Patty Papers » Web Tools

YouTube Alternatives

Patty O'Flynn — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:37:30 +0000

I’m a big fan of the blog FREE TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS because after all, free is the right price. Two of their posts share some interesting YouTube alternatives.

One reason you may want a YouTube alternative is that many districts have blocked access to YouTube. Within my own district, access is blocked to everyone during school hours because of bandwidth issues but it opens to staff before and after school hours. Nice, but doesn’t help me during class although the tech department will download YouTube vids during off hours for use the next day. If you also have access issues, here is a great post that gives 30+ alternatives to YouTube that may work for you.

Another post gives another YouTube alternative called Vidque, a new service that aims to help users curate their own collections of the best videos available on the Internet. Vidque allows users to grab videos fromvarious sources such as YouTube, Blip.tv, TED, and Vimeo and put them into collections that they can share and it even uses the videos you grab to help you locate more videos.

If a teacher had invented Twitter…

Patty O'Flynn — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:15:43 +0000

…it would have looked like Edmodo. Like Twitter, it’s a microblogging site, but it builds in significant additional functionality to support classroom interactions. Edmodo allows teachers to create groups that students join and then send messages, files, links, and assignments to the entire group. AWESOME !!

Check out Chris Dawson’s review of Edmodo for more info.

Minoru webcam

Patty O'Flynn — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:31:16 +0000

This is the cutest little webcam I’ve ever seen, and I want one.

NCCE 2009

Patty O'Flynn — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:58:42 +0000

I’m currently preparing to present at NCCE 2009 in Portland this February. My session is regarding the ways in which my students and I use Moodle in our math classroom. It should be a great conference and I hope to see you there!

February 17-20, 2009
Oregon Convention Center
Portland Oregon

FEARLESS TECH EDUCATION CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Find out how school districts are saving money with Open Source Software and how it can improve teaching and learning in the classroom!

Workshops

Open Source for Schools
Moodle for n00bs (newbies)
Web 2.0 Basics: You mean you can do THAT on the internet?
Create Powerful Learning with Moodle
Free Internet/Online Tools to Increase Student Achievement
Multimedia Moodle Marvels
Managing Moodle for Teaching and Learning
Web 2.0: All you can eat buffet
School 2.0: Living Learning and Leading in a flat world
Making Moodle Matter for Learners and Families

Educators, Administrative Leaders and Technical Staff will experience how Open Source Software increases both access and opportunities for students and teachers.

Concurrent Sessions

MUG-NW (Moodle User’s Group) Gathering
Web 2.0 – Voice, video on the web for free! Skype, UStream, Voice Thread
Moodling in Math <— This is my session
The IT Admins Guide to Managing Web 2.0 in Schools
Open Source Smackdown
Web 2.0 – Collaboration Tools you can’t live without. Delicious and Google docs
Content Management Systems for Schools (Drupal, Joomla and others)
Using Moodle: Supporting Administrators and Professional Development
Opening Doors to Learning with Moodle

SEARCH LEARN and EXPLORE @ www.ncce.org

Qipit

Patty O'Flynn — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:27:08 +0000

Qipit is a free online tool that allows you to copy documents, whiteboards and handwritten notes with your camera phone or digital camera to store, fax, email or publish. Just take a picture of a document with your camera phone and send the picture from your phone or via email to copy@qipit.com. You’ll receive a link to the online PDF copy of your document, all for free. I have other ways to share my whiteboard slides and notes, but this would be a great tool for students.

I found out about Qipit from the article 10 Useful Web Applications You Don’t Know About

In honor of Earth Day… it’s Blackle!

Patty O'Flynn — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:11:27 +0000

Blackle is the energy-saving search engine powered by Google.

How does Blackle save energy? Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. “Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.” Roberson et al, 2002

Check it out and consider making Blackle your homepage.

Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time

Math & Technology in Today’s Classroom

Patty O'Flynn — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:49:48 +0000

I will be presenting this summer at the Summer Institute in Olympia, WA. During my session, Math & Technology in Today’s Classroom, I’ll show how I use technology such as the electronic whiteboard, student response systems, software, mathcasts and video projects to promote student learning and achievement and for assessment (both formative and summative).

Geometer’s Sketchpad Resource

Patty O'Flynn — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:01:36 +0000

At InterMath: Constructionary, users can obtain a list of constructions in Geometer’s Sketchpad. Clicking on a letter of the alphabet gives a list of constructions for that letter. When you chose a construction, clicking on the numbers shows the steps for that construction. Clicking on “Notes” at each step will give a brief description, and I do mean brief, so newbies may need additional help. This is not a stand-alone tutorial but definitely makes a great resource.

Not what I thought…

Patty O'Flynn — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:19:17 +0000

I’m at the OSPI winter conference in Spokane, attending a class that I thought would help me learn more about designing my own online course that I’ll be teaching next year but am disappointed that it is really a sales pitch for THEIR online course offerings. Not what I had in mind. It wasn’t a total loss though since I did pick up a few resources in the process. Here they are, in no particular order:

www.iacademy.org/waslmath/ is a site that students, teachers and parents can use in preparation for our state-mandated testing in WA state.
www.gomath.com – love this site! It’s a great math resource.
http://mathnexus.wwu.edu by the Whatcom and Skagit Math Partnership here in WA state provides resources to increase the effectiveness of secondary school mathematics teachers.

Our classroom in Edutopia Magazine

Patty O'Flynn — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:08:01 +0000

My classroom was featured in a recent article by Tamar Snyder entitled Social Networking: TheirSpace at Edutopia.org.

Please visit the link above to view the full article. You can also read the article in Edutopia Magazine.