Skitch for Science

In an earlier post, I mentioned a free App for the iPad called Skitch.  I thought I might share a way that Skitch can be used in the classroom.  Students can use a picture of an item, and label it's parts.  I will use a picture of a frog that I obtained from Flickr.  The picture will be loaded into the photo library on the iPad.  Students will open the image in Skitch and label the known parts of the frog.

The picture below will be the Skitch markup with parts of the frog labeled.

So, very quickly, you can have a picture labeled by the students to illustrate the parts they know, or show the parts they don't.  Skitch allows for easy annotation of a picture or document, as well as easy saving of the new and marked up diagram.

Another way Skitch could be used is by having your students take pictures of an experiment to document the process.  They could open the pictures in Skitch to label and document the what the picture is showing.  Once all of the pictures are marked up and completed, the students could use them in some other program to report out their findings - like a word processor or presentation software.  Skitch would allow the student to explain the picture in detail, right on the picture.

Online Stopwatch and Timer

Teachers are frequently looking for a way to keep track of time.  Online stopwatch is a free and easy online tool that can be projected onto a screen or just utilized on your computer.  Whether you want a stopwatch, or a countdown clock, this is an outstanding site to visit.  It can be used in many ways,, provides multiple different formats, and because it is web-based, can be accessed on many different devices.  I know teachers that have used it for timing standardized assessments, timing speeches, and for many other activities.  If you want to keep track of time, this is for you.  Give it a try, it is one bookmark you'll want to save.  Check out the chart below for other ways this free tool can be used.

Skitch

Skitch is an awesome iPad annotation application. It allows you to mark up and save pictures, add text, take pictures, and add voice. It is so easy to use, and so flexible, you'll absolutely love it. You can bring your picture in from just about anywhere - your photos, the camera, the web, a map, etc.

One of the other features that I just love, is that Skitch was purchased by Evernote. Evernote is one of my favorite applications and Skitch will save directly into your Evernote account. Skitch also sends to Twitter, an email, or into your photos folder. Take a picture, mark it up, and send it to a friend or your students.

In the photo collage below, you will see many different features right at your fingertips.

WeVideo

WeVideo is an online video editing program. It allows users to do their editing online, without having to own a video editing software. It also allows multiple users to edit the same file. It is used in a browser, so it is not necessary for all editors to have the same type of computer or software.

WeVideo allows for many different types of videos to be uploaded for editing. It also works well with wireless uploads. Google Drive integrates well with storage. You can bring in music and effects, or use what is there. When you are finished, you can share your project to many social media sites.

So, if you have a few people working on a video project, create it in WeVideo and invite your co-workers to help. It seems like a great option for creating, editing, and sharing video projects.

Dublin Leadership Academy

Today starts two days of Dublin teachers getting together to learn and prepare for the new school year. What an exciting couple of days. I am looking forward to the opportunity to share a presentation with them. Here is the presentation containing the Web 2.0 Tools that I recommend for teachers to use, professionaly and with their students.

Dublin Leadership Conference 2012 from Scott Sibberson

Hilliard OILE Conference

I have the opportunity to present at the Ohio Innovative Learning Environments Conference in Hilliard this week.  I get to share Web 2.0 Tools with teachers from the area.  This is my slideshare for the conference.

Hilliard OILE Conference 2012 from Scott Sibberson

Online Storage

It's the end of the year, and you need to back up your files.  You don't want to burn CDs or DVDs.  You want to have easy access to the files at home or on your iPad or phone.  You don't have a USB Flash drive handy.  What do you do?

I would suggest getting an account on one of these 5 services.  They provide easy access and secure storage of your files.  They have applications to allow you to easily move files from your desktop computer to online storage to your laptop or mobile device.  Most of these services will give you around 5 GB of free storage, which is enough for the average user.  People run into storage size issues if they save a lot of videos and pictures, but for word processing files, and spreadsheets, and databases, this seems to be plenty.

These services also allow you to purchase more storage, if needed, but usually their free amount is enough. Here are the ones that I have used and found easy.


 Google Drive

 Sky Drive

 Dropbox

 Box

4 Sync

Miro Video Converter

Ever need to change the format of a video?  Ever need to compress a video?  I have found a free and powerful piece of software.  Miro Video Converter does an outstanding job converting videos.  I have used it frequently to convert movies to .mp4 format and also to convert audio files to .mp3 format.

Open Miro Video Converter and drag your movie file or audio file into the middle section.  Choose the format for the conversion.  Click convert.  It will convert the file for you and put it back in the folder next to the original.  Easy.  Download a copy and give it a shot.

New Quick Camera Feature on iPhone

Last night I updated my iPhone with the iOS 5.1 software.  It took a while to upload and install, so I thought there might be some new features.  This morning when I turned it on, I noticed a quick access to the camera.  It doesn't seem like much, but it could be a nice little feature when you need to capture that spur of the moment shot.

With a quick slide upward of the thumb, you phone goes into camera mode and you are ready for the shot. Can't wait to use it.

Presentation at Dublin Literacy Conference 2012

Another Dublin Literacy Conference has come and gone.  It was an outstanding day of learning and sharing.  Check out the twitter conversations at #dublit12.  The day couldn't have gone better.  Here is the presentation that I was fortunate enough to share with teachers at the conference.

Dublin Literacy Conference 2012

View more presentations from Scott Sibberson

ETech 2012 Wrapup

Over the last 3 days, I've been fortunate enough to be able to attend Ohio's ETech Conference in Columbus. I was able to attend many wonderful sessions and spend time with my technology colleagues. I was also able connect with a few of my Twitter tech friends that were in attendance. Now it's time to analyze what I saw and see what we can use/share with our teachers. Here is some of what I saw.

Teaching Writing in the 21st Century Classroom
Presented by Matt Gillispie. He and a couple of his colleagues shared different tools and websites that helped with the teaching of writing. Key tools shared-
Neatchat.com
Puppet Pals for the iPad
Socrative.com
Screenr.com
Voicethread
Edmodo.com
Schoology.com

A Keynote Address given by Dr. Michio Kaku
speech similar to this one on YouTube

Students Leaving a Legacy: A Student Created Digital Wiki-textbook
Garth Holman and Mike Pennington talk about their digital textbook and collaborating on the project with their students. Here is the link to their digital text.

Google Forms for Everything!
Eric Curts of North Canton City Schools talked about the uses of Google Forms - presentation link here

It Takes a Village: Innovative Ways to Collaborate
Holly Harwood shared many ways teachers can collaborate to help learn and share techniques and materials for class. Her presentation was shared on their wiki.

Jump into the Cloud, Google Apps for Eudcation Edition for your SchoolAnthony Luscre, Mogadore Local Schools
Link to his presentation.
He also has presentation and tech materials available at http://searchfindknow.com
Also attended his session entitled
Creating District, Building, Classroom and/or Student Websites using WeeblyLink to the presentation.

A Keynote Address given by Brene Brown, entitled Teachable Moments: Bringing Courage, Compassion and Connection to the Classroom. The Keynote was outstanding. She has given multiple Ted Talks. You might like to see them. Try this one.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html


As you can see, there was a variety of information to absorb and process. That's my goal over the next few weeks. Check out these resources and see if any are right for you.

Dublin Literacy Conference 2012

Getting ready for the Dublin Literacy Conference.  Preparations have begun on a presentation about Web 2.0 Tools for teachers to help with literacy.  I am creating a collection of tools with examples of how they can be used in the classroom.  How can teachers and students learn and demonstrate learning using those tools.  I will share it here once the conference has occurred.

Here is the link to the conference, if you are in the Columbus area and looking for a great way to spend a Saturday.

Dublin Literacy Conference

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012
Dublin Coffman High School

Online Graphing Calculator

I recently ran across a graphing calculator online.  It is very easy to navigate and allows the user to share the graphs they create.  It is a product of Desmos.  Within a couple of days, they had upgraded to a product that allows the user to create an account to save and share the graphs that they create, abettercalculator.  This is awesome.  Here is what the website looks like.

Along the left side, you get to enter equations, points, etc.  It has a keypad, so you can choose numbers, letters, functions, etc.  These are all browser based, which makes it very easy to navigate on an Interactive White Board.  I think teachers will love this.

As I mentioned before, a logged-in user can save graphs into a folder, share the link to the graph, or save an image of the graph in .png format.  It even allows the user to tweet out the result of the graph.

Another great feature is the customizable settings of the graph.  You have control over the x-axis, y-axis, scales, etc.  You can even use pi as a label.  Nice for trigonometry.  Give the page a try.  It is probably a page you'll come back to frequently.