30 Days of webtools #18: Use Spiderscribe to create a more advanced mindmap

I also like to use Spiderscribe to mindmap as you can do so much more with it than with bubbl.us. With Spiderscribe you can easily make a very engaging attractive mindmap: *you can add a text note, and even include active weblinks *you can add photos, *you can attach Word documents or PDFs *you can attach maps *you can attach calendar events. Below you can see more clearly the five elements you can add. Spiderscribe can  be accessed at  http://www.spiderscribe.net.   Be...

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30 days of webtools #17: Use bubbl.us to create simple mindmaps

Why mindmap? Mindmapping is a great thinking tool. It has been suggested that this visual technique can improve learning and study efficiency up to 15% over conventional note-taking. It is also a very popular planning technique and definitely something one should introduce in every classroom.  It is a great way to brainstorm and generate ideas.  Use bubbl.us to mindmap What I like about bubbl.us is that it is a simple non-elaborate mindmapping tool that is easy to catch on to, and is useful...

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30 days of Web Tools #16: Use Pen.io to create a quick page with a URL

Pen.io is an interesting application for making a quick page with a URL. (Whatever you do in Google Docs will also be given a web URL but this is a much quicker method.) 1. Go to http://www.pen.io/. You will notice a straightforward page with a code in the left box entitled ‘Page name’. The code remains as the URL of your new page. 2. Give your page a password and then click on ‘Create new page’. You’ll be taken to the page where you can start writing. 3. Give your page a title...

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30 days of Web Tools #15: Use Tube chop to cut clips out of YouTube videos

Do you sometimes you wish you could cut a funny or interesting part out of a YouTube video and make a little clip to share with your class?  Well, you can with Tube Chop! 1. Open http://www.tubechop.com/ 2. Type in the URL of the video you want or the name of the video to chop and press Search. I put in ‘Gotta Share’ for one of my favourite videos.  The original video URL for this video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soAk3F0wX9s 3. Set the beginning of the clip and then cli...

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30 days of Web Tools #14: Use the AMAZING Print Friendly to print any web page… and much more!

Have you ever found that you are on a website and you want to quickly print the page or a portion of the page? When it prints it is lopsided because it was meant to be on landscape, it is 16 pages long which you didn’t realise  plus you have wasted ink with a whole lot if unnecessary pictures and words (not to mention unwanted ads!)?  That has happened to me so I was delighted to come across Print Friendly (http://www.printfriendly.com/) .  After opening Print Friendly, the first th...

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30 days of Web Tools #13: Use KeepVid to successfully download YouTube videos to use offline

You may run into times when you’re offline and want to watch a YouTube video, or you want to share a YouTube video with your class without going online and waiting for the video to open (a problem in SA with bandwidth). In those cases, you need an actual copy of the video rather than a link to the YouTube site. You can download videos to your computer using a marvelous free online tool called KeepVid (http://keepvid.com). This post aims to give directions on how to do this if you are new to Keep...

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30 Days of Web tools: #12: Use Today’sMeet for useful backchannel discussions

Often when you are watching a presentation and you have computer access you want to make a comment on what the presenter is saying. Twitter is most often used for this. But often, if one wishes the responses to be more private a backchanneling programme like Today’s Meet is used. What is Today’sMeet?   Today’s meet is a simple way to set up an instant live chat room. It allows participants to ‘backchannel’. This means they can get fully involved by adding their comments and thoughts...

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30 days of Web Tools #11: Use Audacity for creating MP3s and podcasts

Audacity is not really a webtool as such but it is a free tool that can be downloaded from the web. It is one of those tools that you simply cannot be without as a teacher! To put it in a nutshell, Audacity is a simple sound editing programme that is used to create MP3s.  What can Audacity be used for?   Audacity can be used across platforms from any operating system which is a big plus. It can be used to record live audio and even edit various sound files. It can export files as MP3s but f...

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30 Days of Web Tools: #10 Use Pinterest as a classroom resource

Submitted by Fiona Beal Pinterest is one of those social networking programmes that everybody is talking about. It is one of those applications that you know you are going to have to do something about joining  at some stage! So, when a friend recently invited me to join Pinterest,  I knew the moment of joining and trying out this amazing and popular application had arrived. I made a start by reading Edudemic’s ‘Teacher’s Quick Guide to Pinterest.  http://edudemic.com/2012/03/the-...

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30 days of webtools: #9: Create PDFs from webpages using the Chrome Extension ‘Send to Google Docs”

Recently I was faced with a problem. Some of the Constant Contact newsletter links that I had placed on the blog no longer worked…they had expired.  I thought the best thing to do would be to convert the newsletters to PDFs and upload them to Box.net with a link to the blog.  But, Constant Contact didn’t seem  to supply any way of converting these newsletters to PDF.  Google Chrome extension – Send to Google Docs. Then I remembered the wonderful free Chrome extensions for Go...

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