Collaborative
Documents
http://www.writely.com
Right now,
if you had to work collaboratively on a document, what would you do?
Probably, you'd start to work on your document and then save it. Log
onto your email and send the document to your collaborator.
Then, this
person would do their part of the document and then save it. Then,
they would start their email and send it back to you. It gets a little
complicated. But what do you do when you add a third or a fourth voice
to the document?
Enter Writely.
There will be a time when this is part of the Google suite of web based
resources. Even now, you can log into Writely and start a document.
At its simplest, it's a web based word processor which can be used
to save your documents on its servers. Or, you can save it locally
as a Word, OpenOffice, RTF, or even PDF document.
In its
most sophisticated though, you invite others to be collaborators to
your document. Once they've received the invitation and the link, both
of you can be online editing the program at the same time. You've got
to try it to see it in action. Groupwork will never be the same.
The nice
thing about web based is that you're never stuck without your portable
memory key. Save it on the Writely server and as long as you have Internet
access, you have access to your documents. Same goes for you and your
collaborators!
Learning
Grids
http://www.learninggrids.com
Clicker 5 relies heavily on Internet Explorer to
do a number of things like browser for files and loading resources.
Since that functionality is already there, it should
come as no surprise that you can load resources from the Internet directly
into the Clicker application. Not only that, just like Writely above,
the free registration at the Cricksoft website lets you load the resources
directly from the website.
Once you're logged into the Learning Grids website,
you can search for the resources that you need. Clicking the link lets
you read the details but clicking the "Run now" button loads that grid
right into your copy of Clicker and you can use it immediately.
The resources are updated regularly and are categorized
so that you can quite easily zero in on just what you desire.
Computer Science Online
http://www.compsci.ca
Who better than Computer Scientists to effectively
use the technology for their mutual benefits?
At CompSci.CA, look to a large collection of forums
devoted to discussions surrounding Programming C, C++, Java, PHP, Ruby,
Turing, and Visual Basic.
In addition to the programming classics, look also
to tutorials on web design and working with graphics. It's a terrific
resource when you're the sole computer science teacher in a school.
Who do you ask for insights - perhaps this resource
will be a place to start.
You might even see some student source code uploaded
as they seek assistance for a solution to one of your problems!
Online Science Experiments
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/index_flash.shtml
If you have a browser and an Internet connection,
you too can participate in science experiments online. No mess, no fuss,
and you can do the experiements any time that you want.
You can even send the experiment home!
Or, send your students to the experiment before you
do it in class so that they have a little background. The activities
are very engaging and will challenge everyone to learn the scientific
concepts.
A Movie Maker 2 Expert Site
http://www.papajohn.org/
Windows XP comes with the ability to create and edit Movies right on
your computer. There are lots of ideas how to use it but often there
are lots of questions that you'd like answered when you run into the
wall.
Check out the papajohn site. Whether it's help in editing, digital or
analogue collection of content, burning to DVD, file conversion, how
to save and share movies, this is the place to head to.
Extremely rich in content, resources, help, and ideas, if you can't
find your answer here, it's probably a question that shouldn't have been
asked anyway!
