Waffle Bytes

So, this Friday Finds is a little different.  Today's finds are the opportunity for free educational posters for your classroom or school. Biology:  " What is Microbiology? " poster from the American Society for Microbiology - the poster is designed with middle school students in mind. Government:  Electoral College Map poster - you can get a 40" x 40"wall poster by signing up on the CSpan classroom site (free); if you don't want to create an account you can still get an electronic version and access to some lesson plans and activities. History:  Science & Technology of WWII - poster for the classroom; there is also an electronic download. Math : NRICH posters - monthly printable poster with posed math problems that push students to critical thinking. Nutrition:  Cabot Cheese  Nutrition & Fitness  posters for schools & cafeterias - five posters to choose from for display at your school.

Isn't it great?  With Moodle 2 people can now submit customizable themes!  Now (if I have one of these themes) I might be able to: easily change my logo, change some of the color choices, or even some additional changes.  What is available depends on the theme. Here's the video (if you prefer written instructions, they are below): Suggestions of actions to take first if you are planning on experimenting with this: Turn ON "Theme designer mode" in the Theme Settings Make the theme you are experimenting with the set them in the "Theme Selector" so you can see your changes (of course, if your site is live, so will everyone else) Click on the name of the Theme you wish to customize (here I'm picking Afterburner... because it is at the top, not because it's any better/worse than any of the other themes) Make the desired changes, "Save changes" at the bottom.  Refresh the site to see the changes. Some notes: If

Photo Transfer App (Currently $2.99) Basics : Photo Transfer App is just that, an app to transfer photos AND videos between devices.  I have tested transfers between: two iPads or iPhones (and each other) iPad/iPhone & pc computer iPad/iPhone & Mac computer (The site says it will work with Linux, as well.  And there is now an Android app out. I have not tried those.)   Some points: you can transfer up to 200 photos (I did over 2000 one day, and it is a firm 200 at a time) it transfers the full resolution videos, not compressed video of reduced quality preserves photo metadata both devices need to be on the same wireless network (I did note that the new version says you can use bluetooth to transfer photos between iOS devices) Educational Use:   As I have seen more iPads go into classrooms, one of the big questions has been the ability to share or move photos between devices and the teacher's computer.  I know there are other solutions out t

A week ago I spent 5 hours at one of our local schools playing with Apple's new tool for managing iPads - Apple Configurator.  I have to say that it was time well spent - I can see this being a viable tool for school districts struggling with managing large numbers of iOS devices. Some of the pros & cons (as some people might see them) to using this: Pros Cloning devices is easier to do using this tool than iTunes, especially as it is easier to do multiple devices at the same time. Devices can be uniquely named very quickly & easily Updating can range: now you can fully restoring all the devices, make smaller updates, just add a profile, or even simply rename them Changes can be set up in the tool, and will be applied when/as the devices are connected Can manage multiple groups of devices in a more visual easy to see way VPP redemption codes can be managed via the tool - codes can even be removed from one device and loaded on another Profiles can be "s

Here are this week's Five Friday Finds!  As always share with others as we are all smarter when we collaborate :-) General : TED-Ed - "lessons worth sharing;" create customized lessons using video with the new "Flip This Lesson" feature from TED-Ed.  "[u]se, tweak, or completely redo any video lesson features..., or create lessons from scratch based on a TEDTalk or any video from YouTube." It is still in beta, but check it out! ELA : Storyline Online - "an online streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children's books aloud.  Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson plans." Math : Random.org  - Random number generator and a host of other things... flip virtual coins, roll virtual dice, shuffle cards, randomize lists, etc. Science : The Scale of the Universe 2 - Zoom in and out for comparisons of various items; ranges from molecular level to universe. Social Studies : The World i

Another easy customization that can be added to your Moodle 2 site is header/footer information specific to your site.  Again, prior to Moodle 2 you had to hack into a theme and add this information (requiring knowledge of PHP, HTML, and CSS).  Now, it is a customization that can be added to any of your themes using the web browser and logging in as the Moodle Administrator.  Unlike creating a custom site menu, if you do want to "pretty it up" you do need to know (or lookup) some HTML. Here's the video (if you prefer written instructions, they are below): To add a custom header and/or footer to your site, login as the Moodle Administrator.  In the Site Administration area, click on the Appearance link, then select Additional HTML. This will give you and area to type in the information you want in the header, body and/or footer area on your Moodle site.  (For most if not all themes, the BODY information is displayed immediately after the HEAD information.)