Edublogs Tutorials

Tis is a really interesting development in imaging technology. You can take a panoramic view and the software stitches your pictures together - nothing really new about that, but when you view, the panorama is shown like a Virtual tour. Now this normally costs money to produce, but here, it’s for free.

CleVR is a UK based company and I think they’re well worth a mention.

Uses:

• VR tour of the classroom, playground etc
• Field trips
• insides of buildings

do you have any great ideas?

Oh yes, and it can be embedded in a post, which is why I think it’s so cool - thanks to Joe Dale for that link

See how it’s done CleVR Stitcher tutorial screencast

If you would like to add a tag cloud to your site read on.

A tag cloud takes a look at the whole of your site and then prioritises the most used words  by size.  This is fully customisable to suit your design ideas but is a good way to show students what’s of top interest on your site at the moment

It’s all free and provided by ZoomClouds 

Just sign up and follow the very simple instructions.  My tag cloud is the default one so I didn’t need to change anything

authorSTREAM is a great tool for getting your powerpoint files into your blog post.

There’s an embed code which is simple to use

authorSTREAM lets you upload Powerpoints, rate them, email them, comment on them and embed the Flash player in blogs and websites.

SlideShare is similar, while Scribd supports the widest range of formats. ZohoShow is another, while the ThinkFree Office suite also offers embedding of documents.

It also seems to have a slightly bigger player. I also notice that my Slideshare instructions have reverted to the original as the new, quick method does not seem to work anymore - see the Powerpoint category for more information

Well done to the magnificent Vodpod team who have managed to persuade Firefox, a great free alternative to Windows Explorer, to add their wonderful tool as an add-on. This effectively integrates the Vodpod video collection tool right into your browser. Well done that team - I love Vodpod.

If you want to see more on video, click the ‘Video’ link in my categories on the right sidebar.

Firefox Add-ons

Well I have my new Nokia N95i - the one with 8Gb and O2 as the service provider. I bought this on an 18 month contract as an upgrade, but also to access the next level of mobile access. Well it has taken me 2 days to work out how to connect my Macbook, but it is a very simple task, when you know where to look. I found lots of forum discussions and suggestions about using scripts and lots of Readme files. Well, it turns out I didn’t need any of these. Well done Apple, once again connectivity is superbly easy. First, you need to download the corresponding Modem Scripts from Ross Barkman and locate them in a particular folder and then I simply had to use the connection manager and add the code *99#, leave the password and username empty and it just connected, like that. You do need to ask O2 to set up all your connections otherwise your web access is not activated - silly default eh? So now I can use my mac wherever I go and access the internet for free - not sure? So far O2 have said about browsing the net

• the data add on is an unlimited and not a fair use as I had been advised, so it can be used 24/7 on a laptop or phone
• there is a 200Mb limit on all browsing on a laptop or phone, so not unlimited
• the data is all chargeable via laptop but free on phone
• this service is not available via laptop

So, all clear then So currently, I shall be trying it out and seeing if there is a charge or not when I get my bill - I have used this a little and this month’s bill shows nothing. Check out these videos - thanks to Joe Dale for these - they’re about using Fring - free software instead of Skype Using Fring 1 Using Fring 2

This is a fairly straightforward procedure

1. make sure you have a google account - free
2. go to google docs and start a new document - like Word
3. write your information for your post
4. save the file - not sure if you really have to do this, but it makes sense
5. click on the ’share’ button on the rhs menus
6. click ‘publish as web page’
7. click ‘change your blog site settings’
8. choose ‘my own server/custom’
9. API is moveable type API
10. URL - put in your address where is says ‘Your site/Path’
11. mine looks like this http://miketemple123.edublogs.org/TO/xmlrpc.php - ie set up for a Wordpress API
12. Under existing blog settings, put in your edublogs username and password
13. Add in your blog title
14. Tick ‘include document title
15. click OK
16. Now when you’ve finished your post, click ’share’ and then ‘publish as a web page’ then publish to blog
17. let me know what you think of this - applications please

I’m using this as a test to see if I can use Google docs to prepare a post and the using the ’share’ button, getting it published to my blog.

Why would this be useful - perhaps getting the students to post via Google docs could work.

This could be a great way to get your students to do a writeup for your class blog. Just have a class login for Google docs and have them all log in and create then save their posts in Google docs. Then, I think it would be advisable for you to publish them using the ’share’ menu, without lettinng the students in on this function. This way, you can do multiple and collaborative writeups - any other ideas out there?

Unable to get pictures in at the right size at the moment via Google docs, otherwise this seems to work well - I think this is a Safari-specific issue

Advantages

• easier to make multiple posts
• spellchecking built in
• can add in tables
• headers and footers
• strikeout, superscript and subscript
• collaborative aspect to posts
• ability to indent
• highlighting - this doesn’t seem to show up in Edublogs

cell1	cell2
cell3	cell4

• editing is much much quicker
• you can probably upload a .doc file to Google docs and then edit it quickly before posting

Disadvantage

• at the moment, no way to categorise or tag posts

If anyone would like an invite to help look into this and set up some instructions, please let me know

I’ve been having a little discussion with Leslie on my forum and it seems that using Blip.tv might be another good host for your videos.

I have uploaded one to test this out - Bip.tv automatically converts them all to flash and then they can be embedded using their player, straight into your post, just brilliant - with unlimited upload space. It just gets better and better

You can also add this to iTunes so folks can easily subscribe to your channel by clicking on the iTunes Dashboard Pane videos will need to be in the QuickTime format to work with iTunes, so the site says

So once again, a complete set of ticks in the box for Blip.tv

BTW, I have changed the player size to 450 x 355 and this seems to work great - do this by just editing the numbers after you have pasted in the code

Most of us will know that we can access the internet using our laptops via a ‘hot spot’ - Starbucks for example, offer this service free of charge. There are numbers of others that charge - hotels being one group.

There are new ‘dongles’ coming onto the market that offer 1gb of surfing for about £10 a month - this equates to only about 1 hour a day. This is hardly a great deal and is really only going to be used by those who MUST have access for business etc.

Well, hang on - I’ve been looking at a new mobile phone as mine is up for renewal. It’s a choice between the iPhone and what? O2 currently have the Nokia N95 8Gb phone - top of the range for around £35 a month on an 18 month contract - dig in more

This includes 600 minutes calls and 1000 texts AND you can take out a FREE, unlimited (fair use) data add-on.

before reading the following, please check out Mobile internet connection UK update

This allows the N95 to be used as a mobile internet 3G adapter*, giving you access to the internet wherever you go and take your laptop with you*. It connects using bluetooth, so no cables needed. You can, of course, use the data add-on to access the internet on your phone too via 3G. It also has satnav built-in. If you’re in a wi-fi hot-spot, you can also use your phone wirelessly too. So, if like me, you’ve not yet got to grips with mobile hand-held internet, here’s a possibility.

You can also download Skype mobile (via Fring) and call folks all over the world for free* (Skype - to Skype) direct from your mobile - now that’s interesting

Stuff changes all the time, but I thought it was worth mentioning for those who are frustrated not having access everywhere - like me! It means I won’t have to spend an extra £10 - 15 a month or £1 a day charge* to connect when I visit my parents and introduce my dad to the fun of making a VoiceThread story to go with some of his great photos

The transfer speed seems to be about 250 Kbps, so OK for most things

Note - please check all this information for yourself before trying this - however O2 offer 14 day trial if it doesn’t work out right for you* - update this is not available from the shops - if you sign up, it’s all yours - once again, contradictory info from the O2 people

Thanks to Wes Fryer for this - Great student-created tutorial guide for Google tools published with Issuu (Maine students of Kern Kelly)

The list is compiled from the contributions of 155 learning professionals (from both education and workplace learning) who shared their Top 10o Tools for Learning both for their own personal learning/ productivity and for creating learning solutions for others

The great stuff goes all the way to 100, so don’t ignore the little ones like Toondoo