December 28, 2008. by Keith Schroeder.

I love this idea!  Museum Box provides the tools for a student to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view and comment on the museum boxes submitted by others.  I can’t wait to try this one out with students.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  There is a school registration page where you can register your school so that you can double check content.  http://museumbox.e2bn.org

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December 7, 2008. by Keith Schroeder.

Most kids have them so how do we harness the power of the iPod in ways other than a podcast (the obvious)?  Many students have something portable that can display images even if they don’t have an iPod.  There have been some great instructions on how to create PowerPoints to view on the iPod, cell phones, PSPs, Zunes, etc.  It’s easy to make flash cards for these devices because you can use PowerPoint, a tool most everyone is familiar with. You simply create the PowerPoint and one of the options is to save them as a series of JPEG images.  Some teachers have already created these for students (and you) to use.  Brent Coley is a teacher at Tovashal Elementary School and he has posted flash card sets that are ready for you to use.  They are perfect for viewing on iPods because he has used a large font (keep this in mind when you create yours.)  All you have to do is download the zipped file and unzip it. You’ll then have a folder of images you can sync to an iPod or other handheld device.

A great resource called “Learning in Hand” has an iPod section  that contains directions for putting PowerPoint slideshows on iPods. They even include a Gallery of Educational Image Sets where you can download more sets of JPEGs for use on iPods and other devices.  I really like their iPods in education resource page

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December 6, 2008. by Keith Schroeder.

I’ve been waiting for a way for more than one person be able to collaborate in realtime on the same space at the same time and it has finally arrived.  EtherPad allows anyone who is logged into the same etherpad to be able to collaborate on the same space at the same time - realtime!

Although it is still in Beta, you can request to be added to the Beta program.  It took about a week for me to be granted a beta account.  From what I’ve seen and used so far, it is going to be a great classroom collaborative tool.  Check it out at http://etherpad.com/

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