Organizing Your Digital Closet for the New School Year
Part 2 – Digital Photos, Clip Art, Newsletter Templates, and File-Naming Tips
Photo Credit
Tech Tip: Xdrive: Online File Storage for Teachers
Quick Tips for Organizing Digital Photos
The Hewlett-Packard staff provides some quick and easy tips for organizing your digital photos “on the fly” in Windows XP. The “Rename existing photos by batching” section describes a terrific way to rename a whole batch of photo files at once.
Using iPhoto (Part One) Organizing Your Photos
Dan Wassink has created a video tutorial to show the basics of using iPhoto to organize your photos into albums.
Learn to Use Clip Organizer
Clip Organizer is a timesaving Microsoft Office XP tool for managing clip art files stored on your hard drive. View Microsoft’s tutorial movie to see how Clip Organizer can arrange your clip art into collections for quick retrieval. For an explanation of how to import clip art, see Microsoft’s article Using Clips and the Clip Organizer.
Teacher Tools and Templates
The Education World staff has created a large number of excellent pre-made school templates which may be downloaded and adapted for your particular needs. See the Parent-Teacher Communications area for timesaving newsletter templates and the back-to school section for making name tags, creating a student information forms and a homework calendar grid.
Tips For Naming Your Word Files
James Marshall lists four tips for selecting descriptive document names which save time and avoid frustration when you are looking for documents on your hard drive.
Tech Tip – Xdrive: Online File Storage for Teachers
When hard drive space is at a premium, or you’d like to have access to your files from any Web-attached computer, online file storage is an attractive option. For security and accidental damage reasons it is wise to store important files off-site. XDrive provides free secure storage with the following features:
· 5 GB of free online storage
· Files are password-protected and encrypted for security during transfer
· Simple three-step process to upload files
· Ability to share files with others for collaborative projects
· Works with all popular browsers, including Safari, Internet Explorer and Firefox
What Our Students Are Saying…
About Teaching Information Literacy with Primary Sources and the Young Adult Literature in the Reading Program classes:
"I just wanted to comment on the courses that I'm taking online through UW-Stout this summer. I'm taking the Teaching Information Literacy class with Mary Alice Anderson and YA Lit course with Sharon McElmeel.
Take it from me, I've enrolled in a lot of college courses; I double majored as an undergrad, and I have my Master's plus many extra credits. The two classes I took this summer are the BEST college courses I've ever taken! I am learning so much and will be able to apply all of this information in my position as a Library Media Specialist.
I definitely will be recommending UW Stout's online classes to my fellow colleagues!"
~Jennifer Malphy, Library Media Specialist; Hillsboro, WI
Sign up soon for a fall class that supports your professional development goals for licensure renewal, salary advancement and advanced certification. Register online at: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/register.shtml
Labels: Digital photography, Tech Tips
Organizing Your Digital Closet for the New School Year
Part 1– Files, Folders, Printers and Email
Photo Credit
Tech Tip: Creating Your Class Schedule: Adjust Table Rows and Columns in Word 2003
Organizing Files and Folders
Begin each semester with a lesson on naming, saving, and organizing files. Organizing files and folders will increase your efficiency. Check out this handy visual guide prepared by the computing staff at Washington & Lee University.
Organizing My Documents
The Garden City, Kansas School District has created a short PowerPoint presentation on Windows XP file basics, including naming, saving and deleting files.
Mac OS X File Management
For a quick introduction to organizing files in Mac OS X, view these three excellent mini-tutorials produced by Atomic Learning.
The Power of Passwords
Lorrie Jackson explains how to select a safe password, and how to protect your IEP’s and other computer files from being viewed by unauthorized users.
Change the Default Printer in Windows XP
Michelle Castle provides a visual guide to changing the default printer so that your print job automatically goes to your preferred printer.
Top Tips for Outlook 2003
Did you know that there was a quick Mailbox Cleanup in Outlook 2003 to sort out old and large email messages? Here are over three dozen timesaving tips and shortcuts from Microsoft to make Outlook work for you. Be sure to click on More Mail Tips to view all the items.
Tech Tip – Adjust Table Rows and Columns in Word 2003
The Tables feature of Microsoft Word is an excellent way to create a class schedule. Once a table is created with the Table menu, you can easily customize the height of individual rows and the width of individual columns to get the look that you want.
Here’s a quick way to make row and column size adjustments:
1. Open your document.
2. Go to File – Print Preview.
3. In the Print Preview window, make sure that the Magnifier Tool (just to the right of the Printer icon) is not selected.
4. Move the mouse pointer onto your table. The pointer turns into a double-ended resize pointer. Press and drag on the cell boundary line(s) until the rows and columns are the desired height and width.
What Our Students Are Saying…
About the Effective Classroom Management class:
"I felt that the activities helped me organize my classroom better and run a "tighter" ship without sacrificing a friendly and open classroom climate."
~ 7th Grade Math Teacher Okinawa, Japan
"I don't think I could have made it through the next trimester without the ideas this class got me to think about. Whether you've been teaching for 25 years or have yet to set foot in a classroom, you will get something out of this class that will make you a better teacher."
~ Middle School Art Teacher Charles City, Iowa
Sign up soon for the fall classes! Register online at: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/register.shtml
For more information, contact Joan Vandervelde, Online Professional Development Coordinator at vanderveldej@uwstout.edu
Phone (715) 642-0209
Labels: Tech Tips
Online Teaching: Interaction and Collaboration Activities
Tech Tip: RSS Feeds in Internet Explorer 7
Special Issue on Online Collaboration
The February 2006 issue of the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) contains eight articles which provide an excellent overview of effective methods for structuring online collaboration activities.
Relationships between Interactions and Learning in Online Environments (PDF)
Kathy Swan presents research findings on best practices in interactive learning and how they can guide effective course design and facilitation.
Online Learning Communities
Jan Engle and others describe how an effectively-designed online course can facilitate movement of a class through group development stages and deepen the learning experience. Key elements impacting student interaction include: the level of structure required, teamwork skills, discussion forums, and cooperative/collaborative learning exercises.
Understanding Interactions in Distance Education
Veronica Thurmond and Karen Wambach ask educators to consider if they are making optimum use of interaction and feedback, and describe four types of interactions commonly seen in online classes.
Tech Tip – RSS Feeds in Internet Explorer 7
The new Internet Explorer 7 for Windows makes it easy to set up RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds for favorite Web sites so that you automatically receive personalized information updates. This can be a huge timesaver, as the updates are automatically sent to your Favorites Center, so you only have to look in one place. To set up an RSS feed:
1.First, check your favorite Websites to see if an RSS feed is available. To do this, open a Website and look for an orange and white striped icon in the toolbar (usually next to the Home icon), which means that RSS feed capability is available for this page. If there is no RSS feed for this page, the icon will be gray and white.
2. Next, click on the small black triangle next to this orange Feed icon to see which site items are available via RSS. Select an item from the list. A new window opens. In the new window, click on the Subscribe to This Feed text near the top of the screen.
3. To read your RSS feeds, go to the Favorites Center in Internet Explorer 7 (yellow star icon at left side of screen) and click on the Feeds button. A list of your selected feeds will appear. Select a site feed, and the content will open in a new window.
What Our Students Are Saying…
About the Online Classroom: Creating Collaborative Communities course:
"...the course design fostered a level of cohesive participant interaction that I have not experienced in many places. The instructors provided an effective model of online facilitation while teaching about online instruction. Every potential online instructor should take this class." ~ Paul Mugan , High school biology teacher, Waverly, Iowa
Sign up soon for the fall classes in the Elearning and Online Teaching Certificate program. For more information, contact Dennis O’Connor, program advisor at oconnord@uwstout.edu
Phone: (530) 318-1145
Register online at: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/register.shtml
Labels: Online Teaching, RSS, Tech Tips
Using Peer Feedback to Enhance the Quality of Student Online Postings: An Exploratory Study
Writing for the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Peggy A. Ertmer and others describe how peer feedback was used to promote higher-level thinking and higher-quality student postings in online classes.
Strategies for Providing Feedback
The Illinois Online Network staff provides fifteen effective feedback strategies to promote high-quality student participation in online classes.
Using Asynchronous Audio Feedback to Enhance Teaching Presence and Students’ Sense of Community
(Registration required -- be sure to register for this wonderful free resource!)
Philip Ice and others in the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks report on the use of audio feedback to provide a more personalized communication with online students.
Effective Feedback
Paul Hammond lists the characteristics of useful feedback, and includes tips for providing effective feedback in a professional manner.
Writing for the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Peggy A. Ertmer and others describe how peer feedback was used to promote higher-level thinking and higher-quality student postings in online classes.
Strategies for Providing Feedback
The Illinois Online Network staff provides fifteen effective feedback strategies to promote high-quality student participation in online classes.
Using Asynchronous Audio Feedback to Enhance Teaching Presence and Students’ Sense of Community
(Registration required -- be sure to register for this wonderful free resource!)
Philip Ice and others in the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks report on the use of audio feedback to provide a more personalized communication with online students.
Effective Feedback
Paul Hammond lists the characteristics of useful feedback, and includes tips for providing effective feedback in a professional manner.
Tech Tip – Convert MS Word Documents to PDF Format
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a popular file format that is readable on Macs and PC’s. PDF’s are especially suited to documents with special formatting and graphics (such as classroom newsletters) which will be displayed on a Website. Converting to PDF format retains the formatting of the original document.
On OS X Macintosh computers there is a built-in PDF converter which is accessed by opening your document and choosing File – Print. In the Print window, click on the PDF button, and then pull down to select "Save as PDF..." which creates a PDF version of your file.
For Windows, there are two free options:
PrimoPDF or CutePDF Writer (both are free downloads).
When downloaded and installed on your computer, these applications can convert most documents into PDF format by going to File - Print, and ‘printing’ to the PrimoPDF or CutePDF printer which appears in the Print window. If you don’t wish to install PrimoPDF on your computer, you can use the new Primo Online converter which allows you to upload a document to the Primo site, convert it online, then download it as a PDF file.
What Our Students Are Saying…
About the E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate Program:
Julie Fischer is a business and information technology instructor at Hayward and a candidate in UW-Stout’s online Master's in Education program. She selected the E-Learning Certificate courses to learn more about teaching online and how to “create an environment where students could have flexible learning and to provide options for students who may be home-schooled or enrolled in charter schools and taking courses from our high school which would help them learn to meet state technology standards.”
Sign up soon for the fall classes in the Elearning and Online Teaching Certificate program.
For more information, contact Dennis O’Connor, program advisor at oconnord@uwstout.edu Phone: (530) 318-1145
Register online at: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/register.shtml
Labels: e-learning, Online Teaching, Tech Tips