364 - Jackie's Dream

Day 364. While browsing through the Chrome Webstore tonight I found this fantastic web app called StoryBird. This is the forst time I've played with it and I just made a fairly silly little story just to see what can be done with it, but it looks really great. I can see lots of uses for this with my younger students, as they make books and tell stories. I like that it starts with the visuals and let's you create the words to go along with it.  They also do special educator accounts too, so I'm excited to see what that offers.

220 - Pensive Face

Day 220. Today's create was made using a completely web-based sketching tools called YouiDraw Paint. It runs in Chrome, no software to install, making it ideal for classroom use. It also integrates directly with your Google Apps account. It has a number of different pencil and brush tools, and I just plugged in my Wacom tablet and knocked out this quick sketch. It's amazing what can be done in-browser these days.  Thanks to the Google Educast for putting me onto these YouiDraw tools. They are pretty cool.

167 - Office Politics

Day 167. I was having a play with Pixton for Schools, an amazing comic strip editor that runs in a browser. It's impressive in what it can do and intuitive to use... this silly little sample was made in about 5 minutes (don't ask me where the story came from, I have no idea). I like the fact that you can sign in using a Google Apps account (very useful at my school) and that it all runs and saves in the cloud. It's not free, but the pricing model is one that actually makes sense for school. Definitely need to find a good use for this next term!

146 - Lucidity

Day 146. For schools using Google Apps for Education they can largely replace Microsoft Office. However, the missing piece of the puzzle for many is finding a credible replacement for MS Publisher. Look no further than LucidPress. This amazing piece of webapp magic runs entirely in the browser, publishes to both print and digital, is super easy to use, and they give premium plans to schools at no cost. Brilliant!

Here's a quick sample I made when I was showing our Year 3 students how to use it.

I'll write a much more comprehensive review on my other blog in the next week or so.