Create a Flipping Book with FlipSnack

www.flipsnack.com

FlipSnack is a new web tool from SnackTools for converting PDF documents into interactive digital flip books.

Students and teachers can easily use FlipSnack's three step process to create a stylish flip book that can be shared on a website, via a URL link, Facebook, Twitter, and other web services.

Easily create a FlipSnack flip book in three simple steps:

1. Upload 
2. Customize
3. Publish!

Using FlipSnack, students and teachers can convert single or multiple PDF documents into one flip book.

www.flipsnack.com

FlipSnack is a great tool for students, teachers, and groups to easily publish stylish e-portfolios for sharing and celebrating learning, accomplishments and other information.

Looking for a solution to publish something? Give FlipSnack a try!

Bring Math Lessons to the Street using Maths Maps

Do you follow Tom Barrett (@tombarrett) or his projects? If not, you should.

Tom shares some great ideas and gets a lot of people collaborating online to create rich resources of ideas for using technology for learning. If you have not seen his Interesting Ways project, check them out. You'll be amazed and inspired to try new things with students using tech tools.

A couple of years ago, Tom created a project for integrating Google Maps into math curriculum. He calls it Maths Maps. The Maths Maps project is collaborative, similar to the Interesting Ways project and has led to interactive activities using rich visual materials from real world locations for learning and applying math skills.

Maths Maps via http://edte.c

Contributing to the project is easy. Just follow these guidelines from Tom's Maths Maps page on his blog site:

1. "Explore the maps below for the ideas already added, follow the links to open them in a new window.
2. Send me details of which map you want to edit and your Google email address and I will add you as an editor, follow the link from the email invite.
3. Click on EDIT in the left panel.
4. Zoom close to the city and it’s surroundings. (Don’t forget Streetview)
5. Find some TOPIC ideas you can see.
6. Add a placemark (use the right colour for the age group it is best for – see purple pin)
7. Explain the activity in the description.
8. Change the title to show how many ideas there are.
9. Send out a Tweet or write a blog post to highlight this resource and encourage others to contribute."

Visit Tom's Maths Maps page to access examples and learn more about using Maths Maps and contributing to the project.

Activate your mind with Edheads.com!

http://edheads.com

Edheads.com offers great interactive virtual simulations for students and learners of most ages. Engaging in the activities on Edheads.com, students can experience stem cell transplants, complete a virtual hip replacement, learn about simple machines, and even conduct a crash scene investigation.

The Edheads simulations provide opportunities for individuals and groups to think critically, solve problems, and make decisions with immediate feedback.

Visit Edheads.com to experience these and more cool, fun, interactive virtual simulations.

Interactive Timeline Creator

This is great if you are looking for something to create timelines.  Capzles is about as good as it gets for something free on the Internet.  All you do is add pictures, choose a date, add a description, and an interactive timeline is created for you.  This is a great tool not only for your students to create something, but also for coaches and advisors.

Applications in Education
Students can create a timeline of events, embed the timeline into a website or email the timeline to the teacher.

Teachers can create a timeline of events that took place in your classroom and then easily embed the timeline onto a teacher website to show what took place during the year or for any event.

Coaches and advisors can create a neat keepsake for their participants.

How I Use Capzles
As a history teacher, I have looked for an unique way to have my students create timelines.  I used to have students find images online, print the images, and then paste them on poster board.  Capzles takes this process and digitizes it.

My 8th grade students loved creating Civil War timelines of the causes, battles, and effects of the war.  Some students even got creative and added music to the background.

Present.me - A New Tool to Harness the Power of Student Presentations

Student presentations are an important element in the classroom and are excellent opportunities for students to demonstrate learning and develop communication skills they will need for success in life.

http://present.me

But, how do you have every student present and not sacrifice class time for other activities? 

Present.me has the solution. Do it digitally and do it online.

Present.me is a new online tool for recording and sharing presentations. Unlike other presentation and video capturing tools, Present.me allows presenters to share their presentation slideshow and a video of them presenting at the same time. Through a split-screen presentation, viewers can see both the presenter's slides and the presenter. 

So the next time you're pressed for time, have your students record and share their presentations using Present.me.

iPads - Where do you start?

I'm declaring today iPad day! Why you ask? Well, I received a call from my boss today informing me that I needed to stop by his office this afternoon, because he was "giving out iPads".

I should clarify. He's not really my boss, but he is in charge of my budget. And, he really didn't "give" me an iPad, but I was carrying one when I left his office.

My school district issued me an iPad today!

I received my iPad to explore, test, and try it out. It is my job to find ways that teachers and students can use this cool new tool for learning.

But, now what? Where do I start? Are you asking the same question?

https://sites.google.com/site/schrockipad/

Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) can help us out. Kathy has a Google Sites site about using iPads in the Classroom. Kathy's site is going to be my iPad resource tonight as I become better acquainted with my new toy tool.

As with everything I've ever seen from Kathy, this site is complete with wonderful ideas, tips, tricks, tutorials, and links to other sites that offer even more.

I particularly like this link about Digital Storytelling with the iPad.

I may be getting to the iPad a little slower than some, but this is going to be fun.

After I opened up and got *my* new iPad up & running, I happened to check my twitter account (@gitsul) and the most recent tweet was from Tom Barrett (@tombarrett) who was sharing 55 Interesting Ways* to use an iPad in the Classroom.  

I'm taking this as a sign that the iPad will be a cool tool for school! 

Do you have any suggestions for Apps or strategies for using the iPad with students? Let us know in the comments!

Park that sticky note over here...

Are you working on a project and you want to share your post-it notes (a.k.a. sticky notes) with your students, teacher, or a group of people?

http://scrumblr.ca

If you're a visual person like me, to share your notes you first need to arrange them on a table or sheet of paper so you can take a photo or scan them into an image or PDF. If you're concrete sequential, not like me, you'll take some time to type them into a document that you can print or email. Bottom line, it takes an additional step or two to get your sticky notes from paper into digital form for sharing. 

Why not skip the paper and go straight to digital?! 

David Kapuler has assembled a nice list of ten web applications for creating notes. I am fond of Wall Wisher and Corkboard.me when working in groups. They work well for many people sharing ideas in real time. 

The new tool for me that I adopted from David's list is scrumblr.  Scrumblr is similar to Wall Wisher and corkboard.me, but it is set up like a production board allowing you to easily organize your sticky notes into sections. I'll be using scrumbler to organize my thoughts for my next post here at The EdTech Zone.

So, the next time you are taking notes, consider doing it digital the first time. And when you need to have your students or colleagues park that note, do it online instead of at the door.