Buzzing Up The Best

Earlier this summer Larry Ferlazzo, educator and blogger at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... introduced a new web 2.0 application followed, not quite a month later, by a post written by Joyce Valenza, teacher-librarian and blogger at NeverEndingSearch.  Both speak to the site specifically for educators, BeeClip EDU as opposed to the sister site, BeeClip, designed for the general population.  Both sites can be used free of charge (BeeClip EDU is free for 1 teacher/30 students) and invite exploration without registration.

I will focus my exploration on BeeClip EDU as BeeClip is not to be used by anyone under the age of 16.  Please read the inclusive terms of service and a privacy policy which users are required to observe. BeeClip EDU is a company registered in England and Wales.

Persons under the age of 16 using this site must have the prior explicit permission of a parent, guardian or school teacher.  (In the United States this age would probably be 13 in accordance with our laws.) Scrapbooks created by students within BeeClip EDU are by default private to the user, their classmates and teacher.  A teacher can enable a feature so scrapbooks by students can be embedded outside the BeeClip EDU space.

In their about section BeeClip EDU states:

Our two main goals are to save teachers time and empower student creativity.

Some general observations are: all student work is contained in what BeeClip EDU calls a walled garden, collaboration between students can only be done if they are in the same class (click on the Editors button at the top of the screen on the right), a tool called a Beeclipper can be installed in favorites to easily clip items for a scrapbook, and BeeClip EDU works best if Adobe Flash Player 10+ is installed on your computer.

To begin I clicked on the green Try now button.  A seven slide overlay is placed over the work surface as an introduction.  Your clips (uploaded or gathered) will appear to the left of the workspace when that tab is clicked.  To place them in a scrapbook, simply drag them over.

Extras, template backgrounds for pages, can be added to make the scrapbook more visually appealing and personal.  On the right icons representing the addition of all kinds of text, background colors, and download or print pages, are options.  More tabs next to Your clips and Extras on the left provide users with the ability to search Google for images, import photos from Flickr or search and paste in a URL from YouTube.

I decided to design a series of pages around a focus on books, reading and libraries from books I had at home. First I needed to delete all the items on the introductory page.   Second I did a Google image search for a book cover.  Once found I selected it with a click.  I could then place it on the scrapbook page by dragging it and I could also place it in the Your clips folder by dragging it to that tab.

An image or video placed on a page can be brought forward, sent back, deleted or used as the entire background. If a border has been added (from the Extras) it can be removed.  The item can be sized through the use of the dots and squares on the perimeter or rotated by clicking on the green dot and turning with your mouse.  A text box cannot have a border added.

[I found the best way to continue was to register.  To register you need to select a display name, user name, password and email address.  In order to create a scrapbook you need a project.  A project can only be created if you have a class.  For purposes of exploring this site Xena, my Warrior Princess, chocolate lab, became a student.  Teachers upon registering are given a unique registration code so students can register on their own.]

Once I created a project platform I could add a scrapbook.  (This was much better than playing around with the pre-registration introductory page.)
When you begin you are asked to choose a style:  none, collage, portfolio, photo album, scrapbook or moodboard.  From there a double box space appears.  On the left images can be uploaded or found when searching.  They are then dragged to the right side.

Once you have completed this second step you are taken to the screen which originally appeared when you explored the site without registration.  Changing backgrounds is as easy as finding one in Extras  and dragging it over to the page.  Pages can be added with a click.  At the bottom of the working area all created pages are displayed; so you can toggle back and forth making changes as necessary by clicking on a specific page.

When the scrapbook is completed it can be viewed by all the students within your class.  To control what students (and you) can do with the created scrapbooks go to Project Settings in the upper right hand corner of your project view (go to dashboard first).  From there you can determine with a yes or no selection about the use of comments, embedding, Google images, YouTube, and Flickr images.

I spent hours in BeeClip EDU; it was that much fun to use.  There are small images, stickers, that can be added to each page which I found could be used as a backgroud for text.  Any time a scrapbook has been completed it can still be edited by clicking on the tab in the upper right hand corner of the pages.  This is a very new release with huge educational potential.

"Sing A Song", Slide By Slide

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On May 17th Larry Ferlazzo posted on his blog, Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day..., about a new free web 2.0 application for creating slideshows.  For registration  Slide.ly  requires you are 18 years of age or older, (or) have your parent's or guardian's permission to enter into this agreement.  To register enter in your first and last name, email address and a password.  A confirmation email is sent immediately.

When you click the link in the confirmation email, a new working screen appears in Slide.ly.  Across the top you can enter a term in a search box, click on Create one now!, view most popular slidelys, view recently created slidelys, view slidelys within categories (art & design, entertainment, kids, other, wedding & events, birthdays, family, music and sports) or access your account information, your slidelys or logout.

On the left of the screen is a list of sites from which to obtain images, Facebook, Google Images, Flickr, Instagram, Picplz, Picasa and your computer.  As you toggle through each the access options appear on the screen.  For example, if you choose to bring pictures from Facebook, it asks you to connect.  Then you are asked who on Facebook can see your slidelys (privacy) and whether you allow Slide.ly to access your basic information, email address, profile information, your stories, friends' birthdays and photos shared with you.  I tend to err on the side of caution; uploading images from my computer.

You are allowed a maximum of ninety images.  When the upload is complete scroll down to the overview.  When mousing over each image it can be switched to the cover photograph, a caption can be added or it can be deleted.  Images can be dragged and dropped, randomly arranged or the entire array can be deleted.

To continue move down the page to choose the music.  Selections can be taken from YouTube or Soundcloud under the categories of popular music, movies & TV, all time classics, beautiful or thanks.  Suggestions are shown or a search can be conducted.  When you mouse over a selection you can play it or add it to your slidely.

When your music is determined another screen overlays allowing you to add an effect (normal, spots, orange glow, colors, dots, dust, a birthday clipart, seventies or old film) to your slideshow as well as play it to figure out the timing with your images and the music.  You can adjust the slideshow speed which for me was a tad bit tricky.

Tags can be entered into a text box and you can decide to make your slidely public or not by unchecking the checkmark.  To see how any captions appear it is a good idea to enlarge your preview to full screen.  Be sure to click the blue button at the bottom right of the preview screen to save and publish your work.

Your finished slidely can always be edited by selecting My Slidelys beneath your name.  Off to the left of your completed slidely it can be liked on Facebook, tweeted on Twitter, made public on Google +, pinned on Pinterest or submitted to StumbleUpon.  Beneath are more options:  share on Facebook, send an email, copy a URL or embed the HTML (four sizes are offered) code in a website or blog.

Slide.ly offers many options for getting images, a variety of music choices and special effects.  The ease of use and seamless results make it a good application to use for creating slideshows. My slidely is shown below.

Swinging High

Just a little over four months ago I posted about Picnik ( a day late and a dollar short) which closed officially on April 19, 2012.  They have moved some of their most loved assets over to the Google+ group.  Just prior to its closing several tweets on Twitter recommended PicMonkey . 

 This free web 2.0 application has the clearest, most concise and humorous Privacy Policy and Terms of Use that I've read yet.  Not to mention the About and Team sections which are worth reading just for fun.  Bottom line...users need to be 13 years of age.

When you access the site four boxes appear on screen; three filled with images you may edit.  The fourth represents an image of your own to edit by uploading from your computer.  When you import your image a new screen appears with your picture front and center.

To the left is a panel of editing tools.  The first set of tools are for the basic edits, crop, rotate, exposure, colors, sharpen and resize.  By clicking on the smaller icons on the far left of the bar the basic edits shift from top to bottom to:  effects, touch up (humans), text, overlays, frames and new.

The thirty-seven current effects are sorted into tried and true, basic, camera look, paintbox, area, artsy and advanced.  Fifteen touch-ups for skin, mouth, eyes and just a couple more are at the ready.  Fonts, thirty-two to be exact, can be added to your images.  Overlays or shapes come in twenty-two options.  There are eight frames from which to choose.  And seven new textures are available to try.

Here is an original image on the left.  The one on the right has been cropped, exposure and colors adjusted and the sharpening tool used.
In the third photograph I applied the effects of soften, dark edges and film grain.

In this final image I added some text which you can size, change the color, fade, make bold or in italics, justify and blend modes or right click for even more options.  I also added a drop shadow frame.  Some of the options will become part of the Royale package eventually but for now they are free, if you don't mind having a crowned monkey in your graphic.

 

It's safe to say that PicMonkey has my vote as a worthy photo editing tool.  I could have spent hours trying all the options for images.  

Share and Share Alike, Privately

Just over six months ago a photo-sharing web 2.0 application came on the scene, 7Moments.  In the Help section they state:

With 7Moments you can easily share and exchange photos in a safe and private environment.  You create an Album, upload and import photos and invite others that can contribute to the album as well.

Still running in beta this service can be used by invitation only.  My invitation arrived in under a week.

To receive an invitation go to their site and enter in your email address.  Your invitation received by email includes a link.  The link takes you to their site where you are asked to enter in your name, a password and a check to accept their terms and conditions.

When you are logged in you can create a new album or adjust your settings (name, email address and password).  When you create a new album first determine a name for that album.   If you make a mistake in the naming of an album you can click on that title, as if it is a text box, and make changes.  You are then taken to what I would call the work space.

Clicking the option on the right of the screen, at the top of the screen and beneath your title, you can add photographs from your computer or import them from Facebook.  Photographs are uploaded from your computer by clicking on the white arrow to the center right of your screen.  If you want to see your uploaded selections as a group click the white arrow to the center left. 

If you want to view a single selection click on it.  You can then move through your photographs like a slide show.  Once at 7Moments a single image can be added to your selection, rotated left, rotated right downloaded or deleted.  To get back to the work space click on the esc key. 

At the bottom of the screen is a small row of tiles icon.  When you click on that it brings into view all the photographs in your album.  By clicking on any image in your album it appears in the center of the work space.

Across the top of the work space are a series of tabs allowing for:   the addition of photos and people, downloading the entire album (to a zip file on your computer) or your loved photographs, or viewing recently added, most loved, date taken and contributors.  At any time you can create a new album.  Each time you create a new album an email is sent with a link to that group of photographs.  Each time you log in to 7Moments the albums you have created will appear with the option of deleting them completely or working on them further.

Currently there are six styles available for an album:  Uptown Girl, Crystals, Jingle Bells, Fresh Powder, Golden Season and Winter Wonderland. 

Users of 7Moments must be 18 years or older.  The only sharing option at this site is private.  Albums can only be viewed with an authentication key through album owner invitation.  At any point you, as the album creator, can send an email invitation which includes a link to a specific album.  Only you can send out invitations. 

When an invitation is received a user will need to register to view and contribute by entering in their name, email address, selection of a password and accepting the terms and conditions of the site. 

An album is restricted to 100 users and one GB of disk space.  7Moments stands by their privacy; photos cannot be found by search engines.  Only people receiving an email can access the photographs. 

I have created two albums, Autumn Memories and Views of School Library Media Centers.  Whether working professionally or personally, group sharing could be done with complete confidence that only those invited would be viewing the album. For an educator this would be a way to share photographs with parents about activities in the classroom without posting them on a Facebook page or a less than private venue.

7Moments states that very soon photographs may be added via email.  They are also exploring about using 7Moments on an iPad, iPhone or Android device. (Please note:  As of December 1, 2013 this site will be closed.)

Another Tool for Telling Tales

PicLits is a creative writing site that matches beautiful images with carefully selected keywords in order to inspire you. The object is to put the right words in the right place and the right order to capture the essence, story, and meaning of the picture.

This free online application found its way to the American Association of School Librarians list under the Digital Storytelling, Standards for the 21st Century Learner, 4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information. 4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning. and 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person heading. 

To register for use, as with most applications, an email address is necessary, a password needs to be given and a pen name needs to be chosen.  Once the user is registered two options are available for creating a PicLit---Drag-n-drop (using only words that are listed beneath the photograph) or Freestyle (writing your own words on a page watching them appear on the picture as you type).

It is advisable to select the Learn It button at the top of the screen before attempting to pen a PicLit.  A screen appears with Write It, Rhyme It and Master It icons.  The Write It icon guides users in the basics of sentence structure up to writing a complete paragraph.  Word rhyming, poems in general and similes are discussed in Rhyme It.  Master It includes full blown lesson plans regarding poetry and the writing of poetry.

There is a large gallery of photographs from which to choose that provide ample inspiration.  To the right of the PicLit screen are four tools--Save, Blog or Share, Email or New PicLit.  When a PicLit is saved it is housed in a cloud online.  When retrieved it can be edited, shared, emailed or deleted.

To use as a group brainstorming lesson or for individual writing pieces nothing could be simpler.

The blog or share it feature does not seem to be working at this time but PicLits can be viewed in the gallery.  When you click on the Explore The Gallery heading you can search by newest, highest rated, sample PicLits, by picture and by author which is an alphabetical listing of usernames. I am going to link to my two "creations".  The first  link is a PicLit using their words.  The second  illustrates how you can use your own thoughts.

Twenty-Four Hours In Twitterville #4

With the closing chapter in the Harry Potter movies to be released in less than a week, there are numerous tweets about author, J. K. Rowling.  Via Shelf Awareness, The Daily Beast has a small article about statements made by Rowling at the premier in the U. K. of the last movie.  She hints that more Potter might be possible; after all she is the creator.

By following a tweet by Publishers Weekly, Digital Spy has ten interesting statements of facts about J. K. Rowling along with some great videos that fans may or may not know or have seen.

Richard Byrne of Free Technology For Teachers has a great post, Google Books For Educators-A How To Guide, with a tutorial for educators about finding free eBooks on Google Books and placing them on a virtual shelf for students to use.

Larry Ferlazzo of Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day has an interesting post, The Best Ways to Use Photos In Lessons, about using photos to prompt creative and critical thinking as well as writing .  Web 2.0 formats which are best for this are listed.

At Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Julie Danielson earlier this week conducted an interview with Kady MacDonald Denton the illustrator of the books by Bonnie Becker, A Birthday for Bear, A Bedtime for Bear and A Visitor for Bear.  The interview is in depth with wonderful questions and answers, loads of pictures, and a glimpse of the newest book in the Bear series, The Sniffles for Bear.  Personally, I can not wait to see this book when it is released this fall.

One of my favorite sources for book reviews is Booklist magazine.  This morning they tweeted about the cover of the July 2011 issue.  It is an illustration by Scott McKowen of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.  The illustration is beautiful.

Another outstanding source of not only reviews but articles pertinent to education and libraries is the School Library Journal.  They just announced at their site the winner of the 2011 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass.

Photo Fun Never Ends

Big Huge Labs recently announced that they are expanding their services to better assist educators in the classroom. 

To create a free account an email address is needed (a school email will speed approval for the educator account), a username and password.  It takes about 1 to 2 business days to receive approval via email for the educator account.  They require proof that you are an educator by having a photograph that shows your full name, title and name of the institution.  They suggest taking a picture of yourself holding a school ID.  That was not possible for me so I just submitted a picture of myself in the library media center teaching.  Hopefully there will be further email communication where I can refer them to the school web site. 

The advantage of having an educator account is similiar to having an educator account with Glogster EDU, which I do.  It allows you to pre-register students without them having to give an email address, you can view and download their created content, the site is free of advertising and ready to print ID cards for students are a perk. 

The tools available lend themselves to enhancing writing skills, stretching literacy lessons, documenting projects, storyboarding and multiple other possibilites.  There are more than 40 apps from which to choose.  These are but a few. 

It is is good that more and more of these web 2.0 sites are offering the opportunity to integrate technology into your classroom instruction by respecting the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and making it safe for students to use.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for this tip so noted in his post dated June 13, 2011.

Too Much Fun With Photos

Is there no end  to the interesting, imaginative photo editing tools that are currently available online?  I spent way  too much time last evening using PhotoFunia .  There are more than 200 frames in which your image can be placed.

For this app you simply click on an effect, choose a file which must be in JPEG, PNG or GIF format, edit  the area, click OK and click GO.  Your creation appears nearly full screen.

At that time Save, Share, Order a Print or Send as a Postcard can be chosen.  There is a fee for Order a Print or Send as a Postcard.  Posting on Facebook, LiveJournal, LiveInternet or Twitter is just a click away.  Other options of posting in a blog or website, direct link to the image or for posting in a forum can be chosen. 

Only persons 13 years of age are allowed to use this site.  Please click on each of these images individually.  One of them has motion.

BeFunky Fun For Teachers

I have previously mentioned BeFunky on this blog (9/21/2010 and  01/31/2011) As stated on their blog:  BeFunky simplifies photo editing and effects for everyday people. 
Check out how this classroom teacher in England used this web 2.0 application in his classroom, BeFunky In Your Classroom.

In the interview he describes the specific activity, how the children responded and the results which are pretty amazing for the age of the children.  This might be a good year-end project with classroom photographs. 

I checked their Terms/Privacy section again today and it states that users need to be 13 years of age so I am curious as to how he was able to use it with 8 and 9 year old students.  But the app is certainly easy enough for them to use and there is no registration requirement where any information about them could be stored.  To begin they just need to click the Get Started button.  Then they have the option of  clicking on six boxes:  Edit your photo, Apply Photo Effects, Apply Artsy Effects, Add Graphics, Shapes, add Text, Speech Bubbles or Add Frames, Borders.  After selecting one of these boxes a photo needs to be uploaded. 

With parental permission for a classroom activity this would certainly be possible.

Blogger Bonanza

For those looking for the perfect visual to compliment a blog posting look no further than Wylio.com.  Millions and millions of Flickr photographs whose owners have designated them as Creative Commons works provide the pool from which selections can be made. 

For example when I searched using the term, book, 121, 287 images were available.  After flipping through the pages to locate the one for use, simply click on it.  On the next screen you can see what the alignment of the picture, right, center or left, will look like with the text of your writing around it.  Also by moving the sliding size bar you can view further how the final product will appear.  Once the look you want is achieved click on the get the code button.  Simply copy the code and paste it into your post prior to final publication.

photo © 2008 Sarah Scicluna (via: Wylio)
Let the fun begin!

more info

Keep Grinning

Slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

This is a simple slideshow that was created using an application called Smilebox.  By using this free tool, which is for PC or Mac, the user generates invitations or greetings, slideshows, scrapbooks, photo albums, calendars, recipes or collages.  There are more than 1,000 customizable designs that the user can add photos or videos to along with music and their own words.  Once the item is done it can be emailed or posted to a variety of social venues.  The code can be embedded into an online publication or there is a link to the creation on the Smilebox web site. It can be saved for future use or alteration.  Printing at home or via a store or burning to a DVD can be done but this will cost $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year.  Payment of this fee also enlarges the music selection considerably. 
The Smilebox application is installed on your computer in seconds.  You can create an account with your email, full name and a password.   This is just one more option available to generate classy visual presentations small or large.  Users must be 18 years of age.
Check out the Smilebox blog connection at the bottom of the home page. Additionally for educators click on Teachers Toolbox which is shown at the bottom of the home page.  Smilebox Teachers Toolbox offers the premium Club Smilebox service free of charge once you have provided the appropriate information.  It includes 900 designs specific to the classroom along with ideas on how it can best be utilized.  Not only can educators use this to convey a specific idea, capture moments in the classroom to share with parents but students can use this to address requirements for projects in the classroom.

Poster Panorama

In three easy steps using the web 2.0 application Block Posters the user can generate a poster of just about any size.  There is no registration and it is free.  It would be advisable for users under the age of 13 to work with a parent or have their permission.  I did check the gallery for any posters that might be inappropriate finding only one that might be slightly questionable but that does not preclude what might appear there in the future.

In step one the user uploads a photograph that is stored on their computer.  The image is transferred to Block Posters' web server so please be wise in making a selection.  The user's selection is sliced in step two.  The option of choosing the size of their poster in page widths and whether they would like it to be portrait or landscape is offered.  Step three asks the user to download the PDF file which contains the images.  They will be printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader.  If that free software is not currently installed on the user's computer it can be done at that time. 

Imagine the potential uses for this application in our classroom settings for bulletin boards or displays or to set up a wall where students can post comments about what is pictured.  The middle school media center is about to get a new wall display.  And what about that blank wall at home?

More Fun with Photos

Okay, I'll admit that sometimes sleep is not option.  There are just too many things to explore.  Last night I discovered a couple web 2.0 applications that are pure fun. 
Fotobabble gives you within minutes the opportunity to add sound to a photograph.  All you need to do is to create a username, a password and give your email address. Please be aware that users under the age of 13 are forbidden.  You are reminded not to share your username and password with anyone under that age.



Just when I thought that it couldn't get any better I discovered Blabblerize.  This application will definitely get your students' attention.  You can add moving mouths to your visuals.  Once you have recorded what you want to say, the mouth will move as if speaking.  What a hoot! Please be aware that users under the age of 13 are not to use this site without supervision/permission.  You need to select a username, password and give your email address.  It was a blocked site but has been made available for staff use.