Virtual Summer Camp for Teachers - on demand learning for educators

The 4th Annual Virtual Summer Camp for Teachers is now available. It is being hosted through Learni.st.

The Virtual Summer Camp for Teachers provides on-demand, anytime learning for educators. The summer camp is organized by topic areas, which include: Common Core Resources, Essential Apps for Educators, Webinar and Online PD opportunities, Virtual Crafts, and even a mess hall with food and recipe ideas.

On July 24th there will be a live component ASCD Webinar. You can register for this free webinar here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/873801905

Materials from the previous three Virtual Summer Camps are available also:

Virtual Summer Camp Year 1
Virtual Summer Camp Year 2
Virtual Summer Camp Year 3

So, go camping this summer and learn some new things for next year: http://learni.st/users/MikeFisher/boards/1950-virtual-summer-camp-for-teachers-2012


Source: http://digigogy.com

Related:

EdCamp CT is Aug 10th. I'm going. Are you? You should be! (and if you can't be there in person, follow along on Twitter)

Embedit - no longer accepting new embeds, send you to Box instead.

Embedit, a service that allowed you to embed files on your site or blog that I wrote about May 30th, is no longer accepting new embed files. They were purchased by Box and their site now recommends you go to Box for your file sharing needs. Existing embeds you have done through the service will work through September 1, 2012. For more information, please see their FAQ.

Box, known for giving away lots of free storage through the purchase of different devices, doesn't have an embed feature that I could find, but does let you share files through links.

You can easily use Google Docs to share and embed documents in blogs and websites also.



Related:

Embedit - embed any file in your website or blog - free

Lots of free, cloud based file storage/sync/backup/sharing services

Google for Education Resources

Doo.net - organize all of your documents in one place.

Doo.net is a new service that organizes all of your documents from your hard drive and cloud services (including email) into on system. You can search your documents via keyword, date, optical character recognition, tags, and document type. It will keep all of your device and documents in sync also.

It is available for OS X, with Windows 8, iOS, Android apps and Google Docs integration all coming soon.

The free version will sync and collect 2,000 documents. You can upgrade to paid accounts for more space.

This promises to be a great tool for collecting and organizing all of your documents, no matter where you have them. Teachers, students, schools, and business could all find this useful.


Related:

Lots of great, free, cloud file sync/backup/storage/share services

Joukuu - manage your cloud based files

#EdStuff - a new twitter hash tag for Education

Twitter is a great resource for education. Educators can learn, share, collaborate, find help and have some great discussions. It is my go-to source when looking for help, advice, tips, tools, and resources for education.

A hash tag is a way of sorting and searching Tweets based on topic. There are tons of great educational hash tags, including #edchat, #edtech, #scichat, and more. Many of these hash tags relate to a scheduled conversation, such as #edchat being every Tuesday at 12 noon and 7pm ET, and are also used as a way to find educational resources.

William Chamberlain, author of "At the Teacher's Desk" blog, has posted that he has created a new educational hash tag, #EdStuff: "I have created the #EdStuff tag for people that want to post ed stuff, but don't want to tag it with the the chat based tags such as #edchat or #fifthchat. Feel free to use it as you will, for it is good for all ed stuff!"

This is another great way to use Twitter to find, share, collaborate, and learn.



Related:

Twitter for Education - great resource and some hashtags
Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, Email, Google+ - why/when I use each one 

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

List of some Free Online Scientific/Graphing Calculators

Calculators are a necessary tool in science and math classes. But, they don't have to cost the students anything.

First, there are a ton of free calculator apps available for every smartphone (iOS, webOS, Android, BB, Windows) so any student with a smartphone or PDA can get one on there. The paid apps are usually only $0.99 - $1.99 too.

Second, there are some free downloadable calculators, such as Microsoft Math and most computers have a built in calculator.

But, free, online calculators are also a great resource for educators and students. There are calculator extensions for Chrome and Firefox that students can use on their computer or through their Google account.

Here are some free online calculators that I like:

Richard Byrne over at Free Technology for Teachers also recommends EnCalc as a great, free, online scientific calculator. 

A Better Calculator is a new, free, online graphing calculator from Demos (who also offers a service to create online interactive media). There is nothing to download as it runs online. It is easy to use, full color, full functioned. You can share your work online or even share it with others (like your students) or students can share it with their teacher.

Google is now a graphing calculator. Enter the equation in the search bar and you get your graph. You can even do multiple functions, just separate them by a comma. You can also zoom and pan in the graphs. You can also do other calculator functions using the search bar. 

Calculator

To use Google’s built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box.

Example:  

Here's a screen shot of a quick one I did: y = 4x + 5

According to Google, "This feature covers an extensive range of single variable functions including trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic and their compositions, and is available in modern browsers."





Web 2.0 Calc.com - free online scientific calculator. Available on mobile browser. Can be embedded in your own website or blog too.






Math.com's online calculators - basic, scientific, square root, and more.





eCalc online calculator and math help - has an online calculator along with math help. There are also downloadable calculators, an iPhone app, iGoogle gadget, and embeddable widget for your site. There is also an unit conversion calculator.

Scientific Calculator - online scientific calculator that takes up whole web page. Makes it easier to read and use.

Save money and use free calculators instead of buying them!




Related:

Desmos - create media rich educational content online

Google is now a Graphing Calculator

Free online Math Calculators

Sooeet Online Calculators

Microsoft Mathematics - free math resources and calculator

Get Your PhD in Googling - interactive tool for learning better search tips

Google is a very powerful tool. You can find pretty much anything online these days. The trick is knowing how to find exactly what you are looking for.

Here is an interactive infographic with some great tips for better internet searching (specifically with Google).

UPDATED 11/14/13
It seems the animation is no longer available, so here are some other search resources and a couple of images from it:

http://www.missionimblogable.co.uk/2012/06/get-your-phd-in-googling.html

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/fa/ICTFalkirkPrimaries/2012/03/13/primary-research-skills-tools/





Related:

Google - free posters with search tips for teachers

Tips for More Effective Google Searches

Google Search Education - teach your students to search better

10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

Google for Education Resources - tips, apps, how-to's, getting started, lesson ideas, and more

Google Search Guide

Some great resources on Google Chrome for Education

Google Chrome is my browser of choice. It is fast, secure, easy to use, full of features, and works great with all of the Google apps I use. I also use Chrome OS, which is an operating system based on the Chrome Browser. Chrome has great features and extensions that can make your online experience better and more productive.

Here are some great resources I just learned about for using Google Chrome:

10 Google Chrome Tips for Students - tips for using the address bar (onmibox) for different purposes, better search, and using extensions. 

100 Tips for Google Chrome - free PDF download -  this free e-book has some great tips for using Chrome, including keyboard shortcuts, using your mouse, use of the omnibox, tabs, bookmarks, drag and drop, and much more. A must have/read for Chrome users. 

Related:

Google Resources for Education

Why I use Google's apps and products as an Educator
New Chromebook, Chromebox and updated Chrome OS - look awesome, great for education

Google Chrome Browser Review