I don’t know if you guys have interactive whiteboards in
your classrooms…but I have never used one. I am actually doing my scholarly
research paper on effective uses and how they can impact learning.
Interestingly we have also been using Smart
Notebook in another class to study and apply different principles of
e-learning. It has been a lot of fun because I have wanted to learn more about
them for awhile because I have heard a number of people comment on the fact
that many people have interactive whiteboards and don’t use them effectively. It
is really a very user friendly program that offers unlimited possibilities when
you use it to combine words, pictures, video, and audio. What a powerful tool
to use with students to create projects which can then be used as alternative
assessments.
One tool we were introduced to during this assignment is
called Aviary. It is a free web-based
suite of creative applications that include an image editor, audio editor,
music creator and more. So far I have only had a chance to use the audio
editor. However, I found that to be extremely easy to use. The available features
and ease of use far surpass other tools such as Audacity or vozME. I have used Adobe Photoshop for image
editing for awhile and I can imagine just from perusing the site and watching
tutorials that this free web tool could easily replace a tool like Photoshop.
This offers an immediate savings of 200 dollars. And that is only considering
the photo editing aspect of the site. As I find more and more of these free
tools I am beginning to wonder if there is any software out there that doesn’t
have a comparable free version on the internet. I highly recommend that you
check out Aviary and all of the possibilities that it offers.
@Emily,
ReplyDeleteI'm a big Aviary fan and regularly use its Firefox plug-in. I exposed our Art teachers to it last year, but it was all a bit overwhelming for them (I think the naming convention, which I find cute, takes a bit getting used to). There is so much available! Since it is web-based, the only drawback is its reliance on bandwidth.
If you're a Firefox user, check out the plug-in. A little unobtrusive "a" will appear in the corner of any web-based image you hover over. If you click on that "a", you're take directly to Aviary tools.
Good find, thanks for sharing!