For those of you who saw the Holy Homework, Batman! Comics in the Classroom! presentation at in-service, the powerpoint is now available online. It includes a useful, partially annotated bibliography for those interested in exploring the subject further. You can access the presentation through the Faculty Information link on the Library's Home Page, where you will also find information on how to make student research projects more successful, the value of scheduling research instruction to improve student success, how to put materials and textbooks on reserve and the advantages to your students of doing so, and how to request that library purchase specific materials.
The possibilities for enjoying and working with comics have multiplied radically with the internet. Just as comics themselves have undergone a revolution in content, style and genre, the ways in which people can interact with them have as well. Interested in finding comics? Various comics can be read online, from contemporary strip comics at Comics.com to some of the more obscure (and justifiably so -- yes, I'm referring to you Yank and Doodle) Golden Age titles. Then check The Webcomic List, an archive catalog of regularly updated web comics that provides rankings, user comments, a most recent update posting, and a forum for discussions related to web comic topics. (Webcomics you may want to investigate: xkcd, 1.00 FTE, and The Oatmeal (off-color but funny).
Tools to Create Comics
Even people who regard themselves as non-artists have tools that enable them to create comics and comic books online. And depending upon the nature of what users want to do, the degree of sophistication of the results can be amazing. For example, Marvel provides a site that lets users write their own comic book or comic using templates of characters, backgrounds, etc. As with any tool of this nature, options are strictly controlled. The characters are restricted in terms of poses and are all in teenage motifs. Similar sites that let users play around with familiar characters are the South Park Create an Avatar, which let's you assemble a South Park character that looks any way you want it too, and Simpsonize Me or the Create a Simpsons Avatar from the Simpsons Movie site, which let you turn yourself into a Simpsons character. HeroMachine 2.5 lets you create your own Superhero, while Joystiq Mii Characters lets you create Miis (as used in Wii games) that can move free from the video game.
Want panel templates to use yourself or to give to students for comic project? The web provides multiples sources. Comic strip printables offers a variety of non-standard layouts in addition to a full complement of more traditional panel patterns. The Create a Comic Project's Template page has further non-standard panels to add to your collection. Here is a simulated full script for a comic book that instead explains how the manuscript functions to guide the artwork. The Read.Write.Think Project has a Comic Creator that enables users to assemble a very simple comic using standard elements. Of even more use, potentially, is the planning sheet sheet, which can guide novice strip writers through the process of creation. A much better simple construction tool is Make Beliefs Comix creator, which lets users change characters emotions and add other elements that are more important to older potential cartoonists.
Toondoo is comic creation with a flexible range of options. The site that lets users participate as individuals or lets educators subscribe for extremely reasonable rates based on time and number of users. The educator option enables instructors too create social networks, embed the site elsewhere, get additional clip art with an educational focus, customize their clip art and monitor the site in ways not available to individual users.
Especially for Teachers
TeachingComics.org is a web site that while primarily focused on material for those teaching about comics has plenty of useful resources for those who are instead teaching with comics. The handouts and exercises both contain very valuable resources to increase both an instructor's and students' understanding of the medium. Want more information about comics as a form? Here are some good sites to investigate: Artbomb.net (check out Jessica Abel's quick introduction) and Comics Worth Reading.
And in time for Halloween...
A couple of free creepy Halloween comic books online!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Creation, the Universe and Everything
This week the DACC Library Lines takes a look at the origin of everything, by taking a look at the what various realms of knowledge have to tell us about the creation of the universe and the origin of existence, and how those realms of knowledge co-exist with one another.
Genesis
Science
Science has long investigated the way that universe came into being. For a simple straightforward explanation of the big bang theory, the widely accepted scientific theory about the origins of the universe, as well as ways in which the theory has evolved and where there are problematic elements, see NASA's WMAP Introduction to Cosmology web site. One of the best overviews of the recent discoveries and research can be found on the PBS Nova: Origins web site, which includes a timeline of the history of the universe as well as the one hour section of the program available as online video Back to the Beginning that chronicles and explains the current thinking. NASA's web site offers information on several missions and discoveries related to elements of universal history on its Universe web site. NASA to Probe the Universe's First Moments shows how the space agency is building an instrument that will enable them to investigate the origins of the universe. Although it is no longer being updated (since 9/09), the archived web site Universe Forum, hosted at Harvard University, offers lots of clear and comprehensible information about the big bang, the earth's place in the cosmos, black holes and dark energy. And to get a sense of both scope and time, check out the Digital Universe, available for both viewing and download from the Hayden Planetarium.
Science has long investigated the way that universe came into being. For a simple straightforward explanation of the big bang theory, the widely accepted scientific theory about the origins of the universe, as well as ways in which the theory has evolved and where there are problematic elements, see NASA's WMAP Introduction to Cosmology web site. One of the best overviews of the recent discoveries and research can be found on the PBS Nova: Origins web site, which includes a timeline of the history of the universe as well as the one hour section of the program available as online video Back to the Beginning that chronicles and explains the current thinking. NASA's web site offers information on several missions and discoveries related to elements of universal history on its Universe web site. NASA to Probe the Universe's First Moments shows how the space agency is building an instrument that will enable them to investigate the origins of the universe. Although it is no longer being updated (since 9/09), the archived web site Universe Forum, hosted at Harvard University, offers lots of clear and comprehensible information about the big bang, the earth's place in the cosmos, black holes and dark energy. And to get a sense of both scope and time, check out the Digital Universe, available for both viewing and download from the Hayden Planetarium.
Creation stories
But science is not the only source people turn to for information regarding the origins of the universe. Traditionally religion has fulfilled this role by constructing stories to explain the creation of the earth and heavens. History World offers an overview of creation stories from China to the Hebrew Bible, beginning with a short discussion of common themes and motifs. View a flash animation of a wide range of creation accounts in The Big Myth video. Joseph Campbell was probably the most well known scholar of mythology, the realm of study which intertwines with religion and so has much to say about recurring thematic concerns of the type found in origins and creation accounts. You can get an insight into his thinking on these issues on the site Myths-Dreams-Symbols. Providing an interesting view into the intensity of interaction between religion and science in the area of origins is an essay on the Joseph Campbell Foundation web site by Karl E.H. Seigfried, "Stephen Hawking: The Myths and the Critics", in which he explores the furious outrage that greeted Hawking's new book The Grand Design in which the physicist dismissed the need for creator.
Genesis
Of particular interest to the majority of people in the United States is the Biblical story of Genesis. But like any textual source, Genesis is open to interpretation. A critical interpretative issue in this regard is the question of the Earth's age. Religious Tolerance provides an explanation of the various interpretations of the controversy regarding the difference between Young Earth and Old Earth creationists and scientists. Jason Lisle, who is appearing on campus this week courtesy of the Power House Christian Ministry student organization, represents the Young Earth contingent -- those that believe the earth was created by God approximately 6,000 and no more than 10,000 years ago. Connected with AnswersinGenesis.org, one of the leading Young Earth organizations, Lisle's particular area of expertise is astronomy. He is the planetarium director for the Creation Museum. He has published extensively in the creation research press, including his most recent article, Anisotropic Synchrony Convention: A Solution to the Distant Starlight Problem. The problem of light from stars so far away as to precede the Young Earth creation date is THE problem for astronomers in this field and Lisle has previously addressed it in Distant Starlight and Genesis: Conventions of Time Measurement, writing under the name of Robert Newton. (Young Earth scientists of note have felt pressured, according to AnswersinGenesis to write pseudonymously to avoid undue criticism from professional colleagues.) He responded to the PBS Origins programs in two essays, here and here. For a general view of the scientific community's response to Lisle's latest article, see the Sensuous Curmudgeon's blog entry: Jason Lisle's Instant Starlight Paper.
Despite what some on both sides of the religion/science debate would assert, there are many who comfortably inhabit both realms. Reasons.org is an example of organization that both accepts scientific discovery while also affirming the Christian faith. And several thinkers believe that Buddhism and western science are compatible to greater or lesser degrees, although there has also been criticism of this position. Hinduism's relationship to science is more complex, much like Judeo-Christianity's, but it does have a long history of embracing scientific discovery that is largely unknown in the West. Modern Islam's relationship with science is perhaps the most contested, next to Christianity's. This article from Discover Magazine explores the way that Islamic fundamentalism filters current scientific thought in much the same way Young Earth creationism preconditions the perspective of its adherents. Compare for example the latest issue of Islam & Science with Answers Research Journal. This article from Middle East Forum puts Islam in a historical context to examine the current state of the scientific/religious divide. But Islam does not have a single voice anymore than Christianity or Hinduism do. And Muslim-Science.com provides an online space in which those concerned with finding the compatible spaces between the realms can exchange ideas.
Despite what some on both sides of the religion/science debate would assert, there are many who comfortably inhabit both realms. Reasons.org is an example of organization that both accepts scientific discovery while also affirming the Christian faith. And several thinkers believe that Buddhism and western science are compatible to greater or lesser degrees, although there has also been criticism of this position. Hinduism's relationship to science is more complex, much like Judeo-Christianity's, but it does have a long history of embracing scientific discovery that is largely unknown in the West. Modern Islam's relationship with science is perhaps the most contested, next to Christianity's. This article from Discover Magazine explores the way that Islamic fundamentalism filters current scientific thought in much the same way Young Earth creationism preconditions the perspective of its adherents. Compare for example the latest issue of Islam & Science with Answers Research Journal. This article from Middle East Forum puts Islam in a historical context to examine the current state of the scientific/religious divide. But Islam does not have a single voice anymore than Christianity or Hinduism do. And Muslim-Science.com provides an online space in which those concerned with finding the compatible spaces between the realms can exchange ideas.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Ban A Good Book Lately?
The last week in September is the one set aside by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the Association of American Publishers to draw attention to the issue of of book censorship through Banned Books Week. The DACC library has set up a display to raise awareness of the issue in the hallway in Clock Tower. The display shows copies of each of the 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 as well as focusing on an especially current hot topic: book burning.
Burning books is the ultimate method of attempting to control history and controversial or opposing ideas -- literally scorching them from the face of the earth. When asked about people who burn books, we in the United States typically think of the Nazis and the great public bonfires of books they held prior to World War II (as documented in this University of Arizona Library online display). But book burning has happened on many occasions since then as well. Some of the more famous, or infamous, incidents are detailed in the article from the CBC.
People in the United States often like to think that we don't engage in such things, but actually there have been several popularly supported book burnings in U.S. history. The one with arguably the farthest reaching consequences was crusade against and mass burnings of comic books in 1948. The attack on comic books as degenerate literature virtually destroyed the industry, which had been robust with the success of Superman, horror and crime comics previously. It would be decades before the industry regained any real legitimacy, and it is only with the development of the "graphic novel" that adult readers have begun to recognize the form as an acceptable reading alternative. Another incidents that enjoyed significant support in certain sections of the population were the removal of works identified as "pro-Communist" by Roy Cohn and David Schine, Joseph McCarthy's primary aides, from U.S. State Department libraries. Authors and works swept under this heading included everyone from Dashiell Hammett, the creator of detective Sam Spade, to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Some librarians went so far as to burn the suspect authors.
So just for fun to celebrate this week, test yourself with Banned and Challenged Books Quiz which asks you to guess whether particular books were merely challenged (the much more common action) or actually banned.
Burning books is the ultimate method of attempting to control history and controversial or opposing ideas -- literally scorching them from the face of the earth. When asked about people who burn books, we in the United States typically think of the Nazis and the great public bonfires of books they held prior to World War II (as documented in this University of Arizona Library online display). But book burning has happened on many occasions since then as well. Some of the more famous, or infamous, incidents are detailed in the article from the CBC.
People in the United States often like to think that we don't engage in such things, but actually there have been several popularly supported book burnings in U.S. history. The one with arguably the farthest reaching consequences was crusade against and mass burnings of comic books in 1948. The attack on comic books as degenerate literature virtually destroyed the industry, which had been robust with the success of Superman, horror and crime comics previously. It would be decades before the industry regained any real legitimacy, and it is only with the development of the "graphic novel" that adult readers have begun to recognize the form as an acceptable reading alternative. Another incidents that enjoyed significant support in certain sections of the population were the removal of works identified as "pro-Communist" by Roy Cohn and David Schine, Joseph McCarthy's primary aides, from U.S. State Department libraries. Authors and works swept under this heading included everyone from Dashiell Hammett, the creator of detective Sam Spade, to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Some librarians went so far as to burn the suspect authors.
So just for fun to celebrate this week, test yourself with Banned and Challenged Books Quiz which asks you to guess whether particular books were merely challenged (the much more common action) or actually banned.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Lots of E-Resources to Explore
After a long hiatus, Library Lines returns to promote the new electronic content that the library has to offer DACC users. Just a reminder: in order to use any of these electronic resources from off-campus, users will need to provide their DACC user ID and password for authentication prior to accessing the database or electronic publication. If you have trouble using these while off campus, please notify the library so we can trace the source of the difficulty.
Users have several new resources available to them this fall. One of the most useful acquisitions for many will be Facts on File's World News Digest. This flagship publication provides DACC users with more than 70 years worth of national and international news, as covered in the print publication of the same name. Combined with Facts' Issues and Controversies databases, World News Digest can provide an extraordinarily rich tool for those working on speeches or hot button issues. In addition to other points of access, users can quickly locate these three databases together under the Quick Speech Topic Information Link on the Find Articles page.
Another new Facts on File database that is available to users is American Women's History Online. This resource gives users the opportunity to explore every aspect of women's experience in the United States, from Native American pre-colonial women's culture to present-day issues of work, politics, family and faith.
Like Facts on File, the ABC-CLIO social studies cluster of databases saw a significant boost in content this fall. Two additional databases make this resource collection even more useful. World at War provides outstanding content related to the history of wars across the range of human history and from around the globe. Analytical essays are combined with primary documents, overviews, and short subject specific essays on events and individuals.
The other new resource in the ABC-CLIO social studies cluster is the American Government database. This tool offers users detailed analysis of the workings of the U.S. government as well as thoughtful essays in a section entitled Idea Exchange that connect the larger context of the government's structure to current and enduring issues. Briefer sections addressing general topics of state and municipal government are also included.
Fans of EbscoHost will also notice a change in the database lineup. After some calculation and discussion with faculty, the American Psychological Association's PsycArticles, which added only 60+ journals to our online selection, and replaced it with PsychBooks, an online eBook collection of the books published by the American Psychological Association and other major publishers. The database contains more than 30,000 chapters from more than 2000 books as well as the APA/Oxford Encyclopedia of Psychology. More than 1500 classic works of psychology are also included in the database.
And finally, of special interest to DACC faculty and staff, a reminder that the Chronicle of Higher Education is now available to them online (with access to the complete archive as well), courtesy of the library.
Users have several new resources available to them this fall. One of the most useful acquisitions for many will be Facts on File's World News Digest. This flagship publication provides DACC users with more than 70 years worth of national and international news, as covered in the print publication of the same name. Combined with Facts' Issues and Controversies databases, World News Digest can provide an extraordinarily rich tool for those working on speeches or hot button issues. In addition to other points of access, users can quickly locate these three databases together under the Quick Speech Topic Information Link on the Find Articles page.
Another new Facts on File database that is available to users is American Women's History Online. This resource gives users the opportunity to explore every aspect of women's experience in the United States, from Native American pre-colonial women's culture to present-day issues of work, politics, family and faith.
Like Facts on File, the ABC-CLIO social studies cluster of databases saw a significant boost in content this fall. Two additional databases make this resource collection even more useful. World at War provides outstanding content related to the history of wars across the range of human history and from around the globe. Analytical essays are combined with primary documents, overviews, and short subject specific essays on events and individuals.
The other new resource in the ABC-CLIO social studies cluster is the American Government database. This tool offers users detailed analysis of the workings of the U.S. government as well as thoughtful essays in a section entitled Idea Exchange that connect the larger context of the government's structure to current and enduring issues. Briefer sections addressing general topics of state and municipal government are also included.
Fans of EbscoHost will also notice a change in the database lineup. After some calculation and discussion with faculty, the American Psychological Association's PsycArticles, which added only 60+ journals to our online selection, and replaced it with PsychBooks, an online eBook collection of the books published by the American Psychological Association and other major publishers. The database contains more than 30,000 chapters from more than 2000 books as well as the APA/Oxford Encyclopedia of Psychology. More than 1500 classic works of psychology are also included in the database.
And finally, of special interest to DACC faculty and staff, a reminder that the Chronicle of Higher Education is now available to them online (with access to the complete archive as well), courtesy of the library.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
New Hours & Journal Databases
New Hours!
The library's hours are changing. Effective March 1, 2010 the library will open at 7:30 Monday through Friday and will close at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 p.m. on Friday. The library will no longer have Saturday hours. Students who need access to a computer lab on Saturdays will be able to use LH 204. As always, a significant portion of the library's resources are available to students, faculty and staff via the internet. They can select an online resource and log on using their DACC user i.d. and password.
JSTOR Available!
The library has added renowned journal archives JSTOR to the electronic resources it makes available to students. For users familiar with JSTOR, its contents are made available to libraries in "collections" based on subject matter. Its contents also exist behind a "rolling wall," meaning that the most recent years of journals are not included, but years are added as time progresses. DACC students will be able to search JSTOR for journal articles in music, the performing and cinematic arts, literature, religion and art. This collection complements other academic journal resources the library provides, which include access to a majority of the journals published by Sage and Elsevier (although we do not get the entire Elsevier backfile only the most recent 15 years of most publications). Our subscriptions to these publisher databases provide the DACC community with direct access to a significant amount of premium publisher content. Many additional journals can be accessed via the aggregated databases, such as EbscoHost, which will will also link users to those articles from the publisher databases that are merely cited in the original database with the aid of the Find It! links. But users should realize that not all of the journals in the publisher databases are indexed in any given database, so searching a publisher's database as well can often prove useful or even faster depending upon the user's needs. For help with JSTOR or any library database or tool like Find It!, contact the Reference Desk x739.
The library's hours are changing. Effective March 1, 2010 the library will open at 7:30 Monday through Friday and will close at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 p.m. on Friday. The library will no longer have Saturday hours. Students who need access to a computer lab on Saturdays will be able to use LH 204. As always, a significant portion of the library's resources are available to students, faculty and staff via the internet. They can select an online resource and log on using their DACC user i.d. and password.
JSTOR Available!
The library has added renowned journal archives JSTOR to the electronic resources it makes available to students. For users familiar with JSTOR, its contents are made available to libraries in "collections" based on subject matter. Its contents also exist behind a "rolling wall," meaning that the most recent years of journals are not included, but years are added as time progresses. DACC students will be able to search JSTOR for journal articles in music, the performing and cinematic arts, literature, religion and art. This collection complements other academic journal resources the library provides, which include access to a majority of the journals published by Sage and Elsevier (although we do not get the entire Elsevier backfile only the most recent 15 years of most publications). Our subscriptions to these publisher databases provide the DACC community with direct access to a significant amount of premium publisher content. Many additional journals can be accessed via the aggregated databases, such as EbscoHost, which will will also link users to those articles from the publisher databases that are merely cited in the original database with the aid of the Find It! links. But users should realize that not all of the journals in the publisher databases are indexed in any given database, so searching a publisher's database as well can often prove useful or even faster depending upon the user's needs. For help with JSTOR or any library database or tool like Find It!, contact the Reference Desk x739.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
E-Resources: What's New
The library is pleased to provide access to several new online resources beginning this January. Two of these add sections to a resource to which the library previously had partial access, The American Mosaic. This resource provides users with a sense of America's multicultural diversity. Previously the library subscribed to the Latino American Experience portion of the American Mosaic, but the DACC community now also has access to the other two sections as well: the African-American Experience and the American Indian Experience. Each section can be searched separately or all three can be searched through the single Mosaic interface. This database offers users the opportunity to investigate artistic, political, historical, sociological, and pop cultural aspects to each culture as well as to the cultural overlap. The more than 600 Greenwood and Praeger e-books provide high-quality research information for users.
In addition to the American Mosaic, the Library is pleased to offer DACC users access to the Springer Medical Research e-Book Collection. This collection of more than 3,000 e-books from Springer includes more than 100 titles published in 2010 alone. The titles will be added to the library's online catalog when we get the necessary information, but in the meantime, users can go to Springer's site, click on "Medicine" on the right hand side of the screen and then "Books" on the right hand side of the screen and then put their search term in the box to look for material in the collection. This will enable them to search the full-text for all possible references. Take care to limit your search to "Within these results" to prevent searching all Springer titles, because there are a lot of things we do not subscribe to.
The library will soon be getting access to part of JSTOR's journal collection, but that has not been completely set up yet. The selected collection features titles in literature, music, art and architecture, religion, folklore, film and the performing arts. We'll let you know when the journals becomes available.
In addition to the American Mosaic, the Library is pleased to offer DACC users access to the Springer Medical Research e-Book Collection. This collection of more than 3,000 e-books from Springer includes more than 100 titles published in 2010 alone. The titles will be added to the library's online catalog when we get the necessary information, but in the meantime, users can go to Springer's site, click on "Medicine" on the right hand side of the screen and then "Books" on the right hand side of the screen and then put their search term in the box to look for material in the collection. This will enable them to search the full-text for all possible references. Take care to limit your search to "Within these results" to prevent searching all Springer titles, because there are a lot of things we do not subscribe to.
The library will soon be getting access to part of JSTOR's journal collection, but that has not been completely set up yet. The selected collection features titles in literature, music, art and architecture, religion, folklore, film and the performing arts. We'll let you know when the journals becomes available.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Cool Tools Holiday Edition
Just in time for Christmas and the end of the semester, when you'll have a little time to play around with new technology over break, it seems like the perfect moment for a round of Cool Tools -- nifty technology you can use to make your work and home life fun.
You may remember Wordle from the presentation at in-service. It's the online "toy" that lets you take any text and turn it into a word cloud that illustrates which words are used most frequently. Here's an example I made of Twas the Night Before Christmas done as a Wordle. (Just a note: if you browse the gallery you will necessarily observe the tendency of people to use any tool of this sort to broadcast obscenities in big letters...) If you'd like ideas of how you might incorporate Wordle into your work, take a look at this list in The Clever Sheep, or this one at Ask Dr. Kirk (which offers suggestions that reflect a workplace rather than the classroom).
Draw Anywhere is an online graphics program that you can log into from anywhere to access your flowcharts and diagrams. Rather than storing, saving and transfering files, you can share them with others over the internet and access them publicly. You can also link charts or diagrams to your web page and then change them as needed with minimal effort or enable others to make changes to them. While you can get a free account that enables full functionality but limits user access, output and security, real flexibility comes from the $30/year account.
GoogleNewsTimeline is a new Google App that lets you manipulate various elements of Google's news features to create a timeline of recent events. You can, for example, put in the name of an important individual, such as the president, and have it highlight news stories for him over time. A great way to follow how rapidly changing stories develop, or to see how particular countries appear in the news.
For something truly on the fun side, play around with Voki, an avatar generator that lets you create animated avatars that speak. You can get the code to publish an avatar to your web page to introduce yourself to your students in a fun way as an anime character or have them use them to record foreign language or vocabulary practice.
And what may be one of the most broadly useful applications, Glogster, lets users create online posters that can incorporate multimedia elements. The "glogs" can then be incorporated into blogs or wikis. The Glogster site offers several examples of the kinds of things that are possible with the tool. Students can create an online poster session, or you can create posters to attractively illustrate key concepts or ideas.
During spring in-service, the library will offer faculty and staff an opportunity to learn how to create and use wikis. This session will take place during the Faculty prep time so keep an eye out for further details. Wikis are one of the simplest and yet most powerful and effective tools available. They are perfect for creating collectively developed work of any sort, from class group projects to quick answer manuals for dealing with those questions people in your department must respond to frequently and you want to make sure everyone knows what the current information is. They are an ideal software for teams to use to develop ideas as well, as changes are recorded. Here is a good video from CommonCraft on TeacherTube that explains the concept of wikis in a fun way.
You may remember Wordle from the presentation at in-service. It's the online "toy" that lets you take any text and turn it into a word cloud that illustrates which words are used most frequently. Here's an example I made of Twas the Night Before Christmas done as a Wordle. (Just a note: if you browse the gallery you will necessarily observe the tendency of people to use any tool of this sort to broadcast obscenities in big letters...) If you'd like ideas of how you might incorporate Wordle into your work, take a look at this list in The Clever Sheep, or this one at Ask Dr. Kirk (which offers suggestions that reflect a workplace rather than the classroom).
Draw Anywhere is an online graphics program that you can log into from anywhere to access your flowcharts and diagrams. Rather than storing, saving and transfering files, you can share them with others over the internet and access them publicly. You can also link charts or diagrams to your web page and then change them as needed with minimal effort or enable others to make changes to them. While you can get a free account that enables full functionality but limits user access, output and security, real flexibility comes from the $30/year account.
GoogleNewsTimeline is a new Google App that lets you manipulate various elements of Google's news features to create a timeline of recent events. You can, for example, put in the name of an important individual, such as the president, and have it highlight news stories for him over time. A great way to follow how rapidly changing stories develop, or to see how particular countries appear in the news.
For something truly on the fun side, play around with Voki, an avatar generator that lets you create animated avatars that speak. You can get the code to publish an avatar to your web page to introduce yourself to your students in a fun way as an anime character or have them use them to record foreign language or vocabulary practice.
And what may be one of the most broadly useful applications, Glogster, lets users create online posters that can incorporate multimedia elements. The "glogs" can then be incorporated into blogs or wikis. The Glogster site offers several examples of the kinds of things that are possible with the tool. Students can create an online poster session, or you can create posters to attractively illustrate key concepts or ideas.
During spring in-service, the library will offer faculty and staff an opportunity to learn how to create and use wikis. This session will take place during the Faculty prep time so keep an eye out for further details. Wikis are one of the simplest and yet most powerful and effective tools available. They are perfect for creating collectively developed work of any sort, from class group projects to quick answer manuals for dealing with those questions people in your department must respond to frequently and you want to make sure everyone knows what the current information is. They are an ideal software for teams to use to develop ideas as well, as changes are recorded. Here is a good video from CommonCraft on TeacherTube that explains the concept of wikis in a fun way.
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