NECCThornburg143

Wiki Scribe: Heather Clarkson, Hammond, Indiana

Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Open Source—When the Best is Free! “Agnostic Software”—works on any platform—FREE of cost!

Open source software gets updated a lot.

EduButo is the only one designed for schools—and it is free.

Audacity—audio editing software. Replaces Sound Forge You can record and edit your own sound files with this software. It can then be used on any platform. Perfect tool for podcasting. Best to use headsets.

Inkscape—line art graphics. Replaces Illustrator. Vector illustrator—rather than bitmap images. It will import bitmap images, however—and sometimes change them into line drawings. You can make a line drawing and put the text on the path. Change the opacity so you can’t see the lines. You can make interesting pictures using geometric shapes.

NVU—webpage authoring tool. Replaces Frontpage/Dreamweaver, etc. You can also post to the internet with this tool. Supports Java. Tip—kids can use this to create a webpage—that doesn’t necessarily get posted to the web—use as a way for kids to create interactive presentations.

NetLogo—programming language—like lego logo. Written in Java. Great for math—talk about random walks—which relates to gambling. Great program to get students to learn to program.

Blender—3d Graphics and animated films. (Pixar has used this.) This takes a while to set up. Teachers have used this to model Newton’s Laws of Motion. Teachers have students draw the line they think something will move—and then justify there decision. In order to use this—put it on the faster computer you have.

Dia—Diagramming. Replaces Viseo (can do diagrams like Inspiration) Very simple diagramming tool with templates. Doesn’t let you rotate the objects. This is in the process of getting fixed.

TuxPaint—paint program for little kids. Replaces KidPix, Flying Colors. When you quit the program—it automatically saves—so you don’t have to worry about little ones losing their work. Downside—no slideshow program. You can download libraries for this.