St.Olav's Wirral Viking Pilgrimage 2012

Dear all,
Can I bring to your attention details of this year’s St.Olav's Day Wirral Viking Heritage walk/Pilgrimage:
This year’s walk (the 5th annual walk) goes from the site of the old Viking church at St. Bridget's in West Kirby (where there is the famous Viking hogback tombstone and also a dedication to St. Olav) to another church with strong Viking roots - St. Mary and St. Helen in Neston, where there are the fragments of at least 3 Viking crosses, one of which has been magnificently rebuilt into a painted replica featuring a Viking lady with her arm touchingly around the waste of her husband. We meet outside St. Bridget’s Church at 11.30. After a demonstration of the St. Bridget's Viking stone (and the dedication to St. Olav) around 11.40 (please do not go into the Church before this unless you are attending the morning service at 10am) and a blessing by Rev John Bleazard the walk proceeds along the Wirral Way & along our beautiful coastline, stopping for a break at the Thurstaston Visitor Centre, through Heswall and onto Neston, finishing with a cup of tea (& possibly like last year with scouse/lapskaus) and a demonstration of the Viking stonework - and the replica inside the Church.
Last years walk (which went from Neston to Chester) was recently broadcast as part of BBC2’s The Great British Story with Michael Wood – you can still see this here:

As in previous years, the July 29th 2012 walk will require a reasonable level of fitness to complete the full distance of 8 miles or 12km.  As before it will also be possible to join in for only part of the walk (e.g. joining or leaving us at the Thurstaston Visitor Centre, where we will be having a break). In common with the main St. Olav’s Pilgrimage in Norway, although we provide a guide, you come at your own risk and are responsible for yourselves.  You would also responsible for making your own transport arrangements from Neston at the end of the walk.  It may be possible for groups to share a taxi back to West Kirby.

In the interests of safety we need to give the police an idea of numbers so if you intend coming please email me
steve.harding@nottingham.ac.uk  by Saturday 28th July, 4pm. Details and the background behind the walk can be found here.

Best wishes
Steve Harding
Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit

isquint video converter tool - free!

iSquint 1.5.2 by Tyler Loch, Techspansion LLC
iSquint is an iPod video conversion app for Mac OS X.
It's many times faster than QuickTime Pro, works with almost all popular video formats, and it's infinitely free-er. It's also really easy. Just drag in your file, and click Start.
You can also choose "TV" or "iPod" size, set your quality, or even go all-out by playing in the Advanced drawer. On a 1GHz G4, iSquint can convert most video files to iPod-screen-sized videos in realtime. Depending on a few factors, a 20 minute video will take up anywhere from 50-150MB of disk space.
Supported codecs: Video:
All QuickTime Codecs
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-4 (DivX, XviD, etc)
MSMPEG4
WMV7
WMV8
WMV9
H.264
H.263
Flash Video 6, 7 and 8
MotionJPEG
DV
HDV
Cinepak
And more!
Audio:
All QuickTime Codecs
MP3
AAC
WAV
AIFF
PCM
AC3
WMA
And more!
Supported containers:
QuickTime .mov
MPEG-4 .mp4 .m4v
AVI .avi
MPEG .mpg .mpeg .m1v .m2v .vob .ts .m2t
ASF .asf
WMV .wmv
DV .dv
3GP .3gp
Flash Video .flv

VoiceThread

VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. Voicethread has a dedicated education community now as well. A really good example which uses art as a theme can be viewed here:


and an English storytelling project here....

You do need an account to use it. Particularly useful for class based activities- you can setup members of your class as sub-users. Only one sign in, but everyone in the class has a working identity they can switch to which tags their work.
Even better it has mic. setting options for both mac and PC!
http://voicethread.com/#home

Freeplay

Try Freeplaymusic.com for loops and music.
Note:Clips from freeplaymusic.com cannot be freely used for podcasting. Educational use "is limited to student use on school grounds for in classroom projects- non broadcast". Check out the terms of use at: http://freeplaymusic.com/licensing/termsofuse.php

Avery label maker

Avery label maker is a free download from Avery, obviously, and has a cd cover template amongst loads of others:
http://www.avery.co.uk/uk1/downloads/macsolutions.jsp

PodSafe Audio

This site aims to provide a location where musicians can upload music under the Creative Commons license for use in Podcasts, Mashups, Shoutcasts, Webcasts and every other kind of 'casting' that exists on the 'net.

Creative Commons

The Creative Commons website on the search page lets you select how you intend using the music.
http://search.creativecommons.org/

Be warned it's hard work to find what you’re after as there is just so much available and there are different CC licence terms often related to whether the original can be changed. To be safe it's always best to create your own!

Garageband

For copyright free music try Garageband - you can also register a band if you play in one and get your music heard!

Soundsnap

What is Soundsnap?
Soundsnap is the best platform to find and share free sound effects and loops- legally. It is a collection of original sounds made or recorded by its users, and not songs or sound FX found on commercial libraries or sample CD's.
It was originally started by a small group of sound people from all over the world. Our common belief is that sounds and samples should be free for everyone to use in their projects, commercial or not.

Photosoup

PhotoSoup is a visual word puzzle generator that allows users to create word search puzzles with tag-photo pairs taken from Flickr. The tag is hidden in the puzzle, and only the associated photo is shown as a clue. The objective is to find all hidden tags in the puzzle before you run out of time.
http://next.yahoo.net/photosoup/
To create and play a new puzzle, you have to provide a topic, such as "zoo". Alternatively, you can use your own username to generate a puzzle that shows your photos. Of course you can also check out the photos your friends have posted on Flickr. Keep in mind, that we only use public Flickr photos that have the Creative Commons Attribution license when generating a PhotoSoup.

wikiHow

wikiHow is a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. With your edits, we can create a free resource that helps millions of people by offering solutions to the problems of everyday life. It currently contains 31,652 articles — written, edited, and maintained primarily by volunteers. Please join us by writing on a topic not yet covered, or editing a page that someone else has started.
http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page

RealeBooks

RealeBooks - free download from www.realebooks.com
Make books which can be emailed, printed off or stored in an online library. They chose something they are interested in and make books. Can make template books and so differentiate for levels of ability. Can be used for 5-50 year olds.

e2bn - making the news

The developing National Education Network also has some resources.
E2BN's Making the News is a great motivator for engaging students (esp
boys) in writing and publishing. Find it at
http://mtn.e2bn.net/rostra/news.php?r=1&t=2&id=14

On Line, On Track - Literacy and Numeracy KS3

"The great problem is finding material which deals with their skill level
without being too juvenile in content and context
I'm not sure if you would find this relevant, but here at London Grid
for Learning we did a PRU-focussed project for KS3/4 called On Line, On
Track about 2 years ago which might be useful (it's for Literacy and
Numeracy)
Try http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/accounts/olot/

This http://cms.lgfl.net/lgfl/web/nen/links will give you the links to
the other learning grids if you want to have a trawl around
David Mason"

EditGrid - Online Spreadsheet

EditGrid is an online spreadsheet. It works solely in a web browser. It serves you and your spreadsheets better than ever in many aspects. EditGrid is native for spreadsheets on the web which are:
* shared,
* collaborated, or
* published
EditGrid does for numbers what blogs and wikis do for text.
http://www.editgrid.com/

Race to Ramses

Looking for a fun but simple word level activity? - try Race to Ramses! a game about combining prefixes and suffixes to create new words.
http://www.fekids.com/kln/games/racetoramses/racetoramses.html
Fits in nicely with Ancient Egypt as a theme too.

Fliptrack Slide Shows

Take a look at Fliptrack as an alternative to something like Animoto.
Fliptrack Slide Shows offer the Most Ways to Express Yourself:
http://www.fliptrack.com/
* Variety: The Most Themes, Effects and Music!
* Friendship Slide Shows: Let Friends and Family
Copy & Edit Your Slide Shows!
* Music Sync: Slide Shows Match the Rhythm of the Music!

Animoto

Animoto - http://animoto.com/
is very simple but offers no real creative control over what you produce. Just throw some photos at it, choose a music track and voila you've created an MTV style video.
A great tool for producing quick videos.
Curriculum idea - Tom Barret says:
"Last year we used our class (y6) digital camera for recording our work in a science investigation, we then gave the children a sheet of thumbnails of these images for their books. An extension of this simple idea would be to produce a quick movie of their science lesson or PE session. Not as an ICT, presentation task but as a simple, yet imaginatively presented, record of the work they have done."

TeacherTube & BlipTV

If you were hoping to use Youtube with your students but find it's been blocked by the LA/ school firewall you might consider using these two less well known alternatives out there..........

Try TeacherTube
http://www.teachertube.com
or
if you want good quality encoding try Blip TV
http://blip.tv/

voices of the world

onevoice
Voices Of The World was created by Sharon Tonner from The High School Of Dundee in Scotland to connect children from around the world using their voices rather than the standard text and images and prepare them for their globalised future.
If you would like to participate in this global project then send an email, through this network, to Sharon Tonner with the name of your school, town and country and also the age of the children who will be participating in the project.
Each month a new challenge or task is set - introducing a different application each time. February 08 uses Photostory 3 which you can download free from:
photostory

If you need help using this there are simple instructions at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/tips/firststory.mspx

many voices

manyvoices

"manyvoices is an ongoing collaborative story being written by 140 different elementary and middle school students across the globe using Twitter.com. Each student will use the same manyvoices Twitter Account to contribute their 140 (or less) characters. The story concludes at the 140th entry. At that point, we collectively edit and revise our little Twitter story before publishing it as a small book through Lulu.com"
Contributing teachers:
12 teachers - 6 countries (Canada China Thailand England Qatar USA) 140 students
@mrmayo
@glassbeed
@njtechteacher (has agreed to edit)
@arthus & co.
@GingerTPLC
@julielindsay
@tombarrett
@todbaker
@LParisi - (has agreed to edit)
@robinellis
@mscofino
@mrjarbenne
For more info. contact: mrmayo.org [at] gmail.com. Or, twitter him @mrmayo

tumblr

Why Tumblr?
"Tumblelogs are miniblogs — a fast way to share links, photos, and videos without the bells and whistles of a regular blog. Check out Wikipedia’s definition of tumblogs. Tumblr is a product of Davidville. The Tumblr definition is simple: if blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks.

Ability to easily create 6 types of posts: text, photos, quotes, links, conversations, and videos. A “Share on Tumblr” bookmarklet for Internet Explorer and Firefox makes it easy to post ad-hoc from within your browser. Posting to your blog is truly quick, fast and easy!
The ability to import RSS feeds as links including Flickr, Delicious, Digg, Twitter, LastFM, Wordpress, VOX, Blogger, LiveJournal, and YouTube."
For more info. and taken from: tumblr

diigo - engage & respond to text

http://www.diigo.com/

Highlight, Clip and Sticky-Note for any webpage - Just as you would on paper ⇒ Write on any webpage! - Make them private or public ⇒ Interact on any webpage!
One of the 12 strands of the Primary Literacy Framework is to 'Engage with and respond to text'. Diigo is a tool that can enable this.
Suggestion taken from Tom Barretts blog......
All you need is a story, add a table with children's names & photographs - if focussing on looking at opening hooks just a few paragraphs are needed. Above the table of children’s names add some simple instructions such as:
Take your time to read the opening to the story below. Your job is to respond in two ways.
1 - Add a sticky note, using the Diigo toolbar, under your picture or name and explain how you feel about this opening.
2 - Highlight some text and comment on part of the opening you enjoyed or want to talk about. Add you initials to your comments.
The idea is that children click on Sticky Notes in the Diigo toolbar and add a typed comment, then go a step further and (after clicking refresh in IE to see their friends comments - a good tip!) add further comments to their friends Diigo stickies. They can roll over the sticky bubble icon and then roll over the Actions menu at the top right. Then its just a case of going to “Add Comment” and the children are engaging with not only the text but each others’ responses.

FlickrCC

FlickrCC , a search engine drawing solely from Flickr’s Creative Commons licensed images. Really easy to use - search on a theme - results are presented as a wall of thumbnail images, download a range of sizes for use.
Creative Commons Licence definition:
a non-profit organization dedicated to reforming copyright laws to permit the free use, alteration and distribution by others of copyrighted creative works, such as music, film or software.

Top 5 Times Tables Resources

Thanks to Tom Barrett for these links.....they look great as a maths resource for ks1 and 2.
Multiflyer by Dan Perkins - A wonderful resource that can be used throughout a child’s practise of times tables.

Times Attack - from the site multiplication.com The demo is free and just allows you to play, quite adequately, on a single level.

BBC Skillswise Times Tables - ideal for the IWB.

Maths Trainer - a great game for one person. Also take a look at Speed Maths and

Reaction Maths
Multiplication Puzzle - you can alter how much time the children have to work. You can change the length of time for the whole activity or based on how many questions they need to answer.

Zwinky

Create your own customizable Zwinky character by choosing your eyes, hair, skintone as well as your shirt, pants, shoes, pets and other accessories. Then visit Zwinktopia - a virtual world where you can play games, chat with friends, and shop for exclusive clothes.

Ferry Halim

Tom Barrett (tgbarrett@btinternet.com) writes:

Ferry Halim is a digital artist and has created a site showcasing current projects and flash artwork. As part of the little site is a part named Morning Sunshine which has about 60 interactive games.....
So when I first began playing them I discovered their simplicity and visual appeal would work perfectly for early years children. So I sought to spread the word about the site and I produced a document that allowed staff to see the different skills used by the children in every one of the games. For example the Game Type or Screen, Specific mouse control skills and other skills required."
Go to Tom's site to download the document....tom barrett edublog

flickr badge

Flickr badge may be gimmicky but I like it....it adds an extra something to a blog and once again very easy to use.
step 1 - choose the type of badge you want - html or flash
step 2 - choose which photos you want to display
step 3 - choose a colour scheme
step 4 - get the code to copy and paste into your blog
For an example of how it looks see my: Ainscough Family History blog
The really great thing is the images on the badge change automatically!

Visual Hub

Thanks to David Baugh I have just successfully managed to create my first videoblog and it was so simple I will definitely do it again...
I used Visual Hub to convert a full quality Quicktime DV file into the H.264 Codec for itunes - Im pleased to say I now have a full license for VisualHub and I cant imagine how Ive managed without it! I would definitely recommend it, its simplicity.... so intuitive I didnt need to read the instruction file. Upoad to YouTube and copy the code ready to paste into my blog- for an example see 14-19 ipod blog

David Baugh writes....
"It is interesting that YouTube is actually re-encoding all their material into H.264 video from Flash to boost the quality. And herein lies the issue. Maintaining quality but keeping the size down. How important is the quality to the end user? I can indeed see some circumstances when a DVD quality video would be useful in the classroom. I use a great tool on the Mac called Visual Hubto convert to Flash and other formats such as H.264"

Box.net

Box.net File Sharing

See the Box.net filesharing widget - Instructions
for adding this to your blog.

You can share very large documents, photos, videos, and music files with your blog readers by uploading files to Box.net and adding them to the Box.net widget in your sidebar. The first gig of storage is free. You can see one of their widgets in action on this page.

Examples:
Ive created a sample widget which can be seen in this blog (look in the right hand column) and also another example can be found in my "Ainscough family History blog", where I use box.net to share relevant files such as family trees contributed by other blog readers: Ainscough familyhistory blog

webbliworld

webbliworld is an exciting, stimulating, virtual world that kids can explore, inhabit, belong to and share. It is a world that promotes caring, responsible behaviour and gives kids the opportunity to voice their opinions on topics that matter.

Scratch

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web ....designed to help young people (ages 8+) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.
Scratch is available free of charge, go to Download.
Currently available for Mac OSX and Windows (system requirements)

The Podcast Recipe: Producing a successful show

Podcast Seminar

The Podcast Recipe:
Description: Find out what it takes to perform a great-sounding podcast, produce a professional show, and promote a podcast to reach as many people as possible.
For a listing of all of the seminars and events currently being offered visit:

Apple Seminar

Adam Burt - homepage

Adam Burt's Homepage

Adam is a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator and a very talented one too! he never ceases to amaze me regarding his ability to develop and create. Check out his homepage, here you can find a selection of items that you my wish to download and try out.....

Vienna

Vienna is a freeware, open source RSS/Atom newsreader for the Mac OS X operating system. It provides features comparable to commercial newsreaders, but both it and the source code are freely available for download.
A summary of some of its features:
* Subscribe to Atom/RSS news feeds and podcasts.
* Simple and intuitive user interface.
* Built-in tabbed browser.
* Smart folders for organising related feed articles.
* Custom article display styles.
* Three separate reading layouts.
* Blogging integration.
* Filter the displayed articles.
* Manual reordering of the subscription list.
* Full AppleScript support.
* Localised into several languages.

GhostReader- text 2 speech

GhostReader™ allows you to listen while your Mac does the talking. It's the new name (it used to be called TextParrot) for a multilingual text to speech solution for Mac OS X that allows you to listen to your documents with naturally sounding voices in a language of choice. Just like a ghostwriter writes for someone else, GhostReader can read for you! You can also use it to create your own personal podcasts or your own audio books by exporting to iPod ready iTunes tracks. Or just use it to speak selected text in a handy reader window with play, fast forward and rewind functionality. In some applications, such as Safari, GhostReader enables you to listen to text by just pointing your cursor at the text. Now you can sit back and relax while GhostReader reads the text under the cursor. Read more...
GhostReader can save you time and effort in many ways, including through the conversion of documents to audio files that you can listen to on your iPod. Read more...
Educational uses: GhostReader has many educational uses such as facilitating the learning of foreign languages or helping out students with reading difficulties. Read more...

Tondoo - cartoon strip creator

ToonDoo - The Cartoon Strip Creator - Create, Publish, Share, Discuss! ... Create your own cartoon with ToonDoo, a nifty comic strip creator. ... Want to create a logo using that hard-to-define but easy-to-recognize Web 2.0 style?

Podcaster - Kudlian

Podcaster is now Available for Windows and Mac Users. A podcast is an easy and effective method of publishing recorded talk and music through the internet, in a way that will automatically share your material with your listeners.
Podcaster publishes podcasts and *enhanced podcasts quickly and easily. Broadcast your productions through your network, or worldwide through the internet.
Specifically designed for use in education, Podcaster is also finding a following amongst home and professional users, due to its ease of use.

Profcast

Profcast
is a versatile, powerful, yet very simple to use tool for recording presentations including PowerPoint and/or Keynote slides for creating enhanced podcasts. ProfCast provides a low cost solution for recording and distributing lectures, special events, and presentations as podcasts. ProfCast offers an integrated workflow that makes creating, recording, and publishing podcasts easy. It's as simple as Launch, Load, and Lecture!

Griffin iTalkPro Stereo Microphone for iPod 5G

italk
According to Griffin, iTalkPro will be able to record for 3.5 continuous hours on a fully-charged 60GB fifth-generation iPod, or 1.5 hours on a 30GB model before the battery runs out, a limitation based largely on the 5G iPod’s need to spin its hard drive all the time during recording. These recording times also assume that the iPod has sufficient hard drive space for recording; Apple’s firmware saves files in high-bitrate WAV format rather than in compressed MP3 or AAC.

iQuiz for ipod

iQuiz. A new way to learn with iPod.
iQuiz
iTunes games

You already know that iPod extends access to learning beyond the classroom. Now with iQuiz, the new trivia game for iPod, your students can reinforce their learning on the go. From Math to Geography to Structural Biology, you can create your own trivia packs to share, or add trivia packs created by others. The possibilities are endless.
Download our samples or add your own.

Media-Convert

Media-Convert is 100% free... Document, Compressed archive, sound and video converter. No software is needed, and you don't have to register. You only need your favorite Internet browser. Your files are ready 7/7 days 24/24 hours.
How to convert a file ?
To convert a file located on your computer : Check File mode, click Browse and choose the file, select input format (if autodetection fails) and output format, submit the form.
To convert a file located on a webserver : Check URL mode, enter the file URL, select input and output format.

Comic Life Windows B2

Comic Life is one of my favourites.....it's been bundled free on a new macs for sometime now and is loved by all, both young & old. so it was great to see this Beta version for Windows on the Plasq website.
Comic Life Windows B2

The second Comic Life for Windows Beta is now available for download - with ongoing thanks to our encouraging and patient beta-testers. Thank you all for your kind words and helpful feedback!
This latest beta includes many small improvements relating to installation, usage and stability. You can find the download, new beta serial number and release notes in this forum post here.
Comic Life Windows B2

iShowU

iShowU software to capture and record video from your screen into a Quicktime movie, in realtime.
Create tutorials, make a demo for the web, record your favorite game (World of Warcraft!), collaborate on UI design, show tech support what's really going on with that broken program.

Skitch + mySkitch

Skitch is an amazingly fun and super useful duo. Everyday we all share images, ideas and have fun with friends online — this should be easy… right!?
Watch the intro video!
Your friends are global… you can send them links… but what if the action is on your screen? ... Point out a quick suggestion to a colleague or pass on that funny moment from an IM chat, post images to MySpace, eBay, forums or via email..Skitch is the Internet age's Camera and it Rocks!"

Sequel

Sequel turns you into a producer, and gives you your own fully-loaded music studio. You need HipHop beats for your latest track? Or want to surprise your friends at your next party with your own electro live-set? Sequel gives you everything you need to produce pro-quality tracks at home, on a plane, in the rehearsal room or even live at a club.
And best of all, Sequel is so easy to use that you can get creating your own music straight away."

Sequel is the nearest thing to GarageBand on the PC, it is a new application but unlike Garageband's tight integration with imovie and iphoto etc etc it's a stand alone application. So you can't import video - but you can use loops and record your own midi and sound/real instruments it's about £55.00 Sequel

BubbleShare

BubbleShare is an easy and fun way of sharing your photos and the stories that go with them. Create a slideshow and share your photos with friends & family via Bebo, Blogger, Piczo, Myspace, Yahoo 360 and many more.
You can view an example of a bubbleshare slideshow on my Ainscough-family history blog at this link:
Cowley Burials, June 7th 07
Ainscough familyhistory blog

snip url

Do you ever have to handle an extremely long URL in e-mail? .... why not try URL shortening with the snipurl tool.

j2e

Web based document creation: Create : Share : Learn


What is it? j2e
It's a web based document processor, designed for Education. Use it for all your word processing needs, eg homework and worksheets, as well as your web publishing...so easy!
All your documents have their own unique www address - you can access them from any web browser, share them with teachers, pupils, family and friends.
Currently FREE of charge for individual users. Schools can purchase j2e on 30 days approval terms.

ipod in education

If you're interested in developing the use of ipods in education then visit ipodined
A site which devoted to doing exactly that, designed to help you find out about using iPods and Podcasting in Education, administered and run by David Baugh, Apple Distinguished Educator.

shortText.com

http://www.shortText.com/
ShortText is a simple tool to post text online, with minimum fuss. No sign ups, no sign in, just instant web presence for your information.
Don't have a website? Don't want a blog? Want to share a piece of code...perhaps a recipe? Just paste your text below and click 'Create URL'!
shortText.com now supports direct linking to your images and video.

zamzar

http://www.zamzar.com/
They've just launched support for WMV video file conversions - read their blog for more information.......

del.icio.us

What is del.icio.us?
del.icio.us
del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's. You can use del.icio.us to:
* Keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music, reviews, recipes, and more, and access them from any computer on the web.
* Share favorites with friends, family, coworkers, and the del.icio.us community.
* Discover new things. Everything on del.icio.us is someone's favorite -- they've already done the work of finding it. So del.icio.us is full of bookmarks about technology, entertainment, useful information, and more. Explore and enjoy.
del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website -- the primary use of del.icio.us is to store your bookmarks online,

MOGOPOP

http://www.mogopop.com/login/
WHAT IS MOGOPOP?
It only works with Firefox but it is really cool! Create and download content for iPod. Mogopop rolls your video, audio, pictures and text into a single piece of iPod content that anyone can download. Download free content on Mogopop or create and publish your own free content.

Pulpmotion....

And Ross Wallis writes......http://www.pulpmotion.com/index.html/
This only came out yesterday! - I have had a lot of fun since I discovered the beta last week playing about with it - there is one of my experiments up on our departmental website, www.artatsidcotschool.org.uk I have put a link to it from the front page - bugs animations. the little movies being displayed were done by my year 7's last year (in photohsop!) - Ross Wallis

iMovie Chroma Key Plugins

iMovie Chroma Key Plugins - they work with iMovie6 and Mac OS 10.4.
http://www.kudlian.net/products/essential/
http://www.geethree.com/slick/index.html

Precise link to example:
http://www.geethree.com/slick/galleries/d_v4.html

Animation montage - FIRE!

I spent the day working with Newman Special school creating an animation montage yesterday- it was set to original music the children had been involved in composing and writing lyrics for and then put together by a professional musician. The final product can be viewed on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGp0H2g2_6U/
Feel free to add comments on Youtube but you need to be a registered user first!

Image manipulation software - teach-ict.com

If you're looking to get started with image manipulation then try:
teach-ict.com

Theres a flash video on common mistakes:
http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse/software/graphics/imagemistakes.html

also a page of flash videos on how to use photoshop:
http://www.teach-ict.com/software/photoshop/photoshop.htm

Great to get anybody started.......

Huckleberry for MacBook and MacBook Pro

Now this looks like a very interesting alternative to DV camera......designed to sit on top of your screen, just like an isight camera (when you could buy them!).

http://www.ecamm.com/mac/huckleberry/


A lot cheaper than using an external camera if you have a built in iSight on your mac. Great for doing clay animation activities....and so affordable!

TextToMP3

For Macs only........
macupdate.com

"TextToMP3 is a simple droplet application that accepts dropped text files and converts them into speech in MP3 format using Apple's Speech Manager technology and the open-source LAME MP3 encoder. TextToMP3 was created using Platypus.
Needs Mac OS X 10.3 or later"
Hoping I will be able to do something with this pretty soon......

Flickr & Skype- two old favourites

Just realised that Ive not mentioned a couple of my old favourites yet......

Flickr
Flickr is an excellent, free, web based photo sharing space......Im a bit of an addict now, its great fun, build up your contacts, add comments on each others photos and create sets. I'm finding it a really useful tool for pulling together all the family history info. including census detail.

Skype
The other one has to be Skype..... software that lets you make free calls and instant messaging to anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world. Even though the calls are free, they are of excellent quality. You can also use webcams and make free video calls.

E2BN's Myths and Legends

I've just come across E2BN's Myths and Legends web link:

e2bn Myths & Legends
It has an exciting story creator program which could provide a good introduction to storyboarding. Available on the E2Bn - RBC website, free of charge and web based so can be used on any platform. In story creator 2 you can also add sound or record a voice over to go with your text. in both versions you can add your own photographs. Once you have created your story you can save this and play it back on the site (a bit like a movie) or download it to your computer. For those of you trying to develop ENGLISH or the creative curriculum with an ICT application this is ideal; you also have the opportunity to submit any of your own local myths and legends.

CrazyTalk 4

Have you seen CrazyTalk 4?
CrazyTalk
It enables you to create virtual animated actors from digital photos adding a perfect personality to multimedia projects, for PC only- umm!!......I don't think there is a Mac equivalent though.

"bubblr"

I was introduced to Bubblr the other week…………

Its a very simple comic strip program and free too! It works seamlessly with images in Flickr.
If you have an account with Flickr you can search for your photos using your username, or you can search for a theme and find any users images tagged with this eg. Deer.
The only drawback is you cannot save the file or print it. It can be published but be aware that all and sundry can view your strip!

"Gliffy"

I've just discovered Gliffy.

It's a simple online drawing program and still free at the moment while in its Beta stage of development.....check it out, its a collaborative tool if you want it to be or you can export as a png or jpg.

quikmaps????

Thought I’d try out quikmaps today, but not had much luck. I can see the potential but getting frustrated. Maybe some of you clever people on Tuesday can work it out for me…..not sure if its an incompatibility problem with my browser, using Safari, should try it with Firefox, but not tonight! It’s too much like hard work for a Saturday night. The plan was to create a map for a family history trail over in Lancs. next week. Places to go, evidence trail, churches, cemeteries, pubs, farms and streets, draw lines showing the best routes to them, then add comments and pictures afterwards and share it on a blog.
However, the ‘go to’ won’t let me go anywhere….just displays Philadelphia, USA. I had to drag the quikmap east until I found the places I was looking for. Then I tried using the line mode but couldn’t draw anything. Managed a scribble and couldn’t delete it. So I clicked “help” to see what I was doing wrong…..fatal mistake!! After reading the help I clicked the back button but my work (minutes of!) had disappeared and not to be found again. Tried saving several times or sending to my blog but this doesn’t work for me either.