Dipity

Web Address: http://www.dipity.com

Dipity is a Web 2.0 tool designed to build timelines.  The tool is just what  you would expect it to be.  A long scrolling (left to right) list showing events.  Images and additional information can be added including maps, comments and a description of the image. Anyone can create a dipity timeline about anything so some  caution may be needed with the site. But as a way to create Web 2.0 timlines it is excellent.

Steve Job's Life and Career on Dipity.

Tech Tip Tueday: Text your students

Here are three quick ways to blast text messages to students:

1. Sign up for a Google Voice account.  http://www.google.com/voice You can then use this account to send texts.  Google will give you a number online that will forward to your cell or you can manage it entirely online.  Students don't see  your cell phone number they see the Google Number. This one is great but could be a little harder to manage with large numbers of students.
2. Remind101 http://www.remind101.com A service that allows students to text a number to sign up for text alerts. Students never see the the teachers personal cell phone number but they can receive alerts about upcoming events.
3. Cel.ly http://cel.ly A service for SMS.  There is also an Android app.  The tools can also be managed via their website.  Students and parents can receive updates about what a teacher is doing in the classroom again all without the students getting the teachers personal number.

As with all things be sure to consider and abide by local policies and procedures regarding student:teacher interactions.

Web of the Week: StoryBird

Web Address: http://www.storybird.com

Do you like when students express themselves? Interested in getting them writing? and involved in art? What about technology?  StoryBird curates artwork and allows students to sign up and create their own stories to follow the artwork.  There is a good library of stories already available as samples and examples for your students.  You can also share them on Facebook, Twitter or embed them in a website. Teachers can create a class account and work with students to create wonderful stories.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Get more Plexibility with your content

Wouldn't it be nice to access all your music, movies, videos and everything else an any screen you own?  We are getting closer to that becoming a reality.  Plex is a service that allow you to store media on any Mac or Windows machine and then serve it up on other screens.  Like iTunes or Windows Media Player Plex media server organizes your media.  Apps for your iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices allows  you to access your content.  Using connected devices like Roku or Google TV will allow you to broadcast to your TV.

Web of the Week Wednesday: Knowmia

Web Address: http://www.knowmia.com 

A new service that allows teachers and students to search a collection of video content from the very best teachers.  Test prep, difficult concepts and challenging subjects become crystal clear.  Teachers can contribute and parents and students can sort and organize their learning using a library of 9000 lessons.

Mobile Learning

There are a variety of great learning sources out in the world. Eduptopia is one of the very best. I particularly like their tag line: "What works in education" The focus is not on what's wrong but what is going well and how do we capitalize on it.

Well, we have offered lots of suggestions about using mobile devices and now so has Edutopia. They have made a new PDF Guide available at: http://www.edutopia.org/mobile-learning But going beyond the suggestion of just getting the guide. I am also going to suggest that this might be a good way to really use your mobile device. Here are 5 ideas for accessing and using the PDF on your mobile

1. Find your Kindle address and email the pdf to your Kindle. Each Kindle you have registered including Apps has a unique email address you can send files to. PDF's are free other documents may have a charge.
2. Find a new PDF Reader for your device. You might tryt: GoodReader for iPad, or Aldiko for Android
3. Annotate the PDF. Many of the readers out there including GoodReader from above allow you to add notes, comments or even drawings. There are other note-taking apps that can even do character recognition on PDFs like Evernote
4. Share it. Use email, Twitter, Text messaging, Facebook or other tools to share the PDF with your PLN (Personal Learning Network) Don't have a PLN search #edchat on Twitter for a group of tech friendly folks talking about education technology.
5. Share it again. Sites like Posterous and Weebly allow you to use a mobile app, text messaging or email to create a blog and new blog posts. It's super easy and superfast and a great way to share with the whole wide world.