Mixbook Changes Their User Agreement

Mixbook has graciously updated their end user agreement!! They have now made it possible for kids under the age of 13 to be able to use their tool. I can't even begin to tell you how excited this makes me and so many other educators that were limited in integrating such an incredible tool into classroom writing projects. If you haven't seen this tool yet you must check it out!! www.mixbook.com , it is one of absolute favorites, oh and did I mention, their CEO, Andrew is a great guy too. He actually responded to my email and concern about limiting this tool to kids over 13. He was able to change this agreement within a weeks time. Hows that for working with educators and the desire to be recognized as a valuable educational online tool! Thanks Andrew for working with me and allowing us to utilize this tool with younger kids! It will add to the writing projects that they need to create while doing research and more. I will continue to support and recommend Mixbook where ever I go and present!

Mixbook!!

So I just got off the phone with Mixbook's CEO, Andrew Lafoon and realized what a great little company it is. First of all let me just tell you that Mixbook.com is one of the best sites around for building online ebooks. They also offer a printed version of the books that you create. Well the reason for the call was in regards to an email that I sent concerning their user agreement. It clearly states that you have to be 13 years old to use the site, but that just didn't seem fair so I took it upon myself to write to them. I got an email back that very next day asking to share more information about what we "teachers" would need to make is so that kids younger than 13 could use the site. I recommended that they put a clause in their user agreement if under 13 must be under the supervision of an adult. Then teachers teachers using the tool with younger students would be protected and in compliance with the license agreement. Andrew and his associate were very open to the suggestion and said that it would soon be updated and would let me know when. They also asked how to make the tool better for teachers.... they didn't know what they had just done.... opening that can of worms. I asked if they could add audio and video capabilities to the site, recommended that they allow for pdf print outs and even suggested a coloring book mode to print. Other than that, I told them that Mixbook is an awesome tool for getting kids interested in writing and producing some incredible interactive written ebooks. You have to check this site out. Kids and you will love it! As for the guys at Mixbook, I thank you for your time and consideration in making your site and tool better for teachers and students. It was a pleasure working with you! Hope to see you at NECC and PETE&C.

Post to your Blog from iGoogle

Wow!!! How easy this just became...I can now post directly to my blog from my iGoogle page. No log in needed. Just type and post. You have to add this to your igoogle page if you enjoy blogger and posting easily!

WebNotes - Annotate the Web

Visit any website and annotate and share it.  This si so easy and worth using especially if you have students working together to discuss topics and research.  Place a sticky note or tack where you want to make the note and you are on your way.  Great for sharing and collaborating on the web.  http://www.webnotes.net/  give it a shot and be creative when annotating. 

Google - Finally you can export your blog...

Well they have finally gone and done it... we can now merge, export, and import from other blog hosts. Makes it much easier to manage your blogs if you have more than one. Reada more here.

"Google’s Blogger team introduced probably the most long awaited upgrade to the system ever, the ability to import and export in and out of Blogger powered blogs. "

Oh and how about this one... put your favorite songs on your site... listen while you post. i love it!!! AAAAAAAAHHHH! I love Nickelback!!!! Check out my side bar widget.

Plagarism Tool From U of Md.

You have to check this out!! A simple plagarism tool to help teachers identify plagarized papers.
http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/ How can it get any easier than this!! Check the validity or something you know is copyrighted and see what you get in return.

Clarkson's Museum Box Creator

Wow this site http://museumbox.e2bn.org/creator/ is a must see and try!! Create a free teacher account and have your students build a box or interactive cube to demonstrated their mastery of specific content and skills. You can add video, audio, images, text, files and links to the cubes and click on the side that you would like to see. What a fun tool to have students build throughout the course of the year. This is a great site to actually build a portfolio!! Check out some of the samples here!!