The JING project

ok - this is pretty exciting! (albeit i must say upfront that it is a project - and therefore subject to change - i.e. eventual charge.... but for now...free free free.)

Jing is a downloadable piece of software (sorry - this means no, you can't use it on your imaged computer - but IT is looking into it) try it at home - it's very slick and easy to use.

Jing works similarly to captivate, snag-it, camtasia - and other screen capturing software. It allows you to capture images of your screen OR capture movies of you working on your desktop in any application and immediately allows you to share them by providing a URL link to your users (students, co-workers, friends). The images/videos live on their server - making the permanence factor a little ambiguous. Check it out - if nothing else - it's great experience getting used to this type of software.

here is a sample i prepared in just a few seconds:

http://screencast.com/t/9aOoaczECY

here is where you can find out more information:

http://www.jingproject.com

Protopage

This tech tip actually came from Jason Dahl quite a while ago - but i have only recently discovered how much i like it. Protopage is a webtool that allows you to create your own personalized page that gives you quick access to everything on the web that you go to most. You can use it to read news, access bookmarks, post photos, organize schedules and to do lists, post calendar items, sticky notes, the weather - the list goes on and on.

Creating a page is easy - and involves simply dragging and dropping "widgets" onto a page. Your page can be private or public and can even be set as your homepage which allows it to appear everytime you open your web browser. I just keep mine open all day long.

To start yours today - go to
http://www.protopage.com

Audacity

Audacity is a free software program for recording and editing audio. Audacity runs on several operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows."

You can use Audacity to record sounds onto your computer, either live (with a microphone) or pre-recorded (from tapes or records). Audacity can also open and edit audio files, including tracks downloaded from the internet or copied from CDs. Audacity can open and save MP3, WAV, AIFF, and several other types of audio files.

You can edit recordings with Audacity the same way you edit text with a word processor. Audacity can cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together. Filters are included for altering speed and pitch, adding echo or reverb, removing noise from recordings, and more.

This is a free, downloadable product which can be found at:


http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Voice Thread

Here is a new FREE gadget available on the web that has tons of possibilities in your classroom. It's called voicethread - and it allows you to upload photos and have people comment on them - either by voice or text. It's simple and free - you will need a microphone if you wish to use audio.



Go to the following link to create your own! (There is a GREAT sample out here - called what is a voice thread)

http://www.voicethread.com

RSS Readers

They say that surfing the net for news is so "yesterday". Rather than surging site after site to find out about the topics you are interested, bring the news to you by using an RSS Reader. RSS - stands for Really Simple Sindication - and are made into "feeds" which are often articles or audio podcasts that one can subscribe to much like one subscribes to a magazine or newspaper. If you subscribe to a feed, updates of the subscription appear on a "reader" - they are simple to add to or delete. I happen to use Google Reader - but there are several out there. Give it a try!