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Teaching/learning: new web offerings
THIS WEEK NetSpeak introduces some of the new on-line services, beneficial to the teaching fraternity.
Many on-line applications can serve as teaching/learning aids.
In the past, NetSpeak featured several Web 2.0 services, created for storing different types of documents/links and sharing them with others. Services like Swivel (http://www.swivel.com/), meant for uploading/sharing/exploring any data, and Slide Share (http://slideshare.net/), the on-line service, developed for enabling netizens share/discover slide shows on different subjects, are some of them. Here, let us explore a couple of new such services that can be used as teaching tools as well.
Scribd
The new document sharing on-line service Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/) lets you store documents on-line and share them with others. The service allows you to host documents in a variety of formats such as Word, PDF, text and so on. You have the option of sharing it with others or keeping it private. Teachers can upload their teaching materials and students worldwide can access them. One specific feature of the service lies in converting the uploaded document into an MP3 file. Perhaps this feature could be of use to non-English speaking students for improving their English language skills.
Sharable calculator
InstaCalc (http://instacalc.com/ ) is an on-line service, set up for helping its users generate customised web based calculators. Besides providing tools for doing usual arithmetic, InstaCalc provides facilities for unit conversion, making charts and so on. A notable feature of the service is its real-time nature — it displays results as you type. For instance, if you have an expression "200+12+44*7,' as soon as you start typing each part of the expression, you will find the result appearing at the right end. In an educational setting this could turn out to be a good teaching aid.
InstaCalc also allows you to share your calculator with others.
TeacherTube
All of us are familiar with the famous video hosting/sharing service Youtube. Along this line a variety of video sharing services are emerging with the `tube' tag in their name (like Godtube — http://godtube.com/ — for videos with religious themes). In this context, the academic community may find TeacherTube (http://www.teachertube.com/), the service hosting educational videos, valuable. While uploading/accessing videos one can choose the service's built in channels (http://www.teachertube.com/channels.php) such as `High School', `Middle School', `Student Products' and so on.
Sutree (http://www.sutree.com/index.asp) is another Web 2.0 service with lots of educational videos. Here you can find several videos pertaining to categories such as business, computers, everyday advice and so on.
Lecturefox (http://lecturefox.com/) is another place where one may find good videos on subjects such as Physics, Statistics and Computer Science.
J. MURALI
He can be contacted at: jmurali@gmail.com
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A variety of video sharing services are emerging with the `tube' tag in their name