After searching around SourceForge.net, I ran into a few programs I was interested in. My initial hunt took me on a search for a program that would allow the recording of speech and an ability to transcribe that speech into text. Thinking of one of my students in particular I thought this would be an awesome find - but I only would up finding the opposite abilities - text-to-speech... Maybe another day...
One app I downloaded was called Books for Mac. This app basically allowed you to create your own computer based database of books. It is a tool I was considering to make our classroom library a little more like a real public library or bookstore. After a long series of input (a whole library full of books), you can search for books based on whatever criteria you want to input. I was starting with Titles, Authors, Reading Level, Borrowed By and Owner (since my own purchased books are mingled in with books owned by the school (;). The downside was that the program kept quitting on me :(
In choosing the Books app I was envisioning an even more interactive and independent way for students to obtain books for independent reading where they could not only search shelves for a good book, but also a database much like they would in everyday, adult living.
After trying out Books, I went on to try out my Professor's recommendation of Photo Gimp. If you were a big fan of Paint "way back when", you'll love this as much.
Here's a screen shot:
I wasn't trying to be impressive with this work... but there's no end to the creativity that could come out of this app in the classroom and out!
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