Cool Tools ....

At the present time there is a new revolution going on out on the Internet.

There are blogs, which this is one of, where you can subscribe to different news feeds, most of the time referred to as RSS feeds. I know as a Social Science teacher, there were times that I found an article that I wanted to use with my class that day or within the next week and had to go through the trouble of cutting the article out, pasting it on a piece of paper and taking it down to the copy room to have a class set made. Those days are over! If you create your own blog, and subcribe to several different news feeds you can post a link to any article or web page on the Internet on your blog. You can also post multiple pages or articles that support opposing views. There are plenty of free blogging tools on the Internet, including this one (Blogger). If you want a blogging tool that you can use for students or have students use to create their own blogs, try one of the following: Blogmeister, Learnerblogs, Edublogs. If you want to learn how to use blogs, send an e-mail to either Dom or Kyle.


There is free software everyplace... From Office productivity tools that have word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools (Open Office) that are completely interoperable with Microsoft Office. There are sites that are dedicated to online calendars and desktops. The coolest one out there is: Goowy. There are also sites that specialize in FREE software of all kinds, including 'tucows.' (Thanks, Bill!)

The other major development is that there is software applications that are designed to be run through a web browser at no cost to the user. Can computer users survive using nothing but open source software? Ever have a parent that speaks a language that you don't? Use the online translator.