From time to time I get emails from PBS and they are always filled with great resources. I just received an email and in it was this link to how-to videos about various digital tools. That in and of itself is a great post, but I want to talk about Dirpy, one of the digital tools listed.

The video from the PBS link is very good and straight to the point. But even without the video, this was easy to do.

I have some videos that I love and want to have available for school use and my personal use. If your streaming speed isn’t quite up to snuff or you don’t have access for some reason, then this is a great backup because you will have saved your YouTube or Vimeo video onto your desktop. (If you create your own videos, then you don’t need to do this of course.)

Keep in mind this is not a video editing tool. You would still need to trim videos with another tool. It does allow you to only record the audio if you want and you can decide when to begin and end that recording.

I hope you give this a try.

I recently posted some alien shots of me on Facebook that I created using Prisma, an app from PhotoLab. I spent some time having fun seeing how I’d look as a nun, an alien, and so on. Below are a couple of other filters that seem like I might use them as covers or on newsletters.

So what good is this app for education? Among the many filters were a few that would process multiple photos. One of them was a globe. I thought that would make a cool class picture. Another idea is to have students select a filter and print out their photo instead of the normal head shot. It would tell you something about that student’s personality and just be fun—and there is nothing wrong with that! This could be a fantastic first day activity.