Canva
Some of Canva's design options |
Posted in Labels: free, graphics | at 9:51 PM
Some of Canva's design options |
Posted in Labels: editing, English, writing | at 7:24 PM
Expresso is an online "tool to edit texts and improve your writing style." It is a work-in-progress by a graduate student, Mikhail Panko, and is very easy to use. Expresso seems to me to be an interesting way to examine writing in a different way from standard grammar editors. It could prove useful in a variety of situations. As stated on the site, however, it is not
The site is incredibly easy to use. Simply key in or paste your text, click Analyze text, and an extensive listing of metrics will be presented.
First is a list of metrics for editing. Clicking on any of those will highlight related entries in the text. For example, click on weak verbs and all of the weak verbs in the text will be highlighted. You may edit if you choose, and to make your work easier, mousing over a highlighted word gives you a list of synonyms to choose from. Clicking on weak verbs again will remove the highlights. A few of the metrics in this list are extra long and short sentences, frequent words (by stem), clustered words, filler words, and passive voice.
A second list is of general metrics, such as number of characters and words, syllables per word, readability grade, and percentage of parts of speech.
Edited work can be copied and pasted back into your word processor. This is facilitated by the ability to use Ctrl-A to select all your text, excluding other text on the page. If you wish to mark your changes before transferring, you could use standard hot-keys to bold and or italicize text before copying.
The site includes a description of what it does and how it can be used, a tutorial, and an explanation of each of the metrics. The designer makes it clear that it is not a "magic bullet," but that it should be used to identify weak areas and to get ideas for possible edits.
Posted in | at 10:37 AM
I haven't posted for a long time and have a lot of sites bookmarked for posting, but when I found this this morning I decided I needed to take the time to post it now. I doubt that any of this is news for educators. It should make us think about kids' TV viewing habits, as well as time spent on other digital devices.
Via: Online Courses News
If you appreciate infographics as much as I do, you might be interested in my Pinterest Infographics board.
Posted in Labels: ergonomics, time, timer, vision | at 10:16 AM
There are many reasons you might want access to a timer on your computer. For one thing, it can be good for students learning to budget their time to be able to gauge the amount of time left to complete their task. Also there may be times when people need to take a break or simply stop what they are doing. I myself often need to have an audible or visual reminder to stop and move on to the next task or leave for an appointment. Fortunately, there are many options, both downloadable and online, which could meet your needs. This post will present three of these options; a Google search will provide you with a long list of sites if you wish to pursue this further.
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Posted in Labels: bookmarks, Education, search, video, website links | at 9:55 AM
Perhaps some might find useful a LiveBinder of video sources I compiled for a workshop I did earlier this year.
Posted in Labels: curriculum resources, free, Lesson plans, tutorials, video, website links | at 5:55 PM
CC Licensed photo by Clint Gardner |
Posted in Labels: gmail, iPod, mobile, photo, SAT, search, Twitter, Word | at 9:14 PM
I've gotten so many good tips from MakeUseOf that it's one of my favorite sites; they find and review a lot of things I simply don't have time to look for.
They also have currently 38 free downloadable guides in PDF format on such varied topics as iTunes, iPhone, Linux, Photoshop, digital photography, online shopping, building a gaming PC, Twitter, creating professional documents in Microsoft Word, Twitter, and the Internet Guide for the Movie Addict. There's really something for almost everyone.
You might be interested in these other posts about resources I've learned of from MakeUseOf: Creative Commons, Semantic Search Engines, Functional Screensavers (PC and Mac), SAT Test Prep,