Tech Tutor Mark

I have been a collector of Web Tools & Web Resources for quite a while now, and have been meaning to create my own list of favorites. This is one of the tools that keeps coming back and teachers recommend it repeatedly to each other.  While I'm at it, I'd also like to give a mention to one of my favorite online tech resources.  For those unfamiliar, Wordle is a tool that can serve the following functions in a classroom:  Brainstorming Tool  Improve Classroom Participation in Students  Turn Words into Graphic Communication  Get Kids Thinking about Words  Increase and Improve Vocabulary Skills. The list could go on, but that's a start. I belong to the Teacher Learning Community , or SimpleK12 .  Last year I won a vacation in Big Sky, Montana as a result of entering one of their online contests.  SimpleK12 is one of the best collections of EdTech resources you will find on the Web. Their continual webinars are second to none,...

Two of my current favorite topics are media streaming and remote control/VPN solutions.  In this article , Lifehacker did a great job of combining both topics into a Best Of.  Anywhere from DJ-ing your iTunes from any room to watching recorded TV (without SlingBox) to giving remote tech support.  And pay close attention to #9 on the list: Installing Wake-on-LAN for remote power-ups.  This Top 10 is absolutely indispensable . 

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. 

In case Scribd is blocked in your school, office, or if you just don't like its restrictions, there are alternatives.  This great list was posted on JPIRES.org .  It is the lengthiest list of its kind that I have found so far, and many of these services I had never even heard of.  As always, let me know what you think, and which ones you like best.

The Best File Storage and Backup Services In case you were looking for a really helpful list of the various online storage, backup and sharing services available today, this is one of the best I've found.  Courtesy of BornTechie.com, the list is organized into two categories: free and pay services.  

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...

After attending this year's MACUL Technology Conference, one presentation tool stood out.  Prezi is a Web-based alternative to PowerPoint.  Yesterday I got a chance to create my first Prezi. As we all know, PowerPoint has been used in education for many years, but education was not its inteded use.  It was created to be used in business presentations.  Prezi has a format that is more user-friendly and (better yet) educational friendly.  You can easily create "Frames" which allow you to group like objects (text blocks as well as images) and when you're done, you can: Share the Prezi with someone else, allowing them to edit it or just watch it, Include a public Web link that can reside on your classroom Web site or blog, Embed the Prezi on your classroom Web site or blog (like I did below), Download the Prezi and show it without an Internet connection.  It can be stored on a DVD or USB Flash drive, for instance. Here is the public link to the Prezi below...

Multimedia Workshop: Favorite Free Multimedia Tools None of the software on this list will cost you a penny: Audio Editing Audacity (sound/audio editor & audio converter) ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) Video Editing Windows Movie Maker (Microsoft Windows’ video editor) ( http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx ) Vivia (video editor) ( http://vi.en.softonic.com/ ) Photo Editing IrfanView (photo viewer & image editor) ( http://www.irfanview.com/ ) Paint.Net (Photoshop-like photo editing alternative) ( http://www.getpaint.net/ ) The GIMP (advanced photo editor) ( http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ ) Picasa (Google’s photo organizer) ( http://picasa.google.com/ ) Photoshop Express (Photoshop’s free online storage/editing site) ( https://www.photoshop.com/express ) Photo Slideshow Makers (Done in a video format) PhotoStory 3 (Microsoft’s free slideshow maker) ( www.microsoft.com/photostory ) Animoto (Create a video slide-show in minutes and bring your...

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...

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 ...

I love the Google applications as much as anyone. Google Earth, GMail, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator. They're all excellent, and this is by no means a comparison...but have you heard of ZOHO.com ? This site is an online office package like you wouldn't believe. This blog post sheds more light on what this amazing Web Office package means in the scheme of things, and this blogger's post sums up Zoho's magic in more glowing detail. Just take a look at the Home Page (to the left) and you will see the main features of this suite. Project Management software (Zoho Projects), an online note taker (Zoho Notebook), Web Conference (Zoho Meeting), Wiki, Database, online business solutions, an online organizer, and of course the basic core features that Google has, such as chat, presentation, spreadsheet and word processing. Judge for yourself whether the breadth of these tools stack up or surpass those of Google. As mentioned, it has some features that Googl...