Thursday, July 24, 2008

theMinist's 1st Podcast


iMic and Indian Music

(click on the link above to go to the pod cast)

- this took me a couple hours on Garage Band and then another hour navigating OurMedia, only to find out you don't need OurMedia at all and can just go straight to www.archive.org to pod your cast.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Dreamweaver tutorials on Vimeo

Vimeo is the coolest trendiest sleekest upper west side site out there for video hosting. And now you can teach yourself anything via it.

Here is one for Dreamweaver ( the web design software) :

http://www.vimeo.com/1230622

This is a good fix since trying to do the tutorial on may websites it gets choppy. Also it will cost you $20. if you buy the downlad or cds. So again this is all free tutorials on Vimeo.

It was also mentioned by another student in our Hybrid Computer Ed. class at Nazareth College that http://www.teachertube.com/ was another good site for lessons and tutorials.

If you don't have Dreamweaver software, there is an open source one that is free that does essentially many of the things Dreamweaver does. Nvu stands:

http://nvudev.com/index.php

"Finally! A complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for "new view") makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML. "

If you don't like online tutorials then there is always the Dreamweaver text tutorial at: http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/dreamweaver1.shtml

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Gapminder - Great for Social Studies/Math teachers (Software Review)


http://tools.google.com/gapminder/

Definitely usable and visually appealing. Along the same lines as Harper's Index, this online tool allows you to compare stats (life
expectancy, environmenta
l, military expenses) for every nation in the world. It sets up a graph and plots out whatever stat you want. Choose from about 100 different country statistics.

Okay, so they only have almanac type info right now, so that isn't quite the obscurities Harper's finds, but still who knows what this site will offer in the future.

The best part about this, is teachers and students can create online flowing bubble graphs starting just this past April 2008!

http://www.gapminder.org/

"
Last month they announced their first interactive bubble-chart in form of a Gadget in Google Spreadsheet. Motion chart lets you create your own chart from data you have published on a Google Spreadsheet....and it gives any user for the first time the possibility to make their own "Gapminder-like" graphs from thier own data. "

Google Spreadsheets will replace Excel spreadsheets soon, simply because of the ease at which multiple parties can use the same sheet, manipulate it, send it to and fro online - great for planning a guest list for a wedding. Thnx Jeevs for discovering that one.

Back to Gapminder:

You can also join a community of Gapminder graph creators at:

http://www.gapminder.org/world/devblog/

Here is where you might find those more obscure Harper's Index type stats.

The only drawback to this software site is that it didn't appear to be downloadable, which means classrooms would have to have the online connection to run the thing. Google has been pretty kid-tested parent-approved cereal so far. You would think they would turn this over to the people completely.

Woops! I spoke too soon. "Gears" allows you to download all Google Docs software:

http://gears.google.com/

Also there is no printable button attached to the software, in the likely event you want a hard copy of a graph. There is a way around that:

For Mac Users you can use the "GRAB" tool (located in the Applications/Utilities folder). This works like "Snag it" and you can snap a picture of anything on your screen and then print out that image. For PC's I am not sure how to do this...perhaps "print screen"???

Know 1 Know All

July 10


Know One, know all.
– Katha Upanishad


To know others, you do not have to go and knock on four billion separate doors. Once you have seen your real Self, you have seen the Self in all. It makes it easy to understand and to forgive, and very difficult to quarrel. All of life springs from the same root. The Self in each of us is one and the same.

For this Self, different names are given in different traditions. Christian mystics call it the Christ within. When a person ceases to identify with his perishable self, they say he has become Christ-conscious. The Hindu mystics speak of Krishna-consciousness, or say that such a person has attained complete freedom from the conditioning of time, space, and circumstance. The Buddhists call the same state nirvana, from nir, “out” and vana, “to blow.” The ego has been extinguished; there is no more shadow to be mistaken for the real.

- By Eknath Easwaren

http://www.easwaran.org/page/141

Monday, July 7, 2008

introduction

____________________ Blank Slate...