May 10 : FROG SONGS: Poetry and Essays, Field Ecology and Entomology – “Learn to use haiku to teach entomology. Learn to use poetry to help students write clearer more exciting essays. This simple set of lesson plans can be used by classroom teachers or informal educators to get students outdoors on a warm spring day to explore the relationships between insects and biodiversity.”

May 16 : Water Stewardship – From Source to Sea – “This presentation will identify elements of water literacy through a stewardship study with grades 4/5 school students. While drawing from a specific school project, it will identify elements that can be transferred to other situations – and higher grade levels. The project involved field learning immersed in local community, making personal connections that lead to community activism.”

May 19 : Do a Little or Do a Lot: Sustainability Education – “After attending this webinar, participants will leave with an understanding of what education for sustainability is and how they can incorporate sustainability into their teaching practices. You/they will learn about free curriculum resources that examine interconnections between economy, environment, and society.”

May 25 : Green Craft-Making – “The why and how of focusing one’s eco-art activities on using natural materials easily found in the outdoors.”

Dropbox is simple. You install it, and it makes a “My Dropbox” folder in your “My Documents” and hangs out in your taskbar. While it is running, anything you put in “My Dropbox” is automatically backed up to the web, and synced with any other computer that you have Dropbox installed on. Because it uses the web as an intermediary, both computers don’t have to be on. When they next startup, Dropbox will check if any of the files have been changed. In other words, it works like My Briefcase, but without the USB drive.

You get 2 GB of space for free, and if you sign up using this link, we’ll both get an extra 250 MB.

Dropbox also includes a “Public” folder, enabling you to provide direct links to files you want to share, even with people who don’t have Dropbox installed. You can also share folders with people via Dropbox.

The only problem I’ve had with it is that it hasn’t been able to sync open files that I’m editing OpenOffice. This is an OpenOffice issue, though, as I’m similarly unable to attach open files to email.

I’m currently using both Dropbox (for syncing) and Mozy (for backing up) but I could see switching just to Dropbox in the future.

Thanks Lynn

Dia is extremely intuitive to use, and a great way to make flowcharts, organizational charts, and other diagrams. It could certainly be useful in creating class materials and visual prompts, in addition to doing administrative work. I’m always on the lookout for useful open source software and Dia is a great addition to my list.

Fortunately, I quickly found Inkscape, an open source vector graphics editor. The nice thing about vector graphics is that they can be scaled without getting pixelated.

Anyhow, if you are ever called upon to produce a vector-based logo, check Inkscape out.

Incidentally, if you’re looking for another type of teacher-y open source software, I’ve got a list.

All-in-all, it looks good. I’m a little concerned that the servers will be overloaded, but they seem to be taking steps to remedy that problem.