Let’s face it. We live in a Microsoft-dominated world. Our computers use a Microsoft operating system(Windows) and most of us use Microsoft productivity tools (Office). But believe it or not, there was actually a world before Microsoft. More importantly, there will be a world AFTER Microsoft, too.

How do I know? Because everywhere we turn innovative new companies and individuals are coming up with truly wonderful (and much less expensive) alternatives to Microsoft products. An example is this week’s website of the week, Google Docs. With this free service, you can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. AND it allows you to easily share files and collaborate with others. Everything is then stored online – no thumb drives or floppies needed!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t really have anything against Microsoft. However, I do think competition is a good thing!

For more information and ideas on how you might use Google Docs with your students, contact your friendly ITRT!

Many of you have expressed your frustration about not being able to access and use YouTube videos to meet your instructional objectives. There are some really nice videos posted there. Unfortunately, there are some very inappropriate videos posted there as well. For that reason, YouTube can never be unblocked by the school district. In a perfect world, teachers would have access while students would still be restricted from the site, but I don’t imagine that will happen in our school district any time soon, if at all.

However, there are many good alternatives to YouTube available that are not blocked. The best I’ve seen is still TeacherTube.com. The videos there are posted by fellow educators and all are screened to make sure they are appropriate. I also recently discovered Edublogs.tv, and of course teachers also have access to the wonderful resources, including video, at Discovery Education (a.k.a. United Streaming – see your ITRT if you are not sure how to create an account).

But let’s say that you’ve found the perfect video for your class, and it’s only on YouTube. How can you use it for instruction? The first thing you have to do is download the video file. The best free online file downloader I’ve used recently is Media Converter. When you download the file, I recommend converting it to .wmv which is the format that will play on our school computers. Once you’ve downloaded the file, you can play it directly from your classroom computer, embed it into a PowerPoint, or upload it to TeacherTube so that you can access it anywhere at anytime from online. And that’s it!

How many hours do you think you’ve spent putting together presentations for you classes? Well, before you start you next one, check out SlideShare.net! They have a huge collection of slide shows. You might be able to find one you can use, or at the very least you can get some great ideas! Please be aware that some of the presentations posted here are going to be more (or less) appropriate for school, so search with caution. In addition, while this is a slide sharing utility, please be sure to always give credit to the original creator. It’s the nice thing to do!

This one from Alexei Kapterev is one of my favorites!

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