Tech Tutor Mark

The newly-revised " Best Free Tools & Tips for Busy Educators " is now available for free download in PDF format.  The links work in Adobe Reader, too.  These are my favorite sites, Web tools, tips, tricks, free software, and a getting-started introduction for each.  Let me know what you think. 

Featuring many of my favorite Web tips, sites and Web services, here is the handout I used for the Internet Tips, Tricks, Great Web Sites & Web Services class.  It was a pretty big hit: 1. TinyURL : Allows you to turn a long Web site URL into a much shorter one. 2. Delicious.com : Social Bookmarking service allows you to save all of your bookmarks online and access them anywhere that you have an Internet connection. Xmarks Free Bookmark Sync is a free add-on for all popular Web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Apple’s Safari and Google Chrome. Install it from www.xmarks.com and your bookmarks will be backed up and synchronized from any Web browser you have this installed on. 3. Foxbright : (The PHASD CMS system for building a free classroom, department or school Web site). Check out our How-To’s page for tips and tutorials on using Foxbright, or attend one of our many training workshops to learn how to use it. 4. The WayBack Machine : http://www.archiv...

The Classroom Web Site Services & Tools The Freebies: Protopage.com : Free. Drag and drop widgets. Here is an example I set up for myself: http://protopage.com/markrepp PageFlakes.com : Free. Drag and drop widgets. Here is an example of one used by a PHASD teacher: http://www.pageflakes.com/kgreene2/ Weebly.com : Free. Drag and drop personal widgets available. It also has over 35 site designs to choose from. Hover your cursor over a design to automatically change your page. There is also the option to download a complete ZIP file ready to upload to your server. Here is an example of a Weebly site: http://beginwithme.weebly.com/ MOODLE : Free in our District. Allows you to create entire courses online. Everyone who visits the site needs a login and/or enrollment key (course password). Here is an example of a moodle site I created: http://moodle.phasd.us/course/view.php?id=23 You can log in as a Guest. Google Sites : ( http://sites.google.com/ ) Free with a Gmail account. Here is on...

There are many technology obstacles for adults over 50 trying to keep up with their kids and grand-kids who were raised with computers from their very birth. Here is a collection of resources that will help adults catch up with their kids and bridge the gap a bit better with regard to technology (in both skills and knowledge): 1) Understanding computers and Internet basics, spreadsheets, word processing, operating systems, etc. Training is free from the St. Clair County Library. For an updated schedule of classes, just download the latest issue of their newsletter. It is available at www.sccl.lib.mi.us/libnews.html -click on the latest issue of the newsletter. The Computer Training Schedule is in the Winter 2008-2009 issue on page 6. 2) Understanding the latest educational technology tools, such as interactive whiteboards, student responders (clickers), computer tips and shortcuts, building Web sites cheaply, using PowerPoint, and finding the best Web Sites for every occasion. Training...

Internet4Classrooms.com : A Web portal for anyone who wants to find high-quality, free Internet resources to use in their classroom instruction. There are Links for K-12 Teachers, Assessment Assistance, Online Practice Modules SendUIt.com and YouSendIt.com : Send very large files up to 100 mb. Most E-mail services such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Comcast, GMail all have limitations on attachment file size. This way you can send huge bundles of pictures, even videos to your friends, relatives and co-workers. Ask about creating .Zip files, so that you can compress an entire folder and send it off to others. TinyURL.com and SnipURL.com : Free Web site URL shortening services. These sites allow you to copy the longest Web site addresses you come across and convert them to smaller, more compact addresses which you can easily pass on to your colleagues. Officetutorials.com : A great way to quickly learn any of the major Microsoft software. There are full-color picture-laden tutorials that take you ...

Crucial.com - System Scanner and Memory Advisor Tools One of the online tools I use regularly to help me upgrade computers is Crucial.com's System Scanner, found at http://www.crucial.com/ . The System Scanner virtually eliminates the need to open up the computer's case to determine how much and which type of memory is inside. It makes recommendations and tells which memory slots are filled, and whether or not the system can handle an upgrade to say...1 gb, 2 gb or more of RAM. Wondering if you can run Windows Vista on your machine? Try Crucial's Vista Scanner and see if your computer passes or fails the test. The Memory Advisor Tool allows you to follow a 3-step process to find guaranteed-compatible memory for computers and motherboards. These are important tools when dealing with memory upgrades, but there are more resources on the site which are also worthy of looking at. There is a Mac memory section, and of course you can purchase by individual memory type, such as th...

The World's Biggest DIY & How-To Show and Tell Site Here is a site for everyone. Instructables.com is an online community where people from all over the world share what they know how to do. It is truly a show-and-tell "how-to" site, with over 2 million visitors per month. You can learn such diverse skills as how to make a $5.00 space pen for your wallet or how to turn a Dell laptop into a digital photo frame. There are food tips like how to make you own tortillas and real Japanese ramen from scratch , as well as art, craft and home How-Tos , such as building a Web-controlled surveillance camera and more tips than I can ever begin to describe. Instead of giving you a manual and sending you on your way, you get to experience these articles through the words, pictures and ideas of Instructables.com's colorful collection of users. Some of the tutorials are truly useful, while others are simply unique. You can browse the site and see what it has to offer, amid a col...

Acronyms & Glossary NetLingo.com Top 20 Internet Acronyms Every Parent Needs to Know Nothing is more humbling for a parent than seeing a list like the one below. And, nothing is more helpful to a parent than seeing a list like the one below. Armed with this resource, you suddenly understand a lot of what your kids are talking about online in chat rooms, instant messaging programs, or in cell phone text messages. It's very disturbing and very real. The fact is, they don't want you to see this list. Understanding this reality is a great start to becoming more aware. For a comprehensive acronym list, check out http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm . Also, for parents concerned about their kids' online safety, check out these helpful links from WebWiseKids.org : http://www.webwisekids.org/index.asp?page=helpfulLinks The NetLingo Top 20 Acronyms POS - Parent Over Shoulder PIR - Parent In Room P911 - Parent Alert PAW - Parents Are Watching PAL - Parents Are Listening ...

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows is dedicated to providing all of the information Windows users need to evaluate important upcoming technologies, including Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Xbox 360, plus related digital media, Internet, home networking and more from Microsoft and its competitors. This Web site provides continuous updates about these future products and technologies, while offering reviews, technology showcases, FAQs and other articles all designed to give you the information you need to decide which upcoming technologies are right for you. Anything that works with or competes with Windows will make an appearance on this site. But wait, there's more here. As a site venture, Paul also collaborates on a podcast with Leo Laporte (formerly of Tech TV) called Windows Weekly . This podcast started in September 2006 and continues to this day. On Paul's SuperSite for Windows, you will find reviews of the various components of Windows Vista, and when W...

Excel Tips and Add-ins Galore The Excel users in the crowd have been overlooked in this blog until now. I am compiling some tips to help you through your work day a little more efficiently, with some help from our friends over at TechRepublic.com , who seem to always have the best tips for business software users. To receive the following downloads, you first need to register, but don't worry. TechRepublic.com's site registration is free, and well worth it. So do that first. Then log in to the site. Now, the first of two very useful links. The first is their list of " 75 Essential Excel Tips ": http://tinyurl.com/5tbztc These tips have been compiled by their staff of talented Excel users. This 30-page document covers techniques for Excel 97-2003, featuring time-saving tricks that range from data entry and cell formatting to currency conversion and workbook sharing. But wait, there's more... Some of my personal favorite Excel tips appear on this site: http://www.j-...

Tips and Tools for PC Building from If building PCs is a passion or an interest of yours, there is no better source than ExtremeTech.com. Their staff has the lowdown on what you need to know. From Pre-build Preparation to Software Tools to Post Assembly, this great article entitled " Tips and Tools for PC Building " will help you out. The article takes you through the steps, including recommended tools (like the Milwaukee 6546 Electric Screwdriver). For software tools, they recommend memtest86+ for initial boot testing and Bart's PE , the excellent Windows XP Live Boot CD. ExtremeTech.com is a site that is definitely for computer power users, but this particular article is for anyone with a thirst for taking computers apart and rebuilding them. The knowledge and experience here is outstanding, and this article is a terrific place to start if you're interested in building a PC of your own.

Celebrating Freeware and Great Tech Forums ( http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic3616.html ) and ( http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_free_tech_support_sites.htm ) I recently stumbled onto a great forum post on bleepingcomputer .com/ that gives a very comprehensive list of freeware replacements for common commercial applications . These commercial products are some of the biggest names in software, but the challenge of coming up with great freeware that will meet most the same needs was met quite well. It was truly a beneficial topic for everyone, which brings up the point I want to make. I have learned more from the various online tech forums in the past year than from almost any other type of computer training. These forums are seemingly everywhere, but they generate the kind of wonderful exchange of experience and ideas that we need in the technology field. For instance, if you had a strange computer problem (like a cryptic Windows error message) that you could not fix y...

If you're looking for the online how-to magazine for everything Adobe, here is the site: http://www.layersmagazine.com/ . Every day, you will find reviews, contests, a blog, articles and Creative Suite tutorials added to the site. Just click on the program you want, such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, AfterEffects, Dreamweaver, etc. There are icons at the top for each of the big Adobe applications. Clicking on any one of them will bring up tips and tutorials for that program. For a more comprehensive collection of tutorials, click on either the " Tutorials " link on the top navigation bar, or click on the "Tutorial Center" link at the very top of the site. You can subscribe to the site (to obtain the latest updates) by clicking on the RSS feed link on any page. There is a tremendous amount of free content on this site, but if you prefer to subscribe to the newsstand magazine subscription, a one-year subscription costs $30.00 or $50.00 for two years. The full ...

What is your choice for the best free Internet radio site? Mine, at least for now, is SKY.fm . There is no .com at the end of the address, and if you do type in SKYfm.com, you will not get this site, but a pretty bland Web page with just the SKYfm logo in big bright letters. Why is SKYfm so good? Well, first of all, from a purely educational perspective, it is not blocked by most school district Web filters. In fact, it is not blocked by any of the Web filters I have seen so far. I'm not exactly sure why that is yet, but it's your best bet for online radio at work, and maybe that has become its reputation. It sounds good to me. Here is what you get for free: 35 completely different radio channels convering every format imaginable, A recent playlist of the last 6 songs and the current song for each station, Support for both Windows Media Player and Winamp players, as well as others, Up to 96 k in MP3-streaming audio quality, just under CD quality and higher than most offline F...