Ed Tech Review

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4

SRA Distributes Free Science DVD
2007-03-26 21:03:00
Product: SRA Snapshots Video Science Grade: B+Price: Free (Demo DVD)Website: http://www.sraonline.com/mail_downloads/s ra_snapshots_vcab.htmlSRA has developed a new science textbook that correlates directly to DVD based science videos. The new program is called "SRA Snapshots Video Science". Science is one area where seeing things in action can greatly enhance understanding. The way the program works is that you have a introduction video for each lesson, then students go to the book to get detailed information and assessment activities. This tight relationship between video and text is very beneficial. The down side is that there seems to be a lack of hands on activities built into the program.Right now they are offering a free DVD demo of the program. It is worth looking at.
More About: Dvd , Tributes , Bute

EdTechReview Released 1st Podcast
2007-03-26 20:42:00
EdTech Review is expanding the way in which we bring you technology information. We are now doing a weekly podcast to enhance our blog. This podcast is found at http://edtechreview.libsyn.com The podcast will give you a first hand view of the software and technologies written about in this Blog.
More About: Pod , Podcast , Released

5 Best web 2.0 Sites for teachers
2007-03-23 19:44:00
http://calendarhub.com/ This is an online Calendar system that allows you to make public the events that will take place. This is a great place post due dates for assignments, special events, school activities ect. You can post your calendar to your own website if you like. http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/ tour1.html Google Docs and Spreadsheets seem to be the most solid choice for online office applications. They work very well and have an easy to use effective interface. http://flickr.com/ This site is known as a great place for individuals to share their digital photos with family and friends. It is also a great place to keep your collections of educational photos and images in a safe location for students to view and use. http://protopage.com/ Protopage is a start page that is easily customizable. I set up a protopage that has notes for the classes, all of the website links we will be using, the local weather, and any other relevant information and then se...
More About: Web 2 , Site , Sites , Best , Cher

Constitution Day Lesson Plan at National Archives Website
2007-03-23 17:32:00
Website: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons /constitution-workshop/index.htmlGrade: ACost: FreeIn the news we hear a lot about constitutional rights and privileges yet unfortunately many Americans do not truly understand the Constitution and far to few people have actually read it. According to the Associated Press In a contest between Americans' knowledge of "The Simpsons" and what they know about the First Amendment, Bart and Homer win hands down. About 1 in 4 Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half of Americans can name at least two members of the fictional cartoon family, according to a survey.This lesson plan gives us a good start on changing future generation?s knowledge of the Constitution. It contains everything you need, including downloadable forms of all of the primary source documents. The down side is that i...
More About: Website , National , Archive , Site

Adobe Digital School Collection Released
2007-03-23 16:25:00
Adobe Digital School Collection Release d Website: http://www.adobe.com/education/instructio n/adsc/ Grade: A Price: $159 Single License, Volume License Available Purchase at: Academic Superstore Adobe has released a new collection of software specially for the k-12 market. This digital school collection priced at $159 for a single license is a good value. Although, you do not receive the professional versions of Photoshop, and premiere the Elements programs are still very capable and provide students with powerful tools for image manipulation and video editing. This package has everything you need to create web pages, create and manage digital documents, work with digital photos, create images, and create videos. All the fun stuff that we like to do with our classes is in this package. The strength of this program bundle lies in the resources available from Adobe. On their website they have many lesson plans, tutorials, templates, and many other tools to help you get the ...
More About: Adobe

Education System Report Card
2007-03-15 17:24:00
Website: http://www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/d efaultGrade: BPrice: FreeThis is a quick post to let you know about a website that gives us a rundown on how your state stacks up when it comes to education. Unfortunately it doesn't let you drill down to specific schools, but it's fun and interesting, and a little eye opening. It is also fun to look at the irony in the system. For example Montana ranks an A for academic achievement, but a D in there data quality. Take a look, have fun, get mad, and then go back to teaching well.
More About: Education , System , Card , Cat , Report

Create Great web Pages with NVU
2007-03-14 19:36:00
Software :Nvu (pronounced N-view)Website: http://www.nvu.comGrade: A-Cost: FreePlatform: XP, OSX, LinuxNVU is an open source software based on Netscape Composer from a while ago. It has been significantly improved and is now a very powerful and capable WYSIWYG (What you see is What you Get) web editor. With many powerful features that make it easy to build and manage a website. NVU is relatively intuitive and easy to use, however due to the complexity of the task managing links, menus, and web management takes a little effort to learn.The support system for NVU is better than most open source projects, and has a wide variety of support options to help you learn the product. The manual and online guides are very helpful and cover most basic topics needed to create a great website. For more advanced help there is a forum, but it may not be active enough to get help for everything, or to get immediate feedback. Over all it is a very good program.
More About: Page , Great , Pages , Create

Audacity Free Digital Audio Workstation
2007-03-07 22:10:00
Software of the week, March 6, 2007 The power of music and audio recoding and mixing can bring a lot to lower and upper grade students alike. We have used tape recorders for years you record and playback lessons and for recording Readers Theater. In teaching music creation students can learn about fractions, rhythm, and patterns. Admittedly a tape recorder provides an easy to use tool any teacher can use. Now we have tremendous recording power through our computers, that can out perform any tape recorder available, and truly expands our students ability to create. Setting up a Digital Audi o Work station can be done for a very low cost now days. In fact, if your PC has a built in mike you can download a reasonably powerful and easy to use program for free. Audacity is an open source program that really built very well. I was able to start recording immediately after installing by simply pressing the on screen record button. This actually surprised me because some of my pr...
More About: Free , Digital Audio

Spice up your Power Point with PowerBacks.com
2007-03-05 18:19:00
Teachers site of the week March 5, 2007 As Technology toting teachers, Power Point presentations have likely become a part of our daily instruction routine. One way to make your PowerPoint stand out is to step beyond the typical background images and put backgrounds with a little punch in the slide show. Our site of the week http://www.powerbacks.com provides you with just the slide templates you need to make your slide show stand out. This site is free and the download is fairly efficient because you download whole sets rather than each individual background. Site Navigation and design could use some improvement, and installing and using the templates requires a little manipulation which is outlined in the included instructions. The themes located on the left of the screen such as education and technology did not impress me that much and many are not usable for much, but the more abstract sets on the right of the screen are very attractive and will receive a lot of use in my c...
More About: With , Your , Back , Spic

Saving Money on Teaching Materials Books and Software Part 2
2007-02-23 20:51:00
Yesterday I began this article to give teachers suggestions on how to save money by using internet resources. We will continue today with two more great suggestions.Find the right forums. My wife actually uses a web site to save money on groceries and saves an average of $400 per month. But this site also lists sales for wide variety things including school and office supplies. The site she uses is http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com. She has found me deals on printers, office supplies, videos, software and more. There are other sites out there, but from what I have seen this is one of the best. The downside to shopping like this is you are likely to find exactly what you need right now, but if you periodically check the site you will come across many great deals.Open Source is free. Open Source software has saved me a lot of money. It may not be the very best available but many applications are of very high quality. I have written articles about many Open source applicatio...
More About: Software , Books , Money , Teaching , Book