Free Tools To Create Diagrams

Visualize Everything: 32 Free Tools To Create Different Diagrams

via 1stwebdesigner.com

I’m always on the lookout for free and opensource ways of getting things done, so here are some more links to some free and inexpensive ways to create graphs and charts for class, for business, for whenever you need them…

Blackboard buying Wimba and Elluminate

via blackboard.com

According to the feedback left at the Chronicle website (http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Blackboard-to-Buy-2/25357/?utm_source=feedburne…), this may or may NOT be a good thing for lovers of Wimba or Elluminate:

“Today Blackboard Inc. announced plans to buy Elluminate, based in Alberta, Canada, and Wimba, based in New York, both of which sell products that support online learning and student collaboration through online videoconferencing and audio-conferencing tools. The sales must first be approved by the boards of both rivals. Blackboard plans to pay a total of $116-million for the pair.”

Sounds like a lot of folks are liking Moodle over Blackboard. Will this acquisition help Bb cover make up ground in this arena? Or is this bad news for the industry where competition in this segment is already lacking?
Hmmmm…

Great Tech Stuff going on at UD Mercy

Courtesy of WWJ’s GLITR, this is a long page, but a great read, especially for those wanting to know where you can learn the latest, or for those who may not believe gems like this not only exist, but thrive in the heart of The D. Thanks for the great article, Matt…

Read more: Lots Of Great Stuff In The City On A Tech Tour Of UD Mercy – WWJ Newsradio 950.

Effective E-Learning, Defined Well

I like that this is covered in-depth by this provider, before one ever begins to consider purchasing any of their products. Gives us educators a nice bit to think about before we go investing:

SuddenlySmart – What is Effective Elearning?

It’s widely accepted that e-learning requires interactivity to improve learners’ skills and deliver results. What’s not well understood is that not all types of interactivity are equally effective. In fact, the least effective forms of interactivity are also some of the most popular because they are easy to implement using templates and wizards. Examples include:

• Fact-based quizzes dressed up as mini-games
• Clicking glossy buttons to reveal more text
• Interactivity that is over-produced and under-designed

Creating effective e-learning does require some creativity and knowledge of basic design principles, but that’s what makes it interesting. Design techniques that make e-learning truly effective include:

Click the link above to read more…

More on Writing to Be Understood (via Learning Leader: Notes of the CLO)

Wanted to share a couple of links and more on the Flesch Scale for fellow educators:

• Readability: A simple tool that makes reading websites easier.
• Flesh 2.0: tells you how difficult documents will be to comprehend by calculating a document’s Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease Score
• Bullfighter: software that works with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to help you find and eliminate jargon in your documents
• The Readability Test Tool: provides a quick and easy way to test the readability of your work
• SMOG Calculator: uses a version of the SMOG formula, which gives a score as a “readability level” rather than the American school grade level
• WordCounts Analytics: to help users communicate better in all forms including writing, speaking, researching, educating.

About Flesch — What Does Flesh Tell Me?

In brief, it tells you how difficult documents will be to comprehend by calculating a document’s Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease Score. Like all readability indices, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and the Flesch Reading Ease score only provide estimations and are only meant to be used as such.

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is

Laptops Don’t Have to Be Classroom Distraction

U-M faculty is learning how to make laptops work FOR them and their students in the classroom, instead of allowing them to be learning deterrents:

“If you allow laptops in the classroom without a plan for how you’ll use them, you can potentially invite disaster. It’s unlikely that students will be so entranced by class material that they won’t wander off to their favorite social networking sites,” Samson says. “The key is to deliberately engage students through their computers. LectureTools does just that.”

LectureTools is an interactive student response system and teaching module. Instructors at more than 400 colleges and universities have set up accounts to use it.

More at http://ur.umich.edu/0910/May24_10/1260-how-laptops-can

The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives | WHDb

Here’s another one for my fellow educators doing it on a shoestring:

The following fifty proprietary programs are listed in no particular order within broad categories along with their open source alternatives. In some cases you could probably write your own book on frustrations with the proprietary programs shown here. In other cases, you’ll discover that the open source alternative isn’t quite up to snuff yet. And, in other cases still, you’ll learn that some proprietary programs are real gems, but that the open source advocate can replace those gems with equally shiny objects from the open source repertoire.

via The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives | WHDb.

The Free Suite

Just in case my fellow educators are in need and not well funded, here’s one of my favorite links:

The Free Suite

Free alternatives for expensive programs

http://www.thefreesuite.com/

Free, open-source alternatives to:

• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Adobe Flash
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Soundbooth
• Autodesk Maya
• Mathworks Matlab
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Outlook
• Symantec Norton