ISD77 TechTip Notebook 2006-07 #4

ISD77 Tech Tip Notebook 2006-7 #4
May 18, 2007 – 14 days left but who’s counting?

Busy summer ahead
Our department will be busy this summer training 120+ CODE77 teachers, installing 62 new SmartClassrooms, and upgrading computer labs, servers and switches throughout the district. We will be moving district and elementary websites to rSchool. (The old web server is not going away yet). We will also be installing and configuring a special device on our network called a packetshaper that will allow us to prioritize web traffic and will speed up most web access. Stop in and say hello if you are around.

Prepare for the next school year
Now is a great time to make a backup of your files to your Profile account. YODA is going away this summer for both students and staff so everyone will need to use Profile (Lodestar) accounts. YODA is on an old computer and is very difficult to reliably backup which is why we are retiring it.  If you are uncertain how to access your Profile storage area, see your media specialist or technician.

This is also a good time to unsubscribe to any e-mail lists you may be on if you don’t intend to check e-mail during the summer. (Yes, there are still a few staff members who don’t read e-mail all summer!)

And finally this might be the time to give your computer a little spit-and-polish – wiping down the outside of the machine, cleaning the screen, dusting around the workspace, and cleaning the keyboard. See your tech if you’d like help or need cleaning supplies.

Enlarging digital videos in United Streaming
It is possible to show United Streaming videos in a full screen mode. To do so, you need to check the button below the movie that says Stand Alone Application. The movie will then be played in Quicktime or Windows Media Player depending on file format instead of within the webpage. By going to the View menu and selecting Full Screen or by simply resizing the video window of these players, you can make the movie larger. Do remember that quality of the image suffers when enlarging. Try a number of sizes to see which gives the best balance of size and clarity.

Learn your German prepositions using YouTube
Check out Todd Coyour’s very funny video on YouTube at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY9J8C2eKJg> This is great example of reaching students  by using media that they use and like.

Parent and teacher Internet safety resources online
There is a list of web resources on Internet safety now on the Parent page <http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/parents>. Help make parents aware of these sites. Thanks!

Images in PowerPoint don’t show when using a PC?
If you have ever opened a PowerPoint presentation on a Windows computer that was created on a Mac you know that the graphics sometimes are replaced with a large white block containing an error message. This is the fix:

All graphics need to be added to slides using the Insert menu – they cannot be cut and pasted in. To create a graphic file from an existing PowerPoint graphic, just right click and choose Save as picture. Delete the original picture, then re-insert the picture by going to the Insert menu -> Picture -> From File. This all needs to be done on a Mac and then tested on a PC. (If this can be fixed with Windows computer, I don’t know how.)

Blogs and RSS Feed Aggregators
Three pretty darned interesting Minnesota bloggers who you might want to read are:

1. Dennis Fermoyle, classroom teacher, Warroad, From the Trenches of Public Ed <http://publiceducationdefender.blogspot.com>
2. Scott McLeod, U of Minnesota professor, dangerously irrelevant <http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org>
3. Mike Smart, Minnesota Teacher of the Year  <http://www.toymn.org>
   

If you are finding it difficult to keep up with blog changes and other pages with RSS feeds, set up a GoogleReader <http://www.google.com/reader > or Bloglines <http://www.bloglines.com> account. By checking a single webpage, you can tell which webpages have been updated.

Websites of Note: del.icio.us
Bookmarks in your webbrowser becoming over whelming? Set up a del.icio.us account <http://del.icio.us>. It’s a simple way to store, describe and share bookmarks – and access them from anywhere.

Email from an ISD77 teacher...
I wanted to let you know one more way the LCD projector is helping me teach
our students.  Right now, I am requiring that every [student] create an 8-slide
power point presentation on Europe for my Geography class.

Because of my classroom technology, in each class, I was able to create a
new powerpoint with input on the content from the kids and show it on our
big screen.  We covered layout, design, animation, and other skills right
here in class. That is nice, because kids pay more attention here in the
classroom where they are used to working and being on task...

It has been going very well so far, and the kids seem very engaged. I just
wanted to update you as to how this technology is working in the classroom.

Book of Note: Sixteen Trends and Their Profound Impact on Our Future (Educational Research Service, 2006 by Gary Marx. The District Curriculum Committee is using this book to launch discussions about the future of education. The trends Marx writes about include:

• the shift in population demographics and its role in life-long learning
• the need for school curriculum and practices to reflect the dawning of the "information age"
• the importance of equilibrium and acceptance of divergent viewpoints in preparing for emerging generations
• how continuous improvement will replace "quick fixes" and challenge the status quo theory of education
• why the globalization of politics and the economy today will mandate the need for interdependence in educational practice
• technology will increase the speed of communication and the pace of advancement or decline

Quote of note:
Those who speak most of progress measure it by quantity and not by quality. - George Santayana

Words of wisdom
Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash with Wylie Post in 1935, was probably the greatest political sage this country has ever known.  Enjoy the following:

• Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
• Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
• There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.
• Never miss a good chance to shut up.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
• The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.
• There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
• If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
• Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
• After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring.  He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.  The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
  

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The Tech Tip Notebook is Mankato Area Public Schools' an informational bulletin about library media and educational technology issues in the district designed to alert you to new resources and services, handy "how-to" suggestions, and answer questions about media and educational technology use. If there are topics you would like to see covered in the TTN, please let me know. Back issues can be found at:  <http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/district/media/techtips/techtips.html>  Thanks - Doug Johnson <djohns1@isd77.k12.mn.us>.