with short cuts to web services you use, or spell and grammar check you on-line typing. Again there are is an huge range, so your best bet is to go look at them.

Using in the Classroom

Apps and extensions are so diverse, that the classroom opportunities they present are astounding. I would suggest that if you are looking for tool for you class, to go to the Chrome Web Store and search for that type of tool. You will most likely find something to meet you needs.

To give you a taste, I've included links to some apps and extensions that you might find useful for teaching:

Apps

• 3D Functions Plotter  an on line application to plotting two-variable real functions and integral and derivatives calculations.
• 3D Solar System Simulator is what it says it is
• Ancient History Encyclopaedia a website that provides free peer-reviewed ancient history information
• Biodigital Human a 3D anatomical model
• Cal Concentration a handy calculator for preparing solutions and buffer
• ChemReference: Periodic Table a powerful periodic table and chemistry reference tool.
• Chords Free ear training application
• Geograbra is free dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education 
• Lucidchart for Education diagramming software
• Planetarium An interactive sky map for exploring the stars and planets
• Ray Optics Simulation simulates reflection and refraction of light
• TimeMaps: World History Atlas easily navigate to any time and place in history. 
• Timer is a simple timer with countdown and count up features

Extensions

• 1 Click Timer is a quick countdown timer
• Adblocker blocks ads from appearing on pages in Chrome
• Awesome Screenshot captures a whole page or any portion for annotation and sharing
• Clearly makes blog posts, articles and webpages clean and easy to read
• Creative Commons Flickr Search searches Flickr for images and videos licensed under a Creative Commons license.
• Diigo Web Collector bookmarks, archives, screenshots & markups webpages
• Extension Defender provides malware protection for Chrome extensions
• Google Dictionary lets you view definitions easily as you browse the web.  
• Grammarly for Chrome a grammar and spell checker for the web
• Hola Better Internet lets you access websites which are block via countries
• Print Friendly & PDF removes ads, navigation and junk before printing of saving to pdf
• Read&Write for Google Text-to-Speech engine for Google Chrome 
• Save to Google Drive saves web content to your Google Drive
• Search by Image allows you to initiate a Google search using any image on the web

How do I get started?

The two thing that you will need to use Chrome's Apps and Extensions is to have installed Google Chrome onto you computer, and to have a Google Account. 

Once you have done that, go to the Chrome web store, and then adding apps and extensions is as simple as one click. If you want more information, watch the playlist below.

Google Educator Certification - Docs and Drive (Session 2)

Today is day two on Level 2 training for the Google Educator Certification. Last week we got through lessons one and two, so today we will start with lesson 3.

Don't forget that we have our collaborative note taking document. There is also a collaborative document to share any classroom ideas that you think of during the sessions.

1000 Views

Just a quick post to celebrate this blog ticking over the 1000 views mark.  What I find really interesting is that a blog written to share information to my work colleagues in Australia, has had so many international viewers.

The international audience include people from:

• United States
• Germany
• Switzerland
• France
• Malaysia
• Poland
• Indonesia
• Ukraine
• Spain
• Belgium
• Lithuania
• Cyprus
• Macedonia
• China
• Canada
• Argentina

Thanks to all of you for your support.

Edvertisement: Soundation

The ease of music creation in Soundation means it lend itself to a wide range of possible uses. It is quick and easy to make music. The loops are all in key with each other, and adjust their speed to the set BMP, so it is just click and drag.

This is the service that I used to create the background music for the Edvertisment videos. The footage for the Edvertisement video above was the entire production of the song below.

Soundation is also powerful enough to create complex pieces of music. Unlimited tracks, effects and automation will please the most demanding composer. Soundation is a freemium service, which means that you can pay for more features. These features include extra loop libraries, and the capacity to record straight into Soundation.

Using in the Classroom

Soundation uses fall into two categories. The first use is as a source of music for production purposes. Soundation creaes royalties free music that can for use in anything which requires a backing track. A second way I've had students use Soundation is for them to create backing tracks that they can then rap over or sign over. I have found this effective in with some students whom I was struggling to engage.

How do I get started?

You can get to Soundation by going to soundation.com. You can create an account, or just log in using your Google account. The site has a pretty good 'How to' section, including some helpful videos.

Do I need a paid account?

The two reasons you would have a paid account is more loops, and being able to record straight into Soundation. I have used Soundation for many years, without a paid account and this is why. The number of loops available provide plenty of scope for a wide range of music, so I see no need to buy more. Secondly, to record, download the wav file, import it into a free audio software (like audacity) and record in there.