Stupeflix: videos on the fly

Stupeflix offers competition to Animoto as a fun way to create "movie" slideshows of your favourite pics. Where Animoto's strength is a kaleidoscope of transitions, Stupeflix provides a few easy-to-use  layouts with the option of captioning each of your images. You upload the pictures and your own soundtrack and, voilà, a nice little package. The free version is limited to 1 minute in length, and while you can share the link, you can't download, unless you use a third party streaming media capture app. If you upgrade to the paid version, then your productions can be much longer and can be downloaded in a couple of different formats (including HD!) Here's a sample from the site: [link]

Wallwisher: collaborative brainstorming

I like Wallwisher because it works so much like the "post-it" brainstorming exercise so many of us use with staff or students. All you have to do is create a wall, and then send out the link to those who will be collaborating with you. Users can re-arrange the notes, and group them according to themes or sub-topics or what-have-you. One great spin-off is that you have a more permanent record of your brainstorming, instead of a poster with loose notes that tend to fall off and get lost. With a digital projector and a laptop, it makes an engaging way to record group thinking.

Edmodo: microblogging for the classroom

Happy New Year, everyone.

There are so many great Web 2.0 apps, it's almost overwhelming! Here's another one I think might be useful, especially with the explosion of the iTouch devices: edmodo. 

"A private social platform for teachers and students to share ideas, files, events and assignments."

What I like about edmodo is that is is a great solution for teachers wanting to create an online community  with a bit more security. And, students don't need an email address to sign up; the teacher creates the group, generates a login code and students can quickly register themselves. The teacher can then change the code to prevent "unauthorized" kids from joining. The other bonus is that you can access edmodo via an iTouch.