Remind 101 Gets a Makeover

Remind 101 is a service for educators that allows users to SMS students, parents, players, community members, etc about what is going on in their classroom.  I have written about the service before and have used it myself with my classroom.  On their blog they announced today some changes to their website and service.

Through discussions with teachers and users, as well as from their own ideas, the creators of Remind 101 have worked to make some great improvements to their product.  From those discussions they realized the need for improvement for tablet use on the website, messaging to multiple classes, improving sign up process, and improving scheduling of SMS messages.

To learn more about the redesign, see the video below.

D-Day Interactive - 69th Anniversary Today

Today is June 6th, the 69th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.  The D-Day to Victory Interactive is a valuable addition to websites about the history of the invasion.  Users must have updated Java for the interactive to function correctly.  The D-Day to Victory Interactive is an online documentary experience recreating the WWII final assualt on Nazi-occupied Europe.  The site features veteran interviews and traces the Allied journey from the D-Day invasion of Normandy to the seige of Berlin.  Users can engage in virtual commemoration and online sharing of the stories of veterans of a WWII who may be discussing the war for the last time.

3D scenes help visualize and illustrate the sounds of D-Day.  Each scene can access hundreds of original veteran video interviews that provide realistic documentation of the war.  Useres can also view interactive poppies" which provide the views and thoughts submitted by others.  Stories by veterans are coupled with biographies, artifacts, and personal photos that can be shared on social networks.  For more information, see the video below.

T!PTXT - Speak Up Against Bullying

From Blackboard comes the free* SMS program T!PTXT for schools that hopes to help combat bullying in schools.  To K-12 schools, Blackboard is offering administrators with an easy and confidential way to speak up about abuse, crime, and mental health issues.  The offer includes free access to the TipTxt service, a TipTxt mailbox, and TipTxt client support for each individual school (*$125 per year for the TipTxt line).

Our district recently did something similar by purchasing a cellphone for our School Resource Officers that allow students to text tips to the officer anonymously.  It's a high school version of CrimeStoppers.

To learn more about TipTxt, see the video below.

VideoSci - Play Science!

VideoSci is a website dedicated to providing videos related to science in various categories.  Online videos have exploded which allows users to incorporate videos into their classroom lessons rather easily.  VideoSci aims to collect all the video streaming resources from all the fields of science from all over the Internet.  Videos are streamed from any video source.  Each video comes with information, commenting, and a rating system.  Tags and categories allow for users to discover the various videos as well.  Facebook and Twitter integration allows users to easily use their social media accounts to comment and suggest videos.  There are also articles as well.

Windows 8.1 Video

So Windows 8 came out a while back and I don't have it on any computer that I am using, but I have heard from those that have started using it that they were unhappy with the changes.  It's hard to completely adjust to a new interface and Windows did that in order to meet the "need" of touchscreens.  With Windows 8, they forgot one crucial piece of their product...a "Start Button."  With a new release of 8.1 they have added a start button.  You can learn more about the Start Button and other features in the video below.  The upgrade from 8 to 8.1 is free.