I got wind of this a couple of months ago and it appears to still be available. The Google Earth that we’ve been using has not been the professional version. I always suspected that there was more to the experience. Now anyone can download the pro version which comes with a suite of professional-grade features, like a map-making tool. Previously over $400/year, there is no cost to this version.—
The URL: http://gizmodo.com/google-earth-pro-is-now-free-1682987518 ]]>
Time to come up for some air! It’s been a while since I last posted, so let’s start with one that my brother, Brian, sent me last week. This interactive, created by Áero Legends, is a panoramic photograph of an RAF Spitfire cockpit. Hovering a mouse over the different elements will offer information and Brian points out that there are bonus points if you can figure out how to turn it on.—
The URL: https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/spitfire-td314/files/ ]]>
My brother, Brian, sent me this dynamic interactive showing the Internet in real time. “Now that the Internet is widely available, just one second of global online activity is jam-packed full of events, from communication with others to data storage to entertainment options galore.” I find it stunning to realize that in the time it took me to write this post that 1.9 million gigabytes of data have flowed through the ‘net…—
The URL: http://www.webpagefx.com/internet-real-time/ ]]>
I’m not sure where I heard about this but it seems to be a good time of year to brush up on some photography skills as we begin our Holiday events. Montreal photographer Andrea Clegg has put together this list of no-cost moocs that may be of use to both teachers and students alike.—
The URL: http://www.lightstalking.com/5-free-online-courses-to-improve-your-photography/
Like you, I’m off for a couple of weeks of catching up with Mrs. Teacher List, friends and family. My wish for all of you is a Very Merry Christmas, a fun New Year and much rest. All the best and thanks for your continued support as we look forward to 2015.
-Pete
My pal, Sandra Gluth, told me about this interesting tool the other day. From the site: “Para is a prototype digital illustration tool tool that uses direct manipulation to define and edit procedural artwork. Through creating and altering vector paths, artists can define iterative distributions and parametric constraints.”—
The URL: http://www.paradrawing.com/
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My pal, Rob Petrovic, passed on this site. As you think about incorporating sound into your animation or classroom, MP3cut.net is a Web site that allows you to upload a file and trim the in and out points (start and finish) in order to take out unwanted portions of an audio file. There are several formats available – .mp3, iPhone ringtones, .wav, .aac and .amr. It’d be interesting to see how students think about how to utilize this one!—
The URL: http://mp3cut.net/ ]]>
This one is pretty self-explanatory. We all know The Google is huge but how huge is it? Check out this interactive infographic that loads live data about what’s going on with Google.—
The URL: https://www.buddyloans.com/blog/google-in-realtime/ ]]>
My pal, Angela Stolk, passed this site on the other day. I’m going to keep an eye on this new site as UK teacher and owner, Dexter Williams, add to his tutorial base. He starts with “Beginning ActionScript”, a series of lessons will “teach you the basics of ActionScript programming and show you how to start creating your own computer games or applications. Each booklet should take about 1 hour to work through and by the end you will be able to create your own Space Invaders game.” If what Mr. Williams ships in the future is as solid as this series, he’ll make very valuable contributions to CTF and CTS resources here in Alberta and around the world.—
The URL: http://www.wissp.com ]]>
Wow, you can tell I’m swamped when The Teacher List is being neglected. It’s been a while so here’s a good one that I got from SketchUp Expert, Bonnie Roses. 3D printer manufacturer, Afinia, is offering at no cost, their 3D Printer-Enhanced Educators eBook. “Download the eBook and read about Afinia customers who have used their 3D printers to accomplish great things for education.” (You need to provide a name and email for access.)—
The URL: http://www.afinia.com/3d-printers-and-printing/announcing-the-afinia-3d-printer-enhanced-educators-ebook ]]>
My pal, Bill Lomax, sent me this the other day. On Monday, Google “announced the launch of Computer Science Custom Search, a customized search engine for finding K-12 computer science education (CS)resources. Developed using a collection of over 550 CS education websites, such as Khan Academy, Google CS First, Girl Develop It, Bootstrap, ScratchEd, Code.organd Made with Code to name a few, CS Custom Search connects you to computer science education materials and programs. By focusing on a list of websites that provide primarily free and open K-12 CS education resources, the customized search engine ensures that you will find materials that can be readily adopted for your class, after school program, or enrichment for your child.
“CS Custom Search has been designed to support a range of users with varying degrees of experience with CS. For those with extensive experience, CS Custom Search has been optimized to support queries for unique CS topics across a wide range of languages and platforms. For those with less experience, the custom search solution provides recommendations on a range of search topics to ensure that a lack of CS vocabulary doesn’t negatively impact your results.”
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The URL: http://www.cs4hs.com/resources/cscs.html