ESL etc.

Dropbox is free software that helps you keep your files synced. I like Google docs, but if you ever want to edit them in something else, the formatting is a mess. Instead, I find myself emailing documents back and forth between home and work, trying to make sure I’m always working on the latest version. [...]

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I was recently asked to make a couple of charts illustrating various policies here at the ELI. Having never done that, the first thing I did was look for open source tools. Dia is extremely intuitive to use, and a great way to make flowcharts, organizational charts, and other diagrams. It could certainly be useful [...]

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The latest ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival has just been posted at An (aspiring) Educators Blog. There are a bunch of great articles by some really inspiring teachers. Topics include technology, curriculum, culture and more. Check it out!

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IATEFL’s Global Issues special interest group just launched a social network (using Ning). I have found this group’s email list to be a tremendous resource, and I look forward to seeing how this site develops. Thanks to Nik Peachey for setting it up!

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The 43rd annual IATEFL conference is happening in Cardiff from March 31st to April 4th. The global issues special interest group has launched an online discussion forum for all things global issues / ESL related. IATEFL’s GISIG is a good group, so I imagine the forum will be pretty active.

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In my (relatively) new position as technology coordinator, I am often called upon to do new things. Yesterday, I was asked to create a vector-based version of our logo for a company that will be producing USB drives for us. I had no idea what a vector graphic was, let alone how to make one. [...]

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Recently, I was asked to find some sort of gradebook software for our teachers to use. I quickly found Engrade, a free online gradebook that allows for weighting grades in categories. It’s very simple to use, and has all of the features that we need in a gradebook. Plus, it allows students to log in [...]

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