Educaplay

Educaplay enables you to create Multimedia Teaching Activities You can create lots of different teaching activities (riddles, crosswords, wordsearch, jumbled sentences, matching, quizzes and more) and does not need any specific software apart from a web browser with flash plugin.

Making a Simple Movie

I have previously commented on xtranormal.com which enables you to create a movie by complex scripting of words and actions. A much more simple movie maker is Devolver Moviemaker users can add backgrounds, select characters and write text to be displayed in speech bubbles for the characters. In this software you can select from limited movement but it is very simple to use. The simplicty could make this a fun tool, particularly for students learning a language, wishing to display their skills or knowledge in a fun way.

These films can then be emailed or embedded in a website or blog. Below is a very simple one to indicate what they can do.

Illusions

Things are not always what they appear to be. Mighy Optical Illusions offers a wide selection of interesting and fun optical illusions.

Create your own Movies

If you have ever considered producing your own movies but do not have the equipment, have a look at xtranormal.com. This site provides an opportunity to produce a video: you can select the characters, setting, voices, movements, camera angles, sound effects and music.

Although this is quite intricate to do, with a little practice it is possible to produce a reasonable effort.It does highlight the problems with filming - selecting camera angles and some of the other things a producer needs to take into consideration.

Have a look at one I made earlier...

Dynamic Pictures

Today, a fun site but I'm sure it can be used creatively to amuse and make useful points. Hetemeel.com provides 'dynamic images'. Pictures that you can add customised text or captions to You can save the pictures and then use them (like the one on this post).

Nobel Prizes & Educational Games

Games can be a really useful tool in education and so today's post is a link to games based on Nobel Prize winning research. The games on the site relate to physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, literature, peace and economics. You can find these on the official web site of the Nobel Foundation.

In addition to educational games, the nobelprize.org/ website has information for every Nobel Prize since 1901, with biographies, lectures, interviews, photos, articles, video clips and press releases.

Blabberize - talking pictures

This post is really a bit of fun but can be used to liven up a website or blog. Blabberize websie will let you upload a picture and make it talk - you can identify the mouth and add sound so the mouth on the picture will move with the sound you record.

This is an example by Techlady: the baby has a message for you...

Studying English

Describing itself as "A Place to Study English", this web site is designed for people studying English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL). It offers a range of fun activities including quizzes, word games, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, and more. If you are an English speaker, you may also find it a fun site to explore.

Psychology

Started in 1992 by a graduate student called Chris Heffner (now Dr Chris Heffner), the AllPsych website has dramatically expanded into a large and comprehensive psychology website.

The site offers links to setions covering psychology texts, references, psychiatric disorders, a journal, online tests, psychology forums, research information and fun and games.

Talking Avatar

There may be times you want to pass on information in a different way. For example to liven up a web page or blog. You could try creating your own avatar. With Voki, you can customise what you look and sound like or even record your own message.

Get a Voki now!

Dictionary.com

Today's post was prompted by a discussion with some of my students about academic writing and the difficulties they have with this.

The Dictionary.com website is a very useful tool for those wishing to check the meanings of words or search foar alternative vocabulary. However is has much more to offer than this including

a translation tool and multilingual dictionary

language and grammar guides and podcasts

puzzles

and much more.

Cartoon Creator

Sometimes it is helpful to present teaching materials in pircure or cartoon format. Makebeliefscomix.com is a very easy to use site which takes you through the stages of creating a short comic book cartoon. Once created you can email the cartoon to yourself (or others). Easy to use, I have made use of this in my online modules to emphasise key points I am making.

StumbleUpon

This will be my last post before Christmas so I will take the opportunity to share a tool I enjoy using when I have some spare time.

StumbleUpon takes you to random web sites based on your interests (these might be educational or personal interest). When you sign up for an account, you have the opportunity to register your interests and when looking at websites you are taken to you can vote on whether you like the site - Stumbleupon's engine learns what you like, and it will also save those you vote for so you can go back later.


I wish you a very happy Christmas and will be back blogging on 5th January 2009.

Karen

Crossword and Hangman Puzzles - Online

The Linguaspectrum website enables you to create crossword and hangman puzzles which can be completed online. It is easy to use. To do this you need to register and then enter your answers and clues for the puzzle. Once you have completed this you need to submit it for publishing and wait for a confirmation email with link (it took less than 24 hours for mine to be published online. You can have a look at ones I created yesterday: You can find my puzzle here and my hangman game here.

Creating Puzzles

Today, a change from subject focused websites.

Puzzlemaker from Discovery Education enables you to create and print a range of word games.

When you access the site, you will see the option to purchase a CD OR to create the free puzzles.

To create the free puzzles, be sure to select the type of puzzle you want to create on the left then follow instructions.

To print the puzzles you will need to copy the puzzle and paste it to a word or similar document which you can then print off and use for your teaching.

Create your own Newspaper clippings

Sometimes just a different way to present information can create an additional level of interest.

The image in this blog was created using getclippings.com. You can decide on a name for your newspaper and type in your own content.

Travelpod

Yesterday's post was about the cultural etiquette of different countries. Today's site is an opportunity to learn more or share your travel experiences.

Travelpod is a free travel blog lets you plot trips on a map, share photos and videos, and stay in touch while you travel.

One section of this site provides a Travellers IQ Challenge Here you will find several different quizes to test your knowledge or that of your students. The quizes are under the following under the headings:
World North America Europe World Capitals
Canada Asia UNESCO Sites Africa
Latin America Oceania/Australasia Flags of the World Photos of the World
USA Challenge Amazing Race

Donate Rice with Freerice.com

Want to test your knowledge (and that your students) and donate to those in need at the same time. FreeRice is a great site to try out.

The site has two goals - to provide a free education to everyone while at the same time helping end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

You can choose a topic from art, chemistry, geography, English and maths (they are working on adding more topics) and the website will ask multiple choice questions about your topic. For each correct answer, the site will donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

United Nations have reported that about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes. According to their website, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed more than two million people since it started in October 2007.

Start donating today!

Attract students to get their attention

Speaking from personal experience, when I look at any website I have 3 thoughts in my the back of my mind

Do I need this information?
Can I see what I need to find easily?
Is it interesting?

It is important if we want students to use our website/online resources that they are clearly laid out / structured and also that there is something that encourages students to return soon. This may be amusing facts or regular updates/notices.

I was thinking of adding i-am-bored.com here as an entertaining site but then I reflected that as well as getting people onto the Internet some sites can distract too much! There is so much on this site the user can get distracted from the educational use of the internet.

Perhaps something like a thought for the day like the anecdote on this blog would be better. Alternatively using online polls/surveys where users get instant feedback might draw their attention.

Education, Fun and Blogging

I have spent sime time today looking at other people's blogs. What a wealth of information there is available to us just from these! I have found an etch-a-sketch website which reminded me of my youth and a site offering to teach me mandarin.

I have also found the first Chinese 3D Virtual Tourism Site - Virtual Forbidden Palace, and a game to test my skill as a supermarket manager.

There is so much more out there so why not try searching google for topics of interest. But make sure you have some spare time before you start!