Software to create digital materials: ARDORA

ARDORA is software to create digital interactive materials. It offers a great range of activities (45 different types). The result comes as a webpage, so that it can be seen in any browser. The only problem is that the software to create the materials is only available for Windows (and for Linux under Wine). In any case, it is an interesting option if you want to start creating your own textbook or activities.

Check it at ARDORA.

EDILIM (software to create digital textbooks)

EDILIM is software to create digital educational materials. It helps you to create digital textbooks with lots of interactive activities. It works under Windows and Linux. EDILIM is free software. If you are interested, please visit http://www.educalim.com/cinicio.htm. It is fairly intuitive to use. In the website you can see examples and tutorials.

Creative Commons listenings at elllo, http://elllo.org/

If you are interested in listenings under a Creative Commons licence, have a look at elllo, at http://elllo.org/. It stands for "English Listening Lesson Library Online". There are also videos and games. Speakers come from all over the world, with all kinds of different accents. There are also transcriptions and questions on the listenings. A highly recommendable website.

Online Courses for Spanish teachers

The Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte offers courses online for teachers at http://formacionprofesorado.educacion.es/. Applications for those courses can be submitted from 3rd to 10th September. There is a wide variety of courses, especially related to ICT.

English for free

I keep on working on a digital textbook for Bachillerato in Spain. The name will be "English for free". I hope it can be used in other countries as well. The idea is to have digital materials under a Creative Commons licence. Students would have a digital copy of the book and teachers could use the book in the classroom with a multimedia projector or a digital whiteboard. I hope the first unit will be finished by the end of the month and the next two by the end of September, and the whole book by Christmas. If anyone is interested, please let me know at jgarciateacher@hotmail.com.

School radio

A good alternative to having a school radio is a repository of audio files that can be accessed, downloaded and uploaded by all students. SPREAKER is a fantastic option if you want to do that. Check it at http://www.spreaker.com/.

Creative Commons books

Hi, everybody.

I continue trying to get rid of textbooks. For that reason I'm creating my own materials. The idea is to give students a digital book, crated with EXE LEARNING. All the texts and videos in the digital textbook will be under a Creative Commons license, so that teachers will be able to change and adapt the materials. The texts are from Wikipedia and sounds and pictures from Wikimedia Commons. I'm taking the listenings from www.elllo.org. Along the digital book, students will have access to exercises in Moodle, which will act as a workbook. Please, I'd like to receive ideas and feedback. As soon as I've got Unit 1 ready, I'll post  it in my blog.