#instagramELE - Using Instagram to Practice Spanish

Last week I shared with you the #mathphotoaday challenge. That challenge asks students to take pictures of objects that represent concepts in mathematics. This morning I received an email from Pilar Munday who helped to develop a similar challenge for students learning Spanish.

The #instagramELE challenge asks students to take pictures of things that represent various Spanish vocabulary words. The challenge started back in February and already has more than 6,000 photos tagged with #instagramELE. A list of the #instagramELE words is available here.

Applications for Education
If the idea of having students use Instagram and publicly sharing pictures is not practical for your classroom, you can still use the concept of #instagramELE. You could have students share their pictures privately through a shared Google Drive or Box.com folder. Having your students complete a challenge like #instagramELE is a good way to build a collection of images to use for other activities in your classroom.

#instagramELE was designed for practicing Spanish vocabulary, but it could easily be adapted for use in other languages.

Methods for Projecting YouTube Videos Without "Related" Videos

The right hand margin on YouTube can be a laden with "related" videos that you don't want to display to students when you use a YouTube video in your classroom. Here are some tools you can use to display YouTube videos without displaying the sidebar advertisements and related videos.

View Pure is a simple little tool that strips way all of the distractions of related videos, comments, and promoted videos. To use View Pure just copy the link of a video into the "purifier," click purify, and your video will be displayed on a blank white background. You can also install the View Pure bookmarklet to accomplish the same goal.

Quietube is a handy little browser extension that removes all the clutter from YouTube allowing you to view only your selected video. Quietube removes all advertising, sidebar content, comments, and ratings. Installing Quietube requires nothing more than dragging the Quietube button to your toolbard. Then anytime that you're on YouTube click the Quietube button to remove all of the clutter and just watch your selected video. Quietube works for Viddler and Vimeo videos too.

SafeShare.tv makes it possible to view YouTube videos without displaying the related videos and associated comments. To use SafeShare.tv simply copy the url of a YouTube video and paste it into SafeShare.tv. SafeShare also offers browser bookmarklet that eliminates the need to copy and paste links.

VideoNotes is a neat tool for taking notes while watching videos. VideoNotes allows you to load any YouTube video on the left side of your screen and on the right side of the screen VideoNotes gives you a notepad to type on. VideoNotes integrates with your Google Drive account. By integrating with Google Drive VideoNotes allows you to share your notes and collaborate on your notes just as you can do with a Google Document.

Admongo - A Fun Game to Help Students Learn About Advertising Techniques

This evening as I watched an episode of Mad Men I was reminded of Admongo. Admongo is a game and curriculum designed to educate preteen students about the forms and methods of advertising. Admongo's primary feature is a game in which students earn points by collecting advertisements as they move through a fictional city. As they advance through the game, students will see short videos that explain the type of advertisements they see and how those advertisements attempt to get them to take an action.

Applications for Education
Admongo provides a curriculum for teachers to use with 5th and 6th grade students. The curriculum is designed to complement the lessons students learn by playing the game. On the Admongo curriculum page teachers will find posters, handouts, quizzes and other printable materials to use in their classrooms. 

Experiment With Sounds on Wolfram Tones

Wolfram Tones is a neat offering from Wolfram that students can use to can play with sample sounds and rhythms to create new own sounds. Wolfram Tones uses algorithms, music theory, and sound samples to generate new collections of sounds. Wolfram Tones allows visitors to choose samples from fifteen different genres of music on which to build their own sounds. Once a genre is selected visitors can then alter the rhythms, instrumentation, and pitch mapping of their sounds. When satisfied with their creations, users can download their sounds or have them sent directly to their cell phones.

Applications for Education
Wolfram Tones might be a nice little resource for a music theory lesson. Wolfram Tones could be a fun way for students to experiment with rhythms and instrumentation to make unique sounds. 

Build a Message Board With Open Source Forum Software from Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is free, open source software that anyone can use to host an online message board community. As you might imagine message boards powered by Vanilla allow your users to create member profiles, give you administrative control, and the ability to create sub-forums. Vanilla Forums software can be downloaded and installed on your own server(s) or you can use one of the paid hosting packages offered by Vanilla.

Applications for Education
If you have someone in your school that can install Vanilla Forums on a server, Vanilla could be a good way to build a school message board. You could also explore the hosting packages offered by Vanilla to see if they suit your needs.

Other options for hosting message boards to use in your school include Google Groups, Google+ Communities (if everyone is over 13), or Buddy Press (open source and you have to host it).