Audacity - an audio editing tool

audacity.sourceforge.net/

Audacity is a sound editing software application that is very popular in schools. It can be used to record, edit, playback and podcast music, voices and other sound files. Use it to record interviews, music and to edit files together to create a podcast.

Files can be saved in a variety of formats and the application is robust and stable. The application is well documented and support is available from the forums on the project website.

From the Open Source Schools presentation at BETT 2009, slides and commentary by José Picardo, filmed by Hannah Wise of BBC Backstage, edited by Leon Cych of Learn4Life:

Celtx - a video production tool

Celtx is the world's first all-in-one media pre-production software. It has everything you need to take your story from concept to production. Celtx replaces 'paper, pen & binder' pre-production with a digital approach that's more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.

Celtx helps you pre-produce all types of media - film, video, documentary, theater, machinima, comics, advertising, gaming, music video, radio, podcasts, videocasts, and however else you choose to tell your story.

http://celtx.com/

Firefox - a web browser

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

As the Firefox website says:

"Firefox 3 is an internet browser that is flexible, efficient and secure and offers all the features of other browsers. You can navigate through pages, bookmarking those you might want to revisit and using tabs to keep open several at any one time. You can search within a page and across the web. You can save, copy and print pages or selected parts of pages. And you can customise the browser to suit your own preferences. Security is a high priority."

Freemind - a mind-mapping tool

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Free Mind is a piece of OSS that allows you create interactive mind maps. Mind mapping is widely used in education and this software enables the creation of interactive mind maps that can be shared, for example on a web page.

Note that the current version is only 0.8.1 - which means it may not be completelty stable. However, as it only takes a few minutes to download and install and is easy to start using, you may want to try it out.

GIMP - a bitmap graphics tool

http://www.gimp.org/

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

It includes these features:

• a full suite of painting tools including brushes, a pencil, an airbrush, cloning;
• tile-based memory management, so image size is limited only by available disc space;
• full Alpha channel support for working with transparency;
• layers and channels;
• advanced scripting capabilities;
• multiple undo/redo (limited only by disc space);
• transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear and flip;
• file formats supported include GIF, JPEG, PNG, XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP and many others;
• selection tools including rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy, bezier and intelligent;
• plug-ins that allow for the easy addition of new file formats and new effect filters.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted. GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.

GanttProject - a project-planning tool

http://www.ganttproject.biz/

GanttProject is a cross-platform desktop tool for project scheduling and management. It runs on Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

Anyone who has to manage  projects, whether multiple coursework projects or any area of school development will find this an invaluable tool.

For more information, visit http://www.ganttproject.biz/

To download, click here http://www.ganttproject.biz/download

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Inkscape - a vector-graphics tool

http://www.inkscape.org/

Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons metadata, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

KompoZer - a web design tool

KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing.

KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.

http://kompozer.net/

MuseScore - a music notation program

OOo4Kids - a child-friendly office suite

http://wiki.ooo4kids.org/index.php/Main_Page

OOo4Kids is OpenOffice.org but restyled to make it easier for younger children (and possibly some adults).  

It includes all the things available with OpenOffice.org: a word processor, a drawing program, a presentation editor and a spreadsheet, but in a much clearer and simpler form.

These tools enable pupils aged between 7 and 12 to produce reports, explore numbers, develop literacy, present their ideas or research, even produce their homework.

To find out more, visit http://wiki.ooo4kids.org/index.php/Main_Page

To download, click here http://download.ooo4kids.org/en

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OpenOffice.org - a professional office suite

http://www.openoffice.org/

Open Office is a suite of office tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and maths formulas.

It is easy to learn and is very similar to other office software in look and feel and in features. The Open Office website contains tutorials and manuals.

The word processor, Writer, is suitable for making professional documents, reports, newsletters and brochures.

A powerful spreadsheet called Calc contains complex tools for calculation, data analysis and visualisation; its built-in charting tools are able to make customisable 2D and 3D charts.

The presentation utility, Impress, uses effects, animation and drawing tools to help you create great multimedia slide shows to present the way you want to.

Use the Draw component to produce either simple diagrams or complex 3D pictures and special effects for use in documents and presentations.

The database tool, Base, gives you all the tools you need for day to day database work in a simple spreadsheet-like form.

Math is a straightforward editor for maths formulas and equations.

From the Open Source Schools presentation at BETT 2009, slides and commentary by Michelle walters, filmed by Hannah Wise of BBC Backstage, edited by Leon Cych of Learn4Life:

Pencil - a 2D animation tool

http://www.pencil-animation.org/index.php?id=Home

Pencil is intended to be a simple programme enabling anyone to make 2D animation.

It is an animation/drawing software package for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics. 

To find out more, visit  http://www.pencil-animation.org/index.php?id=Home

To download click here,  http://www.pencil-animation.org/index.php?id=Download 

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Scribus - a DTP tool

http://www.scribus.net/

Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout.

With Scribus you can:

• create documents like CD covers, greeting cards, company brochures, newsletters and posters;
• create files which will print easily;
• create interactive PDF forms and presentation documents (interactive PDFs have special features like hyperlinks, annotations, bookmarks and navigation features - just like a web browser);
• create logos and drawings with easy-to-use tools, including the ability to create neat font effects;
• import photos and other artwork with precise colour control for high fidelity printing.

Scribus comes with support options to help you achieve the best result. There is an enthusiastic and friendly community around Scribus that assists beginner and professional alike.

Thunderbird - an email client

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/thunderbird/

Thunderbird 3 helps you keep your vital information organised, manage your unruly inbox, and stay informed. By adding different extensions, it scales to the most sophisticated organisational needs while making it easy to find what you need.

Mozilla has bolstered Thunderbird’s acclaimed security and privacy measures to ensure that your communications and identity remain safe. It’s like having your own on-line security guard.

Thunderbird allows you to customise your e-mail to suit your specific needs whether it’s how you search and find messages or listening to music right out of your inbox.

With the lightning extension added it gives you full calendar functions as well.

Useful features include advanced folder views, message tagging (for example “Done”, “To do”, “Later” or your own tags), message browsing (with forward and back buttons), flexible search tools and integration with webmail systems.

VUE - a concept-mapping tool

http://vue.tufts.edu/

Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is a concept and content mapping application, developed to support teaching, learning and research and for anyone who needs to organize, contextualize, and access digital information.

Using a simple set of tools and a basic visual grammar consisting of nodes and links, tutors and students can map and present relationships between concepts, ideas and digital content.

Vue is available for use with;  Mac OS X 10.4 +,  Windows XP, Vista or 7,  Linux (Sun Java 1.6+ required)

To find out more visit http://vue.tufts.edu/

To download direct, click here. http://vue.tufts.edu/download/index.cfm

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