Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts

Microsoft Mathematics - math help and graphing calc

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Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 is a free download from Microsoft. Mathematics 4.0 is a set of math tools for students to use. It helps students learn how to solve equations step by step along with learning the fundemental concepts in pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry and calculus.

It includes a graphing calculator that works just like a handheld calculator. There are also tools for evaluating triangles, converting units, and solving systems of equations.

The layout is similar to the popular handheld graphing calculators. It is easy to use and navigate, and free.

This is a great resource for math and science teachers and students.

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HP Teacher Experience Exchange

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Hewlett Packard (HP) has a free online resource for teachers called the HP Teacher Experience Exchange. The HP Teacher Experience Exchange has two different areas in it. One is a repository of courses, articles, lesson plans, classroom resources, and more available to community members. Registration is free, as are the resources. There is also a forum section where educators can discuss, share, and learn from each other.

You can also sign up for free email newsletters that bring tips, ideas, and resources to your inbox.

HP has partnered with Microsoft on this project, so there are references and links to Microsoft products and services.

I have found a lot of great resources and information on this site, and recommend it to my colleagues.

Follow on Twitter @HPTeachExchange 

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Microsoft Research Worldwide Telescope

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WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world. Experience narrated guided tours from astronomers and educators featuring interestingplaces in the sky.
A web-based version of WorldWide Telescope is also available. This version enables seamless, guided explorations of the universe from within a web browser on PC and Intel Mac OS X by using the power of Microsoft Silverlight 3.0.

Note: The web-based version will ask for more local storage (about 40MB), but that shouldn't be a problem for anyone.

You can just explore the skies by location, constellations, planets, stars, and more. You can select from digitized skies, ultra-violet, and more. You can even look at earth!

There are also guided tours available. These were set up by astronomers and researchers and are very well designed and informative. The guided tours include galaxies, planets, stars, Apollo missions, Mars missions, and much more.

The earth at night view is great to use to show students where the most lighted areas are. The United States and Europe are the brightest areas at night (Japan is pretty bright too).

I had way too much fun playing with this today. I think that this would be a great resource for science classes to show our solar system and galaxy.


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Microsoft Announces Office Plug-In for Moodle

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Info I received about Microsoft announcing an Add-in for Moodle:


As teachers look to simplify and reduce the time spent on planning and administrative tasks in order to spend more time teaching, truly integrated solutions are few and far between. Two of the most widely-used technologies in classrooms today are Microsoft Office and the learning management system, Moodle. However, using these solutions together in an integrated fashion has typically required teachers to go through a significant number of steps to perform basic tasks.

Today, we are announcing the Microsoft Office Add-in for Moodle . This new add-in provides teachers with an easy, time-saving solution for finding, opening and saving Office documents housed in Moodle, and allows documents stored in Moodle to be opened from Office without multiple and sometimes complicated steps. For example, teachers will have “Open to Moodle” and “Save to Moodle” as options directly from their Office menu button. The Microsoft Office Add-in for Moodle is free and available for download today at www.educationlabs.com.

A handful of K-12 schools and universities have already had the opportunity to experiment with the new add-in. Elisabeth Kraus, Associate Director for Curriculum of Extended Education at Northwest University, shared her thoughts with us:

“We’re always having to move quickly to get things done and even when every class is different – different syllabus, different curriculum and different student needs to name a few. Any quick and easy technology like the simplicity of this add-in are helpful, and especially when it requires little to no training.”

The Microsoft Office Add-in for Moodle is the latest innovation from Microsoft’s Education incubation group called Education Labs. Education Labs was formed in July 2009 to quickly create prototypes of new tools and applications to showcase how Microsoft technologies can meet the needs of teachers and students in the classroom. The Office Add-in for Moodle is one of several free tools created by Education Labs to help teachers use technology to meet students’ needs and become even more efficient in their classrooms.

We have two video demos of the Office Add-in for Moodle available here; there is one that provides an overview of the tool, and another that shows the “before add-in”/”after add-in” experience. News about the Office Add-in for Moodle is also featured on the Microsoft Blog.
Also released today is a white paper that guides IT administrators on how to set up SharePoint Server as the file system for Moodle. IT pros can save the day by recovering accidentally deleted files or restore previous versions of overwritten files. It also allows for a great search feature, so a teacher can use SharePoint search to search for files across all of their Moodles. To download the white paper, click here.


This could prove very useful to Moodle users who also use Microsoft products.

(I am not compensated by Microsoft in any way for this post.)


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Free Teacher resources from Microsoft

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I received this email the other day listing a lot of great education resources from Microsoft. Instead of re-writing everything, I figured I would just post the email with the links. I have used some of the resources and they are very good.


Hi David,
I thought your readers might be interested in the free teacher guides, step-by-step instructions, and resources from Microsoft. The guides are designed to make it easier for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom.

To help teachers engage students in a variety of subject areas – from art to music to science – Microsoft is providing free software and online tools, step-by-step instructions, videos and getting started teacher guides. Beyond learning about access to free software and tools, the getting started guides will also help teachers get the most out of the software they use every day. I have included a brief overview of each teacher guide below.

Microsoft offers a number of free tools and software that make it quick and easy to engage students and create energized lesson plans. Why not introduce a new subject with a 3D viewing experience using Photosynth or take a virtual celestial tour with Worldwide Telescope? Or showcase your students’ musical talents with Songsmith or create a movie in a minute with Windows Live Movie Maker? Microsoft provides the tools and instructions to make this possible.

Microsoft will be providing daily teacher technology tips, tricks and ideas for the classroom leading up to May 4, 2010, National Teacher Day. Twitter users can follow @TeachTec or hash tag #TeachTips for teacher technology tips. Facebook users can follow Microsoft TeachTec. Check out the Microsoft Teacher Tech or the Microsoft Blog posts for additional details.

Please let me know if you have questions.
Regards,
Kristin

Teacher Guides


• The Free tools teacher guide and materials will help teachers engage students, energize lesson plans, and save time using free tools that can be download today.
• Free software downloads and online tools include: AutoCollage, Worldwide Telescope, Photosynth, Songsmith, Photo Story for Windows XP, Office Live Workspace, Windows Live SkyDrive, Bing Search, Bing Maps, Bing Translator.


• Enhance classroom lessons with movies made with Windows Live Movie Maker. The teacher guides and materials show how fun and easy it is.


• Office 2007 and 2010 can help improve collaboration and increase productivity with Microsoft Office OneNote, PowerPoint, Office Word and Office web apps. The teacher guide and materials will help teachers get the most of Microsoft Office programs.


• Make everyday tasks easier, and take less time to complete them. Quickly discover shortcuts to the things you use the most, including the interactive whiteboard.


• Creating digital stories ignites a love of learning and is a powerful student-centered learning activity. This eBook helps teachers get started with digital storytelling in the classroom.

And some more details from the Microsoft Blog:

Free software downloads and online tools include: AutoCollage, WorldWide Telescope, Photosynth, Songsmith, Photo Story, Office Live Workspace, Windows Live SkyDrive, Bing Search, Bing Maps, Bing Translator. *AutoCollage and Songsmith are available for free to members of the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network. Participation in the Partners in Learning Network requires a free one-time registration. Learn how to take advantage of these free tools in the classroom with the Free Tools teacher guide and resources.

Teacher guides and resources are available for Free tools, Microsoft Office 2007 & 2010, Windows 7, Windows Live Movie Maker, and Digital Storytelling.

You can also watch a video about our free tools and a video about our Windows 7 interactive whiteboard.

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