Massac Tech Ed

If you are familiar with instant messaging, Google has a standalone IM application which can be downloaded at http://www.google.com/talk/ Once downloaded and installed, sign in with your Massac credentials user name: yourname@massac.org password: your E-Mail password This will enable you to chat with whoever is logged into the system without having to login to your E-Mail. In case you haven't found it yet, you are also able to chat within the E-Mail as well. Just double click a contact in the lower left pane to bring up a chat window.

Now that we have adopted Google Apps for Education, there are some neat add-ons to explore in your Massac E-Mail. Navigate to your Inbox and click the Settings link at the top right to bring up a screen similar to the one below. Click the Labs link to the far right. Here you will see a plethora of interesting, useful, and quirky add-ons for your E-Mail. One of the more appealing features allows you to enable text messaging through chat. By clicking Enable (Text Messaging in Chat) and Save Changes at the top of the page, you will now have given yourself the ability to send text messages through your Massac E-Mail. To send a text message to someone through the chatting feature in the E-Mail, return to your Inbox page. In the text field above the names in the chat window, type in the cell phone number of the person you wish to send a text message to. You may be prompted to type in a name for that contact. A chat window will appear in the lower right corner, and you can send a text messag

Wolfram Mathematics Resource http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ A wonderful resource for teachers, parents, and students alike. The site features some interactive models that you can manipulate with your mouse.

If you are willing to explore the options outside of PowerPoint, prezi.com is the place for you. What is Prezi? "With Prezi you can create stunning presentations. Instead of slides, you create a large map, and zoom around to show your ideas." Prezi is free. Just click sign up and you will see the various account options. The website has a one minute introductory video. It really is an exciting way to give a presentation. Thanks to Michael Zimmer, Technology Integration Specialist at Hopkins County Central High School in KY for showing this to me. He also runs a Technology in Education blog which is available at http://edutechintegration.blogspot.com

From E-School News "NASA Images" , a service of the Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library. It was created under a Space Act agreement to offer unprecedented access to NASA media (including images, video, and audio), functioning as a free online library for all of NASA's multimedia content. Users can search for material by keyword or theme (such as Earth, Astronauts, Solar System, or Universe), or they can browse through several featured collections. The site is constantly growing with the addition of current media from NASA, as well as newly digitized media from the archives of the NASA Centers. http://www.nasaimages.org