This page provides links to my collection of the most useful tools for learning.
General Productivity Tools
Google Pack is designed to provide a basic set of software to enhance one's personal productivity. Google Pack contains a free office suite, which includes word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software.
Freemind is free open-source mind-mapping software. Both PC-Windows and Mac OS-X versions are available.
Mendeley is a social & free research management tool for desktop & web.
Web 2.0 Tools
The Filamentality tour provides a tour of a process that provides an extremely easy way to publish your own website reviews using easy fill-in-the-blank forms. Take the tour by clicking on the large arrows at the bottom of each page. When you are ready to make your own Filamentality webpage click here.
Class Blogmeister provides you with an opportunity to record a journal of your own thoughts online and comment on other student's entries. Please note that this is a moderated site and I will have to approve anything you write before it is seen by the public.
VoiceThread allows you to publish an image, or series of images from a PowerPoint presentation, or a video for comments by your colleagues or classmates. This is a great tool for getting feedback for your class projects.
GlobalEd Tools
Why limit your learning to the local classroom? Why not connect with other classrooms around the world? There is an abundance of tools that will allow you to make productive connections. Here is my short list.
ePALS: One of the most school-friendly GlobalEd communities. ePALS combines moderated email with school blogs and a database of global projects for teachers to connect.
TakingITGlobal: A social network to foster the use of IT (Instructional Technology) for addressing global issues.
iEARN: Another social network that fosters collaborative global education projects.
VIF: Visiting International Faculty provides international teachers to your classroom.
Global Visits: An organization devoted to setting up exchanges and cross-cultural visits to foreign countries.
FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map) software written in Java. The recent development has hopefully turned it into high productivity tool. FreeMind is faster than that of MindManager because of one-click "fold / unfold" and "follow link" operations.
The Dual N-Back exercise featured in Brain Workshop was the subject of an April 2008 peer-reviewed scientific study which shows that practicing the Dual N-Back task for 20 minutes 4-5 days per week will improve your working memory (short term memory) and fluid intelligence. This Wired article has a good summary of its benefits.
SAM Animation is software designed to give students the power of making stop-action movies to share their ideas and understanding. The software is easy to use and provides a unique experience for students to explore challenging problems in any subject through creating animations.
Constructivist tool for promoting spelling and learning vocabulary
TweetDeck is your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more.
3-D Worlds
Quest Atlantis (Requires school and teacher registration)
Quest Atlantis (QA) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-16, in educational tasks.
Edusim is a 3D multi-user virtual world platform and authoring toolkit intended for your classroom interactive whiteboard (but equally powerful on the students laptop or desktop computers !). Cobalt - Edusim has been tested and works on the Smartboard, Activeboard, Interwriter, Polyvision, Mimio, eBeam, and even the Wiimote Whiteboard. Edusim is extendable allowing multiple classrooms to connect their interactive whiteboards for collaborative learning session.
Enter the world of PowerUp, a free, online, multiplayer game that allows students to experience the excitement and the diversity of modern engineering!
Playing the game, students work together in teams to investigate the rich, 3D game environment and learn about the environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants.
Players meet Expert Engineer characters and experience the great diversity of the field. Conversations with these experts and engaging interactive activities allow players to explore ways engineers design and build systems to harness renewable energy sources as alternatives to burning fossil fuels.
Players take on the role of Engineers, working together designing and building energy solutions to save the world
Inspiration
Exploring Biotechnology Mr. Gregory Louie Duke School 3716 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27705 (919) 287-3527
