Category Archives: Uncategorized

Have you seen this symbol? Do you know what it means? Take a look at these videos. They explain what a blog is and how to have news updates automatically sent to you. It’s a great way to keep in touch with your favorite writers and your favorite niche news…like educational linux applications or writer’s workshop kung fu style.

Blogs are a great way for students to read, respond to and produce news.

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Date(s): April 7,14,21,28
(plus an online component for each week)
Time(s):4:00-5:30pm
Location: 6th Avenue Elementary
Credit:0.5 Licensed Semester Hour
Instructor(s):Shannon Wentworth
Description: Activotes are a great way to quickly assess students. This course will teach you the basics of using Activotes in your classroom, from registering devices to different forms of assessments. There will be 6 hours of actual class time, plus an online component which will make up the remaining 1.5 hours.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs (NashWorld) the other night and stumbled upon the work of Punya Mishra from MSU. He has done some amazing work highlighting the need for utilizing relevant technology in the classroom with Lee Shulman‘s work on Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

This morning I presented to the Technical Services Department five of my favorite ways that teachers are using technology in the classroom. Specifically, I focused on the computer, projector and visualizer.  There are thousands of examples to choose from, so it was nice to have a clean way of organizing my ideas. I leaned heavily on Punya’s work for the presentation below and am quite thankful that he shares his talents.

If you are interested, my attempt at blending Punya’s work with presentation is below in the form of a Google presentation. Below, I’ve added links to the 5 parts of Punya’s video. His videos are definitely worth your time. Check it out!

My Presentation on Creative Teachers | Punya Mishra’s Keynote: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

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I just heard about a colleague’s computer crashing. This is the 4th time I’ve heard of this in the last few days. This serves as a reminder to us all. If you haven’t backed up your files, this would be a good time to do it.

Here are some suggestions.

1. Drag and drop your important files on to your W drive. Be sure to log in to your computer and then click on “My Computer.” You’ll see your W drive on the list just at the letters.
2. Save your files to a thumb drive / flashdrive. If you plug your thumbdrive in to your computer and it doesn’t recognize it, try this. Disk Management
3. Share everything! Then if you loose your copy, your friends will have copies.
4. Back up your files weekly.

How do you back up your files? Or better yet, what do you do to remind yourself to backup your files?

image: http://flickr.com/photos/bozarth/298165264/

Using your visualizer through your computer will enable you to easily capture student work and much more. It seems though that some people are randomly experiencing problems when using their visualizer through their computer. If so try the ideas below.

Avermedia has newer software out for the SPC300 visualiser. Using this software rather than the old software will should alleviate USB errors. If you get an error when trying to connect your visualizer, this software is for you.

http://www.avermedia-usa.com/presentation/dl_spc300.asp

If you do experience problems using the visualizer software to capture student work, this may help. You’ll know you’re having problems if the lens cap is off of the visualizer and you still see a black screen. Imagine the image above, but rather than see that lion you would just see black.

To solve:

• Click on Start> Settings> Control Panel> System>Hardware > Device Manager
• Look down the list and find “Vision Digital Presenter”
• Right-click on it and choose “Update Driver”
• That should do it. Click OK and close the windows and try opening the software again.
• If that doesn’t do it, call AverVision Support(1-877-528-7824). They can help.

 Also, if you haven’t seen this yet, check out these ideas for using your visualizer.

• Integration Ideas Using a Document Camera (.doc)
• 101 Ways to use the Visualizer with Instruction (.doc)