What DL is happening?

Note: For an audio version of this blog visit http://drop.io/wdlihblog to listen and/or download and/or subscribe to an RSS Feed or for  iTunes downloads.

Items included in this blog are also included in my website, http://www.acljohn.com/.

What with conferences, eProgress Reviews and DIY at home (downstairs is complete and shower room currently in progress), I’m finding it difficult to fit in blogs and the audio versions. That is my reason, not excuse, for there being a sudden rush of both!

Today’s Finds include…

1:

I'm sure that many of you will like the presentation linked from this blog entry. It has some very good ideas for ways to use images from a digital camera in the 'classroom'.

Go to http://studentswithlearningdifficulties.blogspot.com/2009/10/ideas-for-digital-cameras.html to find out more.

2:

Harcourt School Publishers website, called Punctuation Campground, is an excellent interactive white board resource.

There are not many online Language sites, dealing with proper punctuation, that can be used effectively on an interactive whiteboard.

Punctuation Campground...

• does not require any keyboard input,
• is easy to navigate, and
• provides great feedback and reference material to help both the learner and the practitioner.

In the activity, a sentence is presented for the learners. They then have to determine what punctuation to add to the sentence to make it correct.

The activity has a hint button that shows where punctuation needs to go but does not tell the student what punctuation is required.

Note: Below the activity are links to a glossary where users can learn when to use the correct punctuation.

Test your punctuation prowess before using in the classroom at http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/punctuation/.

3:

Planets is an interactive website that lets learners explore the solar system to get a much clearer understanding about...

• planet orbits,
• size, and
• relative position to one another.

Planets is a fantastic resource for using on an interactive whiteboard.

Planets allows the practitioner or learner to control how they are viewing the solar system. Users can touch and drag to move things around and they have a complete set of controls to change...

• scale,
• speed of orbits (passing of time), or
• planetary object to follow.

e.g. if you follow the Sun, the Sun is stationary and it shows the other planets orbiting the Sun. If you  follow the Earth, then it shows the other planetary objects with a stationary Earth.

Note:  It isn't up to date as this resource shows Pluto as being the farthest "planet" away from the Sun (Pluto is no longer classed as a planet!).

Try it out at http://www.gunn.co.nz/astrotour/?data=tours/retrograde.xml. 

4:

"Visualizing huge numbers can be very difficult. People regularly talk about millions of miles, billions of bytes, or trillions of dollars, yet it's still hard to grasp just how much a "billion" really is."

The MegaPenny Project aims to help by taking one small everyday item, the U.S.A. penny, and building on that to answer the question: "What would a billion (or a trillion) pennies look like?"

Note: All weights and measurements are U.S.A. standards, not metric.

If you and/or your learners are looking for a site to teach about large numbers or just curious to see what a trillion pennies looks like, head over to The Mega Penny Project at http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/default.asp.

5:

Twurdy comes from a play on words with the question "Too Wordy?".

Twurdy, a search engine based on Google, was created to provide users with access to search results that suit their own readability level.

Twurdy...

• uses text analysis software to "read" each page before it is displayed in the results;
• gives each page a readability level;
• shows the readability level of the page along with a colour coded system to help users determine how easy the page will be to understand.

Twurdy's goal is to provide web searchers with information that is most appropriate for them.

What is the difference between the different search types?

• Just Twurdy - searches using Twurdy's basic algorithm with medium speed and medium results.
• Simple Twurdy - searches using Twurdy's simple algorithm for fast speed but less accurate results
• Twurdy with Pop - searches using Twurdy's most complex algorithm which includes looking up the popularity of words within the text. It has a slower speed with more accurate results.

Getting more accurate results will save users time in the long run and using Twurdy Pop isn't that slow.

The results are shown "colour/shade coded" and with a rating. Darker results are more complex texts and the lighter ones are easier. Practitioners just have to find those that their learners will enjoy (or get them to find their own).

Try it out at http://www.twurdy.com/search.php.

6:

If you are an ASCII art fan check out this simple online utility called ASCII-O-Matic.

It lets users upload an image and generate ASCII art pictures from it.

Note: The application only...

• supports JPEG format only and
• only accepts images 60 x 50 pixels.

Users can set...

• colours (Black & White or Coloured) and
• characters (Letters or Squares)...

...for the generated ASCII picture.

When the ASCII picture is ready users can get its HTML code and save it onto their computer.

Try it out at http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/.

7:

If the new version of your favourite software application doesn’t satisfy your expectations and the official website does not have older versions so you can reinstate it, VersionDownload can help you out.

It is web resource that archives older versions of software programs and lets users download what they need.

A collection of software which is organized into categories such as...

• Browsers-and-Desktop,
• Audio and Video,
• Security and AntiSpyware,
• FTP and Compression,
• File Sharing,
• Communication/IM… etc.

Browse the site, search it by keyword and check recent additions at http://www.versiondownload.com/.