There is nothing sweeter than the words "free" to a teacher. Often times there is so much we want to do but we do not have the funds to do so. That's why when first reading about Open Source, I was pretty excited to see the software it has to offer! I quickly learned that Audacity is an open source software, which is an excellent tool when creating podcasts and song editing. I have used Audacity before when I had students create podcasts and it was easy tool for high schoolers to use. Even better some of my students were able to download the software on their Macs and finish their projects at home. Audacity is just one of the hundreds of thousands programs out there that are free for teachers and students.
As I explored and looked for a program that I would use my classroom. I was really in awe of the Gimpshop. Since I took a multimedia class and used photoshop, I have been searching for a cheap version of photoshop instead of spending hundreds of dollars on the programs (and that's with student/teacher discount!). So when I saw a very similar program for FREE with good reviews, I just had to have it. A program like Gimpshop can be used in any classroom and provides students with creativity they can use to explain on their learning. They can create collages and fun images to enhance presentation or for projects. If they are learning about a country, they can take multiple images and make a collage on Gimpshop. On a side note there is nothing wrong with Adobe Photoshop, except for it's cost, since you have to buy individual software licenses for each computer that uses the program. That can be very pricey!
Unfortunetly, I am having a hard time downloading it onto my Mac. Does anyone have any suggestions? It keeps coming up as an error after downloading it and putting into my application folder.
Instead of the Gimpshop fork - try the original Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/
ReplyDeleteI would be interested if you had trouble with this more developed/supported version...