{"id":1075,"date":"2011-04-01T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.155.6.59\/fastforword\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2011-04-01T12:00:17","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T19:00:17","slug":"magic-in-a-flashdrive-mystudybar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/magic-in-a-flashdrive-mystudybar\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic in a Flashdrive – MyStudyBar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The updated version 3 of MyStudyBar<\/strong> from the Regional Support Centre – Scotland<\/a>, is out for those of you looking for more options for students with difficulties in reading, writing and organizational skills. While this is not nearly as robust as Kurzweil 3000, it certainly has tools that can be easily utilized and is FREE, FREE, FREE.\u00a0 This version appears sleeker than its predecessor.<\/p>\n

When installed (and I suggest that a flashdrive is the way to go for portability, independence and differentiation<\/em>), a floating toolbar allows you handy access to 15 open source tools to support brainstorming, sticky notes, writing (including conversion to mp3 – Ha!) and vision screen tools for reading.\u00a0 And to think that I’ve been juggling an array of single apps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Under Writing<\/strong>, Balabolka<\/strong><\/em><\/a> is a text-to-speech tool that can read files in MSWord, RTF, PDF, HTML.\u00a0 Once read, the program has an option to convert the text to mp3, wav, ogg, or wma.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>I can hear your wheels turning now — this means that your students can access their content via their mp3 players or ipods.\u00a0 If a piece of text is large, the program can split the recordings into section chapters.\u00a0 It does not come with a dictionary but one can be downloaded from the Balabolka website.\u00a0 Once installed and the program relaunched, you have the ability to change the pronunciation of words if they aren’t correct.\u00a0 Another win!<\/p>\n

The Planning<\/strong> button shows a dropdown menu revealing <\/strong>a graphic organizer program like bubbl.us, a portable calendar (to keep those homework “to do’s”) and sticky notes for your desktop. <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>
\n Xmind<\/strong><\/em> is a graphic organizer program <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>that allows for visual connections and organization of thoughts.\u00a0 It has the <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>ability to insert images, hyperlinks and offers a variety of graphic organizer structures.\u00a0 To save the created web (called a workbook), you will need an account with Xmind<\/strong>.\u00a0 However, you can export it as an image, html, or text to use in other work like Google Docs<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>
\n <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hott Notes<\/a><\/strong><\/em> are sticky notes that you can use as reminders.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>They sit on your desktop while you work.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0 if you are working on writing piece, you can record a sticky <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>note to yourself to focus on a particular writing element.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong>Sunbird Calendar<\/a><\/strong> is an interesting option as it provides an internal calendar for all those notes that students may forget to add in their planners.\u00a0 I’m not sure that this is better than having a google calendar (web-based) but could serve as another tool for students to organize their work and home life.<\/p>\n

There is much here with MyStudyBar<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Tell us what your experiences are with this little app.\u00a0 What else would you like to see included? <\/span>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The updated version 3 of MyStudyBar from the Regional Support Centre – Scotland, is out for those of you looking for more options for students with difficulties in reading, writing and organizational skills. While this is not nearly as robust as Kurzweil 3000, it certainly has tools that can be easily utilized and is FREE,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/fastforword\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}