Tips from your TIS

In this day in age, it seems there is a new web application every day that can take the place of a desktop application. A big benefit of most of these is that they are free. But how do you find out if there is a program you can use? How can you keep up with all the changes? Simple Spark just might be your solution. Simple Spark has cataloged all WEB 2.0 type services that exist and brings them to you through a simple search. They have daily updates of the latest programs out there as well. You can search by key words or use their predefined catagories. The site provides a brief description of each app along with a rating. So, next time you need a quick photo editor or want to find a place that pulls in all the biggest news headlines of the day, start at Simple Spark and simplifly your search!

In July of 2007, Jane Hart, head of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technology, asked experts about their top 10 productivity and teaching tools. You can look at the 2007 list as well as contribute to the 2008 Tool List at the following web site.

http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

For those of you who don’t know, MIT has offered free online classes and resources through OpenCourseWare since 2002. Now they’ve opened it up to secondary schools with their “Highlights for High School” section. Their aim is to bolster high school STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education through free and open course materials, from complete curricula and syllabi to videos, lecture notes, and animations.