Wednesday Web of the Week: Ghosts vs Zombies

web address: http://www.uen.org/tv/scifi/

This month begins a month long smackdown for UEN's SciFi Friday series.  Each week KUEN Channel 9 aires a great old sci-fi movie.  This month you get to vote on which one we all watch.  Check it out and vote for Ghosts or Zombies.

You can also subscribe to the podcast right here: Science with the Show

Tech Tip Tuesday: Use your camera as a scanner

Sometimes nothing but a good quality flatbed digital scanner will do, but other times you are in a hurry.  Digital cameras have gotten better and better and now it is often pretty easy to 'scan' something you need with your digital camera or even your camer on you cell phone.

Case in point.  You are in a hurry to get a PowerPoint ready and you absolutely must have the chart on page 32 of the student's mathbook.  A quick check online tells you it isn't available on the textbook's website so you want to scan it, but...the scanner is down in the media center.  Grab your digital camera, keep a steady arm, use the autofocus.  You've got it!

Wednesday Web of the Week: www.storyplace.org

web address: http://www.storyplace.org

Today it is becoming increasingly useful to accomodate Spanish Language resources.  StoryPlace helps do that and it greatly enhances English reading skills as well.  StoryPlace has two portal one in English and one in Spanish.  Both list and review excellent children's books and have games, printable activities and resources for teaching literacy.  Check out the "Cuentas Divertidos" to listen to a story about you!

Tech Tip Tuesday: Get more out of your textbook

In today's digital age there is often a desire to move away from textbooks, but textbook companies are learning that.  If you have a good textbook chances are it has a good website and online resources to back it up.

Check for your textbooks website and learn what resources are available.  Often you can find online videos, audio files, even worksheets, and tests.  Some textbook companies also offer the complete text of their books online and self tests for evaluating understanding.

Another great tip regarding textbooks is to use competing textbooks websites.  Often the book your school purchased will have a competitor that will have some of their materials available online for free.  Reviewing those can be a great help and provide another perspective on topics you are teaching.

UEN hosts the State Core Curriculum and attached to each course is a list of textbooks that have been suggested for use.  Try it out here: http://www.uen.org/core/

Or to learn more about the textbook adoption process watch Faculty Lounge episode all about it.

Web of the Week Wednesday: Constitution Days Resources

The 17th of September is Constitution day so this week you get a 2 for 1 deal on Websites.

UEN has it's own page devoted to Constitution resources  Visit the page at: http://www.uen.org/general_learner/constitution/index.shtml

UEN's partner the Verizon Foundation provides great resources as well through www.Thinkfinity.org You can access Thinkfinity's resources through Pioneer: Utah's Online Library or directly here: http://www.thinkfinity.org/2010-09-17_day-constitution

Tech Tip Tuesday: Keep a record

Keeping student work to show other students can be a very valuable way of modeling.  It teaches kids to learn from each other and it allows teachers to showcase what quality work looks like, but sometimes there is just too much or projects are too big to store all of them.

The solution: digital photography or video.  Digital snapshots of exceptional dioramas, artwork, water filtration systems, Science Fair displays, almost anything kids can do you can take a picture or video of it.  These digital videos and images become an archive of exceptional student work that can be shared back at the appropriate time.

Want to make even more of you digital archive? Consider storing it online with a free tool for photo sharing and storage.

4 favorites

• Picasa: available free with Google account - http://picasaweb.google.com/home


• Flickr: available with a Yahoo account - http://www.flickr.com/


• Windows Live Photo Gallery: available with a WindowsLive account -http://explore.live.com/windows-live-photo-gallery


• KodakGallery: both free storage and sharing and simple easy printing requires sign up - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/welcome.jsp

Web of the Week Wednesday: FavIcon

Web Address: http://nmap.org/favicon/

Somebody took the time to create a tool that shows the top 1 million sites online and show off their icons.  The bigger the icon the more popular the site.  See what you can find.  UEN made the list.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Get more out of iTunes.

Last week Steve Jobs and Apple Computers announced a new iTunes and new iPod Touch. (Watch the announcement here)

The run down for educators.  The new iPod touch has an HD camera on the rear and a front facing camera for video chatting.  It will also be compatible with the iMovie app for the IOS4 software meaning that you have a portable video production studio.  For educators that's a lot to add to a pretty good product all starting at $229.00

ITunes itself got a facelift.  There is a new view that allows you to see album artwork if it doesn't create wasted space, the sidebar items are now grey instead of multi-colored (a feature some don't like because it means the loss of a visual cue). ITunes also has improved syncing.  You can now see how far over the mark you are with your sync settings.  Ping a social network centered around your music and music preferences was also launched.  

Finally, iTunes has a whole page of Apps just for Back to school.  Check out the new iTunes.

Wednesday Web of the Week: Constitution Day 17th September

web address: http://www.uen.org/general_learner/constitution/

Constitution Day is just a few weeks away. What better way to celebrate than with newly updated resource page from UEN. The web page has resources sorted by grade level for a true smorgasbord or agglomeration of wonderful materials. So do some 'xploring!