Tizmos

Tizmos (Online Resource)

Tizmos is a start page that lets you set visual thumbnail icons for links to frequently visited websites. Once you’ve registered and set it up, you have a start page that you can log in to from any computer. A teacher or parent of early learners can create a custom start page for each child. This might also be a great option for learners with developmental delays. Of course, most of us relate much better to visual symbols than to lists of text.

With Tizmos, you can choose the size of the thumbnails that represent websites–small, medium or large. It does not appear as though there is any limit to the number of websites that can be linked. with Tizmos. Your Tizmos page can be either private or public. Tizmos is extremely easy to use. www.tizmos.com

Reducing Test Taking Anxiety

Test anxiety is when a student excessively worries about doing well on a test. This can become a major hindrance on test performance and cause extreme nervousness and memory lapses among other symptoms. The following are tips on reducing test taking anxiety:

• Being well prepared for the test is the best way to reduce test taking anxiety.
  
• Try to maintain a positive attitude while preparing for the test and during the test.
  
• Exercising for a few days before the test will help reduce stress.
  
• Get a good night's sleep before the test.
  
• Stay relaxed, if you begin to get nervous take a few deep breaths slowly to relax yourslf and then get back to work.
  
• If you don't understand the directions on the test, ask the teacher to explain it to you.
  
• Write down important formulas, facts, definitions and/or keywords in the margin first so you won't worry about forgetting them.
  
• Don't worry about how fast other people finish their test; just concentrate on your own test.
  
• Focus on the question at hand; don't let your mind wander on other things.
  
  Visit testtakingtips.com for more test taking help.
  

Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008

Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008

The Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 passed the U.S. Congress in September and becomes law on January 1, 2009. This amended legislation makes it possible for Americans with learning disabilities to access accommodations on high stakes exams (such as the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, medical boards and others) and in the workplace, in keeping with the original intent of the law.

Power Talk

PowerTalk automatically speaks any presentation or slide show running in Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows. You just download and install PowerTalk and while you open and run the presentation as usual it speaks the text on your slides. The advantage over other generic 'Text To Speech' programs is that PowerTalk is able to speak text as it appears and can also speak hidden text attached to images. Speech is provided by the standard synthesised computer voices that are provided with Windows. (Windows based only will not work on a Mac)
Visit http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/PowerTalk for more information and to download.

FREE and Open Soure Educational Software

Free and Open Source Education Software is an extensive cataloged collection of some of the best free software available to support learning at all levels. The collection has been organized by categories that make programs easy to find (categorized by the Key Learning Areas used in Education in Australia) If anyone simply wants to explore what is available, this is an excellent starting point. The site has made it easy to download software without actually leaving the site.
Visit http://os.cqu.edu.au/oswinsdvd/doc/README.html

Woopid

Woopid is an online source of helpful screencast tutorials that offer help with software and hardware questions, with a focus on both Mac and PC. The screencasts are short and to the point, and they clearly show what you need to know. The tutorials are well organized, and Woopid offers an effective search function. If you can’t find what you need, you are even encouraged to request that Woopid create it for you.

www.woopid.com

Convert web posts from text to audio for free at: http://www.odiogo.com

Odiogo mobilizes your media, transforming textual content into audio formats downloadable directly to the PC, iPods/MP3 players and mobile phones!

• High quality text-to-speech solutions
  
• Smooth integration with your website
• End-to-end advertising system
• Comprehensive statistics
• Flexible packaging options
• Supports thousands of concurrent downloads