Chapter 10: Tutorials

This chapter compiles tutorials for a few of the tools discussed in chapter 3.
Zoho Writer and Num Sum
  • Free online word processor and online spreadsheet application
  • Explains how to make a new document, change font, add Websites, tables, images, etc. It has most of the capabilities as traditional Microsoft Word and you basically do these actions the same way you would in a traditional word processor.
  • You can also share the document by entering the e-mail addresses of people you want to share it with
  • For Num Sum, it is very similar to the options you have in Excel, and you can tag the spreadsheet so that you can share it
Tux Paint
  • Free painting tool software
  • Software needs to be downloaded
  • There are ready-paint pictures and free draw capabilities
Audacity:
  • Free audio editing software
  • Download the software
  • You can record things, convert tapes and records, edit sound files, mix sounds, etc
  • It shows you how to add tracks and edit them, similarly to what we went over in class
  • Also mentions renaming file and converting it to mp3
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds
  • News is delivered to users, instead of users looking for the news
  • Can be used on Mozilla Firefox. You can bookmark feeds (such as from the New York Times) and an icon will show up at the bottom of the browser, which can give you a list of the latest news
  • You can click on any of the feeds to go directly to the story
Del.icio.us Bookmarks and Favorites:
  • This is a program very similar to Diigo. It allows you to put all of your bookmarks online and share them with others.
  • You can tag bookmarks to organize thoughts, network with others to share bookmarks, post current pages to your list
Photo Story 3:
  • A free program that allows you to mix photos, videos, audio, and text into one document
  • Can be downloaded off of website
  • You can edit photos, record your voice, get songs from the library or add your own, and share the documents in multiple ways (e-mail, burnt onto CD, put onto cell phone)
Wikispaces is then mentioned. (We obviously know how to use this)
Class Blogmeister:
  • Online blogging tool in a controlled environment
  • New blog is started by clicking “New article”
  • Once finished with the blog, you can save it and publish it
  • Each time someone comments on the blog, an e-mail is sent
  • Teacher has the option to review the comments- if it is appropriate for the blog they can click Show and if it is inappropriate they can click Delete
Google Earth:
  • Downloadable software that allows you to explore geography of entire Earth through real digital picture images.
  • You can search for any address, zoom in and out, search for special locations (like schools, parks, etc), get directions, and see different multimedia about the location from different sources
Google SketchUp
  • Modeling program
  • Users can create 3-D models
  • In order to create these shapes, you just click on it and move your mouse to design it the way you want
  • You can also add color, texture and shadow
  • There is also a measuring tape option
Google Reader
  • Monitors updates for different subscriptions to web sites
  • You can subscribe to any Web site that you want to receive a “feed” from, which just displays updates
  • You can mark items to look at later and after something is read, it is marked as read
  • Tags are also available in order to organize the different feeds.