Mining for Treasures

1 October 2007

Creating Tutorials using Jing

Yesterday, Monday, October 1st, we held our first Brown Bag Monday Technology Lunchtime training. We were treated to a wonderful presentation on how to use Microsoft Journal given by our Chemistry teacher, Roderick Mobley, who has been using a Tablet PC for the past four years. Due to other commitments, some of our teachers who were interested were unable to attend this session.

Enter Jing, software from the Jing Project created by TechSmith software. Downloading and installing the appropriate software for either a PC or a Macintosh, a user now has the capabilities to capture either a screen image or create a video of what they are doing on the screen. Using a microphone, this now enables a user, either teacher or student to create a small tutorial. Once you are done, you have the capability of either saving the file to your computer or uploading them to TechSmith’s Screencast.com site. Screencast.com is currently a free site for the first 200 MB of storage space. Once uploaded, you can then share your movie via your blog or wiki.

At this point in time, it is an experimental project and there is no cost for using the software or for the storage. At some point in time, this may change. But a way to get around this is to make sure that you save all of the files that you create locally, so you can upload them to another host at a later point in time. When creating a movie, it creates a flash video file, which keeps file sizes reasonable. You are also limited to a 5 minute file, which should be fine for many tutorials.

To show you what can be done, I am posting two videos which I created which highlighted two concepts Roderick shared with us.

Adding an image and annotating it in Microsoft Journal
10_01_2007 10_23 PM

Importing a Word doc and annotating it in Microsoft Journal
10_01_2007 10_28 PM

Several of my colleagues have given positive reviews and this software bears further experimentation.

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1 October 2007

Getting Ready for Global Collaboration – Time Converter

Invariably, if you begin to network with individuals who are not on campus, you will want to schedule time to have a voice or text chat do do some planning. I know that I am pretty good about remembering what cities are in what time zone and when daylight savings time starts and ends for areas in the United States, but when planning for people who are outside the country, well that’s when I get lost.

Enter time and date.com (timeanddate.com). This useful web site allows a user to find out what time it is anywhere in the world, display the calendar for any year and country (complete with full moons and including holidays), and a useful utility that allows you to enter a day and the cities where people are located, and it will display times which are normal awake times so you can pick a time which may be more convenient for all of the parties.

I have found this site to be indispensable.  I hope that you will too.

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27 September 2007

Concept Mapping with Gliffy

I am a visual learner. When taking notes growing up, I was forever creating boxes to hold the ideas and draw arrows to connect the ideas that were forged in classroom lectures and conversations. It is for this reason that I loved Inspiration when I first saw it back in 1990. A great program to begin to visually brainstorm and think.

Inspiration is limited in that it does not allow for site licensing and you cannot collaborate on a document or easily share it with others. Enter Gliffy (gliffy.com), a web 2.0 application which allows you to create concept or mind maps via a web browser, allow others to collaborate, and share the results with other users. Like many web 2.0 applications, you can take view and revert to older versions of the document if someone makes changes that you do not like. It allows you to create floor plans, flow charts, and use basic symbols.

Gliffy does not have the wide range of symbols and icons. It does not have a rapid fire mode which is great for group brainstorming. It also does not have the ability to turn your diagram into an outline. However for the value ($0 vs. $45 per license), the ability to run it on any computer with Internet access, and the ability to collaborate, it is a viable alternative to consider.

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26 September 2007

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

Today’s pick of a digital treasure comes from Utah State University.  My own personal experiences and memories using cuisenaire rods in while in elementary school and watching our math teachers skillfully use a wide variety of manipulatives in the classroom over the past 14 years convince me that approach of teaching abstract concepts using concrete tools is an effective one.

But how many of our families today have access to these tools at home? I know that my parents had some in our house, but I remember that as being the exception to the norm. The National Library of Virtual  Manipulatives has created a web site that provides access to a wide range of online tools and manipulatives which can be used to suppliment mathematics instruction.

The creators of this site have put together sets of online resources based upon grade level and mathematical concept. When you click in one of the areas, you are presented with a list of different activities which you can use online. These different puzzles and activities help explain math concepts from borrowing and carrying to sequencing of numbers.

A bonus with this site is that you can choose to view the site in English, Spanish, or French.

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25 September 2007

File Conversion Using Zamzar

Did you ever receive an attachment or a file from someone that you could not open because you did not have the correct application loaded on your computer? Ever need to change the file format of a video or audio file so that you could import it into another application?

If you have answered yes to any of the questions above, then Zamzar (zamzar.com) is the web site for you. This site is a virtual Swiss Army knife to allow you to convert from one file format to another, for free.

To convert a file, you start with step one and locate your file. You then proceed to step two, where you select the file type that you want to change it to. Supported types include:

Image -  bmp, gif,  jpeg, tiff,

Document – Word, html,  Rich Text, pdf, PowerPoint, Text, Word Perfect, Excel

Music -iTunes, mp3, ogg, Windows Media

Video -  avi, mpeg4,Flash Video, iPod, iPhone, Windows Movie, Windows Media

Complete step 3, entering in your email address and click on the button in step 4 to convert. When it is done, you will receive an email with instructions on how to download the new file.

It is that easy.

They also have a new service which I have not tried, which will allow you to save and convert a YouTube video, so you do not have to be online to show it.

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24 September 2007

The Research Project Calculator

I was made aware of this tool from Tim Wilson in his blog, the Savvy Technologist – Assignment Calculator 2.0

Both students and adults have difficulty breaking down a long-range project into smaller, more discrete steps. However, using this new online tool developed by both the Minnesota Educational Media Organization (MEMO) and MINITEX, a program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the University of Minnesota will help all who have need for help planning for such a project.

The Research Project Calculator allows for a user to begin planning. Once on the site, a user can fill out the details of their project, their name, the class they are doing this for, their email address, and whether they are working on a PowerPoint, a video, or an essay. At this point, they are asked the date to begin the project and then date the project needs to be completed by.

Once this information has been submitted, the student is given five steps, with goal dates and questions to answer about to help guide them through their project. The steps are, given for a sample video project:

Step 1: Question

• What do you know about your assignment?
• What do you know about your topic?
• What do you want to know?
• What’s the question or problem you will focus on?

By Monday, September 24, 2007,

Write a specific research question or hypothesis.

Step 2: Gather

• About this step
• Where will you look for information?
• What keywords will you use?
• How will you identify the best sources?
• How will you record what you find?
• How will you give credit to your sources?

By Thursday, September 27, 2007,

Create an annotated bibliography and record notes from sources.

Step 3: Conclude

• What did you learn from reading, listening, and viewing?
• How will you organize the information you found to answer your question or defend your hypothesis?

By Friday, September 28, 2007,

Confirm thesis and outline main points.

Step 4: Communicate

• Documentary Video
• Storyboard
• Script/Shot list
• Create visuals
• Rehearse and shoot
• Edit
• Preview
• Export

By Saturday, September 29, 2007,

Prepare final video.

Step 5: Evaluate

• How did you do?
• How can you improve next time?

By Sunday, September 30, 2007,

Complete evaluation of process and product

Students using this tool are given the opportunity to either print the schedule or email it to themselves. This looks like a promising tool that will help our students plan for long-term projects. I have begun to use it to help me break a few long-range projects that I have coming up in the next few month.

Give it a test drive and see.

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