 high school teacher of Japanese language Director of the MERIT Program at the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College (California) Founder, Executive Director and Lead Janitor of NextVista.org Why We're Here A Scout Is... Getting Started - words, search, and research Google Search - language tools, advanced search, and more options File Search - not reinventing the wheel -and- developing a critical eye Wonder Wheel and Timeline, News and Fast Flip Google Squared - cool association of data Search Curriculum - helping kids search (much) more efficiently Shortcut Guide - all sorts of quick ways to use the front page Books and Scholar - thinking about what's worth reading Librivox - free audio books Merriam-Webster - traditional definitions, Word of the Day Urban Dictionary - interpreting the language of the locals (careful with this one) Wordle - popular system for making word clouds WordSift - great tool for academic language by folks at Stanford Poll Everywhere - gathering data using cell phones or internet-connected computers Activity possibilities: find presentations on topics that interest you Collaboration Kicked Up a Notch - why paper can hold us back Gmail - better than ordinary e-mail, perhaps! Google Docs - word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations Docs - sharing, revision history, and saving the file Presentations - use for prompts, planning, and (of course) presenting Spreadsheets - do surveys and online tests using Forms (Know your lyrics?) cool tricks with fill and lookup tutorials on YouTube for Docs, Spreadsheets, Forms, Presentations Poll Everywhere - gathering data using cell phones or internet-connected computers Sites - building web pages, the Google way Wikispaces - an especially education-friendly wiki company Activity possibilities: experiment with spreadsheet tools and gadgets create a poll or form for gathering student info make an information and resource site for your class Multimedia Tools-a-Plenty - fantastic freeware Metamark - making the nasty URLs more reasonable Tiny URL, Snip URL, Long URL, Huge URL YouTube - tutorials on anything search on the word 'tutorial' and the name of the software CoolIris - photo walls from search results (plug-in for browsers) TagGalaxy - a world of photos from search results Audacity - powerful audio editor Photo Story 3 - a free program from Microsoft - really. Mixbook - create online photo books, buy the real ones if you wish SumoPaint - it's like Photoshop, but free and in your browser Picnik - online photo editing Irfan View - free graphics editor and converter Zamzar - great site for converting files or grabbing YouTube videos Prezi - "Power Point on steroids" Daniel Moix's overview of Google Tools in Prezi Jing - freeware for screencasting Voice Thread - audio blogs with images Animoto - 30-second videos are free Glogster - multimedia posters BigHugeLabs - a variety of multimedia this-and-that Activity possibilities: use Zamzar to grab a YouTube video as a discussion prompt create a how-to using Prezi (grab screen shots and edit using Picnik!) poke around BigHugeLabs to find cool techno-knickknack-possibilities trade audio impressions of images using voice thread Geographical Tools Across the Curriculum Google Maps various views - maps, satellite, traffic, terrain, Earth; photos and writing assignments history (tinyurl.com/calmissionsmap) finding resources - Advanced Search and kml files; literature stuff - Google Lit Trips creating your own maps support, Maps handout for educators tutorials on YouTube for Google Maps Activity possibilities: find and link/upload a kml file on a topic of interest to you create a map with colleagues about special places in your community use photos or Wikipedia entries in Maps as writing prompts What You See and Hear - approaches to using audio, images, and video Creative Commons - copyright, public domain, and 'copyright-friendly'; royalty-free vs. free proper citation is always a component - use filenames to keep the info Citing Sources, the easy way Flickr and Morguefile - images in quantity and quality PodSafeAudio and Jamendo - music you can use PartnersInRhyme - both royalty-free and free sound effects (note the difference) Activity possibilities: gather copyright-friendly images for presentations start an audio resource folder Other Software and Sites You Might Want - more fantastic freeware File Hippo - great site for downloading freeware Contxts - send your contact info by text message try texting the message Rushton to number 50500 as an example Metamark - making the URLs more comfortable Fresh Brain - a place for teens to be wildly creative Classroom 2.0 and Learn Central - perhaps the best sites for collaborating with colleagues Activity possibilities: create a slideshow video using Photo Story make a podcast using Audacity find a group in Classroom 2.0 to get to know explore visual possibilities with Cool Iris Projects preparing students for any multimedia project have students figure out strengths, weaknesses, and alternatives to a variety of videos record impressions using a Google form like this one (ask me for a copy) share this resource on common mistakes (it won't replace their exploring, though) Community Intros http://www.nextvista.org/stavanger-norway/ http://nextvista.org/projects/Project-Video_Introductions_to_Communities_2009.pdf Sonnets and Multimedia http://www.nextvista.org/sonnet-23/ http://nextvista.org/projects/Project-Sonnets_and_Multimedia.pdf Jim Sill interview about this project: http://tinyurl.com/nvdreamteam04 Career Exploration http://www.nextvista.org/oceanographic-scientist/ http://nextvista.org/projects/Project-Career_Exploration_in_Video.pdf Saving the World From Ignorance - my favorite place for fascinating projects NextVista.org - videos to learn, to travel, and to inspire Activity possibilities: choose a video to show students to get their thoughts on strengths, weaknesses, changes, etc.  Sign up for the Next Vista newsletter here! 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