Economics Education Resources

The International Monetary Fund has some good resources that can help you help your students gain an understanding of global economics. On the IMF education page you can find resources for middle school students and high school students. One of the middle school resources I like is a game called Where in the World & What in the World is Money? For high school students Monetary Mania is a game in which students can test their knowledge of economic theories. Beyond the games, teachers will find complete sets of lesson plans for teaching lesson economics to middle school and high school students.

If you're in need of a good visual representation of the World's economic outlook, check out the IMF's Data Mapper. The IMF Data Mapper allows you to see the current, past, and predicted distribution of wealth around the world. Use the slider tabs on the IMF Data Mapper to change the map's display.

Applications for EducationThe IMF's games for students are fun tools for students to play and test their knowledge after you've conducted an economics lesson. The Data Mapper provides students with an excellent view of the distribution of wealth around the world.

Words Like - A Visual Thesaurus

Words Like is handy little website for those times when you need a thesaurus. Words Like works in your choice of two ways. You can browse the word clouds or simply enter a word in the search box. Any word that you click on in either the word cloud or in the list generated by your search will lead you to at least one word with a similar meaning. Definitions are provided for every word on Words Like.

Applications for EducationWords Like could be useful for student writers that are in need of some new words to spice-up their writing.

A Pop Culture History Lesson

I hate to remind anyone of his or her age, but since I was reminded by Open Culture I thought I'd remind you too, MTV turned 30 today! Back then they played music videos not Jersey Shore or Real World (which never seemed real even in the early seasons of the show when I was a teenager). I can't think of any use for the video below other than as a short introduction to a lesson on American culture in the 1980's. Enjoy a trip down memory lane.

Uploader Box - A Simple Way to Share Large Files

Uploader Box is a free service for sharing large files with your friends and colleagues. To use the service just upload a file from your computer, enter your email address, and enter the email addresses of your intended recipients. Once your file is uploaded, Uploader Box will provide you with two urls. One of the urls is for sharing your file and the other is for deleting your file if you decide you no longer want to share it.

Applications for Education
Services like Uploader Box (File Dropper is a similar option) are handy for sharing files that are too large for attaching to emails. The next time your students complete a large multimedia project they could use Uploader Box to send that file instead of using up the storage in your email inbox.

Calculate Your Bandwidth Needs with the Bandwidth Planner

How much bandwidth do you need? The answer to that question always seems to be "more." But really how much do you need? How many devices running VoIP applications can 5mps support? EToolKit.org's Bandwidth Planner can help you answer those questions.

The Bandwidth Planner asks you a short series of questions to help you determine the bandwidth that you really need. The questions ask you about the number of users you might have on your network at one time and the types of things those users might be doing when they're online. When you've answered the questions the Bandwidth Planner will show you how much bandwidth you need to support your network. If you're not sure what some of the questions in the Bandwidth Planner mean, the glossary of terms should help you.

Applications for Education
Before you add a slew of new devices to your school's network this fall, make sure your bandwidth can support them by using EToolKit.org's Bandwidth Planner.