SpiderScribe

SpiderScribe is an online mind mapping and brainstorming tool. It lets you organize your ideas by connecting notes, files, calendar events, etc. in free-form maps. You can collaborate and share those maps online, with other teachers or your students. There is a video on the website which shows you exactly how Spiderscribe works - I've also posted it below for you to look at.

The good thing about Spiderscribe is that it's free to use, or you can choose to pay for an upgraded account.  You can see an example of a map that someone has created about Cognitivism here for you to get some ideas on how to use this great tool.

Apps recommended by a College Student

Carly, from one of my favourite blogs 'College Prep' has written up a list of her favourite iPad apps that she uses for her college classes. Instead of re-listing them here I'll direct you over to the blog entry as she explains them best. I've used one of the apps that she's recommended, Dropbox, which is fantastic - and the others she's recommended look great as well. I love the idea of XanEdu, with teachers being able to make up their own course material for the students to easily access via their iPads - there's so much you can do with it.

The Joy of Books

I'm not sure how many of you have seen this little video that's been all over the internet recently, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. It's a really cute, feel good video of what happens in a book store after it closes.

Herald Sun's Top 5 Apps

I apologise for the delay in posts recently. As you might have noticed, we've had quite a few adventures and things going on in the Library from the start of this year, plus we've been dealing with internet blocks.

 I recently noticed this list of top 5 iPad Apps in the Herald Sun and thought I’d share them with you. I’ve actually used a couple of these myself, and have found them quite good.

1. Wonky Donkey

This best-selling kid’s book now comes in an interactive version for iPad. Kids can run their fingers over the text to hear the story or how any word is said or spelt. They can also colour the pages with the paint palette mode.

Price: $5.49

App Store Rating: 5/5

This is clearly too young for most kids at Salesian, however it may be great for some of the struggling readers. It also shows how far eBooks have come along, and there are other books out there which would be more suited to older readers.

2. Houzz Interior Design Ideas

Need inspiration for a spot of home redecorating? This app has a huge database of design ideas, with more than 200,000 high-res photos. Browse photos by style, room or location and save your favs to your virtual idea book.

Price: Free

App Store Rating: 5/5

This app sounds like it would be great for any students studying art, or design.

3. Pay Assistant

If maths wasn’t your strong suit at school, this app can help stop you short changing yourself at shops and restaurants. It includes calculators to tally up savings at sales, tips and your change.

Price: $1.99

App Store Rating: 5/5

4. Please Touch the Exhibit

Celebrate Melbourne Museum’s 10^th birthday with this app. It takes you behind the glass cases of some of the treasures on display, including Phar Lap, the creatures of the Dinosaur Walk exhibit and the animals of the Wild exhibit.

Price: Free

App Store Rating: 3/5

I haven't had a chance to download this app yet, but I really want to. It sounds like it gives you a chance to see exhibits in the Melbourne Museum without actually going there and seeing all the information in relation to them. Definitely worth a look I think!

5. Melbourne Literary

Discover the literary treasures of Melbourne, the second UNESCO City of Literature. This app is a guide to book shops, literary locations and monuments, ‘hip lit’ cafes, writers and books set in the city.

Price: $2.99

App Store Rating: 5/5

This is one of the apps that I have on my iPhone (as well as the Melbourne Historical App) and I really like it. It allows you to find little gems around Melbourne which you might not have found normally, including shops, momuments, cafes etc.

Google: Search by Image

Google has added a nifty little tool to their Image Search area which now allows you to actually search using an image! Here's a short video you can watch to find out how it works. It's pretty easy and on the couple of tests I did, it actually works. I think it's very clever.

E-Z Fynd - the safe and easy way to search the internet!

Ever wondered why you can never find what you're searching for on the internet?

(With search terms and websites like these, is it any wonder!)



Lucky for us, there's a great new search engine out that you'll find extremely helpful! It's apparently the new easy and safe way to search the internet. Check out the video below to find out more. It's definitely worth a watch.

Hilarious right?! Luckily the internet is so easy to search these days, through Google, or any of the other many search engines. And for those of us who do end up searching for things like kitt eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHS (like in the picture above) then unfortunately you might have to resort to E-Z Fynd (although I'm not sure even they will be able to help you)......or just not use the internet at all.

Pearltrees

I'm not sure how many of you use bookmarking websites like Diigo or Delicious, but I really find them unappealing and difficult to use. Well, that was until recently, when Tina introduced me to a site called Pearltrees. Pearltrees is a more visual and easy to use bookmarking website which I recommend you all go out and sign up for straight away!
You can create trees {or subjects} to which you can attach pearls {or websites}. Here is a picture of some of the trees that I have created:

You can then click on each tree to open it up, and then attach any pearls {or websites} you want. As you can see have one for my blogs - as there's a lot of those that I read - one for websites which have some great ideas for work....you can really make a tree for anything you want! Once you click into a tree, you'll be able to see the websites or blogs that you've made into pearls. If you hover over your pearls you'll be able to see a screenshot of the site. Here is my tree that I keep the food blogs and website that I love in:

Once you click to open a pearl it opens up the website, but keeps the pearltrees banner at the top of the page, so once you're done with one site you can simply click 'next' or 'previous' to scroll through your pearls. Or alternatively, you can select to go back to the Pearltrees site or share the site on Facebook and Twitter, as you can see below.

The part I like most about Pearltrees, is that they have an app available for free download on the iPad. The layout is the same as the website, but it's just so easy to swipe through your saved websites. Plus, on both the website and the app you can find people with similar interests and scroll through their pearls - you might find some more sites which are of interest to you which you can add as pearls!