Omnivorous Surfer

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,

50 Sites in 60 Minutes ver. 2 will introduce you to 50 online tools to use in the classroom or for personal use. Sites included are appropriate for a variety of age levels. Tools are for audio, charts and graphs, digital art, digital storytelling, and several miscellaneous applications. Each slide includes a link to the site as well as a link a review of the site by David Kapular on his blog, Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero.

If you're interested in finding new web tools, you may want to follow his blog.

This slideshare presentation is a good example of the great finds I receive in my e-mailbox as a member of Diigo's Web Tools for Educators group. (Read my post on Diigo here.) If you'd like to see what great web tools others find, just create a FREE Diigo bookmarking account and join the Web Tools for Educators group.

Though it may sound like it, Teacher Challenge is NOT a competition or contest--please read on!

There is a wealth of free tools on the web for educational use. With all the time teaching takes, during the school day and on into the evenings, who can keep up with them, let alone learn to use them? Well, here comes Edublogs, known as a great site for hosting educational blogs, with a great idea.

The goal of Teacher Challenge is providing free professional development for educators. The current challenge presents structured tutorials for free online tools...21 of them at the moment. Each one gives directions to get you up and going with the tool along with tips and suggested ways to use it in the classroom. Take a look at #7--Kerpoof for an example.

Interested in blogging for yourself or your students but don't know quite where or how to start? Previous challenges were "Kick Start Your Blogging" and "Blogging with Students." Links to these are along the side of the Teacher Challenge page.

What about PLNs? The power and connectivity of the Internet makes it an amazing time for building PLNs. That's the topic of the next Teacher Challenge, so subscribe to their RSS feed or keep checking back to the site to see when it starts if you're interested.