Adobe Slate

 Adobe Slate.   
A good app from Adobe that combines photos and images with a minimum amount of text, allowing one to create digital narratives with  the emphasis on the visual.   I found this on Richard Bryne's blog.

Classroom idea.   This could be used as a way to illustrate creative writing, or give step by step instructions.

Thinglink

http://www.thinglink.com/
I have looked for an easy way to link portions of an image and this tool is the easiest I have found .  It lets you upload or choose an image from Flickr,Facebook or  the web.  You then can select portions of that image and  add description and links. You can also record and  add video. 






Classroom Idea:
 Health and PE. Students take pictures of athletes and link body positions to appropriate stretches and strengthening exercises.

Art: Students studying an specific artist could choice her most repernattive work and tell her story interactively.

Thanks to http://www.freetech4teachers.com

Visualizing Cultures

Visualizing Cultures
Free Technology for Teachers  led me to this site, which  presents the culture of Japan via images.

Classroom idea : Image presentaions of history or nonfiction.

Creaza

Creaza

http://www.creazaeducation.com/

is a tool that  lets you make cartoons, movies and mindmaps.  I was impressed with the movie editing, and liked the add a note feature to the mindmaps.





Classroom idea: Movie making as a group project is difficult, but this tool might be the solution, as students could work on one account.

Classroom Idea

BBC Dimensions

BBC Dimensions  http://howbigreally.com/

Here is a neat visualization tool from BBC that allows you to show the size of a historical place or event in  a manner your viewers can recognize.  Te dimensions of the place are overlayed onto a Google map of your choosing.  Here Victorian London is overlayed over San Francisco.

Classroom ideas.  Currently there are 9 themes to choose. Students studying WWII can get an idea of the Battle of Stalingrad by placing the event in their own neighborhood.Stalingrad and surrounded German forces in 1942 as shown at…

Gapminder

Gapminder http://www.gapminder.org/ From their website “unveil the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics.” Visualize statistics and data.

Classroom idea:  Great for  comparative studies. This site has a learning curve, but the presentations you can make really bring data to life.