Adobe Air

Upon going to the Adobe Air website, www.adobe.com/products/air/everyone/ I found an interactive Ajax desktop application called Earth Browser(http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1510519) and downloaded a demo version to my home computer. This application is awesome, it shows everything to do with the planet earth in one place. Here are a few of the items it includes:

stars,night shadows, city lights, northern lights (north and south poles),weather (for each continent), clouds, tropical storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, and wildland fires and much much more.

Each item can be checked on or off, depending on what I am interested in seeing and keeping an eye on. Foe example, I currently have wildland fires checked on, all the wildland fires in the U.S./Canada are shown with a symbol of fire marking there location. I can click on the symbol of one of the many fires marked on the earth, and a text screen pops up that tells me the name of the fire, its lat and long, size, and containment percentage. The same holds true for the volcanoes , if I click on one of the volcanoes, I can learn the name of the volcano, its location, lat and long, elevation and a brief synopsis of its present or past eruption history.

Earth browser has so much potential, and I feel like I don't even know the half of what it's capable of doing. I have the ability to spin the world on its access to see Asia, the South Pole, or Greenland. If I click on a city, the application also gives me the 7-day forecast.

As I mentioned before I am only in the demo mode, the application said it was free when I downloaded it, but occasionally a screen will pop up asking me to purchase something for a minimal price. I just ignore it, and click demo again. It seems to be up to date, and I don't appear to be lacking any pertinent information. I will be keeping this application on my computer for sure.

This is a great application that can be accessed through the desktop, and could be used in science, current events, geography lessons. Of course getting it downloaded on machines at a school site would have to be approved by an administrator, but I can't see why it wouldn't be. There are no adds, and no where else to go or wonder in the application.

Gadgets

I have added so many gadgets to my iGoogle I don't even know where to start. Listed are a few of the additions just on my first tab.

Google Calendar @ google.com/calendar
This is currently a tool I use with my job. It allows me to keep track of
the individuals I work for schedules and my own. They are distinguished by the colors I give them. It is nice to have a quick reference as to what my day will look like when I first log on to the computer in the morning.

World Sunlight Map @ die.net/earth
I find it fascinating to know that when it is dark in Alaska, that it is light in Europe and Asia. It is now 9:39pm and the shadow is just barely beginning to cover Juneau on the map.

Weather Station or Juneau @ code.google.com/p/pwsgadgets
Even though I know deep inside that the weather in Juneau is going to be 55 degrees, raining and overcast, I still find it necessary to see what Weather Underground has to say about the weather. I guess it helps give me hoe that just because the Fireweed has begun to bloom, that summer in Southeast Alaska isn't over.

Widgets, Oh Yeah!

I almost forgot to say that I also added widgets from a few of my Web Applications and Mashups.

myfolia.com/
zoeybot.com/
www.dipity.com/
mashupawards.com/
kids.quintura.com/

Widgets

I began my widget search with Google. I simply typed widgets into the search bar and away I went, to the land of overwhelming resources. Actually it didn't take me to long to find widgetbox.com. Widgetbox had different categories, and a search bar, I used both to look for educational widgets. I have many more then four widgets uploaded to both my blog and iGoogle home page, but here are the four that interested me for this particular assignment.


Today in History, widgetbox.com/widget/today-in-history-lividbox, is a widget that allows readers of my blog, or myself in my iGoogle pages to read about history and learn or relearn facts about topics that occurred many years ago. I like the thought of being able to have students pick of the topics in this widget and do more research on them, and teaching the rest of the class about its significance, and how or if it did anything to influence the way we live our lives today. After reading this for a few days, it seems to me that some topics are more important then others, and I would probably disregard as important historically, but that is just my opinion.

Grammar Girl Quiz, widgetbox.com/widget/grammargirlquiz, is a widget that quizzes on proper grammar. I think I could really use some refreshing on correct grammar usage, and so could many other people. I added this widget more for myself then other people. Not all the questions are self explanatory, and basically choices will pop up and you have to pick the grammatically correct sentence. If you answer a quiz question incorrectly, Grammar Girl gives a brief explanation as to why you were wrong, and why the other grammatical answer is correct. After using this widget and completing the quiz, I soon realized that they wanted me to purchase other Grammar Girl materials. This widget does not upload new quizzes or questions, and I will not be using it in the future.

Nutrition Game for Kids, widgetbox.com/widget/nutrition-game-for-kids-nourishinteractive, is a widget that offers interactive games, that help reinforce proper eating habits and the food groups with children. Also available on the website are resources and tools for parents. The widget I attached to my blog is one of the games, it is memory. Each of the food groups is a color that coincides with its color on the food pyramid. Each level is timed, and depending on the level you choose, that determines how many tiles need to be matched. I did fine on the easy and tricky level, but it took a few tries before I passed the hard level. This widget and its corresponding website could be a great reinforcement tool for primary age students. If they can't read it's o.k. because the matching cards all have pictures on them as well as the food and food group.

The last widget I uploaded for this part of the assignment was, USA Smarts, widgetbox.com/widget/usa-smarts. As of now there are 44 rounds of multiple choice questions that have to do with the United States; its cities, landmarks and attractions. The nice thing about this widget is that players can add and provide feedback on the questions and challenge a friend. The quiz also gives little fun facts about the cities or states it asks the questions about. I don't know how many elementary students would know the answer to some of the questions but it sure would be fun to see out of my friends who gets the high score. I think other people who visit the blog will enjoy seeing just how much they know about the United States and just what they have forgotten over time too.

Mashups

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application a Web Application is an application that is accessed via Web browser over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. It is also a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language (such as HTML, JavaScript, Java, etc.) and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable. Also according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid) a Mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.

So the way I interpret these two definitions is that a Mashup is a web application that contains data from multiple sources and allows the viewer to acces all there data from source. I found three Mashups from the site mashupawards.com. This web site lists all sorts of Mashups that people have voted the best. From this site I choose the following three Mashups to explore in more depth, play.typeracer.com, triptouch.com, and kids.quintura.com.

Type Racer is a Mashup that allows individuals to practice their typing skills. It allows people to compete against themselves or others. The typing tests are timed and the game uses movie quotes generated from Amazon. I was only able to add this site to my social bookmarking tool, but there were no widgets to embed in my blog. Users do not need to sign up for an account, and to use this tool is free. This is a Mashup I will use again in the future, as I still look at the keys sometimes when I type, and really need to break myself of that habit.

Trip Touch is a travel Mashup, and has many of the same components as the other travel sites I've looked over. One added plus on this Mashup was the currency counter. As a traveler, it is always nice to know how the U.S. dollar is being converted to other countries. That could make or break a trip for me. If one wants to use this Mashup, you must register. I have so many new passwords and usernames, I'm not that interested in starting another, but heck, why stop now. I was able to add this Mashup widget to to my iGoogle Travel tab. I'm not sure how often I will refer to this, as I am pretty happy with some of the other travel applications I've found so far.

Quintura is a Mashup search engine for children. This Mashup would best be used in an Early Childhood classroom, as the graphics and cartoon look may not be appealing to intermediate or older children. I did notice though that when I searched for Polar Bears, the resources where basic and complex in definition and description. So if older children are able to look past the home page, it could be a success with them as well. I was able to embed this Mashup into my blog, and add it to my social bookmark delicious. I think it would be interesting to do a poll and evaluation with students to see which search engine they would enjoy the best, this or the Zoeybot web application I found previously.

Personal Web Applications

As I’ve done throughout this course and on my blog postings, one of the personal web applications I evaluated is on traveling. Big Surprise! ZoomAndGo @ zoomandgo.com is almost like a social network as well. This site allows members, via a short sign-up, to contribute, review and inquire about travel destinations, places to stay and must see sites around the world. Members have posted pictures, videos and text to help give the reviewer ample information in which to make a decision about prospective vacations. Upon signing up the site, they ask a few questions about your interests, places you’ve visited, and the places you might like to visit in the future. I think this is a good goal making tool. I have already begun to look more in depth at New Zealand and it as a possibility for our next travel adventure. I have really enjoyed searching in this application as it is very intuitively set-up. Locations are divided into Continents, then countries, and from there are listed in categories (Attractions, Hotels, etc.) and reviews are based on a number scale, 10.0 being the highest. I am really in love with the video option, and travelers who have posted video of their hotel rooms, and accommodations. It gives a much clearer picture of what hotels offer, and look like, versus just a photo. I will be using this site in the future, and not only for international travel, but also travel in the states.

The other personal web application I researched was myfolia.com. This is basically a gardening diary. It allows me to store garden information; what I planted, when, soil type, location and any notes that I deem important. Again this is another social network too. Individuals can choose to share their gardens, tips and notes with each other. I added a widget to my blog and iGoogle home page. I added a few of the plants I have put into my garden this summer. The site also lets you upload photos of plants, and automatically searches for the plants as you begin to type in the plant name, this is a plus because it also includes the scientific name. I already know I need to pay better attention to my plant labels in the future, because I’m not sure I picked the right type of strawberry from the list, yikes! I can’t wait to use this application mainly for the annuals I buy every year. It will be nice to keep tabs on which plants took off, and those that didn’t.

Professional Web Applications

When I first read the words web application, I was like, what is this, am I already using these? Then there was a brief flash of light, and the ah ha factor. I realized that web applications are basically any software that I access through the web via the Internet. The best part about some web applications is the fact that you don't have to install software.

As suggested in our assignment I searched through the sites Patti graciously gave us and eventually found most of my web applications from the site www.go2web20.net. The first web application I found that related to elementary education was www.e-learningforkids.org. e-Learning for Kids is a global non-profit foundation that offers free online courses and lessons for children, ages 5-12. I was immediately happy when I realized I didn't have to install anything on my computer, and that this website would be available for students in a classroom with Internet service to use. There are lessons broken into subject category; math, science, English language, language arts, computer science and health science. I specifically looked deeper into the science section. I was a little disappointed with the amount of science lessons. However other subjects, like math, had many lessons to choose from, and were based on age level. While in the science category I chose to try out the lesson titled Conserving Earth's Resources. This semi-interactive unit gives vocabulary terms in relation to the topic, and leads the listener in sequential order through slides, that help define and explain what a resource is. The voice sounds like a intermediate aged student and doesn't seem to talk down to the listener either. All in all, I can't see this site as a web application that would accompany many of my lessons, but certainly could be one students could freely enter on their own in the classroom, without reservation.

The next web application I explored was www.dipity.com. This site allows people to make an interactive timeline that has the ability to be posted in ones blog. My main reason for choosing this application was for the specific use of having students make a timeline to help reinforce dates, and important times in history. I think students can create a timeline that represent their lives, historical inventions, scientific discoveries, and describe the most important influential periods of art. In order to create a timeline, one does have to sign up for an account, but other then that it is perfectly free and I did not have to download any software either. The features of the web application allowed me to create a timeline, and at each event I had the opportunity to attach a picture, description, video or link. The one draw back so far is that I can't seem to get the date I created the timeline off the timeline. Argh! I'm sure it's an option somewhere, all in time. It also appears that the timeline can be attached to ones blog if they so chose.

My third professional web application is zoeybot.com. This is a search application, like Google and Wikipedia, but specifically designed for kids. This application can be downloaded to classroom computers or accessed via the Internet. It is also free, yippee! Every one's favorite words. I found that this application is best suited for elementary aged students, as the pictures and definitions are a bit elementary for older students. Zoeybot, is developed by educators and parents to ensure that students can search for facts without being bombarded by ads and unnecessary content. I will definitely use this site as a resource in my elementary classroom.

Lastly, the last professional web application I investigated was www.pikikids.com. This site allows students to use Pikikids to create comics. I liked this site merely for fun, no particular subject or lessons came to mind. I thought it could possibly be a site that students could use during some free time in class. Participants do need a username and password, and this is relatively pain free and relatively little information is required. The creator is allowed to choose the comic layout, cell quantity and settings. Creators have the ability to upload photos, add text bubbles, and use a few effects as well. It is a very intuitive program and gives very detailed instructions. I would use this program in my classroom for sure.