Webspiration

Posted on June 5, 2009 by slav

Do you remember Inspiration? The mind mapping tool on CD that was available for purchase in the late 1990s has now been replaced by Webspiration. A mind mapping tool on steroids, Webspiration is a free online collaborative tool that can lead students to plan and share ideas.

: Introducing Webspiration

The Webspiration website provides more information:

Create Diagrams and Think Visually

Use Webspiration’s diagramming environment to create bubble diagrams, flow charts, concept maps, process flows and other visual representations that stimulate and reflect your thinking. With Webspiration, you focus on developing and connecting ideas, not the drawing.

Outline and Structure Ideas and Information

With Webspiration’s powerful outlining capabilities, you can take notes, organize work and expand ideas fluidly to develop your writing into plans, study guides, papers, reports, and other more comprehensive documents.

Collaborate and Share

Webspiration makes it easy to collaborate and share documents by simply sending an invite. Everyone works on the same document, contributing, posting comments, and viewing changes. Webspiration is ideal for team projects, study groups, reviewing and commenting on documents and co-authoring materials.

Anytime and Anywhere

Store and access documents online without discs, drives or email. Work at home, a friend’s house, the library, your office, or the local coffee shop. Webspiration and your documents are available anywhere you have access to the internet.

Educators and administrators should also find Webspiration useful for project management. We can all learn more about how we think and how we plan as well as seeking feedback from our peers. Webspiration is a tool that enables all of these.

Thanks to the amazing Marco Torres for sharing this excellent tool.

Issuu

Posted on June 4, 2009 by slav

Issuu is an online magazine publishing/hosting service where you can publish your own magazines or read ones developed by other Issuu users.

: Issuu homepage

Here is an example of what Issuu offers readers, and the thought that school libraries could publish their handbooks and library guides through Issuu. Imagine how many trees we could save:

There are magazines covering approximately 20 languages, so Issuu could be great for LOTE classes. As with any resource, check first that what you plan to use is suitable for your students.

The Issuu website provides the following information:

Issuu makes your publications look good

Issuu turns your documents into beautiful online publications. Publish to an audience of millions and get your message across to anyone, anywhere. It only takes a minute and it’s free.

Features and benefits

Upload your documents and we turn them into professional online publications.

Enjoy the best reading experience online (fullscreen with crisp vector graphics).

Explore a living library with the web’s most interesting publications.

Post/embed your publications anywhere online (Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, etc.)

Get a high rank on Google and receive detailed statistics about your readers.

Create a custom viewer design and integrate your publications on your website.

Issuu is definitely worth investigating. It could be great for budding writers as well as publishing school anthologies or perhaps library guides and documentation. Issuu also takes your documents and turns them into PDFs ready for publishing on the Issuu website.

Flowgram

Posted on June 3, 2009 by slav

Flowgram is a total online multimedia presentation tool.

: Flowgram homepage

Think Powerpoint with voiceover, interactive webpages, photos and more. Ideal for online conferences and even better for archiving conference sessions, Flowgram is almost as good as being there.

Here is a Flowgram on Web 2.0 by mseifman:

Although it can be a little clunky to use, the benefits of Flowgram far outweigh the drawbacks.

Moozement

Posted on June 2, 2009 by slav

Moozement could be a great tool to share with your Phys. Ed staff.

: Homepage

It is a way to document and share your sports training program with other people. Users can encourage each other and it is a great way to keep track of training times over a set period of time. Eighty sports are currently catered for, and if your sport is not there, let the developers of Moozement know and they will add it for you.

A great way to incorporate ICT into Phys. Ed.

The World of Web 2.0

Posted on May 30, 2009 by slav

The State Library of Victoria is offering a free professional learning session on The Web 2.0 World. With participants able to experiment and gain hands-on experience with Web 2.0 tools, this session will be extremely valuable for anyone who needs some support and information about using the Web 2.0 World.

Held on Tuesday 9th June between 6 and 7.30pm in Experimedia at the State Library of Victoria, this free event does require bookings. Phone (03) 8664 7099 or email bookings@slv.vic.gov.au.

Scribblemaps

Posted on May 27, 2009 by slav

Scribblemaps is a fairly simple tool that uses Google Maps and tools such as the ability to add text, images, shapes and so on.

Scribblemap homepage

Students can easily map where the action in a book takes place, add an image of the cover and perhaps some images of the suburb or city where the book is set. Maps can be saved and accessed later but it is vital that the code on the address line is saved for the next session. Students do not need to register for the site, but need to enter a password and keep track of their map codes. Scribblemaps is available in twelve languages.

The best part of Scribblemaps is how easy it is to use.

Audacity

Posted on May 23, 2009 by slav

Ready to create your own podcasts? Audacity is a tried and tested application that will help users to create podcasts for student or professional learning.

: Audacity

Audacity has to be downloaded and installed onto the computer you wish to record from. Once installed, upon opening Audacity, it can look unfriendly to the first time user. However, help is at hand. There is Online help as well as a wiki that gives you tips and tricks to getting the best out of Audacity. And thanks to John Pearce from Salty Solutions, here is a guide to ‘Getting started with Audacity’. It explains all you’ll need to start podcasting today.

Posted on May 21, 2009 by slav

If you are looking for a networking platform with all of the benefits of Facebook and the added security of introductions to contacts, then LinkedIn may be the site for you.

: What is LinkedIn?

The LinkedIn website offers more details:

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.

When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. You can then form enduring connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to a vast number of qualified professionals and experts. Through your network you can:

Manage the information that’s publicly available about you as professional

Find and be introduced to potential clients, service providers, and subject experts who come recommended

Create and collaborate on projects, gather data, share files and solve problems

Be found for business opportunities and find potential partners

Gain new insights from discussions with likeminded professionals in private group settings

Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals

Post and distribute job listings to find the best talent for your company

Relationships Matter

Your professional network of trusted contacts gives you an advantage in your career, and is one of your most valuable assets. LinkedIn exists to help you make better use of your professional network and help the people you trust in return.
Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to accelerate their success. We believe that in a global connected economy, your success as a professional and your competitiveness as a company depends upon faster access to insight and resources you can trust.

LinkedIn is free, however, as per the usual, there are premium services that can be subscribed to. Here is a YouTube video that explains more:

Wolfram Alpha

Posted on May 19, 2009 by slav

Wolfram Alpha has now been launched. What is it? More than just a new search engine, Wolfram Alpha intends to answer your questions rather than direct you to other websites as per other search engines.

: Homepage

Students are bound to latch onto this site quickly as it can answer mathematical equations as well as other school-related questions. Wolfram Alpha acknowledge this and as listed below, they encourage students to acknowledge Wolfram Alpha as a source.

Wolfram Alpha’s FAQs include:

Education & Research

What educational levels is Wolfram|Alpha suitable for?

Any level, from kindergarten to graduate school and beyond. On the elementary end, Wolfram|Alpha can do arithmetic showing steps, make clocks, work with colors, and so on.

Can I use Wolfram|Alpha to do my homework?

That depends on your teacher. If you do use it, don’t forget to cite it as a source.

Why does Wolfram|Alpha give a different answer from my textbook?

Check to see if your book’s answer appears under “Alternate forms”. It’s pretty common for some forms to look different but be effectively equivalent.

Should I cite Wolfram|Alpha when I use results from it?

Yes. For academic purposes, Wolfram|Alpha is a primary source.

How should I cite results from Wolfram|Alpha?

The citable author is Wolfram|Alpha. Don’t forget to include the time and/or place at which the query was made, as it can affect the result. You can reference results in individual pods by giving their names.

How can I find out what to cite when I use data from Wolfram|Alpha?

Wolfram|Alpha should be considered the source, just as an encyclopedia or other reference would be. If you include the Wolfram|Alpha URL in your document, your readers can go to the “Source information” button to get further references. Note that Wolfram|Alpha often combines and adapts data from multiple sources.

Is the content of Wolfram|Alpha peer reviewed?

Yes, the content is reviewed by domain experts. It is also extensively validated using automated testing. For external data, we strive to use the most reliable sources available.

Can I find out how specific results in Wolfram|Alpha were derived?

Elementary math results often have “Show steps” buttons, and combinations of data have “Details” buttons. “Source information” buttons give information on background sources for external data.

Does Wolfram|Alpha contain “adult content”?

No. It has no adult images or narrative. It gives only factual answers to factual questions.

More information is available in the BBC News item, ‘Web tool as important as Google’.

Perhaps as a result of Wolfram Alpha’s development, Google has announced enhanced search tools.

Further information about Google’s new search tools is available here.

School Library Association of Victoria

Category Archives: Web 2.0 tools