Now is primetime project season! We know you and your students are
working very hard and hopefully having some fun too! As your students
begin to work on their projects, encourage them to expand their
technology horizons. Move beyond presentation software to areas of high
student interest such as 3D modeling, sound editing, and music composition.
Here are some great applications (all free and available for Windows and
Mac):
* Drawing – Tuxpaint. http://www.tuxpaint.org/ Good for younger students
* Image editing – GIMP. http://www.gimp.org/ Like PhotoShop without the
price tag! Also check out the excellent user community at -
http://gimpshopdotnet.blogspot.com/
* Sound editing – Audacity. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
* 3D design – Sketchup. http://sketchup.google.com/ Part of the Google
family of free tools. You can place the models on Google Earth using
real-world coordinates and share them with the world using the Google 3D
Warehouse.
* Music composition – Finale Notepad http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
Notepad allows you to compose and play music. If you can, purchase one copy of Finale Songwriter for $39.95. This allows the teacher to convert student Notepad files to MIDI or MP3 format, which can embedded in webpages, presentations, movies and podcasts.
Before you download, check the system requirements, or better yet, let your
students be your software evaluators and trainers!
