Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Education/Training, Fun Stuff, Websites

Symbaloo! What the Who?!

This tool is a must for visual people!

Symbaloo is a free visual bookmarking tool that allows you to keep track of all your favorite websites in an icon based grid that you can share, embed and even set as your home screen. All of your favorite web mixes are now just one click away!

Symbaloo is an effective instructional tool that can enhance your course content. For instance, you are teaching a class where there are lots of great web resources for the students to use. You already have an extensive web links page in your Blackboard course.  You can transform that list of links into an interactive webmix that can be embedded right into Blackboard. Let’s take a before and after look at your Web Links page on Blackboard.

The first picture is your traditional Web Links page on Blackboard. Boring!

weblinks

 

Below is your updated Web Links page on Blackboard. Engaging!

symbaloo bb

 

Is creating a symbaloo necessary to get your information across? No? But, it is a great tool to engage students and keep them interested in what we are presenting. Give it a try! You won’t be disappointed!

Remember, stop by the Annandale FSRC in CG206 if you need any assistance with instructional technology. We are here to help.

 

Apps, Fun Stuff

A Walkie-Talkie on My Phone? – App of the Month

Ok, so before I start discussing the app, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts for the last couple of months. No real excuse other than I’m just not very good at this and need to get better!
Well, in honor of Hector’s birthday today (Happy Birthday Hector!!!) I am making a new post, and a promise to post a little more often from now on (I’ll try).

Also, you may notice, I’ve changed the title from “App of the Week” which was a little ambitious on my part, to “App of the Month” which may be more doable. We’ll see…

SO on that note, let’s begin….

Today I have for you, a fun and possibly useful app called Zello.

Zello-LogoZello is an app that simulates a two-way walkie talkie. Download the app, create an account, and encourage your family and friends to do the same.

Zello keeps a history of your conversations, and you can replay the messages. You can also create groups and set up a “party-line” to include as many people in the conversation as you want. Pretty nifty if you ask me.

Zello is available for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry. Zello can also be accessed from a Windows PC if you go to www.zello.com.

Have fun!

See you next time 🙂

Apps, Fun Stuff, Software, Websites

Happy Monday

Good morning! I hope you all had a good weekend.
I’m always in search of new ideas, so if any of you have downloaded any great apps or software recently, or come across any amazing websites that you think the rest of the world should know about, then please drop me a line and let me know!

Also, I always welcome comments, questions, corrections, etc about any of my previous posts. Let’s share the knowledge!

Fun Stuff

Washington Post Peep Show

It’s that time of year again! Washington Post publishes the entries in its annual Marshmallow Peep Diorama competition.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/peeps-pick-your-favorite-diorama/2013/03/26/50b0bb60-8b4b-11e2-9838-d62f083ba93f_gallery.html#imgid=8be526fa-962a-11e2-894a-b984cbdff2e6

There are a lot of good ones this year, but my personal favorite is the DC Rollergirls diorama. If you’ve never seen a Roller Derby bout, you should check it out!

Fun Stuff, Gadgets

Non-Top-10 Post of the Year

By all Internet standards, I should jump on the bandwagon and post a top 10 list of my favorite tech stuff this year. But I just spent a week in Disney World, and I’m having a bit of trouble adjusting to the real world here at the office again. Also, here’s a tech secret: Don’t do the work over again if someone else has already done it. So I’m posting my top handful of top lists of tech gadgets (if you have a geek around that you haven’t shopped for yet) and some other lists too. Because.

GeekMom’s Gift Guide: Toys, Games and Apps. I only found Geek Mom today! TODAY! But I’m not a mom, so maybe that’s an acceptable excuse.

http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/12/toys-video-games-apps/

Boingboing.net’s list of great tech gifts. Be warned; this page reorders on reload. In English: Open links in a new page (right-click on the hyperlink for the option) or you’ll think you’re going mad.

http://boingboing.net/2012/11/28/giftguide2012.html

Amazon.com’s Best Books of 2012 (the link opens to Amazon, trust me)

http://tinyurl.com/cu42ffl

Smashing Hub’s Tech Gifts for Under $10

http://smashinghub.com/the-20-hottest-holiday-tech-gift-ideas-under-10.htm

Fort Hunt Patch’s Holidays on a Budget

http://forthunt.patch.com/articles/how-to-celebrate-the-holidays-on-a-budget-c8052b77

 

 

 

Fun Stuff

Attention: Non-Tech Content!

This post doesn’t have anything to do with instructional technology. But it is season-appropriate, and I couldn’t resist sharing this article that explains the “Campbell’s Misery Index”. Yes, the soup Campbell’s.

Some smart folks at Campbell’s Soup found a correlation between soup-buying and weather. To capitalize on that finding, they created an algorithm, based on weather conditions, to determine when and how frequently to run radio ads.

There are some other fun cold-related science tidbits in the article as well, including something close to my heart, too-cold office spaces.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3001316/want-more-productive-workers-adjust-your-thermostat

Maybe I’ll post some tech content later this week. But today is definitely a soup day.