August 2008 Links

Here are some interesting websites I found during the last month that I want to keep for future reference:

• NECC 2009 – The big grandaddy of tech conferences is going to be held next year in Washington, DC, and is currently accepting proposals.
• TNT 2008 – The annual technology conference they put on in El Paso.
• Google Reader Preview – This Firefox add-on makes Google Reader even more valuable for people that like to (or need to) visit a lot of blogs. What it allows you to do is go right to the blog website without leaving Google Reader, so you can leave a comment or get into the admin section. To get this going, first you install Greasemonkey and then you install the Google Reader Preview script.
• WordPress Audio Player – The other WordPress audio player I’ve been using (Inline MP3 Player) is nice, but I’ve been noticing it doesn’t appear with some themes. I’m trying this one out and it’s been working well so far.
• Creating Student Accounts Using One Gmail Account – Have you ever wanted your students to make use of a website only to find they need to register with an email address? Sue Waters shows you how you can use your Gmail account to generate as many email addresses as you need.
• ThemZa – This site has free themes for a lot of web services, most of which aren’t anything to write home about, but the ones for Moodle are very nice, and it’s not easy finding Moodle themes.
• Top 100 Interactive Games – A wonderful resource of educational games for your students in case you need something to do the next time you’re going to the computer lab.
• Cover It Live – This website provides a very interesting way to do liveblogging, where you cover an event similar to the way a journalist would but in the moment. I’m sure there’s some educational application here, I just haven’t got it figured it out. Maybe it could come in handy covering inservices?
• JayCut – Edit movies in your browser? Incredible! Applications on your computer are going to do the job faster, but if you don’t have access to them, I’d try this site out.
• Living Historians – This is a great idea. You can schedule an videoconference with an historical figure like Abraham Lincoln. But why does it cost so much? Can’t things like these be done for less than $200 an hour?
• Cadet Chronicles – An online newspaper they’re doing at Scotsdale, a nearby elementary school in El Paso.
• Class Projects – This lists some projects classrooms are invited to participate in. The “A Room with a View” projects looks like fun. You take a picture once a month over a school year to record some of the changes that take place It doesn’t say anything in the directions, but I think it would be good if you took the pictures all at the same time so you could compare the positions of the sun. In El Paso, you better make sure a tree is in the picture, otherwise I don’t think you’re going to see much change!