Posted by Site Administrator on September 28, 2009 - No Comments

They say today’s educators are overworked and underpaid. Luckily, the web offers tools to make your professional life more manageable and less stressful. These add-ons might not change your salary, but we’re sure they’ll ease your workload.

Shortcuts

You probably have enough on your plate to keep you busy through the week, so let these applications make your life at least a little easier.

1. ScrapBook: Helps you organize recently visited sites and create collections based on browsing history.
2. Morning Coffee: This application facilitates your morning routine by displaying the Web sites you visit daily.
3. Quick Restart: Allows you to restart Firefox faster than normal.
4. LastPass: LastPass is a free online password manager and Form Filler that makes your web browsing easier and more secure.
5. Feedly: A magazine-like startpage. A fast and stylish way to read and share the content of your favorite sites and services.
6. Sxipper: Forget your passwords! Sxipper accurately fills in forms, manages passwords and your OpenIDs.
7. Shooter: This browser extension allows you to take a screenshot of a given browser page, or a specific region of it.
8. Speed Dial: Direct access to your most visited Web sites.
9. Wikalong: Embeds a wiki in the Sidebar of your browser, which corresponds to the current page you are viewing.
10. CyberSearch: Adds advanced Google Search capabilities to the Firefox 3 address bar.

Calendars and Timers

Stay focused and on-time with these useful tools.

11. Better GCal: Adds collapsible header and sidebar, event title text wrap, colored weekend days, week numbers, and skins to Google Calendar.
12. GCal Popup: Google Calendar in a nice overlay so that your calendar can be updated without ever leaving the web page.
13. ReminderFox: ReminderFox displays and manages lists of date-based reminders and ToDo’s.
14. TabAlarm: Schedule tabs to open as reminders.
15. Grocery List Generator: This is a helpful little tool to store your recipe-ingredients and other groceries you need regularly. It creates a well-organized grocery list to help make your grocery shopping as easy as possible.
16. Stopwatch: Simple stopwatch you can use to time activities. Adds a "Stopwatch" entry in your Tools menu.
17. TimeTracker: Do you spend too much time on Firefox? Keep track of how much you browse with TimeTracker.
18. Auto Timer: An automatic timer tool including a stopwatch, world clocks, countdown timers and the ability to track years, months, days to a particular date.
19. Toodledo: Quickly add tasks to your Toodledo.com to-do list from anywhere.
20. TodoCue: Puts TodoCue.com todo lists in GMail and Google Calendar sidebars.

Research

Use these apps to help you brainstorm and research topics before assigning projects to your class.

21. Sketcher: A firefox extension that allows you to draw graphic comments over web pages. You can link ’sketches’ to other ’sketches’, webpages or files, organize sketches by topic and add in-line comments.
22. Zotero: This will help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.
23. Research Word: Search any word on a page via context (right click) menu or from Address Bar shortcuts from a variety of resources, including Wikipedia, dictionaries, and media sites.
24. Net Notes: Store Notes on Websites in your Bookmarks.
25. Evernote: This extension provides a toolbar button and context menus to easily add a selection or an entire page to Evernote.
26. Notefish: Notefish makes internet research simple. Notefish is the easiest way to save, organize and share snippets of internet web pages that you find. You can customize the resulting notes by moving them around and changing their colors.
27. iCyte: Create, share and comment on annotations. The webpages you annotate are saved to the iCyte server. This ensures your content is available forever, regardless of the status of the original site.
28. OutWit Docs: OutWit Docs is a document harvester. Presented in icon or file list view, like your desktop, it allows you to easily search the Web for PDF files, Office documents, and more.
29. RSVP Reader: A rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) tool that some research suggests may allow people to read text on the web up to 3.5 times faster.
30. Reference: Reference information at your fingertips.

Writing

Write with efficiency and expertice with Firefox’s help.

31. QuickFox Notes: A multi-tab note taking extension which saves data on bookmarks, so your notes will be synchronized if you have installed Xmarks or Mozilla weave without any new registration.
32. Write Area: Turns textareas into HTML fields enabled by FCKeditor.
33. Live Writerfox: Blog it from Windows Live Writer.
34. Dappad: Dappad notebook lets you write and read notes in the Firefox sidebar.
35. Word Count Plus: Counts number of words in selected text. Can add the count to a running total.
36. Spellbound: Adds spell check to Firefox.
37. Zemanta: Content recommendations while you write. Zemanta helps you enhance your emails and blogs with relevant images, videos, links or tags.
38. ScribeFire: ScribeFire is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.
39. WordPress Helper: The Firefox extension WordPress Helper helps you working with Wordpress by providing useful help and tools.
40. Clipmarks: Clipmarks lets you clip and share specific parts of articles, blog posts or anything else you read on the web.

Lesson Planning

Need help generating interesting, interactive lesson plans? Use these add-ons and teaching aides:

41. PlanbookEdu: PlanbookEdu is great for educators and administrators from any K-12 school.
42. Lessonopoly Gobbler: Lessonopoly Gobbler sidebar lets you drag and drop information you want to save in your lesson plans and projects.
43. Capture Fox: You can capture your screen and record your voice to make screencasts (tutorials, e-lessons, etc.).
44. OpenBerg: Read e-Books from Firefox.
45. QuoteURL Text: Quote URL text will copy selected text to the clipboard including Page Title, Location and copy date.
46. Pluribo: Using artificial intelligence, Pluribo scans all of the reviews on any Amazon webpage and summarizes them into a single paragraph.
47. KidZui: KidZui turns Firefox into fun, kid-safe browser and online playground for kids 3-12 with over a million kids games, YouTube videos, and websites.
48. Yahooligans: Search engine for kids and teens.
49. brOOzi: BrOOzi allows children to discover Internet in a safe and easy way.
50. Read It Later: Save pages of interest to read to your class at a later time. It eliminates cluttering of bookmarks with sites that are merely of a one-time interest.

Calculators

Because even math geniuses need numerical assistance sometimes!

51. Calculator: Calculator offers great features like history, conversions, many functions.
52. Inchfox: Converts pixels to inches and vice versa.
53. Status-bar Scientific Calculator: A tiny expandable calculator at the status bar for quick calculations.
54. Converter: Contextual unit, timezone, and currency converter on any web site; custom conversions for offline text also supported.
55. Graphing Calculator Toolbar: Enter up to 5 equations into this toolbar, then view the graphs using Firefox native SVG support. The toolbar allows rescaling the x and y coordinates and redefining the domain of x.
56. Data Analytics: enables importation, manipulation, analysis and graphing of data. Often websites lock their information in static tables, but this allows you to manipulate how information is listed.
57. FireCal: Body mass index, daily energy requirement, exchange rates, compound interest (calculates principal, interest rate, period, and balance), temperature, wind chill, and contains a high-expression math calculator.
58. AVZ Calculator: A simple calculator that can replace the standard computer calculator.

Video and Images

To keep your students intrigued, keep your lessons and lectures interactive.

59. Picnik: Add a menu options and a toolbar icon to make importing images into Picnik easier.
60. Cooliris 3D Wall: The fastest way to browse photos and videos from the Web or your desktop.
61. YouTube Downloader: Download YouTube Videos in FLV, 3GP, High-Quality MP4 (iPod compatible) and HD (high-definition) MP4.
62. OutWit Images: Browse though images online with just a few clicks: View and collect images from Web sources effortlessly. Display high-resolution photos with their source information.
63. VideoSurf: Get visual video summaries and related videos on Twitter, Google, YouTube, Yahoo! and more. See the contents of a video link before you click to watch the video.
64. Image Assistant: Opens any image in external viewer, thus allowing 4 zooming, rotating, & other rich functionality not available by default.
65. YouTube Toolbar: YouTube Toolbar lets you easily search, browse, share, and download your favorite videos from YouTube! Finally, its the toolbar you’ve been waiting for and it simply works.
66. ThumbnailCopy: An easy way to copy the HTML for an image in a link (like a thumbnail image). Just use the "Copy Image As Link" context menu item. If you’re often posting thumbnail images to blogs, this could be very helpful!
67. FoxFilter: FoxFilter is a personal content filter that helps block inappropriate content. FoxFilter comes with pre-defined filtering rules, but you can also add custom settings to block additional content as needed.
68. Video Download Helper: The easy way to download and convert Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites. This works also for audio and picture galleries.

Dictionaries and Translators

Stay on top of your diction and language skills by utilizing the great add-ons below.

69. Dictionary 2.1.5: Comes in handy when you quickly want to find the meaning of a word.
70. Dictionary Switcher: Toggle between open dictionaries.
71. US English Dictionary: English United States (en-US) spellchecking dictionary.
72. Thesaurus: Thesaurus suggestions at your fingertips.
73. QuickWiki: Quick lookup in Wiktionary and Wikipedia, without the need to open a new tab. Just right-click a word while shift/ctrl/alt is pressed.
74. SnappyWords: English Dictionary and Thesaurus that allows you to find meaning of words and other associated words in a visually interactive display.
75. ImTranslator: ImTranslator includes Online Translator in 1640 language combinations.
76. FoxLingo: Translate web pages and text, learn languages, auto translate, and much more. Supports 53 languages and 36 free online translators.
77. SpanishTrans: Allows you to highlight an English word on the page that you’re visiting and get immediately the Spanish translation.
78. Spanish Dictionary (Spain): Dictionary of Spain-Spanish words and phrases.

Games

Both you and your students need a break from time to time, and the games below will provide just the hiatus you need.

79. BEEweb: Beeweb.org is portal to a series of multiplayer educational games. Spellbee.org is about literacy, Moneybee is financial literacy and algebra, Patternbee regards spatial reasoning, etc.
80. Kibagames: Kibagames Search add-on for Firefox.
81. ChessGames: Search & replay chess games.
82. WordLearner: Teach words in any language, including English, Spanish, French, German, or Italian – while you surf the web! Students can practice vocabulary with online games, mobile phone software and printable puzzles & flashcards.
83. Mines: The classic game of Minesweeper recreated for Firefox. Includes several interesting variations, such as games with hexagonal rather than square tiles, games with multiple mines in some tiles.
84. Gamespot Menu: Navigate the Gamespot website and forums through a drop down menu in FireFox, with added customization for user pages.
85. Ping Pong: A simple game extension.
86. Numpad Typing Drills: Teach touch typing of the numpad keys.
87. Typing Lessons: Use this to help teach keyboard typing.

Miscellaneous

Here are 12 final Firefox applications that will make your classroom your favorite place.

88. Panic Button: Quickly hide all browser windows with a click of a button.
89. CustomizeGoogle: CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhance Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam).
90. AutoCopy: Select text and it’s automatically copied to the clipboard.
91. FireShot: Creates screenshots of web pages (entirely or just visible part). Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations.
92. Wolfram Alpha Google: Display Wolfram Alpha results in Google searches. No need to switch search engines when you can use both at once.
93. 1-Click Weather: View current weather conditions including regional Doppler radar maps and/or international satellite maps and up to 5 days of forecast information within the browser and allows for instant access to detailed and customized weather content.
94. ColorfulTabs: Colors each tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish.
95. MultiLink: Allows you open, copy or bookmark multiple links at the same time rather than having to do them all individually.
96. Personas: Personas are free, easy-to-install “skins” for Firefox that make changing the look of the browser as easy as changing your shirt. With Personas, you can individualize your browser with hundreds of artist-created designs or create your own design.
97. Too Many Tabs: TooManyTabs allows you to store as many tabs as you like by adding extra rows in the Firefox! It saves your browser’s space and memory as idle tabs are put aside.
98. Shrunked: Resizes attached images in email before you send them, so your email gets sent faster.
99. Tutit: Bookmark your tutorials, access tutorials of other users.

Posted by Site Administrator on September 20, 2009 - No Comments

If your dream plan is to attend an Ivy League college, or you just want to learn like an Ivy Leaguer, then these tools will guide you toward an elite-like education without the pricey costs. All of these sites offer free programs, tutorials, blogs and tools to expand your knowledge and bring you closer to building an Ivy League brain.

SAT Preps

If you’re planning on applying to Ivy League colleges, then preparing for the SAT will help increase your score and better your chances of getting into one of your dream schools. All of these programs are free and offer tips and strategies to help you master the exam.

1. SAT Preparation Center. The College Board offers practice questions, practice tests and general test-taking approaches and skills to help you master the SAT.
2. Number2.com. Use this online SAT and ACT prep site that includes user-friendly tutorials, practice sessions and lessons to expand your vocabulary.
3. Major Tests. Get study materials that were developed by test-prep professionals and test your skills on math, vocabulary, reading and writing mock tests.
4. Free SAT Prep. From books and study aids to help and advice on each section of the test, this site is all about helping you do well test day.
5. ProProfs. This site has a comprehensive collection of SAT study guides, practice exams, cram sheets and more.
6. SAT ExamPrep.com. Take advantage of the study resources and the team-designed online prep course that covers all angles of the test.
7. INeedAPencil. This site is set on teaching you important SAT content in the most fun and interesting way with the help of educators and expert SAT tutors.
8. Free SAT Essay Prep. Learn how to convert an essay prompt into a thesis statement, create an outline and use more descriptive language for the essay portion of the exam.
9. Free SAT Vocabulary. Get more than 5,000 free SAT vocabulary words with definitions, similarities and differences.
10. OnlineMathLearning.com. From algebra, geometry to word problems, this site is filled with helpful advice and tons of practice problems to master the math section.

ACT Preps

Much like the SAT, the ACT is a standardized test for college admissions and many schools take this score in conjunction with or separately from the SAT. Therefore, you should practice with these free mock tests, quizzes and practice questions to better your score and impress the Ivy League admissions office.

11. ACT Test Practice. Break down the ACT with this “self-help” test course that offers module quizzes in a number of areas to test your knowledge and help improve your overall score.
12. ACT Sparknotes. Sparknotes isn’t just a guide for books, but also a helpful resource for the ACT with practice questions, strategies for each section and detailed explanations of specific areas.
13. 4Tests.com. This site allows you to arrange the sections of your practice ACT test by checking how many sections you want to complete.
14. ACT Exam Practice Tests. Get study guides, test flashcards and answers to many of your ACT questions.
15. TestPrepPractice.net. Test your skills with 15 practice exams that target specific sections.
16. The Princeton Review. Try the free ACT online demo, which includes a full-length practice test and an interactive lesson that explains the ins and outs of the ACT.
17. ACT Prep. Get general test tips, strategies and practice test questions, as well as the differences between the SAT and ACT and which one you should take.
18. Study Guide Zone. Download ACT study guides and get tips on how to handle test anxiety.
19. ACT Essay Tips. Use these essay writing tips to improve your sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary during the ACT essay portion.

Admissions

In order to go to an Ivy League college, you’ll have to be accepted by the admissions office first. So, use these tools to improve your admissions essay, see specific acceptance statistics and find answers to your admissions questions.

21. Free College. Find out how to get into your dream Ivy League school and what is the best program for your major, as well as the most financial assistance available to you.
22. Admissions Consultant. See how many applicants are accepted to Ivy League colleges each year and find out how you can be one of them.
23. College Admissions Essays. Get tips and advice on how to write the best admissions essay and stand out from the other applicants with a well-structured topic and a clean, understandable paper.
24. College Admission Info. This site touches on a variety of college admission topics.
25. GoCollege. This college go-to guide helps you meet admissions and college requirements, research schools and their programs and make a final choice on a school.
26. Ivy League Admissions. College Confidential has put together a special section for Ivy League applicants with informative articles and advice, as well as a Q & A with "The Dean" who answers many college-bound questions.
27. IvyLeagueAdmission.com. Whether you’re applying for undergraduate studies or medical school at an Ivy League college, you will find tips and strategies to writing essays, getting good reference letters and learn how to handle interviews and waitlists all on this site.
28. The Ivy Coach. While the admissions counseling isn’t free, the Ivy League admission facts and statistics, blog and newsletter are available at no cost.
29. myUsearch. Ivy League students answer applicants’ questions about applying to or entering an Ivy League university on this blog.
30. InLikeMe. Get advice from successful Ivy League applicants and find out more about your desired school and their acceptance rates.

OpenCourseWare

The OpenCourseWare Initiative was first started by MIT and has quickly been adopted by other prestigious colleges looking to share their courses with anyone wanting to learn. All of the courses are free and self-guided without a professor, so you can learn at your own pace. A wide variety of courses are available and no registration is needed.

31. Carnegie Mellon. The university offers open courses, such as engineering statics, French and visual communication design with self-guiding materials and exercises to learn at your own pace.
32. Tufts. By expanding their open courses, Tufts offers courses that represent the University’s "strength in the life sciences," like basic human pathology and geriatric dentistry.
33. JHSPH. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s opencourseware selection provides access to some of the school’s most popular courses, such as mental health, genetics and nutrition.
34. University of Notre Dame. Get open access to the materials used in numerous courses like Africana studies, gender studies and romance languages and literatures.
35. UC Irvine. Try a variety of open courses in a number of different languages.
36. Open Yale Courses. Get the same introductory courses being taught at Yale University by professors and scholars with the goal of sharing educational materials with anyone wanting to learn.
37. MIT OpenCourseWare. This Web-based publication offers free lecture notes, examsand videos from MIT without any registration required.
38. Utah State University. This collection of courses include everything from cattle management to marriage and family relationships.
39. Harvard Medical School. As part of the OpenCourseWare initiative, Harvard has added open courses within their medical school, such as cellular metabolism and human disease and osteoporosis.
40. OCW Blog. The OpenCourseWare blog covers news, information and the implementation of this project at select colleges.

Ivy League Lecture Sites

You can now sit front-row in your favorite Ivy League or other prestigious university’s classroom — virtually. A new wave of schools are offering free online lectures and classroom materials in the form of videos to be watched from the comfort of your own home.

41. Princeton University: WebMedia. From climate change, politics and human rights, these free lecture videos cover a variety of topics and can be watched from the comfort of your home.
42. University Lecture Series. Read or listen to past lectures presented by renowned speakers who spoke at Columbia University.
43. Lecture Demonstrations. Read detailed lectures from Brown University’s Department of Physics that cover everything from mechanics to astronomy.
44. The 60 Second Lectures. Faculty from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts & Sciences share one-minute lectures and thoughts on history, imperialism, music and more.
45. Public Lectures Series. Read inspirational and enlightening monthly lectures from previous speakers who touched on politics and society, arts and humanities and technology and natural sciences.
46. eCommons@Cornell. Here you can find theses and dissertations, as well as multimedia and video lectures and access Cornell’s digital resources and archives.
47. Harvard@Home. Straight from a Harvard classroom to your home, come video lectures on a range of subjects that are available to everyone.
48. Academic Earth. Listen in on academic video lectures taught by influential instructors at some of the most prestigious universities in the nation, such as Berkeley, Harvard and Stanford.
49. World Lecture Hall. Get lectures and course materials all from the University of Texas at Austin.
50. Duke University. You can download lectures, news segments and other classroom materials from Duke University through iTunes U site.

Open Access Journals

All Ivy League colleges have open access journals that allow public access to scholarly journals and written work. Take a look for yourself; all of these electronic materials are free.

51. Columbia University. Browse through thousands of scholarly journals on CU’s library services and find the best information for your desired subject.
52. Dartmouth E-Journal Finder. Find online, scholarly journals that cover a myriad of subjects on Dartmouth’s library site.
53. Brown University Library Collections. Get scholarly and peer-reviewed journals listed from A to Z.
54. Harvard University Library. After much dispute, Harvard has now opened its journals and written collections for public access online.
55. Penn Libraries. From cinema studies to veterinary medicine, you can find numerous electronic journals on UPenn’s open access library.
56. Princeton University Library. Search through thousands of e-journals offered by Princeton.
57. Yale University Library. Find electronic journals and newspapers on this Yale open access site.
58. Cornell University Library. Browse through journals and databases that will make your research easier.
59. Duke University Library. Search hard-to-find e-journals in an advanced search or just look for it by the first letter.
60. SULAIR. Stanford University’s library has newspapers and journals available for download and advanced searches to find what you’re looking for.

Ivy League Blogs

Get in touch with your inner Ivy Leaguer on these elite blogs that feature the newest Ivy League trends and campus news. Although the majority of them speak to other IL students, you can observe for free and even pretend to be one of them in a community forum!

61. IvyGate. Stay abreast on the latest Ivy League trends and news on this gossip blog that covers all eight schools.
62. IvyLeagueBlog.com. Find yourself living vicariously through this unashamed Ivy Leaguer’s blog about his lavish experiences and prestigious education.
63. CornellWatch. Although it’s loosely associated with Cornell University, this blog covers news, politics and pop culture at the Ivy League school.
64. FlyByBlog. Read what’s going on at Harvard on this blog that follows the school’s news, gossip and oddities.
65. Dartblog. Written by Dartmouth students, this blog journals higher education, politics, literature and anything that sparks the interest of students.
66. The Bottom Line. For business-interested readers, this UPenn blog covers business news and practical tips on financial aid, credit cards and the stock market.
67. The Bwog. A Columbia University blog that touches on news, campus gossip and school life.
68. Under the Button. This is the blog counterpart to the University of Pennsylvania’s weekly student magazine, 34th Street, which keeps you up-to-date on the college’s latest news, entertainment and social scene.
69. The Daily Clog. Read what’s going on at Berkeley from sports, arts, technology and news.
70. SpecBlogs. This blog network of the Columbia Daily Spectator offers news about faculty, students and anything else going on throughout campus.

Ivy League Alum Blogs

Learn from these Ivy League alumni as they blog about academia, networking and life after college.

71. Ivy Journal. This Harvard alumna has five years of experience interviewing college applicants and offers advice to students applying to competitive universities.
72. Penn Charlotte Alumni Club. See what this UPenn alum has to say about her alma mater and what events take place after graduation.
73. Princeton Alumni Weekly. See what these alumni are doing now and what their take is on sports and campus news.
74. Yale Alumni Magazine. Here, Yale alumni discuss politics, health and life after college.
75. Dartmouth Association of Alumni. This forum touches on alumni issues or concerns on school changes, teaching and rankings.
76. Cornell Alumni Magazine. This monthly publication features stories on historical Cornell events, reunions and school news.
77. Brown Alumni Association. Find ways to connect with friends after college and see what career services are available.
78. Columbia Connection. Columbia alumni can join a forum to discuss gatherings, news and academia.
79. Harvard Humanist. This alumni blog allows graduates from all Harvard schools, including current and former faculty, staff and students to discuss religion, philosophy, politics, culture and much more.
80. MIT Alumni. This blog encourages life-long learning and staying connected with other alumni for upcoming events and news.

Encyclopedias

In order to build an Ivy League brain you must be educated in a variety of topics. Start with these free encyclopedias to get basic explanations and read articles pertaining to your subject of interest.

81. MSN Encarta. Brush up on your world knowledge and use the featured literature guides to get new perspectives on authors and novels.
82. Wikipedia. Find information on arts, geography and famous scientists with Wikipedia’s massive content that comes in a variety of languages.
83. Encyclopedia. Get answers to your detailed questions and searches with Encyclopedia’s reliable, published reference works and trusted sources like Oxford University Press.
84. The Free Dictionary. Search through popular articles from The Columbia Encyclopedia or familiarize yourself with computer concepts and terminology with the Computer Desk Encyclopedia.
85. Questia.com. This encyclopedia has more than 52,000 articles and each one has a link to a premium reference library with thousands of journals, books and magazines.
86. Britannica. The Britannica has trusted information for thousands of topics, including current events, sports and travel.
87. Encyberpedia. Considered the "living encyclopedia," this site has information on the topics that affect our daily lives, such as health, communication and weather.
88. HyperHistory. From the Civil War to the Iraq War, you can find more than 2,000 files covering a span of 3,000 years of history.
89. Medical Encyclopedia. The MedlinePlus encyclopedia has more than 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms and more.
90. ScienceZine. This is an encyclopedia of articles on major science topics, such as nature, technology and astronomy.

Intelligence Tests

Make sure you’re up to par with the other brainiacs at Ivy League colleges by testing your IQ and challenging yourself with free IQ tests, current events quizzes or other mind exercises.

91. AllTheTests.com. Test your knowledge and intelligence with IQ tests and take news tests and daily quizzes that work your brain.
92. Am I Dumb?. Find out how smart you are compared to others with this intelligence test that may put your ego at bay.
93. IQTest. Want to measure your intelligence in comparison to others your age? Take your pick from a private, fun IQ test or take the more detailed, structured test that reveals key strengths and weaknesses.
94. Free IQ Test. Take the quick IQ test to see where your intelligence stands and read about the history of the IQ test and famous high IQers.
95. International High IQ Society. Try Multiple IQ tests of varied difficulty and questions, as no two tests are the same.
96. IQ Test Labs. Take the PhD certified IQ test and receive detailed results with 25 pages of analysis, advice and career tips.
97. TestCafe.com. Test your IQ in its entirety with a detailed IQ test and an emotional IQ test.
98. IQ Test Free. Short IQ tests are available here, as well as personality, career and psychological tests.
99. Fun Education. Take the PhD-certified IQ test, as well as the spatial IQ quiz and personality test.
100. TheFreeIQTest.com. After you take this IQ test, you’ll also see what areas of the U.S. have the highest IQ scores.

Posted by Site Administrator on September 13, 2009 - No Comments

While there are still some educators who dispute the importance of technology in the classroom, there is no dispute over the fact that technology is here to stay in schools. Whether you are one of those tech-savvy teachers who can’t get enough of technology news and ideas or you are a teacher just learning to embrace technology in the classroom, these blogs offer a wealth of information straight from teachers and other professionals in the education field themselves.

Technology in Education

Follow the latest trends, keep up with news, and find out what others are saying about technology in education with these blogs.

1. Technology Fridge. Like magnets on your refrigerator, this blogger offers tons of little tidbits of technology for the classroom from articles to blog posts to cool tools.
2. Teach42. Steve Dembo, a former a kindergarten teacher, writes about education and technology in this blog from Discovery Education.
3. Learning and Technology: A Blog for Reflection. Lee Kraus stays on top of all the latest technology trends applicable to the classroom and shares them on this blog.
4. Bit by Bit. With a combination of text and podcast posts, this blog shares tons of information about technology and education.
5. Drape’s Takes. The Director of Technology Services in a Utah school district, Darren Draper shares his thoughts about using technology in education and how best to do so.
6. 2¢ Worth. This veteran educator takes a look at education, technology, and the forces that shape them here.
7. Philly Teacher. A computer science teacher, this blogger shares his perspective about technology in the classroom with recent topics including using Kindle and cell phones in schools and an example of education without technology.
8. A GeekyMomma’s Blog. Making a career change and returning to teaching, this GeekyMomma has plenty to share about technology and education.
9. Bud the Teacher. Bud often writes about ways to implement technology in education with some recent posts covering how to read social networks as texts and participating in online collaborative writing.
10. Graham Wegner – Open Educator. This Australian educator blogs about technology in the classroom here.
11. Blog by Carol. With posts ranging from the problems with Blackboard to statistics about the effectiveness of online learning, this blog provides helpful information about online learning and technology.
12. Dangerously Irrelevant. Technology and school policy share double billing on this blog.
13. Geek!Ed!. Get weekly podcasts from these educators to find out the latest on technology in education.

Innovation

Many teachers enjoy the opportunity for innovation that technology brings. Read these blogs to find out what some of those teachers are doing.

14. Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom. Blogging about everything from social media to Twitter to the value of homework, this educator is all about technology and innovative processes.
15. Qrious. This blog is full of creative ideas and resources for teachers, including plenty of technology tools.
16. Rethinking Learning. Innovative learning techniques involving technology such as blogging, Twitter, and sharing information with Creative Commons licensing are often featured here.
17. Nebraska Change Agent. Follow along with this social studies teacher in Nebraska as she shares her ideas and resources for incorporating technology and changing the way students learn.
18. Avenue4Learning. Michelle Baldwin believes in reaching the students through their world, which frequently involves innovative uses of technology to do so.
19. The Power of Educational Technology. Liz B. Davis’ blog strives to inspire innovative teaching by incorporating technology in the classroom.
20. NJ Tech Teacher Musings. Technology and innovative teaching ideas are featured in this blog written by a K-8 teacher in New Jersey.
21. On an e-journey with generation Y. Ning, Skype, and more are a part of the experience this teacher and her students share as they explore technology in their classroom.

Technology Resources for Teachers

These blogs offer tips, advice, resources and more to give teachers the tools they need to implement technology into their curricula.

22. Cool Cat Teacher Blog. Vicki Davis enjoys popularity for good reason with the posts here offering truly helpful suggestions and advice on education and technology.
23. The Clever Sheep. This educator shares his tech knowledge both in the classroom and with other teachers via this blog.
24. EdTech Talk. Find webcasts from several sources in this blog that offers helpful tech solutions, advice, and more to educators.
25. Twenty Minutes for Tech. Listen to these podcasts to discover a wealth of helpful tech information from other educators.
26. Tech Chick Tips. These two educators share lots of tips for teaching students with technology.
27. Secondary Worlds. This blog features tons of information about new tools you can use as a teacher, including help for podcasting, using Twitter, creating video, and more.
28. Free Technology for Teachers. These posts provide plenty of free technology resources for teachers.
29. Teachers Love SMART Boards. Dedicated specifically to using SMART Boards, this blog shares tons of information and tips.
30. Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day. Jane Hart provides a new resource to support technology in the learning environment every day on her blog.
31. Teacher Reboot Camp. Find a ton of helpful resources to implement so you can connect with students through technology.
32. Langwitches Blog. Find many links to technology resources on this blog along with information about ways to use the technology in the classroom.
33. Educational Technology Weblog. From the Educational Technology Department of Palm Beach County Schools, this blog offers tons of great resources for teachers.
34. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day. Designed for teaching ELL, ESL, and EFL students, this daily listing of websites grouped by theme are handy for all teachers and students.
35. TeachPaperless. An awesome blog to help teachers go paperless, find plenty of information and resources here.
36. Enhanced English Teacher. Get great ideas to teach English with technology by following this blog.
37. iLearn Technology. Find tips to integrate technology in the classroom on this blog written by a K-5 technology specialist.
38. Best Practices in Education: Total Focus. This blog provides all the latest educational news from Twitter users in short posts updated throughout the week.
39. The Edublogger. The official blog of Edublogs, this is the place to find advice and support to educators who blog.
40. Think Like a Teacher. This tech-savvy teacher offers insight into how and what to incorporate when thinking about technology and education.

Virtual Worlds

These blogs are devoted to sharing information on ways to utilize virtual worlds such as Second Life in an educational setting.

41. The Educator’s Second Life. Find plenty of great ways to use Second Life with your class on this blog.
42. Oh! Virtual Learning. With an emphasis on Second Life, this blogger also takes a look at other virtual learning environments and general technology in education.
43. The Story of My "Second Life". This blog is a chronicle of a K-20 educator’s grant-funded experience using Second Life in education.
44. Victoria’s Blog. This educator shares information about Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other virtual world applications in the school setting.
45. Greenbush Labs Blog. Implementing technology in education, especially through virtual worlds, is the focus of this blog.
46. jokaydia. This blog is all about virtual worlds in education. They are currently planning for an "unconference," so check in to see how you can participate.
47. Discovery Educator Network Second Life. Find plenty of support for educators using Second Life at this blog.

Special Education and Assistive Technology

Technology brings unique opportunities for students in special education or requiring assistive technology. These blogs share information and resources about ways technology can help your students.

48. EdTech Solutions. This teacher shares what she knows as well as what she picks up along the way from other bloggers and Twitter users to help facilitate learning for all students.
49. Teaching All Students. Assistive technology in the special education classroom is the focus of this teacher’s blog.
50. Thinking UDL: Universal Design for Learning. Learn how technology can help facilitate differentiation in the classroom in this blog.
51. AT Cubed. This assistive technology specialist shares information about assistive technology and how best it can be implemented in education.
52. Christine Southard’s Blogspot. An inclusion teacher trained in special ed, Christine blogs about co-teaching, assistive technology, and tons of great technology resources to use in the classroom.
53. Apace of Change. This school psychologist focuses much of his blog on assistive technology issues and special education.
54. SpeEdChange. Focusing on many policies and issues that create an unequal educational system, this blog explores ways to make learning accessible for all students.
55. Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner. A great resource, this blog features free tools and applications that specifically support facilitating learning for special education students.
56. Education on the Plate. A special education teacher and campaigner against disabilism, this teachers writes about issues important to innovative special ed classes.
57. Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs. Teachers and students with multiple special needs will find this blog to be a valuable resource.
58. The Assistive Technology Blog. From transcription of online meetings to resources for online keyboarding for kids with autism, this blog offers tons of resources.
59. Assistive Technology. Written by a school psychologist with an interest in assistive technology, project management, and web 2.0, this blog offers lots of information educators may find helpful.
60. Teaching Students with Learning Difficulties. Find tons of links to helpful websites to help you create an awesome learning environment for all students.
61. SMD Teacher. Working with students with multiple disabilities, this teacher shares her experience as well as helpful tech resources such as the list of SMART Board software.

High Tech Librarians

These librarians are all about bringing technology into the education world.

62. TechnoTuesday. This blog does a great job of incorporating elements important to teachers and librarians including a large amount of technology resources for both.
63. Librarians Matter. Kathryn Greenhill stays on top of emerging technologies and writes about them here.
64. The Shifted Librarian. Jenny, the self-proclaimed information maven will keep you up to date with all the latest technology and keep you connected with others educators as they share information on the Internet.
65. The Blue Skunk Blog. This librarian incorporates poems and literature into the posts that cover such topics as current events, social networking, multitasking, and more.
66. HeyJude. Join Judy O’Connell for information about using technology in education, and more specifically, in libraries.
67. Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog. E-books, digital libraries, and Twitter are just a few of the latest topics on this librarian’s blog.
68. Informania. Helpful websites, better ways to use Gmail, and digital texts are just a few of the tech posts that appear here.
69. The Unquiet Librarian. This high school librarian and media specialist writes plenty about using new media in education.
70. librarian.net. Jessamyn West provides an excellent place to find information about technology, libraries, and education.
71. Calling All School Librarians!. Librarians and educators can stay on top of conferences, technology, and more with this blog.

Corporate Education

Get the corporate perspective on technology in education with these blogs.

72. eLearning Technology. Keep up with trends and new applications with this blog from the CEO/CTO of an eLearning development firm.
73. Edutopia Blogs. This blog is an excellent source of information about cutting-edge education trends, innovations, and advice from those in the trenches.
74. Britannica Blog. Science and technology feature on this blog that shares great resources as well as news.
75. Making change. eLearning is the focus of this blog with most topics directed specifically at adult learners.
76. Angela Maiers. This educational consultant shares lots of information about learning with many posts including tech-savvy ideas.
77. Tech Tools. This blog from Scholastic provides the latest news as well as information from real educators to stay on top of the latest in education and technology.
78. Clarey. Check out Janet Clarey’s blog at Branden Hall Research where e-learning, social media, and technology are all featured.
79. Time4Writing. Get tips and strategies for teaching writing from this online writing resource company.

Higher Education and Research

From professors blogging about technology to technology in college classrooms, these blogs cover it all.

80. Howard Rheingold’s Vlog. This video blog by Howard Rheingold includes topics about social media and 21st century learning.
81. Got Social?. A PhD student in Educational and Technology Communication, this blogger has plenty to share about technology in higher education settings as well as resources for educators implementing technology.
82. The Wired Campus. Focusing on technology in the secondary educational setting, this blog offers everything from Twitter for improving writing to online courses.
83. technology. This college professor blogs about social networking and other technology usages in the classroom.
84. Lessig Blog. This popular and influential blog provides an in-depth look at technology, freedom, and the law.
85. TeleFrieden. Telecommunications and the law feature in this blog written by Rob Frieden.
86. My PhD Blog. This Danish PhD candidate blogs about youth and their usage of social networks.
87. Augmented Social Cognition. From the Palo Alto Research Center, this blog looks at how groups work and think with much of the research studying groups in the context of new media.
88. Posthegemony. The posts here study how cultures and civilizations rebound after a period of oppression by looking at current events and popular culture.
89. Angela A Thomas. Dr. Thomas includes plenty of information about technology, especially as it pertains to education, in her blog.
90. New Media Literacies Blog. This group studies new media and learning in an effort to make positive changes to the current educational system.

General Technology

While not focusing specifically on technology and education, any tech-savvy teacher will enjoy keeping her finger on the pulse of technology with these blogs.

91. TechCrunch. Stay on top of all the latest news about Internet products and companies with this blog.
92. Ars Technica. A popular blog for all things technology, you will find plenty of information and trends when you follow these posts.
93. I, Cringely. This blog share the insight of Robert X. Cringely, who has written professionally on technology since the mid-80s.
94. TED Blog. Watch these popular videos from TED that feature the best and brightest innovators in technology, the arts, and more.
95. The Technology Liberation Front. Current technology issues are explored in legal and political terms here.
96. Kasper Souren a.k.a. Guaka. Tech topics helpful to teachers such as social networks, wikis, and open source are frequently featured on this blog.
97. Alertbox. Dr. Jakob Nielsen examines web usability issues in his bi-weekly updates here.
98. MobileActive’s Blog. Mobile technology and social change are the topics of the posts on this blog.
99. Technology360. Written by a former executive at NPR, this blog examines technology and social media.
100. Question Technology. Kevin Arthur provides commentary about technology and society on his blog.

Posted by Site Administrator on September 1, 2009 - No Comments

With the rising cost of higher education and the current economic downturn, it is enough to make many college students start looking for creative ways to come up with money for school. The following list shares ten examples of ideas students have used that are truly interesting, unique, or just way out there. While you may be inspired to try some of these yourself, you may want to think twice before actually doing so.

1. Going naked. Students who are members of the American Association of Nude Recreation for 18 months can apply for a $2000 scholarship. They must submit an essay supporting nude recreation. AANR also offers $1000 for scholarly articles promoting nudity and $500 for publishable pieces (and photos) about the benefits of going nude.
2. Prostitution. This popular blog, Confessions of a College Call Girl, supposedly recounts the…uh…activities of a girl in college working to support herself. While some doubt the veracity of the assertions made on this blog, there are plenty of other stories of college women using the oldest profession to pay for school.
3. Sell a kidney. A man in California tried to sell his kidney on Craigslist for $100,000 so that he could pay off bills, send himself to college, and start a college fund for his children. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that such transactions are illegal in America, so the ad was removed.
4. Egg donations. Some women, like this coed at California State University, Northridge, are selling their eggs for between $6000 to $8000 a donation. For women who are able to sell their eggs, some can make as much as $40,000 a year. Men can also sell their sperm, but typically receive much less per donation at around $75 per visit. The requirements for both are based heavily on education, physical appearance, and family medical history.
5. Sell virginity. A 22 year-old woman auctioned off her virginity in order to pay off college debt and fund her upcoming grad school expenses. Some reports indicate that after news of the auction became public, she received bids up to $3.7 million for one night with her. It must run in the family. Her older sister worked at a brothel in Nevada for three weeks to pay for her education.
6. Disco. Jason Hopkins took to the street in a different way, disco dancing to earn money for grad school. He taught himself to dance after studying John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and has earned around $10,000 a year.
7. Sell class notes. This student created a way to sell class notes to fellow classmates and earned just over $100 in just one class. With ideas for expanding, he may have made even more the next semester–or he may have run into another professor like the one in his Asian studies class where he was warned of the unethical practice on which he was embarking. He made $0 profit in that class (not sure about his grade).
8. Get corporate sponsorship. Chris and Luke decided to set out to find corporate sponsors to pay their way through college. They offered to eat food, read magazines, drive cars, and whatever else it takes to market the corporate sponsors’ products in return for money to attend college. As wacky as this may sound, it appears to have worked. Chris and Luke received corporate sponsorship from First USA and went to Pepperdine University and University of Southern California, respectively.
9. Networked begging. One college student sent out an email begging for money to help finance his tuition at New York University. By asking for amounts as small as $2.50, he earned $6,000 from his friends, friends of his friends, and friends of those friends. Describing his situation with a mom on disability and a father working three jobs, the college freshman clearly knows a thing or two about persuasive writing.
10. Gay porn. A student at a Christian college in Western Pennsylvania was recently suspended when another student at the school recognized him from a gay porn movie. The porn actor claims he did it to pay for college and explained that he could earn up to $8,000 a scene. Luckily, he worked out a deal with the school so that he still gets his diploma, but he isn’t allowed to participate in graduation (even if he promises to remain clothed).