Stellarium

It's incredible the number of open source products which could be used in class. One of them is Stellarium. Students need to view and access sources themselves. In this case stellarium proves to be a very good product. Students may view stars at the comfort of their homes.

In technical words it's a planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.

You may download it from here. If you want to use it on your android mobile phone, download it from the google store. Mac/Windows users download it from here.

Free Mind - Mapping software

Teachers and/or students have experienced the so called difficult lessons. Both of them try to get the message across. Yet the student does not feel so confident that he or she has understood exactly what the teacher is trying to explain. On the other hand, students do not learn with the same method. Some students like visual explanations.

With this in mind, we are trying to focus on mapping. Mapping is an easy way to make difficult lessons easier. Other times it could be that the lesson is easy but it's not so easy for the student to understand the big picture. Here again mapping comes to the rescue.

One can use various colours or bubbles in order to make oneself understood better. It's a very good tool to be used for brainstorming before writing exercises. If you wish to download it, just click here. As usual its open source and it's available for linux, windows and mac computers. If you need more information just click on these links below: 

 

Link 1.

Link 2.

Link 3. (download)

Link 4. (video tutorial) 

 

Xournal

Teachers and students would sometimes miss writing with their own bare hands in the computer era. Well unfortunately sometimes people have interpreted the coming of the computer as the destruction of the old ways. There is no truth in this as there is no single formula, in teaching, which would solve all problems! The new ways should compliment the old ones and not bury them at the cemetery.

How about writing with your hands on your computer?! Well the program Xournal uses a pen which might be moved with your hands as if you are writing on paper!! Imagine working on a pdf file using your own handwriting and then saving it as a pdf too! It's possible in Xournal. One can use it when working with past papers for example.

It's not just for writing in your own unique way, but there are many more advantages. One can use a highlighter; text tool; ruler; rectangle or lasso selection etc. One can add layers, pages or backgrounds. For more information just check the manual pages. 

 

Saving all your files....!

How many times a virus gets into your computer and you discover that you need to format everything?! It's a nightmare as you have hundreds of files which you need for your school! Your technician tells you that all your files have been infected….so practically you have to throw them away. How are you going to write all those files again? It's plenty of time...plus you don't remember what you have written days, weeks or months ago in all the files.

Sometimes it's about programs that you have installed but have unfortunately stopped working. How about having them running again? In a computer there are so many things that you need to record that an external disk won't record everything. Sometimes everything is working ok, you do an update and all sorts of problems pop up. You wish to go back one day, so that your pc will be healthy again.

Is there an easy way? Yes there is. It's open source and available for various operating systems. It's Areca. It copies everything (including hidden files which normally are not copied when copying to an external Hard Disk).

Here is a tutorial of how to set it up for the first time. Just follow the screenshots step by step and you're there. The beauty of it is when you need to recover just a file or two (so there is no need to install again programs or files), you'll just find it in the recovery part. It has saved people a lot of time. I think it would win a prize for the best program which saves the most time (and frustrations!!) to busy people.

Another big plus is that the next time you'll do a backup, there is no need to start from scratch! You only need to increment (update) your first backup! It's so fast. If you wish, in Linux OS, you can set a time and date to do the backup automatically! Now you have another program which sets your mind at rest when something happens to your pc or laptop. 

For safety and privacy concerns, one can encrypt the copied files as the external Hard Disk might get stolen or lost. 

For a more detailed information about the program, you might visit this link.

 

PeaZip.....File compressor and Free Archiver

How about sending a large number of photos to your friends/students/teachers etc.? Most of the time, people have problems in sending photos over the internet. On the other hand, sometimes we receive packets, from others, which cannot be seen unless they are unpacked! In other technical words, they are compressed (or zipped). How can one unzip it?

One good open source program is PeaZip. Besides the usual advantages of using open source, there is the added advantage that this program is capable of understanding several file formats. So forget about the problem of receiving a file and cannot open it just because it is not compatible with your system.

Another added advantage is that one of them is that one can encrypt files with PeaZip too! So again, one can forget about security problems when sending an exam paper or other sensitive school material (such as assignments by students) across the internet.

It can optimize the compression of photos (some other programs make a mess of your photos!!). Another asset would be that of splitting and joining your large files (we blogged about JSplit in a previous publication).

If that is not enough, well it can backup your files too!! Many worry when formatting the hard disk because of losing all the important material. How can one recover those infinite number of hours preparing lessons or doing assignments or papers? Well, PeaZip can be used for that purpose too. It's a super program! If you need any FAQ (frequently asked questions), well the link is here. Extra help may be found here.

Low-Cost Multi-Touch Whiteboard

The interactive whiteboard is fast becoming part and parcel of the classroom. As usual the student who wants to learn and practice at home is at crossroads. He would like to practice what he/she sees at school but the high prices of an interactive whiteboard plus the software, are not student friendly!

We always insist that the lesson in a class is not enough. Some students need extra time in order to master the lesson. Besides, with the noise, interruptions etc. in a class, some students would like to revise the lesson in the quiet and peaceful settings of their own house.

Another important point is that the new format of the lesson is fast changing. The lesson is being done at home whilst the time in class could be devoted to personal questions and problems. Now if we wish to make this come true, one has to think of how to bring the interactive board to each student.

Today, proudly we are presenting a low-cost multi-touch Whiteboard. Besides the physical aspect of the challenge, we presenting the software too. Now in this regard it is very important to have open source software as these technological gadgets are changing practically every day. In a closed source software, one has to wait for the company (if they'll accept the challenge after all), to do the necessary changes. In the open source environment, one can change the program himself/herself. It is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux OS.

Low-Cost Multi-Touch Whiteboard

Open software for interactive white boards

Open Culture

People expect to have a good service or product at a price. In other words, something free should not be of high quality. Well that's because money has changed our lives so much, that we expect to pay and be paid for any services or products provided.

Have a look at what your parents did for you. Can you equate their work with a sum of money? Does it mean that because it was freely given, it was of a low quality?

Now there are people in society who would like to share their work for free. This happens for various reasons especially when it comes to education. Maybe they believe that some works of art, projects etc. should be shared as they belong to the world's heritage. Others believe that if we start sharing, other people might join the group and share as well. In the end everybody will be a winner.

Imagine if one does a wonderful project. He or she puts all his/her ideas. They are the ideas of just one single person. Each and every person is gifted. On the other hand, each and every person is limited. Now imagine if he/she makes it open for all. Another person comes in and adds more ideas. Most often it's not just one person who joins the group. There would be hundreds or thousands! Look at how many wonderful ideas there are now compared to the original project where only one person put the ideas! It is the philosophy of the more, the merrier!

Today we wish to share a web-page which has thousands of links to other pages where people can access for free, several educational pages or courses. They are all free. There are so many subjects covered that it's very difficult to give a summary of all of them. Just click on the link and enjoy!