Dreyer's IT Blog

HippoCampus is a website that provides high-quality multimedia, content on general subjects to high school and college students free of charge. Subjects include algebra, American government, biology, calculus, environmental science, physics, psychology, religions, statistics, and US history. Each subject includes a large library of multimedia content from students to learn from.

HippoCampus was designed as part of the Open Education Resources, a worldwide effort to make education available equitably to everyone. Each lesson includes multimedia lessons, the text of the lesson, and related resources. I believe the HippoCampus model will be the textbook of the future. Students are able to learn at their own pace, pausing, reviewing, and receiving instruction on demand.

sdreyer Online Tools open, science

In 2005, the CTO and co-founder of  iCall turned my wireless Dell AximX50 into a phone. Below is a picture of me using my PPC to call my technology director’s cellphone!

Although Andy was willing to provide his expertise to configure all my Gen Yes students’ PPCs to send and receive ’specific’ calls for free, our teachers and my district were not ready to implement this innovation.

This weekend, rumors started appearing on the web that Apple is in negotiations with iCall. Read more here on Gizmodo.

The company has released a free app (iCall) that can be accessed from the iTunes Store. It allows you to make and receive phone calls over wifi. So far it has been downloaded  4,300,000 times!

sdreyer Online Tools cell phones, communication, iPodTouch

Key to School is offerring free moodle hosting with full admin access. I effortlessly set up a course and will be trying out this service.  This solution offers a Mahara integration(an open-source e-portfolio and social networking software). If you want to try it out, use with caution, and be sure to backup your own courses regularly.

I was pleased to discover that I could apply many of Patrick Malley’s themes. The only drawback is that if I backup my work and leave this service, I will not be able to take the theme.

Other free hosting solutions:

• NineHub
• Global Classrooms
• SqoolTechs

sdreyer Moodle elearning, hosting

Today I finally installed and setup ‘wptogo’ on my gphone. This is my 1st post from my phone!

sdreyer Uncategorized mobile

Google mail makes email easy and efficient. And maybe even a bit fun.

Here are 10 reasons why you should sign up to Google Mail

1. You don’t like spam. Neither do we.
Don’t waste time with junk mail and unwanted messages. Google mail blocks spam before it gets to your inbox. If an unwanted message ever finds its way through, you can fight back by reporting it and help make our spam filters even better. Learn more

Watch a video to see how we combat spam.

2. Search your mail instantly
Use Google search within Google Mail to find the exact message you want, no matter when it was sent or received. You don’t have to spend time sorting your email, just search for a message when you need it and we’ll find it for you.

3. Organize replies into conversations
With Google Mail, each message you send is grouped with all the responses you receive. This conversation view continues to grow as new replies arrive, so you can always see your messages in context.

4. Built-in chat: text, voice, or video
With just one click, you can chat in Google mail with the people you already email or reply to emails by chat. You can even talk face to face with Google mail voice and video chat. All you need is a webcam and a small download that takes seconds to install.

5. Labels, filters, and stars…oh my!
Google mail uses labels to help you organize with more flexibility. A conversation can have several labels, so you’re not forced to choose one particular folder for messages. You can also create filters to automatically manage incoming mail. Starring messages is another way you can organize your inbox. Plus, it looks pretty.

6. Get your mail on the go
The days of needing your computer to get to your inbox are long gone. You can now use Google mail on your mobile device to access your email from anywhere.

7. Lots of space (and counting)
We’re always working to increase the amount of free storage we offer in Google mail, and if you want even more, you can always purchase additional space. With all that space, you can archive instead of deleting messages, so they won’t clutter your inbox but will remain searchable in case you ever need them again.

8. We have ads, but only the good kind
With Google mail, you’ll never see pop-ups or untargeted banner ads. Instead we display text ads and related links you might find useful and interesting. Learn more about how seriously we protect your privacy.

9. Save time
Take advantage of Quick Contacts and Keyboard Shortcuts in Google mail to get through your email even faster. And don’t forget that you can quickly find messages using Google mail’s search feature powered by Google search technology.

10. All this is free?

sdreyer Google gmail