What is BigBlueButton ?
BigBlueButton is an open source project that is built on over fourteen open source components to create an integrated web conferencing system that runs on mac, unix, or PC computers. In the true sense of open source, we invite you to try out and participate in our project.
No longer limited to freehand logos, graphic design is a booming field. From website design, to publications, presentations, and much more, graphic designers are in demand in just about every field imaginable.With so much demand, graphic designers can get caught up on the supply end. Don't lose out on an opportunity or job because you aren't equipped to handle it Use the below 70 awesome open source tools for graphic designers to get a leg up, expand your resume, and much more. Best of all, the price to put all of them to use is completely free.
"an online initiative aimed at creating a Pokemon card type resource but with real creatures on display in full "artistic" wonder. Not only that - but we plan to have the scientific community weigh in to determine the content on such cards, as well as folks who love gaming to try and design interesting ways to use the cards. Then to top it all off, members of the teacher community will participate to see whether these cards have educational merit. Best of all, the hope is that this will all occur in a non-commercial-open-access-open-source-because-basically-this-is-good-for-you-your-children-and-your-planet sort of way."
"Sintel" is an independently produced short film, initiated by the Blender Foundation as a means to further improve and validate the free/open source 3D creation suite Blender. With initial funding provided by 1000s of donations via the internet community, it has again proven to be a viable development model for both open 3D technology as for independent animation film.
This 15 minute film has been realized in the studio of the Amsterdam Blender Institute, by an international team of artists and developers. In addition to that, several crucial technical and creative targets have been realized online, by developers and artists and teams all over the world.
Ann Martin's book, Foods Pets Die For, provides information rarely seen anywhere else. It is a shocking, sometimes disgusting look into the pet food industry, and should open the reader's eyes regarding the sources of the "nutrition" most Americans trust as their pets' sole food source.
Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system with a flexible display framework from NZ. Mahara, meaning 'think' or 'thought' in Te Reo Māori, is user centred environment with a permissions framework that enables different views of an e-portfolio to be easily managed. Mahara also features a weblog, resume builder and social networking system, connecting users and creating online learner communities.
Prompts
main image
The best prompts are the ones that spark a personal connection between the writer and their ideas. Provided here are some generic writing prompts to get you started, but you will also find some tips on how to write your own prompts. These self-written prompts will offer better starting blocks for your students than the generic prompts because they spring from the immediacy of their lives.
Another source for writing prompts is Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment by Jane Bell Keister.
Narrative
1. It is 20 years from now. Your name has just been called and you are about to receive an award. Tell the story of how you came to be so successful and win this award. (Gr. 6-12)
2. Rewrite a fairy tale from a different point of view. For instance,
* The Three Pigs as the wolf would tell it
* Hansel & Gretel as the witch would tell it
OR, use any example you like. (Gr. 5-8)
3. Write a story based on one of the following:
* Where is it?
* Breaking loose
* If I had my way ...
* Suddenly, in the headlights ...
* That noise!
* Don't even remind me
* The biggest nuisance
* Annoying!
* At last! (Gr. 5-12)
4. Think of your best or worst day in school. Tell the story of what happened. (Gr. 4 & up)
5. Write a story based on ONE of the following
* Little brothers (or sisters)
* Older sisters (or brothers)
* A narrow escape
* My first memory
* I'd like to go back
* You won't believe it, but ... (Gr. 4 & up)
6. Think of a friend you have, in or out of school. Tell one story that comes to mind when you think of this friend. (All grades)
7. Think of an event you will want to remember when you are old. Tell about what happened in a way that's so clear that if you read this story again when you are eighty, every detail will come flooding back as if it happened y
Prompts
main image
The best prompts are the ones that spark a personal connection between the writer and their ideas. Provided here are some generic writing prompts to get you started, but you will also find some tips on how to write your own prompts. These self-written prompts will offer better starting blocks for your students than the generic prompts because they spring from the immediacy of their lives.
Another source for writing prompts is Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment by Jane Bell Keister.
Narrative
1. It is 20 years from now. Your name has just been called and you are about to receive an award. Tell the story of how you came to be so successful and win this award. (Gr. 6-12)
2. Rewrite a fairy tale from a different point of view. For instance,
* The Three Pigs as the wolf would tell it
* Hansel & Gretel as the witch would tell it
OR, use any example you like. (Gr. 5-8)
3. Write a story based on one of the following:
* Where is it?
* Breaking loose
* If I had my way ...
* Suddenly, in the headlights ...
* That noise!
* Don't even remind me
* The biggest nuisance
* Annoying!
* At last! (Gr. 5-12)
4. Think of your best or worst day in school. Tell the story of what happened. (Gr. 4 & up)
5. Write a story based on ONE of the following
* Little brothers (or sisters)
* Older sisters (or brothers)
* A narrow escape
* My first memory
* I'd like to go back
* You won't believe it, but ... (Gr. 4 & up)
6. Think of a friend you have, in or out of school. Tell one story that comes to mind when you think of this friend. (All grades)
7. Think of an event you will want to remember when you are old. Tell about what happened in a way that's so clear that if you read this story again when you are eighty, every detail will come flooding back as if it happened y
What is Plexus?
Personal * Portable * Private
Plexus is a free and open source software 'switchboard' which handles all of your social networking needs.
Mahara is an open source e-portfolio, weblog, resume builder and social networking system, connecting users and creating online learner communities. Mahara is designed to provide users with the tools to demonstrate their life-long learning, skills and development over time to selected audiences.
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.
Qimo is a desktop operating system designed for kids. Based on the open source Ubuntu Linux desktop, Qimo comes pre-installed with educational games for children aged 3 and up.
Qimo's interface has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use, providing large icons for all installed games, so that even the youngest users have no trouble selecting the activity they want.
SqoolTools is an online service, brought to you by SqoolTechs, LLC, that provides instructional tools for the purpose of "Supporting Quality Online Opportunities for Learning". Specifically, SqoolTools is a virtual learning environment, built on Moodle open source software, that allows K-12 teachers to create interactive websites to either support classroom instruction or to deliver instruction completely online. SqoolTools provides a wide variety of tools that support most instructional and classroom management tasks.