Again...but slower

Againbutslower.com puts Wikipedia and Simple Wikipedia side-by-side so you can compare the results from each. If used for differentiation where the (EAL?) learners are making the choice, rather than the teacher, it has great value. Also, as much of Wikipedia has not yet been simplified (information on my hometown for example) there are opportunities for learners to create their own entries which will then be accessed by the rest of the world.

Vikidia

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of Wikipedia and I've already blogged about  Simple Wikipedia though you might have missed it if not signed up for updates. Great for most of us using English as the medium of instruction, but now MFL teachers can join in too with Vikidia, currently available in Spanish and French. Designed particularly for younger learners from around 8-13, Vikidia can be used as an information resource as well as edited and contributed to as per Wikipedia. Give your learners an accesible info store as well as a real audience.

Switcheroo Zoo

Switcheroo Zoo is bound to be a hit with your young learners, but I'm already thinking up ways to use it with my teens. The site contains lots of activities related to animals and their habitats. It's a mine of useful information, but the fun starts in the 'Switch Zoo' where it's possible to create new animals from the composite parts of existing ones. Here's a picture of my 3-minute creation: Bengal Gizard!

• Learners can mix up their own animals and then use the animal facts to write profiles for their creations - let their imaginations soar as they practise their writing skills
• Build a habitat most suitable for the animals met on the site
• Let learners take a guided tour to find out more about the animal kingdom
• Use as part of a larger project where learners create a world using Terragen and then visit this site to populate their planets

Terragen

I decided to go ahead and publish this post so you could explore the resource yourself, but once I've had a bit more of a play with the software, I'll update it with more details and ideas. In the meantime, feel free to add your own via the Comments section below of course.

This is hardly a click-and-go type resource but because of its potential, I just have to share it with you. Tim Rylands presented this at the ASB Unplugged conference in Mumbai last week and it was simply mind-blowing. The free software can be downloaded from here and the rest is up to your imagination and creativity as you create your own landscapes on a planet of your choice. While it might be time-consuming, just think of the possibilities!

I can hardly begin to list all the uses Terragen could have for extended project work or PBL, but here's a few to kick things off. In my ideal world, I'd use it for a long-term cross-curricular project with various groups coming back to the created world through the year for various learning activities. Anyway, individual subject teachers could create a world and then fill it with anything relevant. For example:

• Historians could produce areas which are portals to the past and use the backdrops as green screens for recording events
• Geography - countless ways to interact with landforms and other geographical features before exploring the impact that the peoples you decide to populate the planet with; combine with Google Sketchup for even more
• Art - use your eyes and imagination!
• English / Language Arts - lots of opportunities for descriptive and narrative writing; if non-fiction's your goal, is there anything in the world that couldn't be linked to an entire planet?

Visuwords, Lexipedia & Wordnik: Dictionary Alternatives

Visuwords has been around for a while and I used to use it extensively so I was very happy to be reminded of its existence at the ASB Unplugged conference last week. With all the benefits of a dictionary and thesaurus rolled into one, Visuwords will appeal to those who prefer to see connections as a concrete pattern. Try it out - there's no sign up so it takes less then 10 seconds to see what it can do. Click here.

Lexipedia offers another word-defining visual of a similar nature. The benefit of this one is you can choose the word class by ticking various options such as synonym, noun, adverb etc. And the greatest is bonus for MFL - you can search for words in not only English, but also Spanish, German, French, Dutch and Italian. Click here.

Should you be looking for something a little different, Wordnik might be of more interest to you. Entering a word into this search engine will offer a variety of different definitions from different sources and alongside these appear many examples of the word in use - very handy for those who get the meaning but not grammatical usage. Add in the usual synonyms, antonyms and even a 'reverse dictionary' which shows you definitions containing your search term, and you're almost there...but not quite. On top of all this, you can hear pronunciations from at least 2 dictionaries as well as find out your word's Scrabble score - now that's comprehensive! Click here.

ASB Unplugged 2012

Today's the last day of the incredibly inspirational conference - ASB Unplugged. It's been an amazing few days so expect lots of great resources from leading learners, powerful presenters and techie teachers over the next couple of weeks.
I've seen old tools used in new ways, new tools to replace old ways and everything geared toward making learners love learning and beg for more. Just great!

"It's not the technology; it's what comes from it."
-Tim Rylands, ASB Unplugged 2012

TodaysMeet Backchannel

Sometimes it does take a bit of time for things to filter through, no matter how many times I read them on the numerous blogs I subscribe to. Backchanneling tools definitely come under this category. If it's news to you here's an overview from TodaysMeet:

What finally convinced me to sit up and take notice of this resource was witnessing its use in an inspiring lesson where learners were watching a film and using TodaysMeet to express their thoughts and ask and respond to queries. The teacher was following the stream and was able to feed in comments to alert them to important upcoming sections that they should pay particular attention to or things to listen/watch out for. 

TodaysMeet was the tool of choice, and although there are alternatives (for example Twitter or Google Moderator could be used in a similar way) it's the very simple, no-signup, streamlined interface that lends its appeal. Furthermore, transcripts of the backchannel can be saved as a pdf for future reference. 

Each new topic is assigned a unique url and the backchannel remains open for up to a year.

FAS Immune Attack

A free game to download and install, sadly only available for PC users at the moment. Immune Attack takes the concept of infection and teaches it in a highly engaging way. It's a bit tricky to navigate the nanobot but users will learn a lot about the immune system as they master the controls.


"You must navigate a nanobot through a 3D environment of blood vessels and connective tissue in an attempt to save an ailing patient by retraining her non-functional immune cells.  Along the way, you will learn about the biological processes that enable macrophages and neutrophils – white blood cells – to detect and fight infections."

Google Maths?

Math teachers. Did you know that Google will display graphs for formulas entered to its search engine? Well, it does! This post from the official blog of Google Search shows you how.

Draw a Stickman

Draw a Stickman is just good fun! You start by drawing a stickman who then undergoes a range of trials and tribulations with the help of your doodles. Much more fun to do than explain, so click through here and check it out. (NB Sequels are coming!)

Integration:

• Use the story itself to prompt creative writing
• Learners could storyboard, film or write sequels or expanded narratives on particular episodes of the animation

Like it? Want more of an 'Art' focus? You might also be interested in this Flipbook site: click here.