A colleague recently asked me if I could explain the distinction between open source and proprietary learning management systems, especially as it might affect a K‑12 school looking at the best kind of LMS to implement today. She wanted to know how schools assess...
Online teachers and instructional designers need access to good tools for capturing screenshots and annotating them. These tools are invaluable for giving step‐by‐step computer instructions to students and faculty, and can really help you communicate information visually.
If you’re new to screen...
What began as a pie‐in‐the‐sky idea was actually put into production as Google Body Browser, a 3D WebGL powered app that showed the major features of the anatomy in a browser. As Google has focused their energy around their core products they have discontinued Body Browser and open sou...
AppFresh is a great app for the Mac which scans through your whole computer, checking to see if all of your apps are up to date. It checks them against the iUseThis database to let you know how many other people are also using your favorite apps. All you do is press the “Update All” button and App...
Everyone loves Firefox because there are so many great user‐created Add‐Ons that make your web browser into much, much more. Add‐ons allow you to customize your browser to make tasks easier. This extra performance comes at a slight cost; the more add‐ons you pile on...
Image via CrunchBase
I really like a lot of things about Apple’s iPhoto– it makes it easy to rip, organize, and upload your pictures. However, I HATE how it tries to keep me from knowing where my photo files are, and how it always wants to steer me into using Apple’s paid Mobile Me servic...
As an English teacher, I always felt like I was drowning in a sea of papers. I needed to get the students to do high quality thinking, and the only way I knew how to evaluate that thinking was through their writing. Last semester, I got smart and had them turn in their final art reflections as...
I first became interested in open source software while working at an underfunded little charter startup in the central valley of California. We had an aging computer lab that didn’t have any modern software because the school couldn’t afford to pay for the licensing fees. After having to pay licens...
