http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home Tech Tools for Academics Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:43:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's no secret that I think Blackboard and WebCT are a scam. They charge excessive rates for a second rate, clunky product, and Blackboard is trying to patent and corner the market (all around bad for education). At any rate I think most of what Blackboard offers can be done ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/online-course-management-nfomedia/ No, that is not a screen shot of Keynote, it is from an online slide creation tool called 280Slides. The interface though is so similar to Keynote that one might accuse them of just ripping off Keynote, stripping it down and turning it into a web application. Indeed in reading ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/another-online-slide-creation-tool/ Occasionally when I write about word processors someone will ask about using LaTeX (that's LaTeX, not latex . . . totally different things). LaTex is the hardcore version of Word Processing. I most often find it used by those in the sciences as it is much easier to type equations ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/latex-another-word-processing-option/ "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/wikipedia-victory/ Quick note to say that for those who are Mac users and looking for a Word Processor that doesn't suck (yes MS Word I am talking about you), Maczot is selling Mellel at a discounted price. Mellel is by far my favorite word processor, a program designed specifically for the ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/mellel-discounttoday-only/ I realize I am a Devon Think groupie, but the news that a new version is in the work for this year has me anxiously awaiting the release. In my opinion it is the best, "brain in a box" software out there. My largest complaint with Devon is the interface ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/i-can-hardly-wait/ Last week I had a request to detail how I use blogs as a course management tool, as a way to subvert and improve on the horrible ones most Universities encourage (sometimes force) faculty to use (yes I am talking about WebCT and Blackboard). So, I am preparing said post, but ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/blogs-for-course-management/ Looking for Education Tools? Try the Centre for Learning and Performance Technology's Directory of Learning Tools. The list contains links to over 2,300 tools, everything from Word Processors to Content Management Systems. (Thanks to Pedagogical Gregory who sent this to me.) http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/ridiculously-useful-resource/ So over the past couple of months I have been writing here about my use of Twitter in the classroom. The first post garnered some much interest that I ended up writing a follow-up one. In both cases though I wrote primarily around the specific ways ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/so-you-want-to-microblog-twitter-with-your-students/ Here is a list of things I have been collecting as of late, which may or may not be of interest to those in academia . . . I frequently make the argument that blogs are one of the most useful "tech tools" in education. In fact I now run a ... http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/some-useful-some-not-things-for-you/