G'day. I'm new to the site but have enjoyed reading and learning.
I have a question; is there a hosted site (which I prefer as it allows you to do things without involving the IT people!) that allows a group of students to collaborate writing - say - a newspaper. I'm in Australia and we often use the like of MS Publisher to get kids to utilize technology. What would be useful is an application that would allow you to assign a page to a student in your class, and it would be their responsibility to research and write that page. Topics we have in Grade 8 Geography includes Endangered Animals, Natural hazards, etc.
I'm enjoying your Magazine Factory. Thanks for telling me about it. My only comment so far is that it would be great if it had a student registration like www.nicenet.org --> teachers 'creating' a class and students 'joining' a class. I'm finding it a little frustrating getting students access given the current situation re students having email accounts at my school. Not insurmountable but annoying. (IMHO, all web 2.0 student focused applications should use that model.)
I have a source of images your students might enjoy. ahaafoundation.org is an art history site which is content and image rich. It is in the building phase and could be used by your history teachers. If a class or group of teachers finds this site worthwhile I would consider talking with them using Skype. I live in hawaii so our times and days don't quite match and that could be worked out.