Guest Blogger – Kim Caise

Hello and thank you for reading my guest blogger post! Let me introduce myself to you with a brief bio. My name is Kim Caise and I have been an educator and instructional technologist for the past 20 years. In 2006, I achieved national board certification in Career and Technology with a specialty in Technology Education. Currently I am semi-retired as I am not working on a campus but am doing several things online. I write my own blog, “Kim’s Ventures in Educational Technology” about educational technology issues and tech tools as well as co-host a weekly broadcast on Saturdays through Classroom 2.0 called “Classroom 2.0 LIVE!”. Each broadcast we feature a newbie question and an ed tech topic pertaining to technology used in the classroom and is geared for tech users of all levels from newbies to experts. I am so honored to be a part of this project with Steve Hargadon, founder of Classroom 2.0 and Future of Education, Dr. Peggy George, author of “My Web 2.0 Adventures“, and Lorna Costantini, author of “Classroom Blogging” and co-host of “Parents as Partners” on EdTechTalk. So enough about me and my crew, on with the show!

Speed Crunch Calculator

I recently came across the “Speed Crunch Calculator“ that would be great for use in a 1-to-1 environment or class demonstration of solving math equations. It is much easier to use than the basic calculator in Windows Accessories or on a Mac. You type in any expression that you want to solve you can use an unlimited number of variables. Parentheses can be used as well numbers with a maximum of 50 decimal places. The Smart Correction feature can understand incomplete expressions and correct it automatically. The calculator can also use different colors to help distinguish between the numbers and variables in an expression. The free download is available for Windows, Mac and a variety of Linux operating systems.

Cue Prompter

My wonderful friend Peggy George shared this awesome podcast and digital storytelling tool with me called “Cue Prompter“. At the CuePrompter site you can enter text and have it displayed just as a teleprompter would. You can choose between white and black text and background and large or small font and screen sizes. The speed can be changed once the text is displayed and the text can be forwarded and reversed. You may experience a bit of difficulty adjusting the settings on the cueprompter screen. This can be alleviated by clicking just below the desired instead of clicking on the options. If you do any type of audio or video recordings and need written scripts this tool would be a great complement to support those activities.

Kidstube

Kidstube.com is a fun site for students to upload videos or podcasts in a safe environment. Students of all ages can upload, share and discuss videos in a community that was created by a group of grandparents in Missouri. The site is very family oriented and works diligently to prevent inappropriate content from being uploaded.