Instructional Technology Blog

Instructional Technology, All things Google, 21st Century Skills, Web 2.0 and beyond . . .

The Complete Guide to Google Wave

November 2nd, 2009 by iTechSpec

Have you caught the Google Wave yet? Well, if you haven’t, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I love using Google Docs and the new Google Wave has been designed to help groups of people collaborate on documents on the web. To me, Google Wave is your email on steriods with all the cool Google collaboration tools built in. I truly loathe sending emails back and forth, back and forth, till their size gets so large and the true reason for the email is lost in all the many emails in my inbox! Then, when trying to figure out exactly what everyone is trying to say, that gets lost in the shuffle too. Google Wave takes care of all that as long as you understand it is like using your email but without all the tons of emails you have to sort through to get your job done. I have to work smarter and not harder and this cool tool will help me do just that. Try it and share how it works for you! Here is a great guide to help you in catching the Google Wave! Checkout this video that helps to explain Google Wave better. Enjoy!

Category All things Google!, Open-Source, Tech Tools, Web 2.0 Tools | No Comments »

Drop.io – A cool way to share anything, anywhere

September 29th, 2009 by iTechSpec

Drop.io is a cool tool used for simple real-time sharing, collaboration, and presentation. Teachers can use it for any content area at any grade level. Drop.io allows you to share text, video, and audio media. Users can share their “files and collaborate in real time by web, email, phone, mobile, and more. Create each drop in two clicks and share what you want, how you want, with whom you want.”

You can also use Drop.io as a bookmarking service. Drop.io’s free voicemail service allows you to make mp3 recordings without the need for any software. Drop.io can also be used to conduct online, real-time, presentations. Best of all, Drop.io is free.

Category 21st Century Skills, Open-Source, Web 2.0 Tools | No Comments »

Webspiration – free online site by Inspiration

January 2nd, 2009 by iTechSpec

Inspiration software has launched the public beta of Webspiration, the new online version of Inspiration. With Webspiration, Inspiration Software offers powerful visual thinking tools combined with Web 3.0 capabilities to create a visual thinking and collaboration environment that creative thinkers can use anytime and anywhere. For those of us who are having budget cuts and need more Open Source applications, this is it! What a great resource for teachers and students. Plus, it can be accessed from anywhere! Cool tool!

Category 21st Century Skills, Instructional Strategies, Open-Source, Tech Tools, Web 2.0 Tools | No Comments »

Doodle – Free Online Poll

October 27th, 2008 by iTechSpec

Doodle is a free open source tech tool that makes it easy to create a quick poll, find a date and time for any group event, or just coordinate a meeting. You don’t have to register or install any software. It’s all FREE. Enjoy and doodle away!

Category Open-Source, Tech Tools, Web 2.0 Tools | No Comments »