Grab Bag of Wow - Tech Tips and Tricks

By Alix E. Peshette

Cross-posted from EdTech Gold Rush

I really like finding a tip or trick that makes me say “Wow, what a great idea!” Many times these finds are just small but cool twists on a technique, strategy or idea. Often I can’t even use that idea right now, but I squirrel it away for future reference on Delicious. That said, I’ve had a rich week of surfing the web and stumbling across some “Wow’s”

Running Google Earth from PowerPoint – Many thanks to Digital Geography for this tip on how to insert an object into PowerPoint and cause it to open a Google Earth file. Now you can fly out of PowerPoint into Google Earth – think of the possibilities!

Videopanorama - The innovative and always edgy folks at Photojojo have a great article on how to make a video panorama from digital camera video clips. This technique uses the compositing feature in Final Cut Pro. In following this cool idea, I ran into a very nice example of videopanorama – Broken Time.

Download those YouTube videos: Kiss the Address Bar - Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration posted this gem on how to use a site called “KissYouTube” to download YouTube videos. Now if it will only work for TeacherTube!

MashUp Lesson using Audacity – It’s a tutorial for Audacity, it’s a lesson on creativity, and it’s a very cool idea from Todd Seymour of Westfall High School in Ohio. This teacher even includes a great rubric for grading. Thanks Todd!

Designing with SketchUp Infowiki – Fred Bartels, head of the computer department at Rye Country Day School has started this wiki as the Web 2.0 equivalent of a traditional textbook for teaching architectural design using SketchUp.

If you have found a Wow factor tip or trick and would like to share it, please do!