Blue Ribbon Technology May, 2004
By Linda Lindroth

The end of the year always signals review and wrap-up; of goals and accomplishments and thoughts of portfolios for work completed. Two of the products described here, Disc Creator and Bookmark Buddy, will make packing up files much easier. This month's third software package, Heroes of the Savannah arrives just in time to spark interest for your Earth Day follow-up.

Disc Creator
This software covers everything you need for burning CDs and DVDs. DVD MovieFactory 3 Disc Creator from Ulead makes it easy to save files for data and music, work with photos and video and even record home movies straight to disc from a camcorder. Use this software to create a video disc, slideshow disc, movie disc or data disc.

Disc Creator makes it simple to back up all of your instructional files and burn them to a CD as an archive for next year. Classroom projects can be put on disc to share by choosing the output disc: DVD, VCD, SVCD or DVD-VR. Then, add and edit media that can come from a video device, a video file, a slideshow or a disc or hard drive.

The software lets you add a slideshow with graphics and transitions for your digital photos. The editing features make it easy for you or your students to arrange pictures and even add text on top of pictures. Why not archive class pictures and video of events and programs from throughout the year for a Mother's Day or Father's Day gift? Such a compilation also makes a great "Looking back at our School Year" project for the last weeks of school.

For more information, call 800-85-ULEAD or visit www.ulead.com to download a 30-day free trial of Disc Creator. Win98/XP; $99.95.

Bookmark Buddy
This powerful organizer uses a three-level filing system to organize your URLs (as well as folder, program and document shortcuts) into categories, subcategories and individual items. All bookmarks are searchable using just a few letters, or by your rating, the date and the site's status. SmartFolders store an alias for recently visited sites, favorites and frequently visited URLs.

It's easy to create a category and organize each of your bookmarks or favorites into subcategories or larger collections. Just drag and drop, add your rating, make notes about the site or even schedule regular visits. You can set the program to check your bookmarks for updates and changes while you work on something else.

Each bookmark collection can hold up to 60,000 items and the bookmarks can be moved, copied or shared with others. This software offers a great way to "pack up" this year's bookmarks for your review over the summer. When you come back to school in the fall, a simple search using keywords will let you find that special URL you used last year and want to use again this year. Aliasing makes it possible to file a url in multiple locations so you don't have to remember exactly how you filed the url the last time you used it.

Download the 30-day free trial at www.urlorg.com and use it before the end of the school year. If you like it as well as I do, you'll want to purchase the program before summer break so you can continue to collect and organize all the urls you use with your curriculum and organize them into categories, ready for next year's instruction! Win95/XP, $29.95.

Hugo: Heroes of the Savannah
Colorful cartoon characters and strategy games make learning about the Savannah and animal adaptation fun in Hugo: Heroes of the Savannah from ITE Media (distributed by Enteractive, Inc.). The software, for children aged 6-12, offers four different games with 22 movie clips from the African Savannah.

My primary students enjoy exploring animal adaptation and camouflage techniques while they search for animals to photograph in the Photo Safari. Many students enjoy "Concentration"-style games and they'll certainly love testing their memory in the Memory Game, which involves matching animals with what they eat, what their young look like and more. Real videos from the African Savannah add to the authenticity of this game. Kids will use logic skills in the adventure games that feature bright, animated characters.

As an off-computer follow-up, I asked my students to create habitat scenes with animals in hiding. We also made sets of "Concentration" cards for students to take home to practice.

Visit www.ite.dk for other Hugo titles in the series as well as online games and demos. $19.99.

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching Pre K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.