Web Wonders

Volume 32, Number 1, October 2004

Best sites on technology

Joanne Troutner

As we begin the school year, you may want to take time to check out the best of information on technology tools, tutorials on using tools and software and other tech-related web sites found in this column. The purpose of this “best of tech” list is to provide you with resources to help broaden your technology facilitation skills.

Begin by testing two sites that store your Internet favorites or bookmarks and easily make them available on any computer with Internet access. The first, at www.ikeepbookmarks.com, provides free web-based storage for bookmarks. You have to register and provide a password. Once the account is established you can upload the bookmarks from your current computer or provide a bookmark file from another machine. Uploading is easy with Netscape and Internet Explorer Version 5.0 and higher. This site also allows for individually adding bookmarks and provided a brief description. Editing existing lists is easy and straightforward. BackFlip, also provides free web-based storage for bookmarks. The upload is easy to accomplish and editing the bookmarks/favorites once they are in BackFlip is simple. BackFlip provides a number of other features to customize your Internet surfing. Both sites provide a simple way to store bookmarks/favorites so they will be available from any computer with an Internet connection. However, this method of storing bookmarks/favorites does take a little longer to use. You must first access the site where your information is stored and then access the web site you want. Think carefully about the extra time required when using this during instructional time.

Want to start the year with students developing their own web pages? You can use a number of web development tools such as FrontPage, DreamWeaver or other software. Or you can teach students how to develop pages using HTML with the help of WebMonkey for Kids. The site contains information on lessons, projects and tools, and a playground option that links to a number of entertaining web sites with good features to spark student creativity. The well-developed planning guide provides excellent directions for educators wishing to implement the program in the classroom. This site also works well as a home-learning option.

Want some great freeware to use with students this school year? Check out Home Planet. This comprehensive astronomy program provides an earth map, a look at the sky above your location and a telescope window. The sky location can be customized by major city or longitude and latitude. Position and phase data for the sun and moon are also available. This freeware works with Windows 98 and higher. Another good source of freeware programs found via the Web is New Breed Software. This home of open source programs provides a very useful paint program, Tux Paint, which is much like Kid Pix. Tux Paint is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux users. Windows and Mac users will also find an elementary math drill and skill option.

If you want to learn more about PowerPoint, or are looking for excellent templates for it, check out Microsoft MVP for PowerPoint . Be sure to use Internet Explorer for viewing the tutorials, which provide audio as well as visual information. There are 208 PowerPoint templates available for free download. You will find a number of holiday options as well as some Native American choices. If you are a Microsoft Publisher user, here is a similar site for Publisher . You will find a plethora of tips, add-ins and templates.

The inclusion of digital images in our teaching and curriculum is growing at a rapid rate. Olympus has developed a digital literacy curriculum, unveiled at the National Educational Computing Conference in June 2004. More information and tutorials on using digital cameras and digital images can be found at the AGFA web site. This 20-lesson set discusses using a digital camera, using scanners, developing animations and creating movies. Materials are well written and will be useful with upper elementary through high school.

Ever wonder what file format or computer lingo the students are talking about? Take a look at the “Every File Format in the World” site. You will find a quick alphabetical listing of all file formats. Many of the listings have links to further information about the file type.

Don’t overlook the treasure trove of materials available at Jan’s Illustrated Computer Literacy 101. Here you find information about computer basics and superbly written tutorials on using Windows, Word, Excel and the Internet. These are great resources for your colleagues and those students who need to bring tech skills up to level quickly.

Another excellent source of online tutorials is LearningElectric.Com. The site provides several free QuickTime video tutorials on using Office, KidPix Deluxe3, Inspiration, Easy Grade Pro and HTML. The video clips are short. A well-designed index provides access to learning opportunities on the various basic and intermediate features of each piece of software.

Please contact me at troutner@mindspring.com with suggestions and ideas or check out my web site at http://home.mindspring.com/~troutner for other great sites. Also, please remember that when using addresses on the Internet you need to pay attention to upper and lower case letters and that addresses change rapidly. Thus, you may find the ones highlighted are different by the time you actually see this column in print.